The other day a friend mentioned Stop-Sign and asked my opinion. Now I am known for having tried a lot of software items, but this was a new name to me. So I figured I should look at it and see.

This is perhaps worth a link only to point out a bad type of marketing. Stop-Sign offers a "Free Online Virus Scan" and proceeds to download a small file which is actually just a download manager for the whole program. Unlike the more reputable companies* whose online scan is done via relatively small plug-ins which do run from the server and do not install a program and change your system.

That in itself would have been enough for me to back out this nasty program, but since a friend asked I proceeded. The ultimate download installed several MBs of program files and the ensuing scan took several hours to complete. Ominously flagging several 'Possible Spyware Applications' but being less than informative in the File column.

The items it found and marked with an ominous flashing exclamation point throughout the tedious scan were false. Even the final report admitted 0 Threats. But both AdAware and Spy Bot Search & Destroy identified it as a spyware threat and cited the exact registry entries and files with location that they found. In a side note, when AdAware merely sniffed at the suspicious files, a 'do_not_delete.dll' from Stop-Sign attempted to silently access the Internet. My firewall alerted me and the attempt was enough to convince me that this was not the sort of program I would ever use or recommend.

*House Call by Trend Micro Systems and Symantec's Security Check are examples of reputable online virus scanners that I have used and can recommend from personal experience. You can find others here -- by reputation Panda Active Scan is similar.

The New York Times put together an Interactive feature that technically explains and covers this tragedy with photos from the scene. (You'll probably be prompted to sign in - their account is free, requesting only a valid email address. I enjoy [not a good word with news being what it is, perhaps value or find it useful] receiving the NYTimes Headlines summary in my Inbox.)

A friend I've never met lives in Thailand and I'm worried for him and his family. We meet Thursday evenings (before breakfast for him) and I'm regretting not paying closer attention to whether he's North or South of Bangkok. Regardless, the ensuing diseases will probably affect the entire country.

On the second day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me Two Turtle Doves. And a Partridge in a pear tree.

I hadn't decided whether to explain each verse as I went or save it for the end. Today, I think I'll fill in the missing pieces.

The familiar carol is said to trace back to the time of Roman Catholic persecution in England beginning in 1558 until 1829 when the open practice of the faith was illegal. It is said the song was written for young Catholics as a cachetic device (a teaching aid.) The True Love is God, the Giver of all good gifts. The first gift is Christ, the newborn babe, the Alpha and Omega. The two turtle doves represent the Old and New Testaments.

I loved them! You are so creative and clever.

Quote

What do I think so far?

I'm back in IE, and the familiar editing buttons are there - not all of them, but some like emoticons, paragraph alignment, lists, indents, links and text color buttons..  Oh, and the
B I U buttons...

Not much to blog about.  If you haven't seen my test animations yet, you can see at my web site, here.  I also have a WordPress blog I started a couple of weeks ago.  Actually, I started it a couple of times, because I kept forgetting my password, and had set it up for the wrong email.  Glad that's straightened out! 

The interface is simple to use in customizing and applying themes, adding or removing modules, and rearranging the entire layout. In the main window each module has a gripper area and simple dragging it to the desired location brings up a Save warning bar. Saving the final arrangement is all you need do.

Groups users will know the Photo Upload but this is slightly different and I had to delete the activeX control files to get it to work initially. That has always been a somewhat weak link in Groups and appears to be an area they are working on (hopefully.) At this point, it did not interface with Groups Albums which may be why there is an extra 10MBs alloted.

When the Add photo button does work, the image did not appear in the edit window or preview, but it did resize the image to a thumbnail size which when clicked would open an full size view in anothe r window.

The Theme has been changes since I began making some screen shots which you can see in the ScreenShots Album. By default, it appears to play as a slide show, but you can halt it and move picture by picture. I had made thumbnails in hopes of trying to include them in this message and link to the larger image, but the Add Photo tool appears to be not functioning correctly (as I'd assume they intend it to work. You apparently cannot see what you add.)

Spaces is still in beta but it appears to be MSN's run at the blog phenomenon. I began another one in a different passport (but foolishly forgot to bookmark it so I have lost it.)

MSN Groups users will find many similiarities and note the places where things are not as fully fleshed out (which may be coming.) For now I've disabled Comments and opted for a rather pleasing, but simple green theme. The My Groups is a Custom List that I've added, whereas Updated Spaces lead to other of these beta blogs and is system generated. As I make changes and customizations I'll note them.

On the first day of Christmas my True Love gave to me a Partidge in a pear tree.

Stephen was the first martyr. He is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (which could have been called the Lives of Peter and Paul or the Birth of the Church.) Charismatically proclaiming the kerygma to a less than enthusiastic crowd, he is stoned to death and the crowd laid its garments at the feet of a man called Saul.

Lost on modern readers is the significance of that phrase. By this time Saul, who would be renamed Paul, already had a position of authority in the religious hierarchy. Stephen murder was sanctioned by Saul is the meaning contemporary listeners would understand from the passage.