Just now, Hotmail (oops, I mean Outlook) changed!!
Microsoft just now did one of those things I just simple H-A-T-E! They “modernized” the user interface (no doubt to make it more compatible with ‘mobile devices’) and changed the look of my Inbox.
Thanks a lot Microsoft! Don’t you know we users detest this crap?
Didn’t you learn from the kickback you received from Office’s “Ribbon”? Or Windows 8?
Crap man. At least offer a setting that says, “No thanks. Leave my Inbox the *&^% alone.”
And now to send an email, I have to learn where you moved the buttons and thingies.. Just how I wanted to spend my time! (Not good to change the “insert inline image” to a seperate command button..)
NO. I am not going to start using One Drive just because you always default point to it. Or put shortcuts – for me – to it.
Warning: It’s an F for Flash security
Folks, if you haven’t done so already, you need to act now to protect yourself.
| * Block or update Adobe Flash | ||
 |
“Apple notoriously hates it. Firefox is currently blocking it, and Facebook is calling for its demise. Three zero-day vulnerabilities have been exposed in Adobe Flash in the past week, and the company has been speedily patching its vulnerable app. You should either update it right away or shut it down. Find out how to block Flash in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and IE, and how to keep watching your YouTube videos without it.” Read more.. | |
My two cents: Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash have – for as long as I can remember – consistently topped the Most Vulnerable and Most Exploited lists. They’re *crud*. And Adobe should be taken to task. Remove them if you can.
* * *
Today’s quote: “I have a low tolerance for people who complain about things but never do anything to change them. This led me to conclude that the single largest pool of untapped natural resources in this world is human good intentions that are never translated into actions.” ~ Cindy Gallop
Copyright 2007-2015 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
GWX.EXE (Or, How To Remove the Windows 10 Upgrade Nag)
Savvy Users may have noticed a new process in their Task Manager, namely GWX.EXE. Which stands for “Get Windows X” (“X” meaning 10), and is responsible for that new “Windows Logo” icon in your Notification Tray (the right part of your Taskbar, with the clock). Which was pushed onto us by Microsoft’s Update process via the KB3035583 update
Now I know that some of you are eagerly awaiting June 29th to get the latest Windows version, but for those of you who, like me, never install version 1.0 of anything, or like me, rely on Windows Media Center (not included in Windows 10), and would prefer that the Microsoft nag and downloader package NOT be on their systems, simply Uninstall Windows Update KB3035583.
For those who don’t know how to do that, I have been busily preparing the How To tutorial.
But Scott Thurow beat me to it. So instead of me reinventing the wheel, I’ll just point you here: How to stop the Windows 10 Upgrade from downloading on your system
NOTE: You can always go back and get KB3035583 at a later date. (And I expect, since Microsoft is hellbent on getting the entire world using Windows 10, that they’ll push this same thing in future updates (and any other trick they can think of)).
Today’s quote: “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” ~ Yogi Berra
Copyright 2007-2015 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
QuickBooks Users Be Warned
I saw a new (to me) phishing scam targeting Quickbooks users. It says it is about an “important” update, but guess what?
Important QuickBooks Update
“Intuit Payroll Services” (who knows who that really is) is trying to scam you.
And probably trying to get you to click so a virus can load onto your machine.
I’ll say it again: you simply have to use paranoid common sense when on the Internet — because they are trying to get you. Every day and in every way. Be wary!
2012 is almost over. Computers have been in the home for 30 years. You should know the proper way to update your programs by now — and ABSOLUTELY it ain’t going to be because someone sent you an email.
Further: Only idjits and scammers use an (urgent) exclamation point in emails. Seeing one should be a big “red flag” to you.
Copyright 2007-2012 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<
All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
Don’t Want IE 9? How To Turn Off The Update Nag
For those of you not ready to switch to IE 9, or want to go back to IE 8, this article (written back when Microsoft was moving us from IE 7 to IE 8) tells you what you need to know.. I simply updated it by changing the number!
IE 8 9 is an “Important” Update, Yes, But I Don’t Want It
Sometimes we need to tell Windows Update to stop prompting us to install a particular Update.
When Microsoft has released important and/or critical Updates (aka “patches”) for us, Windows has various ways of letting us know, including a System Tray icon. [note: The normal route for accessing Update choices is Start >Windows Update, or Start >Programs >Windows Update. Click “View available updates”.]
I am a big fan of Updates. I (almost) always install them the moment I become aware of them. I use Secunia’s Personal Software Inspector to keep an eye on all my installed programs’ update state.. and I recommend you do too. Updates are ‘good’ and you want them.
Tip of the day: Manage Windows Updates prompts.
