Blog for "the-enabler" of the letsnet.org network

---

This can make sense... better safe then sorry.

Keep a watch out for people standing near you in the checkout line at
retail stores, restaurants, grocery stores, etc ., that have a cell
phone in hand. With the new camera cell phones, they can take a picture
of your credit card, which gives them your name, number, and expiration
date. Identification theft is one of the fastest growing scams today,
and this is just another example of the means that are being used.
So..be aware of your surroundings.



MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".

---

Don't forget him tonight.



MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".

---

PC Users Deserve A Free, Simple Service To Handle All Threats By WALTER S. MOSSBERG

If you are a consumer with a Windows PC and you have installed all the software recommended to protect your computer, you probably feel like an overwhelmed, underarmed security guard. You get flooded with warnings that bad things are happening, but it's hard to decipher the warnings and even harder to know what exactly to do about them.

The well-equipped Windows XP machine today has at least four alarm systems in the so-called system-tray area at the lower-right corner of the screen. And all of them vie for attention.

One minute, your antivirus software will pop up with a warning that some virus or worm has appeared on your machine and may -- or may not -- have been deleted. The next minute, your firewall program will tell you that somebody is trying to hack into your machine over the Internet, or that some program you've never heard of is trying to phone home.

Next, Microsoft's Windows Update program might yell at you to download some "critical" updates or else scary things could happen. And then the newest type of security monitor, an antispyware program, might alert you that some lowlife company is trying to hijack your Web browser's home page, or install some invisible software that tracks your activities online.

And that scenario doesn't even include the notifications you get from your antispam program that new, fraudulent, pornographic, or just annoying junk e-mail is waiting to be reviewed. Nor does it include reports you may be receiving from a popup-blocking utility that it has squelched another effort to stuff an ad in your face. Oh, and some of these "security" programs will also prompt you periodically to download new components to help them keep up with the threats, and to renew your annual paid subscription to these updates.

You have to buy each of these things separately, because each takes care of only a narrow slice of the growing problem of criminals and slimeballs who want to invade your computer. Antivirus programs can't stop hacker intrusions or recognize spyware. Firewalls and spyware programs can't detect viruses. Windows updates close vulnerabilities the criminals use, but don't clean up any damage done.

Yet, few consumers really care whether an invasion is classified by the experts as a virus, a worm, a Trojan horse, a browser hijacker, spyware, adware or just spam. Focusing on the difference between a virus and a spyware program is like focusing on what kind of lock-picking equipment was used by the burglar who just broke into your home. The experts may care, but all you know is that you feel invaded.

What we consumers need is a simple, unified protection plan to counter all of these threats. And the computer, software and Internet industries have badly failed us in this regard. They would rather dump the security mess in the laps of users than solve it at the level where a solution really belongs: in the operating system, or the hardware, or the online provider's servers.

Not only that, but members of the techie class that runs these industries, and the IT departments at big companies, have been quoted recently as blaming the security problem on average, nontechnical users. If only these stupid users wouldn't open e-mails with hidden viruses, the techies say, the trouble would go away.

Well, I have a word for these contemptuous techies: Save your energy for solving the problem instead of blaming its victims. Mainstream users shouldn't have to be IT experts to operate their computers.

Instead of lectures, consumers need Microsoft to build into Windows an effective, free, constantly updated security service requiring little or no user intervention. This service would fend off all kinds of threats and invasions of privacy, including viruses and spyware, without getting all tangled up in academic distinctions.

I don't mean the kinds of software-security suites now available -- bundles of individual programs. I'm talking about a truly unified, seamless service, controlled and maintained over the Internet, that would take on the whole problem.

Microsoft has made untold billions from the court-certified monopoly it holds in operating systems, and its poor security designs have contributed hugely to the problem. Plus, the company fought for, and won, the right to keep adding new functions to Windows, in the slap-on-the-wrist antitrust settlement it was granted by the Bush administration. So, it owes its customers a solution to the security mess.

If Microsoft won't step up, there are opportunities for others in the industry to deploy the same kind of unified security service for consumers. I think many people would be willing to pay a reasonable annual fee to anyone who would take responsibility for securing their PCs.

If Dell or Hewlett-Packard built such a service into their consumer PCs, they would distinguish themselves from competitors and earn huge customer loyalty. The same goes for AOL or EarthLink, or the various purveyors of cable modem and DSL service. Ditto for the two big makers of security software, Symantec and McAfee.

All of these companies now offer fragmentary products and services, but none offers to shoulder the whole burden. It's time somebody did.

Write to Walter S. Mossberg at mossberg@wsj.com Or his website at http://ptech.wsj.com/ And don't forget he's on CNBC Thursdays between 10 & 11 am weekly


MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".

---

For those who miss the entery on how my "Other Half" BROKE HER ARM. It's been a month since she fell and now she can get up out of the bed, couch, chair, etc. But she still needs me for alot. You know, cooking or buying dinner, luch etc. So, that gaves ya an idea. Oh! It is the same arm she writes with as well. but yesterday the Doc. said we could go 2 week before he wants to see her again and that she can gave it some movement. Till now we been going to him weekly to see if she would have to be cut.

So, we should see more Tech stuff on Putering and business and investing very soon.

Don't forget to update Windows and your Anti-virus definitions...

MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".

---

Microsoft Word


B, my other half, teach classes on Microsoft Word and often use the Show/Hide Formatting feature (Ctrl-Shift-8) when demonstrating various topics. Would you like to be able to print a document and have these formatting marks, such as paragraph marks and tabs, show up in the printed document. How can you do this? Call, B is here with that broken arm, but she can talk on the phone for you.



MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".

---

If you use Microsoft Outlook, here's a tip that may help eliminate some spam. Unless you check all the setting options in Outlook, you might unknowingly be replying to spammers. So, check those setting and if you have a question, Call.



MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".