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Free tool: Firebug (web development tools)

Posted on by bcad

Price: Free (freeware)

Requirements:
• Firefox web browser
• PC, Mac, or Linux

Where to get it: See the “Installing” section below

What it is: Firebug is an HTML/Style Sheet debugging add-in for the Firefox web browser.

What it does: “Firebug integrates with Firefox to put a wealth of web development tools at your fingertips while you browse. You can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page.” (taken from the Firebug website: getfirebug.com/whatisfirebug)

Feature highlights

  1. Inspect and modify HTML code in real time through Firefox
  2. JavaScript debugger
  3. Network usage and performance metrics
  4. Tools to aid in CSS layout and formats

Continue reading “Free tool: Firebug (web development tools)” →

IT security roundtable April 9: Safe(r) web browsing

Posted on by Harvard Townsend (harv@ksu.edu)

Did you know your computer can get infected simply by visiting a website and not clicking on any links? Furthermore, it doesn’t have to be a nefarious site — many reputable, popular websites have inadvertently hosted malicious advertisements. If that isn’t scary enough, one study found that 13 percent of Google searches for popular or trendy topics yielded malicious links near the top of the search results.

Web browsing is now the most popular target used by hackers to try to take over control of your computer, so this month’s IT security roundtable will discuss how to browse the Web safely, or at least lower the risk of infecting your computer, since there is no way to be 100 percent secure browsing the Web these days.

Join us 9-10:30 a.m. Friday, April 9, in Union 213 to learn about:

Reminder: Internet Explorer 8 update to occur April 1

Posted on by Harvard Townsend (harv@ksu.edu)

Instances of Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) and IE7 will be upgraded to IE8 on April 1. For campus computers who use K-State’s central Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), this update will be pushed out automatically. System administrators managing their own WSUS environment or using some other way to manage application updates on Windows computers are urged to do the same.

IE8 provides enhanced security that makes it a safer browser to use in addition to other features. Note: IE8 will look different from IE6 and IE7 and take some getting used to. Continue reading “Reminder: Internet Explorer 8 update to occur April 1” →

Firefox 3.5 released with great speed improvements

Posted on by IT editors

Last week, Mozilla Corp. released Firefox 3.5, the next iteration of the Firefox web browser.Visually, Firefox 3.5 is practically identical to Firefox 3. The majority of the changes are behind-the-scenes.

Firefox 3.5’s biggest improvement is speed. Javascript execution (which virtually every website uses) is now two times faster than Firefox 3 and ten times faster than Firefox 2. Mozilla also added support for the upcoming HTML 5 standard including open audio and video.

Continue reading “Firefox 3.5 released with great speed improvements” →

Simplify Internet browsing by using tabs

Posted on by IT editors

During the course of any web-browsing session, you may end up with several telescoping treks into many different sites. An alternative to opening 20 windows is to use browser tabs instead.

Browser tabs are supported in every major browser (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari). Think of a tab like adding a new page to the current window that can have a completely different website loaded in it.

For example, here’s a screenshot of my current tabs in Firefox:

Screenshot of Firefox tabs
Screenshot of Firefox tabs


Not only do browser tabs simplify your browsing experience, they can also save system resources and time. For instance, if you frequent a website that is slow to load, you can flip to a different tab and read that webpage while the other one loads.
Continue reading “Simplify Internet browsing by using tabs” →

Use caution when considering Internet Explorer 8

Posted on by Harvard Townsend (harv@ksu.edu)

On March 19, Microsoft released Internet Explorer 8 (IE8), its next-generation web browser. While it has several useful security features, people should talk to their IT support staff before switching to IE8 since it has not been thoroughly tested with K-State enterprise applications like iSIS and K-State Online.

Recalling the application incompatibilities experienced when IE7 replaced IE6; proceed  cautiously with plans to upgrade to IE8. Microsoft did try to deal with the IE6-to-IE7 fiasco this time by including a “Compatibility View” in IE8 that should correctly display pages incompatible with IE8, but again this needs to be tested thoroughly.

Continue reading “Use caution when considering Internet Explorer 8” →

Trend Micro Web Reputation Services enabled to help battle malware infections

Posted on by Harvard Townsend (harv@ksu.edu)

To assist in the battle against malware that daily threatens K-State computers, Web Reputation Services (WRS), also known as “Web Threat Protection Services”, was enabled last week in K-State’s Trend Micro OfficeScan for those managed by the central IT Trend Micro server. WRS augments the antivirus and antispyware protection already offered in OfficeScan to add another layer of prevention against the rapidly evolving, increasingly sophisticated, quickly spreading, and growing number of malicious threats faced by K-Staters as they browse the Internet.

Web Reputation Services works by checking every web address you attempt to visit in a web browser and blocking access to those found in a list of known malicious sites. WRS works with all major web browsers, including Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Continue reading “Trend Micro Web Reputation Services enabled to help battle malware infections” →

No more security patches for Firefox 2; upgrade to version 3 now

Posted on by Harvard Townsend (harv@ksu.edu)

In December 2008, Mozilla released the last security update for all platforms of version 2 of the popular Firefox web browser (version 2.0.0.20 for Windows, MacOS X, and Linux). Version 2 has reached its end-of-life for updates, so all users of Firefox are urged to upgrade to version 3 as soon as possible. As always, K-State faculty/staff should talk to their IT support person before updating to version 3, in case they have special requirements for software installation on university computers.

To determine the version of Firefox you are using, open Firefox, select the Help pull-down menu, and click About Mozilla Firefox. Continue reading “No more security patches for Firefox 2; upgrade to version 3 now” →