Sarasota PC Monitor
Review Chairmans Industry Comments (05/04)
The Computer Buffet
by Herb Goldstein, Review Editor
E-mail comments, suggestions, etc. to Herb Goldstein at: revieweditor@spcug.org
WINDOWS XP SERVICE PACK 2. You may have read that Microsoft is busily working away on Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. The earliest look at this revision to the operating system most of us are currently using indicates that the major change lies in a new "security center" that will reside in your control panel. Here's the skinny on what this security center provides and why (at this time) we DON'T recommend it:
- A Microsoft firewall that will supplement (not replace) those like Zone Alarm that you already are running. It is not a good idea to run more than one firewall or antivirus utility at the same time. Conflicts often occur. Past performance indicates that standalone utilities of this type are more proficient than those offered by Microsoft, so you will likely be safer to stick with Zone Alarm and NOT run two firewalls at the same time!
- A reminder to use your antivirus software. Do you really need a reminder? If you are not running a good antivirus program (like PC-Cillin) automatically from startup that provides continuous protection and automatic frequent updates, you are crazy-nuts-out of your mind and should not own a computer!
- Automatic Windows update. I check for Windows updates at least weekly. I don't have Windows update set to run automatically (as will be the case in Service Pack 2) because running it automatically in the background takes up memory unnecessarily. I can remember to run it once a week myself and avoid the extra freight. I suggest you do so too.
INTERNET EXPLORER ON STEROIDS. Leave It to Steve Bass to come up with this winner. Here's a new browser that's free just like Microsoft's Internet Explorer, but loaded with all kinds of features and goodies that outclasses anything else around. Controls cookies and pop-up ads, loads multiple web pages simultaneously and lets you move easily between them or tile them for concurrent viewing, takes all kinds of plug-ins, and offers more adjustments than a chiropractor. Give it a go and you may be very pleasantly surprised. You can always go back to Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Opera, or whatever you may like. Get it at find.pcworld..com/40934
I have just started using this myself as my default browser and will continue to do so if my first very positive impressions persist. It looks like a real winner! Stay tuned.
FREE GREETING CARDS. They are here for all occasions from Hallmark and they are free. Now there's no excuse for missing that special day! www.hallmark.com/Website/hk_ecards_cards.html
BED AND BREAKFAST fans world-wide will find a great collection of sites at http://www.lanierbb.com/ In many ways, B&B's capture you the flavor of your location in many ways with which fancy hotels can't compete, not to mention much better prices.
EASY, HANDY CONVERSIONS. Convert is an easy to use unit conversion program that will convert the most popular units of distance, temperature, volume, time, speed, mass, power, density, pressure, energy and many others, including the ability to create custom conversions! www.joshmadison.com/software/convert
YOUR HARD DRIVE'S HEALTH can be checked free online by Western Digital at http://support.wdc.com/dlg/onlinedlg.asp. Your drive does not have to be a Western Digital.
PIXRESIZER is a photo resizing program to easily create web and email friendly versions of your images with reduced file sizes. The reduced files are saved in a different folder, so your original images are not altered at all. PIXresizer offers several different resizing methods to choose from and can automatically recognize image sizes to calculate the best fit. In addition, it can convert between image formats (JPEG, GIF, BMP, PNG and TIFF), rotate images, convert to grayscale and resize multiple images in batch mode. A great companion for webmasters and digital photographers. http://bluefive.pair.com/pixresizer.htm
STEVE GIBSON'S WIZMO is an extremely useful multi-purpose program with a growing list of uncommon but useful features and capabilities. It does so much, you'll have to visit the site to read all about it! http://grc.com/wizmo/wizmo.htm
LISTEN TO SPACE! You can hear the sounds made by Jupiter's magnetosphere. It almost sounds like seagulls talking over a crashing ocean. You can also hear what it sounds like when infrared rays escape from a black hole. If you think it's loud on earth, you should hear what cosmic debris sounds like. Cosmic debris is the noise in the air made from television, radio and cell phone waves. It's neat to hear. www.spacesounds.com/
CUSTOMIZING THE PLACES BAR . Here's a handy tip from Kim Komando in instant "Save As"navigation to a folder in which you frequently save files you create in any of the Microsoft Office apps (word, Access, etc.). The Places Bar was tailor-made for this situation. It is the vertical bar on the left side of the Save As window in Word. It by default includes five folders. Click on one of the folders, and it appears in the Save In box. Problem is, most of the default folders are not ones you usually use. So, you want to put the folders you use in the Places Bar. Once they are there, you need only click on the one you want. It will immediately appear in the Save In box.
To start, click File>>Save As, which opens the Save As window. By default, My Documents is in the Save In box. Navigate to the folder you want to use, just as you always do. It doesn't matter how deeply nested it is. When you get to it, click it once to highlight it. Then click Tools>>Add to My Places. Do that to each folder that you use.
If you added four folders, you will now have nine total in the Places Bar. The four you added will be out of sight. To see them, use the scroll arrow. You'll probably want to make your folders visible. Right-click the Desktop folder near the top. Select Small Icons. That will make all nine folders visible. If you want to use large icons, you can move your folders up. Do that by right-clicking them and selecting Move Up. Because they move just one step at a time, this is a slow process. When you finish, right- click one of the icons and select Large Icons.
