Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
August 19, 2007

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

Volume 3, Number 10 — Sunday, August 19, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2

1. Turning Off System Restore

Windows XP and Windows Vista have a valuable feature called System Restore, which enable you to save and/or restore some of the critical Windows Registry values and Windows critical files.

They don't back up your computer — but they can save your Windows installation if a program installation, a program update or a driver update manages to mess up Windows.

But, for every ray of sunshine, we get a little bit of rain... System Restore complicates the process of getting rid of viruses, adware, spyware and trojans.

Actually, it doesn't really complicate the process of removal — it complicates the process of keeping the malware uninstalled.

After cleaning your system, if you restore an earlier Restore Point, you may resurrect the malware at the same time!

The answer, then, is simple. Just turn off the System Restore function when you remove the malware. The act of turning off System Restore will delete all earlier Restore Points.

To turn off System Restore:

Start
Control Panel
Performance & Maintenance (if in Category View) or System (if in Classic View)
System (if in Category View)
Click on the System Restore tab
Click in the checkbox "Turn off System Restore on all drives"
Click OK.

Then, just turn it back on again, so that Windows will automatically create Restore Points for your future use.

2. Updates Last Week

Microsoft (operating systems, email, web browser, office suites):
Microsoft releases almost all updates once per month, on the second Tuesday. This week included Patch Tuesday.

Update for Windows XP (KB938828)
This is a reliability update. Install this update to improve the stability of computers running Windows XP. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Interestingly, although this one installed, it was presented again via automatic updates a couple days later.

Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - August 2007 (KB890830)
After the download, this tool runs once to check your computer for infection by specific, prevalent malicious software (including Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom) and helps to remove any infection found. If an infection is found, the tool will display a status report the next time you start your computer. A new version of the tool will be offered every month. If you want to manually run the tool on your computer, you can download a copy from the Microsoft Download Center or run an online version from microsoft.com. This tool is not a replacement for an anti-virus product. To help protect your computer, you should use an anti-virus product.

Security Update for Windows XP (KB921503)
A security issue has been identified that could allow an attacker to remotely compromise your Windows-based system using Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) Automation and gain control over it. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

Security Update for Windows XP (KB938829)
A security issue has been identified in Microsoft GDI that could allow an attacker to compromise your Windows-based system and gain control over it. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP (KB937143)
Security issues have been identified that could allow an attacker to compromise a system running Internet Explorer and gain control over it. You can help protect your system by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

Security Update for Windows Media Player 9 (KB936782)
A security issue has been identified in Windows Media Player that could allow an attacker to compromise your Windows-based system and gain control over it. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

Security Update for Windows XP (KB936021)
A security issue has been identified in Microsoft XML Core Services (MSXML) that could allow an attacker to compromise your Windows-based system and gain control over it. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

Security Update for Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP (KB938127)
A security issue has been identified in the way Vector Markup Language (VML) is handled that could allow an attacker to compromise a computer running Microsoft Windows and gain control over it. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

Microsoft Office 2003

Update for Outlook Junk Email Filter 2003 (KB936643)
This update provides the Junk E-mail Filter in Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 with a more current definition of which e-mail messages should be considered junk e-mail. This update was released in August 2007.

Security Update for Office 2003 (KB936048)
A security vulnerability exists in Microsoft Office 2003 that could enable arbitrary code to run when a maliciously modified file is opened. This security update resolves that vulnerability.

Security Update for Excel 2003 (KB940602)
A security vulnerability exists in Microsoft Office Excel 2003 that could allow remote code execution. This update resolves that vulnerability

Microsoft Office 2002/XP

Security Update for Excel 2002 (KB940601)
A security vulnerability exists in Microsoft Excel 2002 that could allow remote code execution. This update resolves that vulnerability.

Firefox (web browser, http://www.mozilla.com, free):
No new version this week. Version 2.0.0.6 was released on August 1, 2007. This was a security update.

Opera (web browser, http://www.opera.com, free):
New version this week. Version 9.23 was released on August 15th. This release of a recommended security upgrade, in addition to having several other changes and bug fixes.

Netscape (web browser, http://browser.netscape.com, free):
New version this week. Version 9.0b3 (beta version) was released during the week ending August 18, 2007.

SeaMonkey (web browser, email, HTML editor, newsreader; http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey; free): No new version this week. Version 1.1.4 was released on August 3, 2007. This was primarily a security update.

Eudora (email, http://www.eudora.com):
No update last week. Version 7.1.0.9 was released October 11, 2006. Eudora is now free, with no ads and no "paid mode" option.

Sponsored mode in the earlier versions of Eudora expired on March 31st — and reverted to the less-functional "Lite" mode. Fortunately, Eudora is very nicely designed. Just upgrade to v7.1.0.9 to get back to Sponsored mode.

The current release is the last version for this incarnation of Eudora. Qualcomm has handed the product to the Mozilla Foundatiton. The next time we actually see a new release of Eudora, it is expected to be Eudora features built onto a Thunderbird base.

Mozilla Thunderbird (email, http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird, free):
No new version this week. Thunderbird version 2.0.0.6 was released on August 1, 2007. This is primarily a security update.

OpenOffice (office suite — spreadsheet, word processor, presentations, graphics, web design; http://www.openoffice.org; free): Version 2.2.1 was released during the week ending June 16th. This is a security fix and bug fix release, with no new features.

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3. A Look Inside Click2PDF

I've written about the PDF creation program Click2PDF a number of times. However, I just realized that I've never shown it in action.

I use Click2PDF to let me easily "print" PDF files to document web pages. I can log into an investment account and print multiple pages, even print multiple times, change the order of the print jobs in the file and then finally create the file.

This is much more efficient for me than even the "print once, create one file" approach of Adobe Acrobat or any of the other cheap (or free) PDF creation programs.

First, let's take a look at a web page. I'm using Firefox, my normal web browser ( ). The web site is Spice Barn, my favorite source for spices on the web. I'll use it during this example (plus, you'll see some of the things that I like to buy there!).

(click on the image for a larger version)

Next, a product detail page and the shopping cart page. After displaying each of these pages, I have selected the Click2PDF "printer" when printing them from Firefox.

(click on the image for a larger version)

Now, let's look at Click2PDF after I've used Firefox's Print (File > Print) to print a couple pages.

As you can see in the box at the lower left-hand side, each time I used the Print function in Firefox (or printed from any other program and selected Click2PDF as my "printer"), I got a new set of pages added to the data in Click2PDF.

At that point, I can unselect any documents I've printed. I can also delete individual pages if I choose. For example, the first item has 9 pages — I can delete any or all of those pages individually, and they're really gone. That's unlike the check/uncheck ability to remove/include different print jobs from the final PDF file.

I can also change the order of the print jobs in the final PDF file. I have found that I use this feature frequently when I make purchases on the web. I use Click2PDF to document the web site's product description page, then the shopping cart, and finally the receipt. Then, I drag the receipt to the beginning of the file. That way, the final PDF file has the receipt at the beginning of the file.

Finally, to save the PDF file, I click on the Save button or use that usual File > Save or File > SaveAs menu functions.