Welcome to RichardHicks.Com!
Welcome to the personal and professional web site for Richard Hicks. Here you will find news, information, and random musings about anything and everything. You will see that I am very much in to technology, photography, baseball, and of course Seinfeld.
Internet Explorer Performance
Some people complain about the performance of Internet Explorer (IE), saying that browsing web sites is slow and that pages take a long time to load when browsing web sites. Some people will resort to installing a third-party web browser like Firefox, Opera, Safari, or Chrome and notice improved page loading times. More often than not, the reason for slow performance with Internet Explorer isn't IE at all! In fact, it is the myriad add-on tools that get installed on top of IE that is actually the culprit! Just about every piece of third-party software these days comes with some type of browser integration or tool bar. If you are installing software and selecting the defaults, they get loaded automatically.
If you believe that Internet Explorer isn't performing well, before you switch to another web browser try disabling all of the third-party add-ons in IE and browsing some sites. You'll probably notice that IE performs much better without all of that additional weight it has to carry in the form of third-party add-ons! To disable add-ons and return IE to its default settings, visit this page on Microsoft's web site and click on the Fix it icon in the Fix it for me section. Give it a try, I'm sure you'll be happy!
Free Anti-Virus Software From Microsoft
Microsoft recently announced the availability of their FREE anti-virus software for Windows XP, Vista, and 7 desktop operating systems - Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE). That's right, FREE! If you are running another free or open-source anti-virus program (e.g. AVG) you should switch immediately and install this. If you are running something else, I would recommend making the switch to MSE as soon as your subscription expires. Although MSE is a new product from Microsoft it is very highly rated, performing better than offerings from established anti-virus vendors such as Symanetc, McAfee, Kaspersky, and more.
About Me
I am a Sales Engineer specializing in edge security solutions for security appliance vendor Celestix Networks. I have been working with Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) 2010 and its predecessors for more than 12 years. I have designed and deployed network security solutions using TMG and ISA for SMB's, military and defense organizations, and Fortune 500 companies around the world. I am a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for Forefront Edge Security, and my certifications include Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP), Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS), Microsoft Certified Information Technology Professional - Enterprise Administrator (MCITP:EA), and Websense Certified Engineer - Web Security (WCE-WS). I am a contributing author for TechGenix' ISAServer.org, and I live and work in beautiful, sunny Southern California.