I previously commented on the ongoing attempt by some major computer firms to define what spyware is and gave my personal criteria about what is undesirable software. Go here for some more commentary on this issue.
A surprising number of PC users are unaware of the simple method that is available to keep the Start-All Programs list in alphabetical order. As new programs are installed, they are often tacked onto the end of the list and after a while the list becomes jumbled. To keep things neat, open the All Programs list and right-click on any entry. The context menu that appears will contain an entry “Sort by Name”. Click that and the list will be alphabetized. Folders will be listed first.
A very similar operation can keep your Favorites list in order. In Internet Explorer, open the Favorites menu and right-click on any entry. Here too, the context menu will contain an entry “Sort by Name”. In Firefox open the Bookmarks menu and the procedure is the same.
The Quick Launch bar is a handy area in the Taskbar where shortcuts to frequently used programs and folders can be kept. However. in many XP systems the default setting does not have the Quick Launch bar enabled. The setting is easily changed by right-clicking on an empty spot in the Taskbar, selecting the entry “Toolbars” and putting a check by “Quick Launch”. More details on the Taskbar are on this page.
If you are like me, you may collect snippets of information from Web sites, email newsletters, and other files by copying and pasting into Notepad text files. To help keep track of the information, you can add the date and time when you add an item by placing the cursor where you want the date entered and pressing the function key F5.
In my opinion the most important security element on a PC is protection against crackers and Trojans. This requires good firewall defenses. I don’t mean the half-functional Windows XP firewall but a real firewall like ZoneAlarm that monitors outgoing as well as incoming Internet traffic. I also think that the additional protection of a router is essential for any broadband connection whether you have a home network or not. Any good router will also contain a firewall and this double layer of protection by software and router is needed in today’s conditions. The router will usually only monitor incoming traffic but the combination with a good software firewall on the PC will give you the protection you need.
The Blake blog has a collection of useful Windows tips. One discusses using the left-click mouse drag:
When using a mouse to move a file, it sometimes surprisingly copies the file, or creates a shortcut instead!
This behavior is why I always recommend the right-click mouse drag instead. When using the right-click to drag, you get a menu that allows you to select from a number of actions.
I see that the guardians of our country in Washington are on the verge of yet another diplomatic blunder.
A lot of people around the world are saying that the stewardship of the Internet should no longer be an exclusive American province but should pass to UN control. As reported in a lot of places this issue is coming to a head. The Desktop Pipeline writes
Lately, however, several countries — among them Brazil, China, Cuba, and Iran — as well as organizations including the United Nations and the European Union have been pushing for a place at the Internet management table. In July, for instance, a U.N. report
not only called for the U.S. to cede control, but said that the United Nations should set broader Internet policy, including multi-lingualization of the Web and the power to tax domains to pay for universal access.“No single government should have a pre-eminent role in relation to international governance,” read the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) report.
With the EU recently withdrawing its support for U.S. management of the Internet, the issue is expected to come to a head next month in Tunisia, when the World Summit on the Information Society convenes Nov. 16-18.
Now, what is the response from Washington? Do they reply to this growing pressure diplomatically? No, as the Desktop Pipeline heads it, they draw a line in the sand.
The Bush administration answered the calls for handing over the keys with a definitive “no” in June, and President Bush reiterated the arguments as recently as last week with European Commission President José Barroso in a face-to-face meeting in Washington, D.C.
And of course members of Congress have leaped in also.
A trio of lawmakers in the House of Representatives has joined a Senate colleague in calling for the U.S. to retain oversight control over the Internet, as a showdown looms with countries wanting more say in how the Web is run.
One can understand the argument that the US government through ARPA was responsible for the development of the Internet and therefore has been the legitimate regulator. But now that hundreds of millions of people all over the world are using the Internet, it is going to be difficult to convince all of them that the US should retain sole control of the governance. Personally, I do not see how you can stop other countries from trying to control their pieces of the Internet.
But even if you do believe that the US should continue its present oversight role, it’s a mistake to get everybody’s back up by a flat “No†to their requests. That is not how foreign diplomacy is done. It may make you feel righteous to state exactly where you stand without equivocation but that kind of honesty gets you nowhere in international relations. Instead you agree that the question needs study, you propose a commission to study it, and you talk it to death for years. People may be fully aware that you are stonewalling but they don’t get put out in the same way that a defiant “No†causes. And as the talks drone on, you don’t get big headlines around the world that the US is once more being a unilateral bully. It appears that Bush is repeating the same mistake that was made with the Kyoto Accords on greenhouse emissions. That was a flawed proposal but could have been studied for decades. Instead Bush said “No, never†and now we are blamed for all the bad weather in the world.
What’s your opinion? Should the US retain oversight of the Internet? Even if we want to, can we?
There is a page at Microsoft that might be very useful for anybody needing technical assistance. The title is “How to ask a question”. It is not quite the usual knowledge base article written in MicrosoftSpeak. I think you will find it quite interesting. Here is an excerpt
After posting a question to a professional forum or newsgroup and waiting for a while, you get the following answer(s) from the active forum/newsgroup members:
“Your question does not contain all the required information needed for us to help you.
Please re-write your question, this time make sure you have all the needed info and
we’ll try to help.”Another symptom of this error is getting the following answer:
“You question has been answered a hundred times. Please use a decent search engine
and/or search our archives before posting any future questions”
I found the reference in a newsletter from Steve Bass.
In a previous tip I gave a way to bring up the start menu and to either exit or reboot using keyboard entries. If there are no programs open, there is an even quicker keyboard shortcut. Press Alt+F4 (F4 is a function key) to bring up the Shutdown menu and then enter “u” (no quotes”) to turn off the computer. To reboot enter “r” instead.
If programs are open, two successive applications of Alt+F4 can be used.
A lot of people use Google as their primary search engine but most do not take full advantage of all the ways that are available to help narrow a search. Google provides a page of shortcuts to help with searching. Have this page at hand when you are searching and you might save some time.