VIRUS AND OTHER STINKY STUFF TECHNICALLY SPEAKING INTERESTING SITES
VIRUS AND OTHER STINKY STUFF Friday, April 2 - Friday, April 9 According to Sophos, a leader in Anti Virus Software development, 19 new/improved viruses which required Anti Virus upgrades were released into cyberspace via email.
New data from Microsoft suggests that at least 8 million Windows computers have been infected by the MSBlast, or Blaster, worm since last August--many times more than previously thought. The latest data comes from the software giant's ability to track the usage of an online tool that its engineers created to clean systems infected with the worm. Since the January release of the tool, more than 16 million of the systems that connected to Microsoft's Windows Update service were found to be infected with MSBlast and were offered a patch and the use of the disinfecting tool, the software giant told CNET News.com. During the same period, about 8 million systems actually called on Update to patch them and prevent reinfection and used the special tool to remove the worm. Though Microsoft believes the total number of users infected by the worm is likely closer to the higher, 16 million, tally, the 8 million figure may provide a more solid indication of the minimum number of systems hit. The larger number may include systems counted more than once, as busy computers users declined to deal with the worm immediately, or canceled the process once it had begun, only to return to Windows Update later. Once those systems were disinfected and patched, however, they would not be re-counted. Microsoft did not track what systems, specifically, used the tool, just that it was used. MORE: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5184439.html
NETSKY-R CONTINUES VIRUS WAR AS BAGLE-U PLAYS CARDS Sophos issues advice and protection against the latest variants of the Bagle and Netsky worms. Netsky-R latest in barrage of warring worms, Sophos comments Sophos virus researchers are warning of a new strain of the Netsky worm, W32/Netsky-R, which launches denial-of-service attacks on peer-to-peer file sharing sites, including Kazaa, as well as various sites offering software security cracks. The mass-mailing worm spreads via email to addresses harvested from files found on local drives of infected PCs. It arrives with the subject line 'Re:Document' and includes the message text: 'Excuse me, the important document is attached, Yours sincerely'. When the attached file 'Document ' is launched, Netsky-R attempts to launch a denial-of-service attack against several websites and attempts to delete a number of registry entries, including some related to the Bagle family of worms. Netsky-R is the latest variant to enter the war against the Bagle worm - including an encrypted message attacking Bagle's author and threatening further versions of the Netsky worm: 'Yes, true, you have understand it. Bagle is a shitty guy, he opens a backdoor and he makes a lot of money. Netsky not, Netsky is Skynet, a good software, Good guys behind it. Believe me, or not. We will release thousands of our Skynet versions, as long as bagle is there...' "The Netsky worms have been plaguing computer users for a couple of months now, and people are starting to get pretty sick of the petty squabbles between the Netsky authors and their virus writing rivals," said Carole Theriault, security consultant, Sophos. "As well as attacking websites and mass-mailing to harvested email addresses, this latest version seems to have singled out someone called 'Jena' for a personal attack, ensuring that the worm is always sent to her Yahoo email address. Given the amount of email generated to the web email account, it must have been rendered useless by now, unless of course it is being used to track how far the worm is spreading by the number of mails generated."
Sober-F email worm spreading via email, users warned to be on their guard by Sophos Researchers at Sophos, a world leader in protecting businesses against viruses and spam, have warned computer users to be on their guard against a new variant of the Sober email worm which has been sighted in the wild. The W32/Sober-F worm was spotted over the weekend, spreading via email systems using a variety of subject lines including "Oh my God", "Hi, it's me", "Well, surprise?!" and "Bad Gateway". Users who launch the attached file invoke the virus, which harvests email addresses it finds on the computer's hard drive. The worm then forwards itself onto the list of email addresses it has discovered, sending itself in the form of a German language message if it determines it is being sent to an German email address. "This latest incarnation of the Sober worm is capable of clogging up email systems and stealing bandwidth with the number of emails it can generate," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "The fact that this worm appeared over the weekend underlines how vital it is for users to automate their anti-virus updates. All companies should wake up to the importance of filtering dangerous content at the email gateway." In a sneaky twist the worm can append a message to the bottom of infected emails claiming that it has already been virus scanned, and no malware has been detected. "The ploy of adding a 'No virus found' message at the bottom of the email is deliberately designed to appeal to those who are too impatient to practise safe computing," continued Cluley.
IF YOU SUSPECT THAT YOU HAVE A VIRUS OR IF YOU HAVE NOT SUCCESSFULLY SCANNED YOUR DRIVES FOR VIRUSES LATELY... THIS NEXT SITE IS FOR YOU. Free Virus scans. 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.
