Archive for September, 2006
US retains ICANN oversight for three more years
ICANN is the organization that oversees the Domain Naming System of the Internet. For historical reasons, the US government has had oversight of this organization. As noted earlier, there has been pressure from other countries to make ICANN a completely international organization. Nonetheless, the government has decided to keep the oversight in the US Commerce [...]
One year
I’ve been pretty busy and I almost forgot to note that this blog was one year old on September 16. So far I have written 452 posts. That’s a lot of words and I hope at least some of the content has been informative. Although a number of people have joined as members, not many [...]
Change display properties to make things bigger
If you are like me, it’s getting harder to see things on your computer. My eyes are growing old and weak with the rest of me. And, of course, although computer screens are getting bigger, the higher resolution that is used has the opposite effect of making objects on the screen smaller. Fortunately, there are [...]
Firefox 2.0 RC1
The release candidate of Firefox 2.0 is now available at this link. If you install it, remember that this is not yet a finished project and is primarily for testers. Some details are at this ZDNet site.
Diagnosing network problems
Windows XP (especially the Professional version) makes networking much easier than it used to be. There are a variety of tools for managing networks and for diagnosing problems. Most of the tools are in command-line form such as the network services suite “netsh” and the TCP/IP commands but there are also some useful graphical interface [...]
Microsoft issues emergency patch
Under increasing pressure from fallout due to a security problem with Vector Markup Language (VML), Microsoft has given in and issued a patch before the monthly “Patch Tursday”. The patch is described in an update to the September patches. Download is here. Part of Microsoft’s announcement:
Microsoft released security update MS06-055, outside of the regular [...]
WGA problems pile up
Continuing problems with the Microsoft program Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) are described further by Ed Bott in another of his series of posts on this really intrusive and often malfunctioning effort by Microsoft to extract every penny possible from PC users. Bott is doing the computer community a real service by keeping after Microsoft. Be [...]
Windows Genuine Annoyance strikes again
The stories about difficulties caused by the Windows Genuine Advantage spyware continues. Ed Bott tells of more travails.
How to set up a wireless network
The majority of home PC users now have broadband Internet access and with broadband has come an increase in home networking. A wireless network is easy to set up and a router can be bought for the price of a restaurant dinner for two. Having the Internet available anywhere in the house is a definite [...]
NY Times now available online back to 1851
InternetWeek reports
The New York Times announced Thursday that it has completed the digital archiving of issues going back to Sept. 18, 1851. The 155-year collection can be accessed through TimesSelect, a free service for regular subscribers and available to others for $49.95 annually.
Articles printed prior to 1981 are rendered in PDF (Portable Document Format), the [...]
Microsoft Works suite to become Web-based?
The low-end office suite called Microsoft Works has been a mainstay for home users who had no need for all the functions and complications of the full-blown Microsoft Office. In fact, for most home PC owners, using Office is like cracking a peanut with a sledgehammer. I doubt if most people use more than a [...]
