VIRUS AND OTHER STINKY STUFF TECHNICALLY SPEAKING INTERESTING SITES
THE TALLY: Thursday, November 04 -- Thursday, November 11 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. This was an exceptionally busy week for Anti Virus updates. & KCnet's anti virus program caught and "defanged" 13,909 email viruses in addition to refusing 188,671 spam messages. There were 216,671 non spam or non virus messages delivered to KCnet subscribers. (all numbers are up for the week)
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. 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
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. Go to http://housecall.antivirus.com/ then choose the link "Scan without registering". Follow the directions.
You should disable any anti virus program that you have running. If you do not have a virus program I recommend that you use one of the programs offered above first and then download and install one of the free programs listed below or install any anti virus program you have purchased.
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. Avast This is a 2nd week running feature for the KCnet Newsletter. Avast has been "anti virusing" for quite awhile. The following info comes from their download page: Avast! Home is now free of charge for HOME users for NON-COMMERCIAL use. You can find more info here. http://www.avast.com/eng/down_home.html Note: This product is free for home non-commercial use after registration! HINTS: Click on the English Version Link and download the installation file. Then click on the installation file and follow the directions. You will need to return to the download page and click on the link to get the registration key. It will be sent to you in an email after you provide some registration information. This will give you 14 months of coverage including any updates which can be set to auto download. You can reregister for additional free coverage at the end of the 14 months. You will want to browse around and choose from the many options available for operation. This process will take some time and digging.
Another good free program to take a look at is: This one installs a bit easier than Avast. http://www.free-av.com/
AVG Free is back already! Fred was a bit upset. This scoop was in the latest Langalist. Last Thursday, when I was writing the http://langa.com/newsletters/2004/2004-11-15.htm issue, Grisoft had not yet released the new replacement for their free version of AVG 6. I correctly quoted the then-current statement from their web site that, "...the next generation of AVG Free will be available soon!" As luck would have it, "soon" meant that night: After I'd finished the issue, Grisoft took the new, free AVG 7 out of beta and made it a shipping product. That's good news. But (bizarrely) many readers were angry at me--- I got a *flood* of mail from irate people who thought I was trying to discredit Grisoft or mislead readers or was working some secret agenda to lure people away from AVG. The volume of mail was surprising, and the vehemence was, well, quite unpleasant. AVG fans: Take a deep breath. I've recommended AVG many times in the past ( http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-q=avg&sp-a=0008002a-sp00000000 ) and, if the new version proves as good as the old, I expect I'll continue to recommend it. Anyone who wants to try the new version can now find it at http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5 (This link is correct as I write this, but it could change.) Obviously, all I can do is report what's known at the time I write each issue. Sometimes, despite the best intentions, that information will get overtaken by events. Even now, as I write this (on Nov 16) Grisoft's own site still contains pages showing the now-outdated information about a "new version coming soon." (Example: http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/5443/lng/us/tpl/v5 ; although the page will no doubt eventually be taken down or corrected.) If a software publisher's site can't be 100% current about its own products, I'm not sure how anyone else can be, either. Until I can figure out how to travel through time, I can't and don't promise perfect and permanent accuracy in this newsletter. Things change; sites come and go; products evolve on their own schedule; etc. But I can and do promise you I'll always try to make sure the information here is good at the time it's written. That's all I can do. Me too (Mike)
Top 5 Viruses for November 05 to November 11 from Trend Micro 1. WORM_NETSKY.P 2. HTML_NETSKY.P 3. WORM_BAGLE.AT 4. WORM_NETSKY.D 5. JAVA_BYTEVER.A
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 anti virus 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: SP2 -- I guess it is time. I've been urging the Advanced Users Class members who have Windows XP for their OS (Operating System) to hold off installing the Microsoft XP SP2 download. I've encouraged and demonstrated how to download the Microsoft XP SP2 Blocker. I've doggedly watched popular Newsletter writers for their direction. Both Patrick Crispen of "Tourbus" and Fred Langa of "Langalist" are cautiously warm to suggesting that now is ok for downloading. There are a number of things one should do before downloading and installing. You should do a clean disk including the deleting of all temporary internet and Window files. You should do Error Checking (this replaces the Scan Disk procedure of the older Windows Programs. You should do a Defrag. Then set a restore date in your System Restore program. You might want to contact your computer manufacturer web site and browse their suggestions for preparation of your particular computer. Be especially cognizant of any hardware you have installed, ie printers, scanner, etc. Ready Set Go -- If you have the blocker unblock it. Other folks should download from the microsoft site or use CD provided by Microsoft.
