Chromebook vs Windows laptop – A discussion

Chromebook vs Windows laptop is a hot topic for discussion these days. People are discussing whether a Chromebook is better or Windows 8 laptops still rule the world. People are also wondering whether Chromebooks are powerful and feature-rich enough to replace the mighty Windows machines. I this post, we will have a look at the advantages and disadvantages, the pros and cons and the pluses and minuses of a Chromebook vs. a Windows 8 laptop.
Basically, choosing between Chromebook and Windows 8 laptop depends on user’s priorities and nature of work. This decision answers the very basic questions – What are your requirements.

Chromebook vs Windows laptop

Before you start making a decision about buying a Chromebook or Windows laptop, you should first understand the fundamental difference between the two.
A Chromebook can be used only for web surfing and using web applications. It offers a better user experience with Chrome Suite and Online applications. However, you can’t use applications that are meant for offline use. You need Internet connectivity all the time to be able to use a Chromebook.
A Windows laptop – be it any version of Windows OS – is a complete package of a ‘PC’. Apart from using it for Internet surfing and online applications, Windows laptops offer the widest range of services which majority of people need in day-to-day life. This includes, Microsoft Office suite, photo editing using software, online or offline video calling, downloading games and playing them offline and more. The list is huge.

Difference between Chromebook and laptop

While most are voting for the full-fledged Windows 8 laptops, some people are choosing Chromebooks. Here’s the comparison between the two.
Price
Chromebooks are cheaper than any Windows laptop. If you are looking for a device that can connect you to the world through web at cheaper price, then Chromebook is the device for you. Windows laptops are little pricier as compared to Chromebooks. However, if you want a PC that increases your productivity, then Windows laptops should be the choice.
However this price difference may narrow down as Microsoft is getting ready to launch $199 Windows laptops made by HP, as well as $99 Windows tablets, to compete with Google Chromebooks.
Surfing the web and online apps
This is the point where both Chromebook and Windows 8 laptops score the same. The Chromebook is optimized for Google’s online apps, which include Google Drive, Google Calendar and Gmail. Windows laptops too offer a smooth connectivity with Windows Store. However, when it comes to using some of these apps offline, then Windows 8 laptops score an additional point. You will be able to watch your favorite movies and TV shows offline on Windows 8 laptops; but not on Chromebooks. Chromebooks, by default, need internet connectivity at all the times!

Microsoft Office Suite
If you are a hardcore user of Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc.) and other Windows programs, then you may have a hard time adjusting with the Chromebook. You can use Microsoft Web Apps on the Chromebook though. Microsoft Web Apps is a free cloud version of Microsoft Office and it’s compatible with Chromebooks. Besides, you can also make use of Google Drive to open Microsoft Word documents and Excel sheets. However, you will need to tackle with the formatting issues when importing Office documents to Google Drive. Hence, if you are going to import large number of Microsoft Office files like documents, spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations, then it’s better to stick to Windows 8 laptops.
File structure and placement of documents
Most of your files such as document, videos or pictures need to be uploaded on cloud when using Chromebooks. However, with Windows 8 laptops you can choose the placement of your documents. Besides, those habitual with Windows PC’s file structure may find Chromebook file structure messy and unorganized.
Image editing
If your job involves image editing task frequently then Chromebook may not solve your purpose completely. With Chromebook, you can use web-based image editing alternatives such as Pixlr Editor. Pixlr Editor doesn’t offer all the features that software like Adobe Photoshop (which runs smoothly on Windows 8 laptops) has; but it will simply help you edit the image which is usable. However, Chromebook certainly isn’t the device for hardcore image editors whose job involves complex image editing tasks.
Games
Chromebook certainly isn’t a high-powered, graphic-rich gaming notebook. You can play games, but limited to the games that are available on Chrome Web store. Besides, Chromebooks’ graphics processing ability is limited, and hence, you won’t be able to play online games which require high leveled graphic processing power. On the other hand, Windows 8 laptops offer both online and offline gaming.
Skype, iTunes and other such programs
Those connected with their friends, family and colleagues through Skype, won’t be able to go for Chromebook as Skype doesn’t run on Chromebooks. Similarly, other essential programs such as iTunes, Quicker and many more don’t run on Chromebook at all. For these, you will have to go for Windows 8 laptops.
Printers and Scanners
The Chromebooks need Google Cloud Print-ready printers. Other printers won’t work on Chrome. Hence for any printing job you will need a Windows PC, laptop or a Mac device. In fact, the Chromebooks can’t connect many other peripheral devices directly, such as scanners.
Summary
As we mentioned earlier, the selection depends purely on your priorities. If you are happy with online apps or are mostly connected through Gmail and are looking for a cheaper device, then Chromebooks is the choice for you. However, if your requirements include lot of documentations, spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, image editing jobs, Skype connectivity and offline gaming, then Windows 8 laptops should be your pick.
In short, set you priorities and go for the technology that works for you!

USB firmware: Beware of a new threat called BadUSB

When we think and talk about malware and viruses, we often try and secure our computers with antivirus programs. The obvious threat comes from web where we visit a number of websites and online applications; some of them posing a serious threat for our systems. However, have you ever thought that a USB device can pose as a danger to our systems? No, we are talking about the viruses entering from a USB to our PCs through some files.

BadUSB

This new threat is caused by USB firmware. Well, this is the fact which was brought to notice by a researcher duo, Karsten Nohl and Jakob Lell, in 2014′s Black Hat annual conference that took place in Las Vegas.


