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Sunday, September 18, 2005

Tech News

Ebay buys Skype for an astounding $2.6 billion.

Will Microsoft take a stake in AOL? The NY Post says so. Google and Yahoo are next in line.

Is Tivo preventing customers from keeping files longer than a week? Engadget has details on the red flag flap.

11a-Noon

Al in Seal Beach - My router doesn’t block pings

He tested with shields up but pings still are open. Most routers let you block ICMP packets - turn that on.

Bgeller Adds
It is most likey a Westell 327W Router.

10/9 Richard in Costa Mesa mentions”
Some routers have the ability to “discard pings” from the WAN side. Check your manual.

Jeff in Santa Ana adds -…then there was the company that sells routers that thought it would be a good idea
to stealth ALMOST ALL of the ports.
Wasn’t Leo just talking about the operating system company that didn’t grok the importance of OS security?

Joe in Sebastapol - Putting the boot drive on an external disc

He wants to secure his data by removing the boot drive when he’s not using the machine. Some computers allow booting from Firewire or USB externals, but a better way to do this is to buy a removable drive bay. They’re inexpensive and allow you to slide out the hard drive when you’re not using it.

Christian in Paris, TN - Frontpage crashed when he tries to create a link

Sounds like a bug in Windows Explorer.

Dean in Yorba Linda - if I have a router do I need Windows firewall

Yeah - turn it on. It will protect you against worms inside your router. That’s what happened with Zotob.

Stapler adds:
Router “firewalls” as well as Windows XP’s built-in firewall are NOT bi-directional. They may prevent most malware entering your system, however they DO NOT check programs sending data from your computer out to the internet. A few software firewalls are bi-directional, such as ZoneAlarm, which not only checks outgoing data, but compares said data against a “pre-approved” encrypted image, to insure the program has not been changed by malware. For more complete info, read Steve Gibson’s comments on firewalls at http://www.grc.com

Noon-1p

Jerry in La Crescenta - How can you make Windows as secure as a Mac?

A good step would be to run as a Limited User.

Administrators on OS X can put apps in the system wide applications folder, where other users can use it. With admin password install software that needs to modify system folder.

A regular use can not put applications in applications folder, but can still download and run most software. Unlike windows most software doesn’t require being “installed”.

For example making all the kids accounts regular users doens’t stop them for having a copy of msn messenger in their own home folders. Which is just a waste of disk space having duplicate copies.

Daniel in La Jolla - podcast hosting suggestions?

I like Libsyn - you pay for storage, not bandwidth. He’s using Blipmedia but he says it’s buggy. You might also check out www.ourmedia.org.

As far as the Cell Phone Do Not Call registry goes - it doesn’t hurt to register for it, but there’s a bit of a myth to the notion that cell providers are going to provide numbers to marketers. Read the article at snopes.com before you spread this rumor.

Matt in Overland, KS - Amiga to Mac

His friend has music on his Amiga he’d like to get to his Mac. Once he does he can use an Amiga emulator to open it. The trick is getting the file over. This article might help.

Reggie Darden adds I used to have an Amiga and when I needed to put something on a Mac I would just copy the files to PC formated disks. Amiga OS can read PC formated floppies if you are running version 2 or higher.

BenListening adds an interesting page on Amiga history

mr.perturbed adds I have an Amiga 1200, and have used an app called CrossMac that allows the Amiga to read mac formated zip disks. here is a link of where to get the software [[http://www.softhut.com/cgi-bin/test/Web_store/web_store.cgi?page=catalog/software/utilities/crossmac.html&cart_id=3787731_30345 | toc
Additionally, a link is provided for amiga ethernet working via pcmcia card (for an Amiga 600/1200) [[http://www.softhut.com/cgi-bin/test/Web_store/web_store.cgi?page=catalog/hardware/networking/new_apnet.html&cart_id=3787731_30345 | toc I have not ordered anything from Software Hut in almost a decade, since after the Amiga, I made the natural progression and permanent to the world of Apple.

Dual monitors on iMacs? Not unless you can upgrade the video card. There’s not enough video memory to do dual monitors in anything but mirror mode.

Drew in Forest Lake, MN - Dual Screen iMac possible.

This is very possible, and in fact will work on ALL iMac’s except the first (rev.A) G4 flat screen iMac. What is needed is a $19 VGA adapter sold directly by Apple. In fact, most employees
at the Apple Stores themselves will know what it is exactly that you need. Aside from that, download and use this patch: http://www.rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/ibook_e.html. It’s very safe
and I have been using it on my 1.6GHz G5 iMac for a year now. Before that, I used it on my 1GHz G4 iMac for years… If you have a G3 iMac… sorry… no dice. But heh… you should probably be upgrading anyway.
Good luck!

