November 2008

• Fixing bugs in the Flash Player yet again If you have an older version of the Flash Player then you can either upgrade to the latest edition of version 9 or step up to version 10. November 12, 2008.
• Getting more battery power for your computer Three ways to get increase the available battery power for a laptop computer. November 11, 2008.
• Get an MSI Wind Netbook for only $349 This is a bargain for a 10 inch Netbook running Windows XP. It omits some features though. November 10, 2008.
• Not interested in a Netbook computer? Consider the Honda Fit Small and cheap does not have to imply a miserable user experience. This is true for both 5 door hatchbacks as well as laptop computers. November 9, 2008.
• Beware emails linking to blogspot.com More new wrinkles in unwanted email messages. November 8, 2008.
• When Word documents break The New York Times has a story about dealing with broken Word documents. There is much that can be done. November 8, 2008.
• More about printer ink rip-offs PC World has, yet another, story about inket printers that shut down with lots of ink remaining in the cartridge. November 7, 2008.
• Some computers are too important to be networked Recent stories in the news point up the fact that some computers house files that are so important or sensitive that they shold not be available off-site. November 6, 2008.
• Where's Vista? The most popular laptop computers at Amazon.com include very few running Vista. Most are Netbooks. November 6, 2008.

October 2008

• Choosing a Netbook--a picture can be worth a thousand words Two Netbooks pictured side by side show up some big differences. October 30, 2008.
• Beware e-mail messages from UPS A new scam uses email messages that claim to be from UPS. October 30, 2008.
• How to install Java in Windows What version of Java is installed on your computer? If it's old then either upgrade or remove it. October 29, 2008.
• Should you install the new version of Java? The latest version (Java 6 Update 10) fixes no bugs and is a major update. October 26, 2008.
• Another Netbook under $300 A Linux based HP Netbook falls to $299. October 25, 2008.
• Secunia's Online Software Inspector A free online service detects old, buggy, dangerous software. October 24, 2008.
• Time to patch Windows again, ASAP Microsoft issues a critical bug fix and how to deal with it. October 23, 2008.
• Different approaches to off-site computer backups You don't always have to install software to make off-site backups. October 23, 2008.
• Defensive Computing for Lawyers Take a lesson from the multi-million dollar mistake made by lawyers fro Barclays Capital. October 21, 2008.
• More cheap Netbooks A link to an article on 13 Netbooks for under $400. October 20, 2008.
• Lenovo IdeaPad S10 Netbook: Not a first look My first Netbook arrives in such a poor condition that I send it back without booting it once. October 20, 2008.
• Two problems with Secunia Online Software Inspector It now requires a newer version of Java and doesn't flag the Flash Player version 9 as being in need of updating. October 18, 2008.
• Seven steps to update the Adobe Flash Player on Windows With the release of Flash Player version 10, it's time again to update the software. This isn't as easy as it should be for Windows users. October 18, 2008.
• A really cheap Netbook Two stores are selling last years model Asus 900 Netbook for $300. October 15, 2008.
• Lenovo and UPS: A problematic pairing Delivery problems with Lenovo computers. October 14, 2008.
• Data theft: What really accounts for it About a survey by Compuware. October 13, 2008.
• What is a Netbook computer? Comparing and contrasting new Netbooks with classic laptops. October 12, 2008.
• The Lenovo S10 Netbook is here, count me in About Netbooks in general and the S10 in particular. October 9, 2008.
• Being smart about Web mail Some steps to take now to avoid webmail problems later. October 8, 2008.
• Off topic: Ford Fusion frustration Press the wrong button and the radio becomes totally non-responsive. October 2, 2008.

