September 14, 2003
Apple polishes stability and memory
My bud Glenn Fleishman has a new Practical Mac column in the Seattle Times: Apple polishes stability, memory with new lines, about the new G5s, iPods and Panther (Mac OS X 10.3).
September 12, 2003
A Mac-style supercomputer
Business Week: A group of scientists at Virginia Tech has figured out how to build the world's next supercomputer -- on the cheap, no less -- using Mac G5s.
Escape the spyware nightmare
PC World: Spyware and adware are the newest threats to connected PCs. Here's how to get them off your machine -- and keep them off.
September 11, 2003
X1: a desktop search tool
From Rick Lau: Bill Gross has finally launched X1, his fast search tool on the desktop (Web, e-mail, files, and attachments). There is a full-featured, no time limit, free version available. This is a good replacement for the hideous search feature in Outlook.
According to the X1 site: X1 is free PC software that uses an advanced indexing process that lets you find any word in any email or file on your computer, in under a second. ... Search 100,000 emails or files in under a second. ... And it's free.
I'll give it a try. The last software I downloaded toward this end bogged down my system, but then again it indexed all the docs (email and otherwise) on my drive.
September 01, 2003
Apple: small is beautiful
Business Week Online: While insidious invaders like the Blaster and SoBig worms wreaked havoc on PCs, Mac users were, as usual, largely immune. Who knew that being small could be so beautiful?
Essay in Wired magazine: Why is Apple so tempting? Creative culture, killer products, zealous fans and Steve Jobs. Memo to Sony: Bite!
August 20, 2003
Hunting down the Sobig virus
OK, so I've been told the Sobig virus has latched onto my Outlook address book and mailed itself out to everyone on my Contacts list.
I went to Symantec's Sobig virus page and downloaded the latest Norton Antivirus definitions. I launched Norton Antivirus, which scanned 445,000 files on my hard drive -- and found no virus. I ran the W32.Sobig.F@mm removal tool on this page. ("The W32.Sobig.F@mm virus was not found on your machine.") I looked in my Windows folder and found nothing that resembled %Windir%\Winmgm32.exe or Winmgm32.exe.
But I have a suspicion it's still lurking on my computer. What do I do next?
Rod K said:
I've read that it will use creative methods to find email addresses to put in the from: address that it sends out. It is possible that someone you know has the virus and the virus found your email address on that machine and used it as the from: on the emails it sent out.
Rod
Mike said:
Chances are you *don't* actually have the virus. The virus picks email addresses at random from Outlook address books or from anyone's web cache - and puts them in *both* the two and from page. So, if there's a webpage out there that has your email address on it, or anyone who has you in their addressbook gets the virus - it may appear as though you have the virus to recipients, even if you don't.
I know I've been getting a ton of bounceback messages from addresses that have been spammed by the virus with my email as the return address. But, I don't have the virus. I don't use Outlook at all. It's just the nature of the virus.
August 11, 2003
Ghost in the modem
Is there anyone who can point to a modestly priced application that can tell me what in heck is going on with my Internet transmissions?
For the past three days, my cable modem has been flashing almost nonstop (about 20 green blinks per second, indicating that something is being downloaded or uploaded from my hard drive). I've tried to set my Norton Personal Firewall (which sees nothing amiss) to alert me if any of my apps are automatically downloading updates to my programs, but this seems to be something else. When I unplug it and reboot my modem hours later, it starts its frenzied activity again almost immediately.
This has me concerned. Is it a hacker? A worm? A new "upgrade" of my cable modem service from Comcast? Who the hell knows?
Uncle Bob said:
Whatever type of traffic is moving across your cable modem, you can take a peek at it with a good packet sniffer. If you're running Linux, you can find a bunch of good ones, and Ethereal, mentioned elsewhere in this comments sections, is fine.
If you're running Windows, the best one I've found is by Diamondcs in Australia. Visit their
home page and click on Port Explorer. I forget what the registered version cost, probably $15 or $25, but it was well worth my money.
Depending on which cable company you're using, the extra packet traffic might be the company monitoring you. I was on Road Runner for four years, and they became increasingly intrusive, sending constant traffic aimed at numerous ports. The IPs traced back to their security and abuse offices.
Maybe they moonlight for the RIAA.
JD Lasica said:
Thanks all, gents. Vin, you're right, of course, but for it to happen for 72 straight hours led me to think it was something more than a hacker bumping up against my firewall. But perhaps it's nothing.
Bob, I'll check out Diamondcs. I run Windows XP Pro on a PC. I installed Ethereal for Windows XP but can't figure out how to run it. :)
jerry said:
Three days of nonstop flashing, and not four days...? I wonder if it's today's blaster virus?
Something else you can try is opening up a command window and running (exit most of your applications first to help clear out much of the noise)
c: netstat -an | more
netstat will show you what is currently connected to your system. It will show the local address (most likely either 0.0.0.0 or 127.0.0.1 or your DHCP'd or static address), a port number, and then the same thing for the computer on the other end of the connection.
Most of the ports it displays that your local computer is listening on should be readily recognizable, either by you immediately, or after a google, or after you example c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\services .
Also, since you're running Windows XP, you can try finding out the information from the Task Manager. Open the Task Manager with the three finger salute and click on networking and see what it says -- is your machine actually doing any networking or not? Then click on processes and click to sort by CPU and watch for a little while and see the names of what is taking up the CPU time.
Programs like SYSTEM, or FINDFAST, or cmd.exe or QWDLL is mostly okay. Something like vIRus or 0WNJ00 maybe a bad sign.
Another program I have found well worth the shareware fee is DU Meter. It won't pinpoint the process doing the network activity, but it will show you quickly whenever your machine is accessing the network. The real benefit is that it helps me determine when SBC is screwing me over with slow download speeds.
You can get the same information without the fee from the System Performance Monitor that comes with XP, but it's much harder to setup.
But now that we've told you all this, please do tell us what you find out.
A few years ago I noticed an increase over a month of attacks on my home DSL modem, and I was speaking to a SJMerc reporter about that. Three weeks later, CNN, et. al., were brought down in a DDOS attack and I think now (didn't realize it then) that what I saw were the increasing attempts to take over DSL/cable modem machines to launch the remote DDOS with.
