I believe she found my earlier post when searching for help with the software she’s already tried.  She had a problem, tried a number of software titles to fix it, started following the instructions she got from the one manufacturer, and now her e-mail program doesn’t work.  She found me and asked what software I would recommend.  In the end, I had to give her the bad news that it was a little late and her best option was to backup, reformat, reinstall, and restore.

Now, on to the question of which software I would recommend to fix problems in Windows.  The answer is a clear one based on years of trying various titles and encountering various issues.  There is not a single software title that I would recommend to fix problems with Windows.  I honestly believe that if you spend any money on such software you may as well get used to a lighter wallet and being no closer to solving the problem than you were before.

Many years ago I had tried one title that purported to keep Windows from crashing and allow you to figure out what went wrong or to at least be able to save your work before Windows came to a complete stand-still.  The version of Windows I was running at the time was 3.1.  This version was fairly notorious for crashing any time you blinked (and even then it was more stable than its 3.0 predecessor).  My system was running fairly stably at the time, however.  I installed this software and immediately regretted it.  I went from a crash frequency of a couple or so each week to several per day.  The feature that was touted to keep Windows running never worked as advertised.  Thankfully, when I removed the software, my computer returned to its original reliability.  As a result, I’ve been cautious of any other software to make these claims.

One of the problems with using software to fix problems with your computer is that not all of the problems you have are going to be software related.  You may also have some malicious software on your computer which will fight off being fixed.  I can’t think of a single title that would be “find problems in my hardware, fix problems in my software, and remove bad software you find” software.  If you have the talent and experience, you either won’t need software or you’ll know exactly what would be used to properly diagnose the problem.  If this isn’t your area of expertise, you may not get the correct combination of software to do yourself any good.  There’s also the possibility that you wouldn’t be able to interpret the results.

That being said, there is software out there that you can use to maintain your computer.  One that I use on a semi-regular basis is called CCleaner.  It’s an all-around good utility for removing excess junk from your computer which is running Windows.  By default it will purge your temporary file caches, internet browser caches, Recycle Bin, and a bunch of other caches.  I am conservative in what I allow it to delete.  As one example, I don’t allow it to delete browser cookies as some of them are convenient for the user.  I would use Spybot Search & Destroy instead to selectively remove ad-related cookies.  CCleaner can also clean up your registry.  I’m of a mixed opinion about this as the Windows registry (under current versions of Windows) is fairly self-maintaining.  While useless items won’t delete themselves, they generally aren’t harmful, either.  If you find this feature scary, don’t use it.  How much will you pay for this software?  Nothing.  The developers of both CCleaner and Spybot offer them for free.

There is a lot of good, free software out there.  There’s probably more bad, free software, though.  If you have a need, I’m probably aware of a good, free title that will do the job.  It may not have the polish of a commercial title, but it won’t cost you anything but a little time to give it a try.

I’ve read about it on a few sites but a concise description can be found at The Register.  The gist is that it affects your computer by taking over the clipboard and permanently implanting the URL of a web site.  The only remedy appears to be to reboot your computer.  There may be other remedies, but a reboot appears reliable and effective.

I haven’t tried to infect myself to see what else can be done.  I generally try to avoid this as I don’t particularly like playing with fire.

One of the recommendations for preventing is by using a plugin for Firefox called NoScript.  I use this myself on my Firefox installations.  It combined with Adblock Plus keep me not only fairly safe, but allow web pages to load a little faster with fewer ads and other annoyances.  The downside is that NoScript itself can be an annoyance.  You have to use its menus to permit sites to run scripts either on a permanent or temporary basis.  It prevents Javascript, Flash, and pretty much any other scripting language out there.  I don’t normally recommend it to others unless they are willing to go through the additional hassle it creates.

Whether you use some kind of protection or prevention software, the big thing to take from this is to browse carefully.  The exploit appeared to have come from ads placed on popular sites that most will not usually think as being a source of bad things.  

A couple of weeks ago he had a caller who was curious about whether she should drop her Verizon broadband service in favor of this free “Linksys” one that she had access to which appeared to be much faster.  As I gathered from her call, she was using Verizon’s cellular-based broadband service and not DSL or FiOS.  The Linksys network was a neighbor of hers who hadn’t changed any of the settings on the router and just plugged it in.

In my travels, I would say that at least a third of the people who buy a broadband router will never customize any of the settings.  I’ve even noticed similar issues with the DSL or cable modem products which include wireless functionality (although this is beginning to change with the defaults having some form of security included).

