New look for the newsletter: This is the third week that I've sent the Technology Corner roundup as HTML e-mail. Most of the people who have commented on the change like it. Most say it's more readable. Although I still consider plain-text e-mail to be more "pure" (whatever that means), I have to agree that the formatting helps communicate the message. This week I'll tell you how I'm doing it.
Digital photography: 'Tis the season to be digital. There's no question that film is rapidly losing ground and digital is gaining. You can find digital cameras this year for less than $100 (avoid them) or for $8,000. You'll also find lots of choices between those extremes. We'll talk about what you might expect in the various price ranges and give you some tips for making sure that your great-great-grandkids are able to figure out who's in those pictures.
MP3 albums for $1? In the past few weeks, I've downloaded several albums from the Internet. I could have obtained them for $10 from Itunes, but I chose to use "AllOfMP3.com" because I can download most albums for about $1 (40 cents for CDs that replicate albums released in the 1960s to $1.50 for double-CD sets.) And it seems to be legal.
Have Ipod; need info: I was just sitting here minding my own business when an envelope flew over the transom, whacked me in the head, and delivered a couple of books from a company I'd never heard of. The Rough Guide to Ipods is what told me about AllOfMP3.com. And that's not all. This is a small book with a lot of information between its covers.
Nerdly News: Microsoft launched a service this week for people who want to create online personal journals. By any other name, a blog, Microsoft calls it "MSN Spaces" and users can add photos, music lists, and more to their blogs. • Starting sometime in 2005, HP computers will include what the company is calling "Virus Throttler" software that will watch for abnormal activity and then isolate the application that's responsible.
Improving AOL's AIM: AOL's instant messenger is useful and widely accepted, but I detest the application AOL provides. There are better solutions, both for PC users and for Mac users.
Microsoft Works is NOT an oxymoron: The latest version of Works (and a complete suite of applications) can be yours for about 3/4ths of a C-note. There are reasons beyond the price that you might want to consider it.
Phishing spikes: The organization that keeps an eye on phishing attempts says these bogus messages increased by 100 percent in a single month. They also say the problem will only get worse.
Nerdly News: Opera Software has a solution for the "it doesn't fit" problem that vexes website designers and website users alike, but it's not likely to have much of an effect until other browser manufacturers "borrow" the technology. • Computer Associates has named Kazaa the "number one spyware threat" on the Internet.
Phish and Firefox: A phish that arrived this week was clearly just that, but I decided to see what would happen if I tried following the link provided and Firefox immediately tipped me off that something was amiss. I tried it again with Internet Explorer and, depending on the features that were enabled, Microsoft's browser offered protection or not.
The Mac's exciting new past: Remember the old days of personal computers when most of the users wrote utilities and distributed them for free. Those days are back for Mac users. Unix-based utilities are showing up. Mac users, who previously derided the DOS command line, are learning to love that "newfangled" Unix command line.
How fast is your Internet connection? If you've ever wondered, I have some links for you that will let you find out.
Nerdly News: As long as you live in a state that doesn't have a tax on Internet service providers, the service will continue not to be taxed, but if you live in a state where taxes are already in force, a you'll continue to pay. • If you see skulls on your phone where icons should be, you'd better hope you have your data backed up.
Microsoft's browser threatened by worm and Firefox: Bad timing for Microsoft. Another worm that plays on a vulnerability of Internet Explorer started racing around the Internet this week just a the Mozilla Project released version 1.0 of Firefox. The worm is one that doesn't require you to do anything but visit a rogue website, so beware e-mails bearing links.
Own a domain name? If so, you'll want to visit your registrar right away and "lock" the domain name. The folks at ICANN now require a registrar to transfer a domain if they receive no response to a transfer request within 5 days. You could go on a short vacation and return to find that all of your domain names had been pilfered.
Nerdly News: If you're planning any holiday travel, this would be a good time to use the Internet to find the best fares. Actually, August would have been a good time, but better late than never. • Virtual trade shows threaten to put traditional trade shows out of business.
Entertainment from your PC: PCs will play an even larger part in the way we use entertainment and other kinds of media if Microsoft and Intel have their way. The two companies hope you'll want a new digital entertainment computer.
It's not Microsoft Word on the Mac, but it may be what you need: Mariner Write is a word processor the Macs that run OS X. It doesn't have all the features found in Microsoft Word, but it's a capable application that comes with one surprising features: Lifetime upgrades.
Patches and more patches: If you feel like you're always installing patches, that's because you probably are. And it doesn't matter whether your operating system is Windows, Unix, Linux, or OS X. They all have security problems.
