Sunday, January 22, 2006
I’m going to keep answering calls for an extra hour today - so keep those calls coming through 3p Pacific: 800–520–1534.
If you want to watch me while I do the show visit the Leo Cams.
Tech News
11a-Noon
Q Kathy in Corona - web site for my 8th grade daughter
I recommend starting with the free, online blogging sites like Blogger, Typepad, Live Journal, My Space.
In regards to new web design. I use freewebs.com and use it’s page generator. — canadiantechie
ChrisS1563 adds:
I know I will be lashed repeatedly for this but AOL has its own Website developing tool for the beginner webbie enthusiasts.
JZA adds:
My sister used to go to Bravenet and get a lot of goodies that appeal to kids mostly. Is very Javascriptic but is ok.
funcrunch adds:
Have her learn real HTML coding with BBEdit. The skills will help her gain useful career skills.
GoDawgs adds:
WordPress.com now has it’s software online. No install necessary and they give you a WordPress account free.
Q Mark in Santa Ana - Quicken Sunset
remove hidden data tool
Link
Q David in Mission Hills - Solution to USB 2 not working after XP SP-2 problem
Install SP-1 first, then SP-2. Thanks, David!
Peter in Columbus, OH adds:
My driver CD for my motherboard has USB 2.0 drivers on it. That solution has worked for me after a reinstall.
Q Bob in Northridge - saving Windows update files
First download the full 272MB Service Pack 2 file - that will get you up to date through last year. Then grab all the individual critical update. To do this follow Microsoft’s instructions .
Jerry in Agoura Hills here: Here’s a quicker solution: After installing SP2, just go to the device manager, go to the properties of the USB controller and click to update the driver of the USB controller. Works every time.
By the time you finished reading those MS directions, you could have just download the updates from here.
http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows/index.html
Noon-1p
Q Nancy in Covina - screaming computer
Plug in headphones to stop the screaming, then turn of your laptop’s microphone.
Q Gabriel in Ontario - xbox takes a long time to load
Check the hard drive
Q Joe in Tennesee - WMP is acting strangely
Dropping streams a lot
I had the same problem where clicking on a link in WMP made my Linksys router lock up. I contacted Microsoft and they had me clear out my temp internet folder and delete all my cookies. This helped for a while. I finally dropped the Linksys and bought a Netgear router. Another thing I did that has helped with the router randomly loosing its connection was to change the IP range from the default 192.168.1.x to 192.168.10.x . For some reason this cleared up my router problem.
Donald Burr of Borg says: Be sure and check to make sure that your router/firewall is running the latest firmware. Often, bugs such as this are fixed with the latest firmware. I had a problem on an older Linksys where FTP connections made from my Windows machine would randomly die or stall; upgrading to the latest firmware on the Linksys box cured all.
Q Pat in Los Angeles - mouse is losing focus
Donald Burr of Borg says: If she is using a laptop, or a desktop with a keyboard that has a built-in touchpad, she could be changing the focus by accidentally resting her palm on the touchpad. Some touchpads are more sensitive than others. Check your Mouse control panel; depending on the touchpad’s manufacturer and the driver software it uses, there may be settings in here to adjust the touchpad’s sensitivity or activate “palm detection mode.” Some laptops, such as IBM Thinkpads, have an option that basically ignores the touchpad if the system deetects another mouse device being used (say, a USB mouse).
1–2p
Q Nigel in Manchester UK - Saying hello via Skype
Q Claude in North Hills - Windows 2000 Outlook Express doesn’t work
You can try reinstalling the program or use the system file checker to fix missing or broken files:
Click Start→Run… and enter cmd and hit enter then type sfc /scannow
Q Janet in El Monte - 2, W, S and spacebar aren’t working
Buy a new keyboard - they’re cheap
Q Pete in Chicago - installing programs in Linux
Read the Guide to installing software at the Linux Documentation Project
The easiest way to install programs in Linux is to use package managers. Otherwise you should read the ReadMe and INSTALL documents.
