The most common password is "password." If you could guess that, how long do you think it would take someone to guess YOUR password? (If you guessed "abc123" or "qwerty", you were close.) Keeping track of your passwords is important, and it's not as hard as you think.

Also, Adobe Flash and Adobe Shockwave have critical updates you should get. And if you don't want Internet Explorer 8 automatically downloaded, you can block it with a tool from Microsoft.

Keeping Track of Passwords

Do you know your email password? Do you know the password to your wireless network? To your router? Did you even know you HAD a password to your router? Windows and Windows programs are so darned good at remembering our passwords for us that we simply forget those passwords. Sometimes we forget that we even have passwords. That works well, right up until we need to know them!

When I help a customer migrate their email to a new computer, or troubleshoot a wireless network problem, it is very helpful for all of us if those passwords are handy. Without that baseline information, fixing, moving, even basic troubleshooting is going to be more difficult and time-consuming than it has to be.

Migrating to a new computer and solving connectivity problems are only two reasons to keep track of your passwords. I've had to help surviving family members figure out how to access email and financial information after someone has died. It can be done, but it can be prevented, too!

There are several ways, ranging from high tech to low tech, to keep track of your passwords. And while you are at it, to keep track of your credit card numbers, your passport and social insurance information, and even your dog's tag and tattoo numbers. That's the easy part. One simple, elegant, high tech solution is a program called KeePass Password Safe (http://keepass.info/). Once you enter all the information, you only have to remember one password. The tedious part is entering all the information. The hard part is figuring out what all the information is!

I can help you with that. Next week, more high tech and a low tech method, and some help with where to store the information once you have gathered and organized it.

Critical Updates for Adobe Flash Player and Adobe Shockwave Player

Last week Adobe issued critical updates for two commonly used web browser plugins, Flash Player and Shockwave Player. Although they accomplish the same thing --- allowing us to view certain types of video content --- they are not the same program. So they BOTH will need updating. You can visit this page:

Shockwave

to check which version you have.

The newest version of Shockwave is 11.5.0.600. Adobe recommends uninstalling earlier versions and installing this one, which you will find here:

Adobe

Pay attention during the install, as you will be offered the Google Toolbar, or if you already have the Google Toolbar, a Norton toolbar. You DO NOT have to accept these in order to get the Shockwave Player. Just uncheck the box and continue.

Adobe Flash Player is currently at version 10.0 22.87. That is available for download here:

Flash Player.

There are issues with Adobe Flash Player and Internet Explorer 8. More about that next week.

Speaking of Internet Explorer 8...

Not everyone wants Internet Explorer 8 right now. Some would rather have the rest of us sort things out before downloading it! When first released, it was an optional download, but now Microsoft has placed it in the regular Microsoft Updates stream, and it's going to show up in your updates if it hasn't already.

If you would like to block it, the safest and most effective way to do that (without blocking ALL your updates) is to use the Internet Explorer 8 Blocker Toolkit from Microsoft. You can download it here:

Internet Explorer 8 Blocker Toolkit

Follow the instructions on that page to download AND THEN RUN the toolkit. It will prevent IE8 from showing up in your automatic updates forever. But you can still visit the IE8 download site and get it any time you are ready.

We hope you had a Happy Canada Day, and to our American friends, a Happy 4th of July. Please celebrate and drive safely, no matter where you are.

Do you need help with your computer? With your printer/camera/music player? Do you have a new computer and now you're wondering how to get the files from the old one over to the new one? I'm here to help you and your computer get along!

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