How To Turn Off Smooth Scroll in Firefox and LibreWolf

Get me annoyed.  When I am annoyed I will fix things.

Facebook (Yes, I know social media is utter garbage) forced smooth scrolling one day.  I don't know if it was permanent because I removed it.

I Fixed It. 

This is not perfect.  If you have a private chat sub-window open and page up in the main one it will smooth scroll until you click the main page.  Clear as mud?

I use Firefox and Librewolf.   Librewolf is "said" to be better contained than most for keeping spy sites, ads, and Trojans contained and since it is derived from Firefox I use it for Facebook and other "snoopy" websites, and surf the web with a separate Firefox instance. 

Want more security?  Get Linux.

Smooth Scrolling is something I have always found awful.  I turn it off in preferences everywhere, including on dumb terminals and of course Firefox.  Unfortunately Facebook forced it "on".
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This is how to force your browser to turn Smooth Scroll Off.

Standard Internet Warranty applies - Follow these instructions at your own risk.  Ramblingmoose is not responsible if you fat finger your browser and everything comes up in Sanskrit.  Work slowly and carefully.

Start Firefox or your favorite derivative and follow the steps:

Step 1.  Ctrl+T to start a new tab.

Step 2.  Surf to about:config and accept any warnings about causing damage to your browser.

Step 3. enter in "smoothscroll" in the search bar, unclick the button that says "Show only modified preferences" then hit enter.

Step 4: Change every entry from "true" to "false" as you prefer.  The more that you change over, the less you will experience SmoothScrolling.

Step 5:  Close the About:Config tab. 

That's pretty much it, happy surfing. 

Now... don't get me started on this nonsense about one or two spaces between sentences.  I use two because I use two.  It makes it easier to read and I don't want some software developer in another country insisting that I need to get with the times.

Besides going between Proportional and Monospaced (Fixed Width) Fonts frequently will make your eyes cross.

Get off my lawn.

Netbook Server - Sharing an External Hard Drive in Linux

So if you have followed my instructions, you now have a:

Computer that runs Debian Linux

http://www.ramblingmoose.com/2016/02/the-netbook-server-installing-debian-or.html

Computer that you can look into using Remote Desktop

http://www.ramblingmoose.com/2016/02/the-netbook-server-you-need-to-be-able.html

Computer that you can share part of the local hard drive

http://www.ramblingmoose.com/2016/02/the-netbook-server-how-to-actually.html

Congratulations.  You now have a file server!

If you followed those directions, it also installed a bunch of other programs that will let you do other things.  I noticed that something called "CUPS" was installed, and that will let you plug a printer into the same machine and act as a "Print Server" or a "Network Printer" - if you can find the instructions on how to configure it.

Debian and Raspbian both come with enough that you could use that machine as your one and only daily driver computer.  The browser is called "Iceweasel" and is Firefox, rebranded.  You have Libre Office to write letters, work with spreadsheets, and make presentations that are all compatible with Microsoft Office. 

Yes, it really is, I use it every day.  No, you don't have to pay for it.  Ever.

There are more apps, and I would suggest looking into some of the software that is out there, all free.  If you start "synaptic" from your terminal as root or "sudo synaptic &" you will find so much free software that your mind will fog up and get tired before you find everything you want.

But that all is just the preamble to this discussion.  You came here to share an external drive.  This is like any other shared drive on the network, you have to have it plugged into the server (USB Port on your netbook), you have to tell the computer where it is, and you have to tell it how it is to be shared.

Remember, I am trying to write this for a Windows audience so I'll go as basic as I can.  You Windows folks are in a new world, and you will want to have this go well.  If you are a Linux expert or even intermediate, you may find this needlessly wordy.   Not to worry, you'll be right.

One Step At A Time.  Divide and Conquer.

First step - Make sure you can read the drive from Linux.

Before you get anywhere, start the computer.  Log in.  Get to your desktop.  Then plug in the drive. 

Start your terminal session by clicking on the (start) "Applications Menu", then click on Terminal.  Sign in as root by entering "su" and your root password.  You will eventually need this

Now, launch the file manager by clicking on the (start) "Applications Menu", then click on "File Manager". 

In the left pane of the file manager you will see Devices, Places and Network.  In "Places" your external drive will come up with a little eject arrow to the right of it.  Click on the icon for the drive.  A little wait icon will start to rotate.  When it is through it will do one of two things:

Success is if you are dropped into a view of whatever files are on the disc.  It means that all the drivers are in place.  Most likely this drive is something called "vfat" or "fat32".  Remember this for later.

Failure is if you get a big ugly warning message up.  That means that you don't have the drivers for the format that the drive has on it.  Most likely you will have to install the set of drivers called "ntfs-3g".  This would be where your external is a really big drive and you did it to make things faster.  To install that do the following steps:

1. apt-get update
2. apt-get upgrade
3. apt-get install ntfs-3g
4. shut down the server
5. unplug the drive (It isn't shared yet and you don't want to wait for the computer to release it)
6. start the server
7. and plug in your drive when you have logged back in to the desktop, terminal, and file manager.

No matter what, at this point, you should be able to read your external drive. 

You also need information.  When you worked with the server software "samba" you created a user and a password, and you will need that later.



Next step - finding where Linux thinks that drive actually is.

-- Update --

While researching my next blog article, I found a much easier way than the dmesg and so forth method.

In your terminal app, as root, enter the following command - fdisk -l 

You will get your list of drives, and what Linux thinks it has.  Different versions of linux will either make the drive available or not (Mounted or not mounted drive) so look for the last drive and make a determination for yourself what it is.  

Of course checking dmesg (as below) will be a sure way of finding out what you last plugged in, then doing the fdisk -l will tell you what you have on the drive.

-- end update --


Here is where Linux people will be saying "gparted".  If you know how, go for it, this is the slower but less risky method.

To determine what is plugged into your machine type into the terminal:

• dmesg | tail -30

Linux keeps a log of whatever is important to the system.  Since you "just" plugged that external drive into the computer, the last thing on that very long stream of text will be what was reported when the computer detected the hardware.  The "tail" bit will tell terminal to just show the last 30 lines of what are in the display of messages (dmesg).

