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Defensive Computing Cheat Sheet

A review of the postings on this blog

Michael Horowitz

Michael Horowitz wrote his first computer program in 1973 and has been a computer nerd ever since. He spent more than 20 years working in an IBM mainframe (MVS) environment. He has worked in the research and development group of a large Wall Street financial company, and has been a technical writer for a mainframe software company.

He teaches a large range of self-developed classes, the underlying theme being Defensive Computing. Michael is an independent computer consultant, working with small businesses and the self-employed. He can be heard weekly on The Personal Computer Show on WBAI.

Disclosure.

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Michael Horowitz
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Since this blog went live in July 2007, there have been over 70 postings. For my all but mandatory end of the year review, below is a cheat sheet to the postings to date. I maintain a full blog index on my personal web site.

2007 Individual Postings

Prepare for networking failures by reading the lights on your router July

The pros and cons of LEDs for backlighting LCD screens July

Ask Leo Notenboom your computer questions July

Be careful when downloading software August

Task Manager in Windows XP August

Scan a suspicious file with 29 anti-virus programs August

What makes a good surge protector September

Create a second Windows userid for backup September

Why Apple isn't selling for Macs September

A new approach to securing USB flash drives September

Is Linux right for your mother? October

One Web site, many names: an introduction to domain forwarding October

Disgracefully unreliable software October

Why Java can't do addition correctly October

Avoiding new software November

60 Minutes on TJX computer security November

Be careful when shopping for a replacement laptop battery December

Sweet spot in monitors December

Antimalware software suites December

Am I the real John Hodgman? (the only humorous posting all year) December

IE6 crashes in Windows XP: fixing the fix December

Get Spyware Doctor for free - a first look at the Starter Edition December

2007 Topics With Multiple Postings

RAID Level Zero

Don't get burned by RAID Zero July
Following up on RAID Level Zero July

The Mozy online backup service

Everybody likes Mozy--except me Part 1 July
Everybody likes Mozy--except me Part 2 July

DropMyRights

Every Windows XP user should drop their rights August
DropMyRights part 2: Installing and configuring August
DropMyRights part 3: Living with it August
Restricting insecure applications November

E-mail

Backing up e-mail August
Thunderbird August
A new e-mail scam August
Portable Thunderbird September
Defending against a phishing email message October
Test your email program October
Is that e-mail message legit? How a computer nerd analyzes it November

Second Guessing Walter Mossberg

Wall Street Journal Readers - check this out September
Debunking Walter Mossberg - better PC buying advice October
Improving on Walter Mossberg's PC-buying advice November
Parsing disk-partitioning advice December

Windows XP vs. Vista

I pity the fool (Windows XP good, Vista bad) September
When to convert from Windows XP to Vista, Part 2 September
Putting Windows Vista on trial October
More FUD for Windows Vista November
IBM Recommends Windows XP December
Windows Vista gripes from Lenovo December

Amazon's MP3 Download Store

Amazon's MP3 Download store--a book report September
Defensively shopping at amazon.com October

Microsoft Updates Your Computer Whenever They Feel Like It

Windows is Spyware September
Defending yourself against Microsoft September

Sending Files Too Big To E-mail

Sending big files with SendThisFile November
Transferring big files with EatLime, SendThisFile, and FTP November
Transferring big files with DropSend and TransferBigFiles December

Dealing With Software Crashes

Dealing with software crashes - Part 1 November
Dealing with software crashes - Part 2 November

The System Restore feature of Windows XP

Four Tips to Using System Restore on Windows XP July
No restore point for you December

Bugs in the Flash Player

Update your copy of the Flash player now. And do it right December
Problems updating the Flash player in Firefox? Here's Help December

OpenDNS

OpenDNS provides added safety for free December
More about OpenDNS, including adult site filtering December

Stalker

Finally, avoid reading comments by tenc21. He, she or they were stalking me, doing nothing but griping about anything and everything I say. All the comments made by this CNET user were on this blog, no others. They may appear to be on the topic at hand, but in reality, the purpose of these comments is not to debate anything just to argue. The comments are personal in nature, but thinly disguised as being technical.

See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.