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The LangaList
16-Jun-99
A Free Email
Newsletter from Fred Langa About BrowserTune,
HotSpots, Columns, Tips & Tricks, and Other Activities
In This
Issue:
How To Delete Those Web-Ad CABs--- or Any
Suspect File!
See What Unbloated Code Can Do!
It’s Al-i-i-i-i-i-i-ive! (BT2K, that is!)
IIS 4.0 Bug Workaround
"…take a look at the attached zipped docs." (the
Worm.ExploreZip virus)
MS Office 2000?
Ten Ways To Make Windows 98 Run Better
A Free Father’s Day Gift
Just For Grins
More!
How To Delete Those Web-Ad CABs--- or Any Suspect File!
In a previous issue (see http://www.langa.com/newsletters/June-1-99.htm ), we discussed how some new kinds of web banner ads are stuffing auto-running Java applets onto your system. These stealth applets are delivered in "CABs," or "cabinet" files; a compressed format that Microsoft uses to package and deliver system files. Windows installs itself from CAB files on the setup CD, for example.
Many of you found CABs from unknown sources containing unknown programs on your systems, too, and you didn’t like it one bit.
I had suggested one way to find and eliminate the ad-based CABs: Use Start/Find/Files to search for *.cab files; be sure to use the Date tab to select files that arrived "during the previous 1 days." By searching only for brand-new CABs, the Find applet won’t show you CABs that are part of your original Windows setup. Unless you’ve just installed new software, the only brand-new CABs on your system will be the web ad CABs, and they can safely be deleted right from inside the Find window---just highlight the files, and press the delete key.
There are other ways to delete these web ad CABs, too, and that's part of the focus of this week's Dialog Box column on the WINDOWS Magazine site.
The same techniques also can be used to delete any suspect files on your system. You know, the kind of files or folders that make you ask, "What the heck is that? How did it get there? Do I need it? Can I delete it?"
I'll tell you the tricks I use to
identify, isolate and utilmately safely delete all kind of weird
files I find on my system, including web ad CAB files, files from aborted
installations of various applications, partially-deleted programs, or whatnot. I’ll
bet many of you have other tricks, too. Let's pool our knowledge. Come read my
tricks and tips, and then add yours to the discussion at
http://bbs.winmag.com/columns/archives/061399/monday/column.asp?frames=yes
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See What Unbloated Code Can Do!
We’ve all been so conditioned by today’s bloatware that it somehow seems almost reasonable that we need 128MB of RAM to make the most of our applications. It seems almost sensible that basic tasks like word processing, email, and web browsing need a PIII running at near-meltdown speeds to offer reasonable performance. We’ve come to expect that a high-performance graphical environment requires high-performance hardware.
Well, it ain’t so. I’ve just tested a high performance graphical environment and full office suite that drives a stake through the heart of those assumptions: It's a new release of a little-known graphical environment and office suite that shows just how much lean, mean, unbloated code can do.
It’s not Windows-based. In fact, it doesn’t need Windows at all. It’s its own thing: a complete graphical environment plus a word processor, spreadsheet, database, HTML editor and browser, day planner, contact manager, drawing tools, and so on. The environment and the apps emulate Windows’ look-and-feel, so the learning curve is essentially zero: Right from the start, you know where things are and how they work.
The whole thing---graphical operating environment and office suite: the works---sells for as little as $35 a pop, and it's all so tightly-coded it requires only 640K of RAM and just 10MB of drive space. (It takes 17MB at install, but 7MB of that gets cleaned up after install.) It absolutely screams on today's hardware--- but is so tight it'll even run on a 286!
Think about how small this thing is: An entire, Windows-like graphical environment, office suite and browser in less disk space and a fraction of the RAM of just, say, Microsoft Internet Explorer alone, or Netscape Communicator alone! Amazing.
You gotta check this out! Read all the details, and then join in the discussion: How many features and functions in your office suite do you actually use? How much money have you and your company spent on features you don’t need, and the RAM, disk space, and CPU horsepower required to keep all those unused functions alive and available? Does the suite I describe (n detail via the link below) offer enough functionality to be practical for you, or are key features missing? And perhaps the biggest question is this: What percentage of today’s apps do you think comprises essential, core functions, and what percentage is just plain bloat?
