Category: Internet Browsers

Categories
Internet Browsers Windows 10

Browser Tryouts

Based on Google Chrome engine, Microsoft releases the new Microsoft Edge web browser.

I installed the new Microsoft Edge on my work computer with Windows 10. You know someone in the company will install it and then need some help when something does not go well. So far the new browser is running well including the Chrome extensions I need.

I’m not sure if I want or need another web browser on my Macbook Pro. Safari is my preferred browser and I use Google Chrome for some specific work or Boy Scout related web sites.

Categories
Apple Google Chrome Home PC Personal Safari

How to Disable Norton Security Extensions Popups on Mac

Photo by Josie Stephens on Pexels.com

Back in October 2018, I purchased a 15″ 2017 Macbook Pro and to use as my main computer for home and the office.  To be compliant, I installed Norton Security on my Mac and enabled all the features including those pesky browser extensions.  The browser extensions disabled my ability to search Google from my Safari home screen and disabled my password manager, 1Password (one of my favorite applications).  So I removed the extensions and thought everything was good to go.

Screen Shot 2018-11-13 at 2.56.42 PM.png

Every few days I would receive a pop-up asking me to install the Norton browser extensions.  No matter what, you can’t get out of it.  Your only options are to Remind Me Later or Add.  I searched the Internet and found that nobody had a solution.  So I reached out to Norton and had the issue fixed with 30 minutes.  All you need to do is install the extensions for all your browsers and then turn them off.  Here are the steps

Safari

Screen Shot 2018-11-24 at 6.33.33 PM.png

  1. Open Norton Security and click Advance.
  2. Click on Safe Web and select Safari.
  3. Install Norton Safe Search and Norton Password Manager extensions in Safari.
  4. With Safari still open, click Safari from the menu bar and select Preferences.
  5. Click on Extension and remove the check from the box.

Google ChromeScreen Shot 2018-11-24 at 6.34.04 PM.png

  1. Open Norton Security and click Advance.
  2. Click on Safe Web and select Chrome.
  3. Follow all the prompts to install the extensions Norton Safe Web, Safe Search, and Password Manager.
  4. Click the three dots on the menu and select More Tools and then Extensions.
  5. Turn off the Norton extensions by clicking on the blue slider button.

Ten days and about five different Wi-Fi networks later, and I have not been bothered with extension pop-ups!

Categories
Firefox Internet Browsers Ubuntu

Firefox 5 Available for Ubuntu

Today I ran Update Manager on my Ubuntu 11.04 notebook and saw Firefox 5.  No PPas to install, just an easy upgrade.

  • From the Keyboard, press Super+a (Windows key and the letter a)
  • Type in update manager in the search field and click on the icon
  • You should see something about Firefox 5 with any other updates
  • Install the updates and wait

With my other updates tonight, I waited about 2 minutes before I can run Firefox 5.  I can only hope the Thunderbird upgrade will be as easy.

 

Categories
Firefox Internet Browsers

Firefox 4.0

Today I installed Firefox 4.0 on my Windows 7 x64 Enterprise work computer.  One feature that I am interested in is Firefox Sync.  I like the Google Sync with Chrome, it works flawlessly between Windows 7 and Ubuntu 10.10.

I grabbed a screen shot of Glow.Mozilla.com when I completed my download of Firefox 4.  I doubt I’ll do much with it over the next day or so since I’m not feeling well.

Firefox Download Stats on March 22nd about 4:15PM

Categories
dell Firefox Geek Stuff Google Chrome Internet Browsers Linux Stuff Skype Software Ubuntu Virtual Machine VMware Player Windows 7 Windows XP Work

Ubuntu 10.10 on Work Notebook

Last year when a new IT Service company took over the contract from another IT Service company I was working for, they issued a new Dell Latitude E6400 notebook to each of us.  This PC is not the beefiest notebook from Dell, but this is not a review of the PC.   The notebook specs are:

  • Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 @ 2.53GHz
  • 2GB RAM (upgraded to 4GB by employer)
  • Intel Video
  • CDR / DVD ROM
  • 14″ Screen
  • SD Card Reader
  • Intel network

The PC came with Windows 7 x32, Symantec EndPoint 11, MS Office 2007, and a few other applications.  Being a good IT technician, I used Symantec Ghost to create a backup image the day it was delivered.  At first I left the PC as is and installed a bunch of software to support the client.  After a year of hard use, computer was having problems booting or just being stable.  In no way is this a bash of Windows 7.  I like Windows 7 but the system needed a rebuild and it was time to try something that’s been on my mind.

After sending an e-mail to my manager asking for access to the ftp server to download MS Office 2007 and Symantec EndPoint 11, I wiped out the HDD and installed Ubuntu 10.10 x64.  With a 64 bit OS, I can use the full 4GB of RAM.  Just like before, installation took about 20 minutes, and everything worked without having to install additional drivers.  Since the client I’m working for has started to roll out Windows 7 x64, I wanted the same for my VM.  Running Windows 7 x32 would be all that I need for the VM, but as I found out over the last 5 months, some applications that work in the 32bit environment will not work in a 64bit environment.  Sometimes you need the native 64bit software to install or work correctly.

