Saturday, September 25, 2004
This cames to me from a client and I thought, OK, I'll send it on. Well writen
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley
and
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. At ago 79.
Successful troubleshooting
By Vern Sandusky, of www.thereporter.com
Well, it may have been a get-away-from-it-all long weekend for many people, but for me Labor Day weekend was a working weekend. Most computer problems can be resolved in a few hours at most, but occasionally, I come across one that is more "interesting."
So it was when I encountered a computer that always displayed a porn Web site, AIFIND.INFO, when Internet Explorer was opened. This problem, known as Home Page Hijacking can be caused by either a virus or by spyware. Step one in troubleshooting is to manually reset the home page to something familiar using the entry found under Tools/Internet Options in Internet Explorer. As you might expect, this proved ineffective.
Step two is to check the computer for viruses. Since the computer was loaded with Norton Antivirus 2004, I checked the date of the last virus definition update and found it to be current, so I just sat back and waited while it scanned the computer for viruses. Norton did find a few files to be infected with viruses, but once it had removed or quarantined the files namely MXTARGET.DLL, PRIBI.DLL, ON-LINE.EXE, I rebooted the computer in SAFE mode and ran the virus scan again, found it to be clean and then rebooted in normal mode, ran it one last time and again it came up clean.
Figuring that was the end of that, I clicked on IE again and to my surprise found that it still went to the porn site. OK, on to step three.
Step three is to check the computer for spyware using Adaware and Spybot. SpyBot found and removed such malware as WildTangent, Avenue.A, nCase and WebDialer. Adaware removed a few others. Once again, I proceeded to perform the same malware checks in SAFE mode and normal mode until the computer passed the tests, so I crossed my finger and opened IE. Once again, it went straight to the porn site.
To make a long story short, after much more troubleshooting, I found that the HOSTS file was constantly being rewritten by some program even as I watched. The HOSTS file is where your computer looks first to resolve Web sites names to Internet Addresses and it normally consists of plain ASCII text. This one was different. It had a normal looking entry followed by a strange non-humanly readable character.
Finally I decided to take a long shot at fixing this. I removed NAV2004 and installed PandaAV 2004 Titanium, updated the virus definitions and scanned the computer. Panda found and removed at least the following viruses or Trojans, Trj/StartPage.HT, Trj/Downloader.PM, Trj/Downloader.HT, Trj/StartPage.JK, Trj/Downloader.PF, Trj/MultiDropper.EX, and several Java files that it considers to be viruses.
As you might suspect, this resolved the problem. IE now opened correctly and never again returned to the porn site. This successful resolution of a stubborn problem convinced me that Panda, www.pandasoftware.com, wins out over Norton in my book.
END
OK, so I'll take another look a Panda, it's not the work, it's the stairs...
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".
and
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. At ago 79.
Successful troubleshooting
By Vern Sandusky, of www.thereporter.com
Well, it may have been a get-away-from-it-all long weekend for many people, but for me Labor Day weekend was a working weekend. Most computer problems can be resolved in a few hours at most, but occasionally, I come across one that is more "interesting."
So it was when I encountered a computer that always displayed a porn Web site, AIFIND.INFO, when Internet Explorer was opened. This problem, known as Home Page Hijacking can be caused by either a virus or by spyware. Step one in troubleshooting is to manually reset the home page to something familiar using the entry found under Tools/Internet Options in Internet Explorer. As you might expect, this proved ineffective.
Step two is to check the computer for viruses. Since the computer was loaded with Norton Antivirus 2004, I checked the date of the last virus definition update and found it to be current, so I just sat back and waited while it scanned the computer for viruses. Norton did find a few files to be infected with viruses, but once it had removed or quarantined the files namely MXTARGET.DLL, PRIBI.DLL, ON-LINE.EXE, I rebooted the computer in SAFE mode and ran the virus scan again, found it to be clean and then rebooted in normal mode, ran it one last time and again it came up clean.
Figuring that was the end of that, I clicked on IE again and to my surprise found that it still went to the porn site. OK, on to step three.
Step three is to check the computer for spyware using Adaware and Spybot. SpyBot found and removed such malware as WildTangent, Avenue.A, nCase and WebDialer. Adaware removed a few others. Once again, I proceeded to perform the same malware checks in SAFE mode and normal mode until the computer passed the tests, so I crossed my finger and opened IE. Once again, it went straight to the porn site.
To make a long story short, after much more troubleshooting, I found that the HOSTS file was constantly being rewritten by some program even as I watched. The HOSTS file is where your computer looks first to resolve Web sites names to Internet Addresses and it normally consists of plain ASCII text. This one was different. It had a normal looking entry followed by a strange non-humanly readable character.
Finally I decided to take a long shot at fixing this. I removed NAV2004 and installed PandaAV 2004 Titanium, updated the virus definitions and scanned the computer. Panda found and removed at least the following viruses or Trojans, Trj/StartPage.HT, Trj/Downloader.PM, Trj/Downloader.HT, Trj/StartPage.JK, Trj/Downloader.PF, Trj/MultiDropper.EX, and several Java files that it considers to be viruses.
As you might suspect, this resolved the problem. IE now opened correctly and never again returned to the porn site. This successful resolution of a stubborn problem convinced me that Panda, www.pandasoftware.com, wins out over Norton in my book.
END
OK, so I'll take another look a Panda, it's not the work, it's the stairs...
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".
Andrew Kantor: CyberSpeak - Linux takes a step (a small one) toward desktop acceptance - I told ya to start thinking of a new OS
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley
and
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. At ago 79.
Fri Sep 24,10:01 AM ET
Andrew Kantor, USA TODAY (I found this, sent it to Steelhoof and he wanted here)
A couple of weeks ago there was a big announcement in the computing world: Linux (news - web sites) Standard Base 2.0 was released.
Huh? you might ask. If you don't use Linux or don't know much about it, you probably didn't notice and you probably don't care. But this is important - although, as you'll soon see, not quite as important as some folks have made it out to be.
The story said, "[S]upporters of the Linux operating system have agreed on a standard version that seeks to ensure programs written for one Linux distribution will work with the others."
Before we go any further, I'm going to make a brief digression into "Linux distributions" and why they're important. (People who know this stuff should scoot down to the first subhed.) (Yes, we spell it "subhed." It's a long story.)
Most of you reading this are running some version of Microsoft Windows - Windows 98 (news - web sites), Windows 2000 (news - web sites), Windows XP (news - web sites), and so on. Depending on whom you ask, between 90 and 95% of the world's personal computers run it.
The other two major operating systems - the other two kinds of personal computer - are Macintoshes and Linux machines. You probably know about Macs. Today we're talking about the third kind: Linux machines.
Windows was created by Microsoft; it runs on computers made by Dell, Gateway, HP, and zillions of other companies. The Macintosh (news - web sites) operating system was created by Apple; it runs on Macintosh computers.
Linux is different from the start in that it wasn't created by a company. It was created by a guy named Linus Torvalds (news - web sites), and today is built, tweaked, added to, improved, and maintained by thousands of people around the world; it runs on lots of different kinds of hardware. It's solid, stable, fast, efficient, and pretty. It's also free.
Linux is open-source software. Anyone can use it free of charge. You could, right now, go to any number of sites and download Linux - a complete operating system with a heck of a lot of bells and whistles -gratis. In contrast, Windows XP Home Edition has an MSRP of $200, and the latest version of Mac operating system is $129.
Not only can you use Linux free, you are also allowed to change it, add to it, tweak it, or do what you want to it and then give it away to others.
And companies have.
Many organizations - companies in it for profit, organizations doing it for fun - have created distributions or distros of Linux. Mandrake, Red Hat and Fedora, SUSE, Lindows - there are a lot of distros out there. These companies have designed software, utilities, add-ons, and other things for it to either add functions or to make various tasks (like installation) easier. And they've made some changes to the operating system itself.