One of the reasons why Clark told this caller to not use the free wireless that she could use was that she was at risk of having her user names and passwords to banks and other financial institutions skimmed while on an open network.  In general, this is not true as your bank will have an encrypted browsing session that goes directly between your computer and the bank so that nothing in between can capture that information.  Some reality, though, is that most people use the same user name and password for all sites they log in to and not all of them set up a similar amount of encryption.  It would then be trivial for a bad person to see where you were going and just try to use the credentials from a site which didn’t encrypt to try to get into your bank.

Clark did touch on the idea that using someone else’s open wireless connection without permission is a gray area under the law.  Since I’m a geek and not a lawyer, I’ll echo that sentiment.  However, if you own such an open network, you may be subject to whatever bad things these unknown users may do while using your internet connection.  I’ll go so far as to say that I’m very sure that the biggest risk you have with owning an open wireless connection is not that someone will steal your information as you attempt to use the internet but that the unknown user or users could do almost anything using your connection and your ISP, the police, or some lawyer could come after you as a result.

Whenever I am called to install a wireless network, I will ask three questions so as to lock down the network.  The first is the name of the wireless network.  All wireless networks have what’s called the SSID or Service Set Identifier.  Each wireless network in an area should have a different name, but if you have more than one wireless access point on a single network, they should all have the same name.  So, your wireless network name should be different than what your neighbors may use.  I usually recommend against using anything related to your name or address.  I’ve used words on a poster in the room to names of former pets.  What you name it doesn’t really matter at that point.

The second question is always the password for the network.  This is the encryption and security portion of your wireless.  I will always set the highest level of encryption that all the equipment (your router, computers, and anything else that may connect) will support.  The password will need to be at least eight characters long and should not be the same as anything you may use for anything else.   Why?  What if you have guests over that want to use your network?  Maybe you want to be stingy and not let anyone else in (and I won’t fault you for that).  If you’re more accommodating, you certainly don’t want to give your guests the same keys that would unlock your e-mail and bank accounts.

The third question will be for the password of the router or access point.  It’s okay for this to be the same as others (although I’d recommend keeping all your passwords for every account different, but that’s a different article) since the only time you’d be using it is to change the settings on the router.  How often will you need to do that?  Generally, almost never.  Once set, you’d usually only need to change these if you want to change the passwords or if you changed internet providers.  Another good reason is if you want to restrict which computers can get on the internet at any given time (e.g. your children’s computers).

Care to do it yourself?  By all means.  All of these routers will come with a manual or some easy to use software to get you going.  Otherwise, you can call me, give the answers to the three questions, and I’ll take care of it.

I applied it myself on a computer running XP in my household and I didn’t see anything crazy as a result.  However, just because it worked for me doesn’t mean anything.  Maybe I’m just lucky.  I’ll try another computer here and see what happens.  :)

There is, however, light at the end of the tunnel.  Jesper Johansson, a Microsoft MVP, has investigated the issue and come up for some solutions for the more common reasons why a computer may choke after the upgrade.  Check out his site for some solutions.

I strongly believe that you should install service pack 3.  However, if you have a computer such as the one Jesper describes (name brand with an AMD processor), you may want to enlist some help before doing so if you don’t feel comfortable with the steps that Jesper outlines.  The good news is that if you’ve already upgraded and are having this problem, it can be fixed without reformatting and reinstalling everything.

One other place I read suggested using the service pack which is available on the disc image from Microsoft.  Traditionally, you’ve been able to purchase a service pack disc from Microsoft.  I haven’t investigated that for this version as I was able to download the image instead.  You can find links to the downloads here:  gHacks list of SP3 downloads.

Good luck and happy upgrading!

Everyone should go out, get some alcohol, cotton balls and swabs, and begin cleaning their keyboards right now.  Just be sure to turn off your computer and unplug the keyboard.  If you are using a notebook, you should remove the battery instead of the keyboard unless you know exactly what you’re doing.  Don’t forget the mouse while you’re at it.  I wouldn’t blame you if you took this opportunity to upgrade to a better keyboard than the one you have now.

What the article doesn’t discuss is that that’s not the only dirt in your computer.  If you’ve been using your computer for any length of time, there is undoubtedly a build-up of dust and other debris within the case itself.  I tried to dig up some pictures of what this may look like but I couldn’t find any in my collection and I didn’t want to use someone else’s picture for this purpose.

Depending upon the environment your computer is in, it will have either a light layer or a thick block of dust hiding within.  I’ve seen many situations that surprised me from the light layer on a computer that’s been in service for years to the nearly impenetrable block in one that was new only a few months ago.  While this dust may not be as much of a health hazard as the grime on your keyboard, its presence can certainly lessen the life of your computer.  As the dust builds up, it prevents air from circulating and getting to the components so that they can cool.  I once had a computer that was so sensitive to this, I would get overheating warnings about every six months.&nbsp. I knew it was time to open its case and blow everything out.

