First, here are the different links you will find in each of the Control Panels. In XP, you will find: Appearance and Themes, Network and Internet Connections, Add or Remove Programs, Sounds, Speech and Audio Devices, Performance and Maintenance, Printers and Other Hardware, User Accounts, Date, Time, Language and Regional Options, Accessibility Options and Security Center. On the other hand, Vista shortens those options a little. There, you will find: System and Maintenance, Security, Network and Internet, Hardware and Sound, Programs, User Accounts and Family Safety, Appearance and Personalization, Clock, Language and Region, Ease of Access and Additional Options.

Now, most of them are pretty self-explanatory, but let's go over a few of the differences found in Vista. Under the Hardware and Sounds section, you can access all of your hardware, like your printer, keyboard, mouse, etc. Under Programs, you can take care of all the uninstalling issues and so on. Under the User Accounts and Family Safety area, you can add new accounts, but also set up parent controls and other safety settings. Now, for the new ones. Ease of Access gives you the option to have Windows suggest certain settings and it also has a section for speech recognition options. Under Additional Options, you will find things such as the type of antivirus program you have on your computer and other valuable information.

So, if you are still getting used to Vista, you can rest assured that the Control Panel is just about the same as XP's, just with a few additions. It shouldn't take you too long to get the hang of it. You'll be a Vista Control Panel pro in no time! 

Do I have to update my computer?
Home users: If you use Windows Vista or have Automatic Updates turned on, you may not be affected by the change in daylight saving time. There was a patch released with the monthly updates for February.  If you want to confirm that you downloaded and installed the patch, follow the steps in the Daylight Saving Time Update Guide accessed with the link below.

Microsoft has no auto updates available for Windows ME, 98, or 95 users.

Note: You must have active scripting enabled to use this guide and you must use Internet Explorer to access the Time Update Guide.

Daylight Saving Time Update Guide can be accessed  http://support.microsoft.com/dst2007

Justice Department takes aim at image-sharing sites   By Declan McCullagh, 
CNET News.com  March 2, 2007

The Bush administration has accelerated its Internet surveillance push by proposing that Web sites must keep records of who uploads photographs or videos in case police determine the content is illegal and choose to investigate, CNET News.com has learned.

That proposal surfaced Wednesday in a private meeting during which U.S. Department of Justice officials, including Assistant Attorney General Rachel Brand, tried to convince industry representatives such as AOL and Comcast that data retention would be valuable in investigating terrorism, child pornography and other crimes. The discussions were described to News.com by several people who attended the meeting.

A second purpose of the meeting in Washington, D.C., according to the sources, was to ask Internet service providers how much it would cost to record details on their subscribers for two years. At the very least, the companies would be required to keep logs for police of which customer is assigned a specific Internet address.

Only universities and libraries would be excluded, one participant said. "There's a PR concern with including the libraries, so we're not going to include them," the participant quoted the Justice Department as saying. "We know we're going to get a pushback, so we're not going to do that."

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has been lobbying Congress for mandatory data retention, calling it a "national problem that requires federal legislation." Gonzales has convened earlier private meetings to pressure industry representatives. And last month, Republicans introduced a mandatory data retention bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would let the attorney general dictate what must be stored and for how long.

Supporters of the data retention proposal say it's necessary to help track criminals if police don't immediately discover illegal activity, such as child abuse. Industry representatives respond by saying major Internet providers have a strong track record of responding to subpoenas from law enforcement.

Wednesday's meeting represents the latest effort by the Bush administration to increase the ability of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to monitor Internet users. Since 2001, the administration has repeatedly pushed for more surveillance capabilities in the form of the Patriot Act and a follow-up proposal that--if it had been enacted--would have given the FBI online eavesdropping powers without a court order for up to 48 hours.

Often invoking terrorism and child pornography as justifications, the administration has argued that Internet providers must install backdoors for surveillance and has called for routers to be redesigned for easier eavesdropping. President Bush's electronic surveillance program, which was recently modified, has drawn an avalanche of lawsuits.
ISP snooping timeline

The Justice Department's request for information about compliance costs echoes a decade-ago debate over wiretapping digital telephones, which led to the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. To reduce opposition by telephone companies, Congress set aside $500 million for reimbursement and the legislation easily cleared both chambers by voice votes.

Once Internet providers come up with specific figures, privacy advocates worry, Congress will offer to write a generous check to cover all compliance costs and the process will repeat itself.

The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. The U.S. Internet Service Provider Association, which has been critical of data retention proposals before, declined to comment.

