According To Jim Warholic

Obfuscation is the concealment of meaning in communication, making it confusing and harder to interpret.

In cryptography, obfuscation refers to encoding the input data before it is sent to a hash function or other encryption scheme. This technique helps to make brute force attacks unfeasible, as it is difficult to determine the correct cleartext.

In network security, obfuscation refers to methods used to obscure an attack payload from inspection by network protection systems. See Wikipedia for more obfuscation information.

There are many applications for encoding HTML code or JavaScript from prying eyes. In the case of HTML code; converting HTML code to some form of encryption can help conceal information from robot eyes. For example, email addresses that are simply displayed or set as a email link on websites will get significant spam if the email addresses are not concealed from the email harvesting robots. Even form mail is susceptible to spam bots. By using some form of encryption within the form mail itself, can help alleviate the spam gathering robots from being able to gather information automatically online.

One of the best free online HTML encryption and JavaScript obfuscation programs can be found at iFrame.in (Not sure what the status is with the current website at the moment) This tool was great because it allows you to obfuscate/encode your HTML or JavaScript. The way it works, is you simply copy your HTML or JavaScript code into the form window, then click the obfuscate button, and it outputs the code in four different formats.

As I find more websites that do a good job encoding html and javascript, I will list them here. Feel free to suggest any online tools or software programs that can be downloaded for free, or are affordable, that do a good job obfuscating HTML and Javascript code. Here is a free and easy to use HTML Encoder and Decoder, plus the Text Escape tool for escaping extended characters. HTML Encoder - Encode URL, Text and Decoder This online application converts HTML or text to javascript. You can use it for small or larger amounts of text in the web page to be converted to javascript. Note: No encoder will fully hide the information if someone really wants to figure it out. However, this encoder makes it much harder to see from quick prying eyes and the online robots.

Do you feel like your website is obfuscated from the search engine results pages? Well, you might be doing things that are making it difficult for the search engine robots to find your business website online. Professional Web Services can help your business today. For a free Internet marketing evaluation contact us. Professional marketing, advertising, and more sales for your business with Professional Web Services.

Labels: Software

For those of us that have older Intel Pentium I, Intel Pentium II, Apple PowerPC, and AMD microprocessor computers just lying around, collecting dust, wouldn't it be nice to be able to put those computers to good use using new easy to use graphical interface desktops with free Linux operating systems such as Ubuntu and Xubuntu, especially for Internet browsing and free online word processing and spread sheet use or even as a business server application?

The following question was asked by a reader.

Would it be alright to install Ubuntu on a 3 GB Intel Pentium II 333 MHz processor?

Installation of Ubuntu Linux Software all depends on what you want to do with it. Do you want it for desktop use with graphical installation, or as a server (non-graphical installation)?

www.ubuntu.com

Minimum System Requirement

Though, the minimum system requirement is: 256 MB of Ram and 3 GB of available hard drive space for Ubuntu, my gut feeling is you are tight on your available hard drive space. Here are some more system requirements information on the bare minimum requirements and the recommended minimum requirements for installation in order to be able to run well.

Note: The minimum requirements are only likely to allow a server (non-graphical) installation to run well. The recommended minimum requirements should allow you to run a graphical installation of Ubuntu well.

FYI, I have Ubuntu installed on an AMD Athlon 40 GB machine for testing purposes. This is actually a dual boot machine between Windows 2000 Professional and Ubuntu; with an 80GB hard drive partitioned down the middle.

I have a number of Open Source programs like Open Office, and even powerful graphics, photo organization, and picture editing programs such as Google Picasa installed on the Linux Ubuntu system and am using a little over 6 GB of storage on the Ubuntu installed side.

However, with that being said, you could install Xubutu, which is designed for installation on older computers with less disk storage and slower processors. Xubutu is designed to use less system resources.

www.xubuntu.org

For Xubuntu: To run the Desktop CD (LiveCD + Install CD), you need 128 MB RAM to run or 192 MB RAM to install. The Alternate Install CD only required you to have 64 MB RAM. To install Xubuntu, you need 1.5 GB of free space on your hard disk.

