Archive for February, 2006
The biggest cause of Internet security problems- stupidity
PC Magazine has a feature article by Cade Metz called “The Sorry State of Security” with the theme that stupidity is the real security problem. First, they cite the user
No matter how many times we suffer the consequences of online attacksâ€â€system slowdowns, instability, loss of connectivity, even costly identity theftâ€â€we always get burned again. [...]
Strange hard drive sounds
I used to experience hard drive failure rather frquently. And I am talking about brand-name computers like Dell, IBM, and Toshiba. I haven’t had a hard drive go bad for a few years now so maybe they have become more reliable. Nonetheless, hard drives can go bad and when they do, it can mean the [...]
Using the keyboard to open menu items
Windows has a feature that allows use of the keyboard to open menu items. This is often more convenient than having to switch your hand to the mouse. Each menu item can have an underlined letter in its name. Examples are the File and Edit menus. When the underlined letter is pressed together with the [...]
Biased studies
Don’t believe any of the studies of the relative merits of Microsoft vs. non-Microsoft products until you study the metrics carefully. It’s strange how often many so-called studies are (deliberately?) biased in favor of Microsoft. For example, consider a recent study of the relative security of Linux by a “government security group”. On the surface, [...]
Bill Gates the seer
Bill Gates is making predictions again. This time he is predicting the end of passwords. But then a couple of years ago he predicted the end of spam. We know how that turned out. Maybe he’s right but I think he ought to pay attention to the observation of Yogi Berra or Mark Twain or [...]
Internet Freedom Task Force
After the trouble that companies like Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo are having with the Chinese government’s efforts to control and censor the Internet, the State Department has formed a task force to look into the problem. Internet Week has a report on this. Since individual companies are not in a good position to deal [...]
Safety while banking online
I do a lot of my banking on the Internet, including paying bills, and I find it really convenient. Of course, banks are a natural target for Internet criminals so the question of security is very important. PC World has a short article on the subject.
Consumer Action page
There is a federal government site ConsumerAction that has information on many topics. It is full of useful links and lists information on 20 different consumer topics. In addition, it has information on how to contact many different companies and agencies. It’s an excellent resource. I don’t know how much the General Services Administration spent [...]
How to move the “My Documents” folder to another location
Many people use the “My Documents” folder to store their personal data and files. If you are storing large files or a lot of files, you may want to consider moving the folder from its default location \Documents and Settings\{current user}\My Documents to a another partition or a second hard drive. This is easy to [...]
Should software vendors be liable for damages?
In our ultra-litigious society, people sue left and right about almost anything. Make a bad stock investment? Sue! Set yourself on fire by falling asleep while smoking? Sue! Overweight because you eat too much? Sue! Nobody is responsible for their own actions. It’s always somebody else’s fault. Software companies like Microsoft, however, sit unscathed [...]
Avoiding browser hijacking in Internet Explorer
Browser hijacking, taking control of your browser, is a common spyware and Trojan exploit. Microsoft has a page with some tips on how to avoid or undo this when using IE.
