Firefox 15 PDF Viewing or Why Adobe and Mozilla Update so much...

Mozilla just released Firefox 15. Your machines may update themselves to this the next time you start your computer or browser.  The initial v15 release has turned off viewing PDF's inside the browser. A well respected blogger over at Groovy Post wrote up an illustrated guide to help fix this.

Groovy Post recently explained how to enable this feature.

Many machines will request updates for Adobe Reader and Foxit Reader, but if you haven't seen these requests on your machine for a while, run these updates now.

Update Adobe
When you do so you will have to close Firefox and Internet explorer as well as all instances of the PDF software.
The best update option is to open the reader and pull down Help from the top, and choose Update. In this case, it will ask you to close Firefox as well as the Main Adobe Reader window.  Adobe it will automatically reach out and look for the proper update.

Update Foxit Reader
In Firefox, go to this website and at the bottom of the page in yellow, download the latest version of their software. NOTE: BE SURE to UNCHECK the Chrome Browser / Ask Toolbar update.


The reasoning for this flurry of Firefox updates - as well as the constant Adobe Flash and Reader update requests - is  the entire hacking cyber-crime world has figured out ways to take advantage of machines that are not updated. These criminals attempt to get into your machine before you update them. This doesn't happen in a matter of months or weeks, but minutes.  As soon as the hacking community discovers a way to break an older version of these software, they distribute these infections through any way possible. SPAM emails, Facebook photos viewing, Google search results, email attachments from people that we know. 

These hackers are now motivated by gigantic profits.
Read the first paragraph of any of these articles to realize how bad this is:
Forbes Russia's Million Dollar Hacker
Blog Infosecisland Russian Cybercrime: Not Just A Localized Threat
SC Magazine's Russian Cyber Crime Market More Organized, Lucrative
Ars Technica Russian National Charged with $1.4Million Hacking Scam

It may be impossible to get a full grasp of everything that is happening in the computer security industry, but a quick glimpse explains that it is very powerful and requires careful consideration of all information maintained on your computer - from daily active security to total secure cloud system backups.  

Updates – Enterprise Style “International Technology Upgrade Week”

We posted this over at the Wordpress blog, but wanted to make sure everyone could check it out.
Server and desktop upgrades were a slow going part of the ancient past. (Ancient meaning three years ago.) Today, without the process of constant upgrading and patching, an enterprise could immediately fall prey to endless infections, which in turn leads to identification theft, intellectual property theft, and the potential for the complete demise of a business, let alone a simple deadline.
To underscore the importance of these updates, Adobe, Skype and others banded together earlier this year to express the importance of these regular updates.
Linda Summers at Skype blog posted this article explaining how infrequently people upgrade their machines. This study is just as important for enterprise environments as it is for a person use policy.

Infographic by Skype

Adobe Bloggers also wrote a specific blog post about International Technology Upgrade Week and the findings of this study. The blog post explains:

Earlier today, Skype—joined by Norton by Symantec and TomTom—kicked off “International Technology Upgrade Week,” a global initiative to encourage consumers to regularly download and install software updates. We’d like to chime in and express our support for this important initiative. Keeping software up-to-date is probably the single-most important advice we can give to users—consumers and businesses alike.
In preparation for International Technology Upgrade Week, Skype commissioned a survey of American, British and German consumers, which revealed the following findings:

• 40 percent of adults don’t always update software on their computers when initially prompted to do so.
• Approximately one quarter of those surveyed said they don’t clearly understand what software updates do, and an equal percentage don’t understand the benefits of updating.
• While 75 percent of adults receive update notifications from their software, more than half admitted that they needed to see a prompt between two and five times before downloading and installing the update.

Also wanted to mention the Norton Blog posting concerning the event as well. Marian Merritt posted in their community forums this article, and mention this warning:

Or consider Norton security software as another example; it simply can’t do its job defending you against the newest threats or latest viruses unless you allow the automatic updating feature to do its work. In fact, helping you keep your software up-to-date is such a big deal at Norton that starting this fall, our engineers have figured out how to make it all happen in the background, silently, and without having to restart your computer for new features to take effect. Keeping you safe with the latest protection is priority #1!

Messages are stuck in the Outbox

When Outlook 2010 email gets stuck in the Outbox...
by Diane Poremsky


Messages are stuck in the Outbox

Applies to Microsoft Outlook 2010, Outlook 2007, Outlook 2003 and below

There are several reasons why Microsoft Outlook won't send mail and before you can fix the problem, you need to identify the cause.
Possibly the most common cause is the message is too large to send because you added a huge attachment to a message. If this is the problem, see Delete large messages from the Outbox if you can't delete the stuck message. Instructions for Outlook 2011 for Mac are at Delete Messages Stuck in Outlook 2011 Outbox.

If you don't see a message in your outbox but Outlook is trying to send something, see Hidden Stuck Messages. It's most likely a read receipt that won't send.