Once installed, Xubuntu can run with 64 MB RAM, but it is strongly recommended to use at least 128 MB RAM.

Xubuntu on Wikipedia

For those with an Apple PowerPC you can download version Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon or Xubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft. Turn your old Apple laptop into a new useful word processor and Internet browser.

Best regards, Jim Warholic

PS - Installation of Ubuntu is easy.

Labels: Hardware, Linux, Software

Some but not all of my pictures on a CF card for my digital camera are corrupted.

Know of any free software to try and recover the corrupted ones?

That was a question a friend sent me the other day.

Well, as is typically the case with technology issues today, it is called trial by fire learning.

Started off with finding the following page:
Recover Lost Digital Photos from Corrupt Memory Cards

This lead to ZAR Zero Assumption Digital Image Recovery

ZAR 8.3 now includes the (freely available) mode to recover digital images. Generally, the program should work with any media type (e.g. CompactFlash, MemoryStick, SmartMedia and so on) accessible by means of the operating system. You need to use your camera or the appropriate card reader you normally use to transfer images from the camera to the PC.

Current version (ZAR 8.3) supports digital photo recovery for the following file formats:

• GIF


• JPEG


• TIFF


• CRW - Canon RAW data


• MOV, AVI movie


• WAV - Waveform audio


• CR2 - Canon CR2 RAW format (see notes below).


• ORF - Olympus RAW format

I also found the following open source software. The free digital file data recovery software is available for Windows, Apple Mac, Linux, and even DOS operating systems.

PhotoRec is a file data recovery software designed to recover lost files; including video, documents, and archives from Hard Disks and CDRoms, and lost pictures (thus, its 'Photo Recovery' name) from digital camera memory cards. PhotoRec ignores the filesystem and goes after the underlying data, so it will still work even if your media's filesystem has been severely damaged or re-formatted.

PhotoRec is free. This open source multi-platform application is distributed under GNU Public License. PhotoRec is a companion program to TestDisk, an app for recovering lost partitions on a wide variety of filesystems and making non-bootable disks bootable again. You can download TestDisk & PhotoRec here.

For more safety, PhotoRec uses read-only access to handle the drive or memory support of the storage device you are about to recover lost data from. Important: As soon as a pic or file is accidentally deleted, or you discover any missing pictures, do NOT save any more pictures or files to that memory device or hard disk drive; otherwise you may overwrite your lost data. This means that even using PhotoRec, you must not choose to write the recovered files to the same partition they were stored on.

Good Luck on your data recovery.

Note: There may be something worse than corrupted images on a camera memory card when it comes to your business. You could be loosing a lot more sales for your business than you think, by not having a website that is search engine friendly. Is your business-to-business or business-to-consumer website search engine friendly? Find out today with a free Internet marketing and search engine optimization evaluation.

Labels: Software

Wow, What a Way to bring in the New Year!



Needed to help a buddy hookup a network between two Windows XP computers (one a Toshiba laptop, and the other a new Dell Vostro desktop), two old Dell Windows 95 computers, a System 2000 computer, and a networked Brother MFC FAX/Printer/Scanner/Copier. Well, he had a network working with NetBeui, using a network HUB, and a strange Bridge setting on the Toshiba laptop XP system, but when the new Dell Vostro desktop was installed, the network stopped working.

After my buddy had spent four hours on the phone with Dell Tech Support, they decided to send out a repair guy to try a new motherboard. This was after Tech Support tried everything under the sun software wise to get the system to function. My friend is still in the stone-ages for Internet connectivity. He is on a Dial-Up Modem. No high speed service is available where he is located. To far away for DSL from the phone company, and no high speed cable service in his area. Satellite communications is still questionable as far as he is concerned. So, can you image when the Dell Tech support person got online and tried to control his new computer? Slow as molasses for the mouse movement. Got to hand it to Dell, the person went none stop for four hours straight, even though the problem was not fixed.

The Network Problem

Sometimes the Dell Vostro would show up on the network and sometimes it would not. This was the case with even looking at itself on the network. Sometimes it was there and sometimes it was not. Dell tried turning off Windows firewall protection and Norton Internet Firewall Security but that did not seem to change anything. So, that is when they decided to go to the next level, and try the hardware. Because of the holiday season, it was going to take a couple of days to get the motherboard. So, we put our heads together and tried tackling the network issue ourselves.

