SPAUG Newsletter November 2004
TABLE OF CONTENTS
November 2004 Notes from the Prez
by Jim Dinkey
For about a year now I have been operating a computer that has a RAID1 mirrored hard drive.
The one day I received a message upon boot that one of the hard drive had failed. All of the data was intact on the surviving drive. I didn't believe what I had been told, but the mirror was correct. Replacing the defective drive and recopying the date to the new drive solved the problem.
Since 95% of computer hardware failures concern the mechanical failure of the hard drive including moving the computer while the drive is running, the most important part to protect is the hard drive. Mirroring handles this problem quite well. Either using a motherboard with the feature built in or a separate plug-in card with the feature will accomplish the task.
The SPAUG CD is described in detail elsewhere. There is nothing that you couldn't get for yourself, if you knew where to look. The selections were made by experienced personnel who rejected programs that could not do the job properly. Thus you have embodied in the CD the cream of the applications.
How to tell if a computer is "sick"? You have to first figure out if the computer is "sick" from a hardware problem or a software problem.
95% of the problem is software; but you have to stay alert that the computer can trick you into spending a LOT of time to fix something that ain't broke.
We had a computer come into the Clinic that was, admittedly, a mess with lots of adware and lots of errors, etc. But the darn thing would not connect to the Internet, even with the replacement of the cables feeding it. Reloading the recovery CDs still did not fix the problem of connection. Running another operating system (Linux) wherein the installation gave a report of the progress of the boot showed a defective Network Interface Card and some additional problems.
Out of this comes the reality that quite often the individual user cannot debug this type of problem because he does not have replacement parts to try to see if the problem goes away when the part is substituted.
Having a bunch of diagnostics for both hardware and software is also highly useful, but not used enough by the average solo user. This type of software is useful only to those who are going to see problem computers on a continuing basis.
SP2 is now almost a dead issue in that most astute persons have switched over to SP2 even if it has meant the upgrading of a Windows 98 computer to XP - a very wise thing to do. Wit the severity of the gremlins and viruses extant on the Net, XP affords the only true refuge against most of the malware.
Even though you are all up to date, there are several errors in the Microsoft Internet Explorer that permits malware to got to your computer and the simplest way to cure this problem is to switch over to Mozilla Firefox. If you do, during the install, you are asked if you want to have your Firefox be almost like Internet Explorer (you do). Click on it and all of your importing is accomplished for you. It is that simple. The latest FireFox is on the SPAUG CD.
Whenever you finally upgrade to SP2, you should spend several hours in preparation. The procedure that I use is:
- Check that the file structure is OK.
- Check that the disk surface is OK.
- Run Adaware.
- Run Spybot.
- Run SystemWorks
- Run a full anti-virus scan.
- Run RegVac.
- Clear out TEMP files.
- Make a backup.
- Run SP2
This will stack in your favor the probability of complete success with your SP2 upgrade. Come to a Clinic if you don't feel comfortable with the above procedure.
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10 November 2004 General Meeting Notes
by Stan Hutchings
Administrivia
- If you haven't read Hank Skawanski's talk online or in the PrintScreen publication, do it. Then take the advice to heart and start protecting yourself from the malware, spybots, and other "bad guys" out there.
- Elections were held, the slate proposed by the Board of Directors was elected by acclamation
- The CD creation SIG will meet Monday night at Jim's
CrossTalk/Random Access
- A member is having trouble connecting to the Internet through his modem and router. Jim explained that (after making sure a firewall is operating), you first connect your computer straight to the modem, and log on to your ISP using the information the ISP gave you for username and password. If you cannot successfully connect, you need to contact your ISP's support phone. After successful connection, turn off your computer, add the router between the modem and the computer, and turn the computer back on. You should still get a connection. The router uses the connection information, which the computer would use to log on to your ISP if the router were not there.
- A member reports multiple attempts from the Internet to infect his computer with the Bagle virus. Fortunately, Norton has stopped all the attempts, but is there any way to avoid this?
Suggestion: if you don't have a firewall or router, install one (WinXP SP2 has a firewall turned on by default). A router with hardware firewall makes your computer invisible to the "bad guys" out there on the Internet. Also, be sure to update your antivirus application at least daily, and preferably just before you check your email.
- An attempt to copy a CD failed. Everything looked good, until the CD was played, when the computer reported "no CD". What could be the reason? Some part of the copy operation failed, either the creation of the index, or a glitch during burning. Be sure there are no other applications running, that your burner speed is the same or less than the CD rating, and if possible, turn on "buffer overun protection/prevention".
- A member suggested that it might be a good idea to disconnect from the Internet except when you are actually browsing or sending and receiving email. This is a good idea, especially if you don't have a router hardware firewall. You can unplug, or turn the modem off.