Therein lies the problem.
The first subhed
Linux isn't Linux isn't Linux. There are enough differences between the various distros that not all software will work on all versions of Linux. Each is a little different even if they're all based on the same Linux core (or kernel).
All this adds complexity to the Linux world. A company looking to install Linux had to worry about the software that's available; it needed products written for its particular distribution (e.g., "SuperEditor for Red Hat Linux" or "ImageFun for SUSE Linux"). Windows and Mac users have similar problems, although to a lesser extent; programs written for later versions of either operating system might not run on earlier versions. The difference is, Windows comes from Microsoft and the Mac OS comes from Apple, period. There isn't Gateway Windows or Compaq MacOS.
As the differences between Linux distributions increased, Linux started to look less and less like a good alternative to Windows - something Microsoft was happy to point out. You were pretty sure that the software you wanted would run on your version of Linux, but not positive.
The big announcement - Linux Standard Base 2.0. was designed to heal these rifts. The idea is simple: The major Linux distributors all agreed on a common ground that their versions of Linux would share. This way, no matter how many bells and whistles they added, all the Linux distros would share the same core elements. In theory, that means that anyone writing software for Linux only has to make sure it runs on the Linux Standard Base and it will run on any distro that supports it.
With a Linux standard in place, the press gushed, the end of Microsoft's desktop dominance was moments away. In fact, it seemed like tech writers wanted there to be really big, really good news for the Linux community.
I wouldn't be surprised. I'm sure some people hate Microsoft on a visceral level - the evil empire and all. And plenty of others just love the beauty of Linux: A powerful, flexible, and free operating system that in many ways is better than Windows. One that was built by enthusiasts out of, well, love. And of course there's the whole root-for-the-underdog theme.
Linux is, in fact, huge. A vast portion of the World Wide Web runs on Linux. But Linux's problem has been wooing the individuals and getting penetration into the desktop market.
But those things are on the back end. On the front end - that is, on the desktop - most people and companies run Windows. Going by Google's records, at least 90% of Web users were running some version of Windows in June. Another three percent were on the Mac, and one percent on Linux. (There had been speculation earlier this year that Linux would surpass the Mac on the world's desktops, but Google's numbers seem to show that's not true.)
There are a lot of reasons people haven't switched to Linux on their desktop. Mostly, it's because PC vendors package their machines with Windows, and most people don't change what they're given. Heck, most people don't even rearrange their desktops, let alone install a new operating system. (I haven't switched because I haven't found a Linux-based image editor or video editor as good as Photoshop or Sony Vegas, respectively. The GIMP, the open-source Photoshop equivalent, just didn't cut it with me.)
Will the release of the new Linux Standard Base change that? Unfortunately, even Linux users aren't expecting the revolution to start.
C. J. Meidlinger, a member of my local Linux users group, put it thusly: "[Linux Standard Base] is to the software world what the Strategic Defense Initiative was to the arms race. Technically, it doesn't matter if it works or not - it's changed the atmosphere of the discussion."
James Ervin, another user group member, also took the long view: "LSB is a change Is it a change that will bring closure to an issue? I don't think so. Look for the results of it five or ten years from now. Yes it is significant and indeed it puts the pressure more squarely on Microsoft, but this is more a game of chess than one of checkers."
Linux appeals to different people on different levels. A true geek might appreciate how programmable it is. So, too, might corporate customers who want to have their IT departments make customizations (and who are sick of the constant attacks against Windows). Cheapskates will love the amount of sophisticated (and free) software that's available for it.
But will Linux ever win the hearts and minds of home users? Can it seize the desktop? The installation is easy, the interface is both beautiful and functional, and the software is good. But for now, the Linux makers of the world are under most civilians' radar. As M. Adam Kendall wrote to me, "After all, the whole reason that Windows is so successful is not because it is a top-notch, quality product, but that it was marketed so effectively."
Andrew Kantor is a technology writer, pundit, and know-it-all who covers technology for the Roanoke Times. He's also a former editor for PC Magazine and Internet World. Read more of his work at kantor.com. His column appears Fridays on USATODAY.com.
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".
and
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. At ago 79.
Fri Sep 24,10:01 AM ET
Andrew Kantor, USA TODAY (I found this, sent it to Steelhoof and he wanted here)
A couple of weeks ago there was a big announcement in the computing world: Linux (news - web sites) Standard Base 2.0 was released.
Huh? you might ask. If you don't use Linux or don't know much about it, you probably didn't notice and you probably don't care. But this is important - although, as you'll soon see, not quite as important as some folks have made it out to be.
The story said, "[S]upporters of the Linux operating system have agreed on a standard version that seeks to ensure programs written for one Linux distribution will work with the others."
Before we go any further, I'm going to make a brief digression into "Linux distributions" and why they're important. (People who know this stuff should scoot down to the first subhed.) (Yes, we spell it "subhed." It's a long story.)
Most of you reading this are running some version of Microsoft Windows - Windows 98 (news - web sites), Windows 2000 (news - web sites), Windows XP (news - web sites), and so on. Depending on whom you ask, between 90 and 95% of the world's personal computers run it.
The other two major operating systems - the other two kinds of personal computer - are Macintoshes and Linux machines. You probably know about Macs. Today we're talking about the third kind: Linux machines.
Windows was created by Microsoft; it runs on computers made by Dell, Gateway, HP, and zillions of other companies. The Macintosh (news - web sites) operating system was created by Apple; it runs on Macintosh computers.
Linux is different from the start in that it wasn't created by a company. It was created by a guy named Linus Torvalds (news - web sites), and today is built, tweaked, added to, improved, and maintained by thousands of people around the world; it runs on lots of different kinds of hardware. It's solid, stable, fast, efficient, and pretty. It's also free.
Linux is open-source software. Anyone can use it free of charge. You could, right now, go to any number of sites and download Linux - a complete operating system with a heck of a lot of bells and whistles -gratis. In contrast, Windows XP Home Edition has an MSRP of $200, and the latest version of Mac operating system is $129.
Not only can you use Linux free, you are also allowed to change it, add to it, tweak it, or do what you want to it and then give it away to others.
And companies have.
Many organizations - companies in it for profit, organizations doing it for fun - have created distributions or distros of Linux. Mandrake, Red Hat and Fedora, SUSE, Lindows - there are a lot of distros out there. These companies have designed software, utilities, add-ons, and other things for it to either add functions or to make various tasks (like installation) easier. And they've made some changes to the operating system itself.
Therein lies the problem.
The first subhed
Linux isn't Linux isn't Linux. There are enough differences between the various distros that not all software will work on all versions of Linux. Each is a little different even if they're all based on the same Linux core (or kernel).
All this adds complexity to the Linux world. A company looking to install Linux had to worry about the software that's available; it needed products written for its particular distribution (e.g., "SuperEditor for Red Hat Linux" or "ImageFun for SUSE Linux"). Windows and Mac users have similar problems, although to a lesser extent; programs written for later versions of either operating system might not run on earlier versions. The difference is, Windows comes from Microsoft and the Mac OS comes from Apple, period. There isn't Gateway Windows or Compaq MacOS.
As the differences between Linux distributions increased, Linux started to look less and less like a good alternative to Windows - something Microsoft was happy to point out. You were pretty sure that the software you wanted would run on your version of Linux, but not positive.
The big announcement - Linux Standard Base 2.0. was designed to heal these rifts. The idea is simple: The major Linux distributors all agreed on a common ground that their versions of Linux would share. This way, no matter how many bells and whistles they added, all the Linux distros would share the same core elements. In theory, that means that anyone writing software for Linux only has to make sure it runs on the Linux Standard Base and it will run on any distro that supports it.
With a Linux standard in place, the press gushed, the end of Microsoft's desktop dominance was moments away. In fact, it seemed like tech writers wanted there to be really big, really good news for the Linux community.