September 2008

• Adding a second router: Living with the new setup For the most part, everything just works. September 28, 2008.
• Using a second router: A techie how-to A cheat sheet for the necessary steps for adding a second router to a LAN. September 27, 2008.
• Browser patches yearn to be free Firefox released a new version only three days after the prior version was released. That's the way things should work. September 26, 2008.
• Bug fixes for Java on OS X Mac users should update their copy of Java. September 25, 2008.
• A second router protects adults from kids You can add a second router to a LAN to protect high value computers from those used by kids. September 24, 2008.
• Defending instant messaging The "person" at the other end of an IM session may be malicious software. September 20, 2008.
• Harassment from a Gmail user Picking up from the previous posting, an examination of what Google says on the subject. September 16, 2008.
• Don't let children receive email messages from Gmail Gmail hides the source IP address making it too easy for bad guys to hide. September 15, 2008.
• What does your IP address say about you? Is an IP address personal? Does it point to you? Yes and No. September 15, 2008.
• A new reason not to install XP SP3 When Windows is mal-functioning SP3 can be used as a great repair install. September 11, 2008.
• Be skeptical or be a victim I'm emailed a new virus that less than half the defensive software would have protected me from. September 10, 2008.
• The main problem with Windows Vista I question Microsoft's stance on the main problem with Vista. September 6, 2008.
• Foxit PDF reader v2.3 updated with bug fixes If someone didn't tell you, you wouldn't know. September 2, 2008.

August 2008

• Cringely's iPhone Gripes A credible source finds a lot not to like about the iPhone and AT&T. August 31, 2008.
• A warning about IE8 and Windows XP SP3 If you're not careful, you can get locked into IE8 when using XP SP3. August 29, 2008.
• Be safer than NASA: Disable autorun Don't let Windows automatically run a program when a USB flash drive is inserted. August 27, 2008.
• Picking a Netbook laptop computer So many choices, so many design flaws. Still, I pick a favorite - on paper. August 27, 2008.
• How your printer tricks you into buying ink and toner when you don't need it A great article in Slate. August 26, 2008.
• How to check if a computer is using OpenDNS OpenDNS is a great solution for the recent DNS problem and it's very easy to tell if a computer is configured to use it. August 25, 2008.
• TypePad responds to criticism from blogger August 24, 2008.
• Why can't Firefox print as well as Internet Explorer? August 19, 2008.
• Summarizing the Nvidia problems with laptop chips overheating August 19, 2008.
• In a pinch, GoDaddy and Typepad let a customer down August 18, 2008.
• The market share of Firefox vs. Internet Explorer August 17, 2008.
• Netflix computer problems continue August 17, 2008.
• Some companies you can trust, and some you can't August 16, 2008.
• Another side to the DNS problem for web site owners August 13, 2008.
• Verizon DSL traffic blocking explained August 11, 2008.
• Listening to The Last HOPE hacker conference August 6, 2008.
• Verizon DSL is blocking outbound traffic August 3, 2008.

July 2008

• What The New York Times left out, about the DNS flaw A summary of six of my blog postings that help defend the DNS flaw. July 30, 2008.
• The best test for vulnerability to the DNS flaw Use an IP address to access the vulnerability test from the DNS Operations, Analysis, and Research Center (DNS-OARC) July 29, 2008.
• A cheatsheet for defending against the DNS flaw If your computer is vulnerable to the DNS flaw, follow these steps from OpenDNS. July 26, 2008.
• Don't be greedy for hard disk space When it comes to storage capacit for hard disks, less can be more. July 25, 2008.
• Fixing Windows Update on XP SP3 If you're running Windows XP SP3 and having problems with Windows Update, these solutions may help. July 25, 2008.
• What you need to know about the latest DNS flaw July 24, 2008.
• Hacking Caller ID: unblocking blocked phone numbers Defensive telephony. July 23, 2008.
• Post-SP3 patch breaks Windows Update Installing the post-SP3 patches on two Windows XP machines, both running IE6, broke Windows Update. July 22, 2008.
• Microsoft: No tech support for you I try to get tech support for Windows XP SP3, IE7 and Windows Update. July 21, 2008.
• How's your luggage handled? Bagcam watches This is just interesting, not defensive at all. July 21, 2008.
• Hacking Medeco locks More defensive living that defensive computing. If you use Medeco locks, read this. They're not as safe as you think. July 19, 2008.
• Defensive computing at a hacker conference You can't get much more daring than using an open Wi-Fi network at a hacker conference. This is how I defended myself. July 18, 2008.
• Listen to the 2600 hacker conference July 17, 2008.
• Online Armor Firewall: First Impressions Lots of information about the firewall. July 16, 2008.
• Why I hate Wi-Fi July 13, 2008.
• Two recommended Windows firewalls Online Armor and Comodo Firewall Pro 3.0 July 12, 2008.
• Why you want a Linux Live CD July 10, 2008.
• Are Mac users buying the remaining copies of Windows XP? What you need to know about buying a shrink-wrapped version of Windows XP. July 9, 2008.
• I told you so Some of the advice offered here turned out to be pretty good. July 9, 2008.
• Introducing the Linux user interface Comparing OS X Leopard to Ubuntu. July 8, 2008.
• Still more reasons to avoid Internet Explorer Techies know that Firefox is safer than IE, but now there are even more reasons to use Firefox. July 6, 2008.
• Verifying legitimate bank websites There is more the banks to do, if they really cared about security.
  Also in Webware. July 5, 2008.
• Fight Phishing with Flagfox for Firefox A Firefox extension shows you where, physically, a website is located. July 2, 2008.
  Also posted at the Daily Download and Webware.
• 2600 HOPE conference bringing hacking to New York City Some of the interesting talks scheduled for the HOPE conference next month. July 1, 2008.

