yes select * is faster because the sql engine does not need to process the column, column, etc. to see which columns you need. However this can create maintenence problems.
if you select * and then use numerical column placement to process the data and someone comes along and adds a field in the middle of the table they will break your program.
You should always use column, column, column for this reason.
Of course you should also referenece columns by name for this reason but that's another topic indead.