Nerdly News: For a week the world's fastest computer was in Wisconsin. Now it's in Minnesota. The computer didn't move, but the title did. • And if you're a movie pirate, watch out. The studios have you in their sights and they won't be firing blanks.
Running Windows on your Mac: You have a Mac but occasionally need a Windows application. If that's the case, you don't need a Windows PC, but you do need Virtual PC. Microsoft has updated the former Connectix application and has optimized Virtual PC for Apple's G5 processors.
Additions for your browser: Mozilla's Firefox browser is simply outstanding. I've said a few nice things about it recently, but now that I've looked at some "extensions" for the browser, I'm convinced that this is the right default browser for most people.
Nerdly News: Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer says Windows costs less than other operating systems and has fewer security problems. It took him more than 2000 words to say that. • Awash in small pieces of green paper (most of which have a president's likeness on them) Google has bought yet another company. This one can show you where you live.
Wordperfect fires another salvo: Corel understand that Wordperfect will never enjoy the market share that the program held before Word came along. Microsoft has a strong grip on the market today, but Wordperfect is the right application for some people, and not always just because it costs less.
Thinking of buying a new monitor? As much as I like my flat-panel LCD monitor at home, I bought a flat-screen CRT for the office. It's important to match the monitor with the requirements of the user and the requirements of the job. We'll discuss some of the considerations.
Nerdly News: Corel has acquired Jasc, which means that Paint Shop Pro is now part of Corel's line. I think this combo could have legs. • Sony this week has been showing a new computer than can record 6 TV stations simultaneously for a week. Couch potatoes, rejoice!
Upgrading The Bat: My favorite e-mail program, The Bat, has been updated from version 2 to version 3. It has lots of new features and a batch of new bugs, but before I could complain about the bugs, RitLabs has released the first bugfix, which fixes some bugs and introduces a few.
Would you like to know where visitors come from? A new service offers to give website operators better insight into where their visitors are coming from. Even though the system thinks I'm in Michigan instead of in Ohio, there are reasons why this could be a valuable service.
Frightening record companies (and maybe politicians): Chris Stamey is an independent record producer and recording artist. When I heard something of his that I liked, I checked Apple's Itunes, found the CD, and downloaded it. Stamey has also produced some "get out the vote" public service announcements.
Nerdly News: Coming "soon" to a power line near you: The Internet. The FCC has given broadband over power line (BPL) technology the nod. • IBM in the UK has developed a technology they say might eventually do away with missing Web pages and broken links.
Digital camera owners will want this program: If you have a digital camera, and a lot of people do today, you'll want to download your FREE copy of Picasa. Google bought the company and is giving the program away. Dumb? No, Google doesn't do dumb. They're giving away the program that should have come with your digital camera and they're using it to market a photo printing service.
Another backup suggestion: An acquaintance saw her computer's life flash before her eyes when she realized that she had no backup and the hard disk had apparently failed. Fortunately, she got the computer to start one more time and got most of the data off the drive before it failed. Are you counting on similar luck?
What browser do I recommend ... really? My browser of the day: Firefox. The new-version Mozilla browser is so close to being version 1.0, and it's so good, that I have to recommend it as the default browser for most people.
Nerdly News: In Nerdly News, we have an account of a new worm that could come to visit your computer if you use Internet Relay Chat. A story from the Arizona Republic reminds me that most Wi-Fi setups aren't secure unless you reconfigure them. And there's a Trojan horse program that removes adware from your computer, but could be setting you up for something worse.
What's wrong with this @%#!! computer? Computers
are still far from perfect, but desktop systems have come a long way in
the past 20 years. Compared to other complex devices (automobiles, for
example) they're still hard to use. It's easy to complain about computers,
but would you really want to go back to doing things the old way?
Information you don't need about an unimportant concept (How
does this differ from any other subject Joe and I talk about on the show?) When
you're creating a graphic for the Web, what "dpi" setting should
you use? The answer is 1,000,000 dpi. Or 10 dpi. Who cares! It doesn't
matter. Even for print, dpi (dots per inch) doesn't matter, but why it
doesn't matter isn't easy to understand.
Nerdly News: TechX New York begins a 3-day run on Tuesday
and for the first time in nearly 20 years, I won't be there. The show continues
to shrink and this year I have a schedule conflict that takes me to San
Diego late in the week. And ... remember the story from several years ago
about digital cameras (probably in the 1 megapixel range) for $100 to be
on the market in a few years? Wrong. There are now $100 digital cameras,
but they're 3 megapixels, not 1.
Software for 90% off? I get several spams a day for software at 90% off. You're probably not surprised to learn that I ignore them. That's because you're smart enough to know that nobody sells software at 90% off. But some people apparently aren't that smart. And bad things happen to them.
