Technical Tidbits™

This post will probably affect maybe 1% of our readership, but I felt it worthy of posting anyway.

I have been having problems for quite some time using HootSuite for my social networking in both Firefox and IE 8 browsers. I finally found that it worked best in IE8 if that was the only thing running. Meaning, I didn’t have other tabs open like I so often do with Firefox. And, I can run IE 8 with HooteSuite while having my Firefox open with all the tabs I want without interference.

This morning, I made an amazing discovery! I had HooteSuite running in my IE and I had opened Firefox to log in to my BlogTalk radio show. Panic set in!

BlogTalk radio would not load properly and even when I tried to call in to the switchboard, the phone call would not connect and my switchboard items became dimmed out.  (Now why the calling part would be related to the online switchboard I don’t know.) With less than 3 minutes to show time, I started panicking!

I don’t know what made me shut down IE and HootesSuite, but as soon as I did, I was able to connect to the BlogTalk radio switchboard and my call went through!

When I decided to write this post, I went back to each page – HooteSuite and BlogTalk Radio – and looked at the page sources to see what might be conflicting.

Both sites use JavaScript but I’ve never had a problem having multiple tabs open with JavaScripts running on each page. Even the most complex JavaScript doesn’t seem to be resource intensive by any means.

The problem appears to be Flash. I don’t know whether each of these sites are so Flash intensive that the browsers (both IE and Firefox) can’t handle it, or whether there is a conflict with the resources being used by each and the way the browsers manage it.

Even now as I type this post, I have the radio switchboard open in one tab and HooteSuite open in another and I’m getting a lag in the typing here in the WordPress blog tab.  It seems to happen when either HooteSuite is updating the tweets, or when BlogTalk radio refreshes the page for the advertising at the top. Which appears to be handled by JavaScript so I’m really confused!

Anyway, I wanted to put this out there so anyone who might be having a problem using HooteSuite might benefit from knowing that you may have to restrict using it with other resource intensive sites.  At least until we can upgrade to such a powerful computer that it won’t matter how resource intensive a web app is for the browser! (Where is an affordable terabyte processor when you need one? )

So, if you’ve been kicked out of our radio show chat or lost your sound during a show, make sure that you’re not running HooteSuite in the background while you’re listening to the show live. I bet you won’t experience any problems during the show!

BTW, I know that friend of the show, Charles Taggart, uses TweetDeck during the show and he has never reported being kicked out of the live chat nor losing sound. (Yes Charles, I’ve heard the chirps over our phone conversations! LOL) So, whatever the difference is between how TweetDeck and HooteSuite is programmed to work, is where the problem is.

And I’m not going to blame the browsers on this one! Are you surprised? (GRIN)

Never mind that the sky might be falling Henny Penny. Is Microsoft falling? Or worse yet (oh woe is me, Wall Street), is it failing?

I’m not one to watch Microsoft stocks but I have been known to show excitement when I accidentally hear that the software giants stock prices fell. Alright, I confess I express total euphoria!

But I do watch for signs of change within the tech industry. And I’m noticing a very interesting trend as of late. And that trend is the mysterious disappearance of the Microsoft name!

When Stephen Colbert, of The Colbert Report, recently started the Colbert Nation Gulf of America Fund with donations from bing.com, there’s no mention of the tie-in to Microsoft.  Specifically, his site states:

Stephen Colbert and his generous fans are supporting relief efforts. The host of the Colbert Report and leader of the Colbert Nation, along with Bing.com have begun the effort with a $100,000 commitment to a new charitable fund – THE COLBERT NATION GULF OF AMERICA FUND.  This fund will be used for general relief. From it, grants will be made to nonprofits that work directly to help the people and wildlife affected by this oil spill.

Other sites have mentioned the Microsoft connection to the Bing search engine in their news about the Colbert fund, but in Colbert’s original broadcast (which I watch religiously) there was no mention of Microsoft being behind Bing or the donations.  Which I first thought odd.

