Worldnet Ending -- Moving to G-Mail

Well, I finally did it -- I got a g-mail account. This was forced by the impending demise of AT&T 's Worldnet dialup Internet Service. It's hard to believe that when I first started with e-mail, dialup was all anybody had. This was back in the days of Windows 98 SE, and I was still doing my finances with DOS 6 programs (VP Planner). My printer back then was a dot-matrix Epson FX-85. And I got through the accounting in about one-third of the time it now takes to update things in OpenOffice.org Calc. Excel was also faster to use. (This was in MS Office 95.) I still have files which are linked to MS Access for Office 95. And OpenOffice.org can still open, read, and modify them. No floppies though -- Flash Drives and my two Western Digital external USB-2 hard drives have taken the fun out of floppy disks. And there are also CDs and DVDs, which I only use to burn Rescue and Linux OS disks anymore. We are living in an increasingly virtualized world, and The Cloud may soon be the only place I store my archives. Except for System Backups -- those are usually needed the most when I would not be able to access the Internet.

New Windows XP Security Updates

I have been trying Sophos Anti-Rootkit. This scanner is similar to F-Secure Rootkit Eliminator, except that it finds more hidden files and advises whether what it finds is malicious. Still not an installed program, and a very spartan interface. But both get the job done, although in my case, there's no job to do. Threatfire, Avast and Comodo with Defense+, plus using Firefox with its NoScript add-on, all seem to do the job of blocking rootkits (and nearly everything else) before they ever get to my hard drive. That is much preferable to removing the nasty things after they set up housekeeping in Windows XP.

Malwarebytes (free version) is now my second-opinion scanner. Super Antispyware's updater started failing with the MS09-035 ATL Patch, and so far, the SAS software engineers are just sitting there scratching their ***(heads)**. (Fill in your own substitute word.) The good news is that Windows Vista and Windows 7 are not affected by the SAS Updater bug. I still like SAS Free as a second-line scanner, but it no longer works on my Windows XP Pro laptop. Malwarebytes Free does work on my computer, so that's what I am using, for the time being. Just about everybody has reviewed MBAM, so it has passed the sniff test in terms of effectiveness.

Also note: Windows 64-bit versions and all versions of Windows 7 do not have any known in the wild rootkit attacks. So if you have one of those versions, all this rootkit stuff need not concern you. Still, what harm can it do to run Sophos AR once in awhile. After all, it is not an active program.

As always, I am solely responsible for the content of this blog. Facts as represented here about products and services are my own observations, based on my experience on my laptop. Your mileage can vary. I have no financial interest in any of the statements made here. When in doubt, do your own research, as I often provide links to reliable resources. I am not compensated, financially nor in any other way, for posting items in this blog.

-- LittleWolf -- Wed., Aug. 12, 2009 -- 12:00 Noon, CDT (USA) --

Edited Sun., Dec. 6, 2009, 2:48 PM CST (USA) by LittleWolf .

MS Active X and ATL Security Flaws

What's going on here is that Microsoft messed up very badly. But it was a small typo which did the dirty deed. As related in several stories at http://www.infoworld.com/news (Infoworld News) there is a problem with a stray "&" in the code inside of the MS Visual Studio Active Template Library (ATL) which is at the heart of many MS Active X controls. This flaw does not only affect Internet Explorer. It affects a wide variety of Microsoft products and services, as well as many third-party applications and services which use Active X. Active X is used not only on Web pages, but also on the Windows Desktop of the local computer in some applications. In short, nearly all Windows users, except those who are running the RTM Windows 7 (NOT the Beta or pre-release versions -- these versions ARE vulnerable) are vulnerable to this security hole.


The solution is listed in recent postings at http://www.windowssecrets.com/ (Windows Secrets Newsletter, special edition, July 30, 2009, by Susan Bradley) and http://www.askwoody.com/ (Woody Leonhard's Windows Patch Watch web site). They both strongly urge all Windows users to patch everything which MS Updates is currently offering. No exceptions this time. Some third-party applications will break, and I will post if I notice anything really bad in my own Windows XP SP3 configuration. (I use a lot of freeware and free security programs.) But the problem with this security flaw is so severe that it is worth having to find new applications, rather than put up with the risks of not patching. So say the real gurus, and who am I to disagree?

As always, I am solely responsible for the content of this blog. Interested readers should go directly to the sources I have referenced, using either my links or Google results for the sites to which I link in my blog entries. Woody Leonhard's MS-Defcon system is used without permission, and should not be copied by other bloggers.





-- LittleWolf -- Thursday, July 30, 2009 -- 5:15 PM CDT (USA) --

Edited Sun., Dec. 6, 2009, 2:50 PM CST by LittleWolf .

