Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
August 31, 2008

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

Volume 4, Number 12 — Sunday, August 31, 2008

IN THIS ON-LINE ISSUE:

   1.   XP Service Pack 3 Didn't Like Me
   2.   Click2PDF and Firefox 3 — Problem Easily Solved
   3.   My Computer Security Software Recommendations
   4.   Quick questions and comments from subscribers, and answers, too...
   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.  XP Service Pack 3 Didn't Like Me

This week, I finally got around to installing Windows XP Service Pack 3 on my notebook. Well, at least, I tried...

I use a Dell Inspiron 8600 notebook as my main computer. It has a 1.7GHz Pentium M CPU, a built-in ATI graphics card, a 100 GB hard drive (it came with a 60 GB drive, though), and 2 GB of Crucial Technologies memory.

Since I have a few Windows XP computers, I chose to download the Service Pack 3 to run locally instead of runningn it via Windows Updates. So, I downloaded the 324 MB file instead of the "average 60 MB" that Windows Update offered. v As a precaution, I backed up my C: drive using Acronis True Image Home 11 before startig. That way, if anything went wrong, I could restore my C: drive instead of having to start over by installing Windows XP and my software.

Then, just prior to starting the Service Pack 3 update, I turned off my firewall (I have a router, so I'm not in much danger of attack unless my son's machine has been successfully attacked) and also turned off WinPatrol and VIPRE. WinPatrol is a system protection and control program. VIPRE is an antivirus + antispyware program. All of these programs could interfere with upgrading the operating system, or at least stop a step and ask me if I wanted to allow something.

At first, as I was installing the Service Pack, it all went well. XPSP3 backed up the files it was going to replace, and then it started replacing them.

After about 10 minutes, I got a thoroughly useless error message — "Access Denied".

After clicking the only thing available, the OK button, I received this slightly more helpful message:

When I clicked OK on this screen, Service Pack 3 uninstalled the changes it had made. Although I received a final warning dialog box, which indicated that my computer may not run properly, all appears well.

After rebooting a couple times, I tried again to install XP Service Pack 3, but had the same results. I even tried to install it using Windows Updates, but it still failed the same way.

It looks like I'll skip XPSP3 for a while on this computer, at least. Whenever I update to a larger hard drive on it, I'll reinstall Windows and will get XPSP3 at that time.

Fortunately, in the mean time, other updates are available and don't require that I install XPSP3 first.

Click here for more information about VIPRE.

I recently answered a friend's email question. He was having problems with one of my favorite programs Click2PDF, which is a cheap little program for "printing" anything into a PDF file. The unusual thing about Click2PDf, as opposed to its competitors and even Adobe Acrobat, is that you print into the Click2PDF program, can print other documeents even out of other programs, change the order in Click2PDF's page listing, decide not to include one (or more), and then finally save all of the documents in one PDF file. Other programs make you save each individual printing in PDF format.

Anyway, Bill had a problem that I had recently also had, and which I had already solved. He (and I) had upgraded to Firefox 3. At that point, our Click2PDF-created documents did not have any text in them. We could see the text in Click2PDF's preview, but the actual saved document had images but no text.

Fortunately, it was an easy fix.

First, you "Print" a page with Click2PDF.

Then, with the Click2PDF control window open, click its Options button.

(click on the image for a larger version)

On the default tab (Program Settings), put a checkmark in the box that says "Check if not text is appearing in PDF files."

The fix was that easy.

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 would be 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. Note: I found that PopFile generally meets my needs and stopped using Mailwasher Pro, even though PopFile works AFTER the emails have been downloaded. If I used a dialup connection, I would be more interested in Mailwasher Pro.

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, which I also use. 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

Chris from the UK wrote:

Hi Terry Thanks for a great newsletter. I recommend you, via e-mail, to my friends across the U.K. Interesting reading your 'Winpatrol' comments. Would this programme work on my 'Vista home basic' P.C? Keep up the great work. Take care Chris.

I understand how Chris missed the words — I took forever finding it (I should have used Control-F). The WinPatrol home page says "Windows 95 - Windows Vista including Vista 64", but is says that where it's talking about WinPatrol Plus (the same program, with a paid license and a few more features turned on). The download page says "WinPatrol is designed for Windows 98 thru Windows Vista. "

David, also from the UK, wrote:

>Hi Terry. Re. your item about speeding up XP, I actually have my PC set for "best performance". I know it looks as dull as ditch-water, but there is quite a noticeable gain in speed. Call me old-fashioned, possums, but I really cannot fathom the fads for resource-sapping fancy graphics and/or colours which serve no real useful purpose!

Jackie wrote to ask:

HAVING PRINT SPOOLER ERROR 1075 WHICH SAYS THE DEPENDENCY SERVICE DOES NOT EXIST OR HAS BEEN MARKED FOR DELETION. WE HAD A LOOKSKY TROJAN THAT WE GOT RID OF AND NOW THE SPOOLER DOESNT WORK. ANY ADVICE ON HOW TO FIX THIS?

Many of the low-level programs that run all the time in Windows are called Services. Not only do many of the programs that Microsoft supplied as part of Windows run this way, additional programs that you install can set up services, too. They're accessed via the services.msc console.

You can start up services.msc as follows via the Run dialog on the Start menu. Start > Run > services.msc

Scroll down to Print Spooler, double-click on Print Spooler and check the Dependencies tab.
Mine shows only "Remote Procedure Call (RPC)"

Yours might also show an entry specific to your printer model — Lexmark installs services for their printers and then changes the Print Spooler service to require the Lexmark printer service to be running before the Print Spooler will run.

Past that point, I haven't run into that problem, so I have to refer you to Google for further help. Let me know how you solve it.

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