From time-to-time, my inner geek rears his four-eyed head to say, “Hello.” It’s my duty when that happens to pass along information that may help my readers live more hassle-free lives with their computers. Real geeks likely already have this info, so if that describes you, you may exit now.

Today’s lesson involves Java, a display technology owned by Sun Microsystems. Those of us who use Microsoft products, especially Internet Explorer, have taken this little guy for granted over the years, because it was included in Internet Explorer as the Microsoft® Java Virtual Machine (MSJVM). Well, there was this court battle. Sun won. And now, the MSJVM can’t be included in Internet Explorer. Actually, the license was extended until December 31, 2007, but that only allows Microsoft to continue supporting the technology. What does this mean for you and me? If you’ve downloaded the latest version of IE for any reason, you’ll soon discover that certain Website pages won’t display properly. That’s because they contain a Java application, and your browser can’t read it anymore. So what’s a non-geek to do?

Go directly to Sun Microsystems and download their software. It’s free, and soon you’ll be on your merry way again.

An inner geek rant
Email is now less than useless, thanks to spammers and relentless attempts to make it a mass marketing tool. And now the law of unintended consequences strikes at software attempts to “fix” the problem. Case in point. In a former life, I ran a rather lively Internet community and made some friends around the globe. I still function as Webmaster for the company, and I got an email from one of these former community members asking for assistance. She had the same AOL address as always. I deleted a file for her and hit the reply button to let her know and to answer a few questions she had asked. AOL rejected the email as one that wasn’t on her approved list. She wrote again, wanting to know who was still around. Sigh. I’ve no easy way of reaching her.

Same thing with an old friend who works as an ABC correspondent. When the network went to an anti-spam email system, it began rejecting my emails with a message saying I needed to contact him and ask to be put on his list. It’s been over five years since I spoke with the guy, but we’ve exchanged dozens of emails. Another sigh. I don’t know about you, but I’m not about to make a phone call to get clearance for email access.

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