Since the network was on an old network HUB (read about: The difference between Hubs, Switches, and Routers), I decided to try a couple of spare routers, using DHCP to supply IP addresses to the computers and the network printer. Low and behold, we thought the problem was fixed, but such was not the case. The network still bombed out. Back to the original problem after trying it for some time. The problem was still the disappearing computers on the network. Funny though, the old Windows 95 computers could talk to the Dell Vostro with Windows XP operating system, but not the other way around. Also tried swapping network cables with no change in the problem. FYI, my buddy ordered the Dell Vostro with Windows XP operating system instead of Windows Vista by choice just before the holidays. It arrived a couple of days after Christmas.

I decided to call it a night. My buddy however, started digging through the documentation. Apparently when he turned off Norton Internet Security it started working much more reliably. The network was stable for a couple of hours and he thought that was it. However, after leaving it on overnight, it was discovered that the network was nonoperational again in the morning. So, the service call was still scheduled. Dell contracts out to independents in the local areas for service. The guy came out with a new motherboard and swapped it out a day latter.

Finally, everything seemed to stabilize, but we also tried a different router and setting Norton Internet Security Zones for trusted sources (the other computers' IP addresses) and everything was talking with each other.

Microsoft I figured probably had Windows Updates available for the XP system, even though it was a week old. This was indeed the case. On a dial-up modem it only took four hours to download and install!

Computer Lessons Learned

Technology is changing so fast, that even the customer service techs have trouble keeping up with the new software. The support people are not fully aware of the full spectrum of protection that Norton Internet Security software was doing on the computer from a network standpoint.

Computers are supposed to save time. Ha Ha. Think about all the problems you have had with your computers over the years. Do they really save time? I think not, but in some ways the computers have filled our times with other activities. Internet browsing, searching for products and services, comparing prices, shopping for the new car, and even to the point of replacing TV for online videos.

Just like anything purchased anymore, the customer needs to become more of an expert and pay particular close attention to details.

By-the-way: Networking Mac OS X and Windows XP and Windows 2000

I decided that I would hook up a Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Mac OS X computers that I had together. Took a bit of research online about sharing between the software platforms, but after finding out how to do the settings, everything seemed to function. For advice on how to: Networking Mac and PC, do a Google Search. Good information is available online.

Welcome to the New Internet World

Internet marketing by Professional Web Services

Labels: Dell, Hardware, Networking, Software

This Skitch Video shows you some of the cool things you can do with the program. I'm still waiting for an invite but based on what I see, it allows you to do so many things with ease. Can't wait to take it for a test drive on my Mac.

For those that would like to see some actual examples of how the program has been used check out the posting: Repairing Apple iMac G5 Motherboards. You can do all types of things with this program such as screen shots with comments, arrows, highlights, and graphics added. Really cool.

If you are reading this and have an invite for Skitch; how about sending me one at my Fridays e-mail contact. I would be eternally grateful. Thanks.

Update: I'd like to personally thank the Plasq Crew for an invite to Skitch.

Oh by-the-way, here are a couple of examples of what you can do with Skitch. See the Tumblr posting: This is the Whopper! 300 Ounces of Gold. And also, check out: My What Big Pipes You Have!

Learn more about developing your business website to gain new customers now.

Labels: Software

Do you work from home? Do you have a business email account? Do you have a personal email account? Would you like to keep your business and personal emails separate, but easily read and respond to both at the same time, and with the same software email client program? If you answered yes to any of these questions, the following will give you a quick overview of what you need to do on your home office computer.

Many options are available for just about any email address today. Most free online service providers of email have the option to be able to write and respond to emails online and on a home office computer using POP. POP is a type of protocol for sending and receiving email. Don't worry what POP exactly means, but any email client can be used to set up POP email. Email clients are software email programs such as Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Thunderbird, Mozilla, Netscape, Eudora, Apple Mail, and others. If you have a free Google Gmail account, which I highly recommend, you can use POP mail to send and receive on your local computer, in addition to also being able to send and receive email online.