From start to finish, it will take anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes to give your computer a thorough cleaning from top to bottom.  If your keyboard is really messy, you may want to take its keys off and wash them while removing the crumbs and all from below.  This will take an hour on its own, but it’s worth it for a good keyboard that you want to keep working.

Links:

Keyboards harbour harmful bacteria

Going to the site, SiteAdvisor gives it an unknown rating at the time of this writing.  I’ve submitted it for them to review.  The site for the parent company, Ascentive, listed in the top right of the FinallyFast web site comes up red.  I used the SiteAdvisor plugin to get a report of the site and it stated that “Well-respected security researchers have analyzed the software available from this site and found that it offers little or no security protection and may use deceptive sales tactics.”  A link is then given for the Spyware Warrior Rogue Anti-Spyware list, a resource I’ve used frequently whenever I come across a new anti-spyware tool on a client computer.  It states for the Spyware Striker Pro software offered by Ascentive “ridiculous false positives; outrageous license terms; trial version uses outdated defs.”

So, how do you determine a source that you can trust for good software that isn’t going to make things worse?  That can be a huge challenge given that there are so many questionable options out there and they are pointing to themselves and other questionable software.  I could point you in a few directions but how then can you trust me?  I’ll admit that I have a business and a reputation to protect but that may not be sufficient reason.  Between flashy packaging, web site, TV ads, and your best friend, it’s a lot to take in.

As a starting point, the rogue list above also has a link to a trusted list of software.  It’s not the be-all, end-all list of options, but it’s something.  Feel free to e-mail me and I’ll let you know my thoughts.

 From: “Automatic Email Delivery Software” <postmaster@[ISP]>

Subject: Returned mail: see transcript for details

Dear user of [ISP],

 

We have received reports that your account has been used to send a huge amount of junk email messages during this week.

We suspect that your computer had been compromised and now runs a trojan proxy server.

 

Please follow our instruction in the attached file in order to keep your computer safe.

 

Best wishes,

The [ISP] support team. 

Prior to this, the user had been seeing bounce-back messages from places she had never e-mailed suggesting that either she did have such a trojan installed or her e-mail account had been hacked.  The above e-mail also included an attachment which supposedly contained instructions.

This has been seen in various configurations over the past week or so.  I was fairly confident that the trojan did not exist as the user has a Mac (although using a Mac doesn’t make you immune to nasty software, it does put you in a category of very low risk).  So, working on the assumption that the e-mail account had been hacked, I changed her passwords on every account she had with this ISP.

Some of the e-mails that she received purported to be from someone other than her ISP.  The body text was identical, however.  This made it an obvious clue that the e-mails were being sent by someone with less than honorable intentions.  The second clue is that the instructions referenced in the e-mails was an attachment.  In all cases the attachment was either a .SCR file or a .ZIP file containing a .SCR file.  The .SCR extension denotes a Windows screen saver (not likely to work on the Mac in question).  As such it is an executable file and likely contained some sort of bad thing, likely the “trojan proxy server” as referenced in the e-mail.

It is unfortunate that these kinds of bad things occur and try to snare people further by claiming to be something kind when they’re not.  Other recent scams have been the greeting card e-mails which make it seem like a friend sent you a nice electronic card but you click on the link to go to the site and all havoc is wrought on your computer as a result.

Keeping yourself safe is becoming more of a challenge these days, especially when a new avenue of attack comes around (the greeting card method grabbed many by surprise before it became published in tech industry news).  The general advice is still the same:  Keep your anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, and operating system software up to date; if something comes through all that and still looks suspicious, ask someone you know to be more knowledgeable than yourself to take a second look at it.

Enter the screen saver.  This utility would blank the screen and possible display a changing image.  These began to get more extravagant as time went on.  The long-standing favorite was After Dark with its now iconic flying toasters.  Eventually screensavers would become integrated into the operating systems and not require a third-party software product (although After Dark was arguably more entertaining than what Microsoft or Apple included with their systems).

Today, however, screensavers are not as necessary as they used to be.  The color CRT monitor is less susceptible to burn-in than the monochrome CRT.  The now popular LCD is almost completely resistant to burn-in (I say almost because I have seen it happen once).  Even so, many people believe they have the need for a screensaver because of what history has shown us with burn-in.  Many people just simply like them as an entertainment of their own.  As such, they’ll often look for something less boring than what the operating system already has which will take them to risky places as I posted about on Saturday.