July 31, 2003
CopyPaste: another helpful app
The other day Dan G. wrote about CopyPaste from Script Software, an application that's apparently been kicking around since the mid'-90s but one that I'd never heard of. (Howard R. pointed him to the software.)
Twenty-two years ago, when I moved to California for a newspaper editing position, we had macro memory keys on our low-tech VDT keyboards that let you copy characters, sentences or commands to about three dozen different keys.
So it has always amazed me at how incredibly limited the Windows operating system is in this regard -- keystrokes that lets you select, copy and paste, but only one item at a time.
CopyPaste frees you from those limitations. I've just been using it for the past 24 hours, but already I can see how handy it will come in. You can copy and paste on up to 99 different sets of keys -- plus other goodies under the hood that I haven't inspected yet.
It's cross-platform, so I'll be downloading it for my Mac as well as my PC. Cost: $20.
anthony said:
JD, It sounds like a great app, but won't it make things more confusing? How am I supposed to remember the numbers corresponding to 99 different things I've copied? I like the concept, but do you see this being used effectively?
Hrm... now what did I copy into 93?
JD said:
If you highlight a passage and right click to copy it, it will actually show you the beginning words of every item you've copied and stored. Presumably, most of us won't get to 93. But 1-10 sure comes in handy.
What I'm trying to figure out now is whether the preferences allow you to just copy an item without assigning a number or key to it, since most of my copying is still sporadic rather than systematic. Haven't seen a way to temporarily disable it, other than quitting the app.
July 30, 2003
10 best no-cost PC tools
PC World names this year's collection of the ten best no-cost tools delivers PC speed and safety. One of them is ActiveWords. Congrats, Buzz.
July 21, 2003
Coupons for Microsoft customers
The State of California won its antitrust suit against Microsoft. Now, the payoff: coupons good for cash off on still more hardware and software.California consumers' four-year-old class action suit against Microsoft came to a close on Friday, when the San Francisco Superior Court granted preliminary approval of the settlement.
Starting today, Californians can call a toll-free number to file their claims and request vouchers worth from $5 to $29. Consumers and businesses that bought Microsoft software for use in California between February 1995 and December 2001 can apply for refund vouchers. The catch is, the vouchers can only be used to buy hardware or software -- from Microsoft or from competing vendors. ...
July 17, 2003
Tracking down the intruders
I've been keeping track of hacker attacks on my computer over the past two weeks. (I'm a tempting target with an always-on cable modem connection.)
I don't know if this is foolhardy or not, or if other people have done this on their blogs, but I'm going to publish the IP addresses of the intruders. I had thought that I was getting repeat company, but each of these intruders tried to hack my machine only once. (Or were caught, at any rate, by my firewall.)
Geobytes offers this very cool page for tracking the location of IP addresses. Here's the rundown:
Backdoor/SubSeven Trojan horse attacks:
213.152.81.27:2312 (Alexandria, Egypt)
62.0.27.102 (Nazareth Illit, Israel)
24.197.20.140:2658 (Radford, Virginia)
4.41.216.79:3768 (Covina, Calif.)
24.141.58.173:1985 (Burlington, Ontario, Canada)
12.248.230.220:3777 (Rolling Meadows, Illinois)
68.82.85.25:1929 (Newark, Delaware)
67.9.80.55:4175 (Australia)
80.179.65.168:4361 (Tel Aviv, Israel)
Attempt to connect to local computer using the NetBus Trojan horse:
67.81.69.114:4008 (Paramus, New Jersey)
isabelle said:
Someone is trying to enter my email
July 09, 2003
Windows XP mystery solved
The generosity of bloggers never fails to astound me, and God knows, I often need your help.
Such was the case again this week. On Saturday I posted an entry noting that I was unable to do a slide show of almost any of my hundreds of digital photos in various folders sprinkled throughout my PC. When I clicked through to the folder, the Picture Tasks pane disappeared, and with it, the option to "View as a slide show."
Ryan Westendorf in Ames, Iowa, took pity on me and asked to be invited into my office virtually. After ten minutes of noodling around through XP's Remote Assistance, he hit on the solution:
For each folder (alas, this can't be done on the top-level Pictures folder), if you right-click the folder, go to Properties, and select the Customize tab, you need to change the folder type from the default (Documents) to Pictures. You'll probably want to check the box to apply that choice to all subfolders as well.
Thanks, Ryan. Enjoyed the company. I'll have to check my sked to see the next time I plan to be in Iowa ...
Now, if I can just figure out why my popup dialogue box (with an option to launch Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard) has gone away whenever I connect a compact flash card, I'll make my peace with Windows XP. (Still can't network it with my wireless Macs, but I've given up that battle for now.)
JD said:
Ryan: Tried your trick with rebooting and leaving it attached. No luck. Thanks for the idea.
Madperc: Yep, it's been messed up for a few weeks now. Actually, I re-read the Dazzle instructions, and they said that for Windows XP, I don't need to install ANY drivers, so I removed the drivers I had installed, to no effect.
Other devices work on the USB port, I just don't know of any other devices that are supposed to summon up a dialogue box, as a flash card does.
How do you do a scanreg system restore? Different from just a System Restore? Appreciate all the help on this sucker.
Madperc said:
Scanreg is the same thing as a system restore.
Seems to be pretty narrowed down the the device, anyhow, so scanreg probably won't make the dialogue box appear. Next step is to make the Dazzle people send you a free replacement, looks like! Good luck. I'll snoop around and ask people about it. You may want to try and google out any FAQ forums for Dazzle to see if yours isn't the only computer with this probbie.
JD said:
Actually, I'm convinced the problem lies with XP, not Dazzle. The SimpleScan FlashLink flash card reader I had been using up until April still works, but it no longer gets me a dialogue box when I attach it to the PC's USB port and insert a flash card. I just get a window displaying the contents of Drive G (the card). Dazzle's off the hook, so I'll have to keep playing to see if I can find a solution.
July 05, 2003
Any Windows XP experts?
