A Texas federal court’s ruling last week that forbids Microsoft from selling new copies of Word 2003 and Word 2007 will have little impact on you and me. Technically the order restricts Microsoft from selling (or supporting) any “any infringing and Future Word Products that have the capability of opening a .XML, .DOCX or .DOCM file (”an XML file”) containing custom XML.” It is the “custom XML” language that makes the ruling unimportant for most people.
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Greg Shultz, in the 10 Things blog on Techrepublic.com, shares how you can use your USB flash drive to do a whole lot more than just move data around. Flash drives big enough to handle any of these tasks are cheap enough that you’ve got to wonder how you lived without them – especially when you see all the things you can do with them. Social networking posts and photos can come back to haunt you in a job search. Litigation or criminal investigations can result in a subpoena that gives others full access to your computer – letting the world see incriminating or embarrassing details from your past. Once information shows up on the internet it is almost impossible to get rid of it. Can you make information ’self-destruct’ on schedule? That’s the promise of Vanish, a free web-based system created by a research team at the University of Washington. Last April I wrote about a free program, Secunia Personal Software Inspector (PSI), that lets you identify – and in most cases – fix problems that otherwise let hackers into your home computer. Once they’re in, they can use your computer for their own (often illegal) purposes. For years the best security for home computers has been anti-virus programs and personal firewalls. But that doesn’t take care of the whole problem. Some software programs have holes that let the bad guys in. Your computer is not protected until you plug those holes. If you use Office 2007, you’ve undoubtedly encountered “command obscuration.” If you used Word, Excel or PowerPoint before the 2007 versions, you became familiar with toolbars and menus that led you to the commands you used to create documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Suddenly, Microsoft decided to replace your old familiar toolbars and menus with some newfangled thing they call a ‘ribbon’. If I were a conspiracy buff, I’d even say Microsoft went to great efforts to intentionally hide the menu commands you used day in and day out for years and years. You may have seen the story this morning on ABC’s Good Morning America about the outrage against prerecorded calls that warn you that this is your last chance before your car warranty expires or that it’s your last chance to reduce your credit card interest. I have my own outrage – figuring out who to [...] Computer security is more important than ever. Almost everyone has basic virus protection. But did you know that many of today’s hacker attacks and security threats take advantage of vulnerabilities in the programs you have on your computer? Recently I stumbled across a free program, Secunia Personal Software Inspector (PSI), that gives home users [...] Copernic Tracker ($49.95) monitors web pages you’re interested in and, when it finds a change, shows a message on your computer, sends you an email with the changes highlighted or even sends a message to your cell phone. It can watch for specific keywords to show up on a page or look for new images [...] I’m always interested in programs that help me work more efficiently. That interest is especially strong when the program is free. Xobni (pronounced zob-nee – it’s ‘inbox’ spelled backwards) for Outlook 2003/2007 fits that perfectly. Here are some of the things it will help you do. Find all emails from or to someone – very quickly. [...] Ever seen this error message? Or one of its other faces? Error messages like “Cannot delete file: Access is denied,” “The file is in use by another program or user,” or “The source or destination file may be in use.” Because I’m so hard on computers and get impatient when Windows is doing things that, in my [...] Tracing your roots? You’re not alone. Genealogy (or family history) is apparently one of the fastest growing hobbies. (Of course, if you Google “fastest growing hobby” you’ll see that some beg to differ. They suggest everything from scrapbooking to competitive eating to collecting beer cans!) If you need help starting your family history, you may want [...] When I was just out of law school, I thought I had things figured out. As the years pass, I realize the things I know could fill a thimble and those I don’t a lake. There are many smart people in the world who have skills and abilities I can only dream of. But instead [...] There is certain software that goes on any new computer of mine right at the start. ActiveWords is one of those. Some say I’m really efficient at using the computer – I can get lots done in short order. I like the ring of that. It sounds so much better than how I describe it – [...] |
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Copyright © 2010 Walter Bristow - All Rights Reserved
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