Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
January 29, 2006

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Terry's Computer Tips Newsletter
http://www.terryscomputertips.com
A computer tips newsletter for users of PC's.

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Volume 1, Number 33 — Sunday, January 29, 2006

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3

IN THIS WEEK'S E-MAIL ISSUE:
   0.   JUST FOR SUBSCRIBERS — EMAIL ONLY
   0.1   Welcome to New Subscribers
   0.2   More New and Revised Web Pages
   0.3   Still More Gmail Accounts Available
   0.4   Netintelligence Parental Control
   0.5   The New Net Nasty -- Blackworm
   0.6   My Recommendations for Computer Security Software
   0.7   Recommend Terry's Computer Tips to Your Friends
   0.8   Can I put my subscription on hold?
   0.9   Changing Your Subscription Address

IN THIS WEEK'S ON-LINE ISSUE:
   1.   Lots of New Web Pages at www.TerrysComputerTips.com
   2.   Updates Last Week
   3.   NOD32 Anti-virus/Anti-threat Program
   4.   Email Spam Filter and Spam Filtering
   5.   My Computer Security Software Recommendations
   6.   Newsletter feedback: "Show all extensions" and K9 anti-spam software
   7.   The Next CyberSecurity Web Seminar
   8.   Recommend my Terry's Computer Tips Newsletter to Your Friends
   9.   Send me some email!

Welcome to the online version of my Terry's Computer Tips newsletter.

My free, emailed newsletter includes a special "Just for Subscribers" article, an announcement that the new issue of Terry's Computer Tips has been published online, and the table of contents for the issue.

The emailed newsletter is sent weekly to individuals who have subscribed to the newsletter, have received an email confirmation notice that required them to confirm their subscription request, and who confirmed their request.

Click here to subscribe. It's free!

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1.  Lots of New Web Pages at www.TerrysComputerTips.com

As I wrote to my email subscribers during the week, I've been very busy adding new web pages to the Terry's Computer Tips web site.

Some of these are new web pages from my older newsletters. I've discovered that Google's search engine doesn't do a good job on newsletters - there is too much unrelated content on an individual web page. Google indexes it for a while and then expires it out of their database.

Even if I use the search box at the bottom of my Terry's Computer Tips pages to search for items and click on the radio-button for www.terryscomputertips.com, Google isn't responding with some of the articles.

Now, with the new web pages, you can more easily access some of my earlier newsletter articles — including updated information where appropriate. They should also be more findable via Google and other search engines.

I'm converting both the original email versions (from before the days of the subscriber-only email editions) and the on-line newsletters into individual web pages to make them more search engine friendly.

New and revised pages, so far, include the following:

• Email Reliability in this Internet World
• Has Joe Read the Email I Sent Him?
• Google Earch and Google Moon
• Free Software Review — WinPatrol
• Indentifying Programs That Start Automatically
• Controlling Programs That Start Automatically
• Blogging
• What Happened To That Web Site?
• Uninstalling and Reinstalling Programs
• Usenet Newsgroups
• Usenet News Reader Programs
• Agent, a Usenet News Reader
• Powweb Web Hosting
• Remote Computer Access
• Anti-virus Programs
• Spam Filters and Spam Filtering
• Windows XP
• Microsoft Update vs Windows Update
• Windows OS CDs vs Restore CDs
• Restore Partitions and Restore CDs
• Searching the Internet
• I Hate spam
• CentOS Linux
• Hard Drives, Partitions and Drives
• Backing Up My System
• Backing Up My Data
• Linux For Windows Users
• Wireless Security
• My Computer Security Software Recommendations
• Filezilla File Transfer Software
• Xandros Desktop Linux
• So You Want A Home Network
• Free web Design Software - Nvu
• Selling Products Online at ProStores
• How Do I Create a Web Page?

Check out the new and revised articles at Terry's Computer Tips. The "Computer Tips" page has been updated to include the new additions.

Be sure to check frequently — I'm adding more articles daily.

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2.  Updates Last Week

Microsoft (operating systems, email, web browser, office suites):  None. The next regularly scheduled Windows Updates are scheduled for Tuesday, February 10, 2006.

Firefox (web browser, www.mozilla.org, free):  No updates this week. Current version 1.5.

Opera (web browser, www.opera.com, free):  No updates this week. Current version 8.51.

Netscape (web browser, www.netscape.com, free):  Version 8.1 released this week. From Netscape's web site:

What's new in this version?

• Anti-Spyware Protection
• Dynamic Security Center
• Profile Manager
• Enhanced RSS support
• New Options panel
• Undo tab close
• Tabbed browsing enhancements
• UI enhancements
• Performance improvements

Known Issues

• For users upgrading from a previous version of 8.0, some profile settings might not be compatible with the new profile system if you manually created multiple profiles.

Eudora (email, www.eudora.com, options: paid, sponsored or free/lite):  No updates this week. Current version 7.0.1.0.

OpenOffice (office suite — spreadsheet, word processor, presentations, graphics, web design; www.openoffice.org; free):  No updates this week. Current version 2.01.

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3.  NOD32 Anti-virus/Anti-Threat Program

I'm more and more impressed with the anti-virus program that is my personal choice. Rather than trying to use one of the "I'll do everything"-type programs that the big brand-name anti-virus programs are becoming, I use a program that specifically goes after viruses. NOD32, from ESET, is my choice. NOD32 is small and fast, designed to do its anti-virus work and get out of the way.

I wrote several recent articles about the Sony BMG music CD problem (where Sony BMG was installing rootkits on users computers, which then opened the computer wide to attacks by trojans and malicious web sites -- and their first fix was almost worse than the original problem).

ESET has put some innovative technology (they call it "ThreatSense® technology") into NOD32 and it is boosting the protection that NOD32 ofers quite a bit. One of the things that impressed me was that, without any other changes, NOD32 already protected against the Windows Metafile (WMF) vulnerability at the end of last year. Now, they've announced rootkit protection as part of NOD32 in their latest press release:

ESET Delivers Proactive Protection From Malicious Rootkit Applications
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – (January 11, 2006)

ESET, a global provider of security software for enterprises and consumers, today announced that its NOD32 solution with ThreatSense® technology has been enhanced to protect users and organizations against stealth rootkit applications. Rootkits, which by design are highly undetectable, are widely known to escape discovery by traditional signature-based antivirus methods.

Rootkits recently came to public attention when it was discovered that Sony included a rootkit on some of its music CDs and video DVDs in an effort to prevent illegal copying and distribution of copyrighted material. Designed specifically to be “invisible” to users, rootkits can be used to hide malicious software, giving criminals the opportunity to exploit unprotected computers.

“Rootkit detection is based on the new generation of intelligent signatures, which is a part of the ThreatSense technology” says Richard Marko, chief software engineer for ESET. “Currently, ESET is the only integrated threat protection system known to proactively detect even unknown rootkits.”

ESET’s NOD32 ThreatSense® technology is a sophisticated detection system based on advanced heuristics that proactively identifies previously-unknown malware, such as that which exploited the Sony rootkit.

Rootkit protection is available immediately to current NOD32 license holders, and will be automatically installed to computers configured to receive automatic program component updates. To download a free trial copy of NOD32, please visit www.eset.com.

 

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Part 1  Part 2  Part 3

Volume 1, Number 33 — Sunday, January 29, 2006
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Copyright © 2006 Terry A. Stockdale.  All rights reserved.