Start Menu Reviver 2 offers a better program manager for Windows 8.1

Link To Article
Date of Article:  2014-05-09
Source of Article:  Tech Republic
Another Start Menu for Windows 8.1 that the author highly recommends and it is free.  To use his words, "that if Microsoft had put something like this in Windows 8 from the get-go, they sure would have saved themselves a lot of grief."  Right now I am using Classic Start Menu and I am satisfied with it but if I get a chance I mi try this one out. 

W.C.

Internet Explorer Security Flaw: 4 Ways to Protect Yourself

Link To Article
Date of Article:  2014-04-28
Source of Article:  Time
Good advice on how to be safe.  I prefer his first suggestion. 

W.C.

US CERT and KB 2963983: Don't use drive-by-enabled Internet Explorer

Link To Article
Date of Article:  2014-04-28
Source of Article:  InfoWorld
I am going to do something I don't often do in this blog.  I am going to quote more than the title of the article.

This is the subtitle of the article:  "Department of Homeland Security recommends avoiding Microsoft browser until vulnerability in IE6 to IE11 is fixed"

And this is the line that makes the warning important:  "As Microsoft notes, this is a drive-by class security hole: Your machine can be compromised if you simply visit an infected site."

Based on the article I am going to advise paying attention to this warning and avoid using Internet Explorer Versions 6 through 11 until this is fixed. 

W.C.

Your Heartbleed bug fix in three steps

Link To Article
Date of Article:  2014-04-10
Source of Article:  SlashGear
Some pretty good advice on how to handle the fallout from Heartbleed. 

W.C.

Windows 8.1 Update

Date of Comment:  2014-04-16 
Well my laptop is now running the Windows 8.1 Update but little thanks to Windows Update.  I tried using it three times over two days without ever getting to download the update so I decided to try an alternate though not overly user friendly method.
I went to the Windows download site and download the five files (not quite a GB worth) which makeup the update.  To be safe I also downloaded the prerequisite update but found that I had installed it last month.  I also downloaded an iso file which contained the five patch files for X86, X64, and ARM processors.  Three of the five patches required me to restart my system after installing them and then when the five were finished I  ran Windows Update to check the status found there were three more patches to install but Windows update handled them and required another restart.  All told it took the better part of a day to download and install all of it.
So far my system seems stable and all of the programs that I have run since the update are running normally.  If I spot any problems I will report them here.
PS I also installed an update to Java today but it did not take long and was necessary as I do visit a few sites where Java is required. 

W.C.

USPS Delivery Failure Notification

Link To Article
Source of Article:  Scam Trends Since I have received several of these over the last few days I think posting a warning about this one might be a good idea.  This scam if you follow their instructions most often installs malware on your machine. 

W.C.

How to avoid the pileup malware exploit on Android

Link To Article
Date of Article:  2014-04-08
Source of Article:  TechRepublic
I don't normally cover smart phones here but many of our members use them and for those with Android phones this is a good article to check out. 

W.C.

Microsoft issues final Windows XP, Office 2003 patches

Link To Article
Date of Article:  2014-04-08
Source of Article:  ZDNet
Those still running XP or Office 2003 will want to get these patches and evaluate their options for the future.  Basically I see them as:

1. Continue to run XP and make sure to keep good antivirus protection up to date.
2. Select a Linux distribution and install it on your existing system if buying new hardware is not an option.  Some distributions provide a limited ability to run legacy Windows applications.  There is a bit of a learning curve but many open source programs that run on Windows are also available as Linux apps:  Open/Libre Office, Firefox, Chrome, and Thunderbird are good examples.
3. Find a Windows 7 system and buy it.  If you still have the install disks or files many of the programs that you ran on XP can still run on Windows 7 and it has a very familiar interface. 
4. Find a Windows 8.1 system and buy it.  If you do you might want to checkout Classic Shell which provides a very Windows 7 like start menu to W8 & 8.1.

W.C.

Watch out for photos containing malware

Link To Article
Date of Article:  2014-03-27
Source of Article:  PC World
I have seen several "images" with multiple extensions as described in the article.  Often it is just a file naming convention but something with one like ".jpg.exe" is not something you want to open and that is not an example of a naming convention.  I've been having windows display the extensions for files in a directory listing as far back as I can remember.
Finding images with embedded code is very difficult to do.  Images already might contain quite a bit of embedded and innocent meta data, especially if they were taken with a digital camera.  The advice to keep your operating system, applications, and anti-virus software up to date is a good first line of defense. 

