The Older Geek

Just recently, two pals of mine had their blogs hacked. Apparently, the hackers gained access through the website themes. The themes were either coded poorly or contained loopholes though which hackers could gain access. It’s a very vulnerable feeling to have your blog hacked. All your precious posts and comments can be wiped out in [...]

If you download your Gmail into your Windows Live Mail (WLM), you may notice duplicate emails in the handy “Quick Views” folder in WLM. What is up with that? The problem lies with the IMAP settings for your Google account. The fix is amazingly easy, but there’s also a second step that you should not [...]

I work at night sometimes, typing away into the late hours. When I’m ready for bed, I’m READY for bed. I want to kick off my womens boots, shut down the computer and relax. But then I accidentally hit that stupid little “Updates” Shut Down button. Gah! I have to sit in the dark and [...]

Computers are much more stable than they used to be, and it seems that operating systems are distributed less frequently now (thank God). You may be one of those folks who still works from a 5- or 10-year old computer. Over time, the computer system slows down. The hard drive becomes clogged with excessive files [...]

Surprise, surprise. Another Big Brother company is watching our every move, storing the data and keeping it in a safe place for anyone (except the user, of course) to access. In case you haven’t heard, Wired.com reported that Apple devices (iPod, iPhone, 3G iPads) track and log your location and data. When you sync your [...]

It’s a heart-stopping moment, when you get an email from one of your blog’s readers notifying you of “weird popups” or “redirects to other websites” when they visit your blog. Or, worse still, Google has emailed you informing you that they have blacklisted your blog and removed it from their search engines, due to a [...]

It’s becoming more common so you may have heard of it: someone’s WordPress blog was hacked. Usually it is by a spammer, who inserts images or code to spread the spam. You can protect your WordPress blog in numerous ways. One of the easiest is to hide your plugins directory. Plugins are wonderful little tools, [...]

Browser popups are much more than annoying. Popups are a security threat. Whenever you go on the Internet, an exchange of information is relayed between your computer and the website’s server computer (and sometimes through a number of other server computers along the way) through open doors called “ports.” Internet Explorer opens certain ports to [...]

In my previous post, I showed you How to Block Flash and Java Videos Using AdBlock Plus. If you have not yet read it, I recommend it, as it will provide a little background, enabling you to better understand this tutorial. AdBlock Plus very easily blocks Flash and Java videos– all you need to do [...]

AdBlock Plus is my favorite Firefox plugin. It’s why I stick with the Firefox browser even though there are others that are faster and flashier. I’ve written about how to use AdBlock Plus for custom ad blocking and unblocking of images, but did you know that AdBlock Plus can also block Flash and Java videos? [...]

Got a child using an iPod, iPhone, or iPad? My young son loves my iPod, and I enjoy seeing him have such fun with it. But I cringe inside every time he uses it, because the browser and Apps Store is unfiltered. I know my son wouldn’t go seeking out the filth that’s so abundant [...]

Yes, you can ban certain viewers from your Blogger blog by banning their IP addresses. Now unfortunately, Blogger offers no native assistance for its users to ban unwelcome visitors. Your only choice is to ban ALL viewers from your blog, unless pre-approved by you (whitelisting). Unless your blog is a highly personal blog, this move [...]