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CyberCoyote — March 11, 2010

0 comments By Philip Filed in 2009-2010 News Tagged with , , , , March 11th, 2010 @ 4:44 PM

Notes

2010 Census

The official website in case you’re interested or confused.

Topics

Google Earthg-earth

Eldon Paradis gave us a quick taste of Google Earth today. There’s much more there than he had time to show us, but he gave us a good idea of what you can do with a misspent retirement. :D

For example, Google Earth lets you “fly” almost anywhere in the world, zoom down to the surface, and travel down the street. I really enjoyed his demo, and learned about a number of interesting facets to follow up on. His notes, with links are now online.

Browser extensions

The notes on browser add-ons that I used today are now online. There are links there to more information on add-ons of all kinds for Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer. Try out a couple add-ons, and come back next week with your questions and ideas.

Keyboard shortcuts

Here’s the direct link to the cheatsheet on keyboard shortcuts that I mention in the notes on browser add-ons.

VIPRE upgrade

Sunbelt Software recently released a major upgrade of VIPRE to version 4.0. If you have VIPRE installed and install the (free) upgrade you may run into a confusing instruction. The installer may warn you that you have “another antimalware program installed.” Don’t panic. ;)

If you know that VIPRE is the only other antimalware program you have installed, just ignore the warning: In the next step the installer will tell you it has detected a previous installation of VIPRE, and will upgrade it to the new version.

I get nothing from writing about VIPRE, but I’m convinced it’s the best antimalware protection you can buy. That’s why I use it myself. [more about the upgrade]

Eclectic

What you’re missing out on

Well, compared to last year’s roof-busting snow, or any year for that matter, it’s been like Hawaii in Spokane this winter. But when people get excited about a snow-plow map, you know you’re not in Arizona any more.

This settles it

I’m canceling that trip on the African Queen. If only Noah had left those two mosquitoes behind.

Uncommon sense

“Everyone in an organization is there to run their own model railroad.”
—Peter Drucker

Seen on the Web

CyberCoyote — March 4, 2010

2 comments By Philip Filed in 2009-2010 News Tagged with , , , March 4th, 2010 @ 6:50 PM

Notes

Today’s links

George presented ideas on four topics today. Here are some links to further information.

The first topic was how to make the shutdown options for Vista or Windows 7 more convenient. I’m often in a rush when I leave my computer, so fewer clicks is better. :)

George showed us MailStore Home, a versatile email backup program. It’s easy to set up and you can search and read your backed-up messages, or reply to one of them directly from MailStore. This is the one I use to back up my Gmail and other email accounts.

PDF is a universal document format that produces uniform results using a wide range of printers. Adobe Reader is the classic — but now bloated and insecure way — to read and print PDF documents. There are now many smaller, faster and more-secure alternatives.  Foxit Reader and PDF-XChange Viewer (my favorite) are prime examples.

There aren’t many free PDF document creation programs, but doPDF and pdf995 are a couple good ones. These programs install as a pseudo printer on your computer. You “print” your document to a PDF file using one of these PDF converters, and then you can read or print the file later with any PDF reader.

Browsers

George also demonstrated some of the advantages and drawbacks of the three prime browsers — Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Firefox. Each of these has it’s own personality. Firefox is the most customizable, Chrome is beginning to have some good add-ons, and Internet Explorer has a few.

Internet Explorer started as the least-standard, but because of the Windows monopoly, most-popular browser for website designers. Microsoft finally acquiesced to update IE8 to follow web standards, and now most websites have been changed to work with any standard browser. A small number still work only with IE (using compatibility view) though.

All the mainstream browsers, including Opera (once my favorite) are fast enough to make speed competition irrelevant. Internet Explorer and Google Chrome now isolate tabs from the main program so that when a webpage locks up a tab the whole browser doesn’t crash. Mozilla is nearly ready to release the same tab isolation in Firefox.

Firefox and Opera have long been the most secure browsers. Internet Explorer still presents a juicier target, but is now in the same league as them when running on Vista or Windows 7. Chrome is still a little unseasoned, so it’s too early to tell how secure it is.

Tips and Topics

What’s bogging down your computer?progmgr

Probably not a problem for a new Windows 7 computer with 8 GB of memory, but many computers start and run slow because there are too many programs trying to hog the computer’s resources.

You can use use msconfig to keep programs that you don’t need to have running all the time from starting at boot-up, and there are other ways to keep programs from starting too, but the big problem is figuring out which programs you can disable.

ProcessQuickLink gives you direct links right from TaskManager to information to identify what those mystery startup processes are. Autoruns, a simple program from Microsoft, identifies even more processes that are running, and lets you disable them directly. Smart Computing also has good information on managing startup processes.

