Terry's Computer Tips Newsletter
May 9, 2010
Terry's Computer Tips Newsletter
http://www.terryscomputertips.com
A computer tips newsletter for users of PC's.
Volume 5, Number 48 — Sunday, May 9, 2010
IN THIS ON-LINE ISSUE:
1. Remote Control of Your Own Computers With Windows 7
2. The Lighter Side of Technology
3. Outlook Express Problem Becoming More Prevalent
4. Using Ultr@VNC with Windows 7
5. My Computer Security Software Recommendations
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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. Remote Control of Your Own Computers With Windows 7
For a long time, I've been using the free version of RealVNC to provide remote control from my notebook to the other computers on my home network. This has been very convenient when doing updates. It was also a necessity with my home theater PC, as it was displaying to a large screen TV.
For years, that was an analog TV that simply didn't have the resolution to display text clearly enough to be read at any distance. Now, though, the HTPC drives a 61-inch 1920x1080 resolution LED-DLP display. That's plenty of resolution to make the text readable — but not from across the room.
RealVNC, like most remote control programs had two required programs — the client version and the Server version. The "client" version is the RealVNC Viewer program. The "server" version is the RealVNC Server program, which means that the PC could be remotely controlled from the RealVNC Viewer program.
RealVNC allowed me to see the computer's display on my notebook screen and control it with my notebook keyboard and notebook mouse. Until Windows 7, that is. RealVNC, the company, has chosen not to update the Free Edition for Windows 7, which is version 4.1.3. Their web site says that VNC Server 4.5.1 and later support Windows 7.
With Windows 7, the free version works some of the time, but occasionally, for no reason I can determine, it decides that it does not want to work. It's got to be on the server side, because I tried accessing it both from Windows XP clients and Windows 7 clients.
The free version of RealVNC has another problem with Windows 7 — well, you can view it as a problem or as a security control. For my use within my own home network, it's a problem. RealVNC blocks the User Access Control controls and some other security controls, too. I have to switch back and forth from my notebook mouse and keyboard to the radio-frequency (RF) keyboard and mouse that are "connected" to home theater PC.
So, I finally decided that I needed to start looking for something else. RealVNC felt comfortable, since I had been using it for years.
I seriously considered upgrading to the paid VNC® Personal Edition versions (which were upgraded for Windows 7), but that was going to cost $30 per computer that I wanted to control. The client version was still free, but the server version is $30 per computer, at least up the 4 copies I needed.
I did some quick searching on the Internet and found a free, open-source remote control program for my PC — with encryption, too!
Ultr@VNC is available for free download and is free to use. You can download the source code if you want, but that's not necessary.
Just like RealVNC and the other VNC programs, Ultr@VNC has two components: the server which allows the computer to be accessed from other computers, and the client, which runs on the computer that wants to access the server. By default, both are installed on each computer, although that's an option in the installation process.
Ultr@VNC is available in an installer package for Windows 32-bit and for Windows 64-bit. There are also download packages available that have "bins" in their name. These are the individual binary files (not source files) including a .reg file of the entries for the Windows Registry.
For some reason, starting in the last couple days, the Ultr@VNC web site (www.uvnc.com) is getting flagged by Sunbelt's VIPRE Antivirus Premium as a malicious web site. VIPRE's firewall is blocking access to it. However, interestingly enough, VIPRE Antivirus Premium will scan the Ultr@VNC files without complaint — even when I specifically scan the Ultr@VNC folder.
I think Sunbelt's still having some startup problems with their identification of malicious web sites. Last weekend, it was the Aweber.com web site. I contacted Aweber (who is the mailing list company for my newsletters), who contacted Sunbelt. That got the problem solved. Now, it's the Ultr@VNC site.
The original VIPRE used to complain about RealVNC, since it's a remote-control program. However, in this case, VIPRE isn't complaining about the remote-control program, it's the VIPRE firewall that's blocking access to the Ultr@VNC site.
I changed VIPRE Antivirus Premium's settings to allow me to access the site anyway. VIPRE had no complaints when I visited it or with the programs I downloaded. I scanned the directory alone and then did a full scan with VIPRE Antivirus Premium. I think Sunbelt's reporting a "false positive."
2. The Lighter Side of Technology
This week's Terry's Computer Tips technology cartoon from www.ineedacartoon.com .
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VIPRE Antivirus Premium— the New Release!
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3. Outlook Express Problem Becoming More Prevalent
I guess the problem is that Outlook Express has been around and used for so long, and everybody has received so many spam messages that its data files have gotten huge.
This week, I received questions from at least two more site readers, who quickly became subscribers, such as this one from Kathy.
Hi Terry,
I am not computer literate, pretty much just know the basics. I am unable to delete email . Was told on a computer help site to delete the deleted emails. I did this, I didn't want to, but I did. So my deleted emails are gone forever, and I STILL cannot delete my emails!! Wish I hadn't done that! Can you tell me what else I can do?
Thanks so much!
Kathy B.
I wrote back to Kathy to tell her that she was asking the most frequent question that I see. You have no idea how often new subscribers have asked that question. I even had an article in last week's email newsletter that touched on it.
