Microsoft told to unbundle IE

According to a story in today's NZ Herald, the European Union has told Microsoft to unbundle the web browser Internet Explorer from the Windows operating system. Among other things, there are claims that the software is badly bloated, and web pages written primarily with IE in mind display badly in other browsers, such as Firefox and Opera. That is certainly true, but the complaints don't touch on what to me is an even more significant problem. If you want to download any software - particularly system updates - from the Microsoft website, the site will not allow you to do so with any browser but IE. That to me is real abuse of your position of power.

Fighting email spam

I want to extoll the virtues of another free program, this time Mailwasher, which is a great tool in the fight against email spam. I have used it for years, and it's brilliant - also very simple. Mailwasher allows you to view every email before you download it to your computer, read the text if you want, and decide whether it's safe. If you are in doubt, delete the email and it never gets to your hard drive. You can set up lists of friends whose mail you trust, and even bounce spam-like mail to its source (the theory being that the sender will think that mail address is not valid). The fact that it was invented in Christchurch might bias me a little, but it really is good.

The digital revolution and the church

"There is a revolution sweeping across the globe, driven by the massive growth of the internet and internet related technologies. Known as the Digital Revolution it is on a par with other great global shifts such as the Agrarian Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. And it is completely changing the landscape of how we communicate, how we influence, how we relate. This isn’t simply about coming to grips with a new technology to assist us in our work; it requires of us a fundamental shift in our processes, structures and approaches. If we don’t respond then, as Eric Hoffer states, we will find ourselves, ‘beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.’
Thought-provoking words from the CEO of the Bible Society of NZ, Mark Brown. Mark is one of the foremost thinkers on how things digital are changing the world. He also leads a group in the internet world called Second Life (in that world he goes by the alter ego Arkin Ariantho) which has established a massive traditional cathedral, with a congregation now of more than 500, running multiple services a week.
You can read Mark's full paper here.

PDF files

Adobe's popular PDF format is a wonderful boon for reading documents they way they were created on any computer. But the free Adobe Reader program is bloated and "phones home" regularly for updates.It also doesn't let you point out errors or add comments. What can do the latter is Tracker Software's free PDF-Xchange Viewer. This application can't create PDF files, but it supports many kinds of markup, from highlighting to circles to sticky notes--and you can even export the product as another PDF. The download file is 10mb, which is a bit hefty, but still much smaller than Reader.
Another useful PDF reader is Foxit Reader, even smaller than X-Change Viewer (about 4mb download). As with many free programs, there's some advertising to sit through. The install also asks to add a Foxit toolbar as well as an eBay shortcut, and it wants to set your homepage to Foxit Software. I don't recommend any of these, so watch carefully. Also, though the free version lets you alter content, there are watermarks in the finished product that are only removed when you purchase the $40 Pro Pak version.
For the smallest of the small, though, Sumatra PDF wins the prize. It's only 1mb in size, which these days is tiny. It has a very basic interface, and really only does one thing: reads PDF files. But it is free.

Blocking ads

Wouldn't you like to watch TV and listen to the radio without having to sit through the ads that pay the freight? Or dismantle the billboards that line the freeways? I can't help you with TV spots or roadside distractions, but you can kiss Web ads good-bye, says Dennis O’Reilly. Just download and install Wladimir Palant's Adblock Plus extension for Firefox.
With Adblock Plus enabled, many sites will load more quickly, and a high proportion of the ads are gone. (The NZ Herald among others must hate this little utility.)
When you restart Firefox after installing Adblock Plus, you're given the option to import a set of filter rules or create your own rules. You can take the easy route and opt for the canned filters, which do a good job of removing the ads from many sites. You can view the number of blocked items on the current page by hovering the mouse pointer over the "ABP" icon in the top-right corner of the Firefox window. Or click the down arrow to the right to access the extension's preferences and other options.
If an ad manages to slip past Adblock's filters, you can block them in the future by right-clicking the ad and choosing Adblock Image. There are a wealth of other options in the program; visit the developer's FAQ page for more information.