Tom in Arcadia - XP or XP64 driver

Unless you’re using XP64 - and you’re not if you’re using Pro or Home - use the regular XP driver.

Gene in Lakeview Terrace - do I need to take the battery out of my computer?

It’s not like a car. You don’t have to drain the oil and the gas and put it up on blocks. Your computer will do just fine in storage. I would unplug it however.

1–2p

Marianna in Los Angeles - can’t open DOC attachments

hmmmm

Daniel in La Jolla adds -You should try downloading another program such as Open Office if Word doesn’t work. http://www.openoffice.org/ it is absolutely free. By the way, you should always save and tell your friends to save as an RTF file.

Chris in Independence - You probably have an older version of Word. Newer versions of Word create doc files that aren’t backwords compatable. Solution is like Daniel says… download openoffice.org.

Rob in Orlando, Florida - Sounds like a problem with Word. Trying opening by going to File → Open. Something in Windows Explorer won’t correctly pass file name to Word. Also try editing file name to remove any spaces.

Julian in Glendale - upgrading iMac 400DV to OS X

He has a gig of RAM in there so it should run ok. You should upgrade your firmware first and you might want to read up on the process on Lowend Mac.

Safe Computing -writes
Well Reckless Leo is at it AGAIN! Only an idiot would advice anyone including Mac users that AntiVirus Applications are unnecessary! While Macs DO have a some Viruses, the are Viruses THAT ARE written to be carried by Mac and distributed to those using a Windows PC, just like Typhoid Mary’s! Yet Leo would advise you to waste $99 to pay for an over-priced Dot Mac service (any independent host will provide four time more value for half the price) and you get a free copy of McAfee Mac AntiVirus!! Hmmm… what does Apple know that dopes like Leo doesn’t????

Leo replies: Safe computing is wrong. No Mac anti-virus scans for Windows viruses. If it’s macro viruses you’re worried about, I suppose you could unwittingly pass along an infected file, but all recent versions of Office protect against these. They haven’t been a problem in years.

John Horvatic: Leo’s right, and besides there haven’t been any known viruses on the Mac since OSX was released almost 5 years ago. And I really don’t think Leo comes anywhere near being an idiot when it comes to computing. .Mac does more than just host email. It lets you store and sync files using iDisk, create your own website, webmail, and iCards, plus you get discounts and freebies which includes tutorial training on several Apple applications.

mr.perturbed: I have the Grape iMacDV 400 MHz, and it is functioning well enough with Mac OS X 10.4.2. Quicktime 7 videos are impossible to watch, and I cannot use any of the current Pro Apps from Apple, but otherwise I am content with it. (I also have an old 400 MHz G4, an old iBook G3, 800 MHz, an original eONE eMachines PC and an HP eVectra 600MHz P-III. My Macs, all of them run better and faster than the PCs. Everything is networked. Soon I shall get a MacMini, so that I can run some of the Pro Apple stuff and eventually, I shall go for one of the Macintells.}

starbird: Just a quick correction. While dotMac does still offer virex for prior versions of OS X, it is not compatible with 10.4.3. Just a note. But dotMac is worth it.

John in Rancho Santa Margarita - reducing buffering

He wants to watch live video and audio of sporting events on www.insinc.com. Is there anything he needs to buy to reduce buffering in the Real Player? Not really, buffering is caused by internet congestion, having a more powerful PC won’t help. Just get the best Internet connection you can.

Jeff in Santa Ana adds -”The other night I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out.” —Rodney Dangerfield

ChrisS1563 suggests:
I didn’t upgrade, I did a clean install with an XP disk for new computers. If you attempt to upgrade an older Hewlett Packard computer, if it’s a computer running 98, you might find that the drivers are not compatible with XP and may need to upgrade the drivers too. I also did a clean install on a different HP to Windows 2000 Server. Again, drivers needed to be upgraded. I would have to bet this will be your problem.

Travis added:
Since she already owns a legal copy of XP she could borrow XP install disks from someone and use the key on the side of the computer when prompted during install.

Lee in San Diego - Xbox 360 requires XP Media Center?

We won’t know for sure until they release it, but it looks like it can playback video, audio, and photos from any XP PC via Wi-Fi.

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