Any Windows XP aficionados out there? (My Mac friends continue to send notes of sympathy for all the PC travails I encounter.) I've owned a Windows XP machine for 18 months now, and a few things still baffle me.
I'll throw two particularly vexing issues out for anyone who might know of a possible solution.
(1) Whenever I insert a compact flash card into a card reader, normally a dialogue box pops up asking What would you like to do? View a Folder, launch Media Player, View the contents using the Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard, etc.
About a month ago, the dialogue box went away. When I insert a compact flash card, it merely opens the drive and shows me the folder. What I really want is the Scanner and Camera Wizard so I can view the contents of the folder and decide which photos to transfer to my hard drive. When I try to manually launch the Wizard, it refuses, saying I don't have a peripheral attached. (I'm using a Dazzle reader.) Any idea how I can get the Scanner and Camera Wizard back when I pop a compact flash card into a reader?
(2) When I open Windows Explorer in XP (not IE) and navigate through the arcane tree structure to a particular folder -- say, C:\Documents and Settings\JD\My Documents\My Pictures -- sometimes the folders will appear as a regular set of folders and subfolders, and sometimes the directory folder tree structure will be gone and in its place are little submenus that say:
Picture Tasks
View as a slide show
Order prints online
Print pictures
Copy all items to CD
etc.
Well, that's baffling enough. When I click through to a folder that actually contains some jpegs, the Picture Tasks submenu disappears and I'm left with only:
File and Folder Tasks
Make a new folder
Publish this folder to the Web
Share this folder
So: How in heck can I see a slide show if the option for a slide show disappears when I drill down to a folder containing actual photos?
JD said:
Thanks, Ryan. Here's what happened. I went into G: Properties, chose AutoPlay, and saw that for Pictures, the Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard was indeed one of the choices. So first I tried to make that the default. When I reinserted a compact flash card in the card reader ... no luck, still got just an open window with a folder containing the two folders. So I went back into AutoPlay and checked the button for Prompt me each time to choose an action. But when I reinserted a cf card into the reader, I didn't get a prompt, just the same result (two folders on my desktop). I thought maybe it wasn't recognizing that the disk contained pictures, but I've got the "prompt me" checked for all four types of content (music, pictures, video, mixed content).
Strangest damn thing. Not sure what to try next.
Thanks, Ryan, know your posting will probably help others, though. I'm game to listen to a suggestion re #2. :~)
Madperc said:
Best recommendation for when drives (like your flash card reader) start acting fritzy: With your computer on and your drive plugged in, right-click on "My Computer" and select properties. Click the Hardware tab and then, in the middle of that area is a section "Device Manager." Click on device manager and then you see a list of stuff hooked up to your computer. Depending how your flash reader is hooked up, you'll maybe see it listed under "Universal Serial Bus Controllers" at the bottom of the list. If it has a big yellow exclamation point next to it, double click it and check if it gives your any troubleshooting instructions. If not, right click on the flash reader in device manager and delete it. Don't panic, the computer auto-restores the drivers when you start up again. Then, restart your computer and let XP reinstall the driver, and it should recognize your flash reader as it did when you first used it.
Sorry my suggestion is so long. Hope it works, though.
JD said:
Thanks, Madperc. Here's an update: I uninstalled and reinstalled the Dazzle drivers. I don't think the drivers are the issue here, tho. I spent an hour on the phone with tech support from Dazzle, which seemed baffled by Win XP's behavior here. They finally suggested that I do a System Restore. So I tried to do the msconfig | System Restore trick -- twice -- but the Restore failed. (I went back as far as it would let me, to April 8, 2003, although the last point at which I manually created a restore point was Feb. 7, 2003. Another flaky outcome from our Microsoft friends.)
What next? I'm ready to throw in the towel.
June 29, 2003
Filtering software's shortcomings
Mark Glaser in OJR: Is Filtering Software a Threat to Free Information Online? The Supreme Court puts access to online information in the wrong hands.
June 26, 2003
Linux may hurt Apple more than Microsoft
Paul Boutin in Slate: Flipping the Switch -- Linux's new popularity may hurt Apple more than Microsoft.
Business Week columnist Alex Salkever dropped the bomb last week that next year, "Linux should pass Apple in market share for desktop operating systems on computers."
Steven Jarvis said:
There's a very interesting dissection of Boutin's article at:
http://daringfireball.net/2003/06/flipping_the_bird.html
It's pro-Mac, but it's pretty even-handed, and skewers a lot of the poor arguments and lack of strong sources in Boutin's piece.
Computer history museum
Motherboards have a resting place at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.
160 Amazon RSS feeds
Chris Pirillo points to 160 new Amazon RSS feeds.
Chris Pirillo said:
You ain't seen nothin' yet. ;) Next step: make it so that other service providers can co-brand 'em with their affiliate links.
June 19, 2003
When spam filters go bad
Laura Miller in Salon: Trying to block junk mail, my cable modem company installed a system that prevented me from getting my REAL mail -- and when I complained, insisted it was all for the good of the System.
June 18, 2003
Calling all wide-screen monitor users
Anyone out there use a wide-screen monitor -- that is, larger than 1,024 pixels wide? I just bought a ViewSonic VX2000 and hooked it up yesterday. It's a dream ... but I'm facing three immediate issues:
(1) The type is too small. I right-clicked the screen and went to Properties | Appearance, where I changed the fonts to large, but that affected only Windows (scroll bars, icon text). Do I have to look for a text size setting in every single application I use -- many of which (like MovableType for this blog) don't even contain a text size option?
(2) The photos on most pages are smaller than they appeared when I viewed them on a 1024 x 768 monitor set at that size. I've set mine to the new dimensions of the window, 1600 x 1200, but that makes everything much smaller. If I kick down the size (under Properties | Settings) to, say, 1280 x 1024), it seems to throw things off (for example, desktop images are cropped so that only the middle 60% is visible). And I get a notice: "For best picture quality, change resolution to 1600 x 1200." I haven't played around enough to see what the tradeoffs are.
 |
You probably don't need to have a wide-screen monitor to figure out what's wrong in #3 -- I need to make some adjustment to the table width. I tried using TABLE WIDTH=100% instead of a fixed width (631), but that screwed it up royally.
