About Peter
Office: Wheatley 3-154/10
Tel: 7-7118
Hours: M-Th 9:00-4:00
Fri. 8:30-5:30 (home office)
Recommended Software
The following software packages, most available for both Mac and Windows, will allow you to do 95% of the computing most people need to do — safely, securely, and at no cost!
This free web browser is fast and extensible, allowing you to build the browser you want — and it's more secure than Internet Explorer!
This free email client supports POP and IMAP, works perfectly with the UMass Boston mail system, is extensible, and offers both spam and phishing protection.
This free office package has a word processor, spreadsheet, database, presentation and drawing tools, reads and writes Microsoft Office files, exports to PDF — and complies with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' guidelines on supporting the Open Document Format. (The Mac OS X version is NeoOffice.)
This free product allows you to read PDF files which look the same on any computer.
If you use Windows, you need both anti-virus and anti-spyware software. And if you use your computer at home, you are not covered by the University's site license for McAfee ViruScan. AVG Free Edition is a great alternative. For spyware, you have several choices, including Ad-Aware and Spybot. PC World recommends both, but gave the nod to Ad-Aware.
Computer hardware
UMass Boston recommends the following brands. As a University employee or student, you qualify for educational pricing.
Personally, I can only recommend Apple. As Walter S. Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal puts it, "Apple's flagship model, the iMac, is the best consumer desktop on the market." And David Pogue of the New York Times writes that "the MacBook Pro is a beautifully engineered machine. If it's not the world's finest, it's darned close."
Computer software @ CPCS
Links to software used at CPCS:
Peter C.S. Adams
Director of Communication and Information Technology
College of Public and Community Service
University of Massachusetts at Boston
Peter is responsible for the web, email, and file servers for the College of Public & Community Service at UMass Boston. In addition, he manages the Taylor Center computer classroom and assists with general computer and printing issues throughout the College. He serves on the University's Technology Advisory Committee, and is a member of both the Massachusetts Teachers Association and the Graphic Artists Guild.
He is a graduate of Rice University and has been using computers since 1976 (Honeywell mainframe via teletype, though he no longer has the paper tape to prove it). His first personal computer was an Apple II and he was among the first people to use Apple Lisa (1983) and Macintosh computers (1984), and set up one of the world's first AppleTalk networked LaserWriter printers (1985).
He has worked at UMass Boston since 1993.
Following are selected writings on various topics:
University of Massachusetts
Technology Articles
Increasing Network Security through Heterogeneity
Top Ten Tips for Safe Computing
Why the music industry is wrong about DRM
Technology Letters
Windows Vista: One Expensive Operating System
Standards, not standardization
Microsoft does
not innovate
(with examples and links to computer history
sites)
Simplifying spreadsheet formula calculates faster
Literature / Speculative Fiction
Science Fiction as a Literature of Alienation
Return to Womb Fantasies in Recent Science Fiction Films
Why the Religious Right is Wrong About Narnia
Film Criticism / Psychology
Philosophy
Creativity and the Formation of Mind from Consciousness
Art / Criticism
“Nice” Art and the Political Eunuch
Art in the Tantric Tradition in India, China, and Japan
Computer Security
Useful Links
Secunia Software Inspector
(online security scanner)
Windows Update
(requires Internet Explorer 5+)
(More below virus news)
Virus News
Security Threats
Viruses
IBM Anti-Virus Research Center
Hoaxes
Mac Info & Software
Windows Info & Software
Spybot
(Windows anti-spyware program)
AVG Pro
(free edition available)