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One
on One Computer Consultants
November 2008 eNewsletter
New Computer Technologies and General Information
Blu-Ray is Dead!
It’s not
official, yet! But, with about only 4% of the U.S. movie disc sales and HD
download capacity coming, the Blu-Ray format is destined for demise. With the
advent of “up-sampling” DVD players, consumers can upload high quality video to
their HDTVs for under $100. Another major factor is the high cost of production.
In order to be cost-effective, Blu-Ray discs have to be produced in the
thousands, authoring software costs about $40,000, there’s a $3000 per year fee
for using the logo, and a $1600 “per project” fee. Do you remember Betamax? SACD?
Minidisk? Laser Disk? DVD-Audio?
Virus/Spyware/Spam Warning & Updates
Clickjacking
“Clickjacking” is a new, scary new browser exploit/threat affecting all the
major desktop platforms — Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple
Safari, Opera and Adobe Flash. That means that there doesn’t matter if you’re
using a PC or MAC, you’re still susceptible to the attack. Here’s how it works,
when you visit a
malicious website, the attacker is able to take control of the links that your
browser visits. Disabling your JavaScript won’t cure the problem.
In the meantime, the
only fix is to disable browser scripting and plug-ins. This isn’t an easy thing
to do for most people, so if you suspect that you are being directed to
undesired web links, immediately exit your browser by clicking on the upper
right “X”. Next, delete/clear your browser and cache (you’ll have to check your
browser’s help file for the specific steps), then restart your computer.
"Free" Software Downloads
aTunes
If you’re
tired of dealing with iTunes and the way it “takes over” your computer and audio
formats, then “aTunes” might be your answer. This is a full-featured audio
player and music organizer that allows users to edit tags, organize music files
and create (rip) audio CDs. It is “free” software distributed under GPL
licensing, allowing you to install, modify, and redistribute the software. Go
to, (
http://www.atunes.org/ ).
Tips & Tricks
Clean out your Computer
Like my clothes closets, computers seem to accumulate
articles that haven’t been used in years. Not only data files, but programs are
taking up valuable hard drive space and could be affecting your computer’s
performance. Likely, the latest Microsoft Windows operating systems (Windows and
VISTA do it a little differently) will indicate the frequency of use when
accessed through the Control Panel. Let your old clothes, things you haven’t
used in over a year, should be removed. Unfortunately, most of the time just
uninstalling the program doesn’t remove all the references in the system
registry. You’ll have to run a “registry cleaner” program to do that. There are
a couple of links on my “Downloads”
page.
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