The clue there are the lines that say "usb 1-2" and "sdb".  When I plugged in the drive, it said "new high-speed USB device number 2".  So what we're going to tell the system is that the drive is sitting on a device called sdb.  The partition we will be using will be the first one, so it is officially "/dev/sdb1".  In windows, it would come up as your D drive if there is no DVD/CD drive present, E Drive if it is, this is the same thing.

Since my stick is formatted to be removable on Windows, it is a format that Linux calls "vfat".    My big 4 TB drive is formatted NTFS, so I would have to mount it as "ntfs-3g"

Create a place to store the data in.  In my case, it is "/home/bill/external".  You should change "bill" to the name of your user that you logged into when you started this exercise.  To make the directory, open terminal again as a regular user and enter this command:

• mkdir /home/bill/external
• chmod 0770 /home/bill/external

You just created the directory and set it up so that you and root can use it.

There is one file that you need to edit in Terminal with the following command:

• nano /etc/fstab

This file tells linux where all of your disc drives sit, so be careful and don't delete anything.  You will be adding a line, as below:

• /dev/sdb1 /home/bill/external vfat defaults 0 0"

That says - put the external drive's first partition "in" the /home/bill/external directory.  It also says that it is "vfat" format so change that if it is an ntfs-3g format.  The defaults are lengthy and you can go into them in great detail on the Wikipedia Article.



If you wanted to go further and add multiple partitions for other people, you could do it in /etc/fstab by adding multiple entries.

Once you restart the computer, you should be able to find the drive on Windows, and you are on your way.  Just find the drive in Windows File Manager, enter in your login from Linux, and you're good to go.

One final wrinkle

What this does is to "bind" the external hard drive or memory stick to the server.  It is now set to automatically mount and share the drive whenever the power comes back on.  If you do not have a drive plugged in, Linux will boot, but put you into a terminal session as root into what is called "Single User Mode".  You can do the following edit at that point with the commands below.

To remove the hard drive so that the server is no longer looking for the drive at boot, in terminal as root:

• nano /etc/fstab
• find the line with the external drive and enter a # as the first character in the line
• save the file and restart the computer

This now turns your server into a machine that only serves the local hard drive.

Firefox Security Hole Is Why You Need An Adblocker And An Update

Windows:

• When I clicked "Help" then "About Firefox" it immediately downloaded the patch.  
• Click on the "Restart Firefox To Update Button"

Linux (Debian)

Assuming you have "real" Firefox installed and the sources in place.

• Open Terminal as Root.
• Smile because you have Root.
• apt-get update
• apt-get upgrade
• Restart Firefox when you click on the button that appears.

Other Linux Distros will vary, of course.

Mac apparently does not have the problem.

What happened?  Hackers.  Simply put, a Hacker exploited a hole in Firefox so that advertisements could push some code onto your machine to take it over.

Now, this business about ad blockers.

I run one and I use it very aggressively. It is for this reason.  It is also that I truly hate being pandered to and watched.

The latest trend is to watch what you are doing via "tags".  A 1 pixel "dot" of a picture will be pushed to your browser as an anchor for them to watch what you are doing.

The best thing for you to do is to run an ad blocker.  You tell it what to block, and yes, it gets very technical because you have to take responsibility to block these things.  For the most part, an ad blocker with (free) subscriptions will block most, but never all, of these nasties.

When you run an ad blocker you will also notice that your browser runs much faster since it isn't trying to paint all those ads for all those products that you will never use.

Lets be honest, have you ever actually clicked on an ad intentionally?

Me neither.

Heck, I don't even see youtube commercials because I run an ad blocker.

The easier one to use is Ad Block Plus.  It is controversial because they allow certain advertisers to pay *them* to be allowed past the blocker.  I would recommend this for basic users because unless you want to learn how to use it, it's pretty simple.

The one I am using is called uBlock.  I'm still learning how to use it.  It removes the ads, but I haven't figured out how to make it remove the blank space the ad created.

It's up to you.  Ads and Hackers, or a better browsing experience.  I know what I chose.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have a browser to restart.

Firefox Now Blocks Flash As Default Until Next Version Of Flash

If you are using Firefox, I have a question:  Is your browser acting up on you?

What happened is that Mozilla pushed through a well intentioned update.  It now blocks Flash as a default, and while you can turn it on if you like through the settings, I'm thinking I got into a chain of weirdness here that ended up with my having to do some tweaks.

Flash is that piece of software who has its origins back before the dawn of time, or rather 1999 or so that serves up videos, games, and the worst of all features of the modern web, advertisements.

You've got it on your computer unless you took steps to avoid having it.  I'd be willing to bet on it.  If I lost that particular bet go outside and enjoy the great outdoors since you Win One Internetz you 733t D00D!


For the rest of us, Flash is a bit of an annoyance.  Use is something you may not have thought about, an it's starting to fade away.  Personally, I won't miss it but I do keep it up to date and protect myself by only allowing it to run when I tell it to.

Back to that Flash thing.  I am now getting a black stripe at the top of my browser when Flash wants to be activated on any specific website.  In my case, that is exactly how I want it to act.  I want it to nag me when I hit a webpage that wants to use Flash so I know if I'm about to get a virus.

The reality is that when Facebook's head of security, that time sink of a website that mines what you are doing to serve it back to the advertisers that are paying for the site, says that it is Time For Flash To Die, you are witnessing the beginning of the end of an era.

In my own specific case, it locked my Firefox into "Safe Mode" and refused to let me out.  I had to "Refresh" the browser which meant I lost all my configurations and settings.  It took me the better part of an hour to get them back.  I also lost "Adblock Edge" and am having to retrain myself on something called uBlock Origin which is nowhere near as user friendly as the one I was using.

In order to re-enable Flash, and I do not recommend you turn it on for everyone but leave it nag you when it wants to be on:

Go to your Plug In Check Page
Click the scary "Update Now" button

The midsized scary red button will open a webpage for you to download the latest version of Flash, Manually.  Make certain that you clear the check box for their latest crapware download of McAfee Security software.

In my own opinion, there really isn't any reason to download anything from McAfee but that's my opinion.

Once you have done the install, it will force you to restart your browser.