That alone is not enough to peak my interest on the possibility of Microsoft sliding downhill. But then on another cable channel, I see this very ingenious advertisement about online scams put into a real world scenario and showing people falling for it! (Which I also see happening all the time!) But watch this commercial and tell me where the name “Microsoft” appears?

First, don’t be fooled into thinking that you’re protected by IE 8, because that’s bull! But I won’t get on my rant about that right now.

You may have noticed the “Windows” mention, but no mention of Microsoft, not even as an itty-bitty copyright mention in the corner anywhere! And in years past, you couldn’t mention the name Microsoft without having to putting the trademark notice that “Microsoft® is a registered Trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries,” or you’d have their Trademark Attorney’s sending you a cease and desist letter!

Has Microsoft’s name become so tarnished that it’s losing market share just by the sheer mention of it’s name? (I can only hope!)

Keep on eye open for yourself and see if I’m not on to something!

I have had two separate support questions raised because of the Invalid Server Certificate Warning in both Internet Explorer (IE) and Firefox (FF) this week, so I thought I’d post a brief explanation about this issue.

From time-to-time, you may receive one of the following Server Certificate warnings or error message, as some call it.

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The above graphic is what you will see if you are using Internet Explorer.

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The above graphic is what you will see if you are using Firefox.

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The above graphic is what you will see if you are using Google Chrome.

I have blurred out the clients website I was visiting to get this image.

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The above graphic is what you will see if you are using Apple Safari.

I have blurred out the clients website I was visiting to get this image.

Why does this happen?

It happens because the security certificate – the code that makes the HTTP an HTTPS (or secure connection) has been self-signed and has not been issued by a certification authority such as Thawte, Verisign, and so forth.

Where does it happen?

It should only happen when you are logging into your own secure e-mail client on your web hosting site, or when you try to access your control panel on your web hosts site.

When should I NOT see this?

You should NEVER see this when you are logging into:

• Any financial site, as in your bank, trading accounts, insurance, credit card institution or other such sites.
• Any online shopping site.
• Any site where you are required to exchange confidential information such as banks, credit bureaus, stock brokerage, and so on.

Why does my web host do this?

Certificates from a certifying authority is costly especially for hosting companies. Many hosts self sign certificates to allow secure access for their customers who want security when accessing their online email or control panel for their hosting accounts.

If I log in to my e-mail or control panel anyway, am I still secure?

You are secure to the level of security that your web host offers. You need to check with them as to the level of encryption they provide.

Keep in mind that the certificate does not guarantee encryption.  If the certificate was provided by a third party provider, it only guarantees that the site and the site owner has been verified that they are, who they say they are!

Why is this such an issue?

It’s an issue because of the scammers and phishers that have become rampant on the Internet. The browser providers like Google Chrome, IE, FF, and Safari – to name a few – have included this warning to help you spot a phishing or scammer site more easily.

Can I ignore this warning?

Yes, if you know with CERTAINTY that this is the site you want to go to.

If you have clicked on a link in an email, a Twitter DM, or any other web page link and you see this message, do not proceed! Chances are good it’s a phishing or scam site.

If you have typed in the URL to your webmail or control panel account on your web host, or clicked the link from within your web hosts setup information, then you can proceed safely. In the images that follow, you will see that there is also a button in the Firefox message that will allow you to see the actual self-signed certificate to make sure you are at your web hosts server.

How can I stop this error message?

If you are getting this error message when you try to login to your web host control panel or web mail on your web host, you can add a permanent exception by accepting the self-signed certificate.

In most browsers, you can click on a button to see the actual self-signed certificate and verify it’s your web host. The following is an example of a self-signed certificate on a LunarPages server.

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In Firefox, it’s a slightly different behavior.  You have to click the arrow next to the second line item to get to view the certificate or accept it.

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Remember, this is normal behavior if you are signing in to your web host email or control panel and neither you, nor your web host have purchased a certificate from an issuing authority.

It is NOT normal behavior for any sites that you would do business with like shops, financial and investment institutions, and other such businesses.

I hope this helps clear up the matter of Server Certificate warnings.