PCWize Vol 4, Issue 23 - Can a PC mouse swim? June 4, 2000 ______________________________________________________________________ You could win $10,000 and a Sony DVD player just by recommending PCWize to a friend! ------ Thanks to everyone who sent in their mouse suggestion. It seemed that everyone had a favorite, but many recommended Logitech as their mouse maker of choice. A special thanks goes out to Matt Pollicove who performed innumerable tests with his Microsoft Intellieye (the one without a ball, but rather a sensor) on multiple surfaces such as pillows, pants legs, and a knitted afghan to prove that it works very well on all sorts of surfaces. He didn't even balk at my request to test it on the bathtub basin filled with 25 gallons of 40 degrees C water and about two teaspoons of bubblebath. His test results response? "blub! blubb blubbb! was all I got." Thanks Matt! For your troubles, you've won yourself a free copy of Ulead's Cool3D! ------ There are 170 AOL subscribers who aren't getting PCWize anymore. I sent an e-mail to AOL tech support detailing what the situation was. Their response: A canned message explaining that AOL users should check to make sure that they didn't inadvertently set up a filter. Oh yeah, all 170 of them made the same exact mistake. I expect this to be a long drawn out battle to get AOL to recognize the little guys like me who don't have the funds to pay for professional list hosting services like MajorDomo and Lyris. I've contacted almost every AOL subscriber to PCWize concerning the issue and hopefully we can get this worked out. It's just so irritating to have an organization as large as AOL take such a cavalier attitude toward SPAM. Granted, it's the spammers fault this sort of situation has developed, but AOL could take a little time to define some truly good anti-spam systems instead of just blocking all mail that isn't specifically addressed to the AOL member. I'll keep you posted. It may not affect you directly now, but if more Internet access services begin to follow AOL's lead, then you might end up unwillingly joining the ranks of the PCWizeless. ______________________________________________________________________ Table Of Contents - HackTech by The NMI - Voting Booth and Other PCWize Stuff - Software Review - Cool Sites - Tips, Tricks, Do's and Don't Do's - That's the news! - Security Issues, Hoaxes, Viruses and Other Urban Legends - PCWize Contests and winner announcement If the columns in the below articles appear misaligned, it's because you are using a non-fixed width font. If you would like to see them as written, please change your e-mail font to Courier New. ______________________________________________________________________ ** A word from our sponsors ** ------ Ulead Systems is where you can find and download cutting-edge photo editing, video and Internet software. Ulead is the developer of award-winning software like Ulead PhotoImpact, Ulead MediaStudio, Ulead Photo Express, Ulead WebRazor, Ulead COOL 3D, Ulead GIF Animator, Ulead SmartSaver and more. You'll most likely have to cut and paste everything between the <> into your browser. ------ http://www.creditcardanalyzer.com - find out how much your credit cards are costing you and see how much money you could save by transferring the balance to a lower interest card ------ Want to see your advertisement here? For more information, go here: ______________________________________________________________________ HackTech by The NMI And the Supergeek award goes to... Recently I was at a local commercial installation, which I had noticed was installing fiber optic cable to upgrade their 100baseTX LAN - This was, for me, an opportunity to scrounge... I like to experiment with all kinds of things, being the techno junkie that I am, and this fiber was perfect. I waltz in and BS with the guys doing the install, and manage to get some scraps of cable of sufficient lengths to wire most of my HOUSE :) I'm not going to use normal connectors or anything like that - I've got some old cd-rom drives which I'm removing the laser modules out of. As some of you might know, a laser module in a CD drive can both create the laser, and sense it. However, the beam that it senses doesn't have to be the original one. With an emitter on either side of a strand of cable, I can send signals with a few extra components... OK, so some of you are probably shaking your heads and saying that it will never work (in addition to those of you saying I need a different hobby) but honestly, I get that alot - I'm used to it. Take for instance the infrared camera I worked up for my car: I'm not going to say I was the first one to think of it, but I came up with the idea on my own, as far as I know. I scavenged the camera out of a Tyco kid cam I bought for a steal, connected via a long wire to a video modulator from an old video game console, then to an old 6" portable screen. The camera, with a deep red filter, was installed in a hole in the front of my hood, with the wire leading inside to a place in the center console that just fit the TV. The camera, which, being a modern CCD camera, was sensitive not only to normal light, but also to Infrared, and Ultraviolet to some extent. My only problem was a light source that I could use besides my headlights. This camera of mine was not meant to sense heat, so if you're thinking of a sci-fi movie body-heat seeing kinda camera, you've got the wrong idea - this is just a camera able to see in the dark, with no visible indication (to the naked eye). Now Most