Practical jokes

I'm still in a fairly mellow mood - holiday hangover. One of my New Year resolutions is to try and reduce stress this year, because I still have nasty dreams from the many years I worked in broadcasting (guess it's a form of post traumatic stress disorder). One of the ways we used to try and cope was via practical jokes. For instance, back in the days when radio stations used suspended microphones, a technician friend once crawled into the ceiling space above the news reading booth of the Invercargill station, and slowly pulled up the microphone during the bulletin. The suffering newsreader wound up standing on his desk to try and keep up. In Christchurch, someone crept into the news booth and set alight to the reader's papers during a bulletin. National TV newsreader Dougall Stevenson used to read the news with a suit jacket and tie on top, but only gardening shorts below, until one day the studio cameraman pulled back to reveal his legs in all their glory. At Radio NZ in Christchurch in the mid-1980s, there used to be an annual water fight among staff. It started off fairly innocently with water pistols, but like all wars, escalated over the years. One year, someone (Ken Ellis or James Daniel springs to mind) enlisted the services of the Christchurch fire brigade and their hoses. That was the year I sat at my desk in the newsroom in just swimming togs and a tie (the tie was for formality's sake,) to some very odd looks. But management finally issued a stern "desist" notice when someone unleashed the internal fire hoses, and the water seepage put 3ZM off the air.
I would love to hear other coping mechanisms if you have some anecdotes.

Kick-starting the computer

When I got back to work after the holidays, my computer refused to start. There wasn't even a blue screen of death - just a ghostly white screen (which my complexion suddenly matched), and ominous beeps which I had never heard before. I didn't have a clue what they meant. A helpful colleague thought to look up the topic of warning beeps on the internet, and the closest match we could find was that the chip on the computer's motherboard that controls the keyboard had broken down. Said colleague opened the computer case, poked and prodded, but could see nothing else. He closed the lid, pressed the "Go" button again, and lo and behold, the computer booted up. His best guess is that during the holidays, the prolongued shutdown actually drained the little battery that holds the settings for what is called the "bios" (the set of instructions that helps your PC to start up). Opening the cover tripped a little switch which reset things sufficiently that it could all start up again. Or something like that. Moral of the story: If you find someone who knows more about computers than you do, keep them well supplied with morning tea or other goodies during the year, against that urgent time you are going to need to call in a favour.

Selecting items

Welcome to 2009, coming ready or not! To kick off the year, here's a couple of tips about selecting items.
There are various ways to select multiple files in a list in an open folder. To select all, press Ctrl-A. To select a group of contiguous items, select the first of those you want, then scroll to the last and hold down the Shift key while selecting the last. To select individual items not next to each other, hold down the Control key while selecting. (Click again on an individual item to de-select it.) This principle works in many programs, too; for instance, in email programs.
And according to PC World magazine, there is an undocumented feature in the new Windows Vista operating system that provides a check box alongside items in a list. You simply click the check box for each file you want to select. To enable this handy option, open any system window (like My Computer or Explorer), click the Organize menu, and then choose Folder and Search Options. Next, click the View tab, and then scroll down until you see "Use check boxes to select items." Enable it, then click OK. Sadly, this feature is not available in Windows XP, which I still use.
Incidentally, you can select discontinuous text in Microsoft Word in the same way (from version 2003 onwards), by holding down the Control key and dragging across the text. I don't know whether this works in Word clones, such as OpenOffice.org.

Season's greetings

I had hoped to add at least one other post before Christmas, but events conspired against me, particularly wrestling with low technology (hammer, saw, etc) as I struggled to complete a major home building project before Christmas Day. The timber companies, incidentally, are very obliging. Instead of leaving you to worry whether the timber you bought will warp later, they pre-warp it for you.
I hope you have a joyous Christmas and a fulfilling New Year, and I will be back on air from the middle of January. In the meantime, if you are a new visitor to this blog, check out the archives, as most of the posts are non-dating.
Cheers!