- What can you do to speed up a slow computer?
Suggestions: first, run Spybot S&D and AdAware, to make sure it isn't malware slowing you down (especially if it is a sudden slow down). Do a virus scan, after updating you virus DAT file. If that doesn't help, if you don't have at least 256 MB RAM, upgrade to at least that, and more if possible. If you have an old system with a slow CPU and I/O (less than 400 MHz), getting a new motherboard with lots of RAM will help. If your hard drive has less than 10% free space, your disk cache is inefficient; either clear out the old stuff, or get a larger hard drive. There are instructions online on how to install a new hard drive, and how to put the cache file on a separate hard drive. As a last resort, see Hank Skawinski or go to Microcenter and get a new computer.
- I just received a new laptop with XP Pro. Somehow I lost the My Computer icon. I did a search but did not find it. How do I get it back? I thought this was one of the icons that could not be deleted?
Here's how to get it (and some others) back in WinXP:
1. Right-click the desktop and choose Properties.
2. Click the Desktop tab.
3. Click Customize Desktop.
4. On the General tab, under Desktop Icons, select My Computer.
5. Click OK in each dialog box.
Presentation
Aaron Coldiron from Microsoft gave a presentation focused on WinXP SP2 and the Media Center 2005 version of WinXP. Microsoft is trying to give people what they want to do what they want, where and how they want.
Service Pack 2 (SP2) focuses on email and browsing. Outlook Express has been improved to help avoid virus attacks via attachments. It prevents accidental opening of infected attachments. Certain file types are completely blocked. Images are blocked unless from a known correspondent. Links to the Internet are evaluated and presented so you can be sure you're going where the link says, and not to some unsafe site. Internet Explorer has added a popup blocker, with three levels of action. ActiveX is blocked with three options (always, ask, and never). The security center has been simplified and expanded to allow easy checking and setting of security levels. The Microsoft firewall is said to co-exist with the ZoneAlarm firewall. The new security system requires the third-party virus checkers (Symantec, McAfee, etc.) to be updated to their most recent release, otherwise there are issues. SP2 will be automatically downloaded and installed if you turn on automatic updates, or a CD is available from microsoft.com.
Media Center 2005 (MC) has many expanded capabilities for handling video, sound, images, TV, cameras, and other multimedia functions. The OS is usually installed on platforms specifically designed to optimally use the capabilities of MC. The platforms are characterized by fast CPUs, large capacity hard drives, rewritable CD and DVD, advanced sound and graphics capabilities. Many auxiliary devices, such as speakers, remote control, remote viewer, TV tuner, etc. are available for various application. MC allows integration of many diverse multimedia functions. Some models emulate the TiVo functions. Some models are designed to record, store and play music. Some are designed for image or video editing and recording.
N.B.—If you're interested in getting a new computer that is specialized in one of the MC 2005 capabilities, see online reviews at Microsoft.com and try the online demo, or Google "Media Center 2005" review (try CNet, Paul Thurrott's review, and his in-depth evaluation). Also, from now through early January 2005, see how Intel and Microsoft® are teaming up to show you new ways to enjoy digital entertainment in the home. Featuring the latest technologies for the digital home, including the Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 Processor with HT Technology™ and Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005®. You can learn more at the Intel-Microsoft joint website, digitaljoy.com. Even better, for hands-on demos visit one of 38 Digital Home "experience zones" at select mall locations across the U.S (including Stonestown Galleria, 19th Ave. & Winston Drive, San Francisco, CA 94132 and two other Bay Area locations in Pleasanton and Concord. Learn More
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Planning Meeting Notes
by Stan Hutchings
- The meeting was held at Bev Altman's house; attendees: Jim Dinkey, Dick Sweet, John Sleeman, Bev Altman, Ralph Otte, John Buck, Stan Hutchings, Nat Landes, Arlan Kertz. The attendees enjoyed the refreshments served.
- The club will donate $1000 to a worthy cause sponsored by the Elks Lodge, in appreciation for the use of the Lodge for our meetings.
- The new Late 2004 Club CD will be available at the General Meetings and at the Saturday morning Clinic at Jim Dinkey's house.
- Future joint meetings with SVCS will be considered, especially for presentations of significant general interest.
- The club purchased 10 copies of Acronis backup for $345 for door prizes. We'll give away one or two per month. We also received two free subscriptions to Smart Computing Magazine, which will be door prizes in upcoming months.
- The new CD should be demonstrated at the meetings, especially the programs with visual impact or widespread interest. Suggestions were Dogwaffle, Workout, Cat walking around, Celestia.
- Publicity - Dick Sweet is getting organized and familiar with the duties and contacts for publicity.