In that article, I mentioned that, since I'd written about this Outlook Express problem so many times, I asked Doug to search my web site and using the searchbox at the bottom of any page, and to search for
Unable to delete email outlook express
Doug wrote back, as many others have, that this solved his problem.
Kathy wrote back:
Terry,
I searched the list several times and could not find , "unable to delete email messages from outlook express" ???????? Is there another list I can try?
Thanks much!
Kathy B.
Since that wasn't the exact wording I suggested, and Kathy wasn't clear about what list she had found, I asked her what list she was talking about. Was it the list of articles that comes up when you use the search box at the bottom of every page of www.TerrysComputerTips.com ? I also asked her "Did you search for exactly what I said? That's not the name of an article — there are a bunch of articles on the subject."
This was the key for her. Kathy wrote back to report success!Terry,
Found it, fixed it!
Thanks so much!!
Kathy B.
4. Using Ultr@VNC with Windows 7
After years of using another remote control program, I've switched to Ultr@VNC for controlling the other computers on my home network.
The other program did not handle Windows 7 well, and the authors were updating the paid-version for Windows 7, but not the free version. Not only that, but the other program could not handle the User Access Control challenges from Windows 7.
In most cases, I use it for remote administration — it's easier than walking from computer to computer to make changes.
In the case of my Home Theater PC (HTPC), I use it for normal Windows functions (as opposed to the SageTV software for its home theater PC functions).
Ultr@VNC is free. It's open-source, too, if that's important to you. You can download it for free an you can use it for free, too.
The really important things for me were that (1) it worked with Windows 7 and (2) it was free.
Quoting the web site:
Key features: File transfer, Video driver, Optional Encryption Plugins, MS Logon, Text chat, Viewer Toolbar, Java Viewer with File Transfer , as well as Auto scaling and Server Side Scaling, Multiple-Monitors-support,Repeater/Proxy-support, Auto reconnection, good performances and tons of other functionalities.
Addons: Repeater, SingleClick generator and NATtoNAT connectors , that help you to easily handle the most complex connection situations.
Ultr@VNC runs under Windows operating systems (95, 98, Me, NT4, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, Windows 7...). Its embedded Java Viewer allows you to connect (and make File transfers) from a simple Web Browser on any system supporting Java (Linux, Mac OS...) to an Ultr@VNC server.
When you install Ultr@VNC, you have several choices as to which program(s) you install, as well as the usual choice of which directory you use.
Other than that, the installation process is normal and works smoothly. If you pick Full Installation, Ultr@VNC installs both the Server and the View on that computer.
The Server is automatically set up as a Windows Service, if you're running Windows XP or later.
Tech Tip
Ultr@VNC works with Windows 95, 98, Me, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista and Windows 7.
There is some configuration required on Ultr@VNC Server. Ultr@VNC requires that you assign a password on the Server. Otherwise, you are not able to log into it. There are a number of other configurations you can set on the Server, but they are optional.
For example, with Windows 7, you may or may not want to turn off Aero on the host computer while it is being accessed via Ultr@VNC. That's a checkbox option on the Server Properties Page. By the way, when the Server is running, there's an icon in the Windows status bar. Right-click on the icon and you'll find a lot of options.
The dialog box below opens when you install Ultr@VNC. You can also access it by right-clicking on the icon in the Windows Status Bar (maybe within the Show Hidden Icons section) and selecting Admin Properties.
(click on the image for a larger version)
The dialog box below is accessed right-clicking on the icon in the Windows Status Bar (maybe within the Show Hidden Icons section) and selecting Properties. So far, I haven't used this dialog box for anything.
When you click on the VNC Viewer icon, it opens the Connection dialog box shown below.
There are a lot of options on the Viewer's connection dialog box. I don't touch any of them. All I have to do is to enter then name of the computer running VNC Server (in the case above, the name I assigned in Windows is htpc2), and then click the Connect button.
Once you click the Connect button, the Viewer will attempt to make contact with the Server on the other computer. If it's successful, you'll get a dialog box asking for the password. If not, you'll get a failure notice. Once you enter the password and its accepted, you'll have remote administration capabilities to the other computer.
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 still consider NOD32 to be one of the best in anti-virus protection — and it continues to get recognition and awards. Unlike some of its competitors, ESET offers multiple-year licenses also, and includes program updates in the multiple-year license.
Then, I changed from my long-time choices NOD32 (antivirus) and Sunbelt's CounterSpy (antispyware) to Sunbelt's VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware.
I 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. Sunbelt Software offers multi-year licenses and home site licenses on its software, both of which include program updates as well as signature updates. Sunbelt has recently released version 4 of VIPRE Antivirus (they dropped the "+ Antispyware" from the name, although the functions are there) and, more importantly, they released VIPRE Antivirus Premium, which integrates their new firewall software into the package. Sunbelt offers 30-day free trials of VIPRE Antivirus and VIPRE Antivirus Premium.
My anti-virus and anti-spyware choice for my computers and those of my family's computers is VIPRE Antivirus Premium
I'm often asked for alternatives to the programs that I recommend, especially by people who want to buy one package (a "suite") to do everything.
