Saturday, December 31, 2005
Tech News
A look back at 2005.
Year in review articles from:
Not so fast! 2006 is being delayed by one second. What will you do with the extra time?
An ugly error in the Windows Metafile interpreter opens a major security hole in all versions of Windows. Zero day exploits are already numerous on the net. Microsoft has no patch - but there’s a simple fix.
Intel is spending $2 billion to drastically revamp its marketing image. The new branding will be unveiled next week at CES. For the first time in 37 years the company has a new logo. “Intel Inside” is being replaced by “Leap Ahead” and the Pentium name is being replaced by Core and Viiv.
There were big gains in online sales this holiday season. Preliminary numbers show a 25–30% growth over last year. And the number of people who shopped online went from 10% to 2004 to 33% in 2005.
11a-Noon
QDiana in Burbank - my computer won’t boot
She put in a second stick of RAM (she bought it on EBay) and now when she boots the computer beeps madly and won’t start. Those beeps are the POST codes - error codes that happen when the computer is so troubled that it can’t even display an error message on the screen. That’s consistent with bad RAM. Remove the RAM. If it boots ok then that’s the problem. If not, you may have damaged the PC during the RAM install, but this is highly unlikely. Also the memory can be the wrong one for that computer.
Update on Diana: she just hadn’t pressed the RAM in hard enough. Once she snapped it into place it worked great!
A listener writes:
When Leo spoke with Diana, he asked if she had grounded herself with a wrist strap, something she did do. But Leo offered some bad advice about grounding that I would like to clear up.
First, let me say that I am a registered Professional Engineer (Electrical) in California and I work with microelectronics. It is imperative to use a wrist strap when working with microelectronics because they are extremely sensitive to electrostatic discharge (ESD).
We can build up a static charge—a voltage—during normal activity. When you are at a different voltage than your computer and come into contact with it, you risk discharging that charge into the delicate electronics. To avoid this possibility, always use a wrist strap that is connected to a bare spot on the computer’s chassis before working on it. Connecting yourself to a cold water pipe with the wrist strap—as Leo had suggested to Diana—grounds you but could leave you at a different static potential than your computer. Damage could result.
When working inside your computer, always do these things:
- Unplug the computer. This will absolutely turn it off. (Never attempt to do any work inside the power supply, where high voltages can exist and might remain after the computer is unplugged.) If the computer is left plugged in, some circuits can remain on, with the possibility that an accidental short circuit caused by you will result in damage to the computer.
- Use a wrist strap to ground yourself to a bare spot on the chassis before touching any of the computer’s internal circuits. This will put you and the computer at the same potential so that no static discharge can occur.
Leo responds: Thanks so much for the correction! I will make sure to use your suggestions from now on.
djinx adds - leaving the computer plugged in when attaching the ground strap then unplugging the computer is a better solution (or better yet connect a jumper from a grounded source ie water pipe and to the computer chassis and connecting youself to the chassis with a ground strap. This is the CET spec)
Vince - Community Computer Group, North Wales, UK
I run a small community group in the UK with a friend, and we have come across various bios faults when installing new memory. Diane mentioned that her computer now fails to boot even when installing her new RAM on its own. Assuming hopefully that the machine isn’t damaged by ESD, and after re-seating all cables and plug-in cards, a feature of some bios’s is after an error to continue reporting the error, and basically trip out so even if she installed her original RAM in the machine, it threw up the same error. One way around this is to remove the CMOS battery and leave it out of the PC case with the PC unplugged from the wall for a few minutes. The bios configuration will be reset, and assuming there’s no hardware damage, the machine should resume accepting her old RAM.
QLeslie in North Hollywood - Mom’s computer is acting up
She added a DVD drive and now programs won’t launch, things are acting up, but she’s not sure if it was like this before. It probably was. It’s unlikely that the DVD drive caused the problem. More likely she’s had spyware and other problems all along. Backup her data, make sure you have all the application discs and serial numbers, reinstall Windows (she has the System Recovery discs), turn on the Windows firewall and immediately run Windows Update. And keep doing so until there are no more critical updates to install. Then install Microsoft’s Defender anti-spyware and turn on Real Time Protection. You may also want to install other anti-spyware like AdAware and Spybot. Then install Firefox and train mom to use it instead of Internet Explorer. Install a good anti-virus like NOD32 and turn on autoupdate (so she doesn’t have to remember to do it). You might also want to convince her to run as a Limited User most of the time.