Bad form, Adobe, Bad form.  Then again, it's always been this bad form so we are used to it by now.

So after you restart the browser, Windows Update had a fix for Flash as well.  After applying that update, and a final reboot, the resulting "about:addons" page that allows you to activate or disable your addons was no longer scary red.

The Plugin Status page still had the scary red big button, but the update now button was green and happy.

Lather, Rinse, and Repeat as necessary for all your computers.  Every IT person will be going through this sort of thought process for a bit, or have someone do it for them.

Another Day, Another Adobe Flash Exploit

Flash used to be what I would call "Update of the Day Club".  Start your computer and get into doing what you need, and surprise of surprises, there would be an update window popping up for Flash.

We seem to be back to that.

It's a nuisance because with at least Firefox, it forces you to close your browser and go through the nonsense necessary to restart it.  Since Firefox isn't exactly 100% accurate in reopening pages and tabs, I hold my breath each time.

In this case, there's no reason to trash Firefox.  There was an exploit found with "Shockwave Flash" as it shows up in the addons page and it tells you it wants to be updated.


Except.


There is no update as of this writing.

So? What do you do?  Tread lightly, my friend.  What you need to do is put yourself through a bit of annoyance or uninstall the blighted software completely.

Since the annoyance is less of a problem than uninstalling Flash at this time, I'll show you how to do that.

What I am doing is to tell the browser to ask me to run it.  I was going to uninstall it completely.  Youtube does not use Flash as a default to play videos any longer, favoring the newer HTML5.  Facebook does use Flash and at this point it does not apparently use HTML5.

Here is how to go in and tell Flash to run when you want it.  It will leave an ugly placeholder in Facebook with the a grey Lego brick or the international symbol for no, and some warning messages, but you can always turn it back on to watch that particular video of a dog doing something cute if you really want to.




In Firefox:

In the address bar enter:   about:addons and hit enter to load the page.

On your Addons page:

• Find Shockwave Flash
• Click the button that most likely says "Always Activate" and select "Ask to Activate"
• click the link to "Check to see if your plugins are up to date" to open another tab.

On your "Check Your Plugins" Page

• Click the big red button that says "Update Now" under "Potentially Vulnerable Plugins" and follow the prompts to update your Flash.
• This space intentionally left blank.
• Flash will update through multiple steps that are documented on Flash's site.  
• They include downloading a program.  
• Make certain that you clear the box that asks if you want to download any "Optional Offer" like McAfee or any other "helpful" programs since they are not helpful and will simply clutter up your computer or it could even lock it up.
• Flash's install will require you to close your Firefox, so save your work.
• Note:  As Of This Writing, there is no update to Flash that will fix this problem.  That is why I told you to set Flash to "Ask To Activate".
• Flash will not be updated on Android, Apple's IOS, or Linux.
• Flash will eventually be updated on Windows 7 or newer, or Mac OSX... just not as of this writing.

New Firefox and Other Browser Update Weirdness

I'm settling in to get some things done and notice a blurb.

There's going to be a rollout of the next Firefox over the next few weeks.  I pay close attention to that because I use Firefox extensively.  I'd be lost without it. 

I'm so tightly trained to use Firefox that I have to step back and actually "think" how to use any other browser.  Since I use Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Mac OSX Mavericks, and Debian Linux on a daily basis as well as Android and an occasional toe dipped into Apple's iOS, I have to remain as flexible as possible and Firefox is on all of those computers. 

Except the iPhone but I hardly ever use them.

I will eventually install Firefox on the Windows machines when it tells me that it is available.  I'm not in a rush.  The last time they changed the way it looks, the User Interface or UI, it borked it for me.  I ended up installing things to make it look the way it did before I updated the browser while growling at Firefox in general.  Keystrokes and mouse clicks and all that moved.  They removed the status bar. The bookmark strip got lost, or rather hid, and that stores some of your bookmarks.  They removed the title bar.

Why?  Never heard a reason, but I installed Classic Theme Restorer and it brought it all back.  Immediately after that I installed Adblock Edge to get rid of the blasted adverts and other nasties that hitch a ride onto your computer as a result.  More Privacy means for a faster experience as well as fewer viruses and spyware pushed onto your local computer.  Nobody actually "Likes" ads anyway, we accept their presence and usually are annoyed or distracted by them, but "Like"?  I doubt it.

Rule Number One of Software User Experience (UX) is if you change the way something looks, you will break the way people work.  I learned that back in the days of the Mainframe and College. 

Rule Number Two of Software User Experience is that if you do change it there will be unintended consequences.

In My Case:

I have a computer that has what they call a "Clickpad".  It's also running Debian Linux.  I know Linux in general fairly well, but Debian Linux doesn't manage Clickpads well.  Clickpads are those weird trackpads that are flush with the case.  You click on the pad instead of having normal buttons like every other Synaptic trackpad. 

I do know that is fixed in the next version of Debian, and I do know how to fix it now, but it is an annoyance that I have to deal with.  It basically forgets that it has a physical button in Debian Stable/Wheezy, and you're stuck with whatever you touch on the trackpad.  I only get a Right Click when I tap.  I have since configured a two fingered tap to be a Left Click.

What that all did change did is to break the way Firefox works.  You see, on that particular computer, I can't Right Click.  I can't get the pop up context menu.  They changed the UI right away from it. 

Since that machine is Debian Linux, I have to wait for the next version anyway.  It isn't even using Firefox, but something rebranded as "IceWeasel".  To put it short, and sarcastic, Debian had a spat with Firefox over the branding.  Since Firefox/Mozilla doesn't want anything proprietary at all on their default install, someone in the Debian Project grabbed the source code, recompiled it, created the graphics, and renamed everything to IceWeasel.  It works like Firefox but is Older.  About a version back. 

If you're running Stable, or Wheezy, you could be quite a few versions back.  Jessie has a more current Firefox, but it also has a lot more annoying bugs in it because it is "Testing".

But Windows?  Yeah, you'll get it soon.  Just remember Classic Theme Restorer and Adblock Edge, and you'll be fine.

As for the Mac?  When it is available, you'll get a blip on the bottom of the screen telling you you're ready for an upgrade.  You can also go back to the old theme if you want, but I do recommend Adblock Edge as well.

