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7-28-05
I often write about threats to your PCs from viruses and exploits and rant about the escapades of the RIAA, MPAA and my favorite congress critter Orrin Hatch with my tongue firmly in my cheek. Those subjects are obviously serious but I always try to inject a little levity into the article. This week I can’t really do that.
Reluctant team member Angie Simon forwarded an email to me this weekend that she had first checked through www.snopes.com concerning a practice called “dusting”, which involves the use of canned air to become “high” and is extremely dangerous. This practice seems to be increasingly popular among teenagers and it involves something we’ve always assumed to be safe, but the reality is anything but.
Canned air (in this case the brand name Dust Off) is something most people have around the house to occasionally blow the dust out of our PCs, keyboards, mice and other electronic equipment. We know if you spray it for more than a few seconds your fingers get cold, and we also know you shouldn’t shake the can and it should also be held upright so no propellant is sprayed on electronic components. It’s not Freon but it can still get pretty cold.
What we didn’t know (although the precautions on the cans have warnings about inhaling the contents) was that the propellant could be used as an inhalant to give a “buzz” or euphoric state to people who purposely inhale the compressed gas.
The Freon replacements, usually tetrafluoroethane or difluoroethane, are heavier than air and when inhaled they displace oxygen in the lungs. The resultant hypoxia causes the “euphoric state” due to oxygen depravation.
Unfortunately canned air is just the tip of the iceberg. Angie’s Snopes research into Dust Off turned up a well written article by Barbara Mikkelson that delves into not only canned air but such disparate products as furniture polish and spray deodorant to name a few.
The fact of the matter is that ANY aerosol product can be abused by “huffing” (inhaling directly or from a soaked cloth) or “bagging” (spraying the product into a plastic bag, then inhaling from it).
Read Barbara’s take at http://www.snopes.com/toxins/dustoff.asp. She outlines some things to watch for with your teenagers and provides some good facts and statistics.
Since we mention canned air fairly frequently in this publication I thought it important to pass this information along. It’s not really technical, nor is it all that new, but the “dusting” problem is just starting to catch some mainstream news attention.
Call me old fashioned. Heck, call me square (and doesn’t THAT tell my age), but if something pops up that concerns the safety of my kid, and by extension yours, I’m going to mention it.
On another more technical note Microsoft has this week fully implemented the WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) program, which insures that you have a legitimate copy of XP in order to get software updates.
They’ve been using this for the download of MS Antispyware from the outset so you may be familiar with it. Basically you have to download a small ActiveX applet that scans your system and checks the COA and activation status of the system and, if everything checks out, stores a download key on your PC to allow for future updates.
Ever altruistic, MS has said that security updates will still be available even if you’re running a pirate copy of the OS and, if you fill out a piracy form and can supply proof of purchase (think computer shows with fly-by-night vendors selling Windows XP Pro for $29), MS will provide you with a free legal copy. Of course if you don’t have a proof of purchase it’s gonna cost you (see Matt’s link below).
Looks like a win-win-win if you have a legal copy, bought a copy you thought was legal or paid someone to repair your PC and ended up with a pirated copy.
My feelings about pirated programs are mixed, since some of it appears to be encouraged by the software companies themselves, but that’s a story for another day.
Until then, stay legal and keep your kids safe…
Kevin Mefford, Editor
Are you using
Windows XP? Is it a legal copy? If not, then updates
from
Microsoft are no longer in your future----unless you're willing
to pay
up:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002402071_microsoft26.html
Apple
released speedier iBooks and Mac minis today while keeping
prices the
same:
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=24914
Evidently,
being a big-time spammer can get you killed in certain
parts of Russia (even
though the local police think otherwise):
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1709907,00.html
If
you have been sacrificing animals in the hopes of seeing the next
version of
Windows (now named "Vista") before you retire, take heart:
some people are
going to get to see it this week:
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=166402763
Copy
us on the good stuff ;-)
Matthew Dattilo
thepcgurus@gmail.com
www.opaquelucidity.com
Well, OK, this week it’s not really an extension, it’s a theme.
As we all know,
the default look of Firefox can be a bit boxy and bland
after many months of
using it. Today I intend on helping you dress it
up just a little bit to
make it a little easier for you to use. We’re
going to venture into the
themes section of the Mozilla Update site.
First you’ll need to go here:
https://addons.mozilla.org/themes/?application=firefox
When
you get there, you’ll see a sidebar with categories and a list of
the
popular themes. From here it’s up to you to find a theme that you
want to
try. If you want to get a listing of all that they have to
offer click the
“All Themes” choice in the sidebar, then start
looking through all the pages
that they have. My theme right now is one
called Saferfox Xpanded and it’s
something that has good clean lines
and a soft pleasing color palette, but
the fun of it all is to find one
that expresses you. Once you’ve found the
theme of your dreams, or at
least one that you want to try out, click the
install link in the
article. It will come up with a simple question, “Do you
want to install
‘Theme Name’ from ‘themepath.jar’?” Just respond in the
affirmative.
Once you do that the theme manager will
come up, show the downloading
and installation progress, then allow you to
choose which theme you
want to employ. Click on the newly downloaded theme
then the “Use
Theme” button. Now, close out of Firefox and reopen it. You’ll
now have
your new theme!
To revert back to any other theme that you
have installed go to Tools
-> Themes and pick which theme you want to go
back to.
Have fun and happy themed browsing!
--
Daniel A.
Williams
daniel@thepcgurus.com
Q: I've been successful for a long time on
my fight against spam with
Spybot, Adaware and Popup Blocker on my XP but in
the last 4 months
I've receive about 6 adult-oriented emails per day, all
with same
format. I've tried changing Security Level to no avail. What
can I
do?
A: I use a program called MailWasher and you can find it here:
http://www.firetrust.com/firetrustpro.html
It is not free but I feel it's worth the
price. The nice thing about it is you view your incoming e-mail while it still
resides on your ISP's mail servers, and thus you can't get infected by any
malicious e-mail unless you
download them to your computer. Since you're able
to see what they are
before you download them, you can determine whether to
delete them or
not. You can also setup filters to have them deleted
automatically
before you even see them. This program also works with Spam Cop
so you
have the option to use Spam Cop's spam notification list. Take a
look
at the program and what it does and decide if it is right for you.
I
think you'll appreciate it.
AJ Johnson
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