[MikesWhatsNews] MWN #498

MikesWhatsNews, 21, 05, 2002
in today's issue #498
Yet Another Patch for Internet Explorer
Unpatched IE Security Holes
AbiWord 1.0.1
StorURL
pcAnywhere 10.5.1  Update
Cluster Bomb
Back Up Your Email Box Before It is Too Late ~ part 1
Tina's FrontPage Tips
CCC   Every Rule
         System Resources       
____________________________________________________________
NOTE: Any time you see the "  ++ ",  it means there is more of the 
article, or story, on the linked site. Mike
____________________________________________________________

There is a complete archive of past MikesWhatsNews newsletters 
available to members on the Yahoo page, it is searchable by word or
issue #. Here is the address direct to the messages;
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MikesWhatsNews/messages
____________________________________________________________

Yet Another Patch for Internet Explorer by Arie Slob 
From; 
Hello Windows users, 

After releasing cumulative patches for Internet Explorer on 
February 11 and March 28, Microsoft released yet another 
cumulative patch for Internet Explorer on May 15th.
 
This new patch is to fix six vulnerabilities in IE 5.01, 
5.5 and 6, the most serious of which could allow code of 
attacker's choice to run. The patch also introduces a behavior 
change to the Restricted Sites zone. Specifically, it disables 
frames in the Restricted Sites zone. Since the Outlook 
Express 6.0, Outlook 98 and Outlook 2000 with the Outlook 
Email Security Update and Outlook 2002 all read email in the 
Restricted Sites zone by default, this enhancement means 
that those products now effectively disable frames in HTML 
email by default. This new behavior makes it impossible for 
an HTML email to automatically open a new window or to 
launch the download of an executable. 

For more information on the patch, see this alert. 
[ http://windows-help.net/cgi-bin/2002/5.20.cgi?52001 ]

The patch is available in 26 local languages, and ranges in 
size from 1.89MB for the Internet Explorer 5.01 version to 
2.47MB for the Internet Explorer 5.5 (SP1) version. 
[ http://windows-help.net/cgi-bin/2002/5.20.cgi?52002 ]

If you are running any other version of Internet Explorer you 
should seriously consider upgrading to Internet Explorer 5.01
 Service Pack 2, 
[ http://windows-help.net/cgi-bin/2002/5.20.cgi?52003 ]
Internet Explorer 5.5 Service Pack 2, 
[ http://windows-help.net/cgi-bin/2002/5.20.cgi?52004 ]
or Internet Explorer 6 
[ http://windows-help.net/cgi-bin/2002/5.20.cgi?52005 ]

From; Windows-Help.NET Newsletter
This Newsletter is also available on-line at: 
[ http://windows-help.net/cgi-bin/2002/5.20.cgi?52064 
____________________________________________________________

Unpatched IE Security Holes
http://jscript.dk/unpatched/
Why this page ?
This page was made public to put pressure on Microsoft, in the hope 
that they may patch the listed security holes.
Vulnerabilities listed on this page work (among others) with the latest 
versions of Internet Explorer, with all patches installed.
Until proper patches have been provided, the only fix is to 
disable scripting.

This page is, and always will be, a work in progress. 
This is not a definitive list of vulnerabilities. 
++
____________________________________________________________

AbiWord 1.0.1
http://www.abisource.com/
AbiWord is a free word processing program similar to MS Word. 
It is suitable for typing papers, letters, reports, memos, and so forth. 

Version 1.0.1 is our latest release. 
It's available for a number of languages and operating systems.

AbiWord is GNU Free Software software, which means that you 
will always have the freedom to use it, make copies of it, and 
improve it. You are encouraged to make use of these freedoms 
and share the program with your family and friends! 
++
____________________________________________________________

StorURL ~ free
http://haztek.d2g.com/getpage.php?page=3Dstorurl
Win 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP
StorURL is a small utility that allows you to store all your favorite 
website URLs with a decriptive title to go along with the URL. 
Below are some things that it can do: 

Import/Export IE Favorites (.url) 
Load webpages directly from within StorURL in the default browser. 
Sort sites into multiple categories. 
Scan a single site or whole category for broken links 
If you like to keep a lot of websites book marked, but don't want to 
clutter your IE favorites menu, then this program will sure help you.
++
____________________________________________________________

pcAnywhere 10.5.1  Update

Symantec has recently released an update to pcAnywhere 10.5. This
update to version 10.5.1 allows Windows XP users to re-enable the
Welcome Screen and Fast User Switching, items that were disabled by
Windows XP during the installation of pcAnywhere 10.5.

