Another Firefox Rave

Walter Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal tends to limit his recommendations to mainstream products. But Walt breaks out and highly endorses the upstart Firefox web browser over Microsft's Internet Explorer.

PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY
By WALTER S. MOSSBERG
December 30, 2004

Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser is one of the most important, and most often used, programs on the world's personal computers, relied upon by more than 90% of Windows users. But Microsoft hasn't made any important functional improvements in Internet Explorer for years.

The software giant has folded IE into the Windows operating system, and the browser only receives updates as part of the "Windows update" process. In recent years, most upgrades to IE have been under-the-hood patches to plug the many security holes that have made IE a major conduit for hackers, virus writers and spyware purveyors. The only visible feature added to IE recently: a pop-up ad blocker, which arrived long after other browsers had one.

Meanwhile, other people have been building much better browsers, just as Microsoft itself did in the 1990s, when it challenged and eventually bested the then-dominant browser, Netscape Navigator. The most significant of these challengers is Firefox, a free product of an open-source organization called Mozilla, available for download at www.mozilla.org1. Firefox is both more secure and more modern than IE, and it comes packed with user-friendly features the Microsoft browser can't touch.

Firefox still has a tiny market share. But millions of people have downloaded it recently. I've been using it for months, and I recommended back in September that users switch to it from IE as a security measure. It's available in nearly identical versions for Windows, the Apple Macintosh, and the Linux operating system.

There are some other browsers that put IE to shame. Apple's elegant Safari browser, included free on every Mac, is one. But it isn't available for Windows. The Opera browser is loaded with bells and whistles, but I find it pretty complicated. And NetCaptor, my former favorite, is very nice. But since it's based on the IE Web-browsing engine, it's vulnerable to most of IE's security problems.

Firefox, which uses a different underlying browsing engine called "Gecko," also has a couple of close cousins based on the same engine. One is Netscape, now owned by America Online. The other is a browser called Mozilla, from the same group that created Firefox. But Firefox is smaller, sleeker and newer than either of its relatives, although a new Netscape version is in the works.

Firefox isn't totally secure -- no browser can be, especially if it runs on Windows, which has major security problems and is the world's top digital target. But Firefox has better security and privacy than IE. One big reason is that it won't run programs called "ActiveX controls," a Microsoft technology used in IE. These programs are used for many good things, but they have become such powerful tools for criminals and hackers that their potential for harm outweighs their benefits.

Firefox also has easier, quicker and clearer methods than IE does for covering your online tracks, if you so choose. And it has a better built-in pop-up ad blocker than IE.

But my favorite aspect of Firefox is tabbed browsing, a Web-surfing revolution that is shared by all the major new browsers but is absent from IE. With tabbed browsing, you can open many Web pages at once in the same browser window. Each is accessed by a tab.

The benefits of tabbed browsing hit home when you create folders of related bookmarks. For instance, on my computer I have a folder of a dozen technology-news bookmarks and another 20 or so bookmarks pointing to political Web sites. A third folder contains 15 or so bookmarks for sites devoted to the World Champion Boston Red Sox. With one click, I can open the entire contents of these folders in tabs, in the same single window, allowing me to survey entire fields of interest.

And Firefox can recognize and use Web sites that employ a new technology called "RSS" to create and update summaries of their contents. When Firefox encounters an RSS site, it displays a special icon that allows you to create a "live" bookmark to the site. These bookmarks then display updated headlines of stories on the sites.

Firefox also includes a permanent, handy search box that can be used to type in searches on Google, Yahoo, Amazon or other search sites without installing a special toolbar.

And it has a cool feature called "Extensions." These are small add-on modules, easy to download and install, that give the browser new features. Among the extensions I use are one that automatically fills out forms and another that tests the speed of my Web connection. You can also download "themes," which change the browser's looks.

There is only one significant downside to Firefox. Some Web sites, especially financial ones, have chosen to tailor themselves specifically for Internet Explorer. They rely on features only present in IE, and either won't work or work poorly in Firefox and other browsers.

Luckily, even if you switch to Firefox, you can still keep IE around to view just these incompatible sites. (In fact, Microsoft makes it impossible to fully uninstall IE.) There's even an extension for Firefox that adds an option called "View This Page in IE."

So Firefox is my current choice of a Windows Web browser. It is to IE in 2004 what IE was to Netscape in 1996 -- the upstart that does a better job.

How Fast Is Your Internet Connection?

See if you are getting the connection speed that your Internet Service Provider promised. I really like the University of Michigan Speedtest. More tests casn also be found at Broadband Reports.

An Account of Spyware Removal

This is how one woman solved her spyware problem...she did a clean reinstall of Windows XP. A lighthearted account of this (sometimes necessary) process.

December 30, 2004

Terminating Spyware With Extreme Prejudice

By RACHEL DODES

HE end of the year is a time when people sit down, rethink their priorities and sometimes change their ways. Some quit smoking. Others join a gym. I chose to erase my hard drive and reinstall my operating system.

Sure, it was a drastic move, but my two-year-old I.B.M. ThinkPad - equipped with a 1,000-megahertz Pentium III processor, a high-speed Internet connection and 256 megabytes of memory - was running about as fast as the Apple IIE I used in the mid-80's.

After six months engaged in mortal combat with spyware - parasitic software that tracks your browsing habits, sends out pop-up ads and can even send your private information to an organized crime ring in Guam - I had two options: shell out $1,200 for a new ThinkPad, or wipe my hard drive and start from scratch - a huge production with potentially cataclysmic results.

Since I enjoy new challenges (and more important, since I lack the funds to buy a new laptop), I decided to shoot for the moon and delete, delete, delete.

It did not have to be this way. I can trace the decline of my computer's performance to an ill-advised download over the summer. In a pop-music-induced frenzy, I am embarrassed to admit, I went to www.kazaa.com, downloaded and installed the free file-sharing service, then proceeded to download (a k a steal) Britney Spears's and Madonna's collaborative effort, "Me Against the Music."

I was about to get my karmic retribution.

In downloading Kazaa, I had inadvertently opened the floodgates to all manner of spyware. By the end of the summer, even after I had deleted Kazaa and installed Norton AntiVirus 2004 - which took care of the virus-related part of the problem - I was unable to open Internet Explorer without being deluged with pop-ups enticing me to buy everything from herbal weight-loss pills to obscure business publications.