True tales from the help desk

Helpdesk: "What kind of computer do you have?" "A white one."
Helpdesk: "Click on the 'My Computer' icon on to the left of the screen." Customer: "Your left or my left?"
User says: "My monitor did not pass the drop test during our department move. I would like to get another one."
Customer: "My keyboard is not working anymore." Helpdesk: "Are you sure it's plugged into the computer?" Customer: "No. I can't get behind the computer." Helpdesk: "Pick up your keyboard and walk 10 paces back." Customer: "Okay." Helpdesk: "Did the keyboard come with you?" Customer: "Yes." Helpdesk: "That means the keyboard is not plugged in. Is there another keyboard?" Customer: "Yes, there's another one here. Ah, that one works!"
Several years ago we had an intern who was none too swift. One day he was typing and turned to a secretary and said, "I'm almost out of typing paper. "What do I do?" "Just use copier machine paper," she told him. With that, the intern took his last remaining blank piece of paper, put it on the photocopier and proceeded to make five blank copies.
Systems Admin is browsing among the digital cameras at a big discount store when he overhears another customer complaining about the cost of the digital film for her camera. "She said it was too expensive to keep buying memory cards because she filled them up so quickly." He explains to her that she can copy her pictures from the cards onto a computer, then erase the cards and reuse them. The customer is delighted for a moment, then she frowns and asks, "Now what am I going to do with those 25 extra cards?"
New employee complains to help desk that there's something wrong with her password. No, it's not CAPS lock. "The problem is that whenever I type the password, it just shows stars," says user. Those asterisks are to protect you, tech explains, so if someone were standing behind you, they wouldn't be able to read your password. "Yeah," user says, "but they show up even when there is no one standing behind me."
Customer: "I have problems printing in red." Helpdesk: "Do you have a color printer?" Customer: "Ah. Thank you."
Customer: "I have a huge problem. A friend has put a screensaver on my computer, but every time I move the mouse, it disappears!"
Helpdesk: "How may I help you?" Customer: "I'm writing my first e-mail." Helpdesk: "Okay, and what seems to be the problem?" Customer: "Well, I have the letter 'a' in the address, but how do I get the circle around it?"
"I know you'll think I'm crazy, but Elvis keeps crashing my computer," this user tells help desk. And she's right - when she takes a CD-ROM out of the drive, Elvis starts singing. It was finally figured out: Apparently, she put an Elvis CD in the drive on top of another CD, and it got stuck on the plunger of the CD-ROM drive. When she took out a CD, Auto-run would start the audio CD (stuck on the plunger), and Elvis started singing!
A lady was putting a credit card into her floppy drive and pulling it out very quickly. I inquired as to what she was doing and she said she was shopping on the internet, and they asked for a credit card number, so she was using the ATM "thingy."
"Everything on my laptop is turning blue," user complains. Support rep hustles to the scene and finds user has attached the laptop to a video projector. The wall you're using as a projection screen is painted light blue, support rep patiently points out. "I know that!" user snaps. "I'm not stupid. Just fix the thing so it projects white!"
A distraught young lady weeping beside her car. "Do you need some help?" She replied, "I knew I should have replaced the battery in this remote door unlocker. Now I can't get into my car. Do you think they (pointing to a distant convenience store) would have a battery for this?" "Hmmm, I don't know. Do you have an alarm, too?" I asked. "No, just the remote 'thingy'" she answered, handing it and the car keys to me. As I took the key and manually unlocked the door, I replied, "Why don't you drive over there and check about the batteries as it's a long walk."
1st Person: "Do you know anything about this fax machine?" 2nd Person: "A little. What's wrong?" 1st Person: "Well, I sent a fax, and the recipient called back to say all she received was a cover sheet and a blank page. I tried it again, and the same thing happened." 2nd Person: "How did you load the sheet?" 1st Person: "It's a pretty sensitive memo, and I didn't want anyone else to read it by accident, so I folded it so only the recipient would open it and read it."
A Dell customer called to say he couldn't get his computer to fax anything. After 40 minutes of trouble-shooting, the tech discovered the man was trying to fax a piece of paper by holding it in front of the monitor screen and hitting the "send" key.
User has got her third replacement monitor in as many months, so support tech checks it out - and finds water under the monitor, but no source of a leak. The next day, he's walking by and catches the user's new secretary in action. "I explained to her that watering a plant on top of any electronic equipment is a bad idea, and that maybe watering an artificial plant wasn't the best use of her time either." True story from a Novell NetWire SysOp: Caller: "Hello, is this Tech Support?" Tech: "Yes, it is. How may I help you?" Caller: "The cup holder on my PC is broken and I am within my warranty period. How do I go about getting that fixed?" Tech: "I'm sorry, but did you say a cup holder?" Caller: "Yes, it's attached to the front of my computer." Tech: "Please excuse me if I seem a bit stumped, it's because I am. Did you receive this as part of a promotion, at a trade show?" Caller: "It came with my computer. I don't know anything about a promotional. It just has '4X' on it." At this point the Tech Rep had to mute the caller, because he couldn't stand it. He was laughing too hard. The caller had been using the load drawer of the CD-ROM drive as a cup holder, and snapped it off the drive!