Microsoft Patch Updates

Unlike Woody Leonhard, most of the staff at Windows Secrets Newsletter (http://www.windowssecrets.com) recommend anyone who has not yet installed Windows XP SP3 (if you still use Windows XP) should do so now. I have had no problems with this Service Pack, and I usually know pretty fast if something from Microsoft is going to break anything else.

Internet Explorer 8 is ready for prime time now, so download it and update it. Then use Firefox 3.5 and watch for the upcoming stability patch. Both browsers are on my laptop, and I am very conservative about updating browsers. Again, if any major problems were occurring, I would probably know about at least most of them.

And as always, disable Windows Automatic Updates Service through the Administrator Control Panel when not going to MS Updates manually. Also make BITS Service Manual, but do not disable it completely, as some Third-Party programs use this Service. And use Secunia PSI to keep up to date with your plug-ins.

As always, I am solely responsible for any content which appears in this blog. I recommend that anyone reading my summaries should also go to the original posts at the web sites cited.

-- Tues., July 14, 2009, 1:00 AM CDT (USA) -- LittleWolf --

Edited Sun., Dec. 6, 2009, 2:54 PM CST, by LittleWolf .

Beware The Microsoft Dot-Net Mess!

Lesson of the Day: Not all updates are ready for public release, even those marked "critical".

I can personally attest to to the dangers of downloading a patch just because it is rated "critical" by Microsoft. I accidentally got then .NET Framework 3.5 Update, even though I did not need it nor wanted it, because it was lumped in with the "critical" security patches a couple of months ago.

Windows Secrets Newsletter (http://www.windowssecrets.com/) in their June 4, 2009 edition, has an article by Brian Livingston which discusses the Firefox add-ons for .NET Assistant and the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) plug-in. Once added by the .NET Framework patch, the plug-in is not removable. And to remove the Extension component is a living Hell, consisting of three "prerequisite" patches, followed by a which only allows the Extension to be removed, leaving the WPF plug-in stubbornly staring at you. Aggravating does not even begin to describe the situation!

Well, that just goes to show you that even without a warning from Woody Leonhard or the team at Windows Secrets, READ EVERYTHING before patching at MS Updates! Automatic Updates is for chumps, and the computer you PWN may be your own!!

And please, please do not apply the Vista SP2 update! That one should be allowed to age for at least a couple of more months, and by that time, why not just upgrade to Windows 7 and avoid the hair-tearing and teeth-gnashing altogether!

As always, the opinions expressed here are striclty my own, and do not represent Windows Secrets Newsletter nor AskWoody.com.

-- LittleWolf --

Last Edited by LittleWolf, Sun., Dec. 6, 2009, 2:58 PM CST .

My Review of IO Bit Smart Defrag (Freeware)

Entry for March 22, 2009

REVIEW: IO Bit Smart Defrag disk defragmenter

My previous disk defragmenter was Ultra Defrag from Source Forge. Unfortunately, they upgraded to version 3. Then their program started always moving all of the data all over the target drive in an attempt to defragment just a few fragmented files. This started taking a long time, especially on my Windows Active System Partition. So I used Revo Uninstaller to remove all traces of Ultra Defrag, and went to start over.

I am a member of the Hinsdale (Illinois) Computer Users Group (HCUG) and our leader, John Shannon, presented a brief piece on a C Net review of Smart Defrag by IO Bit. This freeware program does disk optimizing, in the fashion of the Norton Optimizer from System Works, my all-time favorite disk defragmenter. The display looks upside-down compared with Norton, but otherwise is quite similar, if a bit less informative. Still, the actions and intended actions of Smart Defrag can be clearly seen, and reports can be viewed at the click of a mouse. Multiple drives or partitions can be handled simultaneously, and a multi-partition report can be viewed. If one so desires, the program can be left active, showing up as an icon in the Windows System Notification Tray Area, and there is an option for on-the-fly defragmentation. The program can be completely dismissed with a right-click option from the Tray Icon. All at no charge for a "pro" version. I do not like to do anything on-the-fly, as this takes up system resources, and I have only a single-core P4m processor, shared graphics memory, and total RAM of just 512 Mb. My security programs (Comodo Pro Firewall and Avast Anti-malware) take up enough CPU cycles, in my opinion.