My home page would mysteriously try to redirect itself to a site called badgurl.grandstreetinteractive.com. Little gray dialog boxes would pop up in the center of my screen to inform me, shockingly, that my computer might be infected with spyware. Then it would crash.

Spyware is "definitely the most annoying problem," said Tim Lordan, staff director of the nonprofit Internet Education Foundation, which joined with Dell Computer this year to mount a spyware awareness campaign (www.getnetwise.com). Spyware is also ubiquitous: in October, a study by America Online and the nonprofit National Cyber Security Alliance found that 80 percent of computers were infected with it.

As my frustration mounted, I sought the advice of fellow spyware sufferers. My friend Jesse, a lawyer at a large New York firm, told me he was forced to wipe his hard drive when his Dell Latitude laptop transmogrified into a purveyor of pornography advertisements. He sheepishly confessed that against his better judgment, he had downloaded a virus- and spyware-addled copy of the Paris Hilton sex video.

"I contracted a sexually transmitted computer virus from Paris Hilton," said Jesse, who requested that his last name not be printed. (He feared his law firm - and his wife - would not be too happy about the download.) "It was chronic."

Downloading dubious files is a surefire way to get spyware, but it can also be transmitted through seemingly innocuous e-mail, by clicking on a banner ad, or from wholesome Web surfing. The programs install themselves in several places on your computer, making it difficult to find and delete them.

What's worse, even if you do delete them, many are programmed to reinstall themselves automatically when the computer is rebooted.

What really distinguishes spyware from other computer security threats (viruses, worms and Trojans) is that it often seems to defy the products meant to exorcise it. McAfee introduced an anti-spyware program - aptly called McAfee AntiSpyware - in February, but it has met with mixed reviews.

Symantec, the maker of Norton security software, will release its first anti-spyware product early in the new year. (Norton AntiVirus can detect some forms of spyware, but cannot get rid of it.) Microsoft also announced that it would release new anti-spyware software by the end of January.

For now, though, computing experts recommend what they call a "multilayered approach" - translation: ad hoc, complicated and largely ineffective.

I tried everything the experts suggested. I switched my default browser from Internet Explorer - the target of most spyware programmers - to Mozilla Firefox (available free at www.mozilla.org) and downloaded and ran free expert-sanctioned software with all sorts of renegade names (CWShredder, Spyware Search & Destroy, AdAware and HijackThis).

I submitted my "HijackThis log" - a three-page list of potentially dubious files - to a reputable online help forum and, following the experts' advice, manually performed a perilous bit of surgery on my computer's vital organs, deleting several keys from its Windows registry.

The pop-ups continued unabated. A Norton AntiVirus scan informed me that despite my efforts, 77 spyware programs were still lurking on my hard drive. (Before this daylong production, I had more than 100 pieces of spyware on my computer, so indeed, it was an improvement.)

Erasing my hard drive, long considered a last-ditch measure, was becoming more and more appealing with each passing virus scan. My friend the bankruptcy lawyer finally convinced me: "The catharsis cannot be understated."

He recommended I talk to his friend Larry Wagner, an independent technology consultant who has become a self-styled sherpa in hard-drive erasure. At last count, he had helped six other people (including his in-laws, his parents, a colleague from work and my friend) deal with spyware problems. Mr. Wagner is particularly enthusiastic about deleting - and upon hearing my sordid tale, requested that I wipe my hard drive under his auspices.

"It's like a baptism for your computer," Mr. Wagner said. "You cannot truly live a good life until you've taken that first step."

I arrived at Mr. Wagner's Upper West Side apartment on a December evening with my laptop, a list of my computer's components, my original Windows XP Pro installation discs, a 20-gigabyte iPod and a bottle of Cabernet.

It is important to note that some computers, including my own, contain a hidden, manufacturer-installed hard drive "partition," which houses operating system software that can be deployed in an emergency. But since not all computers have this feature, I chose to use the XP installation disks instead. (Some people will want to upgrade their operating system in the process - from Windows 2000 to Windows XP, for example - which requires installation disks anyway.)

The first thing Mr. Wagner and I did, since my computer lacked a CD or DVD burner, was to save everything to an external hard drive. (You can buy a plug-and-play keychain drive for $20 to $250, depending on how much storage you want, but an MP3 player also doubles as a nice portable hard drive.) I decided to use my iPod, which was only half full.

I simply plugged it into my laptop (it shows up as an "E" drive under My Computer), and copied onto it all of the files contained in My Documents, My Pictures and My Music. I then transferred the contents of my iPod to Mr. Wagner's desktop, on which we created a folder called Backup. The process took about 90 minutes.

Then, using Mr. Wagner's DVD burner, I saved the entire Backup folder onto a five-gigabyte DVD. (If you are not so lucky as to know someone with a DVD burner, you can do the same thing using a regular CD burner and several CD's, which typically hold about 700 megabytes each, or many, many Zip disks, which hold 250 megabytes each.) I could have simply kept my files on the iPod or another external hard drive and transferred them back to my pristine hard drive after the procedure was over, but it would have been riskier, and I would have ended up with no backup discs.

Now I had a backup of everything. Make that two: Mr. Wagner believes in what he refers to as "Noah's archiving," saving two copies of everything, just in case.

Then I took a deep breath, toasted the New Year, and inserted the XP Pro CD-ROM installation disks into my own computer. My computer asked me if I wanted to reformat my hard drive (yes), and warned me that if I continued all files would be deleted (good). It took about an hour for XP to reformat my hard drive and install itself, and I just sat back and watched while the screens became progressively more colorful.

When my computer rebooted, it had total amnesia. It was like the Kate Winslet character in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," who has brain surgery to erase the memories of a painful relationship. My computer asked me to enter my time zone, country and type of Internet connection I would be using (LAN, dialup, etc.). It thanked me for buying an I.B.M. and asked if I wanted to register my product. (I said I would do it later.)

Now that I had a clean slate, I went online and downloaded all of the XP patches and updates from Microsoft's Web site (windowsupdate.microsoft.com). I made sure I connected to the Internet using an external router with a built-in firewall - after all this, I did not want spyware to sully my pristine hard drive.

I plugged my computer into Mr. Wagner's network, and downloaded all of the necessary Microsoft updates, including Service Pack 2, and restarted my computer. This step took about 40 minutes. Now it was 12:30 a.m., so I thanked Mr. Wagner for his help and went home.

