Microsoft is cutting the cord on its antipiracy tool.

The software maker this month plans to update the Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications program so that it only checks in with Microsoft once every two weeks, instead of after each boot-up, a company representative said Friday. By year's end, the tool will stop pinging Microsoft altogether, the representative said.

The changes come after a critic likened the antipiracy tool to spyware. He found that the program, designed to validate whether a copy of Windows has been legitimately acquired, checks in with Microsoft on a daily basis. Microsoft did not disclose in any of its documentation that the application would phone home.

Microsoft earlier this week had vowed to better disclose the actions of WGA Notifications. Now the company says it will gradually let go of the program once it is installed on Windows PCs.

"We are changing this feature to only check for a new settings file every 14 days," Microsoft said in a statement on its Web site. "Also, this feature will be disabled when WGA Notifications launches worldwide later this year."

No meaningful data is exchanged during the check-in with Microsoft, the software maker said. Unlike the initial validation, which sends system information to Microsoft, the check-in operation is limited to the download of the new settings file, the company said.

Microsoft launched WGA in September 2004 and has gradually expanded the antipiracy program. It now requires validation before Windows users can download additional Microsoft software, such as Windows Media Player and Windows Defender. Validation is not required for security fixes.

Originally, people had to validate their Windows installation only when downloading additional Microsoft software. Since November last year, however, Microsoft has been pushing out the WGA Notifications tool along with security updates to people in a number of countries, including the U.S.

The first time that users run WGA Validation to check if their Windows version is genuine, the information sent to Microsoft is the Windows XP product key, PC maker, operating system version, PC bios information and the user's local setting and language. Microsoft discloses in the WGA tool license that this information is being sent. 

As Win98 (Finally) Fades Into The Sunset...

    Dear Fred, Thanks so much for the Plus! help over the last several years. With your help, I support the personal computers of a number of family members and friends, about five of whom still run 98SE and do not have the resources to upgrade at this time. I have kept them free firewalled, free anti-virused, and hotfixed, but the schedule has been somewhat erratic as it depends upon when I can get to them, and some are out of town. So far, they have had no problems that I can't correct.

    Microsoft says: "Support ... ends on July 11, 2006. Microsoft will end public and technical support by this date. This also includes security updates. "

    The part that confuses me is where they say "This also includes security updates."  Do you know if security updates (and other updates such as WMP9, etc.) already posted by July 11 will remain and still work with Windows Update?  If so, I can relax and take some time getting to them and at least have the computers as far up to date as Microsoft will allow. I had planned on in a couple of cases reinstalling the operating system and building up with Windows Update. If Windows Update is no longer going to work , then I am going to have to hustle and try to get to them all by July 11.

    I realize that this isn't the greatest approach, but I have found that with proper safeguards and safe online practices Windows 98 can still be a good platform, and for some folks it's the only alternative for now. Thanks for any help. Sincerely, Paul Heinzerling

Microsoft has actually been quite gentle with Win98 users; extending the scheduled end-of-support date for that OS numerous times. But the safe thing to do is to assume that this time they really mean it. <g>

If that's the case, no new patches or updates will be available; and Microsoft will most likely turn off access to WindowsUpdate for Win98 machines. They've already done that with the early versions of XP--- you have to be running a ServicePack version of XP to use the Update site now.

If you want to continue running Win98, the safest thing is to download all the Win98 patches and updates now (I'll tell you how in a moment) and save them on your hard drive or burn them to a CD. Later, if or when you need the patches, you'd use the locally-saved versions of the update files, rather than going to WindowsUpdate.

To download all Win98 updates (or, for that matter, updates for any MS operating system):

Go here: http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/catalog

Click the "Find updates for Microsoft Windows operating systems" link.

Scroll down to "Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition."

Click the "Search" button.

Click "Critical Updates and Service Packs" (there are 77 as I write this, and that may be the final count).

