Build your own radio stations

I’ve discovered this great website, Pandora Internet Radio.  You can build your own radio stations and listen to streaming audio to your hearts content.  I have 2 so far, Bing Crosby Radio and Barbershop Style Radio.  Wow!  Really sweet!  Try it. 

Speed and Quality Tests for your DSL

The following are links to speed and quality tests for your DSL:

• Vonage
• PhonePower
• ATT (This is the one ATT/Bellsouth uses.  It is a straight speed test to one of their servers.)
• General Toolkit Site I’ll look for more.  The first two test for voice. 

Opera has some serious spyware problems

I'm putting this out because I've seen Opera on some of your computers. Here's an announcement about a new release: http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=4990&tag=nl.e550

Hearing Aids and TV

I found this post by Kim Komando that might be helpful to those who have hearing aids and have trouble hearing TV.

Here's Apple's Black Friday deals. Not great, but probably the best you'll get on new stuff.

Web Site Tracking Black Friday Computer Deals

Here it is: http://blogs.zdnet.com/gadgetreviews/?p=9204&tag=col1;post-9711

Schedule for Getting New Computers Up and Running

Buying a new computer is the biggest expense in 'getting' a new computer. After that:

• It must be configured- removal of the ad software and appropriate links to your service provider (usually bellsouth/att/yahoo) and your household network, including printers
  
• Transfer your current computer's environment (favorites, email- if you use an email client such as Outlook, browser settings, documents, programs you want to transfer)
• Installation of appropriate security- removal of the commercially installed security programs (not a simple task)
  

This year it is complicated by the move to Microsoft Windows 7. Moving from Vista to 7 is not bad; movement from XP to 7 requires some skill.

In addition to helping you purchase computer equipment, I can do the above work. However, if you know you will be purchasing a computer at a certain time, it is best if you call now and reserve a time slot.

Shopping ideas- Apple

Several Cliffs residents have asked me about purchasing new computers in the near future. What I'm going to do is add some links to the blog as I get "offers" from the sites I watch. Here's a link for Apple: http://store.apple.com/us?mco=MTU1OTU2Njk

Would You Like to Have Office 2007 Look “Normal”- Like 2003?

Here’s a link on how:  http://sniptools.com/windows/customize-microsoft-office-2007-blue-ribbon-ui-to-office-2003

Yet Another Way Malware Gets On Your Computer

The Fake Conficker.B Infection Alert

(from blogs.zdnet.net)

An ongoing spam campaign is once again attempting to impersonate Microsoft’s security team — the same campaign was first seen in April — by mass mailing Conficker.B Infection Alerts (install.zip), which upon execution drop a sample of the Antivirus Pro 2010 scareware.

Whereas the theme remains the same, the botnet masters have slightly modified the message:

“Dear Microsoft Customer,

Starting 18/10/2009 the ‘Conficker’ worm began infecting Microsoft customers unusually rapidly. Microsoft has been advised by your Internet provider that your network is infected. To counteract further spread we advise removing the infection using an antispyware program. We are supplying all effected Windows Users with a free system scan in order to clean any files infected by the virus.

Please install attached file to start the scan. The process takes under a minute and will prevent your files from being compromised. We appreciate your  prompt cooperation.

Regards,
Microsoft Windows Agent #2 (Hollis)
Microsoft Windows Computer Safety Division”

The use of email as propagation vector for scareware campaigns (The ultimate guide to scareware protection), and in particular the use of email attachments is an uncommon practice, compared to the single most effective way of hijacking traffic through blackhat search engine optimization where the cybercriminals rely on real-time news events.

The campaign is an example of a — thankfully - badly executed one in the sense that with Microsoft’s Security Essentials recently gained momentum, even the average Internet user would notice the suspicious timing of the offered “antispyware program”.

A dangerous, yet interesting Trojan

I discovered the trojan called Win32/Jpgiframe.A on my computer. This is despite all the protection I have. This trojan infects a graphics component; thus the name jpg.

The description says many people can't tell they have the trojan. However, my wife said she couldn't print to my networked printer. That was suspicious. So I ran the new Windows Security Essentials virus software and it found the trojan.

Details about this trojan and how to detect and avoid it are found here.

I should note that the trojan was on my backup pocket drive. So... I'm checking ALL my computers. I'll let you know if I find anything.

What this means is that if you "save" a web page, you're at risk of loading the trojan. What will they think of next?

What is an email Client?

Client means any email program you use on your computer.  A client talks to an email server.  The details on how to do this are communicated to the client by your "connections." 

Popular Microsoft email clients include Outlook, Outlook Express, Microsoft Mail (The replacement to Outlook Express), and Thunderbird. 

The alternative is a browser email interface.  Examples are the att.yahoo.com and the aol email interfaces, where you have to bring up a browser and go “on-line” to look at the mail. 

AT&T Puts Your Good eMail in SPAM!

Everyone is having this problem right now. Apparently, with the "new and improved" Yahoo! facility, the SPAM rules changed. Many people are surprised to discover tens, if not hundreds, of email messages in the SPAM folder up on their ATT email site; that is, using your browser to look at your email.

Well, there's no really good solution to this. I got the official word. Here are the three that are offered:
1. Turn off the SPAM filter entirely. Use the SPAM function in your email client.
2. Upload your entire contacts list to the ATT web email site. emails from addresses in your contacts list will not be put in the SPAM folder.
3. Go to the web email SPAM folder, check all the email that is not spam, and click the Not Spam button at the top of the page. This will move the emails you checked into the Inbox, where they will download to your email client.

As a corollary to the above, you can add individual senders to your contacts list on the web mail site by opening an email and clicking on the + next to the sender's email address. You will be given the option to add that sender to your list of contacts. This will stop email from that sender landing in the SPAM folder.

This is all BAD news for me. What a hassle! I turned the SPAM filter off and I filter the spam using my email client.

In future posts I will provide illustrated directions on how to do 1-3 plus the corollary.

MyBillingServices, Inc Scam On Your ATT Invoice

I discovered a charge of $8.43 on my most recent ATT invoice.  I called the number listed as part of the invoice entry: 800.215.1961.  They said someone with my number clicked on an web site and, as part of the clicking, the phone number was signed up for this service.  It is not clear how this happened. 

I use Firefox, so I have a history of every single page I visit.  I looked at the bill entry and it has a date of 9-03.  There was nothing in the list on 9-03 or 9-02 that would indicate I’d visited a page where I could sign up for something.  So I don’t know what the page looks like. 

However, I googled “MyBillingServices problems” and got a lot of hits.  You can see some of the examples of web pages where they have signed up.  The pages certainly don’t look like you are signing up for something. 

I filed a report on ComplaintsBoard.com. 

I assume there was small print somewhere on the gotcha web page indicating the signup.  It would be in very small print and at the bottom of the page- who scrolls all the way to the bottom of each page they visit?- or otherwise partly hidden.  It got by whomever it was in my household or acquaintances who was browsing the internet.  The result was this entry. 

I asked the person at MyBillingServices, to remove me from their roles and remove the charge from my invoice.  They said they would.  I called ATT and they said they had no control.  They said that the charge would be removed.  Automatically. 

So there’s some kind of a scam going on here.  Beware.  Carefully watch your ATT invoices. 

Scareware- This is Important!

Recently I had to remove a scareware infection from a customer’s network.  This was a real “bear.”  It turned out to be two infections, one on each of two computers.  One was scareware; the other was a trojan.  The scareware on the one computer was very sophisticated.  It disabled or took over the existing antivirus software (McAffee) and prohibited any new virus or malware software from running.  I couldn’t even install new virus or malware software.  In addition, there was no reliable information on this scareware on the internet.  Here’s a picture that first introduced the existence of the scareware: 

Then they were given the “opportunity” to purchase the software to fix the problem: 

Below I’m republishing an article on scareware.  It has a lot of good information in it.  It was difficult for me to read because the grammar was incorrect; obviously the writer was foreign and was doing a literal translation from his language.  I’ve fixed some of the wording, so I hope it makes some sense. 

