Several years ago I stopped using Internet Explorer as my main browser. If you have experienced the crashes and stops and starts in IE, then you are probably as frustrated as I was.

Mozilla’s Firefox was a great alternative, and has served me well for quite a few years, but lately I have found myself using Google’s Chrome more and more as my Firefox seems to be loading more slowly with more clutter and has not been as stable as I would like.

The good people at Mashable put together a list of 14 Alternative Browsers That Are Not IE6.  Click here for their great article and view the entire list.  You will also be able to see comments and reviews of each browser.

At the top of the list are the old standards Firefox, Chrome, Safari, but there are other options.

Have you ever heard of K-Meleon or iCab?  They’re on the list too.

If your web surfing experiences have not gone as smoothly as you would like, try experimenting with some different browsers and see what might work for you.

Speaking of passwords, I thought it would be fun to share this little bit of trivia: last year TechCrunch amused everyone by publishing the list of 370 words banned by Twitter for use as a password.

You can actually find them yourself by checking the source code on Twitter’s sign up page if you are so adventurous.  (Go to Twitter’s sign up page here and do a search in their source code for ‘twttr.BANNED_PASSWORDS’).

We found them all on Business Insider’s website and you can view the entire list here.

Some are obvious: repetitive numbers “111111″ or “123456″, or names like “amanda” or “einstein” all of which violate the rules laid out in the prior post, Finding the Right Password.

Others are fairly amusing, for example you can’t use “twitter” as your Twitter password. Nor can you use “computer” or varying progressions of “password”, “password1″, “password12″, well….you get the point.

Other banned words are curious: you can’t use “turtle” as a password, but apparently “whale” would be acceptable (if it was available).

So have fun with the list and happy Twittering….

Have you seen this great Add-On service for writers offered by Firefox?

Zemanta helps you enhance your blogs and emails with relevant images, videos, links or tags.

It works with WordPress, Blogger, TypePad and many others.

Some of the main features of Zemanta 0.7.1 (just released February 10):

• on the fly contextual suggestions of related articles, images, links and tags;
• affiliate linking support;
• re-blogging – cross-platform quoting for blogs;
• spam-free database of 10000 news sources and blogs;
• copyright filtering of suggested images.

Click here to view Zemanta’s main download page and see all the benefits of this great service.

Looking for a great, fresh WordPress theme?

You probably already know to check the WordPress main site at http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/. You can search there for new themes or check for themes using any criteria you want, such as color, number of columns, width or almost anything you want.

But you may want to do more than that. Here are a few sites I always check when a client calls wanting a new website.

Most of these should be free (check the fine print) and some may work better or smoother than others, but if nothing else they can give you some ideas of what is out there and what we can do to create your smashing new website!

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/01/08/100-excellent-free-high-quality-wordpress-themes/

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/41-great-looking-free-wordpress-themes/

http://www.area1.info/resources/60-great-wordpress-themes/

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/02/09/83-beautiful-wordpress-themes-you-probably-havent-seen/

Contact me and we will get you going with a brand new website!

Of all the progress made in the last 5o or maybe even 100 years, one of the most important advances has of course been the Internet.  For any small business, it is doubly important because the Internet levels the playing field between small business and big business.  It’s not just that everyone else is doing it.  A website is THE best way to promote, advertise, connect, interact and sell to your customer base.  It is probably the most important communication vehicle developed since the telephone.

Do you remember the part in the movie “Miracle on 34th Street” when the judge decides to recognize Kris Kringle as the one and only Santa Claus?  It is when the Post Office delivers mail to him that is addressed to Santa Claus while he sitting in the courtroom.  This is what the Internet does for you.  Your business becomes real when someone can find you on the Internet.

For your business stability and growth, a website that catches and holds your customer’s attention, that promotes you across social media sites, that flows and changes with your own business, will be one of the most valuable tools you can have.