GeekByte: Clear Your Internet Explorer 7 Cache Easily

Microsoft has made it easier to clear out the cache in IE 7 (it’s also called Temporary Internet Files). The cache is a collection of files that are saved on your computer as you browse the Internet. These files can help webpages load faster if you visit them at a later date. Sometimes it’s helpful to clear out these files. I’ve seen the size of the cached files get too big and cause problems with IE hanging. The fix was to delete that stored cache data. You might also want to clear these files if you’re shopping for your significant other and you don’t want them to know what you bought them.

To clear out these files, open IE 7 and click on the Tools menu. Choose “Delete Browsing History” at the top of the menu. A new window will open. To clear out all the files, choose the “Delete All” button at the bottom of the window. If you only want to delete certain files, choose from the buttons along right side of the window. Once you’re done clearing out the temporary files you want to delete, click the Close button if the window is still open.

USB 3.0

USB is getting an upgrade. The new version will be ten times faster than the current version, bringing transfer speeds up to around 4.8 gigabits per second. The technology will be released next year, but there will be a lag between the release date and the time that it will be readily available for most computer users to purchase. Don’t look for devices to come equipped with 3.0 until 2009 or 2010.

GeekByte: 3 Things to Run with the Run Command

I’m always looking for an easy way to do tasks while working on the computer. I use the Run command located under the Start menu a lot. The Run command is simply that…it runs whatever program you tell it to. To get to the Run command, just click on Start and click on Run. You’ll see a new window open that has an “Open” field and the buttons OK, Cancel, and Browse. Here are three programs that I run using Run on regular basis. Just open the Run command, type the name of the program, and click OK.

1. MSCONFIG: If you have Windows XP you should familiarize yourself with this program. It’s the easiest way to check what is starting up when you boot your computer, and the easiest way to get rid of the things you don’t want starting up. You can check all of this under the Startup tab of this utility. Never fear…if you uncheck something you find you need later, you can always run MSCONFIG again and simply recheck that program.

2. CALC: This command opens the Calculator. Yep, that about covers it.

3. NOTEPAD: Notepad is the simple text editor that comes with Windows. I use it when I want to strip out formatting from something I am trying to paste into Word usually. For instance, if I copy something off of a webpage and it has a ton of formatting to it, I will paste that text into Notepad first. Then recopy the text inside of Notepad and paste it into Word or whatever other program I need for my end result. Sounds like a lot of trouble, but it’s really an easy way to get just the text and not the fluff.

GPhone Still in the Works

Looks like Google is still planning on going through with their brand of cell phone. The plans aren’t finalized yet but should be soon. The initial plans were to use EDGE, but 3G is edging it’s way in the picture (no pun intended) as a possibility. If Google decides to go with a 3G solution, the release of the phone could be pushed back to the first part of 2008. I know I’ll be looking at what will be the terms for using their phone and what the phone’s features will be.

Free Music That Isn’t Evil

I listen to a lot of tech related podcasts and they mentioned something on one that peaked my interest – free music. Yep, free. F-R-E-E. The best part is that it’s so unbelievably simple to get. (One of the easiest ways to get it is through iTunes.) Do a search in the iTunes store for Magnatune. I’d recommend sorting the list by Artist and scrolling down to the section where the artist is Magnatune. They offer 48 different music genre podcasts ranging from Cool Guitar to Vivaldi. From the looks of it, you can find just about anything you’re looking for plus some. I like to have background music going at work and this is going to keep my ears happy for a while with new tunes. It’s also a fun way to find out if you like different music without having to put any money into your creative endeavor.

If you end up finding a certain podcast that has a lot of songs you like, minus one or two, I’d download Audacity and cut those songs you don’t like out of the podcast.

