[video] Security Bites: Microsoft’s most secure Web browser | CNET News.com

[video] Security Bites: Microsoft’s most secure Web browser | CNET News.com:

For the first time in five years, Microsoft has released a new version of the Web browser. CNET News.com’s Joris Evers and CNET.com’s Robert Vamosi discuss IE 7’s heavily promoted security features in this week’s Security Bites.

Basic security isn’t a feature; the lack of security is a bug.

XP: Automatic Updates Warning

Microsoft has started including modem and LAN drivers are part of their automatic updates. Getting drivers from Windows Update has always been a very dodgy practice. Now it seems microsoft want to foist driver updates on users.

Modem drivers are especially tenuous, never change a driver if you have a working dial-up modem. LAN drivers should be less of a problem. I wonder how long it will be before tech support lines start getting floods of call from irate users who’s hardware suddenly stops working.

If you have Automatic Updates in XP switched to automatically install, now is as good a time as any to turn it off. I suggest you switch it to automatically download, but not install. Then you have a choice what goes on your machine.

N.B. It is possible that other drivers have been included in this new update policy, but so far I have only seen Modem and LAN drivers.

XP: Get a new XP Key

Here is an insider secret. It is possible to get a new Windows key if your sticker is lost or damaged.

You have to call Microsoft on the technical support number for your country. You have to convince them that you have a legitimate copy of Windows. They may ask for a partial key or some details from your Windows CD. I know 2 people who have pulled this off successfully.

So if you have an old PC that dies and you can’t re-load it because the key is missing, there is hope.

XP: 15 Windows Explorer alternatives

15 Windows Explorer alternatives compared and reviewed – Simplehelp:

Windows Explorer, the default file manager for Microsoft Windows, hasn’t really changed all that much over the years.

Not it hasn’t. It’s slow, prone to lockups and can be infested by spyware due to it’s close integration with Internet Explorer. If you want to move a lot of files quickly, you’d be wise to check out some of these alternatives.

XP: Converting filesystems.

How to Convert FAT Disks to NTFS:

You can convert a FAT or FAT32 volume to an NTFS volume without formatting the volume, though it is still a good idea to back up your data before you convert.

Once you know how, it is easy to convert a FAT32 filesystem to NTFS.  If you ever have to restore an older  system from a recovery CD/partitionr, you will often end up with a FAT32 boot partition.  Some laptops currently still ship with FAT32 partitions by default.  As this article explains, XP has a utility to do the conversion without the need for a reformat, or 3rd party utilities.

XP: Finding and Installing Drivers, Part 1.0 – Motherboard Chipset

N.B. This series of articles assumes that, for whatever reason, you either don’t have the original driver CD or choose not to use it. This is often the case if you work in a PC repair shop (as I do) or you have acquired components second hand. The introduction to this series is here.

Whether you are building a PC or reloading an existing one, the first thing you should install after the operating system are the motherboard chipset drivers. These drives are associated specifically with the northbridge (where applicable) and southbridge, rather than any other chips which may be present on the motherboard to provide other functionality such as audio or networking.

Motherboard chipset drivers are easy to overlook. Device Manager may not flag them as missing. They are responsible for the smooth running of your IDE and SATA drives, USB Ports and AGP slot. If you are wondering why your hard drive seems slow, or your new graphics card is not performing well, perhaps you are missing your motherboard chipset drivers.

The main motherboard chipset manufacturers all have sets of drivers which can be installed on almost any brand of motherboard. All you need to do is identify the chipset and you can select the appropriate drivers.

You can often identify the chipset manufacturer by looking at the southbridge, which is usually visible. (The northbridge is often covered by a heat sink so it is not visible.) You may also be able to guess the chipset from the model name, although this requires some experience. It isn’t a guaranteed method since some motherboards do not have their model name clearly marked and not all motherboard manufactures use an easy to follow naming scheme. Another way is to use a utility. I use CPU-Z and/or AIDA32. CPU-Z is quicker or this purpose. AIDA32 will become indispensable later on, since it provides much more information.

Remember, for most cases you only need to know the chipset manufacturer. The specific chipset is rarely necessary. There are 5 major motherboard chipset manufacturers, SiS, VIA, Intel, nVIDIA and ATI.