JD said:
Ben, thanks, that helped solve #3.
Anyone have any advice on #s 1 or 2?
Ben said:
#1: Yer screwed.
#2: Yer screwed, unless you happen to not have the right video card or monitor (or not the latest drivers for either) set up in your hardware profile.
JD said:
Actually I may have stumbled upon a solution to (1) accidentally. The photos are still too small, but the text appears bigger: I right clicked on the desktop, went to Properties | Settings | Advanced, and chose Large size (120 DPI) instead of Normal size (90 DPI). Never knew that option existed.
June 17, 2003
Punishing Apple
In follow-up to Saturday's item about Microsoft pulling the plug on Internet Explorer for the Mac, Scot Hacker gives his take on Punishing Apple:
Safari has proven that Apple and the open source community together can build a better, far faster browser, without Microsoft's help. Technology isn't the issue. Politics is. Potential switchers want comfort food, want to know that IE is waiting for them on the Mac side (even if it's slow). Microsoft's move punishes Apple for threatening the monopoly by pulling a security blanket away from potential customers.
Enhancing Outlook's search function
OK, here's a question: The search function in Outlook 2002 drives me crazy. More often than not, I need to search for an email that I sent someone a week or month ago, Instead, the whiz-bang programmers at Microsoft designed it so that it begins the search at the beginning of my Outlook files -- that is, 1999. That adds an extra two to three minutes on top of every search I conduct.
Anyone know of a workaround to make a search in Outlook work intelligently?
Jonathan Dube said:
Sure. After you click on Find, Click on Advanced options, and then set TIME to be whatever you want -- Last Month for example.
JD said:
Hey, Jonathan, my man. Maybe I've got a different version of Outlook (2002), but I don't see that option anywhere. When I hit Options | Advanced Find, I get 3 tabs: Messages | More Choices | Advanced. Under Advanced, there's an option for Field | Date/Time fields. But that lets you only search by anytime, yesterday, today, tomorrow, in the last 7 days, in the next 7 days.
June 14, 2003
Oracle's raid on PeopleSoft
I live in Pleasanton, on the upper fringe of Silicon Valley and home to PeopleSoft, where I've done some editing/consulting work over the past two years. Silicon Valley is mesmerized by the hostile takeover attempt of PeopleSoft by Oracle. Pleasanton (corporate HQ for Safeway and 24 Hour Fitness) stands to lose considerable revenue and business if the corporate raiders succeed.
Ultimately, it will be up to PeopleSoft's shareholders, of which I'm not one. But Larry Ellison's power grab seems so transparent and hamfisted that I'd be surprised if it succeeds.
Microsoft returns to the old ways
Mercury News: Microsoft said Friday that it will no longer develop versions of its popular Web-browsing software for Apple Computer's Macintosh system, saying Apple's own browsing software is a logical choice for Mac users.
Jessica Sommers, product manager for the software company's Macintosh Business Unit, said Apple is in a better position to create a browser with more features and that offers a smoother experience because ``Apple has access to functionality in the (operating system) that Microsoft doesn't.''
Which, of course, is complete and utter crapola. Microsoft's version of its IE browser for Apple was superior to even the Windows version.
What we have here is the poobahs at Microsoft deciding that, with the heat off Microsoft now that it has settled its antitrust matter with AOL Time Waner/Netscape, there's no longer any public or pollitical pressure to continue a business practice that veered from its core monopolistic instincts.
When I'm on my Mac G4 or Titanium Powerbook, I'll continue to use Safari and, for now, IE for the Mac, but I suspect Mozilla and Opera will be increasingly handy standbys as well.
June 12, 2003
A content management system for fast-changing sites
Josh Clark of Global Moxie sends along word of Big Medium, a new website-management software that may be of interest to editorial and production teams responsible for publishing online news.
Check out the demo here.
June 05, 2003
Buying a wide-screen computer monitor
My aging Dell 17-inch monitor is on its last legs, sputtering and hiccuping like an octogenarian with pneumonia, so I've decided to splurge on a wide-screen flat panel computer monitor.
My first thought was to go the Apple route. I can switch hard drives with my wife, who has a G4 in the next room that we use for multimedia, mostly. And the 23-inch Cinema HD Display. with a 1920 x 1200 screen, is drop-dead gorgeous.
But switching from my PC to our Mac for the bulk of my work would have more drawbacks than advantages right now. Blogging would be tougher (no bold, italic or url buttons, for example). Wouldn't be able to use ActiveWords. A lot of my apps, like Photoshop, have later versions on the PC.
So now I'm leaning toward a 1600 x 1200 flat panel display for the PC. Some of the ones that look outstanding include the ViewSonic VX2000, Samsung SyncMaster 210 T, the Planar WS231. I would have included the Formac Gallery 2010 were it not for its track record of terrible customer service.
Anyone out there have a wide-screen monitor you're happy with?
Greg said:
Two things: we use the Viewsonic LCD in lab, and I can tell you it's very nice. and, you wouldn't be able to use the formatting buttons on a mac, but you could use something like Net News Wire, which is not only a news aggregator but also a way for you to update your weblog. That said, the cinema display is much more than you'll ever need to spend on any monitor.
Buzz Bruggeman said:
I have two Samsung TFT flat panels, and they are sensational. Be sure to get ones that pivot!
You can't go wrong. I have this dual monitor video card but haven't made it work right.
Thanks for the plug on ActiveWords!
I really appreciate it.
Buzz
May 14, 2003
Palladium getting a bad rap?
Wired News: Privacy experts warn that Microsoft's Next Generation Secure Computing Base, also known as Palladium, could enable content providers to enforce draconian copyright protections. But a Microsoft representative says don't believe the hype.
May 08, 2003
The long arm of Longhorn
In other Microsoft news today, Wired News looks at the OS successor to Windows XP:
Content producers probably will love it -- digital rights management will be built right in. Hardware developers remain unsure: The OS boasts tons of spiffy new entertainment features that could encourage consumers to upgrade, but will users be spooked by all that rights management stuff?
