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Vol. 2, No. 45
11-15-02
An eclectic mix this week, with tips warranted by recent emails and some fresh news stories. Sorry about the late issue, our mail server coughed up a cyber-hairball last night and wouldn’t cooperate…
On the tips front we’ve
gotten several emails recently asking about disabling programs that start
automatically with Windows. These
include chat and instant messaging programs like AIM, Yahoo Pager, ICQ etc. If you’re not on broadband and you don’t
eat, sleep and breathe online these programs and many others don’t need to run
at Windows startup. You can get
instructions on how to disable these programs as well as a list of what you need
and don’t need to run with Windows at http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.htm.
Another frequent question
was about the default security setting in Outlook Express 6 that prevents users
from saving or viewing attachments.
An example would be your boss sending you an Excel file and instructing
you to familiarize yourself with the numbers for a meeting tomorrow. Uh-oh, OE 6 won’t allow you to access
that file.
With that in mind, remember
that the security setting is there for a reason. The files that it blocks include .exe,
.pif, .bat, .vbs, .doc and .xls.
All of those file types can and often do carry viruses. The safest workaround is to advise the
boss to compress the file into .zip format with something like WinZip or
FreeZip, which won’t be blocked.
Otherwise you can toggle that setting on or off by opening OE 6 and
clicking on Tools and Options then clicking the Security tab. Uncheck the box next to “Do not allow
attachments to be saved or opened…” and click on Apply and
OK.
If you’re expecting a file
and it’s imperative that you open it you can turn that option off but I suggest
turning it back on after you get what you need saved and scanned for
viruses.
Speaking of viruses the
dreaded Opaserv virus, in the wild for only the last few weeks, now has at least
11 known variants. Opaserv has the
ability to update itself via the Internet to newer versions and is a real pain
to clean in home or office network environments. To this point it’s not destructive but
who knows what the 12th variant will do. On the destructive side the Oror worm
now has 9 variants and it can eat your PC or network for breakfast. www.pandasoftware.com has this
description of Oror.H:
“Oror.H is
a worm
that deletes all of the files in the computer's hard disk as well
as every network drive accessible from the infected machine. It also looks
for files of antivirus applications in order to eliminate
them.
It uses e-mail,
IRC (chat)
and the KaZaA program to spread. It is very difficult to
identify the mail message that carries Oror.H as its subject and contents are
variable.
Oror.H is
considered very dangerous as it deletes every file in the affected
computer, including antivirus files. It also takes advantage of the Exploit/iFrame
vulnerability that allows files attached to e-mail messages to be automatically
run.”
What can you do to protect
yourself from these viruses? Follow
the security suggestions outlined at http://online.ucanweb.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=299.
On the news front Art
alerted me to an update to the Windows XP Service Pack 1 that fixes the problem
with switching between identities in Outlook Express. You can download the patch from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/recommended/q331923/default.asp.
Arthur read about it first in Scot Finnie’s newsletter available from http://www.scotsnewsletter.com/. Thanks Art and
Scot!
That’s enough (probably too
much) for this week ;) Stay tuned for Art’s downloads that include another way
to give the RIAA the finger, an alternative browser and a virtual pet rock. Hash is back with a Mac tip on
Text-to-Speech and Matt’s email pick addresses USB
printers.
Let’s be careful out
there,
Kevin Mefford,
Editor
New and
Nice
As you know, many file
sharing programs have gone the way of the dodo and some of the remaining
services load lots of nasty spyware with their install. Well, I just found a new service that
connects to the Gnutella network and contains no spyware. It is called QtraxMax.
Qtraxmax connects you to the
global Gnutella network. Use Qtraxmax to scour the Internet for audio and video
files and download them for free. The service features a detailed search that
cleverly uses concurrent downloading to multi-source a file, which delivers
faster results. There's also a Resume function, which lets you close down
mid-download and resume the next time you open Qtraxmax, and a file-repairing
feature that finds corrupted files and attempts to repair them. Get it here: http://download.com.com/3120-20-0.html?qt=qtraxmax&tg=dl-2001.
Want to try a new
browser? Avant Browser may be just
the ticket. Here is part of the
review by Megan Morrone of TechTV’ s “The
Screensavers”:
“Seamless integration: Avant
Browser automatically transfers your favorites, homepage, auto complete entries,
and history from IE.
No more pop-up ads: With
Avant Browser you don't need another program to block pop-ups. Simply click on
the Block icon on the toolbar and you're pop-up free
forever.
Default search engine: Click
the icon of the magnifying glass and you get a search window similar to that in
IE. The main difference is that Google is the default search engine. (Again, you
can make Google the default search engine in IE, but it's not
easy.)
