Scobie.Net

Author: Bill Scobie

  • How much clearer can I be?

    In “chatting” with HP support, I thought I asked a simple question, “I can not find instructions for locating both RAM slots in PF087UA#ABA laptop. I have looked through all available support docs on hp.com help site made available for this product. Please let me know where the 2nd RAM slot is.” And, then we…

  • Searching on the web may be dangerous for reasons you won’t think of

    Searching for “bad” sites may not be as dangerous as we all think. McAfee (antivirus software vendor) recently published a study of common search phrases to find out how frequently malicious software would be found at the resulting sites. Looking for free stuff seems to be more risky than porn, the authors of the study…

  • Ed U online

    Although it is the end of the school year, graduation has come and gone, many of us still like to learn year round from the comfort and privacy of our own homes. There are many options on the Web that let you “sit in” on classes that ten years ago you would have had to…

  • “Opening and saving these file types may pose a risk to you.” What else is new from Microsoft ?

    Information about certain file types that are blocked after you install Office 2003 Service Pack 3 OK, Microsoft is making Vista safer, making IE safer, tightening up a variety of things (usually by disabling features or prompting you to click through a nag) and yet they find it good to make sure that Office 2003…

  • Did I just loose my desktop?

    Intuit Alienates Mac Users With QuickBooks Fiasco I understand that companies lost data, at an important time of the year. And, I saw Intuit, after their first few days of not turning off the update server on their end, implement pretty good customer support.But, there really wasn’t anything they could do to recover data. We lost and I still need to use them. Long live backups.

  • Dell warns of Vista upgrade challenges – ZDNet UK

    Dell warns of Vista upgrade challenges – ZDNet UK It’s not that you shouldn’t upgrade, just that you had better really plan it and layout the money. I am still looking for a good cost/benefit for smaller businesses that really don’t have much more than even one PDC.

  • 20+ Windows Vista Features and Services Harvest User Data for Microsoft

    Isn’t it wonderful that so many things can spy on you. And, we all “have” to believe that moving to Vista is better for us, keeping us safer from those malicious and malevolent malware programs. Does this remind anyone of the same logic being used by certain federales to convince us that gathering more information…

  • Keeping up with the Jones “The enemy adapts: the state of spam, malware, and phishing scams”

    Just as we are supposed to keep our consumer society healthy and flourishing it seems that computer bad stuff is making plenty of money, for someone. And, thinking that a Mac will keep you safe is only going to cover part of staying safe on the Internet, it seems that phishing schemes, those things that look like you have to reconfirm some financial information, are really taking off.…

  • FBI Issues New Rules For Getting Phone Records

    And, I thought our FBI played by the rules. But, it seems that they have, and can, just call the phone company and get the records that they want. Sure, they have a letter “template” to follow, paragraph 2 in http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/ 03/19/AR2007031901775.html Yet, the Justice Dept has a different take on what it happening behind…

  • All Microsoft updates phone home

    I have gotten out of the habit of reading those wonderful privacy statements from software vendors, jaded and cynical from their weaseling out of notifying me of changed by placing the burden upon me to view their changes. And, just by agreeing once, I have agreed to any further changes, even if I don’t know…

  • AirPort Disk, finally a way to get your files from anywhere

    I have wonder, as others have, about how to get to an AirPort Disk from outside my LAN. And, finally some screen shots and enough english to give me hope. Thanks to Ars Technica, AirPort Extreme 802.11n Wi-Fi Wireless Base Station, AirPort Disk I now know more than I did.

  • Office 2007 rant

    Why I thought Microsoft would do something that I could understand with Office 2007, I don’t know. But, here I am, stuck with someone (a so-called early adopter) who sent me a .docx file and I am on a Mac. So, I can fire up a PC and use some remote desktop software (Remote Desktop…