QAndrew in New York City - browsing on the go
Any Wi-Fi capable device would work great, including the Palm TX, iPaq, and Sony PSP. All three have browsers that will work with most web sites. Most cell phones these days do, too
Noon-1p
QRichard in Stanton - taking a laptop to Africa
Most laptops can handle any voltage from 110–240v so you won’t need a transformer, but check the power brick to make sure. You will need an appropriate plug adapter - you can get an inexpensive kit that includes all the different plugs from Radio Shack. Heat and humidity can be an issue, too. Make sure your laptop is powering down when not in use.
QPete in Santa Clarita - getting a SMART warning
His BIOS is warning him that his drive is about to die. Cool! He has a SMART drive - most are these days - that’s supposed to let you know when it’s about to fail. I’d trust it and backup your data, although I’ve never been too impressed by SMART.
You might want to get a second opinion with one of the shareware SMART monitoring programs like HDDlife.
QDave in Newport Beach - iTunes won’t open in XP any more
It briefly worked after installing an anti-spyware program. You might want to make sure you’re spyware free with these three free programs:
But this seems to be a common problem. Any suggestions gang?
note added by TastesLikeLead:
Create a new User, then log in as the new user and launch iTunes. If iTunes launched succesfully, it means that the iTunes preferences is damaged.
To fix this, make sure you can see the hidden files and folders (Tools > Folder Options > View > Hidden Files and Folders > Show Hidden Files and Folders).
Go to C:Documents and SettingsyourusernameLocal SettingsApplication DataApple Computer
Delete the “iTunes” folder.
Try launching iTunes.
If iTunes wouldn’t launch in any user accounts, including the newly created user:
Try uninstall iTunes, reboot, then reinstall iTunes.
If the problem persisted, check if there are other programs that also fail to launch.
If iTunes still wouldn’t launch after the uninstall and reinstall, there’s a possibility that the System is damaged. Back-up your data, and fresh install Windows XP.
QFrank in Garden Grove - “There is no disk in the drive” error
Microsoft does mention this error here but I’m not sure that’s the problem. It might be an environment variable pointing somewhere besides C: - check them by opening the System Properties control panel, click the advanced tab, them press the Environment Variables.. button.
Frankly, since it just started I’d suspect spyware.
Leo in Knoxville, TN
I experienced a similar message after installing a USB Media Hub for SD, CF, MS, SM cards. I’m running XP Pro on a Dell 8300. I worked on the issue off and on for a few weeks then it just stopped occuring. The dialog boxes would popup at every login for every user. There was one dialog box for each slot of the Hub.
1–2p
QJeff in Van Nuys - I lost my Nextstep password
He used to sell NeXT computers. He still has a box, but has forgotten his system password. The steps for fixing it require booting into single user mode - but he can’t get there. He’s getting an exception error - sounds like a more serious issue.
RGS2 adds: Found some slightly different password recovery steps at the following site: http://www.simski.org/next/hardware/info/getin.html
It mentions remounting the disk to get out of read only mode and running an nu -m command after starting Netinfo. Seems to be quite a bit of NeXT documentation at the site (http://www.simski.org/next/hardware).
QDavid in Beverly Hills - my hard disk icon is jumping around
He’s using OS X Tiger. Try changing the view options in the Finder - press Command-J.
QJoyce in Victorville - Service Pack 2 woes
Read my article on installing Service Pack 2 for instructions. And good luck!
QEric in Bakersfield - Studio 10 requires opening port 8234
Port Forwarding Example
That’s strange. You can do this in your router using the port forwarding page. On a Linksys, log into the router, hit the Advanced tap, and the Port Forwarding tab. Then enter the following information (use the proper IP address for the computer running Studio 10 however).
The real question, though, is what possible reason Pinnacle could have for requiring that port to be opened. It strikes me as a serious privacy and security concern.
Chat Logs and Show Audio
Listener Comments
31 December 2005
On the windows .wmf vulnerability
its apparently just for more than images, once I stopped the DLL thanks to Steve Gibson’s run command, it also disabled my ability to listen to the show on windows, thank goodness for my Mac. also if you try to right click an image and select “open with” it actually re-registers the DLL and opens the pic and fax viewer,. then i have to re-unregister it!
Diana in Burbank
Also the memory can be the wrong one for that computer
re:Diana in Burbank. I wonder if her memory actually snapped into place? Sometimes you have to place quite a bit of pressure on the memory sticks in order for them to seat.
re: Frank
I had that problem when i had a game that was tring to load, but there was no CD disk in the drive. Your computer may be tring to start a new program that was installed.
