Activity for October 21

Review - Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Premium
Beta 2 (Oct 21, 2009)

Just click the link found under instructions, it is marked as such:

"Download the ISO image directly:
If you have a download manager that can handle a large file, click here to download the ISO image directly."
Review - Google Chrome for Windows
3.0.195.21 Final (Sep 15, 2009)

Huh? The "Final" is revision 3.0.x and the "Beta" is revision 4.0.x? That's a pretty large gap between an official release and a beta. Working with the 4.0 beta, the browser is okay but I'm not sure where the advantages are over the competitors, i.e. Firefox, Safari, IE, Maxthon, ... like ice cream flavours, everyone seems to have his/her favourite and the rest is "worse" for various reasons.
Review - Maxthon (v2)
2.5.7.1162 (Sep 10, 2009)

Have been using Maxthon 2 for over 2 years now (changing from version 1) and I still prefer it over Firefox, Opera and Chrome because I can customise it much more to the way I need it to work, without any third party add-ons. It loads (at least on my machine) slower than Chrome but at least 3 times faster than Firefox (which now takes not less than 45 seconds to become available).

However recently I am experiencing many problems - up to 10 crashes a day (I am a heavy user) of which 90% happen when I try to close a Window in which a Flash application is running, and about half of the time it takes not less than 3 minutes to unload after closing it - generally I am using task manager now to dispose of Maxthon.

Favourites menu needs up to 30 seconds to open (I have a lot of bookmarks, but all sorted in groups and folders) and it brings my work to a halt if I accidentally mouse-over the menu. Perhaps it is rendering the bookmarks tree each time before dropping down the menu?

Every now and then, it completely forgets my passwords, loses my cookies...

And still it has the features I need which I can't get from the competition (no mention of IE 7 or 8 here - that's not competition) and I will keep using it, hoping that with each new revision some of my problems will disappear.
Review - Rename Master
2.8.2 Test 8 (Aug 31, 2009)

Version 2.9.3 is out and the link on this page doesn't work anymore, so go straight to the developer's page instead.
Review - DLC Decrypter
0.7 (Aug 26, 2009)

Great work... now the links can be removed by the File Host (Rapidshare, ...) much faster! About as helpful as writing your PIN on the back of your ATM card.
Comment - Mozilla designer suggests Windows 'browser ballot' is preferential to Apple
0.7 (Oct 18, 2009 - 8:40 PM)

Nah, EU being what it is (EU legislation has long ago made a law that enforces "straight" bananas of limited curvature within the member states) I would expect different. Cars are not like operating systems, they are the programs. Which would make the roads the OS of the automotive world (because everything runs on them).

So dear EU, please make it an option for drivers whether they want to use the LEFT or RIGHT side of the road. Equal opportunity for UK drivers (the "Apple" of Europe)!
Comment - Mozilla designer suggests Windows 'browser ballot' is preferential to Apple
0.7 (Oct 18, 2009 - 8:35 PM)

But without a browser, how exactly will people, especially those new to computers, download a browser?
Comment - I would rather cut bait than be phished in Hotmail's waters
0.7 (Oct 5, 2009 - 9:10 PM)

There is a software called "Identity Finder" which is free to try for some time - a few weeks back I installed and ran it, I expected the usual collection of visible passwords from the IE store, activation codes for various software etc., but to my surprise and dismay the program which can also check in MS Office type files, archives, unencrypted PDF files, email etc. found MANY more places where my personal information was stored.

Which means that apart from having to have a solid strategy on password creation and storage (after all, a really GOOD password should be near impossible to recall from memory alone) one must also take means to protect the hardware (notebook lost/stolen, computer in repair/maintenance shop, ...) from unwanted data sniffing, as well as storage media - for example, what should I do with the hundreds(!) of DVD and CD on which I recorded my data backups since the early 1990's, many of which hold files with private data, password confirmations by email (often with the password clearly spelled out in the email), etc. etc. etc.? Only burning appears to me to be a quick and final way of disposal. Oh, and did you wipe, not just delete, the data on that 256 MB thumbdrive that you casually discarded after you realised that it is no longer serving any purpose?

My point is, if you have confidential information or access to confidential information stored anywhere - and of course we all have - then phishing protection is certainly one important step, but not the only one.