Europe to Be Blessed by the iPhone

People in Britain will soon get a chance to own the little piece of heaven known as the iPhone. It will go on sale on November 9th for about $536, with the higher price resulting from the the value-added tax in Britain. The monthly service will be about $70 - $100 through the company O2. Apparently O2 “fits the culture” of Apple. I suppose that translates into hip, fun, and expensive. :)

400 Million and Growing

The Firefox browser had an anniversary a few days ago. That nifty little free browser has been downloaded 400 million times. That’s a lot of free browsers out there. If you haven’t tried Firefox you should. It had the tabbed browsing before IE 7 did and I used it a lot more before IE 7 added that feature. I don’t use Firefox as my primary browser now since some webpages don’t display correctly in it (although the good majority do) and IE does what I want it to, but I have found a few of my work websites that operate better in Firefox than IE so it’s a must to have installed. The fun part about Firefox is that you can download Extensions and Themes to make your browser do fun things and look pretty. What can I say, the fluff is important! I personally like the MacFox and Red Cats (blue and green flavors) themes. If you’re looking for some good extensions, Colorful Tabs, MR Tech Local Install, and Copy Plain Text are very handy. You’ll find fun and useful tools under both categories. You can also download the email program from Mozilla called Thunderbird. I used it for a while and liked it. It’s worth trying if you’re interested.

You can download Firefox from Mozilla’s website for free.

GeekByte: Show Menu Bars in Internet Explorer 7

The new Internet Explorer is great! It has that handy feature of tabbed browsing that will really make your life easier. One thing that drives me nuts about it is that when you first install it, your menu bar is gone. The menu bar contains File, Edit, View, Favorites, etc. I like these menus visible since it’s really easy to get to the settings and options for various IE components.

Never fear, getting those menus back is easy! One way is to right click in a blank grey area below the address bar and choose Menu Bar. (The address bar is where you type in the web addresses that you want to go to.)

Alternatively, if the Tools button is below the address bar in your IE window, you can click on it and choose Menu Bar.

As a side note, if you aren’t sure what version of IE you have, it’s simple to find out. Just open IE click on the Help menu. Choose “About Internet Explorer.” This procedure is the same for most any Microsoft program if you need to find out what version of that program you have installed. Yep, it’s that easy.

$100 Credit to Disgruntled iPhone Owners

In response to the sudden price drop in the iPhone, Steve Jobs has made an announcement today stating that if anyone is, to put it mildly, ticked about paying $599 for their iPhone a couple of months ago, they can contact Apple and get a $100 credit valid for any Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store. The method of obtaining this credit hasn’t been released yet, but look for it on Apple’s website next week. I gotta say I’d be pretty ticked too if I just bought an iPhone last month. Technology does move quickly I admit, but two months is a bit fast for that big of a price drop. I can see the drop in a year, but not two months. I guess all the nasty emails caught Steve’s attention. It’s a good thing to see Apple doing something for their loyal customers who went out and bought the iPhone right away. At least they’re doing something to keep their loyal fans happy (and Steve's Inbox free of hate mail). :) You can view Steve's letter to iPhone customers here.

GeekByte: 7 Things to Do to Keep Your Email Safe

Spammers and virus/spyware writers are getting smarter and smarter nowadays. Here are a few tips on keeping yourself safe against their attacks.

1. The number one means of protection is education. Know what to open and what not to open (see below), and always be cautious even if it makes you sound paranoid.

2. One of the latest spam emails is the fake greeting card notification. Usually this one will say that “a family member,” “college friend,” or some other vague acquaintance has sent you a greeting card. Your name is nowhere in the email either. Do not click on the link in the email. A legitimate greeting card company will have their company name, the name of the person sending you the card, and your name in the email somewhere. In other words, more than likely a greeting card notification from Hallmark will be ok to open. When in doubt, give the friend who supposedly sent you the greeting card an email or call and verify that they did indeed send you something to brighten your day.

3. If you get an email that looks like it’s from your bank or other financial institution asking for your bank account information, don’t enter it. Don’t click on any links in that email either. You may also get an email saying your eBay or PayPal account (or a variety of other possibilities) has a problem and you need to click on a link to reactivate it. Even if you do have an eBay or PayPal account, don’t trust this email! If a bank or other company needs to verify anything with you, they won’t ask you to enter any information through an email.

4. Never open an attachment unless you are expecting one from someone. When in doubt, again verify with the sender that they did in fact intend to send you that attachment. Even I’ve emailed friends and coworkers asking if they emailed me attachments or links.

5. Never click on any links in an email unless you know the sender is legit and meant for you to click on it.

6. ALWAYS keep your virus definitions up to date. Without the latest definition files, your computer won’t know about any new viruses out there and can’t keep you protected.

