Recent Posts

526

General Software Discussion / Re: How necessary is the UAC in Windows 7?

« Last post by cyberdiva on July 20, 2011, 07:22 AM »

Thanks, Carol, for your message.  I can understand why Everything, Revo, and Malwarebytes need my OK, though why Dreamweaver and, especially, Babylon Pro need this isn't so clear to me.  But I'm willing to put up with the minor inconvenience of having to click on YES, even the multiple YESES for Malwarebytes.  Indeed, what surprises me is how many programs seem not to need UAC approval--ActiveWords, for example. 

Anyway, as you've probably seen from my previous message, I finally did succeed in getting ActiveWords and Dreamweaver to work together.  I have no idea why my earlier attempts to get them to Run as Administrator didn't work, but putting a check mark in the right place in the Compatibility tab seems to have done the trick.

Thanks for the suggestion about scheduled tasks.  My problem is that I rarely schedule tasks.  I much prefer to do them when it's convenient for me, and that's something I usually can't predict. 

527

General Software Discussion / Re: How necessary is the UAC in Windows 7?

« Last post by cyberdiva on July 19, 2011, 09:34 PM »

There's something odd going on it sounds like. If you run both Dreamweaver and ActiveWords as an Administrator, and ok both UAC prompts, then they should work just as they do when UAC is turned off altogether.

-Eóin (July 19, 2011, 08:26 PM)

Eóin, thanks VERY much for posting.  Something odd was going on.  I thought it was enough to click on the "run as administrator" option available from a right click either from the taskbar or from LaunchBar Commander (I tried both), but doing that didn't make the two programs work together.   Your message prompted me to try one more thing.  In the right-click Compatibility tab, I put a check mark in the "Run As Administrator" box in both programs.  That worked! Why that worked when the other similar approaches didn't, I don't know.  I'll add that to the 149,376 other things I still don't understand about my computer.

528

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Babylon discount

« Last post by cyberdiva on July 19, 2011, 08:03 PM »

it doesn't monitor the clipboard, but the mouse!

-Curt (July 19, 2011, 06:45 PM)

Yes, i guess you're right.  Thanks.  If I get really fed up with having to spoonfeed Babylon, I'll probably give Click Cutter a try.  I'm glad to know about it.  I'm not too worried about its working with Win 7 64-bit, since just about all the programs I've moved from my WinXP machine work on the new computer, too.  I was really surprised to see that.

529

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Babylon discount

« Last post by cyberdiva on July 19, 2011, 08:00 PM »

Thanks, cacoder, for your helpful account of your Babylon upgrade.  It sounds as if the pluses and minuses balance out in the move to version 9.  In that case, I think perhaps I'll stay with version 6, which I really like except for the fact that I now have to write or paste the words into Babylon. 

530

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Babylon discount

« Last post by cyberdiva on July 19, 2011, 06:38 PM »

Thanks, Curt.  I've bookmarked Click Cutter and may give it a try, though I do worry about interference between it and other apps that monitor the clipboard, such as ClipMate and Surfulater.  I guess I can try it and see.

531

General Software Discussion / Re: How necessary is the UAC in Windows 7?

« Last post by cyberdiva on July 19, 2011, 06:23 PM »

Personally I say put it to max and leave it there. If you have a badly written app that needs Admin privileges always then select that checkbox in the shortcut compatibility tab. Sure you'll have to ok it every time it runs, but at least you won't ever forget it manually have to right click and say "Run as Administrator".

-Eóin (July 19, 2011, 04:41 PM)

I have no idea whether the apps I use such as Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Pro, Revo Uninstaller Pro,  Dreamweaver, Babylon Pro, Everything Search, and a bunch of others are badly written.  I know they work well and are highly regarded by people I respect.  Nonetheless, even though I have an administrator account,  I have to OK these programs every time I use them.  Indeed, even if I've OK'd them for one task, I have to OK them two minutes later to perform a second task.  I've been willing to do that in the interest of enhanced security (even though I almost never have security problems), but I'm NOT willing to turn off the UAC and reboot my computer every time I want to use Dreamweaver and ActiveWords together, and then turn UAC back on and reboot again.  I tried the suggestion to "run as administrator" (even though I have an administrator account), but that didn't help.  I've decided that continually resetting UAC and rebooting is simply not worth it.  I hope I'm right. 

532

General Software Discussion / Re: How necessary is the UAC in Windows 7?

« Last post by cyberdiva on July 19, 2011, 03:04 PM »

Thanks very much, wreckedcarzz, Oshyan, Carol, and superboyac, for your advice.  After reading what you've said, I think I'll leave UAC off even though I'm not as knowledgeable about dealing with computer problems as the rest of you are.  But I haven't found UAC at all useful, and at times (like its preventing ActiveWords from working with Dreamweaver) it's been exceedingly unhelpful.  It's a pity that Microsoft hasn't been able to devise a better tool after all this time.  

