srspg3_07

"Cascades"

KCNET NEWSLETTER
07/31/05
TECHNICAL PAGE

EXPLORING CONNECTIONS
KCnet COMPUTER CAMP
Middle School Students -- (Finished grades 6, 7, or 8)
August 8-12 -- Camp Hours - 9:00 - 2:00
Cost - $100.00 (includes lunch each day & Special Camp Shirt)
Many computer topics covered by competent teachers
Call 893-8111 to register or present questions

TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
VIRUS AND OTHER STINKY STUFF
INTERESTING SITES

TECHNICALLY SPEAKING:

Windows Vista Arriving 2006 formerly Windows code name "Longhorn"

By Michael J. Miller
Windows Vista -- As of this morning, the "Longhorn" version of Windows has a new name–Windows Vista. In addition, Microsoft announced a formal date for the first beta: August 3.
Neil Charney, Dir of Product Management in the Windows Client Group, says the name is meant to convey that the new version was "about providing clarity to your world and giving focus to the things that are important to you." He said it "provides your view of the world" and puts the user in control.
"We've seen an explosion of information and data, more choices. The challenge is how to find the information I'm interested in," he said. "Having that clarity, that view, that vista in front of you is really important."
Charney stated that the first beta is targeted at developers and IT professionals. It will be available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers then. A later version, called Beta 2, will target end-users.
Information on the beta is available on a new site: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista

Piracy-check mandatory for Windows add-ons By Ina Fried, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: July 25, 2005

From now on, customers looking to get the latest add-ons to Windows will have to verify that their copy of the operating system is legit.

Beginning Tuesday, the piracy check will be mandatory for all customers worldwide who want to download add-ons for Windows XP.

The only exception is for security-related patches. Regardless of whether a system passes the test, security updates will be available to all Windows users via either manual download or automatic update. The Microsoft Update and Windows Update utilities, which provide notifications of new patches, will require validation.

It's all part of Windows Genuine Advantage, a stepped-up effort by Microsoft to increase the number of Windows users that are actually paying Microsoft for its software. Currently, the company estimates that roughly a third of Windows copies worldwide are not legitimate.

"We really want to cut that rate," said David Lazar, director of the Windows Genuine program.

With Windows' share of the desktop market estimated to be well above 90 percent, cracking down on illegal copies of the OS is seen as one of the few ways for Microsoft to grow its Windows business. The two other main ways that Microsoft has identified are increasing the number of PCs per household and expanding computer usage in emerging markets.

Lazar declined to say how much Microsoft hopes to cut into the piracy rate with the Windows Genuine push. However, he said the company does see a need to create a clearer distinction between genuinely purchased and bogus copies of the OS.

"One of ways we are going to do that is by enhancing the value of genuine Windows," he said.

As part of that, Microsoft is adding a few more freebies to the "carrots" it gives to those whose Windows copies pass muster. Lazar said that Microsoft has also refined its online tool that checks for genuine copies such that customers won't have to enter their Windows product code, as was sometimes the case while the Windows Genuine program was in testing.

Meanwhile, those who fail the validation test will be presented with two options. People who send in their CDs, show proof they bought Windows and fill out a piracy report will be eligible to get a legitimate copy of Windows at no charge. Those who don't have CDs or a proof of purchase but fill out a piracy report will have to pay for a licensed copy--$99 for Windows XP Home and $149 for Windows XP Professional. Those prices are higher than the upgrade cost for Windows XP, but lower than the price one would have to pay for an entirely new copy of the OS.

Microsoft has been testing the Windows Genuine program since last September. At first, the program had neither benefits for those who passed inspection nor any penalty for those who failed or opted not to go through the piracy check. Gradually, though, Microsoft has been adding perks and moving to make the process mandatory.

Lazar said the company has erred on the side of caution, noting that Microsoft does not know of any cases in which its piracy check falsely concluded that software was illegitimate. There has been a hack reported in which customers who have one genuine copy of the OS can pass along a validation code that can be used with nongenuine copies of the OS. Lazar said that method would require someone to get hold of a new code each day he or she wanted to download new software, though.

"It doesn't really scale," he said.