May 07, 2003
Gates takes a page from Steve Jobs
Wired News: Bill Gates gives the opening keynote at the 12th annual Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, talking about the importance of designing visually appealing, easy-to-use PCs and software. Best line:
"Whoa, did I get on the wrong plane and end up at MacWorld?" wondered hardware developer Frank Copper. "Since when does Microsoft care about how computers or software looks? Someone has obviously hacked and reprogrammed Bill."
May 06, 2003
Solution to Enter Network Password problem
Behold, I hold the answer to a question that hundreds of webloggers have asked me about since I first wrote about it more than a year ago: the dreaded Enter Network Password glitch in Outlook and Outlook Express.
From the moment I purchased a new Dell PC with Windows XP 16 months ago, Outlook 2002 began pestering me with a dialogue box every five minutes. I wrote about it last spring, last summer and again in February.
Michael Tenenbaum of Harvard was one of the hundreds of folks who spotted one of my postings. He did a little further digging and turned up a March 11, 2003, document in the Microsoft Knowledge Base that solved the problem. I had come across a half-dozen other Microsoft documents that did not do the trick, and this one seemed to apply only to Outlook Express, not Outlook 2002, so I was skeptical. But I followed the arcane steps it outlined, and lo and behold, it worked. I no longer have to manually send and receive, and when I set Outlook to automatically send and fetch email every 10 minutes, it now does so without asking for that infernal password. (I'm the only one on my home network, so Outlook's request for a password a few thousand times over the past year was a bit maddening.) The problem, apparently was a "corrupted" registry key, even though the password worked when manually entered.
Michael, I and countless other bloggers owe you a big debt of gratitude.
In case the Microsoft article becomes lost in the ether, I'll reproduce the steps below.
SYMPTOMS
When you run Outlook Express using Microsoft Windows 2000 or Microsoft Windows XP and connect to your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to retrieve e-mail messages from a Post Office Protocol (POP) server, your password is not retained even though you have chosen to save it.
CAUSE
The registry contains incorrect information for the Protected Storage System Provider registry subkey for your account.
RESOLUTION
To save your password you must back up your registry, remove the user account information, and then re-enter your password. Only people who are members of the Administrators group on the local computer can make these changes. Windows XP Home Edition users need to check the Users control panel. If they are not listed as an Administrator, someone with Administrator rights will have to add them to the Administrators group.
WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
How to Back up the Registry
Windows 2000
Click Start, click Run, type regedt32 in the Open box, and then click OK.
Locate and click the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Protected Storage System Provider
On the Registry menu, click Save Key.
In the File name box, type a unique name for the key.
In the Save In box, click a location for the file, and then click Save.
On the Registry menu, click Exit.
Windows XP
Click Start, click Run, type regedt32 in the Open box, and then click OK.
Locate and click the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Protected Storage System Provider
On the File menu, click Export.
In the File name box, type a unique name for the key.
In the Save In box, click a location for the file, and then click Save.
On the Registry menu, click Exit.
How to Remove the User Account Information
Windows 2000
Quit all programs.
Click Start, click Run, type regedt32 in the Open box, and then click OK.
Locate and click the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Protected Storage System Provider
On the Security menu, click Permissions.
Click the registry key for the user that is currently logged on and ensure that Read and Full Control are both set to Allow.
Click the Advanced button, ensure that user that is currently logged on is selected, that Full Control is listed in the Permissions column, and that This Key and Subkeys is listed in the Apply to column.
Click to select the Reset permissions on all child objects and enable propagation of inheritable permissions check box.
Click Apply, and then click Yes when you are prompted to continue.
Click OK, and then click OK.
Double-click the Protected Storage System Provider key to expand the key, click the user subkey folder that is directly below the Protected Storage System Provider key, click Delete on the Edit menu, and then click Yes in the warning message dialog box.
The user subkey folder looks similar to the following example:
S-1-5-21-124525095-708259637-1543119021-16701
NOTE: For every identity that you have, there will be a subkey under the Protected Storage System Provider key. To resolve this problem in all of your identities, you must delete all of the user subkeys folders under the Protected Storage System Provider key.
On the Registry menu, click Exit, and then restart your computer.
Windows XP
Quit all programs.
Click Start, click Run, type regedt32 in the Open box, and then click OK.
Locate and click the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Protected Storage System Provider
On the Edit menu, click Permissions.
Click the registry key for the user that is currently logged on and ensure that Read and Full Control permissions are both set to Allow.
Click the Advanced button, ensure that the user that is currently logged on is selected, that Full Control is listed in the Permissions column, and that This Key and Subkeys is listed in the Apply to column.
Click to select the Replace permission entries on all child objects with entries shown here that apply to child objects check box.
Click Apply, and then click Yes when you receive a prompt to continue.
Click OK, and then click OK again.
Double-click the Protected Storage System Provider key to expand the key, click the user subkey folder that is directly below the Protected Storage System Provider key, click Delete on the Edit menu, and then click Yes in the warning message dialog box.
The user subkey folder looks similar to the following example:
S-1-5-21-124525095-708259637-1543119021-16701
NOTE: For every identity that you have, there may be a subkey under the Protected Storage System Provider key. To resolve this issue in all of your identities, you must delete all of the user subkeys folders under the Protected Storage System Provider key.
On the Registry menu, click Exit, and then restart your computer.
How to Re-Enter Your Password
NOTE: These steps work for both Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
Start Outlook Express.
NOTE: If you receive a login error, close the dialog box and proceed.
Click Tools, and then click Accounts.
Click the Mail tab in the Internet Accounts window.
In the Account column, click to highlight the Internet E-mail account to be changed, and then click Properties.
On the Server tab, type your password in the Password box, and then click to select Remember password dialog box.
Click OK, and then click Close.
Close Outlook Express and then restart it.
On the Tools menu, click Send and Receive to test if your password is retained.
NOTE: If other Windows 2000 or Windows XP users are having password retention problems, re-enter the password, and then click to select the Remember Password check box for those profiles. Each user may need to log on for their password to be retained.