I don’t like icons on my desktop, so I use DeskShade to hide them. It so neat
13:39 by .
To Frank in Garden Grove. My sister brought me her ‘new to her’ Dell computer which had the identical problem that you are describing. After troubleshooting, completely reinitializing and reinstaling the machine, the problem would not go away. It turns out that there is a BIOS setting on her computer to ‘stop on all errors’. BIOS was trying to access a disk in all CD ROM drives and was posting a halt when the drive turned out empty. After changing the BIOS setting, the problem went away and the computer works perfectly.
Where’s the link Leo mentioned earlier in the show that talks about what a new Windows user should know?
Leo - I enjoy the show and appreciate your expertise. Your opinions however are opinions. We all have them.
Are you familiar with Corey Greenberg?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3110-2005Apr19.html
Also:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12487-2005Apr23.html
Do you get paid to dump on IE and tout Firefox? Same question with the veiled insults directed Microsoft and praise of Apple.
FYI - I manage network and IT security for a living and have been making a living from IT for 15 years. My experiences with over 100 XP/2000 systems in the field are fairly trouble-free. Ditto my experiences with Apple and Unix.
Leo responds: I hope you’re not accusing me of Corey Greenburg style improprieties. And if you are then perhaps you think the US Dept of Homeland Security is also in the pocket of Mozilla.org. But wait, how could an open source organization afford to corrupt the likes of Walt Mossberg, or security expert Bruce Schneier? You’d think Microsoft would offer bigger bribes than Mozilla wouldn’t you?
And even a “security expert” like yourself should know there’s a significant difference between a secured business network and a home user. Are you planning to help the 81% of home computer users who have no security software running? That’s what I do every day and I would submit that as a result I know a little bit more about the troubles plaguing real users than you do.
Lemmy Caution,
I’m not saying you’re accusing Leo of being immoral or a sell-out, but your post could come off that way. Best not to make such a post unless you have such suspicions based upon fact.
Has Leo ever done anything to make you think he has been bought? All I ever hear are statements (and polls currently on TWiT) backing up his assertion that he does not want even the appearance of bias.
Hopefully yours is just an innocent question, but if it is, it does nothing to further anything.
to Richard in Stanton:
You mentioned that you son’s laptop was overheating.
Make sure that the fans are free from dust and dirt.
I have a Dell Inspiron 9100 w/3 fans and was having the same problem. Once I cleaned the fans, the overheating problem was gone.
Lemmy - Leo’s right in being critical of the Windows platform. Unless you are a security expert, Windows is incapable of protecting us “ordinary” people from the built-in security flaws that are the source of 99% of Windows problems. I’ve been pro-Windows and anti-Mac since I first owned a PC but I recently bought a Mac just to see if there’s a better way. Guess what. There is. I am totally sold on Powerbooks and Tiger.
Now, if you’re a large corporation and can afford a full-time IT staff to keep you system secure, then there’s no need to change. But if you’re just one of us ordinary folks, Mac keeps you safe.
I deeply resent the suggestion that Leo is making pro-Mac statements because of some ulterior motive. He’s probably the first commentator to be brave enough to inform the vast majority of PC users about the realities and risks of using Windows and IE. So how about an appolgy Lemmy?
thanks Leo, really enjoy the show ! (PC user since 2000)
01 January 2006
I have used Macs and PCs BOTH for years. Without the avaliability of a full time IT staff a Windows box would be a nightmare to maintain in a house with people who are not computer savvy. There is almost nothing I can do on my PC that I can’t do on my Mac and vice-versa AND I do not have virus and spyware problems. I’m tired of reading about the cost issue as well…maybe a PC is cheaper out the door but I’d bet in the long-run the cost of the two is the same.
AND I have never had to reinstall my operating system on my Mac…can’t say that about my PC.
Leo just states the truth: Windows could have been a great operating system if more time would have been spent on the security side. And Firefox is just plain better. Period.
Sorry…just had to rant.
Happy New Year!
Lemmy,
Leo has stated in the past that he is not pro-mac and/or anti-windows. He does use both. When Leo does tout a sponsor, he does let us know that they are a sponsor of the show and that he personally uses the product. I applaud Leo for this. I have watched/listened to Leo for years and have never taken issue with him on the items that he reports.
I do however work in the IT field. I spend most days attempting to help corporate users clear spyware from their Windows machines.
It seems that certain large software companies are quick to push insecure items out the door and fix them later. I hope that they will eventually learn their lesson, and may do so in the coming year.