Killing shareware: Will Windows XP SP2 kill shareware? Some people think it will because some shareware (and most freeware) sites don't have security certificates. I hope they're wrong.
Teaching teens to be better drivers: Daimler Chrysler has a computer-based application that's aimed at teaching young drivers how to be better drivers.
Nerdly News: Can too much security be a bad thing? There's a good case to be made for answering that question "YES!" • Remember the moron who wrote the Sasser worm? He got a job. With an anti-virus company.
Making your Mac (or PC) Manageable: Notebook computers are wonderful. And they're not so wonderful. The portability is welcome, but no notebook computer had a decent keyboard. Some have keyboards that are less bad than others, but they all need to be improved. Fortunately you can add an external keyboard. And a device made to elevate Apple Ibooks and PowerBooks works equally well for Windows PCs.
Critical update time: If you haven't yet upgraded Windows XP to SP2, you need to visit Microsoft's update site today. A new exploit can allow hostile JPG image files to damage your computer.
Tech support talk: The more I deal with tech support from any company, the more I'm convinced that companies actively instruct people to answer questions that haven't been asked, to point the customer in the wrong direction, and to ignore any real questions from the customer.
Nerdly News: Yeah, we have that, too. You'll learn why you won't be able to buy a copy of Microsoft's new cut-rate operating system.
Microsoft Office 2004 (Mac): Microsoft's headquarters is north of Seattle. You already knew that. Microsoft has a Macintosh Business Unit that's located in California. It's more or less autonomous and it routinely turns out exciting Mac applications. That's my opinion of Office 2004 for the Mac.
The death of a (salesman?) PDA: I was minding my own business when my Treo 600 went belly-up and refused to be roused, no matter what I did do it. Sprint replaced the unit, but that left me to replace the data.
Nerdly News: Have you seen the new G5 Imacs? They're no longer triangular wedges, but some members of the Mac press say the design was rushed and is seriously flawed. • The Linux crowd likes to make fun of Microsoft's security "issues" but now they have some serious "issues" of their own.
Windows XP SP2: Do it: I've given Windows XP SP2 a test run on a couple of computers and it hasn't caused any significant problems. Before you install SP2, you MUST have a COMPLETE and VERIFIED full backup. And it's a good idea to understand that CATASTROPHIC FAILURE is a possibility whenever you're dealing with this kind of upgrade to the operating system, but it appears that Microsoft has done a good job of creating the upgrade procedure.
But you still need a real firewall: Windows XP with SP2 has its own firewall. Well, half a firewall. If you want to be safe, you should still have ZoneAlarm from ZoneLabs.com and the good news is that, if you do, Microsoft's firewall doesn't try to lead -- it just gets out of the way.
Nerdly News: A few weeks ago, I talked about WinZip's 9.0 Service Release 1 (SR-1) beta. If you didn't download the beta (and even if you did) it's now time to download the SR-1 version. And remember: If you have ever purchased any version of WinZip, you're eligible for a free upgrade. • Starting Monday, American Airlines will charge additional fees for its tickets, except for those purchased online.
Pop-ups be gone! If you're tired of pop-up ads on websites, you'll want to know about a website that has links to lots of pop-up blockers and a way to test your computer to see how well your pop-up blocker is working.
High-tech auto insurance: Progressive Insurance is testing a plan that will allow the company to offer discounts to good drivers. All it requires is a small device that monitors the driver's actions.
Wandering down memory lane: Remember when powerhouse computers ran Windows 98 on an Intel MMX 233MHz processor? I made some safe* predictions back then and most of them have come true. *How safe? Along the lines of "The sun will rise in the east tomorrow morning."
Nerdly News: Windows XP SP2 for XP Pro is now available and there are some good resources available to help you get it installed properly and with as little trouble as possible. • The Justice Department says it's making some progress in the fight against on-line crime.
Supersonic art: The X-1 was the first US airplane to fly faster than sound. Xara X1 does for graphics applications what Chuck Yaeger's X-1 airplane did for flight.
Backup Backup Backup: Gloria Estefan and Clear Channel had to cancel a Dallas concert because of a computer crash. This could have been avoided for the price of a handful of tickets.
QuickSteps from Osborne: The Osborne division of McGraw/Hill has some new books that are unusual: Lavishly illustrated, appealingly designed, and in full color. Less than $20 each!
Nerdly News: Microsoft releases Windows XP SP2 to manufacturing. • Even fully-patched systems are vulnerable to a new attack. • And watch out for worms in your IM.
Another browser skirmish: It's like the early days of the Web, when many companies had browsers. Most people will continue to use Internet Explorer, but Mozilla has 2 offerings and a third Mac-only browser. These are worth looking at.