Actually you can disable any or all of the programs under the “Startup” tab of msconfig and Windows will still start, but you’ll want to let some of them run. :)

Support is ending for some versions of Windows.

  • Support for Windows Vista without any service packs will end on April 13, 2010.
  • Support for Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) will end on July 13, 2010.

The primary effect is no more security updates, but upgrades are available.

Eclectic

The black helicopters are coming

This time it’s true. ;) Hear it for yourself.

Random thought

Back in the ’40s I wondered if I’d ever make it to the 21st Century. It seemed impossibly far away. Well here we are, 70 years later. Ten years of it have gone by already. I’m not counting on seeing much of the 22nd though. :D

sanfranLittle man

As seen at the intersection of California and Grant streets, San Francisco. Only London, and perhaps New York City have street names that are more placeable than the ones in this compact area.

Uncommon sense

“Electricity and magnetism are those forces of nature by which people who know nothing about electricity and magnetism can explain everything.” —Egon Friedell

My Firefox add-ons/extensions

0 comments By Philip Filed in Internet Tips Tagged with , , February 26th, 2010 @ 2:48 PM
This is the latest listing of the add-ons/extensions that I’m using with Firefox. I find it interesting that I can’t live without these, but other people have a much different selection that they can’t live without. ;)

CyberCoyote — February 25, 2010

1 comment By Philip Filed in 2009-2010 News Tagged with , , , , , February 25th, 2010 @ 3:52 PM

Tips and Topics

Introduction to new features of Office 2007

2007 Today, Sue Diehl showed us how to find your way around Office 2007 programs, illustrated with Word. Excel, Paint, WordPad (aka Write), Works, and other programs in Windows 7 also use the new interface, so it’s something we all need to learn. You’ll find her notes online.

Sue made a couple of key points: Right-click options (context menus) are still there, and “Help is very useful.”

I’ll add that Microsoft tried to make the interface as intuitive as possible, so you’ll do well if you’re willing to “poke and hope,” i.e., look around and be willing to experiment.

Word and Office 2007 resources galore

Restoring previous versions of files (Win7)previous2

You could say that one of the best things about Windows 7 is hidden in plain sight. Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) – AKA Shadow Copy – is not a replacement for conventional backups, but it can be a life bacon saver if you don’t have a backup for a file that you desperately need to restore. Shadow Copy can also expose private files, even though you have deleted or encrypted them, but that’s another story. ;)

I say hidden, because even if you know about shadow copies, it’s not easy to find how to use them (unless you know where to search, and which search terms to use). Read the the rest of the post…

Security

Anatomy of a malware scam

I recently noticed a well illustrated example of how cyber-criminals suck unwary users into extortion-by-malware. This one is about a rogue security program that imitates a Microsoft program.

Eclectic

Getting the shot

Shooting from a fireplug.The CALIBER photo group in San Francisco comes up with some great candid shots. Here’s one of the members in action. Thomas Hawk, who hails from Oakland, is another of my favorite San Francisco photographers. He has suggestions on the top 10 ways to find great photos on flickr.

Uncommon sense

“”It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.” –Mark Twain

Shopping

Click for the caption.

Anatomy of a malware scam

1 comment By Philip Filed in Security Tips Tagged with , February 25th, 2010 @ 8:19 AM

Click to enlarge.

We recently looked at one of these in the Computer Lab, but you can find a new one of these any day. This rogue “security” program is particularly instructive: It starts with a blatant reference to legitimate Microsoft Security Essentials, switches to the plausibly similar Security Essentials 2010 title, and then wrecks havoc on your computer. Notice that the ad is at http://www.securityessentials2010.com/ (click to enlarge), not at a Microsoft website.

Click to enlarge.

Even looking for help on removing malware can be like searching through a minefield. The red and yellow donuts – identified by WOT – in these Google search results identify real or likely secondary attacks. They hope to take advantage of the first attack to hit you a second time. The ones with green donuts are almost certainly safe, and I knew from prior experience that Malwarebytes is one of the best places to go to remove malware.

These parasites are the third most successful way to infect computers. Microsoft has the story in pictures, and Malwarebytes.org has instructions for removing the malware, as well as a more complete story.

Recover Lost Files from Shadow Copies

0 comments By Philip Filed in Computer Tips Tagged with , , , February 23rd, 2010 @ 11:32 AM

Shadow copies to the rescue (Win7)

System Restore / ProtectionYou could say that one of the best things about Windows 7 is hidden in plain sight. Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) – AKA Shadow Copy – is not a replacement for conventional backups, but it can be a life bacon saver if you have lost a file that you desperately need. Shadow Copy can also expose private files, even though you have deleted or encrypted them. ;)

I say hidden, because even if you’ve heard about shadow copies, it’s not easy to find how to use them (unless you know where to look, and which search terms to use). The purpose of this note is to reveal a few of those secrets.