I wouldn't be surprised. I'm sure some people hate Microsoft on a visceral level - the evil empire and all. And plenty of others just love the beauty of Linux: A powerful, flexible, and free operating system that in many ways is better than Windows. One that was built by enthusiasts out of, well, love. And of course there's the whole root-for-the-underdog theme.
Linux is, in fact, huge. A vast portion of the World Wide Web runs on Linux. But Linux's problem has been wooing the individuals and getting penetration into the desktop market.
But those things are on the back end. On the front end - that is, on the desktop - most people and companies run Windows. Going by Google's records, at least 90% of Web users were running some version of Windows in June. Another three percent were on the Mac, and one percent on Linux. (There had been speculation earlier this year that Linux would surpass the Mac on the world's desktops, but Google's numbers seem to show that's not true.)
There are a lot of reasons people haven't switched to Linux on their desktop. Mostly, it's because PC vendors package their machines with Windows, and most people don't change what they're given. Heck, most people don't even rearrange their desktops, let alone install a new operating system. (I haven't switched because I haven't found a Linux-based image editor or video editor as good as Photoshop or Sony Vegas, respectively. The GIMP, the open-source Photoshop equivalent, just didn't cut it with me.)
Will the release of the new Linux Standard Base change that? Unfortunately, even Linux users aren't expecting the revolution to start.
C. J. Meidlinger, a member of my local Linux users group, put it thusly: "[Linux Standard Base] is to the software world what the Strategic Defense Initiative was to the arms race. Technically, it doesn't matter if it works or not - it's changed the atmosphere of the discussion."
James Ervin, another user group member, also took the long view: "LSB is a change Is it a change that will bring closure to an issue? I don't think so. Look for the results of it five or ten years from now. Yes it is significant and indeed it puts the pressure more squarely on Microsoft, but this is more a game of chess than one of checkers."
Linux appeals to different people on different levels. A true geek might appreciate how programmable it is. So, too, might corporate customers who want to have their IT departments make customizations (and who are sick of the constant attacks against Windows). Cheapskates will love the amount of sophisticated (and free) software that's available for it.
But will Linux ever win the hearts and minds of home users? Can it seize the desktop? The installation is easy, the interface is both beautiful and functional, and the software is good. But for now, the Linux makers of the world are under most civilians' radar. As M. Adam Kendall wrote to me, "After all, the whole reason that Windows is so successful is not because it is a top-notch, quality product, but that it was marketed so effectively."
Andrew Kantor is a technology writer, pundit, and know-it-all who covers technology for the Roanoke Times. He's also a former editor for PC Magazine and Internet World. Read more of his work at kantor.com. His column appears Fridays on USATODAY.com.
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".
From Steelhoof - Microsoft warns of poisoned picture peril
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley
and
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. At ago 79.
By Kevin Poulsen, SecurityFocus Sep 14 2004 5:54PM
The old bromide that promises you can't get a computer virus by looking at an image file crumbled a bit further Tuesday when Microsoft announced a critical vulnerability in its software's handling of the ubiquitous JPEG graphics format.
The security hole is a buffer overflow that potentially allows an attacker to craft a special JPEG file that would take control of a victim's machine when the user views it through Internet Explorer, Outlook, Word, and other programs. The poisoned picture could be displayed on a website, sent in e-mail, or circulated on a P2P network.
Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Office XP are vulnerable. Older versions of Windows are also at risk if the user has installed any of a dozen other Microsoft applications that use the same flawed code, the company said in its advisory. The newly-released Windows XP Service Pack 2 does not contain the hole, but vulnerable versions of Office running atop it can still be attacked if left unpatched. Patches are available from Microsoft's website.
The company said it's not aware of the hole being publicly exploited in the wild, and has not seen any examples of proof of concept code.
The JPEG bug rounds out a growing menagerie of vulnerabilities in code that displays image files. Mozilla developers last month patched the open-source browser against a critical hole discovered in a widely-deployed library for processing PNG images. And last July, Microsoft simultaneously fixed two image display holes in Internet Explorer: one made users potentially vulnerable to maliciously-crafted BMP images, the second to corrupt GIF files. The GIF bug had been publicly disclosed 11 months earlier.
There was a time when the idea of a malicious image file was absurd enough to be the topic of an April Fools joke. One early and widely-circulated hoax message dating from 1994 warned users of a computer virus infecting the comment field of JPEG files.
"It was someone saying that just looking at a JPEG on your screen can get you a virus," recalls Rob Rosenberg, editor of the debunking site Vmyths.com. "In '94 it was a myth, but in '04 it's the real thing... We've got the JPEG of death now."
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".
and
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. At ago 79.
By Kevin Poulsen, SecurityFocus Sep 14 2004 5:54PM
The old bromide that promises you can't get a computer virus by looking at an image file crumbled a bit further Tuesday when Microsoft announced a critical vulnerability in its software's handling of the ubiquitous JPEG graphics format.
The security hole is a buffer overflow that potentially allows an attacker to craft a special JPEG file that would take control of a victim's machine when the user views it through Internet Explorer, Outlook, Word, and other programs. The poisoned picture could be displayed on a website, sent in e-mail, or circulated on a P2P network.
Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Office XP are vulnerable. Older versions of Windows are also at risk if the user has installed any of a dozen other Microsoft applications that use the same flawed code, the company said in its advisory. The newly-released Windows XP Service Pack 2 does not contain the hole, but vulnerable versions of Office running atop it can still be attacked if left unpatched. Patches are available from Microsoft's website.
The company said it's not aware of the hole being publicly exploited in the wild, and has not seen any examples of proof of concept code.
The JPEG bug rounds out a growing menagerie of vulnerabilities in code that displays image files. Mozilla developers last month patched the open-source browser against a critical hole discovered in a widely-deployed library for processing PNG images. And last July, Microsoft simultaneously fixed two image display holes in Internet Explorer: one made users potentially vulnerable to maliciously-crafted BMP images, the second to corrupt GIF files. The GIF bug had been publicly disclosed 11 months earlier.
There was a time when the idea of a malicious image file was absurd enough to be the topic of an April Fools joke. One early and widely-circulated hoax message dating from 1994 warned users of a computer virus infecting the comment field of JPEG files.
"It was someone saying that just looking at a JPEG on your screen can get you a virus," recalls Rob Rosenberg, editor of the debunking site Vmyths.com. "In '94 it was a myth, but in '04 it's the real thing... We've got the JPEG of death now."
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".
Friday, September 24, 2004
Spinach powered laptop
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley
and
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. At ago 79.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (news - web sites) say they have used spinach to harness a plant's ability to convert sunlight into energy for the first time, creating a device that may one day power laptops, mobile phones and more. (AP Graphic)
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".
and
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. At ago 79.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (news - web sites) say they have used spinach to harness a plant's ability to convert sunlight into energy for the first time, creating a device that may one day power laptops, mobile phones and more. (AP Graphic)
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".
Thursday, September 23, 2004
A Few Words From Tech Support
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley
and
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. At ago 79.
1. Don't write anything down. We can play back the error messages from here.
2. When a tech says he's coming right over, go for coffee. It's nothing to us to remember 481 screen saver passwords.
3. When you call us to have your computer moved, be sure to leave it buried under half a ton of postcards, baby pictures, stuffed animals, dried flowers, bowling trophies and Popsicle art. We don't have a life, and we find it deeply moving to catch a fleeting glimpse of yours.
4. When you call the help desk, state what you want, not what's keeping you from getting it. We don't need to know that you can't get into your mail because your computer won't power on at all.
5. Don't put your phone extension in your emails to the help desk. We need to keep an eye on the address book performance.
