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September 2005
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A Blog
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September 29, 2005
Firefox update Version 1.0.7 is available. Have you
updated your Firefox browser and Mozilla Suite?
US-CERT encourages
Mozilla users to upgrade to
version 1.0.7 and Mozilla Suite users to upgrade to
version 1.7.12 as soon as possible.
Use these
active links above or go to your Firefox browser or click on the little orange
circle with the white
Δ in it, to
start your download. It's in the upper right hand corner of the
Firefox browser header.
While you're at it, be sure your Internet Explorer browser is up to
date, too. Even if you use a different browser, IE6 will often pop
open for some of the programs and files you launch.
...... Richard |
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September 22, 2005
Have a Question? Struggling with a problem?
Not sure where to get answers? Try this:
Find a forum, select a
topic, follow the thread of comments and responses.
I've found that nearly all
forums are visited and populated by people who ask questions and
provide answers based on their own experiences and knowledge, and
desire to help others.
You may feel too embarrassed to ask your question, but someone,
somewhere has probably asked it already... and someone else has
offered an answer. (Really, there are no dumb questions)
The trick is to follow the threads (posted question -- response --
reply -- more replies, etc). If this is new to you, give it a try.
You can be a silent observer and learn from the participants. If you
wish, you can usually register for that forum and become a
participant, too.
How to find the right forum? Do a search (Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc).
Try a phrase related to your issue, like:
Search: |
my computer wont shut down + forum |
|
be
sure to include + forum |
Try a couple of the links on the
first page of hits. You'll usually find plenty of information to
help resolve your problem.
There are a lot of existing security oriented forums. When you find
any that seem to work for you, save them to your favorites. If
you're like me, you'll always have more questions. I get lots of
help from visiting my favorite forums.
... Richard
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September 9,
2005
How to make clueless users
clueful
There's a Real Cool article
in SC Magazine on helping the Unaware user better understand online
security.
It fits perfectly with my "Online Security Awareness Campaign".
The Author, Winn Schwartu, refers to the unaware user as clueless.
(He isn't using 'clueless'
as an uncomplimentary term here.)
Rather, he devotes his efforts toward increasing the security
awareness of clueless computer users and those who may have recently
assumed responsibility for maintaining system security.
There's a lot of good awareness advice in his article.
Read the whole article at SC Magazine
...Richard
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September 6,
2005 How i-Cop, the
International Council of Online Professionals,
is supporting the National Katrina long-term recovery effort
What a wonderful
country! How heart warming to see so many local and national
organizations pitching in to help the shattered families recover
from the Gulf Coast tragedy.
Appeals for participation
come from so many places and everyday ordinary people. Local Police,
Firefighters, EMT's, the nurses in the hospital where I volunteer.
These and
literally thousands more civic, professional, local businesses,
children, seniors, neighbors,
are all determined to do something that will help.
It's going to take a long, long time to establish some form of
normalcy for the survivors. Of course, things will never be the same
for them, or even for our whole country.
It's a bit difficult at times to know who to join or where to send
contributions. The group of Internet online business professionals (i-Cop)
with whom I participate as a member has set up
a program to provide support over the long recovery ahead.
Will you join us? However you do it, please open
your hearts and help.
http://www.katrina-long-term-relief.com/
thank you, Richard
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September 1, 2005
Helping the Victims and Survivors of Hurricane Katrina
First and most important!
We all want to help, but there are hundreds of
criminal types who have already taken advantage of the concern and
compassion of decent human beings, those suffering and those who
wish to help.
These criminals have posted dozens of phony sites with links that
will do no more than infest your computers with spyware, Trojans,
and other malicious malware so they can steal from you. They are
Despicable and Morally Reprehensible - hardly worth being called
human beings.
When you contribute, use caution and do it through honest and
reliable organizations like the American Red Cross, Salvation Army,
etc.
The New York Times has posted a list of honorable and trustworthy
organizations who can accept your help.
CLICK HERE for the New York Times Relief Information List
Let's all pitch in to help today,
tomorrow and during the trying months ahead.
... Richard
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September 1,
2005
Theres a problem facing many Firefox users.
It has discouraged me from continuing to use it.
Heres my problem and I'm
presenting it as an Open Letter to the Mozilla Group.
I've been getting a script warning pop whenever I open Firefox and
every time I try to change to other sites or web pages. I haven't
changed my browsing habits. They pop up for regular sites that I
used to navigate to in the previous Firefox version without getting
these annoying prompts.
The popup reads a script on this page is causing Mozilla to run
slowly. If it continues to run, your computer may become
unresponsive
My computer does become unresponsive. Im apparently among
many others experiencing the same problem.