Because the Justice Department did not circulate a written proposal at the private meeting, it's difficult to gauge the effects on Web sites that would be forced to record information on image uploads for two years. Meeting participants said that Justice officials (including Brand, the assistant attorney general for legal policy and a former White House attorney) did not answer questions about anonymously posted content and whether text comments on a blog would qualify for retention.

In practice, some Web businesses already make it a practice to store personal information forever. Google stores search terms indefinitely, for instance, while AOL says it deletes them after 30 days.

David Weekly, a San Francisco-area entrepreneur who founded popular Wiki-creation site PBWiki.com, said the Justice Department's proposal would be routinely evaded by people who use overseas sites to upload images. (PBWiki, which recently raised $2 million from Mohr Davidow Ventures, lets people embed photographs on pages they create with a point-and-click editor.)

If the proposal were to become law, PBWiki would already be in compliance, Weekly said. "We already keep all that data pretty much indefinitely because it's invaluable for us to mine and figure out how people use services," he said. "How do they use services now versus a year ago? Was February a bad month for traffic?...We already have the data there. It's already searchable. It's already indexed." 

I’m sure everyone is familiar with the popular media player from Apple called QuickTime, right?  The free version of the player can handle any number of audio, as well as, video file types and it is almost a necessity if you like to view media on the Web.

Almost everyone has QuickTime installed on their system, whether they know it or not. Go ahead and take a look in your programs list (Start, All Programs). Sure enough, you'll probably see it sticking out like a sore thumb right there in the Q section. The fact that the player is so widely installed is the reason why this week's security alert is so important.

Earlier this week, Apple put out an update for their player that addresses eight unpatched flaws in the program. All eight of these security holes could allow an attacker to breech your security defenses by crashing the player and injecting malicious code. This code will then allow the attacker the ability to take control of the targeted system, doing with it what they may, at that point. The attack is pretty straight forward. The procedure relies on the user opening specially crafted media files that, when opened, cause one of three things: an integer overflow, heap buffer overflow or a stack buffer overflow. All of those will crash the player, allowing the injection of the arbitrary code. This attack is not limited to PC users either. The Mac operating system is subject to the vulnerability as well.

Now that we have all that out of the way, how can you update the version of QuickTime on your machine? Well, there are two ways to update it. You can go to the Apple security and update page and download the update there. This way, you just simply install it, almost as a stand alone application. Or, you can use the update feature within QuickTime’s interface. I just went through them both and I have to confess, I think the way to go is to just download the self-installer and install the update manually. There are a few things to look out for while installing the update and I will highlight these points of interest in the installation guide below.

1.) Download the update from Apple’s site and save the self-installing package some place where you can find it easily, such as on your desktop. You can download the updated version of QuickTime for Windows 2000, XP and Vista here http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/win.html

There are some checkmarks and options you want to look out for before downloading. For instance, there are two versions of the patch. One comes with iTunes and if you don’t need it, I wouldn’t recommend downloading that version. There is also a spot for your e-mail address and a couple of boxes that are checked off that indicate you would like e-mail sent to you. I also suggest not putting your e-mail address in the provided field and clearing the checkboxes to stop any unwanted junk mail.

Also check out the file types that Quicktime wants to associate.  You may want to uncheck some of them or at least remember that you just installed a new Quicktime,  So when certain movies or videls open with Quicktime and not your media player you will know to change the association.

Vista's User Account Control (UAC) helps defend your system against all sorts of malware.
This week, I discuss whether or not it's a good idea to disable UAC and explain how to disable it, if you want to. 
Is disabling Vista's User Account Control wise?

If you use Vista, then you're probably aware that it has a new security feature called User Account Control (UAC). This feature enables you log in as a regular user without administrator privileges (which is a more secure way of using your computer), but quickly elevate your privileges when a program needs greater access to your computer than is allowed for a regular user account.

Overall, UAC is a good feature. But some people find it to be bothersome, due to the prompts that appear, asking if you want to elevate a program's privileges. So, the question arises whether or not to disable UAC. If you do disable it, and then log in with an account that has administrator privileges, you need to be aware that your system is less protected than it would be if you had left UAC enabled.

The reason this is true is because many forms of malware typically try to create or modify Registry keys and Windows system files. They might also try to write files to areas of the system where a regular user account would not normally write files. With UAC enabled, actions that require administrator-level access are prohibited unless you specifically allow them by approving a UAC prompt.

Keep in mind that while UAC does help prevent many forms of malware from infecting your system, malware can still find its way in to your system even with UAC enabled. UAC simply protects the system from actions that would normally require administrator-level access. So, it's a good idea to leave it enabled.

On the other hand, if you consider yourself to be somewhat of an expert at protecting your computer, then disabling UAC and running as admin may be something you'd be comfortable with. After all, if you've used Windows for years and have yet to experience a serious infiltration of your system by some type of malware, then it's possible that you can continue in that way without UAC.