Making these changes in Word switches the Save As box in other Office programs, too. So, if you use, say, Excel, remember that you'll want access to its folders, too. For info on Kim's radio shows and more, go to komando.com
MORE ON PARTITIONING. If you are looking to partition a hard drive you are faced with a variety of choices. Recent articles by Brian Lewis in the Monitor would certainly have been a help. For more skinny on the topic and some excellent suggestions you might want to go to http://partition.radified.com/
WIN 98 PROBLEMS. We have often received questions on Windows 98 shutdown, lockup, and other such generic problems. There is a simple and foolproof solution to all of them... install Windows XP! Guaranteed you will kick yourself for not having done it sooner!
BEST POP-UP STOPPER. Avant Browser is a fast, stable, user-friendly, versatile, multiwindow browser. It allows users to browse multiple Web sites simultaneously and block all unwanted pop-up pages and Flash ads automatically. The integrated cleaner helps users clear all traces and maintain privacy. The built-in Google search engine enables users to search for Web pages, images, groups, directories, lyrics, software, and news on the Internet. Avant Browser provides options for blocking the download of Flash media, pictures, video, sounds, and ActiveX components, so users can efficiently use their bandwidth and speed up page loading. All opened pages can be easily stopped, refreshed, closed, or arranged with just one click. Version 9.01.121 features improvements for Pop-up Blocker, AD Blocker, FavIcon Support, and Tab Buttons. http://www.avantbrowser.com/
BUY BOOKS CHEAP. Like books? Like to buy them online? According to kim komando, you can comparison shop for the best price in books at http://www.bestwebbuys.com/books/index.html The site does not sell you the book. It searches dozens of bookstores and lists their prices-including shipping. It's not limited to hardcover books. You'll find prices for new and used paperback and audiobooks as well.
For example, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown lists for $24.95. You can buy it used for as little as $8.48 or new for only $17.08. Both prices included shipping. Such a deal!
MUTUAL FUND INVESTORS should monitor www.fundalarm.com. Here's a site providing free info on funds, especially those you should consider dumping. Lots of good stuff here to keep an eye on.
QUICK ROUTE TO SECURITY. Instead of navigating through Tools|Internet Options|Security in Internet Explorer 6 to change your security settings, simply double click on the Internet icon on the right side of IE's status bar, on the bottom of the IE window. MOUSE LOCATOR. Windows XP makes it easy to locate your cursor by touching the CTRL key. To enable the feature, go to Start|Control Panel and click the Mouse icon. Select the Mouse Properties and Pointer Options tabs and check "Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key".
LAPTOP BATTERIES. If you own a laptop computer, this is a subject guaranteed to be of interest to you. You can get the skinny on what tested best, longest lasting, etc. by CNet at http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3121_7-5127099-1.html
GIMP 2.0. Yes, it's an odd name, but GIMP stands for "GNU Image Manipulation Program." It's a very powerful yet free graphics tool "for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring." GIMP runs on most operating systems, including Windows. http://www.dpreview.com/news/0403/04032602gimpv2.asp
MICROSOFT SECURITY ALERTS. Microsoft issues regular security warnings. Most often, you'll hear about them on the news or on my show and in my newsletters. You can get them directly. Sign up for e-mail alerts from Microsoft. They tell you which products are affected and give you a link to the full announcement. Stay vigilant. Keep the bad guys out of your computer! http://www.microsoft.com/security/security_bulletins/alerts2.asp
GOOGLE MAIL. Google recently entered into the free-mail free-for-all with a service dubbed Gmail. Originally announced on April 1, many thought it might be a joke. But the folks at Hotmail and Yahoo aren't laughing. Given Google's promise of 1GB of e-mail storage, buttressed with its renowned search engine, Gmail could give the other free e-mail services a real run for their money. The only glitch? Some privacy advocates worry about Gmail's business model, which relies on serving up context-relevant ads to e-mail readers. And some language in the Gmail user agreement might violate European privacy laws.
EASY CLEANER searches Windows' registry for entries that are pointing nowhere and lets you delete unnecessary files such as temps, backups etc. It provides a search for duplicate files and displays information about disk space usage! It also manages startup programs, invalid shortcuts and add/remove software list. Download free. Read the warning labels and use certain features with caution! This site has a wide collection of other very useful, free utilities. http://www.docsdownloads.com/easycleaner.htm
LONGHORN DELAYED. Microsoft's new operating system scheduled to be released late 2005 has been postponed to mid 2006. Additionally, many of its new features have been trimmed to a still later version code-named "Blackcomb." The problem appears to be the shortage of programmers occasioned by the number of them occupied on the upcoming Service Pack 2 release for XP.
