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Who's in the corner?
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October 10, 2004 (from Sandy Eggo) |
Random thought:
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I'm in San Diego this week for PowerPoint Live, Rick Altman's annual conference for users of Microsoft's presentation program. Last year I taught a digital photography session, but that track has been eliminated this year, so I'm just a participant. The program that should have
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The Picasa menu system includes exactly the features that most people want. You can print an individual image or create a "contact sheet" (thumbnails) of many images, e-mail an image, or order prints. | |
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The view menu allows the user to choose small or normal thumbnails as well as a unique "timeline" view that shows the various albums in order by date. | |
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When the user selects an individual image and chooses "Properties", Picasa shows the name of the file, the directory it's in, its size (in pixels and bytes), its creation date, and whatever EXIF information the camera recorded. |
Technology corner rating for PICASA |
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NINE CATS: Picasa would be a worthwhile choice, even if you had to buy it. Because it's free, the decision to obtain it is easy. Picasa is a Windows-only application, though. |
| How the Technology Corner rating system works. | |
For more information, see the Picasa website.
An acquaintance recently had a near-death experience with her computer's disk drive. Fortunately, the data from the dying drive was recoverable. The problem generated a question ("What kind of backup do you use?") that's worth talking about.
I have an external FireWire hard drive that lives at the office.
Once a week, I take it home and do a differential backup (all files that have changed since the previous full backup). Once a quarter, I do a full backup. The full backup omits a few things (contents of several art CDs and DVDs that are on the hard drive, contents of the dictionary, etc -- things that can easily be restored from the original media). Even though I back up all applications, my primary goal is to ensure that I have all the settings files -- some programs store modified UI settings in the Registry, some in the Windows directory, and some in the application's directory. A full backup (around 50GB) takes a couple of hours; differential backups (3 to 10GB) are usually under 30 minutes.
When the backup is complete, I return the external drive to the office because the device being backed up and the backup should not be in the same location. Tonight is backup night. Both full and differential backups are on the same device (some danger there) but I assume the chances of both the hard drive and the backup device failing simultaneously are fairly low. From Friday through the following Thursday, there is the opportunity to lose all new work, but much of what I do for websites is posted immediately to the site; I usually store development files on the server; if I'm working on something critical, it also lives temporarily on my 512MB Crucial "Gizmo".
Backup devices may be expensive, but they are nothing compared to the value of the data.
With improvements to Microsoft's browser in Windows XP service pack 2 and applications such as Super Ad Blocker, I almost switched back to Internet Explorer as my default browser. Almost. Why did I decide not to and what is my default?
At this moment (9:10 pm on October 3, 2004) Microsoft may once again have the "best" browser for most people. If you've installed service pack 2 for Windows XP, IE finally has a good pop-up blocker and if you buy Super Ad Blocker (I'll talk about it in another show) you'll be able to block all the trash.
So why is my default browser not IE? The answer is a 4-letter word: Tabs. IE doesn't yet have tabbed browsing. Opera does. Mozilla does. Firefox (the next generation Mozilla) does. And that's why my default browser is now (deep breath) Firefox.
Yes, it's still beta. I try to avoid using beta software and had been using Mozilla 1.7.3 as my default browser. When I started talking about Mozilla a few months ago, I heard from several listeners who had visited Mozilla.org and had downloaded Firefox instead of what I'd been recommending. Most said they liked it.
But I stuck with Mozilla until about a week ago. Mozilla didn't recognize my e-mail program and every time I clicked a mailto link in Mozilla, the application opened the Mozilla e-mail client (which I hadn't even set up). I could easily copy the address, close Mozilla's e-mail client, switch to The Bat, paste in the e-mail address, and continue with my message, but it was annoying to have to do that and there was no obvious way to teach Mozilla to use The Bat.
So I opened Firefox, which had been installed for a while, and went to a website with a mailto link. I clicked the line and The Bat opened. Eureka! Tabbed browsing. A non-Netscape look. The right response to clicking a mailto link. Yeah!
I've been using Firefox as my default browser for a while now and I like it. For one thing, it doesn't look like Netscape. Mozilla 1.x still had a Netscape look. Firefox has lost that appearance.
With a single click, I can open a baker's dozen of websites and move from one to the next with ease. Yes, two of the sites are comics pages.
