AGENTS

Firefox for Android can request desktop versions of sites, but you have to make the request every time you visit a site that loads a mobile version. You can use Firefox add-ons to change the browser user agent string, but if you don't want to install add-ons, you can make the change directly to Firefox. Here's how:

Step 1: In the Firefox address bar, type "about:config" and press Enter.

Step 2: Tap the "Add a New Setting" button, then select "String" as the type.

Step 3: For name, enter "general.… Read more

After updating OS X to the latest version, you may encounter a problem where the system seems to freeze temporarily in regular periods. In these instances the mouse pointer will freeze in place though the system appears to continue functioning in the background, and the only way to get the mouse working again is to click and move it around erratically, or even unplug and plug it back in.

This and similar problems experienced immediately after updating is likely from an incompatibility with third-party software, especially that which has scheduling options for running at regular intervals, including update checkers, license … Read more

Skype has come under fire this past week for allegedly letting the U.S. government use its service to spy on its users. The online call service company is now saying that's simply not true.

"Some media stories recently have suggested Skype may be acting improperly or based on ulterior motives against our users' interests," Skype Chief Development and Operations Officer Mark Gillett wrote in a blog post today. "Nothing could be more contrary to the Skype philosophy."

Skype serves 250 million active users a month and supported 115 billion minutes of calls in the … Read more

Android smartphone and tablet browsers sometimes load mobile versions of Web sites. On native Android browsers, you can try the about:debug trick to change the user agent to force desktop sites to load. You can also use an alternative browser, like Dolphin Browser HD, which lets you easily change the user agent in its settings.

If you're a Firefox for Android user, you can change the user agent with a simple Firefox add-on called Phony. It works with the new Firefox beta for Android as well, which was released a couple of days ago.

To set up Phony, … Read more

LaunchAgent scripts in OS X can be used to automatically run programs and scripts and are a common route that malware developers use to run their malware in OS X once either the system is exploited or the user has been fooled into installing malware.

Because of this, I recently wrote a procedure for how OS X users can set up notifications that warn whenever changes are made to the various LaunchAgent folders and thereby help detect such attacks, which have been used in some recent and notable malware scams in OS X including DNSChanger, MacDefender, and the most recent … Read more

Recently the Mac platform has been hit with a few malware attacks, the most notable being the Flashback malware. The same vulnerabilities that this and others have used are now cropping up in other malware as well. These include yesterday's news of the SabPab malware and its MacKontrol variant, and also the Olyx malware that is a variant of the Tibet malware we previously discussed.

Some of these attacks are targeted for specific groups in China or Tibet, but others like Flashback are more widespread and have targeted as many Mac systems as possible, by exploiting vulnerabilities in the … Read more

The system console lists much of the output of running programs as they perform various tasks, which includes errors and warnings that are not otherwise shown to you. For instance, if you can't start up Web sharing on your system but don't see any error messages, then you can check in the Console utility to see if any console messages are generated there when you try to enable Web sharing.

Even if you do not know what the error messages mean, you can copy them and ask people about them to get more insight into how to troubleshoot … Read more

Most of us have encountered online chat robots, virtual people who can hold conversations--at least sort-of--with mixed and sometimes hilarious results. Verbot lets users create their very own such robots. It takes some effort to learn how to use Verbot, and even more to create a bot that's capable of decent conversation. But if you're willing to invest some time, Verbot can be a fun and useful program.

Verbot comes with both an editor, which lets users create rules for their Verbots, and a player, which allows users to interact with their Verbots. Several sample Verbots are included … Read more

While the various programs and services on a computer are meant to offer you convenience, there are times when you may need to do repetitive tasks using the various tools and programs on the system. In these cases, the use of scripting tools can be exceptionally useful. Unlike programming, scripting is when you take a set of current tools and utilities and automate their interactions with commands. For instance, with Javascript you can tell a browser to change the way it renders HTML content, or with Automator you can tell the Finder to organize files in a certain way.

Recently … Read more