MikesWhatsNews, 01, 11, 2002 in today's issue #586 HackFix Updates 2 IEMate 3 AM-DeadLink 4 Clip Art for Kids 5 Fast Defrag 6 jv16 PowerTools 7 Diskeeper Lite 7.0 8 CCC Specialized Browsers 9 Do you Really Want to Delete? 10 Harry Potter Quiz: Are You a Wizard? 11 DNS Report ____________________________________________________________ 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 and; //www.freelists.org/archives/mikeswhatsnews/ ____________________________________________________________ Please rate this Ezine at the Cumuli Ezine Finder http://www.cumuli.com/ezines/ra20853.rate <a href="http://www.cumuli.com/ezines/ra20853.rate";> AOL Users</a> ____________________________________________________________ HackFix updates, thanks to Christy; staff@xxxxxxxxxxx Http://www.hackfix.org This weeks Virus Pattern Updates (10/31/2002) All Software listed Alphabetically by Company name as some companies manufacture more then one product. Aladdin Knowledge Systems Esafe Desktop/Gateway/Enterprise Last Updated Oct 29/2002 To update your software Visit: http://www.esafe.com/esafe/downloads/virusig.asp Or >From the Esafe folder in your Start Menu select Download Updates ~~~~~ AlWil Software Avast Antivirus Last Updated Oct 30/2002 To update your software: Visit: http://www.avast.com/latest.htm Or Right click on the AVAST icon in the system tray, Select iAVS Update, AVAST will check for updates and download the appropriate files as needed. ~~~~~ Command Software Systems Command antivirus/Fprot Last Updated Oct 30/2002 To update your software Visit: http://www.complex.is/f-prot/Download.html (F-Prot) http://www.commandcom.com/downloads/virus_definition_updates.html (Command) Or Open Command antivirus click Update Deffiles ~~~~~ Computer Associates E-Trust Last updated Oct 31/2002 To update your software http://support.cai.com/Download/virussig.html Or >From the Respective folder in your Start Menu select Autodownload For Vet Anti virus http://www.vet.com.au/html/software/update.html Be sure to have your Customer ID and your registered email address handy for verification. **Note** We knew this time would come eventually, that Computer Associates would not continue to support/update the older program https://www2.my-etrust.com/services/ipe_support?? ~~~~~~ GeCad Software Rav (Reliable AntiVirus) Last Updated: Oct 31/2002 To update your software: Visit: http://www.ravantivirus.com/pages/dldupdate.php?type=3DDaily Or Open Rav and select Rav Update from the toolbar ~~~~~ Grisoft Inc. AVG Last updated Oct 31/2002 To update your software Visit: http://www.grisoft.com/html/us_updt.php Or Open AVG and click Virus Database to check for updates Or Open AVG control centre and click Update Manager/update now **Note: To help speed up AVG updates you can set your program to use an alternate download site. Open AVG control centre->update manager->download from server. The drop downbox should have listed www.grisoft.com (default) and www.grisoft.cz. (be sure to select "apply" when done to save the changes) The default site is most often used so can at times become temporarily unavailable. By using the secondary site (www.grisoft.cz) helps to ease the server and makes your update go quicker as most don't use it! ~~~~~ Kaspersky Kaspersky Anti-Virus (formerly AVP) Last updated Oct 25/2002 To update your software Visit: http://www.kasperskylabs.com/updates.asp Or Open AVP from the top toolbar click Tools-> Update virus definition Or >From the Kaspersky folder in your Start Menu select AVP updater *Note* Avp now has available a cumulative update and a daily update with the daily being any important items they feel shouldn't wait till the next cumulative update. Our dates here are based on the most recent Major update. **Note: Improved update accessiblity. To ease the update web traffic Kaspersky labs has additional servers for autoupdating. The program defaults to use one server but can be altered to check a variety of servers. Select Kaspersky updater, select update via the internet to open the drop down box(es) select "location" Check the box labeled "Use alternate locations from the list" select next and next to update. This option should stay selected after the first time. This helps Kaspersky lighten the load for updates and helps you obtain updates easier. ~~~~~ Network Associates Mcafee Last updated Oct 30/2002 To update your software For Mcafee Visit http://www.nai.com/naicommon/download/dats/superdat.asp (for Virus and Engine updates) http://www.nai.com/naicommon/download/dats/mcafee_4x.asp (for Just virus pattern updates) For Drsolomn (Product no longer available for new users however updates still available for current users): Go to the following Internet site: http://download.mcafee.com/updates/4x.asp IMPORTANT: When you get to this site you may notice that it refers to VirusScan. This update is not only for VirusScan. It also works with Dr.Solomon's. Or Open your respective software virus scan scheduler, double click Auto update, click Run Now to do a manual live update, or click Schedule to set up a timed live update. ~~~~~ Norman Data Defence Norman Virus Control Last updated Oct 30/2002 To update your software Visit: http://www.norman.com/downloads.shtml#definition_files_updates Be sure to have your Valid Username and password handy for verification. Or >From the Norman folder in your Start Menu select Internet Update **Note Norman