As a start, the image above shows where you fine tune System Restore so that you get the protection you want from Shadow Copy. Here is where you control what and how much is backed up. You can also create a manual Restore Point from there. Click the image to get a full-size version.

It’s not easy to figure out how to get to that System Properties / System Protection dialog box. Here’s one way: Click “Start” and search for “System” in the Start Menu search box. Click “System” under “Control Panel” in the search results. Finally, click “System protection” in the left column of the window that opens. Notice that I have turned on “Protection” for my Files (F:) partition as well as the System (C:) partition.

Restore Previous VersionsBut how do you restore files? It begins very simply with right-clicking a file or folder (that might contain a deleted file you’re looking for) in Windows Explorer (My Computer). You can either use the context menu option “Restore previous versions,” or open the file or folder’s “Properties” and select “Previous Versions”.

You then have several choices: If you right-clicked a file, you can copy or restore (to the original location) the vintage of the file you want. If it’s a folder (shown at the right), you can copy or restore the entire folder, or open the folder and grab the file(s) you want from the vintage you want. You can access these previous versions even if you have emptied or bypassed the Recycle Bin. Notice the help link, “How do I use previous versions?” up near the tab.

Details:

Windows 7 Help gives good guidance for recovering previous versions. Tomasz P. Szynalski from Wroclaw, Poland wrote the best concise explanation that I’ve found on what Shadow Copies are all about . How-To Geek has a nice pictorial run through of restoring previous files.

You need to be able to find your way around Windows Explorer (My Computer) to take advantage of shadow copies, but I’ll bet you can do that if you’re desperate enough. :D

More places to find help:

  • Search for “shadow copy” or “recover lost files” in Windows 7 “Help and Support”, which you access from the “Start” menu.
  • Search for “system restore” and also “previous versions” in Help and Support.
  • A brief note about what to expect when recovering files from shadow copies.
  • Microsoft has online instructions plus a video about creating a restore point.
  • More on the new features of Windows 7 Restore.

My advice is to try recovering previous versions of some experimental files before you lose an irreplaceable file and get all rattled. ;)

CyberCoyote — February 18, 2010

0 comments By Philip Filed in 2009-2010 News Tagged with , , February 19th, 2010 @ 6:51 AM

System/drive/disk/disc Image Backups

They’re essentially all the same. And they’re fundamentally different from just backing up all the files on your hard drive. Images back up the underlying layout of the drive, not just the files. Their primary purpose is to send your computer back to a happier time. :)

You get a complete restore from a system image, not just the best effort that a Windows restore point provides. You can also restore individual files with most modern system imaging programs.

Acronis True Image

Gene Barlow gave us a combination sales pitch and demonstration of Acronis True Image. He could have skipped the sales element, as I can tell you that True Image is a fine program. I use it myself.

Gene had some misinformation on Windows 7 Backup and Restore. Most versions of Vista do not offer System Imaging, but most versions of Windows 7 do. :) It’s not as versatile as True Image though.

You can get Gene’s user-group version of Acronis True Image online at the same discount he offered at the meeting. Enter “Happy Trails Computer Club” as the user group, and Order Code UGFEB10 when you order.

I’ve written about drive imaging and Acronis True Image before. Leo Notenboom has generated a nice video series on how to use True Image.

Windows 7 Restore Points

While the confusingly named Windows 7 System Restore is no substitute for Windows System Image Recovery, Microsoft has greatly improved system restore for Windows 7.

System restore points work much better in Windows 7 than they did in Vista or XP. Try it before resorting to system image recovery to fix your computer. 7tutorials has a nice overview on the many restore options that Windows 7 offers.

Google Buzz

This note primarily applies to Gmail users: If you don’t know about Google Buzz, you might want to leave well enough alone. ;) If you’re curious, their Help page is a good place to start. If you’ve heard some of the negative “buzz”, you might want to know how to turn it off completely for the time being at least. You’ll still be able to turn it on later if you decide you want to.

Security

Check your Firefox plugins

Most browsers — including Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Firefox — accept plugins. Plugins are mini-programs that enable browsers to handle a wider range of content.  Flash and QuickTime video plugins are prime examples.

Plugins not only extend the capability of a browser, they also add new vectors — routes of entry — for malware. There’s a seeming constant stream of updates to plug those security holes. But they’re poorly advertised; leaving users vulnerable.

Plans are in place for Firefox to automatically check for updates to plugins. Meanwhile, you can and should check the status of your plugins at the Mozilla plugins page. You can even update them from there.

Eclectic

Patently absurd

Who invents these things?

Uncommon sense

“Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.” —Mark Twain

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