Scroll through the listbox of Critical Updates and click the "Add" button for each one.

When all critical updates have been added, go back to the search-result list at the top of the page and repeat the same process for all the updates in the other categories, one by one:

Additional Windows Downloads
Internet and Multimedia Updates
Multi-Language Features (if you need these)
Recommended Updates
Windows Tools
Advanced Security Updates

When you're done, you'll have a pile of software in your "download basket." Click "Go to Download Basket" (the green arrow) and let the data flow: The download tool will create a "WU" folder ("Windows Updates") in whatever location you designate, and populate subfolders within WU with locally-runnable copies of the Update files you selected.

If any files fail to download on the first try, they'll remain in your "Download basket" so you can retry. Don't close your browser though; the download basket goes away when you do, and you'd have to start over.

If the above doesn't work for you, try the official instructions from Microsoft: "How to download updates and drivers from the Windows Update Catalog," http://support.microsoft.com/kb/323166

In any case, I think all Win98 users should be prepared to go it alone by the end of June. Don't count on Microsoft continuing to make patches and updates available; grab 'em for yourself, now, and then you'll be sure to have what you need.

And when your Win98 is fully patched and up to date: Use a disk-imaging tool to preserve that perfect setup, and burn the image to CD. In the future, if you need to reinstall Win98, you'd simply restore the image, and be back to perfection in one step.

(P.S. and BTW: The total download size for all major Win98 patch and update files (not counting multi-language features) is a tad over 300MB. That's larger than the original Win98 operating system itself!

All Web 2.0 sites have one thing in common: they need a Web browser. I use Firefox, and not just because it's a more secure browser with better user interface features. I use it because it has a fantastic plug-in architecture and a whole community of people who are writing plug-ins for it.

It's possible to go completely overboard with Firefox plug-ins, but realistically, most people will probably settle on just a few. I've picked out a few favorites that I use every day.

Previsualizing links with Browster and Tab Preview
Clicking links is so 2005. I recently covered Browster, an add-on to Firefox (and Internet Explorer) that pops open a window to the Web site that is under each link on your page when you hover over the link. When you mouse back to the original page, the pop-up disappears. On Google, it caches the first couple of links, so checking out search results in pop-ups is nearly instantaneous. A coworker saw my first post on this topic, tried it, loved it, and told me that he told his friends about it and that by letting him know about Browster, I had "saved 300 peoples' arms and hands." It really is that useful.

I really like the idea of not having to mouse-click links to see what's under them. So another tool I use is Tab Preview. With this extension, I can see what's in each browser tab I'm using just by hovering over the tabs.

Tab tools
Speaking of tabs, there's another utility I use constantly: Tabbrowser Preferences. It lets you tweak the behavior of tabs to your liking. I have it set up so that when I double-click a tab, it closes. That saves me some time.

One plug-in category I don't recommend is a tool that restores your tabs after a crash. Yes, it's nice, if Firefox crashes, to be able to resume your work immediately in all the tabs you had open. But I've found that often it's one of the open pages that caused the crash in the first place, which means that reloading all the pages doesn't help much.

Bookmark sharing with Jeteye and Del.icio.us
Dozens of social bookmarking tools are available. Some of the best are from small start-ups, such as Jeteye. This is a rich tool with some pretty fancy capabilities, but I just use it to save pages and pictures. If you want all your saved links to be public, a simple bookmarklet (a button you add to your browser's favorites bar) can interface directly into Del.icio.us.

Google Notebook can also store pages and links for you, but its sharing features aren't up to snuff.

I was wrong about StumbleUpon
Previously I dismissed StumbleUpon as a silly time-waster. What this tool does is take you to a somewhat random Web page when you click its toolbar button. I say "somewhat" because it fine-tunes its selections for you based on what you indicate you like and don't like, using voting buttons.