The following morning, I was ready to reinstall all of my software. In keeping with the hypervigilant theme, I started with Norton AntiVirus. After installing it, restarting, and scanning my computer, I was elated to discover I had a clean bill of health. Not a rogue program in sight!

Emboldened by this development, I reinstalled all of my programs - Microsoft Office, iTunes, FinalDraft - and all of my external components, like my printer, camera, CD burner and iPod. Fortunately, I had all of my software discs and their necessary registration codes in a file cabinet next to my desk. The drivers for the external components were not even needed because XP can recognize just about anything and procure the necessary driver online.

The software installations took about eight hours over the course of two days, and involved downloading certain things, like Adobe Reader and Mozilla Firefox, from the Web. Between each installation, I restarted my computer, which made this process annoying and time-consuming. (For those who have tons of software, the prospect of reinstalling everything might be worse than the idea of peacefully coexisting with spyware.)

Finally, it was time to upload all of my saved files. I plugged in my iPod, and just for good measure, deleted "Me Against the Music" from my music library before putting my songs back on iTunes. After all, it's almost 2005, and I did not want any ill-gotten gains to taint my perfect computer.

Two weeks later, still no spyware. Yes, it was a huge production, but after struggling with spyware for the last six months, I have to say it was well worth it.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

Amazon Customer Support Telephone Number

Amazon.com refuses to put it's customer support telephone number on it's website. This link contains the number.

Tom's Hardware 2004 Guide to DVD Burners

Tom's Hardware Guide ...2004 Holiday

Clean Software

This site hosts links to many categories of no cost software that are supposedly free of adware, spyware etc. Cleansoftware.org

DVD Player / Recorder Buying Gude

Tech Buying Guide: DVD Players and Recorders
Washington Post
Tuesday, December 7, 2004; 3:31 PM

DVD players: Buying a DVD player shouldn't be a problem these days, but understanding all the features crammed into it may be.

Almost all the under-$100 models you'll see in stores pack in former top-of-the-line extras such as progressive-scan output -- plug the player into a high-definition television with the right cables and you'll get a notably sharper picture -- and MP3 compatibility, meaning they can play MP3 files that you've burned to CD with a computer (many DVD players also support Microsoft's Windows Media Audio format). Photo support is almost as widespread; look for a "JPEG" label on the front, short for the Joint Photographic Experts Group standard that defines digital pictures, and you'll know that the player will display photo files on data CDs—handy for the next time you want to show off vacation pictures to friends.

If you're an audiophile or suspect you might become one, look for three different higher-fi standards. HDCD (High Definition Compact Disc) support brings out some extra details in compatible CDs. SACD (Super Audio Compact Disc) is a would-be-successor to the CD format; if you've bought a remastered Rolling Stones album lately, you already own an SACD (those discs include an SACD layer and a regular CD layer for existing players). Last, and least relevant, there's DVD-Audio, which allegedly offers the same ultra-high-fidelity sound as SACD, but which has had a slower start. (Both SACD and DVD-Audio have gone approximately nowhere in the non-audiophile market, which is why these details aren't worth losing sleep over.)

DVD recorders: Some DVD players can also record. This year, prices of DVD recorders plummeted through the $300 barrier, but this particular market remains in the grip of one of the most senseless format wars ever. There are still three largely incompatible rewriteable formats around: DVD-RW, DVD-RAM and DVD+RW.

I'm puzzled as to why. Two of the three formats suffer major defects: DVD-RAM offers the most flexible recording options (almost like a disc-based version of TiVo), but can't be played on almost all existing DVD players, while DVD-RW doesn't allow easy editing or erasing of discs (unless you select a special recording mode that makes them about as unplayable on older DVD hardware as DVD-RAM). DVD+RW isn't perfect, but it does let you erase one recording among others on a disc without wiping the entire disc, and it should work in almost all DVD players made since 2000 or so. (If you don't need to re-record on a disc, there are only two standards to choose from; both DVD-R and DVD+R should work quite well.)

Bonus features to look for on a DVD recorder: A hard disk drive for short-term time-shifting, and an "IR blaster" that mimics the remote control units for your cable and satellite boxes, allowing you to program recordings.

Another Guide To Safer Computing

New Computer? Six Steps to Safer Surfing

By Rob Pegoraro
Washington Post
Sunday, December 19, 2004;

To see the e-mail I get every day from readers about security issues is to develop a deep discomfort with the state of computing today. Keeping a Windows PC safe can demand a high degree of vigilance -- if cars needed the same constant care and feeding, the Beltway would revert to a country byway.

And yet all these attacks by viruses, worms, spyware and browser hijackers could have been prevented with some initial effort. It's completely feasible to put a computer on the Internet -- even one running Windows, the most attacked, least secure operating system around -- and never suffer a single successful attack.

Here's what to do to make that possible, starting -- as many people will this week -- when you take it out of the box and plug it in. Most of these steps apply only to Windows, but some pertain to Mac OS X as well.

Step one is to barricade your Internet connection with a firewall. Without this, network worms such as Blaster can try to sneak onto your computer the instant it goes online, even if you don't run a single Internet program.

On any Windows XP machine running Microsoft's Service Pack 2 update, a firewall should be on already. (If a new Windows computer doesn't have SP2, as evidenced by a Security Center control panel, take it back to the store -- there's no excuse for that not to be preinstalled.) On an older Windows machine, open the Network Connections control panel, right-click the icon for your connection, click the Advanced tab and click the checkbox under Internet Connection Firewall.

On a Mac, the built-in firewall must be switched on: Open the System Preferences window, select the Sharing category and then click the Firewall tab.

Step two is to download and install every security patch available. Don't do anything else online until the process concludes. In Windows, select Windows Update from the Start Menu's All Programs listing; in Mac OS X, select Software Update from the Apple-icon menu. Then set your computer to download future fixes automatically (you should need to do this only in pre-SP2 versions of Windows XP, where you'd open the System control panel and click the Automatic Updates tab).

The next three steps apply only to Windows; Mac users can skip ahead.

Step three is to activate and update the antivirus software on your computer. Most new PCs include only 90 days of updates, after which your protection will evaporate -- without a rap sheet on the latest viruses, your antivirus software can't identify them. Find out when your free coverage will end, then make a note in your calendar to renew your subscription before then. (If paying $20 or so for a year of virus protection bugs you, try repairing an infection.)

