Category Archives: Microsoft

Post specific to Microsoft / Windows O/S.

Portable Apps – Firefox and Firefox Portable Settings Part 1

Posted on by

People who know me know that I am partial to open source software. In this posting I want to describe a few setting differences in using the Firefox browser locally, as opposed to the Firefox Portable browser, which I run from a thumb drive.

Both the local copy and the portable versions of Firefox, being used at the time of this posting, are version 1.5.0.6. I have been using Firefox locally since shortly after it became available and the portable versions for the last year or so. The different settings are configured from various Tools>Options tabs.

I use the same “General” options tab settings in both instances, except for the “Connection Settings”. The local Firefox is a “Direct connection to the Internet”, while the Firefox Portable is set up with the “Manual proxy configuration” settings to allow me to access the internet at work and usually using the “Auto-detect proxy settings for this network” gets me access at a library or similar non direct location.

As for the Privacy options tab settings, neither instance is set to save the browsing history, forms, download history, cookies nor cache, beyond the current session. Both instances have been set to “Remember Passwords”, but have differing master passwords.

None of the saved passwords are for anything sensitive, like online banking or anything of a like nature; even so, additions or updates to the passwords on the Firefox Portable are only done when running from my own local computer and the master password is frequently changed.

Setting differences for the “Content”, “Tabs”, “Downloads” and “Advanced” options to be described in future posts.

Of course, these are the settings that I feel work best for me, and suit my security comfort levels, depending upon whether it is the local or the portable Firefox being used.

You may and probably do have different settings for your Firefox, however it is used. If you have a set up you think is better, or just have a question requiring a more in-depth look at the settings, feel free to let me know by leaving a comment to this posting and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

XP – Wireless Mouse Glitch

Posted on by

For the last two days, a couple of co-workers and I have been having intermittent problems of all of a sudden selecting multiple files when we only want to select one in Windows Explorer and even though the Caps Lock key and Num Lock key are not showing it everything we typed kept coming up as if the Shift key was pressed.

We ran virus scans, spyware scans and everything else we could think of with no luck.

Finally I thought to change the batteries in the wireless mice. That was it, problem solved, at least there were no re-occurrences since that time yesterday nor so far today.

This just reminds me that the solution to a computer problem is not always that involved, I just have to figure out the cause and then the solution is usually rather simple.

If you are having similar problems, try changing the batteries in you wireless mouse first, it just might save you some hassles. By the way, the wireless mice we had still had the original batteries and were about six months old.

XP – Removing Read Only For Files Or Folders Copied From A CD

Posted on by

When you copy files off a CD you will have to remove the read only attribute, before you can edit the file.

There are a few ways to do this, but I will show you what I think is the easiest:

  • In Windows Explorer, find the file / folder you copied from the CD.
  • Right Click that file / folder and select Properties.
  • Uncheck the Read-only box in the Attributes section.
  • Click on OK.

Of course there are utilities out there you can use and commands that can be entered in DOS mode, but this should be the cheapest and easiest way for most people. If you do a lot of copying from CDs you might want to look for the alternatives.

If you want to make a file read only, so you don’t make a change by mistake for instance, follow the same basic procedure outlined above, but place a check in the Read-only box, instead of unchecking it.