Computer Associates, another reputable and reliable anti virus developer introduced a new free program which allows anyone to do a virus scan without downloading any software or registering for an anti virus program. You must use Internet Explorer for access to Computer Associates and to perform the scan. This is a good one and very simple to operate The address is http://www3.ca.com/threatinfo/virusinfo/scan.aspx
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/us/us_dwnl_free.php Another good free program to take a look at is: http://www.free-av.com/
This list from Trend Micro represents the top 10 reported threats March 26, 2004 to April 01, 2004) 1. WORM_NETSKY.P 2. WORM_NETSKY.D 3. WORM_NETSKY.B 4. WORM_NETSKY.Q 5. WORM_NETSKY.C 6. PE_VALLA.A 7. WORM_MOFEI.B 8. WORM_LOVGATE.G 9. PE_NIMDA.E 10. WORM_BAGLE.GEN-1
Weekly Top 5 Virus Incidents The table below lists the top 5 virus and malware files submitted to Computer Associates during the week from March 29 to April 04, 2004.
1. Win32.Netsky.P 2. Win32.Netsky.D 3. Win32.Netsky.C 4. Win32.Netsky.Q 5. Win32.Netsky.B
Tried and Untrue Viruses and Warning Letters of Impending Doom. Believe it or not, the amount of harm done by sending false computer virus alarms and letters of impending doom to your thousand closest friends can be just as damaging as the alleged virus (if it even exists!); if you remember the story of the boy who cried wolf, you understand why. If you think you've got the scoop on the latest new devastating virus or latest doom warning, check it out at the Web sites below before taking it on yourself to alert the world. If the virus is as terrible as you think it is, odds are the virus fighters already know about it and -- good news here! -- your antivirus software provider probably knows about it too and already has an update for it. Sophos supplies this current information about actual hoaxes. Look at them. Read about them. If you are sent one of them, delete it.
Here are a few sites of many that can help you determine if an email is a hoax or real. http://www.quatloos.com/ http://www.snopes.com/ http://www.urbanlegends.com/ulz/ http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HBHoaxIndex.html http://vil.nai.com/VIL/hoaxes.asp http://kumite.com/myths/ http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html http://www.scambusters.org/VirusHoaxes.html http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/hoaxes/ http://www.truthorfiction.com/
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING: Maybe the Java War is over-I hope so! Microsoft and Sun: Détente It's the end of the Cold War for Sun and Microsoft, at least for now. The two companies buried the hatchet on Friday after nearly a year of complex negotiations involving antitrust, patent and technology sharing issues. Sun CEO Scott McNealy, who has spent years calling Windows a "giant hairball," conceded that customers prefer interoperability to verbal sparring, and picked up $1.95 billion Microsoft (which disposes of some problematic legal issues). Both Sun and Microsoft can now credibly talk about reducing cost and complexity for mutual customers, and about slowing down the IBM juggernaut. Sun is still in the shadow of financial problems, but this agreement could be a harbinger of good times. Our special report offers in-depth news and analysis of this watershed agreement. SEE FULL REPORT: http://zdnet.com.com/2251-1110-5184782.html
Nigerian email scammer receives 20 month jail sentence (Not stiff enough considering all the anguish created by the scams - Mike) Peter Okoeguale, a 33 year old Nigerian, has been sentenced to 20 months in jail for defrauding thousands of pounds from innocent computer users around the world through the use of the infamous Nigerian email scam. Okoeguale is the first person to be prosecuted in North Wales for what is known as advance fee fraud, and Judge John Rogers QC recommended that he be deported back to Nigeria once the sentence has been served. UK authorities found in Okoeguale's possession programs to scan websites for email addresses for the purpose of bombarding them with unsolicited email - also known as spam. Police officers were able to trace 11 victims, including one in Scotland who lost up to £20,000, and a retired 72-year-old American businessman who was defrauded of $46,500. "The Nigerian letter scam is simple robbery - the emails aim to mislead and defraud innocent computer users out of their cash", said Carole Theriault, security consultant at Sophos. "This is a serious crime that now has serious consequences. We hope this sentence will make other email fraudsters think twice before they spam out their lies." According to the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS), the "419 fraud" - named after the relevant section of the Nigerian penal code, refers to unsolicited mail in which the author purports to be a senior government or central bank official who has over-inflated a contract. In return for help smuggling money out of the country, the recipient of email is offered a significant financial reward. At first no money is requested but, once a victim has been drawn in, requests are made from the fraudster for assistance with legal and administrative costs. "This is not the first computer criminal in North Wales to be sentenced to jail," continued Theriault. In January 2003 Simon Vallor, a twenty-two year old web designer from Llandudno, received a two year custodial sentence for his viruses which were said to have infected at least 27,000 PCs in 42 countries.
