Archive for December, 2006
Watch out for New Year’s worm
The bad guys never rest and they are trying to take advantage of the New Year’s holiday. A worm email holiday message with a Trojan is circulating. I’ve received several myself. ZDNet reports:
An e-mail worm disguised as a New Year’s greeting is making the rounds on the Internet.
Worm-laden messages are titled “Happy New Year” [...]
Vista security flaw overstated, say some
The Vista security flaws discussed in the NY Times article mentioned in a prior post may be less serious than the article seemed to imply according to some commentary cited in a post from Mary Jo Foley. She says:
While all Windows flaws deserve serious attention, it seems like Vista Flaw No. 1 may not be [...]
How to keep the Windows XP system clean
I have revised and updated a previous article that I wrote on maintaining Windows. It can be found here. I have also added an article on How to use Disk Cleanup. This utility is one of the system tools that comes with Windows XP.
Security flaws in Vista?
Today’s New York Times has an article about reported new flaws in Vista security. Since Microsoft has been pushing much improved security as a big selling point for its new operating system, any problems in this area would not be good news for Redmond. According to the Times article:
Microsoft is facing an early crisis of [...]
Before you connect a new computer
If you or someone in your family gets a new computer for Christmas (or any other time), there are some precautions to follow before you hook up to the Internet for the first time. CERT at Carnegie-Mellon outlines a procedure to follow to make sure that you are protected when you connect.
Suggestions for last-minute software gifts
Do you still need to get a holiday gift for someone? Here are several software suggestions that don’t even require you to go out and buy them. They can be downloaded and tried out before purchase. Gift-wrapping may be tricky but they are programs that I use all the time and provide very useful services [...]
Selected Links
Ewing SeniorNet
Tips from the ElderGeek
Langa blog
Tech Support Alert
Neat Net Tricks Newsletter (subscription required)
Dave’s Computer Tps
Windows Insight
Holiday hiatus
Because of travel and the holiday season, I will be posting only sporadically until after the new year begins.
Happy holidays!
Mouse rage syndrome
The Internet is responsible for a lot of things. That apparently includes its own medical problems. We’ve probably all heard of the cases of people who become so addicted to the Internet that it interferes with their life and health. You may remember the South Korean who died after playing Internet games for 50 hours [...]
The computing year in review
It’s that time of year when all sorts of articles appear with reviews of the events of the year. Go to this link for PC Magazine’s look back at computer happenings in 2006. The article says:
We rate the best and worst of the year in technology, from ultra-cool PCs, phones, and cameras to a company [...]
More on Vista
This time it’s an article in today’s New York Times by David Pogue. Pogue, who has written a number of computer books, says that Vista has a beautiful look. In fact, very much like a Mac, so he suggests that maybe Microsoft did a lot of “borrowing”. He gives a good survey of features and [...]