The folks at ZoneLabs announced a new release / upgrade of their ZoneAlarm Pro software programme, earlier today. For those who run this piece of software on their computer, and would you wish to avoid all of the re-registration rigamarole entailed in installing the upgrade (if an already existing ZoneAlarm Pro user), follow this set of instructions (employing your Internet Explorer browser), and all will be well. The University of Alberta provides a more graphical set of update instructions here.
While you’re updating your ZoneAlarm, you might as well update your McAfee Stinger (as you may recall, running McAfee Stinger is just one of the pre-conditions necessary to surf safely on the ‘Net). To install the latest version of McAfee Stinger, follow these instructions.

Microsoft was good on it’s word, and mid-week, last week, the FREE Security CD that had been ordered — replete with all of the Windows Critical Updates through February 2004, including the Service Pack 1 (very handy!) — arrived in VanRamblings’ mailbox.
Note should be made that Microsoft’s Security CD does not contain any of the Recommended Updates. Further mention should be made that those using this disk as a pre-installation tool (‘pre’ going onto the ’Net, that is) should go to the Windows Update site a.s.a.p. to download the most recent Critical Updates, at which time the Recommended Updates could be installed. You’ll probably want to cherry-pick the Recommended Updates.
The Windows Security CD comes packaged with FREE Anti-Virus and firewall utilities, on a separate disk. The firewall, which Microsoft calls “EZ Firewall”, is simply a re-branded version of ZoneAlarm. You don’t have to install these programmes if you don’t want them. If you do, though, make sure you enter the license(s) after registering, or you’ll get a nag screen each time you reboot. Microsoft says the license is good for a one year period.

Information relating to online use of the Internet by youth across the globe was made available in a series of reports released this week. One American report found that 72% of all 18 to 34 year olds in the U.S. are now online, and that 30% regularly view entertainment websites — just short of the 32% that read similar pages in newspapers, but much higher than the only 19% that read entertainment magazines.
In a report by Statistics Norway, on behalf of the Norwegian Telegram Bureau and Telenor, published on the (just-added) Smart Mobs blog …

“In Norway, all teenagers between 16 and 19 years of age have a cell phone. When teens say that ‘everyone has a cell phone’ it’s no joke. According to a new study, 100% of all 16 to 19 year olds who were surveyed, replied that they have their own cell telephone. This compares to the rest of the population where 86% have a mobile telephone. Norwegians send an average of 2.8 private text messages per day, but young women between 16 and 24 are the most active: They send over 8 text messages per day on average … Basically the report says that they could not find a 16 to 19 year old in Norway who didn’t own a mobile phone.”

Meanwhile, in an article on the New York Times wire service, Circuits contributing editor Katie Hafner reminds readers of the recently released Pew Internet and American Life Project report, which found that use of computers, and access to the Internet, by seniors — “a group once largely written off as a lost cause” — has jumped by 47 percent since 2000.

“People who are in their 50s now, once they begin on a computer there’s no going back,” says Tobey Dichter, president and chief executive of Generations on Line. “Once they get adept, especially at the Internet, they don’t give it up.”

According to this CNN story the typical Internet user — far from being a geek — shuns television and actively socializes with friends. The finding are published in the first UCLA Centre for Communication Policy report on global Internet use, titled the World Internet Project.
The times, they are a-changin’. The hi-tech revolution is well underway.

There is no greater hell than the hell that comes from working with a computer.
Do computers work consistently well? No. Do computers consistently perform the tasks well that you wish them to (say, surf the ‘Net, word process, plug figures into a spreadsheet)? No. Does your computer “crash”, does it give you “virtual memory” errors, or annoying error messages of any other description? Be honest, now. The answer is probably, yes.
Newsweek’s Gersh Kuntzman knows your pain. And, he’s written a column on the technological failures that have visited him during the past couple of weeks. Good thing his is a humorous column, what with some of the dour comments that have appeared on this site in the last few hours.
So, read and weep along with Kuntzman. And keep an eye on the web/tech section of VanRamblings. In time, VanRamblings will publish a remedy for each and every computer woe which might beset your computing experience. Honest. And you’ll come to love your computer. Well, maybe.