Win XP service pack 2 has now ended as has support for Win 2000.
 
The complex security systems we live with today that protect us from malicious Internet attacks have their roots in these two older operating systems.

Windows XP, arguably Microsoft's most popular operating system, gained many of its most important security features from the lessons learned by Microsoft as it patched Windows 2000.
You'll no longer receive Windows 2000 security patches from Microsoft. So if you're running this OS, consider isolating it from the Internet.
 
All Windows XP SP2 users need to move up to Service Pack 3 immediately.

Vista users should have Service pack 2 installed.

Support for early editions of Windows XP and Vista ending soon

Microsoft is reminding users that support for several editions of Windows
will end beginning in just four weeks time. It will mean no more security
updates, though users can easily switch to supported editions from
Microsoft's website without charge.

The affected editions are Windows XP with the second service pack (SP2) and
Vista with no service pack applied.

Now is the time to install these service packs.

After you wade through the Win7 marketing hype, you'll find a solid core of real improvements in the new release. There are many aspects of Windows 7 that cry out for adopting it and just a few that suggest sticking with Vista or XP.

Windows 7 is easier on the eyes

No doubt you're way beyond the stage where fancy wallpaper and cute icons curl your toes, but any way you look at it, Windows 7's a stunner. From wallpaper that changes itself to the tightly controlled group of icons in the area near the clock, Win7 puts the things you need most where you need them. The OS also moves the flotsam out of the way.

Win7's gadgets move to the desktop, where you can move, resize, and snap them together neatly.

The Action Centre puts all the messages in one place

Windows XP and Vista are notorious for scattering important information all over creation. At the same time, and quite perversely, every two-bit application you install on an XP or Vista PC can pop up annoying messages, distracting your attention while you're trying to get some work done.
Win7 reduces these annoying interruptions to a minimum by funnelling almost all interactions through the Action Centre.The Action Centre has its roots in the old Security Centre, but it's all grown up now.
The Action Centre serves as traffic cop for announcements that inform, warn, and often annoy. But rather than a pop-up window, the only alert you'll see is a flag in the notification area (near the clock) that turns yellow or red as needs dictate.

Win7's security is stronger and less intrusive

Security stuff gets complicated very quickly. Suffice it to say that Windows 7 is significantly more difficult to crack than Vista, which in turn was an order or magnitude tougher to break into than XP. (Internet Explorer and the .NET Framework are noteworthy exceptions.)

Compared to Vista's in-your-face User Account Control (UAC), the equivalent in Windows 7 is clipped and reined in. You can get to the settings easily. For most people, security won't be nearly so difficult in Win7 as it was in Vista and it won't be permeable as it was in XP.

You can make a movie of what ails your PC

Windows 7's new Problem Steps Recorder (PSR). This little utility lets you record everything on the screen — except the stuff you type — as it happens. When you're done, PSR spits out an MHTML file that can be opened and played back in Internet Explorer.
Like the Snipping Tool in Vista (also available in Win7), once you try PSR, you won't know how you ever lived without it.

Search works — finally!

Windows XP's built-in search feature is a slow, painful, buggy joke. In Vista, search is a little less laboured, occasionally usable, but still unreliable.
In Windows 7, Microsoft has, at long last, woven search into the operating system itself. There's no noticeable system overhead, searches proceed fairly quickly, and ,most important of all, the results are accurate.You can initiate a search from just about any location in Windows 7: on the Start menu, inside Control Panel, and in Windows Explorer. Although there are a few idiosyncrasies,  such as no true wildcard searches and text searches that match only the beginnings of words, searches in Win7 usually find what you're looking for.

You get better control of your devices

Windows 7 centralizes control of all devices: printers, MP3 players, phones, keyboards, mice, fax machines, and anything else you plug into your computer. The controls all appear in a place called Device Stage.

The revolutionary part of Device Stage isn't its omniscience. Windows has had various Devices and Printers–type capabilities for years. Device Stage differs in that manufacturers have started writing their drivers to hook into Device Stage directly.
If you're tired of having 10 different programs in 10 different places to control your attached hardware, those days are rapidly drawing to a close. The junky little programs that go with the devices will disappear, too.

Win7 Libraries beats My Documents any day

While Libraries don't do away with the need to organize your files, they make it much, much simpler to track files and put them in the right locations.

"A place for everything, and everything in its place", with Windows 7 Libraries, file management is easier than ever.

HomeGroup makes sharing safe, fast, and fun

A stroke of pure design genius, Windows 7 HomeGroup bundles all the sharing options you'd likely want in order to make files, printers, and media accessible to any other Windows 7 PC on your network.
Homegroups work only among Windows 7 PCs — there's nothing analogous in XP or Vista. Still, sharing among Win7 PCs couldn't be simpler.

Three reasons why Windows 7 isn't for everybody

Despite these and other Win7 positives, there are at least three good reasons for Windows XP and Vista users to stick with their current OS:

If your PC isn't running well forget about upgrading. While Windows 7's hardware demands are less stringent than Vista's, there are lots of PCs that simply can't handle Win7. However, if you have a desktop machine or laptop that's more than a few years old, upgrading its hardware to support Windows 7 is likely more trouble than it's worth. 

