Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
June 24, 2007

It's the season for traveling again — are you going to take a computer on your trip? Or, are you going to take a break from the world of email and web? Or, do you plan to find an available computer to use?

Of course, some people travel a lot for business. They know that email has become a critical part of their business world, so they carry their Blackberry or their notebook computer (or both) to stay in touch.

But, most of us travel occasionally for business or pleasure. We may take along our office computer, if it is a notebook, or our home notebook if we have one. However, both of those options solves many of our needs, but not all of them.

If we're traveling for business, we often have equipment supplied by our employer to help us keep in touch while we're on a business trip (or when we're on vacation <grin>.

However, there are several significant things to remember when you're using an employer-provided notebook computer:

1. You're using the employer's Internet account, or even their network, to access the Internet;
2. your web use may be monitored and logged;
3. web sites and site functionality may be blocked, just as if you're in the office;
4. employers often forbid the use of their computer equipment for any other business pursuits.

If we're traveling for pleasure, or if we don't have a business notebook computer or a Blackberry, we may carry along a personally-owned notebook computer. Similarly, this can solve some of our needs but not all of them:

1. We can stay in touch with the office by checking our email, since many companies have webmail access for their employees' email accounts;
2. since it's our own, personal notebook computer and our own Internet connection, we can do any other web surfing or emails that we want;
3. and, if you're traveling on business, your employer with your personal computer, you employer is likely to treat your computer as your problem if it's broken or stolen on the trip.

The other problem with a personal notebook on a business trip is that, depending on your job, you may need access to some files on your office computer — and you won't have them.

What's the best solution? In my opinion, it's an employer-owned notebook that's your regular office computer. Note that I said the one that's your regular office computer. I don't like the loaner solution — the "we'll let you use one of these loaner models while you're traveling" notebooks. The problem with the "loaner notebook" is that you still don't have access to your files.

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 were no updates last week.

Firefox (web browser, http://www.mozilla.com, free):
Versions 2.0.0.4 was released on May 30, 2007. The changes includes security fixes and more enhancements and fixes for Windows Vista support.

Firefox is free!

Opera (web browser, http://www.opera.com, free):
Version 9.21 was released on May 21st. This release of a recommended security upgrade, in addition to having several other bug fixes.

Netscape (web browser, http://browser.netscape.com, free):
Version 9.0b1 was released during the week ending June 10, 2007. Lots of new features and fixes - see the release notes

SeaMonkey (web browser, email, HTML editor, newsreader; http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey; free): Version 1.1.2 was released on May 30, 2007. This was primarily a security update and the SeaMonkey team urges users to update promptly.

Eudora (email, http://www.eudora.com):
No update last week. Version 7.1.0.9 was released October 11, 2006. Eudora is now free, with no ads and no "paid mode" option.

Sponsored mode in the earlier versions expired on March 31st — and reverted to the less-functional "Lite" mode. Fortunately, Eudora is very nicely designed. Just upgrade to v7.1.0.9 to get back to Sponsored mode.

Mozilla Thunderbird (email, http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird, free):
Thunderbird version 2.0.0.4 was released on June 14, 2007. Version 2.0.0.4 is primarily a security update.

OpenOffice (office suite — spreadsheet, word processor, presentations, graphics, web design; http://www.openoffice.org; free): Version 2.2.1 was released during the week ending June 16th. This is a security fix and bug fix release, with no new features.

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Part 1  | Part 2  | Part 3 | Part 4

Volume 3, Number 2 — Sunday, June 24, 2007

Copyright © 2007 Terry A. Stockdale.  All rights reserved.