BRUCEB NEWS
Should You “Sign In With Facebook”?
It seems like everyone is using the sign-in screen that invites you to “Sign in with Facebook” to a website that is not Facebook. Facebook and Google turn up most often but you might also see the option to sign in with Twitter, Amazon, Microsoft, Instagram, or others....
COMPUTER SHOPPING 2008
[Originally posted November 26, 2007] Thinking about a new computer - home, home office, small business? Let me give you some generalizations that will help you get started. (As...
RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR COMPUTERS
[Originally posted October 30, 2007]I wish we could count on the software and hardware vendors to play fair and treat us well, but it's not happening. We have to take...
LIFE WITHOUT THE NETWORK
[Originally posted March 13, 2007] From Max Barry's marvelous book Company, about corporate life in the weeks after the computer network goes dead: "Two weeks ago the network...
BRUCE LEAVES YOU STRANDED
I'll be out of the country until July 3.Oh, stop it! Those of you who reacted with undisguised glee, just cut it out! And I know a couple of you are alarmed and are openly...
ROUTER PASSWORDS
You probably have a router or firewall device on your network - the little box that your DSL or cable modem plugs into. Make sure you've changed the default password on the...
PRINTER CONNECTIONS
Let me give you a simplified overview of printer terms, then offer a tip that might save a few seconds someday. (This is basic stuff. If you can tell where I'm leaving things...
QUICK TO ANGER
Quicktime has been an annoying bit of software for ten years now. My experience tonight was the final straw. I've spent the better part of an hour cleaning it off my system and I...
Vista Feature: Explorer Favorites
When you open a file folder on your computer with Vista - Documents, say, or Computer - the left hand column displays a short list of "Favorite Links." That Favorites list is...
FIREFOX 3
Mozilla released the Firefox 3 Internet browser on Tuesday and is working on setting a Guinness record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours. There are a lot of people who...
SHUTDOWN MYSTERIES
I bet you don't know how to turn off your computer. Lots of people ask me why their computer doesn't turn off when they hit the power button on the front of the case after the...
NOTEBOOK MARKET
The market for notebook computers is growing fast. Notebooks already outsell desktop computers in the US and will outsell desktops globally by next year, according to the New...
APPLE iPHONE UPGRADE
The upgraded iPhone has a tremendous list of features! I'm looking forward to the integration with Exchange Server, which ought to let my clients with Small Business Server have...
BLACKBERRY MANIA
Blackberry smartphones are mindbogglingly popular. I'm being asked about them more often than iPhones. That shouldn't be a surprise - almost half the smartphones sold in the...
RIPPING DVDS
I've tried to figure out how video works on computers, really I have. Maybe you've tried Vista's Windows Movie Maker, or burned a DVD with Windows Photo Gallery, or found a way...
A TOOL FOR UPGRADE OVERLOAD
I wrote a few months ago about the difficulty of dealing with the endless flood of software updates that is slowly draining our will to live. Microsoft's system of delivering...