June 2008

• Adobe Reader patch, now you see it, now you don't Installing the latest critical patch to the Adobe Reader does not update the version number. June 27, 2008.
• Sometimes the Internet just breaks A routing problem prevented me from accessing this very website. June 25, 2008.
• Firefox: checking for updates? When you check for updates in Firefox, you're not told of all the updates. June 23, 2008.
• Firefox 3 gotcha: Installing Flash and Java There is a problem with the auto-install of the Flash and Java plugins. June 23, 2008.
• Firefox 3: Expand the Site Identification button on HTTPS pages Another tweak to Firefox 3 to make encrypted pages stand out. June 21, 2008.
• Make Firefox 3 use green for secure web pages Better than yellow, why not green? June 20, 2008.
• Firefox 3 gotcha: No more yellow address bars How to restore the yellow address bar indicating encrypted/HTTPS pages. Instructions for Windows XP, Vista, Ubuntu Linux and Portable Firefox. June 20, 2008.
• The truth about last year's Xbox 360 recall June 19, 2008.
• Hold off on Firefox version 3 As usual, I suggest waiting before installing just-released software. June 17, 2008.
• Conflicting advice on backups I take issue with an article in PC Magazine regarding external hard disks. June 12, 2008.
• Setting up a WiFi network - the hard part is judging advice I take issue with an article in a couple newspapers about setting up WiFi. June 9, 2008.
• Introducing Solid State Hard Disks (SSDs) Flash ram for permanent storage is coming soon to a laptop computer near you. June 9, 2008.
• Installing patches 101 A boring but important topic. June 3, 2008.
• More about patch KB932823 A critical bug fix that you probably don't need. June 2, 2008.

