Scot Finnie is on a very short list of people I trust and read regularly. His latest newsletter calls out problems with the 832894 IE patch I recommended last week. Scot says there are problems with the patch, problems that are so severe he recommends not installing it.

I disagree. I suspect by this point Scot may too. Microsoft has acknowledged the bug that caused Scot’s problems and has released a fix with the daunting technical title 832414 – XMLHTTP call fails for URLs with embedded user credentials.

I don’t have a Web-based application running here that uses the MSXML parser, so I can’t guarantee that this patch works. But it seems to directly address the problems Scot referred to.

For most people, the IE patch is a genuine critical update and should be installed immediately. If you’re having troubles with authenticating on a Web-based application (like the content management system Scot uses), don’t compromise your PC’s security by removing this update. Instead, try installing the XML service pack. (If you’re not sure which one to use, pick Service Pack 4.) If it doesn’t work, I want to know about it.

Oh, and if you’re a Windows enthusiast, subscribe to Scot’s free newsletter. He knows his stuff.

Microsoft’s latest Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer is an absolute must. It plugs a couple of nasty security holes, and it eliminates a flaw that identity thieves have exploited to fool unsuspecting victims into giving up details about their PayPal and Ebay accounts.

By itself, that’s really good news. But here’s a bonus that I haven’t heard anyone mention yet: This patch fixes the infamous scrolling bug that I wrote about last year. An exasperating bug in the November 11, 2003 Cumulative Security Update caused IE to jump two pages with every click in the scroll bar at the right of the window. After installing the new update, you’ll find that IE’s scroll bars work the way they should again.

Visit Windows Update and install this patch today.

My latest column for Microsoft’s Expert Zone is now available. In it, I share some of my secrets for Moving Files and Settings to a New PC. (It’s not always as easy as it looks!)

Microsoft plans to release a software update that modifies the default behavior of Internet Explorer for handling user information in HTTP and HTTPS URLs. The details are in Knowledge Base article 834489.

This is a big deal. It will completely block the majority (probably the overwhelming majority) of “phishing” attempts, where someone tries to get you to log on to a phony site and then give up your Ebay/PayPal/Citibank details.

It’s also noteworthy that this patch is being announced in advance of its release. Keep an eye out for it.

According to The Register, Microsoft is about to start selling Welsh language versions of Windows XP and Office.

If you’ve never seen Welsh in print, it’s a bit of a shock. Here’s one error message you might see: “Nid yw pori’r rhwydwaith yn bosib.” According to the folks at The Register, that means: “Browsing the network is not possible.” (They add, “Don’t be too concerned by the apparent lack of vowels: the Welsh language has two more vowels than English – w and y – and as you can see, makes full use of both.”)

An interesting essay by Esther Dyson, posted on her new Weblog:

The default anonymity of the Internet makes it easy for individuals to do bad things — send spam, invade people’s privacy and send data around the Net, launch viruses and other attacks. And that same anonymity makes it hard to enforce laws against those actions, even as it preserves our freedom.

But the Internet’s technology also makes it easier for individuals to protect themselves: They can take their safety and privacy into their own hands with tools such as firewalls and spam blockers. And, of course, on the Internet, it’s easier for people to get up and move to a virtual neighborhood that they like better.

I agree. About the last thing we need is more governments trying to regulate the Internet.

PS: Esther, your blog needs an RSS feed, and your links aren’t clickable!

Today’s New York Times (free, registration required) has an interesting piece entitled Now Where Was I? New Ways to Revisit Web Sites.

The story quotes University of Washington professor William Jones, who says that bookmark lists have become “information closets” that hold a jumble of sites people never return to. The Times concludes: “Only hyperorganized users sort sites into folders, clean out dead links or click on inscrutable addresses to figure out why they were bookmarked in the first place.”

That tracks what Robert Scoble wrote last week:

“I stopped using Favorites about five years ago. Hint, what happened about five years ago? Google. My favorites file back then was about 5000 items. It just got so big, and so out of date, that I stopped using it.”

Well, I rarely use IE’s Favorites pane either. In fact, the whole concept of having 5000 Favorites is kind of silly, don’t you think? I mean, isn’t that like having 5000 “best friends”?

Unfortunately, Google isn’t enough on its own. How many times have you searched and searched and finally found the page that contains exactly the information you need to answer a question you deal with all the time? Do you really want to count on a Google search to find that exact page again?

To make sure I don’t lose track of these high-value sites, I use a way-cool utility called PowerMarks, which lets me add the page I’m currently viewing to my list of saved sites with s single click. It includes the keywords assigned by the site’s author, and I’ve configured it so I can optionally add my own description at the time I add it. A simple search box lets me type in a word or phrase and instantly see a filtered list showing only the saved links that contain that text. I don’t have to worry about moving shortcuts among folders or creating a hierarchy. This simple, flat database works great.

Highly recommended.

Here’s a little trick that most Outlook users don’t know about.

About once a week, I have to re-send a message. Most people, faced with this task, would simply forward the old message. But if you use Outlook 2002 or 2003, there’s a better way. Open your Sent Items folder, find the message you want to re-send, and open it. Click Actions, Resend This Message.

You can edit the message, change the To: address (handy if the original problem was that you mistyped the recipient’s name), and change the Subject. Click Send when you’re done.

Even cooler: You can do this with a message that someone else sent to you. With the message open in its own window, choose Actions, Resend This Message. When you click Send, Outlook will protest that you don’t appear to be the original sender of the message. Click OK and send it anyway. The message will be from you, “on behalf of” the original sender. If the recipient clicks the Reply button, his message will go to the original sender, not to you.

In my travels around the Web, I keep running across references to a site called The Cheating Culture. It publicizes the book of the same name by David Callahan, whose thesis is that a “harsh unfettered market and soaring income gaps have corroded our values … and threaten to corrupt the equal opportunity we cherish. … [T]he Winning Class has enough money and clout that it can cheat without consequences – while many in the Anxious Class believe that cheating is the only way to succeed in a winner-take-all world.”

Now, I haven’t read the book, but I see plenty of evidence that this thesis is at least partially true when I look around the Internet. Everywhere you turn, someone is lying, cheating, and scamming, in an effort to rip you off.
Continue reading “The Cheating Culture” →

Everyone knows Google. But have you tried typing elgooG into Google’s search box? That takes you to a remarkable (and quite literal) mirror of Google’s site. (Go ahead, type ttoB dE and see where it takes you.)

According to the Google Mirror FAQ, Internet users in China have used elgooG to get around censorship by the Chinese government. How cool is that?