While certainly not one of better security practices we are all guilty of saving passwords in Firefox (and other browsers of choice) for frequently visited websites. If you visit a particular site daily it is much more convenient to allow your web browser to save your user name and password for later use. This is fine as long as you …
Facebook’s new privacy settings
Facebook is finally catching up to some of their perpetual security concerns and is strengthening their privacy policy and therefor the settings as well. It took a while but as of this morning (when I noticed the change) privacy settings have been tightened a bit and are finally working as expected. It will take some time for majority of folks …
Extending the life of your computer 101
Over the years I have seen numerous examples of poor computer use and maintenance ranging from simply outdated applications to damaged hardware by water, coffee, soda, fire…you name it. In hopes that at least a few people will read this and by doing so improve their own computing experience I have put together a little guide on basic, somewhat fundamental …
Is Blackboard the best CMS out there?
Our institution has been using Blackboard (Bb) for a while now as their Course Management System (CMS) of choice with mixed results. Depending who you ask, based on their technical knowledge and their experience using Blackboard (and other CMS solutions) you will get different responses. They range from it is good, does what I need it to do to can …
Double task items in Outlook 2007
I did some Outlook tweaking and tinkering this morning and noticed all of a sudden double entries for my task (to-do list) items. However if you try to delete one, both entries of the same task are gone. Weird, but there’s a solution: Close Outlook and restart it by going to Start -> Run then type “outlook.exe /resettodobar” Once your …
Make your Outlook better with Xobni
For a while now my team and I have been using Xobni, an Outlook plugin that improves e-mail client’s search for both messages and contact information. It also goes a step further by aggregating and correlating data between different social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook. Xobni also provides data from Hoovers on companies your contacts work for and …
Anti-Virus software
In today’s world where network and system security is of great importance and we live and operate behind firewalls, VPNs, SSH, encryption, anti-virus software and many other tools that help make us more secure, it is often difficult figuring out that winning combo to stay safe online and protect your personal information. One component that in a sense started it …
Windows 7 is almost here, but will it be worth the wait?
Windows 7 will be released into the wild on October 22, 2009 and will bring many improvements over Vista while simultaneously introducing new features. Being in the IT field I was fortunate enough to play with Windows 7 since its early RC days and must say that it is (or soon will be) the best operating system released by Microsoft …
Friends don’t let friends go phishing
Recent phishing schemes targeting Microsoft’s Hotmail, Google’s Gmail, Yahoo and other e-mail providers represent a new larger wave of an ever-present problem and it once again emphasizes the importance of educating your users, clients and staff how to recognize threats and stay away from them. Basic things to remember: – Your bank, IT staff, utility company or any other service …
Please talk to your IT staff
When purchasing new hardware, software of have questions about a particular technology please consult your IT staff (if available to you of course) prior to making the purchase. Having someone with a bit more technical experience and knowledge take a look at your specifications and technology needs can be of great help in the long run. If nothing else, it’s …