VIRUS AND OTHER STINKY STUFF TECHNICALLY SPEAKING INTERESTING SITES
VIRUS AND OTHER STINKY STUFF:
Diseases and Illnesses: Influenza Here's a virus that attacks the bod and not your machine. Thanks to Worldstart. With the flu season almost in full force, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about influenza ('the flu'). The flu is a common, very contagious respiratory infection caused by a virus. The flu virus can be transmitted directly from an infected person, or indirectly through contact with a contaminated item such as a cup. Once symptoms start, the flu is usually contagious for 3 to 4 days. There are three main types of the flu virus: A, B, and C. These three types can mutate into different forms and cause a variety of outbreaks. Your chances of getting the flu increases with factors such as stress, lack of proper rest, bad habits (smoking, poor nutrition, and alcohol), recent illness, crowded places during the height of the flu season, chronic lung or heart disease, and certain drugs. In addition, pregnant women in their third trimester, the elderly, and children are especially susceptible to the flu. Did you know, on the average, between 25 and 50 million Americans get the flu each year? Out of those people, around 500,000 are hospitalized and some 20,000 die of the flu. (And you thought you had to worry about the West Nile Virus...). Signs and Symptoms • A sudden onset of a moderate to high fever, and chills. • General body and muscle aches. • A cough, with or without sputum. • Fatigue, which can last up to several weeks. • Other symptoms that can occur with influenza are: sore throat, hoarseness, headache, eye pain, and a runny nose. Tips and Techniques If you should become one of the unlucky victims of the flu, here are a few tips to remember: • The first thing you want to do is rest, rest, rest. • Drink plenty of liquids (diluted fruit juices, Gatorade, beef and chicken broth, and tea). Avoid carbonated drinks which can cause gas and nausea. • As your appetite comes back, consider trying a "BRAT" diet (bananas, plain rice, apple sauce, and plain toast). • Because the flu is a viral infection, an antibiotic will not help. • If you have body aches, headaches, or a fever, you might want to try taking ibuprofen (Advil), aspirin, or acetaminophen (Tylenol). NOTE: Never give aspirin to a child or a teenager who has a cold, flu, chicken pox, or any other illness you suspect might be caused by a virus. • Ask your doctor about virus-fighting drugs that can help reduce the length and strength of the flu. (Which may also help protect family members.) • A word of caution about OTC (over-the-counter) medications: they can suppress your symptoms giving you a false sense of wellness. Returning to normal activities while still afflicted with the flu could cause serious complications. • To avoid the flu in the future, check with your doctor about getting an annual flu shot. While this does not guarantee protection from the flu, it can help lessen the chance of getting the flu, and decrease the strength of the flu. NOTE: These things really do work; I have not had the flu since I have started getting them. • Another prevention to consider is a pneumonia shot, which only needs to be given once every 5 to 10 years. Medical Jargon Mucus - viscous fluid secreted by goblet cells consisting of glycoproteins, salts, and cells; functions in lubrication and protection of tissues and cavities. Goblet cells - a type of cell that is found in the intestinal or respiratory tracts that secretes mucus. Viscous - sticky or gummy. Sputum - a substance expelled by coughing or clearing of the throat.
Virus or hoax? Just got this in from a reliable source It seems that there is a virus out there called the Senile Virus that even the most advanced programs from Norton cannot take care of, so be warned, it appears to affect those of us who were born before 1958! Symptoms of Senile Virus 1.Causes you to send same e-mail twice. 2.Causes you to send blank e-mail. 3.Causes you to send to wrong person. 4.Causes you to send back to person who sent it to you. 5.Causes you to forget to attach the attachment. 6.Causes you to hit "SEND"before you've finished the letter There is no know cure.
