http://www.ComputerBob.com/journal_archive/2004/02.php
Have you kept your PC current with the hundreds of Windows security updates that have been issued over the years? I
haven't either -- it just isn't practical to download a few hundred megabytes of updates over a dial-up Internet
connection. The good news is that Microsoft is now offering
a free CD
that includes all of the security updates for Windows XP, 2000, ME, 98 SE, and 98 that were released through October,
2003, along with free trial versions of antivirus and firewall software. Thanks to
The LangaList
newsletter for the link to Microsoft's free CD offer.
I was blown away the first time I saw The Game, a 1997 film starring Michael Douglas and Sean Penn. I saw
it again tonight on TV, and it still blows me away. It's the kind of movie -- like The In-Laws, with Peter
Falk and Alan Arkin (1979) -- that I love to see with people who've never seen it before. Though critics' reviews
were mixed when it opened, it is one of my favorite films of all time. In it, Penn buys his
stuffy billionaire brother (Douglas), a birthday present that turns out to be a suspenseful and
dangerous adventure. I guarantee you won't guess how it ends. Do yourself a favor and rent The Game.
Do your eyes glaze over when someone says that their ISP is having a DNS problem? Do you nod your head, pretending to understand, when someone tells you that they just changed their email software's POP and SMTP settings? Do you ever feel like you're the only person in the world who doesn't know what Wi-Fi is? If so, then you need Acronym Genie, the freeware searchable database of over 17,000 acroymns. Acroynm Genie installs right on your computer, so you use it without being connected to the Internet. Thanks to Lockergnome for the link to Acroynym Genie.
If you prefer to search through an online acronym database, go to
NetLingo, which also has an Internet
dictionary, a Web design coloring book, and more, or
WhatIs, which has definitions for
thousands of IT-related words, and much more.
Today, I drove to see Vic V., one of my oldest (longest-known) and best buddies from up north, who was visiting his father about 100 miles from me. Though we've spoken on the phone several times over the years, I hadn't seen Vic in more than 20 years. He looked almost exactly like I remembered, and it was great to be able to spend the day with him.
Hey Vic, thanks for everything! Give me a call if you want to make the trip to my place tomorrow, and I'll be happy to
make you a CD to install free antivirus software on your Dad's PC.
I got an idea for a new Missouri state slogan a few years ago, and my wife has always thought that it's at least as
good as Oklahoma's slogan, "Oklahoma is OK." She thinks I should write and tell the Missouri legislature about my
idea, but I'm going to publish it here instead: Across the top of Missouri car license plates, it would say, "Visit
Missouri." Across the bottom, it would say, "Missouri Loves Company." (If you don't get it, say it out loud, a little
faster than you normally speak.)
If you're not running firewall software on your computer, or if you're
running an older version of the free or commercial
ZoneAlarm firewall,
then I highly recommend that you consider downloading and installing the latest (v4.5.538.001) version of ZoneAlarm.
I've used and have been very happy with the free versions of ZoneAlarm on my two Windows 98 SE computers for the past
four years. Several months ago, I read a few things that made me want to wait to update my older (v3.7.202)
free version to the newer free version 4.5. Now, it appears that the early v4.5 problems have been fixed, so I
updated this afternoon. In addition to still being free and providing more security than my older version
of ZoneAlarm, this newest version must either be more efficient or have less overhead, because it noticeably sped
up the display of Web pages over my dial-up Internet connection.
Microsoft has released its latest patch dujour for its Internet Explorer Web browser. This newest update is supposed to fix a serious security flaw that would otherwise affect everyone who has Internet Explorer on their computer, even if they don't use Internet Explorer.
In the past few days, my wife and I have done some traveling up and down the Gulf Coast. One day, we went with Jim and
Linda to the State Fair, where we saw a few shows and walked around for a few hours. On another day, we went with
them to a beach where you can walk along the waves and find shark teeth in the sand. We don't know why there are so
many shark teeth concentrated at that one beach, but I've heard that there is only one other beach in the
world where they are, and it is in Italy. Unfortunately, it was very windy with 3-foot waves on the day that we were
there, so we only found some 3/4-inch-long broken points from the ends of shark teeth. It was my wife's and my
first trip there, but, over the past 4 years, Jim and Linda have made the trip many times, and have collected handfuls
of shark teeth. I guess we'll have to go back on a day when we know that the surf will be calmer.