HDD HEALTH is a full-featured failure-prediction agent for machines using Windows 95, 98, NT, Me, 2000 and XP. Sitting in the system tray, it monitors hard disks and alerts you to impending failure. The program uses Self Monitoring and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) built into all new hard disks, and can predict failures on your hard drives. A host of alerting features include email, local pop-up messages, net messages, and event logging, while using no system resources. http://www.shellcity.net/
ONLINE CONVERSION contains thousands of conversions. You'll find distance, time, speed, weight, energy, numbers and more. You can even convert years into Roman numerals. In case you're wondering, the year 2004 is MMIV. www.onlineconversion.com/
SECURE VS. NON-SECURE. Ever get the nuisance screen in Internet Explorer that says, "This page contains both secure and nonsecure items. Do you want to display the nonsecure items?" Another is, "This page cannot be refreshed without resending the information. Click Retry to send the information again, or click Cancel to return to the page that you were trying to view."
Kim Komando offers her take on both these often occurring browsing obstacles. According to Kim, both of these messages pop up in Internet Explorer. They are very irritating, because they tell you nothing. They just create an extra step for you. Let's take them in turn. The first occurs when you are sending stuff to a secure site. It often shows up in an interactive context. For instance, let's say you're filling out a form to see if you need to take antacid pills. That is medical information, although it might be a thoroughly commercial site. When you press submit, you get the message.
The message pops up because some things on the page that is next downloaded to you are not secure. That could include the graphics, for example. The survey results would be secure, so they could not be snatched by someone watching your transaction. So you have a mix. The problem with the message, of course, is that it tells you nothing.
If you want to see the survey results, you must click Yes. So the message is worthless, in my opinion. Fortunately, you can turn it off. In Internet Explorer, go to Tools>> Internet Options. Select the Security tab and click Custom Level. Find the Miscellaneous heading. Change Display Mixed Content from Prompt to Enable.
The second message occurs when you attempt to return to a page. Again, it is interactive. First, you submit information to a site, and it sends you a page in response. When you press the Back button to return to the page on which you submitted the information, you get the message. Sorry to say, there's nothing you can do about this. It stems from the way the page was programmed. When you filled out the form the first time, Internet Explorer saved that data. It forces you to send all that data again. Were the programming different, you could avoid this issue. But there is nothing that you can do about it.
SPYWARE- Covering 3rd Base
The day your computer started communicating with the outside via email and the internet was the day your troubles seriously began. The open door became an invitation for intruders to invade your computer with viruses, advertising, and a seemingly endless variety of other pests and malware. Fortunately, protection is readily available for all these insidious problems. To even think of turning on your computer today without adequate protection is cyber-suicide.
PC-cillin is our recommendation for top-notch antivirus software. Its outstandingly frequent updates, often daily, are unmatched. When it comes to a firewall to keep hackers out of your system, the prime and most popular choice is Zone Alarm. Add just one more product and you've got all 3 bases covered.
Move around the internet and you can extract endless amounts of information contained in the websites you visit. Unbeknown to you, however, your web travels leave you open to an insidious variety of electronic pests collectively known as spyware that can be implanted on your computer without you ever knowing they were there. They can spy on and record your internet travels, your computer keystrokes, steal your identity and personal info, and completely invade your privacy, as well as place electronic gremlins on your hard drive that can cause you some serious damage. Spyware is the most common of all computer afflictions. More that 90% of computers harbor a significant number of these secret intruders. Fortunately, excellent software is available to intercept and root out this malware.
Monitor readers will recall our reviews and frequent mention of Webroot's Window Washer as the easiest to use and most effective software to both clean and cover your computer tracks, cookies, caches and the like. Consequently, when searching for good anti-spyware software, Webroot seemed to be a good place to start. Their anti-spyware application, Spy Sweeper is available for free 30 day trial download. The results were startling, to say the least. A Spy Sweeper scan of my computer turned up a hornet's nest of spyware and malware that I had no idea existed. I was particularly disappointed to find these intruders because I have been a frequent user of both Ad-Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy, both popular freeware anti-spyware programs. I assumed my system was squeaky-clean! Well surprise, surprise.
Using Spy Sweeper is extremely easy and completely effective. Click on the "scan" button and Spy Sweeper will search your hard drive for any sign of spyware, Trojans or other and all malware. It will list its findings and give you information and offer a recommendation on each and every item it finds, quarantine those items and provide the option of deleting each. The program identifies intruders from an extensive and constantly updated database it maintains. As in the case of antivirus software, frequent easy updates are available and should be applied regularly.
On the prevention side, Spy Sweeper remains active from startup to give you real-time protection that notifies you when spies attempt to run in-memory, while adware cookie-blocking and homepage protection ensure that your online browsing sessions are protected from spyware.
You can download Spy Sweeper at www.webroot.com and try it free for 30 days, or purchase it for $29.95. This program has our highest recommendation, and you are strongly urged to try it. :
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Copyright 2004. This article is from the May 2004 issue of the Sarasota PC Monitor, the official monthly publication of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., P.O. Box 15889, Sarasota, FL 34277-1889. Permission to reprint is granted only to other non-profit computer user groups, provided proper credit is given to the author and our publication. We would appreciate receiving a copy of the publication the reprint appears in, please send to above address, Attn: Editor. For further information about our group, email: admin@spcug.org/ Web: http://www.spcug.org/
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