E-Musings Mon Immorata

Making Rich Media Rule Safer Net browsing tips, free utility for easy new mail notifications, test your security knowledge, and rich media's coming of age This week's column isn't so much about software as it is about software. Confused? Don't be as all will be revealed. Eventually :) Actually last week I received some negative feedback. A reader accused me moving away from computing basics and news of new viruses and security issues. There are several reasons for this focus shift. This column reflects technology I'm interested. And the software that I use and update frequently. I no longer need to stress so much on computing security and the importance of privacy. Because either large corporations like Microsoft have embraced the idea that security should be built-in to new software. Or because, hopefully, the majority of my readers are experienced enough not to require a daily dose of weekly spoon-feeding. As also I found on a personal front, life was depressing enough without the added sadness caused by writing about viruses, Trojans and worms. Week after week. There are many great security resources online. And before you decided to email me for a list I recommend searching with Google. Or subscribing to the many malware alerts issued weekly by antivirus vendors. But regardless of whether you think you know everything. Why not put your knowledge to the test. Take Trend Micro's Virus & Security Crossword Puzzle on the honor system. This is not an online quiz. Its a PDF file you need to download. Or you could cheat by looking up the answers first. No marks except a personal sense of satisfaction. I would also like to stress its time to part ways from MS Internet Explorer (MSIE). And use safer alternates whose safety is because they aren't so well integrated (bonded?) with Windows. And don't receive the same kernel-level access. Mozilla Firefox (0.9.1 stable; 1.0 Preview Release) is a great browser that supports tabbed browsing and more. The new builds are also very stable and use system resources intelligently. Or you could also use Maxthon 1.0.035 that scans for security updates at startup. And by default blocks auto-download of ActiveX controls. The included Float bar has been improved considerably. This now appears when you mouse-over an image, Flash animation or a Window Media Player/RealPlayer object. You can also configure it to appear over, or outside an object's boundary. And you can copy object URLs to the clipboard, open in a new tab, save or add to Ad Hunter. You can also zoom images using the mouse wheel. I also noticed this Beta is a bit reckless with Windows resources. And on my 392 MB RAM computer, with just 2 tab sessions active, resource usage was 34,384K. On minimizing to System Tray this dropped to 300 K but within seconds climbed past 23,000K! However regardless of whether you prefer MSIE or Firefox, remain alert for phishing. I now receive 2-4 mails a week all trying to convince me my Citibank ATM card will expire unless I confirm its existence. Fortunately I don't have any accounts with Citibank. The messages sent are HTML encoded. But when viewed in plain (ASCII) text mode you can see the hidden URL that an image of the genuine web site links to. In one recent instance the spoof address had been Base-10 encoded. I used Network Tools to reverse encoding and view the actual URL. To avoid becoming an inadvertent victim, I recommend Corestreet's Spoofstick browser add-in. Available separately for MSIE and Firefox, it displays the real URL of a site you're visiting. If there's a mismatch between where you think you should be and what Spoofstick reports, terminate your browser window immediately. I also chanced across a free POP3 email monitor. jetMailMonitor 6.0 can support 50 e-mail accounts including those hosted on Microsoft Exchange, Netscape, Outlook97, Internet Mail, and Outlook Express by default. You can also custom configure a different client. It runs in the System Tray and notifies you new mail is received. You can view and manage emails received. As also delete spam as long as you manually blacklist addresses. The TimeSync feature synchronize your computer clock with an Internet atomic clock time server. And finally more interesting developments from the world of rich media. You could revisit the Flash-powered Euro 2004 Goals with variable speed playback and different camera angles. Or you could learn more about the human body. Including interactive quizzes about its musculature, skeleton, central nervous systems, and organs. This excellent BBC site, winner of the Webby 2004: Education award also helps you test your senses and take psychological tests online. That's it for now. Stay Safe! Click Here to Email Me