MikesWhatsNews 05 , 11, 2004 in today's issue #758 2 Operation Firewall 3 FIRST 4 602LAN SUITE 2004 5 OpenExpert 6 Super Slyder 7 Microsoft Partner Pack for Windows XP 8 CCC Every Rule 9 Fixing lost File Associations 10 ShutDown 2.0 11 Remove MSN Messenger from XP HackFix Updates ____________________________________________________________ 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/ The HTML version is available here http://www.http://www.mwn.ca/ ____________________________________________________________ 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> ___________________________________________________________ 2 Secret Service busts suspected ID fraud ring http://news.com.com/2100-7348_3-5431419.html Published: October 28, 2004, 4:37 PM PDT By Robert Lemos Staff Writer, CNET News.com In an investigation that led from online forums to a passport-forging facility in Bulgaria, law enforcement officials arrested in the last 48 hours suspects from eight states and six foreign countries on charges of identity theft, computer fraud, credit card fraud and conspiracy. Dubbing the enforcement action Operation Firewall, the Secret Service said individuals working together stole more than 1.7 million credit card numbers and other financial information costing more than $4.3 million. Federal law enforcement agents--cooperating with officials from the United Kingdom, Canada, Bulgaria, Belarus, Poland, Sweden, Ukraine and the Netherlands--have arrested 28 suspects since Tuesday night and stressed that the investigation continues. ++ See also; www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/29/operation_firewall/ sf.indymedia.org/news/2004/10/1705028.php news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/ security/0,39020375,39171958,00.htm ____________________________________________________________ 3 FIRST http://www.usfirst.org/ FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology and engineering. FIRST inspires in young people, their schools and communities an appreciation of science and technology, and how mastering these can enrich the lives of all. Thanks to; Wambooli Salad http://www.wambooli.com/newsletter/weekly/info/ ____________________________________________________________ 4 602LAN SUITE 2004 Download the FREE, 5-user version of 602LAN SUITE 2004 here: http://www.software602.com/products/ls/ Software602 has just signed a licensing agreement that will allow PureSight content filtering technology to be incorporated in 602LAN SUITE 2004 The most affordable network solution is now here! Get a secure mail server with anti-virus & anti-spam, built-in firewall with NAT and proxy server for controlled Internet sharing. Access your e-mail anywhere using the included Web Mail client. Please note, the 5 user version is FREE for commerical and non-commerical use! ++ ____________________________________________________________ 5 OpenExpert http://www.baxbex.com/openexpert.html OpenExpert is free for personal use! OpenExpert enables you to specify any number of suitable applications for each file type. In this way, when you open a file, instead of being restricted to using a single pre-determined application, you can easily choose among a list of suitable applications. Easily open your graphic files in your favorite paint programs or view your HTML files in either Netscape or Internet Explorer, just with a few mouse clicks. You can even add different versions of the same program to the OpenExpert menu. The screenshot below shows how it works: Right-click your file, point to "Open with" and then just click on the program which should open the file. That's how easy it is! ++ ____________________________________________________________ 6 Slide on over to Super Slyder. http://www.sandlotgames.com/w4/ Help maneuver Slyder, the tiny superhero through 100 (120 on Windows XP) challenging mazes. Max out your puzzle skills to keep Slyder alive and send him home. This game is also optimized to work on your Windows XP Media Center Edition PC. Serpentine Guide a hungry dragon to his dinner through 50 (70 on Windows XP) beautiful temple mazes. Watch out for pits and dangers as your serpent grows and travels the world. This game is also optimized to work on your Windows XP Media Center PC. ____________________________________________________________ 7 Microsoft Partner Pack for Windows XP http://www.microsoft.com/windows/partnerpack/ The Partner Pack is the ultimate application package for your Windows XP PC. Install this package and you will be able to play new games and have more fun, explore the internet in new ways, keep in touch and share information with friends and family, better protect your PC and do more with tools and desktop utilities. You can either download this software package for free or get a CD (and pay just for Shipping and Handling). The free add-on pack includes new Microsoft and 3rd party software items. ? Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager. Will help you backup and restore presentation, pictures, songs and applications from and to USB Flash Drive devices and take them with you. The application can also help you to classify and name USB Flash Drives images (for instance "My network configuration" or "The pictures for my grandma") and lets you see this name whenever the USB Flash Drive is plugged into the computer. ? PhotoSite Share your digital photos on your own personal photo website! PhotoSite is the free photo-sharing service that lets you quickly and easily display your photos in customized albums and photoblogs. ? Google Deskbar? Search and explore the Internet using Google right from your desktop, even when your browser isn?t running. Your results will appear in a small inset window that closes automatically. There are many more pieces to this Partner Pack,which can be downloaded enmasse or individually.One caveat-- .Net must be installed to use them. ++ ____________________________________________________________ 8 'Christy's Computer Corner' thanks to Christy; http://www.1stpick.org Every