To my opponents

[MikeJ]

Haven't restored my e-mail yet so this is just a quick note to those who I owe turns:

Well, I reformatted my hard drive and between the reformat and the few days it took me to reinstall everything (and presumably prior to installing my firewall) I picked up a malicious worm off the net that was obscurely logging itself into an IRC chatroom (which, as I discovered, had a few hundred other poor saps in it too) wherein it was scanning for and spitting out administrator passwords, sending internet cache/browser files, etc. So this has made me a tad paranoid (although I think I caught it before it did anything more than spit out administrator passwords - which isn't a problem) and I'm taking my time securing Windows (mission impossible it would seem).

Will be another couple of days before I'm fully up and running as I've got some real life things that need attention (eg. some of you might know about my leaky deck heh) as well.

[Xandamere]

Let me know if you need any help with security-related issues...I used to dabble a bit on the dark side of the internet ;)

[MikeJ]

Well I think I have it locked down pretty well. Before my format I was pretty secure (I think anyways... plenty of port scans but it seemed to end there) but I've Nazified my security policy just in case.

Good thing there aren't any citizens inside my PC because I've just unleashed Patriot Act x 10 ;).

And while I'm here a quick note to my opponents (except Jean-Luc who is on vacation)... turns will be out tomorrow (probably) and regularly follow once more.

And finally, just to endorse something I really like:

http://www.avantbrowser.com/

(though ironically enough site is down just at the moment).

It is an alternate browser without most of the pitfalls of 3rd party browsers (eg loading resources when you start the browser and compatibily issues).

It uses the IE core so compatibility is a non-issue and since it uses the IE core, resources are pre-loaded by the OS just like with IE so speed is a non-issue. It has a built in pop-up stopper (and unlike many of the popup stoppers you dont need to hold special keys to allow a popup window - it just checks to see if you clicked a link or not and if you did it permits the popup to show) and comes pre-packaged with the google toolbar. Additionally it has a nice interface (I like it anyways) for viewing mulitple pages simultaneously.

Only two negatives:

- It handles favorites in the same way as IE. The good news is that you don't need to save/move your favorites if you migrate to this browser. You just install it and all your favorites are there. The bad news is that, because it handles them almost exactly like IE (with a small change to allow easier movement through long lists), it sucks in the same way IE's favorites suck as far as organization and so on goes.

- Dialog boxes (speifically file downloading) close with the browser. Not really a big deal though since you don't open up multiple instances of the browser to view multiple pages at once. You only have one instance running at any given time and multiple pages are loaded within it. But I do have the habit from IE of closing the entire browser after I start downloading something which will shut down the transfer.

Anyways, I find it much improved so voila.

[JeremyMacDonald]

On the browser topic....

http://www.mozilla.org/

[MikeJ]

Looks even better... but does it have the problems playing with Microsofts propriertary... everything?

[JeremyMacDonald]

Originally posted by MikeJ
Looks even better... but does it have the problems playing with Microsofts propriertary... everything?
Not usually but there is sometimes issues when sites are set to IE standards that are not themselves Internet standards. The most notable example that comes up occasionally is with Fonts but even this is usually pretty rare. I hit it most often when I am actually working on a web page rather then when I am viewing on that already exists.

Generally I stick with it for three reasons.

#1: Its fast. The compilier is excellent.
#2: Way, way, less friggen endless popups. Thats the first thing I notice when I use IE. Popups everywhere. I honestly can't understand how the rest of you can enjoy the internet with all the bloody popups.
#3: 99.9% of virus' that will attack or interface with your browser in some manner are designed around IE...they just fail when they encounter Mozilla.