It's silly and it doesn't help you do your job, but nobody can work 24/7. Sometimes we all need to recharge. I've found myself enjoying the pages that StumbleUpon points me to. The toolbar extension makes me a more efficient time-waster. So I can get my brain downtime in faster and get back to work that much more quickly. At least that's how I justify it.

These and other plug-ins can be found at addons.mozilla.org and in Download.com's Firefox Extensions page. Download.com also has two pages of Best Firefox Extensions.

To ensure you always get the most recently updated site, you just have to change a quick setting in your Web browser of choice. If you use Internet Explorer, open it up and go to Tools, Internet Options. Once in there, look for the Temporary Internet Files section and click on the Settings button. A new box will appear and at the top, there is a section that says "Check for newer versions of stored pages:." This is where you can choose which way you would like to go. In this case, the most practical would be "Every visit to the page." With this option checked, IE will check for the newest version of the site every time you visit.

And now for Firefox
Update through  Live Bookmarks in Firefox?
This is why I wanted you to keep reading! Live Bookmarks are the way that Firefox keeps you updated with the Web sites you love to visit. While Internet Explorer has a special area where you can choose when you want it to look for updated versions of certain sites, Firefox does it through the Bookmark feature that has been one factor aiding to its popularity.

Several Web sites add new content throughout the day and all through the night. So, when you go to visit a certain site, you want to make sure you're getting the newest and freshest material that is available. You probably have many bookmarks set in your Firefox browser and you can upgrade that a bit with Live Bookmarks. Live Bookmarks work with an RSS feed to send you the updates almost as quick as they happen. With this method, you won't miss anything.

For example, if you like to visit CNN's Web site every day for the latest news, you can have new headlines and fresh news stories sent to you automatically. The only problem with this feature is that not every single Web site supports Live Bookmarks. Most of the news sites and similar sites will though.

To see if your favorite Web site supports it, type in the Web address and go there (in your Firefox browser, of course). A little icon will appear either on the right side of the location bar or at the very bottom right hand corner of the window. The latter is only for anyone using Firefox 1.0.x.

The icon is a little orange square with a speaker type symbol inside.

If you want Firefox to start watching a certain Web site for you, just left click on the icon and choose what you want. Newer versions of Firefox have more choices, but the main one is "Subscribe to..." and it will give you some choices of what you can get. For example, I went to MSNBC's Web site and I could either subscribe to the Top Stories or the Most Viewed. I chose Top Stories.

Are you one of the many who use the Google toolbar in your browser? Both Internet Explorer and Firefox support the Google toolbar and lucky for us, it is a user friendly toolbar. It's not one of those third party toolbars that seem to invade your computer. The components of the Google toolbar are actually very helpful and they can even save you some time and energy.
For this article, I'm going to focus on the features of the toolbar and just explain them each in depth, so we can all understand them a little more. You may have been using the Google toolbar for awhile now, but maybe you're a little confused about certain parts of it. Well, hopefully this article will help you with that!

Google Search
This is obviously the main factor of the toolbar. This integrated search box makes it super easy to do a quick search on the Web. You don't have to worry about typing in a Web address to another search engine. You can just use Google's and be on your way. Like Google says, "Making it easier than ever to find anything you want on the Web."

Popup Blocker
The Google toolbar comes with a popup blocker, but for now, it only works in Internet Explorer. This blocker works just like any other and it just helps keep those unwanted popups away from your computer screen. This also helps you stay safe from other risks while you're surfing the Web.

AutoFill
This feature of the toolbar allows you to choose if you want your information (name, address, etc.) to be saved on certain Web sites. You probably visit several sites every day that require some type of information. Do you want to type it in every time you come back to that site? I sure wouldn't! With the autofill feature, you don't have to, because it will save everything from visit to visit. Also, don't worry, because it is all kept secure and if you enter credit card information, it is kept password protected.