There are various posts in the Mozilla Firefox Support Forum
regarding this fault, as well as some posts from more experienced
Firefox users that describe how to work around it.
Im not a Newbie, but I dont care to follow the involved
instructions and code entries to possibly create a work-around to
make my Firefox browser work the way it used to work.
Here's what I'm going to suggest to my site visitors:
If you are experiencing a similar problem with Firefox
- Change back to full time use
of Netscape 8, or whatever browser had been working OK
for you before changing.
The fix for this Firefox problem is way beyond the understanding and
capabilities of most ordinary Internet users who dont want to do
much more than communicate using emails, play games online, do price
comparisons, possibly subscribe to and read a few online
newsletters, exchange pictures with family and friends, do a few
searches, etc.
These are my site visitors - the ones for whom I created my website
.
Terms like about:config, dom.max_script_run_time, even filter
bar, will scare them off, and theyll have serious questions about
anything I might suggest to them in the future.
So, why should they consider trying to cope with the constant
frustration?
How are these everyday Internet surfers who worked up enough courage
to change from IE6 to Firefox on my recommendations, ever going to
work around this Firefox fault? Theyll probably do what Im going
to do:
1. Retract my recommendations for my website, newsletter and blog
visitors to change to
Firefox.
2. Remove Firefox from my system, or at least stop using it until
the fault is fixed by Mozilla
3. Suggest to my site visitors that they consider Netscape 8 for now
And if the members of the Firefox Support group feel offended or
defensive, they could try to look at the situation as an
inexperienced web surfer and Internet user and encourage the Mozilla
Group to help the 85 million or more users who downloaded Firefox
because they were told it would solve all of the security problems
and browser user problems they faced with Internet Explorer.
... Richard Rossbauer
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August 31,
2005
Warning for Children - The hidden dangers of Dust Off !
If you
have children or grandchildren, PLEASE read this police officer's
story
carefully. It's about the tragic misuse of a compressed air product
available everywhere there's a computer.
I just became aware of this
article, and as a concerned parent and grandparent, I believe it's
so important that every caring parent should have access to it.
The heart breaking account was forwarded to me by a special friend
who is also a very caring Grandparent. She has spent most of her
career as a Nurse and she, too, had never heard of the dangers from
such a common product. By sharing this article, I join her in
alerting other unaware or unsuspecting Parents and Grandparents to
the potential dangers our children and grandchildren face from
compressed air products.
Please
Read
it HERE. It's short, to the point and compelling... and I urge
you to share it
with your children, family, friends and peers. I'm certain they'll
appreciate your thoughtfulness and concern.
... Richard
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July 8, 2005 (REPEATED)
A Little More Experience with RSS Readers for
adding current Web Feeds to your daily reading lists
The more I use I use
them, the more I like them, but having too many RSS readers was
beginning to be a problem.
It was all a bit intimidating a few
months back when deciding to add a RSS reader to my Desktop. There
were quite a few choices available. Some seemed very complex while
others sounded as if they'd be easy to set up. Some even required
downloading software in addition to the Reader ...so I tried 3 or 4
products and selected some feeds to follow.
Before too long, keeping track of which feeds I put 'where',
became nearly as challenging as trying to manage and use my
'bookmark' selections.
More and more of my favorite websites, newsletters and blogs were
displaying
|XML|RSS|
buttons. When I added these to my RSS Readers, I didn't have to go on a search for the latest
information they published -- every new bit of information, post, or
announcement appeared in my RSS Readers. (The new IE7 is expected to
refer to these as "Web Feeds.")
A big time saver, true, but not perfect because now it was necessary
to check each of those 4 RSS Readers for updates. I had to find one
or two easy to use Readers.
Many of my favorite blogs also displayed this button
.
When I did a trial click, my existing 'My Yahoo' page
automatically opened with a dialog box listing the latest posts for
that Blog. All I needed to do was click on one more button and
the Feed was added to my 'My Yahoo' page.
Now I have just two Readers - - 'My Yahoo' and '
Quikonnex'
which I use with my Mozilla Firefox browser (this saves one click
when browsing with Firefox).
Soon you'll find that many of your favorite sites display the little
buttons. There will be more and more in the days ahead. If you don't
have a Free 'My Yahoo' page, it's very easy to get one from the
Yahoo site.
The same is true for
After you put the first Web Feed into you RSS Feed Reader and have
up-to-date notices delivered to you without having to worry about
opening an email notice, you'll appreciate how great this RSS stuff
really is. Try It. You'll enjoy it!.
......Richard
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