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LangaList 2004-04-26 Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!
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1) A Grand Experiment, Part OneThere's even more email filtering silliness going on, and it's getting to the point where I'm going to have to tinker with the newsletter delivery mechanisms to try to get around the brain-dead filters out there. As another example of bad filtering, here's what reader Jerry Henderson encountered:
I don't know how much sanity I have left, Jerry, but I'm trying. 8-) Yes, SpamCop is still at it--- they never stopped. Comcast has over 20 million internet account holders. But with SpamCop the actions of 40 or some other relative handful of people can shut down mail service for whole swaths of the 20 million innocent bystanders. Somehow, SpamCop thinks that makes sense. It doesn't. And that's just one of the heavy-handed players. We've recently talked about the heavy-handed approach AOL uses ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2004/2004-04-22.htm#10 ); that approach has spilled over to the companies AOL owns, such as CS.Com, Netscape.Com, and even RoadRunner Cable. Other companies are almost as bad, too. It'd be one thing if all these draconian anti-spam tools helped, but has the flow of spam lessened for you? It sure hasn't in my mailbox. The spam-filter companies talk about the gazillion messages they block each day, but that's misleading because spammers simply use other methods, or send more spam, to make up the difference. To a spammer, it's nearly irrelevant how many spams they have to send; as long as enough get delivered. So, all that filtering creates the illusion of vast success on the part of the ISPs and busybodies like SpamCop---"We filtered 70 quadrillion spam messages today!"--- when in reality, it does us end users little good. What's more, it does a lot of active harm by blocking valid mails. Over the long term, educating consumers not to respond to spam--- never, ever buy any spamvertised product or service--- is the best approach: If spammers don't make any money by spamming, they'll stop, simple as that. In the medium term, legislation can help. Short term, the answer lies in good spam tools, intelligently applied, at the user mailbox level, or applied at the server level but with full (not illusory) user control. Third-party blacklists and server-level filters that discard mails before the user ever sees them, or has any chance to change the filter's decision, do more harm than good. Next message: An experiment with the LangaList Standard Edition. Click to email this item to a
friend 2) A Grand Experiment, Part TwoThis newsletter is sent by two mailing services: Most of the newsletters--- the Standard Edition and the HTML, TEXT, and DIGEST versions of the Plus! edition--- are sent via Lyris software residing at Dundee.Net in Michigan. The NOTIFY version of the Plus! edition is sent by Mailman, via TRKHosting in Virginia. The problem with the former is that if any of the four Lyris versions triggers a mailblock somewhere, the mailblock may affect the other three versions coming from the same system. Usually, problems happen with the huge, free Standard Edition; if that gets blocked, it also may block the Plus editions. But it can go the other way, too--- a blocked Plus! edition may cause the Standard Edition to be blocked. So, next week, and next week only, for just two issues, I'm going to send the Standard Edition from a different service, as a test. I want to see what the delivery rates are, how long the mailing takes, and so on. If the test shows positive results, then I'll look at permanently separating the Standard deliveries from the Plus, in the hopes that the performance of both will improve. If you're now getting The Plus! HTML, TEXT, or DIGEST versions, this test won't affect you at all--- except that perhaps more issues will get through. <g> If you're getting the Plus! NOTIFY edition, please see #12, below: There's good news for you, too! If you're getting the STANDARD EDITION, the only thing you may want to do is check your personal mail filters now to allow mail with these two headers: To: Langalist_std@langa.com In addition, you may wish to allow these headers, just to be sure: Return-path: <Langalist_std-bounces@langa.com> The above will affect next two issues only: the May 3rd and May 6th newsletters. After that, we'll revert to the same delivery method this current issue is using while I evaluate the test results and see what the best long-term option is. It's my hope you'll *all* see smoother, better, more reliable deliveries; and that we can finally find safe ways around hyperactive, inefficient spam filters like SpamCop's, AOL's and others like them. Stay tuned! Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 3) DOSLife, Saved By Google!Alas, the "DOSLife" site discussed in the last issue died just as the issue was being prepped. ("Beyond System Tools: Old DOS Applications!" http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2004/2004-04-22.htm#5 ) But you still can access it in the Google cache: Click here http://www.google.com/search?q=doslife and select the "cached" link *below* each description. Reader Stephen Marshall found out what happened:
The site owner had to give the site up--- it can be expensive to maintain sites with even modest download activity levels. But in any case, Google saves the day again! Click to email this item to a
friend 4) A Very Unusual EmulatorIn the very early days of personal computers (long before there ever was an IBM PC) the Apple II was king. But it had awful graphics, and that created an opportunity. The Atari company entered the fray, and for a while offered what were arguably the world's best small-system graphics, remarkably advanced for the day. But Atari soon spun itself off into the weeds. Some of the key people behind the Atari's graphics dusted themselves off and then went on to work for Amiga, and produced an amazing system: Not only did Amiga inherit the title of "best graphics," but it also delivered a multitasking, window-mouse-icon operating system that was better technically than even the Macs of the day. (Microsoft was still focused on DOS. Its best graphical offerings then were the truly awful Windows 1 and 2.) Apple knew marketing but Amiga didn't, and the company slowly withered and almost died. An amazingly devoted user base kept Amiga from totally winking out of existence; and from time to time over the last decade various companies--- even Gateway, the low-cost PC company!--- bought the Amiga brand and talked about offering new, updated versions. But mostly, nothing much happened. Then, about a week ago, this showed up in my mail:
In other words, the Amiga runs as a sort of
virtual machine inside your real OS. It costs $30, and is probably mainly of
interest to those who once had, or at least used, an Amiga. But the screen shots
and such are free, and worth a look in themselves--- a peek at what was once a
seminal design and among the most advanced OSes of its day! Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 5) Dueling Firewalls
Generally speaking, you shouldn't run more than one firewall at a time on the same machine. I'm a firm believer in multilayered security defenses (see http://www.informationweek.com/840/langa.htm for details), but each layer has to exist more or less alone. For example, two firewalls may fight to control the ports on your system; and they may fight in other areas too, because many firewalls are actually mini-suites of security products that may also scan email attachments, block popups, and so on. So, pick one firewall, and use it. Likewise, two antivirus tools may fight for "ownership" of scanning rights to files as they're opened or saved. At best, your system will bog down; at worst, you'll have crashes and instability. So, you pick one AV tool, and stick with it. Having two tools trying to do the same thing at the same time on the same machine rarely works out well. <g> So: pick one tool for each "layer" of defense, and stick with it. Once again, see http://www.informationweek.com/840/langa.htm for more info. Click to email this item to a
friend 6) Last Days To "Recommend And Win"At the end of the week, I'll choose three more monthly
winners who each will get a FREE ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTION to the LangaList Plus!
