VIRUS AND OTHER STINKY STUFF TECHNICALLY SPEAKING INTERESTING SITES
VIRUS AND OTHER STINKY STUFF
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/sp2/cdorder/en_us/default.mspx
Click here for a pic of the actual CD Picture site provided by Ken Dale, KCnet Tech.
Thursday, September 02 -- Thursday, September 09 According to Sophos, a leader in Anti Virus Software development, 24 new/improved viruses which required Anti Virus upgrades were released into cyberspace via email. This tied the highest number of releases in many months. & KCnet's antivirus program caught and "defanged" 9,079 email viruses in addition to refusing 169,638 spam messages. This was was a bit of a drop for viruses this week, virus writers must have taken off for Labor Day. The spam still came in big buckets.
WORM_BAGLE.AI From Trend Micro WORM_BAGLE.AI usually arrives via email packaged as a .ZIP compressed file. Similar to WORM_BAGLE.AC, this worm does not directly send itself via email to target recipients as an email attachment. It has an HTML script component that executes it, and a Trojan component that downloads it as a .JPG file from certain sites. The downloaded files are then saved as _re_file.exe in the Windows folder. As of this writing, however, the download sites are either down or non-existent. This worm also terminates certain antivirus processes. On Windows 2000, XP and 2003, it stops and disables the Internet Connection Firewall (ICF)/Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) service. This BAGLE variant is currently spreading in-the-wild and infecting computers running Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, and XP. Upon execution, it drops a copy of itself as DORIOT.EXE in the Windows system folder, and also drops a Trojan downloader component GDQFW.EXE in the same folder. To allow it to automaticly execute at every Windows startup, this worm creates two autorun registry entries. This worm has a Trojan downloader component that downloads approximately 131 files and saves them as _re_file.exe in the Windows folder. The Trojan downloader component also creates a thread that terminates several processes every second. These processes it terminates are mostly associated with antivirus applications.
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/securityadvisor/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/
Top 5 Viruses for September 02 to September 09 from Trend Micro 1 WORM_SASSER.B 2 PE_ZAFI.B 3 WORM_NETSKY.P 4 HTML_NETSKY.P 5 WORM_NETSKY.D
True 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: Here is a Kim Komando Tip. I've moved Kim down on my list of Computer Newsletter reads. I think that she has become too commercial in her subject choices, writings and radio show patter. It is "THE SHOW" I think, ya gotta keep the ratings to entice sponsors. She has become very self serving. But this tip is interesting. She used good logic to handle the question. In fact there is a lesson to be learned in her deductive solution. This method can work in many situations. And she is being very honest about the XP SP2 thing, finally. Originally she was the only writer for the average joe, at least of the writers that I know, that recommended immediate download of the Microsoft update rather than "wait and see" caution. (See the big bold print below.) I, like other newsletter writers, still strongly recommended caution and waiting, to the point of urging that one install the Microsoft provided blocker. This is especially true for dialup users. To this date I am not aware of anyone having great problems after downloading and installing but then I do not know too many folks that have done the download yet. I do know that the Newsletter Editors that I read all report some problems and so does Microsoft. Eventually the bugs will be neutralized or at least identified so that surprises will be minimal. You see, I really didn't have non XP SP2 problems before so why ask for XP SP2 problems now? Oh my, enough tirade...Here's Kim. Stuck with a huge file Q. I downloaded SP2 with no real problems. But looking at my files, I noted a new one--setupapi.log.0.old. It is 6.6 megabytes. Can I delete it? I could not find any information on the Internet about that file. I have it on my computer, too, in the Windows folder. Mine is 1.1 megabytes. Since we have no information, let's deconstruct the name. Setup is obvious; it is a file created when something was installed. API means application programming interface. An API is used to plug programs into Windows. Log means that it lists the steps taken to accomplish something. In this case, it apparently is the setup of APIs. You can read the file by right-clicking it and selecting Open With. Use Notepad to open it. Because the name includes the word old, I assume this is a setup file from some previous installation. SP2 includes and overrides all previous XP updates. So, should you delete it? I have plenty of space on my hard drive, so I'm going to ignore it. If you are