What's In The Mail?

No big Microsoft updates this week, but there is an important one for the Firefox browser. Also, this seems like a good time to catch up on the email. You folks are fantastic! I've gotten several messages with great things to share.

Firefox Update
Mozilla is rolling out Firefox 2.0.0.3. If your current version of Firefox is set to look for updates on its own, you should see a notification in the next few days. (They phase the notification so they don't crash the servers.) This update addresses some security and cosmetic issues.

If you want to update manually:

Open Firefox
Click on "Help"
Click on "Check for Updates"

You'll either be told you're up to date, or offered the newer version. If you just want to see what version of Firefox you're running:

Open Firefox
Click on "Help"
Click on "About"

If you want to give Firefox a try, you can download it here.

Your Comments
Thank you to everyone who takes the time to send along questions, comments and suggestions. I really enjoy hearing from you. Here is a sample of the mail from the last few weeks.


Free File Encryption Tool
Al from Hightech Computers wrote, "I too am always looking for tools to help me out. This one is very handy for people with files and folders they would like to keep others from seeing, as well as encrypting anything on a portable drive or USB storage key. It's called Kruptos 2. ... It's a freebie." He sent along this link.

Thanks, Al. I haven't had a chance to try this one yet, but I know other people who like it a lot. It really does look like the perfect tool for sensitive files on a USB stick.

Download Link Confusion
Another reader commented that she clicked on a link in my "Four for Free" column last week (http://rlis.com/columns/column86.htm), downloaded the files there, and none of them were free.

When I checked, it was pretty easy to see what had happened. I posted a link to the main page for the program. When I wrote the column, the author had a button right there for the free version of SIW. He'd changed the page between Tuesday night when I wrote the column and Thursday when it was published, so the link to the program is really hard to find. (You can download the free program from this page: http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/SIW-Download-15757.html. Click on the button that says "Mirror 1".)

I think people were looking at the ads on the page I linked to from the column. Just above the four clean-up programs, it says "Ads by Goooooogle" and those are ads for other programs, not links to download the SIW program. Many software developers make their programs available free of charge by selling ad space on their websites. It can be confusing.

Disappearing Outlook Express Messages
Here's one a reader solved on his own. Mike wrote, "Yesterday went to your fair city upon my return today every mail I had opened in Outlook Express and still in Inbox have mysteriously disappeared. Only mail in Inbox now are unopened mails. Is there any way to retrieve those missing mails? Thanks."

I do know that the most common reason for this is that items get put in the Deleted Items folder by accident. So I suggested Mike have a look in there and see if the messages got moved there. (They might have gotten moved to ANY folder, so if there are other folders besides In and Deleted, it's good to check everything.)

Well, that wasn't it, but Mike wrote back with the cause and the fix. "Have no idea how this happened but: Just below tool bar is a Box Views'. It was set at Hide read messages'. Changed it back to show all messages'. Conundrum solved. Thanks for your help. Have never noticed or looked in that box before. Lesson learned."

Great detective work, Mike!

Thanks again for all the questions, comments, and suggestions, and please keep them coming! Email me. Also, you can browse the column archives online at any time at http://rlis.com/column.htm. All the columns are there.

See you next week!

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.