Tag: Software

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Software Tech

Staying Safe on the Web

I occasionally get asked by friends and family what to do about security on their phone and computer. I give them the usual advice install uBlock Origin, use a password manager like 1Password, and if I’m feeling talkative go into the benefits of enabling two-factor authentication on as many logins as possible. But there’s only so much advice you can give before you see their eyes start to glaze over, so I made a note in my head to write something about the topic.

Recently my laziness was rewarded, the NY Time’s Wirecutter put out a couple great posts about securing your digital life and what to do and not do on your computer and phone.

First off is their “Favorite Ad Blockers and Browser Extensions,” which hits all the you should install this this and this topics that I was talking about in the first paragraph. Secondly, are privacy tips and security audit recommendations for both the iOS and Android ecosystems. Finally this third article, “How a Burner Identity Protects,” gets into the more advanced topic of using burner numbers, emails, and virtual credit cards to secure yourself from company data breaches and people that shouldn’t have your contact information.

Read them over, take some advice, and don’t install Limewire on your computer!

Categories
Software Spiffy Tech

Mac Tip: Add The Date To The OSX Menu Bar Without Installing Additional Software

I was surfing around and finally found out how to add the date to the OSX menu bar without installing additional software!

The tip says you need to use the medium category, but only the Long category for Times worked for me. This may be due to a difference between 10.5 and 10.4.

The following tip

Want to see the date in the menubar? Start by opening the International Preferences panel, and clicking the Formats tab.

In the Dates section, click Customize. Click the Show pop-up and select your choice of Short, Medium, etc. Now place the elements you want in the small “work area,” by dragging and dropping them from the Date Elements section. Once placed, you can click on some elements to see other options (Wednesday or Wed, for instance). Once you’ve built the date string you want, click once in the work area, and hit Command-A then Command-C to select the string and copy it. Now click Cancel to close the window without making any changes.

In the Times section, click Customize, and set the Show pop-up to Medium. In the small work area below the pop-up, place the curser where you want the date elements to start, and click to position the cursor. Now hit Command-V to paste the elements you just copied. You can further add characters and spaces to customize the look. If you want to remove an element (i.e. the year), click on it and use the Delete key. Click OK, and you’ll see the results in the menubar.

MacOSXHints

Since a picture is worth a thousand words here is how I have Time Long set

Categories
Software

Hidden Functions in Microsoft Notepad!

You know Notepad? The basic text editor that has been part of Windows since 1.0
Turns out it has some hidden functionality!

Journal Functionality

Open Notepade

Type “.LOG” without the quotes then hit enter.

Now save the document.

Close the document.

Reopen the document.

Pretty cool, no? Now everytime you open the document it will put a timestamp at the end.
You can also put down a new time stamp by pressing F5.

Categories
Hardware Software Tech

Dell's New Features Part Deux

Buckling under pressure Dell has partially given in to complaints by users. They are now offering their XPS line of computers with no bloatware and spyware installed. However Dell’s other line’s of consumer products appear to still be compromised.
Via HardOCP

Categories
Hardware Software Tech

Exciting New Features From Dell (Non-Snarky Edition)

If you’d like to read a satirical and much more amusing account of this post click here otherwise read on
Recently I discovered that Dell Computer ships all new computers with a spyware package known as “My Way”.

“My Way” logs all your search queries, records where you go on the internet, and redirects merchant sites like amazon to a “My Way” sponsored site like bobswharehouse.

“My Way” is also difficult to uninstall/remove. The program does not unistall automatially, but requires delving into the innards of your Operating System in a time consuming process.

I cannot recommend purchasing a Dell for your computer needs.

Sources

The Accusation
Dell’s Response
Wikipedia article on the Spyware “My Way”