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The LangaList

20-Dec-99

A Free Email Newsletter from Fred Langa About BrowserTune,
HotSpots, Columns, Tips & Tricks, and Other Activities

1) Open For Business: BT2K's Final Version!

Here's a surprise: All browsers can "go bad" over time… and many do. No matter how perfect your original setup is, the more you use your browser, the more likely it is you'll end up with add-ons and plug-ins that will change the way it works; the more likely you'll alter---or let a site alter---some of your browser's internal components or settings; the more likely that something, somewhere on the web or inside your own system will introduce a serious problem into your once-pristine setup.

Worse, many online services and ISPs give away custom versions of browsers that may be heavily modified or that may include outdated components. The AOL version of Internet Explorer is perhaps the most glaring example of this: Even with a brand-new setup, you may have a browser that's already outmoded or altered in some suboptimal way.

The bottom line is that no matter how good your browser seems at the outset, sooner or later it probably will develop trouble. And because browsing is so central to the way we use our PCs these days, a bad browser can even cause trouble when you're not connected to the net.

That's what BrowserTune is all about. BrowserTune2000 is a comprehensive series of web pages that each safely and noninvasively tests one or more essential real-life functions and features of your browser.

In all, BT2K thoroughly and safely tests close to 300 separate browser features and functions from the bedrock basics up to Dynamic HTML, Cascading Style Sheets, multimedia, streaming audio and video, Java, ActiveX/OCX, scripting, push "channels," applications- and desktop-integration, virus protection, data binding, security and more. (Whew!) BT2K also includes all the tests that were in all previous versions of BrowserTune, but they've all been recoded and refreshed for better performance with today's newest browsers.

And unlike earlier versions, BT2K now automates much of the testing so you can breeze through the tests at top speed and with maximum accuracy. You can complete a reasonably thorough test in just five or ten minutes!

BT2K's automation is highly complex; as a result, BT2K was in "beta" (prototype) for a long time while we perfected its operation. But now---finally!---BT2K is highly polished, thoroughly debugged, and ready for prime time:

Please read the final release details at the WinMag site today (20-Dec-99) starting in late afternoon (EST; GMT-5); there, you'll also find the live link to the final, finished code:

http://content.techweb.com/winmag//columns/explorer/ 

(Note: if you get there early, you'll see last week's column on DMA. Just try again a little later---and if you haven't read the DMA column, check that out too for a trick that might instantly speed up your hard drives!)

Enjoy!

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2) Eleven Days, and Counting...

As the year draws to a close, Y2K scam artists are doing their best to wring a last few bucks from the unwary.

And Y2K hoax purveyors are sending around false emails regarding "short date format" and other items that can give you a completely wrong idea about whether or not your have a Y2K problem.

Don't be fooled. In just minutes and for free, you can easily determine whether or not your PC really  is Y2K compliant. If it isn't, there's a good chance you can fix it---also in minutes, and also often for free.

Check out http://content.techweb.com/winmag//columns/bigpicture/1999/1130.htm for more information.

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3) Stopping Spammers

Last week, I told you how spammers used a forged email header to make it appear that a spam mail was coming from Langa.Com. (see http://www.langa.com/newsletters/Dec-16-99.htm#8 ) Of course, the spam mail did NOT come from here; and in fact it never even passed through my mail server, which is specifically configured to prevent abuse by spammers.

After I told you about my brush with spammers, I heard from many readers (thank you!) including Suresh Ramasubramanian, writing from India.

Suresh is a member of CAUCE, The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email. It's a worldwide, all-volunteer organization dedicated to fighting spam. I've quietly been a supporter for years; I carry CAUCE's "no spam" logo on my home page at http://www.langa.com.

Suresh had some great suggestions for me. For example, I'd been able to track the spam source to a company in Florida, and knew they'd used a server in China to blast their spam (carrying the fake langa.com address) out to the world. But within minutes, Suresh was able to dig deeper and tell me that the Chinese server was using a primitive and unprotected mailing program that shipped as part of the Solaris OS.

Suresh's helpful email prompted me to take a look at all that CAUCE is up to now--- and it's a lot.

They've collected almost 2 million examples of spammail, for instance; these are put in a database that webmasters and ISPs can use to know which domains send lots of spam: Mail from these domains can be blocked or filtered.

They also offer an end-user oriented service called the "Spam Recycling Center." It's a site with anti-spam tips; a link that lets you forward your spammail to the appropriate federal authorities; download a free anti-spam filter; sign an anti-spam petition, and more. (Weirdly: They even have a "turn your spam into steak" program where you can order Omaha steaks for 40% off the list price. 8-) I'm not making this up!)

The Spam Recycling Center is at http://www.chooseyourmail.com/spamindex.cfm 

The organization's main page is at http://www.cauce.org/

Join today!