Step four is to update three core Internet programs, since older versions can suffer from security flaws. Get the latest versions of Microsoft's Windows Media Player (www.microsoft.com/windowsmedia/), RealNetworks' RealPlayer (www.real.com) and Sun Microsystems' Java software (www.java.com).

Step five is a big one: Download the free Mozilla Firefox Web browser (www.mozilla.org) and use that instead of Microsoft's Internet Explorer whenever possible. Firefox is not only simpler and more convenient than Internet Explorer, it's also much more secure -- since it's not hooked so tightly into Windows, it can't act as a transmission belt for viruses. And by not running Microsoft's ActiveX software, Firefox blocks a common route for spyware.

One thing you don't need to worry about on the Web -- contrary to what some security programs suggest -- is browser cookies. These small, inert text files are placed on your computer by most Web sites to customize your use of them; for example, The Post's site uses cookies to store registration info. These site-specific cookies are harmless.

Other, "third-party" cookies are set by ad networks to track ad viewership across multiple sites. They also pose no security threat. They do raise some privacy issues, but they can be easily blocked by any new browser without impeding your Web use. In either case, fretting over the nonexistent threat of cookies is a pointless distraction.

The sixth and last step is to use the most effective security mechanism ever invented, the human brain. In two words, be skeptical. Don't open unexpected e-mail attachments -- even if they come from a friend's e-mail address, since viruses scour infected PCs for e-mail addresses to impersonate. If you get an e-mail allegedly from your bank, ignore any links in it; log in by typing the bank's address into your browser yourself.

Most important, think twice about adding new, unknown software. What makes a program trustworthy? If a computer-savvy friend or a trusted publication says it's safe, that helps. If the program is available as "open source," meaning its programming code is free for anyone to inspect, that's another selling point.

If, after all these precautions, a malicious program does find its way onto your computer, Windows users can try using the System Restore utility to reset the computer to an older configuration (go to the Start Menu, select All Programs, then scroll up to the Accessories folder, then select its System Tools sub-folder). You can also limit the ability of other people to install software by giving them separate user accounts with limited access rights (select the Users system-preferences pane on a Mac, the User Accounts control panel on Windows).

But there is no replacement, on any computer, for common-sense caution, the same thing that keeps people safe in the face of far worse dangers in the real world

A Guide To Safe Computing

In this CNET article Bruce Schneir provides some excellent suggestions for keeping your computer safe.

Who says safe computing must remain a pipe dream?

By Bruce Schneier

I am regularly asked what average Internet users can do to ensure their security. My first answer is usually, "Nothing--you're screwed."

But that's not true, and the reality is more complicated. You're screwed if you do nothing to protect yourself, but there are many things you can do to increase your security on the Internet.

Two years ago, I published a list of PC security recommendations. The idea was to give home users concrete actions they could take to improve security. This is an update of that list: a dozen things you can do to improve your security.

General
Turn off the computer when you're not using it, especially if you have an "always on" Internet connection.

Laptop security
Keep your laptop with you at all times when not at home; treat it as you would a wallet or purse. Regularly purge unneeded data files from your laptop. The same goes for PDAs. People tend to store more personal data--including passwords and PINs--on PDAs than they do on laptops.

Backups
Back up regularly. Back up to disk, tape or CD-ROM. There's a lot you can't defend against; a recent backup will at least let you recover from an attack. Store at least one set of backups off-site (a safe-deposit box is a good place) and at least one set on-site. Remember to destroy old backups. The best way to destroy CD-Rs is to microwave them on high for five seconds. You can also break them in half or run them through better shredders.

Operating systems
If possible, don't use Microsoft Windows. Buy a Macintosh or use Linux. If you must use Windows, set up Automatic Update so that you automatically receive security patches. And delete the files "command.com" and "cmd.exe."

Applications
Limit the number of applications on your machine. If you don't need it, don't install it. If you no longer need it, uninstall it. Look into one of the free office suites as an alternative to Microsoft Office. Regularly check for updates to the applications you use and install them. Keeping your applications patched is important, but don't lose sleep over it.

Browsing
Don't use Microsoft Internet Explorer, period. Limit use of cookies and applets to those few sites that provide services you need. Set your browser to regularly delete cookies. Don't assume a Web site is what it claims to be, unless you've typed in the URL yourself. Make sure the address bar shows the exact address, not a near-miss.

Web sites
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption does not provide any assurance that the vendor is trustworthy or that its database of customer information is secure.

Think before you do business with a Web site. Limit the financial and personal data you send to Web sites--don't give out information unless you see a value to you. If you don't want to give out personal information, lie. Opt out of marketing notices. If the Web site gives you the option of not storing your information for later use, take it. Use a credit card for online purchases, not a debit card.

Passwords
You can't memorize good enough passwords any more, so don't bother. For high-security Web sites such as banks, create long random passwords and write them down. Guard them as you would your cash: i.e., store them in your wallet, etc.

I'm suspicious to the point of near-paranoia about e-mail attachments and Web sites.

Never reuse a password for something you care about. (It's fine to have a single password for low-security sites, such as for newspaper archive access.) Assume that all PINs can be easily broken and plan accordingly.

Never type a password you care about, such as for a bank account, into a non-SSL encrypted page. If your bank makes it possible to do that, complain to them. When they tell you that it is OK, don't believe them; they're wrong.

E-mail
Turn off HTML e-mail. Don't automatically assume that any e-mail is from the "From" address.

Delete spam without reading it. Don't open messages with file attachments, unless you know what they contain; immediately delete them. Don't open cartoons, videos and similar "good for a laugh" files forwarded by your well-meaning friends; again, immediately delete them.

Never click links in e-mail unless you're sure about the e-mail; copy and paste the link into your browser instead. Don't use Outlook or Outlook Express. If you must use Microsoft Office, enable macro virus protection; in Office 2000, turn the security level to "high" and don't trust any received files unless you have to. If you're using Windows, turn off the "hide file extensions for known file types" option; it lets Trojan horses masquerade as other types of files. Uninstall the Windows Scripting Host if you can get along without it. If you can't, at least change your file associations, so that script files aren't automatically sent to the Scripting Host if you double-click them.

Antivirus and anti-spyware software
Use it--either a combined program or two separate programs. Download and install the updates, at least weekly and whenever you read about a new virus in the news. Some antivirus products automatically check for updates. Enable that feature and set it to "daily."