BTW I had read that it was necessary to install SP1 before installing SP2 -- that was bad info according to Fred Langa. He wrote in the latest Langalist: SP1 Needed Before SP2? Generally SP2 is a complete update: You can even install SP2 on a brand-new, "virgin" install of the original (pre-SP1) XP, if you wish. SP2 should bring your system up to date in one step. I actually did that on a test system here: I did a brand-new install of XP Pro, using the original, unpatched, retail setup CD; then installed SP2; and then went to Windows Update to see what additional patches were needed. There were none. Of course, you'll need to install any post-SP2 patches that may appear as time goes on, but you'll get all the way to SP2 in one, giant step.
Here are some interesting paragraphs from the latest Tourbus. issue: Ditching Internet Explorer. On with the show... A few weeks ago I mentioned that Internet Explorer users can get spyware just by visiting particular websites. You don't have to click or download anything. Internet Explorer automatically installs the spyware for you. [Thank you, Microsoft!] And you can download the fix at Mozilla.org. :P All kidding aside, let me add my voice to the growing chorus of experts proclaiming that IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO STOP USING INTERNET EXPLORER! Today. Now. The fact of the matter is that Internet Explorer has WAY too many security holes in it, holes that anyone can use to infect your computer with spyware, pop-up ads, homepage hijackers, and a host of other nasty stuff. Besides, while the Internet has grown by leaps and bounds recently, Microsoft hasn't released a major upgrade to Internet Explorer in over three years. THREE YEARS! That, coupled with Internet Explorer's astonishing market share, makes IE a juicy target for the internet's more nefarious netizens. Even worse, Microsoft recently announced that they will no longer offer free support for Internet Explorer on Windows 95, 98, 98 SE, or ME. If you have any of those older Windows operating systems, Microsoft may or may not release a patch for your system when the next major Internet Explorer hole is found. And Microsoft may or may not charge you money to get this patch. Microsoft's suggestion? Upgrade your operating system to Windows XP. My suggestion? Ditch Internet Explorer, even if you have Windows XP. [Yeah, I know. "Get a Mac" is also a solution. But Macs aren't free.] Fortunately, earlier this week Mozilla released a new web browser called Firefox 1.0 that is both safer and, in my humble opinion, better than Internet Explorer. And it's free. Here's how to get it. Upgrading to Firefox 1.0 ------------------------ If you already have an earlier version of Mozilla Firefox installed on your computer, you need to upgrade to Firefox 1.0. The newest version is both faster and more powerful. And it also includes some security patches that your older version may not have. Fortunately, upgrading older versions of Firefox is simple to do: 1. Open Firefox. 2. Go to Tools > Options. 3. Click on "Advanced" over on the left side of the Options menu. 4. On the right side of the Options menu, scroll all the way down to the bottom. You should see a button under Software Options labeled "Check Now." Click on that button. 5. Follow the on-screen prompts. That's all there is to it. -------------------------------------------------------- Downloading and installing Firefox 1.0 for the first time --------------------------------------------------------- But what if you don't already have Mozilla Firefox installed on your computer. Well, all you need to do is: 1. Open Internet Explorer. 2. Go to http://www.mozilla.org/ 3. Download Mozilla Firefox. 4. Close Internet Explorer [hopefully for the last time.] 4. Install Mozilla Firefox onto your computer. How do you download Mozilla Firefox? Well, that depends upon which operating system you are using. If you are using Microsoft Windows, just click on the "Free Download" link in the green box near the top of the Mozilla.org homepage. When the File Download window appears, just save the Firefox Setup 1.0.exe installation file to your desktop. The file is 4.68 MB, so it'll take approximately 23 minutes to download over a 28.8 modem connection. And, yes, it really is worth the wait. If you compute with fruit, skip the link on the Mozilla.org homepage and instead go to http://download.mozilla.org/?product=firefox&os=osx&lang=en-US This will start the download process for the Mac version of Mozilla Firefox. Finally, if English is not your native tongue, check out http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/all.html Mozilla Firefox is available in 20 different languages including the Queen's English. ------------------ Installing Firefox ------------------ Firefox’s installation process is a snap: 1. Close any programs you may be running, including Internet Explorer. 2. Double-click on the installer file you just downloaded. It should be sitting on your desktop. 3. Follow the on-screen prompts [agree to the end-user license agreement that no one ever reads, choose if you want to do a standard or custom install, etc.] 4. Sit back and watch Firefox install. ------------------------------------------ Importing your favorites list into Firefox ------------------------------------------ One of the biggest concerns most Internet Explorer users have is how to import their favorites list into Firefox. Guess what? Firefox does this for you automatically. No, really. During the installation process, Firefox will open an Import Wizard dialog box and ask you if you want to import your internet options, bookmarks, history, passwords, and other data from Microsoft Internet Explorer into Firefox. Cool, huh? Firefox will also ask you if you want it to be your default browser. My recommendation is to choose Yes, but that decision is completely up to you. ------------- Using Firefox ------------- Firefox works pretty much like Internet Explorer