Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
April 19, 2009

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

Volume 4, Number 45 — Sunday, April 19, 2009

IN THIS ON-LINE ISSUE:

   1.   Using Delayed Startup to Speed Up Windows Boot Time
   2.   The Lighter Side of Technology
   3.   Create a Fill-In Form in MS Word Easily
   4.   Do I need a Software Firewall?
   5.   My Computer Security Software Recommendations
   6.   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. Its articles are not in the email issue — and the email articles aren't in the online issue — subscribe to my email newsletter so you can read both.

1.  Using Delayed Startup to Speed Up Windows Boot Time

 

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One of the most frustrating aspects of Windows (no, I don't mean User Access Control in Vista) is the amount of time that it takes Windows to boot.

The information about how to solve this has been well hidden, but, did you know that you can channge the way Windows XP and Windows Vista start programs? Would you like to change auto-starting programs from starting immediately as Windows boots so that they start after a delay of your choice?

You can, and one of my favorite free programs gives us an easy way to control these settings. That program is WinPatrol.

Of course, part of the problem is that almost every program we install wants to install part of itself as an always-running program, and starting automatically every time we boot Windows.

One of the culprits is Microsoft Office's ctfmon.exe. When you install Microsoft Office, it sets up ctfmon.exe to be automatically started when you boot your computer. If you disable that, when you start one of the Office programs, it starts ctfmon.exe — and leaves it running when you exit the Office program. What does ctfmon.exe do? It activates the Alternative User Input Text Input Processor (TIP) and the Microsoft Office Language Bar. It monitors the active windows and provides text input service support for speech recognition, handwriting recognition, keyboard, translation, and other alternative user input technologies. Isn't that just great? But, what if you don't do any of those alternate input forms (you don't need it to use the keyboard!)?

That's where WinPatrol comes in handly. For this purpose, let's assume that we really want ctfmon.exe to run automatically. But, we don't need it to run immediately as part of the Windows boot process. Similarly, i don't want Acronis' scheduler and its other programs starting immediately, I don't immediately need the iTunesHelper and Karen's Replicator. I don' twant the QuickTime Task monitor to run at all.

WinPatrol will handle all these issues for me.

Since I recently reinstalled Windows XP on my notebook, I left everything running automatically so I could use it as an example in this article.

Here's the list of Startup Programs that WinPatrol found (I use the Plus version, which provides access to their knowledge database about the programs and recommends which are safe to leave and which should be removed).

(click on the image for a larger version)

Below is the Delayed Start tab, which by default is blank. That means that Windows will start up all those auto-starting programs before it lets me use the computer.

(click on the image for a larger version)

I've selected the programs that I want to move to the Delayed Start menu. When I right-clicked on one of the selected programs, i was able to pick Move to Delayed Start Program List.

(click on the image for a larger version)

Below, you can see in the Type column that I've disabled some of those auto-starting programs. This won't prevent them from running if I click on them to run, but it will prevent them from automatically starting.

(click on the image for a larger version)

Now, you can see the Delayed Start tab, with the items I moved to it. By default, they will delay 30 seconds before trying to start. But, how long has it been since you saw Windows actually boot within 30 seconds. We need to change those values, too.

(click on the image for a larger version)

By right-clicking on an item in the Delayed Start list, we get a popup Context Menu with an optionn Delayed Start Options... Unfortunately, these have to be set individually for each program.

(click on the image for a larger version)

Here's an example of the Program Delay Startup Options setting screen for one of the programs I put into the Delayed Start list.

Finally, you can see the programs in the Delayed Start list and the delay times I've picked for each. This way, Windows will start more quickly and give me control on the computerr morre quickly.

(click on the image for a larger version)

2.  The Lighter Side of Technology

This week's technology cartoon at Terry's Computer Tips!

Sometimes we forget how much we rely upon our computers...

3.  Create a Fill-In Form in MS Word Easily

All you really need is basic MS Word knowledge to create a fill-in form that looks as if it has been created by a pro! It helps if you have some knowledge about using Tables in MS Word, but if not, I can bring you up to speed very quickly using this tutorial.

Here is the scenario: Your boss e-mails you a document and asks to you turn it into a form so that customer's can fill in their information. It looks something like the example below:

Now I will show you, step-by-step, how to create a form out of the above nightmare. Please follow along with each step, without moving ahead for the best result. Do not be discouraged because this tutorial looks long. Long does not translate into complicated. It just looks long because I am taking you through the process step-by-step.

The first step is to activate the Forms toolbar. This can be accomplished in a couple of ways — either click on View | Toolbars | Forms or right-click on an empty spot next to an existing toolbar and select Forms. As everyone knows, I prefer the quickest, simplest method to save time and keystrokes!

Step Two:

Insert a table into your document. When you do this, you will want as many columns as the cells needed vertically. You will also want to choose the row that will require the most cells, which for our purposes will be the City | State | Zip row. You will need six cells as you will need a cell for the label and one for the fill-in area.

