Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
August 17, 2008

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

Volume 4, Number 10 — Sunday, August 17, 2008

IN THIS ON-LINE ISSUE:

   1.   VIPRE — Week Two
   2.   Icons Missing from Windows Status Bar
   3.   My Computer Security Software Recommendations
   4.   Getting Control of Your Windows Start Menu
   5.   Recommend my Terry's Computer Tips Newsletter to Your Friends

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Welcome to the on-line edition of my Terry's Computer Tips newsletter.

 

  

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1.  VIPRE — Week Two

First, I want to say that I've become more impressed this week with Sunbelt Software's VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware.

If you will recall, I had a "first look" review of VIPRE in last week's online issue. I ended the review saying that I was sure that I would license VIPRE for my notebook now and that I expected that I would put VIPRE on my other home computers when their CounterSpy (antispyware) or NOD32 (antivirus) licenses expired.

This week, I got my Unlimited Home Site License for VIPRE. The neat thing about the Unlimited Home Site License is that it is a site license that covers all my home computers.

VIPRE covers two of my security software needs — antivirus and antispyware. I continue to use Sunbelt Personal Firewall as my firewall of choice for my computer and my family's computers. I use PopFile for my anti-spam solution (I haven't tried Sunbelt's iHateSpam antispam program, since I don't use Outlook or Outlook Express as my email program).

Sunbelt offers great discounts for multiple computers (and for multiple years) and also the Unlimited Home Site License, for each of their consumer products: CounterSpy, iHateSpam, Sunbelt Personal Firewall and their latest VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware

Related articles:

• My Sunbelt Personal Firewall Review
• My CounterSpy Review
• My VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware Review

If you didn't read my review of VIPRE in last week's online Terry's Computer Tips newsletter, be sure to read it now, or read my review link above or the updated review.

Sponsored Advertisement VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware Tired of old antivirus software that makes your PC slow down to a crawl? Try High-Performance VIPRE security software free for 15 days Multi-computer discounts including an Unlimited Home License!

Long-time subscriber Scott Adler wrote to ask:

I've gotten another weirdo for you. I keep icons of several programs on the right side of my task bar at the bottom of the window. But if I shut down and reboot I lose several of them How do I prevent this deletions??

I wrote back to say that the icons in the bottom right hand side off the task bar are in the "Status Bar." They are programs that are running — at least those that choose to put icons in the task bar.

There's not a user-controlled quick-launch bar there. Scott wrote back to elaborate on his problem:

The tool bar I refer to is the one where the time shows up.I have several programs whose Icons I like to have appear there. Some stay after a reboot-others disappear and I have to restart the program from the start-all programs list. Among these that stop and I have to reload are Counter spy and Personal firewall. This is a new phenomena. Used to be they'd be there on a restart with out any action on my part.

I answered Scott to tell him that he was talking about the Windows Status Bar. It shows icons for running programs that have icons they want to show in the Status Bar. All programs don't do that.

CounterSpy and SPF should both be showing their user-interface icons in the Status Bar. If you're using WinPatrol, check to make sure both are set to start in

CounterSpy's tray icon is the program SBCSTray.exe which should show in the Startup Programs tab in WinPatrol. The Type column should show HKLM_RUN (not "Disabled").

Sunbelt Personal Firewall's user interface is started as a Windows XP Sevice called SBPFCI.exe. Check WinPatrol's Services tab to make sure sBPFCI.exe, SbPFSvc.exe and SbPFLnch.exe are starting there. All three of them should be set to Automatic (starting).

The best thing to do, though, is to start it manually if it's not running. Then, make a note of the version:

1. SPF — right-click on the SPF icon in the Status Bar, select About, and check the version number of the System Service and User Interface. The current version is 4.6.1839.0.
2. CounterSpy — right-click on the CounterSpy icon and select Open CounterSpy. Then Help, About. The version shown should be 2.5.1043.

If either is not the latest, go to www.sunbeltsoftware.com and download the latest version. Then, install it over the currently installed version. That should solve the problem of the UI not starting.

Scott replied to say that he had solved the problem:

thanks— I'm back to normal-Finally realized I had too many programs on my start menu. Deleted a number of them and egads=all back just fine.

You're welcome, Scott. I'm glad I could help.

Don't miss article 4 this week —
there are better ways to get control of the Start Menu than to delete programs from it.