The key take-away from this is to NOT click on anything that looks like security software.  Don’t even click on the x in the upper right corner.   If you do anything to indicate you’ve seen any of the popups, the scareware software will install, communicate to it’s client somewhere on the internet, and you will be caught in its web.  The cost of removing the beast can be anywhere from $20 to $100, depending on the nature of the beast.  (Those are my prices; if you use someone else, count on $90 to $300; it is almost worth buying another computer.

Here’s the article: 

Scareware Primer

The following article was copied from http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=4297. The author information is:

Dancho Danchev is an independent security consultant and cyber threats analyst, with extensive experience in open source intelligence gathering, malware and cybercrime incident response. He's been an active security blogger since 2007, and maintains a popular security blog. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.

I’ve changed some of the wording to correct grammatical mistakes.

Throughout the last two years, scareware (fake security software) quickly emerged as the single most profitable strategy for cybercriminals. Due to aggressive advertising practices applied by the cybercrime gangs, thousands of users fall victim to the scam daily, with the gangs themselves earning hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Q3 2009 was has been the most active quarter to date, due to the high “pay-out” rate compared to other internet scams.

This is an end user-friendly guide on what scareware is, the risks posed by installing it, what it looks like, its delivery channels, and most importantly, how to recognize it, avoid it, and report it to the security community.

What is scareware?

Basically, scareware, also known as rogueware or put in simple terms, fake security software, is a legitimately looking application that is delivered to the end user through illegal traffic acquisition tactics starting from compromised web sites (Sony PlayStation’s site SQL injected, redirecting to rogue security software), malvertising (MSN Norway serving Flash exploits through malvertising; Fake Antivirus XP pops-up at Cleveland.com; Scareware pops-up at FoxNews; Ukrainian “Fan Club” Features Malvertisement at NYTimes.com), or blackhat search engine optimization (9/11 related keywords hijacked to serve scareware; The most dangerous celebrities to search for in 2009; The Web’s most dangerous keywords to search for), to ultimately attempt to trick the user into believing their computer is already infected with malware, and that purchasing the application will help them get rid of it.

Upon execution, certain scareware releases will not only prevent legitimate security software from loading, but it will also prevent it from reaching its update locations in an attempt to ensure that the end user will not be able to get the latest signatures database. Moreover, it will also attempt to make its removal a time-consuming process by blocking system tools and third-party applications from executing.

There have also been cases where scareware with elements of ransomware has been encrypting an infected user’s files, demanding a purchase in order to decrypt them, as well as a single reported incident where a scareware domains was also embedded with client-side exploits.

For the time being, scareware releases are exclusively targeting Microsoft Windows users.

The characteristics of scareware - pattern recognition for a scam

Scareware sites all share a very common set of deceptive advertising practices. You can use these practices to spot the scammer.

For instance, the majority of scareware sites attempt to build more authenticity into their propositions by using “non-clickable” icons of reputable technology web sites and performance evaluating services, such as PC Magazine Editors’ Choice award, Microsoft Certified Partner, ICSA Labs Certified,  Westcoast Labs Certified, Certified by Softpedia, CNET Editors’ Choice, as well as ZDNet Reviews — the real ZDNet Reviews.

Yet another popular social engineering tactic are the fake comparative review templates, basically showing a chart where the scareware outperforms software offered by some of the leading security companies.

The attached screenshot indicates how three different scareware brands (Virus Shield 2009, Windows Security Suite and Malware Destructor 2009) are all using the same template claiming their superiority over legitimate security software.

The primary tactic is to simulate a real-time antivirus scanning in progress dialog, which in reality is nothing else but a static script, with anecdotal cases where Mac users are presented with a Windows-like My Documents folder window.

The scanner’s results are static, fake and have absolutely no access to your hard drive, therefore the claims that “You’re Infected!; Windows has been infected; Warning: Malware Infections founds; Malware threat detected” should be considered a fear mongering tactic.

Legitimate online free malware scanners include, but are not limited to:

• TrendMicro’s Housecall
• Kaspersky’s Online Malware Scanner
• F-Secure’s Online Malware Scanner
• ESET’s Online Malware Scanner
• BitDefender’s Online Malware Scanner
• PandaSecurity’s Cloud Antivirus
• McAfee’s Online Malware Scanner
• Rising’s Online Malware Scanner
• Dr. Web’s Online Malware Scanner
• Symantec’s Online Malware Scanner
• CA’s Online Malware Scanner

Among the key characteristics of scareware are the professional site layout, as well as the persistent re-branding- changing the name of the product-in an attempt to shift the end user’s attention from the previous brand’s increasingly bad reputation across the web. Combined, these characteristics result in an efficient social engineering driven scam that daily tricks thousands of victims.

The delivery channels and traffic hijacking tactics of scareware campaigns

There’s a high probability that your last encounter with scareware came totally out of blue. Despite the tact that cybecriminals are always looking for new push and pull strategies for their malware releases, there are several tactics currently representing the most popular delivery channels for scareware. Let’s review some of them.

• Blackhat search engine optimization (SEO) - blackhat search engine optimization remains the traffic acquisition method of choice for the majority of cybercriminals looks for quick ways to hijacking as much traffic as possible using real-time events as themes for their campaigns. This tactic consists of hundreds of thousands of hijacked keywords parked on domains maintained by the criminals. Upon visiting any them, the user is tricked into believing the site is serving legitimate content end user, but the reality is that the browser is automatically redirected to a simulated real-time antivirus scanning screen.

The relevance of the themes is automatically syndicated from public services such as Google Trends in order to ensure that the window of opportunity for a particular event is hijacked for the purpose of serving scareware. It’s important to point out that each and every campaign relies on the end user’s gullibility to manually download and execute the scareware.

Some of the ongoing blackhat SEO campaigns include - 9/11 related keywords hijacked to serve scareware; Federal forms themed blackhat SEO campaign serving scareware and News Items Themed Blackhat SEO Campaign Still Active

• Systematic abuse of social networks/Web 2.0 services - there hasn’t been a single social network or Web 2.0 service that hasn’t been abused for scareware serving purposes. From Twitter, Scribd and LinkedIn to Digg and Google Video, the systematic abuse of these services through the automatic registration of hundreds of accounts by outsourcing the CAPTCHA-recognition process, remains an active asset in the arsenal of the scareware campaigner
• Malvertising (malicious advertising) - malvertising is the practice of serving malicious ads on legitimate and high profile sites in an attempt to exploit the end user’s trust in their ability to filter out such ads. Notable cases where scareware windows pop-up out of the blue include - Fake Antivirus XP pops-up at Cleveland.com; Scareware pops-up at FoxNews, Digg, MSNBC and Newsweek scareware campaign through malvertising
• Pushed by some of the most prolific botnets such as Conficker and Koobface - The Koobface botnet gang which I’ve been tracking over the past couple of months, is not only among the most active blackhat SEO cybercrime enterprises online — at least for the time being — but there have been cases where they’ve been directly installing scareware on Koobface infected hosts. Despite its current idleness, the Conficker botnet gang has already made three attempts to monetize the millions of infected hosts, by reselling access to them to two different gangs, but has also attempted to install scareware on them

Now that you know what scareware is and how it reaches you, it’s time to review some of practical ways for recognizing, avoiding and reporting it to the security community for further analysis.

scareware

Recognizing the bad apples and flagging them

Due to the dynamic and constant re-branding of known scareware releases, maintaining a list of brands to recognize, avoid and be suspicious about is highly impractical.