No clutter on the taskbar:
New browser windows appear at the bottom of the Avant Browser window, not in
your taskbar. (IE in XP lets you condense your browser windows into one small
window, with access by right-click, but I hate this feature. I like to see what
windows I have open.)
Mouse gestures:
Hold down your right mouse
button and click your left mouse button to go back a page. Hold down your left mouse button and
click your right mouse button to go forward a page. Click a link with your middle mouse
button and the link will open in a new window.
Full screen button: A handy
button on the toolbar lets you increase your screen space. (IE lets you do this
with the F11 button, but you wouldn't know about this feature unless you read
the help file.)
Text size button: The icon
of the letter "A" lets you increase or decrease the size of the text on a web
page with a click of the mouse. (IE lets you do this also, but it's a hidden
shortcut you have to find on your own.)
Pentium 166 PC or
higher
16MB RAM or
more
Windows 95/98/NT (with
Service Pack 4)/2000/Me/XP
IE 5.5 or higher; IE 6
recommended”
Get Avant Browser here: http://www.avantbrowser.com/
Subscribers’
Bonus: Need an Internet pet? Webigachi may be just your “cup o’ tea”:
http://www.octanecreative.com/Parodyville/webigachi/webigachi2.html
Art
Maley
http://www.saveinternetradio.org
Speech
Options in OSX
Well after a long and much
needed vacation, the Mac Tip of the Week is back. This week I would like to
discuss a very nice feature in OSX, where your computer actually talks to you.
This has been there even in older Mac Operating Systems, but is now integrated
into ALL Cocoa applications. The Speech options such as voices, spoken commands
etc. can be found under System Preferences - Speech.
Clicking on the 1st
item in your menu bar can activate the Speech in all Cocoa applications. There
you will find a neat little menu called Services. And a Sub Menu called Speech.
You can highlight any Text and click on Start Speaking Text and your Mac will
speak out the text.
I have tried this on various programs and the speech
program is very good at recognizing words, and also is programmed well to use
common parlance. For example, when speaking out a URL, the voice says http -
colon - slash - slash - www etc.
Now you might wonder what a practical
day-to-day use for this feature would be? Well, I have found that using speech
is a great way to proof read what I have written. If you are like me, you can
stare at an article that you have written for over 20 minutes, and still miss
the most obvious errors. I have discovered that by having the article read out
to me, I can easily catch spelling and grammatical errors.
I am sure
others will find many more uses for this tool now that it is available. A good
tip I found was that if you click on any file in a finder window and go to
Services - Speech - Start Speaking Text, it tells you the complete path of the
file location. This is very helpful if you are not in Column View and want to
know where a file is located quickly.
Hash
hash@ucanweb.com
Q: I have a
Compaq computer with Windows 98SE installed. I recently had a problem and
had to reformat the hard drive, using Quick Restore disks. I
have a Compaq IJ300 printer, which came with the system, which reinstalled
O.K. I have a Canon Multipass J30,
which I had added on using a USB port connection recommended by the
manufacturer. This worked well, using Canon printer as default, and the
IJ300 as alternate until the problem arose. Now I cannot reinstall the
Canon Multipass F30.
Windows will
not recognize drivers. I have manufacturer's installation disc, and have
followed their instructions to the best of my ability, but still cannot
install.
Do you have
any suggestions? If so would appreciate hearing from
you.
A: Not
seeing all the issues you are dealing with, I would recommend a
systematic
approach to reinstalling.
Power
off and disconnect the Compaq (CPQ) Printer from the computer.
With
the Canon printer connected and powered on perform an
uninstall.
Once
completed, power the system down, disconnect the USB
connection
to
the printer and power back up.
Go
to your device manager (right click on My Computer, select
Properties
then
click on the Device Manager tab). Scroll to the bottom of the list and
expand
the USB settings and make sure that the printer does not
appear.
If
it does, click on it and remove it.
If
you had to remove the device, reboot your system.
Log
onto the Internet and get the newest installation/drive program for the
Canon
printer. Following your install instructions, either start the install
process
and connect the printer when instructed to or plug the
printer
into
the USB port and load the drivers when prompted.
Select
the Canon as your default printer. Reconnect the CPQ Printer
to
your
system. Run a test page on both printers. Then reset the CPQ
printer
as
your default.
Let
me know if that helps. If not, please reply and give me a detailed
description
of the actual errors or messages you get and when as you go
through
the process.
Good
Luck and thanks for Listening
Martin
LeTendre
If you have
tech support questions or ideas and/or submissions for our newsletter please
email them to bob@iglou.com.
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