HentaiCartoons said:
Privet, thanks for good work.
mature woman said:
Great site !!!
animated said:
Privet. Alex, please send me email
May 05, 2003
Warning to inkjet printer shoppers
If you're in the market for an inkjet printer, I have two words of warning about the Epson Stylus C80, which we bought early last year:
The C80 balks mightily if you try to use any refilled or discounted cartridges that come from a manufacturer other than Epson (thus, it costs about $28 per black ink cartridge). Twice I tried buying cartridges that cost one half to one third that amount, and both times the printer would not accept them.
Second, be prepared for a flashing green warning light for weeks on end. When the ink levels are running low, the C80 lets you know with a vengeance. The C80's light has blinked approximately 1,632,960 times since it determined that I was running low about three weeks ago. OK, OK, I get it. Perhaps there's a way to disable this annoying feature, but I haven't discovered the secret passageway.
Bill Hobbs said:
I've got the Epson CX3200 and learned the other day that unless you have a color ink cartridge in it that has some ink left, you can not even print in black and white.
So I had to go buy a $28 color cartridge just to be able to print a simple letter in black and white.
This strikes me as wrong. I shouldn't have to pay Epson $28 for color ink in order to use the b/w printing capability of my printer.
I haven't tried aftermarket or remanufactured ink cartridges, and will be insensed if the printer won't accept them.
Lodewijk said:
I tried using non-Epson catridges in my C80. The first time I did not succeed because the printer would not recognise the cartridge, so in the end I had to replace it with an original Epson cartridge. At least this got the printer working again. The next time I tried to use a non-Epson cartrige, my printer came up with the message that this was a non-Epson cartridge and that I was likely to get poor printing results using it. When I pressed OK, the printer started working correctly. Encoraged by this result, I tried to use another non-Epson cartridge the next time I ran out of ink. This time, again I got the message that the cartridge was not being recognised by the printer. No matter what I tried, the message was always the same and I could not use the printer. Does anyone have a solution to this recurring problem other than to keep buying the (3 times more expensive) original Epson cartridges?
April 29, 2003
Speeding up the arrow keys
Since almost every computer question I toss out here on New Media Musings seems to get answered by the erudite blogging readership, here's another:
Isn't there a way to speed up the cursor in Microsoft Word? I don't mean the mouse cursor -- I mean moving the cursor in a Word doc to the right, left, up or down with the arrow keys on your keyboard.
I've searched the Microsoft Knowledge Base, the (typically useless) Help files in Word, the byzantine Options menu in Word, even Google. Hundreds of postings on how to speed up or slow down the mouse speed on your screen, but not a word on how to speed up the keyboard arrow keys in a Word doc, which seem painstakingly slow to me.
Five minutes later: Holy good night, I've already gotten an answer. Mike Thompson writes to tell me to go to Control Panel | Keyboard. (I'm running Windows XP on a Dell PC, but should work for other Windows operating systems.) There, I changed the "Repeat Rate" from moderately slow to fast. Because it's accompanied by an AA graphic, I assumed it applied only to text, but it works for the arrow key as well.
Adds Mike: "This will increase the speed of repeat for all characters in all programs (which may not be a bad thing), but it is the only solution I've ever seen. The only possible downfall I see is your backspace/delete keys will go faster too." That's true -- the delete key is too fast now, but I'll learn to live with it.
Thanks, owe you one. Meantime, anyone at Microsoft listening? This is an obvious UI issue that needs addressing.
Taka said:
Have you tried holding down the CONTROL key while using the arrows?
Works in conjunction with SHIFT as well.
April 28, 2003
HTML email question
A question for anyone who's conversant with HTML email newsletters:
When I want to link to a hotlinked story in an HTML email newsletter, like the one I get from Wired News, I have to click through the link in order to obtain the url (right-clicking the link doesn't let you copy the shortcut).
That's often problematic when I have two or more browser windows open, as I routinely do when I compose my Movable Type weblog. The problem is, half the time, clicking on the link will call up one window, and half the time it will summon up the other browser window -- the one with my half-written entry for my weblog, sometimes wiping out what I've written. There seems to be no rhyme or reason in when one window opens rather than my blog window.
Anyone have a solution to this? Lemme know and I'll post it, or post it below.
Taka said:
Not checked. Not checked.
Sigh... :-(
Adrian said:
Are you able to view source in the e-mail application? That should give you easy access to all the email's URLs in one fell swoop. (Of course, those URLs might be e-mail-specific redirects intended to track your usage, and posting those URLs to your blog would screw with the site's tracking numbers...Not that that's a bad thing.)
BTW, it's always a good idea to disable HTML rendering in e-mails for security and anti-spam reasons. A good e-mail program will let you "turn on" the HTML on a message-by-message basis.
JD said:
Good suggestion, Adrian (though I'll admit I do prefer HTML email to plain text, and haven't encountered any problems with it, perhaps due to my firewall software). And, no, can't view the source in the e-mail application.
I took up Taka's suggestion and it seems to be working -- clicking on an embedded link in an email newsletter now summons up a new browser window instead of opening a random existing one. So that solves the problem.
Thanks, gents!
April 24, 2003
Burn, mix, back up
NY Times: Burn, Mix, Copy, Back Up: A short article on a software suite that does it all.
The era of the shiny silver disc is flourishing now that compact discs and DVD's have become standard mediums for listening to music, watching movies and storing more data than that drawer of old diskettes. For those who have the power to burn but are not yet sure what they want to do with that CD or DVD recorder, a software suite from Pinnacle Systems can handle just about any audio, video or system backup project that might come to mind.
April 18, 2003
Web page optimizer
A little while ago I spotted on Barry Parr's blog a pointer to a free Web page optimizer service. Pretty cool.
For dial-ups, looks like the images in my blogroll, plus the offsite javascript links to blogroll.com, make for a fairly slow page that weighs in at 98.4kb for html and 92.5kb for images. That's scarily high.