Currently, Microsoft Update is annoying me by continuously nagging me that there are Updates available. And when I click on the icon to see just what these updates are…
.. and I see that there is just one Update Microsoft wants me to install (the others only rate “optional”) — Internet Explorer 8 9.
Now, I understand why Microsoft wants us to be using a more secure browser (and I understand why it’s considered “important”) and I will upgrade from IE7 8 on most of my machines — but not all. Not yet.
So I right-click on the Update I don’t want to be nagged about and then click on “Hide update”.
That’s it. I’m done. Windows Update will no longer prompt me to install this (now) ‘hidden’ update. At a later date, to see Updates that I’ve hidden, I just click on “Show hidden updates”. I can undo my change.
Note: This technique can be used on any Update — such as troublesome Updates that cause incompatibility issues, such as a BSOD. If a Windows Update install causes you trouble, and you need to uninstall it, the “Hide” tip won’t help you (it’s too late). Please refer to the 3rd answer in this article, IE’s Menu bar, Taskbar icons, and bad Updates*, to see how to remove Updates.
After you get that Update uninstalled, (then) use the Hide feature to prevent Windows Update from re-Installing it on you again.
To uninstall IE 8 9: Uninstalling IE 8 9 will automatically restore your older version (IE 8). Please see Microsoft’s official How To, here, How do I uninstall or remove Internet Explorer 8? How do I install or uninstall Internet Explorer 9?
Today’s free download(s):
* Panda Cloud Antivirus Panda Security has a ‘new’ type of antivirus – Internet based. “FREE, antivirus service for consumers which is able to process and block malware more efficiently than locally installed signature-based products.”
[For more, also see Panda Cloud Antivirus – Is it netbook ready?]
* Adeona is the first Open Source system for tracking the location of your lost or stolen laptop that does not rely on a proprietary, central service. This means that you can install Adeona on your laptop and go.
Today’s quotable quote: “You can observe a lot just by watching.” ~ Yogi Berra
Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
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Firefox 3, or 4 (or 5)? + Turn Off the "Upgrade" Nag
A reader wrote in and asked a good question. The answer(s) will be good “general knowledge” even for those of you who are not currently running Mozilla’s Firefox web browser.
Q: “If I may impose on you for information, have you upgraded Firefox to version 4.0.1? I keep saying no when the browser asks me, but my Mom let it upgrade.
Several things won’t work with V 4… Such as the ZoneAlarm browser toolbar and her HP All-In-One printer plugin.
She wants me to roll her FF version back to V 3.6.17 so those items will work, but I’m concerned about potential security issues.
Thank you“
A: Dear Reader,
Yours is a very good question, and poses an interesting choice. And, it shows how two “rules of thumb” can sometimes contradict.
* For security, you always want to be running the latest version (and promptly apply any “updates”) of any software.
* Don’t buy version 1 of anything (aka “wait for the service pack”) unless you enjoy being a product guinea pig (aka “bug finder”).
In my mind, Firefox 4 (and the new beta of 5) is enough of a change as to qualify as a ‘new product’, (and also has compatibility issues with some of my add-ons) and so I will not install it until version 4.1 (or 4.2) is released (give the product some time to mature).
Yes, this (staying with FF 3) may (probably does) pose some security “risk”, and is certainly not a long-term answer — bullet point 1 should not be ignored and bullet point 2 will become ‘false’ as newer version of FF 4 are released (and the Add-ons authors update theirs to better work with FF4). In the meantime, while I await v4.1, I have turned off the “upgrade now?” prompt.
To avoid being nagged:
1) Click on the Tools menu, then click Options.
2) Click on the Advanced tab (gray gear icon).
3) Click on the Update tab in the Advanced window.
4) Un-ckeck the “Firefox” checkbox, and then click OK.
That’s it. Now the automated “there’s a new version” prompting will stop (Firefox’s updater will now be in “manual mode”… meaning it is up to you to check the availability of new versions. You can do this anytime by clicking the Help menu, then “Check for updates”).
* 5) [at some future date] When I do install a newer version, I will make sure the automatic update checking is re-enabled (by reversing these steps), as the first bullet point stated, I normally want automatic updating.
Today’s free download: If you find that you too want to revert to the last version of Firefox 3 (or.. contrarily, get the beta of 5) the download site FileHippo is my choice. FileHippo’s right-hand column contains a string of downloads, starting with the most recent, and (usually) going back all the way to the original release. Click here and scroll down that list to “version 3.6.17”. FileHippo is where I go when I need an older version.
Today’s quotable quote: “If you really put a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price.” ~ Author Unknown
Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<
• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
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