Dave "Bytes"

Please remember to use your thinker, before you tinker!

May 8, 2005

A Periodic Newsletter for the Members of the Sarasota PC User Group and the World!!

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BITS

BYTES

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"Bits & Bytes"

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Listen "LIVE" on the Internet!

Here's An Article From Steve Bass

Google just released the beta of a product purported to speed up your Web browsing experience.
http://webaccelerator.google.com

For the time being, I encourage you *not* to try it. I did a little digging and it appears the Web Accelerator exposes you to some nasty security risks. For instance, one person said he logged onto a message board and discovered he was logged on as someone else. He claims it was because of the way the Web Accelerator routes and caches cookies on their servers.

Inside Google talks about it at:
http://snipurl.com/epeg

PC Magazine has this to say:
http://snipurl.com/ZD_WebAcc

There are just too many independent reports, so even though I can't replicate the problem, I've decided not to use the tool.

Finally, here's what Steve Gibson had this to say to me in e-mail:

"It is *definitely* too freaky routing all of my web pages through Google. That's just too nasty. It says that I saved 14.5 seconds, but one site I visited had its Javascript navigation menus all messed up by Google's proxying of the pages. I [also] read the license agreement closely, and it is rather frightening. If the speed up isn't really significant, it's probably not worth the concern. And going to a forum and finding yourself logged in as someone else! ... well ... no thanks!"

* This message is brought to you by Steve Bass. The content reflects his personal opinion and not that of PC World.
* Subscribe: PCW's Home Office Newsletter: http://snurl.com/signup
* Bass's New Book (PC Annoyances Second Edition): http://snurl.com/annoy2

Copyright 2005 by Steve Bass, reprinted with permission.

Here's Some "Mother's Day" History

Contrary to popular belief, Mother's Day was not conceived and fine-tuned in the boardroom of Hallmark. The earliest tributes to mothers date back to the annual spring festival the Greeks dedicated to Rhea, the mother of many deities, and to the offerings ancient Romans made to their Great Mother of Gods, Cybele. Christians celebrated this festival on the fourth Sunday in Lent in honor of Mary, mother of Christ. In England this holiday was expanded to include all mothers and was called Mothering Sunday.

In the United States, Mother's Day started nearly 150 years ago, when Anna Jarvis, an Appalachian homemaker, organized a day to raise awareness of poor health conditions in her community, a cause she believed would be best advocated by mothers. She called it "Mother's Work Day."

Fifteen years later, Julia Ward Howe, a Boston poet, pacifist, suffragist, and author of the lyrics to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," organized a day encouraging mothers to rally for peace, since she believed they bore the loss of human life more harshly than anyone else.

In 1905 when Anna Jarvis died, her daughter, also named Anna, began a campaign to memorialize the life work of her mother. Legend has it that young Anna remembered a Sunday school lesson that her mother gave in which she said, "I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mother's day. There are many days for men, but none for mothers."

Anna began to lobby prominent businessmen like John Wannamaker, and politicians including Presidents Taft and Roosevelt to support her campaign to create a special day to honor mothers. At one of the first services organized to celebrate Anna's mother in 1908, at her church in West Virginia, Anna handed out her mother's favorite flower, the white carnation. Five years later, the House of Representatives adopted a resolution calling for officials of the federal government to wear white carnations on Mother's Day. In 1914 Anna's hard work paid off when Woodrow Wilson signed a bill recognizing Mother's Day as a national holiday.

At first, people observed Mother's Day by attending church, writing letters to their mothers, and eventually, by sending cards, presents, and flowers. With the increasing gift-giving activity associated with Mother's Day, Anna Jarvis became enraged. She believed that the day's sentiment was being sacrificed at the expense of greed and profit. In 1923 she filed a lawsuit to stop a Mother's Day festival, and was even arrested for disturbing the peace at a convention selling carnations
for a war mother's group. Before her death in 1948, Jarvis is said to have confessed that she regretted ever starting the mother's day tradition.

Despite Jarvis's misgivings, Mother's Day has flourished in the United States. In fact, the second Sunday of May has become the most popular day of the year to dine out, and telephone lines record their highest traffic, as sons and daughters everywhere take advantage of this day to honor and to express appreciation of their mothers

Phishing Attacks Take A New Twist

Phishers are increasingly using new methods to nab sensitive information from Internet users, according to data from Websense Security Labs.

In recent months, the researchers at security software company Websense detected a rise in schemes involving malicious programs known as keyloggers, according to the March phishing trends report released Wednesday by the Anti-Phishing Working Group.

The technology, which records the keystrokes of people using infected machines, could be designed to help phishers stay one step ahead of honest folk. In the past, attackers have relied mainly on e-mail messages that lure victims to malicious Web sites, where they are duped into disclosing logins and usernames for banking sites and other sensitive online accounts. The messages are typically spoofed to look like they come the bank or other trusted provider.