Keep in mind that if you share your computer with other people who have their own user accounts, you can disable UAC but it might break usability for other user accounts. Woody Leonard pointed out to me that when UAC is disabled via the Control Panel for one user account, other regular user accounts are no longer able to elevate their privileges. A regular user account can't even change Vista's system time, unless UAC is available so the user can authorize the change. Disabling UAC isn't good if you have other regular user accounts for people who share your computer.

Instead of disabling UAC using the Control Panel, a better approach might be to use an account with administrator-level access as your usual user login account, and then disable UAC only for accounts that have administrator-level access. That way, your user account won't be subject to UAC prompts, but other user accounts will be.

On any version of Vista, except Home Basic and Home Premium, you can disable UAC for administrator accounts by following these steps:

Step 1. Click the Start button and launch the Local Security Policy editor by entering secpol.msc in the Search box.
Step 2. Select the Local Policies item in the left panel to expand the tree, then expand Security Options under Local Policies.
Step 3. Scroll down the list in the right panel to locate User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval Mode. Right-click that item and choose Properties.
Step 4. Select Elevate without prompting and close the dialog.

If you use Vista Home Basic or Home Premium, the Local Security Policy editor, unfortunately, isn't included. To disable UAC for administrator accounts, you'll need to edit the Registry. Follow these steps to do that — and be extremelycareful, since mistakes could render your system unusable!

Step 1. Click Start and enter regedit in the Search box to launch the Registry Editor.
Step 2. Navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ System
Step 3. Double-click the ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin item.
Step 4. Change the value to 00000000.
Step 5. Close the dialog and exit the Registry Editor.

The more programs that launch at boot time, the longer it takes for Windows to boot up. Sometimes you might want Windows to boot as fast as possible, and there's a way to make that happen. Donald Parkyn wrote to ask about a quirk he noticed when booting XP:

    * "I notice that Windows XP Pro seems to boot and run better if I hold the Shift key down during bootup. What is this all about?"

Good observation, Donald. Microsoft built that feature in to Windows to help people not only get their systems up and running faster when necessary, but to also help people bypass many of the programs that would normally start when booting up.

If you hold down the Shift key during the entire bootup process, Windows won't launch at startup any programs located in the following places:

systemdrive\Documents and Settings\Username\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
systemdrive\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
windir\Profiles\Username\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
windir\Profiles\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

In the above locations, systemdrive refers to the drive where Windows is installed — typically the C: drive. Windir refers to the Windows installation directory, whatever it may have been named when Windows was first installed.

Apple QuickTimeA mega-update from Cupertino plugs a total of eight code execution vulnerabilities in QuickTime, all affecting Windows Vista, Microsoft's new operating system. The most serious of the flaws could allow an attacker to use audio and video files to take full control of a vulnerable machine.

In all, the new QuickTime 7.1.5  plugs a total of eight holes affecting Mac OS X, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista users.  All eight flaws are considered highly critical because of the risk of code execution attacks.

Vulnerability #1 (Windows Vista/XP/2000):  Viewing a maliciously-crafted 3GP file may lead to an application crash or arbitrary code execution. This is caused by an integer overflow in QuickTime's handling of 3GP video files. By enticing a user to open a malicious movie, an attacker can trigger the overflow, which may lead to an application crash or arbitrary code execution. This issue does not affect Mac OS X.

Vulnerability #2 (Mac OS X v10.3.9 and later, Windows Vista/XP/2000): Viewing a maliciously-crafted MIDI file may lead to an application crash or arbitrary code execution because of a heap buffer overflow in QuickTime's handling of MIDI files.  An attacker could exploit this bug by enticing a user to open a malicious MIDI file. This could lead to an application crash or arbitrary code execution.

Vulnerability #3 (Mac OS X v10.3.9 and later, Windows Vista/XP/2000): Viewing a maliciously-crafted Quicktime movie file may lead to an application crash or arbitrary code execution. Apple describes this as a heap buffer overflow in the way the media player handles QuickTime movie files.  Code execution attacks are possible, Apple confirmed.

Vulnerability #4 (Mac OS X v10.3.9 and later, Windows Vista/XP/2000): Viewing a maliciously-crafted Quicktime movie file may lead to an application crash or arbitrary code execution because of an integer overflow in QuickTime's handling of UDTA atoms in movie files. This could be exploited to cause denial-of-service or arbitrary code execution attacks.

Vulnerability #5 (Mac OS X v10.3.9 and later, Windows Vista/XP/2000): A heap buffer overflow in QuickTime's handling of PICT files could allow an attacker to launch code execution attacks when rigged PICT files are viewed.

