Desktop Pipeline has a piece about one way to guard against links that might be phishing sites or Trojan downloads. A tool called “LinkScanner” will check out an URL for you. It’s free (so far) and can be accessed here. It’s one way to check out links in emails that you receive. You copy and paste the URL into the tool on the LinkScanner site. Be careful when copying an URL that you do not accidentally click it.
After being unavailable following the announcement that Microsoft has bought them, the Sysinternals site is functioning again (as of this writing). My advice is to go over to the free utilities page and download anything that looks like you might use it. These useful programs may not be available for long.
The Microsoft spyware that they call Windows Genuine Advantage (the advantage is to Microsoft, not the user) continues to cause problems. Go here for some more examples.
Note that I used the term “spyware” to describe the WGA tool. If you think that’s too strong, read Brian Livingston at Windows Secrets who says, “Genuine Advantage is Microsoft spyware”. He also says
In my May 25 newsletter, I called Microsoft’s WGA download a “severe blunder.” It causes serious problems for some legitimate Windows users and was sprung on customers with no notice other than a press release the day before.
No PC-using company that values security and reliability can allow a program like WGA to send data to a distant server, download additional software, morph its behavior, or remotely change the functionality of Windows (as I describe below). I don’t believe individuals should put up with this, either.
Livingston has also written this interesting observation
Let me emphasize that I’m dead set against the mass piracy of software or any other creative work. But Windows Genuine Advantage and Windows Product Activation, which WGA is meant to enforce, have nothing to do with stopping mass piracy.
As I reported in InfoWorld Magazine way back on Oct. 22 and Oct. 29, 2001, Microsoft deliberately designed Product Activation to be trivial for pirates to circumvent. Any fly-by-night business can copy a single file and sell thousands of machines that pass Product Activation (although the innocent buyers may have trouble validating months or years later).
The purpose of Product Activation has always been to prevent Mom and Dad from buying a Windows package, installing one copy on the parents’ PC and another on the kid’s PC. Frankly, copyright laws for hundreds of years have allowed buyers of copyrighted works to make a limited number of copies exclusively for themselves. If you bought an music album you liked, you could legally make a copy to play in your car. In the U.S., this is known as the “personal use exemption” of the copyright laws or, more generically, “fair use.”
Product Activation isn’t aimed at hard-core pirates. Instead, it’s part of a surprisingly powerful, coordinated effort to change the basic nature of copyright so people can’t make any personal copies whatsoever.
Another respected writer, David DeJean of the Desktop Pipeline, has asked, “Genuine Advantage To Who?” and goes on to say
I don’t have an argument with Microsoft’s desire to curb rampant piracy of its software, if it exists. But its right to get paid for its products does not give it a right to be disrespectful of its customers.
It’s an insult to my intelligence for Microsoft to claim that WGA offers me any advantage whatsoever. I’ve been around long enough to know that monitoring software like this is going to be a problem for me sooner or later. Inevitably Microsoft will tighten up the rules click by click. First I won’t be able to download security fixes unless I install WGA (which is really against Microsoft’s best interests, if you ask me, but that’s a different issue). Then the nag screens will become more frequent. And some bright morning WGA will decide that my copy of Windows is illegitimate (even though it’s not) and it must be disabled, and my PC will lock up. And the only thing I’ll be able to do is accept Microsoft’s gracious offer to install a legitimate copy of Windows, enter my credit card number to pay the ransom, clear WGA’s lock, and get my data back.
Extreme Tech has an extensive review of the latest versions of the two mainstream browsers Firefox and Internet Explorer, as well as of the well-regarded Opera. This review is the most comprehensive that I have seen to date. Which browser does Extreme Tech prefer? The article doesn’t really say but I think it’s Opera
Users will reap some benefits from upgrading to any of these browsers, and all are excellently engineered, well-working software with lots of convenience, capability, and security.
The review is full of details about each browser and I will only comment that Internet Explorer is still not conforming to international Web standards.
Adobe (Macromedia) Flash is ubiquitous on the Web. Many sites have banners and other types of ads that use it. It is also used to make multimedia presentations. I use it extensively in creating educational material. Most browsers come with a plug-in or add-on to play Flash. Periodically, security holes are found in the player and updates are issued. Another update has come out recently. Depending on your settings, you may have already been updated but you should check to make sure. Go to this site to check what version you have. Both Firefox and IE should have version 9,0,16,0 installed. If you have an earlier version, download and install the free update.
Parallels Inc. on Tuesday said it has started selling its software for running Windows on Apple Computer Inc.’s Intel Macs at major retailers.
The Herndon, Va., company’s Desktop for Mac virtualization software will be sold at Apple’s retail stores across the nation, as well as CompUSA, Staples, Office Depot, Fry’s Electronics and Amazon.com. The software will be rolled out to retailers through next month.The software enables Mac users to simultaneously run Windows XP, as well as applications built for the OS, in isolated “virtual machines” that run alongside OS X, Parallels said.
Phishing is now the number one security problem on the Internet. If you follow the rule to never click on links in email, you’ll avoid most of the problems. If you also block HTML graphics in email, that is even better. Responsible banks and financial institutions do not ask for sensitive information in emails. Neither do the IRS and other organizations. Phishing is now run by organized crime with sophisticated methods. If you think you can tell a phish from a legitimate email, go to this site and take their little test. Then you’ll see why it’s better to be safe.
For years, one of my favorite places to go for very useful free utilities was Sysinternals.com. Mark Russinovitch and Bryce Cogswell provided all sorts of nice little programs for system administration and management as well as commercial programs. Both are real experts on the inner workings of the various versions of Windows. Russinovitch has just announced that they have been bought by Microsoft. I don’t know, of course, what that means about all those nice free programs but I have my doubts. From a selfish point of view, I wish that these two had stayed independent. But I can’t blame them for taking the opportunity and I wish them well. They’ll be a big asset to Microsoft.
If it’s not one thing, it’s another. This time it’s Powerpoint that has a security problem. The details can be read at eWeek. There’s no workaround at the moment.
Microsoft on July 17 released a security advisory with a terse message: Do not open or save unexpected Microsoft Office files, even if they come unexpectedly from a trusted source.
The company’s advisory comes less than a week after virus hunters discovered that a previously undocumented flaw in Microsoft PowerPoint was being exploited to plant a keystroke logger on infected Windows systems.
Microsoft also says
In order for this attack to be carried out, a user must first open a malicious PowerPoint document attached to an e-mail or otherwise provided to them by an attacker.
At this point the best advice is not to open any Microsoft Office file that arrives unexpectedly, even if from a trusted source. Check it out with the sender first.
I probably use about 1% of all the features that come with Microsoft Word and I don’t usually post tips on its use. However, here is one that is too good not to pass along. I found it at TechRepublic (requires a login).
Techniques for selecting or highlighting text horizontally or in blocks are well-known. But what if you want to select only the first letter(s) in each line of a block of text? I don’t know how to do it easily in general but in Word there is a way. First hold down the Alt key. Then select the letter (or letters) of the first line with the mouse, hold down the left mouse button and drag straight down to select corresponding letters in successive lines. You can also select one letter in the first line, drag down to the desired last line, and then drag across (toward the right) to include as many other letters as you like.
This method does not work in Notepad or any browser I have tried. Do any readers have a way to select text vertically in applications besides Word?