May 2008

• Yet another bug in Windows Update? A critical patch, KB932823, that doesn't seem so critical. May 31, 2008.
• Exploited bug doesn't exist in latest version of Flash Which versions of the Adobe Flash Player are secure? May 30, 2008.
  Also in the News Blog
• Hackers in New York City There will be a hacker conference, The Last HOPE, in New York City in July. May 29, 2008.
  Also in the News Blog
• Fraud ruling against Dell validates years of gripes A New York State court has ruled that Dell engaged in fraud, false advertising, deceptive business practices and more. May 27, 2008.
  Also in the News Blog
• Why don't you back up your computer? I make some guesses, but you tell me. May 26, 2008.
  Also in the News Blog
• Free Office viewers Microsoft offers free viewers for Word, Excel and Powerpoint. May 25, 2008.
• Update available for Foxit PDF reader A bug fix release. May 23, 2008.
  Also in the News Blog.
• Save ink and paper with the Nuke Anything Firefox add-in One of my favorite Firefox add-ins. May 22, 2008.
  Also in The Daily Download
• Dealing with tech support--is lying OK? If a tech support person is simply reading from a script and you know that some steps are a waste of time, is it OK to lie and say you did something that you didn't do? May 21, 2008.
  Also in The News Blog
• Critical bug in the Foxit PDF Reader No fix is available - yet. May 20, 2008.
• Judging Techies One way to tell if someone really is a true techie. May 17, 2008.
• Converting an Adobe Acrobat PDF file into a Word document A free online service gets high marks. May 16, 2008.
• A Warning About Free Public WiFi Beware of adults bearing free public WiFi access. May 11, 2008.
  Cross posted in the News Blog
• Organizing the Start button Spring cleaning for the Windows XP Start button. May 10, 2008.
• A Linux ThinkPad Some thoughts on a new Lenovo ThinkPad with SUSE Linux pre-installed. May 9, 2008.
• Beware the innocent web site Many innocent websites get hacked - there is no such thing as a safe neighborhood on the web May 8, 2008.
• The Foxit PDF Reader - fast, free, portable and new There is a portable version of the Foxit PDF reader. It's my favorite version. May 6, 2008.
• Can you trust the Wall Street Journal's domains? In a word, no. But they are no different than any other company. A lesson in domain names. May 3, 2008.
• Beware of a bug in Excel when doing addition An example of adding a handful of numbers, each with two decimal places and getting the wrong answer in Excel. May 3, 2008.
• Defragging and sizing the Windows page file Thoughts on how big to make the paging file and Page Defrag, a great program for defragging Windows system files. May 1, 2008.
• When it comes to software, the latest is not the greatest Software needs time to mature and work out bugs, design flaws and incompatibilities. May 1, 2008.

April 2008

• Is Windows XP good enough? An excellent article by Paul Thurrott. April 25, 2008.
• Don't install Windows XP Service Pack 3, yet Wait a few months before installing XP SP3 to minimize application incompatibility. April 25, 2008.
• Dell: We'll install XP for you, even after the deadline Dell has broken rank and will sell new computers with Windows XP pre-installed even after the Microsoft mandated deadline of June 30, 2008. April 24, 2008.
  Cross posted at Crave and at the News blog.
• Who's selling Windows XP in July? Despite what you may have heard, it will still be possible to buy a new computer with Windows XP pre-installed after the June 30th sort-of deadline. April 23, 2008.
• About Microsoft An article in ComputerWorld tells a damning story about Microsoft. April 21, 2008.
• The pillars of Defensive Computing Taking a step back from the trees, to see the whole forest. A cheat sheet to Defensive Computing. April 20, 2008.
• The Truth About IT Consultants If you deal with IT consultants, read an excellent article by Robert X. Cringely. April 18, 2008.
• Comcast ISP problems - Part 1, a ruined VPN The Comcast cable guy ruined my VPN when installing new Internet service. April 18, 2008.
• Portable Firefox and the Flash Player What you need to know to update the Flash Player when using a portable version of Firefox. April 14, 2008.
• Tracking down Firefox plugins Find out where Firefox loaded a particular plugin from. This comes in handy, for example, if it doesn't pick up a new version of the Flash Player. April 12, 2008.
  Cross posted at the News blog.
• Time to update the Flash player. Here's how. What you need to know to install version 9.0.124.0 of the Adobe Flash Player. April 10, 2008.
• A heads-up on HP business desktop PCs Ed Foster, of the Gripe Line, writes about the problems of a small business with HP computers. April 8, 2008.
• Don't get burned by Windows Update When installing IE7 and the .NET framework, Windows Update will install software with know bugs, and not tell you. April 7, 2008.
  Cross posted in the News Blog
• Symantec's revenge Even after removing all Symantec software, it still causes a problem. April 3, 2008.
• Barack Obama's website was not hacked A lesson in skepticism, which you should always bring with you online. April 2, 2008.