As a result, I tried a couple security suites in the last few months to pick a suite to recommend. ESET Smart Security 4 is my recommended suite alternative. Smart Security 4 has gotten great ratings and includes antivirus and antispyware, both from their current NOD32 v4 version, and antispam and firewall. I no longer use it and have returned to Sunbelt's VIPRE, but for a suite choice, that's what I would use.
Tech Tip
Many antivirus programs will offer you an anti-virus signature subscription renewal when your subscription renews. I strongly recommend against this option — buy the full program or make sure you get program updates with the subscription renewal. Both NOD32 and VIPRE purchases include both program updates/upgrades AND antivirus signature updates.
Vendors routinely improve the capabilities and speed of the programs, too. If you update only the signatures, you miss any program improvements.
Related articles:
- A Look at Sunbelt's VIPRE Antivirus v4 and VIPRE Antivirus Premium
- VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware Review
- A Look at ESET Smart Security 4
- Anti-Virus Programs and Online Scanners
- Free Online Antivirus Scan
- NOD32 Anti-Virus Review - A Look at NOD32
Firewall Software
While the Windows XP firewall is much better than no firewall at all, but 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. However, Microsoft built in pre-authorization for many programs. Windows 7's firewall is also two-way, and again has pre-cleared many programs to communicate outbound to the Internet — some to go where you want to go, and some to "call home."
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 flagged 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'm using the firewall that's part of Sunbelt's VIPRE Antivirus Premium package. If you don't want to use the full package, then I recommend my previous choice for a firewall program, the 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.
At this time, the Sunbelt Personal Firewall works with Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista, in 32-bit versions only. I expect the new version of Sunbelt Personal Firewall to be available for 64-bit computers in April 2010, including Windows 7 support.
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. A unlimited Home Site License is $39.95 for a year.
Related articles:
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.
I changed from my long-time programs NOD32 (antivirus) and CounterSpy (antispyware) to Sunbelt's 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:
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:
Backup Software
When we think of security software, we usually think of antivirus, firewall, antispyware and antispam software. But, what other kind of software is security software? Backup software, of course.
We need to make backup copies of our important data. That data may be financial, such as your checkbook in Quicken, or your spreadsheet tracking your investmants. Or, it may be personal, non-financial data such as digital family photos.
What if your hard drive won't start one day? What will you lose? What if your computer is stolen (let's ignore, for now, whether you should encrypt data on your hard drive to protect it from others — let's just think about the inconvenience and loss to us!)?
There are two basic types of backups you should do.
You need to regularly back up your individual data files to another computer, to an external hard drive, or even to an online repository (but realize, if you have to rebuild the data on your computer, it may have to be downloaded for days and days). An external hard drive is the best choice if you don't have a home network where you could copy to another computer.
If you have a home network, use Karen's Replicator (free for personal, non-business use) to back up the files that change. I have it scheduled to copy my data files every evening from my notebook to another computer at my home. You should also get an external hard drive (or two, so you can alternate them) and make occasional backup copies to it. Preferably store it at a relative's house or your safe deposit box.
If you don't have a home network, get an external hard drive (or two, so you can alternate them) and make regularly scheduled backup copies to it. Use Karen's Replicator (free for personal, non-business use) to back up the files that change to your external drive. Preferably, store one external drive at a relative's house or your safe deposit box, so that if the worst happens, you haven't lost irreplaceable photos and other information.
The other type of backup is an image backup. This gives the ultimate in quick restore capability. Just plug in the external drive, boot the cdrom, and restore the image back to your hard drive. I use Acronis True Image Home 2010 (they also have discounts for upgrades)to make backups across my network every three days. Once a month, I make a full backup image. Every three days, it makes an incremental backup — copying only those files that have changed.
Acronis True Image Home, as of version 2009, allows you to recover individual files and folders from the image files, so you don't have to restore everything. The nice thing about making my backup across the network is that I can restore individual files across the network from those images. Sometimes that's the easiest thing to do, especially when the brain takes a little nap... <grin>
Why use both Replicator and Acronis True Image Home, if we can restore individual files from both? Replicator will always have the latest version it backed up — but not any earlier ones, and it can be run daily or even hourly without taking up much more drive space (backups are replaced when changed, rather than storing additional copies). With Acronis True Image, we can have multiple versions of the files to choose among. We can restore one that's months old, if we like, not just the latest version.
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 still recommend the Linksys WRT54G
If you don't want wireless, I recommend the Linksys BEFSR41
Tech Tip
By the way, the new "802.11n" wireless specification was approved in September 2009. It had been expected to be approved in January 2010.
If you're shopping, look for some indication that the model meets the final, approved standard. The "n" routers sold in the last couple years were based on different drafts of the standard.
I'm planning to switch from 802.11g to 802.11n, but not until January or February. I want the router manufacturers to have a chance to get their firmware upgrades done for 802.11n compliance, or to release new models in case they need to.
See these related articles:
Volume 5, Number 48 — Sunday, May 9, 2010
Copyright © 2010 Terry A. Stockdale. All rights reserved.
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