A Simple Plan
Virus-proof your PC in 20 minutes, for free.

One can never be too secure when it comes to computing. Viruses, trojans, worms, malware, spyware, and any number of malicious intrusions impact minute-to-minute on our ability to surf the web in a safe and salutary manner.
In the past, VanRamblings has written about the pre-conditions necessary to surf safely. This past week, Paul Boutin, writing in Slate, offered even more advice to protect yourself while online, beginning his article with this piece of disquieting news:

The antivirus company Sophos reported last week that it sighted 959 new viruses and worms on the Net in May. Some of them, like the Sasser worm that infected a million or so computers, connect to idle home desktops, rather than arriving as e-mail attachments. Others aren’t viruses but sneaky spyware that’s bundled with popular programs like KaZaA. Sophos also claims that up to a third of spam is sent by PCs that have been infected with remote-control programs that can turn a computer into a spammer’s zombie slave.

Specifically, Boutin suggests that you …

• Set your browser and e-mail security
• Get Microsoft’s security updates, and
• Check for spyware (read this week’s Tech Tuesday question below)

First of all, though, warns C|NET editor Robert Vamosi, you’d better make sure that your antivirus application is working, given that “many new viruses have been shutting down antivirus and firewall apps, or, in other cases, disabling the software’s automatic update feature.”
Speak Up

The immense popularity of the Apple iPod has had an unintended side effect: we’re at risk of becoming a nation of zombies wandering the streets plugged in to those omnipresent white earbuds. If you recognize these signs, do not panic. There is a cure for iPod-itis: pick up one of these portable speaker systems for MP3 players. The cool, one-piece designs fold up, and they’re perfect for sharing your tunes at a party.
Question of the Week

Recently, while downloading, my computer advised me that I had received a Trojan horse. I immediately ran my Grisoft AVG antivirus. It told me that the Trojan horse was “ms\lagent.exe” and advised me to put it in the AVG Vault as it could not delete it. How do I get rid of the Trojan horse? Appreciate any help you can give me. —Submitted by: Harry S., Langley, B.C.

Run another free application often recommended by VanRamblings, Spybot: Search and Destroy, to remove “lagent.exe.” Spybot specifically removes Trojan horses and spyware. Other good choices include Ad-Aware, and McAfee Stinger (there’s a new version just out this week).
You might also consider surfing to the Symantec security response site. Locate the specific virus or Trojan that’s infected your system (or place the name of the virus / Trojan in the search box), and follow the directions for removal. Most often, Symantec (who make Norton Anti-Virus) will have created a clickable ‘removal tool’ which will automatically scan your hard drive, and your computer’s registry, removing all incidences of the virus or Trojan offender. Your computing life should then return to normal.

Welcome to the June 8th edition of Tech Tuesday. Today we tackle a number of items, beginning with that most noisome problem, spyware.
The following is excerpted from a recent column by ZDNet’s David Berlind:

When spam first started showing up on the technology radar as a problem, it was mostly a problem for consumers and individuals whose personal data (especially e-mail addresses) was easy pickings for spammers building databases. But it wasn’t long before corporate e-mail systems were overwhelmed as well. Now, spyware is apparently following in spam’s footsteps … Spyware is a genre of malware, which, when taken together with viruses, worms, and spam, is seen by many as completing the ecosystem of unwanted and surreptitiously installed software.

VanRamblings offers a gentle reminder to update your Spybot to version 1.3, if you haven’t already done so. You’ll also want to update to the latest version of McAfee Stinger, following the setup instructions.
Is the dust on your computer toxic?
From Matt Hines at C|NET …

According to new research into chemical residue found in the dust collecting on computers and other electronics devices, the PC that you’re using to read this story could pose a long-term threat to your health.
In a report published by Clean Production Action and the Computer TakeBack Campaign, two groups studying environmental and health issues related to computers, researchers contend that potentially dangerous elements of brominated fire retardants are turning up in dust samples swiped from computers. The research indicates that the most commonly found example of these substances, widely used fire prevention compounds known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, have been found to cause health problems in lab animals.
Perhaps of greater concern is the report’s contention that PBDEs … present reproductive and neurological risks … these (PBDEs) are found not only in computers, but also in other commonly used electronics devices, including televisions and radios.

Apparently, the problem described above occurs only at the time that computer users discard, or recycle, their old PCs / TVs / radios. Further, in the case of PC maker Dell, company officials were quick to point out that the company has prohibited the use of PBDEs in any of its products since 2002. Dell has worked closely with groups such as the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition to help promote increased, and proper, computer recycling.
Question of the Week

When I use Microsoft Word (XP), the programme constantly underlines my sentences to alert me to possible bad grammar or other errors. While working on drafts, it’s annoying; how do I stop the nagging?
—Submitted by: Joel A., North Vancouver