pressed for space, go ahead and delete it. But don't empty your Recycle Bin until you are certain you're not going to need the file. Generally, log files are safe to delete. WARNING: A small percentage of people are reporting severe computer problems after installing SP2. I suspect there are conflicts that did not turn up in Microsoft's testing. Microsoft offers a number of options to help you. If you cannot get online, call 1-888-772-4357. The company warns that hold times can be lengthy. If you can get online, Microsoft offers a chat option. Or you can send e-mail. Several people have reported excellent experiences using these methods. Microsoft is apparently taking these problems seriously. There is more information at: http://snipurl.com/8phj My employees and I have installed SP2 on about two dozen computers. We have not had problems. Don't forget that you can listen to me Monday through Friday on hundreds of radio stations. Use the map to find me near you: http://www.komando.com/findkimonair.asp
The next two are from Worldstart and are appropriate for anyone that installed the XP SP2 Service Pack upgrade. The first happened a year or two ago too with one of the Windows Upgrades for Internet Explorer. Most people made the change back to opening pictures. That will be turned off again. Help! I just installed Windows XP Service Pack 2 and now I don't see any pictures in your newsletters—only a red X. Is there a way to fix this? This security feature only affects Outlook Express users. All you need to do is click the bar under the subject line in the preview pane that says, "Some pictures have been blocked...Click here to download pictures." Poof! The pictures appear. Now, this can be a nice feature--especially if you get unwanted mail with nasty pictures in it, but what if you want it turned off? Easy. Just go to Tools/Options and click the "Security" tab. Under "Download Images" uncheck the box marked "Block images and other external content..." Now your pictures should appear without any problem.
Control Your Updates Windows XP can automatically update itself. That means any time you go online it will look for any new Hotfixes that you might need. But, what if you don't want more control over the updating? Maybe you want to see what the hotfix does before you install it. Guess what? You can. Right-click "My Computer" and choose "Properties". Click on the "Automatic Updates" tab. There you'll find the control panel for Auto updates. By default it's probably set to "Automatic". You can set how often it automatically updates: every day, or a particular day of the week. You can even choose the time. The next option downloads the updates, but lets you choose when to install them. This is where I keep mine set. Another tells you when updates are available but doesn't install them until you give the go-ahead. You can also turn off automatic updates, but it's not recommended. It's nice to have control.
Free Software "Gold Mine" Here is a list from Fred Langa's Langalist. He's not kidding about the scope of software-the list of offerings is mega long. Fred: Never know what you'll trip across following links from your Plus Edition. Check out http://www.lexacorp.com.pg/ (Scope out the location!!) The "Free Software" tab is a GOLD MINE of info. ---Jim Cobbs Thanks for the reminder, Jim. That site actually was mentioned a couple times in this newsletter, including when they "loaded the code" (see item 8, below) several years back. But it looks like they've added even more software to their collection since then. Definitely worth a fresh look! The link again: http://www.lexacorp.com.pg/
Here is another software list that Wayne Smith found. Also mega long. http://www.dma.org/~millersg/CoolSoftware.html
Simple Trick Detects "Harvesters" Another good tip from the Langalist Hi Fred, love the Plus newsletter. This is my first year as a subscriber. Wish I had found you sooner. I have a suggestion for your readers that are concerned about entering sensitive information into a spoofed web page form. Lately, when I am prompted to enter my username and password to log into a web site, I've been entering a bogus username and/or password. If the site accepts it, I know its not a good idea to continue, even if it is an https: address. If the site rejects the bogus info, then I can assume that it is legitimate and continue my purchase, transaction, or whatever I am doing. It only takes a few seconds, and gives me a little more peace of mind against a spoofed web page getting my username, password, or other sensitive information. ---Todd Beaver Indeed, a bogus, spoof site set up to harvest names and passwords will accept just about any name/password combination that's even remotely plausible. But a legitimate sign-in will reject a made-up name/password and only allow valid users in. If you first test a site with a plausible, but deliberately bad, name/password, and the site accepts it, that would be a big red flag not to continue. Good idea, Todd!