The following installments in this series will discuss, in turn, the different motherboard chipset manufacturers. Links will be provided to the driver packs.

XP Troubleshooting: Audio Drop-Outs in Games

If you experience audio drop-outs whilst playing older windows games under XP, try turning down the Audio Acceleration in the Audio Settings in Control Panel.

A colleague encountered this problem recently. Some of the sound effects and music were working, but some of them were dropping out randomly. The game itself was running fine otherwise. The solution was to turn off Audio Acceleration. I was probably a deficiency in the game engine.

XP: Portable Firefox

Firefox Portable | PortableApps.com

Mozilla Firefox – Portable Edition (formerly Portable Firefox) is the popular Mozilla Firefox web browser packaged with a PortableApps.com Launcher as a portable app, so you can take your bookmarks, extensions and saved passwords with you.

I’ve been looking for a way to have my bookmarks, browsing sessions and passwords with me at all times. There are various extensions to help with these tasks, but clearly the best way is just to carry a complete install of Firefox with me.

XP: Finding and Installing Drivers, Part 0

Whether you’re reloading Windows or adding/replacing hardware, you are probably going to need drivers. Windows XP has a large number of drivers built in. Sometimes these default drivers are best, but sometimes they should just be viewed only as a temporary solution.

You may have a driver disk that came with the hardware. Often these drivers are useless, but occasionally they are essential. If your hardware is from some obscure manufacturer you may not be able to download a driver. OTOH, drivers are often updated so it’s usually worth searching online for more recent versions.

You may find drivers that are provided by the manufacturer of the hardware, such as Gigabyte, Asus or MSI. Often these are just re-packaged drivers written by the chipset manufacturers, like VIA, SiS or nVidia. You need to decide which driver you should be looking for.

The Device Manager can help you identify which drivers are missing, but it can be deceiving. There are some motherboard chipset drivers which aren’t necessary for the system to function, but without them the system will not perform optimally. These drivers are not flagged by the Device Manager as missing.

I’ll be discussing all of these issues in a irregular series of posts, along with specific details, personal experiences and general principles. When it’s all done I hope I will have compiled the ultimate current guide to finding and installing drivers for Windows XP.

The series continues with Part 1.0 – Motherboard Chipset Drivers.

Trackbacks (and Blogging (and Blogging About Blogging))

Until now I’ve tired to avoid blogging about blogging. That would be blogipsism. Never-the-less, it is what is concerning me at the moment, so here goes…

I’ve just found out that I’m supposed to be doing something called a trackback. Whilst I can understand the benefits, It does seem like a bit of messing around at present. Hopefully I’ll find some simple way to do it.

In the meantime, I’ve found these primers on the general principle

What Is Trackback?

Sometimes when you see a post on somebody’s blog that you like, it’s enough just to leave a comment on the other blog about that issue. But what if you’ve got something to say about the issue that you’d like to share with readers of your own blog? If you do post to your blog, you have to go and leave a comment in the other blog if you want the people there to know about your own blog entry.

This is where trackback comes in.

How Do I Use Trackback?

Trackbacks are often used as a way to comment on a blog entry remotely or to continue a discussion in another individual’s weblog.

How Trackback Works

Many people are confused about what exactly TrackBack is and how you use it. Here’s a little explanation with pictures to help you understand.

More specifically, I’ll have to study the WordPress Trackback Tutorial. Whilst I’m learning new terms, it can’t help to have a look at the Giant Blogging Terms Glossary and the A-Z of Professional Blogging.

On to blogging in general.

Online Journalism’s Blog Software Comparison Chart talks about the server side of things, rather than any client you may be using like ecto. Macworld does too, in a more descriptive article, that also has some links to some professional blogs along with the server software they use.

Finally, some general tutorials:
Blogging for Beginners
How to Start Blogging
Ten Blogging Hacks

For those who have made it this far, the bonus fact: Blogipsism is the term I just coined to describe blogging about blogging. It’s a corruption of the word solipsism can be interpreted to mean thinking about thinking about thinking… in a kind of self-absorbent spiral. Of course the world can do with at least one good blog about blogging. But we don’t buy cameras to take pictures of cameras do we? So lets not all write blogs about blogging.

I really promise to avoid blogipsism in the future.