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LangaList 2005-04-18 Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 1) FireFox Pros And ConsFor an industry built on logic--- at their deepest level, computers are logic
circuits--- blatant illogic somehow manages to cloud many issues. The last time I mentioned a similar US-CERT finding, by the way, Linux partisans leapt up to tell me that US-CERT didn't know what it was doing. Linux *couldn't* have more security flaws than Windows! Everyone *knows* that Open Source software is so much better than anything from Microsoft--- right? Well, to the dismay the more rabid anti-Microsoft partisans, reports from other independent observers corroborated CERT's findings. For example, between July 1 and December 31, 2004, Symantec documented 13 serious vulnerabilities affecting Microsoft Internet Explorer, but found 21 vulnerabilities affecting each of the Mozilla-based browsers. But don't take my word for it--- read the reports for yourself, see the methodologies for yourself, and decide for yourself: The article posted now (free!) at http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=160900911 has all the details and links you'll need. I wrote that article to try to help readers interested in FireFox in particular and Open Source in general to make an informed decision. There are many, many excellent, proven, objective benefits to switching to Open Source software--- but there's also a lot of misinformation, and some very, very *bad* reasons to switch. For example, the "common knowledge" that FireFox is "more secure than IE" simply is false. Switching to FireFox for that particular reason--- in the belief that you'll magically and automatically be more secure--- is just plain wrong. But again, don't trust me, or any third party: Come see the source material for yourself, and make up your own mind. It'll only take a few minutes, and one way or the other--- whether you agree or disagree with me--- you'll have the facts at hand, and so can make an informed judgment, rather than one based on "common knowledge." Click on over to Click to email this item to a
friend --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList S.E. Free! ) --- "Great resource with more bang
for the buck --------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 2) Using The "Event Viewer"
Thanks, Joseph. With luck, most of the event data stored in that log will indeed be merely informational--- FYI sorts of things. But anything flagged with a yellow "Warning" icon or a red "Error" icon deserves very close inspection: Click on the suspect items for more info, and for links to the appropriate section of the help file. You also can use a key word or phrase from the warning/error title or description to do a Google search or a search of the Knowledgebase at Microsoft.com As for, "are the problems with files x, y, and z real problems or something that doesn't really matter?" It's quite rare for files in NTFS actually to become scrambled, even when such errors are reported. Alas, it's somewhat more common with FAT32 formats. One simple test is to examine the files; open them with the application that created them (eg DOC, XLW, PPT files, etc) , or run the program associated with them (for EXE, DLL, etc files). When in doubt, you can always reach into your most-recent backup and replace the suspect file with a known-good copy. Click to email this item to a
friend 3) Update: Pape TanorRemember Pape Tanor, from Senegal? When he became one of the kids sponsored by LangaList Plus! subscribers, he was nine years old. He lives with his mother, one older brother and two older sisters in Senegal, in the village of Ouakam south of Dakar. His mother tries to support the family by selling cakes in the local market; the family of five has an income of about US $775 per year. We've had several letters from Pape; you can read them all, and get additional background on Pape, here,: http://langa.com/plus2.htm#kids Over the last few months, several new missives from Pape and his village aid workers have trickled in, including a drawing, a letter, a report card, a health report, and general info about what the sponsorship dollars are being used for: Plus! subscribers click here: Standard Edition Subscribers click here: What's this all about? Well, those of us with computers
and Internet access are vastly better off than most of the world's population. It's also more than just helping kids: LangaList Plus! subscribers
also have collectively contributed to emergency earthquake relief efforts in
India and to funds to help the victims of the Sept 11th attacks in the US, to
the 2004 Tsunami relief efforts, and more. (To
see all the donations so far, click to
http://langa.com/plus2.htm#kids )
New Subscriptions: or give a GIFT SUBSCRIPTION to the
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friend 4) Two Systems, One Setup?