First of all- this is my first post. You don’t know me - I don’t know you. My posting style is to shoot from the hip and apologize later.
So - I apolgize if I offended anyone.
Over the last year or so, I’ve probably heard the show a half dozen times. My overall take is that there is a subtle anti-Windows undertone. Maybe it’s just my lack of experience with Mr. Laporte but, my impression bothers me each time I hear the show.
The nature and implications of the two articles that I linked cause me to be skeptical of everyone with a website and/or a radio show.
Additionally 2004–2005 showed that’Journalistic ethics’ are largely ignored rendering the phrase an oxymoron.
Leo, I’m not accusing you of anything. I would like to see a statement that says unequivocally that you are not paid by Apple or its agents. Mr. Greenberg’s transgressions taint everyone in your field - sorry. I used to enjoy Greenberg’s column’s in Stereophile - I feel ‘had’ now though.
The show is helpful and I appreciate your knowledge and generosity in sharing it and in providing a source and being an advocate for the ‘ordinary folks’.
In my work, I share his determination in holding Microsoft’s feet to the fire in providing a better, more secure product. My goal with my clients is to provide a work experience in which security is rarely seen or encountered by my my ‘users’.
As far as ‘ordinary folks’: Of course, there is a difference between a network and a home user.
David is probably correct in his asessment re: using Microsoft products. I think that for most ‘ordinary folks’ without need of specific Windows only products that MACs are a better solution.
My preference is for Windows systems but, for those needing only Internet browsing, email, and an ‘office suite’, there’s no reason not to use a Mac.
My first computer was an IMB AT - however, my greatest early learning was on a Mac (512E?).
Again, I apologize if I offended anyone. I have concerns and I voiced them.
Thanks
Leo responds: I am unequivocally not paid by any computer company except for the Sponsors listed to the left, and they pay for me to endorse their products in commercials, nowhere else. To avoid even the appearance of conflict of interest I turn down requests to appear on behalf of technology companies I cover - and most recently turned down a substantial offer from Microsoft to work their booth at CES. I have never accepted payment of any kind from Apple or Microsoft. Period.
Unlike most other technology journalists, I prefer to buy the technology I use, even turning down “journalist discounts.” I purchase all my computers, Mac and Windows, at full price. I will on occasion accept a short term loan of hardware for review purposes, but these products are always returned at the end of the term. Software is not usually returned, only because the cost of doing so exceeds the value of the packaging. Nevertheless, I buy most of the software I use, including shareware.
ClearChannel has a very strong anti-conflict of interest policy which I am required to sign every year, disclosing any other sources of income. I’m sure KFI would make that available to anyone who requested it.
Anyone who has listened to me more than a few times knows that I prize my integrity and my opinions are not for sale, ever. There is a not-so-subtle undertone of disdain for Windows in my work because I believe that it is a garbage operating system. I felt the same way about Apple’s OS 9 and offered that opinion many many times. I believe users deserve my truthful opinion - and I state it, regardless of how it offends.
The assumption that anyone who dislikes Windows must be in the pay of Apple is bizarre, but I understand your reluctance to trust tech journalists and I appreciate the opportunity to reassure you. Ultimately, though, trust has to be earned. I think if you keep listening you’ll understand why I am one of the most trusted tech journalists in the world and why I so vigourously defend my integrity. It’s all I have to offer.
02 January 2006
00:53 by .
Studio 10 Port Forwarding:
I don’t know Studio 10, but I have been working with MySQL, which requests port 3306 be opened (in XP you can use named pipes instead of the port, but most GUI front ends support only the port 3306 option).
I did not have to open my hardware router (I’m the only one developing this DB). But I did have to make sure that I could listen to the port (on my loopback 127.0.0.1 ?)in the Trusted Zone in my version of Zone Alarm (Integrity Flex). You might check to see if that is all you need to remove the jerkiness without opening your router to others.
re: adding RAM.
I thought that the RAM had “snapped” into place. The clips sorta wanted to close on the RAM, and I thought they were closing as much as possible, even tho they did not enclose the little tab edges on the RAM. I certainly didn’t think that I’d practically have to jump up and down on them to get them to seat properly!
Now I know.
Special thanks to the folks in the chat room & special kudos to Leo for updating my situation on the air, mentioning the amount of pressure that ~may~ be required for RAM installation.
Leo’s the best, no doubt about it! If his integrity matched his waist line, he’d be WHOLE lot fatter! I used to be slightly irked by Leo’s snarly barbs of disdain for Windblows since I’ve been a happy camper with a network of systems with no problems to mention for years and years—BUT—then twin neices stopped by and went to town on one system. They clicked on stuff faster than my eye could follow! My reaction was OMG!, I’m going to have ten viruses and a hundred spyware infections!