6. When tech support sends you an email with high importance, delete it at once. We're just testing the public groups.
7. When a tech is eating lunch in his cube, walk right in and spill your guts right out. We exist only to serve.
8. When a tech is having a smoke outside, ask him a computer question. The only reason why we smoke at all is to ferret out those clients who don't have email or a telephone line.
9. Send urgent email all in uppercase. The mail server picks it up and flags it as a rush delivery.
10. When you call a tech's direct line, press 5 to skip the bilingual greeting that says he's out of town for a week, record your message and wait exactly 24 hours before you send an email straight to the director because no one ever returned your call. After all, you're entitled to common courtesy.
11. When the photocopier doesn't work, call computer support. There's electronics in it.
12. When you're getting a NO DIAL TONE message at home, call computer support. We can fix your line from here.
13. When you have a dozen CGA monitors to get rid of, call computer support. We're collectors.
14. When some
ame, no phone number and no description of the problem. We love a puzzle.
15. If you hate your mouse, get some other pointing device and discard the manual. We know all the keyboard accelerators.
16. When a tech tells you that computer monitors don't have cartridges in them, argue. We love a good argument.
17. When you get a message about insufficient disk space, delete everything in the Windows directory. It's nothing but trouble anyway.
18. When you get a message about a hard disk controller failure, and then you reboot and it looks okay, don't call tech support. We'd much rather troubleshoot it when it's dead as a doornail.
19. When you have a tech on the phone walking you through changing a setting, read the paper. We don't actually mean for you to do anything. We just love to hear ourselves talk.
20. When a tech tells you that he'll be there shortly, reply in a scathing tone of voice: "And just how many weeks do you mean by shortly?" That'll get us going.
21. If you have a 14-inch monitor that says VGA on it, set the display to true color, 1024 x 768. You'll never again have to worry about people reading confidential files over your shoulder.
22. When we offer training on the upcoming OS upgrade, don't bother. We'll be there to hold your hand after it's done.
23. When the printer won't print, re-send the job at least 20 times. Print jobs frequently get sucked into black holes.
24. When the printer still won't print after 20 tries, send the job to all 68 printers in the building. One of them is bound to work.
25. Don't learn the proper name for anything technical. We know exactly what you mean by "my thingy's outta whack".
26. Don't use online help. Online help is for wimps.
27. If you're taking night classes in computer science, feel free to go around and update the network drivers for your all your co-workers. We're grateful for the overtime money.
28. When a tech makes popcorn, help yourself while he's checking out your access rights. And we keep chocolate in the top drawer, too.
29. When you have a tech fixing your computer at a quarter past noon, eat your lunch in his face. We function better when slightly dizzy.
30. Don't ever thank us. We're getting paid for this.
31. If you're an intern, feel free to bring in all your friends from college and have your Daddy complain to our boss when we won't let them use the scanner. We had no friends when we were in college; that's why we're such a bunch of tight-assed little twerps.
32. When a tech asks you whether you've installed any new software on this computer, lie. It's nothing's wrong with your home PC, dump it on a tech's chair with no nbody's business what you've got on your computer.
33. When a tech finds the AOL shortcuts in your Recycle Bin, tell him you've never seen those before. We couldn't tell bullshit if it kicked us in the face.
34. If you have NT, feel free to change the local administrator's password to "blowjob" and promptly forget it. We like installing NT.
35. If the mouse cable keeps knocking down the framed picture of your dog, lift the computer and stuff the cable under it. Mouse cables were designed to have 45 lbs. of computer sitting on top of them.
36. If the space bar on your keyboard doesn't work, blame it on the mail upgrade. Keyboards are actually very happy with half a pound of muffin crumbs and nail clippings in them.
37. When you receive the new Yanni CD for your birthday, shove it into any slot on the front of your computer. We like getting physical with 5.25 floppy drives.
38. When you get a message saying "Are you sure?", click on that Yes button as fast as you can. Hell, if you weren't sure, you wouldn't be doing it, would you?
39. When you find a tech on the phone with his bank, sit uninvited on the corner of his desk and stare at him until he hangs up. We don't have any money to speak of anyway.
40. Feel perfectly free to say things like "I don't know nothing about that computer crap". We don't mind at all hearing our area of professional expertise referred to as crap.
41. When you need to change the toner cartridge, call tech support. Changing a toner cartridge is an extremely complex task, and Hewlett-Packard recommends that it be performed only by a professional engineer with a master's degree in nuclear physics.
42. When you can't find someone in the government directory, call tech support. Due to budget restrictions, we double as 411.
43. When you have a lock to pick on an old file cabinet, call tech support. We love to hack.
44. When something's the matter with your computer, ask your secretary to call the help desk. We enjoy the challenge of having to deal with a third party who doesn't know jack shit about the problem.
45. When you receive a 30-meg movie file, send it to everyone as a mail attachment. We got lots of disk space on that mail server.
46. Don't even think of breaking large print jobs down into smaller chunks. Somebody else might get a chance to squeeze a memo into the queue.
47. When your eyes fall on the family pictures on a tech's desk, exclaim in a flabbergasted tone of voice: "YOU have a child?!?" We need to be reminded of how lucky we were to ever have gotten laid.
48. When a tech gets on the elevator pushing 15,000 kilograms worth of computer equipment on a cart, ask in a very loud voice: "Good grief, you take the elevator to go DOWN one floor?!?" That's another one that cracks us up no end.
49. When the Finance folks are printing a 100-page spreadsheet on the LaserJet, send your black and white print job to the color printer. We get the black toner for free.
50. When you lose your car keys, send an email to the entire department. People out in Yellowknife like to keep abreast of what's going on.
51. When you bump into a tech at the grocery store on a Saturday, ask a computer question. We don't do weekends.
52. When you see a tech having a beer with a member of the opposite sex on a Friday night, walk right up to them and ask a computer question. We don't do dating; the reason why we have that horny look on our faces is because we're discussing the new Intel processor.
53. Don't bother to tell us when you move computers around on your own. Computer names are just a cosmetic feature in NT 4.0; they won't be doing anything useful until the next major release.
54. When you can't access some shared directory on your boss's machine, just tell us that you've lost your X: drive. We know all that shit by heart.
55. If you need to buy a computer for your daughter in college, feel free to pick our brains while we're taking a leak. We're good at talking shop with our dicks in our hands.
56. If your son is a student in computer science, have him come in on the weekends and do his projects on your office computer. We'll be there for you when his illegal copy of Visual Basic 6.0 makes your Access 95 database flip out.
57. When you bring your own personal home PC for repair at the office, leave the documentation at home. We'll find the jumper settings on the Internet.
58. We're aware of that problem with computers just sitting there and not doing anything. We're confident that with the next service pack they'll be able to dance the jig.
59. The correct location to store important files is the Recycle Bin. It's just like a real office, where you keep your tax receipts in the blue can under your desk.
60. If you curse every morning when you start to type your password and the Virus Shield splash screen pops up in your face, disable the Virus Shield. Again, this is just like real life: if you don't like condoms, just don't use them, that's all.
61. If you hate PCs, get on the Internet and download one of those desktop enhancements that make your computer look just like a Mac, down to the sad faces replacing verbose error messages. We find it refreshing to troubleshoot the nuances in that sad little face instead of some cold forbidding hexadecimal integer.
62. When you detect a French accent in a tech's voice, switch to French. We don't mind that your level of fluency is that of a mildly retarded 4-year-old; you don't make a whole lot of sense in your own mother tongue either.
63. We don't really believe that you're a bunch of ungrateful twits. It hurts our feelings that you could even think such a thing. We wish to express our deepest gratitude to the hundreds of clueless losers portrayed herein, without whom none of this would have been remotely possible.
64. Have you ever wondered what Tech Support does while you are on hold? Think about how long it takes to write a 64 point memo!
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".
and
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. At ago 79.
