Welcome to GuruNews
Brought to you each week by the PC Gurus, a loose collection of volunteers from around the Kentuckiana region.
You can interact with the PC Guru team via our Web site, located at http://www.thepcgurus.com. On our site you can post your computer questions, comments and rants on the forums, e-mail the PC Guru
team members and chat one on one in our nightly IRC chat beginning around 8:00 PM EST. You can also subscribe to our RSS feeds so you can get the latest news and forum updates from the PC Guru Web site directly on your computer.
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.
USS Rover’s list of streaming computer shows is now available for download in Excel, Open Office and Linux ready formats from http://ussrover.googlepages.com/ussrover%26%2339%3Bscomputershowlist
To subscribe to this newsletter just drop by www.thepcgurus.com and sign up!
Vol. 7, No. 36
9-20-07
1 Microsoft takes a move from Sony’s playbook
2 Yeah, I’m in your PC. So what?
3 Brits help us U.S. Americans, Heroes with DRM, patent-hogs gone wild, HDTV facts
4 Pump up PowerPoint presentations
5 BIOS boot error
In the past Microsoft has done some really stupid things. Windows ME comes to mind, followed closely by Windows Vista. Oh, and Microsoft Bob ;)
But the latest move, reported by Windows Secrets (http://www.windowssecrets.com/2007/09/13/01-Microsoft-updates-Windows-without-users-consent) and outlined more thoroughly at http://www.microsoft-watch.com:80/content/operating_systems/windows_updates_sneaky_updates.html?kc=EWWHNEMNL091307EOAD, may well take the cake.
It would seem that starting in August, Microsoft has taken upon itself the authority to secretly download and install software on end-user’s computers. No notification, no dialog boxes asking for permission, no indication whatsoever that anything was done other than the fact that nine files were changed without the user’s knowledge or consent. In the real world we call this computer invasion and it carries some prison time.
This time it was apparently just a tweak for the Windows Update module but who knows what they could have stuck on your system. Rather than keep the update above board and just release it on Patch Tuesday like everything else they opted to sneak it onto computers, even those with Automatic Updates turned off.
Unlike the intrusive “anti-piracy” additions of activation for XP and above and the much maligned and often mistaken WGA (which I always call Windows Genuine Disadvantage), this little maneuver was carried out in stealth mode and, for the life of me, I can’t figure out why.
It was just the WU module, kind of insignificant in the long run and not really much to worry about. But why do it secretly?
Are they testing some new software development that allows for these sorts of stealth installs at will? Will one of the above-board updates to come plant some sort of “homing beacon” that phones home and asks if MS would like to sneak anything in under the cover of darkness?
Will the next stealth update steal your girlfriend and siphon the gas from your car?
That may sound stupid and paranoid but keep in mind that spyware scanning and cleaning is big business. Companies like Symantec and McAfee make millions of dollars a week creating and selling software to prevent secret installations (poorly in my opinion, but that’s another story) of files or programs on your computers. The definition of spyware fits Microsoft’s actions to a T, yet there’s no hue and cry from the general public.
Unlike Sony’s famous rootkit gaffe from 2005 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Sony_BMG_CD_copy_protection_scandal), which resulted in multiple lawsuits from Attorneys General and individuals, this invasion of privacy has received little attention.
Other than a few highly technical web sites and newsletters this story hasn’t seen the light of day. Personally I feel much more threatened by this than anything Sony can throw at me.
Windows is the core of everything I do, regardless of what company wrote the add-on software. If Adobe does something untoward they will be caught and maligned. Same with Corel, Lavasoft, Computer Associates et al. Microsoft is different. As much as we hate some of the changes they’ve made to their products over the years the fact is they’re preinstalled on nearly every PC sold.
We have to be able to trust Microsoft to keep things like this visible and open to scrutiny. Not to mention IT managers in charge of large networks need to be able to test new program versions to ensure a lack of conflicts with other programs.