Firewall
Spend $50 for a Network Address Translator firewall device; it's likely to be good enough in default mode. On your laptop, use personal firewall software. If you can, hide your IP address. There's no reason to allow any incoming connections from anybody.

Encryption
Install an e-mail and file encryptor (like PGP). Encrypting all your e-mail or your entire hard drive is unrealistic, but some mail is too sensitive to send in the clear. Similarly, some files on your hard drive are too sensitive to leave unencrypted.

If the secret police wants to target your data or your communications, no countermeasure on this list will stop them.

None of the measures I've described are foolproof. If the secret police wants to target your data or your communications, no countermeasure on this list will stop them. But these precautions are all good network-hygiene measures, and they'll make you a more difficult target than the computer next door. And even if you only follow a few basic measures, you're unlikely to have any problems.

I'm stuck using Microsoft Windows and Office, but I use Opera for Web browsing and Eudora for e-mail. I use Windows Update to automatically get patches and install other patches when I hear about them. My antivirus software updates itself regularly. I keep my computer relatively clean and delete applications that I don't need. I'm diligent about backing up my data and about storing data files that are no longer needed offline.

I'm suspicious to the point of near-paranoia about e-mail attachments and Web sites. I delete cookies and spyware. I watch URLs to make sure I know where I am, and I don't trust unsolicited e-mails. I don't care about low-security passwords, but try to have good passwords for accounts that involve money. I still don't do Internet banking. I have my firewall set to deny all incoming connections. And I turn my computer off when I'm not using it.

That's basically it. Really, it's not that hard. The hardest part is developing an intuition about e-mail and Web sites. But that just takes experience.

Copyright ©1995-2004 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.

Google Versus Microsoft

Google is changing the computing paradigm. Their release of applications such as Gmail and the Google Desktop Search Tool, coupled with their purchase of companies such as Blogger and Picassa, show their intent to render the operating sytem irrelevant. The message: you can get all of your work done on any kind of PC. A Google alliance with Mozilla Firefox further erodes the erstwhile Microsoft dominance.

Associated Press
Google Muscles Into Microsoft's Turf
Monday November 22, 1:54 am ET
By Allison Linn, AP Business Writer Google Muscles Into Microsoft's Turf, Rolling Out New Products, Including Computer Desktop

SEATTLE (AP) -- Not too long ago, Google Inc. seemed little more than a pesky insect to Microsoft Corp.'s 800-pound gorilla. No more. As Google rapidly rolls out new products, the company best known for its wildly popular search engine is muscling into the software giant's turf, including its stronghold: the computer desktop.

Analysts say Google's aggressive ambitions could pose a formidable threat to Microsoft because it gets to the heart of what drives Microsoft's dominance: its control of the user experience through the Windows operating system.

If successful, Google could help refashion computing, making people less reliant on storing information on the Microsoft-powered PC on their desk and more dependent on free Web-based e-mail and search functions that can be accessed anywhere from any device regardless of the operating system.

Under such circumstances, the risk for Microsoft is that the computer desktop as we know it could cease to exist, said David Garrity, an analyst with Caris & Co. The question, Garrity said, is whether computer buyers may one day decide that they no longer even need a Microsoft operating system.

The two companies are already battling it out on fronts including Web search, free e-mail and better ways for searching individual computers. Analysts say that's evidence Microsoft should -- and likely is -- taking Google much more seriously.

"They'd be mad not to," said Niki Scevak with Jupiter Research.

Marissa Mayer, Google's director of consumer Web products, said the company's goal is to organize information and make it universally accessible, and that goes far beyond search.

But she downplays the suggestion that Google's tools could eventually overtake Microsoft's ubiquitous software, saying the company doesn't currently have such plans but "it's hard to speculate" what the future might bring. Chief executive Eric Schmidt has, however, ruled out developing a Google browser to compete with Microsoft's dominant Internet Explorer.

The Google-Microsoft competition is good news for consumers because it means more choices and better products.

For instance, Google's expansion into e-mail already has forced Microsoft and others to dramatically increase free storage. Analysts say it's also prodding Microsoft to improve products customers have long complained about.

As it became clear that Google and other search engines were increasingly gaining control over people's time online, Microsoft's MSN online division rapidly began developing its own search technology. Microsoft had previously outsourced that job.

Web search isn't the only place where Microsoft is playing catch-up. In June, Microsoft launched an Internet browser toolbar that blocks pop-up ads and enables search, years after Google had created its own.

And after Google announced plans for Gmail, a free e-mail service touting massive amounts of memory, Microsoft said it would boost free memory on its Hotmail accounts. Adam Sohn, a director with MSN, said to expect more Hotmail improvements soon, but he wouldn't provide details.

Microsoft also has promised its own system for searching desktop computers, responding to frustrations over how difficult it is to find things like e-mails and family photos on increasingly cluttered computers. Google launched its desktop search product last month and said users should expect more improvements to that product.

Then there is ad delivery, where Microsoft recently extended through June 2006 a contract for Yahoo Inc. to place relevant ads alongside its regular search results. Ad placement alongside search results is Google's main cash cow.

David Smith, a vice president with Gartner Inc., says the chain of events illustrates that Google is proving to be customer-driven while Microsoft tends to be more driven by competitive threats.

Microsoft denies that Google has been the impetus for improvements in its products. Sohn says the company is simply responding to customer feedback. He also downplays the Google competition, saying Microsoft has always faced plenty of foes.

"There's lots of innovation and competition, and it's way bigger than just Google, who I think everybody's excited about and focused on because they're a little bit newer," Sohn said.

Google, meantime, has signaled that it will fight Microsoft's moves into its turf. The day before Microsoft launched a test version of its Web search engine, Google said it had nearly doubled the size of its search engine index. And this week, Mountain View, Calif.-based Google opened an office in Kirkland, not far from Microsoft's Redmond campus.

Mayer said the goal is to attract employees who don't want to leave their hometown.

Asked if that meant the company was recruiting Microsoft workers, she said: "Not in a specific or targeted way, but we are looking at technical workers in the Seattle area who are interested in working for Google."

Still, Scevak said it's still too early to say if Google will ultimately be able to pull off a massive shift in allegiance. While many people turn to Google for search, he says plenty of others could see no reason to leave Microsoft products, such as Hotmail -- especially if Microsoft is willing to match Google's improvements for free.