However, the most logical approach is to maintain a list of legitimate antivirus software vendors in an attempt to raise more suspicion on those who are not within the list. One such list is maintained by the  CCSS (Common Computing Security Standards Forum), and for the time being includes the following vendors:

AhnLab (V3)
Antiy Labs (Antiy-AVL)
Aladdin (eSafe)
ALWIL (Avast! Antivirus)
Authentium (Command Antivirus)
AVG Technologies (AVG)
Avira (AntiVir)
Cat Computer Services (Quick Heal)
ClamAV (ClamAV)
Comodo (Comodo)
CA Inc. (Vet)
Doctor Web, Ltd. (DrWeb)
Emsi Software GmbH (a-squared)
Eset Software (ESET NOD32)
Fortinet (Fortinet)
FRISK Software (F-Prot)
F-Secure (F-Secure)
G DATA Software (GData)
Hacksoft (The Hacker)
Hauri (ViRobot)
Ikarus Software (Ikarus)
INCA Internet (nProtect)
K7 Computing (K7AntiVirus)
Kaspersky Lab (AVP)
McAfee (VirusScan)
Microsoft (Malware Protection)
Norman (Norman Antivirus)
Panda Security (Panda Platinum)
PC Tools (PCTools)
Prevx (Prevx1)
Rising Antivirus (Rising)
Secure Computing (SecureWeb)
BitDefender GmbH (BitDefender)
Sophos (SAV)
Sunbelt Software (Antivirus)
Symantec (Norton Antivirus)
VirusBlokAda (VBA32)
Trend Micro (TrendMicro)
VirusBuster (VirusBuster)

An alternative list of legitimate antivirus software providers is also maintained by the VirusTotal service.

If you’re serious about security and care about your data, you wouldn’t trust your computer’s integrity to an application called Doctor Antivirus 2008, Spyware Preventer 2009, Power Antivirus, Total Virus Protection, Malware Destructor 2009, Cleaner 2009, Smart Antivirus 2009, Antivirus VIP or Advanced Antivirus 2009, would you?

Another practical step in recognizing scareware, is to research the potentially malicious domain in question by either using Google.com, or an investigative search engine maintained by Google’s Anti-Malvertising.com project. The search engine is using a database of sites maintaining lists of scareware related domains, and greatly increases the probability of seeing the suspicious domain in the results.

Keeping in mind that the end user has full control of the scareware window that popped-up on their screen — despite its modest resistance when attempting to close it down –  downloading a copy of it, and once making sure you’re not going to execute it, submit it to a multiple antivirus scanning service such as VirusTotal.com to further ensure its real nature, may in fact help protect millions of users across the globe against this particular release since the service shares the malware binaries across multiple vendors.

The file submitted on the attached screenshot may not be detected by your antivirus vendor as scareware, but has already been flagged as scareware by several other.

Avoiding and preventing the scareware campaign

As in real-life virus outbreak, prevention is always better than the cure. In terms of scareware, handy Firefox-friendly add-ons such as NoScript — which you can see in action against an ongoing scareware campaign — can undermine the effectiveness of any scareware campaign, delivered through any of the distribution channels already discussed.

In a fraudulent scheme relying exclusively on social engineering tactics, fear in particular, and a business model that’s largely driven by the end user’s lack of awareness on this nearly perfect social engineering scam, vigilance, absence of gullibility and common sense suspicion remain your best protection.

Consider going through the “The ultimate guide to scareware protection” gallery

Have you been a victim of scareware, or has a scareware brand ever popped-up on your screen while browsing a legitimate web site? What do you think thousands of users purchase fake security software on a daily basis?

Windows 2000 and 2003 Server Support Phasing Out

Here's the key text from a Microsoft article on support for these products. The importance is that if you have an operating system that has "2000" or "2003" in its name, the support, including fixing bugs and security holes, is going to phase out in the next couple of years.

Extended Support for Windows 2000 Server will end on July 13, 2010. At this time, Windows 2000 Server will no longer be publicly supported. You will be able to continue using "Self-Help Online Support"*

Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2

Also on July 13, 2010, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2 (at a supported service pack level) will move from the Mainstream Support phase to the Extended Support phase. During the Extended Support phase:

• Microsoft will continue to provide security updates and paid support (Example: Premier and Essential support, per-incident telephone/web support, etc.)
• Customers will continue to have access to all security updates and Self-Help Online Support options (Example: Knowledge Base articles, online product information etc.)
• Non-security hotfixes developed during the Extended Support phase will be provided ONLY to customers who enroll in Extended Hotfix Support (EHS).

Please note: If you'd like to enroll in EHS, customers must already have a Premier Support contract. In addition, customers must enroll in EHS within the first 90 days of the Extended Support phase. Program and per fix fees may also apply. Customers with Software Assurance can enroll in EHS at any time.

Service Pack 3 for Windows Server 2003

We have received inquiries from our customers and partners on whether or not there will be a need for a Service Pack 3 for Windows Server 2003. Microsoft will not have a SP3 release for Windows Server 2003.

To Summarize...

• Self-Help Online Support* will be available for Windows 2000 Server after Extended Support before it ends on July 13, 2010.
• Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2 will begin an extended support phase on July 13, 2010
• There will be no Service Pack 3 for Windows Server 2003

*Self-Help Online Support is available throughout a product's lifecycle and for a minimum of 12 months after the product reaches the end of its support. Microsoft online Knowledge Base articles, FAQs, troubleshooting tools, and other resources, are provided to help customers resolve common issues.

Sept 8 Microsoft Updates: 6 critical

Please run your update Tuesday, Sept 8: From my eweek.com alert: Microsoft is preparing to release five critical security bulletins Sept. 8 for Patch Tuesday. The five bulletins target vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows, and do not include a fix for a bug affecting Internet Information Services the company has warned about.

Thousands of free electronic books!

Here's another Kim Komando hint. Thousands of free electronic books at http://google.books.com.

When to take photos...

Kim Komando had a recommended site today that I'm passing along. It is http://www.golden-hour.com/. What she said was that the best time to take a picture is during the "golden hour," which is around sunset or sunrise. This site gives you the info you need to know the exact time of the "golden hour."

A site that has an inventory of all that's bad in the internet

If you want to find out if something is a hoax, a virus problem, spyware, scam, etc, go to http://www.snopes.com/ for a inventory.

Is your bellsouth/att modem correctly set up?

I encountered a situation recently where browsing, email, etc appeared to work fine, and had worked fine for some time. However, recently when someone tried to log on to a certain site, a message popped up that the site wasn't available. I "pinged" the site, which is a way to go directly to the site without using a browser, and sure enough, the site was unreachable.

The first steps were to check the firewall(s) on the computer in question. Two firewalls were on, which is a no-no. I fixed the problem by turning off the Windows firewall.

I also checked on another computer- couldn't get to the web site either. It's firewall was OK.

To make a long story short, despite the fact that generally everything was working fine, the modem- the little black, silver or white box that connects to your telephone through that DSL adapter- was set up wrong. All this time...

The modem has to be set to "pass through" to any router... the specific option is "Bridged Ethernet." This disables the modem firewall; the router firewall takes over as the firewall and in controlling the internet activity.

The way it was set up, there were two firewalls turned on- a NO-NO in this particular situation.

So, if don't know if your internet connection is set up this way, let me know and I will check it for you.

My Work with Trojans

I put this post on the "Secure Channel" today, a web site for security gurus:

I encountered Green AV 2009 on a customer's computer and googled for a solution. I found several. None worked. In fact, with some of the sites, as has been mentioned earlier, there were entries that seemed to be purposely misleading- removing some of the infection but leaving other parts that allowed it to continue to operate.

