MikesWhatsNews in today's issue #787 August 4 2005 2 Windows Vista 3 FireFox 1.0.6 4 The Parasite Fight New Version 7.0 5 IE-SPYAD: Restricted Sites List for Internet Explorer 6 HijackThis Code 7 PageDefrag 8 CCC Multiple Image Resizer 9 Find a Lost File 10 Foxit PDF Reader for Windows 11 Google tip "intitle" Keyword 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 Microsoft announced that Longhorn will be name Windows Vista. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/default.mspx Bringing clarity to your world. Today we live in a world of more information, more ways to communicate, more things to do. There is more you can do and even more you can discover. Every day, millions of people around the globe rely on their Windows PC to manage their increasingly digital lives. While familiar tools for managing digital information are powerful, today's world requires more. In today's digital world, you want the PC to adapt to you, so you can cut through the clutter and focus on what's important to you. Introducing Windows Vista? It enables a new level of confidence in your PC and in your ability to get the most out of it. It introduces clear ways to organize and use information the way you want to use it. It seamlessly connects you to information, people, and devices that help you get the most out of life. ____________________________________________________________ 3 Firefox 1.0.6 for Windows http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ Popup Blocking Stop annoying popup ads in their tracks with Firefox's built in popup blocker. Tabbed Browsing View more than one web page in a single window with this time saving feature. Open links in the background so that they're ready for viewing when you're ready to read them. Find out more... Privacy and Security Built with your security in mind, Firefox keeps your computer safe from malicious spyware by not loading harmful ActiveX controls. A comprehensive set of privacy tools keep your online activity your business. Smarter Search Google Search is built right into the toolbar, and there is a plethora of other search tools including Smart Keywords (type "dict <word>" in the Location bar), and the new Find bar (which finds text as you type without covering up anything). ____________________________________________________________ 4 "THE PARASITE FIGHT" OVERHAULED - New Version 7.0 http://aumha.org/elist.cgi/2005/07/18#20050717-1 I have significantly overhauled my page **THE PARASITE FIGHT - Finding, Removing & Protecting Yourself From Scumware** at http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm, including its to-the-point companion page The Parasite Fight - Quick Fix Protocol (http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm). The changes reflect my changing views as the terrain of malware (and of the tools available for fighting it) evolves. By "parasite" I mean the whole non-virus category of adware, spyware, numerous kinds of hijackers, automatic dialers, and the like. It is probably only a formality that I continue to call these "non-viral," though it remains true that these newer kinds of scumware don't meet the core definition of a virus, i.e., that their primary task is to replicate themselves. The main reason for differentiating parasites from viruses is that, for a real user in practice, a virus can be defined as "that category of malware which is normally identified and removed by antivirus software." That's the practical bottom line: How do we identify and remove these blights? By persisting in the separate language -- by dividing **malware** (malicious software) into two separate branches of **viruses** and **parasites** -- it is easier for the end-user to keep in mind which programs he or she should expect to help out in solving the problem. Leading antivirus companies are finally getting on the parasite bandwagon, so this "seat of the pants" definition won't continue to apply for more than another year or two. The line is already starting to blur between which categories of malware a particular program will seek to identify and remove -- and this is a good thing! For the present, though, the differentiated nomenclature is pretty useful. ++ ____________________________________________________________ 5 IE-SPYAD: Restricted Sites List for Internet Explorer https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/ehowes/www/resource.htm Last Updated: Jul 17 '05 IE-SPYAD adds a long list of sites and domains associated with known advertisers, marketers, and crapware pushers to the Restricted sites zone of Internet Explorer. Once you merge this list of sites and domains into the Registry, the web sites for these companies will not be able to use cookies, ActiveX controls, Java applets, or scripting to compromise your privacy or your PC while you surf the Net. Nor will they be able to use your browser to push unwanted pop-ups, cookies, or auto-installing programs on your PC. Please note that IE-SPYAD is not an ad blocker. It will not block standard banner ads in Internet Explorer. What this Restricted sites list of known advertisers and crapware pushers will do, however, is: stop unwanted crapware from being installed behind your back via "drive-by-downloads"; prevent the hijacking of your home page and other key Internet Explorer settings; shut