|
Please visit the LangaList Home Page Please note: Older issues may contain information that is now out of date How To
Subscribe and Unsubscribe is at the end of this
note. Mailing List Trouble? See
http://langa.com/help.htm Please recommend the LangaList to a friend! (And maybe win a prize!) An easier-to read formatted
HTML version of this newsletter is available The
LangaList 2004-11-15 Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!
--- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList Free! ) ---
--------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------
1) Windows In 1/10th The SpaceIt's true: You can pare down Windows 98 to fit in about 1/10th the space it normally occupies; and you can trim XP or Win2K to half its normally corpulent bulk. The trick is to use the tools available from LitePC, a company that managed to do what Microsoft said couldn't be done: You can remove whole chunks of Windows, deleting features and functions you don't want or need, leaving you a smaller, faster, Windows that may also be more secure and stable. I tested "XPlite" for myself, and have posted the results--- along with screen shots so you can see exactly what's involved, and links to the products discussed--- at http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=51202853 . Come check it out. If you're looking for a way to make Windows smaller, faster, and maybe more secure, the information above may be just the ticket! Click to email this item to a
friend --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList Free! ) ---
--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 2) Farewell, Free AVG?
While it's true that the current free version of AVG will no longer be updated or supported, there is a replacement in the works. Until it ships, we won't know what it does or how good it is, but there will at least be some kind of alternative available:
But there are other free antivirus tools available too, including Avast, as mentioned. Also, the free "Microsoft Partner Pack" includes a copy of Computer Associates' "eTrust 2005" with a one-year free subscription to updates. You can download a copy at http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4390.html or http://langa.com/u/6q.htm or direct from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/partnerpack/ (although the official Microsoft downloads are actually more cumbersome than the third-party sites.) You can also order the "Partner Pack" on CD http://www.microsoft.com/windows/partnerpack/cd.aspx ; the CD is free, but you have to pay shipping. eTrust isn't generally regarded as a top choice among AV tools, but still, it's a cheap way to get a year's worth of at least basic antivirus protection. 8-) Lots more free antivirus tools and info: Click to email this item to a
friend 3) The Danger Of "Scraps"
Magnus is right, Paul, although the danger
of "scraps" (there are several variants) has been known for a long time. For
example, see these items from four years ago: Most AV and scripting-security tools know about scrap files, and guard against their misuse. But you can use the above info to help make sure *your* tools properly guard against these files. And yes, it's safe to remove/delete scraps. Just don't launch/run/open them, until and unless you know for sure it's safe to do so. (For a somewhat related item on controlling the "Windows Scripting host", see item #11) Click to email this item to a
friend --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList S.E. Free! ) --- "Fred, I , like so many
computer geeks get in the habit of trying out --------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 4) Bulk Rename: Two Very Easy WaysThe item on "Bulk Renaming" (processing many files at once) in http://langa.com/newsletters/2004/2004-11-08.htm#7 brought quite a bit of mail. For example:
Thanks, Reinhard and William! See also next item. Click to email this item to a
friend 5) Bulk Rename: A Deep-Geek, But Flexible, WaySometimes, I get plaintive questions along the lines of: "Fred, when someone asks you a question, why not just give a simple, 'Do this...' answer?" Long-time readers have probably figured out why I often take the longer route in giving answers, but newer readers may not know why: It's because simple "Do this..." answers only deal with the specific case at hand. I feel it's better to try to generalize the answers, so that you'll not only see how to solve the immediate problem, but also how to apply that information to a whole range of other problems that may not be exactly the same, but that are similar. For example, the previous item (above) provided useful tools that can help rename large numbers of files. But there are other ways to accomplish the same task, some of which initially are harder and take longer, but that (1) require no additional software at all; and (2) are more general, more flexible, and ultimately more powerful: The underlying concepts can be used for all manner of file manipulation, rather than just renaming. For example:
I agree, Lance. By all means, I suggest readers use the simple tools if they fit the bill; but also consider digging a little deeper so that they can solve problems that ready-made tools may not be able to. Lance's method may or may not work for what you have in mind, but it serves as a guide to a whole range of solutions. For more info,
see: Click to email this item to a
friend 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.) Click to email this item to a
friend 7) Linux Security ProblemI won't spend a lot of time on
this, but if you're running Linux with the relatively new 2.6 Kernel, you might
want to stay especially alert for patches for this problem: Click to email this item to a
friend 8) Code-Load Success StoryCode-loader Bill Cain writes:
Do you have a home page or website? (It doesn't matter
what size.) Please click over to
http://langa.com/code.htm , and maybe you can join the thousands 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://langa.com/link.txt ) Manually Browse All Posted-to-Date Sites Starting At Carter County Ky Freecycle Gowganda and Iqaluit Photographs The Jukebox Turntable Shopping Site At Leisure Fantasypoliticsleague Kansas etc etc etc bleeping computer Alba_gu_Braith Click to email this item to a
friend --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList Free! ) ---
--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 9) What About "Quarantined" Files?
It's a security thing, Gene: Some AV tools do offer direct deletion, but many use some kind of a quarantine folder as a limbo area where files reside for a time, and from which they are recoverable, until they're finally disposed of for good. The idea is to hold on to the files just in case one of them turns out not to be infected or is otherwise something you may require access to (eg by safely opening the file with something like Notepad, rather than Word or Excel or your email client). But this can cause a problem because the quarantine folder can become truly huge until and unless you run the cleanup tool ("View/Delete Quarantined Files" or some such) in your antivirus software. I get a *lot* of email, so my quarantine folder typically has thousands of items in it by the end of each day. And I found that I essentially never needed the files that get quarantined on my system. So I added this line to my CleanUp batch file:
The first part of that line starts to delete everything in the quarantine folder. But a "del *.*" generates an "Are you sure?" dialog, which requires a Y(es) to proceed or a N(o) to stop. To handle this dialog automatically, I created a plain text file containing just the letter Y and named the file "Y.bat". The command "< c:\y.bat" tells the operating system to take the content of c:\y.bat--- a "y"--- and feed it to the preceding command, which in this case is the del(ete) command. Thus, this line as a whole starts the del(etion) of all the files (*.*) in the C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\Quarantine folder, and then answers its own "Are you sure?" dialog by accepting as input ("<") the contents of the y.bat file, which in this case is simply a "y" for yes. In this way, the whole thing runs automatically and without any user input, deleting all the quarantined files. I run the above as part of my normal, daily automated cleanup operation ( http://langa.com/cleanup_bat.htm ), and thus free up a ton of disk space that otherwise would be wasted, or that would require manual attention. Of course, you can do something similar on your system by editing the above line to point to the name and location of *your* quarantined files. If you'd like more info on command lines like this--- which can be used for all kinds of task automation--- see the links at the end of #5 above. Bottom line: The quarantined files are there so you can access them if you need to; but if you don't need to, now you have an automated way of getting rid of them! Click to email this item to a
friend 10) Just For GrinsThis Swedish reader enjoys taking on salespeople who parrot a sales pitch with no clue what they're talking about:
Click to email this item to a
friend --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList Free! ) ---
--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 11) Plus! Edition Highlights:
The Plus! edition is only pennies per issue, and comes with a MONEY BACK GUARANTEE from Fred. How can you lose? Check out the details: http://langa.com/plus.htm Click to email this item to a
friend (Give a gift subscription to
the LangaList Plus edition! See you next issue, 2004-11-18! 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://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!):
http://langa.com/leave_langalist.htm This newsletter is SPAM PROOF and requires two levels of subscriber confirmation
before delivery begins: See
http://langa.com/info.htm |
|
Please visit the LangaList Home Page |