Mrs. Mecomber's Scrapbook Talking technology, computers, and the Internet… for the average computer user

Like the sands of the hourglass, like the political tweaking of the Medicare supplement plan, software updates are ever with us. Two biggies hit the scene this month. Here’s what’s up…

Firstly, if you use the Firefox browser, it is advisable that you update to the latest version, 3.5. The update fixes some serious security bugs. There’s a video explaining more about the update at the Mozilla website. I updated and didn’t notice very much except that two of my favorite AddOns no longer work (one of them being TabMixPlus). But I use Opera whenever possible.

Secondly, Microsoft has officially released Vista Service Pack 2, after several months of beta. There’s a great post by PC World Six Things You Should Know About Vista SP2, and another informative article here. Microsoft has their own basic bones explanation (as basic as MS can get, anyway) about the SP2.

I still have Vista SP1. I don’t have any intention of rushing to get SP2, unless it will improve my graphics card performance. I have a Nvidia GeForce 9100… not top of the line by any means, but it should be able to handle my tasks, especially since I have a quad-core machine. But it’s starting to stutter, and I’m wondering if a Vista update may be responsible. (I do have the latest driver for the card). I’m really cautious about Service Packs; a few years ago, XP SP 1 messed with my computer. So download at your own risk, until Microsoft works out the bugs (more).