Patch Tuesday March 2012

Time for my review of this month’s release of updates from Microsoft and others.

This Patch Tuesday brings a fairly small number of updates from Microsoft and some updates from Apple.

As I wrote this post, the Internet Storm Center issued a Yellow Alert! This is rare and was done to stress the importance of this Windows Update. It is important that you update now and make sure your Windows computer is updated for the RDP vulnerability below.

While Microsoft’s release is fairly small it has one very important update. The Apple updates affect any users of Safari which might or might not include you even if you don’t have an Apple computer. [Read more...]

Patch Tuesday December 2011

December’s Microsoft Patch Tuesday has some important updates.

This month’s updates are important if you use Windows.  :-D

Window Update

This is what Window Update looks like in the start menu

More specifically, it’s important if you view text on web pages or on emails. This Patch Tuesday is important if you use any Chinese language on your computer. It is important if you use Internet Explorer. It is important if you use Microsoft Office. It is important if you have an Apple computer and have Microsoft Office on it.

What? Microsoft Patch Tuesday important if you have a Mac? Yep.

There’s more too.

[Read more...]

How To Add The Google RSS Extension For Google Chrome

How to add the Google RSS Extension to Google Chrome.

In a recent post, I pointed out how convenient RSS feeds can be and how they can save you time.

A big orange RSS feed icon

This is an RSS Feed Icon Click to Subscribe

I’ve also pointed out that I believe the safest browser to use when surfing the Internet is Google Chrome. Many new browsers, including Google Chrome, seem to be dropping a feature that was really nice to have for RSS feeds. At one time, all the browsers would show the orange RSS icon in the address field whenever you were on a web page that had an RSS subscription available. Now, most (including Chrome) do not or don’t have it activated by default.

Fortunately, Google has an extension to add this feature to Google Chrome.

This post will show you how to add this to your Google Chrome installation. With this extension, you’ll [Read more...]

Patch Tuesday September 2011 – Important News

It’s Microsoft Patch Tuesday for September 2011

The big news this month is not Microsoft’s official monthly patch release. In fact, during the last couple weeks, Windows has not been the main source of security problems. At least not directly. The internet security problems of the last few weeks seem to affect everyone. Linux and Mac OS Lion have had some potentially more serious problems this time. Most browsers have been updated as well recently. Adobe will have an update soon too. Still [Read more...]

Installing The Google Chrome Browser in Windows 7

How to install Google Chrome in Windows 7.

I’ve talked a lot about using Google Chrome and why you should. Despite the fact that it is both the safest and fastest browser available, I still find people who have not installed Google Chrome on their computers. I often find this out while fixing the computer for malware.

Chrome is awsome

The only explanation I can think of for these people not using Google Chrome is they are not sure how to install Chrome. So here is how to install Google Chrome. All you really need is [Read more...]

Make Your Internet More Fun And Productive With RSS Feeds

 

The problem is the Internet is big. Really, really big.

It is so big, it is hard to keep track off just the small bits of it you are interested in (those small bits always seem to get bigger as the Internet itself gets bigger). You surf around a bit, find a site that is interesting, add it to your bookmarks so you can come back when it is updated again, and the next thing you know, you have 1000 bookmarks.

Worse yet, you have no idea which websites have been updated. You find yourself spending a lot of time visiting sites and finding that nothing new has been posted or that the latest post is not what your interested in anyways. So, you go the the next site where you find the same thing. Finally, you find one of your favorite sites has something new and exciting. Now you only have 997 more sites to check.

“Space,” it says, “is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space, listen…”

-Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy

There are those that predict the Internet will eventually contain the sum total of mankind’s knowledge.

With all the stuff on the Internet that is wildly made up, inaccurate, or just a plain old lie, I’d say there is already many times the sum knowledge of man here already. Even if we haven’t actually gotten all the real knowledge converted to the bits and bytes of digital storage. There is a lot of cool stuff you may want to keep track of and it can quickly become a lot of work and cause all that information overload thing people like to talk about.

So how can you keep track of all the things that interest you on the Internet?

Well, some sites offer an email subscription. Unfortunately, not all do. Plus, if you subscribe to too many sites in your email, you end up with a lot of email to get through before you find the mail your friends and family send you. You may miss that email about the most important meeting you have to attend in your life because there were too many email updates from basketweavingforlife24hoursaday.com (or something else that momentarily caught your attention – and no, I hope that is not a real site).

Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a simple way to keep track of when all your favorite Internet sites were updated?

What if [Read more...]

Patch Tuesday May 2011 – More For Mac Than Windows

Well, it’s another Microsoft Patch Tuesday but lately there seems to be more happening involving malware for Mac users to worry about.

First Microsoft’s monthly update. [Read more...]

Important! Browser Updates For Everyone March 2011

Important updates for Windows operating systems and for browsers on all computers this week of March 2011.

First, you need to make sure your browser has been updated no matter what type of computer you use!

If your computer runs Windows, Microsoft has released an out of band emergency update. It is possible that other operating systems may have updates also. No matter what, you should also make sure your browser is updated. Mozilla after releasing Firefox 4 also released updates for the older versions of Firefox. Google has updated Chrome automatically also.

Again, make sure your browser is updated and if you have a Windows computer, make sure it has updated! To make sure Windows is updated run Windows Update from the Start Menu. You only need to make sure there are no critical updates. This update was released late Wednesday.

Why all this fuss about updating? It may be an international incident. It may have to do with an attempt by a government to spy on people. Keep reading and I’ll try to explain what happened. [Read more...]

Patch Tuesday February 2011

Lots of updates this Patch Tuesday and not just from Microsoft!

It’s Microsoft’s monthly patch release day already. I got caught off guard a bit thinking it would be next week, but no, it was today.

Microsoft, Adobe, and Firefox all have important updates released today.

From Microsoft: [Read more...]

Which Web Browser Is The Best?

What is the best Web browser?

With the browser being just about the most important program on your computer, you have many options to choose from.

Yet, many never move past using the browser installed by the Operating System by default. Should you look for another browser? There are several to choose from, which one is the best? Even more important, [Read more...]