From: newsletter-bounces@thepcgurus.com on behalf of Kevin-PC Gurus
[microdome@seidata.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 8:38 PM
To: jpdurbin@jpdurbin.net
Cc: PC Gurus Newsletter
Subject: GuruNews, Volume 7 Number 38, 10-4-07
Attachments: ATT00054.txt
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Vol. 7, No. 38
10-4-07
1 Do no evil?
2 And in this corner…
3 No need to wait for Vista SP1?, Halo 3 record, RIAA vs. a jury… bwahahaha, Sputnik at 50
4 Check your pantry
5 Geriatric Mac
Before I get into the meat of this week’s article we need to cover a definition and a little history. Some of this is old ground but you know how I am, nothing is simple ;)
The definition: spyware. And there isn’t one. Unlike viruses, there’s no consensus on what comprises a spyware file so combating it is a nightmare, at least if you do it correctly. Multiple programs to scan and filter and still you may occasionally have to resort to manual removal or special tools or, in worst-case scenarios, get professional help.
Something that Ad-Aware sees as malicious Spybot may deem a low risk and Windows Defender may ignore completely. That last entry is the real problem.
Two sources of spyware that are all but universally agreed upon by independent malware cleaning companies are Gator and DoubleClick. Nearly every product on the market will remove applications and cookies from those companies, and with good reason.
Both gather enormous amounts of information from end users infected with their files and use that information to fuel popup and banner ads, supposedly to make the pop-ups, pop-unders, slide-across and annoying follow-the-scroll ads more interesting to surfers. Yeah, I buy all my products from annoying in-your-face sales links that I can’t close fast enough. Please.
A couple of years ago Microsoft, of Windows Defender and the old MS Anti-spyware fame, started acquisition talks with Claria, nee Gain and/or Gator. Shortly after those talks came to light the MS “spyware” scanners stopped categorizing applications from said company as malware.
So much for security. I stopped suggesting users trust those programs for security at that point and still won’t install any MS spyware or AV software on my PCs.
The reason I bring this up is that Microsoft also tried to purchase DoubleClick and Google is currently making the attempt. The companies are duking it out in front of a US Senate Judiciary subcommittee over whether Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick would make them an advertising monopoly (http://www.theregister.com/2007/09/28/microsoft_and_google_debate_doubleclick_merger_on_captial_hill/).
Microsoft, found to be an OS monopoly by both US and EU courts, seems to be an odd entity to fight this action by Google and it pains me to root for them in a case like this, but I have to.
The comments flying back and forth in this matter make Google’s famous “Do no evil” motto seem pretty hollow, with statements like “Today, it's generally believed that Google and DoubleClick have amassed the two largest databases of online user data in the world…” giving me the shudders.
Just what kind of data is Google gathering? Search queries from specific IP addresses, to be sure, since many criminal cases have cited searches made by defendants, but what else do they catalog? Subject lines of GMail messages? The messages themselves? The contents of your PC via Picasa and Google Desktop?
I don’t know about you, but that level of privacy violation is pretty evil. Couple that with the surfing habits gleaned by DoubleClick tracking cookies and you have a pretty clear record of everything we do on our computers from the time we fire them up in the morning until we hit the sheets at night. Any personal financial information or even business data may now reside in the hands of a huge corporation, to abuse as they see fit.
The old saying points out that the enemy of your enemy is your friend. In this case, I’m buying Microsoft a beer…
Kevin Mefford, Editor
Terry Wise
Tech News of the Week
If you've been waiting for
Windows Vista SP1 to come out before you
make the leap to the new operating system, don't, says Microsoft:
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9790540-7.html?tag=nefd.lede
On another Redmond front, Microsoft Corp., striving
to make its Xbox
video-game unit profitable, said ``Halo 3'' brought in $300 million in
revenue over its first week, becoming the fastest- selling video game:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=awE383nZvfZA&refer=home
The case against alleged illegal file swapper
Jammie Thomas goes to
the jury Thursday. Thomas is accused of illegally distributing 1702
music files using the service Kazaa by the Recording Industry
Association of America:
http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/005610.html
October 4th is the 50th anniversary of the
launch of Sputnik, the
world's first man-made satellite. Five hundred miles above the Earth,
it traveled at a speed of 18,000 miles an hour and circled the Earth
every 96 minutes. Sent into space by the Russians, not the U.S., it
rocked our assumptions about our place in the world and quickly became
a pivotal moment in the history of U.S.-Soviet relations and the Cold
War:
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2007/10/04/couricandco/entry3329489.shtml
Copy us on the good stuff
Matthew Dattilo
thepcgurus@gmail.com
http://mattstodayinhistory.podshow.com
Download of the Week
This
week's find is for you die-hard Internet Explorer users. Your computer is filled with cookies placed
there by Web sites you visit. In many instances, those cookies serve a purpose,
for example, automatically logging you in to Web sites, or letting you
customize the way the site works. So deleting all of your cookies can make it
more inconvenient for you when you surf the Web. Often, cookies have a timeout
date. After that date, they simply won't work. However, they'll still be on
your PC, clogging things up. This simple little freebie finds those expired
cookies and then deletes them. That's all it does. Get “Expired Cookies Cleaner” here: http://tinyurl.com/la4a2
Art
Maley
Email Question of the Week
Q: I recently accquired an Apple Macintosch
Power Book 5300cs Mac OS. I would like to use it for e-mail and Searching when
I'm away from home,
If I can.. What do I need to do to clear everything off the Mac and
get on Internet Explorer. (or can I)???? The last Apple I used wuz an
Apple II back in the 80's. I have an HP Pavilion m7560n that I'm using
now. Thanks Ole Great Gurus......
A: I hope this was a yard sale acquisition or a
freebie because that
computer is over 10 years old, and that is an eternity in technological
age. It has a whopping 100 MHz processor and 16 MB of RAM and only has a
500 MB hard drive. It ran OS 7 but will go up to OS 9. You didn't
state what OS you have. It should show up on startup after the smiley
face or click on the Apple Menu on top left and go to "About This
Mac".
To answer your question regarding clearing everything off the computer,
normally our standard advice is to reformat the Hard drive and reload
the Operating System and Applications. I very much doubt you have the
OS disks for this. Remember, this machine was before "CD"
drives were
standard on Laptops. So the OS is on Floppy Disks!. Unless you are
truly a tinkerer, and want to join the likes of Kevin and Art as a
chartered member of The PCGurus, I would just leave the OS alone on the
laptop. Just delete any files/applications you don't want by dragging
them to the trash.
This laptop has a 28.8 Modem but does have 2 Type II or 1 Type III PC
Card slots. Those are the only ways you are going to connect to the
internet on this machine. You will have to get a compatible PCMIA LAN
card. If you are thinking about wireless surfing from a Hotel room, you
can forget about it.
Hope that helps.
Hash
hash@ucanweb.com
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