THE SOUNDBOARD-No text box in "header"

_{THE SOUNDBOARD}

KEEPING PACE IN CYBERSPACE

_{APRIL, 2004}

Heritage Village Computer Club http://www.hvcomputerclub.org

GENERAL MEETING

Wednesday MAY 12, 2004

10:00 a.m.-11:30am

SJC Hall (formerly Heritage Hall)

Guest Speaker:

Vince DeGrasa,

H.V. Radio-Electronics Club

Subject: Demonstration of the H.V. Radio-Electronics Club use of the computer.

CLICK ON THIS LINK FOR UP-TO-DATE MEETING INFO:

http://www.hvcomputerclub.org/news.html

EVERYONE WELCOME, BRING A FRIEND

ANNUAL PICNIC

JUNE 23, 2004

MEETING HOUSE & MUSIC ROOM & PATIO

5:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M.

Always a “Great Time” for everyone.

Reserve the date -- Details to follow.

MICROSOFT VS. GENERAL MOTORS

This email is traveling around the Internet and I wonder whether the following actually took place but I am sharing it anyway because it’s really funny.

**************************************

For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on. At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon".

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating: If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.
Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.
Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull over to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and then reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.
Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.
The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation" warning light.
The airbag system would ask, "Are you sure?" before deploying.
Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key, and grabbed hold of the radio antenna (the automotive answer to CTRL-ALT-DELETE).
Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.

WHAT IS DNS? WHAT IS IP?

Written by Fred Langa, http://langa.com

The web operates by numeric addresses. DOMAIN NAME SERVICES (“DNS”) translate into easy-to-remember human-language aliases. If you type "http://langa.com" a DNS server looks up that name and sees that it's really a web site that resides at INTERNET PROTOCOL (“IP”) address 69.93.166.177; your browser then takes you to that address. The two addresses are functionally equivalent, but the latter is the "real" address.

But the letters and numbers in the above can be presented in different ways, including raw ASCII and/or HTML code equivalents. For example, to your browser "langa.com" and "%6C%61%6E%67%61%2E%63%6F%6D" are exactly the same. Likewise, "69.93.166.177" and "%36%39%2E%39%33%2E%31%36%36%2E%31%37%37" are functionally identical. What's more, the "dotted quad" IP address "69.93.166.177" can be converted mathematically to the equivalent number of "1163765425," and that in turn can be presented as "%31%31%36%33%37%36%35%34%32%35..." and so on.

All of which may be very confusing but the key point is that a URL can be presented in at least half a dozen different ways, only one of which is "human friendly”(alpha rather than numeric). Spammers sometime use one of the "unfriendly" (numeric) URL formats to obscure a URL so you won't readily see where a link is trying to take you.

BY & ABOUT FRED LANGA & THE LANGA LIST:

“Long-time readers know this newsletter is a one-person private project of mine: It's not part of some publishing empire's stable of publications. There's no budget, staff or facility to handle outreach and promotions: It's just me here! <g> The newsletter depends on word of mouth to grow.

And that's where you come in: Each issue, I try to offer you useful, interesting and amusing factoids to help you with your hardware, software, and time online. Can you take just a minute to help me out in return? Subscribe to the monthly newsletter:

http://www.langa.com/newsletter.htm

Thank you for helping to spread the word about the LangaList!”

If you are not signed up to receive the LangaList you are missing out on a wealth of internet news and tips laced with techie terms (explained) and with a sense of humor. -Diana

ALL FREEWARE

If you want to know where to find free software, this just may be the place for you:
http://www.all-freeware.com/

The top banner on the page reads: All Freeware (No Shareware); Free Downloads-Software-Programs; A directory of freeware for Windows®

The categories across the top of the page, below this banner, are General Utilities, Java Virtual Machine, HTML/Web, Security, More Websites, Educational & Info., and Fun Websites.