with a few exceptions: - Favorites are now called "Bookmarks." - That little "G" box to the right of the address bar is a Google search box, similar to the Google Toolbar we talked about two Summers ago. Just type in your keywords and press enter, and up pops the Google hits for those words. And if you click and the "G" you'll see that you can also search Yahoo, Amazon, Creative Commons, Dictionary.com, and eBay. You can even add your own search engine to that list. - If you press Ctrl + F or go to Edit > Find in This Page, you won't get a pop-up box. Instead, the find box is embedded in the bottom left of the browser window. And when you key in a word in the search box, that word is highlighted on the page. There are some more differences between Firefox and Internet Explorer, and you can read about them all at http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/index.html ------- IE View ------- So, once you download and install Mozilla Firefox, should you uninstall Internet Explorer? No, for two reasons: 1. You can't. Windows Explorer is so closely integrated into Windows that uninstalling it is bloody well impossible. 2. You shouldn't. Some web sites--like Microsoft's Windows Update and Encarta sites--were specifically written to only work in Internet Explorer. While these sites are few and far between, you need to keep Internet Explorer around so you can still access them. So, keep Internet Explorer but use Mozilla Firefox. And, while you are at it, you should download Paul Roub's free "IE View" Firefox extension at http://tinyurl.com/6krfm or https://update.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?application=firefox&id=35 What does IE View do? Well, when you are in Firefox and you come across a page that requires Internet Explorer, you can right-click the main body of that page and choose "View this page in IE." IE View will automatically open Internet Explorer and load that page. Cool, huh? To download and install IE View, click on the "( Install Now )" link on the IE View page. A pop-up menu will appear telling you that you are trying to install an unsigned item. That's cool. IE View is safe. Click on the "Install Now" button to download and install IE View. Once IE View has installed, completely close Firefox and then open it up again. You can now right-click on any web page in Firefox and it will automatically open in Internet Explorer [although why you would do this for any pages other than those that won't work in Firefox is beyond me.] There's more I want to tell you about Mozilla--how to use tabbed browsing, how to use Adblock, etc.--but I'll save that for a future post. For now, download and play around with Mozilla Firefox. And feel free to let me know what you think!
Crack the Hack Attack This tidbit from ETIPS Now you know the rest of the story. When you read about computer security, you'll see two terms used: hacker and cracker. Hacker is used pretty casually, especially in the mass media, to refer to anyone who tinkers under the hoods of computers, whether for good or evil purposes. Most Internet circles prefer to distinguish between those who know a lot about the inner working of computers and those who know enough to cause some damage. Hackers are the ones who know how to make their computers do everything short of making dinner. They can often rewrite parts of any program to perform better than before and can offer helpful solutions to others. Cracker was created to avoid confusing the good hackers with those with criminal intent: stealing information, using your machine to invade other sites, and so on.
Two tips from Worldstart. Tip1: I hear about programs having "skins"—what does that mean? Before all of our animal loving readers start typing angry email to us, animals are not harmed in the making of "skins" for programs (although you can get animal patterned ones). These "skins" are graphic files used to change the appearance of the user interface to a program. They are sometimes called "themes" and are like wallpaper for your browser, media player, or other programs. You can often download them for free from the software developer, a user group, or even a fan site. Popular media players like WinAmp, MusicMatch, RealOne, and Windows Media Player all offer skins. They are available for most browsers like Netscape, Opera, and Internet Explorer. Every program has a different way to acquire and apply skins. Usually you need to look under Options or Preferences, then choose "Change skin" or "Choose theme"—something like that. For example, in Netscape (6 and higher) you go to the View menu, "Apply Theme" and "Get New Themes". This will take you to the Netscape "Theme Park" where you can choose a new skin for your browser. Once downloaded you can change the theme whenever you want to. One word of warning though: some sites that offer skins try to install Hotbar or other spyware/adware on your system. Hotbar is one company that offers oodles of neat browser skins for Internet Explorer, however, their privacy statement clearly explains that they collect and store information about the web pages you view and the data you enter into search engines. They are also nice enough to send you "targeted" pop-up ads. Another one to be aware of is a browser called NeoPlanet that offers hundreds of skins, but upon reading their privacy statement you will find that they collect information (like email address and browsing habits) that they pass on to their "partners" (anyone with a check book) so they can send you email advertisements (read: s-p-a-m!). Just remember that "free" isn't always FREE—the money to design these skins has to come from somewhere. As always, carefully read the privacy statement before you download anything. If you don't mind giving up a little privacy, there's all kinds of neat stuff out there. Being cool does have a price sometimes. But, if done wisely, you can make that boring browser or media player your own with a cool new skin!