Defragmenting starts with Analysis, and a Report can be viewed. There are three levels of optimization, and the usual recommended level is Fast Optimize. This takes only a few minutes in my partitions, which are never more than 40Gb each, and only my Acronis Backup Partitions are anywhere near full of data. The resulting improvements in Windows speed and keyboard/mouse responsiveness are very noticeable, and last aa long time before I am even tempted to redo the optimization process. Yet another reason not to use the on-the-fly option. There are options for on-boot or on-shutdown defragmentation, shutting off the computer when finished, and scheduled defragmentation runs. All would be useful in a desktop environment, but I have a laptop, and it does not remain on or in Standby all the time. As a way of paying for the product, IO Bit has a button for computer optimization (like PC Tools Optimizer on line scanner), and (like the PC Tools scanner) to get anything optimized (except defragmenting) a fee must be paid after the scanner shows its results. I prefer to leave these on-line scanners alone.

All things considered, I find Smart Defrag to be a very good utility for optimizing hard drive performance, internally and externally. While there may be paid products which could do a better job, this one is light on system resources, can be completely dismissed, and is free. It is, like all good freeware, good enough.

-- LittleWolf -- Sun., March 22, 2009 -- 3:47 PM CDT (USA) -- All Rights Reserved. --

Sunday March 22, 2009 - 04:36pm (CDT)

My Experiences with Windows XP SP3

Entry for December 30, 2008

Well folks, it has finally happened -- AskWoody.com has issued the status MS Defcon 5 -- ALL CLEAR. This applies to Windows XP SP3 only now.

Windows XP sp3 is now safe to install, except that it reverts Flash Player (update that) and may mess up Microsoft Updates (Go to MS Updates and run through the process to fix that.).

There may be a patch which needs to be removed before the sp3 install, and all anti-virus, firewalls, and background processes should be shut down before installing sp3. I recommend getting the CD version from Microsoft and installing sp3 from there. (The download takes forever!)

As always, I am responsible for the content of this blog, but my information comes from AswWoody.com, Windows Secrets web site, and other reliable tech resources on the Internet.

Update Wed., Jan.14, 2009, 6:55 PM CST:

I just finished installing the Acronis 2009 and Disk Director 10 programs, and the Acronis 2009 Update. There were also new Rescue Media to burn. I still haven't figured out what I'm supposed to do to make a BartPE Rescue Disk -- my efforts so far won't boot.

Update, Dec. 6, 2009, 3:02 PM CST:

I did finally get the BartPE Rescue Media working. The Media are OK up through True Image Home 2009. TIH-2010 may not yet have BartPE specific Rescue Media. I should check in with Acronis about that sometime soon, I suppose. (End Edit.)

I also installed Windows XP Service Pack 3, and the installation ran FOREVER! I thought the thing had failed, but after two hours, it indicated success. This was confirmed by visiting Microsoft Updates and running Secunia Personal Software Inspector (the desktop version of this version tracker). And I must say that Microsoft really dropped the ball when they downgraded Flash Player Active X to Version 6! That is unforgivable, as even last March, Flash Player was in Version 9. It took a lot of reconfiguring of Internet Explorer (which I usually keep tightly locked-down) to get the Flash issue resolved. And the Comodo Firewall was not cooperating with the Flash downloader or its installer. (Note: The Flash Downloader Helper turned out to be classic adware -- I erased the Active-X Control with the Acronis File Shredder utility, and I recommend others to do likewise for security reasons.)

Speaking of Comodo, they have gone over to a full-scale security suite, in a free version or a paid version. The firewall now offers an option of including a Stack Overflow ("leak test") protection module on top of Defense +, which is proactive protection beyond a traditional firewall. And it is not necessary to install the whole suite (with AV and AS). If all you need is a firewall, you can choose that option. I think the Firewall, Defense +, and Memory Firewall (Stack Overflow protection) is the best combination, and for AV/AS, I use Avast 4.8 (free version) with Super Antispyware (free version) for additional AS scanning. Scans take about an hour with SAS, and another hour with Avast on my computer. Your mileage may vary.

No ill effects from these upgrades so far. I'll post further if anything interesting develops.

-- LittleWolf --

Updated Wed., Jan.14, 2009, 6:55 PM CST

New update, Mon., Feb. 23, 2009 --

I noticed that when I hibernate my laptop lately for more than one day, it fails to recognize any of the account passwords, and I am forced to reboot. This may be a side-effect of installing Windows XP SP-3. More as it develops, but this is the first sp-3 glitch I have yet suspected.

As of Dec. 6, 2009, this little glitch seems to have gone away. But I do not hibernate my laptop for very long anymore.

-- LittleWolf --

Entry for January 14, 2009

Edited by LittleWolf Wed., Feb. 25, 2009, 12:30 PM, CST:

As stated here before, I have upgraded to Windows XP SP3, and I will continue to list that as an MS DEFCON 5: All clear, and very few problems encountered so far. Just make sure you keep up with Image Backups of your SP3 system. Once the upgrade is applied, your OEM restore media will no longer be able to return you to SP2 Windows without destroying your data. So make the SafeMedia Rescue CD, and use Acronis True Image Home 2009. It will be perfectly adequate, even if the computer will not boot. (That's what the Rescue CD is for.)