down ActiveX, Java, and scripting, all of which can be employed to push obnoxious advertising on you and compromise your privacy and security; block cookies, which can be used to monitor and track your travels around the Internet; combat obnoxious script-based popups that clutter your screen and force unwanted advertising on you. This Restricted sites list is based in part on info from: discussions in the SpywareInfo Forums, Spyware Warrior, CastleCops, and other forums that specialize in crapware removal major crapware reference sites: and.doxdesk.com CounterExploitation Kephyr.com PestPatrol Spyware Guide the latest updates to well-known anti-crapware programs such as SpyBot Search & Destroy, Ad-aware, and SpywareBlaster ++ There is more on the web site. ____________________________________________________________ 6 HijackThis Code To those of you bold enough to diagnose your own computer problems using the diagnostic tool, HijackThis, here is a quickie "cheat sheet" on what each HJT code means: R0, R1, R2, R3 - Internet Explorer Start/Search pages URLs F0, F1 - Autoloading programs N1, N2, N3, N4 - Netscape/Mozilla Start/Search pages URLs O1 - Hosts file redirection O2 - Browser Helper Objects O3 - Internet Explorer toolbars O4 - Autoloading programs from Registry O5 - IE Options icon not visible in Control Panel O6 - IE Options access restricted by Administrator O7 - Regedit access restricted by Administrator O8 - Extra items in IE right-click menu O9 - Extra buttons on main IE button toolbar, or extra items in IE 'Tools' menu O10 - Winsock hijacker O11 - Extra group in IE 'Advanced Options' window O12 - IE plugins O13 - IE DefaultPrefix hijack O14 - 'Reset Web Settings' hijack O15 - Unwanted site in Trusted Zone O16 - ActiveX Objects (aka Downloaded Program Files) O17 - Lop.com domain hijackers O18 - Extra protocols and protocol hijackers O19 - User style sheet hijack Added in HijackThis 1.98.x: O20 - AppInit_DLLs Registry value autorun O21 - ShellServiceObjectDelayLoad Registry key autorun O22 - SharedTaskScheduler Registry key autorun Added in HijackThis 1.99.x: O23 - NT Services Thanks to; Sean at MCH FORUMS (registration required -- FREE to join) http://mycomputerheadaches.tz4.com MCH Yahoogroups http://shorterlink.com/?PBFUJ5 ____________________________________________________________ 7 PageDefrag free http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/PageDefrag.html Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Server 2003. One of the limitations of the Windows NT/2000 defragmentation interface is that it is not possible to defragment files that are open for exclusive access. Thus, standard defragmentation programs can neither show you how fragmented your paging files or Registry hives are, nor defragment them. Paging and Registry file fragmentation can be one of the leading causes of performance degradation related to file fragmentation in a system. PageDefrag uses advanced techniques to provide you what commercial defragmenters cannot: the ability for you to see how fragmented your paging files and Registry hives are, and to defragment them. In addition, it defragments event log files and Windows 2000/XP hibernation files (where system memory is saved when you hibernate a laptop). ____________________________________________________________ 8 'Christy's Computer Corner' thanks to Christy; http://www.1stpick.org Multiple Image Resizer Freeware http://www.acumensystems.com/mir/ This program allows you to process individual images or folders of images. You can resize, add borders, overlay text, and rotate and flip images. It handles a variety of input and output image formats including BMP, JPG , GIF, TIFF, EXIF, PNG, EMF, ICO and WMF. It includes the ability to select JPEG output quality, and also to set the output resolution of a processed image. You can choose from different quality resizing methods, and you can keep current with the latest updates using the built-in check for updates feature. ~~~~~~~~ 9 Find a Lost File So, you've misplaced a file. It's easier to find than you think. Click the Start button and select Find or Search. A screen will open up that allows you to search for files. To do a search, just type the name of the missing file in the "Named" box. If you're using XP, you'll need to click the "All files & folders item" and type what you're looking for into the "All or part of a file name" box. If you're not sure what the name of the file is, you can use wildcards. For example, say you're looking for a text file, but you aren't 100% sure of the file name. Type *.txt in the "Named" or "All or part of a file name" box. The * is a wildcard, meaning that as long as a file has an extension of .txt, it will be displayed. Don't worry. You don't have to know the file extension if you already know the name of the misplaced file. If you know the name of the file, just type it in the box and it will attempt locate it. In fact, even if you only have a partial file name, that will work too. Once the file is located, just double-click it to open it up. Was this forwarded to you ? Get your own subscription here: <1stpickPCtips-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=subscribe> ____________________________________________________________ 10 Foxit PDF Reader for Windows free