On the package managers it will depend on the distro of linux you have:
- Mandriva = URPMI
- SuSE = Yast2
- Debian = Apt-get
- Fedora = apt-get (for RPM)
- Gentoo = emerge
A good way is to find the right help, I will suggest using IRC and logging into irc.freenode.net server and type your linux distro. You can get really good live support.
Q Walter in Venice - Wi-Fi security
Turn on WPA and you’ll secure your access point. If you’re using a hotspot (or a neighbor’s wi-fi) I recommend using Hotspot VPN - it’s $8.88 a month.
Q Chris in Kentucky - podcasting for Windows
You need an audio recorder and editor - I recommend the free Audacity. I recommend Feedforall to create the RSS feed.
Listener Derek adds:
For Recording Calls on Skype I recommend “Pamela Recorder” - there are many more options than Hotrecorder.
Chat Logs and Show Audio
Chat logs available shortly after the show ends
Listener Comments
21 January 2006
http://avvenu.com - thats the sort-of logmein service i recommended to leo. it lets you send and recieve files to/from another computer or mobile phone.
- long live the pope, lol.
22 January 2006
11:01 by Jim?.
I was surprised at an item about the WMF flaw on theregister.co.uk. The writer begins by debunking the idea that WMF was a deliberate scheme to open a backdoor, but then turns around and blasts MS for a ‘make everything easy for everyone’ policy as the root of most of the security problems; specifically encouraging users to run in administrave mode. Is that accurate?
The problem is more that M$ doesn’t DIScourage running as admin
(by enforcing good fundamental security techniques
—and it’s too late to tack on a good security model;
security has to be at the CORE of a system).
It’s 3rd-party developers who don’t know how to program properly
that are the worst offenders;
they abuse the flaws in the lax security framework.
I live in Oklahoma and finally after all this time since you left Tech TV I have found you. Thank you KFI, Internet and Leo.
11:36 by Al?.
In regards to the Iboss, couldn’t kids just unplug it? Just my opinion
To Jim. I’d say both points are accurate.
1. See Mark Russinovich on the wmf flaw:
“I’ll pick poor design. After all, there are plenty of such examples all throughout the Windows API … I’m convinced that this behavior, while intentional, is not a secret backdoor.”
http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2006/01/inside-wmf-backdoor.html
2. Yes, it is bad policy to run as what Windows calls an “administrative” user. However, it is difficult not to, because of the way Windows has been designed (or perhaps I should have said has “grown”).
The security policies of Unix-based systems, such as Mac OS X, are far safer. On Mac OS X, the root account is disabled by default, and in the normal course of things a user would elevate his privileges temporarily to carry out “administrative” type tasks.
It’s likely that Microsoft Vista will move to a similar security model - although, even if Microsoft tries to, there is some question whether it will be possible given the need for backwards compatibility and the need to make 3rd-party software houses change the way they write code.
In the meantime, some Microsoft employees have produced a wiki that gives advice on running XP as a limited user.
http://nonadmin.editme.com/
11:40 by Mark.
xanga.com was popular before. Go iWeb! hahah
Jim — I keep waiting for The End to come due to the WMF flaw. It was a zero day exploit, and I expected whole countries offline…or at least Wal-Mart (hmmm. same difference). All I find is news about the flaw, not horror stories of destruction. I had popcorn ready and everything. :-( Definitely a Kohutek event.
Dunno about The Register. First they really leaned on Wikipedia. I count on them to be irreverent, but it got kinda mean. They’ve been sniping at Google News and Wikipedia forever, but it’s mostly been cheerful. Last week, they got after FreeBSD and then the WMF thing. They seem to be awfully crabby lately, not as much fun to read ;-)
The WMF article is logically consistent in its tone, though, arguing Occamly that WMF need not be malicious when incompetence will do. And thus consistent with the subsequent pounding.
Certainly separation of users and administrator helps, but note that The Register separately coming down on FreeBSD about the securelevel controversy is about just that. Meaning the next level of security has to be to prevent the damage possible should an attacker gain root (administrator) privilege.