And while Google has been the first to desktop search, he says many users may still prefer to wait for Microsoft's more familiar product.

"It's a very, very early stage," Scevak said.

Browser Hijacking

Surrendering your browser to a hostile program can be a drag. It is irritating, dangerous and often difficult to remedy. This article outlines some steps you can implement to prevent browser hijacking in the first place.

washingtonpost.com

For Windows Users, 'Browser Hijacking' Is Only the Latest Threat
By Rob Pegoraro

Sunday, February 29, 2004

The ongoing Internet-security freakout for anybody using Windows keeps getting worse. Every other week yet another part of the online world gets a warning label slapped on it -- downloads, e-mail attachments, instant-messaging file transfers and now Web pages themselves.
"Browser hijacking" is as bad as it gets: Like the Blaster worm, this form of trickery can take over your software silently and invisibly.
Typically, users discover what has happened only after the actual hijacking: Their Internet Explorer home page and Web searches have been switched to strange sites, a flock of pop-up windows follows them around, their lists of favorite sites have become a catalogue of porn purveyors -- and none of these changes can be undone without tedious debugging.
These attacks differ from "spyware" invasions, which can have similar effects, in that victims never took the conscious step of downloading a program and then running its installer.
In some cases, the only mistake a user made was to click an "OK" button to allow what they thought was a change in home-page settings or an addition of a Web toolbar -- not knowing that the site would do much more than that.
This can be an understandable error when you look at the ways sites attempt to fool users; the sleaziest sites won't include a "no thanks" button in their pop-up alerts and will prevent users from closing these windows. (If that happens to you, hit Ctrl-Alt-Del, select Internet Explorer from the list of active programs, and click the "End Task" button to bail out.)
Often, though, the problem can be attributed to going online with an out-of-date copy of Windows, allowing a hijacker's site to exploit old vulnerabilities to worm its way into the PC.
(I've yet to see any reports of Mac or Linux browser hijacks.)
None of this has to happen. Beyond the usual precautions of running an up-to-date antivirus utility and firewall program and regularly downloading Microsoft's critical updates (windowsupdate.microsoft.com), two of the biggest security flaws behind browser hijacking can be fixed with a pair of quick downloads.
A third can be remedied by installing a newer, better browser, and your risk drops to nearly nothing.
Step one is to stop sites from throwing pop-ups at you in the first place. Not only will this make the Web vastly more pleasant, it will eliminate the ability of a would-be hijacker to badger you until you accept a software download or home-page switch.
The easiest pop-up blocker to adopt is the free Google Toolbar (toolbar.google.com); you do, however, need to run Internet Explorer 5.5 or newer to get this feature. Or install any other browser -- IE is the only one around these days that still lets in pop-ups. (I'll get back to this in a moment.)
Step two is to update the Java software on your machine. Java lets you run entire programs in a browser window and, when done right, it's not risky. Its developer, Sun Microsystems, designed it with tight limits on what a Web-based application can and can't do. But these limits must be enforced by a "virtual machine" program that runs on your own computer, and the one Microsoft developed contained a couple of bugs that hijackers abuse.
If you've been keeping your computer's software current with Windows Update, you should have a fixed version of this Microsoft virtual machine. But the better option is to download and install Sun's own, free Java virtual machine (www.java.com), which is both safer and more up-to-date than Microsoft's aging software.
Step three is to get away from something called ActiveX. Developed by Microsoft to compete with Java, it allows a similar sort of Web interactivity, but without any of Java's fail-safe limits: An ActiveX program in a Web page can do anything that a regular Windows program could do on your hard drive.
This can have legitimate uses. For instance, Windows Update uses ActiveX to scan for out-of-date components in your copy of Windows, and an ActiveX installer makes it easier to add Sun's Java software to Internet Explorer.
But ActiveX is exceedingly dangerous overall, since it relies on users to make the right call when they are presented with a "do you trust this publisher?" alert from Internet Explorer. Once they click "yes," the ActiveX program can do whatever it wants.
Updates to IE have limited ActiveX's reach, and an upcoming "Service Pack 2" revision for Windows XP will add still more restrictions. But it's wiser to use an ActiveX-free browser for everyday Web activity, reserving Internet Explorer for Windows Update and the occasional site that, because of its authors' inattention, works only in IE.
For most people, the best IE replacement is a free copy of Mozilla (www.mozilla.org), the descendant of Netscape. If you don't mind using a preview release, however, the faster, simpler and also free Mozilla Firefox will be a better fit (www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/).
If your computer has already been infected, your antivirus program should clean it out. But you may need to resort to such specialized hijack-removal software as Hijack This! or CWShredder (both at http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html).
Whatever software you take with you on your Internet travels, you also need to bring some common-sense skepticism. Pushy salesmanship by a strange site deserves the same reception that an aggressive telemarketer would get in the real world: "No."

New Version Of AVG Available

A new and "improved" version of AVG is now available. The old version will function for two more months. Get the new free AVG here.

Firefox: Washington Post Article (11/14/04)

washingtonpost.com
Firefox Leaves No Reason to Endure Internet Explorer

By Rob Pegoraro

Sunday, November 14, 2004; Page F07

Internet Explorer, you're fired.

That should have been said a long time ago. After Microsoft cemented a monopoly of the Web-browser market, it let Internet Explorer go stale, parceling out ho-hum updates that neglected vulnerabilities routinely exploited by hostile Web sites. Not until August's Windows XP Service Pack 2 update did (some) users get any real relief.

And yet people found reasons to stick with IE -- alternative browsers cost money, were too slow, too complicated, or didn't work with enough Web sites.

No more. Tuesday, the answer to IE arrived: a safe, free, fast, simple and compatible browser called Mozilla Firefox.

Firefox (available for Win 98 or newer, Mac OS X and Linux at www.mozilla.org) is an unlikely rival, developed by a small nonprofit group with extensive volunteer help. Its code dates to Netscape and its open-source successor, Mozilla, but in the two years since Firefox debuted as a minimal, browser-only offshoot of those sprawling suites, it has grown into a remarkable product.

Firefox displays an elegant simplicity within and without. Its toolbar presents only the basic browsing commands: back, forward, reload, stop, home. Its Options screen consists of five simple categories of settings -- most of which don't need adjusting, since the defaults actually make sense.

