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The LangaList
Standard Edition

2004-05-31

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

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1) More Free Password Tools

Your fellow readers are still offering great suggestions in follow-up to "How To Safely Store And Manage Passwords" ( http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=19202221 ). For example:

Fred, If you want a great (free!) encryption tool for MS Office, you might want to check out Dekart's Secrets Keeper. It integrates with MS Word, Excel and PPT and allows a user to encrypt/decrypt directly within the application. http://www.soft32.com/download_3918.html --- Todd

Thanks, Todd. The tool also integrates outside of Office, via the normal Windows Explorer; and can work on any file type (not just Office's). Could be handy!

As for choosing a password for the above or any other security tool or logon, you either can use the many tools and techniques we've previously discussed ( http://langa.com/u/4y.htm ), or consider a variation on this idea:

Hi Fred, Just thought I would write with my password method. No software or encryption necessary at all and all my passwords are totally secure (I believe!)
 
I use a prefix/suffix method for every password.
 
My prefix is constant and remains memorised (that is all that needs to be memorised. It never gets written down or disclosed to anyone, ever). The suffix changes with each necessity and can be written down or recorded anywhere (text document?) as the suffix is useless without the prefix.
 
Of course all your mentioned rules apply to the prefix. No birth dates, pet names etc. This is the most important part of each password and because it applies as prefix to every necessity this is all you ever have to remember.
 
For example: If I chose the prefix 9182!zaza!, that would be all I would have to recall.
 
My word document password would become something like 9182!zaza!worddoc1
An excel sheet - 9182!zaza!account2
Online account pass might be 9182!zaza!acc2453
 
Then, in order to keep a record of these passwords, I need only list as follows:
word document: worddoc1
excel sheet: account2
Online account: acc2453
 
The prefix, known only to me, is absolutely necessary for these passes to work so it doesn't matter that these suffixes may become public.
 
Needless to say, write the prefix down anywhere and you could end up in trouble. But then again, who would guess the manner in which that particular piece of gibberish should be applied?
 
Other combinations such as private prefix/public record/private suffix can be applied also, but you get the idea! Keep up the fantastic work. Karl Ronan, Dublin, Ireland

Thanks, Karl. Because a portion of the password would repeat each time, this approach is less secure than having totally random passwords: While each password alone might seem robust, the shared sequence actually weakens them as a group. This probably wouldn't matter for most routine password uses, but could be a problem in cases where really high security was needed.

And as Karl says, the prefix is the cornerstone of this whole approach, so it would have to be truly well-chosen: very random. Note also that it'd still be safer not to store the suffixes in plain text: Why give a potential snoop half your password? So, I'd suggest protecting the stored suffix list with at least light encryption, if I were you.

But used with care and caution, some variation on this "secret prefix" technique could work well, and provide an easy way to generate reasonably secure passwords without having to use a formal password-generation tool.

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2) New ZoneAlarm Version Disappoints

ZoneAlarm is beginning to suffer from "kitchen sink" syndrome: Each version has added more and more features until what once was a simple, elegant firewall is now a complex security suite.

The newest version of ZA Pro is supposed to add active antivirus protection to your mail stream. I really didn't need this function--- I already have an AV tool guarding the mail--- but didn't see a way to tell ZAP to disable its separate AV protection. Maybe the setting was there, but I never got that far...

As soon as I tried gathering mail, my resident AV tool (Norton) went nuts, popping up an unending stream of "virus found and removed..." messages. My guess is that ZA changed the way it processes and stores mail files, so that my AV tool no longer recognized the already-processed files as safe. I wasted an hour or so trying to get the two tools to play nice, but eventually gave up in disgust: Who has time for this? I tried uninstalling the new ZAP and reinstalling the previous version, but Norton remained badly hosed by all the diddling I'd done to it. In the end, it was faster and simpler for me to roll my system back to the pre-change state, using ZAP 4x as a firewall, and Norton for AV protection. Now everything works fine again.

