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Firefox

Switch TODAY!

Just say NO to IEOn my way out the door today, I came across this article outlining one of the largest security breaches yet with Internet Explorer. I have been recommending for years that you switch to Mozilla Firefox. Today, I’m taking a harder line and recommending that you should never use Internet Explorer except in the extremely rare instance where a site truly requires Internet Explorer (IE) to run properly. For your safety and the safety of all of us connected to the Internet, please download and use either Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.

Pandora Internet Radio – Video Tip

Pandora.com qualifies for yet another Web 2.0 application. Pandora started as a project to find the similarities in music and why we like certain music and why we don’t. The Pandora folks eventually made all their study of music into an amazingly customizable and accurate music service. To sign up is free although I recommend paying for the service if you use it a lot. Once you sign up, you start by building your own radio stations based on your favorite songs or artists. After you build your first station, Pandora starts to play songs related to the song or artist you started with when you built the radio station (which entails that you simply type the name of a musical artist or a song name and click Create).

As the songs play, if you tell Pandora whether you like the selection or not (via a click on a thumbs up or thumbs down icon), it will continue to more accurately pick music for you. You must see the short video below to see how it works, and better yet, give it a try to see why it is such an exciting and useful Web 2.0 application!

Rick’s Answers his email Videocast – 022

Questions about converting to Firefox, malfunctioning keyboards, Wordpress consulting, Norton 360 problems, video editing, the Magic Jack phone, and more are brought to you by Dixie, Kitty, Jill, Anne, Diane, Elaine, Amber, Norma, Rich and Mike! Have a look!!

Backup Your Favorites (Bookmarks) – Video Tip

Many years ago, I shared with you how to back up your address book. We have talked about how to back up your favorites, but never written it down. This tip will walk you through saving your favorite places in case of a disaster. Even if you have thousands of favorites, they will easily fit on a floppy disk (if you still have one) or better still, a USB Flash drive.

Firefox or Internet Explorer doesn’t display all pictures or backgrounds

For some reason, I have seen this issue about six times in the past few weeks with Windows XP computers. The browser (both Firefox and/or Internet Explorer) symptoms include:

  • Web sites don’t display all images
  • Text seems distorted
  • Backgrounds don’t display

The solution to your browser not displaying the images or backgrounds properly is removing the high contrast setting in the Control Panel. Here’s how:

  1. Click Start
  2. Click Settings –> Control Panel
  3. Double-click the Accessibility options
  4. Click the Display tab
  5. Un-check the “use high contrast” box
  6. Click Apply
  7. Click OK

If your web site viewing is looking a little goofy, and pictures, menus and text aren’t displaying properly, give these steps a try!

What kind of computer do 3 teenagers use?

An extremely slow and sick computer!

Today, again, I ran across a family who has multiple teenagers (3 in this case) who use a computer that has become polluted with spy and adware. I see this situation again and again, week after week. This computer was less than 2 months old!

Give the typical teenager a Windows based computer (doesn’t matter if it is XP or Vista) and within weeks (sometimes hours) the computer is almost useless. Parents always ask me the next logical question, “Why did it happen?”

Google Chrome Overview – Video Tip

Last week, Google released their own web browser, Chrome, to compete with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Many of you have asked my opinion and wondered what it all means. In a nutshell, I think that any competition is good competition. And with a name like Google behind the project, that adds even more fuel to the fire.

Google Chrome is fast, easy on the eyes, but offers few features that aren’t already available in Firefox, Opera, and other browsers. However, I think that more people are likely to use it because of the Google name, and they won’t be disappointed. Watch my video below for a quick introduction to Google Chrome and more commentary.

I would love to hear your comments about Google Chrome as well.

Dell goes deeper into Linux

Dell announced that they will release a line of laptop computers this fall with an instant on technology called Latitude On. Early indications are that it will closely mimic the Splashtop technology I wrote about last year and during CES 2008. And like Splashtop, the Dell technology involves using a light version of Linux to produce an extremely fast boot up (30 seconds or less) time and can access the Internet through Firefox and a wireless signal.

Rick’s Answers his email Videocast – 007

I had some trouble syncing up this video with the narration today, but there are at least 11 questions answered in this episode. Questions in this edition include questions about Ubuntu, printers, a proposition (?), Windows Media Player, Firefox, and two questions I couldn’t fully answer. No AVG questions this time around.

Enjoy!

More Firefox 3.0 Features – Video Tip

I’ve posted some tips already demonstrating some of the power of Firefox 3.0. In today’s tip, I demonstrate how Mozilla has improved Firefox’s tabbed browsing, improved the ability to find and manage 3rd party add-ons, customize your address and search bar box lengths and more.

Take a look at the video and learn why Firefox 3.0 remains at the top of the Internet browsing mountain.