If your hardware or software demands XP, stick with that OS

 If the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor (which you can download from the Microsoft Windows 7 site) indicates that your XP setup isn't compatible with Windows 7 either, upgrade the machine's software and hardware or give up on running Win7 on the system. Life's too short.

Don't try to fix what ain't broke

By far the most-compelling argument for staying with Windows XP or Vista is this: The Windows you have now does everything you need, and you aren't overly concerned about rootkits or other nearly invisible malware hosing your machine. In this case, there's no compelling reason to go out on a limb with Win7.
All credit to Woody Leonhard

Are you a FireFox browser user that likes to fiddle around with images? I know I am.

If so, you should check out the www.aviary.com website where you can get some useful free add-ons for the FireFox browser. There are screen capture and captured image editing tools that are great for those times when you want a quick image.

After the add ons are installed, they'll appear in the FireFox toolbar - see the image below.

Using the tools is pretty straightforward but...let us know your experiences with these free tools. If there's enough demand I might prepare a step by step instruction. However Aviary have already got a bunch of video tutorials for you to peruse so with any luck that won't be necessary!

Some simple rules of thumb on behalf of the Federal Goverment

Some simple guidelines that will help you choose better passwords are:

• A password should be a minimum of eight characters long.
• Try to include some form of punctuation or digit.
• Use mixed case passwords if possible.
• Choose a phrase or a combination of words, that make the password easier to remember.
• Do not use a word that can be found in any dictionary (including foreign language dictionaries).
• Do not use a keyboard pattern such as qwertyui or oeuidhtn (look at a Dvorak keyboard).
• Do not repeat any character more than once in a row like zzzzzzzz.
• Do not use all punctuation, all digit or all alphabetic.
• Do not use things that can be easily determined such as:
  • Phone numbers.
  • Car registration.
  • Friends' or relatives' names.
  • Your name or employment details.
  • Any Date.
• Never use your account name as its password.
• Use different passwords for each machine.
• Change the password regularly and do not reuse passwords.
• Do not append or prepend a digit or punctuation mark to a word.
• Do not reverse words.
• Do not replace letters with similar looking numbers. For instance, all of the letters i should not be blindly replaced replaced by the digit 1.

 

An update on my previous comments on SP 3. I am sure it is safe to download this patch now. It has to be on your computer by April or you will not be able to get any support from Microsoft.

Give your computer a good clean out first, see previous blog, if you want full instructions on caring for your computer.

Back up your important data first. It always pays to be careful and prepared.

This is a large download but if you are up-to-date on all the recent patches it will not be as large as stated.

When sending an E-mail to multiple recipients, you can hide their E-mail addresses from each other. This is a sensible anti-spam precaution because it avoids making a long list of E-mail addresses available to all the recipients. This is what happens if you put everyone's address in the “To” or “CC” fields. “CC” is carbon copy; “BC” is blind carbon copy.

There is also a “privacy” consideration to consider. Most of us do not want our email address given to strangers. Your friends are probably strangers to me.

For this reason, it often makes sense to use the BC field for mailing lists. Some viruses also harvest E-mail addresses from users' cache folder or address book. Large numbers of names in the To and CC lists may further the propagation of unwanted viruses, giving another reason to use BC. Also, BC can be used to send a copy of your correspondence to a third party when you do not want to let the recipient know that you are doing this or when you do not want the recipient to know the third party's E-mail address.

If you do not have BC showing in your Outlook Express, do these: Go to “VIEW” → left click, in the drop down menu, click on “ALL HEADERS”

Now you have Blind Copy. When you use the Select Receipients for multiple emails it is easy to select your contact and use the arrow to place the address in the Blind Copy. Do not forget to use this important feature all the time.

 

 

I am going to use the word Ipod as a generic term for MP3 players. There are many brand names. Most known brands are similar and it is the size in gigabytes that matters. Everything I am going to describe is done with a strorage space of 8 gigs. 

 

Most Seniors would probably think they have no use for an Ipod. In the beginning their primary use was for storing and playing  music. A good feature is the ability to take your favorite music with you where ever you go. Now this might be for your morning walk but could also be for plane and train, especially when overseas or even just sitting around airports!

 

 Another use is listening to podcasts. Did you miss your favourite radio program? The ABC have a lot of their programs converted to podcasts for you to download to your computer and then into your ipod. There is a vast amount of content available for you. No need to ever miss a program again.

 

I use my Ipod to listen to a book while on my morning walk. It is such an enjoyable experience. There is a site on the Internet that sells audible books. You join, free, download the special software, also free. You are able to purchase one book at a time or you can join one of their plans. Unfortunately the plans are more expensive now as our dollar has gone down but the individual books are about the same price as you would pay here for a hard copy. 

The books that you purchase remain yours and are stored at the site in your personal library. If your Ipod is getting full you delete a book or two. It is amazing how many they hold. I think I have about ten on my Ipod at the moment and my Ipod is only half full. Most books are divided into two parts and take about 30mins for each depending on your internet connection. There are 1000's of titles available in every category. The site has first release books such as Breath by Tim Winton.

There are free books at other sites, just google and have a look. I recently purchased Pride and Prejudice for $10.00 from the Itunes store.

On the audible site you will find a list of compatible mp3 players. I think you probably need 4 gigs of space so you can keep a variety of items on your player, music, podcast and books. The newer, larger ones also store pictures and video.

Happy listening to your favourite things.