I didn't trust any of the old standbys, such as Malwarebytes, to completely remove the thing, since the various instructions on the internet are wrong. I didn't want a partial removal that would hid the total signature of the problem.

I believe I have a process that removed all the threads, but it required a long time using HighJackThis, reviewing and searching the registry, and cross referencing the registry to the possible modules on the computer, etc.

On another customer's computer I had a W32Lovegate variant. That one had disabled windows update by deleting an entire branch of the registry. Working with MS Support, we had to reconstruct the branch, as well as run a couple of different malware programs. Now I have the branch as a local reg file, as well as all the other things I did in "snapshot form" so I can quickly go after the thing if I again encounter it.

These are all stories leading to a couple of questions. How in the world can the good guys communicate amongst each other without the bad guys mucking up the information or using it to change their "signature." Do we have to end up sending the information to the big Security Application sites, where they then use the information to make a profit? Is there some web site where I can contribute solutions I find, get some credit, and not have the information misused?

WARNING: Scareware on the Loose

A trojan of the "scareware" class is loose in the community. It shows itself as antivirus ware and has the title of Green AV 2009 or something of that nature. This bugger is a serious infection. Again, more detail later. If you get it, call me.

An new scareware item is out, described here. Call me if you get the symptoms.

Best Hospitals in SC for different specialties

I got this tip indirectly from Kim Komando's newsletter. Here is a web page that ranks all hospitals by specialty. Set the State to SC and then select the specialty and you will get a rank. You can also follow the "crumb" trail at the top of the page to find the rank of all hospitals across the country by specialty. The link.

Flash Drive Security

Depending on where you go with your flash drives, you should think about security. There are two kinds of security associated with a drive:

1. Password security- let you "see the files on the drive"
2. File security- encrypts information on the drive so it can be read only by you.

The 2nd type only makes sense if you use a password; that is, you have to have a password to "see the files on the drive" and the files on the drive are in a special format that is encrypted. The 2nd means that, if you lose the drive, the information on it can't be extracted using sophisticated file extraction programs.

Many drives come with a good security program. However, like me, I expect most haven't actually used the program. So the information on the drive is NOT secure. You lose the drive, the finder gains the information on the drive.

So use your flash security program on the flash drive if you have information that might compromise your privacy or the privacy of others.

If you don't have a security program on your drive, you can get a good free one. It is called Safehouse Explorer. (I got this information from PC World.)

Problems with IE8!

If you have automatic update, or start a Windows update, you'll have encountered or will encounter a replacement for Internet Explorer (your browser) called Version 8, or IE8. I've discovered that this browser can cause a lot of problems. At the extreme, if you use the IE8 it can appear that you no longer have internet access. You'll get errors that indicate you have firewall problems.

The problem is when you configure IE8- as IE8 is installed, you are given options having to do with configuring it- you can create such strict security that you can't get to any website.

Right now I have no idea what options cause a problem. I'm searching the Microsoft forums for information.

The workaround is to NOT configure any of the options for IE8- just pass by the configuration part. (There's an option to do that.)

The long term solution is to use Firefox. The Internet Explorer series, at least to date, has been buggy from the start. It has been a resource hog and it's slow. Firefox has thousands of add-ons and neat features that have not been available in IE. So, download Firefox and set that as your primary browser.

Note: Nasty Microsoft has made its web sites not work with Firefox, so you have to keep some version of IE around and you have to use IE when you browse to a Microsoft or affiliated website.

Flash drives (thumb) drives don't last forever

Flash drives have a definite lifetime that must be considered if you are using flash drives to store valuable information, such as photos.

The basic "rule of thumb" is that a flash drive cell will last about 10,000 changes/uses.

If you are using a flash drive for pictures and just "add" pictures, then the drive should last a very long time. Nevertheless, back up the contents on occasion to a DVD or CD.

At the other extreme, if you use a flash drive for Readyboost (see another post for this), then cells can be expected to change quite often. Perhaps a cell will change 100 times a day. Then 10K/100 is 100- you can expect some odd computer performance about 100 days after you start using a flash drive for Readyboost.

This is just an estimate, of course... there's all the caveats. Microsoft claims that flash drives will last 10 years. I worked in computer manufacturing at IBM for 25 years. This seems to me to be a typical mis-statement by someone who is only a software engineer. Flash drives and all other computer equipment have a finite lifetime of about 10 years, as a rule of thumb. This is because the are made from plastic and other materials that become brittle- they literally evaporate over time.

So if you use a flash drive and make a lot of changes to the data, keep the lifetime limitation in mind.

Increasing Vista performance with a flash drive

If you have a Vista operating system, you can improve your computer's performance a little by using a flash (thumb) drive as "RAM" memory..

Let me explain how this works. There are several levels of "memory" in your computer. Let's call them L1 to L5. Each level has a "speed" attribute; ie how fast the computer can get to information in that memory and how fast it can read or write information to that memory. More on each level:

1. L1. This is the fastest. It reside on your CPU chip.
   
2. L2. This is next. It either resides on your CPU chip or in the module containing your CPU chip.
3. L3. This is the level I'm talking about for this post. It is called "Readyboost" and involves using a flash drive as special CPU memory
4. L4. Any flash drives plugged into your computer (in the photo ports or in general USB ports)
5. L5. Your hard drive. Yes, hard drive is slowest.

Here's an article on how to use Readyboost: http://www.brighthub.com/computing/windows-platform/articles/4334.aspx

I use one of the photo ports for my Readyboost flash drive.

If you want some help installing this, please give me an email or a call.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 and AMD processors

I discovered that installing Windows XP Service Pack 3 on an HP computer with an AMD processor can lead to a "blue screen of death." In general, you should have "automatic update" for Windows updates turned on to receive the latest security releases. You can select to either install automatically or to install whenever you wish. Regardless, if you have an HP with AMD, then, when you restart the computer, you'll get the blue screen of death. I can help you if you get this. Give me a call.

Tax Free Weekend in SC is for Computers, etc

This weekend is Tax Free Weekend in SC. It applies to computers and related supplies. For more info: http://www.sctax.org/NR/rdonlyres/88D5B34E-6969-4BE4-A123-A81EE580A7C7/0/IL099.pdf

Microsoft office readers

I've been asked how Microsoft Office documents can be read without installing MS Office. A typical situation is you receive an MS Office document as an email.

The answer in a second. First, WARNING: MS Office documents are a favorite way bad people install virusae, trojans, and other bad things on your computer. There are several PDF creators (free) available. They should use those. If they want to "share" a document for your editing, it is best to use something like Google docs to do the sharing. If you need help with this, let me know.

The free programs you can use to read (only) MS Office documents can be found by entering {name of the office application} reader in your search window; eg "Powerpoint reader"

Usually at the top of the returned list is a link to a Microsoft web site, with the description being "Powerpoint reader download" or something similar. You may see different versions, such as 2003 and 2007. If you click on the link, you'll also find a description of the operating systems, such as Windows 95 through XP, for which the reader works: eg The Powerpoint reader page for XP

Be sure to go only to a Microsoft web site. Pick the reader appropriate for your operating system AND for the version of the document you want to read; eg XP for operating system, 2007 for the Powerpoint 2007 ppt or xppt document.

Any questions? Please use the comment.

Why does my browser show messages about Site Certificates?

Site Certificates, ie the pop-up warnings that the site doesn't have a certificate, can be a nucance. But the warnings shouldn't be entirely dismissed. The problem is that some time, maybe the majority of the time, the warnings are "false positives." I don't have any guidance I can give on how to know other than to make sure the site has an "https:" beginning the links on the page are consistent with the site's url (same site name). When in doubt, I look at the source code (View.Page Source). That's a techy thing. So, when you are in doubt, then make a phone call to the site in question and tell them about your problem.