For some excellent examples of how to configure POP for Gmail, take a look at the following:

Mail Clients

• Outlook Express (Windows)
  
• Outlook 2002 (Windows)
  
• Outlook 2003
  (also available: Gmail POP Service animated demo)
  
• Entourage 2004
  
• Entourage X
  
• Eudora 5.1 ^{(and higher)} (Sponsored & Paid Mode)
  
• Eudora 5.1 ^{(and higher)} (Light Mode)
  
• Eudora for Macs
  
• Netscape Mail 7.x
  
• Netscape Mail 6.2
  
• Netscape Mail 4.5, 4.6, or 4.7
  
• Apple Mail
  
• Mozilla 1.7
  
• Thunderbird 0.x
  
• Thunderbird 1.5
  
• Other

If I am using one of these email clients, how do I respond using my business account when it's a business email, and how do I respond using my personal account when it's a personal email?

Once again, there are many options on each specific email client. Depending on the email client, you can have separate identities, and have separate accounts under each identity. Typically separate identities as in Outlook Express are completely different viewable login areas within the the email client program. This means that you would have to switch identities to be able to read and send emails from each specific identity. Each identity can have more than one account, with multiple email addresses being imported to the specific identity, but this requires quite a bit of filtering and sending a message will not necessarily be the email address that you really want to use to send a specific email from a specific address. For example, if you use one identity only to receive all your emails from both a personal and a business account, into one inbox, then it is most likely that the header of the email, (the part that shows the "Send From:" and "Sent To:" information) will not be exactly the correct addresses that you want to show for a business account response or vice versa.

Thunderbird e-mail client, which is free and highly customizable, with multiple identities and multiple accounts, does things slightly differently when talking about identities and accounts.

Idenitities

An identity in Thunderbird is a collection of settings for sending mail. An identity is defined by:

• A name.
  
• An e-mail address.
  
• The account that the identity belongs to.
  

Note: Technically, an identity in Thunderbird is a collection of preference settings in your profile.

Thunderbird allows you to create identities that look exactly the same, but if you do that you might find them confusing to use.

Use more than one identity when you want to send mail using more than one From name or e-mail address, or more than one SMTP server, or more than one signature, or more than one choice for any of the settings that Thunderbird provides in identities.

Thunderbird e-mail client requires you to create a separate default identity for each account, but you can make these identities look exactly the same if you want to. For example, you receive some of your mail from Gmail and some of your mail from the company you work for, but you always want to send mail using your company From address. In your Thunderbird Gmail account, change the default identity to specify exactly the same details as in your work account.

If you receive mail that was originally sent to more than one e-mail address, then you might find it convenient to create identities for all those e-mail addresses. Then you can reply to a message from the same address that it was originally sent to.

Do not use more than one identity when one of your accounts already has an identity that you can use. This is because when you write a message you can change the From address to any identity from any account. There is usually no point in having duplicate identities in different accounts (unless they are default identities).

An identity specifies:

• Settings used when you start composing a message
  
• Settings used when you send a message
  

Compose settings HTML or plain text Reply format

Send settings From address Signature SMTP server other settings...

Read more about Mail Concepts.

If you want to create an automatic forward, using a business email address, and having emails forwarded to your personal email address, you can do that, but be aware that if you respond from your personal email address on a forwarded message from the business address, the Send From will be the personal e-mail address and that is what the person will see on the other end when the e-mail is received.

A solution to this situation, is to have two accounts, one for business, and one for personal information messages, and make sure you are using the correct one for business, and for personal use.

If you have multiple email accounts online, and don't want to have to login to each specific account, you can set up forwards to one account, and just note where the email came from. Then respond using the appropriate e-mail identity or account.

Gmail Notifier is a notification program that runs locally on your computer that lets you know when you have a message at one specific account. Use this to monitor the main e-mail account, where all your emails arrive. Another option for automatic notification is to use ePrompter which runs automatically in the background, and can be configured to allow up to 16 e-mail accounts to be monitored at the same time, and will let you know with a small color coded circle (and/or sound) showing when an email arrives, and display the number of e-mails that arrived inside the circle. Both ePrompter and Gmail Notifier are very easy to set up and use. ePrompter's wizard allows you to very easily create additional color coded account dots that will monitor all your different e-mail accounts.

