KSFO's Web Wanderer

The Links for September 14, 2002

911 Digital Archive - Dudley

Dudley says: "Here is a plethora of Sept 11 archive sites. The first one is a repository underwritten by major universities and foundations and has over 20,000 digital manifestations, including e-mail, images, Web sites, pager messages, and oral accounts of that day. There are 701 images, many submitted by non-professional photographers."

From the site: "The September 11 Digital Archive uses electronic media to collect, preserve, and present the history of the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania and the public responses to them."

The Digital Archive will contribute to the on-going effort by historians and archivists to record and preserve the record of 9/11 by:

The site continues: "The Digital Archive will also use these events as a way of assessing how history is being recorded and preserved in the twenty-first century and as an opportunity to develop free software tools to help historians to do a better job of collecting, preserving, and writing history in the new century."

The site concludes: "Our goal is to create a permanent record of the events of September 11, 2001. In the process, we hope to foster some positive legacies of those terrible events by allowing people to tell their stories, making those stories available to a wide audience, providing historical context for understanding those events and their consequences, and helping historians and archivists improve their practices based on the lessons we learn from this project."

There's a toll free number you can call to add your own 3 minute story about 911.

This site is changing the way history is recorded and studied. Check it out, and be a part.

Thanks, Dudley!

September 11 Tribute - Ali

Ali, the daughter of a friend and coworker, found this site.

It's an extremely moving site, "dedicated to the men, women and children who lost their lives, those brave people who gave their lives, and the heroes who responded to the emergency."

The site was put together by a survivor of 911 - a guy who was late to work that day, and had not yet entered the building. It's an extremely emotional and moving tribute.

It's a 7 meg download, so it will take a little while, but it's well worth it.

Thanks, Ali, and Happy Birthday, a day late!

Net History - Paesano

Paesano says: "This one should be very interesting to all who are on the internet. It is complete History of the Internet."

According to the site, this is "the most comprehensive directory of links (300+ and counting) to information about the history of the Internet, World Wide Web, Usenet, as well as related concepts such as email, browsers, online games and BBSs."

I found it interesting to talk about the "history of the net". I guess the rapid development of the net is very much like rapid aging - the old timers, from a couple of years ago, already feel nostalgic.

This is my kind of site. I'm a veteran net geek, and could spend days on this site. You can find such things as:

It's a big site with lots of content. Check it out.

Thanks, Paesano!

Browser News - Charles in San Francisco

We'll go from net history to current developments. Charles in San Francisco submitted a cool site - Browser News.

This weekly newsletter offers news about web browsers and their standards, gives an overview of the browsers and their futures, helps you find browsers both old and new, presents design resources, and reports Internet statistics.

The site focuses on:

This site gives a very up-to-date listing of all new releases, bug fixes, etc. for browsers. You can get common browsers, uncommon browsers, or old browsers. Need a browser for Windows 3.1? This is da place.

Pretty geeky stuff, but my kinda site. Check it out.

Thanks, Charles!

Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) Preview - Andantino

Bob mentioned Windows XP Service Pack 1. Andantino found a great page about it. He says: "I just used it to remove ACCESS to, that is, hide some MS products. The phrase "dragged kicking and screaming..." came to mind, as I thought about MS v. DOJ."

There's a lot of information here regarding what's in the update, including info that Microsoft won't be trumpeting too loudly (ie, removing their junk).

Great find. Thanks, Andantino!

Free For All!

"Free For All" picks are hot, FREE items or services. It can be software, online services, you name it - but it's got to be free, with no strings attached.

XPdite: Windows XP Security Patch - Solinas

The XP site I just mentioned left out one critical item that's in the service pack - there it fixes an extremely dangerous security hold.

Steve Gibson of GRC (Gibson Research Corporation) released XPdite this week to fix a "little-known but critical vulnerability" in Windows XP.

From the GRC site: "This vulnerability allows the files contained in any specified directory on your system to be deleted if you click on a specially formed URL. This URL could appear anywhere: sent in malicious eMail, in a chat room, in a newsgroup posting, on a malicious web page, or even executed when your computer merely visits a malicious web page. It is likely to be widely exploited soon."

The bug was known for 3 months, and Microsoft just released a fix as part of Service Pack 1. Unfortunately, Service Pack 1 is HUGE, so not everyone may download it immediately. But - since the security hole has now been published, you need to fix your XP system.

Steve Gibson's XPdite is a little program that just fixes this security hole. It's 30K - will download in a flash on even the slowest modems.

If you have XP, and haven't applied Service Pack 1, you need to do this immediately.

Registry Explorer - Ron in San Bruno

Ron in San Bruno says: "I don't know if it is a character flaw I have, but I've never been able to say no to an ActiveX control, a context menu or namespace extension. Here is a namespace extension that gives you all the power of REGEDIT from Windows Explorer (just keep the muzzle pointing in a safe direction!)."

"The Registry Explorer is a freeware program that puts the power of REGEDIT into the user interface of Windows Explorer. It displays the registry as a system folder, allowing you to browse the registry and make changes to settings as needed (WARNING: Changing registry settings is potentially DANGEROUS and may render your computer UNUSABLE! Be careful and be aware of what you are doing.)."

"Searching the registry is much easier than using REGEDIT and the ability to cut and paste makes a world of difference. The interface makes Registry Explorer instantly useable, but a help page is built in to answer any questions."

I'm frequently "under the hood" with regedit - even on my WindowsCE machine. This looks like a cool way to do it.

Be extremely careful, though. You can easily turn your computer into a doorstop by messing with the registry.

Cool stuff - thanks, Ron in San Bruno!

Windows Power Pro - Andantino

Andantino used to use a neat, little free utility with Windows 3.1 called Stiletto. He found an updated version. Andantino says: "You can hide any program launch or set of keyboard commands behind a single mouseclick on a small, customizable toolbar. I really liked it then but remember thinking that it's really a "clicker's" kind of program; maybe it works as well with keyboard commands, I just never used it that way."

Windows Power Pro really addresses 3 areas:

Sounds cool - I'm downloading it right now. Check it out.

Thanks, Andantino!

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This page, and all contents, are Copyright (C) 2002 by Michael A. Solinas.