No, I don't think that would work, Tom; or at least, it wouldn't work very well. There'll be too many differences between the machines: At best, you'd end up with messy installs, with each system carrying a ton of extra files, drivers, and such for the other. Imaging is really meant for preserving an exact setup for a given machine; or for a given group of machines with 100% identical hardware. It's not a good option for transferring entire in-use setups between dissimilar PCs. Plus, there will be all kinds of "product activation" issues; much of your newer software will think it's being pirated from one machine to another. So, I don't think conventional disk-imaging is the answer for you. But here's an off-the-wall option that might work: If you can set up your entire work environment inside a Virtual PC, you *can* move the VPC setup and disk files from one host PC to another. No matter what hardware the host PC has, the VPC's virtual "hardware" is always the same. So, if you installed VPC hosting software on both your PCs, you *could* lift an entire VPC setup with all your installed apps and data intact, and simply drop it (via CD, network, whatever) into another PC, and pick up from where you left off. The software won't even know it's been moved. More info on VPCs: http://langa.com/u/8y.htm and http://langa.com/u/9a.htm . If that's too funky or won't work for any reason, then your best bet is to set up each PC with the same software, configured as similarly as possible; and with the same user name on both PCs (e.g. a "Tom" account on each system); and then use any normal backup or replication tool to clone the "My Documents" folder and any other folders you need from one PC to the other. That's what I do with my notebook: Its hardware is too different from my desktop for imaging to work as a data-transfer method, but I have user accounts with the same name on each machine, and so I simply clone the important folders from my desktop to the notebook, and back again. I use Replicator ( http://langa.com/u/8z.htm ) but standard backups, or any number of similar tools--- even basic copying/pasting--- could work. Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 5) OK To Trust "No Malware Found?"
Once a system's been thoroughly cleaned and well-protected, it should stay pretty clean; finding no new threats probably just means everything's doing its job. But if in doubt, then--- just as you've done--- it's smart to try an alternate tool every now and again. If that alternate tool also comes up clean, odds are, you're OK. This works for everything from Cookie-guardian kinds of tools up to whole-hog antivirus tools. For example, if you run NAV as your basic antivirus tool, every once in a while, turn off Norton AV and use one of the free online scans available from competing products (examples: http://langa.com/u/9d.htm ) to make sure NAV is working OK. (Remember to turn your primary AV back on when you're done.) As for SpySweeper, no I haven't specifically recommended it. There are dozens of security products I've never tried and have not recommended--- there's only one of me here, and I can't possibly try everything!--- so my not mentioning a product doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. OTOH, if you check Usenet (e.g. http://langa.com/u/9b.htm ) you'll see SpySweeper gets mixed reviews from users--- some love it, some hate it. No tool works for everyone, but I'd rather see a higher ratio of "yeas" to "nays" in the software I choose, especially when the software isn't free. SpySweeper may work fine for you, and if it does, great! But if it (or any other tool) doesn't, then the ones I've recommended give you a "known good" fallback position to use as a safe alternative. (See the list of some known-good security tools on page two of this article: http://langa.com/u/9c.htm ) Click to email this item to a
friend 6) Recommend This Newsletter And Win!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) Ghosts In the MachineOur recent discussion of the Windows "Prefetch" ( http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-04-07.htm#3 ) brought this interesting mail:
Nice detective work, Brian! I also hadn't heard of that exact problem, but caches in general (and the Prefetch is a form of cache) are often a source of "ghost" problems that keep coming back for no obvious reason. Some malware hides in the Temp files area, for example; failed installs also can remain there, causing "file locked" and other problems; even some of the problems we've discussed with Windows Update can be graced to orphaned entries and files in the Update history or download areas. When faced with a mysterious problem, cleaning out the caches on a good way to make sure the PC is only dealing with "real" files and settings, rather than leftover snippets, failed installs, or other ghosts from the past! 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://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://langa.com/link.txt
) Manually Browse All Posted-to-Date Sites Starting At AtlasCopy (Ink) Tour Of Keith (UK) Baby Pix Puerto Rican family Frogman Educational Assistance Services Mitchell Site Mickie and Minnie Longview Farms Almost Empty Musings (some strong language) Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 9) "Rootkits"
A timely question, Michael--- there's growing activity in this area. A "rootkit" is a kind of software that activates each time the system boots. Malware installed as a rootkit is hard to find and very difficult to control because it's up and running before most of the rest of the OS is ready; and certainly before the user interface is up. Rootkits can be a problem for 2K/XP and Unix-like OSes (including Linux, Mac OSX, etc.). End-user tools are only just now becoming available for this class of malware; most presume a fair degree of knowledge on the part of the user. Examples:
http://research.microsoft.com/rootkit/ Reader Richard Schimpff also contacted me about rootkits
and provided some links, including this:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1785621,00.asp (Thanks, Richard!) Click to email this item to a
friend 10) Just For Grins
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--------------( 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
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