So now, create a six column, two row table.

Click on Table | Insert | Table and enter 6 in the first box and 2 in the second box.

There are two rows so that you will have the second row to use as a copy row. You will understand this more fully as you follow the steps.

Now, this is important so make sure that you follow along with me, step-by-step.

• Click anyplace inside your table.
• Click on Table | Table Properties or hover your cursor over the extreme left corner of your table until you see a four headed arrow and right-click it and select Table Properties.
• Click the Options button and uncheck Automatically resize to fit contents. If you skip this step it will cause you much frustration as you go forward.

With your table still selected, click on Properties and set the width of your table to 100 Percent. If necessary, place click the box next to Preferred Width and use the drop-down arrow next to Measure in to change it to Percent.

Rather than using the up and down arrows, you can simply click in the cell next to Preferred Width and key in 100, which will automatically change the Measure in to Percent (saving time and keystrokes!)

Since your second row is your copy row, you do not want to touch it at all. So click in the second cell in the first row, hold down your Shift key and tap the right arrow key two times to select the second and third cells in your first row.

You can now click on Table | Merge Cells.

This is how you get your table cells to line up vertically without a lot of fuss and bother and yet you still have different cell widths.

Follow along with me now and do the same with cells five and six, which are now number four and five.

Your table should now look like the example below:

Ok, now we're getting someplace aren't we? So let's take the next step.

In the first cell, key in Name: and tap the Tab key.

In the second cell, click on the ab| button on the Forms toolbar, which will insert a text form field.

In the third cell, key in Date: and tap the Tab key.

In the fourth cell, click the ab| button on the Forms toolbar.

Regardless of how you think the table looks at this point, just follow the tutorial.

We will make it look pretty later on.

Row one is now finished, so click in the last cell of row two and tap your Tab key which will create a new copy row for you.

After you have done that, select all except the first cell in the second row. You can accomplish this using your mouse or Shift + right arrow key as we did at the beginning of this tutorial.

Merge those five cells together by clicking on Table | Merge Cells.

In the First cell of row two, key in Address:

This tutorial is starting to be fun now isn't it?

Ok, now let's move on to row 3.

• In the first cell, key in City.
• Place a text form field in the second cell.
• Key in State in the third cell.
• Place a text form field in the fourth cell.
• Key in Zip in the fifth cell.
• Place a text form field in the sixth cell.

If you think this process has been fun up to this point, then you are really going to enjoy the next part.

You have now learned how to create a table, merge cells, insert text form fields from the Forms toolbar, and add rows, so let's learn something new that will make this even more fun!

Double click the form field next to the Date cell.

Using the drop-down arrow, change the Type to Date and select MMMM d, yyyy from the dropdown box next to Date format.

Click OK.

Now, when someone keys in 4/12/09 in that field, it will display as April 12, 2009 when they tab to the next field.

More fun! Let's format some numbers, shall we? Double-click in the form field next to the Zip cell. Change the type to Number.

In the Format box, instead of using the drop-down arrow, key in five zeroes.

Now, when someone keys in 2123, it will change to 02123 when they tab to the next field. This is called leading zeroes. Leading zeroes are very helpful if you are using long account numbers. You could also set the length to 5 to be sure that a user tries to key in a zip plus 4 or a non-US code.

If your customer base only covers four states, it would make sense to limit the choices to those four. Click once on the State form field to select it.

• On the Forms toolbar, click the third button, which is a drop-down form field.
• Double-click the drop-down form field you created in the step above.
• Key in MD and click Add.
• Key in DE and click Add.
• Key in VA and click Add.
• Key in PA and click Add.

If you decide that you want to change the order, you can do so by highlighting the state and using the Up and Down arrows.

You can also create your form so that users can also fill in a state by hand. Not of lot of folks know how to do this but now you will!

• Double-click the field again.
• Add a new entry of SPACES (just hit the space bar the number of spaces of your longest entry or you can add a few more if you like.
• Click Add.

If you like, you can move the spaces entry to the top so that it appears that the field appears empty.

If most or your customers reside in a particular city, such as Maryland, double-click the City form field. In the Default Text box, key in Maryland and click OK. Using the default text, prevents you from having to key in Maryland every time and allows you to change it if it is a different city.

Your form should now look like the example below:

There is no need to add another copy row because we are now going to use the last row that is needed for our form, so we will use our copy row this time.

• Key in Gender in the first cell of the fourth row.
• In the second cell, key in M, hit your spacebar three times and key in F.
• Click in front of the F and click on the second button on the Forms toolbar, which is a check box field form.
• Click in front of the M and do the same thing.
• A good rule to follow is to leave one space between the checkbox and its label and three spaces between the checkbox options.
• Select the second and third cells and merge them as you learned in the beginning of the tutorial.
• Key in Product: in what is now the third cell in the last row.
• Insert a drop-down form field with Widgets, Skyhooks and Balloons as options from which your user can select. If you have a default choice, make it your first choice.