Time-saving keyboard shortcuts

A colleague of mine once lost one and a half hours of work when his computer froze because he forgot to save the Word document he was working on. Because he had not even done a first-time save, the program could not recover anything. Sadly, this is an all-too-common experience. I've got into the habit of saving my work every five minutes of so, which has saved my skin more times than I can recall. (The habit is so ingrained that one time I even wrote something by hand on a piece of paper, and then tried to save that!) I think one of the reasons people don't save more regularly is they don't like making a special trip to the menu bar at the top of the screen. This is where keyboard shortcuts are invaluable. It's easy to type an extra letter without breaking your flow of work. Control-S (on the Mac, Command-S) saves in every program I know. Here are a few more universal shortcuts that I hope will become second nature to you:
Ctrl-C : Copy
Ctrl-V : Paste
Ctrl-P : Print
Ctrl-W : Closes the document window
Ctrl-N : Opens a new document
Ctrl-O : Opens an existing document (via a popup dialogue box)
And here are a few common shortcuts for text selected in most word-processing programs:
Ctrl-i : italic
Ctrl-b : bold
Ctrl-u : underline
Ctrl-a : selects all text in the document
Another useful one: Pressing the Tab key when filling in forms or fields jumps you to the next field or part of the form.

It's not your fault, Part II

"All these labels -- 'geek' and 'nerd' and 'mild Asperger's -- are all getting at the same thing. ... The Asperger's brain is interested in things rather than people, and people who are interested in things have given us the computer you're working on right now." (Temple Grandin, an associate professor at Colorado State University, on the connection between people with a form of autism called Asperger's Syndrome and IT professionals.)

Using a camera as evidence

Writing in The Box (The Press's weekly technology section), Will Harvie has a good tip when you are returning hired or leased goods (in his case, a storage locker). He took pics of the locker just before surrendering it, to prove it was in good condition after he had finished. He had learned his lesson from a previous rental car hire, as the agency claimed he had damaged the vehicle, when he was positive he had not but could not prove his claim. All digital cameras can add the time and date to the photograph, so you have good evidence to back up your side of the story, if it should ever come to a dispute.

Trumping telemarketers

The lady of the house answered the phone, to a heavily accented voice at the other end. "Good day, madam," he said. "How are you today?"
"Actually, I'm not feeling very well at the moment," she replied (which was true). "Can I tell you about it?"
CLICK!
Guess the telemarketer's script didn't cover that.

Alleviating frustrations

I used to be frustrated that I could not re-order the program and document buttons on the Windows taskbar at the foot of my screen. Taskbar Shuffle is an elegant, simple (and free) solution. With it installed, you just drag the buttons wherever you want.
If, like me, you don't like the "Awesome bar" feature of Firefox 3's address box - too much information, too cumbersome - Oldbar is a free add-on that takes it back to the Firefox 2 style. Now if someone can tell me a simple way to remove the Office 2007 "ribbon" style menus and get back to the Office 2003 style menus, I will kiss your feet.

