Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
April 22, 2007

Terry's Computer Tips Newsletter
http://www.terryscomputertips.com
A computer tips newsletter for users of PC's.

Volume 2, Number 45 — Sunday, April 22, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

IN THIS WEEK'S ON-LINE ISSUE:
   1.   Feedback from Readers
   2.   Updates Last Week
   3.   Web Browser Wars
   4.   Dell to Offer Windows XP Again
   5.   Fan Noise and Temperature Warnings
   6.   My Computer Security Software Recommendations
   7.   Control Panel Options
   8.   Recommend my Terry's Computer Tips Newsletter to Your Friends

Welcome to the on-line edition of my Terry's Computer Tips newsletter.

My emailed newsletter is sent weekly to individuals who have subscribed to the newsletter. Click here to subscribe. It's free!

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1. Feedback from Readers

Longtime subscriber Bill Depierri used my new web feedback form to say:

Terry: Excellent Issue this week!!! I especially liked the explanation of Wireless Connections, as I found that my laptop had been connecting to a neighbor's wireless router -- and I did not know it. Bill DePierri

What Feedback Form?

I announced it last week and then had to promptly disable it. It worked perfectly in Firefox and Opera. But, Internet Explorer wouldn't display the form correctly.

I finally tracked the IE problem down to a JavaScript from Amazon.com, which was designed to show information if I had an Amazon.com link in an article. Now, the Amazon.com script is now disabled.

The Contact / Feedback / Tell-a-Friend / Subscribe form now works in Internet Explorer, too. The links to it are the bottom of each page.

In my April 1st online newsletter, I wrote about Google Maps. I use them almost all the time when I need a map. But, and it's a BIG but, they have some glaring errors in labels and in identifying the exact position of an address.

Several readers commented via my Terry's Computer Tips blog, using the link at the end of the article.

Carmelo Lisciotto said:

"I’ve seen worse than a 600ft disparity with Google maps"

Balayage wrote:

GOOGLE get it wrong, no way!

I use Google Maps almost daily in my job as a limo driver. Google Maps is wrong about 10% of the time with the wrong location for a business, misspelled street name, points to the wrong location on the street, or simply cannot find an address.

I wish there was an “easy” link to report errors. I know some of my clients would like to get the information corrected so people can find their place.

BTW, some of the same errors show up in the other map sites.

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2. Updates Last Week

Microsoft (operating systems, email, web browser, office suites):
Microsoft releases almost all updates once per month, on the second Tuesday. I saw none this week.

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 9.20 was released on April 11th. This release of a recommended security upgrade, in addition to having several new features. Read the details.

Netscape (web browser, http://browser.netscape.com, free):
Version 8.1.3 was released during he week of April 1.
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 were running "Sponsored Mode" in a version before 7.1.0.9, it's probably too late now. Sponsored mode in the earlier versions expired on March 31st — and will revert to the less-functional "Lite" mode. Fortunately, Eudora is very nicely designed. You can install a new version in a new directory and then copy the data files from the old version to the new.

If you want to consider the Paid Mode of Eudora, you will need to act quickly. Qualcomm will stop sellig the paid version on April 30th.

Mozilla Thunderbird (email, http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird, free):
New Version!Thunderbird version 2.0.0.0 was released this week. Quoting the web site: "Mozilla’s Thunderbird 2 email application is more powerful than ever. It’s now even easier to organize, secure and customize your mail."

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