I imagine most of my visitors come in through high-speed connections, but it's hard to say. Here's today's traffic report from Dreamhost; about half of this is to my blog, the remainder to my website:
| # | # reqs | # pages | OS |
| 1 | 883 | 797 | Known robots |
| 2 | 6284 | 514 | Windows |
| : | 2110 | 199 | Windows XP |
| : | 1563 | 126 | Windows 2000 |
| : | 1365 | 93 | Windows 98 |
| : | 263 | 36 | Windows ME |
| : | 605 | 34 | Unknown Windows |
| : | 251 | 20 | Windows NT |
| : | 112 | 6 | Windows 95 |
| : | 15 | 0 | Windows 32-bit |
| 3 | 1013 | 366 | OS unknown |
| 4 | 604 | 45 | Macintosh |
| : | 418 | 43 | Macintosh PowerPC |
| : | 186 | 3 | Unknown Macintosh |
| 5 | 160 | 18 | Unix |
| : | 121 | 14 | Linux |
| : | 36 | 3 | BSD |
| : | 3 | 1 | SunOS |
| 6 | 5 | 1 | WebTV |
April 17, 2003
April 14, 2003
Those creepy spyware programs
Wired News has a story on those creepy spyware programs that burrow into your hard drive and report on your surfing activities. It reminded me to run the Ad Aware program from Lavasoft that does a free scan of my HD, and it pointed to another free program I hadn't heard of before, SpyBot Search & Destroy. (I've also got Norton Personal Firewall, which I believe keeps some of these buggers out.)
Ad Aware tells me that I have 53 suspicious files on my computer. Gonna hit that Delete Cookies button now.
April 09, 2003
GuruNet, the 1-click fact-finder
Later today I'm going to download GuruNet, a clever little piece of reference software from Atomica, an Israeli company. Walter Mossberg wrote a glowing review last month, explaining how GuruNet goes beyond what Google and other search engines have to offer, and I've heard other good things over the years.
Now comes word about today's release of GuruNet 4.1 for Windows, which calls itself "the 1-click fact-finder software." Says CEO Robert S. Rosenschein:
We've compiled the ultimate reference library on-demand: encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesaurus, War-in-Iraq terms, definitions, stats, people, business info and many other premium sources, all in one convenient place.GuruNet enhances your search by delivering the concise answers you're actually looking for, on demand. You can be working in any Windows program and look up any term on the screen in one simple click, without interrupting your work. GuruNet saves you time and frustration.
They're offering a free two-week trial; the full product costs $35, but there's a scaled-down version that remains free if you don't want to pay.
April 08, 2003
Best cross-platform media player: Flash6
There's been an interesting discussion on the online-news list about use of Flash6 vs. Windows Media Player, Real, and Quicktime. Mindy McAdams sums it up nicely here:
Not only do Real and WMF cause fatal errors on the Mac OS -- which the Flash 6 player eliminates, because it is truly cross-platform -- but when you author in Flash, you also have complete flexibility in how your player controls appear and operate, and in how the complete object, or "block," appears on the page. The embedded players for Real and even QuickTime sometimes misbehave a bit across browsers and platforms.By using the Flash 6 player as your delivery medium for online video, you get an even better result, because of your ability to get rid of all the proprietary-looking doodads forced on you by the three dominant plug-ins. In other words, you can integrate your own unobtrusive player into your page design (or a pop-up) cleanly.
If you are under the impression that more users have one of the other plug-ins (or players) installed, think again.
While only the newest Flash plug-in/player (6) supports video, previous versions support audio. So if you author in Flash MX and you are not using video, you can save for Flash 5 or even Flash 4 and ensure maximum usability for your audio feature. (The audio file format: MP3. Just import your existing audio file to Flash. It is not difficult.)
Todd said:
FYI, I don't even think QUICKTIME or REAL PLAYER or any other media allows you to "copy" something onto the clipboard and paste it into an email attachment, etc. Sure, JPGs & GIFs and such, but.... quicktime movies? real player files? Good luck, I'd like to see you do that one. Not only that, but let's say you could, no gaurentee that person on the other end has the appropriate player in which they'll still get a broken image, etc.
JD said:
Someone asked how to access or sign up for the online-news list. Here's how to do that:
http://talk.poynter.org/online-news/
Know, however, that the list is non-technical in nature and centers on issues related to online journalism, particularly business models for online news.
There has been one reponse on the list to Marc's post, from Mindy McAdams:
>Marc Canter wrote:
- though it is technically possible to do, most people don't know how to link INTO a Flash doo-hickey - so all links simply go to the "top" of the doo-hickie - which is fine if it's a blog compliant data structure - but more time than not it's NOT a blog data structure.
I'm guessing he means when the Flash object is on a Web page, and it's not at the top of the page. But if that is what he means, the same criticism holds for content in other media players/plug-ins, including Real, WM and QuickTime.
> - it is impossible to copy and paste a Flash doc - at all. Macromedia considers this a feature. "We're the only on-line media
>standard to PREVENT anyone from copying it." Gee, I wonder who thinks this is a good thing? Ever try to take a cool Flash thingie and get it
into a blog? Well it CAN'T be done. Tell me why this is a good format for on-line media...
There are two ways in which this is NOT true:
1) Text in a Flash document can be made selectable. See, for example:
http://www.macloo.com/examples/flash/dynamictext/
The text in the scrolling box (which is Flash) can be right-clicked and (Select All) copied in full.
2) There are a bunch of free capture programs that let you grab Flash content to play offline (I grab it to show in presentations where there is no Net connection). Two examples: Flash Saver; Flash Capture (Google them). The drawback is that you can't get the multiple-SWF packages built by Flash studs at places like The New York Times and USA Today -- you can grab all the pieces, but if you want to show the package as a package, you have to rebuild it yourself.
I am certain that The New York Times and USA Today think IT IS a good thing that people cannot copy their cool Flash packages.
>Until Macromedia allows people to right-click on a Flash thingie - it is NOT the ideal distribution format for media.
I agree with this in principle, but media companies have exactly the opposite view, and I think Marc Canter is being a little naive in not recognizing that. Media companies don't want us to copy their content, even for educational uses! So it makes sense that Macromedia would want to address that.
I recognize that Marc is coming from an open source perspective, and I like that. But the open source community is not going to eliminate copyright protection and creators' rights any time soon.
------------------------
Mindy McAdams
(Teaching online journalism at the
University of Florida)
mailto:mmcadams@well.com
http://mindymcadams.com/
ip address said:
Nice blog
April 07, 2003
ActiveRefresh: a notification program for blogs and more
Got a press release this morning about a product I hadn't heard about before, though the waters they're plying are fairly familiar. I'll probably check it out. There's a 15-day trial version, and the product costs $24.