The keylogger programs are built specifically to capture login names and passwords for online bank accounts and to send them to the attackers, Websense Security Labs said. They typically exploit vulnerabilities in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser program.

Each week in March and February, Websense uncovered as many as 10 new keylogger variants and more than 100 new Web sites set up to infect computers with them. That's up from November and December, when the company's researchers identified an average of one-to-two new variants and 10 to 15 Web sites per week.

People can infect their machines with keylogger programs in numerous ways, including opening bogus e-mail attachments, downloading programs online or simply visiting a fraudulent Web site.

Keylogger attacks are a particular problem in Brazil, where recent two schemes targeted more than 100,000 .br e-mail accounts, the report found. However, the machine that hosted the malicious code in one of the attacks was located in California.

Phishers have previously turned to instant messaging, faked news feeds and have preyed on people that mistype the Web addresses of popular online destinations, such as Google.

The United States is host to more phishing sites than any other country, followed by China and Korea, according to the APWG report. In March alone, people reported more than 13,000 phishing-scheme e-mails to the group.

Here's A Windows Tip

As you're browsing Web pages with Internet Explorer, you may come upon some sites that offer graphic images for downloading, for example ... Dave "Bytes". You can save Web graphics on your computer hard drive in one of the following three ways:

As a graphic file for viewing and printing in the My Pictures folder.
To do this, right-click the graphic and then click Save Picture As on the image shortcut menu.

As the wallpaper for your desktop.
To do this, right-click the graphic and then click Set as Background on the image shortcut menu.

As a Desktop item that appears on your computer desktop.
To do this, right-click the graphic and then choose Set as Desktop Item on the image shortcut menu.

Note that if you save a Web graphic as the wallpaper for your desktop, you have a choice between tiling the image (that is, duplicating it across the entire desktop), centering it in the middle of the desktop, or stretching it so that it fills the entire desktop (which most often results in a severely distorted image).
Also note that some Web graphics (photographs and works of original art, usually) are copyrighted, and Web designers do have a way to disable your right click function while you're surfing their Web sites.

The "Bytes" Beg, Bargain & Barter Basement

Got something "computer related" to sell? Looking for that rare peripheral? If it's computer related you can submit a short classified ad for exposure in Dave "Bytes". Be sure to include your name and e-mail address in the ad. You can also include a picture of the item. Now some would suggest that there be a charge for this feature but alas, since my bookkeeping skills leave much to be desired I've determined that this will be a free service to all SPCUG members in good standing. "Bytes" is currently sent to almost 1500 homes in the area. Ad requests will be included as soon as possible. I assume absolutely no responsibility as to the accuracy or completeness of supplied info. All transactions are between consulting adults which leaves me entirely off the hook. Please let me know by clicking HERE when your merchandise is sold so that I can remove it from the listing. I will try to run each ad for a month.

Click Here To Submit Your Ad

Bringing Baby Home --Getting Started With A New PC

by Gabe Goldberg, APCUG Advisor and Columnist, AARP Computers and Technology Website, ggoldberg@apcug.net

Most purchases provide instant gratification -- you buy, you bring home (or have delivered), you enjoy. Groceries, clothes, toaster, furniture, etc., don't involve study, burdensome chores, or required add-ons for safe usage. While it's worth reading a new car's owners manual, and installing home electronics sometimes requires assembly and cabling, no other burden matches that of a personal computer.

Wait, you might say: Plug it in, turn it on -- simple. But reality isn't so simple. There's a lot to do before a PC can safely be used on the Internet, and still more is required to ensure long-term problem-free operation. This article outlines what to do; more info is available on this site and by Googling for specific terms used.

No matter where you buy your PC -- brand-name Web site, electronics store, custom builder -- get all CDs, manuals, registration cards, and warranty material for hardware/software that's installed. You may need this material to purchase discounted upgrade versions or to apply fixes.

Similarly, warranty material facilitates getting hardware/software support if you can't get satisfaction from your system's vendor. You may pay a little extra for software installation CDs or an image restore CD (which restores your hard drive's delivery-date contents); this is a worthwhile expense.

Assemble and turn on the system, but don't go online. Make sure the system boots properly and that all components operate. There's often a short "no questions asked" period during which dead or defective systems can be returned or exchanged easily. You may have trouble later getting problems resolved, and the vendor may insist on repairing the system instead of replacing it.

Note terms of rebates your purchase includes and submit them promptly. Many vendors won't pay rebate claims submitted even one day late.

Record hardware model and serial numbers for your PC and components. My PC builder provided all boxes and packing material, since it often contains useful information. Submit product registration material; though it may generate junk mail, it lets vendors notify you of problems or new updates/versions available.