Again, many thanks!

533

General Software Discussion / Re: How necessary is the UAC in Windows 7?

« Last post by cyberdiva on July 19, 2011, 02:24 PM »

Thanks, wreckedcarzz, for your response.  However, I'm pretty sure that the account I normally use is an Administrator account, and I still couldn't get ActiveWords to work with Dreamweaver until I turned UAC off.  Are you saying that the Windows firewall and  Microsoft Security Essentials won't stop some baddie trying to run in the background that wants to change a crucial setting?  I also have Malwarebytes Anti-malware Pro and WinPatrol PLUS on the computer, but I think of the main line of defense as the firewall and MSE.  

I don't go around clicking wildly on unknown .exe files, but I *am* something of a software nut, and so I do download a lot of programs.  I never open them before scanning them, however.  

534

General Software Discussion / How necessary is the UAC in Windows 7?

« Last post by cyberdiva on July 19, 2011, 02:12 PM »

I've come late to the Windows 7 party, and so it's only now that I'm starting to gnash my teeth over the UAC (before Win7, I happily used WinXP Pro, which didn't have UAC).  At first, I thought UAC was a minor annoyance that was probably worth putting up with for the added protection it provided.  Today, I turned it off, and my temptation is to leave it off.

It was annoying enough when I wanted to check Malwarebytes for updates, and each time UAC would pop up and ask "Are you sure you want to run this program?"  Having assured it that I was, I then checked for updates, after which I wanted to run a Malwarebytes quick scan.  Up popped UAC again, to ask whether I was sure I wanted to run this program.  Yes, I again assured the Alzheimers-ridden UAC, I am sure.  OK, I've learned to tolerate forgetfulness--that's an ailment I increasingly share with many of my friends, so why not the UAC?

What finally made me turn UAC off was my inability to use ActiveWords to insert blocks of text into html files in Dreamweaver.  I would type the ActiveWords shortcut I had set, hit the key to enable it....and nothing happened.  The same version of ActiveWords and Dreamweaver had worked fine in WinXP Pro, and each of them works fine in Windows 7.  But not together.  I decided to see what would happen if I turned UAC off.  Sure enough, I can now insert my ActiveWords into Dreamweaver.  I'd be happy to toggle UAC on and off, but apparently changing UAC's state requires rebooting the computer each time.  Thanks but no thanks.

So how much danger am I courting by leaving UAC off?  I managed to run WinXP Pro for many years without getting infected.  Then again, I used both a PITA firewall (Outpost Pro) and a PITA antivirus program (McAfee Enterprise Edition), whereas  I'm trusting my Windows 7 64-bit computer to the Windows firewall and Microsoft Security Essentials, plus Malwarebytes Pro.  So can I/should I live with UAC turned off?  I'd welcome some informed opinions.

535

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Babylon discount

« Last post by cyberdiva on July 19, 2011, 01:30 PM »

Thanks, Curt, for your response.  Cacoder did say that he upgraded to version 9, not 8, for $35.50, but the link he provided seems to be for upgrades to version 8.  That's why I asked the question.

I appreciate your suggestion about the auto-copy extension, but I assume it's only for text in Firefox, yes?  Much of the stuff I read in Spanish is not in a browser, so I'm not sure how useful the extension would be for me.

I'd still love to know what advantages there would be in upgrading to Babylon 8 or 9 from version 6.  Most of the extras they list as new features are of little interest to me.

536

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Babylon discount

« Last post by cyberdiva on July 19, 2011, 11:51 AM »

I just paid $35.75 to upgrade to babylon 9.

-cacoder (July 19, 2011, 09:05 AM)

Hmmm...that's really interesting, but what do you get in Babylon 9 that you didn't have but did want in Babylon 6?  I love Babylon 6.  I was afraid that it wouldn't work on my new computer running Windows 7 64-bit, but it does.  More or less.    What doesn't work is highlighting a word and bringing up Babylon to translate it.  But I was having problems with that feature even on my old WinXP computer.  More than half the time, Babylon wouldn't see the right word, so I got into the habit of writing the word into Babylon and then getting it to translate.  The translate feature is excellent, especially with the Vox Advanced Sp-Eng-Sp dictionary, which gives lots of idioms and phrases.

Of course, if Babylon 9 could work more seamlessly with Win 7 64-bit, that might be a reason to fork over $35.75.  BTW, when I clicked on the website link you provided, it said "Upgrade to Babylon 8" not 9.  ??