Kim Komando has some background on these Certificate Messages. (link)

Critical updates (AGAIN) on Tues 7/28!

Make sure you update on 7/28 to get two sets of updates, one critical and one important. Microsoft continues to have problems delivering reliable, secure code. Even the updates have security vulnerabilities that have to be patched at a later time!

Some good PC websites.

Here are some websites I scour for information that might be of interest to you. It may be that at times I forget to cite a source of my information, so I thought I would list some I use here:

• PCWorld magazine and their website.
• eweek. I have signed up for probably a dozen of their daily newsletters.
• cnet. Especially good when buying things.
• Kim Komando's web site (On WORD radio Sunday afternoon)
  

A really, really bad trojan/virus: W32.Lovgate.AC@mm

I found this really bad trojan on my father's computer. It's relatively old, but what it can do is a nightmare. I wonder if this was what was wrong with Mike's computer.

Here's a link to a description of this thing: link. To summarize, it decapitates your computer, destroys part of your registry, and starts sending emails to your email list. It's extremely difficult to get all of it out. You have to use several programs to clean up everything. And... well, read on.

The symptom that alerted me to the problem was when I ran the Glary Utilities Startup routine and found the program TKBELLEXE.EXE as a program that runs when the computer starts. I looked that up and found it was associated with this trojan. I ran SpyBot Search and Destroy, the free version, and got a bunch of entries that talked about MyWebSearch. A couple of entries referenced this trojan.

It's always important to take the SpyBot warning seriously, but to really research the entries it identifies. That's because SpyBot can have "false positives" or/and identify some entries that are technically "spyware" but that you have chosen to use on your computer; ie, you have accepted the risk of sharing some of your personal info.

I discovered that I could not install Windows (security) updates. Every time I tried to get an update, even manually, the update would fail. I got a couple of different messages, one giving an error code of 0x80240020.

That was the clincher, as far as I was concerned, that there was something majorly wrong.

So, after a couple day tour of duty with Windows support, I've learned how to remove this monster and fix the registry so download will work.

If you have trouble with Windows updates, and you get an error that looks something like above, it is time to contact me. I'll save you a lot of time, a whole lot of time, and a lot of money fixing the problem.

Interesting Pictures of Earth from the Space Station

I read Kim Komando's emails every day and sometimes, when a topic comes up that I know you have an interest, I'll summarize it here and maybe give a link. In this case, these are some neat pictures she linked today: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/06/recent_scenes_from_the_iss.html

Security Release for the week of 7/19/2009: Firefox

For those of you that use Firefox, Firefox 3.0.12 patches five 'critical' problems. Read about it here. What this means is that you should upgrade to the patches or download the new 3.5 version. To access updates, click on Help on the menubar and then click "Check for Updates."

Important Microsoft Updates the week of July 13

For those who don't have their windows update set to automatic install, or set a time and their machine was turned off when the update was scheduled for an install:
- Tuesday, July 14 MS released about 10 updates to the Windows operating system (all versions), Office, and Internet Explore. 6 of these were labeled "critical."
- Sometime last week or the late the week before Windows Internet Explorer Version 8 was released. Most users will have this included in the automatic updates.

Don't miss either of these installs. The updates really are critical! Internet Explorer 8 contains a necessary and new security features and it is much faster than IE 7. If you need help, give me a call.

Security Software- Pay or Free?

(updated 3/2/11)
I've noticed that most computers I work with have Norton or McAfee installed. Usually this is because new computers come stuffed with these programs, for which the manufacturers pay a fee. These programs can cost $80/yr, more or less, for the "suites". Often I find that these programs overwhelm the resources of their computers, making the computers slow and unresponsive.

This year, 2011, Norton is top rated by some organizations (see PCWorld).  Reportedly, the performance issues have been resolved.  However, my opinion is that Norton is overkill for home computers.  There are free alternatives that do well and, in fact, provide better service when you have a problem. 

In 2009 I recommened  AVAST for antivirus and spyware, and then Ad-Aware as a second spyware program. (It's good to have a couple spyware programs running.)

With any of these programs, the free edition usually lacks a full automatic scan feature; you have to remember to do that automatically or set up a windows task to run the scan.

However, since Microsoft came out with a full Suite, Microsoft Security Essentials, MSE, I've been using it.  I've installed it on many computers and have had no failures.  Microsoft treats this program like any other update.  The Microsoft Update application, which you should have turned on to automatically update your operating system, automatically updates MSE.  MSE is easy to use.  It is has a green icon on your taskbar when everything is OK.  The icon turns orange if you need to do something, like perform an update because you have turned off Microsoft Update, or Microsoft Update hasn't run for whatever reason.  The icon turns red if it finds something wrong.

In addition to MSE, I install Malwarebytes as a "backup."  If I suspect there is malware on my computer, I run Malwarebytes.  This is a professional, heavy duty product, and will usually do the job of detecting malware.  (I use "usually" because there is a particular kind of malware, called "rootkits," that require special programs and knowledge to "root out."  That's another few blog entries.)  

Malwarebyte is not perfect.   Its problem is that it can have false positives:  it will identify objects that don't need to be deleted.  If you have any questions, you can call me or google the identified object.  The results will tell you whether or not you want to delete it. 

Saving $80 per year and improving the performance of your computer makes this a worthwhile option.

Removing Norton or McAfee is not straightforward. I can help with that, and installing the free security software of your choice.  There are special programs available on both company's sites that do the removal.  Look for them.   For example, Google "Norton removal," and look for a url that is on the companies web site.  Something like this:

Download and run the Norton Removal Tool to uninstall your Norton ...

The Norton Removal Tool uninstalls all Norton 2003 and later products, Norton 360, and Norton SystemWorks 12.0 from your computer. ...
us.norton.com/support/kb/web_view.jsp?wv_type=public... - Cached

  

Some Distance Criteria for DSL

What distance guidelines are used by SBC for service. (#5558)

Here’s some distance criteria (from the base station) for different levels of DSL.  (Note I think SBC means Southwestern Bell, which is now/again an ATT company).  Recall 1 mile = 5280 feet. 

So, I am supposed to have DSL Deluxe… Max Distance 9000 ft = 1.7 miles.  Ha! That gets me about half way up Raven.  On the other hand, we aren’t being charged $60 either. I’m paying about $20 as part of a bundle and that will go up to $33 if I unbundle.  

A summary of the new distance requirements...
SBC Yahoo Basic- up to 384/128 max distance 16000 ft
SBC Yahoo Standard Plus 384-1.5/128 max distance 12000ft
SBC Yahoo DSL Deluxe 768-1.5/256 max distance 9000 ft
SBC Yahoo DSL Expert Plus 1.5-6/384 max distance 7500 ft
Rates:
Basic package 42.95 (dynamic)
Standard Plus package 49.95 (dynamic)
Standard Plus package 64.95 (static ip)
Deluxe 59.95 (dynamic)
Deluxe 79.95 (static)
Expert 159.95 (static)

How to Search the Blog

I was talking to my son about Blog features, and he reminded me to keep the entries short. OK. I agree. Here's this tip: If you want to see if I've discussed something in the blog, then click Search Blog at the top of the page. Enter the search terms and the blog's "engine" will provide you with the text of all blogs containing those terms. It's helpful.

Firewalls, why, when you need, and what to get

To the typical computer user, firewalls are a pain in the neck.  Well, let me correct myself:  To every user firewalls are a pain in the neck.  A firewall exists to prevent malicious software from accessing your computer or, if  certain kinds of malicious software do make it to your computer, to prevent the software from using your computer as a home base to do damage to your house network and as a satellite base to infect other computers world-wide. 