Flash-memory devices John Morris Executive editor CNET Dear Readers: The floppy is dead, but USB drives are thriving. These tiny flash-memory devices come in a range of capacities from 8MB to 2GB, but they now do much more than store files--some models double as MP3 players, voice recorders, and even FM tuners. They're also available in a wide assortment of shapes and colors, from keychain designs to pens to wristwatches. We've got the goods on 13 of the latest models. Also in this issue: CNET's guide to laptop batteries, a zippy new notebook from HP, a business desktop by MPC, affordable new HP multifunctions, and a Vacation Gear Makeover contest. Read hands-on reviews of 13 USB drives More storage reviews
Organize your Web links This one from Kim Komando. I tried this one with Mozilla, Internet Explorer and Netscape 7.1. It worked great on all three, We tried it in the Users Class on Wednesday and most were impressed. I've got a ton of bookmarked links. I never seem to get around to removing the ones that don't work anymore. This program can help in that department. It removes invalid links and double entries from your browser's favorites or bookmarks. You can back up your entire collection to a ZIP file. The program works with Internet Explorer, Opera and Netscape. http://www.aignes.com/press/deadlink140.htm
Want Detailed File Info? Put it in the Properties Thanks to Worldstart for this one. I'm sure that you have a bunch of image files, music files, and document files on your computer. How would you like detailed information about the file to stay with it? I especially use this one for image files. For instance, if I see a picture online that I would like to use as a screensaver or wallpaper, I put the artists name, date, and maybe even where I found it online in the File Properties. To bring up the File Properties, just Right-click the file and choose "Properties" (you can also hold down your Alt key and double-click the file. Some files will just show "General" in the properties, but others also have a "Summary" tab. On a JPEG file you can add Title, Subject, Author, Keywords, and comments. Click the "Advanced>>" button and you can also see the width, height, resolution, and more. The "Description" and "Origin" info can also be modified from this screen by clicking the area next to "Title", etc. MP3 and MS Office files work the same way, but the info is tailored for their purpose. There may be other types that also allow summaries, so take a look. If you are an author, photographer, graphic designer, web designer, or musician, then adding file propereties can also provide important information to anyone who downloads your work. The file properties remain with the file, so if your website graphic has your name and such in the properties, they will still be there. You could even include copyright information. Whether for personal or professional use, File Properties can really come in handy.
Repair Internet Explorer 6 Under Windows XP This one from PC Magazine Repair Internet Explorer 6 Under Windows XP By Neil J. Rubenking April 20, 2004 Microsoft Windows XP won't allow you to uninstall Internet Explorer. How can you fix the browser or even reinstall the program if it becomes corrupt? Bob Rakocy If you don't yet have the very latest Internet Explorer, you can fix many problems by visiting http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com and updating to the latest version. If you're already up to date, however, the site won't let you reinstall the program. You need to fool the system into thinking you don't have the latest version. BE CAREFUL HERE: Launch REGEDIT from the Start menu's Run dialog and navigate to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{89820200-ECBD-11cf-8B85-00AA005B4383}. In the right-hand pane, double-click on the DWORD value IsInstalled and change it from 1 to 0 (no matter whether you choose Decimal or Hexadecimal). Close REGEDIT and go to the Windows update site again. Now it should let you "update" IE and, with luck, fix the problems. By the way, you can do the same thing if you need to repair Outlook Express, but at the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{44BBA840-CC51-11CF-AAFA-00AA00B6015C}. An interesting suggestion from a reader as follows: (Mike) or you could just access http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com using a different browser, such as Netscape, and download the latest version of ie.
What's with all the sizes I see? Kilobytes, megabytes, etc? This one from Worldstart. (Not everyone know this and size does count. Mike) File sizes tend to be one of the more perplexing issues for both the fledgling and intermediate computer user. So, we've put together a breakdown of the various file size "units" you may encounter. Bit- The smallest unit in computing. It can have a value of 1 or 0. You'd be hard pressed to find a file size listed in bits. Byte - A (still small) unit of information made up of 8 bits. Kilobyte(KB) - A unit of approximately 1000 bytes (1024 to be exact). Most download sites use kilobytes when they give file sizes. Megabyte (MB) - 220 bytes = 1,048,576 bytes or 1,024 kilobytes. Sometimes used to mean 1 million bytes. Gigabyte (GB) - Approximately 1 billion bytes (1024 MB). Most hard drive sizes are listed in gigabytes. OK, now for a little practical application. A 3 1/2" floppy disk holds 1.44 Megabytes (1,474 KB). A CD Rom holds 650-700 Megabytes (though most programs you get don't utilize the whole amount). This would be around 450 of those 3.5 floppies. A 20 Gig hard drive will hold the same amount of info as 31 CD ROMs or 14,222 floppy disks. It takes between 7-10 minutes to download a one megabyte (1024 KB) file using the average dial up interent connection. A typical page of text is around 4KB. To see the size of a given file, just right-click it (in Explorer or My Computer) and select Properties from the resulting menu (or Alt+ double click the file). I know that even with the information above, it can still be confusing, so I thought I would compare these digital units of measure to some everyday objects. Just picture them being completely hollow so you can store information in them. Bit - Let's call this a regular sized marble. Byte - Compared to the marble, this would be a baseball. Kilobyte - Now we jump up to a pickup truck size. Megabyte - Now for the leap - this would be a medium sized sky scraper. Gigabyte - Take 1024 of the medium sized sky scrapers and stick them together for this one!