Think of providing a more or less default user-as-admin. install for WinXP as the equivalent of MS providing a firewall in Service Pack 1 — but not turning it ON by default! We know why — fewer support calls for MS and their dealers. That changed in SP2. Absent Knoppix and a relatively few others, most Linuxes require separate administrator & user; default install.
Re: Windows XP SP-2 USB 2.0 problem, SP2 is supposed to support USB 2.0 but doesn’t really have the necessary drivers. I installed SP2 on my Intel D850PERC that’s supposed to have 8 USB 2.0 ports but would only work as 1.1 so I installed a Belkin F5U220 PCI card that comes with it’s own drivers. That’s a lot easier than reinstalling Windows.
Re: Quickbooks Sunset. Most Business accounting providers charge some fee annually, like $1500.00 to $2000.00 for tech support and download of tax updates etc. QB is not such a bad deal afterall.
Intuit is evil.
Giving Intuit money is suborning evil.
Leo: where’s TWIT 39? Waiting over here…
Why not just install the USB Drivers from the motherboard Disk?
Leo needs a vacation! How did He miss the Microphone being on?
You need that cruise Leo!
>Why not just install the USB Drivers from the motherboard Disk?
Nobody supplies motherboard USB drivers for XP since XP is supposed to support it, at least Intel doesn’t, hence the need for the PCI card.
12:50 by .
try blogger i am a 10th grader. Dont give personal Info. Email is ok
For Kathy in Corona’s my 8th grade daughter and other aspiring webmasters:
“Plain English” HTML tutorials—Learn how to make web pages quickly and easily with no special software.
HTML Tutorials by Joe Barta
http://www.pagetutor.com/
I tried to Install The GIMP because I wanted to see the GUI custom user interface. Couldn’t intsall it on our biggest computer (Dell XPS 3 GHz) because it uses hyperthreading. Their solution - go to the BIOS and turn the Hyperthreading off. Like that’s going to happen! Guess we will stayy with Photoshop CS2
Nancy in Covina, if you need any help i’m here in Pomona :)
This is by far the best location to learn HTML:
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/tut/
Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction (MCLI). Writing HTML was developed by Alan Levine,instructional technologist at the Maricopa Community Colleges (Phoenix).
On-line learning, downloads, many languages.
Have fun!
Leo your KILLING ME!
I have NEVER paid for High Speed Internet, or Dial up.
I hope my Neighbors are not Listering to you. LOL
Leave those open router’s alone! LOL
I’ve owned Quicken 1992 (DOS) 2001, and now 2006.
Quicken 2001 also quit doing online stuff a year or 2 ago.
I’ve basically quit using it more than 3 times, because the worst part about Quicken is that IT DOES NOT USE WINDOWS. It still has the same basic “graphical interface accounting program” that was “New” under DOS! The Chart of Accounts (Catagory list” in QuickenSpeak) does not allow drag and drop between accounts. The Check register does not do even a simple task like “find duplicates.” My list of complaints goes further, because Intuit has lots of pages asking for feed back, but they completely ignore it, and I base this on the fact I gave them virutally this same list of problems in 2001!
To David in Mission Hills
I didn’t get to listen to that segment of the show, but thought I’d comment here to hopefully help you. I had the same problem for months getting the USB 2.0 to work on my computer after installing SP2. I would always get USB 1.1. However, I did see a misplaced page in my motherboard manual (Soyo) that solved that problem. Here is what solved it for me and should do the same for anyone else…
Once Windows Service Pack 2 is installed, go to the device manager. You should see several yellow question marks there. Remove “? Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controller”. I removed everything there with a yellow question mark. Then restart your computer and the USB 2.0 will be found in the device manager and should work from there.
Hope that works for you or anyone else.
It seems at this point the WMF flaw was more hype than bite. Much like the Y2K scare.
Any time between its revelation and M$ including the patch in auto-update,
the majority of Windoze users were vulnerable and unaware.
