Scary stary Halloween!

Little scary monster faces

Check these out for the coolest halloween masks...!

What are you looking at?

It can be very easy to get into the habit of just using the web when you’re looking for something specific – you go to your office, login, type ‘buy lawnmowers’ and there you are. But, if you have the time to spend to have a bit of a wander around, you’ll find that people are putting up some incredible things. Here are a few of the sites – recent and not so recent – that we’ve been looking at over the last month.

Student makes a million.....

The Million Dollar Homepage is the creation of 21 year old Alex Tew, a student at Nottingham university. Alex was looking for ways to make a little extra cash before beginning his course this October, and came up with the idea of selling advertising space on his website. The site is made up of one million pixels, selling at $1 each. Alex has already sold over 500,000 pixels, and confidently expects to reach the one million mark before Christmas. (Damn, why didn't we think of this one first....)

The Road to Enlightenment

An oldie but a goodie, this is the opening phrase of the Zen Garden website, a site dedicated to showing what can be achieved with design using CSS stylesheets. Users contribute their own stylesheets to create a new version of the site.

Like a good photo?

Heather Powazek Champ has been an award winning web designer for over 10 years, she now works with the Flickr team at Yahoo, and edits JPG magazine whilst also maintaining the Mirror Project. Visit her site, and that of her husband, Derek Powazek for an entrancing glimpse into their photography, and Heather's blog. I came across this site looking for something else entirely, and 3 hours later I was still reading.

Fancy a cuppa?

Visit Adagio Teas – you will have had no idea that there were this many or that people could make such a pretty looking site dedicated to tea. Where else are you going to find a tea called ‘White Monkey’? (Note – we have no affiliation with Adagio Teas, and we're not promoting them for any commercial reason – we just liked the way the website looked.)

One big place to play...

Sites made by people, and for people, who see the web as one big playground. Try the 'When Hamsters Attack' game...

And the winner is!

With the web (as with everything else) there are awards and votes for best sites. Check these out for sites people have voted as the best they’ve seen. Go here for sites in general, or here if you want to see Flash sites only.

99 Rooms

If you fancy something a little out of the ordinary, I'm always blown away by this site. The creators describe 99 Rooms as “a unique internet art project”. Navigate your way through the rooms, finding the key in each that will unlock access to the next room. This year long project has resulted in “a scintillating intermediary world which invites the observer to an interactive journey through its morbidly-beautiful rooms”.


We’ll keep posting links to sites that we think are interesting, out of the ordinary, doing things better than other people, or just plain weird. If you’ve seen any sites out there that you think are worthy of a mention, let us know.

A starting point for security

During one of our many trawls throught the net we've found this little list of simple steps to ensure you're doing the minimum to protect your PC. Hopefully this if nothing else will get you thinking in the right direction, as time passes the criminals get cleverer.. so should you.

We will continue to post information and exciting links to the sites we are spending our time at.


10-Step Security

How you can batten down your machine's hatches against Net threats new and old.

Dennis O'Reilly
From the November 2005 issue of PC World magazine
Posted Friday, September 30, 2005

http://msn.pcworld.com/

Each new wave of computer viruses, spies, and spam may have you ready to dust off your typewriter, but PC security can be effective without being a chore. To keep your computing safe from current and future threats, we've distilled our security advice down to the basics. These ten quick and easy tips will help protect your hardware, software, and data.

1. Patch automatically: Ensure Windows is set to update itself. In XP, click Start, Control Panel, Security Settings (if you're in Category view), Automatic Updates. In 2000, choose Start, Settings, Control Panel, Automatic Updates. In both versions, verify that 'Automatic (recommended)' is selected. You can also have Windows notify you before it downloads an update, or you can install the update manually. (The steps and options are only slightly different in Windows 98 and Me.)

2. Don't wait for Windows: If your PC has been off for more than a few days, don't wait for Windows' automatic update to kick in. Make the Windows Update site your first Internet stop. Also, there may be a lag between when a patch is available and when Windows Update pushes it to you. Microsoft releases Windows patches on the second Tuesday of each month, so to be safe check for updates manually every couple of weeks. And don't forget to set your antivirus and anti-spyware tools to update automatically (or check weekly for updates yourself).

3. Use XP's security monitor: Windows XP Service Pack 2's most welcome addition is the Windows Security Center, which alerts you when your PC's firewall and antivirus protection are disabled or out of date. Still, XP's own firewall protects you only from inbound pests; it doesn't alert you to suspicious outbound traffic (see "Tweak Windows XP SP2 Security to Your Advantage" for more). We recommend that you disable the XP firewall and instead use Zone Labs' (ZoneAlarm) or another third-party firewall program that protects both ways.

4. Make your file extensions visible: Some viruses masquerade as harmless file types by adding a bogus extension near the end of their name, as in "funnycartoon.jpg.exe," in hopes your system is set to hide such extensions (the default in Windows XP and 2000)--you see '.jpg' but not '.exe'. To make these troublemakers easier to spot, open Windows Explorer or any folder window and click Tools, Folder Options, View. Ensure that the option 'Hide file extensions for known file types' is unchecked.

Bonus Tip 1: To get the most complete picture of your Windows setup, check Show hidden files and folders and uncheck Hide protected operating system files (Recommended).

Bonus Tip 2: Click here to play Microsoft's video guide to Windows XP security settings.