Virus Control web updates are only for version prior to 5.0. Norman 5.0 can only be updated via the update in the program itself. Thunderbyte Anti Virus Current Version: This product is no longer being supported. http://www.norman.com/tbav.shtml ~~~~~ Softwin BitDefender (Previously known as AVX - AntiVirus eXpert as of Nov 06/01) Last Updated Oct 25/2002 To update your software Visit: http://www.bitdefender.com/html/updates.php Or Open BitDefender select Protection Options->live upgrade Or >From the BitDefender folder in your Start Menu select Bitdefender Live Press Release on the software change http://www.bitdefender.com/press/ref1.php ~~~~~ Sophos Sophos Anti Virus Last IDE available Oct 29/2002 To obtain the latest IDE files Visit: http://www.sophos.com/downloads/ide/ **Note: Sophos does not update as other products do. They update the Engine/software once a month (or so) to include all the previous IDE files. New IDE files are available with new virus threats and must be downloaded individually until the next software update is available. Our update dates reflect the most recent available IDE file. ~~~~~ Symantec Nortons AntiVirus Last updated Oct 31/2002 To update your software Visit: http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/defs.download.html select your language -> product from the list Or Open Nortons software and click the "live update" button Or >From the Nortons folder in your Start Menu select LiveUpdate - Norton Antivirus ~~~~~ Trend Micro PcCillin Last updated Oct 29/2002 To update your software Visit: http://www.antivirus.com/download/pattern.asp Be sure to have your Registration number handy for verification Or Open PcCillin click Update then click Update Now (or Update later to Schedule a timed update) ~~~~~~~~~ If there is an Anti Virus program that is Not listed here that you would like to see added to the weekly updates list Please feel free to let us know. Remember Your anti virus software is only as good as the user... If you don't keep it updated it won't provide you with maximum protection. This weekly Update will be sent every Thursday on or after 6pm (eastern) to keep you up to date on virus pattern updates available. Virus patterns are checked for most recent update date as of 6pm Thursdays. ~~~~ ~ Hackfix Project Staff staff@xxxxxxxxxxx Http://www.hackfix.org 3017 St Clair Ave #176 Burlington, Ontario L7R 3L7 ____________________________________________________________ 2 IEMate ~ free http://www.devicode.com/freeware/iemate.htm IEMate allows you to customize Internet Explorer without having to directly update the registry. You can use it to remove AOL or your ISP branding logo. Some of the items that can be customized include : Window title bar Spinning logo Static logo Toolbar background Start page URL Download directory Web page save directory Start IE in full screen mode In addition you can access the Internet Options, Organize Favorites, Reset Internet Explorer to the default settings. There is even a Search for Files and Folders feature to quickly locate BMP files stored on your computer. From; Lockergnome ____________________________________________________________ 3 AM-DeadLink ~ free http://aignes.com/products.htm Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP AM-DeadLink detects dead links and duplicates in your Browser-Bookmarks. If a Bookmark has become unavailable you can delete it from your Browser. AM-Deadlink checks Bookmarks from Internet Explorer, Opera and Netscape." Thanks to; Thanks to; Jasmine, Owner/Group Moderator: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pro_tech and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/computersupport_2 A Technical Support Alliance Member ____________________________________________________________ 4 Clip Art for Kids http://school.discovery.com/clipart/ If you're children are in the process of building their own web site, you probably would like to supply them with some appropriate graphics. One place to find some nice Clip Art for children is the Discovery School site. They have Clip Art that your kids can use at home or for school projects. Don't forget to check the copyright requirements when using any Clip Art. Discovery School is at Discovery.com. Thanks to; Christy ____________________________________________________________ 5 Fast Defrag http://www.completelyfreesoftware.com/we2_w95.html#fast32 Win9x/ME Frees unused RAM (Random Access Memory) and optionally optimizes swap file usuage; features very low system resource usage, minimizes to a desktray icon, one-click optimization of RAM, optionally loads with Windows, no setup required, and more. ++ ____________________________________________________________ 6 jv16 PowerTools ~ free http://www.vtoy.fi/jv16/shtml/jv16powertools.shtml jv16 PowerTools is basically the tool for your computer. Until now your computer might have been the one who was in charge, but with jv16 PowerTools you can take control back. The program contains all the tools you need for cleaning, controlling and tuning your computer. Including a registry cleaner, duplicate file finder, temp file finder and much more! Key features The Registry Tool - Remove registry entries from software you thought you had removed long ago - Clean the Windows' Add/Remove software list - Modify and remove unneeded shell extensions - Add or remove programs which automatically start with windows - Scan