Dual-layer DVDs are at hand: Yes, there are burners and DVDs that allow you to record nearly double the amount of data you can get on a standard DVD, but you'd be wise not to rush out and buy one.
Nerdly News: People continue to open attachments that cause problems. This would be such an easy problem to fix if only we were machines, not humans. • Windows XP SP2 is available (legally) if you know where to look. I'll tell you where to look, but you have to promise not to.
From China, a foxy e-mail program: It's not Eudora. It's not Outlook. It's not The Bat. A Chinese e-mail application called Foxmail is developing a small following in the United States. We'll take a look.
Windows XP Service Pack 2 "any day now": The second service pack for XP will be available "soon" and I'm not standing in line for it. I'll install the update, just not immediately. "Why" is a longer story.
The dawn of Linux on the desktop? I keep hearing that. I keep looking at Linux and I keep seeing an operating system that's ideal for running server applications -- but I don't want a server on my desk.
Nerdly News: The first Trojan horse for the Palm PC is circulating and a security flaw has been discovered in Bluetooth.
Undelete that file: Sure, Windows has the Recycle Bin, but it can't help if you do something dumb like accidentally selecting all the text in your thesis, delete it, and then save the empty file. (It's been done. No, not by me.) Executive Software's Undelete program would have the previous copy back in seconds.
An update for WinZip: WinZip has a service release (beta) for version 9. If you're not afraid of beta software -- WinZip's betas are usually solid -- this would be a good one to download.
Microsoft economics 101: You announce the largest payout ever. Quarterly profits nearly double from last year. And your stock price falls. Eh?
Nerdly News: Coming up this week: System Administrator Appreciation Day. • Microsoft pitches in software and an employee to help track down "phishers" who are trying to steal your identity.
From PDF to Word instead of the other way around: If you need to use the text from within a PDF, extracting it can be a problem. Now a European OCR company has an application that does an excellent job of extracting text and may even be able to give you an editable version of the text in a layout that's similar to the original.
I thought I'd gone crazy: And maybe I had, but that has nothing to do with this account: Apple made some changes to the Ipod software that, while possibly logical, is annoying.
Nerdly News: Cell phone calls from an airplane? That's been forbidden for a long time, but a test reported by the San Jose Mercury News suggests that calls from planes in flight will probably become common. • It's been a busy week for security updates from Microsoft.
July 4 and July 11, 2004
No show either day: Technology Corner was being retrofitted with state-of-the-art retrograde antigravity frazzle blasters and because this would have causes the framis to be excessively granular, the show was not on the air.
Somebody wants your user ID and password: If you're using Microsoft's Internet Explorer, use something else until Microsoft patches a flaw that's being exploited to help crooks steal financial information from your keyboard. If you can't bear to use any browser but IE, then at least move the security setting to "high" for now.
InDesign: Missing a few features, but the best there is: While you can use a word processor to create brochures, catalog sheets, newsletters, and the like, a publishing application will do a better job. But which? I've been looking at Adobe's 3rd iteration of InDesign and I see an application with a big future. In this week's on-line synopsis, there's even a short history of how far "desktop publishing" has come in the past 20 years.
Nerdly News: Microsoft wants to get under your skin, literally, with devices that transmit data through you and use you as a power source. • In the coming week, the US Supreme Court will rule on the "Child Online Protection Act", which lower courts have found (3 times) to be in violation of the First Amendment.
How's your pop-up blocker working? About the time you think you've managed to block all the pop-up junk, somebody figures out a devious new way to get around the blocks. This week I'll tell you about a clever new site that has information about more pop-up blockers than I knew existed AND has tests so that you can see how well yours works.
Big pockets no longer needed: Unless you have pockets like Captain Kangaroo, you won't be able to carry around 700 floppy disks. But if you have a solid-state disk drive, you can carry an equivalent amount of data in a device that's about as large as a pen.
Seagate and the never-ending drive: Disk drives are more rugged than they used to be, but Seagate is now claiming a mean-time between failure period of 1.4 million hours. (Yes, that's nearly 160 years, but the warranty will still be for just 3 years, I'll bet.) In the next few months Seagate will release huge drives, tiny drives, and some astonishingly fast drives.
Nerdly News: Woody Leonhard (Woody's Windows Watch) says the upcoming Windows XP service pack 2 will almost certainly break a lot of computers. • When faced with a request to create a Do Not E-mail List, the FTC just said no and I'm happy that they did.
Abi Word: Free and flawed: Abi Word, written for Linux systems, has been ported to Windows. It's free and shows promise, but a version 2 application should be better than this. If you're looking for a free word processor, Open Office is a better choice.