In Microsoft Word, go to the menu bar, select Tools > Options. The resulting Options window allows you to tailor pretty much every part of Word’s performance. Under the Spelling & Grammar tab are two control areas, one for spelling and the other for grammar. The first check box in each area is “Check spelling as you type” or “Check grammar as you type.” Remove both of their check marks, and you’ll get no more ongoing distractions while typing a document.
When you are ready to check spelling and grammar in a document, just go back to the menu bar, select Tools, and click Spelling And Grammar. A shortcut key for it is F7. Hope this helps.
Privacy Concern: Now you’ll know if they’ve read your e-mail
A new service promises to pull back the curtain on anyone hiding behind the common white lie “I never got your e-mail.” The DidTheyReadIt? service can clandestinely track when and where an e-mail you’ve sent is read.
The service, which has already drawn complaints from privacy advocates, offers a new and quiet way to harvest behavioural information about friends, colleagues and potential consumers.
E-mail programmes like Eudora and Outlook have long offered an optional return-receipt feature, which prompts the recipient of a message to inform the sender that they have opened the message. But DidTheyReadIt? is the first such service to keep itself a secret from the recipient, as well as the first to report on where the message was read.
In a USA Today article on the new Internet service, Mitchell Kertzman says …

“It violates our electronic space in a way that’s as uncomfortable as someone violating our physical space … Add this company to the long list of people who are making the Internet a less attractive place to live and work.”

Although the company offers a free trial of the service (the free account allows users to send five tracked messages a month), DidTheyReadIt? is a US$50 a year subscription service, so widespread adoption is unlikely.
Still, this new (and intrusive) Internet service is definitely pushing the line of the U.S. Electronic Communications Privacy Act (in Canada, access to electronic communication is protected through the Office of the Privacy Commissioner), although it probably doesn’t violate it. The privacy act and wiretapping statutes impose restrictions on the recording, storage and sharing of the content but not on the circumstances of communications.

Microsoft XP Service Pack 2 Still In Flux

The release of Microsoft’s Windows XP Service Pack 2 has been delayed yet again. According to Mary Jo Foley at Microsoft Watch officials at the software giant have “targeted late July as the release-to-manufacturing date for XP SP2, with a revitalized Protect Your PC marketing campaign” set to launch in September.
For a broader insight into XP SP2, click on this link, from Eldergeek, or watch this ZDNet video (Windows Media Player required).
ZoneAlarm Security Suite: the new one to beat?

For those of you who have chosen ZoneAlarm as the firewall to protect your PC from hackers, worms, trojans and all of the security detritus on the ’Net, you’ve probably noticed that ZoneAlarm v.5.0.590.015 requires a re-registration of your product. Why? Is there a money grab at work here? Is ZoneAlarm attempting to make updating your firewall as difficult as Sygate has made their update procedure?
Turns out that ZoneAlarm is now owned by an Israeli software conglomerate (even though the company says its head office is in San Francisco), and yes they do want you to re-register, and yes they probably do want more money from you for the new product, if your existing product is more than a year old.
Is the update worth it? And what does the new ZoneAlarm do that the old ZoneAlarm didn’t do?
According to Robert Vamosi, a ZDNet senior associate editor, the recently-released ZoneAlarm Security Suite “puts Norton Internet Security and McAfee Internet Security to shame with its easy-to-use features.”
Not only does the new ZoneAlarm thwart “would-be hackers with its excellent firewall and viruses with its solid antivirus software”, he says, it …

• encrypts instant messages for ICQ, AOL, MSN, and Yahoo
• protects you against IM spam (a.k.a. spim)
• filters Web e-mail scripts
• suppresses TCP/IP responses on unused ports to better hide your system from Internet scanners, and
• monitors all inbound and outbound Web contacts, alerting you to any unauthorized access

But, you’re asking, is it worth it? Even though VanRamblings has employed the new version of ZoneAlarm, to good advantage, on the machine used to publish Internet content — so far, all has been well — most C|Net users seem far from thrilled with the new product, their comments ranging from “the latest upgrade to Version 5 has caused more problems than all the previous versions put together,” and “the worst upgrade I’ve ever come across in over 20 years of P.C. use,” to “pile of horse dung” and “you might as well down load a virus.” There are positive reviews, however.
Read the commentary, both positive and negative, and decide for yourself.

Clicker Heaven: Tunes, Films and, Now, XP

Snapstream Media has just released a new PC-based clicker to add to your blooming bouquets of remote controls. The name of this new must-have device, the Firefly PC Remote.
The FireFly package comes with a standard-size remote control and a transceiver that plugs into a U.S.B. port on your computer. Once set up, with the click of a button the FireFly can play, pause and manoeuvre through tracks in your computer’s digital audio collection, play CD’s and videos, and zip through photo slide shows on your PC’s monitor.
The Firefly PC Remote works seamlessly with more than 80 existing multimedia programmes, including RealPlayer, QuickTime, MusicMatch Jukebox, Windows Media Player, WinAmp, InterVideo WinDVR and iTunes.
Tune Up Your Windows XP Machine (for Free)

In the June issue of PC World, contributing Editor Stan Miastkowski publishes a step-by-step computer guide that will help boost your XP-based computer’s system performance, and make upgrading easier than ever.
It’s a Plane, It’s a Cell Phone, It’s a Car

How Stuff Works publishes a provocative look into the future, with a front-page story about Toyota’s ‘concept car’, the PM. In addition to seating only one person and having its hubless wheels driven by electric motors, the PM incorporates wireless networking so that drivers can surrender control to another human-driven PM and relax as someone else drives them to work. And it reclines!
Something Is Stirring At Apple

According to high tech gadfly Robert X. Cringely, Apple may be in the throes of making the decision to get out of the hardware business. This would mean not only the end of Macintosh hardware but a transformation of Apple into “a software company (not unlike Microsoft) that also sells little hardware devices,” producing devices such as the iPod. Thought-provoking.