Newsbytes - January, 2004

In this issue the following topics are addressed: ~~~ January 7, 2004 General Meeting ~~~ In the News ~~~ Worm and Virus Update ~~~ The News From Pasadena ~~~ Selected Software ~~~ Closing Humor And now for the details ~~~ January 7, 2004 General Meeting The next General Meeting is now scheduled for Wednesday, January 7 at the West Charleston Library. The meeting will follow the usual outline, beginning with a round table discussion and Q's and A's with meeting participants. The meeting will begin at 6:15 p.m. with a short break at about 7:00 p.m. followed by our main Program. This month, Alan Southwell of the University of Phoenix, will talk about the following computer related certification courses: Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer Cisco A+ Net+ Microsoft Office Specialist Al will also discuss the job market in Information Technology, as well as current trends in the industry. ~~~ In the News From PC World Wi-Fi Improvements in the Works Standards groups spec out enhancements to voice, video, and security in 2004. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,113779,tk,wb120803x,00.asp What's in Store for 2004--and Beyond How will the PC change during the coming year? The next five years? We consult the experts and come up with answers. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,113444,tk,wb120803x,00.asp AMD DETAILS PLANS FOR FUTURE CHIPS Company will build 45-nanometer processors by 2007. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,113830,tk,dn121103X,00.asp PATCH BACKLASH Is Microsoft doing enough to fix its security mess? We asked its users, who wonder how things got this bad in the first place. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,113588,tk,dn121503X,00.asp SPAM SLAYER: 2003 SPAM AWARDS Top spam trends, tricks, and tips that have surfaced in the past year. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,113871,tk,dn121503X,00.asp From eWeek The Windows Clock Is Ticking During the next few months, Microsoft will begin phasing out support for a number of its Windows flavors and related technologies. http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,4248,1418117,00.asp Opinion: iPod, Therefore I Am? Apple's popular MP3 gadget is at the front lines of a battle for digital rights. Can the government, the entertainment industry and Microsoft stop it? eWEEK.com's Steve Gillmor checks out the angles. http://snipurl.com/drmthreat From Lockergnome Total Hardware 1999 http://th99.pley.org/ This site has jumper settings for almost 19,000 devices, a useful source especially for those working with older equipment or don't have the documentation that accompanied the device. The devices include hard drives, I/O memory cards, modems, motherboards, graphic cards, network cards, and much more. If you have or are considering another hard drive, look up the hard drive to get its settings as odds are you'll need it if you want the new hard drive on the same controller card as the current hard drive. Those who have old 386s or other old computers for toying with will appreciate the resource. ~~~ Worm and Virus Update From PC World POWERFUL FLAW FOUND IN IE Hole could allow scammers to hide the true address of Web pages http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,113831,tk,dn121103X,00.asp SCAM TARGETS VISA CUSTOMERS Boost in 'phisher' tricks includes message directing victims to fake site. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,114050,tk,dn122403X,00.asp From SANS --Sobig-F to Blame for Spam According to MessageLabs' end-of-year report, the Sobig-F and other similar worms are responsible for two-thirds of all spam. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5117873.html [Editor's Note (Grefer): This serves as a reminder that personal firewalls are essential. In a dial-up configuration, a personal firewall may be the only defense a consumer has. Microsoft's firewall shipped with Windows XP provides a false sense of security because it doesn't check outgoing traffic. Once malware like Sobig-F has established itself on the system and tries to "call home," a full-fledged personal firewall is one of the few means of detecting and stopping such unauthorized communication.] --W32/Yaha-Y Worm A variant of the Yaha worm, dubbed W32/Yaha-Y or Win32.Yaha.Z, is spreading. The worm blocks access to anti-virus web sites, tries to install a key logger and may try to launch a denial of service attack against certain targets. http://www3.ca.com/virusinfo/virus.aspx?ID=37722 http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/articles/yahay.html ~~~ The News From Pasadena Steve Bass, the soon to be former President of the Pasadena IBM User Group and PC World editorial writer sends along he following. One day soon you'll receive an e-mail from a friend offering free movie tickets. My advice? Delete the message. FreeFlixTix isn't a hoax, has no spyware, and doesn't plant a Trojan. The problem is they ask for e-mail addresses of at least five friends in order to get a free ticket. On top of that, to get the freebie, you also have to sign up for one of a dozen other services. It gets worse. They send what seems like a message each day reminding me to sign up more friends. A better idea is to walk up to the theater's box office and pay for your movie ticket. In the long run, it's much cheaper and you'll save lots of online time. Let's Talk Computers John C. Dvorak and Steve Bass Tackle Common Home User Issues Based on Their Best-Selling Books "Online! The Book" and "PC Annoyances" Press release < http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=61413 > Listen to Streaming media < http://www.lets-talk-computers.com/upcoming/index.htm > (Note: I haven't been able to use Windows Media Player because of a strange--and annoying--codec