If the message is not too large to send, other possible causes include:

1. An add-in that marks items read if you view the Outbox
2. Wrong password or not authenticating properly with the mail server
3. Outlook or the mail server is offline
4. No default email account is set
5. Using a program that accesses pst or ost data, such as Desktop Search, Lync, etc
6. An antispam or antivirus scanner is scanning outgoing mail

Troubleshooting

First, check the Send/Receive progress dialog for error codes. Browse to Tools, Send/Receive, Send/Receive settings, Show progress and click on the error tab. The error will resemble this, with a different error number and possibly a better explanation than "unknown error"
Task ' – Sending' reported error (0×80040119) : 'Unknown Error 0×80040119
See What does this error mean? for the reasons for some of the error codes. (If you need the text of the error code, you can select any error and use Ctrl+C to copy it.)

An add-in marks items read if you view the Outbox

Symptom: you look at the mail in the Outbox and it's not bolded.
Quick Fix: Stop looking in the Outbox.
See Outlook: After viewing the Outbox, e-mail won't send for applications that cause messages in the Outbox to be marked as read.

Wrong or bad password, or not authenticating properly with the mail server

Verify your password works by logging into your account using web access.

Check your account settings:

1. Go to Tools menu (Outlook 2007) or File tab (Outlook 2010) then Account Settings, Email.
2. Double click on the account then click More Settings.
3. Check your settings on the Outgoing server tab. Many email providers now require a password to send email. If you aren't sure, enabling authentication before sending usually doesn't cause problems, but you should verify the proper settings with your email provider.
4. Do not enable SPA unless your mail server requires it.
5. Verify the port number is correct on the More Settings, Advanced tab. Many email providers use port 587 for SMTP.

In Outlook 2003 and older, go to Tools, E-mail accounts, View or Change existing accounts. Double click on the account and click More Settings, then select the Advanced tab.

Outlook or the mail server is offline

Is Outlook online? The online status is in the Status bar.

Is the mail server online? Outlook's status bar may say 'Trying to Connect' if the mail server is down.

No default email account is set

Symptoms include being able to reply but not send new mail.
This may happen when you use a preconfigured script provided by the mail server administrator to set up your account.
In Outlook 2010, go to File, Account Settings, Email. Is an set as default?
In Outlook 007, you'll check for a default account in Tools, Account Settings, Email. In Outlook 2003 and older, go to Tools, E-mail accounts, View or Change existing accounts. Verify an account is set as default.

Using a program that accesses the .pst or .ost data

Symptom: Mail sends at first, then hangs in mailbox
Send and Receive error code is: Task ' – Sending' reported error (0×80040119) : 'Unknown Error 0×80040119.

Solutions include:

Use Scanpst to repair the pst file, or delete the ost file and let Outlook rebuild it. See Error message when you try to read or to delete email or when you click "Send/Receive" in Outlook: "An unknown error has occurred" or "Messaging interface has caused an unknown error" (MSKB) for more information.

Restarting Outlook (after verifying it closed completely in Task manager) may allow the mail to send.

Otherwise:

Reboot and disable the problem program before starting Outlook.

If it continues to cause problems (such as sending works for awhile after restarting Outlook, then stops), uninstall the software.

An antispam or antivirus scanner is scanning outgoing mail

Norton and AVG antispam plugins are known to cause problems, but there are others. Any antivirus that uses an Outlook addin can cause issues with your email.

Solution: Disable Email scanning in the software.

It may help to the timeout (in your email account's More Settings, Advanced tab.) Otherwise, check your antispam or antivirus program's website for an update or possible workarounds. Note that we do not recommend scanning email for viruses as any virus will be picked up if you try to open an infected message (which you know not to do :)).

If none of the above are the cause and the account settings look okay, turn on SMTP logging.
To turn on logging in Outlook 2010, go to File, Options, Advanced. Enable Troubleshooting logging is near the bottom, in the Other section. I n Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2003, go to Tools, Options, Other, Advanced and add a check to the box beside Enable Logging (troubleshooting).
Because logging can cause Outlook to be unstable, initiate a send and receive and once you've reproduced the error, disable logging. The log files are stored in your temp folder. Type %temp% in the address bar of Windows Explorer and press Enter to open the Temp folder. The log files will have the extension .log and may be in an Outlook Logging subfolder.
How to enable transport logging in Outlook (MSKB)

Using Outlook 2010's Junk Filter with Multiple Accounts

If you use Outlook 2010, and run more than one account through it, the junk mail filter will have to learn what is junk and what is not for each individual account. This is not a Global Filter.

Slipstick - a great Outlook support resource site wrote something up about this.

Using Outlook 2010's Junk Filter with Multiple Accounts

...Outlook 2010's Junk Email filter options are individual, not global settings. Rather than applying one setting to all accounts, you can set different options for each email account in your profile. While its easier to change the settings when you deliver each account to a different data file, the settings are per account, not per data file, so you can change the settings.
When you use multiple accounts delivered to separate data files, the Junk Email options dialog shows the junk mail settings for the account whose folders you are in.

When more than one account is delivered to a data file, you'll need to open a message received by the account and click the Junk button to see the Junk Email Options.