ActiveRefresh is a new software application that monitors your web sources and notifies you when they are updated. ActiveRefresh monitors web pages, forums, news sites, LiveJournals, Bloggers, RSS channels, even YahooMail. The main advantage of the program is that it does not just notify you about the changes; this application can extract the new information and deliver it directly to your computer, making it unnecessary for you to visit different websites.
While ActiveRefresh can be considered to be a professional software title for editors, journalists and writers, the purpose of the program is to give the regular folks a simple, straightforward solution that would make it unnecessary to continuously keep visiting websites to see if there is any new information there. Let's say you posted a message. Instead of visiting the website regularly to see if there are any replies, just set up ActiveRefresh and it will show you all replies as soon as they appear.ActiveRefresh is extremely simple to use. You can just select the news headlines or forum topics you would like to track, and the program will automatically create a template for it. The program features a convenient two-panel interface that displays your sources and the news. This application features multi-user support, so that everybody in your family or office can have their own separate account. The program is fully customizable, has built-in task scheduler and supports drag&drop technology, making it easy to manage your sources.
ActiveRefresh allows you to export RSS channels, has RSS Autodiscovery feature, and processes incoming HTML code in order to delete parts of the code that could be potentially dangerous. ActiveRefresh also supports the standard OPML and OCS formats for loading the channels list from news content providers such as MoreOver, NewsIsFree, and others. You can edit and post extracted contents to weblogs (Blogger, Movable Type, LiveJournal Support)
ActiveRefresh is distributed electronically over the Internet. The price of a single copy is just $23.95 Free trial version is available at http://www.activerefresh.com/ for evaluation. If you have any questions, would like to request editor's copy or have a business proposal, please contact our staff at sisyph@activerefresh.com
System Requirements: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP Internet Explorer 4.0+
The antivirus program that isn't
Just got another reminder of what a shitty program Norton AntiVirus is. After a scan, I was informed:
One infected file found. Rokt.scr contained W32.Klez virus Delete failed. Your email is still infected with viruses.
Does it tell me which of the thousands of email messages in Outlook contains the virus? No. Does it tell me where the infected email is located? No. (I searched all files on my hard drive and came up empty.) In other words, good luck, fella!
April 06, 2003
Fighting Messenger spam
I happened across a website that purports to eliminate all popup Messenger spam, which is increasingly becoming a problem. It's called Message Away. The fellow who built the app charges $20 for it.
Anyone know (a) whether this service is legit and works, or (b) if there are simple tweaks I can do myself without an outside vendor's help? I don't want to deny this programmer his 20 bucks if he's created something inventive. On the other hand, I don't want to get ripped off if this is something easily accomplished by the end user.
jose said:
it's relatively easy to edit your IM client's settings. you can, for example, only allow people to send messages to you who are on your contacts list. this is one way to prevent spam. spam's been used for annoyances as well as for spreading malware (via enticing links).
it's built in. i wonder if this shareware just does that ...
as an amusing side note, imagine giving a technical demo at a trade show when porn spam pops up ... :-/
Taka said:
This kind of spam comes through via the Windows Messenger Service, *not* MSN Messenger (the IM client).
There's no need to buy anything to block this. Instructions on how to turn this service off are here: http://www.auburn.edu/oit/security/messengerService.html
You can also block it at the firewall.
JD Lasica said:
Thanks, Taka, I've followed the instructions at the link you supplied. The 3 Messenger spams a day was getting a bit annoying. Hopefully this will do the trick.
April 04, 2003
Window problem with IE
Can any fellow blogger help me with a problem with Internet Explorer that's driving me nuts?
Three days about IE started behaving in a new way. Whenever I right-click on a link to open it in a new window, the window is the thumb of a postage stamp, which I have to resize either manually or by right clicking the bar to specify Maximize. (When I left click on a link, it opens in the same window of the same size, of course.)
This has never happened before. How do I get it to return to its previous behavior, of opening a new window either full size or the size of the original window? Lemme know, and I'll share the wisdom.
Later: I think a version of PopUp Stopper had something to do with this. In any event, Gregory A. came along and offered this fix, which worked:
1) Open a browser window to any page (make sure it's the only one open)
2) Right click on a link anywhere on the page, and Open it in a new page.
3) Resize the second window to your desired size (doesn't record being maximized, but any other size works fine for me)
4) Close the ORIGINAL, first window.
5) Close the Second window.
March 27, 2003
Giving users control over text size
After my brief list of suggestions yesterday on how to improve the fabulous Technorati service, its creator, Dave Sifry, said he'd go along with giving users the ability to increase the text size on the site. Dave asked: How does one accomplish that?
I responded that I had removed the offending code from Userland's Cascading Style Sheet template on my Manila blog nearly two years ago, and so can't remember what the expunged code said, but I believe it was something like this:
body {
font-size: 0.75em; [or maybe: height="12px"]
}
Any bloggers out there using Blogger or Userland software with the CSS template intact?
kpaul said:
I dropped him an email, but maybe it was detected as spam. ;)
In any case, all you need to do is change any reference to:
font-size : 1em;
(or another size, say 12px or 10pt)
to:
font-size : 80%;
He should be able to open it up in a word processor and do a find/replace to replace all 12pt with 85% for example...
JD Lasica said:
Perfect. Thanks, kpaul.
March 19, 2003
Baffling Norton error message
Anyone out there familiar with the accursed Norton Systemworks package? Whenever I run Norton Disk Doctor, it does a fine job diagnosing the errors on my hard drive. But when I check the box to fix errors, it says it can't.
Instead, I get this error message.
And when I click on Schedule a Repair, nothing happens. (Oh, occasionally it will give me a dialogue box to schedule a repair upon rebooting, but when I reboot, the repair isn't done, and I get the same error message.) This little game has been going on for about 6 months now.
I don't know of any other apps on my computer that are running, preventing Norton from fixing my drive. Any ideas?
I'm on a Dell Dimension 8200 running Windows XP Professional (alas).