March 2008

• Wrestling with a Canon printer driver March 27, 2008.
• Windows XP vs. Vista vs. Linux March 25, 2008.
• Postal Service site lets anyone hold your mail March 21, 2008.
• An introduction to vishing Voice phishing is a scam perpetrated over the phone. March 20, 2008.
• Web sites acting up? Try repairing Internet Explorer How to repair/re-install IE6 and IE7 on Windows XP. March 18, 2008.
• USB flash drives need a condom The Autoplay feature in Windows can be dangerous. Here I explain why and describe how to disable it system-wide in Windows XP. Shout out to Leo Notenboom. March 15, 2008.
  Cross posted at the Daily Download
• A VPN debate: WiTopia and HotSpotVPN Comments from the head of each company about their services. March 15, 2008.
• More about VPNs: Price and Trust A follow-up to earlier postings about VPNs. Why is Witopia cheaper than HotSpotVPN? Each company responds. March 14, 2008.
• Defending your router, and your identity, with a password change Changing the password on your router is very important. This posting explains how. March 8, 2008.
• Defending the C disk with SteadyState from Microsoft SteadyState is a free program for Windows XP (and soon for Vista too) that returns the C disk to the same state day after day after day. It's a huge step up from System Restore. March 5, 2008.
• Lenovo Experts (not so) Live Lenovo offers paid technical support, but their claims about 24x7 availability are questionable. March 1, 2008.

February 2008

• Lenovo doesn't support Windows Normally a computer manufacturer provides support for Windows. Not at Lenovo. February 29, 2008.
• Defensively installing Microsoft Office Service Pack 3 Service packs for Office can't be rolled back, so be careful when installing them. February 28, 2008.
  Cross posted at the News blog.
• A few points to consider about off-site backups Don't make these mistakes when making off-site backups. February 26, 2008.
  Cross posted at the News blog.
• Updating the Adobe Acrobat Reader It may not update to the latest version. February 25, 2008.
• Debugging Windows crashes with minidumps? Not at Lenovo Lenovo technical support will not accept dump files or log files from customers to assist in debugging Windows crashes. February 21, 2008.
  Cross posted at the News blog.
• Electronic voting and partial audits - guest blog by Rebecca Mercuri I didn't write this posting, which is a rebuttal of another blog posting at CNET, one in which a researcher claimed that "electronic voting machines could be good for the electorate--with some modifications." February 21, 2008.
  Cross posted at the News blog.
• Defending against insecure hotel networks with a VPN In a hotel room, a wired ethernet Internet connection is not safe and a Virtual Private Network is the best way to make it safe. February 18, 2008.
  Cross posted at the News blog.
• New computer, old software The software pre-installed on a new computer is so old as to be dangerous. February 17, 2008.
• Don't get screwed by Microsoft Office Live Small Business Be careful with ownership of your domain, it's more inportant than the website. February 14, 2008.
  Cross posted at the News blog
• Bug fixes! Patches! Updates! Come and get it Every popular piece of software has had recent updates to fix critical bugs. February 12, 2008.
• Process Explorer Part 2 More about using Process Explorer. February 10, 2008.
  Cross posted at The Daily Download
• Using Process Explorer to tame svchost.exe - Advanced topics Introducing my favorite program, Process Explorer. February 9, 2008.
• Sun's Java sloppiness Which version of Java should you be running? Opinions differ. February 8, 2008.
• How popular is Vista? Website usage stats show there are 8 Windows XP users for each Vista user. February 2, 2008.

