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Sunday, December 12, 2004

Show #100

Steve Gibson of www.grc.com joins me in the the 2–3p hour to talk about Internet security - and a very important change everyone should make to their routers.

Today’s news items

Take a look at that amazing Lego Grandfather clock!

A Gameboy is better at relaxing kids before surgery than tranquilizers, according to research from University Hospital in Newark. The study said “We find that the children are just so happy with the Game Boy that they actually do forget where they are.”

Another reason to hate pop-ups: they’re security risks. According to Secunia, any browser that displays pop-ups, including Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Firefox, Opera, Konqueror, Safari and Netscape, is vulnerable to an injection attack that could make a malicious site look like a secure site. Turn on pop-up blocking and breath a sigh of relief.

The December Windows XP patches will hit Microsoft Windows Update December 14. There will be five fixes, none of them critical - how long has it been since we’ve been able to say that?

Federal regulators will meet next week to consider revising rules to allow cell phone usage aboard commercial airline flights. It’s not the safety issue that concerns me, it’s the annoyance factor.

Mike B’s trivia question of the day

What was the first computer language program for a personal computer? ¹
a) COBOL
b) BASIC
c) ALGOL
d) Fortran

Noon-1p

Edward in Santa Ana - mysterious freezes

This is one of the strangest cases I’ve heard of - Edward has swapped out everything, moved the computer location, but it freezes regularly. He built it, and has built others, so the only thing I can think of is an overheating issue.

MechMan adds: It could be the ribbon cables from the motherboard to the drives. It’s a simple to fix problem, but it’s one most folks don’t really think of. Most computer stores can sell you ribbon cable packs for about $5–7. Only other possibility is that you have a ghost. I suggest a priest for that. :)

He didn’t say what he is doing on his computer, but I often experience this problem using Photoshop 7.0 and / or Illustrator 10. I can not have one in the background while the other is up. Also it might be either the Antivirus or Firewall if he has one. My problem started after updating Zone Alarm this year. I got a notice that I needed to update it and found I was buying a new program.

Another thing to try which he should do after one of the freezes is to run a quick cleanup routine such as “scandisk”. I prefer the one in Norton Systemworks, but the Microsoft routine that comes in windows is ok. If the freeze created any temp files or other unterminated files it screws up the operating system when another routine tries to write to a scratch file.

Greg adds: Edward “said” he tried everything, but I didn’t hear him say he replaced the Video Card… Also, I would try a video card that is another brand (different drivers). What about the old trick of going into windows settings and lowering or turning off video acceleration. Also try newer mouse drivers. The mouse drivers are very closely coupled to the video drivers and can cause freezeups like this.

Rollerbones: One more thing to look at is a extra motherboard riser post (crossing solder points under the board)

Tammy in Encino - plagued by spyware

This is such a problem these days. Please read my articles on Removing Spyware and Must Have Security Software.

Verna in Playa del Ray - stuck keys on her keyboard

You might be able to clean it, but why. Keyboards are cheap - you can get a generic keyboard for under $10. If you want to go wireless try Logitech’s Cordless MX Duo for around $60. Stay away from Bluetooth keyboards, though, they’re a lttle slow.

From LunaHa1o:
The Logitech MX Duo is in my opinion the best keyboard and mouse combo package next to the Logitech diNovo Media Desktop. I have this MX Duo and there is no keyboard and mouse combo comparison. If you like the laptop notebook computer like keys (the flat keys on a laptop) then the diNovo setup is great, but will cost three times as much. Both are cordless and response times are incredible. Gamers, who require some of the fastest response times, reccomend the MX Duo saying that, “There is no difference in response time between a corded mouse and the MX700 (mouse that comes with the MX Duo) and the MX700 is even better than most corded mice.” The links are to the products for $54.99 and $159.99 respectively with free 2-day shipping on both.

1–2p

Marcello in Covina - PC freezes when he access the DVD menu

There are several possible causes. Investigate the software, video drivers, and CPU temperature. I recommend updating to Windows Media Player 9 or trying PowerDVD, WinDVD, or nVidia’s nvDVD. If the system still crashes, make sure you have the latest video drivers. Check your CPU temperature with Motherboard Monitor 5 - it works with most systems. He’s watching 311′s Day these days.