Why the harping on the ads?  It's a much faster browsing experience when you surf a page without the ads.  No blinky pictures, crawling things, or text ads.  If you don't download them, you use less data.  Things pop faster.

Trust me on that one.  You can always turn it off later.

Outlook.com - How To Block Messenger

Microsoft, please don't annoy me before 6AM.

I had gotten in after the dog walk, settled in for some iced tea, and wanted to check my email once the computer got started.

Using www.outlook.com has never been a pleasure for me.  I want an email service that stays out of my way with extra "features" that I don't want.   Having a chat service tied into an email program that is a bloated mess was not my choice.  Even Hotmail.com was better than the steaming pile of garbage that Outlook.com has been bloated into.

At the lower left of the browser screen was a helpful "Messaging" area with little icons of people who I have written in the past.  I found myself immediately looking for a way to turn it off.  After wasting a half hour in the "Byzantine" settings menu in Outlook, I went to do a search for how to do it.  I found this page suggesting that I add an entry into a low level file and restart my computer.   The low level file is a text file called "Hosts" that your computer reads in when it starts.  What Hosts does is to override networking.  

In Windows it is at C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc and Linux keeps it at /etc/hosts which would be where I would expect to find it on Mac OSX.

Some very basic and oversimplified networking concepts.

If you type in http://www.ramblingmoose.com your computer doesn't know what that does. It consults your network stack, finds the gateway, and then talks to your internet service provider.  In this case it looks at a giant phone book called your DNS and gets the IP Address of the site.  Since my blog points to a blogger site, that number changes, and it's hosted by Google anyway. 

But I can change that.

If I bring up Hosts in notepad or any other TEXT editor, I can add in a line saying that a specific IP address is to be used when you go to a specific web address or URL.

For example, if I want to block Google, I add a line to the file:

127.0.0.1  www.google.com

Save the file and restart the computer.

This works for some sites that are advertising providers and other nuisance sites.  My own Hosts file is pretty large having gotten one that has most of those malware and advertising sites that were known at the time.

But all this is annoying to maintain.  Fortunately, there is an easier way to do it.

Adblock Edge or Adblock Plus in Firefox and whichever other browsers it supports.  Adblock Edge is always the first thing I add when I install Firefox.  It allows me to block ads, hide pictures, and even block whole websites (domains) if I choose to from a semi-friendly interface.

Simply add a custom "rule" to adblock to block the following URL:

geo.gateway.messenger.live.com

It would be a whole lot simpler if Microsoft had decided that it would give you a way to block that Messaging app within Outlook.com settings, but they chose not to.  Luckily I can turn it off and get some things done.

How to add a custom rule:

• Ctrl+Shift+F will open a window called "Adblock Edge Filter Preferences".
• Click on the "Add Filter" button in the upper right of the window.
• In the blue box, enter geo.gateway.messenger.live.com and Enter.
• Close the window by clicking the Close Box.
• When you refresh Outlook.com in your browser, it will be blocked in that browser only.

Annoyed With The New Firefox Look And Feel? Here Is How To Fix It.

Ok, this isn't a Hey You Kids Get Off My Lawn thing.

Change is sometimes good.  When someone looks long at how something works, makes a tweak, you will know if it is right.

If it isn't right for you, then sometimes there is a way to fix it.

When I was presented with the opportunity to give my computer a wholesale upgrade, I thought long and hard about going to Windows 8.1.  I don't like it, many of us don't.  So why bother?  I installed Classic Shell, and now my Windows 8.1 looks like Windows 7. 

I did it because the new full-screen Modern or Metro apps are useless to me, the live tiles are worthless to someone who lives on the Desktop, and they are a vector for advertising that I have not found a way to block.  I completely uninstalled most of them and since I work very heavily on the desktop, I feel no loss.

Windows 8.1 is faster, slightly, than Windows 7, so I'm enjoying the minor slight speed bump.  I'm still not liking it any time I have to jump into the ugly block land of the Metro apps, but it is only when I have to fiddle with the system that I have to go there.

Why the Windows nonsense on a Firefox post?  There's a reason.

Firefox changed the way everything looks on the newest update called "Australis" on Windows 8.1.  The old "shine" is gone.  Everything is flat and mostly "Primary colors". 

I describe it as simply ugly.  The old shine had a great effect, you could find things at a glance on a very busy screen easier.  Granted, you were trained to recognize that the individual elements were separated by color and separators were very visible as a dark line, the most current tab of a tabbed interface was lighter, the other tabs were darker, but did not blend into the background which was a third color.

There is a good reason for this.  Humans are good at pattern recognition.  This is why the "Big Dipper" is a constellation resembling a dipper.  It LOOKS like SOMETHING.  It isn't a random pattern, although in actuality it really is since some of the stars in the Big Dipper are much closer than others.

So when Firefox upgraded, they went with a new look and feel.   It looks very Windows 8.1 Metro Modern.  Which is to say "Flat and Blocky".

I don't like Flat and Blocky.  I have open dozens of tabs at any given moment, sometimes more than one hundred.  It slows me down.

If you want to fix that and find it ugly and want to go back to the old school way of doing things, thankfully Firefox recognizes that you still can.  It is even in their official documentation how to do so.  This update is all about giving you the power to customize the browser. 

Unfortunately they removed the add on bar at the bottom of the browser completely and that broke my weather app that I depended on heavily for current conditions.  I'll have to go out and write a webpage to monitor the weather itself.  While I could use the practice in HTML 5, I'd prefer it not to have been forced upon me.

You can follow their instructions here.

Simply put you will be adding an "Add On" to Firefox.  It will change it back to the way it looked "yesterday" before you did the upgrade by default.  Install it and you are done.  Add Ons typically work on all versions of the browser, although I haven't tried it out on my Mac or my Linux machines, I expect this will not be a problem.

All I wanted was my old square edged tabs back in grey with the current tab bright silver, and it gave me that back.

The steps are simple:

• Start Firefox
• Surf this page to get Classic Theme Restorer. 
• Click the green "Add This To Firefox" button.

Don't worry, if you want to turn off Classic Theme Restorer, you can within its own preferences found in the Firefox Tools Menu.

