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LangaList 2006-04-06 Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!
--- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList S.E. Free! ) --- jv16 PowerTools 2006 New supercharged jv16 PowerTools 2006 can fix, Dozens of new powerful features, yet still Special 25% discount for the first 500 buyers: --------------( the above is an advertisement )--------------
1) Blocking "Trackers"I am fed up with all those trackers, which polluted url ex tracker.affistat, 6overture etc This is a hot button for me, too, Guy, but not for the reasons you may think. As you know, if you've read this newsletter for any length of time, I'm a security fanatic, and go much further than most people do to keep things wrapped tight and snoop-proof. But that's not to say that I believe all threats are equal--- or even that all supposed threats are real. "Web bugs," "web beacons," "tracking cookies" and the like are mostly the invention of purveyors of "security" tools designed to protect you from those very things. The people who make the tools have a vested interest in convincing you that those things are major, imminent threats that require eternal vigilance--- and not incidentally, the use of their tool. But most "web bugs," "web beacons," "tracking cookies" and such are like simple turnstiles that do nothing more than count the number of times an ad is displayed, and (sometimes) which site displayed the ad. That's how the site owners get paid. It is almost always, overwhelmingly, and almost without exception a totally benign thing. In fact, it can be seen as a good thing, as it gets you "free" (ad-supported) content. What's more, *any* embedded link can act as a "web bug." There is nothing--- repeat NOTHING--- special about what are called "bugs" and "beacons." They're EXACTLY like any other embedded link; and they return EXACTLY the same data to the server as any other link. They no more "mine your data" or "harvest private information" or any such thing than do any other links. And that's the thing that really makes we marvel at the sales job some security tool vendors have done: When you click a link--- any link--- or allow an embedded link to open--- any embedded link--- your browser automatically sends a set of information to the server. It's not snooping; it's how the web works--- it's how the server knows what to send you, where, and in what format. This exchange of information has happened with every link you have ever clicked on the web. It's happened with every inline image you've ever seen on web pages. It's happened every time you've used a framed page. Etc. It's very simply how the web works. But some security vendors have done a fabulous job convincing people that there's this mysterious, evil thing--- a "bug" or "beacon" or whatnot--- that somehow puts them at risk. Nope, sorry. They are intrinsically no more dangerous than any other link you've ever clicked. Ever! Usually, ads are on "free" sites, which is to say, ad-supported sites. So when you block web bugs and the like, you're preventing your viewing of the associated ad from being counted; so the site owner won't get paid. IOW, by protecting yourself from the largely imaginary danger of web bugs and the like, you're undermining the free content you were viewing. Stop enough ad-tracking devices, and free content goes away. There ain't no such thing as a free lunch--- or free content and services. Someone, somewhere, is paying for everything that's "free." IMO, if you want "free" content and services, you really need to let the ads do their thing; or you risk killing the services you're using.And, to come full circle: Many kinds of security threats are very, very real and require high vigilance. But web bugs and their ilk are NOT among them. More info: http://langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-06-25.htm#1 Click to email this item to a
friend --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList Free! ) --- --------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 2) "Why Short Passwords Are A Bad Idea"
Thanks, Randall. that's a very nice, succinct summary page--- and a sobering one, too. A different page lets you see similar cracking data in tabular form ( http://www.mcmaster.ca/uts/ITsecurity/passwordcracking.htm ) and yet another page lets you actually experiment with an interactive "password cracking calculator" ( http://lastbit.com/pswcalc.asp ) to see how long a brute force attack will take to crack a password of whatever complexity you specify. (And "brute force" is usually the longest and least efficient way of cracking a password; more sophisticated methods can be much, much faster!) In many cases, even hard-looking passwords are barely a speedbump to heavy-duty cracking tools. So what makes a good password that really will be hard to crack? See "How To Build Better Passwords" at http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=164303537 Click to email this item to a
friend 3) How Best To Partition/Use New Disk?