Hope this helps, feel free to ask your questions.

Marketing and Advertising Solutions for getting your business discovered online with Internet marketing services by Professional Web Services. Contact us for a free Internet marketing evaluation today. Start gaining new customers and increase your business sales.

Labels: E-mail., Google, Software

I like Blogger

I just wish Blogger had a simple way of creating static pages, that did not necessarily show up as a blog posted page.

Anyone that has been blogging for sometime will tell you, that there is certain information that a person or company would like to have readily available through a link on the blog itself to a separate page with the same branded template image as the main home page. Other times, it would really be cool if a person could have a unique page or pages that have a different template style. For example: maybe all the blogs posted under a particular label; a person would like to have a different image at the top of the page header to separate and visually identify the postings. There are Blogger workarounds and hacks that place in different pictures or images depending on certain parameters, but it would be nice to have maybe a different customizable template area for the static pages and/or labeled categories.

Additionally it would be cool if a person could easily blog to a different subdirectory area of the website when using Custom Domain Name Blogger publishing on another hosted account. While FTP publishing does allow multiple separate blogs under one domain name, custom domain name publishing does not provide the ability to create separate blogs under the main area of the website. Which means you can not have mondays.ws and mondays.ws/coolwidgets as a place to blog directly about coolwidgets. This would be a very handy feature to be able to easily add another subdirectory area under the current blog as a person would have with a unique category area and static pages on a regular website. You can however have other sub domain names with the same custom domain name using Blogger Custom Domain Name option. For example: backflag.com is the domain where I post short snippets using Tumblr as the free online publisher engine. But I use marketingstrategies.backflag.com as the custom domain name publishing option with Blogger to the sub domain marketingstrategies, for information about marketing strategies. Keep in mind that subdomains are typically viewed as separate websites and it is important to note from a search standpoint (see note below about having different websites).

Static Page Workaround for Blogger

Probably the simplest static page workaround for Blogger at this time is to go to the earliest blog posting date and post a new page with backdating it to this earliest time. Turn off comments and backlinks under post options for this posting if you want, and set the date to the oldest date. Then simply link to it.

The Strength of the Free Blogger Service

The strength of the free Blogger service is the ability to customize the html and css (cascading style sheets) code in order to create your own unique branded image. Other blog hosting services that offer free hosting such as Wordpress, provide some of the features such as static pages but have severe limitations on what can be altered and customized with the css and the html.

The ability to use hundreds, if not thousands of free templates set up for the Blogger service is one of the features that I have come to love. Just about any webpage or website template can be converted to a Blogger template with having an understanding of the Blogger drive engine and placing the proper coding from Blogger into the template design area. This feature really makes it much easier to brand the blog to the current site design. Read about Blogging with Professional Web Services.

Additional Blogger Wishes

I love the new Blogger with XML. I wish we could use the XML features on the non Google hosting services. For example: currently one of the Blogger options is in the classic design template mode for ftp publishing to a paid hosted provider with full customization. We have our website at www.pwebs.net for Internet marketing services. We publish a blog using Blogger at: www.pwebs.net/internet-marketing.html about the Internet marketing industry, in which we write about various aspects of Internet marketing. Currently we are using ftp publishing for the blog, and a customized classic template design. There are some pretty cool features that XML has, as compared to the standard ftp classic design template. If the XML new Blogger templates could be used for other than the free Blogspot account hosting or the Custom Domain option (see below), then it would make it much easier to customize and manage the information for publishing.

I know I said this before but it bares repeating. Blogger currently allows you to use the Custom Domain name option, but hosting still takes place on Blogger servers, and only allows one blog per main domain name without subdirectories as compared to ftp publishing (see above). A person can create Sub Domains for different blogs using the custom domain name option, but these are considered separate websites, and if information was substantially the same between these Sub Domains, the Search Engines would more than likely not look too favorably to having created additional subdomains. For example: www.jimwarholic.com could have a subdomain as info.jimwarholic.com with unique information at both areas and this would be OK. This is no different than Blogger hosted services with millions of subdomains at blogspot.com, such as eclectic-marketing.blogspot.com and professionalwebservices.blogspot.com.