It will install the theme restorer.  With that you can change a lot more of the way Firefox looks.  If you really do like the curvy tabs, you can put them back by selecting the proper theme elements.  My biggest problem is that the visual clues are not at all obvious with this new "Australis" theme.  The break between the inactive tabs is much less obvious and the result is that it slows me down.

With Classic Theme Restorer, I can put that back.  There is a Curved Alternative Theme that looks almost exactly like Google's Chrome tabs so if you like that, feel free.  I just tweaked it to look that way now, and my browser looks like a file drawer full of old grey Manila folders inside Pendaflex holders.

Skeuomorphism to the rescue!

After all, if customization was the goal, I took advantage of it.  I bent the browser to my will and customized it - back to the way it was. 

Useable.

Now Homeland Security Suggests You Stop Using Internet Explorer Especially With Windows XP

You know things are getting dicey when the Department of Homeland Security gets involved.

Personally I never liked Internet Explorer.   It's the browser that is baked into every version of Microsoft Windows out there since Windows 95.   The problem is that it's a single point of failure.   If there's a deep problem with the browser, your whole computer is at risk.   Slowdowns caused by Internet Explorer are common, and in my own experience it runs like a "Lead Sled".

I try to use another browser wherever possible.

Now a little more tech jargon.  You may have read about some shadowy problems.  A "Zero Day" or "0-Day" attack.   Simply put, it is an attack at that low level of your software.  You won't even know that you "got hit" and will be added to a hacker's portfolio.

Every version of Internet Explorer that is in use since version 2 is involved in this mess.   No matter what version of Windows you are using, you are at risk.  Since they aren't updating that old software, you really should have upgraded that old copy of Windows 95 well before now.

There is a fix from Microsoft, and you can now get it in Windows Update, and it didn't even whine at me to restart Windows 8.1.  Until you do there are a few things to consider.

First, get a second browser.   I prefer Firefox, others choose Chrome, still more choose Safari, and there is always Opera.   Pick one and use it.  It is your choice!

Second, if you are on Windows XP, you need to upgrade, Now.  Windows XP will not be fixed at this point.  Microsoft may go back on its word, but you are at this point vulnerable.

Third there is another wrinkle to this mess - Flash.  It's the most common way most people look at those cute cat videos and the video that I embedded below about this bug.  It has its own Zero Day exploit and needs to be upgraded to version 13. This Flash Bug is also a problem for Mac OSX and Linux, so I will have a busy day upgrading things around the house.  Basically everyone gets hit by this one no matter what computer you have!

With Windows7 and Firefox, you can check by following these steps:

1. Start Firefox.
2. Follow this link to the Plug In Checker.  It will open in a new page or browser window.
3. Any plugins that you run that are out of date will show up with a red button on the right that says "Update Now" - click that button.
4. It will open another page for Flash.  
5. Click the check box to refuse the offer of McAfee Security Scan Plus since you just do NOT need that software.
6. Click the Yellow Install Now Button.
7. It will open another page, wait a bit, then ask you to save a program.
8. When your download is complete, run the installer to update.  Flash does not do this behind the scenes.  You will find it in your downloads directory and you will have to run it separately.  The program it downloaded was called "install_flashplayer13x32_mssd_aaa_aih.exe" but it will change through time and versions.
9. It will ask you if you want to install it, and personally I tell it to tell me to upgrade instead of doing it automatically.   Personal preference.
10. When you get the green check and the "Installation Complete" message, you can click Finish.
11. It will then bring up a message saying that you're done and ask you if you want to get this fantastic deal from someone who I can't see because my ad blocker has blocked it.   Shoo, Adobe, I don't want your deals!

Yeah, 11 steps but it goes quickly.

Microsoft has a fix out now for Internet Explorer, but you really do need to get a different browser.   One that supports ad blocking since they're also a vector for spyware and viruses.

The video from USA Today is at this link if you want to see if your Flash has been updated.

Forecastfox - Getting Radar My Way in Firefox

I find myself setting this up from time to time.  I end up creating a new computer, or a virtual computer and want a little strip of weather info in my browser.

ForecastFox does what I need.  It works fairly well, supports multiple locations, and does have a bit of flexibility in how you can configure it.

It comes "out of the box" set up for New York City.  Since I live in South Florida, that doesn't work for me.

Since I also have quite a few years of programming, I can fix that. 

The nice thing is that "fixing" that isn't that tough.

They give you a helpful search box that sets everything up for you.  Type in your US Zip Code and it will find your city.   The defaults work nicely, but the address for the radar doesn't work for me.  Radar doesn't change with the city so you end up looking at the temperature and conditions for "your area" and the radar for the Northeast US.

Not so helpful.

Also it makes a small radar display which, while it works, we can do better.

First, install Forecast Fox.  I'm going to assume that you know how, since it's one of the more popular updates to Firefox or Chrome.

It should put a web page up before you telling you that it will update your information immediately.

If it didn't, hover over the current conditions and right click on them for the pop up.   Select "options" and the web page will open.

In the locations box, type in your zip code and hit enter.   It will create a basic profile for that location.  You can then hover over the other profile for New York, NY and Remove or Rename the extra one.

If you want multiple locations, tick the box and it will switch through them every minute or more.

The bit I need to change is the Toolbar Display.  Since the radar sites are not linked, I go through the same steps every time I do this.

First, in another window or tab, I surf to www.wunderground.com.  It will try to detect your location, if it doesn't search for your zip code or city name.

The radar display on the page has a link on it if you hover over top.  Select "NEXRAD" radar.   Zoom in and out until you get just the view you want.   Click on the "Animate" link to make the radar move.  On the bottom left of that display you will find a link that says "View/Save This Image", click on the link. 

The  result is that you will now have a browser page that will show the view you just had.  It will be animated, and there will be no extra bits like ads or controls to move it. 

Copy the address of the picture by right clicking on the image and selecting "Copy Link Location" from the pop up.

That picture and the url are what you want.   But you can do better...