INTERESTING SITES:
September 11: Bearing Witness to History This is the website for the 9/11 exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution. (Check the schedule, the exhibit is currently on tour) http://americanhistory.si.edu/september11/
Where Were You...? "This site exists to gather the thoughts and emotions of everyday people to the events on and after September 11, 2001." http://www.wherewereyou.org/
The Port Authority Police Memorial In memory of the 37 Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Officers killed in the line-of-duty. http://www.portauthoritypolicememorial.org/
The September 11 Digital Archive Read stories, send in your own 9/11 story, see video, stills, audio, and more. Good official links here. http://911digitalarchive.org/
Firehouse.com A 9/11 site for firefighters and rescue workers. A couple of nice slide shows available. http://www.firehouse.com/terrorist/
Hearts. Hearts can be bid, or trump, or broken or fluttering but right now they are on everyone's mind. With the Bill Clinton thing constantly on the airwaves and in the written media we have to be impacted. I think I've been exposed to more about the heart and its repair in the past week than any time in my learning memory. It's a good thing too, not necessarily for Bill, but it certainly makes each of us ponder our own condition and that of our friends and family. Sree, the Channel 7 TV computer guru and commentator took advantage of the situation and found some excellent sites for the average surfer. 7online.com: An excellent place to start - including information on bypass surgery, useful video from Dr. Jay Adlersberg, links to heart resources and updated news about Clinton's condition. http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/health/wabc_090404_clinton.html AmericanHeart.org: The American Heart Association has a site that gives you almost everything you need to know about the heart, how it works, how you can stay safe and much, much more. You can spend hours exploring here. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=1200000 HeartandStroke.ca: The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada has good explainers in easy-to-understand format and focuses on disease information as well as prevention tips. http://ww2.heartandstroke.ca/Page.asp?PageID=24 WomenHeart.org: Did you know that women are just as vulnerable to heart disease as men? More than 8 million women in America are living with heart disease and the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease offers news, advice and resources galore. http://www.womenheart.org/
Hallelujah! Shopping just got a whole bunch easier. Forget the scissors and the Sunday paper. You can find the flyers and coupons on line and use the direct link to the store to use the coupons. And, in most cases, the merchants offer additional savings. Coupon Cabin has coupon codes for popular online stores, such as Amazon, Kohl's, KMart, Target, Macys, Toys-R-Us, Sony, Spiegel, even WalMart and at least 491 additional popular merchants. The Walmart special this week is 88¢ per song download. The codes will get you free shipping or a percentage off order. Coupon Cabin monitors at least 500 online stores and 900 emails weekly; they update daily. You can search for codes by store name or by category. http://www.couponcabin.com
International Federation of Competitive Eating Amanda sent this one. Now that the picnic season is over and there is a long time span before the next big feed, Thanksgiving, you might want to check out these competitions and get into gorging shape. (Mike) Catch the latest news from the world of Competitive Eating with this site. I didn’t know there was a world of competitive eating till I ran across this really cool site. There is a circuit of tournaments for competitive eating that spans the nation. And for many different types of food, I’d love to have to eat ice cream. The astonishing part of this site was reading the records of who won. Here are some examples: Baked Beans Six Pounds Baked Beans One Minute, 48 Seconds Donald Lerman Candy Bars Two Pounds Chocolate Candy Bars 6 minutes Eric Booker Cow Brains 57 (17.7 pounds) 15 minutes Takeru Kobayashi Isn’t that amazing? I can’t imagine eating that much that fast. And the records go on and on. Could you imagine eating cow brains? Let alone in a competition? You should also check out the profile section where you can check out the individuals that are winning these competitions and what they look like. Sonya Thomas surprised me, because there were a lot of wins under her name and she only weighs a whopping 105 pounds, where is she putting all that food. This is a really fun site that should brighten up your day. http://www.ifoce.com/
SMART PEOPLE make FASCINATING PREDICTIONS This one is very interesting. Read and vote on predictions, take part in discussions and challenge predictors to bets. And if one of these catches your fancy, you can place a bet on it, Vegas-style. Here are two sample predictions from the many: By 2020, bioterror or bioerror will lead to one million casualties in a single event. By Martin Rees More... That by 2020 a wearable device will be available that will use voice recognition capability and high-volume storage to monitor and index conversations you have or conversations which occur in your vicinity for later searching as supplemental memory. By Gregory W. Webster More... There are many more. Most are intrigueing. Check 'em out: http://www.longbets.org/predictions
Human Ant Farm Here are sites I showed the Advanced Users Group two weeks ago and just forgot to put it up last week. The sites are interesting. Each has a certain mystique and one would wonder what made anyone make such a page and then one would wonder just how. http://j-walkblog.com/blog/docs/platform2.htm http://www.j-walkblog.com/blog/