Tip 2: Refreshing Sites OK, do you visit web pages with dynamic, frequently updated content? You know, stuff like news, stocks, and weather type sites. Anyhow, have you ever noticed that sometimes you just can't get the stupid page to refresh? Sure, you hit the refresh button but it's the same page (and you just know it's been updated). Explorer is stubbornly refusing to re-load the thing properly. Is there any hope? Are you going to be stuck looking at outdated information forever? You'll be glad to learn there is a little trick you can use. Just put a question mark after the URL. Your browser, not being all that bright, will think it's a new page and re-load it for you. The question mark won't affect the page or the way it's displayed, so don't sweat that part. Anyhow, here's an example. Let's say you went to: www.worldstart.com To make the page completely re-load, type this instead: www.worldstart.com? Oh, if you need to keep re-loading, you can keep adding junk after the question mark: www.worldstart.com?1kjsdk Cool huh? Why does this work? When your browser sees the question mark, it only loads the page in front of it. However, since the whole URL changes, you get a complete re-load of the page. Another way: You can hold down the Ctrl key while clicking Refresh.
INTERESTING SITES:
Newspapers -magazines - other reading THE NEWSEUM DOES IT RIGHT You will not believe it. 340 newspapers from around the world, if it bleeds it leads. A super nifty browsing tool. http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/ NewsDirectory This one is more inclusive: Many more newspapers plus all the other media. is your guide to all online English-language media. This free directory of newspapers, magazines, television stations, colleges, visitor bureaus, governmental agencies and more can help you get to where you want to go, or find sites you didn't know about. NewsDirectory is a simple and fast site that can be used to access all the news and information that you can handle. You will find that NewsDirectory is logically organized so that our links can provide you with easy access to thousands of periodicals worldwide. You can link to: - Over 3,600 newspapers - Over 4,800 magazines - Hundreds of television stations - Plus colleges, visitor bureaus, governmental agencies, travel links, and comics - More than 14,500 links in all http://www.ecola.com/
The Breast Cancer Site DO YOU KNOW THE FACTS? Each year, 182,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and 43,300 die. One woman in eight either has or will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. In addition, 1,600 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 400 will die this year. If detected early, the five-year survival rate exceeds 95%. Mammograms are among the best early detection methods, yet 13 million U.S. women 40 years of age or older have never had a mammogram. The National Cancer Institute and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommend that women in their forties and older have mammograms every one to two years Also on the site are partner stores supporting child health, hunger, rain forests and animal rescue. And yes, you can order a pink ribbon. http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/CTDSites
Kid’s Web Japan Amanda suggested this one. Good for adults too. Whether you use this site to teach your kids about Japan, or use it yourself to learn about Japan, you will find that it is a real delight. Explore Japan — In this section you will do exactly what the title says. Explore Japan. Here you can find out about the Regions of Japan along with a nice map, nature and climate, but that’s not all. You will also learn about Clothing, Housing, Schooling, The Imperial Family, The National Flag and Anthem and so much more. If you want a brief explanation of that you can just choose the "Japan at a Glance" link! Culture Corner — In this section you have a few options you can check out Virtual Japanese Culture, Folk Legends of Japan, What’s Cool in Japan, and Young Masters of the Arts. All are chocked full of goodies. Cookbook for Kids — This section is wonderful. Not only can you find out the history of Ramen noodles, but you can learn about Japanese cooking, and snag some really cool Japanese recipes. Kids Life — This section explains to kids what life is like in Japan, what going to school there is like compared to the schools they attend. You can also read the monthly news section and see what is going on in Japan. Say it in Japanese — I love this section. This where you can learn some Japanese. Here you can learn kanji and other forms of Japanese writing. All with pronunciation guides, and you can even hear how the word is pronounced. Very educational. I loved the Quick Kanji, and Quick Japanese. In Quick Japanese you learn phrases that would be useful in greetings, questions, and many other simple phrases that would make it easier to get by if you were a tourist in Japan. Hi-Tech Japan — This section will introduce you to how science and technology are used in Japan. Technology that ranges from eco cars to Suica and ICOCA, toilets, video games and even mobile phones. Plus you can check out the special effects in Godzilla! Kids Travel Agency — Do you want to travel to Japan? >From the travel desk you can find out what some of the attractions in Japan are. Like the dagashi candy shops or even the famous ninja villages. This will walk you through the things you would see here. With a lot of charm and information making this section is a must see, read, and browse. http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/
Football Fans -- This ones for you -- Stadiums--past, present and future. Each stadium listed features statistics on opening dates, capacity and cost. There's also an in-depth "biography" describing the conditions of the stadium. http://www.stadiumsofnfl.com/ You might want to try the college equivalent: http://www.collegegridirons.com/