January 2008

• Reviews of antivirus programs and security suites January 29, 2008.
• A heads-up on the Adobe Flash player Every has and uses the free Flash web browser add-on. There are some things you need to know about it. January 26, 2008.
• Danger Will Robinson - don't watch that video Beware of videos that require you to install sosftware to view them. January 23, 2008.
• Cranky Geeks on tech journalism Ever wonder why tech journalism is so poor? January 21, 2008.
• A defensive look at the MacBook Air battery Some of the not-so-obvious drawbacks to a laptop computer that has to be mailed back to the vendor to have the battery replaced. January 20, 2008.
• Ethernet connections in a hotel room are not secure A wired Ethernet connection can be just as dangerous, security-wise, as Wi-Fi. January 19, 2008.
• UPS lost my computer A new Lenovo computer gets delivered. But where? January 17, 2008.
• Got a new laptop? Get out your screwdriver Don't get screwed by stubborn screws. January 14, 2008.
  Cross posted at Crave and the News blog.
• Scamming non-profit organizations leads to Google gripe A new scam has some interesting wrinkles and I wonder why Google hasn't removed some obviously malicious web pages from its index. January 13, 2008.
• Vote for the worst computer vendor of 2007 A poll by Ed Foster of the Gripe Line column in InfoWorld. January 9, 2008.
  Cross posted at Crave.
• How to fire a webmaster and not let them know it's happening so they can't abuse the website. January 9, 2008.
• Spyware Doctor Starter Edition - a second look Debating about Spyware Doctor with, perhaps, a marketing person from PC Tools. January 7, 2008.
• Black eyes for Adobe In a few instances, Adobe shows themselves to be sub-optimal. January 6, 2008.
  Cross posted in the News blog.
• First Look: NOD32 antivirus version 3 Is the new release of NOD32 antivirus ready for prime time? January 3, 2008.

December 2007

• Get Spyware Doctor for free - a first look at the Starter Edition In addition to the free trial, there is also a Starter Edition of Spyware Doctor which, unlike the trial, actually removes malware. December 30, 2007.
  Cross posted in the News blog.
• Defensive Computing Cheat Sheet A summary of the postings on this blog. December 29, 2007.
• No restore point for you The System Restore feature in Windows XP needs to be watched to insure it is doing its job. December 28, 2007.
• Windows Vista gripes from Lenovo About two Lenovo employees dealing with Vista. December 23, 2007.
• IE6 crashes in Windows XP: fixing the fix The Decmeber 11th batch of patches to Windows broke Internet Explorer for some users Here's the fix. December 23, 2007.
• Problems updating the Flash player in Firefox? Here's Help.. What should have been easy turned into a nightmare. If you can't get Firefox to use the latest version of Flash, read this. It took a while, but I figured out the problem. December 22, 2007.
  Cross posted in the News blog.
• Update your copy of the Flash player now. And do it right. There are multiple critical bug fixes that need to be applied to the Flash Player on Windows, Mac and Linux machines. The update needs to be applied separately to IE and Firefox and be sure to remove the older version first. December 21, 2007.
  Cross posted in the News blog.
• More about OpenDNS, including adult site filtering. A feature overview including speed, reliability, phishing protection, typo correction, website blocking and more. December 19, 2007.
  Cross posted in the News blog.
• OpenDNS provides added safety for free The DNS resolution service from OpenDNS can protect you from phishing scams and offers many other benefits too. December 15, 2007.
  Cross posted in the News blog.
• IBM Recommends Windows XP If you shop online for a new Windows computer, every manufacturer recommends Vista on their web site. Except IBM, which recommends Windows XP. I try to guess why. December 14, 2007.
• Parsing disk-partitioning advice Once again, Walter Mossberg has offered incomplete and potentially dangerous computer advice in The Wall Street Journal. This time it was about combining two hard disk partitions. This is what I recommend. December 13, 2007.
  Cross posted at the Daily download and News blog.
• Am I the real John Hodgman? Defensive Computing humor. I wrote the book before he did. :-) December 12, 2007.
  Cross posted at the News blog.
• Antimalware software suites Avoid anti-malware software suites and make individual choices for firewall, antivirus and anti-spyware software. December 8, 2007.
  Cross posted at the News blog.
• Sweet spot in monitors Spending your money wisely. December 7, 2007.
• Be careful when shopping for a replacement laptop battery Avoid the temptation to save money and buy a battery from anyone other than the laptop manufacturer. December 6, 2007.
  Cross-posted in Crave and the News blog.
• Transferring big files with DropSend and TransferBigFiles My third posting on free services for sending very large files. December 3, 2007.
  Cross-posted in WebWare.