You see, up until that point, I hadn’t realized, like when we stop seeing banner ads even though they’re front and center, that I had been picking my way securely through the minefield practically subconciously…up until that point I hadn’t met the real world. I’m back to my normal rxn when I encountered the WMF exploit a couple times over the weekend (take your little file and hit the road pal, find someone who has time for ya) but in the back of my mind I know the neices would have hugged it and brought it home for milk and cookies.
As you can tell, my style is not to shoot from the hip. In fact I haven’t had to apologize, women included, in more than two years now!
later…
03 January 2006
I’ve been in the IT field for over 25 years and in the last few have used quite a few tricks that I’ve either heard from Leo and/or saw on this site.
Both have helped me out and saved me countless manhours when dealing with users who love to click and download that cute little kitty screensaver.
Thanks, Leo.
04 January 2006
i tried both solutions to the no disk in the drive and neither worked. Help!
12 January 2006
I thought it would be funny to give Leo a hard time.
If you listen carefully in episode #209 at 1:12:10 into the podcast version Leo moans and at
1:12:12 he is chomping on potato chips pretty loud for a few seconds over Jessica’s attempt to provide the news. Leo don’t forget to turn that PR40 OFF when you are not supposed to be on the air (this was during the news)! If muting your channel is easy to forget you could try the Cough Drop from ProCo sound
http://www.procosound.com/coughdropsindex.htm . Or just make one parts should only be about $20 lol.
Thanks for everything you do for us I wouldn’t make it through the day at work if it weren’t for your podcasts but I couldn’t miss an opportunity to hassle you a little!
hddlife sounds like a great app, for windows… how about one for my SMART Mac? (powerpc) (graphic arts and asian music, i’m Very paranoid about data loss, lol)
16 January 2006
Leo: Thank you for your unequivocal response. You’re entitlede to your opinions of course and we as your listeners are entitled to ask difficult questions.
Since I don’t always have time to listen to your show, I’m downloading the podcasts. Thanks for your efforts and thank you for addressing my question.
Well, after trying to figure out what was going on with iTunes not opening at all. It turns out that by default for some reason Windows Xp Firewall disables it from opening it. iTunes however is acting like a server for the simple fact that you exchange data between your computer and iTunes Store. Since there is no option to force this connection to happen, you have to get ZoneAlarm to do so. It Will also work with the free Edition of ZoneAlarm. So what ZoneAlarm does is actually enables the connection between your computers data (iTunes) and iTunes servers to connect.
So first off make sure that you uninstall any Anti-Virus program so that only ZoneAlarm is installed/Running. Run ZoneAlarm and once that’s achieved you then go ahead and run iTunes. You will then be prompted twice, the first time it will prompt you about itunes.exe running as a program (Click Allow) and the second is very important since this is what enables iTunes to make a forced connection with iTunes servers (Click Allow again). Once that’s done, you will see iTunes runs again. You can also uninstall ZoneAlarm and you will see that iTunes will still open even after ZoneAlarm is Uninstalled. I will see if I can make a .reg file so that you don’t have to install ZoneAlarm to make iTunes open again, but then again it wouldn’t hurt having ZoneAlarm installed since ZoneAlarm is a great tool. And Also Scan For Both Adware And Spyware If Posible.
Here’s A direct link to the Free ZoneAlarm: http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/free/1001_cnet_zdnet/zlsSetup_61_737_000_en.exe
I’m sure this will work for anyone clicking the iTunes icon and getting nothing after a sec of the hour-glass disappearing and also seeing that iTunes.exe disappears in the Task Manager. So the chances of this working are high and once again since its free it wont hurt to try. Thank you again for your attention. And if anyone needs help let me know, and I would appreciated it if you can leave a reply and let me know how it turned out, weather or not iTunes opened. Thank You.-Michael R.
22 January 2006
I rcently repaired my sister’s iTunes on her XP computer. She had the loxbot.c virus. Norton could not remove it. Once I booted into safe mode and deleted lokbr.exe under system32 file foler and rebooted. iTunes came back to life.
24 January 2006
21:27 by anonymous.
I resently heard a podcast of this show and was wonder what is the difference between internet explorer and foxfire? I aquired a notebook this year and have depended on a friend to keep me up to date on what I need to do but I have to educate myself and I think your podcast will be a good start. Thanks for you time. Keep doing good works.