One of the reasons I have come to really like using the Blogger service is because Google allows you to use javascripts in the templates themselves. Wordpress free blog hosting restricts javascript from being added for additional features. Wordpress states it's because of security issues. I am not convinced that javascript is the problem as opposed to simply Wordpress engineers taking the time to allow javascript to be used securely in the first place. Listen, I am not bashing Wordpress, because I too have a Wordpress blog with Jim West as the blog name, and I like posting there from time to time, but I am simply stating the main differences that I see between Blogger and Wordpress.

One reason to choose Custom Domain Name Blogger publishing over FTP publishing is the speed at which a page publishes using the custom domain name option. Whereas on an ftp account, hosted somewhere else, it can involve quite a delay with ftp publishing timeouts on very large blogs. Custom Domain Name publishing is also easier to add widgets and other items for the novice blogger. Expert bloggers can also customize the templates quite extensively.

In this world, nothing is ever perfect as it is. Everything man-made can always be improved. Not everyone will have everything they want. What are some of your thoughts on the Blogger wish list? What features would you like to see added? One last thing that I forgot to mention is I would like the labels to be able to automatically show up when using classic template designs for ftp publishing, just like in the XML template designs provides the sidebar widget to display the labels. Currently for classic templates you have to create the list manually for the sidebar areas.

Internet Marketing Strategies and Services for businesses on the web.

Labels: Blogs, Google, Software

Convert Microsoft Documents to PDF Files On Windows OS and Apple Mac

The following are a couple of ways to convert and combine your Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Publisher, Bitmap, GIF, JPEG, PNG, Plain Text, Rich Text, XML and HTM/HTML files and documents, to PDF file format.

There are actually many programs available that can convert documents through a print emulation program. What these types of programs do when loaded on your computer is act like a virtual printer. Instead of selecting your normal printer for printing the documents, you select the PDF Writer program from the printer select area. One of these types of virtual printer programs that I have used is the pdf 995 program that allows you to create PDF documents easily for free. The cool thing about this type of program is the ability to select the print to PDF from virtually any program that you are running. That means, if you can print from a regular application, you can select the print to a PDF file, which converts the output to a PDF file and saves it anywhere you would like. The free version does display some advertising when used, but this really is no big deal. If you want the paid version, you can get it for as little as $9.95 or get the whole powerful suite for $19.95 to provide all the bells and whistles imaginable.

By-the-way, you can also use this as a network selectable printer. That means, anyone that has access to the network can select the pdf 995 printer option and convert their documents to a PDF file. You can also combine multiple documents to form one PDF file.

The latest Apple computer operating systems provide a built in version of a PDF conversion type program. Simply select the print menu from any Mac application, and then select the PDF drop-down menu item. Select: Save as PDF, Save PDF as PostScript, Fax PDF, Compress PDF, Encrypt PDF, Mail PDF, Save as PDF-X, Save PDF to iPhoto, or Save PDF to Web Receipts Folder. This is quite handy for all types of document sharing across Mac OS X and Windows operating systems.

There are some other free online conversion places available, however some of these websites require you to give them your email address so they can send you the file. I have not taken the time to investigate if these sites are trustworthy to secure your information from online spammers or other types of privacy issues. In my opinion, there are other options available for free PDF conversions, that are secure with your email address and files.

Drawloop Technologies

Another way to convert all types of Microsoft documents to PDF files is using the LOOP software available for free as an add-on to the Firefox browser, and they are a trusted source in my opinion. They provide a privacy policy in which you can opt-out at the very beginning of items related to sharing of your email address for purposes of marketing materials being sent to you.

What is LOOP?

LOOP is a free web-based application that allows you to upload, convert and combine files to PDF. You do not need to install software or be working from your desktop computer. LOOP is delivered on-demand and available for use 24/7 through a web browser.