So I chose VMware Player to run Windows 7 x64.  The VM is configured for 2.5 GB of RAM, 2 processors, with the NIC configured at bridged for DNS registration.  After activating Windows 7 x64, the system was ready for MS Office 2007 and Symantec EndPoint 11.  While waiting for may manager, I installed Banshee, Filezilla, Terminal Server Client, Google Chrome, Adobe Air, Tweetdeck, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Gimp, Skype, VLC, Ubuntu Tweak, Shutter, modified my Pictures Screensaver, plus a bunch of minor configurations I use for Ubuntu.  After several days of using Outlook Web Access (OWA), I finally received my email with the server information and software keys.

So now I am supporting my client with Ubuntu 10.10 x64 at work.  I can honestly say Ubuntu is ready for the IT professional in a real world environment.  I have three different Microsoft Windows vms for supporting two non-trusting domains, covering x32 and x64 operating systems.  Due to the limited resources on my notebook, I can only run one VM at a time, but that’s OK.  There is a second Linux computer constantly running a Windows XP x32 OS which I use to manage one of the domains.

The nice thing about my setup is the dual monitors.  The default screen is the notebook display, the second screen I use for my VMs or if I need to focus on a particular task.  I usually run Banshee and Empathy IM on the small LCD, Tweetdeck minimized, and Google Chrome for all my personal stuff.  Terminal Server Client is used to connect to the three Windows 2003 or 2008 severs I support orto VNC into a Windows XP workstation.  Plus the other techs at work were impressed with what I accomplished.

So give Ubuntu or any Linux distro a shot at work for a month.  If you plan it a little, you can have your system running Linux with a VM or two to meet your clients needs.

Categories
Google Chrome Google Voice Skype

Google Voice added to Gmail

Image representing Google Voice as depicted in...
Image via CrunchBase

About a year ago I signed up for Google Voice.  At first I was a little skeptical about how well this would work.  Do I really need another number for people to call me on, and what can I do with it.  Well, I’ve used my Google Voice number as a primary contact number for people to reach me instead of my cell phone.

The client I currently work for has a shielded building.  You can not receive a cell phone signal no matter how close you are to the windows.  But what if I daycare needs to call me because of an emergency.  Sure I can give them my office number, but I work at two different sites.  They aren’t going to know where I am today.  That’s where Google Voice comes in.  I can give them one number and it will ring multiple phones at different times of the day.

Now Google Voice is connected to my Gmail account.  When I access my Gmail account in Google Chrome, I can use my headset and call from my PC to any landline number in the United States and Canada for free.  I can use the Google Voice mail system to store the messages, and enable all kinds of features.

One feature that I don’t think works all that well is voice mail transcription.  I dumped that feature back in October 2009 after several failures.  The transcriptions didn’t come close top what the message was.  I might look into it again.

I’ve not tried the Google Voice extension / plug-in with Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Opera on my Windows 7 PC or my Ubuntu Linux notebook at home.  I’ll try it out this weekend to see how well the video chat works compared to Skype.  Maybe I’ll switch over to Google Voice for everything and use Skype as a backup.

Categories
Firefox Google Chrome Thunderbird Ubuntu Windows 7

Google Chrome 5 on my Ubuntu PC

A while ago I wrote about Google Chrome on my Windows 7 on my work and home PCs.  This week I installed Google Chrome 5 on all my PCs.  What made me install Chrome?  A full supported version for Linux.  Just download and install the .deb file.  The even have a x64 version too.

I decided to make Google Chrome my default browser on my Ubuntu 10.04 x64 notebook.  I had to modify Thunderbird 3.04 to run Google Chrome.  I will admit it’s fast.  Faster than Firefox on my computer.  Still there is the issue with unlimited cache files on my computer.  I guess i can remember to clean it out once in a while.   Maybe I can find a script to clean out the files every 30 days.

Categories
Firefox Google Chrome Opera

No Size Limit on Google Chrome

Yesterday I was talking with another colleague about Google Chrome and why he won’t use it anymore.

What??

Of course I was skeptical with that statement, but his HDD was running out of space – fast.  On my Windows 7 computer I checked Google Chrome on my PC and I’m using about 350MB of cache.  Well, that’s a drop in the bucket on a 160GB HDD, but left unchecked, I can see it growing to several GB in no time.  Nowhere can I find an option to set the size limit of my cache folder.  I checked IE 8 and Firefox 3.5.3 and both can be configured to any size I want.  My cache settings for both browsers is set for 50MB.

The same can be said on my Ubuntu PC.  I can’t set a cache size limit in Google Chrome.  I can set the cache size of Firefox 3.5.2 and Opera 10.10 to 50MB each.

Why would Google want me to fill my HDD with Internet cache?  Do they want me to remember empty my cache on every time I start or close Chrome.  This is a basic function of every browser that I’ve used.  Talk about poor programming or short-sightedness on their part.

Categories
Google Chrome

Google Chrome for Windows 7

Like so many people have done already, I’ve installed Google Chrome on my Windows 7 PC.  I am amazed how fast Chrome is compared to Microsoft IE 8 and Mozilla Firefox. I went to Dell‘s website to build a XPS Studio 16 notebook with the Intel Core i7.  Usually it take a long time to move through each option such as memory, HDD, case design, etc. With Chrome, I was able to zip through it in no time.

Make you wonder what Google has in-store for Chrome OS.