High Tech Household

Some of the most nefarious security problems on the internet are delivered to your browser via JavaScript. Likewise for some of the biggest annoyances, like pop-up ads. But JavaScript is the heart of many recent Web innovations as well. So what is a safe surfer to do? You can’t turn JavaScript off entirely, but maybe it can be controlled a bit better.

Using today’s web browsers, there is really just one big switch controlling JavaScript: it’s either on, or it’s disabled for your entire web experience. Pop-ups are usually blocked, but otherwise, that’s a pretty blunt control. I may not want some random site to potentially exploit some issue via JavaScript, but I can’t check my webmail without it. Disabling JavaScript completely isn’t a good option.

White-listing to the rescue! By explicitly saying which websites can run JavaScript in your browser, you can reduce your risk quite a bit. Unfortunately, in researching this post, I could only find one tool for this job: the NoScript add-on for Mozilla Firefox. I use it, but I expected to find similar offerings for the other web browsers.

So, here’s a new twist here at HTH. We’d like to know what our readers use for JavaScript control, if anything. Lots of folks also just block pop-ups (which is the default behavior in most recent browsers), or Flash, or plugins in general.

What do you use for JavaScript control, if anything?

Anyone who grew up in the 1980s knew The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo’s breakout game series that revolutionized home video games.  The series has been prolific at pushing video game innovation through every system that Nintendo produced, with the N64’s Ocarina of Time being rated in many places as one of the top video games (if not the top) of all time.  Now, for all Zelda fans (myself included), a new game is on the horizon for the Wii. Unlike the last console Zelda offering, Twilight Princess, the new Zelda game will be made exclusively for the Wii (Twilight Princess was essentially a GameCube game ported to the Wii with a new control scheme).  The new game is planned for release this year, is going to utilize the Wii Motion Plus for sword control, and the game will be showed off at this year’s E3.  For Zelda fans, it can’t come soon enough.

Google announced this week that it is going to be phasing out support for Internet Explorer version 6 from its Google Docs and Google Sites applications as of March 1.  If you are a user of IE version 6, now may be the time to consider an upgrade or a new browser.  To see what version you have, click on the “Help” menu, and then click on “About.”  This will give you a version number, something like 6.0.1234 or something similar.  It’s the first number that you care about.  If it is version 7 or version 8, you’re OK.  If you are version 6 or lower, you should really consider using another browser, as Internet Explorer 6 is becoming increasingly obsolete.

It is important to note that if you are using FireFox, this doesn’t apply as Google is only dropping support for FireFox versions 3.0 or lower.  Since Firefox prompts the user to upgrade, most Firefox users are up-to-date.  Google is also planning to stop support forr Chrome 4.0 or lower and Safari 3.0 or lower.  For more information on the different web browsers and where to download newer versions, see our primer on web browsers.

I have been wanting to build a Home Theater PC for a while, but was waiting for the launch of Windows 7 to do so.  When Windows 7 was released on October 22, I started researching what I would need to assemble my own Home Theater PC, and began ordering parts.  Last week, the parts arrived for building my home theater PC using Windows 7 Media Center.  I spent a good deal of Friday night and Saturday putting it together and getting it ready for use.  By Saturday afternoon, I had the PC up and running and connected to my television.

Windows 7 Media Center has a lot to offer as a Home Theater PC (or really, a Home Entertainment PC), including Recording and Playback of TV (DVR-functionality), Movies and Netflix, Hulu and Internet TV, Music and Photo Libraries, and more, all controlled via a remote control and optional wireless keyboard.  Media Center also supports hardware (called Media Center Extenders) that allow you to stream your Media Center content to other TVs throughout your home.  What sets Media Center apart from just a traditional DVR or TiVo is the extensibility.  Third party developers, enthusiasts, and hobbiest programmers can create programs that extend the functionality of Windows 7 Media Center, much like people write apps for smart phones such as the iPhone and Google Android.   Best of all, it comes included in all editions of Windows 7.

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As time goes on, your computer can become cluttered, causing it to slow down.  I ran into this problem with my laptop this weekend, and figured it was  time for a good system cleanup.  Doing a cleanup of Windows helps to remove old files, clean up the system registry (which is essentially a database of all your windows and application settings), and remove applications already in use.  People who have utilities such as Norton SystemWorks have this functionality, but there are plenty of free alternatives on the web.

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The next major version of Microsoft’s desktop operating system is being released into the wild soon, October 22nd to be precise. This will be a very important release for Microsoft, who have experienced increasing pressure recently from Apple on the high-end and Linux netbooks and nettops on the low-end.

So, whether you’re upgrading from Vista, you’ve been holding out since XP, or you’re thinking about jumping (back?) to Windows from Mac or elsewhere, there’s a lot to take in about this latest OS from Microsoft.

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Plastic guitars? Drums taking up the living room? Is a band video game a good family game night activity? Read on for a his-and-hers review by my wife and me of Rock Band 2 and The Beatles: Rock Band.

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Anyone who has a computer these days browses the Internet.  The web browser has become as important as the operating system in meeting a user’s personal or business computing needs.  When the World Wide Web began its life 15 years ago, the dominant web browser was Mosaic, which later became Netscape.   In 1995, Internet Explorer entered the marketplace with Windows 95, coming free with every new computer.  As Netscape and Microsoft competed in the “Browser Wars”, Netscape became a bloated piece of software and died a slow death.  However, before Netscape’s dominance ended, they created an open source group to develop a new web browser called Mozilla, which ended up providing the engine for the popular FireFox browser.  Microsoft’s dominance in the web browser has been deteriorating in recent years because of the introduction of several new, powerful, and fast web browsers.

Since the battle between Netscape and Internet Explorer ended, different web browsers have come and gone, with varying levels of success.  The Browser debate also garners a lot of passion as people get very attached to their personal choice of web browser.  While there are countless minor web browsers out there (which we will examine at some point in the future), we focus on the five major web browsers currently in use:  Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla FireFox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome, and Opera.

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If you’ve bought a new Windows PC in the last few years, you’ve probably become familiar with Microsoft’s latest OS. Windows Vista definitely had some teething pains, like any major new OS release has, but due to a variety of factors, Vista gained a very bad reputation out of the gate that it really hasn’t been able to shake completely. So how does Microsoft fix it? They release another OS.

That might sound like a bad thing, but really, it’s very good. In reality, Windows Vista is a very good performer on recent hardware. Releasing a new OS gives Microsoft the opportunity to really polish its next OS. The new OS: Windows 7. Read all about it:

• Microsoft’s official website
• Wired: 7 Good Reasons to Switch to Windows 7
• You can still download the release candidate and try it out, until August 20th. After that date, you’ll still be able to get an install key from Microsoft, but it might be harder to find the download.
• If you’ve bought a new PC with Vista recently, you will probably be able to upgrade to Windows 7 for free or very cheap.

Before the final version comes out in October, we’ll do a full review, especially in setting up Windows 7 to use in your household. Stay tuned.