KiMformation

"Just When You Need It, a Nudge From an Online Nag. Need to track a project or a to-do list? Look online. By Sarah Milstein.  Developed by a former journalist, the site allows users to create "sheets" that function as smart notes or calendars and can be shared with people you designate.  The sheets are laid out in columns or as calendar boxes, or both, and once you have set up a free account, you can enter text. Using an easy form of notation - two semicolons before an entry - you can instruct the site to send a reminder of an event to your PC or cellphone. Reminders can be sent hourly, daily, every third day or at any other frequency." [New York Times: Technology]

I know, I know.  You don't need any more reminders.  But Online Homebase is worth at least a look-see.  I signed up for a free account here.

- Posted by Kim Plonsky - 11:21:17 PM - radio comments (past)  []

"Tips on Thwarting a Desktop Ad. Computer users are fighting back against a form of nuisance advertising that began appearing last year. By Thomas J. Fitzgerald.  The ads, often referred to as Messenger Service spam, are different from e-mail spam and unrelated to the banners and pop-ups that appear at Web sites or in instant messaging programs used for chat. Messenger Service ads can appear on the screen of a computer connected to the Internet even if no browser is running.  They are usually gray boxes with text in them and the term "Messenger Service" in the top left corner. Computers running Windows XP, 2000 and NT are susceptible to receiving them." [New York Times: Technology]

You can perform a 10-second check of your PC to find out if you're susceptible here, and read the rest of the article to find out how to get rid of this nuisance.

- Posted by Kim Plonsky - 11:05:00 PM - radio comments (past)  []

New Biz on the Blog: the Guardian's Jim McLellan has a piece today on the business use of blogs and turning blogs into a business. A good read:

Indeed, the anarchic fluid nature of blogging may deter most business people from entering the field. Those who are keen point out that most blogs will remain personal, driven by obsessions and enthusiasms. Most won't make any money.

But as blogging goes mainstream, thanks to the likes of AOL, they plan on playing a careful game. "Ninety-nine per cent of bloggers won't make money," says Blogads' Henry Copeland. "But when we've got 10 million bloggers a couple years from now, I'm confident that 100,000 of them will be uniquely valuable to advertisers."

- Posted by Kim Plonsky - 10:56:04 PM - radio comments (past)  []

"Sneaky Toolbar Hijacks Browsers. Internet users are mystified by a tricky browser add-on that installs itself without permission and defies attempts to remove it. Some are calling the program the most insidious thing on the Web. It's the most evil thing on the Internet, according to some of its victims. But it's not a virus, a scam or a raunchy porn site. It's the most evil thing on the Internet, according to some of its victims. But it's not a virus, a scam or a raunchy porn site."  [Wired News] [[ t e c h n o c u l t u r e ]]  Well, I wouldn't agree that this is the most evil thing on the internet, but it's pretty wicked.  This obnoxious parasite was on a spare PC that we keep in the office.  When Denis, an attorney in my office and one of my bosses, had his PC in for repairs, he fought and struggled with Xupiter commandeering his internet searches and browsing.  Finally, when he couldn't take it anymore, I got the following e-mail:  "Get this Xupiter crap off of here now.  I can't take it anymore."

I thought it would take a matter of minutes, but it turned into hours, and then I was only partially successful.  I've always had great success with the free Ad-aware program, by LavaSoft.*  But, not this time.  So, we went back to LavaSoft's site, and sure enough, there was an additional download required to address this loathsome hijacker.  But we couldn't get the thing to install.

Okay.  Plan B.  A Google search turned up some directions on how to perform a manual remove, through the Windows System Registry (fun, fun).  You would not believe how many registry keys there were to delete!  And then, although I've never heard of something like this, after deleting certain registry keys, Xupiter file folders were made visible in Windows Explorer.  And then we had to delete a slew of those.  At first, this seemed to work.  But, within an hour, I received the following e-mail from Denis:  "It's back."  Unbelievable!  Xupiter had just zapped Denis and me for 2+ hours of prime billable time!  Can't you sue somebody for something like this?

Anyway, this happened late last week, and I haven't had a chance to talk to Denis more about it yet, but I did have the following message in my inbox from him when I got back from my mini-vacation Tuesday:  "I think I got rid of it."  Pray, tell, HOW???  I'll let you know if he threw the PC out of the window . . .

*On January 27th, LavaSoft unveiled its revamped website and released the latest upgrades to its Ad-aware product line.

- Posted by Kim Plonsky - 10:21:28 PM - radio comments (past)  []