IR lamps that you can buy in a store are primarily Far-IR, which is basically heat. Heat lamps from some manufacturers put out a fair amount of Near-IR also, which is what I needed (the same kind of light your remote controls put out). The only problem is that those lamps were never meant to be subjected to the kind of vibrations your car headlights deal with on an every day basis. I finally settled on using IR-laser modules, which, though not cheap, can take a high degree of vibration. Instead of using the laser as a tight beam, however, I elected to de-comlimnate the beam, to turn it into a kind of high-power IR-flashlight by attaching a lens to the front of the module, all in all a pretty neat fix. This will work for a portable camera as well... Now this is only ONE of the kooky projects I deal with on an every-day basis. If anyone would care to hear more details of the car set-up, or infra-red cameras in general, let me know - When I get some spare time, I'm planning on putting out that article on how to make your own infra-red flashlight. That is, unless I get tangled up with all this fiber I've got strung out all over the place - I'll let you all know how it goes... Send your "what the heck was he talking about" comments to: TheNMI@PCWize.com ______________________________________________________________________ Voting Booth and Other PCWize Stuff ------ Click here to vote for PCWize as one of the best newsletters in the "E-zines Top Ten Poll"! It's just a click, no need to fill anything out. ------ Come visit the PCWize forum and live chat. You can discuss anything computer related and it's a good place to get help with any computer questions you may have. ______________________________________________________________________ Software Review ------ Name: NeoPlanet v5.1 by NeoPlanet Inc. Genre: Web Browser Add-on Platform: PC Win9x/NT/00 Type/Cost: Freeware Size: 2.08MB Homepage: Download: Three words... I LIKE IT! I really think you will too. What NeoPlanet is, isn't so much a new browser, as it is a whole new interface to Internet Explorer. That's right. You have to have IE installed to use NeoPlanet. Lately there has been a lot of hype over "skinning" the IE browser. Forget that! If you want a truly eyeball blazing skinnable browsing experience, then NeoPlanet is right up your alley. Installing skins is child's play-- no, baby's play! You go check the Skins archive, find one you like, click the install skin button, and it'll download it for you, uncompress it into the correct directory, and then ask if you want to use it right now. That it. Just two clicks and you've re-skinned your browser, and you don't even have to exit NeoPlanet to do it. There are currently 599 skins in the archive with new ones coming in every day. ______________________________________________________________________ Cool Sites ------ ThinkGeek Do you know a geek? I'm sure you do, we're everywhere. Not sure what to get them on that special occasion? Try Think Geek. They've got gadgets, gizmos, whirlies, and whatnots that are sure to please! You'll find lots of Linux geek stuff, 'cause they're usually a bit more geeky than us Windows geeks. ------ Physics 2000 Did you sleep through high school physics class? Your college one? Are you sleeping now? Well.... WAKE UP!!! Here's your chance to catch up on the coolness of physics with cartoony dudes and dudettes to explain some mondo cool physics things. You remember... Those atomic thingys with bugs flying around some buglight. :-) Pay attention to the cartoons, and you might even learn yourself some quantum physics. ______________________________________________________________________ Tips, Tricks, Do's and Don't Do's ------ I don't have an unlimited use ISP account-- getting only 90 hours per month, and I have a habit of leaving web pages open in my browser after I disconnect so I can read them at my leisure off-line. One of the bad things about this is that some web pages have timed advertisements so the page reloads every some odd number of seconds. This is bad for me and others who also don't have unlimited ISP accounts, because the Dial-Up Networking (DUN) will redial the ISP in order for the page to reload. My quick fix for this is when your DUN window displays while dialing, uncheck the "Connect Automatically" option. The other bennie to this is if you are infected with a dial home trojan of some sort, it won't connect to your ISP to do its nasty business without your approval. This includes many "adware" programs-- especially if you have one that starts up when Windows is started. Yes, it's an extra step to connect to the Internet, but my having to click the "Connect" button gives me the peace of mind that no funny business will happen while I'm in bed sleeping. ______________________________________________________________________ That's the news! ------ Intel is shining like a beacon for once by admitting *early* that there is a problem with the Memory Translator Hub (MTH) that is used in some motherboards employing the 820 chipset. The MTH enables SDRAM, and is susceptible to noise which could cause spontaneous reboots and/or corrupt data. It does not affect systems of the following: - Those using RDRAM - Those built before November 1999 - Mobile systems (notebooks, laptops etc.) To find out more information, and to download the software utility to determine if you have a bad MTH, go here: Now here's some cool news! If you are the now *not* so proud owner of a Intel Desktop Board CC820, bring that head back up and get ready to