Revenge of the cheap LCD TVs By David Carnoy Executive editor, CNET Reviews July 26, 2005
A while back, I wrote a column about cheap LCD TVs, so I suppose this qualifies as the sequel--part deux, follow-up, or whatever you want to call it. In any case, if you've been keeping tabs on flat-panel TVs, you've probably noticed that prices are falling pretty precipitously, with 32-inch LCD models hitting $1,000 and 37-inch models approaching $2,000. Plasmas, particularly 42-inch versions, are also heading toward more reasonable territory, and if you're a Costco devotee, you may have noticed the store selling a 50-inch plasma for the remarkable price of $2,800.
Westinghouse LVM-37w1
Westinghouse's 37-inch LCD TV: Better than Aquos for hundreds less?
The big--and not so surprising news--is that LCD category leader Sharp and other big brands, including Samsung and Sony, are getting undercut by such upstarts as Westinghouse, Syntax Olevia, Kreisen, and Maxent, the label on that $1,000 32-inch LCD and "budget" 50-inch plasma. What's more interesting, however, is that the performance gap between the no-namers and the brand-namers is shrinking at the same time, at least in select cases.
We can't vouch for Maxent flat-panels--we expect to review the 32-incher soon, but in the meantime you can check our message boards--but we've been testing the Westinghouse LVM-37W1, a 37-inch 1080p LCD that just hit stores and can be found for around $2,000 online. That's a good $1,500 less than the 37-inch Sharp Aquos being sold at Costco, which offers less in the way of resolution. The Sharp still displays deeper blacks, which means better color and punchier images in dimly lit scenes, but the Westinghouse, pardon the pun, has a sharper picture and more-accurate out-of-the-box color. It also has a solid connectivity package that includes two DVI ports, although it lacks the sound-carrying HDMI inputs. What the Westinghouse is also missing is a loaded feature set: an ATSC tuner, a CableCard, and the like. But I have a hunch that many people just want a flat-panel TV that'll connect to their high-def cable or satellite box.
We have the two sets sitting side by side in our lab, and the Sharp is the sleeker of the two--but not by much. Sharp has moved away from the silver frames of its older models and onto a darker, carbon-color frame that I prefer. But the truth is, since they're all slim, most flat-panel TVs look pretty slick, which is a big part of the reason we've been getting so many e-mails from readers imploring us to review these budget sets--and pronto. They want to know if the picture is up to snuff or not.
I find it amusing that the Costcos and Wal-Marts are becoming the Crazy Eddies of the 21st century. Behemoths that they are, they're able to drive their prices down by buying thousands of these no-name models and marking them up modestly (probably in the 10 to 15 percent range). Best Buy and Circuit City have similar deals for various no-name brands. And Dell, the biggest seller of LCD computer monitors, is now on its own price-cutting mission with its flat-panel TV offerings.
Does that spell trouble for big-name electronics companies?
Not this year, and not with demand for flat-panels so high. It also doesn't hurt that plenty of people, when making a purchase of this magnitude, are still willing to pay a premium to go with a brand name such as Sharp, Samsung, Panasonic, or Sony. In our reviews, we can tell you whether a set's picture is decent or mediocre, how strong its features and connectivity are, and whether it's currently a solid value. But what we can't tell you is how it will perform over several years, which is certainly a factor when you buy an expensive TV. That's part of the reason why, when it comes to LCD TVs, especially in 32-inch or larger sizes, I tend to steer people toward Sharp and LG, both of which have been making LCDs for a while. (I've had an Apple flat-panel display, which was made by LG, for more than seven years, and it still works well.)
As off-brand and OEM LCD factories continue to perfect the production process for larger panels, and companies such as Westinghouse do a better job slapping the parts together, the Sharps of the world will face pricing pressures and inevitably smaller margins on their sets. If it hopes to have consumers continue paying a premium for its TVs--and the same goes for Sony--not only will the performance lead have to be there, but designs will have to get sleeker and more unique. At last year's CES, Sharp was showing TVs made with wood frames and other more exotic materials, but those models were destined for only overseas markets. That may soon change, particularly as even name brands such as Philips get more aggressive with pricing on LCDs.
Any way you look at it, competition is good news for consumers. Unless, of course, you hate the idea of buying something this year that will cost 25 percent less next year.

