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May 8, 2005 |
WTVN Radio • Columbus, Ohio Sunday morning from 8 until 9 |
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Super Ad BlockerSuper Ad Blocker is a utility for Microsoft's Internet Explorer that's designed to eliminate pop-ups, sypware, and other annoyances. I've found it difficult to evaluate because it works only with Internet Explorer and I rarely use IE these days. If you still do, you need this application. It's the best protective add-in for Internet Explorer.
The applications blocks pop-ups, pop-unders, Flash, rich media, fly-in, fly-over, Windows Messenger ads. In addition, it blocks and removes more than 1500 spyware and adware components. Active spyware applications are killed and new attempts to install spyware are foiled. It also blocks banner ads, which usually aren't dangerous but can be annoying.
The final feature of Super Ad Blocker is the ability to block sponsored ads in search engines such as Google and more than 20 other search engines and websites. This is a feature you can turn off. If you're looking for something to purchase, sponsored search ads can be helpful, but they can also provide misleading information. Super Ad Blocker lives in the Tray (big red X) and a right-click on the icon brings up a menu of settings and useful utilities. For $30, this is the best protection that you can give Internet Explorer.
I've been attacked by a TigerThis will not be a comprehensive look at Apple's new operating system, but we'll take a quick look at Tiger, at why it's undoubtedly Apple's best operating system ever, and about why you might want to wait a bit before installing it ... or install it immediately. I'm still not willing to say that there is a "best" operating system because the definition is far too broad. "Best" for what? If you're planning to set up a Web server, Linux is a clear choice. For the usual desktop applications, Windows XP is hard to beat. But if I were buying my very first computer, I would be sorely tempted to make it an Apple running OS X Tiger. When I bought my first computer (Intel 8088 processor, 4.7MHz, 320KB memory, 2 floppy disk drives), a DOS machine made sense for what I needed to do. Later, when I thought about buying an Apple, graphics and publishing programs became available for the PC. Then Windows came along – horrid at first, but later a good operating system. And I've continued to use Windows machines as my primary machines because I understand them and because they do what I need them to do. But ... if I needed a computer today – my first computer – I would have to consider Apple seriously. I've seen some reports of problems that result from upgrading to Tiger, but I haven't encountered any of them. If you're the brave sort of Apple user, go ahead and upgrade to OS X version 10.4. On the other hand, if you'd prefer to be sure that everything will work when you upgrade, I'd caution you to wait a bit. An interesting twist on the Nigerian scamIf you haven't yet received a Nigerian money scam, you will someday. This week I received an imaginative variant. It's really quite inventive. I presume this particular creep has sent his message to every site his spider can find that talks about digital photography. This one came to one of the addresses associated with Technology Corner.. Hello It's very Nice to know this web-site and find what exactly thing I'm Looking for! I'm Bishop Scott James,i will like you to get in touch with me in regards to the availability on May 29 2005,And I would be glad if you can be the photographer for my wedding which will take place in (Hawaii),am presently in U.K For the preparation of my wedding and won't be back until one week before the date of the wedding for some necessary preparations. Furthermore,I just want to know how you will prepare your self down for the wedding B'cos I am invited the Magazine Marketing Company from U.K that will come for the Essential Coverage for the event I will like to know if you will accept cashier cheque for payment b'cos my mode of payment will be through Cashier Cheque...So please let me know your availability and Price Per Hour as for five Hour's.Looking forward to read back from you. ! Thanks. N.B...I will pay for the travel fees expenses to Hawaii. ------------------------------------------------------------- What's the scam? Undoubtedly he'll suddenly need an advance of some money because his bank is closed for the day or he lost an eyelash, or his bride hopped a bus to Albuquerque, but for some reason he'll probably need money. He'll promise to repay, of course, and probably with interest, with his "cashier checque". Did you receive a real copy of Windows with your computer?Some computer manufacturers provide "recovery discs" that, if used, will format the hard drive (deleting all data on the drive), reinstall the operating system, and leave the computer in the condition it was when you first bought it. The practice of including restore CDs or just placing the OS in a separate directory is one of the more despicable practices manufacturers have come up with. The restore/recovery disc makes it easy for tech support, but as unfortunate users have discovered, its rather hard on