Brought to you each week by
the 84 Online Team, a loose collection of volunteers from around the Kentuckiana
region.
84 Online is broadcast live
each Sunday from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM (EDT) on WHAS radio, 840 AM. You may call the show directly during
this time period at 502-571-8484 or toll free at 1-800-444-8484. You may also interact with the team
online by visiting www.84online.com and
clicking on Chat Room. IRC users
can access the room through server ucanweb.com, channel #84online. Chat hours match the show on Sunday and
generally some of the members are in weeknights from 8:00 to 9:00 PM
EDT.
Vol. 1, No.
8
6-5-01
To follow up last Thursday’s
Addendum to the newsletter I would like to thank Fred Langa for his list of
links to websites debunking the sulfnbk.exe virus hoax which, in my haste to get
it out the door, I didn’t get permission to do. I’m going to forward a copy of our
little newsletter to him as well as plug his. You can sign up for the excellent
LangaList NL at www.langa.com . It is published each Monday and Thursday
and contains all manner of useful information ranging from Windows tips to
useful downloads. This week he even
includes a section on how to recover the sulfnbk.exe file if you deleted it
during last week’s mail storm.
Thanks Fred ;)
Another link that explains how to recover that file is Symantec’s http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/sulfnbk.exe.warning.html
. This link gives detailed
instructions for restoring the file for users of 95, 98 and
ME.
I must also issue an apology for suggesting that deletion of the file
would “cripple” Windows.
Sulfnbk.exe basically recovers corrupted long file names in Windows 9x
and may never be needed. However if
you ever run into a situation where a folder becomes corrupted and you have to
recover it (like C:\Program Files) it IS essential. Thanks to Wxguy for pointing this
out.
Another developing virus story involves Computer Associate’s free
InoculateIT Personal Edition software.
We have been suggesting this program for years but this past weekend CA
emailed the registered users advising that the PE project would come to an end
on June 7th. Although
the emails claim that “ we will
continue to make antivirus signature updates available to you for as long as you
have InoculateIT Personal Edition installed
on your computer”
is comforting;
it may be time to look for a replacement.
As of yesterday the Inoculate AutoDownload feature hadn’t worked for
several days (it’s back up today) so from time to time the program might need to
be updated manually in the future.
For manual updates you can go to http://www.antivirus.cai.com/cgi-bin/ipe/update.cgi
and enter your customer number and email address. If you don’t have the number handy you
can open Inoculate and click Help, then About.
Download the executable file, then just double click it to update your
virus definitions.
Art Maley’s Download section contains three alternative freeware AV
programs this week, which we will be evaluating on different Windows platforms
shortly. We’ll post our findings
over the next few weeks.
Kevin Mefford,
Editor
Uh Oh! You just clicked on
something, and instead of the expected screen
opening, all you see is the
hourglass. AOL just isn't responding. Which
usually means they are working
on that feature and it is temporarily
unavailable. If you could click
something else it would work but the
hourglass just sits there no matter
what you do.
There IS a solution. Click on the word Help on the top line of the screen
three times (real fast), and then Click on About America Online from the menu that
drops down. In most cases, you
will be able to go ahead and use AOL.
Red
Free AntiVirus: Here Today and Gone Tomorrow
Well, once again it seems I
have good news and bad news.
Let’s get the
bad news out of the way first. As
of June 7, 2001, InoculateIT Personal Edition from http://antivirus.cai.com/ will no longer be
available. Those of you who have
installed IPE will still be able to use it and update the DAT files for a
year. After that, you will need to
purchase the program or look for another free AVP (anti-virus
program). Although IPE will no longer be free, it
will be available for purchase as eTrust EZ Antivirus from http://www2.my-etrust.com/. Current users can purchase a 1-year
license for $5.95 and new users pay only $19.95. I recommend IPE and still
think it is superior to Norton AntiVirus and McAfee.