I'm not the only one having trouble:

Hi Fred: I've used Zone Alarm for a couple of years now and really like it. However the latest version (zap_50_590_015) has slowed my XP system to a crawl - especially MailWasher and Outlook Express. ---Ian Patton

Dear Fred, I will probably just be adding my note to many others in this regard. The newest Zone Alarm Pro, 5.0 update blew away my cable internet connection and caused my machine to reset every time I attempted to get mail or browse the web. I was forced to remove it and reinstall a prior version, and it wasn't just easy. If your other readers have a similar problem, they should know to call customer service, not tech support, and report a "no access issue." This will be handled for free but the TS guys are $3 a minute, even if the problem is caused by their software. It was suggested that my Process Guard caused the problem. But I removed that and upgraded again with the same result. The techs told me this update was a week or two old and had been removed from the site once already for a similar bug. I have auto update notices on this software. Maybe I shouldn't allow updates until they are a month or two old. ---Pat Murphy

.... and there are other letters too. In short, if you have a copy of ZA 4x, hang on to it. At the very least, the 5x version seems not ready for prime time; and it may simply have become too big, too complex, and too unwieldy for its own--- or our--- good.

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Thank you, Michael!

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3) Kennedy Space Center Blacklisted

I won't bore you with the rationale of why broad-brush "blacklist" tools are bogus--- I've covered the inherent flaws in this approach many times before. ( http://langa.com/u/4v.htm ) But I admit to a perverse pleasure in emails like this, which show just how utterly stupid SPEWS, MAPS, SpamCop and the rest really are:

Three times this year all of the e-mail from Kennedy Space Center was blocked by our county's largest broadband ISP (RoadRunner). They have done so because of a large  quantity of mail coming from a single user or because one or more of the following third party spam blocking lists has falsely  labeled KSC's main mail server as a source of spam. The blockers the ISP uses are MAPS Realtime Blackhole List ( http://mail-abuse.org/rbl ), MAPS Relay Spam Stopper ( http://mail-abuse.org/rss ), MAPS Dialup User List  ( http://mail-abuse.org/dul ) , MAPS Open Proxy Stopper List ( http://www.mail-abuse.org/ops ), Spamhaus Block List.

I am FURIOUS at these self-appointed guardians of the internet. They have caused me more aggravation and more Denial-Of-Service than spam ever has. And that's just at home. Now, they have caused a denial of service at a major government installation. There are literally hundreds of thousands of people worldwide that depend on our e-mail system for everything from education to scientific research to national security. How many other ISP's are blocking us?

I am tired having to put up with a "cure" that is far worse than the disease. For obvious reasons, please don't mention my name in any discussion of this. Thanks... [name withheld by request]

Blacklists/blocklists were once valuable tools, but are now woefully obsolete--- it's a crude, sloppy, outmoded approach to spam control that often ends up doing far, far more harm than good. Someday, ISPs will wake up to that fact. Sigh.

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4) Bypass The Recycle Bin

This is probably a dumb question, but how do you keep Windows XP from making a copy of every file you attempt to delete? And on some occasions, it will make a second copy when you attempt to delete the copy. I must have missed something somewhere.... --William Burney

Anytime you don't want the Recycle Bin to temporarily store a file for possible later recovery, just press and hold the left shift key when you make the deletion. (The NUM Lock must be off for this to work.) Then, the file gets deleted with no Recycle Bin copy made. You get a visual confirmation of this in the deletion dialog box: the animation shows the files disappearing, instead of being deposited in the recycle bin.

There are other ways to do this, via a reg tweak, or with a permanent setting (see http://langa.com/u/4w.htm ), but for occasional use, the shift-key method is the simplest, fastest way.

Note that this non-Recycle Bin deletion is not a secure deletion--- the file still can be recovered from the hard drive using file-recovery tools. ( http://www.google.com/search?q=file+recovery ) But this does make it at least a little harder to call up a "deleted" file; and it also prevents your Recycle Bin from filling up with garbage you know you'll never want to try to recover.

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5) Recovering Deleted/Reformatted Digital Photos

Speaking of file deletions and recovery:

Hello Fred, I (and I am sure others have) formatted a Kodak Camera flash card that had my 61st Birthday pictures from my trip to South Padre Island. Duh! And I am NO computer novice. Should have known better. Anyway do you know of any FREE (shareware?) program that can recover them for me? If not free, what for-a-fee program do you suggest?  Thanks Much A loyal Plus fan, Judy

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6) Is This Newsletter Interesting? Useful?