1. Don't write anything down. We can play back the error messages from here.
2. When a tech says he's coming right over, go for coffee. It's nothing to us to remember 481 screen saver passwords.
3. When you call us to have your computer moved, be sure to leave it buried under half a ton of postcards, baby pictures, stuffed animals, dried flowers, bowling trophies and Popsicle art. We don't have a life, and we find it deeply moving to catch a fleeting glimpse of yours.
4. When you call the help desk, state what you want, not what's keeping you from getting it. We don't need to know that you can't get into your mail because your computer won't power on at all.
5. Don't put your phone extension in your emails to the help desk. We need to keep an eye on the address book performance.
6. When tech support sends you an email with high importance, delete it at once. We're just testing the public groups.
7. When a tech is eating lunch in his cube, walk right in and spill your guts right out. We exist only to serve.
8. When a tech is having a smoke outside, ask him a computer question. The only reason why we smoke at all is to ferret out those clients who don't have email or a telephone line.
9. Send urgent email all in uppercase. The mail server picks it up and flags it as a rush delivery.
10. When you call a tech's direct line, press 5 to skip the bilingual greeting that says he's out of town for a week, record your message and wait exactly 24 hours before you send an email straight to the director because no one ever returned your call. After all, you're entitled to common courtesy.
11. When the photocopier doesn't work, call computer support. There's electronics in it.
12. When you're getting a NO DIAL TONE message at home, call computer support. We can fix your line from here.
13. When you have a dozen CGA monitors to get rid of, call computer support. We're collectors.
14. When some
ame, no phone number and no description of the problem. We love a puzzle.
15. If you hate your mouse, get some other pointing device and discard the manual. We know all the keyboard accelerators.
16. When a tech tells you that computer monitors don't have cartridges in them, argue. We love a good argument.
17. When you get a message about insufficient disk space, delete everything in the Windows directory. It's nothing but trouble anyway.
18. When you get a message about a hard disk controller failure, and then you reboot and it looks okay, don't call tech support. We'd much rather troubleshoot it when it's dead as a doornail.
19. When you have a tech on the phone walking you through changing a setting, read the paper. We don't actually mean for you to do anything. We just love to hear ourselves talk.
20. When a tech tells you that he'll be there shortly, reply in a scathing tone of voice: "And just how many weeks do you mean by shortly?" That'll get us going.
21. If you have a 14-inch monitor that says VGA on it, set the display to true color, 1024 x 768. You'll never again have to worry about people reading confidential files over your shoulder.
22. When we offer training on the upcoming OS upgrade, don't bother. We'll be there to hold your hand after it's done.
23. When the printer won't print, re-send the job at least 20 times. Print jobs frequently get sucked into black holes.
24. When the printer still won't print after 20 tries, send the job to all 68 printers in the building. One of them is bound to work.
25. Don't learn the proper name for anything technical. We know exactly what you mean by "my thingy's outta whack".
26. Don't use online help. Online help is for wimps.
27. If you're taking night classes in computer science, feel free to go around and update the network drivers for your all your co-workers. We're grateful for the overtime money.
28. When a tech makes popcorn, help yourself while he's checking out your access rights. And we keep chocolate in the top drawer, too.
29. When you have a tech fixing your computer at a quarter past noon, eat your lunch in his face. We function better when slightly dizzy.
30. Don't ever thank us. We're getting paid for this.
31. If you're an intern, feel free to bring in all your friends from college and have your Daddy complain to our boss when we won't let them use the scanner. We had no friends when we were in college; that's why we're such a bunch of tight-assed little twerps.
32. When a tech asks you whether you've installed any new software on this computer, lie. It's nothing's wrong with your home PC, dump it on a tech's chair with no nbody's business what you've got on your computer.
33. When a tech finds the AOL shortcuts in your Recycle Bin, tell him you've never seen those before. We couldn't tell bullshit if it kicked us in the face.
34. If you have NT, feel free to change the local administrator's password to "blowjob" and promptly forget it. We like installing NT.
35. If the mouse cable keeps knocking down the framed picture of your dog, lift the computer and stuff the cable under it. Mouse cables were designed to have 45 lbs. of computer sitting on top of them.
36. If the space bar on your keyboard doesn't work, blame it on the mail upgrade. Keyboards are actually very happy with half a pound of muffin crumbs and nail clippings in them.
37. When you receive the new Yanni CD for your birthday, shove it into any slot on the front of your computer. We like getting physical with 5.25 floppy drives.
38. When you get a message saying "Are you sure?", click on that Yes button as fast as you can. Hell, if you weren't sure, you wouldn't be doing it, would you?
39. When you find a tech on the phone with his bank, sit uninvited on the corner of his desk and stare at him until he hangs up. We don't have any money to speak of anyway.
40. Feel perfectly free to say things like "I don't know nothing about that computer crap". We don't mind at all hearing our area of professional expertise referred to as crap.
41. When you need to change the toner cartridge, call tech support. Changing a toner cartridge is an extremely complex task, and Hewlett-Packard recommends that it be performed only by a professional engineer with a master's degree in nuclear physics.
42. When you can't find someone in the government directory, call tech support. Due to budget restrictions, we double as 411.
43. When you have a lock to pick on an old file cabinet, call tech support. We love to hack.
44. When something's the matter with your computer, ask your secretary to call the help desk. We enjoy the challenge of having to deal with a third party who doesn't know jack shit about the problem.
45. When you receive a 30-meg movie file, send it to everyone as a mail attachment. We got lots of disk space on that mail server.
46. Don't even think of breaking large print jobs down into smaller chunks. Somebody else might get a chance to squeeze a memo into the queue.
47. When your eyes fall on the family pictures on a tech's desk, exclaim in a flabbergasted tone of voice: "YOU have a child?!?" We need to be reminded of how lucky we were to ever have gotten laid.
48. When a tech gets on the elevator pushing 15,000 kilograms worth of computer equipment on a cart, ask in a very loud voice: "Good grief, you take the elevator to go DOWN one floor?!?" That's another one that cracks us up no end.
49. When the Finance folks are printing a 100-page spreadsheet on the LaserJet, send your black and white print job to the color printer. We get the black toner for free.
50. When you lose your car keys, send an email to the entire department. People out in Yellowknife like to keep abreast of what's going on.
51. When you bump into a tech at the grocery store on a Saturday, ask a computer question. We don't do weekends.
52. When you see a tech having a beer with a member of the opposite sex on a Friday night, walk right up to them and ask a computer question. We don't do dating; the reason why we have that horny look on our faces is because we're discussing the new Intel processor.
53. Don't bother to tell us when you move computers around on your own. Computer names are just a cosmetic feature in NT 4.0; they won't be doing anything useful until the next major release.
54. When you can't access some shared directory on your boss's machine, just tell us that you've lost your X: drive. We know all that shit by heart.
55. If you need to buy a computer for your daughter in college, feel free to pick our brains while we're taking a leak. We're good at talking shop with our dicks in our hands.
56. If your son is a student in computer science, have him come in on the weekends and do his projects on your office computer. We'll be there for you when his illegal copy of Visual Basic 6.0 makes your Access 95 database flip out.
57. When you bring your own personal home PC for repair at the office, leave the documentation at home. We'll find the jumper settings on the Internet.
58. We're aware of that problem with computers just sitting there and not doing anything. We're confident that with the next service pack they'll be able to dance the jig.
59. The correct location to store important files is the Recycle Bin. It's just like a real office, where you keep your tax receipts in the blue can under your desk.
60. If you curse every morning when you start to type your password and the Virus Shield splash screen pops up in your face, disable the Virus Shield. Again, this is just like real life: if you don't like condoms, just don't use them, that's all.
61. If you hate PCs, get on the Internet and download one of those desktop enhancements that make your computer look just like a Mac, down to the sad faces replacing verbose error messages. We find it refreshing to troubleshoot the nuances in that sad little face instead of some cold forbidding hexadecimal integer.