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4) Stopping Email Hoaxes

Reader Brian Tannahill sent this along:

Hi Fred,

Thanks for a very interesting and informative newsletter.

A couple of nights ago I received a virus warning, sent out by the moderator of an e-mail list I subscribe to. The "virus" sounded like a hoax, and a quick internet search confirmed that. I know that the corrections never catch up with the original stories, but I'm so sick of all these hoaxes, I wanted to do something to respond. I didn't want to get mad at "Judy," who sent it to me. She was just a victim of the hoaxer. I wanted to educate her. I figure that the way to stop this nonsense is to teach people how to tell the hoaxes from the shinola. So I dashed off what I hoped was a polite and tactful response:

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Hi Judy,

Thanks for passing on the virus warning. We all see lots of warnings like this, and it's hard to tell which ones are real and which are hoaxes. Here's a link to a page dedicated to debunking the fake virus alerts: http://www.kumite.com/myths/ 

I found "It Takes Guts to Say Jesus" listed as a hoax, which is good news. There are a few nasty ones making the rounds right now (see http://www.langa.com/ for a rundown on a couple of them; Fred Langa publishes a free email newsletter where he covers the latest viruses, among other things).

Speaking of hoaxes and email, http://www.snopes.com/spoons/faxlore/  lists a whole bunch of things which you may have seen circulated by email, fax, or photocopy, and spells out which ones are true, partially true, or false. It's a very entertaining site.

--------

I'm going to start sending a similar response to all the virus hoaxes I receive. Maybe this will slow down the hoaxes a little bit. (I know, it's not likely, but I'll do what I can.) 

It's good that the hoaxes outnumber the actual viruses, but I sure get tired of finding this stuff in my inbox.---Brian Tannahill

Great idea, Brian! 

I've actually written a form letter much like Brian's; I send it out to people who send me hoax mail:

Emails like these are almost always hoaxes. ALWAYS verify any supposed virus report before you sound the alarm. It only takes a minute using any of the FREE links below. Otherwise, by sending out an unverified---and probably false---virus warning, you're unwittingly aiding and abetting the hoaxers, which is exactly what they want.

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/ will tell you whether this or any virus threat is real or a hoax. (Almost all the major antivirus vendors offer similar free services; you don't have to own their software to look up whether a a virus is real or not.)

http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html will bring you to the Department of Energy's "Computer Incident Advisory Capability," a site used by government workers to see if virus reports are real or not.

 http://www.kumite.com/myths/ has information on hundreds of email hoaxes

http://urbanlegends.about.com/culture/urbanlegends/index.htm also lets you look up many hoaxes by name or type.

And http://www.snopes.com/spoons/faxlore/ also will help you identify hoaxes.

Again, please NEVER forward a supposed virus warning (or any other kind of email) just because you get an email that says "Pass this on to everyone!" This kind of email is almost always a chain-letter hoax. Verify first, then tell your friends only if it's true.

Feel free to copy my email if you like (it'd be nice if you include a reference to where you got it! <g>) or, like Brian, write your own email form-reply. Then, whenever you get a "Tell everyone you know!" hoax mail, hit Reply All and send the form letter back where it came: Maybe you can help stop a flood of bogus emails!

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5) The Coming Plague Year

Hoaxes and viruses abound. As I said last week: The Year 2000 won't be remembered so much for the date-rollover problems (which will likely be minor in most of the developed world); instead, it will be remembered as a plague year online, rife with an astonishing number of virulent, fast-replicating worms and viruses.

I explain what's going, why, and what we can do about it in the current InformationWeek Online column:  http://www.informationweek.com/langaletter

The reader responses have been interesting so far: One person with a curious point of view wrote " Yes Fred, there are viruses for Macs and Linux too. But they don't spread!!!" This is, alas, a typical but sadly shortsighted belief: Macs and Linux machines are NOT immune. (And by definition: if it's a virus, it can spread.) Anyone who believes that viruses are just a Microsoft problem has their head in the sand.

Other readers have posted their nomination for the best anti-virus tools, and offered good insight into the mentality of the hackers who create these destructive programs.

Click over to  http://www.informationweek.com/langaletter and join in!

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6) A Goal---Even Closer!

Thanks to your recommendations, the LangaList added almost three thousand subscribers in the last week; and it's approaching a major milestone number of subscribers: Can you do me a favor and help me reach it?

If you could just get *one* friend to sign up---just one!---it'd mean a lot to me. Can you help? Your friend just may find a new source of useful information; I just may gain a new subscriber; and you just may win a Palm III organizer for your trouble (full details also available via this link):

http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#1

Or, win a copy of "Poor Richard's E-Mail Publishing: Creating Newsletters, Bulletins, Discussion Groups and Other Powerful Communications Tools." This book has been described as "An excellent, straightforward manual on email publishing, banner ads, driving traffic and especially ethics." (Full details also available via this link):

http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#2 

Either way, thank you, and good luck!

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