Glad the BartPE reference helped you; it's a pretty slick tool, and can even be made to boot from a USB flash drive. Very cool! (See http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=177102101 ) As for using the new hard drive, my standard advice applies: Size your partitions to fit your means of backup, so said backups will be manageable and easy to do. For example, even on my terabyte system ( http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=183702383 ), I kept my most heavily-used partitions--- the ones that will need the most frequent backup--- sized to fit on two DVDs or so. That way, I can back them up conveniently and quickly. On the other hand, I also have some very large partitions which contain stuff that's easily recreated or restored from other sources. Those partitions need backup only rarely, so the larger size doesn't get in the way. And here's something that may fit your circumstances very well: If you find yourself with a ton of disk space and several networked PCs or laptops, use some of that surplus disk space to store "live" images and backup files from all the PCs on your LAN. For example, if you run a backup on your laptop, burn a copy to CD, but also store a copy on the new hard drive. That way, the CD copy (which can be stored away from the laptop in a safe location) is your fail-safe backup; but the "live" copy on a networked hard drive is your fast-access, always-ready copy. That's what I do: I have a large partition that contains almost nothing but images and backup files. I also burn the images and backups to CD or DVD for total data safety (the CDs and DVDs will survive even if something bad happens to the hard drive or PC itself). But also having a month or so of daily backups right at hand on a hard drive means I can very quickly and easily get back to any reasonably recent file in very short order. Once you start thinking about it, you'll come up with *lots* of ways to fill that new hard drive! <g> Click to email this item to a
friend --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList Free! ) --- --------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 4) CD/DVD Quit Working
I don't know if that edit will really help you--- it's more for problems such as when a drive seems to "disappear" from a system; or is not recognized; or generates a "code 31" error message; along with several other symptoms. I'll come back to other approaches that may work better for you, but to answer your question, that particular edit is simply telling you to remove a value from the registry. It's a kind of cookbook fix that doesn't require that you necessarily know anything about the fix--- or specifically "upperfilters" and such. They're telling you to use Regedit, to navigate to the specific Hkey, to look for the UpperFilters and LowerFilters entries, if they exist (they may not); and if they do exist, to clear (delete) the entries for those items. Lots more info: http://www.google.com/search?q=upperfilters+lowerfilters
Doug Knox also offers an excellent script to help correct
this problem, too: But in your case, Walt, it sounds like something else. I have a feeling the following *won't* solve the problem, but it's a quick and easy step to take with almost any hardware problems that sometimes does fix things: I suggest uninstalling the drive from Device Manager/Hardware Manager (you don't have to physically remove it), and then reboot; letting Windows rediscover the drive and set it up afresh. If the above doesn't work, I'd suspect the drive itself. Assuming it's out of warranty and ineligible for factory repair, there are several things you can do yourself: Perhaps the laser head is dirty: You can use a can of compressed air to blow out the dust bunnies that lurk within. (Real-life example of cleaning a laptop: http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=60300177 ) Sometimes you can remove the entire CD unit from a laptop by releasing a catch or removing a couple screws: That might be a good thing to do, too, as you could more thoroughly clean the unit, and also make sure it's re-seated properly. In the worst case, the unit may simply be dead or dying--- worn out, or subjected to enough cumulative shocks that it's just not working right anymore. Again if it's out of warranty and if buying a new replacement unit is prohibitive, you might try something like eBay or http://www.craigslist.com/ : Someone else may have a laptop that died for other reasons, but that has a perfectly-good CD/DVD burner. If you can strike a deal, you both end up better off then otherwise--- a classic win/win! If that doesn't work, you also could check with the vendor to see if you can buy a refurbished or used unit that they removed from a laptop that was returned for other reasons. This will usually cost more than a user-to-user sale on eBay or Craigslist, but may get you some limited warranty along with the purchase. Let's hope it's just dust! Click to email this item to a
friend 5) Curse Of The Recovery CDs
There *may* be something you can do, depending on what's on the hard drive of the sick unit. If there's setup/recovery info on the hard drive somewhere, these may help: Miss Your OS CDs? Me, Too!http://langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-01-15.htm#4