537

Living Room / Re: Win 7, XP mode, & other first install queries

« Last post by cyberdiva on July 18, 2011, 09:22 PM »

Hi, Tomos.  I recently bought a computer rather similar to the one you've described: Win 7 Professional 64-bit, 8 GB RAM, i5 2400.  Like you, I have some programs that date from the 1990s, and I was afraid that they wouldn't run on this machine and so I would have to figure out how to use XP mode.  Well, to my surprise, almost all the programs I have will run under Windows 7.  Every now and then, I'd be asked whether I wanted to run the program in "compatibility mode."  If I said yes, I was given a choice of various earlier versions of Windows.  I didn't have to install anything to make the computer give me this choice.  It seems to be a feature simply built into Windows 7 (or perhaps Windows 7 Professional).  Whether this is what is meant by XP-mode, I'm not sure.  I didn't expect the process to be so seamless.  Anyway, I think you too may find that all or almost all your programs will run on Windows 7 without your having to do much to make that happen.

538

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Update disaster - recovery help, please!

« Last post by cyberdiva on July 18, 2011, 02:39 PM »

One more thing.  I don't know of any good disaster recovery book, but I highly recommend frequent backups and setting system restore points.  I know there are some folks on this forum who are less enthusiastic about restore points, but for me they've been a lifesaver many times.  I tend to set a restore point any time I'm going to do anything about which I'm uneasy, whether it's installing a piece of software, messing with the Registry, or even accepting Windows Updates, etc. (yes, I know that Windows supposedly sets restore points when it installs updates, but I want the restore point to return to even before the updates are downloaded).

539

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Update disaster - recovery help, please!

« Last post by cyberdiva on July 18, 2011, 02:30 PM »

I second/third/fourth the recommendation that you change your Windows Updates settings from Automatic to Let Me Decide.  But that by itself may not be sufficient, since many of us don't know how to tell whether or not an Update will turn out to be the Update from Hell.  That's one reason I subscribe to Windows Secrets, a weekly online newsletter with columns by several knowledgeable people.  It comes in both a paid and a free version, and I'm under the impression that the paid version asks you to pay what you feel you can/want to (but I could be misremembering).  I get the paid version.  In it, and perhaps in the free version as well, there's a column devoted to providing guidance about Windows Updates.  I hold off installing any until I've read that week's edition of Windows Secrets.  There's also a free Windows Secrets forum where all things having to do with Windows are discussed.  I have found it helpful on occasion.  However, what I really value is the weekly Windows Secrets newsletter. 

540

General Software Discussion / Re: BrowserID - Mozilla's solution to the password problem

« Last post by cyberdiva on July 16, 2011, 09:10 AM »

The same way Firefox preserves your history, bookmarks or saved passwords, it will also preserve the file that deems the browser as authorized. On a clean installation, you can move that file to the new profile.

-Lashiec (July 16, 2011, 06:21 AM)

I don't store bookmarks or passwords on any browser, so I'm less familiar with how well Firefox manages this.  (I have a password manager and a bookmark manager that work with all my computers.) Be that as it may, since I currently use several computers and several browsers on each computer, having to make and keep each one validated for BrowserID sounds like more trouble than it's worth.  At least for me. 

541

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Superantispyware Pro: Save 75%

« Last post by cyberdiva on July 16, 2011, 08:57 AM »

In my experience the last few years, SuperAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes are the two all purpose anti-malware programs that I keep handy in case of trouble.  They have helped at work with other computers messed up and for me I run an occasional scan for that extra layer of peace of mind.  All that is even in an "on demand" mode, they probably have a real-time mode.

-Steven Avery (July 16, 2011, 07:53 AM)

Yes, both SAS and MBAM have a real-time mode.  Just to run an occasional (or even daily) scan, all you need is the free version of either program.  However, the $10 charge leads me to believe that what is being offered is SAS's real-time version.  Since I already have MBAM's real-time commercial version on all my computers, I'm not interested in the offer from SAS, since I doubt that two such real-time programs should be running at the same time.  (I do have the free version of SAS available for an occasional scan.)

542

Living Room / Re: I am so sick of google's search result urls with tracking info

« Last post by cyberdiva on July 16, 2011, 08:49 AM »

in newer versions of firefox (versions 4 & 5), the statusbar is hidden by default. you need to install an add-on to bring back the status bar.

-lanux128 (July 16, 2011, 02:45 AM)

Yes, it's hidden by default, but you don't need an add-on to get it back.  It has simply been renamed "add-on bar."  If you click on View-->Toolbars and put a check mark next to Add-on Bar, the status bar will appear and remain.

543

General Software Discussion / Re: BrowserID - Mozilla's solution to the password problem

« Last post by cyberdiva on July 15, 2011, 10:02 PM »

As I understand, you can use as many browsers and devices as you like, as long as they're linked to any e-mail address you use with any given Internet service, and has been previously authorized by you. BrowserID is just a proof of concept, the functionality outlined by the proposal would be integrated into Firefox and other browsers, so the application is the one handling the e-mail addresses, not an external web service.