Smaller, more agile security software gets it right By Robert Vamosi Senior editor, CNET Reviews
July 22, 2005 This is a good observation. (Mike)
I have an evolving theory that the best software today is coming from newer and more agile companies. Look past the software dinosaurs that got us to this point in computer history, and you'll find a handful of successful new software companies that, in my mind, will be major power players within the next 10 to 15 years. These second-generation software companies are able to take the best of what worked before and combine it with what hasn't yet been tried. I predict that some of the venerable software dinosaurs will cease to exist within a few years, and I think this will be especially true within the desktop computer security space.
Old-school software vs. new-school software
As for the dinosaurs, take, for example, Microsoft, a very large general software company that has been very slow to change with the times and has lost almost all of its innovative magic. Consider how Microsoft is now desperately playing catch-up with the Mozilla Organization; the current IE Internet browser lacks all the cool features you can easily find in the latest release of Firefox. (And, it needs to be noted, the new version of IE will run on only Windows XP SP2 machines.) As another example, Google Search currently blows MSN Search right out of the water.
Imagine Microsoft discarding the next version of Office in favor of a whole new paradigm. Not likely.
A few weeks ago, when Google launched its personalized home page feature, I was at the Google headquarters, and what impressed me most was the confession by the design team leader that they had created one version, only to discard it; they then repeated this process two more times until they felt they'd gotten it right. Imagine Microsoft discarding the next version of Office in favor of a whole new paradigm. Not likely.
Thus, for digital picture editing, Google Picasa is superior to Microsoft Digital Image (or for that matter Corel Paint Shop Pro). And Google Earth is already way cooler than Microsoft's promises regarding its upcoming Virtual Earth. Google abides by the old hacker maxim that software should be free. Thus, there are both free and paid versions of Google Earth, but you have to pay for just about everything that Microsoft produces.
Old-school security vs. new-school security
The same is true with computer security companies. I grew up with Peter Norton's and John McAfee's helpful utility software--first on DOS, then Windows--but just because these companies have changed platforms doesn't mean that Symantec, McAfee, and others from that early era have truly evolved their products to handle today's emerging Internet dangers. Antivirus apps such as Norton AntiVirus and McAfee VirusScan are essentially 1980s virus signature-definition technology apps with a bit of generic virus heuristics thrown in. Last year, Symantec did add some basic firewall technology to the Norton AntiVirus product, but essentially the NAV product gets repackaged year after year.
Imagine Symantec discarding the core of Norton AntiVirus in favor a new paradigm. Again, not likely.
When building an Internet security suite, both Symantec and longtime rival McAfee start with their signature products, their antivirus apps, then add personal firewalls, spam-blocking tools, and more recently, spyware-blocking tools. This bundling makes sense--you need all of these apps to stave off potential Internet dangers these days--and also I think Symantec gets it right by recognizing that spyware and computer viruses have similar characteristics. But the suites from Norton and McAfee don't really function well as a whole; in my opinion, instead of rethinking the whole suite as a separate tool and truly integrating the products within, they just repackage the standalone products. As a result, Norton Internet Security with Antispyware suite, for example, can be a serious resource hog on older PCs.
New and very agile
Enter a small company called Zone Labs (now owned by Check Point). From the very beginning, Zone Labs abided by the hacker credo that software should be free and, thus, offered users both free and paid personal firewalls that were truly fantastic. The Internet dangers I write about today can mostly be stopped by having a good personal firewall. When you start with a good personal firewall, you can then layer on additional security--which is what Zone Labs did.
For ZoneAlarm Internet Security 6.0, the company didn't just slap on some spyware protection--no, it went back to its original product, the firewall, and changed the paradigm a bit.
Last year, Zone Labs took its free firewall and partnered with Computer Associates, using its antivirus technology. eTrust EZ Antivirus is one of the lightest antivirus scanners we've tested (see the review of version 6.2), and it fared well on the VB 100 percent list. By partnering with a best-of-breed antivirus, Zone Labs introduced ZoneAlarm with Antivirus for a mere $20 per copy (roughly the price of EZ Antivirus by itself).
Taking it up a level, ZoneAlarm partnered with MailFrontier, our current Editors' Choice award winner for best antispam technology. For $70, ZoneAlarm Internet Security will get you the best firewall, a very good antivirus app, and superior spam protection. What was missing, up until now, was spyware protection.
ZoneAlarm 6.0 family
For its latest release of ZoneAlarm, the company added another firewall layer, one that blocks threats to the Windows kernel. These days, it's at the kernel level of your operating system that malicious code embeds itself and often can't easily be removed. So for ZoneAlarm Internet Security 6.0, the company didn't just slap on some spyware protection--no, the creators went back to the original product, the firewall, and changed the paradigm a bit. Whereas ZoneAlarm has always done an excellent job at blocking inbound and outbound malicious code at the perimeter, then again at the application level, now it has added an OS firewall. When you think about it, this alone should stave off many virus and spyware attacks. Even so, ZoneAlarm then added a signature-based spyware scanner. So with this new edition, you're more than protected; you're thoroughly shielded.
Verdict
For the last couple of weeks, I have been playing around with the beta version of ZoneAlarm Internet Security 6.0 on several machines of various vintages. I haven't noticed any computer slowdowns, even on a trusty old laptop still running Windows 98 SE. Where Norton Internet Security 2005 ground my laptop to a halt every time I attempted to send and receive e-mail or scan for viruses, I have had no such trouble with ZoneAlarm. Some people may not like the numerous notifications from ZoneAlarm whenever it updates antivirus and antispyware signature files, but I like the confirmation. With Norton, I have no idea when it updates or whether a given update was even successful without pulling up the interface and checking. With Norton, I see a dialog box only whenever my subscription comes due, which seems all too often.

