Recovering From Microsoft Office “Freezes”

by Richard

Sometimes, a Microsoft Office program will “freeze” or “hang”, meaning that it is still actually running, but is totally unresponsive - usually this happens just when you are on a deadline and have some critical work not yet saved…

This tip may just save the day - it won’t work all the time, but when it does, it’s magic. You do need to have several Office programs open at the same time, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Outlook.

  1. Decide which of the Office programs has the least important data - for example, it might be Word, when you have a critical Excel spreadsheet open with unsaved changes
  2. “Kill” the least important program - usually you just click the red ‘X’ button to close its window, and Windows will ask you to confirm. In some cases you may need to use Task Manager (right-click on the task bar, or Ctrl/Alt/Del on Windows and select Task Manager) to end the process.
  3. Usually, the surviving program (Excel in this example) will spring back to life. Be sure to save its open files right away!
  4. Just to be safe, quit all of your Office programs, including Outlook, and start them again.

Keep reading …

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Keep Internet Explorer and Firefox Secure With Secunia PSI 1.5

by Richard

In my recent posting on fighting back against phishing attacks, I mentioned the excellent Secunia PSI (Personal Software Inspector), which tracks which of your non-Microsoft applications have security holes and need updating.

Secunia have released a new version 1.5 of PSI - this now checks that Internet Explorer, Firefox and other web browsers are secure. This version now scans extension programs that run within the browser (Firefox addons, Flash plugin, ActiveX, and other jargon soup) - basically the things that let you see video and have a nicer time online.

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8 Ways to Counter Phishing Attacks

by Richard

Want to avoid identity theft, prevent your bank account being raided, and more? Here’s how!

The simplest way to avoid falling prey to any phishing attack is to always be very suspicious of emails asking you to “confirm your details” or enter a password on any website, anywhere.

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New Phishing Attack Targets Outlook Users

by Richard

Here’s an unpleasant twist on those phishing emails that ask for your online banking passwords to commit identiy theft. This new phishing attack looks like it comes from Microsoft, and tries to get you to enter your Outlook email account details into the phishing site. The attacker then uses your email to steal from your bank account, credit cards, by resetting your passwords.

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