Archive for April, 2007
New PowerPoint viewer
The latest version of Microsoft Office is using a new XML type format for its documents. Older versions of Office will need a converter to view the new format. I gave a link to download these converters in a previous post. Not everybody has the full Office suite but still may wish to be able [...]
Google calculator tricks
Google isn’t just a search engine but has a lot of tricks and special functions. One feature that I like is the Google calculator. It isn’t that it does the usual calculator stuff like multiply and extract square roots. While all these usual functions are available, they are usually more conveniently done on the desktop [...]
Hard drives fail- so back up
Do you back up regularly? Hard drives may be more reliable than they once were but PC World reports that hard drive failure may be more common than supposed. According to the report:
Your hard drive may not be as reliable as manufacturers would like you to think. Recent studies by researchers at Carnegie Mellon and [...]
Combine Google Apps and Microsoft Office
Instead of choosing one or the other, Office Watch suggests combining Google Apps and Microsoft Office:
Google’s move to an online version of Office continues with the announcement that they have purchased an online presentation system. Later this year Google Docs and Spreadsheets will also include something akin to Microsoft Powerpoint.
In most discussions of Google Apps [...]
Web 2.0 security problems
One of the biggest reasons that I think that the so-called Web 2.0 applications are not going to replace local programs as rapidly as some are predicting is security or rather the lack thereof. PC World has an article that says that Web 2.0 security is seriously flawed. The article cites security expert Robert Hansen:
Hansen, [...]
Possible changes for better Windows security
Microsoft’s much advertised efforts at greater security in Vista received some tarnish when the ANI exploit hit. The exploit used a type of security hole that has been known for a long time so questions arose about Microsoft’s neglect of this mode of attack. Ryan Naraine at ZDNet discusses Microsoft’s efforts to answer this somewhat [...]
Customize Windows Vista
PC Magazine has a series of articles on customizing and optimizing Vista. The article links are:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2106626,00.asp
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2110431,00.asp
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2112738,00.asp
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2121540,00.asp
Build your own robot
Last year, Microsoft announced that it was interested in creating software for powering robots. This brought to my mind images of robots gone berserk from buggy programs or creating mayhem because “Windows Genuine Advantage” labeled the owner a pirate. In any event, Microsoft is now being joined by two other technology powerhouses to fund robot [...]
The pool is full of phish
Yeterday, I remarked that the continuing flood of phishing mails indicated that there were still plenty of suckers out there. It’s even worse than I thought. I came across an article today reporting a study of phishing success and what was found is dismaying:
Phishers might be getting takers on as much as 14 percent [...]
Google 411
As noted before, Google is exploring voice-powered search. The company has a page that explains one of its current efforts:
Welcome to Google Voice Local Search
Google Voice Local Search is Google’s experimental service to make local-business search accessible over the phone.
To try this service, just dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) from any phone.
Using this service, you can: [...]
Message rules in Outlook Express
Like many email clients, Outlook Express comes with capability for filtering email according to various rules or criteria that you can set up. These rules can be used to direct mail from certain senders or mail about certain subjects to a particular folder or they can be used to control spam by blocking email [...]