Go back to your Forecastfox Weather configuration page and find the Toolbar Display section.  In the Radar (Or Satellite) box, select Custom.   Click inside the URL box and do the following keystrokes:

1. Ctrl+A
2. Ctrl+V

That will select everything in the box and paste the copied URL from the picture into the box.  What I do here is change the size of the picture to something a bit larger.  The width and height can be changed to the size you want.  Default was 480 by 320 but I changed mine to 1024 by 768.

Why did I do that?  Because, Radar.  More specifically, I have a large screen and would like to use it.  Now when I hover over that little green radar icon in my status bar at the bottom of my browser, I get a big picture instead of a little one.  

You can also turn on some of the other weather data, and change the number of days displayed.  Mine is 5 days and 2 text labels.

The end result is this oversized picture that is below.

Weird Browser Stats

There are Lies and then there are Statistics.

I'm sure we've all heard that before.  I was going through statistics on this blog.  Not really sure why, but occasionally I do check it.  Other than realizing that people in far flung parts of the US, China, The Ukraine, and others like to look at recipes, pictures from the Florida Keys, and read cute stories about cute dogs, it does help inform me as to whether I should continue this exercise of writing something each day.

Even if it is a copy and paste exercise on the weekends.   Bad Joke Saturday and Bad Joke Sunday have to get their Bad Jokes somewhere!

All statistics are approximations, your mileage may vary...

Some of the hits are obviously false, such as those from crawlers and the like.  I've been told to ignore those, and I won't be even saying who they are here because I don't want to encourage them.

Yes, it's like the misbehaving child at the family table - ignore your bots and they'll behave.

If you do look at your statistics and see something coming from a Vampire or a Zombie site, ignore it or you'll get spiked as well.  Google Analytics is correct, Blogger is not.

But within that stat page, I also get reports on what kind of technologies that are being used to look at the blog.  

Someone is using something called "NS8" to get here.  I had to follow that one up.  I mean, it's not like it's one of my Linux readers, or someone using their iPhone or Mac to surf here, I can tell what that is.  I know that when someone surfs me with Iceweasel, they're on Debian Linux since that is what I use on my Linux Machine.  Stability, thy name is Debian.  They really should use the slogan "Debian, It Just Works!".  Even on your 10 year old computer...

Anyway...

Not having ever heard of NS8 I looked it up.   NS8 is "most likely" a copy of the old Netscape Browser version 8.   To give you an idea, that's equivalent to Firefox 1.0.   Firefox is on version 25 at this date. 

Congrats, you are using the latest version of Firefox!  is what you should see when you click on that Firefox link.

PSA - Upgrade your software when you can.   Or some blogger will be waggling a finger at you for not doing so.

I'm looking at you Windows XP People.   You're almost as bad as I was when I got my Mac - it had OSX Leopard on it, and I immediately upgraded a month later to Snow Leopard.

My Mac Peeps will know what I'm talking about.   How's your Mavericks?  Kewl?

Immediately, a month later.   Er... well they do say that Macs have no viruses and well...

Not content to just wonder about this NS8 thing, I also got a visit from someone using something called "OS;FBSV".

Er, wha?

The best I can tell is that somehow, someone, is using their iPhone in Facebook to follow through. 

Hey, it may not matter to you, but I am a curious type.

I did after all have a person surf my blog from something called "Windows NT 6.1".  Most likely someone got bored while working on a server somewhere in a noisy server room and surfed my page.

I just hope I didn't bore them or the rest of you too much with all that.

Browser Basics - Where Do I Type The Web Page?

Some of you will look at this discussion and wonder why someone would do what I'm going to describe.

I was looking at the statistics for this blog and thought I'd lend a helping hand.

Most browsers, when you start them, will put you at a search page.  Typically that is Google for Firefox and Chrome.   I think Safari drops you onto www.apple.com on the Mac.  I try hard to forget anything connected with Internet Explorer these days.

So you get a big helpful page with a box to type in your search query.  You typed in Ramblingmoose.  Hit enter.  It gives you a list of articles I wrote.  It should have the base web page at the top - http://www.ramblingmoose.com .

You used your mouse/trackpad/trackball to move the cursor to the link and clicked on it.  

If you did all that before I put this article up on the web page, you would see the picture, minus my writing and the little yellow box.

We all start somewhere, and if you aren't told how to do something basic, you will figure it out the best you can, and repeat it until someone whispers in your ear an easier way.

That would be me.

The little yellow box is where you should be typing that address, unless you really did mean to do a search.   It is called the Address Bar, generically, although I've heard other "Marketing Friendly" terms used.

In Firefox, at least, if you type in the majority of the name, it will try to "make" the most likely URL for you.   URL is the web address like www.ramblingmoose.com or some other website. 

So if you just type in ramblingmoose in the address bar, you may get here.  At least I just did when I tried it out on Firefox 25.0.1 on Windows 7 on this day in 2013...

Why is that important enough to warrant a blog posting? 

It saves you time.
About 10 percent of you do a search each day to get here.
I wanted to help.
That's why you came here.

Now I'll go back to finding Just The Right Font for this blog and annoy everyone with changes every couple minutes until I'm satisfied.  I just don't like Arial or Helvetica.  Bleah.

Dealing with Facebook Annoyances Using Adblock Plus

Audience is either Firefox Users or Chrome Users.


Facebook is the website you love to hate.

Teens are leaving it, adults can be addicted as a time sink, marketers think they can buy the world's information at a song.

You can tame the beast some. 

Lately Facebook has made some changes to the way they present information.  It's all about getting you to opt into more things - you know, to "Like" them.   That helps them build a profile about you.   Since you tend to give up that information freely, it's pretty valuable.

But lately it got to be a bit much.  Since I manage a number of websites, and a number of social media presences online, I have to be on Facebook - all day.

First thing is you really need a good ad blocker.   The reason is that those ad services may be entertaining but they are watching what you do everywhere.  You may not have a problem with it, but I do.

I went to Firefox years ago and installed an adblocker.  The latest iteration of it is called "Adblock Edge".  It will block both intrusive and non-intrusive advertising.   The distinction between that and "Adblock Plus" is that Adblock Plus has been paid by Google and perhaps others to not block their text ads.  That raises the question of what else are they not telling you.  Supposedly Adblock Plus is making the decision as to whether something is acceptable, and I'm not comfortable with that.