3.  My Computer Security Software Recommendations

Anti-Virus

I'm often asked about several other popular anti-virus or anti-virus combination packages. Yes, I realize that they are not in my recommendation list. "Enough said..."

For the last five years, my personal choice has been ESET's small, fast NOD32 anti-virus program, which offers a FREE 30-day evaluation license. I consider NOD32 one of the best in anti-virus protection. Unlike some of its competitors, ESET offers multiple-year licenses also, and includes program updates in the multiple-year license.

Now, I'm in the process of changing from my long-time programs NOD32 (antivirus) and CounterSpy (antispyware) to Sunbelt's new VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware.

I've found that VIPRE puts even less load on my computer than the speedy combination of NOD32 and CounterSpy. I've also been impressed with the way its "deep scan" has found and eliminated risks that were stored in zip files, which is one of the latest malware email tricks.

Read more about anti-virus programs on my web site.

Related articles:

• Anti-Virus Programs and Online Scanners
• Free Online Antivirus Scan
• NOD32 Anti-Virus Review - A Look at NOD32
• VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware Review

Firewall Software

While the Windows XP firewall is much better than no firewall at all, don't count on the Windows XP firewall to meet your needs. You need a two-way firewall, which the Windows XP firewall is not!. Microsoft woke up and supplied a two-way firewall with Windows Vista.

The Windows XP firewall does not control outbound communications originating from your computer — and you should want to have control if adware/trojans/spyware or even commercial products want to talk to the Internet. Whether they are calling home or spewing spam, you want to be able to control your computer.

Do you want Windows Media Player to call home every time you play something? It does! Do you use the Search function in Windows Explorer to find things on your hard drive? Did you know that every time you search, Windows Explorer talks to Microsoft?

I didn't know that when I ran ZoneAlarm, but the Sunbelt Personal Firewall flags that to me, and I can stop it or allow it to happen. Many other programs try to call home when you run them, too.

I recommend my choice for a firewall program, which is Sunbelt Personal Firewall.

You can try the full-featured "paid version" of Sunbelt Personal Firewall free for 30 days — after that, you can register it or, if you're using it on a home non-business computer, you can let it revert to the free, lesser-function license.

Sunbelt Personal Firewall is regularly $19.95 (with discounts for multiple computers and/or multiple years!) for a non-expiring license for the program and includes one year of their updates subscription.

Related articles:

• The Internet Versus You
• Do I Need a Firewall Program?
• Sunbelt Personal Firewall Review

Anti-Spyware / Anti-Adware Software

CounterSpy, from Sunbelt Software, has received many kudos from the computer press for its always-running and periodic full system scans. It has been my personal choice for my PC's and my family's PC's.

In July, 2007, Sunbelt released v2.5 of CounterSpy, which again both improved CounterSpy's performance against malware and reduced its impact on system resources and responsiveness when its scanning.

Sunbelt continues to release updated program versions. Nicely, they do NOT install the updated programs automatically. You have to use the Update process in the program, which means that you'll know that something significant has changed.

Now, I'm in the process of changing from my long-time programs NOD32 (antivirus) and CounterSpy (antispyware) to Sunbelt's new VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware.

I've found that VIPRE puts even less load on my computer than the speedy combination of NOD32 and CounterSpy. I've also been impressed with the way its "deep scan" has found and eliminated risks that were stored in zip files, which is one of the latest malware email tricks.

Related articles:

• Fighting Against Spyware & Malware
• CounterSpy Review
• VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware Review

Anti-spam Software

In today's Internet world, the question is not "if" you will get spam, but "how much will you get?"

I use and now I recommend POPFile as my first choice for handling spam. POPFile sits on your computer, between your email program and your ISP mailbox, and handles emial as it downloads.

POPFile uses a different approach to handle spam than some other programs do — it does nothing to reduce spam. It is designed as an email classification tool — you train it to recognize spam and any other type of email that you want to classify. These classifications can help you sort your emails into appropriate folders in your email program.

Sunbelt Software, who makes the anti-spyware program CounterSpy (which I use and recommend) and the firewall that I use and recommend (Sunbelt Personal Firewall) also has a well-regarded, award-winning anti-spam program called iHateSpam for Outlook and Outlook Express. Since I don't use Outlook or Outlook Express for email, I haven't tried iHateSpam.

Mailwasher Pro is my first choice to handle spam before it ever gets into your computer's Inbox. Mailwasher Pro uses on-line Realtime Black Lists mail servers sending spam recently, "training" by you of what you think is spam, and your own "friends" and "blacklist" lists.