W.C.

Malwarebytes 2.0 Still Tough on Malware, Now with a Pretty Face

Link To Article
Date of Article:  2014-03-28
Source of Article:  PC Magazine
An old friend gets a new look.
I've downloaded this but will not install it until next Monday when I normally run mbam.  If I see anything requiring comment at that time on either my W7 or W8.1 systems I will update this post.

W.C.

Microsoft to bring back Start menu, windowed apps to Windows

Link To Article
Date of Article:  2014-04-02
Source of Article:  ZDNet
I'm glad to see it coming but is it in Windows 8.1 or Windows 9?  If not in Windows 8.1 then we still have Classic Shell and other options. 

W.C.

Office for iPad proves that Office 365 is the best value

Link To Article
Date of Article:  2014-04-02
Source of Article:  Tech Republic
Interesting set of arguments in favor of renting Microsoft Office rather than buying it.  If you own an iPad you really should read this. 

W.C.

Microsoft finally turns out a real touch app -- is Windows next?

Link To Article
Date of Article:  2014-03-28
Source of Article:  Infoworld
This is outside my area of expertise since the last Apple product I owned was an Apple ][e but since quite a few of our members do use iPads I will include this one.  The question at the end of the title is where my interest lies. 

W.C.

Review: Windows 8.1 Update offers an olive branch for mouse users

Link To Article
Date of Article:  2014-03-19
Source of Article:  InfoWorld
This review of the changes introduced by the Windows 8.1 Update 1 give a little insight into where Windows may be headed for those of us who use a desktop or laptop PC. 

W.C.

It's Official: OneNote is Now Free for Everyone

Link To Article
Date of Article:  2014-03-17   
Source of Article:  WinSuperSite.com.  
So now it is free for both Windows and Mac users.  The free version is OneNote 2013 and yes there is still a paid version of it too that is more business centric but for individuals and school use the free version is more than adequate.
I've used OneNote for years to keep track of information that I gather in classes and on the Internet.  I haven't tried this version as yet as I am contemplating an Office365 Home subscription for myself (driven by other Office applications) which would include the paid version and the 2010 version is handling my note taking needs for now.

W.C.

How to edit a PDF document in Word 2013

Link To Article
Date of Article:  2014-03-17   
Source of Article:  Tech Republic.  
Susan Harkins gives us a good review of this new and welcome capability of Word 2013.  It's one of the things that has me considering a subscription.
Like her I suspect that importing PDFs into Word will improve with time.  A similar problem exists when converting from Word to Open/Libre Office's format or back.  This too has got better with time as will PDF conversion.  Back in the day when my company was split between Word, Word Perfect, and dedicated word processing machines this was a major problem and conversions were provided by fairly expensive programs that were also not perfect but better than nothing.
I also expect that the PDF format will eventually include a spec to provide an indication if a scanned document has been modified to support using it for document archival purposes.  It already has provisions for making a PDF read only with a password required to modify.

W.C.

Microsoft will pay you to stop using Windows XP

Link To Article
Date of Article:  2014-03-14   
Source of Article:  GEEK.com.  
Interesting offer for those facing replacing/updating their XP machine.

W.C.

The Comprehensive Guide to Facebook Privacy Settings

Link To Article
Date of Article:  2014-03-17   
Source of Article:  Time.  
Good advice for Facebook users.

W.C.

Account-hijacking Trojan spreads via Facebook messages

Link To Article
Date of Article:  2014-03-12   
Source of Article:  Help Net Security.  
Since quite a few of our members are on Facebook this article is of interest.  I don't get on there too often these days but I will keep this one in mind next time I visit.

W.C.

A new Windows 8.1 update tries to win back desktop diehards

Link To Article
Date of Article:  2014-03-10   
Source of Article:  ZDNet.  
I've been reading Ed's articles for a log time and his predictions are usually very accurate.  Right now I am as Ed said many are doing and relying on a third party utility, Classic Shell to give me the desktop that I want.  Hopefully this update won't break it.

W.C. 

Here's another article on the same subject by another guy who I also use for information.

• Windows 8.1 Update 1 will arrive just in time to woo Windows XP holdouts

• Link to Article
• Source of Article:  Tech Republic

W.C.