Worldstart deals with a most oft' asked question these days.
When I click a link in an email nothing happens.
I've been getting this same question from Outlook Express users lately. Not sure why it's happening, but here are some things try.
Since Outlook Express and Internet Explorer are intertwined, open IE and go to Tools/Internet Options then click the "Programs" tab. Hit the "Reset Web Settings" button. Uncheck "Also Reset My Home Page" before hitting Yes. While you're there, also make sure that you have a default email program set—if you don't it might also cause this problem.
If that doesn't work, go to Start/Run and type in and then type in
REGSVR32 URLMON.DLL
You should get a box telling you that the procedure was completed.
Still not working? Then make sure that you aren't set to read in plain text. This will affect hyperlinks. Go to Tools/Options and click the "Read" tab. There you will see the option to "Read all messages as plain text"—uncheck the box.
And finally, if your security settings are too high, you have a firewall, or a pop-up stopper these can prevent a browser window from coming up when you click the link.
Hopefully one of these solutions will fix your problem.

Another Worldstart suggestion.
I keep several windows open at the same time and a little button appears for each one in my taskbar. Why do some disappear as I add more?
They didn't really go anywhere. When the task bar fills up it scrolls up to make room for more buttons.
You'll notice that arrows will appear next to the open window area of the taskbar. Click up and the older windows appear as buttons.

If you want to avoid this, you could always make your desk bar a double decker. Just put your cursor at the top of the taskbar so it turns into a double arrow. Hold down the left mouse button and drag up. This will make your TB higher allowing you to see all open window buttons.

This takes up more desktop space, but at least you can see everything that's open--at least until you open up even MORE windows ;-)

Don't Bother with "Fast Save" in Word 2000 This one from E TIPS
Fast Save is one of those ideas that sounds real good . . . until you use it. The idea is to avoid having to save everything in your document every time you use the Save command. The logic is "Why not just save the changes?" If you have Fast Save on, Word saves only the new stuff you typed to disk, which is faster than saving the whole document. Unfortunately, it can lead to problems. For example, if you make only one slight change in a large document and then Fast Save it to disk, then your new version will contain only that small change. Yikes! The rest of your precious document is nowhere to be seen.
To ensure that Fast Save is disabled, choose Tools, Options. Then click the Save tab. If the Allow Fast Saves box is selected, click that option to deselect it. Click OK to return to your document.

After I read an email in Outlook Express it disappears from my Inbox. Where does it go? Worldstart for this one too.
We had this happen to one of our WorldStart team members and what was even stranger is that the messages would come up when he did a search. Though the mystery is perplexing, the solution is easy.
In Outlook Express go to View/Current View then select "Show all messages". Most likely it accidentally was set to "Hide Read Messages".

Thunderbird also has this feature. If your read messages vanish, go to View/Messages and change from "Unread" to "View".
Yahoo Mail can also hide unread mail. Just below the folder name (for instance, "Inbox") look for the word "View". If it is set to "Unread Messages" then click the arrow and select "All Messages" from the drop down menu.
I guess hiding read messages would be of benefit if you wanted to see only the messages you have yet to read. If you are set to read all messages, then you may want to explore your viewing options (more on that coming up).

