Alexander’s Blog

Apple is offering it’s browser for Windows platform for the first time. The Safari 3.0.2 for Windows is in beta. The download is about 8.0MB. The default option downloads Safari with QuickTime so if you only want Safari then make sure you change the option.

The plug-ins for Safari for Windows are available here. The plug-ins include Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Reader, QuickTime, Java, Real Player, and Windows Media Player. Although these are being referred to as “plug-ins”, these are actually complete applications. If you already have any of the above applications installed, there is no need for you to download and install the plug-ins. The Help menu contains an option to view all the installed plug-ins.

Apple claims that Safari is the fastest browser on any platform. Based on my tests on the Windows platform, I completely agree with Apple. I tested the new beta and compared it to Mozilla’s Firefox and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. I discovered that it completely blows away both Firefox and Internet Explorer when it comes to speed. I found that compared to Firefox it was at least 2-3 times faster when accessing various Web sites on the Internet. Internet Explorer 7.0 was the slowest of the three, even though it is built into the Windows Vista operating system.

I also ran some tests to check out the QuickTime plug-ins. I observed the following times when starting a 44 second QuickTime video in a Web browser. For example, when I click on the hyperlink that contains a QuickTime video, Firefox makes the video available for playing right away and continues to download it in the background, while some browsers (such as Internet Explorer) take time first to download the entire video in the background then they make it available for viewing. This test is by no means a scientific test but it is a good indicator of what to expect.

Mozilla Firefox = 2 secs
Safari on Macintosh = 2 secs
Safari for Windows on Vista = 2 secs
Internet Explorer 6 on XP = 19 secs
Internet Explorer 7 on Vista = 32 secs

You can reset Safari which allows you to clear history, empty the cache, clear the downloads window, remove all cookies, remove all Web icons, remove saved names and passwords, remove AutoFill form text, clear recent Web searches, and close all Safari windows. You can selectively select only the items in this list that you want.

Another security feature is the ability to turn Private Browsing on or off. When private browsing is turned on Safari won’t save your browsing history, clear your downloads window, and Safari won’t save AutoFill and won’t add searches to the pop-menu in the Google search box. You can go back and forth to the pages that you have visited while the Safari browser is open but will clear everything after you close the browser.

As I mentioned earlier, on the Help menu you can check the installed plug-ins. This opens up a nice HTML formatted page that shows all the plug-ins that are installed in great detail.

Snap-back is a cool feature that allows you to mark a certain page (CTRL-ALT-K) and then later switch (or snap-back) to that page quickly by using CTRL-ALT-P combination.

One problem that I have run into has to do with setting my default browser. I have verified that Internet Explorer is not my default browser and I’ve configured Firefox not to verify that it is the default browser. Firefox was my default browser and now when I configure Safari to become the default browser, it switches back to Internet Explorer as the default browser in Safari’s configuration. I am not sure if it is a beta issue or Vista just can’t stand the fact that someone will make Safari their default browser. I haven’t done enough research at this time.

Here are some of the bugs that I have found so far in Safari. I am not able to minimize or maximize the Safari window like any other Windows program by right-clicking it in the taskbar. The only option available is Move. Also, I am not able to click Safari in the taskbar to minimize it as I usually minimize applications on taskbar (I am forced to use the minimize icon in the top right-hand side) but I can click Safari in the taskbar to maximize it. Hopefully, this will be fixed. Another bug I discovered is that when I maximize Safari by single-clicking, it never wants to go into a full-screen window, even if the window was maximized before. All other applications remember the size of the previous window and will automatically size it to the size that you have configured. One workaround that I use is to make my Safari window as close to full-screen as possible, that way when I click it, it goes back into a window that is close to the maximum size.

I am not able to edit WordPress blogs using Safari. I can do some things but it is not very WordPress-friendly. I haven’t spent much time so far to figure out whether the problem is with Safari or WordPress. However, both Firefox and IE work just fine with WordPress.

So far what I have seen in one day, I am pretty impressed with the speed. However, I do realize that Safari for Windows is still in beta and I may find some problems with it as I use it for a while. One thing’s for sure, there is no way Safari can possibly have more issues and cause more problems than Internet Explorer 7. For now I have switched to Safari as my default browser so I can test drive the beta. Firefox has several features that I like and I am not ready to give up Firefox as my primary browser quite yet. I guess you can say I am just adventuring out to Safari for exploration purposes.

Let’s say you are browsing the Internet and wanted to quickly calculate some numbers. Use the Google’s built-in calculator to crunch the numbers. Although you can use Internet Explorer, I prefer to use Mozilla’s Firefox as my browser. Firefox seems to be much more optimized for Google search engine, compared to Internet Explorer.

Assuming your Firefox is configured to use Google as the default search engine, simply type in the mathematical expression. For example, if you type 175.5*2 in the search box in the upper right hand side, you will see the result 351. You don’t even need to hit the ENTER key.

Of course, you can always hit the ENTER key to see the results. Besides doing simple multiplications and additions, you can also do more complex calculations. You can do square roots by typing sqrt followed by the number, e.g. sqrt25, to get the square root of 25. Here are some additional examples. Type the letters on the left and you will get the results on the right.