Security updates from the big two: Both Microsoft and Apple released security patches this week. Problems fixed by the Microsoft patch are minor. The Apple patch takes care of some more serious threats. (Yes this does seem like a role reversal.)
"Witty" worm frightens security pros: Why are security experts so concerned by a worm that affected only 12,000 machines worldwide? Why are they RIGHT to be worried about this one?
Nerdly News: Mac Daily News says Steve Jobs needs a new crystal ball. He keeps making predictions that appear to be based solely on wishful thinking. • If you're thinking about buying a new DVD burner, wait a few weeks. Sony will ship its fastest burner ever for less than $200.
Security: It's up to you: How secure is your computer? An alarming number of computers have worms, viruses, and spyware installed. Many applications exist (most of them free) to help find and remove browser hijackers and spyware. It's important to check your computer occasionally.
Keeping an eye on the weather: This week I found a new (free) tray applet that keeps an eye on the weather in several cities and sounds an alarm when a watch or warning is issued. It's better than some of the paid applications I've seen. For weather geeks who want to see everything Pat Pagano sees (except the Long Island Distressway) there's Weather Underground -- free with ads or $5 per year to dump the ads.
Nerdly News: Nothing but worms, viruses, and other nasties this week. There's a key logger that tries to grab credit card information, user names, and passwords, another new worm targets kids with a Harry Potter enticement, and antivirus vendors are warning (again) about the need for users to install the latest Windows security updates.
Macromedia Studio MX 2004: The upgrade from MX to MX 2004 brings some new features, an improved user interface, better interoperability, and a bug or two. There's no question that Dreamweaver and the other components of the package will continue to be the choice of website professionals.
Sharper Image CD and DVD towers: Looking for a way to organize your CDs and DVDs -- and to make a fashion statement, too. Sharper Image has the solution.
Can Spam? The law has been on the books for 6 months and the only change I've seen in spam is that there's more of it than ever. The FBI is actively working on some cases and some of these creeps may find themselves behind bars.
Nerdly News: Spyware is another problem that seems to get worse every day and unless you're an uncommonly careful computer user, there's a good chance that there's some on your computer. • While it had nothing to do with the Can Spam act, one spammer has been canned. A New York spammer will spend at least 3 years in prison -- but the charges involved identity theft and other crimes.
Icon do it: You may think that a program that allows you to create icons would be something that only software developers would want, but that's not the case. If you create your own icons, you can add them to applications on your system.
Do you need/want an SMTP server? SMTP is "simple mail transport protocol". Do you want your own server? Will adding your own server make sending mail easier or harder?
Nerdly News: "Phishing" expeditions are more popular than ever, but there are lots of ways to tell fake requests from real requests. • A "virtual" break-in at Cisco let thieves make off with lots of Cisco's source code, but Cisco isn't being forthcoming about the theft.
Snapz Pro X: Screen captures for the Mac - I've told you about my favorite Windows screen capture program, SnagIt, and when I bought a Mac, I had to search for a similar utility that worked on OS X. Snapz Pro X is that utility.
Are Windows updates worth the hassle? - You have a firewall. You keep your antivirus program up to date. Must you also keep installing Microsoft's security patches? The short answer is YES! but the reasons may not be clear. Joe and I will talk about why you need to keep your Windows security patches up to date, too.
Nerdly News: Own a Mac and think you're safe from the nastiness you hear about on Windows machines? You've had less risk previously and your risk will probably never be as high as that experienced by Windows users, but be smug no more. The wolf is at your door. • Speaking of nastiness, Microsoft announced another serious threat this week and the patch to fix it. Microsoft also reminds us that viruses and worms often appear in messages that look like security warnings from Microsoft. There's an easy way to tell a legitimate warning from a dangerous imposter.
There was no show because the tsar was recovering from multiple abdominal wounds that were not suffered in a gunfight at the OK Coral. Click the link above for details.
This week we have a couple of esoteric applications that may not appeal to the widest number of listeners, but they're excellent applications that you may not yet know you need.
HTML standard setting: HTML is easy -- easy to mess up, that is. Browsers still manage to display something that's reasonably close to what you want even if you get the HTML wrong. Those days are ending. As browsers become more standards compliant, there are fewer reasons for creating non-standard HTML. The CSE HTML Validator can gobble up your malformed HTML and tell you how to fix it.
Camtasia makes movies: If you ever need to show someone a process on your computer, TechSmith's Camtasia is exactly the program you need. Camtasia starts by simplifying the capture process, makes it easy to add a soundtrack, and then offers a long list of output file formats.
