Brought to you each week by the PC Gurus, a loose collection of volunteers from around the Kentuckiana region.
You can interact with the team via chat room or BBS at www.thepcgurus.com. There are usually members present in the chat room after 8:00 PM every evening and you can post computer questions, comments, rants etc. on the bulletin board 24/7.
If you’re new to the Newsletter you can read back issues at Team member JP Durbin’s website at http://www.jpdurbin.net. There are links to all the old 84 Online issues as well as the new GuruNews missives.
The WHAS Crusade for Children provides year round support for needy children throughout the Kentuckiana region. Visit http://www.whascrusade.org to make donations online.
8-5-04
Over the last couple of years adware/spyware/foistware/lookatmypopupware has morphed from a minor annoyance to a major security concern. These malicious programs have gone from simply feeding popup ads to monitoring your browsing habits and even logging your keystrokes. In a lot of ways they’re worse than viruses.
We’ve encouraged users to
install and use tools like Ad-Aware, Spybot, Spyware Blaster and CWShredder many
times but of late the spyware companies seem to have gotten on top of those
programs and the popups keep coming even after cleaning the system with those
utilities.
To that end I’ve decided to
mention a fifth tool that team members and spyware researchers use. I’ve held back for this long because
it’s very powerful and hence is very dangerous if used incorrectly. It’s a scan tool that lists absolutely
everything that starts with Windows, including core Windows files. If used incorrectly it can remove system
components and actually prevent your PC from booting after
use.
It’s called Hijackthis and
is available from http://www.spychecker.com/program/hijackthis.html.
For the average user the
following instructions will tell you how to make a log file to email to us or
other folks trying to help you secure your PC. If you go beyond these instructions you
do so at your own risk.
First you’ll need to
download the program. It’s a
standalone file so no installation is necessary. If there are multiple users of your PC,
especially younger children, you might want to download it to some less
accessible place like your personal download folder or even just to the root of
the C: drive.
Next, double click the
program file. The first time you
run it you’ll get a warning about being careful using the program because you
can cause problems, etc. Click
OK.
Now you’ll see the main
program console. From here you’ll
want to be careful what you click.
Click the scan button to get started and you’ll see it generate a list of
everything that runs automatically with Windows. While it looks pretty confusing or
downright indecipherable, that information is actually extremely useful in
tracking down rogue programs on your PC.
Once you get the list you’ll
notice the Scan button has changed to a Save log button. Click that and it will ask you what to
call it and where to put it (like any Windows program). The default location is My Documents and
the default file name is hijackthis.log.
That’s fine, just click the Save button and you’re done.
Now you can email the team
from the web interface at http://www.thepcgurus.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=9
and ask your question and either have the log ready for using as an attachment
when you get a reply or just paste the log into the message. You can also post the log to our
Bulletin Board (http://www.thepcgurus.com/modules.php?name=Forums)
to get help. Regardless, just be
sure to include a description of your problem along with the
log.
This week’s issue will be a
bit short since Troy has taken a few vacation days and I’m limited to typing one
handed for a week or so (never let anyone tell you that PCs don’t bite ;)) but
hopefully it will be helpful.
Bad PC, down boy, down…
ack!
Kevin Mefford,
Editor
Ever wondered what your teen
is doing on the family PC? Well, it
seems that ONE German teen was busy
being responsible for most of the
viruses we've seen in the past
year:
http://www.canada.com/technology/story.html?id=78db11a2-add3-474b-895e-369ffffe5cfa
Sensing
yet another "business opportunity", Microsoft is now offering
a weblog
service in Japan on a trial basis. At this rate, AutoBlogger
may be a
feature of the next version of Windows (should it ever
be
released):
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2004-08-04-ms-blogs-japan_x.htm
From
our "privacy? schmivacy!" department, it seems that anyone
knowledgeable
enough can access credit card numbers and information
from a Google
search:
http://news.com.com/Google+queries+provide+stolen+credit+cards/2100-1029_3-5295661.html?tag=nefd.lede
In
case you're feeling guilty about it, one writer tells us that we
are not
alone in our untruthfulness when filling out online
registrations:
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,64392,00.html?tw=wn_story_page_prev2
Copy
us in on the good stuff ;-)
Matthew Dattilo
thepcgurus@gmail.com
Q: I am still a PC Novice and will probably
always be. My brother in-law
wanted to check my system out. He told me I have
too many icons and
was going to delete them. He told me they were just
shortcuts and I
did not need them. I told him they were my shortcuts, I used
them
often and sudden death would happen if he touched or deleted
them.
Maybe I do have too many
desktop icons, about 20. Should I downsize? I
don't know where to start since
I use them all. My brother in-law said
it was slowing down my dial up
service. I may be a pack rat of desktop
icons. Any
advice?
A: The number of icons on your desktop has
NOTHING to do with slowing down your dial-up service. It is just a matter
of personal preference.
Some people (myself included) like clean desktops
with few icons.
Others have entire "icon farms" on their
desktops. It just depends on
the way in which you like to
work. If you prefer a bunch of shortcuts
on your desktop, and you
function more efficiently that way, then
clutter away. Computers are
tools and you should use the tool in a way
that is best for you.
Take
a look at the varying desktop configurations among the people that
post on
our bulletin board.
http://www.thepcgurus.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=14
The
one thing related to the shortcuts that would impact your
computer
performance is that you need to keep the number of items in
your
Startup folder to an absolute minimum. If you have lots of items
in
your system tray - at the bottom right of your computer, those are
the
ones you need to cut down on. You can go to Start - Programs -
Startup
Folder and pretty much delete everything that is in that folder,
other
than antivirus programs.
Hash
hash@ucanweb.com
If you have tech support
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visiting www.thepcgurus.com and click
on the “Email the Team” icon.
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