1. one gallon in liters —–> = 3.7854118 liters
2. half a cup in teaspoons —–> = 24 US teaspoons
3. 30 miles in kilometers —–> = 48.28032 kilometers

Besides a calculator, you can also use Google for quick access to a lot of other information. Here are some examples:

1. Check your flight status (airline followed by flight number)
2. Dictionary (type in the word)
3. Telephone directory (type in number without hyphens, spaces, or periods)
4. Track Fed-Ex or UPS packages (type in the tracking number)
5. Find patent numbers (type the word patent followed by the number, e.g. patent 123456789)
6. Check out stock quotes (type the symbol, e.g. msft)
7. Lookup maps (type the address)
8. Checkout weather forecasts (type the word weather followed by the name of the U.S. city), e.g. weather seattle



NOTE: I didn’t use Adobe Photoshop to make the Seattle’s weather so sunny. It just happens to be one of those rare sunny weeks in Seattle.

On May 10, I discussed a problem with opening Internet Explorer. Microsoft has posted a KB article that discusses the possible solution. Microsoft has confirmed that the problem is caused by the May 2007 Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (MS07-027), as reported by several MVPs.

Problem: The problem is caused if you have the Temporary Internet Files (TIF) moved to a location outside the Users folder hierarchy while you have the Protected Mode and the Phishing filter enabled.

Solution: The solution is either to move the TIF back to its original location or to configure permissions for TIF folder as described below. If you move TIF folder out of Users folder hierarchy, e.g. to the root of drive C, then you would have to give the user full-control permission at the root of drive C, which may not be a good idea. For security reasons, a better option is to move the TIF folder back to it’s original location within the user’s profile while Microsoft investigates other possible solutions for this issue.

The following procedure is for modifying permission on Windows Vista computers. Make sure you understand the consequences of this procedure before you implement it.

1. Click Start Start button, type Internet Options in the Start Search box, and then click Internet Options in the Programs list.
2. On the General tab, click Settings in the Browsing History area.
3. Click View Files. The “Temporary Internet Files” folder opens.
4. In the Windows Explorer address box, click the folder name that comes before Temporary Internet Files.
5. Click Organize, and then click Properties.
6. On the Security tab, click Edit.
7. In the Group or user names box, click the name of the affected user. If the name of the affected user is not listed, follow these steps:

a. Click Add.
b. In the Enter the object names to select box, type the name of the affected user, and then click OK.
c. In the Group or user names box, click the name of the affected user.

8. In the Permissions for User_Name box, click to select the Full Control Allow check box.
9. Click Apply, and then click OK.
10. Close Windows Explorer.
11. Click OK two times.
12. Start Internet Explorer 7.

On a Windows XP-based computer or on a Windows Server 2003-based computer, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type inetcpl.cpl, and then click OK.
2. On the General tab, click Settings in the Browsing History area.
3. Click View Files.
4. In Windows Explorer, move to the folder that contains the “Temporary Internet Files” folder.
5. In the right-pane, right-click an empty area, and then click Properties.
6. On the Security tab, click the name of the affected user in the Group or user names box. If the name of the affected user is not listed, follow these steps:
a. Click Add.
b. In the Enter the object names to select box, type the name of the affected user, and then click OK.
c. In the Group or user names box, click the name of the affected user.
7. In the Permissions for User_Name box, click to select the Full Control Allow check box.
8. Click Apply, and then click OK.
9. Close Windows Explorer.
10. Click OK two times.
11. Start Internet Explorer 7.

For more information, check out the KB article 937409.

In Windows Vista, by default IE runs with limited privileges even when you are logged on as an administrator. This is a great feature and keeps your computer safe. I recently ran into this issue where the Internet Explorer (IE) would not start (I was logged on as administrator). I got the following error whenever I tried to start the browser.

This error indicates that my default page was set to “blank.” If I changed the default page to a Web site, such as yahoo.com, the name of the file changed to yahoo.com.

Starting IE without add-ons didn’t help either, neither did setting the default page to blank. I started IE as an administrator and it started fine. Obviously, for security reasons I didn’t want to configure IE to run as Administrator automatically.

After some troubleshooting, I realized that somehow the Protected Mode was turned on for the Trusted sites zone. I turned it off only for the Trusted sites zone and it allowed me to start my browser normally. I added “about:blank” to the Trusted sites zone and now everything seems to be working fine. Several users, including Microsoft MVPs, are reporting that the latest cumulative security update KB931768 from Microsoft is the cause of this problem. However, I have not been able to confirm that.

In summary, make sure the Protected Mode is disabled (unchecked) for Trusted sites zone and whatever page you want to set as your homepage, it must be added to the Trusted sites zone. If you want a blank homepage, add about:blank to your Trusted sites zone. If IE prompts to start a new page and that page is not in your Trusted sites then you may have to disable Protested Mode for the Internet zone too. Not a good thing but until there is a solution, I am forced to use this workaround. I will update this post when I find out more about this issue.

In earlier Windows operating systems you can remove IE 7. However, in Windows Vista IE is integral part of the operating system and cannot be removed. IE is not my default browser, and due to countless problems with IE, I use Mozilla Firefox as my default and primary browser.

Since Google has acquired YouTube, Microsoft plans to counter it’s rival by launching it’s own video site called Soapbox, which is currently in it’s beta. Soapbox will allow Vloggers to upload videos in various formats, assign categories and share them with others, just like YouTube.

As some wise-guy philosopher once said, it’s best not to make predictions, especially about the future. Microsoft is not predicting Soapbox’s success so only time will tell whether it will give YouTube a run for the money or not.

You can refresh the homepage to view a different video.