the registry for invalid entries with the best registry cleaner on the market. - Fix many common registry based problems with the registry fixer - Automatic backup feature The File Tool - Find duplicate, zero length files, temp files and broken shortcuts easily - Find unused shared DLL files - Extract information from executable files, mp3s and from images - Mass rename files with the unique file renamer tool - Change attributes of thousands of files with a single click - Find and replace text within text files - Combine files together - Encrypt files with Twofish, Blowfish, Rijndeal, Skipjack or Square encryption algorithms - Securely wipe your sensitive data so it can never be restored - Automatic backup feature The Temp File Tool - Define folders which you can later clean with just a one click - Or make your computer automatically flush those temp dirs - Find temp files which haven't been used for a few days - You can remove the files in a normal way, move them to the recycle bin or securely wipe them so they cannot be restored Other features - Advanced automation. You can easily create scripts to make many tasks much easier. - Custom user accounts with user rights management. You can set up a password which users must type before they can use the program or you can even define which users can access specific tools - Multi-lingual user interface. All menus and tools can be easily translated to your language. The program supports all the major languages. -Advanced customization. You can create custom keyboard shortcuts and modify the contents of the tools' menus. ++ ____________________________________________________________ 7 Diskeeper Lite 7.0 Build 418 http://www.majorgeeks.com/article.php?sid=1207 Diskeeper Lite is a short version introduction to full-featured Diskeeper. Diskeeper Lite can only analyze fragmentation levels and run manual defragmentation on one disk volume at a time. All time and money saving Set It and Forget It® scheduling, system management functions and network controls are shown and explained, but rendered inoperative. This tool will show you how easy the full version is to install and operate across any size network . Diskeeper Lite will help everyone in their selection of the right automated defragmentation software for their homes and/or business sites. ++ From; MajorGeeks.com ____________________________________________________________ 8 'Christy's Computer Corner' thanks to Christy; http://www.1stpick.org Specialized Browsers http://www.4comtech.com/vb/index.html If you have special interests such as wrestling, sports, motorcycle racing, reference work, or news, why not try a specialized browser to match your specialty. You'll find a set of custom browsers at 4ComTech Browsers. Note that you don't have to give up your current browser. ~~~~~~~~ 9 That Annoying Recycle Box Popup - Do you Really Want to Delete? Did you know that you can configure Windows to stop a dialog box from popping up in Recycle Bin when you delete items? For the lucky few, some PC manufacturers turn this feature off by default. If you want to turn this popup dialog box reminder off, right-click the Recycle Bin, choose Properties and uncheck the "Display confirmation dialog" box. Was this forwarded to you ? Get your own subscription here: <1stpickPCtips-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=subscribe> ____________________________________________________________ 10 Harry Potter Quiz: Are You a Wizard? http://encarta.msn.com/quiz/quiz.asp?QuizID=56 Just about everyone seems to be a Harry Potter fan these days. But how much do you know about his world? Take our quiz and find out whether you are a wizard or a mere Muggle. Like the challenges Harry faces, the questions get harder as you go. From; Microsoft ____________________________________________________________ 11 DNS Report http://www.dnsreport.com/ This site will provide you with a DNS report for your domain. A very large percentage of domains have DNS problems; this site will help you find those problems and fix them. Also, the "Mail Test" tool will help find mail delivery problems for your domain. For the DNS Report, all you need to do is enter the domain name you wish to have the report made for. You need to enter the domain name ("example.com"), not the host name ("www.example.com"). Note that IP addresses don't work here. Also, the DNS report may connect to the mail server(s) for your domain; if it does, the mail server(s) will have access to your IP in their logs (to help prevent abuse). To use the Mail Test tool, just enter a domain name ("example.com") or an E-mail address ("user@xxxxxxxxxxx"). If you enter a domain, the Mail Test tool will show which server(s) are used for mail delivery for the domain, and what order they should be used in. If you enter an E-mail address, the Mail Test tool will also try connecting to those servers. ____________________________________________________________ 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 MWN 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. You can read a sample of my newsletter on my web page http://www.mwn.ca My virus pages ~ http://virusinfo.hackfix.org mytech@xxxxxxxxxxx ~*~*~*~*~ Was this forwarded to you? Want to subscribe? Send an email to mikeswhatsnews-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=subscribe. 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