problem. OTOH, Real player works perfectly.) ~~~ Selected Software From PC World Burn4Free Burn4Free lets you burn data and audio files in your choice of four easy ways: the transparent Fly Window, right-clicking folders or files in an embedded menu, the internal file manager, or dragging-and-dropping into the program's main window. The program burns WAV, WMA, MP3, MP2, MP1, and OGG audio files; it supports CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM formats. Free online upgrades keep you ahead of the curve. Free http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,23104,tk,hsx,00.asp Atelier Web Ports Traffic Analyzer Firewalls may keep ravening outsiders from entering your PC ... but what if corrupt applets already exist on your computer and send private data across the Internet? The Ports Traffic Analyzer audits your ports to see what flows in and out of your PC. http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,23105,tk,hsx,00.asp ITunes for Windows Previously limited to the Mac, Apple's jukebox software is now available for Windows. You can play all types of audio files--including MP3, WAV, and AIFF--and optimize them with a ten-band equalizer. You can build playlists, and burn files to CD. But ITunes' earthshaking advantage is its online music store, where individual tracks sell for 99 cents. The store offers more than 400,000 songs, all of pristine quality, and is supported by all five major music companies and more than 200 independent labels. Free http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,23102,tk,hsx,00.asp Fast Defrag Standard PC speed at a crawl? It may be because your data is so scattered, your PC doesn't know where to look. Fast Defrag Standard defragments your hard drive to free up RAM, speeding up your computer and making your system more stable. This defragger uses little of your system's valuable resources. Free http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,23097,tk,hsx,00.asp Ultimate Boot CD Ultimate Boot CD lets you run diagnostics from CD, not from an unwell hard drive or a series of teeny floppies. You can create a boot CD with any of a variety of hard drive diagnostics, hard disk management programs, memory diagnostics, Linux-based rescue discs, and more. Free http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,23100,tk,hsx,00.asp SpamBayes Outlook Add-In SpamBayes uses Bayesian filters to scan each Microsoft Outlook message and determine whether it's certainly spam, likely to be spam, or certainly clean. It works off the definitions you set and its own probability calculations, not off some distant database. Free http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,23098,tk,hsx,00.asp (Ed Note: I have been using this product for most of last year, it does a sensational job.) Post-It Software Notes Lite 3M's virtual sticky notes work just like the real thing. Click the program's small window to create an off-the-cuff reminder, then stick it to your desktop. Change the font and color of notes, print or e-mail notes, and trash them when you're done. You can also set an alarm to go off at a specific time. Free http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,23065,tk,hsx,00.asp PC Inspector File Recovery This data recovery program recovers lost files and finds partitions automatically, even when the boot sector or FAT of a Windows 9.x, Me, or 2000 machine has become damaged or erased. Even when a file's header entry is no longer available, PC Inspector File Recovery can recover the file. The program lets you save recovered files on network drives. This program also works with NTFS file systems. However, PC Inspector File Recovery will not be able to find partitions when the boot sector on a system running NT, 2000, or XP is damaged. Free http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,23069,tk,hsx,00.asp EasyOffice This free suite of office tools includes word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation applications. EasyWord is compatible with Microsoft Word, Adobe PDF, HTML, and Zip files; it includes English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, Swedish, medical, and legal dictionaries. EasySpreadsheet is compatible with Microsoft Excel. EasyPresentation helps you to create slide presentations, and its EasyContactManager produces customized form letters and tracks appointment dates. Contact lists can be exported in Excel format. Free http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,17720,tk,hsx,00.asp From Lockergnome DeepBurner v1.1.0.73 Win9x/2k/XP FREE http://www.deepburner.com/ Anyone who is overwhelmed with too many choices for complex high quality burning software will be relieved to hear that this one is easy. As soon as you enter the program, it presents a split screen: one for the files to go on the CD and the other is the file explorer. Drag and drop the files you want on the CD from the right side to the left. In the lower left corner is a marker to let you know how much you've loaded and how much space is left or over when using a 22 minute, 74 minute, or 80 minute CD. Click the printer icon to make a label for the CD and case. Pop a blank CD into the drive and click Burn Disk. That's it! SpyAnytime PC Spy Win9x/2k/XP Shareware http://downloads.wugnet.com/affiliates/lockergnome/spyanytime-lockergnome.ex e Have you ever wondered what your spouse, kids or employees have been doing on the computer and Internet? Is your spouse engaging in online sexual activity while you are asleep? Is your child having secret chat conversations with an adult stranger? Is your employee e-mailing your business secrets to your competitor? If your answer is "Yes," then SpyAnytime PC Spy is the right choice! SpyAnytime PC Spy allows you to secretly monitor and record user activities on a computer, such as Web sites visited, all windows