The open-source Mozilla project has, within the past few months, moved far beyond the source code that Netscape ceded to the organization. The Firefox browser is nearing completion on all platforms and Mac user will soon see not only the first "stable" release of Firefox, but also Camino, an OS X only browser.
Despite the machinations of the Unix/Linux/Mac crowd that IE is the spawn of Satan and that only a fool would use it, Internet Explorer remains the browser that most people use. Market share has dropped from 98% to 96% in recent weeks (and that is a significant shift that has Microsoft worried) but IE is still the leader. I use IE for one website that lists cable TV programs because the new pop-up blocker and Super Ad Blocker combine to make the site usable. IE is safe, if ...
If you pay close attention to browser updates and if you're a cautious Web surfer, there is no reason to abandon IE. It's the browser most websites are designed for. It's acceptably safe if you're careful. Mozilla browsers have their own security problems. But the fact is that most virus/worm/Trojan attacks focus on either Internet Explorer or Outlook. Limiting your use of either application limits your exposure.
I'm not saying that Firefox is "better" or "safer". That's up to you to decide. But it is less likely to be a target of crackers because it has a 2% or 3% market share. If Firefox had a 96% market share, it would be in the target that crackers would be aiming at.
My advice today (subject to change without notice) is not to use IE as your default browser. Either Firefox or Mozilla will serve well as your default browser. Mac users should take a look at Camino, even though it's early in the beta process. And some sites will display properly only in IE.
It's not a widespread threat yet, but PandaLabs is warning that a new, dangerous worm is squirming around the Internet. It's a threat for those who use Internet Relay Chat (IRC). The worm creates an HTTP server and then generates a lot of files containing copies of its code. It names the files to suggest that they are "cracks" of protected applications and games.
Then the worm logs on to various IRC channels, pretends to be a user, and sends a lot of messages. The messages offer "cracked" software with message like this: "Everyone interested in the newest cracks can visit my private server while I'm online."
I can't feel too sorry for the morons who get bitten by this toothy little worm because anyone who follows one of the offered links is hoping to steal something. The worm-generated HTML pages have randomly generated style sheets, so infected pages look different each time a user visits them.
The worm terminates antivirus and security tools and also sends e-mail with random subjects, but each message contains the worm's code. Just for fun, the writer launches attacks against various software publishers' websites.
According to a Panda spokesman, "Users must be alert, ignoring any messages that offer content they have not asked for, whatever internet service they are using." According to me, "If you follow a link that offers you stolen goods, what you get is what you deserve."
The Arizona Republic reports instances of "drive-by computer hackers" who cruise neighborhoods and connect to wireless networks they find. These folks already have a name -- "wardrivers". They're looking for unprotected wireless Internet connections. Some just want a free ride on your high-speed line, but others hope to hijack user IDs, passwords, and credit card numbers.
In August, three Michigan men pleaded guilty after being apprehended while they were using an unprotected Wi-Fi access point outside a Lowe's home-improvement store in suburban Detroit. They weren't just looking for Internet access, though; they were stealing credit card numbers.
Most Wi-Fi gear is still shipped with no password enabled or a default password. The first rule of security is: Change all default passwords and use something that's not easily guessed.
A new Trojan horse program attacks and removes advertising software according to Symantec, but you still don't want it on your computer. Downloader.Lunii attempts to turn off processes and delete files used by common adware programs. But then it modifies files and tries to download applications to your computer. Trojan horses vary from viruses and worms in that they don't attempt to spread from one machine to another; they just wait for remote attackers to contact them.
After doing its "good deed", Lunii downloads a new "hosts" file with a list of bogus websites. This could keep you from gaining access to sites you want to visit. Sometimes I feel like I'm an innocent bystander in the middle of a turf war between gangs. Lunii boots some bad applications, but it might open your computer to being turned into a zombie by somebody else.
Congress is beginning to think about this as a significant problem and about time!
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I may not have mentioned it, but Picasa reminds me a lot of Apple's Iphoto program, but it's clearly a Windows application.
Picasa includes a view that shows thumbnail-size images of all the pictures you've told it to find. Along the left side of the screen are the "albums" that Picasa has found. Each album is titled in the viewing pane.