Nerdly News: Security experts say that millions of computers have been compromised by "bots" but most people have never heard of bots. The problem is real and, what's worse, a patch provided by Microsoft to eliminate the problem causes some Windows 2000 machines to become unbootable. • Microsoft's long-anticipated security-laden Service Pack 2 for Windows XP won't be out before the middle of the year as expected. Instead, we should expect it in the 3rd quarter. • Gateway continues to bleed people. Another 40% of the remaining workforce will be laid off, dropping Gateway down to about 2000 employees from a high of 25,000.
Jasc Paint Shop Pro: Jasc isn't the biggest name in the business, but the company keeps coming up with bargain-priced applications that do far more than they should for the price. That's the case with the latest version.
Browsing the browsers: Microsoft is beset by dragons and fat ladies. Internet Explorer remains the most-used browser, but strong challengers match most of IE's features, exceed some, and offer some that Microsoft hasn't yet managed to reverse engineer. If you haven't seen the latest versions of Opera and Mozilla, you should take a look.
Nerdly News: Will Cisco routers mean the end of the Internet as we know it? From the reports flying around this week, you might think so. Yes, there's a problem. Yes, it's serious. But also yes, Cisco and others are working on it. • And it has finally happened: I'm going to have to say something nice about AOL. Not anything nice enough to make me want to use AOL, mind you, but I have to give credit where it's due. And for AOL, it's finally due. Pay attention, though. This may be the only time I'll do this.
ACD See 6: The initial release of ACD See had some interesting and useful new features, but it also had more than its share of bugs and operation was slow. Since that release, updates have exterminated most of the bugs and the latest update (to 6.3) takes care of the performance problem. I'm now ready to recommend it.
CD changers: If you enjoy music, you probably have a CD player. You may even have a changer that holds 25 CDs or more. Now there are changers that hold 200 CDs or more at surprisingly low prices. If you've been looking longingly at those high-capacity changers, now's the time to stop looking and take a trip to the store.
Nerdly News: A British CNet writer has some suggestions for reducing the impact of viruses and worms. Yes, most of what he says is just common sense, but there seems to be a shortage of that. • We'll also run down the latest series of critical updates from Microsoft. If you haven't run Windows Update this week, you need to do it now.
Your Mac still needs a Suitcase: Even if you've upgraded to OS X 10.3 on your Mac, there are some good reasons why you might still want to use Suitcase by Extensis to manage typeface files instead of relying on the tool that's now included with the system.
The world's fastest menu maker: We've talked about MenuMaker from Xara before, but a new version that costs just $10 to upgrade includes new features and support for more browsers.
How to run a business into the ground: While this isn't strictly a technology story, it's a cautionary tale of what can happen when a corporate website doesn't have accurate information about stores that fly the company's logo.
Nerdly News: More gloom and doom on the antivirus front. If you're running a computer without an antivirus program (even if it's a Mac) you've living in a fantasy world. We'll also mention the latest security threat that involves (but is not limited to) Microsoft's Internet Explorer.
Adobe Acrobat 6: Do you need it? The Reader is free. Download and install it if you haven't already done so. Beyond that, owning the Standard version or the Professional version might help you get your job done.
Medical technology: It's been a long time since I've had an up-close-and-personal look at medical technology and I was surprised by how many big machines I was pressed into contact with, had aimed at me, or was stuffed into.
Remember 1999? This isn't a trick question like "Remember the '60s?" Every company seemed to be trying to outspend every other company. When they eventually did, the Internet bubble burst. I found a reference in an earlier show that amused me.
Nerdly News: You already know about the latest 143 variants of Netsky and all the other vermin, so we won't be talking about those. Just keep your guard up. Instead, we'll take a look at a new (free) e-mail service on the way from Google (see "Remember 1999?" above) and we'll note Gateway's exit from the retail store scene.
A new look at Internet dangers: I spent most of this week in bed, but occasionally I used my Apple iBook to check e-mail. Because I rarely use the Apple to check e-mail, it doesn't have several layers of filters and blocks for spam and other effluvia of the Internet, so I got a look at what people who haven't installed filters see. It wasn't pretty.
Un-hijack your browser: I heard from a listener (early in the week when I was still coherent) with a question about how to take back his browser from a hijacker. This is an increasingly common problem and I have several resources for you that will help solve the problem if your browser has been hijacked and can eliminate the problem by making your browser more difficult to hijack.
See a lot of "{Virus?}" messages? A few Internet service providers are proactively stripping infected files out of messages. Because some people can't just "not click" an attachment, no matter who it's from, this is a big step forward in making the Internet safer. Messages that have had infected files stripped usually have a marker ("{Virus?}", for example) in the subject line and an explanation as an attached text file.