-- LittleWolf --

Last Edited by LittleWolf Sun., Dec. 6, 2009, 3:05 PM CST.

Digital TV Converter Boxes -- One Year Later

Entry for March 09, 2008

I've been spending a lot of time this week and especially this weekend, locating converter boxes for my Analog TV set and several VCRs. I wanted to try several brands, so that there would be as little code overlap for the Remote Controls as possible. My findings in the Chicago area (Southwest Suburbs) are as follow.

Zenith's unit (bought at Circuit City) worked just fine. Insignia and GE (Digital Stream) units were OK. The GE Unit (bought at Radio Shack) gets the best reception with a normal amplified antenna (nothing special), and Insignia (bought at Best Buy) is about the same as Zenith. (In fact, the Zenith and Insignia units share the same Remote Codes.) Magnavox (from Wal Mart) is unacceptable. Terrible sensitivity and poor outputs. CBS-DT (Channel 3 around here) has terrible reception, probably due to signal-bounce and its relatively long wavelength. WTTW (Channel 11, and its sub-channels) offers the best use of its digital allocation, having four distinct channels of digital content, only one of which duplicates its analog counterpart. And ABC-7-DT does the best job of presenting 24-hour news and weather/traffic information. Even distant Channel 56-DT (Indiana) comes in pretty well sometimes on some antennas.

Antennas also make a difference. The best results are in locatins free of nearby metal or thick masonry. (Metal reflects signals, causing interference, and masonry can block signals.) The exact angle of the antenna is important, and amplification is recommended at most distances from the signal sources. The antenna needs to be strongly directional and discrete, rejecting competing signals. And both VHF and UHF will be used after the completion of the Digital TV Transition. But Channels 2, 3, 4 and 5 VHF will no longer be used (thank god!). Rescanning for channels after June 12, 2009 will be necessary.

What I need now are some extra coaxial switches, and maybe a new antenna or two, and I should be set up for the DTV conversion mid-year (2009). Recordings of the downconverted analog outputs on VCRs work just fine, especially with Composite (RCA) connections (Line In). April 30, 2009: Note that VCRs with tuners are no longer available in the USA.

One annoying thing about these tuners is that they do not change channels at specified future times, so timed recordings have to be set up on one channel per device only. I recently (March, 2009) found the TiVo Pal at my local K Mart. This unit uses the TiVo Guide but does not require the use of the TiVo Subscription Service, and can be timed to tune to a specific event, channel and all, and to switch channels for each event. Same price as the non-programmable ones, too. This is what I wish I had gotten for all of my VCRs. On the other hand, stand-alone VCRs are not being sold in the USA anymore, so I think time-shifting without a subscription service may be on its way out. That would be a dark day for consumer freedoms in the USA.

So that's it for now. More on DTV later, as I discover more.

(Edited Mon., March 10, 2008 by LittleWolf )

(Edited Thurs., April 30, 2009 by LittleWolf)

Sunday March 9, 2008 - 05:40pm (CDT)

Edited by LittleWolf Thursday, April 30, 2009, 2:20 PM CDT

Welcome to LittleWolf's blog

Welcome to my new blog location!

I got sick and tired of Yahoo not maintaining their servers for Yahoo 360, so here I am, one of many Yahoo refugees, I suspect. I will try to continue my blogging practices from Yahoo 360, except that illustrations seem not to be in vogue over here. I'll find out about all of the details later. Right now, I need to post some content.

My interests include computers, home user software, and television watching. Musically, I am not into any specific genre, but just about any form which would appeal to a fifty-something American male would be tolerable to me. As I post, probably a few more details about me will filter out.

Time to get started here!

Taking content from Yahoo 360 over here is easy if done manually. I may do editing and labeling later, but right now, I'm just going for the content.

More updates as warranted. I love it here so far!!

Update: For those who are into such details, this blog is time-stamped to Central Time, USA (with Daylight Savings Time when needed). Still loving it here. but I wish I had more time to blog about my own thoughts and opinions -- of which I have many. See my frequent Comments at Infoworld blogs ( http://www.infoworld.com/blogs ) , PC World (Home Page or News items, as well as the members-only Forums) ( http://www.pcworld.com ) , or AskWoody ( http://www.askwoody.com ) .

Entry last edited by LittleWolf Wed, Oct 14, 2009, 11:26 AM CDT (USA).