Address Bar Browse by Name
This feature also only works in Internet Explorer. This option allows you to visit a Web site even if you don't know the address. If you just know the name of it, you're good to go. For example, if you wanted to visit Ohio State's Web site and you just weren't sure of the whole URL, you could type Ohio State in the address bar and you'll be taken directly to the school's site.

PageRank Display
You can use this feature to find out rankings of different Web sites. If you're not sure it's worth your time to visit a site, find its rank first!

Highlight Search Terms
Every time you put a search word or phrase into the search box, you can choose to have those certain words highlighted in your results and on the actual page you decide to check out. You don't have to go around looking for your search words, because they are highlighted and easy to find. This saves you a lot of time in the end.

Word Find Buttons
This is similar to the highlight feature. With the Word Find option, you can type in the word you are looking for and then just click on the toolbar's Word Find and every occurrence of that word will be displayed in a matter of seconds. Pretty cool, huh?

Customize Your Toolbar Layout
This feature is only available in Firefox. With this, you can put your favorite toolbar features right where you want them so they're always easy for you to find. Just go to View, Toolbars, Customize and start rearranging the toolbar buttons to fit your needs.

Google Suggest
This is another option only available in Firefox. This works when you are typing in a search word or phrase in the search box. When you start typing, Google will suggest some additional words for you. For example, if you type in the word music, Google may suggest music videos, music downloads, etc.

Now, as if that weren't enough, here are some even newer features for the Google toolbar.
SpellCheck
This new and improved spell checker will find typing mistakes as you type. So, don't type out a complete long paragraph and then go back and correct spellings. Change them as you go! This works in any Web based e-mail program, discussion forums, applications, etc.

AutoLink
This new feature helps you find locations quicker. For instance, if you're looking for a restaurant and you find their address, but not a map, the Google toolbar will automatically create a link to a map for you. How convenient! You can also use the autolink for tracking delivery status numbers, VIN numbers and ISBN numbers.

Word Translator
If you ever need to translate a word from English into another language (or vice versa), you can do that with this new toolbar feature. You can just hover your mouse over a word and it will tell you what it means in your own language and also other languages like Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, Italian, German and Spanish.

Okay, I believe that is it.
Whew, huh?! That was a lot to cover, but it's all good for you! Now, to access your toolbar options (this is for both Internet Explorer and Firefox), just go to the Google icon in the upper left hand corner of your browser. There is a down arrow, so just click on that and then choose Options. A box will come up and it will have everything I just discussed. You can either indicate that you want it shown on your toolbar or you can remove it. Make sure you go through each of the tabs to make sure you have everything selected the way you want!
Also, the Google toolbar is always automatically updated, so you don't have to worry about doing that yourself. And one more thing, the Google toolbar respects your privacy and they won't ever violate your user rights. So, you basically don't have to worry about any of that stuff. It makes it even more enjoyable for you, so go enjoy!

The company sent out a dozen security bulletins on Tuesday as part of its regular monthly patch cycle. Eight of the bulletins are labeled "critical," which is Microsoft's highest risk rating. They cover problems with Windows, Internet Explorer, Word, PowerPoint and Exchange Server.

The number of vulnerabilities mean this is Microsoft's largest clutch of patches to date, security experts said.

"There has never been a Microsoft security update to address 21 issues and never one with 19 potential remote execution flaws," said Amol Sarwate, the manager of the Vulnerability Management Lab at flaw management specialist Qualys.

The most important bulletin, MS06-025, is a fix for routing and remote access vulnerabilities in Windows, said Jonathan Bitle, a senior product manager at Qualys.

"These (vulnerabilities) take advantage of two listening services that run on the host and listen for traffic coming in through ports that are frequently utilized," Bitle said. "While a lot of these (other Microsoft) remote execution flaws require interaction (by the user), this one does not. A user doesn't have to click on a link or open an attachment."

The routing and remote access are deemed critical for systems running Windows 2000, and "important"--the second risk ranking--for Windows XP with Service Pack 1 or 2, and for Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1.