Your form should now look something like this:

Now that we have finished the design of our form, it is time to make it "pretty." What we have done is create the design and now we will do the formatting all at once instead of tweaking as we went along, which takes up much more of your valuable time.

• Click inside your table and click on Table | Select | Table.
• Click on Format | Paragraph.
• Under Spacing, key in 3 in the Space Before box and 3 in the Space After box.

Your table now has a nice amount of white space and it is much more pleasing to the eye.

• Select the Table again and click on Format | Font.
• Select Arial 9 point.

You have the choice of keeping the borders of your table or no borders. Simply select the table again and click on the drop-down arrow and select No Border on the Borders button on your toolbar.

The above are just suggestions. You can feel free to format your table any way you like until you are satisfied with it.

Ok, we now have a wonderful table form but users cannot access the form until we protect it.

This is the most important step actually. A fill-in form must be protected to be used. While you are creating the form, you can click on the padlock icon on the Forms toolbar which will allow you to use it.

Once you have completed your form though and before you distribute it to folks, you should use the professional method of protecting it by:

• Click on Tools | Protect Document.
• Select the checkbox under Editing Restrictions.
• Select Filling in forms.

You have the choice of whether or not to use a password.

I would recommend saving your form as a template so that you never have to create it again.

Now, even though the tutorial looked long, it truly wasn't was it? Not only that, it taught you the quickest and easiest way to create a fill in form in MS Word and it wasn't nearly as scary and difficult as you thought it would be was it?

4.  Do I need a Software Firewall?

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Subscriber V.R. Beeson wrote last week to ask about the need for both a router and a software firewall:

Terry, just wanted to thank you for including my question in the last newsletter. Hopefully it will help someone else. By the way, since then I have run across that problem a couple more times. I just rebooted and all was well. My have to contact my ISP if this continues. But so far everything is working ok. While I'm on a roll I want to ask you about a firewall. I bought a Acer netbook with wireless. My home system has a Linksys router. Do you think I should also install a software firewall? Or will the Linksys give the protection I need? Thanks again for all your help and advise. V.R.

I wrote back to V.R. to tell him that he absolutely needs a software firewall, too.

A router will block attempts from the outside world to initiate contact your machine.

It will not stop outbound communications initiated by your computer. Anything originating from the local network side of the router is accepted as perfectly valid and permissable.

Microsoft woke up to the need for firewalls on our computers. First, with Windows XP Service Pack 1, they added the Windows XP firewall — but they did't turn it on! Service Pack 2 and Service Pack 3 install it and turn it on. But, Microsoft's Windows XP firewall remains a one-way firewall — it stops inbound attempts to initiate communication and allows all responses in response to your computer's requests.

Let me say that again. The Windows XP firewall will allow any RESPONSES to communications initiated by your computer. The router will, too, because it believes that any communications initiated from within your local network are completely valid.

That's how the remote-control bad guys get control. They get you to run the baddie on your computer (or they use a flaw in a program or in Windows to get it to run), then all they have to do is respond. Your router will allow the bad application to talk to the bad guys' application and will allow the bad guys' responses to return to the computer.

A two-way software firewall is designed to control both outbound and inbound communication attempts. I think all of the firewalls available commercially are two-way firewalls.

Even Microsoft finally recognized that two-way firewalls were the appropriate design — the Windows Vista firewall is a two-way firewall.

For my computers and those of my family, I use the Sunbelt Personal Firewall (http://terryscomputertips.com/SunbeltPersonalFirewall).

5.  My Computer Security Software Recommendations

I review my security software recommendations and update them for each weekly newsletter issue, if I think they need to change.

My Philosophy: Many people want to pick their most economical solution and prefer an all-in-one anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall solution. In concept, that's a great idea. In actual practice, I don' think that this type of package is likely to be the best in all the protection categories you need. Other people want to pick the best of each type program. I'm one of the these folks.

My choice of software that I am willing to recommend is driven by my search for software for me to use. I only recommend programs that I like and that I use. I will sometimes suggest alternatives to my recommendations, but I clearly note if I no longer use them.

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..."

From 2003 through mid-2008, my personal choice was 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 — and it continues to get recognition andn awards. Unlike some of its competitors, ESET offers multiple-year licenses also, and includes program updates in the multiple-year license.

However, I've changed 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.
Tip: Be sure to read my review of SPF for the settings I recommend.

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?
• My 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.

Sunbelt's CounterSpy v2.5, 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 — the current version is v3.1 — and there's an even newer version about to be released. Nicely, Sunbelt 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've changed 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. My computer seems to have much more pep and power than it had previously. 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
• My CounterSpy Review
• My 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 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

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