5. Keep Internet Explorer safe: Many people find IE 6's Medium security level too obliging to ActiveX controls and other small programs, or scripts, that the browser runs on your PC. ActiveX and JavaScript enable such useful Web features as order forms and security scans, but they also may run malicious code and give attackers access to your system. To make IE safer, click Tools, Internet Options, Security, Custom Level, select High from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the Security Settings dialog box, and click Reset, Yes, OK.
Unfortunately, setting IE to the High security setting can lead to the browser's unleashing a fusillade of warnings and permission pop-ups every time you visit a site. The solution is to add the sites that you access often to IE's Trusted Sites list: Choose Tools, Internet Options, Security, click the Trusted Sites icon, and then click the Sites button. Enter the Web address, click Add, and repeat as necessary (see the Trusted Sites screen below). Be sure to uncheck Require server verification (https:) for all sites in this zone. When you're finished, click OK twice.

6. Make Firefox more secure: The only way to block JavaScripts on a site-by-site basis in the Mozilla Foundation's free Firefox browser is to download and install the NoScript add-in that was created by Giorgio Maone. NoScript places a warning bar at the bottom of all the Web pages you visit that use JavaScript. Click the bar to see options for allowing scripts on the site (permanently or temporarily), blocking scripts, and other operations (see the NoScript screen below). The program can also stifle Flash animations and other Firefox plug-ins, but keep in mind that going Flash-less means you'll be missing out on some of the Web's richest content (along with all of those great dancing ads). Although NoScript is freeware, the author does accept donations at www.noscript.net.

7. Handle e-mail links with care: If a virus infects your PC, chances are good it arrived piggybacked on e-mail. To reduce your risk of an e-mail-borne infection, don't click links in suspicious messages (the text in the message may mask the actual Web address). Instead, enter the URL in your browser's address bar manually, or go to the site's home page and then navigate to the page in question.

8. Scan attachments for viruses: Run each of the e-mail attachments you receive through your antivirus software before you open them. Rather than double-clicking the attachment to open it instantly, save the file to a drive on your PC, open Windows Explorer, right-click the file, and choose the option to scan it for viruses. (Better yet, set your antivirus software to scan incoming and outgoing e-mail automatically.)

9. Close the preview pane: Some maleficent messages need only be opened in your e-mail program's preview window to do their dirty work. That's why we recommend that you close the preview pane in all of your inboxes. In Microsoft Outlook 2003, click View, Reading pane, Off. In Outlook Express 6, click View, Layout and verify that 'Show Preview Pane' is unchecked. In Mozilla Thunderbird, click View, Layout and confirm that 'Message pane' is unchecked (or press to toggle the preview pane on and off).

10. Read your mail in plain text: Since many e-mail pests rely on HTML code to achieve their nefarious goals, you can stop them in their tracks by viewing your messages as plain text. In Outlook 2003, click Tools, Options, Preferences, E-mail Options and check Read all standard mail in plain text. In Outlook Express 6, choose Tools, Options, Read and click Read all messages in plain text. In Mozilla Thunderbird, select View, Message Body As, Plain Text.

Back to School

As Monday drew to a close we decided to test our grey mulch, armed with a "phd certified premium IQ test"? we attacked the 40 questions with gusto.
Like any quiz there is a lot a stake, here the hierarchy of the office could be decided once and for all. With so much at stake it is no wonder that we had our own coughing in the audience moment, when someone, who shall remain nameless was caught using Google to try and figure out the position of a car after it had travelled 8 miles then made a left turn for 6 miles.
This aside the test was a success with no one posting scores that would get them sacked.

http://web.tickle.com/tests/uiq

Results in reverse order:

R 131

Your Intellectual Type is Word Warrior. This means you have exceptional verbal skills. You can easily make sense of complex issues and take an unusually creative approach to solving problems. Your strengths also make you a visionary. Even without trying you're able to come up with lots of new and creative ideas. And that's just a small part of what we know about you from your test results.

N 136

Your Intellectual Type is Facts Curator. This means you are highly intelligent and have picked up an impressive and unique collection of facts and figures over the years. You've got a remarkable vocabulary and exceptional math skills — which puts you in the same class as brainiacs like Bill Gates. And that's just some of what we know about you from your test results.

J 136

Your Intellectual Type is Visionary Philosopher. This means you are highly intelligent and have a powerful mix of skills and insight that can be applied in a variety of different ways. Like Plato, your exceptional math and verbal skills make you very adept at explaining things to others — and at anticipating and predicting patterns. And that's just some of what we know about you from your IQ results.

Mondaze

Another week has begun.

The codebrush team is immersed in creating an ecommerce web site solution for a prestigious flooring company. The solution will provide 3 portals, trade, retail and sales team. The developed solution will kick start codebrush's new and revised ecommerce platform, users will be given the freedom to expand their product ranges and page functionality whilst maintaining full search and ordering strategies.

The shop (name to be decided) will be added to codebrush's existing solutions 4Sitelite, 4Sitepro and Aspect.

Why?

Hi and welcome to Nottinghams new web design blogg.

I have set this up to allow other designers and business owners to raise questions concerning design matters in Nottingham.

Please feel free to contribute.

Rob

Welcome to www.codebrush.com

We're pleased to announce our new Web Design Nottingham blogg. Thank you for visiting.

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