INTERESTING SITES: Easter Sites and some neat things to do with the kids. http://wilstar.com/holidays/easter.htm http://www appy-easter.com/ http://www.billybear4kids.com/holidays/easter/fun.htm http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/easter/ http://www.night.net/easter/
Faberge Eggs Collection View some of the famous Easter Eggs created by Carl Faberge, the world-famous goldsmith, the jeweler to the Tsars of Russia! Read the Introduction by H.C. Bainbridge, a longtime associate of Carl Faberge http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/4819/feintro.html View some of the Eggs http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/4819/felist.html
IRS.gov: Main tax site, of course. www.irs.gov
Lots of tax tips, tools and resources. http://taxes.yahoo.com
Filled with tax news, information and downloadable forms. www.1040.com
A little TLC for a star This is a Kim Komando suggestion. Maybe someone we know will opt on. (Mike) The Learning Channel has a host of reality programs. Trading Spaces, While You Were Out and Faking It are just a few examples. Now's your chance to take part! Do you have a home repair horror story? Perhaps you'd like to nominate a friend or relative for a fashion makeover. Over a dozen reality programs are looking for people like you! http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/apply/getontlc.html
Mary, Mary quite contrary This one is a Kim Komando suggestion. Hopefully it will be useful to some readers. (Mike) I just love flowers. Even my 3-year-old son knows this. Whenever he sees a flower, he'll pick it, give it to me and say, "I love you, Mommy." I'm now trying to teach him when not to! So, with spring in the air, it's time to work on your garden. Today's site has links to thousands of plant and gardening resources. You'll find sites to help you plan a garden, choose the correct plants and learn how to care for them. Don't have a backyard? Learn how to create a garden in your home. http://www.iloveplants.com
National Gardening Amanda suggested this one. I don’t know about you out there in reader-land but here in Toledo, Ohio we've had a very rainy March. (Not that this is unusual, we come from the land of gray skies.) And every time I think I can work on my yard, you guessed it, it rains. But it is getting to be that time of year. So why don’t you start your garden planning with this site. At National Gardening you can learn just about every aspect of gardening. You can start by checking out the sections along the top of the page: Flowers & Bulbs; Fruits, Veggies, & Herbs; Home & Hearth; Lawns & Landscaping; Garden Care & Pests; Kids Gardening Or you can check out the side bar that has tons of resources. Most specifically this is where you can find gardening tips for where you live with the Regional Reports. I used this site to find a cure for my lawn, having two dogs they have destroyed the grass, but now I have some ideas to implement this summer to fix my lawn. The Regional Reports section is priceless. Type in your zip code and get all the information you need, as well as articles based on your region of growing. For my zip code I get a lovely article about summer and strawberries. Turning our thoughts ahead some to summer and the gardening we plan to do then. Ready to plant? http://www.garden.org
This is a dyn-o-mite site. Tons of information here FOR EVERY THING there was a FIRST TIME At some point in the past, all those little things Wal-Mart buys from China and sells to us had to be invented. Push pins, Popsicles, fountain pens, Bandaids, EVERY thing has a little invention story to it. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/
This is an interesting story and site. This site is religous in nature and is a documentation of a dream to come true. PASTOR GREENE had the same vision NOAH DID! And he's building his own Ark! Not only that, God told him to build it to Code *and* to let others help him by making financial donations. (You do not have to donate to view this site and you do not want to miss viewing.) http://www.godsark.org/ There are many graphics of this project on the site. In fact there is a little Power Point like presentation. I was impressed with the actual size of the Biblical Ark, I never knew how large a cubit was. I now realize how all those animals made it onboard - but no Unicorns. Keeping it clean must have been a real chore. I'd like to see this Ark Building in real life instead of cyberspace. It is in Frostburg Maryland. (Mike)