bruceb news

Not everything works with everything else.

Your expectations have changed so quickly that you might not have noticed. It wasn’t long ago that most people used a single PC at a single location and were content to leave the data on that computer behind when they left that desk. When you closed Outlook on the office computer, you didn’t expect to open up the same mailbox at home. If you had files to work on at home, you’d burn them to a CD or copy them to a USB drive or email them to your home email address. You might have gotten a notebook if you expected to be mobile but the data on it was still mostly separate from your other computers and devices. […] continued

Almost everyone has to do business with Adobe at some point. Businesses and law firms rely on Acrobat to scan documents and manage the ubiquitous PDF file format. Adobe products continue to be the basic tools for artists, photographers, web designers, and graphics professionals.

It’s a frustrating company.

• Malware authors have been able to take advantage of security problems in Acrobat and Adobe Reader and create evil PDF files to distribute malware.
• Adobe software is expensive. Graphics professionals can pay more for a license for Adobe Creative Suite than they pay for their computer.
• The process for buying Adobe software has been difficult – confusing licenses purchased from a poorly designed web site.

[…] continued

If you are a LastPass user, you may be required to change your master password. You will be prompted by the program if that’s necessary – for example, you may see the red browser toolbar pictured below. When you log in again, you’ll be led through a short process to pick a new master password.

[Update 05/06 1:30pm: The company has stopped requesting master password changes until its database catches up after two very busy days. If you see the request in the future, you will have the option not to change your master password if you know that it is strong. […] continued

I updated the “What I Use” page on the bruceb.com web site, where I describe the hardware, software, and web services running the enormous Bruceb Consulting empire. Why in the world would you want to read that? No, wait, that’s not rhetorical, I really don’t know the answer. But there it is, just in case.

An interesting change since I started maintaining that list. The section on “Software” used to be the centerpiece. Now it’s relegated to last place, as my world (like yours) changes its focus and comes to depend on cloud services far more than any locally installed software. […] continued

Fun for the whole family! Try to figure out where the toolbars are that appear and disappear in Adobe Acrobat X when you open a PDF file in your web browser!

SUMMARY: When you open a PDF in your web browser after installing Acrobat X, it may not have any toolbar across the top for saving or printing the file. Adobe has moved the controls to a floating toolbar that only appears when you move your mouse to the bottom of the page. You can make the normal toolbars appear permanently by opening Acrobat, clicking on Edit / Preferences / Internet, and unchecking Display In Read Mode By Default. […] continued

A large collection of patches and updates will be delivered tonight, Patch Tuesday, the second Tuesday of the month. Last month was a paltry bunch of updates, not really worth mentioning, but this month brings 17 security bulletins fixing 64 different vulnerabilities, the most ever fixed in one month. Here is Microsoft’s official notification about the bulletins, and here’s an article with some more details about the individual fixes.

When you walk away from your computer at the end of the day on Tuesday, close all open programs and leave your computer turned on. You should be greeted by a login screen on Wednesday morning after the system has restarted. […] continued

I fixed a problem today with Outlook 2010 that has never come up before and won’t have any relevance to any of you. This description may help someone who finds it in a Google search – and it will serve as yet another illustration of how our lives are getting more complicated, not less, as time goes on.

SUMMARY: If searches do not work in Outlook 2010 on Windows 7, make sure the Windows Search and Indexing Service features are turned on. The COM addin mssphtb.dll (“Windows Search Email Indexer”) is not required by Outlook 2010 and is intentionally disabled.

[…] continued

How are we supposed to use our computers without screaming?

I installed an update for Quickbooks 2010 in March. Perfectly typical for Quickbooks – when I clicked on the icon to start the program, a window appeared asking permission to install something, with absolutely no information about what the effect of the update would be. I installed it. Nothing was noticeably different until today.

I printed an invoice today. There was a new box at the bottom of the printed page, misaligned, with some illegible text on top of my cheery invoice message (“Thank you for sending my children to college!”). […] continued

Previously:
Battle Of The Browser Updates
Comparing The New Internet Browsers, aka Microsoft And The LastPass Problem
Syncing Bookmarks And Favorites With Firefox 4 And Chrome 10
Syncing Bookmarks And Favorites With Internet Explorer 9

I’m going to mention one third-party program, but with the caveat that I haven’t used it myself. Xmarks earned a loyal following after its introduction in 2006 but in September 2010 the company announced that it was closing due to lack of funds.

After an outcry a savior swooped in, set the company on a firm financial footing, and promised to give it a bright future. […] continued

Previously:
Battle Of The Browser Updates
Comparing The New Internet Browsers, aka Microsoft And The LastPass Problem
Syncing Bookmarks And Favorites With Firefox 4 And Chrome 10

Microsoft is bringing up the rear for a reason.

Since it’s not obvious how to do it, let’s type “IE9 sync favorites” into Google. The first choice takes us – well, it takes us to an obsolete third-party site. But the second choice! Ah, that must lead right to the official Microsoft answer: “Sync your favorites using Windows Live Toolbar.” Perfect!

We don’t want a toolbar but the page promises that favorites will be synced and stored in our Skydrive account for online access, and that’s good, right? […] continued