Safely Remove Hardware

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I hate when new version of program removes one feature that I use, no matter how insignificant it may seem. Once you get used to something, it is always hard to let it go.

When you go to “Safely remove” your USB disk in Windows XP this will also close any Explorer window that has drive listed.

Then Windows Vista came. In Windows Vista you will get an error if any program is currently accessing drive that is being removed. This includes also simple viewing of content. I can understand reasoning - this was “proper” way to do things - no special behavior for any program.

It came to me as a surprise that Windows 7 brought “old” behavior back. It just feels much more humane when computer does obvious things for you. And it definitely shows problem with Windows Vista - lot of small annoying things.

Summae 1.01

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This is only small update for my Summae program. As you may know, this is small utility for calculating various sums. Supported algorithms include CRC-16, CRC-32, MD-5, RIPEMD-160, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-384 and SHA-512. You can use it as standalone program or as command-line replacement for some other utility e.g. md5sum or sha1sum.

New version is improved in some small details:

  • fixed text box width on Windows XP
  • last choice of methods is now remembered in main program
  • fixed issues when window would get outside of screen border

New version can be downloaded here.

Aurora

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There is yet another hole in Internet Explorer. Although usually Microsoft patches browser well before public availability of exploit, they were hit by zero-day exploit. I will not get too much into how serious this exploit is and which browser versions are exactly jeopardized, but I must comment on measures to solve it.

First measure that is recommended by Microsoft is disabling JavaScript. While this might sound like good advice five years ago, I think it is most idiotic recommendation today.

Probably every site worth seeing is using JavaScript for one purpose or another. Disabling JavaScript for most of sites means same level of usability as not visiting anything in the first place.

If this is main line of defense, maybe it is time for new browser…

Cover for BeBook Mini

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As regular readers are aware, I became owner of BeBook mini. While older device (BeBook one) came with leather cover, this comes without one. This being quite a new device there was hardly any choice. One of rare cases was ($24,99) STYLZ’s Milano cover.

It took a while for it to arrive but it was definitely worth it. Attaching BeBook was as-simple-as-it-gets and no button or lever was blocked by it. Only two things that you cannot do with this enclosure were performing reset and exchanging battery. Since I do not need those on regular basis it is compromise I am willing to take.

Cover itself is of three fold design with BeBook laying on one side and another side serving as padded screen protection. Once that side gets opened you get three slots for credit cards and/or business cards. Above them are two places for SD memory and that is all.

For keeping cover closed one piece of leather is used instead of magnetic latch found on most of covers. It feels weird at first but I found it quite good system after a while. After two months of regular usage leather is still soft to touch. Scratches that it gained do not look too offensive and give nice charm to it. It looks to better and better with each passing day.

Only thing that I found missing is lack of placing for pen and paper. If they added a place for few pieces of paper and hinge for a pen, I would be happiest man alive.

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