Windows Tips and Tricks

Two years ago, Microsoft added SyncToy to its PowerToys collection. It has now been updated to version 2. The tool is designed to keep the contents of two different folders synchronized. It is useful as a folder backup or for using a thumb drive to keep the contents of folders on different computers the same. It’s a little heavy-handed since it uses certain SQL server components but comments on the Web are reasonably favorable. Personally, I use my own little program or Karen Kenworthy’s Replicator but you might like to try this free Microsoft offering. Download is here.

Addendum: Be prepared for the fact that SyncToy is very slow.

As I have said before, one big advantage for the Firefox browser is all the free extensions that can be added. For example, there are excellent controls for configuring scripting and for blocking obnoxious ads. Internet Explorer has far fewer useful free add-ons but I have been trying one for a few weeks that I am going to keep. It is called IE7Pro and is for Internet Explorer 7. It describes itself this way:

IE7Pro includes Tabbed Browsing Management, Spell Check, Inline Search, Super Drag Drop, Crash Recovery, Proxy Switcher, Mouse Gesture, Tab History Browser, Web Accelerator, User Agent Switcher, Webpage Capturer, AD Blocker, Flash Block, Greasemonkey like User Scripts platform.

As previously posted, crafty hackers were seeding malware sites into the results of searches on the major services. InformationWeek reports that Google has cleaned these out:

In response to a concerted effort by cybercriminals to infect the computers of Google (NSDQ: GOOG) users with malware and make them unwitting partners in crime, Google apparently has purged tens of thousands of malicious Web pages from its index.

Google itself has made no comment. There is no way to know how complete the purge has been, so remain on guard.

While it hasn’t quite reached the media frenzy that accompanied the iPhone, the discussion about Amazon’s new ebook reader is a big item in the media. Some of it may be the relief by professional writers hoping that people may actually be reading books for a change but on the whole Kindle sounds interesting. It would be a lot more interesting if it cost about $200 less, however. Also, observers seem to think that Amazon needs lessons in industrial design. There are a slew of postings about Kindle. Here is a random selection:

• Ars Technica

It’s clear that the Kindle is part of a major push into digital content for Amazon, one that has required a lot of behind-the-scenes work and alliances with other companies. As of right now, however, the success of this specific part of the venture depends on the selling power of the Kindle. Although the unlimited wireless access is a strong selling point, the networking capabilities of the device appear fairly limited. And the $399 starting price seems a bit high for a device with these limitations and some really questionable aesthetics.

• PC World

With the $399 Kindle, Amazon’s first hardware offering, users can download thousands of titles, plus periodicals and Web fare from Whispernet.

• Detailed review at Ars Technica

For a certain audience, primarily heavy readers and travelers, the Kindle as it stands would make a good purchase. There’s no need to pack several books, and if you find a book isn’t what you’re looking for at the moment, you can easily move on to another, including one you haven’t purchased yet. Anyone who is considering the Kindle in part due to its ability to handle content aside from books should spend some time pondering how much they’d enjoy reading that material within the device’s limitations. Amazon may yet improve the translation of this content to the Kindle reading model but, for now, it just doesn’t work as well as it does in its native medium.

• Review by Mike Elgan

Last April, I wrote a column titled, “Why e-books are bound to fail.” My reasons: cost, the availability of better alternatives and, most importantly, book lovers love paper books.

I was wrong.

This week, I set out to deflate the hype about Amazon’s new Kindle e-book reader and to tell you why it will fail. But while researching this column, I became convinced of the opposite: Kindle is revolutionary and will succeed in the market. Some percentage of book lovers, including me, will buy one to replace their beloved paper books, magazines and newspapers.

• Review by Walt Mossberg

Amazon has nailed the electronic-book shopping experience. But it has a lot to learn about designing electronic devices.

For what many people do, Office is not only very expensive but overkill. Sure, Office has a raft of features but how many do you use? In fact, how many do you even know about? Do you use spread sheets with pivot points? There are some alternatives to Office that will cost you a lot less (maybe nothing) and PC Magazine has an article discussing some possibilities.

Naturally, home users and business offices have different needs so that may be why the article does not mention Microsoft Works, which is more than adequate for many home users.

Steve Bass has a suggestion for getting help with holiday shopping. He recommends Retrevo. I haven’t had time to check the service out personally but Bass writes:

With every search, Retrevo grabs information from blogs, forums, reviewers, and manufacturers, and gives me a quick overview in one easy-to-read panel. At a single glance I can get price examples and a few product specs, learn if other users like the product, and see what Retrevo thinks about the product’s selling price. Scroll down from the overview and you’ll find links in categories that include expert and user reviews, company information, and shopping sites.

The bad guys have another stratagem up their sleeves. ZDNet reports that hackers are planting links to malware so that they turn up in Google searches:

For the last two days, security software firm Sunbelt Software has been all over what could develop into a scary trend: Rigged Google search results that deliver big malware payloads.

Be careful what you click on in a search list. Check sites before you click on them. Keep scripting turned off except for the few sites that you know are safe and that need scripts. Some details of the exploits are at the Sunbelt Software blog.

Let’s hope Google applies its technical prowess to fix this problem in a hurry.

Update: It isn’t just Google searches that are affected. eWeek reports that Yahoo and Microsoft Live have the same problem.

Google keeps building on Google Maps and now it has added a “Terrain” button that hikers, climbers, and nature lovers will enjoy. Details are at this link. Here is a partial description:

Today we’re releasing Terrain maps to help highlight this natural beauty even more. These maps focus on physical features such as mountains, valleys, and vegetation. They contain labels for even very small mountains and trails and are enhanced with subtle shading that can often give a better sense of elevation changes than a satellite image alone.

Holiday shopping time is here but before you buy that gizmo you might want to see what others think about it. A post at Lockergnome points out a site called Summize that is a search engine just for product reviews.

Whether this narrowly focused search engine is more efficient at finding reviews than a general search engine I’m not sure. To a large extent, success with a search facility depends on your technique. As a quick and unscientific test, I tried looking for rock polishers (an item desired by a grandson). Entering “rock polisher” at Summize turned up only 8 reviews of 2 products. Searching “rock-polisher review” at Google gave 896 entries. Some were chaff but there was a lot more information than at Summize.

Of course, rock polishers are not exactly high on the popularity lists so I tried searching for iPhone reviews. Summize found several hundred relevant items and four or five hundred not so relevant items. An entry “iPhone review” at Google gave 157,000,000 results. And there you see the possible advantage of the specialized search engine. It doesn’t bury you with so many results that the search is useless. However, Google is usually (but not always) very good at what it chooses to put in the first 100 or so results. The first 100 for iPhone included some heavyweights like the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, CNET, and Ars Technica.

But perhaps that is not what you’re looking for. If you want to skip what the professional reviewers say and want to know what Joe and Jane Average think, then the specialized searches may be better. What Joe or Jane say will likely be so buried at Google that you’ll never see it.

A serious security flaw is being reported for the QuickTime player yet again. No fix is available as of this posting. Personally, I would disable it if I had it. This is one buggy piece of software. Don’t let it connect to the Internet. If you have an outbound firewall, block it. Greg Keizer writes in the reference above:

Apple last patched QuickTime less than three weeks ago, when it released Version 7.3 to fix a number of critical image-rendering and Java-related vulnerabilities. So far in 2007, Apple has issued six QuickTime security-related updates that have fixed a total of 31 flaws.