Vulnerability #6 (Mac OS X v10.3.9 and later, Windows Vista/XP/2000): Opening a maliciously-crafted QTIF file may lead to an application crash or arbitrary code execution because of a stack buffer overflow exists in QuickTime's handling of QTIF files. "By enticing a user to access a maliciously-crafted QTIF file, an attacker can trigger the overflow, which may lead to an application crash or arbitrary code execution," Apple warned.

Vulnerability #7 (Mac OS X v10.3.9 and later, Windows Vista/XP/2000): An integer overflow in the way QuickTime handles QTIF files could allow a maliciously crafted QTIF file to be used in code execution attacks.

Vulnerability #8 (Mac OS X v10.3.9 and later, Windows Vista/XP/2000): Opening a maliciously-crafted QTIF file may lead to an application crash or arbitrary code execution because of a heap buffer overflow in the media player's handling of QTIF files.

Apple is strongly recommending that users upgrade to QuickTime 7.1.5 via the Software Update or from the download area in the QuickTime site.  
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/win.html

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.

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.

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Free Spybot and Adware programs for download.

Get ewido anti-spyware Free
ewido anti-spyware Free is a free anti-spyware protection tool developed by GRISOFT for home use. We invite you to join the millions of satisfied customers worldwide who have downloaded the software and now enjoy the benefits of ewido anti-spyware Free.
What you get with ewido anti-spyware Free
Easy to use
Daily database updates
Heuristics to detect unknown threats
Automatic Cleaning Engine
And most of all ... great customer satisfaction!
http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/20/lng/us/tpl/v5

Windows Defender (Beta 2) is a free program that helps protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software. It features Real-Time Protection, a monitoring system that recommends actions against spyware when it's detected, and a new streamlined interface that minimizes interruptions and helps you stay productive.
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

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/
 

    
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.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/

The navigation strip you’ll find along the top is divided into the following sections: Animal Domain, Health SciTech, Forces of Nature, Environment, Technology, Science of Fiction, History and Strange News.

Animal Domain – Here you can learn all about animals and check out what animals have been in the news recently. For example, when I was there, I got to read about the beaver who has moved back into New York and about the giant squid that was caught off the coast of New Zealand. You can also check out the Featured Animal of the Week. When I was there, it was the red-tailed hawk.

Health SciTech – Here you can learn interesting things that relate to human health. One of the interesting stories I read here was about how the color of orange juice changes how we perceive the taste. Isn’t that interesting?!

Forces of Nature – This section is all about the weather and how the forces of nature affect the world in which we live. From headlines about volcanoes to the world’s weirdest weather, there is a lot to check out here.

Environment – There was a very interesting feature article here about strange new creatures found in Antarctica. There are even pictures of the critters for you to check out as well.

Technology - Here you can learn about the latest in technology. From exoskeletons that will help people walk to windmills that can generate power in places where there isn’t as much sun to all kinds of other interesting findings, there's something for everyone here.

Now that you have an idea of what you’ll find, I think you’ll understand why I’m so hooked on this site. Are you ready to dive right in? I know I’m ready to get back to checking it out too!

http://www.livescience.com/

GHOSTS and HAUNTINGS - Over 11,600  visitor submitted true ghost stories and experiences.  There are pictures and recordings of ghosts.  There is a Haunted Places Index listing hundreds of haunted places all over the country & world.  It's a safe place to come to for information and help with ghosts and problem hauntings.  Dave lived in a haunted house for 29 years and we are both researchers in this field so we understand and will try to help you.... 

The main site is:  http://theshadowlands.net/
Locally find sites at: http://theshadowlands.net/ghost/      Then access the link called Haunted Places.

Some of the local Haunted places and their stories are:  Beech Creek - Furst Corner Restaurant, Lock Haven - Assante's Hotel , Lock Haven - Lock Haven University (2 incidents described),  Lock Haven - The McGhee Elementary School.  Jersey Shore is clean as are Mill Hall, Lamar, Salona, and Avis.  I guess most of the scary people from those locations are still living.

If anyone knows of incidents the site caretakers would be happy to hear about them and they will invistigate. 

Tom Swifties!

A Tom Swifty is a Wellerism in which an adverb relates both properly and punningly to a sentence of reported speech. This is no doubt easier to see from some examples (if you don't understand the pun in any of the examples on this page, you will find explanations at the bottom of the page):

   1. "The doctor had to remove my left ventricle," said Tom half-heartedly.
   2. "Your Honour, you're crazy!" said Tom judgementally.
http://www.fun-with-words.com/tom_swifties_history.html