opened, application executed, Internet chats, every keystroke, including username and password, and even take snapshots of the entire Windows desktop at set intervals, just like a surveillance camera pointed directly at your computer monitor. With SpyAnytime PC Spy, you will be able to see EXACTLY what they have been doing online and offline. It can run in completely INVISIBLE mode and is PASSWORD PROTECTED, so no one except you is aware of its existence, and the password can prevent other people from revoking/terminating/uninstalling it. Screen Query v1.2 Win9x/2k/XP FREE www.network23.ca/screenquery.html Gauge your monitor's health by looking for miscolored dots, which indicate the pixel is bad or stuck. In such a situation, massage it lightly to bring it back to life (I'm not kidding here, that's what the instructions say!). If the patterns appear 100% solid, you can be a happy camper knowing your screen has received a clean bill of health. Click CTRL+S to start the test and click on your mouse to advance to the next screen. It will go through red, green, blue, black, and white screens. Look for anything that doesn't match. Oh, that was scary. I thought I had a few bad pixels, but it turned out to be kiddie prints. Those of you lucky enough to have a Mac computer in addition to Windows can download a Mac version, too. Beyond Compare v2.0.3 Win98/2k/XP Shareware http://www.mywebattack.com/gnomeapp.php?id=107427 Beyond Compare is a directory and file compare utility that allows you to synchronize files between laptop and PC, home and office, etc. You can compare any two directory trees side-by-side with mismatches automatically highlighted and several filter options to further investigate the differences. When you are comparing text-based files, they're shown side-by-side and the differences are highlighted so that they are easy to spot. In addition to local files, you can also use the program to perform FTP synchronizations, compare and merge source code changes, create snapshots, and more. Beyond Compare also supports minor editing, Unicode text files, built-in zip, and more. Pacmania II Win9x/2k/XP FREE Trial http://go.lockergnome.com/197 The coolest Pac-man remake since the original Pac-man of 1980, PacMania II features a 3D-environment, stylish graphics and sound effects. The Classical mode is at your service if you're longing for some old-style gaming. The Advanced Mode is for people in need of adventure and a special CarMania mode is for people with a passion for cars. You can select your theme and character at the beginning of the game. The episodes will offer you a great variety of levels, graphics, and bonuses. Just eat all of the dots to move to the next level and avoid or hunt back the monsters (beware, they always come back). The key question is "To eat or not to eat?" Start your journey now to find out the answer! Neave.com http://www.neave.com/ Click on the test tube to sneak into the mad professor's playground to do a little experimenting or go to the games. The games section has old arcade favorites Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Tetris, Asteroids, and Snake. Don't explain the old style design for these oldies as they've received a smooth facelift. In the lab's space session, the planetarium took me back to the days when I went to the Fort Worth Museum of Science History's planetarium as it felt like I was there again. I skipped optical illusions because I'm getting over an illness that made me dizzy. The nice guy behind the Web site makes the Flash-based goodies available for download. Just play around the lab and you'll find something addicting. (Ed Note: I got lost in this superb site, it took me several hours to leave it.) ~~~ Closing Humor As a way of welcoming us to the year 2004 we close with the following item: You know you're living in the year 2004 when: 1. Your reason for not staying in touch with family is because they do not have e-mail addresses. 2. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three. 3. You call your son's beeper to let him know it's time to eat. He e-mails you back from his bedroom, "what's for dinner?" 4. Your daughter sells Girl Scout cookies via her web site and her picture phone. 5. You chat several times a day with a stranger from South Africa, but you haven't spoken with your next-door neighbor yet this year. 6. Your grandmother asks you to send her a JPEG file of your newborn so she can create a screen saver. 7. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home. 8. Every commercial on television has a web site address at the bottom of the screen. 9. You buy a computer and 3 months later it is out of date and now sells for half the price you paid. 10. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go get it. 11. Using real money to make a purchase--instead of credit or debit--would be a hassle, takes planning, and makes you feel anxious. 12. You just tried to enter your password on the microwave. 13. You consider second day air delivery painfully slow. 14. Your dining room table is now your flat filing cabinet. 15. You hear most of your jokes via e-mail instead of in person. 16. You get an extra phone line so you can get phone calls. 17. You disconnect from the Internet and get this awful feeling, as if you just pulled the plug on a loved one. 18. You get up in morning and go on-line before getting your coffee. 19. You wake up at 2 am to go to the bathroom and check your e-mail on your way back to bed. 20. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. :) 21. You're reading this. Happy New Year - see you soon! The information in this bulletin is compiled from a variety of public sources. Replies or comments should be sent to: newsbytes@lvpcug.org [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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