After I clicked on the Security category the page opened up to a list of freeware sites. I chose AVG Free Anti-Virus link and was redirected to another page that offered anti-virus applications for a price but AVG is listed in a box on that page. One more click on AVG takes the visitor to the following link to a free download and install: http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php

I personally have AVG installed and have had no problems whatsoever. Another Computer Club member recently recommended that I mention this particular Anti-virus software to make Club members aware of a great utility that costs nothing and does a wonderful job of protection. Highly recommended!

DISK FRAGMENTATION

Disk fragmentation is a major performance killer on any system. Executive Software's Diskeeper eliminates fragmentation and gets your drives running at full speed. It is either a free download and has limited options or you can pay for it and use Diskeeper's simple "set it and forget it" setup--you never need to remember to do disk maintenance again! At any rate, either one is very capable and quickly performs the “defrag” in a matter of minutes. http://pcpitstop.com/tinylink.asp?Diskeeper

Yes, I have the free version on my computer.

INFECTIONS & VIRUSES

If your system is infected by spyware or one of the new spamming worm/viruses, it may block access to sites that might help you fix your computer. After all, they want to make sure you stay infected! If you find you are unable to get help from online, try these PC Pitstop IP addresses.

Here are the links to helpful information:

http://64.29.201.21/ pcpitstop.com

http://64.29.201.29/ support.pcpitstop.com (our forums)

The following links to a posting from a Usenet group showing hackers how to block a list of antivirus help sites, including ours:

http://pcpitstop.com/tinylink.asp?attack1

This code is already part of some viruses and spyware. Many recent viruses, worms, and spyware also detect and disable antivirus, anti-spyware, or firewall software they find on a PC, so don't assume your PC can't become infected just because you have virus and spyware scanners installed. Treat every email attachment and downloaded file with care.

PHATBOT LETS SPAMMERS OWN YOUR PC

“One of the worst new threats is called PHATBOT, and it uses just about every trick in the book. It modifies itself to avoid detection by antivirus software, and disables firewall programs that it finds running. It uses several techniques to spread to systems that have not been patched by Windows Update. It can steal software license keys, web site passwords, PayPal account information, and emails from web sites or address books. It can be used as a proxy service so that attackers can access sites and make it look like it came from your system”. From www.pcpitstop.com

Here are the details: http://www.lurhq.com/phatbot.html

To keep your system safe from threats you need to take some steps:

· Keep Windows patched using Windows Update

· Use an antivirus program with updated signatures (daily!)

· Use a spyware scanner and keep it up to date

· Patch your applications (MS Office, Adobe Reader, etc.)

· Use caution when reading email attachments

· Read before you click dialogs and license agreements

Updates rarely, if ever, mess up your system. A far greater threat today is using obsolete unpatched software that may be vulnerable to attack.

Here are some links (from pcpitstop.com) to help you find and fight security threats:

Full Tests: http://pcpitstop.com/tinylink.asp?FullTest

Free Antivirus: http://pcpitstop.com/tinylink.asp?AV

Pest Patrol: http://pcpitstop.com/tinylink.asp?PestPatrol

Windows Update: http://pcpitstop.com/tinylink.asp?WinUpd

Office Update: http://pcpitstop.com/tinylink.asp?OffUpd

HELPFUL ONLINE FORMS

From: http://www.ihatefinancialplanning.com

I have used “I Hate Financial Planning.com” for over a year and became a member (it is free!) on the recommendation of a friend in the computer industry. I have previously only read the newsletter that comes to my email address and rarely went further that that. Since I am trying to pay down my credit card debt, I recently began to further investigate this web site and have found some great forms for life planning and financial management. I have now used the CREDIT CARD CALCULATOR and the SPENDING RECORD with wonderful results. You will find that the writers have a great sense of humor and make all of the financial information enjoyable rather than tedious. Each of these links will take you to the form.

§ Credit Card Calculator

§ Contacts Organizer

§ Financial Inventory

§ Insurance Inventory

§ Monthly Money Manager

§ Income Worksheet

§ Net Worth Worksheet