CyberCoyote - March 12, 2009

NEWS and NOTES
OCR

I wasn't at the meeting today, so I missed out on the Optical Character Reading topic. I don't know much about OCR, except that good OCR software used to be expensive and didn't work so well, and that it's much better today. If you want to learn more, you might start at Wikipedia.

TECH TOPICS
Get the most out of your browser

About.com has a new set of articles on how to unleash the hidden power of your browser, and another set on mastering your favorite browser. Check 'em out.

Windows 7 Secrets

Paul Thurrott, who wrote Windows Vista Secrets and is currently writing the Windows 7 Secrets book, is capturing some of his thoughts in his Windows 7 Feature Focus blog posts. You're going to like Windows 7, and it's not too early for you to learn a bit about it yourself. If you follow this, you might not even need the book by the time you get Windows 7.

Paul keeps a summary of his posts on a page with the same title. He updates the page from time to time, and you see all the important features he's identified. Paul links to expanded information when he's written something more about a feature. He also has a handy index (links) in the right column for the specific features he's covered so far. Save a bookmark/favorite for this one.

SECURITY
Removing antivirus and other security programs

Antivirus programs are like tapeworms. They get their hooks deep into the guts of the operating system to do their job {sorry}. Uninstalling them has ranged from problematic to impossible. Most antivirus vendors now have special tools to remove their software. Trouble is, these tools are often very hard to find. Vishal Gupta just compiled a nice list of where to get these tools for several antivirus programs.

ODDS and ENDS
Brave new world

Parenting. [dystopia]

That's all, folks.