-Lashiec (July 15, 2011, 07:30 PM)

Well, what happens if I'm at a friend's house and want to use her computer, or I'm at an Internet cafe?  And what happens when I move from, say, Firefox 5 to Firefox 6?  Will I have to re-establish all the browsers each time there's a new version in the same way that I've had to upgrade many of my extensions? 

There's simply nothing about BrowserID that appeals to me, and a lot that does not. 

544

General Software Discussion / Re: BrowserID - Mozilla's solution to the password problem

« Last post by cyberdiva on July 15, 2011, 06:41 PM »

I'm somewhat confused.  Does BrowserID assume that I always use the same browser?  Or the same computer?  I also use a variety of email addresses.  I'm not eager to have these addresses brought together by BrowserID.  Nor do I want to be identified by my email address rather than by a username I choose.  I realize that BrowserID is in an early stage, but from what I've seen I wouldn't dream of using it. 

In addition to the privacy concerns I've raised, I'm also in agreement with Lashiec's point about the security risk of having one's email account as the sole point of failure.

545

Living Room / Re: Update for Windows XP (KB2541763)

« Last post by cyberdiva on July 10, 2011, 06:57 PM »

I've seen warnings against that update in Windows Secrets and in a couple of other places.  Based on those reports, I've simply not bothered to install that update.  I haven't found that I needed it.  Then again, I almost never use Internet Explorer.

546

General Software Discussion / Re: Opera 11.5 Released

« Last post by cyberdiva on July 02, 2011, 10:43 PM »

Plus every damn time I update Opera it sets itself as my default browser. Don’t like that.

-J-Mac (July 02, 2011, 09:52 PM)

That's odd--I don't recall it doing that on my computers.

547

Living Room / Re: nearby lightning skrike kills neighbours computers (and mine)

« Last post by cyberdiva on June 30, 2011, 08:14 AM »

Last November I bought a surge protector power bar that has a $75,000 guarantee. It might not actually protect things, but if anything does go wrong, it's going to cover a lot of damage. It was quite expensive though. I think it was $80 or $90... I forget.

-Renegade (June 30, 2011, 06:31 AM)

A couple of years ago, I bought something that sounds quite similar to Renegade's surge protector.  Mine is an APC Back-UPS ES550 battery backup/surge protector that claims to provide up to 48 minutes of battery backup for home computers in case of power failure.  Like his, it offers (or claims to offer) a $75,000 guarantee that includes damage due to lightning.  I have fortunately never had to test its ability to survive the kind of close lightning strike that nudone experienced, but it has saved me a number of times when there have been momentary or extended power outages.  When the power suddenly goes out, my computer continues (powered by the APC's battery) as if nothing has happened, giving me the opportunity to turn it off normally if I wish.

Even so, if there's a bad thunderstorm, I tend to turn off the computer and pull out the plug connecting the APC to the electricity.  I do this as well if I'm about to go out for a while and there's a prediction of thunderstorms.   Nudone's unfortunate experience makes me feel better about being a worrywart. 

548

General Software Discussion / Re: Opera 11.5 Released

« Last post by cyberdiva on June 28, 2011, 09:03 PM »

Mention of x-marks and problems with synchronizing bookmarks made me realize that I haven't had that issue since I bought the bookmark manager Powermarks back in (gulp) 1997.  Several years ago, Powermarks gave up the ghost and I moved to Linkman, which is even better (and which will import bookmarks from Powermarks and just about anywhere else).  With Linkman, all my bookmarks are in one place, and no matter which browser I use, I can access my bookmarks, add bookmarks, etc.  I know there must be some reason that people who use multiple browsers save their bookmarks in each one rather than in a program like Linkman, but I honestly don't know what that reason is.  I hope I'm not sounding smug and self-righteous--I don't mean my remarks that way.  I'm just puzzled--and in love with Linkman. 

549

General Software Discussion / Re: Google's Periodic Table of APIs & Developer Products

« Last post by cyberdiva on June 27, 2011, 07:38 AM »

I came to this thread hoping to find some new information about Google's deprecated Translate API.  Didn't find it, but I loved the extremely interesting article about content farmers and Google's efforts to combat them with Panda.  Thanks very much, Zaine, for calling attention to it.

550

General Software Discussion / Re: What is Mozilla trying to do?

« Last post by cyberdiva on June 23, 2011, 08:23 AM »

DaddyDave, I love your toilet theory!  

I haven't yet moved to FF5, primarily because of the add-on issue.  But Mozilla is claiming that FF5 corrects security problems in FF4, so perhaps I should upgrade?  I guess I'll wait a bit longer.