Windows Defender Disabled by Microsoft Security Essentials

Recently, I noticed that Windows Defender was not running automatically as it had been until a week or so ago. After doing a little digging, I learned that other security programs tend to turn Windows Defender off on their installation. Since I recently installed Microsoft Security Essentials on my Vista PC, I'm concluding that one Microsoft product turned off another. A little warning would have been nice, but then there wouldn't have been a problem to solve.

Time Travel Speed and Power Requirements

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Editing Password Protected Forms in Word 2007

If you have run into the frustrating task of having to edit a Word 2007 form that was mailed to you but was password protected, fret no more. The simplest way to work around the lack of a password is to click on the Insert tab, then Object, and Text From File. Find the saved location of the file, and voila! After some minor formatting, you've got a fresh form.

Sleep Apnea Prevalent among the Non-Obese

Science Daily reports that at a recent meeting of sleep specialists, a study was presented that showed that 54% of non-obese patients test positive for some degree of obstructive sleep apnea. Whether "patients" translates into the general population or a certain class of patients in treatment for a condition is unclear. If it is the general population, the study results are extremely significant -- half of all non-obese people have some sort of sleep apnea:

Results confirmed that OSA in non-obese patients is most prevalent in middle-aged men with larger neck sizes. Fifty-four percent (2,906) of 5,426 non-obese patients were OSA positive, and most of them were middle age (57 percent). An equal number of patients had mild OSA (50.4%) or moderate to severe OSA (49.6%). Male prevalence and neck size were significantly higher in the group with moderate to severe OSA.

A press release from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, from where the Science Daily article originated, indicates that those tested were patients at several different sleep centers between 2004 - 2008. Why they were at the sleep center is unclear; was it to be studied, or were they symptomatic? If they were just people off the street, the results would suggest that 54% of the general population has some sort of obstructive sleep apnea. If they had been referred to the sleep center for diagnosis/treatment, the results indicate that 54% of those exhibiting some symptom of sleep disorder has

Goodby Flickr, Hello Picasa

I learned today that Flickr limits its display of its users' photostreams to 200 pictures. I wasn't aware of this when I created my Flickr account, and I'm disappointed that in order for all of my pictures to be displayed, I would have to upgrade (pay for) Flickr's pro version. Well, that's not going to happen.

Consequently, after a bit of poking around different free picture services, I decided to go with Google's Picasa service. It has a limit as well, but one gigabyte is plenty for my purposes (it took me about a year to upload 180 pictures to Flickr).

Thanks to a small freeware application, Migratr, I was able to quickly export my pics from Flickr and import into Picasa. Migratr can be downloaded here.

So, although Flickr is likely more popular at the moment, Google wins out in the end, as it does so many times.