Holiday security

There’s one dread I have of going on holiday: returning home and finding my computer stolen. I mean, that’s my life in there! So I’ve been thinking how I can make it more secure. Last year, I taped a note to it saying: “This computer will not work if removed from this location”. (Note to friendly burglars: please don’t read this blog.) Okay, it was a bit forlorn. How can I do better this year?
1)Set up a logon password (user account). I have one at work, but not at home. Not good. To do this on a PC, go to the Start menu/Settings/Control panel/User Accounts.
2)Make a backup of all data files (you do back up, don’t you!!??) and store the disk somewhere outside the home. The simplest way, even if a bit clumsy, is to copy the files onto a CD or DVD or flash drive/memory stick.
3)Take the computer to a friend or relative who’s going to be home over the holidays.
4)Ask the neighbours to keep an eye on the house.
5)Install a software fire and burglar alarm system on the computer. One example is PC Alarm and Security System. I haven’t tried this, but it’s not particularly expensive to buy, and looks very versatile.
6) PCEye is another system, which phones you up on your cell phone when the alarm is triggered.
6)Other systems track stolen computers and report their wherabouts. Examples are LoJack, CompuTrace, CyberAngel, and zTrace.
Any other ideas very welcome.

Scroll wheel clicking

Here's a little tip if you have a mouse with a scroll wheel (sorry, most Mac users). If you click on an internet link with the scroll wheel, rather than the left button, it opens the link in a new tab of your browser. This appears to work in Internet Explorer as well as Firefox.

Annoying stuff and how to fight back

Pat Pilcher lists 20 things she/he (?) finds annoying in today's world, and how you can fight back with technology. Sadly, the answer in many cases would appear to be that there is no real answer, and some of his/her suggestions would only make things worse. It might be hard on the ego, but the old adage that "a soft answer turns away wrath" could be a better response to some of her/his pet peeves. But here are a few other responses that could help:
Telemarketing calls: Some ladies I know have come up with this plan. When called by a survey company, they say: "Before I spend 20minutes answering your questions, will you spend 5 minutes listening to me?" Then they give a quick outline of their faith. Because I have done studies in market research, I have found another way to amuse myself is to start asking questions about methodology and survey construction, etc. The questioner often gives up in frustration.
Bad drivers: You can call 555 on your cellphone to report a really bad driver. Otherwise, it's probably better to curb your temper (and no, I don't find that easy). It's better to lose the race than to wind up a very bad statistic.
Heavy traffic: Change your radio station. I listen to the Concert Programme on heavy days, and it really does soothe the nerves.
Unfriendly staff: I have found a handwritten letter to management a very effective tool (and it can produce a nice freebie, as well). By the same token, I like to write a letter of thanks when I get really good service.
Unwanted electronic advertising: If you are getting spam email, I would definitely suggest changing your email provider. All the good providers have fairly good filters in place now.
Bad service providers: I had a real run-in with Telstra a couple of months back. I carefully documented the situation, and wrote a long letter, to which I did get an apology. I also discovered that if you front up to their office in person, while there's no-one there to help you, you get priority in the phone queue on their office phone.
Parking: We all know that Auckland and Wellington parking is outrageous. So plan ahead, leave earlier, and park and ride. (Or cycle. Or move to a civilised city, like Christchurch.)

Email bankruptcy

What do you do when you get utterly overwhelmed by emails? Why, declare email bankruptcy, of course!

Are you a victim of "technosis?

Naturally there's a word for it (isn't there always?).

"In their book, TechnoStress: Coping With Technology @WORK @HOME @PLAY, Michelle M. Weil, Ph.D. and Larry D. Rosen, Ph.D. assert that the growing dependence on technology affects us negatively. We count on our machines to do so much that when something goes wrong with our technology we are thrown into a tailspin. According to Weil and Rosen, "People allow themselves to be sucked into this technological abyss, and in doing so they become more machine-oriented and less sensitive to their own needs and the needs of others. Some people become so immersed in technology that they risk losing their own identity." This is called "Technosis."

Of course, they're trying to sell you something. But it is nice to know.