- The WebSIG meets next Tuesday at 7:30 at Stan Hutchings' house. We'll discuss Firefox, hit counter, edit the favicon, and whatever else strikes our fancy.
- Bev reported we got four new members at the November meeting. She won't be at the December General Meeting or Planning Meeting, so an alternate sign-in person is needed. John Sleeman, the usual alternate, may not be available, either. Bev and John will contact Robert Page as secondary alternate if necessary.
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Speed Loading of PDF Files
by Neil J. Rubenking
Our readers frequently ask why Adobe Reader 6 is so slow to load when they open a PDF file. The main reason is that the Reader doesn't load alone-it comes with a crowd of plug-ins. If you watch the splash screen carefully you can see their names flip past. Most people need only a handful of these plug-ins. If you'd like to load PDF files faster, follow these simple instructions:
- Launch Windows Explorer
- Navigate to the Program Files folder, usually C:\Program Files
- Below this, navigate to Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader
- In the right-hand pane, find the folder named plug_ins
- Right-click it and choose Rename, changing it to plug_ins_NOT
- Create a new folder named plug_ins
- From the plug_ins_NOT folder, copy just three files to the new plug_ins folder: EWH32.api, printme.api, and search.api
That's all you need do. The next time you load a PDF file, only those three plug-ins will come along, and you should notice a significant speed improvement. If you need to read encrypted PDFs or if for any other reason you want to undo this change, simply close Adobe Reader, delete the plug_ins folder and rename plug_ins_NOT back to plug_ins.
You can speed up the launch of the Acrobat Reader 7 and reduce its memory requirements by disabling the DLL files that you don't need. There's a free utility, ADOBE READER SPEED-UP, which facilitates this. The site also has a discussion forum on this program.
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Default Registry Values
by Stan Hutchings, from an article in TechRepublic
You can find the default values for most of the registry settings in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER branch in the HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT branch of the registry. This is the part of the registry that Windows uses as a template when creating new user accounts.
For example, suppose you've customized Windows Explorer's Hot Tracking Color by altering the RGB value stored in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Colors\HotTrackingColor subkey. But now you want to revert back to the default color.
You can track down the RGB values for the default color by navigating to the HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors\HotTrackingColor value. You can then (after confirming you have a fresh copy of the registry!) copy the default value from this subkey and paste it into the key that you've altered. Doing this will return the settings to their original configuration.
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MCE 2005 Background Information and History
by Fred Townsend
MCE 2005 is not a new product! Rather it is a hybrid of Windows XP and Ultimate firmware. User group members can not buy this product because the firmware part is hardware specific. The OS part, known as Media Center, was first shown by Bill at Comdex 2002 and is actually a subset of the Windows XP OS.
Ultimate was a satellite hardware platform that was marketed by Sony and RCA. Microsoft stopped development on this platform at their Mountain View facility in 2002. While the Ultimate name is dead within Microsoft, I attended a Microsoft presentation for channel resellers last month where MCE 2005 was shown. The 'new' product features are identical to those I already enjoy with my own Ultimate and networked Windows XP system. The difference is MCE 2005 is designed for off-air or cable reception. Mine is Direct TV. The XP portion of both systems requires either a cable or DSL broad band connection.
SVCS will probably do a follow-up on this event where the members are shown how they can do their own Media center. Would you like to share that meeting too?
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Those little red xs in Outlook Express, and what to do about them
Question:
I use Outlook Express for e-mail. When I forward an e-mail message with pictures in it, the recipients see only boxes with red xs in them, not pictures. What causes this, and are there any settings I can change that will allow the pictures to show up?
Answer:
There are a number of possible explanations for little red xs in Outlook Express. In fact, they are so numerous, I've written software that reads the Outlook Express databases and extracts the images. (Free at the moment at www.3bears.biz.)
First, let me give your seemingly simple second question, how to prevent them, a straightforward answer. Use the "Message/forward as attachment" command rather than the "Message/forward" command. Sending it as an attachment sends the entire message intact. Your recipients can then open the attachment and view the pictures—maybe!
Second, let me explain why this is such an issue. Finally, I'll suggest some diagnostic techniques that you can use to determine exactly what is happening.
To start, Outlook Express is not particularly friendly about the names of images. If you send a poorly named image, your recipient may see the little red x or nothing at all. (Filenames should contain only letters and numbers, a period, and if you must have them, underscores. Anything else, such as spaces and percent symbols, may cause grief. Also the extension must be recognized by Outlook Express as an image. This is under control of the recipient. BMP and JPG are usually safe. JPEG and GIF may work. Anything else is problematic, especially ART. (There is a small possibility that your PC is set up correctly in this regard and that your recipient's PC's are not.) Other e-mail programs are not as particular. However, since you are forwarding the message, this is not under your control.
