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The LangaList
Standard Edition

2002-03-18

A Free Email Newsletter from Fred Langa
That Helps You Get More From Your Hardware, 
Software, and Time Online

Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!

1) Exploring Windows Alternatives

You see, over the last few years, Microsoft has started to treat its end users--- you and me--- very poorly. It’s a trend that started about two years ago, coincident with some top-management shuffles and the distraction of the antitrust suit.

For example: Windows Millennium Edition was and is perhaps the worst version of Windows in over a decade: It should have been at most a free update to Windows98SE, but instead, Microsoft gussied it up and shoved it out the door as if it were an entirely new version of Windows. The only reason I can see for doing this is that Microsoft needed to release something new to keep the cash flow going. Lacking a real product, they foisted a half-baked Windows ME on the world. (See http://content.techweb.com/winmag/windows/features/merunbetter/default.htm )

There are even broader problems, too, such as the corporate blind spots that have caused exactly the same kind of security flaw to show up again and again and again in an amazing range of Microsoft products. It's almost as if Microsoft can't generalize, and instead treats each security problem in isolation--- leading to the same kind of problem recurring over and over.

The conclusion is inescapable: If only in self-defense, we all need to at least begin thinking about Windows alternatives; perhaps even actively exploring non-Windows options.

The trouble is, it’s not a simple choice.

Linux is the most obvious alternative--- except that there are *literally* some 170 different flavors of Linux, and even more than that if you count different version numbers! So before you get to issues of compatibility, support, and such, you first have to find a way to address the huge question: "Which Linux?"

The Mac is another alternative, but one that carries its own mix of plusses and minuses.

Then there's BSD, FreeDOS, Solaris, OS/2, QNX, VMS, Debian, Amiga, AtheOS, and… well, you get the idea.

There are, in fact, so many operating system alternatives that it would be very hard for anyone to try them all. But collectively, if we pool our knowledge, we can surely hit all the major ones.

I'll go first: In my current InformationWeek column (live now at http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20020314S0038 ), I'll provide links to every free OS I know of so you can download and try as many as you want; and I'll also tell you what I consider to be the high and low points of the major contenders.

But then let me ask you: Which non-Windows operating systems have you tried? Which brand/distribution and versions gave you the best results? What worked, and what didn't? How long did the OS conversion take? What did it cost? Have you migrated entirely away from Windows, or do you run your alternative OS in a dual-boot setup? What did you just plain like, and what was disappointing?

Let’s pool our knowledge! Please check out the column at http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20020314S0038 and then join in the associated discussion at http://www.informationweek.com/forum/Fred Langa ! See you there!

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2) A Non-Boneheaded Blocker Site?

Reader Tim Bonham writes:

Thanks, Tim. There's a lot of good info on that site, and you're right--- the "Blocked Site Of the Day" is worth a look: All kinds of perfectly valid stuff is constantly getting filtered out of people's clickstreams and emails by these stupid, stupid filters.

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3) Many Flavors Of FindFast--- All Less Than Wonderful

We've previously discussed the problems with "FindFast," the indexing tool that's bundled with Microsoft Office. It can slow down your system, interfere with scandisk and defrag, and it leaves files--- little FindFast droppings--- all over your hard disk. I never use FindFast, and instead always, always, always either leave it off of any system I set up, or disable it on systems I'm working on. ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-09-06.htm#3 )

Several readers have offered additional version-specific advice:

Reader Joe Gosselin has this Office 2000 tip:

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4) MediaOne/AT&T/Etc.

As the broadband shakeout continues, more and more ISPs are merging or being bought out. This has led to repeated floods of email from readers asking me to change their email address for them.

Ironically, if you do it yourself, you can accomplish the whole address-change in LESS TIME than it takes to write me a note to ask me to do it. 8-) It's also more accurate to do it yourself--- there are fewer steps and less opportunity of transcription errors. And it also simply would help me a lot.

Here's how easy it is to change your own subscription address, should you need to do so for any reason:

Standard (Free) Newsletter Edition:
The total time to do this is less than a minute! While your old email account is still active--- before your email address changes--- just use your normal email account to send any email to unsubscribe-langalist@lyris.dundee.net . As long as the email address you send the note from matches the address at which you currently get your newsletter, the software will INSTANTLY stop the subscription going to that address. Next, as soon as your new email account is active, send an email from that account to subscribe-langalist@lyris.dundee.net . The software will lift your new address from the email, and INSTANTLY sign you up at the new address. Couldn't be simpler!