That brings us
to the good news. I have found
three AVPs that are currently free (I wish I could tell you that they will
remain free, but “you pays your money and takes your chances”
nowadays).
The first
program is called AntiVir Personal Edition and is available
at http://www.free-av.com/. This site and the program are produced
in Germany and the AVP seems to have the most current features, such as email
scans, download scans and an Update Wizard. I have been unable to find an online
review of the product, but the site offers a Bulletin Board forum and most of
the posts there seem favorable.
The next free
AVP is AVG 6.0 Free Edition from http://www.grisoft.com/html/us_index.cfm. This one has been around for some time
and generally is reviewed well. The
one drawback I see is that updates are released on a monthly basis. This does not meet the market needs in
today’s volatile virus development environment.
The last free
AVP is called Vcatch, available from http://www.vcatch.com. This one seems to have most of the
current features and also has the ability to monitor file transfers via ICQ,
Napster and Gnutella-based programs.
As I am writing this, the Vcatch site seems to be down (it was active
when I began my research Saturday), but the program can also be downloaded from
Tucows at http://www.tucows.com/win2k/preview/135147.html.
Sooner or later
we all might have to purchase an anti-virus program. When that day comes, remember there are
many great AVPs out there besides Norton and (shudder) McAfee. Be sure to give Panda Platinum,
PC-Cillin and F-Prot a trial run before you make your choice on purchasing a
program.
Art
Maley
Once upon a time did you have your address book contacts listed in the lower left corner of Outlook Express but now they’re gone? No problem! Simply open OE and click View from the text menu at the top. Click Layout and put a check in the box next to Contacts. Now they’re back!
Q: Sometimes when I first turn
on my computer and even during just the
middle time I am working on it the
mouse sticks? What I mean to say
is, I move the mouse, but the arrow does not move. I put my hand under the ball
and move it and sometimes this helps.
A: Cleaning The Mouse
You push the
Mouse across the Mouse Pad, and the cursor just sits in the same place on the
screen, or crawls sooooooooo slowly? Frustrating! Time for a Tune Up!
As the
ball on the bottom of the Mouse moves across the Mouse Pad, it picks up dust,
lint, etc. Then it transfers it to the wheels inside, where it builds up,
preventing the wheels from turning properly. Chances are, if you clean it, it
will work as well as when new.
(It's best to do the cleaning with the
computer shut down; otherwise you'll
soon have a screen full of pop up
menus. If you want to unplug the
mouse and take it somewhere else to clean it, be sure the computer is off when
you
unplug it).
* Turn the mouse upside down and turn the cover over
the ball until it pops
off.
* Remove the ball and wipe
it off. (I like to use a lint free cloth with a
little alcohol on it.) Set
it aside.
* Turn the mouse right side up and tap it gently a few times on a
firm
surface to knock out any loose 'dust'.
* With good light, turn the
mouse upside down and look into the cavity. See
the little wheels? Look as
if they are wrapped in lint?
* Very carefully, using pointed tweezers (or
whatever works best for you)
to remove the lint from the wheels. It helps to
soften the lint with a dab of
alcohol, using a Q-Tip.
* Once the wheels
are clean and lint free, tap the ball gently again on a
firm surface, wipe
the cavity out with a lint free clothe with a bit of
alcohol, let it sit for
a few minutes.
* Place the ball back into the mouse and replace the cover.
This should put your mouse back in good shape. Get in the habit of
cleaning
it regularly and it will serve you well for
years.
Red
If you have tech support
questions or ideas and/or submissions for our newsletter please email them to bob@iglou.com .
Copyright 2001, The 84
Online Team. All rights
reserved. Publication, rebroadcast
or storage is prohibited without prior consent, however you may freely forward
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Information provided in this
publication is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed
or implied. Although the
information provided is known to work on most systems, it may not work on ALL
systems. Make use of any
information supplied at your own risk.
The 84 Online Team is a
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