cahwyguy | Chips In The Stew: Technology News Chum (Reply)

userpic=verizon In my continuing quest to work down the saved links, here are a collection of links associated by the fact that (a) they are related to technology (and perhaps cybersecurity), and (b) they were interesting to me. Note also that I’ve added some links to my post on Windows 10.

Let’s start with everyone’s favorite operating system, Android. Here are some Android related articles:

5 tips to make your Android phone run faster, longer. Most of these are common sense, but still they are useful.
Android Stagefright. A number of articles related to Stagefright. First, Kapersky has a wonderful summary of the problem and all the attempts to repair it. Motorola has promised a swift fix, but as I’m still waiting for Lollipop on my Moto X… So what to do? This post from Kapersky gives a great suggestion: turn off auto-prefetch of MMS messages.
Lastpass for Free on Android. Ever since I’ve switched to a password manager, I’ve been loving it. My passwords have gotten stronger, and I don’t have to remember or write down loads of stuff. The best Password Manager I’ve found out there is Lastpass. They used to be free on the PC, and you paid for your phone. Great News. Lastpass is now free for the first device you put it on; you pay for multiple devices. So what are you waiting for?
Lockscreen Patterns are Insecure. Here’s another Kapersky article on why lockscreen patterns (as opposed to passwords) are insecure: they are too predictable.

Let’s now look at Windows and other software:

Evernote. Evernote is a wonderful note-keeping software than runs on your phone and your PC. Here’s how to make it more secure.
Libre Office. I think in the battle of Free Office Suites, LibreOffice has won. Here’s an interesting article from a LibreOffice developer on the lesson’s learned from its success. [ETA: And if you still use OpenOffice, here’s why you should ditch it and move to LibreOffice]
Firefox. Although Firefox has improved greatly, it still sneaks in stuff. In this case, it is prefetching (or at least, pre-building the TCP connection) when you hover over links. Here’s how to stop the behavior.
Thunderbird. No article here, just some shared experience. We recently switched over to Office 365 and Exchange 365 at work. In the Lotus Notes era, I was lucky enough to have a Notes IMAP server, and happily used Thunderbird. It was a pain for calendar entries, however, saving the ical file and reloading it into Google Calendar. Here are some things that make my life easier — perhaps they will help yours. First, install the Exquilla Plug In. It is $10 a year, and allows Thunderbird to talk Microsoft Exchange. You’ll need the Outlook Web Address, and you’ll need to make the change in the URL they show. Next, at least temporarily, install the Manually Sort Folders extension. This allows you to move your Exchange account to the top and set it as the default. You can disable it when done. You should be prompted to turn on the Lighting calendar. After you have done so, add the addon Provider for Google Calendar. You can now add a new calendar and link it it to your Google Calendar. Remember to synchronize whenever you start up Thunderbird. Although you can’t accept events directly into the Google Calendar, you can accept them into your local calendar, and then drag them to Google. [EDITED TO ADD: An Update: Nevermind. This seemed to be working at work… until it wasn’t. There appears to be an interaction between Lightning and Thunderbird that causes it to (a) keep losing the folder pane, and then (b) keep crashing on startup. I had to disable Lightning and the Google Calendar Provider. Sigh.]

One last useful article: What to do when a CD or DVD is stuck in the drive.

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