http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php Foxit PDF Reader runs on Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP/2003. It is provided by Foxit Software Company for free non-commercial use. Foxit PDF Reader is a free reader for PDF (eBook) documents. You can view and print PDF documents with it. Foxit PDF Reader is small (the download size less than 1MB), so you can download it quickly. It doesn't need any lengthy installation, so you can start to run it as soon as you can download it. And it starts up immediately, so you don't need to wait the annoying "Welcome" screen to disappear. Foxit PDF Reader is extremely easy to use, just double click it to start and then click open button to open your PDF document. If you want to print, click on "Print" button. If you want to setup the page layout for printing, select "Print Setup" from "File" menu. ____________________________________________________________ 11 Google tip "intitle" Keyword ~ Mike's Friday Tip Did you know you can direct Google's focus when searching? Use the "intitle" Keyword Google's "intitle" Keyword allows you restrict searches to the titles of Web pages, ignoring the page content. For example, you can enter "intitle:Microsoft" to search for Web pages whose title contains the word Microsoft. ____________________________________________________________ HackFix updates, thanks to Christy; staff@xxxxxxxxxxx Http://www.hackfix.org This weeks Virus Pattern Updates (08/04/2005) Updates will now vary in time but remain the same in day. Our time schedule no longer allows for updates to be sent at a specific time on any day so we will continue to send them on Thursdays to help our readers to remember to update before leaving for the weekend (time away or from work). We apologize if this causes any confusion. All Software listed Alphabetically by Company name as some companies manufacture more then one product. Aladdin Knowledge Systems Esafe Desktop/Gateway/Enterprise Last Updated Aug 03/2005 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 Aug 04/2005 To update your software: Visit: http://www.avast.com/ 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 Aug 04/2005 To update your software Visit http://www.authentium.com/support/downloads/index.cfm ~~~~~ Center for Antivirus Technologies (CAT) Quickheal Last Updated Aug 04/2005 To update your software Visit: http://207.230.103.11/public/updates/updates.asp 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 Aug 04/2005 To update your software Visit: http://www.f-prot.com/download/home_user/ ~~~~~ Computer Associates E-Trust Last updated Aug 04/2005 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. ~~~~~~ GeCad Software Rav (Reliable AntiVirus) Last Updated: Aug 04/2005 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 Announcing the End of Support for AVG Anti-Virus 6.0 (December 31, 2004) Read more here: http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_avg6_termination.php (New update details will be available soon) Last updated Aug 04/2005 To update your software Visit: http://www.grisoft.com/doc/72/lng/us/tpl/tpl01 Or You can also perform updates using the Check for Updates option within the menu that opens after right mouse button clicking over the AVG icon located on the system tray. **Note: To help speed up AVG updates you can set your program to use an alternate download site. AVG 7.0 go to the control panel at the bottom is "Update Manager" select that and then select "settings" (at the bottom) in there under "url" you can add/delete/edit etc the update urls as needed you can move the order of the update urls as well.... such as putting the backup url first etc. You can add the secondary site (www.grisoft.cz) to help to ease the server and make your update go quicker as most don't use it! ~~~~~ H+Bedv AntiVir Last updated Aug 04/2005 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 Aug 04/2005 To update your software Visit: no visable update page on site main page at http://www.centralcommand.com/index.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 Last updated Aug 04/2005 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: 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 Aug 03/2005 To update your software For Mcafee Visit http://www.networkassociates.com/us/downloads/updates/superdat_download.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 Aug 01/2005 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. ~~~~~ Softwin BitDefender Last Updated July 29/2005 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 ~~~~~ Sophos Sophos Anti Virus Last IDE available Aug 04/2005 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 Aug 04/2005 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 Aug 03/2005 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) **Note: Users of non-NPF (i.e., old 3-digit pattern format) compliant products will not be able to update to the pattern release indicated in this email. Non-NPF compliant products can only update to pattern 991, which was released March 7, 2005. TrendLabs urges all affected customers to apply the New Pattern Format solution at http://www.trendmicro.com/en/support/npf/overview.htm or upgrade to the latest product version to address this limitation. ~~~~~~~~~ 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 ~*~*~*~*~