The Older Geek

Every computer that connects to the Internet should have a firewall. Windows Firewall is a mediocre firewall offering very limited protection in the event of an attack or security breach. I wrote a post about firewalls and where to find some excellent free software: Free Security Software. So you have a firewall, hurray. How do [...]

Windows 7 is a very nice operating system with many improved features over Vista. I was dismayed, however, to realize that many programs no longer sit neatly in the system tray next to the clock, but sit in the taskbar, clogging up my neat work station. I have used Windows Live Messenger waaaay back when [...]

I have a very nice Netgear Wireless-B+G+N gateway router for our DSL connection. And I have a very nice Belkin Wireless-N adapter for one of our computers here. Since both gadgets are relatively new technology, I figured that connecting the Belkin to the Netgear would be a piece of cake. WRONG. I admit– this Belkin [...]

Introduction I sometimes like to do stuff that is considered ethical hacking, or “white hat hacking.” I’m not computer expert by any means, but I like to tinker with software and operating systems. Sometimes software and operating systems, by default, do not allow configurations through their basic interface. It is times like those that I [...]

Here’s a handy hack and a security benefit: configure Windows Mail or Windows Live Mail to block images from displaying in emails. You can easily choose to view the images by clicking a bar in the email itself, after you have opened it. Emails are the most common means of the spread of viruses and [...]

The Blogger NavBar is a long narrow bar at the top of Blogger blogs. It has its uses (you can sign in to your Blogger account very conveniently), but beyond that, it is wasted space. Blogger hasn’t changed it much in the 10+ years it’s been around…. the NavBar allows you to search for other [...]

There is absolutely no reason to use one of the ugly (and old) default Blogger templates when beautiful custom templates abound. Some are extremely stylish, and I’m seeing many with elaborate stylizing that mirrors the beauty of WordPress themes. Most Blogger templates are free, and there is a wide variety of templates to choose from. [...]