In the 45 minute long presentation by Karsten Nohl and Jakob Lell, the researchers explained how an innocent looking USB firmware can cause a massive threat to our systems. The malware is known as ‘BadUSB‘.
BadUSB manipulates the USB firmware, the supervising software that controls the mechanism of a USB device. The worst part about this malware is that the threat is tricky to trace. The currently available anti-virus programs cannot detect this malware as it lies in the USB firmware. The attackers just need to get hold of the USB device and they can insert their own controlling chip in the USB firmware. The chip does its ‘job’ when inserted in the computer. It connects with your PC and steals your data or simply spy on your activities.

At the beginning of this presentation Karsten showed a demo on how a USB firmware can easily install a malicious software onto your system. He inserted a normal looking USB into the laptop. The USB was empty and to confirm that the USB did not contain anything, he formatted right in front of the audience. He mentioned that, the presentation wasn’t about the viruses into a flash drive.



You can see in this presentation that the USB device does nothing for a minute after inserting in the laptop. But after that, within a split-second, the USB firmware installed some malicious software on the laptop, turning the normal USB device into a ‘different USB device’.
Implications of BadUSB USB firmware on home and enterprise users
The official blog on Microsoft mentions the implications of BadUSB on home and enterprise users,

“Some USB peripherals may have to be discarded in the future if they become targeted and no manufacturer update is made available…. If any enterprise users require USB thumb drives, they should look into upgrading to a USB model with non-writable firmware or models that require digitally signed firmware updates. Enterprises with highly sensitive data may need to evaluate the firmware update process for all the peripheral devices they currently use and are purchasing.”

BadUSB is therefore a future threat that needs close monitoring and serious attention.

TeamLab Office Personal: Free Cloud Based Office Suite

There are already a plethora of web based online processors available in the market, TeamLab Office is just another online processors for Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents. There are two version of Teamlab: Personal and Corporate. Personal Teamlab is available for free; for Corporate usage, Teamlab users have to purchase a plan.

TeamLab Office

If we talk about the difference between other online processors and Teamlab, then from a user point of view, it offers enhanced formatting qualities for both Microsoft Office applications and cloud based storage services, like Google Docs. A tech geek will find Teamlab useful as it supports HTML5 - hence making it  easier to create and share files with other users.
Teamlab Personal by default allows user to work on document, spreadsheet and presentation editor. Users can create, edit and save that file on the Teamlab website itself. They can also upload the files in different format and can work and share.
Let us have a look at the 3 tools in brief.

Document Editor

Document Editor work in the same way as we work on Microsoft Word. It has features like align option, user can insert graphs, worksheets into it to create a dynamic Word document, few other but noticeable features that we saw in Teamlab Office is that multiple users can work on the same file at once, all co-users can chat with each other by using the chat button which appears on the top left hand side. User can also use the in-built search feature to look for resources that are available on that particular document.

Spreadsheet Editor

Just like the Document Editor, Spreadsheet program also offers amazing features like adding comments on created file, sharing with other user. Users can also save the file on Teamlab Office itself, or on any cloud storage service to work on it further. Working on cloud based Spreadsheet file is fun as users can work or save on the file from anywhere they just need an internet connection to access it.

Presentation Editor

Like the traditional PowerPoint, Presentation Editor works in the same way. It offers user options to add template, add new slides in between based on the requirement. Once done working on the file user can download the file in PDF or PPT format also can be saved online for future use.
Getting Started with Teamlab Personal
You have to use either Google or Facebook account to login into Teamlab. However user can also click on Document, spreadsheet or presentation buttons to see the demo and check how it looks like and can also work on the files – but to save or share it, user have to sign up.
Once done with the sign in, a default dashboard will be presented to the user. Click on the doc, spreadsheet or presentation link and start working on it.
If a user wants to upload their own Word, PowerPoint or Excel file, they can do that and also edit, share or save the new edited file.
Under the Settings tab, a user can add different cloud based storage service like Drive, Box, One Drive or Dropbox to store file.
To share a file, a user have to click on the Share button which appears along with the file. A Window will pop-up asking to select type of access that you would like to give to that file. Copy the URL or create a tiny URL for the same. The file can also be shared on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or via mail, by just clicking on the buttons.  There is also a Deny access link, ad if the option is enabled, then no one will be able to access the file from any shared links.
Personal Teamlab, is a must have backup tool for those users who spend most of their time working on Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents. It is available for free for personal use, go ahead and check it out here.
If you do not have a Microsoft Office license, such free Microsoft Office alternatives for Windows will help you get the work done.

Enable and use Chrome built-in Password Generator

Not many of you may know this. Google Chrome browser includes a built-in Password Generator, which can generate complex passwords for you, when you are signing up for new online services. Currently, it is not enabled by default, you will have to enable it first, so that you can use this useful feature.

Chrome Password Generator

For this feature to work, you will need to be signed into your Google Account. In case you are not, then open your Chrome web browser, type chrome://settings in the address bar and hit Enter. Here, under Settings, you will see the option to Sign in to Chrome.
Ensure that the Password box is checked. This allows Chrome to sync your passwords that you generate using Chrome.
Once you have done this, type chrome://flags in the address bar and hit Enter. Click Ctrl+F to open the search bar and search for Enable password generation.
You will the setting as Default. From the drop-down menu, select Enabled. Scroll down and click on the Relaunch Now button. This will enable the Chrome Password Generator.

Now the next time you go on to sign up for any online service, when you click inside the Password box, Chrome will suggest you a password. The password will be a strong password. If you select it, it will also save and sync your password using your Google account. You do not need to save the password that is generated. It happens automatically.

This feature will work for sites that work with both Password Managers and Autofill.