November 2007

• Transferring big files with EatLime, SendThisFile, and FTP. My experiences sending files too big for email, 178MB and 650MB. November 29, 2007.
• 60 Minutes on TJX computer security Leslie Stahl did a piece on 60 Minutes about the theft of credit card and other personal information from TJX. I commented on it. November 25, 2007.
• New Software New software is buggy and will inevitably suffer some design flaws. It's best to lay back a bit. November 24, 2007.
• Sending big files with SendThisFile When files are too big to email SendThisFile has a great free service. November 19, 2007.
• More FUD for Windows Vista A Microsoft PR stunt tries to make XP look bad. November 15, 2007.
• Dealing with software crashes, Part 2 Driver verifier, dumps, event logs and Check Disk. November 14, 2007.
• Is that e-mail message legit? How a computer nerd analyzes it Using both common sense and techie stuff I try to figure out if a message from Register.com asking for credit card information is legit. November 11, 2007.
• Dealing with software crashes - Part 1 Stop programs from running at startup. Portable applications. Turn off error reporting. November 9, 2007.
• Restricting insecure applications A follow-up on DropMyRights that looks at two lists of the most insecure software. November 6, 2007.
• Improving on Walter Mossberg's PC-buying advice. What to do with an old computer. How long can it be useful? Replace it? Upgrade it? November 5, 2007.

October 2007

• Test your email program. I will send you a test email message to see how safe your email program is. October 28, 2007.
• Defending against a phishing email message. Disecting a scam email message. October 27, 2007.
• Why Java can't do addition correctly. Expanding on one of the gripes in the previous posting, I get techie to explain how and why Java will add two positive numbers, return a negative result and not consider it an error. October 26, 2007.
• Disgracefully unreliable software. Windows, Linux and Java fail basic integrity tests. October 21, 2007.
• Debunking Walter Mossberg - better PC buying advice. Some advice on buying a new computer. October 20, 2007.
• One Web site, many names: an introduction to domain forwarding . October 18, 2007.
• IE7 is missing and a sad tale of tech support A new Dell computer running Windows XP only wants to use IE version 6. October 13, 2007.
• Is Linux right for your mother? If maintaining a Windows system is proving too difficult, perhaps Linux is a simpler option. October 6, 2007.
• Defensively shopping at amazon.com Ed Foster got confirmation from Amazon about what I had experienced, you can buy stuff at Amazon without entering a userid/password. Be sure to log off Amazon's web site. October 2, 2007.
• Putting Windows Vista on trial Even without criticizing Vista, you can still make a case that XP is the better choice. October 1, 2007.

September 2007

• Amazon's MP3 Download store--a book report Amazon's just started selling normal, ordinary, plain vanilla MP3 songs, so I tried it out and found what you might consider a security design flaw. September 29, 2007.
• When to convert from Windows XP to Vista, Part 2 As more and more people resist using Windows Vista, Microsoft recently started letting computer manufacturers ship Windows XP Recovery discs to allow downgrades of Vista to XP. September 25, 2007
• A new approach to securing USB flash drives USB Flash drives are great. Securing them, however, is not so great. They are easily lost and the more you use one, the more likely it will contain files you consider sensitive. Corsair recently came out with a product that takes an entirely new approach to securing flash drives. September 18, 2007.
• Why Apple isn't selling more Macs An interesting article in the New York Times argues that Apple should be selling many more Macintosh computers than it is. I agree completely. September 16, 2007.
• Defending yourself against Microsoft How to turn off automatic updates so Microsoft can't update your computer whenever they feel like it. September 14, 2007.
• Windows is Spyware Microsoft can and will update your copy of Windows whenever they feel like it, regardless of your wishes. And, they feel no obligation to tell you what they've done. Your computer is just a zombie to them. September 13, 2007.
• Create a second Windows userid for backup. Many, if not most, Windows computers are used by a single person with a single userid. Defensively speaking, this is not good. Anything can break, including a Windows userid. September 13, 2007.
• What makes a good surge protector -- Part 1. Many, if not most, Windows computers are used by a single person with a single userid. Defensively speaking, this is not good. Anything can break, including a Windows userid. September 10, 2007.
• Three cheers for portable Thunderbird Thunderbird is the best e-mail program for Windows users, and the portable version is the best version of Thunderbird. September 3, 2007.
• I pity the fool (Windows XP good, Vista bad) It saddens me to think of all the ill advised people buying new computers running Windows Vista, when they could have chosen XP. As Mr. T was fond of saying back in the 1980s, I pity the fool. Let me be clear, my point is only about the choice between XP and Vista and has nothing to do with Macs or Linux. I'm also not here to defend Windows XP. My point is simply that if you are buying a new computer to run Windows applications, XP is the right choice; Vista is the wrong choice. September 2, 2007
• Wall Street Journal Readers - check this out On Thursday August 30th Walter Mossberg repeated his prior recommendation of the Mozy online backup service. While Mozy can fit the needs of some people, there are two sides to every coin and there is a downside to Mozy too. For the rest of the story, see my recent postings. September 1, 2007.