At this point you may feel the need to get organized. Good idea! Just as you've likely organized files for auto repairs, health records, and such, your PC deserves a filing system. You can pick the structure -- file cabinet folders, PC-specific storage containers, whatever – filing everything makes things much pleasanter later.

Part of my system -- optional but valuable -- is recording changes I make to my PC, software I install, upgrades I download, problems I have, configuration settings, and communications with vendors. So I can later refer to the log and be sure what happened. Some people print screen shots -- image captures -- of important configuration settings, for reference in case they must be recreated.

Plan how to separate data from software, to simplify backing up and restoring what's most valuable and hardest to recreate. This can be as simple as establishing a directory or folder in which you store all applications' data, or it may involve dividing your hard drive into data and software partitions. If you're replacing a PC, copy data you're

migrating onto the hard drive and ensure that it's complete and readable. Don't discard the old PC until you're sure you copied everything you need. Plan and implement a backup scheme and test it occasionally by restoring files.

A standard PC likely included a "software bundle". If you're lucky, this includes applications you want. In most cases, bundles are apps you'll never use. To remove clutter, consider deleting what you're sure you won't need, using application-specific uninstall tools or Windows' built-in Add/Remove Software tool.

If hard drive partitions have meaningless labels (e.g., "IBM Preload") you can set them to useful values ("Dad's PC", "C:", etc.). Run scandisk and disk defragmentation tools to ensure you're getting a clean start.

If you're working on a Windows XP system, install Service Pack 2 before going online. You can order this on CD from Microsoft or borrow a copy. This large set of fixes will protect you against many -- but not all! -- online risks by (among other things) upgrading and enabling Microsoft's software firewall.

If you're on a broadband (cable or DSL) connection, install a router between your ISP connection and your PC and configure it to be secure.

Now install/update/run anti-virus and anti-spyware software.

Run Windows Update (click Start, then All Programs) to download and install recent fixes. This may require repetitions and reboots until no additional fixes are available. Run this periodically -- at least monthly.

You can ensure that device drivers (software links for hardware components) are current by visiting Web sites for your PC manufacturer and hardware components.

Install your applications one at a time with a "cooling off" period in between. This ensures that each works properly and helps identify problems. A good rule when working on PCs is to change one thing at a time, else you can't pinpoint what effects changes cause. After each installation, run any "check for updates" functions.

Consider downloading a Web browser to use instead of the built-in but insecure Internet Explorer. Many alternatives such as Mozilla Firefox improve security and provide better browsing functions. If you use IE, set options to be more secure than default values.

I'm not sure whether it's good or bad news that Windows is infinitely customizable. As you use different Windows functions and applications, browse their Options/Tools/Settings/Customization menus. You'll likely find simple changes that accommodate your preferences.

Finally -- and in spite of warnings about risks -- don't be afraid: enjoy your PC and the Internet it brings to you. But be careful and sensible. Don't open unexpected attachments; don't answer e-mailed requests for personal information; be cautious about installing software from unknown vendors.

This article appeared originally on AARP's Computers and Technology Web site, <www.aarp.org/computers>. (c) AARP 2005. Permission is granted for reprinting and distribution by non-profit organizations with text reproduced unchanged and this paragraph included.

And Now Here's

Dave's Cool Download

Bounce Spam Mail

Fool those spam mailers: Send a fake bounce message back to them, making their targeted mailing list manager think your address was invalid. The program works in a lot of cases when you can't get to the real sender of the message.

Note: Although this program still works, it is no longer supported by the vendor.

Net Lingo ... ActiveX

ActiveX controls can make browsing more enjoyable by providing video, animated content, and more. These programs can, however, malfunction or give you content you don't want. In some cases, these programs can be used to collect information from your computer in ways you might not approve of, possibly damage data on your computer, install software on your computer without your consent, or allow someone else to control your computer remotely. Given these risks, you should only
install these programs if you completely trust the publisher.

Here's A Special Offer From Interlink Networks

LucidLink Wireless Security is targeted at addressing one of the biggest computer security threats in the business: Unsecured WiFi networks. Several weeks ago, the NY Times wrote an article on the growth of cybercrimes being committed over unsecured wireless networks. Hackers can easily get on these networks, launch spam and viruses, read your e-mail, and even access your computer. They can do this from over a mile away and do it in a fashion that makes it impossible to trace back to them.

LucidLink eliminates this threat by making it very easy to secure a wireless network. The LucidLink 3-user Home Office Edition is now be available for free on their web site at www.lucidlink.com.

Interlink CEO, Mike Klein will be my special guest on Bits & Bytes on 5/12

Here's A "Neat Net Trick"