Anyone with adequate programming skills COULD have exploited it.
It’s simply a matter of sloth on the part of the black-hats.
Y2K wasn’t a fiasco BECAUSE of all the noise that was made.
Folks voiced their concerns, corporations got worried,
and techies patched the holes before they could become a problem.
Well Leo made a real big deal out of the WMF flaw and you know why? A reason to bash Microsoft, but like all Apple Zealots the Blame was Bogus! This is the game Apple Kool Aid Drinkers play.
Ah, another of those clueless Windoze fanboyz
who doesn’t appreciate that 99.9% of Windoze users
DON’T CARE what makes a computer tick.
They just want to finish their work and go home.
They don’t want to think about security—that’s M$’s job.
The treat was real. The lack of massive infections was LUCK.
That shocking that leo would recommend Myspace.com. As far as I concerned this service should forced offline by the feds
Missing Livermore Girl Found Dead, she was using myspace.com right before she disappeared.
from KRON.COM: http://kron.com/Global/story.asp?S=4393249
Updated with New Details
Livermore police say they’ve identified a body found January 10th in a San Joaquin County irrigation canal as 15-year-old Kayla Reed of Livermore. Reed had been missing since December 3rd. Someone reported seeing the body floating southeast of Tracy in the Delta-Mendota Canal
Regarding the woman who’s active window was losing focus when she types…Simple question: is she using a laptop?
Common problem when typing on laptop is you can very easily and accidently touch the pointer button in the middle of the keyboard or your hand touches the touchpad and they register that as a mouse click wherever the mouse pointer is located.
Simple solution is to either be more careful when you type and where you rest your hands, or turn off the tap to indicate a mouse click setting.
26 January 2006
07:36 by .
Internet Explorer tip:
I make Windows Update the home page for Internet Explorer since that’s all I ever use it for.
06 February 2006
With regard to Hyperthreading problems and GIMP, I have had issues in the past and have been able to resolve this, using “imagecfg”. This is a Microsoft tool to force an application to just run on one (virtual) CPU. I have a small tutorial on using “imagecfg” to resolve a problem with Palm software. You can read this at: http://miataru.computing.net/pda/wwwboard/forum/1844.html
and then apply this to your problem.
Having said that, I have NO problems with GIMP on my Hyperthreaded PC, and I did NOT have to use “imagecfg” for GIMP, just for the Palm hotsync application.
Regards,
Robert Ilbrink, The Netherlands
16 February 2006
On this show, before the first call, Leo says: “Oh man… He sounds like he’s in pain… must be a Windows user.” He refers to the song playing in the background. Does anyone know the name of this song?
Thanks.
20 February 2006
Just an FYI, I wanted to tune into the live stream this weekend from my Mac, but after removing Windows Media Player and installing flip4mac, I was told that I can’t stream it without WMP installed! Bummer!
21 February 2006
to pete in chicago:
That advice for Fedora/Red Hat is bad. Apt-rpm is dead, and has been long replaced with yum. I highly reccomend Fedora, even with a few snafus that come out of the box (no MP3 support). These are very easily worked around. Use the faq at the site mentioned below for help there.
http://www.fedorafaq.org/
Linspire is probably the best as far as installation goes. It does cost money, $50/year for the best plan, but it literally makes installation one click. The Click-n-Run service is a web based warehouse that when you click on their running man icon it will install the software automatically then for you.
Hope this helps out!
01 March 2006
Bob in Northridge was asking about microsloth update. He might want to check out nLite which allows you to create, for example, a Windows XP install CD with SP2 already installed and it can be set up to install all the updates as well. I’ve done Win XP with SP2 and about 15 of the 37 updates. Getting ready to add all the other critical updates as well. Sure saves time for me.
03 March 2006
For Pat in Los Angeles
Mouse may be bouncing around because it is set to “snap to”. To check it go to Control Panel, Mouse, Pointer Options. If “Snap To” is checked, uncheck it.