Windows comes with a firewall.  Your DSL or cable modem comes with a firewall.  Your router comes with a firewall.  Rule of thumb:  typically, you only need one firewall.  If you have more than one firewall on your network, then your network or computer can behave in mysterious ways, which usually looks a lot like your DSL connection is broken (because the firewall doesn’t allow access to the network).

To cut to the chase:  If you have only desktops and no one ever attaches a laptop that travels outside your network to your network, you only need to have the firewall in your DSL.  If you happen to use a router, then the router has the firewall and your DSL modem is set on pass through.  That’s still one firewall.

I’ve found that, once your network is running completely smoothly, the Windows Firewall can be turned on and it will not interfere with network operation.  It can be left on.  However, on some occasions where things don’t work right, one of the first things I do is turn off the Windows firewall to see if that’s the problem. 

If you have a laptop and that laptop ever connects to some other network, or if you have visitors who bring their laptop and attach to your network, then you need to protect your network by having a firewall on every computer in your house.  This is because that notebook might be infected with a malicious program.  By connecting to your network, they can bypass your router or modem firewall. 

IF you have one or more programs for spyware on every computer, and that spyware works all the time to check network transactions and computers for spyware signatures, and you run the spyware to check your entire computer periodically (every week or two)…

AND

you have a virus program that is always running and that you run to check your entire computer periodically (every week or two)…

THEN

turning on your Windows Firewall on every computer should give your network protection against the notebook scenario.  Be aware that the Windows Firewall through the Vista version only checks incoming communications for problems; it doesn’t check outgoing communications.  So, if your computer ever becomes infected with one of the spyware varieties that sends message OUT, Windows Firewall will not catch the problem.

If you have a kids or grandkids using your computers and bringing their computers in to connect to your network, then it makes sense to install a better firewall program on each of your computers.  The firewall I install is the top-rated free one:  COMODO.  The download comes with both a firewall and a virus program.  I don’t install the virus program because there’s a better rated one available (AVAST).

I’ll have some words about COMODO in a subsequent blog entry. 

PS:  If guests want to connect to your network, before you allow them to connect: 

Ask them to run both a complete spyware and a complete virus check on their computer. 

Make sure their firewall is on before you allow them to connect.  This will protect both their computer and your network from infection. 

Remember, as an option you can always use the built in “GUEST” user on your own computer, so they don’t need their computer.  Of course, they may have a zillion songs on theirs, or documents they need, but sometimes they may just want to get to their email, which they can do through the on line web email function of their internet provider. 

 

Questions?

Laptop Sale June 22-23

Lenovo is having a 48 hour sale on laptops, some less than $500. Lenovo is top rated for laptops. http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/na/LenovoPortal/en_US/special-offers.workflow:ShowPromo?LandingPage=/All/US/Landing_pages/Promos/laptops-employee-pricing&cid=USPCWEDM062209&.

No doubt there are end of quarter sales quotas involved, so if you need/want a laptop, now's the time to buy. You don't get as good a bargain at the other end of quarter sales because they run into holiday times.

Buying inkjet printers and cost

I’m not going into a lot of detail here.  There’s a buyer guide on PCWorld that is pretty good. I wanted to focus on printing your own pictures.  Some rules of thumb:

You need at least 600 x 600 px/in for a good print.  This means for a 4x6 you need 2400x3600 or a file of about 3.5meg.  Pictures can look huge on your computer, but your computer only does somewhere between 60 and 95 dpi.  So a 4x6 print at the right pixel density would be, for the 95dpi, about 24x36 inches.  In other words, it looks huge on your screen at its native resolution, but it is small when printed.  (Note that photo viewers can “automatically” reduce the picture size by mathematically manipulating the pixels, so you get a picture that “fits” in the viewing area.  But you’re not looking at the picture in its native form.)

If you print the picture at a lesser resolution, then you will need to print it smaller or expect the picture to be grainy.  Some printer software will attempt to “fill the gaps,” but the results will be mixed.

Inkjet printers are notoriously expensive / photo.  The cost of the photo can be calculated by adding the cost of the paper and taking the yield of each cartridge and dividing it into the cost of each cartridge.  (Link to some example costs.)

Don’t trash your old cartridges.  On the other hand, refilling an inkjet cartridge is risky, at best.  I’d be interested if you found a way to do it.  Around here, call Cartridge World and see if they support your cartridge.  Other than shops that specialize in businesses, Cartridge World offers the best price and value of any of the refill alternatives.  There’s a store in Greenville near Whole Foods in that new mall complex and another in Spartanburg near Kohl’s at 29 and 26.  For us on the mountain, the Spartanburg store is much easier and faster to get to.

To get rid of your cartridges, take them to a store that pays for them.  I think Staples pays $3/cartridge.

What about store brands?  I’ve had no luck with them.  What the stores do is refill those cartridges you sell to them and stick their own label on the cartridge.  I’ve tried 3 different times to use the Staple store brand and none of them worked. 

In general, my recommendation is to send your photos via email to Costco or Walmart.  They will print at a lower cost than you can.  Pick the prints up the same day or the next day.  Just remember, use a large enough pixel count to get a real photo quality print. 

Proflowers.com’s “scam”

We recently wanted to send flowers to a sick relative and, since our experience with Proflowers at another time was good, Chris decided to use them. 

A couple of days later I saw a charge on my credit card for $1.95 from “Easy Saver” 

(If you don’t use Quicken’s update mechanism for accounts, you should.  I can set you up.  Give me a call.  I see any transactions logged to any of my accounts the next day.  This gives me time to contest any problems even before receiving my statement.  Last fall I caught an identify thief before any damage was done.)

I’ll make a long story short:  I typed easy saver into Google and quickly hit upon the http://www.complaintsboard.com web site.  It gave me all the info I needed on this and another scam being run by Proflowers.  Well, let me be clear… technically, it wasn’t a scam, since all the “small print” was somewhere on the web page or on a document linked to the web page.  However, the way the web page is organized, a good many people won’t see the “warning signs” and will be “caught.” 

The details are in the messages on the complaintsboard site.  The bottom line is:  if you order from Proflowers, do not follow any links that offer “free” shipping on your next order or a “free” coupon for some amount off on your next order.  If you follow the link, you will automatically have your credit card charged for as much as $14.95 a month for forever.  Proflowers has a very funny relationship with this Easy Saver company and other front companies related to Easy Saver.  Proflowers automatically sends these other companies your credit card information and Easy Saver starts charging your card.  So…. Buyer Beware. 

Complaintsboard.com- check out if a web site has any problems

I’ve found a web site that has been very helpful to me when I had a problem with a web site.  It is Complaintsboard.com.  This site gives you a running dialog of problems people have had when doing business with companies that do business on the web. More in the next entry. 

Can’t get wifi in some part of your house? Here’s a way: est cost $125.

There is a class of wifi device that sends the computer signal over the wires in your house.  They are called Powerline Networking Kits.  Here’s what you do:

• The device comes in two parts.  Plug one part into a wall outlet (not a power bar) near your router.  Connect it to your router with an internet cable.
• Plug the other part in wall outlet the area of your house that needs a signal.
• Plug whatever you want to connect to your network into that device using an ethernet cable. 

The “whatever” can be a computer or a wifi router configured to be an AP, or access point.  Or it can be Tivo box that has an ethernet port.  (There is a way to configure some wifi routers so they don’t need to be connected in this way in order to “amplify” your main wifi signal.  The disadvantages of the configuration is that it can be slow and most routers won’t work in this way.) 

In PCWorld, the best rated adapter was a D-Link DHP-303.  (Read Review). 

There is a kind of a catch:  This may be the highest rated, but, as a rule of thumb, you should stick with one brand for all your networking devices.  So if you use Linksys, then it might be better to stick with Linksys. 

Contact me if you’re interested and I’ll research further for your specific situation. 