Join in at http://www.informationweek.com/langaletter !
It’s Al-i-i-i-i-i-i-ive!
(The scene: A laboratory in a dank stone castle; it’s night, and outside, a thunderstorm rages. Computer parts are scattered everywhere around the lab, and a madman---let’s call him Fred---scuttles from part to part muttering about JavaScript, Cookies, and throughput timings. Fred straightens up, throws a huge switch, and suddenly the room is bathed in an actinic glare as lightning strikes the collector on the rooftop. A huge bolt of energy surges down the wall, suffusing the creation lying on Fred’s main desktop. It’s BrowserTune 2000, and its parts start to twitch and move. Fred’s eyes light with maniacal glee. "It’s alive!" he cries. It’s "ali-i-i-i-i-i-ve!")
Ahem. Sorry about that. I got a little carried away. But please understand, it’s a great feeling when the myriad pieces of a large project start to come together, and that’s where BT2K is at right now. It’s running, it’s working--- all 1,745 pieces spanning over 8 megs of files. Whew!
I’m debugging and polishing now, and---assuming I don’t find any show-stopper bugs--- I should be able to, um, open the castle gates (so to speak) soon. Before too long, we’ll have BT2K in a top hat and tails singing "Puttin’ On The Ritz." (And to those of you who get that reference--- you’re as bad as I am! 8-) )
Meanwhile, I’ve finished another update to the BT2K demo at http://www.browsertune.com/bt2kdemo/ ; drop by and see how it’s coming along!
IIS 4.0 Bug Workaround
If you or your company is running Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0, you should know that the server-side processing functions of IIS contain a security hole that could allow hackers to successfully launch "denial of service" attacks against your server, or worse, to run programs on your server without your knowledge or permission.
A patch is in the works, but the hole is serious enough that Microsoft is saying that IIS4 users should temporarily disable script mapping for now. Microsoft says it takes seven steps:
- From the desktop, start the Internet Service Manager by clicking Start | Programs | Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack | Microsoft Internet Information Server | Internet Service Manager
- Double-click "Internet Information Server"
- Right-click on the computer name and select Properties
- In the Master Properties drop-down box, select "WWW Service", then click the "Edit" button .
- Click the "Home Directory" tab, then click the "Configuration" button .
- Highlight the line in the extension mappings that contains ".HTR", then click the "Remove" button.
- Respond "yes" to "Remove selected script mapping?" say yes, click OK 3 times, close ISM
For more info, see http://www.microsoft.com/security/products/iis/CheckList.asp
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"…take
a look at the attached zipped docs."
(the Worm.ExploreZip virus)
In the last issue ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/June-9-99.htm ), I wrote about email hoaxes such as the "Postal Service Five-Cent Surcharge on Email" story that went around a couple weeks ago.
The very next day after I mailed the last issue, however, I started getting a strange new email---and I bet many of you got it too. It went like this:
Hi Fred!
I have received your email and I shall send you a reply ASAP. Till then take a look at the attached zipped docs.
Bye!
Attachment: zipped_files.exe
Of course, as you’ve probably heard by now, the "attached zipped docs" were actually a destructive program. When you run the EXE file, the program does two things: First, it finds your email program and tries to use your address book to email itself to every name you’ve stored; this is how the program spreads. That’s bad enough, but then the program looks for your Microsoft Office files--- DOCs, XLS, etc--- and deletes any files that haven’t been backed up. So not only does this malicious program clog mailboxes and eat bandwidth (like Melissa), but it also can cause loss of data.
The first time I got the file, I was suspicious of the EXE extension. I scanned the file with Norton Antivirus, and it said "no viruses found." (Norton, and all the other major AV makers, have now updated their virus definitions to include this one, but this was at the start of the attack, and the virus was still unknown.)
But the EXE extension still bothered me. Normally, people just send DOC files natively. If they’re very large, they may be zipped (compressed), but then they’ll usually have a .ZIP extension.
Yes, zip-type compression can put files into what’s called a self-extracting executable that has an EXE extension, but it’s fairly rarely used. Still, to see if it was a self-extractor, I tried to open "zipped_files.exe" with WinZip, my file-compressor of choice. If it had been a self-extractor, WinZip would have recognized the format and shown me the contents, without actually running them. But WinZip said the EXE was not a format it recognized.