In addition, it resolves a problem that would cause certain laptops
to reboot to a blank screen after installation.

To find out more about the update to version 10.5.1, run LiveUpdate
or refer to the document at the following Internet address:

pcAnywhere 10.5 periodic update
http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/vURL.cgi/pca75
____________________________________________________________

Cluster Bomb   By Scott Porter 
http://www.javascript-games.org/
This game has been sold to GTNet! The object of this game is to 
clear the levels of clusters. You fire colored balls around, and when 
3 or more are clumped together, they fall, bringing down any others 
hanging on them too! This game is worryingly addictive  
++
____________________________________________________________

Back Up Your Email Box Before It is Too Late ~ part 1
Copyright =A9 2002, Bill Platt 
The Phantom Writers
http://PathTrax.com/x.pl/BP121,27

When so many of us rely so much on our email to operate our 
businesses or our personal lives, it is important to take 
preventative measures to avoid the ultimate disaster of 
unrecoverable email.

I come to this subject as a matter of multiple events on my 
machine where one day I would open my mail to discover that 
all has been lost. The pit that wells in your stomach upon 
realization of this occurrence can be overwhelming. To recover 
in the event of future losses, each of us should learn the 
basics of maintaining and backing up our email.

One of the important things to do in preventative maintenance, 
is to clean your folders and to empty your trash. Most people 
do not realize that when the number of messages in a specific 
folder exceeds a certain threshold that they begin running on 
borrowed time. 

Exactly where that threshold is varies from email client to 
email client, so what may be true for mine may be different 
for yours. Personally, I use the Netscape 4.x Email Client 
for security reasons more than anything. The Netscape 4.x 
Email Client is less susceptible to JavaScript attacks than 
any other email client I have used. 

What I do know is that I have repeatedly pushed my client to 
its limits to see where the threshold might be. The Netscape 
4.x Email Client will generally break at around 4,500 email 
messages in one folder, though it will become shaky at around 
2,000 messages. 

For users of other clients such as Outlook Express, Eudora and 
others, I cannot tell you the top end of how well the software 
will perform. 

If there are more than 2,000 messages you wish to hang on to, 
you should begin filing your messages in separate folders 
below the Inbox. This will help you to find your messages 
quicker and it will provide more stability to your email 
client. 

There are three folders that you must pay regular attention 
to. They are the Inbox, Sent Mail Folder and Trash Folder.

Most people fail to remember that their client is pre-configured 
to save a copy of all outgoing email. As a result, this folder 
can grow to unbelievable sizes before anyone thinks to clean it 
out.

It is important to mention the Trash Folder in more detail 
since most people do not realize how it works. 

Most email clients follow a general principle in their 
operation. Each email box is generally represented by two 
files. The first is a text rendering of all messages in the 
box. The second is an indexing file that lists the title of 
the email and other identifying characteristics relative to 
each individual message. 

When you look at the contents of your email box, you are 
actually seeing the contents of the indexing file. When you 
pull up the text of an actual message, the software is finding 
the message in the message file according to the software 
assigned Email ID as listed in the indexing file.

Now, when you move a message from one folder to another, 
including into the Trash Folder, the only thing that actually 
moves is the listing in the indexing file! This is important 
to understand. A message moved to the Trash Folder has not 
been deleted from the origination folder. In fact, the message 
is just where it originated until you do the command Compress 
Folders or Empty Trash Folder.

The Empty Trash Folder command will only compress the messages 
for the item that is in the Trash Folder. In order to do the 
same for your entire email system, you must use the command 
Compress Folders. 