Note:  the cost can run from $70 to $125 or more ignoring any sales.   Plus you might need another wifi router as an AP.  You or I might have a router sitting around that can be used as the AP.  Again, I’d have to research the specific situation.  

This is a lot cheaper than running cable around your house!

Why might your DSL Service be so bad??? What I found out from ATT

When I use some programs that use "streaming," such as listening to the radio, watching movies, or Skyping, I've noticed pauses in the feed. At my speed, which is supposed to be 1.5MB download and .25 MB upload- that's what they sell it as- You'd think I, and you, shouldn't have any problems. I was especially having some delays with Sharedview yesterday, so I began to look into the problem. I found a network test program and ran it several times. The results:

Performed at URL: http://speedtest.phonepower.com/repeat.html

Jitter: 2.4728 ms PLoss: 0.6% Down: 1,188,872 bps Up: 217,744 bps QOS: 87% RTT: 81 ms MaxPause: 418ms Test#: 53681
Jitter: 3.304 ms PLoss: 0% Down: 720,616 bps Up: 216,920 bps QOS: 34% RTT: 82 ms MaxPause: 647ms Test#: 53683
Jitter: 2.696 ms PLoss: 0% Down: 895,480 bps Up: 215,928 bps QOS: 21% RTT: 82 ms MaxPause: 1252ms Test#: 53685
Jitter: 0.712 ms PLoss: 0% Down: 980,904 bps Up: 219,904 bps QOS: 50% RTT: 81 ms MaxPause: 446ms Test#: 53729
Jitter: 0.086 ms PLoss: 0% Down: 752,168 bps Up: 209,248 bps QOS: 7% RTT: 83 ms MaxPause: 563ms Test#: 53731
Jitter: 0.144 ms PLoss: 0% Down: 1,244,312 bps Up: 212,192 bps QOS: 74% RTT: 106 ms MaxPause: 353ms Test#: 53733
Jitter: 0.982 ms PLoss: 0% Down: 994,208 bps Up: 219,576 bps QOS: 49% RTT: 78 ms MaxPause: 645ms Test#: 54107
Jitter: 0.21 ms PLoss: 0% Down: 823,728 bps Up: 220,048 bps QOS: 19% RTT: 79 ms MaxPause: 840ms Test#: 54109
Jitter: 0.066 ms PLoss: 0% Down: 963,864 bps Up: 219,640 bps QOS: 37% RTT: 79 ms MaxPause: 621ms Test#: 54111

After the serviceman cut off 2 loops (down and back Outlook Ledge and from our house to the end of Eagle Rock and return:

(While the printer was creating a PDF file)
Jitter: 4.326 ms PLoss: 0% Down: 1,045,400 bps Up: 219,576 bps QOS: 35% RTT: 77 ms MaxPause: 614ms Test#: 54483
Jitter: 0.346 ms PLoss: 0% Down: 950,000 bps Up: 219,840 bps QOS: 33% RTT: 78 ms MaxPause: 662ms Test#: 54487
Jitter: 2.758 ms PLoss: 0% Down: 1,086,320 bps Up: 216,048 bps QOS: 31% RTT: 80 ms MaxPause: 708ms Test#: 54493
Jitter: 0.114 ms PLoss: 0% Down: 1,175,264 bps Up: 219,512 bps QOS: 79% RTT: 79 ms MaxPause: 417ms Test#: 54508
Jitter: 1.566 ms PLoss: 0% Down: 1,242,912 bps Up: 218,304 bps QOS: 67% RTT: 80 ms MaxPause: 353ms Test#: 54514
Jitter: 0.792 ms PLoss: 0% Down: 803,784 bps Up: 219,840 bps QOS: 20% RTT: 80 ms MaxPause: 657ms Test#: 54519
(After printer was done- confirmed no other use of line and no computer activity- though this shouldn’t make a difference; you’d want a phone to work even when people are using the computer.)
itter: 0.162 ms PLoss: 0% Down: 1,066,088 bps Up: 219,784 bps QOS: 30% RTT: 79 ms MaxPause: 585ms Test#: 54539
Jitter: 0.124 ms PLoss: 0% Down: 1,062,528 bps Up: 219,648 bps QOS: 38% RTT: 79 ms MaxPause: 602ms Test#: 54542
Jitter: 1.174 ms PLoss: 0% Down: 762,368 bps Up: 219,592 bps QOS: 2% RTT: 79 ms MaxPause: 839ms Test#: 54546

These are a lot of numbers, but let me give you some insights.

Jitter is the variation is the delay of packet delivery- it is especially important in VOIP and other "real-time" streaming applications. These measurements show jitter is pretty good, though anything above 1 ms or so may require the software to manage jitter with "buffers" designed for that purpose. Anything above 100ms can't be fixed with buffering software. Note that some of the ISP service level agreement- what they promise for jitter are:

• Qwest: 2ms max
  
• Viteria: 1ms max
  
• Several others: .5 ms max
  

So the variability in the measurements above is a problem!

PLoss is "packet loss" and the number here is great.

Down and Up are the speeds of download and upload respectively. We are told 1.5Mb. You can see I don't get anywhere near that, and in several measurements I've done it is half that. (Except, read on for a fix.)

QOS is "quality of service." This is where ATT does not deliver! On the other hand, some of this may be due to in-house circuits, so read on.

If the QOS number is below about 80%, then you can't have a good audio conference. The sound will "ring" and there will be delays, such that you feel like you are talking over one another. In general, you can't get VOIP service (see another post). As you can see, most of the time our QOS is 30% or below. We are not being given the service we are paying for on the mountain.

Now, let me finish this blog by saying that I called in a service request on this issue. ATT sent someone out the next morning. He did various measurements and here are the findings.

• I had an old modem. This can cause some problems. The serviceman gave me a new modem. It did not solve the QOS problem. As a matter of fact, it performed worse on QOS than the old modem.
  
• The router did not seem to cause a problem, though I will investigate settings on both the modem and the router later.
  
• The big problem is the length of the line from the place where our DSL wires plug into their "box" and our house. DSL performance degrades with distance. 3 miles would be really pushing the technology. Well, the boxes are located at the top of the mountain, near the clubhouse. If you are on Eagle Rock, what's the distance to the club house??? 2-3 miles? I haven't measured it, but it is about a mile to Raven. It's got to be at least a mile to the end of Raven. So, the further you are from the clubhouse, the slower your speed and the worse all the performance numbers! I think it is a shame that there is only one location of boxes for the mountain.
  
• My situation was worse. There were two loops my signal had to follow in addition to the distance from the top of the mountain to my house. My signal went down the length of Outlook Ledge and back and then down to the end of Eagle Rock and back before I "hopped" on. My guess on mileage is an additional 2 miles of length. At that distance, 4-5 miles, it is a wonder I am getting any signal! The repairman reattached my DSL connection so I caught the line as it first went by the house and changed the connection at Outlook Ledge so the signal didn't go down Outlook Ledge first. You'll note the average Down and Up times did pick up significantly. Nothing else seems to have improved. I think we are just too far away to begin with.
  

I hope this helps you understand some of the limitations we have on the mountain. One is that VOIP will probably not work, at least for us on Eagle Rock. I'm going to do some checking and folks houses at the top of the mountain and see if the readings are better.

Free Credit Reports- 1/yr from each credit monitor

You can get one credit report each year from the three major credit monitoring companies. Let's see, the three are... Equifax, Experian, and... I can't remember the 3rd one. To do this conveniently, go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com. Fill in some basic info and then select from one to three of the companies. You'll be walked through the steps to get the report and you can print it out immediately.

Note that these reports don't give you your FICA score free. Each site tries, in its own way to get money out of you, but, unless you want to spend the money, ignore the teases and the big print. Look for the small print, usually at the bottom, that says something like "never mind, I'm a cheapskate, just give me what you advertised."