(There's also a second method Standard Edition readers can use that doesn't depend on the email address matching: It's shown at the top of each copy of this newsletter delivered by email.)

Plus! Newsletter Edition:
Plus! subscribers can use a fully-automated system to change their delivery address, switch to a different issue format (HTML, text, or digest), or otherwise manage their subscription. Check it out here: http://www.langalist.com/plus/address.htm (For easy reference, this address also is repeated at the top of every copy of the Plus edition of this newsletter delivered by email.)

Thanks for your help!

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5) Anti-Spam & More

Reader Stephanie J Staker writes:

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6) PR Budget = $0.00

Long-time readers know this newsletter is a private project of mine: It's not part of some publishing empire's stable of publications. It's just me here, working alone, with no separate budget, staff or facility to handle outreach and PR. The newsletter depends on word of mouth to grow.

And that's where you come in: Each issue, I try to offer you useful, interesting and amusing factoids to help you with your hardware, software, and time online. Can you take just a minute to help me out in return?

If you think the LangaList is a worthwhile read, just use the following link to recommend the LangaList to a friend. Your friend just may find a new source of useful information; I just may gain a new subscriber; and you just may win $10,000 for your trouble (full details also available via this "Recommend It" link): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#1  The "Recommend-It" service is an ad-based site (you’ll see banners and such). The advantages to you of using the Recommend-It service are that you can win $10,000 and that you can add a personal message to your LangaList recommendation.

But if you’d rather use the tried-and-true, ad-free recommendation form, you’ll find it at: http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#2 . That option gives you a shot at winning a no-strings $30 Gift Certificate for any item at Amazon.Com--- books, software, hardware, kitchenware, toys, and more.

Either way, thank you for helping to spread the word about the LangaList!
 

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7) XP & NTFS Reader Tips

Reader Michael Santo was on a roll, and sent in two separate and interesting tips on the same day:

1) You may have noticed when you go to Add/Remove programs and try to delete extra Windows components (like Messenger, which I don't want), you only a few items. If you want all possible Windows components you can uninstall, go into the \Windows\Inf directory, edit SYSOC.INF and remove the word "hide" and replace it with, well nothing. [I.E. replace instances of ",HIDE," with ",,"] You can then add/install all the Windows components possible, including Windows Messenger.

2) re NTFS, there's one thing you can do to increase performance. The OS marks the timestamps a folder when you access it. You can turn this off by Opening the registry and Changing \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem\NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate  to 1. Naturally if the key does not exist you should create it ...

Thanks, Michael!

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8) They Loaded The Code

Do you have a home page or website? (It doesn't matter what size.) Please click over to http://www.langa.com/code.htm , and maybe you can join the hundreds and hundreds of LangaList readers who have "Loaded the Code!" (If you've already "Loaded The Code" and are wondering if your site will appear here or on the Langa.Com web site, please see http://www.langa.com/link.txt )

Speaking of which: Here's another eclectic sample of reader sites--- some professional, some very personal:

View A Randomly-Chosen Reader Site
http://www.langa.com/randomlink.htm

Manually Browse All Posted-to-Date Sites Starting At
http://www.langa.com/readersites.htm

Trucker Geek
http://www.lvcm.com/cofield82/

Tommy's Triple Threat Blues Revue Home Page
http://tomhamrick.homestead.com/BandPage.html

Computer Tips and Tricks
http://rogeryounce1.tripod.com/ACTS/id7.html

John Claus
http://www3.sympatico.ca/jpbenter/index.html

Beemer's Windows Tips
http://www.geocities.com/a3a17013/tippages/beemerswindowstips/beemerswindowstips.htm

ParExc website
http://www.parexc.com/index2.html

Bradenbunch (blog and...)
http://www.bradenbunch.net/

TILSON TUCKER BAND
http://www.geocities.com/percussive2002/percussive2002.html

Halifax Gift Shop
http://www.webspawner.com/users/trainstngiftshop/

Troy Ros
http://www.geocities.com/tros2002/index.html

CB Repairs
http://www.cbrepairs.com/

Webmaster's Corner
http://www.winshape.com/webmaster/index.shtml

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9) Steve Gibson A Fraud?

I've mentioned Steve Gibson many times ( http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-q=gibson&sp-a=0008002a-sp00000000 ), mostly for his free security tools. But reader Keiran Wynyard was concerned:

Fred: You have probably read this page already, but just in case--- A friend sent me this link because he knows that I am always interested in net security: http://www.grcsucks.com

I read most of the pages and think many are a little heavy-handed. I know that you recommend some of Steve Gibson's products and advice and wondered what your take on the situation was.