the user. A good question to ask when buying a computer: Does this machine include a full physical copy of Windows (insert version here) or do you provide only a restore/recovery CD or just a copy of the operating system in a special sector on the hard drive? If you don't get a physical copy of the Windows CD, you don't want the machine. Or if you really like the machine and it comes only with a restore CD, go ahead and buy it -- but also buy a full copy of Windows, install it, and throw the restore/recovery disk away. OK, maybe that's hyperbole, but at least put a label on it that reminds you not to use it to fix system problems. Who will protect us from the people who are supposed to be protecting us?If you sometimes think the people who are "in charge" are absolutely clueless, you're not alone. US military censors who apparently don't understand how Adobe Acrobat works accidentally released secret information when they made public details of the incident that cost the life of an Italian security official in Iraq. Reporters uncovered blacked-out text in a PDF document and found classified information about the shooting of an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq. This is the same kind of problem that has bitten corporate public relations people and others. Microsoft Office applications (Word, PowerPoint, and Excel) keep a lot of old information with documents unless you know enough to make the applications delete the old information. But in this case, military censors just blacked out text they wanted people not to read. Recovering such text is a snap, even for a reporter who's not technologically astute. If you're going to send someone a file, any file, it makes sense to be sure what's in the file before you send it. And there may be more in there than you think. If you want to remove information from a PDF, remove the information from the Word document and then create a new PDF. That's one solution. Another is an application such as Redax, an application that securely removes information from PDFs. Back in the days when I requested my FBI file under the Freedom of Information Act, I received a document that was a copy of my file. Actually, it was a copy of a copy. The FBI censor had copied the pertinent pages, deleted most of the information with a marker, and then made a copy of the blacked-out pages. That's what I received. The edited information wasn't available to me. (The FBI, you'll be happy to know, concluded that I was not a threat to national security. In some ways, I've always regretted that.) Nerdly NewsW32/Sober -- 18 months after it appeared, idiots are still clicking on infected Zip files
I rarely send messages warning about a specific threat because my general guidelines (below) cover all existing worm/virus threats. This particular little worm is a bit more top-of-mind for me because of the onslaught. Variants of W32/Sober have been around for EIGHTEEN MONTHS, but fools continue to open infected attachments and thereby infect their computers. A generic warning: Any message with an unexpected Zip file should be deleted. In fact, any message with any unexpected attachment should be deleted. My guidelines
It has now been five years since the I LOVE YOU worm showed how much trouble can be caused be people opening attachment that arrive unannounced. Five years. And still people blithely open attachments. A gaggle from GoogleGoogle's juggernaut continues. The company has recently added several new applications to its beta page. The Google Web Accelerator this week joined My Search History, Google Ride Finder*, Google Maps, and Google Video -- all added since the first of the year. The names are sufficiently descriptive that I don't need to tell you what they do. The company continues to develop applications that are helpful, but that raise privacy and security concerns with some people. Google acknowledges the opportunities for abuse, but says that the advantages outweigh the threats. Applications in beta are free for you to download and try, but there is no support for them. Google tends to leave applications in beta testing for a bit too long. GMail, for example, is solid and stable, but it still has the "beta" label. To try some of the applications (standard warnings about beta applications apply) visit labs.google.com.
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Super Ad Blocker makes Internet Explorer tolerable, but I still prefer to use Firefox or the latest iteration of Opera. Most users still put up with Internet Explorer, though, and those are the people who need this application.
Super Ad Blocker also halts trojans that download other spyware or steal personal information from your computer. If you're concerned about cookies or history files, Super Ad Blocker takes care of them, too.
NINE CATS: If you're still using Microsoft's Internet Explorer (and about 90% of Internet users still are) this is an application you need if you want to get rid of distracting ads and dangerous spyware. 
I seem to have hit the jackpot this week. Friday's 87 W32/Sober-infected messages brought to more than 1000 the total number of infected messages I've received this week. Click the link at the right to see one 8-hour period's harvest. 
