Mark's Views, Perhaps — from behind my eyeballs
While scanning through PC Magazine’s article on Firefox 12 (color me loyal blue) in high-speed overview mode, I noticed a link to their WordPerfect Office X6 Review & Rating. Well, of course I clicked it:
The number of people who use WordPerfect Office is an almost unnoticeably tiny fraction of the millions using Microsoft Office, but they tend to be intensely loyal.
Wherein one Internet titan shows a thing or two to another Internet titan’s competing browser:
Users report Microsoft Security Essentials removes Google Chrome
On September 30th, 2011, an incorrect detection for PWS:Win32/Zbot was identified and as a result, Google Chrome was inadvertently blocked and in some cases removed. Within a few hours, Microsoft released an update that addresses the issue. Signature versions 1.113.672.0 and higher include this update. Affected customers should manually update Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) with the latest signatures. After updating the definitions, reinstall Google Chrome. We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused our customers.
An inadvertent inconvenience — yup. Sure. You betcha. 😆
But, hey, they apologized.
I can believe that.
Question is, does Google? 
Next thing you know, we’re going to hear about some strange search (non)rankings and (non)results for Microsoft products.
Maybe when you do a search for “word processor suite,” the results will show WordPerfect back its rightful kingly place. And Microsoft Word(no-perfect-there) will show up once at the bottom of the first page of results…with an ominous warning about it being a potential attack site.
Stand by, folks. This could get exciting.
We may be entering a new phase of the browser wars. 😯
Meanwhile, maybe you’d better play it safe. Use Yahoo! for search, Firefox for browsing, and WordPerfect for documenting. (And maybe Linux for an operating system.)
This PSA has been brought to you by Mark Roth, Ain’t Complicated, and your local browser. You’re welcome.
PS: Coming tomorrow — His Name Is Obama. If current plans don’t hold, well, that post won’t be coming tomorrow. Keep your browser tuned to this…ah…station.
I have been a loyal Firefox user for years. Hugely so.
Well, we reap what we so(w). Hugely. Actually, harvests are always more huge than what we sow, but that’s another (hugely important) subject.
About 23 hours ago I tried something new in my Firefox browser: creating an additional profile in a custom location. (That’s actually two new things.) Then I deleted the profile, having done absolutely nothing with it.
My payback from the world’s best browser? 🙄
Firefox deleted hundreds of non-Firefox files in the custom location, including tax and banking records. And the action can’t be undone.
I. Was. Just. Sick.
Two questions for Firefox:
Just to be “fair,” I’ll acknowledge that if I had done even a little research online, I would have learned that Firefox does such a stupid thing.
Deleting a Firefox Thunderbird or SeaMonkey 2 profile
Warning: The folder for the profile you are planning to delete may contain non-Mozilla files, if you created the profile in a custom location see above. If you use the “Delete Files” option to delete that profile, the entire folder and all of the contents will be deleted, including any non-Mozilla files it may contain. This cannot be undone! For this reason, you should choose the “Don’t Delete Files” option when deleting a profile. If you want to delete the profile folder, you can do that manually.
(Emphasis not mine.)
But why should I assume I need to research such a thing when the dialog box doesn’t warn of it? (Emphasis all mine.)
Click image to see more of the screen shot
I. Feel. Betrayed. By. My. Trusted. Browser. 😳
Will I now switch to Google Chrome? 🙄
Well, how do I know it won’t pull something just as dastardly?
Besides, it’s Google. 😯
OK. That’s enough moaning for now. I need to see how much I can restore from back-up. And then see how much of that backed up data needs updating.
PS: No, I didn’t have time to put this together. But this is my way of giving back to the Firefox community. Or something. 🙂
I grateful for the Firefox browser. And I’m thankful not to have to use Internet Explorer (except for Web page testing).
But I know the majority of the world still uses IE. So here’s my PSA for you folks:
This security update resolves nine privately reported vulnerabilities and one publicly disclosed vulnerability in Internet Explorer. The most severe vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted Web page using Internet Explorer. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.
This security update is rated Critical for all supported releases of Internet Explorer: Internet Explorer 5.01, Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1, Internet Explorer 6 on Windows clients, Internet Explorer 7, and Internet Explorer 8 on Windows clients. For Internet Explorer 6 on Windows servers, this update is rated Important. And for Internet Explorer 8 on Windows servers, this update is rated Moderate.
OK, OK — so the article below doesn’t say “best” — it says “most popular” — and I know not to confuse the two.
But Firefox continues to be my browser of choice.
Firefox 3.5: World’s most popular browser
Data released by StatCounter indicates that Firefox 3.5 is the world’s most popular browser, having edged ahead of Internet Explorer 7.
Looking at the data, it’s quite possible that Firefox 3.5 won’t retain the top spot for long as Internet Explorer 8 is catching up fast, and will get a further push from Windows 7 sales. That said, Firefox has a fair bit of momentum, so it could very well increase the lead it has over IE. Time will tell …
No matter what browser you happen to be a fan of, you have to admit that that Mozilla’s dethroning of Microsoft’s iron grip on the browser chart is very impressive and quite an achievement.
So lemme see if I can do some Cool Talk. 😯
Firefox…like…rocks. 😳
HT: Rob Miller (though the tip came via his Facebook Wall)
So I learned yesterday afternoon (and forgot to post it last night) that now Google Brings Commenting to Any Web Page:
Google today launched a new browser tool that enables users to add and view comments directly on any Web page they view while cruising the Web.
Sidewiki, the new tool, comes as a new feature of Google Toolbar, the company’s browser add-on for Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.
Once installed and activated, a pane appears in the left-hand column of a user’s Web browser. Within that area, users can view and contribute comments. Comments can be linked to one particular area of a page — selectable by highlighting — and also can be shared via Facebook, Twitter and e-mail, and on Google’s Blogger service.
Well, I don’t use Google Toolbar.
Maybe that’s too bad, because Sidewiki looks like something I might want to “exploit” for the benefit of my myriad Web sites and projects.
Nope. I won’t. Not now, anyway. I don’t need another project to distract me from what I’m supposed to be doing.
Yahoo! News reports:
Microsoft releasing emergency patch for perilous IE flaw
Microsoft will release an emergency patch on Wednesday to fix a perilous software flaw allowing hackers to hijack Internet Explorer browsers and take over computers.
The US software giant said on Tuesday that in response to “the threat to customers” it immediately mobilized security engineering teams worldwide to deliver a software cure “in the unprecedented time of eight days.”