Without a context, the stuff on "grcsucks" is scary, indeed.

But you know, for every person who gains success by trying to do something good, there are 10 more wanting to pull him or her down.

Steve's work (at http://www.grc.com ) isn't perfect---- no one's is. And his breezy writing style and high level of enthusiasm put some people off. But he's more often right than wrong, he corrects his mistakes when they're verified (and not simply alleged); and his free services and software are an outright gift to the computing community. ( http://grc.com/freepopular.htm )

Now, let's click over to grcsucks and see what they offer. Ah, it's a bunch of axe-grinding rants, and nothing more. Gee, thanks.

Some people--- perhaps Keiran's friend--- inherently prefer to believe the bad about people over the good. ("If it's negative, it must be true!") No, let me correct that: I said "some people," but it's actually *many* people: Just look at all the scandal-based journalism that's proliferated over the last decade. There's a whole TV/radio/print/web industry devoted not to digging for the true story, but simply to digging for dirt; not to finding truth, but simply to finding fault. In my opinion, grcsucks' focus on destructive criticism places it close to this genre.

Plus, there's a whole chunk of the geek community that seems to suffer professional jealousy about Steve: People who believe "Hey, I'm a smart techie too, but I'm not famous. Why is Gibson getting all the glory? I'll tear him down to size!"

Of course, it's always easier to tear down than to build up, which is why for every one guy like Gibson, there are a hundred others who give away nothing but criticism, attitude, and hot air.

Besides, what does it prove to catch someone in an error? Everyone's wrong from time to time. That doesn't make them evil--- it just makes them human.

My advice: Take *everyone's* work--- including mine!--- with a grain of salt. Regardless of what ANYONE is telling you, it's always good to have more than one source for important information, so you can cross-check. Over time, you'll come to know whom you can trust, and who's just blowing smoke.

More info on trustworthy security-testing sites: http://www.informationweek.com/841/langa.htm

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10) Just For Grins

Well, explaining this is a bit embarrassing, and may not be suited for the easily-offended, but it is an example of just how lively, adaptable and fast-moving the English language is:

Just as FUBAR originally was shockingly crude 1940's-era military slang that has become generally accepted now, "pooch" (in the sense quoted above) is a derivation from a crude 1960's-era slang phrase that has mellowed and morphed into something gentler.

"Pooch" became woven into computer-oriented slang and jargon when it was immortalized in Tom Wolfe's 1979 book "The Right Stuff," about the early US space program: The techie crowd that loved Wolfe's book (I own a copy <g>) was the same crowd that was working in the then-brand-new field of personal computing.

The full original three-word "pooch" phrase was used to signify when a person intended one action, but through incompetence, drunkenness, stupidity or other flaw, accomplished an unintended and much less desirable action. (If you're easily offended, you may want to stop reading here.) The full original phrase was "screw  the pooch." Here, "pooch" is another slang term meaning "dog," and I'm sure you know what "screw" means in this context.

In Wolfe's book, the phrase was used among some astronauts who believed that Gus Grissom caused the sinking of his Mercury capsule by blowing the hatch too soon (something Grissom vigorously denied). Grissom's detractors said he'd "screwed the pooch" on that mission. The phrase was repeated many times throughout Wolfe's book.

With the passage of years, the original "screw the pooch" morphed into the gentler slang verb "to pooch," meaning to foul up, usually through user action.

Getting back to the item in the last newsletter: A hard drive can be "pooched" (i.e. the user "screws  the pooch") by running software that destroys the partitioning information, rendering the drive contents inaccessible.

Man, what a weird item to be writing about! <g>

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11) Plus! Edition Highlights

• Free Way To Turn Caps Lock Into A Shift Key
• Freeware To View All Stored Passwords
• More "Favorites" Tools; Record-Breaking Downloads

Today's LangaList Plus! Edition contains all ten items above, plus about 30% more content including: a nifty, tiny freeware utility that makes your Caps Lock act like a Shift key (i.e. it only produces caps when actually pressed, pREVENTING yOU fROM wRITING lIKE tHIS <g>; a free tool that automatically sniffs out and reveals all your stored passwords; info on last week's record-breaking reader downloads (yikes!); and a tool to automatically power-search your Favorites, even if you have a ton of 'em.

The Plus! Edition costs just pennies per issue. See: http://www.langa.com/plus.htm

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See you next issue!

Best,

Fred
(fred@langa.com)

Please recommend the LangaList to a friend! (And maybe win $10,000!I)

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