Sneaking out new file versions without warning or notification could result in networks crashing all over the world if one of the files had a glitch. In light of all the recent hoopla over incursions into government and corporate servers, what about national security? Since Microsoft has a long history of having to issue patches for patches I certainly wouldn’t rule out that catastrophic eventuality should these stealth updates continue.
The Register (http://www.theregister.com/2007/09/14/microsoft_dispels_stealth_update_rumors/) quoted a Microsoft product manager this week in response. The article included this gem:
"Had we failed to update the service automatically, users would not have been able to successfully check for updates and, in turn, users would not have had updates installed automatically or received expected notifications," the product manager, Nate Clinton, wrote. "That result would not only fail to meet customer expectations but even worse, that result would lead users to believe that they were secure even though there was no installation and/or notification of upgrades."
I haven’t read any Orwell lately so I’m a bit rusty in my doublethink, but that statement makes absolutely no sense to me. It seems to dance around the issue without actually answering the question of why it was done secretly.
I’ll wrap this up with one statement. I don’t want anything installed on my computer that I didn’t approve of and verify period, end of story.
Hear that Microsoft?
Kevin Mefford, Editor
Terry Wise
Tech News of the Week
Best explanation of American copyright law I’ve seen, on a British website and in response to yet another RIAA money/power grab:
http://www.theregister.com/2007/09/20/steve_gordon_riaa_radio/
NBC to offer ad-supported DRM-laden Windows-only downloads of popular shows starting in October. You can skip the ad on the website…
http://www.informationweek.com/internet/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201807960
To fight patent infringement lawsuits run amok, US House passes legislation to limit damages to parts instead of entire patents. Inventors eye plans to run counter-amok:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,137417-c,legalissues/article.html
Six things you need to know before going HDTV shopping:
http://tech.yahoo.com/blog/patterson/578
Matthew
Dattilo
thepcgurus@gmail.com
http://mattstodayinhistory.podshow.com
Download of the Week
Are folks nodding off during
your PowerPoint presentations? Are you
looking for a way to punch up the .PPS?
Need a quick way to bring your audience's attention to a specific spot
during your PowerPoint demos? With ZoomIt, you can highlight any spot on the
screen. This sweet utility also enables you to use your mouse to draw on a
specific area or type a short message.
I'm still playing with it and reading the author's website for hints and
tips, but I like it enough to recommend it to you. It's free here: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/zoomit.mspx
Art Maley
Email Question of the Week
Q: I built a computer everything was fine until I installed XP. The problem is that when I turn it on it runs through various things on the screen and then it will stop and say I have to push "F1" to continue. After I do this it boots to XP just fine. My question is , how can I make it boot without having to push the F1 button?
A: Try this:
1.) Reboot the computer
2.) When the BIOS tests come up, press the key it lists to get into
setup. If it doesn't list one, try the delete key.
3.) Look around in the screens for a "Halt On" option.
4.) Modify that option to stop on "No Error"
5.) Exit the BIOS, saving your changes, and see if that works.
Hope this helps, and please e-mail back with your results.
Daniel A. Williams
daniel@thepcgurus.com
Contact
info and legal stuff
If you have tech support questions or ideas and/or
submissions for our newsletter please submit them by visiting www.thepcgurus.com and click on the “Email the Team” icon.
Copyright 2001-2007 The PC Gurus, all rights reserved. Publication, rebroadcast or storage is
prohibited without prior consent, however you may freely forward this
publication to friends as long as A) it is forwarded in its entirety and B) no
fee is charged.
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 PC Gurus are a group of volunteers who provide
support for the PC, Mac and Linux users in the Kentuckiana region.
To unsubscribe from this newsletter visit http://thepcgurus.com/mailman/listinfo/newsletter_thepcgurus.com or send an email to microdome@seidata.com with the words “unsubscribe newsletter” (without the quotes) at the top of the body of the message.