If you think the LangaList is a worthwhile read, maybe a friend would find it useful too! Just use the following link to recommend the LangaList---your friend may find a new source of useful information and you just may win one of three FREE ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTIONS to the LangaList Plus! edition given each month. (If your name is drawn and you're already a Plus! subscriber, your current subscription will be extended by a full year.)

Check out the details at http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm . Thanks for recommending the LangaList--- and good luck!

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7) Dumping RealPlayer

RealPlayer offers high-quality audio and video, but also carried a lot of baggage, not least of which includes its high degree of invasiveness, its size, and its need to phone-home frequently.

Hi Fred, Great newsletter. Here is a wonderful new Media Player. Its free, and eliminates having to have Real, Quick Time, WinAmp, etc., installed. It does it all, and has a great converter. The Help files are lacking and must be downloaded separately in PDF. http://www.jetaudio.com/   ---Regards, Woody

Thanks, Woody. We covered an earlier version of JetAudio about a year ago, and some of that info--- including a Usenet discussion--- can help clear up any questions you may have: http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-04-28.htm#1

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8) They Just Keep Coming And Coming...

Well over 3,000 of your fellow readers have "loaded the code." Have you? Check out http://www.langa.com/code.htm for the details. 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

Freeware4U
http://freeware4u.com/modules/mydownloads/

Windows Ultimate Boot CD
http://windowsubcd.com/

Scott-the-boat-doctor
http://www.scott-the-boat-doctor.com/

web design
http://www.tjbailey.com/

Gen-tech
http://www.angelfire.com/biz7/gen-tech_enterprises/

Treasure Beach, Jamaica
http://treasurebeach.net/

Utch Entel Photos
http://www.utchs.com/

Bracksco Wine Nook
http://www.bracksco.com/

Solar/Stock Linkage
http://www.geocities.com/hill2718/index.html

DaveBytes
http://www.davebytes.com/

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9) Free Tools Save Hours

Hello Fred, This is my first time writing to you. I enjoy the newsletter a lot, but the reason I am writing is to tell you about a great piece of software I, now, cannot live without. I don't remember you mentioning it. But on the other hand, my memory being what it is, you might very be the one who sent me to the site in the first place.

It is called VNC (Virtual Network Computing) and it enables me to "take control" of someone elses computer (with their permission of course). I use it do maintenance on a PC I gave to a family member who's computer illiterate. You see, they live over a hundred miles away which means the commute is two hours to and two hours back. A four hour drive just to do a little tweaking makes absolutely no sense. VNC is saving me time and money. Loads of money since it is completely free. That's a price that can't be beat.

The packages (client and server) are very small and can be downloaded directly from their website:

http://www.realvnc.com/

I am not affiliated with them in any way. I am just a big fan... Ciao, Serge Desaulniers

Indeed, RealVNC is a great tool, and amazingly powerful. It can be used for free, although the developers rightfully request a small voluntary contribution to help them out. VNC is cross-platform, so it can be used even on dissimilar systems--- Linux to Windows, for example, or vice versa. Of course, it also can be used on similar systems.

TightVNC is similar: We discussed it here:
http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-03-10.htm#2

And note that XP Pro also has a very similar service built into it. ( http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=8700561 )  I use it every day. For example, I'll use my laptop to remotely control my desktop PC even if I'm just going to another part of the building: Instead of having to synch all my files and get everything onto the laptop before I change locations, I can just fire up the remote control software, and use the laptop to access everything, live, on my main PC, just as if I'd never left my chair. (You can work via the internet, via LAN, or via wireless connection....) When I return to my PC, nothing has to be transferred back from the laptop; I just pick up from where I left off. It's a real time-saver. I also use XP's remote control to trigger virus-scans, defragmentation, backups, or other maintenance activities on various machines around the building without having to run back and forth to each machine several times during the maintenance cycle.

Remote control is *very* handy. If you deal with more than one PC, check it out!

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