This is a great article on using OpenDNS.  I’ve been using it for over a year now and it’s great.  I started using it when my ISP (Charter) started becoming slow to respond when I would try to follow a link to a website.  Sometimes it would time out completely and I would have to hit the Try again button on Firefox (you are using Firefox or Opera, aren’t you?).  It was a DNS issue at Charter.  I’ve had all of my computers plus my router set up to use it since then and I’ve had zero problems.

Follow the link and follow the instructions.

1. Enter about:config in the browser’s location bar
2. Type jit in the Filter box
3. Double-click the line containing javascript.options.jit.content and set the value to false

It’s also completely free by the way. Protect your family and your computers from the Internet by using this free service like I do.

Windows 7 is coming and I will actually upgrade to it… Probably about 3 months after hit comes out so that most of the bugs will be out of it.

It looks pretty good.  I’m running a copy of the Release Candidate on a virtual machine right now and it’s pretty solid but then that is on fake hardware.  I’ll be interested to see how it operates on actual hardware.

I’m still running XP on everything that I have, but in reality Vista is pretty solid now as well.  The problem is, as you can see in the linked story, that Vista is still slower than it should be.

We’re off to the technological races again.

Americans in particular are so used to freedom that we freely give out information that can very easily be used against us.  For instance, security questions to change email passwords can be found on most people’s personal websites or blogs or even just by asking them.  Hey, what’s your mother’s maiden name, etc…

Be careful out there.

CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.

BE AFRAID! BE VERY AFRAID!  This administration and the Democrats are doing their best to remove free speech from every aspect of American life.  They are making more moves every day to make it a reality.

If this weren’t enough, the FCC now has a “Diversity Officer” in charge of what?  Making sure that the Left’s views are heard and everything else is censored.

Pretty Awesome if you ask me:

Security firm FireEye has reportedly struck a massive blow against spam. The so called “Mega-D” or “Ozdok” spam botnet was effectively dismantled by these intrepid security researchers. After studying the beast, FireEye launched an attack by notifying ISPs, having command and control (CnC) domains removed, and then registering unused CnC domains.

Almost immediately, the spam ceased. No small feat, considering Ozdok was probably responsible for one third of the world’s spam. This takes the load off ISPs which were forced to filter the spam from this botnet. Individual users probably won’t notice much difference.

The Telegraph has posted some of the more scathing excerpts from these emails, which the newspaper suggests points to manipulation of evidence and private doubts about the reality of global warming, though the much of the scientific language in the e-mails is esoteric and hard to interpret.

Are you worried about your rights being violated?  You are in the minority apparently if you answered yes.

Sprint, it turns out, has been routinely handing over GPS information on its customers to law enforcement for some time. So commonplace is the practice that Sprint has setup an automated system for law enforcement to check on subscriber whereabouts (apparently even without a court order).

Sprint coughed-up GPS information to law enforcement eight million times last year. Not on eight million users, Sprint is quick to point out. Rather law enforcement can request GPS information on any particular user every three minutes for up to 60 days. (After that Sprint doesn’t say what happens.)

And Sprint isn’t the only one handing out information about you.

Yahoo and Verizon also provide law enforcement access to customer information. Neither company will discuss the nature or extent of law enforcement surveillance for fear their customers would be “shocked” or “confused” by what types of surveillance law enforcement is permitted. Verizon further justifies its secrecy in the matter saying it doesn’t want to commit resources to dealing with customers that might be concerned with its practices.

The willingness, if not eagerness of companies, such as Yahoo and Verizon, and Comcast and Cox Communications, to ‘rat’ you out is easily explained: they get paid for the service they provide. Comcast, for example, in 2007 charged $1,000 for the first month of a wiretap, and $750 each month after. Cox Communications charges $2,500 for a 60-day pen register/trap-and-trace order, with each successive 60-day interval going for $2,000. Yahoo wouldn’t divulge its pricing scheme, claiming it was “confidential commercial information.” All-in-all, it’s better than 30 pieces of silver.

(Law enforcement’s activities here may well be legitimate. But how can we be certain if, as it appears, there is no system for accountability?)