Holiday Computer Updates

Since you are going to be there anyway, now would be a great time to check the computers of your users for updates, security issues and other crazy things that they usually bug you about during the year. Here is a quick list of those things that you can do quickly to save them, and you, headaches for the new year.

Windows

• Put them on OpenDNS. You could use GoogleDNS, but I still prefer OpenDNS for the safety factor and I think, at least for me, it’s faster. Those addresses are:
• 208.67.222.222
• 208.67.220.220
• Run Windows update. If they are on XP, make sure you get Service Pack 3 and Internet Explorer v8
• Run a full adware/virus scan with Malwarebytes. It’s free, takes about 20 minutes and will remove just about anything that is bad on their systems
• Check the status of their AntiVirus. Make sure it’s still working and up-to-date. If it’s not a current version, uninstall it and install AVG Free.
• Go into Add/Remove programs. Uninstall Realplayer, MusicMatch and anything else that is no longer relevant and probably not used
• If you are feeling brave, clean up their startup. Check All Users –> Start Menu –>Start Up and delete anything there that isn’t needed.
• Continue with the startup clean up. Open the registry (Start->Run->regedit) and navigate to HKEY Local Machine ->Software ->Microsoft ->Windows ->Current Version ->Run. Delete anything there that doesn’t need to be running when the computer starts.
• You could install FireFox, Chrome or Safari. Make sure to set it as the default browser. There was a zero day problem with IE8 last week, so it’s still not safe.
• **Updated**. If you are sending a PC to the UK, make sure to hit the voltage switch on the power supply to avoid any explosions or fuse blowing.

Mac

• Restart the computer

No matter what, make this the year you really bug your users about backing up. Anymore, external hard drives are so cheap, there is no excuse. Get one and install Crash Plan (Free, Win/Mac/Linux) and set it up.

Start to finish, this should take you about an hour. It’s also going to make your users computer experience better, faster and safer. Not only that, but it will save you from those phone calls later in the year. They will be forever grateful.

5 Apps that should be on every Mac

So you bought a Mac. Nicely done. I’m sure that you have already discovered why your friends and the internet won’t shut up about this damned computer. For me, it’s iPhoto, iMovie ‘08 and Preview, plus the fact that it. Just. Works.

Besides that, there are a few other apps that I think should be preinstalled on every Mac. Let’s call this my list of must have Mac applications.

First up in our hit parade has to be Skitch. Sure the Mac does screen shots out of the box very well, but Skitch takes screen shots to a new level. Easy to use, quick to start, plus you can do all kinds of neat things like add text or graphics to your snaps. Then, when you are done, you can easily share those snaps with the entire world via Flickr or Skitch.com. This is an app that should cost $50 for the Pro version. Luckily, it’s still free!

In the number 2 spot is Quicksilver. It’s an app launcher and much much more. Also free. If you are one that likes to use the keyboard more than the mouse, I highly recommend it. Once installed, set it to launch with a cmd-spacebar key* combo. Feel free to search around for other cool stuff this app can do. It’s limitless.

Coming in at numba 3 is Exposé. Ok, this one comes on every Mac already, but it’s not turned on. Go into System Preferences and do just that. Don’t forget to activate hot corners either. Being able to display all of your open windows with a simple swipe of the mouse if way handier than you think. Being able to show the desktop the same way is even handier still. For the record, I use Top right to display, botton left to show the desktop.

For you Instant Messengers out there, you need Adium. Works with AIM, Yahoo, MSN, gChat and I think ICQ. The only drawback is that it does not support video chat. Get your friends to start using Skype for that.

Of course, you have iChat already installed. It’s basically an AIM client that supports audio and video. Oh, and screen sharing that works. Great way to help or get help from your Mac friends.

If you need light image editing and don’t want to drop $700 for the latest Photoshop, I would recommend Acorn. It’s a great app, and for only $50 it’s a steal! Does almost everything Photoshop does already, is faster and easier to figure out. Sure I still use PS, but for the bulk of the image editing I do, Acorn is my go-to app.

Finally, a browser other than Safari. Sure the Mac fanboi’s are freaking out right now, but lets be honest. Safari isn’t all that and a bag of chips 100% of the time. No browser is. Always nice to have a backup, and you would be very well served by either Firefox or Camino. Unless you are an Opera person. You can run that too.

If you think I missed something, you know what to do. Comments are open! Feel free to ask questions too.

*System Preferences –> Spotlight. Uncheck the bottom 2 checkboxes. Envoke Quicksilver, press cmd+, (comma) and in the Command section, set it to cmd-spacebar.

• Firefox vs. Webkit (safari/chrome) vs. IE
• Windows Live Writer
• Open Office
• Video processing
• Using different kinds of media

Watch this space for more.  and don’t mind the odd uncapitalized word here are there.  especially if the letters come from the left side of the keyboard.

There are still more of you that are using out of date browsers than not. And, not just IE. Over at WRR, the bulk of IE users (20% of the 37.8%) are still using IE6. 3.5% of IE users are still using something older than that, but I have a feeling those might be bots that haven’t updated their user-agent string.

For Firefox, it’s 9.1% of the 11.8% that are using version 3 or better. That’s a little bit better. Opera (less than 1%) does not report it’s version, neither does Safari (5.8%), but Netscape (less than 1%) does. Honestly, Netscape 5?