edition. (If your name is drawn and you're already a Plus! subscriber, your
current subscription will be extended by a full year.) Click to email this item to a
friend 7) Looks, Acts, Feels Like XP--- But Isn't!The ever-active CptSiskoX is at it again (thanks, Cpt!). This time, he's found a desktop environment for Linux that's been tweaked to look as much like XP as possible, short of getting the copyright lawyers involved. 8-) The developers are trying to focus on a small set of features, instead of going the route of desktops like KDE and Gnome, which can also be made to look like XP, but which carry a lot more baggage. See
http://www.xpde.com/shots.php Click to email this item to a
friend 8) More Reader Sites!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 ) Manually Browse All Posted-to-Date Sites Starting At What About Bob? Ricksjiffs Old West Art Linkswap Handmade Blankets Hrdman's Travel Guide Mount Maunganui New Zealand Jack's website Enterprise System Spectator Ann & Derek's Family Site in the UK Click to email this item to a
friend --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList S.E. Free! ) --- "Normally I make cynics look naive and I usually get paid for $12 a year--- pennies per issue--- is all it takes! The LangaList Plus! Edition is
ad-free, spam-proof, --------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 9) Customize Your Internet Explorer
Let me give you the general answer first, Rich: Use Regedit to search for whatever it is you're trying to change. For example, go to Start/Run and type Regedit; that brings up the Registry editor, Use the Find function to search for whatever phrase you want to change, such as "XYZ." When you find it, no matter where it is in the Registry, simply change "XYZ" (or whatever) to "Richard's" (or whatever). Repeat your original search to ensure you've gotten all instances of your target phrase. Of course, not all data is held in the Registry. If you want to edit the text strings or phrases embedded in EXE files or DLLs, you can also do that using something called a Hex(adecimal) or Programmer's editor. Again, you search for the words you want to change, and then overwrite them with the text of your choice. But this gets a little trickier: It's usually best to stay within the area used by the original string of letters you want to replace. This means you may have to use spaces to pad out an entry if you're going from a long string to a short one; or to use abbreviations if you're going from a short to a long one. Either way, if you don't change the length of an embedded string of text, such edits usually work fine, with no ill consequences. If the above is too geeky for you, there also are specialty tools that make a specific task--- like changing the title bar of Internet Explorer--- very easy. In all cases, though, make a backup before you start editing system or program files! Easy-to-use special-purpose editors and how-tos: Hex/Program Editors: Registry Editors (if you don't like Regedit): Click to email this item to a
friend 10) Free "Antique" ToolsFred: Thanks for your great newsletter. Best deal around. Thanks, Adrian! The software there is old but still works. In fact, I have Borland software from the same period: a copy of Turbo BASIC that's so old the discs are made from dried mud and the instruction book is in cuneiform. Well, OK, not really. But despite its very real age, the software still works, and is still useful when I need to bang out a quick-and-dirty special-purpose software tool in literally a couple minutes. The resulting EXE's sure aren't pretty, but they're tiny, run fast, and get the job done. You just may find similar utility in the early Cs and Pascals available in the Borland Museum now. The site also promises more tools to come! Click to email this item to a
friend 11) Just For Grins
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Plus! edition subscribers not only
get much more content in every issue
(like the above), but also have access to a private web site with over
100,000 words of special content and features not found in *any* issue of
the newsletter; along with dozens of private downloads and much more---
all for just $1 per month! Click to email this item to a
friend (Give a gift subscription to
the LangaList Plus edition! See you next issue, 2004-05-03! Best, Please recommend the LangaList to a friend! (And maybe win a prize!) An easier-to read formatted HTML version is available in the "Current Issue" section of http://www.langa.com. (The HTML version of each issue normally is available by 9AM EST [UT-5] of the issue date.) All past LangaList issues are also available at the Langa.Com site. UNSUBSCRIBE (instant removal!):
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