So at this point I was fairly sure that, whatever the file contained, it wasn’t "zipped DOCs." So, I simply deleted the file figuring that if it was really important, the sender would re-contact me and give me more information about what it was.
Later that day, the news was out that this EXE was actually a highly-destructive program that was eating files all over the web. I was very glad I hadn’t just clicked on the file to see what it did, as many others apparently had. (In all, I got sent about a dozen copies, and some are still arriving as late as today!)
The moral of the story is very clear and very simple: Don’t run unknown programs, ever, especially stuff you get in email. And keep your BS detectors on high. Things like the "EXE" extension, the claim that it was a zip file and the inability of WinZip to recognize the file type were all strong clues that something wasn’t right with this email.
Again, with email attachments: Don’t run unknown programs, ever. When in doubt, throw it out.
MS Office 2000?
It’s out, and lots of people are grabbing copies. If you have Office 2K, or plan to, you might want to make note of these brand-new Microsoft Support URLs:
Access 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/support/default.asp?PR=acc2000
Excel 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/support/default.asp?PR=xlw2K
Office 2000 (Setup and
Common Issues)
http://support.microsoft.com/support/default.asp?PR=ofw2k
Outlook 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/support/default.asp?PR=out2K
PowerPoint 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/support/default.asp?PR=ppt2000
Word 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/support/default.asp?PR=wrd20
Ten Ways To Make Windows 98 Run Better
You do it. I do it. We all do it---tweak our operating system, that is. We invariably change some of Windows' default settings when we first set up or reinstall Windows. Sometimes, it's because the defaults aren't much good. Other times, it's because of a particular need or circumstance that warrants deviating from the Microsoft-dictated norms. And sometimes---let's be honest---it's, well, just because.
A short time ago in the Dialog Box discussion area of the WINDOWS Magazine Web site ( www.winmag.com ), I posted my favorite Win98 tweaks and asked you to post yours. All together, we ended up with hundreds of great ideas.
For the July issue of WINDOWS Magazine, I combined, concatenated, and boiled down the best to a "top 10" list. Chances are you can use some or even all of these to help you get the most out of Win98.
You’ll find it in the July print issue when it arrives (any day now) or you can read it on the web at: http://content.techweb.com/winmag//library/1999/0701/fea0047.htm
Check it out!
A Free Father’s Day Gift
Does your father use a PC? How about sending him a free, no-obligation sample issue of the LangaList in your name? It takes only a minute, and it’s spam-proof. Hey, if you like the LangaList, maybe your father will too! Send him a free copy using the 60-second form over at http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#2 .
(And no it’s not just for Dads--- you can use the "Recommend" page to send anyone a free, no-obligation sample issue!)
Thanks!
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Just For Grins:
Reader Tony King sends this along:
WARNING! NEWSPAPER VIRUS!
If you receive a newspaper with an article in it headlined "Budweiser Frog Dies", DO NOT READ IT.
Apparently it is a new sort of virus; the "Newspaper Virus". When this article is read, it will cause the printed characters on the newspaper to 'crash' , that is, come unglued, and fall in a big heap in your lap.
This particular virus is very nasty in that it will re-infect any magazine or newspaper that you read afterwards, causing THEIR print to become unusable.
As well, any computer screen viewed with infected eyes will have all pixels on it fall in a pile onto the keyboard, rendering it inoperative. The New York Times this morning confirmed the existence of this virus. Microsoft and Reuters are now investigating it.
THIS VIRUS IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. THE UNITED STATES OPTICIANS SOCIETY HAS ADVISED ALL READERS TO WEAR COBALT-SAMARIUM TINGED SUNGLASSES BEFORE READING A NEWSPAPER.
PLEASE DO NOT PASS THIS MESSAGE USING E-MAIL, BUT PRINT IT OFF AND MAIL IT INSIDE A BROWN ENVELOPE TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN, USING THE U.S. POSTAL SERVICES!
Funny thing is, though, if this went out in email, some folks would probably believe it! 8-)
See you next issue!
Best,
Fred
( fred@langa.com )
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