• Simple, get Adblock Edge instead.  Adblock Edge will allow you, once you learn how to use the thing, to block any advert as well as things like frames and those reprehensible "Fancybox" and "Lightbox" things that seem to float over a web page.

I'll let you look into that whole learning process.   It's best that you look into it yourself, but the default settings on Adblock Edge are pretty good to begin with.  The simplest explanation is that you can right click on an ad, Select "Adblock Plus: Block Image" and tailor what you see.

The next step is to import something into Adblock Edge that works with Facebook itself.   There's a big long list of things that they added that annoy me, as well as clutter their interface.  Frankly I don't have time for most of it, but a long list of that stuff can be found in this article. 

Those annoyances are the "You May Like" or the "You May Know" genre of items.  They got to the point where they were more than half of what I would see on Facebook.   So when I saw the article, I followed the simple instructions:

• First Surf this page.  It gives you a graphical representation of things you don't want to see.

• Second, select the link you want.  I selected the Block All in the first column but that may be a bit too much.  You can see the graphic and select the one you want by clicking on the green "+ add" button.

• Third, add the rules to your Adblocker.  When you click on the "+ add" button, it will pop up the Adblock dialogue box for "Add Adblock Plus Filter Subscription".  Click on the button to "Add Subscription".

You're done.  Facebook will be less cluttered - until they break that by changing things.

You can always hide those people or businesses by unfriending or unliking them, but that is a bit of a Nuclear Option.   This keeps the friends but loses the "chaff".

It just got too hectic, so thankfully Technology came to the rescue.

Firefox 25 is Here

Getting caught up this morning I spotted an article speaking about how Firefox has been updated.

The short of it is that it's more stable because they patched some internal stuff.

Internal stuff like memory problems and stability issues.  This is for Windows, Mac, Linux and probably iOS and Android too, but I haven't gotten to the last two yet.

I was finding that Firefox 24 would simply pause.  Since I have on any given moment about 30 to 150 tabs open, that's kind of scary.  Most of what I was doing would just... pause.  Pause for a couple minutes, so I was losing a fair amount of time when it would happen about once an hour.

Upgrading is pretty painless.  I clicked on Help, and About, and found the picture you see above.  Didn't even have to click on a button until it was done.   When done the "Applying Updates" message changed to a button saying Restart. 

Now I'm on Firefox 25.  Whether other bugs will show up, I don't know.  I do know it hasn't locked on me in 3 hours of surfing about 200 web pages in tabs.

Since that's done, I can get back to developing web pages, search engine optimization, and other "web development tasks".

If you want all the deep and dirty info, here's the article that I found that told me to check.

Firefox 23 is out - Now With Annoying Changes!

I use Firefox as the go-to browser.  
Internet Explorer is ugly and slow.
Chrome... well that's a google product and I don't trust it.  I know, Blogger is a google product, and I accept that.

Still.

I read that it was being updated so I checked to see if it was updated to version 23.  No, but helpfully it told me that it was downloading the update.   I didn't actually click on anything, but since I wanted it, I accepted this as "magic" and watched the donut roll downhill.

To Check:

1. Click Help
2. Click About Firefox
3. Read - the Version Number will be there and it will tell you "Firefox is up to date".

Now for the annoyances.   There are two, and they're connected.

I have more than a passing interest in Security.  Web pages that do things I don't like really make me go "red zone" fast.  Tricks with javascript under the hood really make me want to reach through the browser and find the webmaster and pretend I'm Homer Simpson strangling Bart.

So I would go in and set two tick boxes:

Do not allow javascript to move or resize windows.   You don't want this happening either.  Imagine trying to close a window that won't let you because it moves.   Plus everything is "just so" and I don't want something going full screen.   It's this size because I want it this size.

Do not allow javascript to turn off context menus.   If you right click on a web page, you get a pop up asking you what you want to do.   It can be turned off.  Tough, my browser, my rules.

Here is how to set it back - if you don't want my explanation, go to this link and read the geek speak on Mozilla's website.


Open a fresh Firefox browser window - Ctrl N
In the address bar type "about:config" and hit enter.  
There will be a helpful warning about not breaking anything, click "I'll Be Careful".
You are now in the Firefox configuration screen.  You really can make the browser misbehave here so - be careful.

First change
In the search box type "dom.disable_window_move_resize".
Click value until it changes to true.

Second change
In the search box type "dom.event.contextmenu.enabled".
Click value until it changes to true.

You can close that window, you're all done.

What you did was force Firefox to give you back control, and we will all admit that control is a good thing.

Really, Mozilla, what were you thinking?  Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Web Annoyances - Websites Where Keyboards Don't Work

This one gets me a lot.  
It's so basic that I have to wonder who on earth is making these web pages? 
Worse, who on earth is approving and testing them?

Oh, that's right, you can't do Proper QA any more since everything is written overseas on the cheap.

You get what you pay for.

Rant aside...

For the most part, even now, the place most people are doing their "heavy duty" web surfing is on a browser.  I'm basing that on this blog's statistics, and I feel confident that that feeling is backed up by most web services.

The proportion is roughly evenly split between Internet Explorer, Firefox (and its variants), and Chrome.

I personally have noticed this on Firefox and on Internet Explorer, on Windows, Linux, and on Mac OSX.

It just doesn't happen on a tablet or a phone since the way you use a webpage is different there.  You only have a mouse (touchscreen), you rarely have a keyboard.

I notice this on a daily basis on Monster.com, but it also shows up with many other oddball sites.

Here's how to find the problem on Monster:

• Surf Monster and do a search.  Doesn't really matter what kind of job you search for, your own zip code will be fine.
• You will be presented with a list.  Pick one from the list.   It doesn't really matter which.
• Now that you are looking at a page, a job really, use your Page Up or Page Down keys.

They don't work.

You actually have to click inside the body of the page to get the page to move.   You can tab around, cursor around, whatever you choose, but it just doesn't work until you click inside the page.

If you are a web developer and call this done, you are bad and you should feel bad.

Zoidberg doesn't like you and neither do I.

This also works with the Windows or Linux alternate page down, the space bar.  

Navigation is simply locked down until you click inside the page.