VIRUS AND OTHER STINKY STUFF:

RootKits This one from Worldstart.
Rootkits have been around for over 10 years, and known by other names before that. They are suites of small programs that exploit your system in a way that can be next to impossible to detect and even harder to remove if one finds its way on to your system. The name comes from what it does—it gives the attack administrator access to the Root Directory of your system allowing the program to rewrite the kernel hiding itself and any other programs it may load in you system. There are two basic types of Rootkits: Application and Kernal.
An Application rootkit is one that basically recreates program files with augmented bogus ones.
A Kernel rootkit is one that can actually write code to your Operating System's kernel allowing it to exist on your PC without a trace. See, usually you can spot these malicious programs by viewing your Processes from within your Task Manager, looking for suspicious CPU usage and shutting it down. Well, with a kernel rootkit this is all masked so there is no entry in your processes or in your programs file—the program according to your system it doesn't exist. Rootkits attempt to collect data from your system and transmit back to the attacker. Not only does the Rootkit encrypt this data, but can wait and "piggyback" on known programs such as an email message to access the Internet unbeknownst to your firewall.
Rootkits are distributed similar to viruses, through an Operating System's known security hole, downloaded with other programs, or any other common infection techniques. Rootkits do not attempt to redistribute themselves like a virus does however. The focus behind most viruses is to infect as many systems as possible, look for passwords or use your system as a SPAM platform. Rootkits or more about quality and less about quantity, your typical rootkit isn't looking for another host it just wants to gets its money's worth out of the one it has under its thumb. It will continually run scans on itself to ensure it is still running unnoticed in the system and re-infect an area of the system if it needs to.
Once infected a rootkit can actually install other worms, or any malicious code to perform functions, using the benefit of total concealment. This is a "Blended Attack" and is possibly one of the worst scenarios you and your PC could be in. On top of everything else, this type of infection, or attack can go on for great lengths of time—longer than your typical virus. If the rootkit is working your machine will think nothing is wrong, while lurking in the background unseen programs carry out their insidious duties.
There has been silent defensive preparation for the rootkit. Microsoft, for example, has not only acknowledged the threat back in February of this year, but has also bought a new anti virus company and plans to include rootkit detection and removal capabilities. Other protection software manufactures (i.e. Sysinternals, F-Secure) are also starting to include rootkit detection to their line of software. The only problem is that the rootkit creators in this arena have the definite upper hand leaving the protective software manufacturers playing catch-up.
As of now there are few options for detecting and removing these rootkits. Microsoft is growing so concerned about the potential threat that it has announced that it will release a rootkit detection and removal kit in it's Windows AntiSpyware application. The best defense may be having a firewall in place, updated antivirus/spyware and the rootkit detection programs. If you do become compromised the only thing you can do is to make absolute sure that you got rid of the rootkit is to completely reformat your hard drive. No good news in that department, and as these become more prevalent as time goes on one can only hope that the utility software companies can stay in front of this nemesis.
There are a couple of free programs out there, most in beta form, that will run a scan on your system. I recommend you download one and give it a whirl, get used to it, watch for updates, and include it in the regular security check that I know all of you do a few times every month.
F-Secure Backlight
http://www.f-secure.com/blacklight/
Microsoft Strider GhostBuster Rootkit Detection Overview
http://research.microsoft.com/rootkit/
Sysinternals RootkitRevealer
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/RootkitRevealer.html
Stay safe out there.

THE TALLY:
Friday, July 22 -- Thursday, July 29
According to Sophos, a leader in Anti Virus Software development, 27 new/improved viruses, which required Anti Virus upgrades were released into cyberspace via email.
&
KCnet's anti virus program caught and "defanged" 3,626 email viruses in addition to
refusing 211,092 spam messages. There were 176,659 non spam and
non virus messages delivered to KCnet subscribers.
This was a very bad week for viruses and spam.

Have you updated your anti virus program lately?
If not, may I recommend that you do it now?

**********************************************************************************************************************

Free Virus Scans
Best done with The Internet Explorer Browser.
Computer Associates, a 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 Anti Virus programs for 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.

TRY ETRUST BY COMPUTER ASSOCIATES (Ken Condo found this link-thanks Ken)
1 year free trial of eTrust or 2 years for $19.95.
http://home.ca.com/dr/v2/ec_main.entry25?page=PYPCTrialPage&client=ComputerAssociates&sid=35715&CID=185351

AVG Free
AVG Free Edition is the well-known anti-virus protection tool. AVG Free is available free-of-charge to home users for the life of the product! Rapid virus database updates are available for the lifetime of the product, thereby providing the high-level of detection capability that millions of users around the world trust to protect their computers. AVG Free is easy-to-use and will not slow your system down (low system resource requirements).
http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5

Avast
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 is:
http://www.free-av.com/
This one installs a bit easier than Avast.

********************************************************************************************************************** Computer Associates latest virus alerts for July 15 to July 21, 2005.