The simple action of sending email to the trash without 
compressing the folders or simply emptying the trash can also 
lead to great destabilization of your email client. So please 
take great care to maintain your email client software as it 
should be. 

Resource Box:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Platt owns The Phantom Writers, a company committed to 
helping people to establish an Internet presence & promote their 
businesses through the use of Free-Reprint Articles. All articles 
are distributed to 6,500+ publishers & web-masters as part of the
package. Do you write your own articles? Let us distribute them
for you.  http://PathTrax.com/x.pl/BP121,27
____________________________________________________________

Tina's FrontPage Tips, by Tina Clarke

How to check your backgrounds are configured and how to
configure them.

In Internet Explorer go to.

Tools | Internet Options | Colors | Untick the Use windows
colours and choose a colour for the background that no one
would use like spruce pink click ok twice and refresh the
page to your site you will see what I mean. I use this
method to check my own pages you would be surprised at how
many 'big' sites don't have theirs configured try looking at
http://www.yahoo.com/

To configure your background in FrontPage.

Right click on the background of a page

Choose Page properties
Go to the background tab
Go to 'Colour's=92 | 'background' and choose your background
colour
While you are there change the hyperlink colours from
automatic as well to the colour of your choice and the text
too. Press Ok.
Remember to use the same link colours throughout your site
so you won't confuse visitors.


AccessFP - FrontPage Resource Centre
Site -  http://www.accessfp.net/
Ezine & Forums - http://anyfrontpage.com/  FREE FP E-Books
Journal - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AccessFPJournal
____________________________________________________________

Christies Computer Corner thanks to Christy;
<1stPicksoftware-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=3Dsubscribe>

Every Rule

http://www.everyrule.com/

Do you like to follow the rules? Then EveryRule.com is for you.
The site contains a database of rules for board games, casino
games, TV game shows, card games and sports.  

~~~~~~~

System Resources
One of the most common questions is; 'Why an I out of memory'.

Your system resources, are relative to the amount of Ram memory 
you have, rather than the amount of free space you have left on 
your hard drive.

Go to Start> Programs> 
                   Accessories> 
                   System Tools> 
                   System Information>
I should bring up all the version information, 
including how much ram you have and how much is free. 


To find out which programs are running;

Do a 'Ctrl + Alt + Delete', all 3 keys at the same time.

This will bring up a window of all programs running in the 
background, ( programs that are running but not visible).

There is a good site here to help identify the different programs,
then you can decide which to eliminate to speed up, or free some
resources.

http://www2.whidbey.com/djdenham/index.htm
"The section 'What Loads At Startup' will explain how you can 
determine which of the terminate-and-stay-resident (TSR) 
programs start to run as soon as you boot up, whether you 
are running Windows 95 or Windows 98."

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____________________________________________________________

Antivirus software is a good choice to scan your system for possible 
viruses, however no virus scanner is 100% effective as manufactures
cannot keep up with the rapid change of viruses that happens daily.
Be sure to update yours regularly.
http://www.hackfix.org/software/antivirus.html
____________________________________________________________

Please feel free, to offer constructive criticism, as that will help me=
 keep
it interesting.
I also welcome any submissions about new products, web pages, or 
articles of interest.

All submissions posted in the newsletter will be given proper credit.
"MikesWhatsNews" believes in giving credit where credit is due but at
times deadlines and information that is very important to readers we
accidentally misspost an item.
If you believe something to be miscredited, or you know the author of
one of the articles which we have posted as 'unknown', please do let us
know so we can correct the information where applicable.

Many times in a article you may see a click here for more information,
or to go to a link, these often will not work, as the original information,
was taken from a page with HTML links.
This is when you will want to go to the webpage indicated in the article,
++ ,for 'the rest of the story'
***MfM*** indicates that I am adding my own information to a 
                  particular article.
Mike ~It's a good day if I learned something new.
<mikeswhatsnews-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=3Dsubscribe>
You can read a sample of my newsletter on my web page
http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/
My virus pages http://virusinfo.hackfix.org
mytech@xxxxxxxxxxx


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