One in particular should delight many long-suffering Web users: Firefox blocks pop-up ads automatically.

But Firefox's security goes deeper than that. It doesn't support Microsoft's dangerous ActiveX software, which gives a Web site the run of your computer. It omits IE's extensive hooks into the rest of Windows, which can turn a mishap into a systemwide meltdown.

Firefox resists "phishing" scams, in which con artists lure users into entering personal info on fake Web pages, by making it easier to tell good sites from bad. When you land on an encrypted page -- almost no phishing sites provide this protection -- Firefox advertises that status by highlighting the address bar in yellow. It also lists that page's domain name on the status bar; if that doesn't match what you see in the address bar, you're probably on a phishing site.

To keep Firefox current with any security fixes, the browser is designed to check for updates automatically.

A "Find" bar at the bottom of Firefox's window lets you search for words on a page without blocking your view of the page itself; as you type a query, the first matching item is highlighted in green. "Find Next" and "Find Previous" buttons jump to other matches, and a "Highlight" button paints all of them in yellow.

For searches across the entire Web, a box at the top right provides a shortcut to Google queries, and a menu lists five other sites, including Yahoo, Amazon and eBay. Downloadable plug-ins offer access to such resources as the Internet Movie Database.

What if that Google search yields four interesting sites? Hold down the Control key as you click each link, and they will open behind separate tabs in your existing window. This tabbed browsing -- a feature shared with almost all non-IE browsers -- is far more efficient and far less cluttered than the old one-page-per-window approach.

Busy readers can also use Firefox's built-in RSS (Really Simple Syndication) newsreader to fetch updates from Web sites that publish their content using this standard. This "Live Bookmarks" feature lacks the flexibility of a stand-alone newsreader, but it's also simpler.

Web addicts can customize Firefox to no end with browser extensions that add functions and themes that alter its looks. Find the Options window's settings too limiting? Type "about: config" into the address bar and you'll see about 600 preferences to tweak.

I've used Firefox as my default browser since February, and in that time I've found few Web sites that don't look right in it. Most of the time, it's the Web site's fault: Microsoft's MSN Video blocks all non-IE browsers, while SideStep's airfare-search tool employs ActiveX (an ActiveX-free version is in the works). In these rare cases, I will fire up IE -- it's not like I can uninstall it -- or, more often, vote with my mouse and move on to another site.

Switching from IE to Firefox is nearly painless. Download a 4.7-megabyte installer, run it, and let it import your existing IE data. Your plug-ins, bookmarks, browsing history and even cookies should transfer over (IE's home page and any saved passwords should be imported, but were not in my tests); you can then pick up in Firefox exactly where you left off in IE.

I think anybody using Internet Explorer should switch to Firefox today. Seriously. Even if you've loaded every IE security update, Firefox will give you a faster, more useful view of the Web. If you haven't -- or if you use a pre-XP version of Windows ineligible for Service Pack 2's security fixes -- it would be lunacy to stick with IE.

(If you're using Mac OS X or Linux, there's no such urgency; Apple's Safari, for example, is a fine browser in its own right and offers a few conveniences that Firefox leaves out.)

Firefox's story doesn't end with this 1.0 version. Some upgrades, such as a rewrite of its awkward bookmarks-management interface, are waiting for later releases. But the beauty of an open-source product like this is that you can participate in its evolution. Firefox's code is open for anybody to inspect and improve; you can browse a database of bugs (bugzilla.mozilla.org) and vote on what you want to see changed next.

All of these advantages may still not suffice to knock off IE anytime soon. But Firefox's development won't grind to a halt if it doesn't suit some company's marketing plans. Can you say that about IE?

Living with technology, or trying to? E-mail Rob Pegoraro at rob@twp.com.

© 2004 The Washington Post Company

Firefox: NY Times Article (11/15/04)

The New York Times
November 15, 2004
In the Battle of the Browsers '04, Firefox Aims at Microsoft
By STEVE LOHR and JOHN MARKOFF

Does anyone remember the browser wars?

In the rapid-fire pace of the technology business, Microsoft's successful, though illegal, campaign to thwart competition in the market for Web browsing software during the 1990's seems to be ancient history.

The corporate target, Netscape Communications, is all but a memory today, a tiny unit of Time Warner. And the last thread of the epic federal antitrust suit - a case focused on the browser market - fell away last week when a longtime Microsoft foe made peace with its old adversary.

The Computer and Communications Industry Association said it would not request a Supreme Court review of the remedies against Microsoft, which it had believed to be too lenient, and instead would welcome Microsoft as a member of the trade group.

Yet a few refugees from the original Netscape and a new generation of software developers believe that browser software - the gateway to information and commerce on the Internet - still matters.

They are the ones behind the freely available, open-source Firefox browser, which was officially released last Tuesday, and they are committed to providing competition in the browser market.

"This is really about taking back the Web and not having to rely on the technology and technology standards of one company," said Brendan Eich, a former Netscape engineer who is the chief software architect of the Mozilla Foundation, the nonprofit group that has coordinated the development of Firefox.

Firefox has won praise from some Internet experts for being more innovative than Microsoft's Internet Explorer and less susceptible to malicious programs that routinely attack the Microsoft browser.

Firefox, they say, is a compact, free-standing browser designed to display Web pages rapidly while blocking pop-up ads and other unsolicited windows. Downloads of the new browser were running at the rate of a million a day last week.

Before its official release, an estimated eight million people downloaded a preview version of Firefox over the past five months.

There are other non-Microsoft browsers, like Safari from Apple Computer and Opera, created by a Norwegian company, Opera Software. But the early enthusiasm for the preview version of Firefox is a big reason that Internet Explorer's market share has slipped more than 2.5 percentage points in the last five months, to 92.9 percent at the end of October, its first decline since 1999, according to WebSideStory, a firm that tracks Web traffic.

The release of Firefox 1.0 last week could put more pressure on Microsoft. "Firefox is a real competitor," said David M. Smith, an analyst at Gartner, a research firm. "Anything that is growing is a competitor, and it is growing at Microsoft's expense."

The incipient rise of Firefox, some analysts say, points to an inherent weakness in a fundamental Microsoft business strategy: tying more and more products and features to its monopoly product, the Windows operating system. Internet Explorer is tightly bound to Windows, a move that Microsoft says improves the browser's performance.

