Bad Apple! No Download! Apple iTunes keeps trying to install Safari.
Just to clarify, Safari is great. I’m a bit of a fan of it; but I take issue with the way Apple Software Updater behaves.
I do appreciate Apple’s response to our concerns. Many thanks to the folks at StopBadware.org for hosting discussion and formalizing a petition to send to Apple.
As bad as the screenshot above is, Apple Software ‘Updater’ used to be worse. I appreciate that Apple took our security concern seriously, and have clarified which updates are necessary for security and which are ‘New Software’.
But my remaining complaint is that I’ve clicked ‘No’ to ‘Safari’ in Apple Software Updater nearly a dozen times now; and it hasn’t taken the hint. This time it decided to pop-up just to ask me to install Safari. It’s now bordering on nagware; and next time I’ll just uninstall iTunes.
I hope that Apple’s marketing team soon realizes that this tactic is bad for everyone; and gets their updater tool back in line with the rest of their impressively user-friendly product line.
At the top of your Firefox window, click on the ‘Tools’ menu.
Now select ‘Add-ons’.
Your window should look a bit like mine, in the screen-shot below.
This is really important – it is common sense.
If you live without a front door, or if you announce your credit card number and security code in movie theaters, then you may ignore the rest of this post. The internet is great, but it does have users and websites who want to hijack your computer and steal your credit card numbers. It happens all the time to people just like you and me.
So look at the window we just brought up, I want you to make sure you have the two items displayed in my screenshot.
My Firefox Plugins
NoScript is more important than antivirus. Antivirus is like mousetraps. NoScript is like having a front door rather than a gaping hole.
Web of Trust (WOT) is Neighborhood Watch for the internet. How do you know who you can trust on the internet? Web of Trust tells you. In real life, there’s no way to have a red warning pop up when you’re about to buy a ‘car’ from a con-man who has spent his entire life in and out of jail. On the internet, Web of Trust can warn you before you give him your credit card number.
Most of my readers (myself) already know this; but I’m linking it anyhow because it’s a great set of instructions, and really good instructions are incredibly rare. How to take a screenshot.
Follow the link. Admire the instructions.