From LunaHa1o: *.mdf files are in fact a media file that can be played. Usually its more detailed by having *.mdv for video or *.mda for audio. There is also *.mdk files. These are all “compressed” versions of the media and require a special player that can extract and play the media. Matroska media player is supposedly one the few players that can play the files correctly. There has been mixed results with this player and this file format. Honestly, the *.mdv, *.mda, etc. files are not very “reliable” or feasible to use. If there is an option to compress to *.avi or *.wmv it would be better.
Make sure you have the latest codecs. There are sites that offer all-in-one packs for codecs. Google “klcodecpack247f” or “klcodecpack.” This is free though there are some sites that will try to charge you for it.

Chris in Rancho Cucamonga - buying a new computer

I do prefer AMD to Intel, but unfortunately none of the first tier manufacturers use AMD chips. An Athlon 64 with the new instruction execution protection is a very good choice for security and performance.

If you’ve got money to burn Alienware makes Athlon based gaming PCs. Monarch Computers, too. Any other recommendations?

Compaq, a first teir manufacturer sells a line of computers with the athlon 64 CPU, the series is the SA4000Z series. mp3mooch

One thing to note: Chris said he *had* to get a PC because he uses a PC for work. However I work in a totally PC environment but have a Mac. Every document I touch is either MS Office or e-mail, both of which are extremely easy to transport between environments. Given that the thing he wants to get into is video editing, I don’t think it’s out of the question to look at a 17″ iMac with a Student edition of Office (as long as someone in your family is a student you’re within the license parameters) for an extra $140 or so. (Submitted by Tim)

Dawn in Silmar - upgrading the hard drive in her Sony laptop

Look for a hatch on the bottom of the laptop - if there’s one about the size of a deck of cards that’s probably for the hard drive. In that case it should be easy to add a drive. Tuxmobil has instructions. It’s ok to upgrade to a 5400 RPM drive, but a 7200 RPM drive will probably generate too much heat.

On some of the Sony VAIO laptops you have to remove the keyboard to get to the harddrive, it’s as simple as removing a screw on the side of the plate, where the power button is, and sliding that peice off, then lifting up the keyboard. Mp3mooch

Rob in Temeculah - marketing a web site

The first step is to get your site listed on Google. They have an online submission form. To rank higher on Google, get other sites to link to you. Google ranks sites based on the number of highly-ranked sites who link to them. Exchange links with other sites. And consider advertising with Google - their banner ads are effective but aren’t particularly offensive. (Those are Google ads on the right hand column of this page.)

2–3p

Steve Gibson of grc.com talks about Internet security.

To test your Internet security right now, visit www.grc.com and run Shields Up.

His points:

1. Hardware routers (like the Linksys) are excellent firewalls, as good as any software firewall and a lot quieter. All home broadband routers are stateful inspection firewalls - even if the box doesn’t say so.
2. However, they can disrupt some services like Instant Messaging so Microsoft has implemented something called Universal Plug and Play that allows software to reconfigure the router to allow traffic through. This is a security problem - because a trojan horse running on your system can do the same thing.
3. Most routers have a check box for UPnP - uncheck it. It may break some software - BitTorrent clients, for example - but you can enable port forwarding for those programs individually.
4. There is an advantage to software firewalls - they can monitor outgoing traffic, and catch programs trying to phone home - however many trojans will disable firewall software. Best to use a lesser known (and less intrusive) software firewall, like Sygate’s free personal firewall.

Brad in Ladera Beach - is it safe to remove spyware

It can often cause problems - for example it’s not unusual to kill your Internet connectivity. Steve recommends only removing programs that you know are a problem. If you loose connectivity try Winsock XP Fix.

Kelly in Huntington Beach - removing virtual bouncer

Try these removal instructions.

Read my articles on Removing Spyware and Spyware Prevention, and Steve’s instructions for Using Internet Explorer Safely.

Chat Logs and Show Audio

¹ Answer is b) BASIC Written for the Altair 8800 (↑)

04 November 2005