CokeBoy Macro Virus - W97M_BEKO.A From Trend Micro W97M_BEKO.A is a macro virus that infects Microsoft Word documents. It infects the Microsoft Word normal template. To execute its viral code, this virus uses the Auto_Open macro, which Microsoft Word calls whenever an infected file is opened. This macro virus disables the following Microsoft Word settings: * ConfirmConversions * VirusProtection * SaveNormalPrompt On infected systems, it automatically converts Microsoft Word documents of an older version, to later versions, whenever applicable, and updates the Microsoft Word normal template (NORMAL.DOT). On Microsoft Word 2000 or 2002, it adds registry entries that set the Security Level of the system to "Low" allowing macros to execute automatically, without prompting the user. The virus also allows WordBasic macros to automatically execute. Upon first execution of an infected file, the virus copies its code to the normal template, NORMAL.DOT. This allows it to automatically infect opened documents on subsequent opening of Microsoft Word. It creates a CokeBoy folder in the Windows directory, and then drops a Visual Basic Script (VBS) file with a file name composed of eight random digits. This script file is responsible for the mass-mailing routine of the virus. It also uses Microsoft Outlook to send copies of itself to all email addresses in the infected system's address book. It arrives in an email with the following: Subject: <filename of infected file without extension> Message Body: A confidential document is for you.. only for u! Attachment: <infected file> The VBS file adds a registry entry so that it executes at every Windows startup. When the system date is the 29th of any month, this macro virus displays a message box containing the text strings: This Document is infected by CokeBoy Worm. Whenever the user of the infected system selects the Help > About Microsoft Word in the Menu bar, the Microsoft Office Assistant appears with this message and an OK button: W97M.Coke2002 by CokeBoy (c)2002 When the user clicks OK, the virus overwrites the active document with these text strings: I'm Coke, a bottled drink!! I'm not dangerous. You are being hit by the evil Coke worm! CokeBoy newest drink worm.. you gotta see it! CokeBoy newest drink worm.. you gotta believe it! CokeBoy newest drink worm.. you gotta taste! CokeBoy newest drink worm.. you gotta get it! CokeBoy newest drink worm.. you gotta buy it! CokeBoy newest drink worm.. you gotta try it! CokeBoy newest drink worm.. you gotta drink it! CokeBoy newest drink worm.. you gotta love it!
IF YOU SUSPECT THAT YOU HAVE A VIRUS OR IF YOU HAVE NOT SUCCESSFULLY SCANNED YOUR DRIVES FOR VIRUSES LATELY... THEN THE NEXT SUGGESTION IS FOR YOU. Free Virus scan. Trend Micro, more commonly referred to as Housecall, offers free virus scans and in most cases can fix damage down by a virus or worm that your computer may have contacted. The program works well. The first time one uses the free program it is necessary to download a small program. Trend Micro walks you through the process. Then the virus scans are quite simple for each return. You should disable any anti virus program that you have running. If you do not have a virus program I recommend that you use this program first and then download one of the free programs listed above of install any anti virus program you have purchased. Go to http://housecall.antivirus.com/ then choose the link "Scan without registering". Follow the directions.
Free Virus programs to download Quite a few KCnet members use these programs and like them. Be careful if you download a virus program and you already have one installed on your computer. You need to at least disable the program already installed. http://www.grisoft.com/html/us_index.cfm Another good free program to take a look at is: http://www.free-av.com/
10 Most Prevalent In-the-Wild Malware Surveyed by Trend Micro US (week of: November 25, 2002 to December 1, 2002) 1. WORM_YAHA.G 2. WORM_KLEZ.H 3. JS_NOCLOSE.E 4. JS_EXCEPTION.GEN 5. WORM_OPASERV.H 6. WORM_OPASERV.F 7. WORM_OPASERV.A 8. WORM_OPASERV.E 9. WORM_BUGBEAR.A 10. WORM_OPASERV.G
Here are a few sites of many that can help you determine if an email is a hoax or real. http://www.urbanlegends.com/ulz/ http://vil.nai.com/VIL/hoaxes.asp http://kumite.com/myths/ http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html http://www.scambusters.org/VirusHoaxes.html
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING: "Shared" files. What are those? Thanks to Worldstart Shared files are "general purpose" files more than one program can use. They usually come in the form of DLL files, and should be automatically installed with the software that needs them (assuming the setup program for the software includes them, most good setups will). You can have problems if you run an uninstall program and it deletes out a shared file that other programs use. So, if you are asked if you want to remove a shared program file, it's probably best to say no - unless you know for sure that it's not needed by any other programs. What happens if one of those shared files gets deleted or corrupted and one of your other programs will no longer run? Easy - just re-install the program in question and you'll be back in business. No big deal.
New Entrant In Free Antivirus Arena Here is some interesting information about free virus programs that have been suggested in the Virus section of this newsletter for the past several months. It is comforting to see professional documentation for a KCnet Newsletter suggestions. (MLF) Hi Fred, I tried this free program yesterday and it works better than the Mc Afee program that I had, until yesterday-LOL. I inserted an old floppy disk into my new PC and Mc Afee warned me of the NYB virus but was unable to repair it. So, to shorten this story and get right to the point, I downloaded a program entitled Antivir from Germany at http://free-av.com It also spotted the NYB virus and promptly repaired it. I uninstalled Mc Afee and I'm glad that I did. ---John Di Gilio Thanks, John. Grisoft AntiVirus ("AVG") is the current leader in free AV tools ( http://www.grisoft.com ). It'll be interesting to compare the two....
