Keeping an eye on Windows and other things tech!

I just received this note from COMCAST about a change they are going to make in the near future in how the manage their high speed network:

 

Dear Comcast High-Speed Internet Customer: Comcast is committed to providing you with the best online experience possible. One of the ways we do that is by managing the leading fiber optic network in the nation to ensure it is fast, safe and reliable. As part of our ongoing efforts to continuously improve the quality of our service, we are switching to a new network congestion management technique by the end of the year. It is focused on managing network congestion only when and where it may occur. It will also replace the current technique and will help ensure that all of our customers receive their fair share of network resources. What does this mean for you? Probably nothing. We ran five market trials of this technique over the summer and found that less than one percent of customers were affected. So, the vast majority of customers will not notice any change to their Internet experience as a result of this new technique. During the times of busiest network use (which could occur at any hour, depending on your neighborhood), those very few extraordinarily heavy users – who are doing things like conducting multiple and continuous large file transfers – may experience slightly longer response times for some online activities until the period of network congestion ends. As we transition to this new technique, we have amended our Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") and posted it on the Comcast.net Web site. For links to the amended AUP, as well as answers to Frequently Asked Questions and more information about this new technique or our network management efforts in general, please visit our Network Management Policy page at: www.comcast.net/networkmanagement. Thank you again for choosing Comcast as your high-speed Internet provider.

With today’s release of IE8 Beta 2, one of the more prominent features that has been discussed over the last few days is InPrivate browsing.

I have just finished perusing this feature myself and reading the info the Windows help file about it and was surprised to learn that this is not anonymous surfing – in other words it does not hide your identity/location from the sites you visit like typical anonymous surfing does.  Here is exactly what InPrivate browsing is not from the help file:

What InPrivate Browsing doesn’t do

• While InPrivate Browsing keeps other people who might be using your computer from seeing what you visited on the web, it does not prevent someone on your network—such as a network administrator or hacker—from seeing where you went.

• InPrivate Browsing does not necessarily provide you with anonymity on the Internet. That means that websites might be able to identify you through your web address, and anything you do or enter on a website can be recorded by that website.

• InPrivate Browsing doesn’t clear any history or information that is stored on your computer about add-ons or browser extensions. If this is a problem, you might want to go into Add-on Manager and disable add-ons and extensions while using InPrivate Browsing.

• Any favorites or feeds that you add while using InPrivate Browsing are not going to be removed when you close your InPrivate Browsing session. Changes to Internet Explorer settings, such as adding a new home page, are also retained after you close your InPrivate Browsing session.

I just get the feeling that many people will think this feature gives them full and true anonymous browsing and all it really does is keep anyone from looking on your computer for where you have been via cookies or IE history and keeping sites from re-using your specific visit information.

I mean these are good features for those concerned about leaving a trail locally – but it is not going to help with your online trail.  User beware!