LOOP works with these documents:

Microsoft Word	Microsoft Excel
Microsoft PowerPoint	PDF

LOOP also accepts:

Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Publisher, Bitmap, GIF, JPEG, PNG, Plain Text, Rich Text, XML and HTM/HTML files

You can read more about LOOP at Drawloop Technologies An import note about the use of LOOP with a browser based system is the great versatility that this brings to all software platforms. The software works on Windows XP or Vista just as easily as it does on Apple MAC OS X because it is Web based through the Firefox Web Browser.

You can get the LOOP add-on and the Firefox browser from the Mozilla website.

PDF files are becoming the standard for document sharing today. Having a file in the form of a PDF can make it easier for customers to be able to read and save sales literature, technical documents, manuals, and various other forms of publicity materials. Give these programs a try. I think you will like them.

Jim Warholic
Internet marketing and SEO specialist.

Labels: Software

I gave Apple a second chance with Safari for Microsoft Windows environment.

Check out the screen shot of Safari with our Professional Web Services website.



Read the previous posting: Apple Safari For Windows Partial Menus For Many

I am pleased to report, that the partial menus problem is not the case anymore.

After seeing an update to fix the font issue in Safari for Windows was available to download from Apple, I downloaded the new installer program.

But, just to be on the safe side of getting this to work properly, I read on Grupenet to "please make sure the read-only option on your Fonts.plist file is unset."

I believe this is if you have previously installed Safari and used his fix on the previous version. See the comments below from Jared. His instruction is as follows: 'unset read-only on the "Fonts.plist" which is located in "C:\Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\Local Settings\Application Data\Apple Computer\Safari" on Windows XP and "C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Apple Computer\Safari" on Windows Vista.' See comments.

I personally like to have the status bar on at the bottom of the Safari program when running. The user can turn this on or off depending on their preferences. Go to the View menu and select Show Status Bar to have the bottom of the browser display information such as when your cursor is placed over a link, the status bar will display the link location. If you want to have the Tab bar always displayed, simply select view Tab. The tab bar is nice to have because you can right click on the existing tab and open a new tab for another website or a fresh Search Engine search.

I know Apple has a thing with their Silver Surfer brand image, but I would like to see some colors for the Safari browser. However, with that being said, the Safari browser is kind of cool looking, with their rounded slide scroll bars on the bottom and right side are quite elegant.

From a web developer's standpoint, it's good to know how your website displays on other browsers. Also, from an Internet marketing standpoint, you will want to know how your business website shows up on other computers, operating systems, and the various browsers online.

Jim Warholic, President Professional Web Services, Inc.

Labels: Apple, Software

Apple, if I were a teacher, and you turned in a term paper with no titles, I'd have to give you a failing grade.

This is how I felt when I decided to load Safari on my Windows XP computer. This week I read about Apple coming out with Safari for the Windows environment, and thought OK, I'll give it a try. Now, I understood that the software was in beta form, but I did not think it was at an alpha stage.

The installation went fairly smoothly, except I was given an option to Install Bonjour Service. Confusing to say the least since I was expecting to be installing Safari. The installation screen reads:

Bonjour for Windows enables Safari to detect shared devices on your local netwok and make them available to you. For example, you can view and configure shared printers available through Bonjour, without any complica...

Was that last word complications?

Well, let me tell you of complications with the Safari for Windows XP Pro.

After going through the install, I launched Safari, and the first impression was all the menus were missing. They had little dashes - present in place of the menu items. Not only were the menus missing in the tool bar area, but the Apple website was missing large amounts of information and data. See the Safari screen shots below.


Apple Safari Missing Menus


Apple Safari Screen Shot With Missing Support and Menus

FYI, I also have a Mac PowerPC G5 desktop computer, running Mac OS X, version 10.4.9 and did the install of the new Safari on that platform prior to installing it on my Windows platform. So, I knew what it was supposed to look like.

I tried a number of fixes for the problem. Tried downloading the complete package again, with QuickTime included and then uninstalled and reinstalled Safari. I still had the same problem. I hate spinning my wheels on something that should work, but at the same time I hate giving up. So, I placed the issue on the back burner until today. After doing some research online, it appears that many people are having the same no menus problem.

I went to the Apple forums area for Safari for Windows and there is quite a collection of talk going on about this problem.

See the threads: