Thoughts and links from the crew of the On Computers Radio Show as we wander the Web.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
XP needs to live until 2009
The dilemma for Microsoft is to either please the segment of their customers who don't want Vista over XP and lose money or forge ahead with forcing Vista on everyone, whether they want it or not. The company risks becoming significantly less respected than they are. All the good work they have done with Vista is being lost sight of. And make no mistake; there is good work there.
I expect this will "resolve" to whatever MS has decided in a month or two. The company will announce that "after careful reflection" they have decided to (fill in the blank). Until then, this is at least entertaining.
Jack
Friday, February 08, 2008
Performance Results Mixed with Vista Service Pack 1
Still, it's well worth reading. I enjoyed it, too.
Jack
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Apple updates QuickTime security
It's an important update, as one can tell by reading the Apple advisory that accompanies it. The security flaws fixed here are both critical and actively being exploited, though there is disagreement on how widely. They affect both Mac and Windows users.
So, if you have Quicktime installed, patch it. It does not matter whether or not you use it. The application needs patching or you can be compromised. Period!
Jack
Truecrypt 5.0 is out and it's free
I've been recommending Truecrypt since Gail convinced me to give it a try, a couple years ago. It did not take long to convince me of Truecrypt's utility. This is the good stuff, folks. Not only does it work, but it saddles the user with the absolute minimum of extra steps through which she/he has to go. Check it out.
Jack
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Spotted in the Wild: Rogue Microsoft Update Site
Jack
Why Search in Vista is a Farce
Personally, I am against Vista's search for the amount of resources it takes. However; I have not had any problems with the results obtained. I was surprised to see this post and find some others like it.
So, jump over to our newsgroup at news.oncomputers.info and discuss it.
Jack
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Holes in numerous ActiveX controls
US Cert is telling users to disable ActiveX, at least for now. You can do that, but it will keep you from getting automatic updates to Microsoft operating systems or other products, such as Office. You also have to enable ActiveX to use Windows Update or Microsoft Update, but once you are done updating, disabling ActiveX is recommended. See this article at Computer World's site.
Jack
Sunday, February 03, 2008
OnComputers Radio show Podcast 02-03-08
Geek Meet 2008 in Las Vegas April 11-13
If you are coming to keep watching GeekMeet.OnComputers.info for more information.
Links from the Gregg Zone!
1) Well it looks like we have survived TU24 last Tuesday. That means we can start planning what we are going to do in the future. I ran across something on the net that has me daydreaming about a future vacation. It seems there is a company in
2) This next site reminds me of something I saw when researching Craigslist. There are groups that do public stunts, like a hundred people accumulating at a mall, everyone entering as individuals mingling with the crowd, then on cue they all start barking like dogs, or something. They just do it for fun; I remember reading an old Sci-Fi book about the concept of flash crowds. The premises was based on teleporting booths, like a phone booth, you could just dial your self any where you wanted to go, every time something was happening on the news, large crowds of people would teleport to the scene. This site is about a group that stages events using groups of people, the one featured here was a couple of hundred people freezing on cue,for five minutes at Grand Central Station in
3) This site covers some of the subjects discussed on the show, I am not sure if it is news to the group, but I decided if some of you are unfamiliar with it I should post it as a source of information.
4) This is another “Geek” site I ran across I remember Jack talking about the MacBook Air, so when I saw this I thought it would be a good fit here. The title sort of says it all “Man buys MacBook Air, pulls it apart, takes pics. There is a link to ifixit’s step-by-step disassembly, complete with pictures and instructions, I guess handy if you need to replace the battery. http://www.reghardware.co.uk
5) Have you wondered where the Dot-com pioneers are now? I ran across this article thought it was something that you might be interested it, who is still around, who has disappeared, and who bought who. http://www.webware.com
6) The last one is about the plans to bring broadband to the entire