When my printer prints, I get black streaks across the words. What's causing this? Good question and a good answer from Worldstart. Sounds like your printer's ink jet heads need cleaning. Now the procedure for this varies from printer to printer. Some printers (HP) have the ink jet nozzles built into the ink cartridge. Remove the cartridges and wipe their little bottoms with a soft, lint-free cloth. Make sure you clean both the color and black cartridges - sometimes a black streak can be caused by something sitting on a color cartridge. If you can't remove the ink jet nozzle / head, you'll need to try to wipe them off using a lint free cloth. Getting to them can be difficult, so if they are unreachable or you're not comfortable messing around with your printer you may want to take to a repair shop for cleaning. Finally, check with your printer manufacturer and see if they offer some kind of a cleaning kit. HP had one that came free with an ink cartridge, so I know they're out there. In addition, your printer help file may give some advice for recommended cleaning procedures.
It's Curtains For Windows 95 Dec. 16, 2002 Fred Langa bids farewell to Win95 and Win 3x, two operating systems that literally changed the world but will no longer be supported by Microsoft. On Dec. 31 this year, Windows 95 and Windows 3x will reach what Microsoft calls EOL, or end of life. In short, there'll be no further support, no further patches, updates, or online help available for these products from Microsoft. It's noteworthy because these products shaped the computing landscape as we now know it. Love them or hate them, Win95 and Win3x had an enormous impact on us all--on everyone who has used any computer, including Macs and Linux boxes, in the last dozen years. In fact, I think Win95 and Win3x were arguably the most important commercial operating system releases ever; and that no future operating system release, ever, will match their impact. Here's why: Sherman, Set The Wayback Machine ... In 1990, a typical mainstream PC cost around $2,200 (equivalent to a hefty $3,100 in today's dollars) and was based on an i386 chip running at a blazing 16 MHz. The system came maxed out with 2 MB of RAM, a small hard drive, and a 12-inch or 14-inch monitor. The only sound capability was a tinny system speaker that could make primitive bleeps and bloops. There was no mouse: A typical system--indeed, most of the world's PCs--was based on MS-DOS, which let users run exactly one program at a time by typing text commands at a C:\> prompt. It's not that PC users didn't know about mouse-driven "graphical user interfaces" (GUIs) and multitasking. In fact, by 1990, there already was an active group of hard-core PC users (like me!) who routinely rigged third-party (non-Microsoft) DOS task-switchers, simple multitaskers, memory managers, and colorful operating system "shells" to try to wring more from the primitive operating system; but we were a tiny minority. Most PC users stuck with DOS more or less as it was delivered. Part of that was inertia and part of it was that Microsoft's own GUI products were so lame: Windows 1.0 had debuted way back in 1983, but was so poorly done and expensive that it was almost universally ignored. Windows 2.0 fared little better: It came out in 1987, but it, too, was barely noticed except by a handful of gamers and the tiny percentage of users who ran the limited office software available for Windows 2.0. If you wanted an easy-to use, mouse-driven, point-and-click GUI, the Apple Mac was the only serious choice, offering elegance and sophistication light years ahead of everyone, except perhaps the Amiga. (Alas, the Amiga had its own problems, and was rapidly dropping out of sight.) But the Mac was very, very expensive: The Mac SE/30 had debuted in 1989 at $4,400 (about $6,500 in today's dollars). That was a lot of money for a personal computer then, and still is today. So, in 1990, the PC world was firmly entrenched in the all-text command-line approach to computing, and many in the DOS world regarded any graphical interface as an unnecessary and expensive frill. Some even showed their disdain by coining the pejorative acronym WIMP to describe the use of Windows, Icons, Mice, and Pointers: People using a GUI, according to these wags, were WIMP users.
More (Free!) "Bayesian" Spam Filters Coming From the LangaList. Good news about spam obliteration. It's a wonderful thing: More and more context-sensitive, intelligent spam filters are arriving every day. Most are based on the "Bayesian" statistical approach we discussed in http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20021115S0018 . Maybe, just maybe, 2003 will be the year when we'll see older, competing anti-spam technologies---like crude and destructive blacklists--- die a well-deserved death. Many readers have written about "Popfile," available at http://popfile.sourceforge.net/ . It works with just about any email client that gathers mail from a standard Internet mail server. (It won't work with browser-based mail, or with nonstandard/proprietary email systems like AOL's, but will work with almost everything else: If you can read your mail with Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Pegasus, or similar email clients, Popfile will probably work for you.) Full info and instructions are available on the Popfile site. Note that Popfile is proxy-based--- it sets up a mini email server on your pc, and uses that to filter your mail for spam. If you also use a proxy-based email virus scanner (like Norton), you'll need to pay special attention to the section labeled "Other Proxies" in order to get the two proxy- based email scanners to coexist peacefully.
If setting up something like Popfile isn't your cup of tea, consider this: Hi Fred, Just letting you know that Mozilla 1.3 Alpha, which was released on Friday, includes a Bayesian Spam Filter in its mail client. Currently it only flags mail that it thinks is spam (it can't move messages to the trash or delete them, for example) but this feature will come in 1.3 Beta which is released early in the New Year.--- Neil Turner Thanks, Neil. Alpha software (alpha = first test release) is usually a little rough and buggy, so it may be better for most users to wait for a stable beta (second test release). But the adventurous may wish to try the alpha at http://www.mozilla.org . In any case, it's great to see Bayesian filters catching on so fast. The sooner we're rid of blacklists, the better!