This strategy, the analysts say, means that innovation in much of the company's software tends to move in lockstep with Windows development, and that pace has slowed as the operating system has become larger and increasingly complex.

"Microsoft has not done any fundamental innovation in the browser for years," said Michael Cusumano, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management. "It doesn't surprise me that there are openings for smaller, lighter products that are separate from the operating system like Mozilla's Firefox."

Firefox also has been given a lift by the security vulnerabilities of Internet Explorer. The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team, a group overseen by the Department of Homeland Security, took the unusual step last summer of suggesting a switch to browsers other than Internet Explorer as one way to reduce vulnerability to computer viruses.

Microsoft's strategy of tightly linking its browser to Windows, computer security experts say, does not necessarily make Internet Explorer more vulnerable. But Bruce Schneier, chief technology officer of Counterpane Internet Security, a security company, said the added complexity of that design increases the risk of security flaws.

Microsoft says it is moving ahead with browser development and has a team of more than 100 programmers working on advances to Internet Explorer. Security, company executives say, has improved considerably with the release in August with an update to Windows.

Despite its huge market share, Microsoft has ample motivation to keep enhancing Internet Explorer, they say. "Browsing the Web is a core experience," said Gary Share, a director of product management for Windows. "And if we want people to continue to use Windows, we have to make sure the browsing experience is as rich and as secure as we possibly can."

The Firefox development is being led, said Mr. Eich, 43, by a "new generation of hackers," like Ben Goodger, a 24-year-old native of New Zealand. Mr. Goodger, the lead engineer on Firefox, is one of the Mozilla Foundation's full-time staff of 12 people, working from informal offices in Mountain View, Calif.

Mr. Goodger headed a team of more than 80 mostly volunteer programmers. His motivation, he said, was mainly the engineer's satisfaction of crafting tight, coherent code that others can build on and that is easy for ordinary people to use.

"People really like using software that is polished," he said.

For Mitchell Baker, a former Netscape lawyer and president of the foundation, the warm reception for Firefox carries a measure of vindication. "The Mozilla project has been characterized by a level of relentless, dogged passion," Ms. Baker said.

"We got through the dark days when people thought we were a failure," she added, "Now I have a lot of optimism."

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company | Home | Privacy Policy | Search | Corrections | RSS | Help | Back to Top

Windows Service Pack 2 for XP

Only computer geeks seem to know about Microsoft Service Pack2 (SP2). But this major update to the Windows XP operating system is now being distributed to PC owners via the Windows Update feature.
SP2 is a security oriented 80MB upgrade. It will prevent the automatic installation of ActiveX components (which are the leading conduits for viruses ), switch on and manage the Windows XP firewall, notify you if your antvirus software is not working, and automate the delivery of future Windows Updates. SP2 also adds a popup blocker to Internet Explorer.
Unfortunately SP2 has caused major problems on about 10% of the PC's on which it has been installed. These problems range from slowing Internet connections, hardware failures, and the disabling of some software applications.
To counter these problems, Microsoft has published a document which details the steps you should take before installing SP2. These include backing up important documents, removing spyware, and updating any existing antivirus and firewall software. Microsoft has also published a list of applications that might be impacted by SP2.
Starting in October, SP2 is being rolled out to consumers via the Windows Update. Since an 80MB upgrade would be quite onerous for dialup users, Microsoft has also made SP2 available on a free CD.
I successfully installed SP2 on a fairly new XP machine with few applications. The installation took about 75 minutes.

Your PC Just Got A New Lease On Life

Processor speed used to double every 18 months. This meant that in three years your PC was effectively obsolete. However Intel has just announced that it will no longer be increasing the speed of it's CPU's. Therefore older PC's are going to be functional for a much longer time. From my own experience, any PC with a 1Ghz or faster CPU will adequately perform almost all of today's computing tasks. So enjoy your old PC... just buy as much memory as you can afford.

Dump Internet Explorer.....Switch to Firefox

I switched to Firefox from Internet Explorer and I highly recommend that you switch also. Here are some reasons why I ditched IE:

• Firefox offers tabbed browsing which allows me to open several different webpages with one click. It's like an Excel workbook with several tabbed worksheets that you open at will.
  
• Firefox's built-in pop up blocker.
  
• Firefox is smaller and more stable than IE.
  
• Firefox opens webpages much more quickly than IE.
  
• Firefox provides a simple way to manage or dispose of cookies.
  
• Firefox is immune to the plethora of cyber attacks that are aimed at IE.
  
• Firefox 's built in RSS reader updates and delivers news and blogs in real time.
  

Since it obliterated Netscape, Microsoft has made no attempts to improve on the functionality of IE. Download a free copy of Firefox and enjoy friendlier and more secure websurfing now.

GMail

Google has done a great job with Gmail. It has a minimalist approach coupled with exquisite functionality. A spartan interface is populated with only the tools that one needs to communicate one's message.
Speaking of communication...that is the key driver of this product. The essential idea is that with Gmail you don't just send and receive emails...you have conversations. And Gmail is configured to
display and archive those discussions in a manner totally congruent with the way you work, think, and play.
Gmail is still in beta and it is being distributed by invitation only.
Read more about Gmail.

List All The Hardware And Software On Your PC

Do you know what type of processor runs your PC? What video card is installed? What software is on your machine? The Belarc Advisor is a free utility that produces a detailed inventory of all the hardware and software installed on your PC. I print and keep a copy of the summary ...it is invaluable if you are dealing with customer support.

Make Free Phone Calls From Your PC

For broadband users only, Skype offers free PC to PC voice communication and low cost PC to phone calling. The sound quality of Skype is exceptional. I use and highly recommend this application. Here's a New York Times article on Skype.

What's Filling Up Your Hard Drive?

JDiskReport is a free tool that will identify the size and location of the files and directories on your disk drive. It presents the information in easy to follow, printable charts and tables. I run this program several times each month.

Free AntiVirus Tools

Viruses, Worms, Trojans, and other nasty critters in the cybersphere, threaten to swarm all over your PC. Antivirus protection is a must and is available for free. Here is a listing of some free tools that I use.

Anti Virus Scan.... Housecall
Trojan Remover... The Cleaner (Free to use for 30 day evaluation period).
Spyware Remover... Adaware
Anti Virus program with update service.. .AVG

Free Pop Up Stopper

The Google Toolbar includes a very effective pop up stopper. You can also use the toolbar to search the web, images, and news on Google.