Guidelines for a safer system: The director of British Telecom Scotland has written a clear, brief summary of steps you can take to avoid trouble from the Internet. If you read nothing else, take 2 minutes to read this.
A safety net for your computer: If you've never experienced the "fun" of a hard disk crash, you will. Even DriveSavers, the company that makes its living rescuing data from dead disks, strongly recommends that you have a complete, accurate, current, and recent backup. They know that many people won't bother to install a program such as NTI's Backup Now Deluxe ($50-70) and will instead pay them ($1000 or more) to recover essential data from a damaged disk.
Remember the "pay me now or pay me later" campaign for oil filters? The same is true of computer backups.
In Nerdly News... I'll recount the story of the phish that I warned you about early in the week. We'll also consider the Can-Spam act and think optimistic thoughts about the future of e-mail.
Corel Draw Graphics Suite 12: Corel was acquired by a venture capital company last year, so you might not expect much from the latest version of Draw. If that's your opinion, watch out! This is the best version ever and you're going to want it.
IrfanView: Quick, complete, and free: You can't find a better graphics viewer even if you pay for it, and paying isn't something you have to do for IrfanView.
Nerdly News: Have you heard from "Alwin Desagun" at "Visa-Security.com"? If you have, it's a hoax. We'll also talk about late-breaking news and news that's still whole. What a deal!
Publishing on the Web: Thinking of trying to start a publication that's based on the Web? You could do a lot worse than ask Harley Hahn for some advice. He's an author of several books and now he's venturing into paid website publications.
Can you hear me now? Many people, when they get off an airplane, spend the first hour or so on the ground asking other people what they said. If you wear noise-suppressing headphones while in the plane, this won't happen to you.
Nerdly News: Worms, viruses, phish, and spam hit all-time highs, SCO gets a couple of suckers to pony up and then sues others, Michael Dell retires (sort of), and the movie industry appears to be about to win the case that will deny you the right to make a backup copy of your own DVDs.
Pictures to pictures, pixels to pixels: Anyone who needs to capture an image on a screen has one choice as far as I'm concerned: SnagIt and the TechSmith folks have a new version that makes the easiest and best screen capture program even easier and better.
You need an antivirus program, but which one? Norton Antivirus by Symantec still has the largest market share, but there are competing applications. The one I prefer is AVG Antivirus from Grisoft. So many Symantec applications seem to sit heavily on a computer and AVG treads lightly, but THINKING is still the best defense.
Nerdly News: A new version of WinZip is available for download and the upgrade cost is the same as it's been: $0.00. If you have any previous licensed version, version 9 is yours for the cost of a few-minute download. • Bill Gates addressed the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco earlier this week and talked about security. Nobody threw rotten tomatoes.
Sweet suite: Office 2003 -- Office 2003 is better than Office 2002, which was better than Office 2000, which was better than Office 98. Microsoft continues to improve things with each iteration of development. We'll have a short interview with product manager Simon Marks on the show and a much longer version on the website.
Defragmenting your disk just got easier: If you think today's fast disk drives make defragmenting your disk something that you no longer need to do, you're probably wrong. Fragmented drives are slower than they need to be and you don't have to spend an hour every day watching the process.
Nerdly News: Apple is debt-free and profitable. That's the word from Steve Jobs. Or is it? A Swedish website has posted a corporate memo that's reportedly from Jobs. Is it? How did the Swedish site obtain it? • Stolen Microsoft source code is available on the Internet. Does this make Microsoft an "open-source" company? Is this a security issue? Why am I yawning?
Adobe Photoshop CS: The latest version of Adobe's best-known product has some fabulous new features. Photoshop CS is difficult to demonstrate on the radio, but you'll find some real-life samples on the website.
CalendarScope - A different way to track your time: If you need all the features Outlook offers, you need Outlook. But if you need just a calendar program that's easy to learn and use, CalendarScope is worth more than a quick look.
Nerdly News: After six months, Microsoft has finally patched some serious security holes that affect every Windows machine. If you don't download and install updates automatically, now would be a good time to visit the Microsoft update page, obtain all the "critical" updates, and install them. • Sales down? Litigate your way to profitability. This seems to be the new American business model and Google looks like the latest victim.
Mac in a PC? I have the best of both worlds. My PC still works like the Windows machine I'm familiar with, but it looks like a Mac. Cool! I'll tell you about Window Blinds and why it's such a useful application even if you want your PC to look like a PC.
Free prescriptions! That's what the spam offered me. All I had to do was name the prescription drug I wanted and their "doctors" would write a "prescription". They say they're in Canada, but Canada must have grown a lot recently because the website is in Hong Kong.