Rule http://www.everyrule.com This site has rules for many board games, card games, casino games, sports games, and more. ~~~~~~~~ 9 Fixing lost File Associations If you accidentally associate a particular file extension with the wrong application, don't try to fix it with Windows Explorer's File Types tab in the Folder Options dialog box--there's no way to remove a single extension from a registered file type without deleting the entire entry and starting over. Instead, use Windows 98's version of the Windows 3.x File Manager, which you can launch from the Run dialog box by typing winfile and pressing [Enter]. Once File Manager opens, choose File | Associate. When the Associate dialog box appears, type the extension that you want to get rid of in the Files With Extension text box. When you do, you'll see the errant file association appear in the Associate With text box. To remove the file association, scroll to the top of the list of file types, select (None), and then click OK. Was this forwarded to you ? Get your own subscription here: <1stpickPCtips-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=subscribe> ____________________________________________________________ 10 ShutDown 2.0 (beta) www.rnowicki.neostrada.pl/sdown.html Windows 95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP FREEWARE ShutDown is a simple programme that turns off your PC at a specific time. It is written in Assembly Language so you can use it without any fear of slowing down your computer. It uses FORCE method to shutdown or restart a computer so no process can stop it. ++ ____________________________________________________________ 11 Mike's Friday Tip ~ Remove MSN Messenger from XP If you are like me and like to have some control of what programs are running in XP you may find this handy to remove MSN Messenger. Open Task Manager (Start - Run - taskmgr.exe) Go to processes tab and verify "msmsgs.exe" is not running. If it is click on the process and choose "End Process" Go into your Program Files folder. Rename the Messenger folder to "MessengerOFF" If you are cannot rename the folder in this way then boot to safe mode (restart your computer and intermittently clicking the " F8 " key) and make the change. ____________________________________________________________ HackFix updates, thanks to Christy; staff@xxxxxxxxxxx Http://www.hackfix.org This weeks Virus Pattern Updates (11/04/2004) All Software listed Alphabetically by Company name as some companies manufacture more then one product. Aladdin Knowledge Systems Esafe Desktop/Gateway/Enterprise Last Updated Nov 04/2004 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 Nov 03/2004 To update your software: Visit: http://www.avast.com/eng/download/updates/index.html 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. ~~~~~ Authentium Software Systems Command antivirus Last Updated Nov 02/2004 To update your software Visit http://www.authentium.com/support/downloads/index.cfm ~~~~~ Center for Antivirus Technologies (CAT) Quickheal Last Updated Nov 03/2004 To update your software Visit: http://www.quickheal.com/winupg.htm Or Open Quickheal select Utility from the top toolbar and liveupdate. Follow the onscreen prompts. Alternately you can select Liveupdate directly from the QuickHeal program menu on the startmenu. ~~~~~ Frisk Software Systems Fprot Last Updated Nov 02/2004 To update your software Visit: http://www.f-prot.com/download/home_user/ ~~~~~ Computer Associates E-Trust Last updated Nov 04/2004 To update your software http://www3.ca.com/support/vicdownload/ 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: Nov 04/2004 To update your software: Visit: http://www.ravantivirus.com/pages/dldupdate.php?type=Daily Or Open Rav and select Rav Update from the toolbar ~~~~~ Grisoft Inc. AVG Last updated Nov 01/2004 To update your software Visit: http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.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! ~~~~~ H+Bedv AntiVir Last updated Nov 04/2004 To update your software Visit: http://www.free-av.com/antivirus/allinonen.html Or Open AntiVir, from the top toolbar select Tools-> start internet update and follow the on screen prompts. Vexira Last updated Nov 04/2004 To update your software Visit: http://www.centralcommand.com/updates.html Or Open Vexira, from the top toolbar select Tools-> start internet update and follow the on screen prompts. Vexira Antivirus is marketed by Central Command however it is the same program as Antivir with only a different name. ~~~~~ Kaspersky Kaspersky Anti-Virus (formerly AVP) Last updated Oct 29/2004 To update your software Visit: http://www.kaspersky.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 Nov 03/2004 To update your software For Mcafee Visit http://www.networkassociates.com/us/downloads/updates/superdat.asp (for Virus and Engine updates) 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 Nov 03/2004 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 29/2004 To update your software Visit: http://www.bitdefender.com/bd/site/downloads.php?menu_id=19&s_id=3 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 Nov 04/2004 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 Nov 04/2004 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 Nov 03/2004 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 ____________________________________________________________ If you wish to unsubscribe from our list send an email to mikeswhatsnews-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=unsubscribe 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. For a complete list of email commands for our list send an email to ecartis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with a subject line of "info mikeswhatsnews" without the quotes. If you wish to unsubscribe from our list send an email to mikeswhatsnews-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=unsubscribe To contact the list moderators send an email to mikeswhatsnews-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ~*~*~*~*~