Now let's look at why things can go wrong in addition to file names. There are two formats that can be used to send email and at least four ways to put pictures into email. Not all combinations work and not all combinations are available in Outlook Express. Because you are forwarding, you have no control over the email program used by the original author, so you have no control over the format of the forwarded message. But at least it will get through if you attach it. If you are using in-line forwarding, i.e. the Forward command, then your Outlook Express settings are also involved. You should make sure that you are composing with Format | Rich Text turned on. (See warning below.)
Similarly, you have no control over the email program used to receive the messages from you. In particular, if the recipient is using Outlook Express under XP SP2, a privacy/security feature results in some images showing the little red X. This is quickly resolved by clicking on the info bar at the top of the message. You might read up on this SP2 feature and educate your correspondents about it. There is a long-standing option in Outlook Express that displays the received message in Plain Text. This may also be the cause, though usually this results in the images showing up listed in the attachments, rather than a red x. Again, you may have to educate your recipients, and again see warning below. There are other settings on the recipient end that may also interfere. Also, all bets are off if your recipients are using something other than Outlook Express (especially AOL) to read their mail.
Now for some diagonostic ideas. First, if you have not done so, check the Send Option that saves every message to the Sent Folder. Also when you forward a message as an attachment, use CC or BCC to send a copy to yourself. These steps will allow you to see the message at each stage of the process.
When you get back your copy of the email, clear your Internet Explorer cache before opening it. (Control Panel | Intenet Options | Delete Files.) Outlook Express and Internet Explorer interact in several ways, and this is one of them. Emptying the cache will make sure that Outlook Express has to deal with the images. Now open the message and click on the attachment to open it. If the pictures are there, you are home free. If your intended recipients do not see the images, the problem is at their end. If you don't see the images, continue your diagnosis. However, be warned that this involves slogging through the raw message source, not something for the faint hearted.
Before doing that, there is something else that you can do. Check the message size in Outlook Express. If the messages are under 10 KB, odds are the pictures were NOT part of the original message, but rather links to them. These links often are highly volatile. They may work when you opened the email, but by the time your recipient receives it they may not work any more. (Outlook allows you to send images this way. Outlook Express does not except as your forward the message.)
Finally, if all else fails you will have to study the source for the messages. Select the message in Outlook Express. Select File | Properties | Details | Message Source. You can then copy and paste the source into notepad to save it for study. Alternatively, drag the message to the desk top, right click, select Open with | Choose program ... and select Notepad. Check Always use the selected program to open this kind of file. You can then open the message at the three different stages and try to determine where the pictures went. Doing this is not trivial, and I can't hope to cover the bases here. But intelligent study of the messages side by side may suggest what is going on.
Warning: I have a correspondent that likes to say "Friends don't send friends HTML formatted email." The reason is that HTML can invoke all sorts of active content that can cause havoc to your computer if your security settings are not correct and/or your version of Outlook Express is not up to date. When you use Format | Rich Text (HTML) to send email, then the message is sent as HTML. When you leave the Read all messages in plain text option unchecked, then you allow Outlook Express to interpret the HTML. I've never run into problems with this, but Microsoft was sufficiently concerned about Privacy/Security that they disable one feature of HTML by default in Outlook Express under XP SP2. This results in the need to check the info bar as mentioned above.
The Forward as Attachment method should solve your problem. As you can see, why it happens is not easy.
If you're on the receiving end and you've upgraded to WinXP SP2, and you want to be able to see the images, you'll need to Open Outlook Express and go to Tools–Options then click on the Security Tab. The first heading you'll see if you have SP2 installed is Virus Protection. The Second heading is titled Download Images. This is what you're after – if there is a check in the box, uncheck it. Otherwise you'll end up with red X's or image place holders on your page.
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The Home Computer of 2004, as envisioned in 1954
by Stan Hutchings
From a 1954 Popular Mechanics Magazine.
Caption reads: "Scientists from the RAND Corporation have created this model to illustrate how a "home computer" could look like in the year 2004. However the needed technology will not be economically feasible for the average home. Also the scientists readily admit that the computer will require not yet invented technology to actually work, but 50 years from now scientific progress is expected to solve these problems. With teletype interface and the Fortran language, the computer will be easy to use."
Teletype? Fortran? Steering Wheel??! Wow.
(You may have guessed that in fact, the whole thing is a hoax. You can see the amusing photo and the very informative explanation at the Snopes site.). The "huge bank of switches and levers and a large-diameter metal steering wheel of some kind" is actually the set of control panels from the maneuvering room of a nuclear submarine that was built in the 1960's. There is utterly nothing digital about them - everything was 100% analog. The specific panel in the photo is from USS James K Polk, SSBN 645, and is on display in the Smithsonian Institute Museum in Washington, DC.
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