Creating a Windows CD from a Recovery Disk Wiping Out Special "Recovery" Partitions If there's no recovery info on the hard drive, then there's not much to work with. You can try uninstalling all nonessential apps and utilities from the hard drive, cleaning things up as best you can (eg http://langa.com/newsletters/2002/2002-04-04.htm#2 ), running a good Registry cleaner, and defragging the drive. With the garbage cleaned out, the system may behave more normally. If not, then as a last resort, you might try this: Use a tool like the free "Everest Home Edition" http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=everest+home+edition or free Belarc Advisor http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html and make note of the license number for the current XP install. Then, using a setup CD from another source, try a reinstall but use the original license numbers when the setup asks for them. That may or may not work, depending on the exact setup, but if it does work, it's completely legal and ethical. If that fails, then you're pretty much out of luck with that original copy of XP. As price is a major constraint for you, I'd suggest you look at a free Linux distribution running a free office suite (eg Open Office: http://www.openoffice.org/ ). It'll be close enough to what you're used to so that you'll probably be OK, with a bit of a learning curve--- but you can't beat the price. <g> Click to email this item to a
friend 6) It's A New Month......and right now your chances are the best they'll ever be! To have a
shot at winning one of three FREE ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTIONS to the LangaList
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friend 7) Drive Cable Problems
You don't say where you're from, Wayne, but I'm betting it's humid there: Your problem sounds like corrosion on the electrical contacts, to me: When you reseat or replace the cable, the mechanical movement scrapes through the corrosion and re-establishes a good electrical contact. Things work for a while, but new corrosion forms and eventually messes up the contacts. This kind of trouble used to be fairly common in old PCs, but is far less frequent now, except in locations with a humidity problem--- and especially in ocean-side locales, where the salt air can be brutal on metals. The best corrective action is to use a good "contact cleaner" to remove the corrosion ( http://www.google.com/search?q=electrical+contact+cleaner ); and perhaps to add a dab of long-lasting anti-corrosion substance (eg http://www.google.com/search?q=stabilant ) to the contacts before reassembly. If you do live near water, the larger local boat shops probably stock what you need, as marine electronics have to deal with exactly this kind of problem all the time. After that, it's prevention: If possible, keep the PC in a climate-conditioned space. And if that's not possible, simply plan to open the PC and clean the contacts from time to time, on whatever schedule works to remove the corrosion *before* you start seeing errors. Click to email this item to a
friend 8) Yet *Another* Code Load Success StoryAfter his site was listed in the "Load The Code" section, this reader wrote:
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
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site, please see http://langa.com/link.txt
) Manually Browse All Posted-to-Date Sites Starting At A Science News Blog I Love Homegrown The Taylor's Webpage PK's Bookmarks Crosshairs North Carolina Real Estate Blog Aglet Racing, Formula 500 Team Auslink Migration Services The Dutts Home Site Innovative Computer Solutions (AK) Click to email this item to a
friend --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList S.E. Free! ) --- "Dear Fred, Thank you so much for the wonderful Plus!
newsletter. I would --------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 9) Pesty PST Files
Hmmmm. Maybe a more-knowledgeable reader can help here, but I believe the Outlook pst files are supposed to default to: C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\ (the above line may wrap, but it's all one long path) But yes, when you copy pst file around, you can get weirdness. I have a system here where the pst file is in: C:\Documents and Settings\Fred\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Microsoft\Outlook\Microsoft\Outlook\ It still works, but jeez... I think the way around this sort of thing is to collect all the data into one new PST file by using Outlook's "export" mechanism: Open Outlook and Export *everything* to a single, new pst file in a known, otherwise pst-free location. As far as I know, you can collect *everything*--- contacts, calendar, the works--- into this single new file. When a new copy of Outlook is set up, you use the Import tool to read the data from this all-in-one PST file back into the new Outlook setup, which will create its own new PST in its default location. Anyone else know a better way? Click to email this item to a
friend 10, 11 ,12 ,13 ,14) Plus! Edition Only:Today's LangaList Plus! Edition contains about 40% more content including:
DID YOU KNOW--- that Plus! subscribers have access to additional special features, extra content and links on a private web site? All that, plus 40% more content in every issue, for only about $1 a month! Plus! Edition info: http://langa.com/plus.htm Click to email this item to a
friend --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList Free! ) --- --------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 15) Just For Grins
OK, Canada, top that! <g> Click to email this item to a
friend (Give a gift subscription to
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