   1. JAVA_BYTEVER.A
   2. HTML_NETSKY.P
   3. SPYW_GATOR
   4. TSPY_SMALL.SN
   5. SPYW_DASHBAR.300

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://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/

INTERESTING SITES:
That Google keeps getting better and better.
Here are three Googles we critiqued in the Advanced Users Class this past Wednesday.
We were impressed and had a good time exploring all of them. Make sure you access the moon site and adjust the intensity to the highest mark.
Use all three modes, map, satellite, and hybrid in the Google maps. You can have alot of fun with the Montage-a-google. After doing your searches try guessing their searches.
Google Maps
http://maps.google.com/
Google Moon
http://moon.google.com/
Montage-a-google
http://grant.robinson.name/projects/montage-a-google/

Gary 'n Patti sent a bunch of interesting sites - thanks.

Looking for clues This one from the Geffrye Museum in London and is a neat site for kids. Hello, Sam Holmes here. I'm looking for clues about the way people used to live.
There are lots of objects that I need to investigate.
I will ask you five questions, then you can play again.
http://www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/kidszone/clues/

What ever happened to whosit?
Ever wonder what happened to: Eddie The Eagle? The chick who shot Andy Warhol? That 'Mikey' kid from the Life Cereal commercial?
Well you've come to the right place, this is where we track the has-beens, the flash-in-the-pans and those pseudo-celebrities who were all too annoying during their 15 measly minutes.
http://www.weht.net/

The History of Computers
"Who invented the computer?" is not a question with a simple answer. The real answer is that many inventors contributed to the history of computers and that a computer is a complex piece of machinery made up of many parts, each of which can be considered a separate invention.
This series covers many of the major milestones in computer history (but not all of them) with a concentration on the history of personal home computers.
http://inventors.about.com/library/blcoindex.htm

Welcome to the A-Z LYRICS UNIVERSE ! Make sure that your POPUP KILLER is on - they send some but do not care if you block 'em. (Mike).
We have a large, every day growing universe of lyrics where stars of all genres and ages shine.
Use Lyrics Request Section to request lyrics that you didn't find here. We have 90% successful request answers.
You can Add Lyrics to this site, it's as easy as requesting. If you found any mistakes in some of our lyrics you can always Correct them
http://www.azlyrics.com/

Curious about who lives at the Zoo?
Find the facts about your favorite Zoo animal.
These guys happily reside in the Oakland, CA zoo.
Includes multimedia, which may be movies and/or sound!
http://www.oaklandzoo.org/atoz/atoz.html

More from Gary 'n Patti next week.

Sree's Thoughts on Fun And Useful Sites
The next site suggestions come from Sree, tech guru for WABC TV, New York, NY.

HealthRatings.com: Ratings of health websites - from Consumer Health WebWatch.
http:// www.healthratings.com

CopyKat.com: Recipes for dishes in restaurants: "You have tried it in the restaurant, now make it at home."
http://www.copykat.com

HousekeepingChannel.com: All kinds of useful tips and articles on keeping your home clean.
http://www.housekeepingchannel.com

FileHippo.com: An updated list of free software - anti-spyware, virus fighters, etc.
http://www.filehippo.com

NostalgiaCentral.com: If you are nostalgic for the '60s, '70s or '80s, you will love this site.
http://www.nostalgiacentral.com

Jim Runkle sent this site and the following words: I think you might find this of interest!
(He is right - it is a very interesting site and good pics. - Mike)
http://www.rense.com/general67/street.htm

The Honey Expert Thanks to Amanda for this one.
Do you love honey? I know I sure do. Set some baklava in front of me and I'm in heaven. But I put honey in my tea, I make honey cakes, and now thanks to this site, I've learned that there's more that I can use honey for than dessert and tea.
There are two ways to navigate this site—you can use the honey jars at the top of that page that are labeled Recipes, Honey Info, Food Service, Kids, Press Room, Athletics, and Search. Or you can use the side menu with Food Science, Honey Research, Education, Links, Honey Promotions, and Featured Honey Varietal.
Let's start in the Recipes section. Here you can search for a recipe, or you can use the side menu and browse recipes from categories like appetizers, baked goods, beauty recipes, beverages, and breakfast just to name a few. In the Main Dishes section I loved their Ad Lib Teriyaki.
Honey Research — offers a list of topics of things that honey is being researched to see if it can be used for. This section I found interesting due to the plethora of options and things that honey has the potential to be useful in.
Honey Info — is another great section on everything from how honey is made to why you shouldn't give your baby honey. Here you can also learn the history of honey, cooking, storage, and usage tips, and a whole lot more. A must read section!
Well, feel free to explore the rest, and try out some honey recipes.
http://www.honey.com/

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