My best guess is that it's a function of working with the software behind the scenes (Ajax) and having reworked your browser so that all the keys are forced to do a certain special task.  Don't know but it's still wrong.

Now go back and fix your web page.  That's a rookie mistake.  If you're good, Robot Santa may leave you a gift.

Got Firefox? Time for an Upgrade to Firefox 22

You know it's an easy upgrade when you catch it doing it when you go to see where you're at.

Huh?

Simple...

I've been hearing that Firefox has just released version 22.

I looked at my version number to check where I'm at and it was in the process of upgrading.

Here's how to check:

Start Firefox.
Click Help.
Click About Firefox.
If the version is 22.0, it's already been done.
If the version is 21.0 click the appropriate button to update.

Mine just needed a "Restart to Update".

I'm done.   Actually, I used it all this morning and it feels about as fast as before.  It does feel a bit more stable.  I *think* it is using a little less memory and a little less processor.  The laptop feels a little cooler than it had but that could be me just "thinking too much".

Have fun.  Pretty painless.

Computer Basics - Resizing Web Pages and Changing Text Sizes - Picture

Yes, I said Basics, and I mean it!

I find myself looking at a lot of long lists in web pages.  A LOT of text.  I found myself getting annoyed at not seeing enough on a single page so I started changing the sizes of the page.  That's easy and works well, but only on that particular web page.  I wanted all the text to be smaller to fit more "stuff" on a page.

There are two slightly different ways to do it.

First method - Change "this" web page to be larger or smaller.  This is going to work for a given domain (from what I can tell) and will work on Firefox as well as Internet Explorer and probably on Chrome.

Three simple key commands -

• Larger - Ctrl and + (plus sign) at the same time
• Smaller - Ctrl and - (minus sign) at the same time
• Back to "normal" - Ctrl and 0 (zero) at the same time

 What that will do is bump the text up or down a step, and it will make the pictures get larger and smaller at the same time.   It's like moving closer or farther away from your monitor.

Second method - Change only the text to be larger or smaller.  This will work EVERYWHERE, so be aware.  Going up one or two steps, or down the same, works fairly well but it may make the web page look a little strange since the pictures will not change.   It also may not work at all on a specific web page since the web designer decided to force a specific size of the text on the end user.  Bad form and controlling but it does work.

Since this setting is going to stay stuck everywhere until you change it back, we'll call it "permanent" and leave things at that.

In Firefox, click Tools and Options to get the basic Options page.

1. Click on the Content Tab (circled).
2. Click on Advanced (circled).
3. Click on the Size Buttons (circled) to change the two sizes.  
4. Click OK and OK again on each window.

I recommend that you do each by one or two points and see how you well it works for you, but change them both by the same amount.

Windows XP? Consider Switching to a Different Browser or Upgrading

Still using Windows XP?
Are you using Internet Explorer?

Don't do that.

My friends will laugh and say I have always hated Internet Explorer.  I really do dislike "IE".  I have been steadfastly using Firefox since it was introduced.  Internet Explorer just felt slow and bloated and generally "icky".

I have an XP machine here at the house, and there are people in Corporate environments who still use XP.  It's around 1/3 of the PCs out there at this point and declining.

The problem is that there's a security change coming down the pike that will make Internet Explorer on Windows XP less secure.

The quick solution is to always use a different browser when you can.   I suggest Firefox, but Chrome as well will work.  The security change that you need is in the more modern browsers and Internet Explorer is not being kept up to date by Microsoft on Windows XP.

If you want the long story, you can follow this link to Naked Security.  

Bottom line is it's time to change your browser or upgrade the computer to run Windows 7.

Fixing Firefox When Curiosity Strikes

I'm one of those people who fixes things.  I guess that makes me a proper Geek.  I know enough how to diagnose the problems (Nerd) and how to fix them (Geek) when I set my mind to it.

Recently I was given a "dead" cordless electric drill.  The thing "Wouldn't Hold A Charge" so I was told "You like to fix this stuff, here, have fun".   I did.  I'm that wacky guy who replaced all the rechargeable batteries in a NiCd pack with old Laptop Lithium Ion Cells, a bit of solder and wire, some tub caulk to hold it all together and now I have a perfectly functional if a bit scratched up and ugly Ryobi drill.

If you have a rechargeable appliance around, they can be fixed, trust me.  Don't toss the stuff, some hacker may be able to make something of it.

The problem happened when I decided that I wanted to see if I could recover my Windows 8 install on my "Daily Driver" laptop.  This is the "Mission Critical" machine, so there's the first mistake - don't mess with your "Daily Driver" if it is important.

Dutifully, I unscrewed the bottom on the laptop, swapped in the Windows 8 hard drive, and tried to fix the permissions that broke the install.  After some "Call A Friend" help, and about 3 hours, I shrugged, said it's dead Jim, I hate Windows 8 anyway, and it gives me an excuse to wipe it and install Linux on a different laptop.

Putting the drive back in place, I screwed it all back together.  Of course I had to check the memory to make sure it was seated properly.  After all it was working but sitting there taunting me like it just NEEDED to be touched.

See where this is going?

Turn on the computer and I saw something I hadn't seen before in the 3 or more years I have been using it - Windows 7 gave me a "Blue Screen of Death".  Over the next two days, I was able to get things stabilized somewhat.  The crash was Windows telling me I have problems with the hard drive, and that's plausible.  I'll be doing a backup today.  Really.  I will.  Promise!

The problem there is that every time I tried to launch Firefox it would run for a bit then crash.  Regularly.  It crashed every time I loaded a number of tabs at the same time.   Clearly it was not a happy camper.

There is an easy solution.  With most software you have the the option of fixing it all by reinstalling it from the "current" medium.  In the case of Firefox, I surfed http://www.getfirefox.com and downloaded a new copy.  Once reinstalled, end of problem.  I could do this because it was only Firefox that was misbehaving because of my errant curiosity and the oncoming Hard Disc "problem".

So the moral of the story?  Don't be curious with your "Daily Driver" Computer.  Even so-called "Experts" can get in trouble.  

That and keep your old hardware.  You never know if you or someone else may get some use out of it.

Besides, I actually LIKE playing with Linux, soldering irons, old "broken" drills, and the like.