For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the TWiT Netcast Network

Saturday, October 30, 2004

Show #87

Interested in a Digital Photography cruise in the late summer or fall of 2005? Email me!

The many yeaghs of Howard Dean are available here.

 toc | toc 

Today’s news items

Three anti-spyware bills are working their way through Congress, and the FTC has achieved its first victory in its lawsuit against Spamford Wallace. On Thursday the US District Court granted a temporary restraining order against Wallace prohibiting him from exploiting Internet vulnerabilities to place spyware on computers. Wallace was given 24 hours to pull his software from the web.

An AOL survey shows that 20% of home computers are infected with viruses. % are infected with spyware. Infected machines had an average of 93 different spyware programs on them. Technical experts from AOL and the National Cyber Security Alliance examined 329 computers in the survey. More than 70% of owners falsely thought they were protected from online threats.

Mike B’s Computer trivia question of the day

What was the first “real” computer bug?¹
a) A moth
b) Integer overflow in the PDP-11
c) Out of bounds array in the DOS 1.0 kernel
d) A blown vacuum tube in the ENIAC

Noon-1p

Peter in Los Angeles - new computer owner wants to know his first steps

His friends bought him a Gateway 310. Before you go online the first time Peter you should do three things:

1. Install Service Pack 2 (get your friends to burn you a CD of the full download from Microsoft)
2. Install anti-spyware software
3. Install an anti-virus
4. Install Mozilla or Firefox to prevent browser hijacking. Use Internet Explorer only for sites that require it
5. Make a data backup schedule for when things go wrong. And use it!!!

Then go to www.crucial.com and buy 256MB more memory.

John in Claremont - two computers, one monitor, keyboard, mouse

I recommend using a KVM - keyboard, video, and mouse - switcher. Belkin makes good ones.

You can do this in software over a TCP/IP network with a program called Synergy. Also look at VNC and its variants. I like Ultr@VNC. You will need only one keyboard, mouse & monitor.

TTK says: Belkin KVM’s are overpriced, you have to buy the cables separately, instead, I recommend IOGear KVM’s. You can get them for under $100 and including cables in the box!

Steve from North Hollywood sez: I agree. I have an IoGear 2 port USB KVM (like the one pictured here) and love it. It’s small, and it allows USB peripheral sharing (printers and other USB devices) and it works flawlessly with my Mac and PC.

1–2p

Dan in Los Angeles - digital garbling on DVD and CD audio

It’s almost certainly the audio or chipset drivers. Check with the motheboard manufacturer for new drivers. Or open the Device Manager (right-click My Computer, select Manage, and click Device Manager) and delete the drivers then reboot so Windows can reinstall them.

Woody in San Diego - Font problem with Word 2004

He uses special hieroglyphics, hebrew, and cuneiform fonts in Word. They worked fine in Word:X but are replaced by New York in Word 2004. The Font Substitution button doesn’t seem to help.

Try: Find old font directory and new font directory and copy old font file to new directory and then the document will find the font. I have done this on Windows systems and it works fine. Sometimes the font directories have an import function which you invoke and then go find the old font file. I don’t know the Mac file search capabilities. [ dms@sbcglobal.net ]

bruceb sez: In the previous OS X MS Office suite, there are fonts that reside in a “Fonts” folder that’s located in the “Office” folder in the “Applications” folder. I’m betting that his new Word application isn’t seeing the fonts in that folder in his old Office folder, and is thus forced to substitute other (system) fonts like “New York” for the fonts it needs but can’t find. He might be able to just copy the old fonts folder to the corresponding place in the new Office suite, then ensure that the new Office apps see the new fonts folder. I’m not sure if this is ok to do or not, but I’d guess it’ll work ok, and won’t hurt anything to try.

williamk adds: One of the changes in Word 2004 was a switch to a Unicode based font system. Unfortunately they didnt do a very good job of this and symbolic fonts are not supported very well. The problem mostly occurs when using postscript fonts and switching to the truetype version of the same font should fix the problem. Note that many OpenType fonts will also have the problem as OpenType fonts can consist of mostly postscript outlines which suffer the same fate.

Sean in Los Angeles - He’s getting bad ping rates in online games

Online games require fast connections between you and the server. This response time is measured in milliseconds and is called your ping time. High ping times mean a lousy gaming experience. Look for a ping of less than 100 milliseconds.

Test your setup by playing against someone who has the same ISP and lives nearby. Generally the less time your data spends travelling through the public Internet the lower your ping times. If a local opponent is fast enough, there’s nothing wrong with your setup - you just need to find closer servers (or a better ISP).

Chris in Riverside - looking for a PocketPC, Dell OK?

I like the Dell Axims. I’ve always been a fan of the iPaq because they’re so stylish and offer such a good feature set (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, dual memory slots, fast processors) but the new Dell Axim X50s look much nicer and also offer an excellent feature set. The top of the line Axim contains a 624mhz Intel Xscale processor for $499, but the 416mhz X50 is only $299 and sports a beautiful 640×480 screen, dual memory slots, 64MB of memory. Get a Dell dude.

2–3p

Joe in San Juan Capistrano - flat bed multi-function printer and Wi-Fi security

She’s looking at the HP 2610 - I like it, it’s a very nice photo printer. But do read PC Magazine’s survey of all-in-one printers before you buy. She’s also interested in keeping her neighbors from sharing her Internet access. I suggest turning on WPA (or WEP if you don’t have WPA) on the base station. It will keep them from sharing your Internet, but it will also keep them from hacking into your system or watching your activities online.

Tyson says: “You should also block all MAC addresses that aren’t your’s if your router supports MAC address blocking most do, you should do this along with WEP or WPA encryption.”

Leo replies: MAC address filtering certainly is the best way to keep others off your system, but it’s not necessary if you have WPA turned on.

Nick in Rhode Island - registry keeps getting corrupted

To do a System Restore from the command line (or recovery console):

1. Restart your computer, and then press F8 during the initial startup to start your computer in Safe Mode with a command prompt.
2. Log on to your computer with an administrator account or with an account that has administrator credentials.
3. Type the following command at a command prompt: %systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe
4. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to restore your computer to an earlier state.

Continuous registry corruption is a sign of a more serious hardware problem. Read Microsoft’s tech note on the subject.

Nick in North Hollywood - alternative pointing devices

He’s a culinary archaelogist and filmmaker, edits his movies on a Mac G5, but the mouse is killing² him. He’s looking for a recommendation for an external trackpad or something else.

Try the Cirque Touchpads. They’re very good. I also use the Griffin Powermate with Final Cut to scrub through video.

For all sorts of assistive technology and alternative input devices (keyboards, mice, etc.), check out http://www.enablemart.com — I look there all the time for assistive tech ideas for my students who have disabilities. — Jen in LA

Richard Says: Also.. What makes Final Cut Pro so great is its alternative work flows. Take a look into learning FCP keyboard short cuts. For example, for shuttling your video you can use the “J,K,L” keys, and marking your video with the “I, and O” keys. Placing your clips into the timeline with the “F9, F10″ keys, ect. This reduces your dependencies on the mouse and the repetitive motion of clicking over and over.

Chat Logs and Show Audio

¹ Answer is a) A moth. In 1945 Grace Hopper found a moth trapped between points at Relay # 70, Panel F, of the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator while it was being tested at Harvard University. The usage of the term “bug” for a computer flaw pre-dates this find, but Admiral Hopper’s tongue in cheek entry is widely considered the first pulic appearance of the term. Image WikiPedia article at http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Computer_bug (↑)

² Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS), a neurological disorder caused by prolonged, repetitious tasks. It is the fastest growing occupational illness in the United States. (↑)