Archive for June, 2008
Freeware tweaks for Vista
I haven’t had any tips for Vista lately but here is a collection of useful freeware for making some tweaks to that version of Windows. The applications are at Tech Support Alert:
This section is dedicated to software specifically targeting Windows Vista. These are mainly tools and utilities offering ways to make life with Vista [...]
Clean up your Internet favorites/bookmarks
If you’re like me, you have a pretty large collection of Internet Explorer favorites and/or Firefox bookmarks. Since the Internet is always in flux, it’s a good bet that sooner or later some of these links will no longer work. I periodically check my collections with the free program AM-Deadlink and weed out the dead [...]
More about how the Web is changing our brains
The question of how much the Web (often exemplified by Google) is changing our thought processes is being discussed more and more. I previously posted about the article in the Atlantic by Nicholas Carr that asked the question, Is Google Making Us Stupid?. Now, Andrew Sullivan has written in the Sunday Times (of Britain), Google [...]
How to use the Web to save on grocery bills
With the exception of economists and others who believe the absurdities of government statistics, everybody knows that inflation is heating up and that food prices have been on a tear. MarketWatch has an article that discusses how to use the Web to save a little money:
The cost of groceries is on the rise, as is [...]
Keep the “Start-All Programs” menu in order
Certain questions about Windows get asked over and over. One of the recurring puzzlements for average PC users is how to alphabetize the All Programs list in the Windows XP Start Menu. As you add new programs, the list gets jumbled but it is very simple to get everything back in order. I posted something [...]
Why home computing is a mess
A home computer is by far the most complex item that an average consumer is likely to own. Unfortunately, many of the possible uses of the standard home computer require a level of technical understanding that the average user does not have. Also a computer requires a level of routine maintenance that is [...]
QuickTime needs more patches
Speaking of media players, the never-ending parade of patches for QuickTime goes on. Apple has issued another update. Ryan Naraine writes:
Apple has shipped a highly critical QuickTime software update with patches for at least five code execution vulnerabilities haunting Windows XP, Windows Vista and Mac OS X users.
With QuickTime 7.5, Apple corrects multiple buffer overflows, [...]
Media players galore
For better or worse, multimedia files have a large and growing presence on the Web. Unfortunately, there is no one format that everybody uses. Many sites use Adobe Flash for video because the files are more compact and almost everyone has a Flash plug-in for their browser or can easily download one. However, Windows Media [...]
Incompetence behind most data break-ins?
We keep seeing stories about how security has been breached at some company and sensitive data like social security or credit card numbers stolen. Is this because the hackers are so smart? There are, in fact, some very clever hackers out there but a blog at The Wall Street Journal says incompetence makes it [...]
Confusing jargon: Meaning of Web 2.0 is cloudy
Tuesday, I went to a presentation on Web 2.0. The audience was primarily senior citizens and many of them were mystified by the term “Web 2.0″. Not unreasonably, they thought that such a term should mean something new and different enough that it was tangibly and obviously different from Web 1.0. Being practical people, they [...]
Online language and word tools
Gina Trapani has posted a selection of useful sites for anyone who writes or just wants to look up the meaning of a word. She begins her Lifehacker article:
When you need a word’s definition, translation, pronunciation, synonym, or antonym, you don’t have to haul an enormous tome from the bookshelf, dust it off, and ruffle [...]