62. When you detect a French accent in a tech's voice, switch to French. We don't mind that your level of fluency is that of a mildly retarded 4-year-old; you don't make a whole lot of sense in your own mother tongue either.
63. We don't really believe that you're a bunch of ungrateful twits. It hurts our feelings that you could even think such a thing. We wish to express our deepest gratitude to the hundreds of clueless losers portrayed herein, without whom none of this would have been remotely possible.
64. Have you ever wondered what Tech Support does while you are on hold? Think about how long it takes to write a 64 point memo!
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".
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
note the new saying , just above the line
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. At ago 79.
^ see
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".
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. At ago 79.
^ see
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".
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Making Windows More Secure. And no I have not put SR2 on my mechines. I use a router and have firewalls and ad removal software on each one
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. At ago 79.
By DAVID POGUE and the New York Times.
Published: September 23, 2004
HEY labor long hours to write their software, testing and perfecting it. They toil in obscurity, fully aware that they'll never get credit for their work. Their programs will never make it to computer stores, and they'll never receive a penny for their efforts.
They're the virus writers. And it would be nice if they'd cultivate some other hobbies.
In the meantime, the damage they do to Windows computers is astronomical, costing American businesses tens of billions of dollars a year, by various estimates, to repair the damage from Windows viruses and fight spam. That's not to mention uncountable millions devoted to the fight against spyware (programs that secretly install themselves and then transmit your files and passwords back to their creators).
Until now, sorting out this mess has been left to hapless consumers and happy security-software companies. But at some time this month or next, you'll be offered some assistance from the mother ship: Microsoft.
With 90 percent of the computer market, Microsoft didn't have to fix Windows; more secure operating systems are certainly available, but corporate America shudders at the expense of switching. To its credit, though, Microsoft spent over a year building a jumbo security patch for Windows XP called Service Pack 2, known as SP2.
By the end of October, Microsoft will have offered this 70- to 270-megabyte download to anyone who turns on the Windows feature called Automatic Updates in the Start menu. (You can also download SP2 or order a free CD by mail at www.microsoft.com. Shipping takes six to eight weeks.)
SP2 does make Windows harder for Internet miscreants to attack. But in some ways, Microsoft sealed only half of the back doors.
First, the good news. The new Security Center is an easy-to-understand status report on three important security features: Firewall, a shield against unsolicited data from the Internet; Automatic Update, which lets Microsoft send you security patches over the Internet as soon as they're available; and Virus Protection. If any of these are turned off, dire messages appear.
But that's just the beginning. In the original Windows XP, the firewall's factory setting was Off. And finding its buried On switch required three weeks and a Sherpa.
Worse, Microsoft left open many of its ports (that is, authorized holes in the firewall, each designed for a specific kind of data: e-mail, instant messaging, streaming music, and so on). All told, the original firewall made life easy for cretins who wanted to gum up your works by remote control.
The Service Pack 2 firewall is turned on automatically, it's much easier to find and it doesn't open a port for a program until it has asked you for permission.
You'll also be direly warned if you have no antivirus software installed - but in this case, Microsoft doesn't provide any. The Virus Protection feature, it turns out, is not an inoculation but simply an alert. It does, however, provide a list of free time-limited trials of various antivirus programs. (Some programs not listed by Microsoft are free forever, like www.grisoft.com.)
The second most visible change in SP2 is a new pop-up blocker in Internet Explorer. That's great, although rival Web browsers have offered this feature for years.
Microsoft has also made it easier for you to track and manage which plug-ins you've installed in Internet Explorer. Some are useful, like the Flash plug-in that lets you view online animations. Others, though, are malicious and, before SP2, could install themselves behind your back (so-called drive-by downloads). Now you have to approve each installation in a pop-up dialog box.
Microsoft and security experts have spent years pleading with everyday PC users to be wary of e-mail attachments, but mostly in vain; people still blithely double-click on attached files, which is how one virus after another gets unleashed on their systems.
If you use Outlook Express for e-mail, Internet Explorer for Web downloads or Windows Messenger for chat, you'll now find it a lot harder to open the kinds of files that can harbor viruses. When you try, a dialog box lets you know that the file has been quarantined. To open it, you have to locate the file's icon on the hard drive, right-click it, choose Properties from the shortcut menu and choose the Unblock option.
It's a heck of a lot of hassle, but eliminates the casual release of viruses by the ranks of the clueless. (Microsoft encourages the makers of e-mail and chat programs to tap into the same feature.)
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".
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. At ago 79.
By DAVID POGUE and the New York Times.
Published: September 23, 2004
HEY labor long hours to write their software, testing and perfecting it. They toil in obscurity, fully aware that they'll never get credit for their work. Their programs will never make it to computer stores, and they'll never receive a penny for their efforts.
They're the virus writers. And it would be nice if they'd cultivate some other hobbies.
In the meantime, the damage they do to Windows computers is astronomical, costing American businesses tens of billions of dollars a year, by various estimates, to repair the damage from Windows viruses and fight spam. That's not to mention uncountable millions devoted to the fight against spyware (programs that secretly install themselves and then transmit your files and passwords back to their creators).
Until now, sorting out this mess has been left to hapless consumers and happy security-software companies. But at some time this month or next, you'll be offered some assistance from the mother ship: Microsoft.
With 90 percent of the computer market, Microsoft didn't have to fix Windows; more secure operating systems are certainly available, but corporate America shudders at the expense of switching. To its credit, though, Microsoft spent over a year building a jumbo security patch for Windows XP called Service Pack 2, known as SP2.
By the end of October, Microsoft will have offered this 70- to 270-megabyte download to anyone who turns on the Windows feature called Automatic Updates in the Start menu. (You can also download SP2 or order a free CD by mail at www.microsoft.com. Shipping takes six to eight weeks.)
SP2 does make Windows harder for Internet miscreants to attack. But in some ways, Microsoft sealed only half of the back doors.
First, the good news. The new Security Center is an easy-to-understand status report on three important security features: Firewall, a shield against unsolicited data from the Internet; Automatic Update, which lets Microsoft send you security patches over the Internet as soon as they're available; and Virus Protection. If any of these are turned off, dire messages appear.
But that's just the beginning. In the original Windows XP, the firewall's factory setting was Off. And finding its buried On switch required three weeks and a Sherpa.
Worse, Microsoft left open many of its ports (that is, authorized holes in the firewall, each designed for a specific kind of data: e-mail, instant messaging, streaming music, and so on). All told, the original firewall made life easy for cretins who wanted to gum up your works by remote control.
The Service Pack 2 firewall is turned on automatically, it's much easier to find and it doesn't open a port for a program until it has asked you for permission.
You'll also be direly warned if you have no antivirus software installed - but in this case, Microsoft doesn't provide any. The Virus Protection feature, it turns out, is not an inoculation but simply an alert. It does, however, provide a list of free time-limited trials of various antivirus programs. (Some programs not listed by Microsoft are free forever, like www.grisoft.com.)
The second most visible change in SP2 is a new pop-up blocker in Internet Explorer. That's great, although rival Web browsers have offered this feature for years.
Microsoft has also made it easier for you to track and manage which plug-ins you've installed in Internet Explorer. Some are useful, like the Flash plug-in that lets you view online animations. Others, though, are malicious and, before SP2, could install themselves behind your back (so-called drive-by downloads). Now you have to approve each installation in a pop-up dialog box.
Microsoft and security experts have spent years pleading with everyday PC users to be wary of e-mail attachments, but mostly in vain; people still blithely double-click on attached files, which is how one virus after another gets unleashed on their systems.
If you use Outlook Express for e-mail, Internet Explorer for Web downloads or Windows Messenger for chat, you'll now find it a lot harder to open the kinds of files that can harbor viruses. When you try, a dialog box lets you know that the file has been quarantined. To open it, you have to locate the file's icon on the hard drive, right-click it, choose Properties from the shortcut menu and choose the Unblock option.