7. Run antispyware software such as Windows Defender. It’s a freebie from Microsoft. You must have Windows XP (SP2 please!) or Windows Vista to run it. There are plenty pieces of free antispyware software out there, including Ad-Aware and Spybot. Your antispyware program should be set to auto update as well. Just like virus definitions, spyware definitions are constantly being updated and you need the latest to stay protected.

If you do get any of the email types listed above, just simply delete them. With a little extra caution you will greatly reduce your chances of getting spyware or a virus on your system.

Acer to Acquire Gateway

I read today that Acer is in the works of acquiring Gateway for $710 million. Everything should be completed by the end of the year. That will make Acer number three, up from number six, in the PC market once the acquisition is complete. I remember when HP and Compaq merged together (don’t ask me my opinion of either one of them…you’ll be reading for days). I wonder how the pairing of Acer and Gateway will go. Hopefully the quality of their products won’t slip.

Elk Cloner

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the first boot sector virus, written on that wonderful little contraption called an Apple II. Boy, that was some hacking power in that machine. Rich Skrenta wrote this virus, named Elk Cloner, when he was in ninth grade as a prank around the year 1982. Rich, like many in those days, pirated software for the Apple II. He would slip in little bits of programming onto the pirated discs that he gave his friends so that they would display messages or shut down the computer. Once his friends had enough of this, they wouldn’t accept any more discs from him. Instead he devised a way to alter floppy discs without having to actually touch them. Hince, the boot sector virus was born.

Just think…a time without virus protection, and without the Internet as we know it today. He managed to get his virus to spread simply from having the virus copy itself to any disc put into the computer. With the Elk Cloner virus, on every 50th boot a short poem would display on the screen (see below). Granted, it’s minor compared to the viruses of today, but it was a pretty good feat of programming back then.


Elk Cloner: The program with a personality
It will get on all your disks
It will infiltrate your chips
Yes it's Cloner!

It will stick to you like glue
It will modify RAM too

Send in the Cloner!

GeekByte: 3 Handy-Dandy Nifty-Neato Features in Windows Vista

I’ve come across a few things in Vista that have really helped me out on getting things done quickly. I like them so much that when the trial time of my RC1 of Vista ran out several months ago and I had to switch back to XP, I was crying over their loss. Now, I have my full licensed copy and I’m back to smilin’ again.

1. Rename Multiple Files/Folders in a List Easily:
I have times at work where I need to rename a bunch of folders in sequential order. This really helpful new feature of Vista will allow me to tab through the list of files or folders and rename them using the Tab key. Of course the files/folders you want to rename will at least have to be in the same directory. To do this, right click on the first file/folder in the list and choose Rename (or press F2 for you keyboard shortcut junkies). Type the name to want the folder to be and press the Tab key on the keyboard. The next folder in line will be highlighted and ready to rename. It was much harder in XP to do this. You had to rename the first folder, press Enter, arrow down, hit F2, rename that folder, and continue the cycle. Phooey! Vista has made this process so much easier.

2. Quickly Add Programs to the Quick Launch Toolbar
If you have a program in the Start Menu that you want to add to the Quick Launch toolbar, just right click on that program and choose “Add to Quick Launch.”

3. Search from the Start Menu
If you click on the Start button should notice a white box along the bottom titled “Start Search.” If you type a name of a file, even the first few letters, search results matching that criterion will be displayed above in the white space on the left of the Start Menu. It’s a little faster than opening My Computer and doing the search from there.

GeekByte: Turn off User Account Control in Windows Vista

If you have Windows Vista you’ll know that whenever you try to do dern near anything you get a message asking if you are absolutely positively sure that you want to continue. That annoying little message is due to a feature in Vista called User Account Control (UAC). It’s supposed to be helpful by helping you make sure there are no changes made to your computer that you don’t want changed. Yeah yeah, security, blah blah blah. Granted it might be helpful in the event of a virus or spyware infection, but urges such as wanting to shoot your computer with a grenade launcher should not be encouraged. UAC is one of the first things I turn off after I load Vista. If those messages are driving you mad, UAC is really simple to disable.

Click on Start, click on Control Panel, and choose User Accounts. A new window will open with the title “Make changes to your user account.” The very bottom link in that window is “Turn User Account Control on or off.” Click on that link. Uncheck the checkbox titled “User User Account (UAC) to help protect your computer” and click the OK button. You can close the User Accounts window.