Why do I feel you should bother with a screensaver?  Simply, burn-in is less of an issue, and the power needed to drive the monitor during the screensaver when you aren’t actively using your computer is creating an expense you should be willing to do without.

Modern operating systems can be set so that the monitor can be shut down into a low-power mode after a certain time.  I usually set mine to do so after an hour figuring that if I’m not at my desk, I should have turned it off by then anyway.  This saves on both power and the wear on your monitor.  My computer will also go to sleep some time after that to save even more power and wear.

If after reading this you still just gotta have a screensaver, may I suggest Electric Sheep? I mentioned this on Saturday as well.  It has one advantage over other screensavers in that it changes constantly.  I actually do run this myself and I find it almost completely different each week.  It’s hard to get bored with it at that rate.  I have Electric Sheep itself turn off its processing when the monitor goes dark so as to encourage my computer to sleep when its time comes.

Any questions? 

The problem comes when you decide you want something and now it’s time to go looking but you’re not necessarily sure where to go.  Your first inclination may be to bring up your favorite search engine and and look for it.  This can be good, but you may end up with software which has a hidden cost attached to it.

Popular categories such as screensavers and fonts will frequently come with hidden extras.  Often called spyware, these extras will then monitor your every move on your computer, report back to a server somewhere, and display pop-up ads based on what you’re doing.  Install several different such things from various locations and you may have a huge mess of many programs sitting in the background watching what you’re doing slowing it down as a result.  The scary part is that you don’t know what information they’re gathering for their reports.

Protecting yourself from these is better than trying to remove them afterward.  Your anti-virus program (you are running one, right?) will catch some, but not all of them, as you try to download them.  However, you don’t have to wait to download something to have an idea as to how well you can trust it.

Enter SiteAdvisor.  Originally created as an independent plug-in for Internet Explorer and Firefox, it is now owned by McAfee, a maker of security software.  McAfee has still kept it as a free option but they also include it with their security suites.

The plug-in will put a status button on your browser to help you identify potentially bad sites. They use a color coded system to let you know how risky a site is going to be (green for low to no risk, yellow for medium, red for high, and gray for not yet rated).  When you’re on a site, the button will change color appropriately.  If you’re searching for something, SiteAdvisor integrates with popular search engines like Google and Yahoo! to let you know before clicking if one of the sites is a problem.  You’ll have icons with the same color coding scheme next to the links in a search result.

As of this writing, SiteAdvisor is available for Internet Explorer and Firefox.  I’d like to see it available for Safari as well, but Mac users currently have very little to worry about in the realm of spyware or viruses.  If you’re using some other browser such as Opera I would expect you already have an idea how to avoid bad things or you had a well-meaning friend or relative who set it up for you.

So, use SiteAdvisor, keep your security software up to date, and if you want a cool free screensaver that won’t be a problem, I recommend Electric Sheep.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Subject: FW: Mosquito Prevention/Listerine

I got this from a friend….very interesting!

The best way of getting rid of mosquitoes is Listerine, the original medicinal type. The Dollar Store-type works, too. I was at a deck party awhile back, and the bugs were having a ball biting everyone. A man at the party sprayed the lawn and deck floor with Listerine, and the little demons disappeared.

The next year I filled a 4-ounce spray bottle and used it around my seat whenever I saw mosquitoes. And voila! That worked as well. It orked at a picnic where we sprayed the area around the food table, the children’s swing area, and the standing water nearby. During the summer, I don’t leave home without it…..

Pass it on.

We all get e-mails such as this from well meaning friends, relatives, and associates. The above was sent to about 200 people. I know the sender was well meaning and genuinely wanted to be helpful. However, I know that this kind of misinformation being spread can be nearly as annoying as spam.

Next on the list after this would be the jokes that keep getting sent. I’ve seen jokes sent by one person to a group, another person in that group sends it on to another group (to which I happen to belong), and so forth. I could see the same joke 200 times in the span of an hour because it was that good and everyone thought I would like it. To be honest, I probably did like it, but that was six months ago when I read it on rec.humor.funny.

So, how to deal with this. When I get an information type of e-mail from someone (whether it be good advice or a warning of some potential hazard) I’ll check it against a reference I trust. Most of the time, this will be Snopes. You can read what they have to say about the Listerine advice here. As you can see, it’s a waste of time.

To date, I have received exactly one e-mail forward which has any truth to it at all. You have to promise, however, NOT to spread the word out to all your friends but the details can be found here.

In addition to Snopes, you can use any search engine (Google, Yahoo, etc.) to determine the validity of any of these pieces of advice.

Any questions?