Hardware Information By Sue Whitehouse Almost no matter what computer item you want to buy--motherboard, video card, audio card, hard disk, you name it, the place to get the best information on the device is probably Tom's Hardware Guide. Look to this site for the latest (very objective) hardware reviews. You can visit Tom's Hardware Guide by clicking: http://www6.tomshardware.com/mainboard/index.html
INTERESTING SITES : Christmas Stories and Poems This is a dynamite site for Christmas stories and poems suitable for kids and adults. This is where I got some of the graphics and design idea for the "Twas the Night Before Christmas" bit in Mike's Commentary. http://www.night.net/christmas/poems12.html-ssi
Christmas.com's WorldView Christmas.com's WorldView started in 1994 as an effort to share how Christmas is celebrated around the world. This year we've combined the best music, recipes, features and information of the past in a new community based format. Our goal is to have some amount of information for every country in the world. Although, we currently have over 387 worldview entries and/or articles, some countries still don't have complete information. Our content team is actively filling in the gaps with more and more information being added every day. New for this year is a feature that gives you quick statistics about each major region and country. This should easily allow you to see what's available. http://www.christmas.com/worldview/
http://www.merry-christmas.com/
Xmas Fun Amanda at Worldstart suggestes this site and it looks worthwhile. This page has an advent calendar, music, recipes, games, and much more in a Christmas theme. Definitely a fun filled site with tons of stuff to look at and do. You can find a lot of your favorite Christmas carols here, and if there isn't music to download you can at least have the lyrics. In the game section you can find: word searches, slide puzzles, word scrambles and much more. To get into the spirit of Christmas enjoy playing one of these games. Well, what more can I say, other than enjoy! http://xmasfun.com/
St. Nicholas: Discovering the Truth about Santa Claus This one from Amanda of Worldstart Just who is Santa Claus? Are St. Nicolas and Santa Claus the same person? What are the myths of Santa Clause from different parts of the world? Are you curious? Do you need this information for a report? Well if so this is the site that will answer your questions. Delve deep into the history of the Santa Claus Myth and find out the truth. You can also find information on Santa throughout the world and how different cultures see him. There are also sections on how to celebrate, and games for your kids. Check it out! http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=23
Pillsbury CD-ROM By Nick Sundberg I don't put for sale stuff in the newsletter very often but this one interested me because you can do some interaction. It isn't the run of the mill cooking software. Keep your eyes open, you just might find it in one of those "Special Bins" at a very reduced rate. (MLF) This software would make a great gift for the cook who also enjoys the computer. The "Cook'n with Pillsbury" CD-Rom features over 1,000 recipes from the Pillsbury files. Recipes can be printed, downloaded to your Palm unit or emailed. All dishes can be adjusted to fit the size of your party. A nice feature is a site that allows you to enter the ingredients you have on hand and the software will find a recipe that matches your pantry. One can order from the Pillsbury site. Also the siteis a good lookin' recipe and cooking information site. http://www.dvo.com/pillsbury.html
This is a site we explored in the Advanced Class this past Wednesday. It is loaded with neat little scripts for adding Pazaaz to your personal webpages. It is definitely worth a look. (MLF) We got to the site via a backdoor. We were looking at a cute site recommended through emails. The pitch to view the site goes something like this: "Click on the link below to see the FBI's latest tool against terrorism. Be careful where you move the mouse though." The address is: http://users.chartertn.net/tonytemplin/FBI_eyes/index.html The following scripts are free to use by anyone as long as the credits, my name etc, remain intact at the top of each script used. To get a script simply click on the get script button, download the zip and do the usual copy and paste thing. http://www.btinternet.com/~kurt.grigg/javascript/
NASA satelite photos. Bill Myers suggested this address. He said, "Good stuff, loads slow." He is right http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/earthasart/
Computer Stupidities By Sue Whitehouse Computer Stupidities is an interesting site for anyone who uses a computer and surfs the Internet. On this page, you'll find such classics as: Tech Support: "Well, just go to [URL]." Customer: "How do I do that?" Tech Support: "Type it in your web browser." Customer: "Huh?" Tech Support: "Ok...sir...do you have Internet access?" Customer: "Huh? No. No Internet. I don't even have a computer." Tech Support: "Ok, sir, you need a computer and an Internet account to access web sites." Customer: "Oh. Well, it didn't say that when I mailed in the membership card. I want my money back." There are many subjects to choose from. A lot of chuckles here and some that are all too familiar. http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/