It's a heck of a lot of hassle, but eliminates the casual release of viruses by the ranks of the clueless. (Microsoft encourages the makers of e-mail and chat programs to tap into the same feature.)
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".
Fed. changes rates(short term rate, your credit card rates)
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley
WASHINGTON (AP) The Federal Reserve has decided to boost a key short-term interest rate by one-quarter percentage point, to 1.75 percent, its third rate increase this year.
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".
WASHINGTON (AP) The Federal Reserve has decided to boost a key short-term interest rate by one-quarter percentage point, to 1.75 percent, its third rate increase this year.
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".
Monday, September 20, 2004
Symantec warns of bot network epidemic
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley
[Computer Shopper] 15:45
Its latest Internet Security Threat Report says that infected computers - or bots - which hackers can control remotely, have grown in twelve months from less than 2,000 in the first half of 2003 to more than 30,000. And on one day that figure topped 75,000.
These networks can be commandeered to do the attacker's bidding. Often, they are hired out by the hour to spammers, so that they can send their junk mail through them without a single IP address being identifiable as the source. Likewise, with antivirus companies reacting ever more quickly to new threats, such botnets can be used to kick-start the spread of new viruses.
Richard Archdeacon, Symantec's director of technoical services said: 'Bot networks create unique problems for organisations and individual PC users as systems can be automatically upgraded with new exploits very quickly, allowing attackers to outpace efforts to patch or download security updates.
'The methods in which these bots are being deployed are becoming increasingly sophisticated. We have detected a significant number of malicious code mutations, otherwise known as first generation polymorphism. What this means is that each time the virus replicates, the code is changed resulting in very different patterns. These advanced infection mechanisms may render traditional antivirus scanning techniques ineffective.'
Symantec also noted that the attackers are choosing their weapons and targets carefully. The report warns that in the first half of 2004 nearly two in five reported vulnerabilities were found in popular Web applications used by many large companies. An alarming 82 per cent of these were considered easy to exploit.
It is not surprising that the business sector hardest hit by these attacks is ecommerce. However, small businesses were also targetted, possibly because they are less likely to have the time, manpower and skills to deploy the kinds of security options available to corporates.
Even so, the company found that 40 per cent of the Fortune 100 companies were running systems from which worm attacks were being launched.
In terms of viruses themselves, the general trend for the number of incidences shows a decrease. However, January got off to a phenomenal start with MyDoom.A, which remains the most reported worm to Symantec's systems.
While attack reports are waning, the numbers of different viruses continues to rise: nearly 4,500 new viruses were detected in the first six months of 2004, compared with roughly a thousand in the same period a year ago.
This is exemplified by high profile viruses such as MyDoom and NetSky which rapidly engendered a quick succession of variants. This could be in part due to the authors making the source code of these viruses widely available.
The company warns too of the rising wave of phishing attacks and spyware programs, plus virus writers' increased interest in new attack vectors, such as mobile phones, PDAs and peripherals such as routers.
There is at least some good news in that while the US tops the list as the base of most attacks, the highly-connected citizens of South Korea are behaving themselves, pushing the country down the chart of shame.
Symantec's report is compiled using 20,000 sensors monitoring activity in more than 180 countries. It also used malicious code data from 120 million client, server, and gateway systems that have deployed Symantec's antivirus products. Talk about spyware...
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".
[Computer Shopper] 15:45
Its latest Internet Security Threat Report says that infected computers - or bots - which hackers can control remotely, have grown in twelve months from less than 2,000 in the first half of 2003 to more than 30,000. And on one day that figure topped 75,000.
These networks can be commandeered to do the attacker's bidding. Often, they are hired out by the hour to spammers, so that they can send their junk mail through them without a single IP address being identifiable as the source. Likewise, with antivirus companies reacting ever more quickly to new threats, such botnets can be used to kick-start the spread of new viruses.
Richard Archdeacon, Symantec's director of technoical services said: 'Bot networks create unique problems for organisations and individual PC users as systems can be automatically upgraded with new exploits very quickly, allowing attackers to outpace efforts to patch or download security updates.
'The methods in which these bots are being deployed are becoming increasingly sophisticated. We have detected a significant number of malicious code mutations, otherwise known as first generation polymorphism. What this means is that each time the virus replicates, the code is changed resulting in very different patterns. These advanced infection mechanisms may render traditional antivirus scanning techniques ineffective.'
Symantec also noted that the attackers are choosing their weapons and targets carefully. The report warns that in the first half of 2004 nearly two in five reported vulnerabilities were found in popular Web applications used by many large companies. An alarming 82 per cent of these were considered easy to exploit.
It is not surprising that the business sector hardest hit by these attacks is ecommerce. However, small businesses were also targetted, possibly because they are less likely to have the time, manpower and skills to deploy the kinds of security options available to corporates.
Even so, the company found that 40 per cent of the Fortune 100 companies were running systems from which worm attacks were being launched.
In terms of viruses themselves, the general trend for the number of incidences shows a decrease. However, January got off to a phenomenal start with MyDoom.A, which remains the most reported worm to Symantec's systems.
While attack reports are waning, the numbers of different viruses continues to rise: nearly 4,500 new viruses were detected in the first six months of 2004, compared with roughly a thousand in the same period a year ago.
This is exemplified by high profile viruses such as MyDoom and NetSky which rapidly engendered a quick succession of variants. This could be in part due to the authors making the source code of these viruses widely available.
The company warns too of the rising wave of phishing attacks and spyware programs, plus virus writers' increased interest in new attack vectors, such as mobile phones, PDAs and peripherals such as routers.
There is at least some good news in that while the US tops the list as the base of most attacks, the highly-connected citizens of South Korea are behaving themselves, pushing the country down the chart of shame.
Symantec's report is compiled using 20,000 sensors monitoring activity in more than 180 countries. It also used malicious code data from 120 million client, server, and gateway systems that have deployed Symantec's antivirus products. Talk about spyware...
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".
Money Matters - Warnings pile up: Estimates 'got too high'
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley
Warnings pile up: Estimates 'got too high'
By Matt Krantz, USA TODAY
Corporate America is starting to sound like the robot in the old TV show Lost in Space that was known for its repeated "Danger!" warning.
Wednesday, the pile grew of companies saying their third-quarter earnings would be weaker than previously thought, with Coca-Cola (KO) and Tribune Co. (TRB) joining the likes of Callaway Golf (ELY) and Celestica (CLS).
The news didn't sit well on Wall Street and helped drive the Dow Jones industrials down 87 points to 10,231. Coca-Cola, down $1.71 to $41.16, was one of the biggest contributors to the Dow's loss.
And the string continued Thursday. Before the market opened, Nortel Networks (NT), one of the top global makers of telecommunications equipment in North America, said it expects third-quarter revenue to fall short of the $2.6 billion the company posted in the second quarter.
Investors who have had to deal with a weak stock market this year now are learning those stock prices might have been based on unrealistically bullish expectations.
GEE...
"Estimates just got too high," says Jaseem Hasib, researcher at Thomson First Call. He says many analysts who last year underestimated earnings now have gone full circle and are erring on the high side. The number of companies fessing up about earnings is starting to turn some heads, because:
•Warnings are outstripping positive outlooks. Nearly 560 companies have warned their current-quarter earnings would be a disappointment, First Call says. That means there have been two earnings warnings for every positive earnings pre-announcement, the highest ratio at this early point in the quarter in at least a year, First Call says.
•Warnings are picking up. Since Sept. 1, there have been 82 earnings warnings about the current quarter or beyond, more than double the 37 during the same period last year, Reuters Estimates says. Among Standard & Poor's 500 companies, there have been 22 warnings, up from just six during the same time last year.
The trend confirms what some on Wall Street have been suspecting all year: Analysts had gone overboard in their optimism, says Joseph Kalinowski, strategist at Grace Financial Group.
