Facebook Announces New Privacy Settings

Facebook has given in to public pressure and has made some siginficant improvements (i.e. simplications) to its privacy settings.    These changes are significant and every Facebook user should review the changes and make adjustments to keep your information protected.  These changes are being rolled out over the next few weeks so, if you don't see them in your Facebook privacy settings yet, check back again in a few days.

Here is a link to an article that explains the changes in plain English: http://www.allfacebook.com/2010/05/facebook-privacy-must-know/

Below is an excerpt from the Facebook announcement e-mail:

Starting today, Facebook will: 



* Provide an easy-to-use "master" control that enables users to set who can see the content they share through Facebook. This enables users to choose, with just one click, the overall privacy level they're comfortable with for the content they share on Facebook. Of course, users can still use all of the granular controls we've always offered, if they wish.


* Significantly reduce the amount of information that must be visible to everyone on Facebook. Facebook will no longer require that users' friends and connections are visible to everyone. Only Name, Profile Picture, Networks and Gender must be publicly available. Users can opt to make all other connections private.



* Make it simple to control whether other applications and websites access any user information. While a majority of our users love Facebook apps and Facebook-enhanced websites, some may prefer not to share their information outside of Facebook. Users can now opt out with just one click.


Concerned About Facebook Privacy?

If you aren't, you probably should be.   Facebook has come under a lot of heat lately for the way it shares information about you and for the complexity of the privacy settings.   There are over 170 privacy options throughout Facebook and if you think you've got a good handle on all of them, then you're way ahead of most people.   What about your kids?  Are they vulnerable? 

Here's an article from PC World by JR Raphael that talks about the issue and it points to an excellent Facebook Privacy Scanner.   Check your own Facebook account and pass this on to those you care about who also might be vulnerable.  

PC World Article:  http://www.pcworld.com/article/196464/test_your_facebook_privacy_settings_heres_how.html

Facebook Privacy Scanner:  http://www.reclaimprivacy.org/

Excellent Cloud Computing Article in National Post

Today's National Post published a excellent article about cloud computing.  It talks about Microsoft's focus on the cloud and gives a great explanation of cloud computing and its benefits.  

Check it out at: http://www.financialpost.com/executive/smart-shift/story.html?id=3011213

Sharing Office Docs via Facebook

Microsoft has partnered with Facebook on a new venture that will allow you to share Microsoft Office documents (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) with your Facebook friends by posting the documents on your Facebook page. It is still in beta and isn't available to everyone yet but you can go to www.docs.com and sign up for the beta. Is this going to be a useful tool? Well, with over 400 million users on Facebook, it's quite likely. Obviously, Microsoft thinks so. Give it a try and let me know if you get into the beta test and what you think.

Is Firefox Really More Secure Than Internet Explorer? Guess not...

IT World Canada recently published an interesting article entitled "5 Technology Security Myths, Busted".  You can read the article at: http://www.itworldcanada.com/news/5-technology-security-myths-busted/140601

Mozilla's Firefox browser has the reputation - especially among "techies" - as being a very secure way browsing the Internet.  Most of these techie types are very fond of looking down their noses at Microsoft's Internet Explorer because of it's security exploits, in particular.  I've always assumed they were correct and it made me feel a little guilty at not having switched to Firefox but this article gives me reason to feel better about being an IE user almost exclusively. 

In part, the article says:

"Microsoft's Internet Explorer gets a lot of bad press, and you might think it's got more security holes than a chunk of Swiss cheese. Not exactly.

According to a recent report by Symantec, Mozilla Firefox had the most new vulnerabilities in 2009, with 169, while Internet Explorer had just 45. However, Internet Explorer was still the most attacked browser for the reason we mentioned earlier: Hackers, like advertisers, go for market share, and despite big gains by Firefox, IE is still number one.

Looking at browsers with a smaller market share, Symantec found that Safari (remember what we said Apple products being vulnerable?) had 94 new vulnerabilities, Opera had 25, and Chrome 41. All of the browsers had an average window of exposure--the time between when exploit code affecting vulnerability is made public and when it is patched--of less than 1 day, on average, except for Chrome (2 days) and Safari (13 days), according to the report."

So, if you're like me and just prefer IE... don't feel bad about it.   That's not to say that we shouldn't always be vigilant because we should.   IE is still a large target for hackers and, in the same article above, they make the point that 20,000 new exploits (i.e. viruses, etc) are discovered every day.   That's scary.

HP Offers Zero Percent Financing

HP is offering 0% financing on new notebook and desktop systems. So, if you're looking to finance new systems, you'll never get lower rates. The only catch is that the minimum required is $1500.

They also have a trade-in program if you're thinking of replacing old hardware (see http://www.hp.com/united-states/tradein/promo/notebook/index.html).

We believe strongly in the HP product line. The quality of their products is second-to-none. E-mail us at orders@carefreeit.ca for a quote or information.