Mailwasher Pro can even bounce spam messages, as if your email address was not valid, although the usefulness and appropriateness of this is questionable. There is a free version called "Mailwasher," but it omits the functions that I consider critical for this purpose -- such as safely previewing the emails safely before they ever get to your email inbox.

Related articles:

• Spam Filtering
• Keeping spam out of your Inbox
• Getting Control of Your Inbox
• How Can I Prevent spam?

Cable/DSL Router

If you have a cable modem or a DSL modem, you need to have another layer of inexpensive protection between you and the Internet. A cable/DSL router isolates your computer from direct connection to the Internet. Your computer can easily request your email, web pages, etc. through the router. The responses come back to the router and are smoothly routed to your computer. But, someone on the Internet side of the router can not initiate a connection to your computer — they can only respond to your request.

Even if you only have one computer to connect to your cable or DSL modem, I recommend that you purchase and use a cable/DSL router because of the protection it can give you against attempts to attack through some flaws in Windows itself.

A router isolates your local network, whether it is only one computer or several, from the Internet by actually making it a separate network. The router gets the "public" IP address and handles all your outbound communications and the responses to them. But, it blocks computers on the Internet side from being able to initiate communications with your computer! This will prevent you from falling prey to many worms that try to attack security holes in Windows itself.

For a wireless router, I recommend the Linksys WRT54G wireless router. I'm using the relatively new version 6 of this router.

If you don't want wireless, I recommend the Linksys BEFSR41 wired router. Either way, based on my experience, I recommend Linksys routers for price, reliability and Linksys' habit of releasing updated firmware for their products..

See these related articles:

• Wireless Security
• Wi-Fi Hotspots and Computer Security
• Wireless Networking Problems & Wireless Networking Security

It seems like every program wants to install itself into the Start Menu in its very own line. The Start Menu quickly grows unwieldy as each game adds its own item (maybe in addition to making a folder on the Start Menu, too), each utility adds each own section, each graphics program, each communications program, etc. setting up their very own listing under "All Programs"...

If you've got a small screen, or if you use a large resolution like 800x600 or 1024x768, you can quickly get a menu that wraps and takes up the whole screen — and more!

However, it's easy to take control of the Start Menu and return it to a reasonable size, while still retaining all the information ad links.

I have a very few entries in my All Programs list — and most of them are folders. That's right, most of the entries in my Start Menu are just folders that have shortcuts to programs and shortcuts to other folders in them. In fact, that's all the Start Menu really is — folders and shortcuts.

Plain, regular folders that include shortcuts to other files and folders... The Start Menu just displays them in a nice fly-out menu style. You can create your own folders and put them on the All Programs list. Then, you can easily drag and drop the existing entries into your new folders.

For example, I have a "Communications" folder into which I have moved all email, web browser, instant messaging, etc "All" Programs folders that relate to communications. Similarly, I have CD/DVD, Graphics, and Utilities folders (and a few more, too).

Just create a folder on the desktop (right click on a blank spot on the desktop, select New, Folder) and name it.

Then, right-click and drag the new folder over the Start button -- and hover there. The Start button will open up and you can continue dragging the folder into the All Programs area.

If you open the All Programs list again, you may see that Windows has sorted the new folder to the bottom of the list. Just left-click on it and drag it up the list to drop it between two other items.

Then, you can left-click and drag current Start Menu items into the new folder. You can also right-click and drag program shortcuts from the desktop into the new folders.

Right-click so you get a menu where you can choose to Move or Copy — don't make a shortcut, because it will be a shortcut to the desktop shortcut which will break if you delete or rename the desktop shortcut.

You can also use Windows Explorer to edit the Start Menu directly. You'll find that your Start Menu is a combination of two folders, both of which are stored under C:\Documents and Settings.

First, there is the one for "All Users" and is located at
   C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu
the second has the items that aare only on your own menu, located at
   C:\Documents and Settings\[YourUserID]\Start Menu

Once you have those two Start Menu sections identified in Windows Explorer, you can easily add shortcuts, add folders, combine folders, arrange shortcuts, and generally take control of your Start Menu.

Have fun!

Sponsored Advertisement VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware Tired of old antivirus software that makes your PC slow down to a crawl? Try High-Performance VIPRE security software free for 15 days Multi-computer discounts including an Unlimited Home License!

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