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September
2002 TIP:
ZAP Picture Browser
This Month's Download:
ZAP Picture Browser offers you not only a way to browse
through your pictures, but also a way to print up to four
pictures on a single sheet of paper. You can select the
pictures either from a single folder, or from multiple
folders. ZAP Picture Browser displays files in bmp, cmp,
cur, dcx, emf, eps, fpx, jpeg, jpg, gif, ico, img, mac,
msp, pcc, pcd, pct, pcx, png, psd, tga, tif, ras, wmf, and
wpg formats.
You can download your free copy of ZAP Picture Browser by clicking here.
http://www.zapsolution.com/zpbus.htm
September
2002 TIP:
Viewing Your Cookies
This
Month's
Download:
The NirSoft web site offers several freeware Windows utilizes. The latest
offering is IECookiesView. As you might expect, IECookiesView allows you a way
to view the cookies stored by your trusty copy of Microsoft Internet Explorer.
IECookiesView doesn't just show you a list of cookies, it
displays all the information possible about the cookies.
Click here to download.
http://nirsoft.multiservers.com/
July 2002 TIP:
Entering Addresses In Microsoft Internet Explorer
Let's suppose that you like to keep your Microsoft Internet Explorer toolbar as uncluttered as possible. As an example, we have a toolbar that includes only the menu and the backward and forward arrows, the home icon, the stop icon, and the refresh icon.
We don't keep the Address Bar in the toolbar at all.
If you elect to not keep the Address Bar visible, you don't really lose any function because all you have to do is press Ctrl + O and type in your URL then press Enter.
JUNE 2002 FACT:
Virus worms its way into image files
VNUNet
The first ever virus to infect JPEG image files has been developed, according to
antivirus software company McAfee Security, a division of Network Associates.
The virus has not yet been released, but experts believe it is the first to
cross from program infection into data files and is a potential model for a new
wave of viruses.
"This is the first virus we have seen in JPEG files and probably the first to
infect any data file," said Vincent Gullotto, senior director for McAfee's
Anti-Virus Emergency Response Team.
Dubbed W32/Perrun the virus was sent to McAfee as proof that such viruses could
be developed and released further down the line. "It really shows the potential
for viruses to use any type of data file in the future," said Gullotto.
Future versions of the virus could be modified to attack other file types,
including text files and MP3s.
The initial version of W32/Perrun does nothing more than try to infect other
JPEG files, but future versions could be modified to include programs that could
leave PCs open to attackers.
It operates through spreading as an .exe file. The first JPEG viewed after the
executable is run will have the virus code appended to it and the virus will
then seek out and try to infect other JPEG files in the same directory.
In this instance, only machines that already have the executable file can be
infected, but future derivatives of the virus could do away with the executable
as a prerequisite for infection, according to Gullotto.
Although the initial example should be detectable using existing antivirus
systems, Gullotto maintained that users should get into the habit of scanning
all data files.
"Most people might exclude data files like JPEG's and MP3's because no one has
yet seen a virus in these files. That may well have to change," he warned.
JUNE 2002 TIP:
Use Outlook Express To Read Your Hotmail Account
Messages
If you'd like to read your Hotmail with Outlook Express,
just choose Tools | Accounts. When the Internet Accounts
dialog opens, choose Add | Mail. Fill in your name and then
press Enter. Type in your Hotmail address and press Enter again.
At this point, Outlook Express will automatically add the correct mail server
address for Hotmail. Press Enter and type in your password. Press Enter again
and then click Finish. Note: When using this method all email from Hotmail is
downloaded onto you computers hard drive. This frees up space on the
Hotmail server, however it will only allow access to the downloaded email on the
computer it was downloaded to.
MAY 2002 FACT:
Your Information May Soon Be At Risk On Ebay
Changes announced this week to the privacy policy of the popular
auction site eBay could put users' personal information at risk, says a
prominent online privacy advocate who filed a complaint Tuesday with the Federal
Trade Commission.
The site gives itself ''far too much latitude to disclose information to whoever
they feel like,'' says Jason Catlett of Junkbusters, a consumer site. The new
policy is to take effect March 19 for new users, and April 19 for those who
signed up before March 19.
In addition to sharing personal
information with law enforcement officials, eBay now says it may divulge
personal information to other eBay users. The language is so broad that it could
allow eBay to disclose just about anything to anybody, Catlett says.
But eBay's Kevin Pursglove says the change simply allows eBay to help customers
who think another user has defrauded them, by giving them the information they
need to pursue legal action.
The new policy also states that while eBay posts privacy statements throughout
its site, only the official policy is legally binding. But Catlett and others
say that could allow eBay to mislead customers.
Pursglove says eBay has no intention of misleading anyone. ''All we're trying to
do is remind users to always go back to the language that is effective.'' He
says eBay is considering some of the suggested changes.
MAY 2002
TIP: A Spam Suggestion
One place to pick up a lot of unwanted spam is in a newsgroup. Therefore,
when you participate in a newsgroup, you should mask your e-mail address. For
example, if your e-mail address is jane@wherever.com, enter it in thenewsgroup
as jane@delete_wherever.com. With your e-mail address entered this way, people
who need to send you e-mail can see that they have to delete the
"delete_" party of the address. Computer programs that troll for
e-mail addresses aren't that smart.
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April 2002 FACT: Stealth
P2P network hides inside Kazaa
A California company has quietly attached its software to millions of downloads
of the popular Kazaa file-trading program and plans to remotely "turn
on" people's PCs, welding them into a new network of its own.
Brilliant Digital Entertainment, a California-based digital advertising
technology company, has been distributing its 3D ad technology along with the
Kazaa software since late last fall. But in a federal securities filing Monday,
the company revealed it also has been installing more ambitious technology that
could turn every computer running Kazaa into a node in a new network controlled
by Brilliant Digital.
The company plans to wake up
the millions of computers that have installed its software in as soon as four
weeks. It plans to use the machines--with their owners' permission--to host and
distribute other companies' content, such as advertising or music.
Alternatively, it might borrow people's unused processing power to help with
other companies' complicated computing tasks.
Brilliant Digital CEO Kevin Bermeister says computers or Internet connections
won't be used without their owners' permission. But the company will
nevertheless have access to millions of computers at once, almost as easily as
turning on a light switch.
"Everybody will get turned on in more or less a simultaneous fashion,"
Bermeister said. "This will be an opt-in program...We're trying to create a
secure network based on end-user relationships."
The Brilliant Digital plan is the most ambitious yet from a string of companies
that have tried to make money off the millions of people who are downloading and
using free file-swapping programs such as Kazaa, MusicCity's Morpheus or
LimeWire.
Nearly all of the file-swapping programs now routinely come bundled with
so-called adware or spyware--programs that automatically pop up advertisements
while people surf the Web or that keep track of where someone surfs, information
that can then be sold to marketing companies. Despite growing concerns about
this bundled software, usage and downloads of the file-swapping programs are at
an all-time high.
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