Happy Valentine's Day! If she's tired of candy and flowers, here's an idea for a gift that she'll always remember.
This morning, I added 5 more gorgeous photos to my Florida Photos section, bringing
the total to 44 photos.
Intel
has developed a silicon chip
that can send a stream of data in a pulsed beam of light, about 50 times faster than what was
previously possible. Since light travels much faster than electricity, this breakthrough will probably result in the
creation of much faster, cheaper servers, PCs, and communication devices in the future.
Last night, I received a phone call from a market research company, asking about my recent experience with my local
Banfield veterinary office (see January 31). The survey took about 15 minutes, even though, after I had answered the
first few questions, the very pleasant surveyor pretty much knew what my remaining answers were going to be. At the
end of the survey, she typed, word for word, my account of exactly what happened when I took my dog, Mini, to Banfield,
and why I walked out without paying, never to return. She told me, "You know, you're not the first person to tell me
things like that about Banfield." I replied, "That doesn't surprise me at all."
If your computer runs Windows XP, then I highly recommend that you read
Windows XP's Big Security Fix.
It describes the upcoming Windows XP Service Pack 2, which will be free and will contain many welcome
improvements.
Today is the birthday of our goddaughter, Ana. She came into our lives two months before she was born, when we met her mother at church. In fact, I drove her mother to the hospital to have her. My wife and I both held her on day she was born, and we spent the next 6 1/2 years helping to raise her, then stayed for another 8 1/2 years to try to be a good influence on her. Today, she's 15 years old.
I'm very proud of you, Sweetie, and I couldn't love you more if you were my own daughter.
If you're at all concerned that your computer might contain
adware or spyware, I highly recommend
that you try
PestPatrol's free online
adware and spyware scanning service. Depending on the speed of your Internet connection, it will take 1-10 minutes to
download the PestPatrol software to your PC. Then, it will take a few minutes to scan your entire PC. Afterward, it
will reconnect to the PestPatrol Web site, which will tell you if it found any adware or spyware exploits on your
PC.
This morning, I read a forum posting on another Web site, from a user who recently switched to using the free and open source email software, Mozilla Thunderbird. I've been curious about Thunderbird for about a year, so I wrote to that user and asked if they would be willing to write a review of it for my site. A few hours later, I added their brand new review to my Guest Articles section.
Late this afternoon, I added 18 more gorgeous photographs to my Florida Photos section, which
now contains 39 photos.
After having a bad experience with Banfield (see January 31), I did some more research, made some more phone calls,
and finally found a reasonably priced
veterinarian that I can trust. When I took Mini there this morning, they treated her very lovingly, expressed her anal
glands, and charged me a total of only $8. Then they gave me a very affordable printed estimate of what they would
charge to clean both Mini's and Max's teeth. I was so pleased that I filled out the paperwork to register
all four of our pets as new patients (free of charge), and to have a copy of all of
their medical records transferred (also free of charge) from our previous vet in the Frostbite State. I'm also going to
highly recommend our new vet to Jim and Linda, for their cat, Chloe.
Yesterday, I made some changes to the font family, background color, and border color of my navigation buttons. I also reduced my home page's CB logo and palm trees at sunset photo to their original sizes, to stop the navigation menu from repositioning itself each time my site's users go back and forth between my home page and my other pages.
Yesterday afternoon was sunny with a deep-blue sky and temperatures in the mid-70s (F), so my wife and I went to the coast, took some photos, and did some sightseeing before going out for dinner. Every day, I still rejoice over the fact that, after spending more than 17 years in the Frostbite State, we now live in a vacation paradise.
Last night, I stayed up late to add several more gorgeous photos to my Florida Photos
section. Amazingly, many of the photos of beautiful flowers were taken during the Winter months.
In the past 2 days, I added Journal to the navigation menu, to enable users to read my previous Journal entries,
which are now organized by month. I also changed the background color and changed the font sizes of my
Graffiti and The Latest News sections. To better organize my site's images, my images
folder now contains several sub-folders that hold Steve's Weird Photos, Florida Photos, and
others. And The Latest News now contains the latest news stories from
Computer Cops, a very helpful
and timely computer security site.