Back to the original article, I believe that I must have around 16 to 20 vital accounts for which I use one of three current passwords, and at least 2-3 times as many non-vital accounts. And as it has already been mentioned, a breach in only one of them could reveal the access user name/password combination to a host of others.

Some of the older stuff I cannot even remember - I forgot the access to my Rocketmail account long before the service changed hands. Using PGP in the late 90s made me create "good" passwords just to please the interface (which was telling you if your pass phrase was "good" or not) but the immediate lack of convenience meant that I rarely used them (imagine the first two lines of the Ring poem from The Lord of the Rings, in German and using odd capitalisation, interspersed with numbers - I did remember it but the typing killed me).

Some kind of ID theft insurance that would cover financial damages, does it already exist?

Anyway, great article and I feel nduged in the right direction to do some digital housekeeping really soon.
Comment - iPhone's global success is more marketing myth than reality
0.7 (Oct 1, 2009 - 4:43 AM)

Why bother with market data when you can see the truth on TV and in the movies every day? According to my own observations, over 80% of "good guys/gals" use Apple products (that includes the entire cast of various CSI clones, depending on which season you watch) and most of the "bad guys" use generic PCs. Since most of them are dead by the end of the episode/movie, it should be clear to even the dullest couch potato that Apple products have a crushing dominance in daily life everywhere (except Asia and Africa, and other countries not specifically mentioned here which amount to over 50% of the World population and phone users).

I take a brief survey of my surroundings (a coffee shop) and see that 50% of the smoking computer users use Apple, the other 50% use Sony (that's a girl over there and myself, in that order). I can't see into the non-smoking section from here, where things may be different (but, now we know that even Apple users do still smoke!).

I carry an iPhone with me, so that adds to the Apple share here but that girl over there is probably using Samsung or LG, this coffee shop being in Korea and all...

The iPhone doesn't work here on account of being 2G only, but it still functions as an iPod Touch and gaming platform - perfectly suited for my 45 minute train ride to work (and back home).

The main reasons I bought the iPhone (in 2007, Thailand) were: (1) I want one! (2) It looks cool (3) My girlfriend had one before me! (4) Touch screen! (5) I had a Nokia N80, HTC Touch, Sony P950 and an older Siemens brick which could be used like real phones in case I wanted to send MMS, have better control over synching with Outlook, use my own ringtones, use Bluetooth the way it was designed to work, use Infrared, use USB standard cables, use normal headphones, use 3G networks... so yes, as long as I carry at least one more real phone with me, I love my iPhone!

Of course you can say: Apple did in 2 years what Nokia and others took over a decade to achieve - only that Nokia and others finally did it some 5 years before Apple :-) But for the touch screen... I would not buy any other touch phone that had anything less pleasing than Apple's, regardless of the other functions!

But really, I love my iPhone! This article, too. What a shame that an author has to declare and prove his/her allegiance and/or neutrality first before getting to the substance of the message.
Comment - Tough luck iTunes 9, Zune 4 rocks
0.7 (Sep 16, 2009 - 12:48 AM)

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but it is important to know that if you try to install (on Vista in my case) and receive a cryptic error message referring to "0x80070426" and "a service" not running - plus a link to a completely unrelated error solution description - the solution that worked for me and a lot of other people is to turn WIndows Firewall ON, install Zune 4.0, and then turn it OFF again (if that is what you want). Apparently the installer wants to set access rights in WF and trips if the firewall service is not running... it would be funny if it hadn't cost me 20 minutes of my time to find the answer on the net. Boo, Microsoft.

One other complaint, I can't even participate in the Zune forums even though I have a Live ID, simply because "the service is not available in my region" (Korea, South). I think I better hold off on a hardware purchase (I am normally an early adoptor) until this has been solved.

Wah, if someone from Microsoft is reading this: Even IF you make Zune net available in Korea, or elsewhere: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE realise that not all people who live in one country, speak or read the native language! In other words, please include an option to choose e.g. "Korea" as my location but "English" as my language. And let me have access to US/English titles, not just Korean ones. That is a fundamental flaw of systems such as Xbox 360, PS3, Itunes... I can't get games that are banned in Germany (I am not in Germany, but my German credit card details tell MS, Sony, Apple that I am), order English audio books (vee haff vays off making yoo talk, but not in English), dadada... oops, drifting off target... anyway, I am trying out the software now even though limited in function now.