Nerdly News: I'm going to keep telling you that Microsoft has fixed the URL spoofing bug because someday I'll be right! The bug still exists under certain circumstances, although they got it closer this time. And if you're looking for security advice, would you want some from Microsoft? (The answer to that question is, YES.)
Set your scanner to stun: You can buy a 2400-"dpi" scanner for $100 or $1000. Are they the same? We'll take a look at scanners this week and talk about why "dpi" is essentially meaningless. (It should be "samples per inch" instead of "dots per inch", anyway, but that's another story.) Then we'll take a look at the best scanner you'll find at a reasonable price -- Epson's Perfection 3200.
A spam that I received this week ... offered website hosting for "anything", legal or not, and suggested that I should visit their website (which happens to be in Russia) to pick up "hacked" credit card numbers.
I bought an Apple iPod -- It's a neat little music device. I remember the Rio. With 32MB of RAM, the thing could give me about an hour's worth of mediocre-quality music. The iPod's 20GB disk is about half full and I've still got room for thousands of additional pieces of music. But before I could use the iPod, I had to get out a magnifying glass.
Nerdly News: Were you MyDoomed? It pays to be cautious with e-mail messages bearing attachments. Prevention is always better, safer, and easier than cure when it comes to computer viruses and worms. We'll go over my old "Rule #1" for e-mail. • Canada's government is making a change in how MP3 players are priced and taxed. It's another attempt to solve the problem of revenue lost to copying. • That nest of cables behind your entertainment center may all but disappear over the next few years because of a new connector that will allow manufacturers to combine lots of signals in a single cable.
Will memory accelerate your computer? Not if it's a 1998 Pentium II, no. That computer will be slow no matter what you do. But if your computer is a reasonably recent Intel Pentium 4 or an AMD Athlon, you might be able to boost operation with some extra memory. But what kind? How much will fit? How fast should it be? Should it be parity or non-parity? Memory manufacturers have websites that answer questions and the hardest part of adding memory is often getting the case off the computer.
Does Microsoft fear Linux? Maybe "fear" is too strong a word, but Microsoft is certainly concerned about Linux. We'll consider why.
Back it up, fella! I received a good question about backup this week. The answer may help you decide what's the best option for backing up your critical data.
Nerdly News: You've probably heard of "bagel" (or "beagle") by now. It's no big deal if you approach attachments with caution, but if you've been bageled (or beagled) your computer needs help. And we consider briefly the "great success" of the CAN-SPAM act. Yeah. Right.
Processed words on the Mac: Mac owners who used Nisus Writer on their systems prior to the release of OS X now have a glimmer of hope. Nisus Writer Express, a complete rewrite of the application for OS X is making progress.
I love listening to this Treo: I like the idea of having a phone that contains my organizer or an organizer that contains my phone because I can carry just one device instead of two. I've been looking at the Treo 600 and have to say that it's a mighty impressive device.
Nerdly News: Internet Explorer flaw follow-up. As it turns out, Microsoft has been aware since last November that their security patch was flawed. That it has been nearly two months and the product still has a known serious security problem is inexcusable. The CAN-SPAM act went into effect on January 1. If you noticed a drop in spam, you're the only person who did. In general, it's up 10% or more. Another job well done by Congress. Ever get a spam offering a spam blocker? Or a pop-up blocker? Or a security application? Buying a spam blocker from a spammer isn't a good idea.
The curse of presents past (Subtitle: You'll get a charge out of this.) You probably have at least one device that uses batteries. Most of us have LOTS of things that use batteries. But single-use batteries are the most expensive way possible to buy electricity. Rechargeables are much less expensive, but those all-day recharging cycles were a pain. Now there are 15-MINUTE rechargeables. Wow!
The long and winding road to Panther: Last week I told you about upgrading OS X on my iBook to "Panther" and said that anyone who owns a Mac should buy the upgrade. This week you get the rest of the story: installation problems (most of which were not Apple's fault.)
Nerdly News: On Friday , I sent a "special alert" about spoofed addresses and the Microsoft critical update that would solve the problem. I've heard from several people that the critical update did NOT solve the problem and an updated report on that issue takes the place of "Nerdly News" this week.
Apple's OS X strikes again: Version 10.3 of the operating system (Panther) continues the process of making Unix easy to use. The new version has at least three must-have features and about 100 nice-to-have additions.
ITunes works for Windows PCs: Remember when I said the iTunes on-line music service was not acceptable because it wouldn't work through a firewall? Well, Apple has finally solved the problem and iTunes is on my hit parade!
Nerdly News: We'll take a look at the growing problem of computer crime and at some predictions for growth in the chip industry.
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