Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
December 12, 2005

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Volume 1, Number 26 -- Monday, December 12, 2005
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

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4.  Firefox v1.5 Exploit Reported

ZDNet reports that an unpatched exploit of Firefox v1.5 exists and was made public last week. The reported risk is a "denial of service."

Apparently, if a web site creates its meta-tag description to be long enough, it can exceed the capacity of Firefox v1.5 to handle it. The result messes up Firefox's history file.

The denial of service comes when you try to start Firefox again. Reports indicate that it either can prevent Firefox from opening or make the Firefox open extremely slowly.

The fix is simple, if you get hung by going to a malicious web site that: delete the file

C:\Documents and Settings\[userID]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[userprofile]\history.dat

"userID" is your ID on your Windows machine. "userprofile" is the randomly named profile that your userID uses in Firefox.

The Internet Storm Center, which was the source for the ZDNet story, has more information and updates on the story at http://isc.sans.org/diary.php?storyid=920.

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Good Stuff, and you can use the Internet to get it

I recently found a small, fourth-generation, family-run toffee manufacturer that sells their fantastic almond toffee via the Web.  When I tried some of their Chocolate Almond Toffee, "My, oh, my!"

Greenmar Toffee was so rich that one piece was actually satisfying — no kidding and no exaggeration.  It is so good that you will come back for more, later, of course.  But, I did not reach for the second piece immediately because one piece satisfied my taste buds.

Greenmar says about their toffee:  "One gift everybody loves, every time you send it. Greenmar toffee uses the freshest all-natural ingredients and tastes more like home made. Simple, secure online ordering makes this gift easy to share."  The thin block of toffee with tiny, embedded almond slices is coated on top and bottom with rich chocolate.  Butter, chocolate and sugar:  those are three of the basic food groups, aren't they?  ;-)

After receiving my shipment and tasting the toffee, I promptly ordered a gift shipment for my mother.  She loves toffee and loves to get it at this time of the year, as do many people.

Greenmar's web site easily handles gift orders, including shipments to multiple recipients, and they offer discounts for volume purchases, too.

Try Greenmar Toffee — I like it and I think you will, too.

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5.  Removing Windows Components - A New Trick?

Reader Jim Hamm wrote to ask about a tip had read elsewhere:

Hi....I recently came across this tip on making hidden programs appear in Add/Remove Programs:

"This tip will help you remove annoying programs such as MSN Messenger that do not normally show up in the Add/Remove programs list. In order to do this, you need to open Windows Explorer and do the following:

1.) Navigate to C:\Windows\Inf
2.) Make a copy of Sysoc.inf for backup
3.) Open the original Sysoc.inf file and it will open in Notepad
4.) Press Ctrl-H and replace the string ",hide" with ",," and save the file.
 ERROR -- this instruction should be: replace the string ",hide," with ",,"
— in other words, delete the word "hide" from that entry 

After doing this you should be able to see all of the hidden programs in Add/Remove (located in the Control Panel)."

I haven't implemented it yet, because I have a question...When I look at the Sysoc.inf file, on any line where the word 'hide' doesn't appear, there are two ,, followed by a 7. If I replace ,hide with ,, then I'll have three ,,, before the 7. I'm concerned what this might do to the file. Should I replace ,hide with only one ,?

Thanks for any help......Jim

Jim, I had not never heard of this before. When I searched for sysoc.inf on Google, I found a reference to a PC World article:
http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,103796,00.asp

First, you are right to be wary about adding a comma - that is an obvious error in the instructions. Just by taking out the word "hide" you can see the items.

According to the article, this trick does not address programs in general, and I didn't see how it could. It applies specifically to Windows components -- items installed by Windows..

Before implementing any changes, I suggest that you search Google for the specific file names. Microsoft really may have an operational reason why some of these are hidden. Arbitrarily uninstalling programs from Windows can have unexpected results, and you may get to reinstall and start over. So, be careful what you delete. I also recommend changing the settings back to "hide" to save yourself from accidentally uninstalling one of them in the future.

After you implement these changes (assuming you do), when you get to Add/Remove Programs --- and then go to the Add/Remove Windows Components selection on the left side of the window -- this trick should show you some more things installed by Windows itself. This would let you remove some specific things.

You know, it might just be worth trying this tip -- just to get rid of Windows Messenger. Just be aware that you might end up reinstalling Windows! Too many Microsoft programs seem to count on certain programs like Windows Messenger being there. If you want to experiment with this trick, I suggest backing up your system first.

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Continued in Part 3

Volume 1, Number 26 -- Monday, December 12, 2005
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Copyright © 2005 Terry A. Stockdale.  All rights reserved.