Qualys is also suggesting that IT managers should jump on another patch, for an issue in Microsoft Exchange Server running Outlook Web Access (MS06-029), even though Microsoft has tagged it only as important.

"If a user checks their e-mail using Outlook Web Access, all they need to do is just open an e-mail in IE and it will cause the script in their e-mail to be remotely executed," Sarwate said.

Over the next days and weeks, IT administrators should be busy deploying the bundle of patches across their network, experts said.

"There are a couple different vulnerabilities. Some are IE browser problems, some affect the Media Player, ART imaging and JScript," said Chris Andrew, vice president of security technologies at PatchLink. "IT managers will probably have to patch every single desktop."

Four of the critical updates deal with security holes that could allow remote code execution in all versions of Windows. One is a cumulative update for the Internet Explorer component (MS06-021), affecting versions 5.01 and 6 of the Web browser. Another (MS06-024) deals with a problem with Windows Media Player, versions 7.1, 9 and 10. The others cover vulnerabilities in Microsoft Jscript (MS06-023) and ART image rendering (MS06-022).

Another critical Windows bulletin, related to bugs in its graphics rendering engine (MS06-026) affects Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition (SE) and Windows Millennium Edition (ME) only.

Two updates affecting Office were also given the highest risk rating. A vulnerability in Word (MS06-027) also hits Microsoft Works. The bulletin for a flaw in PowerPoint (MS06-028) replaces an earlier patch.

Microsoft also issued a fix for an important flaw in Windows' Server Message Block (SMB) component (MS06-030) that could enable attackers to elevate their level of system privileges. The "moderate" bulletins covered an RPC Mutual Authentication (MS06-031) problem and a TCP/IP problem (MS06-032) in Windows.
Click here to find links for the various updates  http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6083424.html?tag=nl.e550

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.

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.

Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.4 - product description
Application to scan for spyware, adware, hijackers and other malicious software.
Choose one of the sites to download from.
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html

Ad-Aware Personal provides advanced protection from known data-mining, aggressive advertising, Trojans, dialers, malware, browser hijackers, and tracking components. This software is downloadable free of charge.
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

 

Weekly Top 5 Virus Incidents
The following is a list of the top 5 virus and malware files submitted to Computer Associates during the week from June 05, 2006, to June 11, 2006.

   1. Win32.Lovgate.A
   2. Win32.Netsky.P
   3. Win32.Mydoom.N
   4. Win32/Feeb Family
   5. Win32/Blackmal.F!CME24
 
 

Here are a few sites of many that can help you determine if an email is a hoax or real.

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/
http://www.quatloos.com/

Well, for most kids, school is out and they have a lot of free time on their hands. How are they going to fill that time? There are always the normal pleasures of the summer like bike riding, swimming or hanging out with their friends, but some may turn to the Internet for fun this summer. This is where you (the parent or grandparent) comes in. You need to make sure your children or grandchildren are Internet safe.

This site is an awesome guide to keeping your children safe while they surf the net. There are so many interesting links and articles on this site. Learn about blogging safety, chat room safely, cell phone safety and much more.

You can find the main articles of interest on the left side of the site, with the more featured information and links in the center. The articles you have to choose from are: Computer Security, Common Sense Rules, How to Can Spam, Eliminate Spyware, Protecting Your Privacy, Chat Room Safety, Cell Phone Safety and many more.

In the center of the page, you can find links to other safety sites, as well as, the link to Daffy Dave Sings the Safe Kids Song. I like that there is a song. It’s a great way to get your children to remember the ways to be safe. For instance, how many of you know the song “The Alphabet Song” or “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”?

There is also a great open forum on this site that you can get together with other parents and discuss safety issues. Cool, right?

I think some of the advice on this site is practical for Internet safety for all ages. I mean, who doesn’t want to know how to deal with spam or where it’s safe to use your personal information. I know I do!

I hope that you and your children have a safe and happy summer!

http://www.safekids.com/