August 2007

• There is only one email program - Thunderbird There is only one email program for Windows users. No, I haven't lost my mind, and yes Windows users can chose from many client side email programs. But this is a Defensive Computing blog and speaking defensively, that is, with the hope of avoiding problems in the future, there is only one choice when it comes to email programs - Thunderbird. August 31, 2007
• Backing up e-mail E-mail, for many of us, is very important and accumulates forever, making it a large mess when it comes to backing it up. This is what I do. August 31, 2007
• Can you trust that file? Web sites that scan suspect files with multiple antivirus programs. August 26, 2007.
• A new e-mail scam The title says it all. August 21, 2007
• Be careful when downloading software Some web sites that host software for you to download assign them the highest five star rating, no matter what. In a test done by a software developer, a program that does nothing at all, doesn't even run, got some great reviews. You've got to read this posting. August 20, 2007.
• Trend Micro's Transaction Guard sloppiness Transaction Guard is an online Java applet that Trend seems to have abandoned. August 18, 2007.
• DropMyRights Trilogy
  • Every Windows XP user should drop their rights. An introduction to the DropMyRights program. The problems it solves. August 7, 2007.
  • DropMyRights part 2: Installing and configuring. August 12, 2007
  • DropMyRights part 3: Living with it What you can expect after having installed DropMyRights. August 16, 2007.
• What is Network Solutions afraid of? August 5, 2007.
• Task Manager - useful enough to run all the time In Windows XP, Task Manager is like the dashboard of a car. I show you how to configure things so that Task Manager runs at system startup. August 3, 2007.

July 2007

• Everybody likes Mozy--except me Part 2 The title says it all. July 30, 2007.
• Everybody likes Mozy--except me Part 1 The title says it all. Mozy gets great reviews in the press - I go into more detail than most. July 30, 2007.
• Got computer questions? Ask Leo Leo Notenboom answers computer questions for free. And he knows his stuff. July 27, 2007.
• Four Tips to Using System Restore on Windows XP Even if Safe Mode won't work System Restore may be able to help get Windows working again. Also, how to check that System Restore is functioning correctly. July 26, 2007.
• The pros and cons of LEDs for backlighting LCD screens Laptops that are very small and very expensive are starting to feature LED backlights. July 22, 2007.
• Buying a laptop hard disk at Best Buy A non-techie is sold the wrong thing by salespeople with no clue. July 19, 2007.
• NOD32 antivirus won't shut down I like NOD32, but in one case, I couldn't turn it off. The vendor offers an explanation. July 15, 2007.
• Following up on RAID Level Zero More about the dangers of RAID Level Zero. July 13, 2007.
• The blinking lights on a router are talking to you Can't get on the Internet? Can't print to network printer? It's bound to happen sooner or later. Take these steps to be prepared for networking failures in the future. July 11, 2007.
• Mistakes in Wall Street Journal editorial An editorial in the newspaper contains technical mistakes. July 10, 2007.
• Don't get burned by RAID Zero Whether you are buying a desktop computer or an external hard disk, you need to know what RAID Zero is because it's very dangerous. Two of my clients suffered major outages because of it. July 6, 2007.
• Introducing the defensive computing blog What this blog will be about. July 5, 2007.