get happy. Intel has said: If you or your customers are using a system with a CC820 board installed and would like a refund or replacement for the CC820 board, please contact your place of purchase for information. The refund is the most expedient option. Intel's replacement option is an Intel® Desktop Board VC820 and 128MB of PC700 or PC800 RDRAM based on availability. Initial quantities of Intel Desktop Board VC820 plus RDRAM replacement product are expected to be available starting the week of June 19, 2000. Hmmm, a new board and an upgrade from SDRAM to RDRAM. Gotta love that! See here for more details: ------ Are you a math geek, or maybe one but don't know it yet. Try your luck at solving any one of seven math problems that have stumped the best mathematicians around the world. Why? Well, if you solve even one, you could win one million dollars. ______________________________________________________________________ Security Issues, Hoaxes, Viruses and Other Urban Legends ------ Please visit http://www.pcwize.com/tech/computer/secdef.shtml if you would like to know the definitions for hoaxes, viruses, worms and urban legends. Geez Louise! There is just so much stuff happening on the news front and on the security front, it's hard to decide what to tell you all about and not. ------ Now this is really funny. You long-timers have often seen me refer to the per minute charges the FCC was planning to impose as an example of an urban legend that's been around for ages. Shoot, I even have it listed as the example in the above URL to the definitions for this section. Well, guess what?!?!? It's still a hoax, but Congressional members were so darn tired of hearing complaints about it from people who thought it was for real, that they actually passed a bill to prevent the FCC from imposing the per minute charges. WOW!!! From fantasy to reality!! I say we start a hoax about taxes being raised (would that really be a hoax though?!? ), and spread it around forever and ever, and then maybe they'll pass a bill to prevent raises in taxes! Hmmm, I think I just went from reality to fantasy... :-( One interesting note however, is that BellSouth snuck in an exception concerning telephony. This has some telecom people outraged! See here for more info: ------ First, Outlook will be getting a major security overhaul. Actually, an overhaul might not be the right word. How about a lockdown! Microsoft's new patch is a heavy-handed smack-down on Outlook's e-mail capabilities. It isn't available yet, but let's look at the pros and cons: 1. It will automatically remove attachments of the following types: .EXE, .COM, .BAS, .VBS, .JS, .URL, .LNK, .PIF and .ISN. These are considered Level 1 attachments, and Outlook will tell you they've been removed. Where these "removed" attachments go, and whether you can circumvent this remains to be seen. - Pros: On the whole, it's probably a good idea for non-computer savvy people. - Cons: When I was managing the NT machines in our shop, I enjoyed the flexibility and ease of sending scripts, .PIFs and .LNK files via e-mail for users to run. It saved me the trouble of having to do it myself. On the personal front, if my e-mail program "automatically removed" something from my e-mail messages, it's going to get MANUALLY removed by me! 2. It will pop up a warning dialog box for attachments in the Level 2 category, and allow you to save them to disk. You will not be able to run them from within Outlook. By default, there won't be any Level 2 files in the list, so it's up to administrators to put them in there. - Pros: I can't really think of any? - Cons: Think about it... If someone wants to run the program, is it really going to make a difference whether it's launched from within Outlook or by double-clicking it from the hard drive. The file associations are the same, if it's a bad program, it's going to do the same thing as if you launched it from within Outlook. I think maybe Microsoft is trying to separate any blame from Outlook, such as "Well, you ran it from your hard drive, not from Outlook, therefore it isn't Outlook's problem." Get real! 3. A warning will pop up when a user tries to send an attachment that is Level 1 or Level 2 restricted. It basically says that the recipient may not be able to view the attachment, but you can still send it. - Pros: Well, if something sneaky tries to attach itself to your message before you actually send it, then this is a bonus. - Cons: It'll get mighty annoying if you like to send lots of attachments. 4. Code can not access your Outlook address book without your permission, which you can set for timed intervals. - Pros: Oh Yeah! Now this is something that should have been implemented long ago. - Cons: Some innocent code might get stomped on inadvertently, but that's the price we pay for security. I don't really get the timed intervals though. Chances are that if something is innocent, and you want to run it, it'll be a single instance thing. Not something that will be playing with your addressbook for an hour or so. I think a better option would have been "Run it this time", and "Don't run it this time". 5. The Security Zones are set for restricted sites, and scripting in restricted sites is disabled by default. - Pros: Makes good sense. - Cons: If you check out new sites constantly, then this will get to be a pain in the rear when the site doesn't display properly. The patch isn't yet available, but keep checking the below link to pick it up. My view on the whole thing is that you can forego this patch as long as you exercise common sense. Apparently there isn't a lot of this running around, or these types of virus/worms wouldn't spread so far. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, and again, and again... Don't open attachments unless you know what it is and are expecting it. If you weren't expecting it, ask the person who sent it to you to see if they really did mean to send it. Even if you were expecting it, don't assume they have the latest virus scanner updates. Take responsibility for your own data. You ultimately control what happens to it through your own actions. Go here for more info on how this patch will affect you: ------ Some new subscribers have asked to see my "7 Steps to Recognizing a Hoax". I'll post it here again, and then it'll be up on the PCWize site for all time. 1. Does it say "Forward to everyone you know!!", or "Send this to as many people as possible!" 2. Does it say "If you open this e-mail, it will erase your hard drive"? So far there are NO viruses of this type. There is really only one way for you to get a virus from e-mail, and that is if you OPEN/RUN an attachment to the e-mail message (this includes Word document macro virus). You will *not* get a virus just from opening the e-mail (Unless you have some oddball e-mail program that automatically runs any attachments when you open a message). A slight amendment to rule #2. There are now some Java based viruses/worms that can be run automatically by Outlook Express just by selecting the message and having the preview pane enabled. This is due to the Outlook Express Active Scripting. However, this can be disabled under the Outlook Express security settings. 3. Does it say "I've fully checked this out, and this is for real!!", or something similar to it. Unless, of course, you get a message from me saying that I've checked it out, because I really will have! 4. Does it look like it was written by a ten year old? I'm not saying that a ten year old will never have anything important to say, but most people who write these types of messages couldn't spell their way out of a wet paper bag (However you do that! :^) Their are some thow that can spel really good, and are evun artikulate (grin), so their message sounds very real. This is called "Baffling with BS". 5. Does it sound incredulous??? I mean, a personal letter from Bill Gates!?! Wow, you must be really special! He's a pretty busy guy, but he took time out to write you. I'm impressed. NOT! 6. Does it say "Don't accept any messages from so-an-so, he's been sending out viruses!" This is mainly an ICQ thing, which seems to be the most popular hoax on there. What can you expect, they are a relatively new service with almost 61 MILLION users. 7. Use common sense. If it looks buffaloneous, don't forward it. I can almost guarantee that if the world does crumble because of this new virus or chain-letter, they wont find out that you were the weak link which caused the whole world notification plan to fail. ;-) If you get something that you just aren't sure about, send it my way with at least two paragraphs telling me how great I am, and I'll sleuth out the truth for you. ______________________________________________________________________ PCWize Contests and Winner Announcement ------ Each week PCWize holds a random drawing contest and gives away free stuff (usually software) to its subscribers. We will continue to do this as long as there are advertisers who are willing to provide the prizes. If you are such an individual/company, then please contact me at editor@pcwize.com so that we can work a deal. ------ This week's sponsor is Ulead Systems, where you can find and download cutting-edge photo editing, video and Internet software. Ulead is the developer of award-winning software like Ulead PhotoImpact, Ulead MediaStudio, Ulead Photo Express, Ulead WebRazor, Ulead COOL 3D, Ulead GIF Animator, Ulead SmartSaver and more. Please visit their web site to get the lowdown on all the great products they have, and to help keep the PCWize newsletter FREE! You'll most likely have to cut and paste everything between the <> into your browser. ------ The winner of this week's software giveaway is: Matt Pollicove ______________________________________________________________________ Well, that's it for this issue! Have a good week and I'll see you in seven days. Leif Gregory Copyright © 1997-00 by Leif Gregory. All rights reserved. You may share this copy of the PCWize newsletter with others as long as it is reprinted in it's entirety to include the copyright notice and subscription directions. If you've received this edition of the PCWize newsletter from a friend or colleague and wish to start receiving your own copy, then click the below link and send the generated e-mail message. I have made every attempt to ensure that all information contained in this newsletter is accurate to the best of my ability. Due to the myriad of possible configurations in the PC platform, information and software discussed here may not always work with your particular configuration. That being said, Leif Gregory and the PCWize newsletter can not be held liable for any damages you may incur either directly or indirectly from the use of anything contained in this newsletter. PCWize does not endorse any of the products or services provided by advertisers in this newsletter. As with anything in life, please check the credibility of the advertiser as well as to use common sense. If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. PCWize Editor PCWize Homepage Unsubscribe