Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
April 8, 2007
Terry's Computer Tips Newsletter
http://www.terryscomputertips.com
A computer tips newsletter for users of PC's.
Volume 2, Number 43 — Sunday, April 8, 2007
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
IN THIS WEEK'S ON-LINE ISSUE:
1. Something New: An RSS Feed
2. Updates Last Week
3. The GreatNews RSS Reader
4. Inserting Special Characters Using Alt-NumberPad
5. Urgent Security Patch for Windows Animated Cursor Hole
6. My Computer Security Software Recommendations
7. Inserting Special Characters into Documents
8. Recommend my Terry's Computer Tips Newsletter to Your Friends
Welcome to the on-line edition of my Terry's Computer Tips newsletter.
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1. Something New: An RSS Feed from Terry's Computer Tips
Notice anything new? If you're using Firefox 2, you should see Firefox's standard RSS logo at the right end of the address bar. Internet Explorer 7 recognizes RSS feeds, too, and uses the Firefox RSS logo. IE6 doesn't recognize RSS feeds, though.
See the RSS Feed
IE7 has the RSS logo displayed on its tab bar all the time — between the Home icon and the Print icon. If a web page does not have an RSS feed, the RSS icon is gray. If the web page has an RSS feed, the icon is in color (orange).
If you want to see the content of the RSS feed, just double-click on the RSS Logo. That's all it takes. Both Firefox2 and IE7 have built-in RSS reading functions.
But, what's an "RSS Feed?"
An RSS feed is a downloadable set of short articles, generally used as announcements of new articles. RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication" and was developed as a means for blogs to allow readers and other sites to download their content. Almost all blog software, like WordPress (www.wordpress.org), automatically creates an RSS feed of
If a web site has an RSS feed, it has to tell you somehow. The standard way to do that, so it communicates the fact with search engines and RSS readers, is to put a special link in the headers of the web page. (really, any web page that has a special link to the site's RSS feed)
Now you have a new way to find out what's new here at Terry's Computer Tips.
I've added an RSS feed to Terry's Computer Tips that I'll use to describe the new articles and changes to the site.
The real value of RSS feeds comes when you use a reader program to "subscribe" to them. You don't give your email address or anything like that -- only your reader program knows that you subscribe. Just like an email program, you start the reader and fetches the titles and article excerpts for the feeds to which you subscribe. Read more about RSS feeds — and the reader that I use — in this week's third article The GreatNews RSS Reader.
2. Updates Last Week
Microsoft (operating systems, email, web browser, office suites):
Microsoft releases almost all updates once per month, on the second Tuesday. There was an urgent, off-cycle update this week for a flaw that was being actively attacked.
Security Update for Windows XP (KB925902)
Typical download size: 455 KB
A security issue has been identified that could allow an attacker to compromise your Windows-based system and gain control over it. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Firefox (web browser, http://www.mozilla.com, free):
Versions 2.0.0.3 and 1.5.0.11 were released on March 20, 2007.
The Mozilla Foundation will continue updating Firefox 1.5.x until April 24, 2007. That's this month! Now's the time to upgrade to Firefox v2. Firefox is free.
Opera (web browser, http://www.opera.com, free):
Version 9.10 was released December 18th. This release of Opera introduces "Fraud Protection" as well as user-interface and stability changes. Read the details.
Netscape (web browser, http://browser.netscape.com, free):
Version 8.1.3 was released this week.
Quoting the web site:
What's new in this version? Security fixes
SeaMonkey (web browser, email, HTML editor, newsreader; http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey; free): Version 1.1.1 and version 1.0.8 were released on February 28, 2007. These are security update and stability releases.
Eudora (email, http://www.eudora.com, options: paid, sponsored or free/lite):
No update last week. Version 7.1.0.9 was released October 11, 2006. This was announced as to be the last commercial version before Eudora becomes open-source in the first half of 2007.
Warning: If you're running "Sponsored Mode" in a version before 7.1.0.9, you need to update now to the current version NOW. Sponsored mode in the earlier versions will expire on March 31st — and will revert to the less-functional "Lite" mode.
Mozilla Thunderbird (email, http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird, free):
Thunderbird version 1.5.0.10 was released on March 1, 2007. This version includes stability improvements and security fixes.
OpenOffice (office suite — spreadsheet, word processor, presentations, graphics, web design; http://www.openoffice.org; free):
Version 2.2 was released on March 29th.
From the OpenOffice.org web site:
OpenOffice.org 2.2 is an important new release and all should download it, as it resolves security issues and includes significant enhancements. These are both general and specific. A full list of the new features and fixes is given in our release notes, but among them:
- Enhanced text display throughout
- Better support for Pivot Tables in Calc
- Several key improvements in Base
- A more robust Mac version for X11
- ... And many more
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Volume 2, Number 43 — Sunday, April 8, 2007
Copyright © 2007 Terry A. Stockdale. All rights reserved.
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