There was no way some companies could meet the sky-high expectations, no matter what shape the economy is in, he says. That's been a poorly kept secret on Wall Street, which is why the stock market struggled all summer.
There have also been unforeseen shocks that may have crippled earnings, such as rising energy and health care costs, says Jim Margard, fund manager at Rainier Investment Management. Lower economic growth hurts, too.
But Margard doesn't think there's reason to be overly concerned. He points out many leading companies, such as Symantec, have issued positive guidance.
The facts bear this out. While the two earnings warnings to every positive one is high by recent standards, it's still below the 2.2 historical average, First Call says.
So if anything, the rash of warnings could be just another chance for investors to find bargains, Margard says. Realistic earnings expectations, he says, now are "more than priced into the market."
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".
Warnings pile up: Estimates 'got too high'
By Matt Krantz, USA TODAY
Corporate America is starting to sound like the robot in the old TV show Lost in Space that was known for its repeated "Danger!" warning.
Wednesday, the pile grew of companies saying their third-quarter earnings would be weaker than previously thought, with Coca-Cola (KO) and Tribune Co. (TRB) joining the likes of Callaway Golf (ELY) and Celestica (CLS).
The news didn't sit well on Wall Street and helped drive the Dow Jones industrials down 87 points to 10,231. Coca-Cola, down $1.71 to $41.16, was one of the biggest contributors to the Dow's loss.
And the string continued Thursday. Before the market opened, Nortel Networks (NT), one of the top global makers of telecommunications equipment in North America, said it expects third-quarter revenue to fall short of the $2.6 billion the company posted in the second quarter.
Investors who have had to deal with a weak stock market this year now are learning those stock prices might have been based on unrealistically bullish expectations.
GEE...
"Estimates just got too high," says Jaseem Hasib, researcher at Thomson First Call. He says many analysts who last year underestimated earnings now have gone full circle and are erring on the high side. The number of companies fessing up about earnings is starting to turn some heads, because:
•Warnings are outstripping positive outlooks. Nearly 560 companies have warned their current-quarter earnings would be a disappointment, First Call says. That means there have been two earnings warnings for every positive earnings pre-announcement, the highest ratio at this early point in the quarter in at least a year, First Call says.
•Warnings are picking up. Since Sept. 1, there have been 82 earnings warnings about the current quarter or beyond, more than double the 37 during the same period last year, Reuters Estimates says. Among Standard & Poor's 500 companies, there have been 22 warnings, up from just six during the same time last year.
The trend confirms what some on Wall Street have been suspecting all year: Analysts had gone overboard in their optimism, says Joseph Kalinowski, strategist at Grace Financial Group.
There was no way some companies could meet the sky-high expectations, no matter what shape the economy is in, he says. That's been a poorly kept secret on Wall Street, which is why the stock market struggled all summer.
There have also been unforeseen shocks that may have crippled earnings, such as rising energy and health care costs, says Jim Margard, fund manager at Rainier Investment Management. Lower economic growth hurts, too.
But Margard doesn't think there's reason to be overly concerned. He points out many leading companies, such as Symantec, have issued positive guidance.
The facts bear this out. While the two earnings warnings to every positive one is high by recent standards, it's still below the 2.2 historical average, First Call says.
So if anything, the rash of warnings could be just another chance for investors to find bargains, Margard says. Realistic earnings expectations, he says, now are "more than priced into the market."
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".
Sunday, September 19, 2004
Stung by cyberspace scams
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley
By PAUL CLITHEROE
September 19, 2004
THE Internet has put the world at our fingertips, but it has also brought wolves to our doors as tech-savvy scammers try to fleece us of our money via e-mail.
One popular scam is to get people to share their card number and PIN. These scammers send e-mails to lists of names they have acquired, hoping to connect with a customer from that bank who is willing to believe their story.
Last week, I had an e-mail forwarded to me that claimed to be from Citibank. It asked the recipient – who was not a Citibank customer – to verify e-mail details "for their own protection". The e-mail included a fake Citibank e-mail address and a link to a website.
When you clicked on the link, the scam really kicked in.
Up popped a box asking for your debit card number and ATM PIN. Interestingly, this box seemed to be created on a web server based in Russia.
This box bore little resemblance to the Citibank site that ingeniously opened at the same time, hopefully giving me confidence that the request was legitimate.
It wasn't, of course. No bank would ask you to provide your PIN over the Internet – a fact Citibank later confirmed.
Although this approach was pretty crude, some of the scammers are much smarter.
A popular strategy is to tell you your account has been suspended and that you need to provide the account number and PIN to unlock it.
Another popular e-mail scam is to advise customers their bank account is about to be closed and that the bank urgently requires your details in order to quickly re-activate the account.
Yet another ploy is to suggest there has been a wrong transaction on your account and assert that without your details, it can't be reversed.
All these scenarios sound plausible, and when you talk to people who have fallen victim to e-mail scams, they often comment that the suggestions had a ring of truth to them.
The best way to protect yourself against such scams is to make sure you have the latest virus technology installed on your home computer.
Computers used for a small business should also have a good firewall, and if you do need to use an Internet cafe for Internet banking, change your password as soon as you can afterwards.
In fact, it makes sense to change the passwords on your bank accounts regularly.
But that's not the only scam you need to look out for. The Nigerian letter scam that filled our letter boxes with junk mail is now clogging up cyberspace.
These types of e-mail scams usually invite you to do something quickly. My advice is to hit the delete button as fast as you can.
Paul Clitheroe is a founding director of financial planning firm ipac, host of Channel 9's Money reports and chief commentator for Money Magazine.
The Sunday Telegraph
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".
By PAUL CLITHEROE
September 19, 2004
THE Internet has put the world at our fingertips, but it has also brought wolves to our doors as tech-savvy scammers try to fleece us of our money via e-mail.
One popular scam is to get people to share their card number and PIN. These scammers send e-mails to lists of names they have acquired, hoping to connect with a customer from that bank who is willing to believe their story.
Last week, I had an e-mail forwarded to me that claimed to be from Citibank. It asked the recipient – who was not a Citibank customer – to verify e-mail details "for their own protection". The e-mail included a fake Citibank e-mail address and a link to a website.
When you clicked on the link, the scam really kicked in.
Up popped a box asking for your debit card number and ATM PIN. Interestingly, this box seemed to be created on a web server based in Russia.
This box bore little resemblance to the Citibank site that ingeniously opened at the same time, hopefully giving me confidence that the request was legitimate.
It wasn't, of course. No bank would ask you to provide your PIN over the Internet – a fact Citibank later confirmed.
Although this approach was pretty crude, some of the scammers are much smarter.
A popular strategy is to tell you your account has been suspended and that you need to provide the account number and PIN to unlock it.
Another popular e-mail scam is to advise customers their bank account is about to be closed and that the bank urgently requires your details in order to quickly re-activate the account.
Yet another ploy is to suggest there has been a wrong transaction on your account and assert that without your details, it can't be reversed.
All these scenarios sound plausible, and when you talk to people who have fallen victim to e-mail scams, they often comment that the suggestions had a ring of truth to them.
The best way to protect yourself against such scams is to make sure you have the latest virus technology installed on your home computer.
Computers used for a small business should also have a good firewall, and if you do need to use an Internet cafe for Internet banking, change your password as soon as you can afterwards.
In fact, it makes sense to change the passwords on your bank accounts regularly.
But that's not the only scam you need to look out for. The Nigerian letter scam that filled our letter boxes with junk mail is now clogging up cyberspace.
These types of e-mail scams usually invite you to do something quickly. My advice is to hit the delete button as fast as you can.
Paul Clitheroe is a founding director of financial planning firm ipac, host of Channel 9's Money reports and chief commentator for Money Magazine.
The Sunday Telegraph
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".