Creating slide shows, movies, or both- Free VIsta Solution

Windows Vista Personal Premium includes Windows DVD Maker as part of the license. The link is

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/features/dvd-maker.aspx

This creates a DVD that is playable on any DVD player. You can mix movies and pictures and add sound as well.

This feature is not available on XP.

Slow Computer?

I've helped several who have a Windows machine with the "slow computer" problem. If you watched me, you would see that I use a free utility called "Glary Utilities" to do cleanup. Here's the drill I follow (Some terms below may be unfamiliar; over time I'll get around to explaining them.)

1. Remove unnecessary programs the slow down your computer's startup
2. Clean up your hard drive, removing temporary files
3. Bring you operating system up to date. If not already installed, I install the relatively new MS Automatic Update feature, so you get automatic updates
4. Remove unnecessary programs- ones you don't use
5. Defragment your drive
6. Clean out and defrag your registry
7. Update your hardware drivers
8. Run a program that identifies settings on your system that slow performance.
9. Change programs, such as your security program and your PDF reader to alternatives that do the same thing more efficiently. These programs are free.

I also look at your hardware for improvement. The key item is your RAM. You need 1 GB of RAM for XP, 2 GB of RAM for Vista. You might read that you can get by with less, but that's not my exerience with your machines.

Sometimes it doesn't pay to do any of the above. I have to make that judgment before I begin:

• Perform the above- which can take 8 hours or more
• Reinstall the operating system (things are just too bad)- might take more than 8 hours due to reinstallation of the programs you have installed yourself
• Buy a new machine
  

A new machine, either laptop or desktop, can cost about $600. That's usually sufficient for what you do. I try to keep my rates low,much less than prevailing rate, because you're friends and neighbors. But the above exercise at improving your computer's performance, when measured at the standard rate of $60-$100/hr, can easily surpass the cost of a new machine.

I'll give you purchase options on this blog.

I'll continue the theme of performance improvements on subsequent posts.

Laptops and Other Computer Stuff Sales

I've been asked from time to time about inexpensive laptops. I have a Lenovo, which I got for about $500 through my IBM discount program. I added $100 to get a 2 yr IN HOME repair contract. I've already used it once, replacing a part that cost well over $100- in my home!

I have a DELL sales mag with some laptops for $449. The mag also has a coupon code good for 15% off on stuff. I can provide it to you. This includes monitors. DELL monitors can be used with any computer and they are always highly rated.

Let me know if you want anything.

Facebook Security Tips

There are recommended ways to use social media websites as facebook and still keep an acceptable level of personal security

Facebook has provided users with powerful controls to protect themselves online, and it is up to individuals to check and ensure that appropriate settings are in place. Sophos has published recommendations for how to configure the settings for each of these privacy areas of Facebook.

Five minutes spent learning the ins-and-outs of Facebook's privacy settings, for instance, could save a lot of heartache later.

If you do use Facebook -- or other social networking sites -- here are a few security tips from Sophos:

1. Think carefully about who you allow to become your friend. Once you have accepted someone as your friend they will be able to access any information about you (including photographs) that you have marked as viewable by your friends. You can remove friends at any time should you change your mind about someone.

2. Show "limited friends" a cut-down version of your profile You can choose to make people 'limited friends' who only have access to a cut-down version of your profile if you wish. This can be useful if you have associates who you do not wish to give full friend status to, or feel uncomfortable sharing personal information with.

3. Disable options, then open them one by one Think about how you want to use Facebook. If it's only to keep in touch with people and be able to contact them then maybe it's better to turn off the bells and whistles. It makes a lot of sense to disable an option until you have decided you do want and need it, rather than start with everything accessible.

Facebook best practice

ID fraudsters target Facebook and other social networking sites to harvest information about you. Sophos experts recommend you set the following Facebook privacy options to protect against online identity theft. This guide walks you through Sophos-recommended privacy settings in Facebook, and shows you how to set more secure levels of privacy and reduce the chance of becoming a victim of online identity theft. Profile Controls who can see your profile Search Allows you to decide who can find you News feed and mini-feed Controls what information is published about your activities Poke, message and friend request Controls what information you share with people you contact Applications Controls what information Facebook applications can access and share about you General safety tips for Facebook Adjust Facebook privacy settings to help protect your identity Unlike some other social networking sites, Facebook has provided some powerful options to protect you online - but it's up to you to use them! Think carefully about who you allow to become your friend Once you have accepted someone as your friend they will be able to access any information about you (including photographs) that you have marked as viewable by your friends. You can remove friends at any time should you change your mind about someone. Show "limited friends" a cut-down version of your profile You can choose to make people 'limited friends' who only have access to a cut-down version of your profile if you wish. This can be useful if you have associates who you do not wish to give full friend status to, or feel uncomfortable sharing personal information with. Disable options, then open them one by one Think about how you want to use Facebook. If it's only to keep in touch with people and be able to contact them then maybe it's better to turn off the bells and whistles. It makes a lot of sense to disable an option until you have decided you do want and need it, rather than start with everything accessible.

Post Questions as Comments to this Entry

If you have questions, you can use this post. Click on the Comments at the bottom and ask your question. I'll answer them as soon as possible.

Thank youl Duane

How this blog works

I've started this blog for my customers to provide tips that relate directly to you. Subscribing to this blog can save you a lot of grief and can also provide a way to ask questions "in context," which I can answer for all subscribers.

This is free. The address of the blog is http://leetlinktips.blogspot.com/.

To register, click on the link. On the right is an icon "Follow"
This allows you to "sign in" with one of several user ids.

If you don't have a user ID in any of the companies listed, then you should create a free google ID. I do a lot of stuff with Google, so you will get value out of this ID.

Once you've signed in, there's a button that says "follow this blog".
Once you click on that an acknowledgement is displayed. Click on "Close".

Be sure to have Windows updated Tuesday June 9

Microsoft is fixing a number of problems in it's June 9th release. (MS publishes fixes every Tuesday, some more important than others.) Please make sure your computer is set to automatic update and that you install these fixes.

Here's the detailed announcement:



Microsoft is prepping the largest Patch Tuesday release of 2009 so far. The June release will feature 10 security bulletins, including bulletins covering critical vulnerabilities affecting Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer.

Microsoft has 10 security bulletins coming June 9, its biggest Patch Tuesday release of 2009 so far.

Of the bulletins, six have the highest rating of "critical." Two of those six address remote code execution vulnerabilities in the Windows operating system. The other critical bulletins affect multiple versions of Internet Explorer and Microsoft Word, Excel, and Office.

In addition to the six bulletins addressing critical vulnerabilities, Microsoft is pushing out four other bulletins, all of which are aimed at fixing issues in the Windows operating system. Three of the four are rated "important," while the fourth is classified as "moderate".

Not mentioned is the DirectShow vulnerability Microsoft warned users about in May as hackers began to launch attacks. The DirectX vulnerability lies in the way DirectShow handles supported QuickTime format files.

In a blog post, Microsoft officials said security teams are working hard on the DirectShow issue but do not have an update yet that is ready for release. Information about workarounds for the flaw can be found here.

A patch for a vulnerability affecting WebDav is also not on the menu. What did make the cut for Patch Tuesday is an update for Office for Mac and Microsoft Works to provide cover for a PowerPoint vulnerability.

Tas Giakouminakis, CTO of Rapid7, said the Microsoft security bulletins highlight the importance of enterprises having a solid patch management cycle.

"The large number of vulnerabilities to be patched in June shows that attackers are not slowing down and the opportunities for them to infiltrate customer networks are increasing," Giakouminakis said.

For details: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Microsoft-Patches-31-Vulnerabilities-From-IE-to-Windows-815002/?kc=EWKNLENT06122009STR2