I don’t mean to beat a dead horse here, but there is a reason internet browsers get upgraded, and there is a reason why you should take the few minutes to upgrade yours. There are patches that keep bad guys off of your system. There are stability improvements. Rendering improvements. UI improvements. All of these things are done to make your internet experience better and safer.

If you are stuck in an office with Internet Explorer v6 or older, you are stuck. You can ask your admins for Firefox since an IE upgrade will probably break an application used by your company. If you are a home user running Windows that is not XP or Vista, then you are also stuck with IE6.

Follow the jump for some suggestions.

Windows Users

Check your browser version. Click Help –> About. If you are using Internet Explorer you want the version number to start with a 7. If you are using Firefox, you want the version number to start with a 3. You Opera users want to look for an 8 or 9. If you are using Safari or Chrome, this does not apply since those versions auto-update.

If you don’t have the version numbers specified above, what version of Windows are you running? If you aren’t sure, right click the My Computer icon on your desktop (or go into Settings –> Control Panel –>System) and choose properties. If the version of Windows starts with the number 4, then you are running Windows 2000/98/ME. Otherwise it will say Vista or XP. If it says Vista, you are good to go and don’t need to read any further (unless you are running Firefox).

For you Windows 2000/ME/98 users out there, you are stuck with Internet Explorer v6 and are unable to upgrade to v7. There are other options.

You can download Firefox or Opera. When you get to either of those pages you will be shown the correct version to download for your version of Windows. Both are a free download. Download and install the browser and start it. Be sure to check the box asking it to be the default. You really don’t want to use IE6 anymore.

If you are running Windows XP, then it’s time to run Windows update. Or click that yellow icon next to the clock that says Updates are ready when you point at it. It’s OK to update Windows. Microsoft isn’t stealing your data or spying on you. Really. Run the update.

If you are running Windows Vista, you are good to go. You aren’t able to run IE6 on that system. However, if you are running Firefox and your version is 2 or lower, then follow the Firefox link above to get the latest version (v3 as of this writing). Once installed, it will automatically update for you as well.

Finally, if you are still running Windows 2000/98/ME, make this the year you upgrade. Those operating systems are no longer supported by anyone. You can get a great computer now for less than $600 (sometimes including a fancy LCD screen too). You could also consider switching to a Mac if your budget allows.

And, whatever you do, please stop using Netscape.

Mac Users

Running Firefox version 2 or lower? How can you stand it? Follow the link above to download the latest version. If you are using Safari, you should be on version 3. If not, time to run system update. You might also consider trying Camino which is a pretty good choice in my opinion.

To find the version of the Mac OS you are running, click the Apple in the top left corner of your screen and choose About This Mac. Leopard is currently at version 10.5.6. As long as you have a 10 there, you are in pretty good shape.

If you are still on System 9 or something that’s even older, then you too should seriously consider budgeting an upgrade to a newer Mac. You G4 users might want to start thinking about that as well.

And, whatever you do, please stop using Internet Explorer and Netscape.

Conclusion

It is up to you to keep your computer up-to-date. It really isn’t that difficult to do, especially with modern software updating automatically. If your computer is up-to-date, then check with your friends and family to make sure their machines are as well.

A zero-day vulnerability in Safari that could litter a user’s desktop (or downloads folder) with arbitrary files is a serious security flaw, argues ZDNet, and not a mere “annoyance” as Apple claims.

In theory, a user must click a link to visit a malicious website that can begin downloading arbitrary files (including applications) to the user’s computer without their permission. The problem affects both the Windows and Mac versions of Safari.

If you are using Safari (Mac or Windows), just be careful where you click. And be sure to pass this along to your other Safari using friends that you know don’t read any of ‘the blogs’.

via

Gmail.

Huge fan of the Gmail I am. In fact, it’s the only thing that I have found that can actually manage the volume of email I have to sort through. Including the over 15K pieces of spam I receive every month. Nothing else even comes close.

Well, Google, in their infinite wisdom, has been making changes. Changes that are actually pretty cool but, and you probably saw this coming, don’t work with Safari. The big one is auto-complete.

I use auto-complete exclusively for filling in the To:, CC: and BCC: boxes. Without fail. 100% of the time. But one of the changes in Gmail has made that feature no longer work in Safari.

That’s ok, since I’ve been using IMAP and Mail.app, right?

Not so much.

IMAP in concept is a great idea. All of your email stored on a server and you can access it with a client on your desktop. Bonus with Gmail is that you can access with a kick ass web client as well. The problem, for me, is that is too slow. Or I have too many labels (folders for you desktop app users). And Spam is handled weird.

I can deal with the slow. But when I’m not notified of a new message because it is in the bottom of my label list, that is a bit of a pain in the arse. But, I do now exactly how many spam messages I have, always staring at me from the dock. Sure, I could turn that off and only have notifications about messages in my inbox, but what about the labels? This is problematic for me.

So, what I have done, is turned firefox into my web-based application running app. I’m still using Safari for general browsing, but for email (Gmail), news (Google Reader) and FTP (leave me alone about anything because I have tried them all and they all suck), I’m using FireFox. All set to tabs that open when it starts.

Now if the Mozilla guys could make FF run as fast as Safari under Leopard I would be a VERY happy guy.