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The LangaList

18-Oct-99
SPECIAL 2nd ANNIVERSARY ISSUE!

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

In This Issue:
Terrible Twos? (I hope not!)
Another (And More Detailed) FREE Internet Security Check
IE 4/5 Patch Available---If You Know Where To Look
A Nifty FREE System Utility
Worth a Nod?
More FREE DOS Help
More BootStrapping
More Files You Can Safely Delete
Just For Grins
More!

Terrible Twos? (I hope not!) 

Please excuse the inward-focus of this issue's first item, but here's the reason: The LangaList is exactly two years old today! It started in1997 with a handful of subscribers and came out about once a week. Today, it is distributed twice a week to over 72,000 subscribers from all over the world, and is still growing fast.

I started the list after a 20+ year stint in the publishing industry when I decided to get back to my first professional love, which was writing. I resigned from my job as Vice President and Editorial Director at CMP Media (many of you know me from the time when I was working at Windows Magazine). I moved my family out of New York and back to our native New England, and began writing again as a freelance.

Having been on the editor's side of the desk for many years, I knew how precarious the freelance life was. I had several contracts for columns and online work, but still, it was a leap going from the security of a biweekly paycheck to--- who knew?

So I had a hazy idea of starting some kind of self-publication effort so I could communicate directly with readers, rather than being totally dependent on traditional publishing processes. Maybe--- an email newsletter?  The first piece of the online/email-publishing puzzle started to fall into place.

There was a second element---and I know it sounds corny. But I'd been in publishing for a long time and had made a good living running a variety of magazines and online sites. This fuzzy piece of the puzzle was the idea of somehow "giving back" to the readers and to the computing community in some way.

So, I'd want the newsletter to be free; I'd pay to run it myself, out-of-pocket, assuming I could make a living as a freelance. A third piece of the puzzle emerged: I needed a way to self-publicize my for-pay work so people would know about it and read it, and keep my publishers happy so I could indeed make a living.

There was no "Eureka" moment--- I didn't run naked through the streets of my home town---but eventually the ideas firmed up enough so that I figured I'd send a weekly email message to interested readers. The emails would contain useful tips, tricks, and other information about using computer hardware and software, and also would contain pointers to the for-pay columns and web sites I was doing.

The emails wouldn't be just a tease: I wanted them to contain enough "meat" to be useful and worth reading in their own right. And I wanted them to be rich with pointers to other sources of information, only some of which would be my own work. 

I also wanted the emails to have a personal tone, more like a letter from a friend than some kind of corporate-speak publication, or a generic-voiced magazine article. The weekly email letter was going to be from me, personally, and written in the first person.

And I wanted it to be free: Just a clean, free, friendly  and (hopefully) helpful email from me to interested readers.

Two years later, you're reading the results. 8-) I hope you're enjoying the newsletter because I'm sure enjoying bringing it to you! 

There's lots more ahead---many positive changes in the works. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

( Want to comment on this newsletter? Ask a question? Make a suggestion? Click over to the discussion area at http://www.langa.com/langalist/ )

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Another (And More Detailed) FREE Internet Security Check

Last week, I told you about Steve Gibson's free "Shields Up" service: It's a series of web pages that sniffs your internet connection and can identify a variety of common security problems that may be leaving your system wide-open to snoops and hackers when you're online. (This is especially important for users of cable modems, DSL, and other "always on" services.) Shields Up is at:

http://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2   or  
http://grc.com/ShieldsUp 

For a free service, Steve's does a great job; plus, you can learn a lot by following the explanatory links towards the bottom of the pages there.

But if you pass the Shields Up tests, it doesn't necessarily mean you're safe---it just means you don't have the most common kinds of security problems; the kind that might be exploited by kids and amateur hackers doing the Internet equivalent of joyriding. This comprises most of the hacking that goes on--- but it's not the most serious kind of hacking.

More skillful hackers can dig far below the level of the current Shields Up tests. Steve is making his tests more complex and robust, but for now, you need a second test to complement Steve's.

A number of readers wrote to tell me of the free "Secure Me" test at DSL Reports. (Many thanks to all who wrote in!). Despite the name, DSL Reports isn't just for DSL users, and the security test there can examine just about any kind of connection.

You have to register, and the test takes longer than Shields Up. Plus, the free test is actually limited to one run: You get just one free test, and then the site blocks you from retaking the test until you pay.

The test itself is excellent: It starts by looking for the same kinds of problems that Steve's free test does, but then goes much deeper.  At the end of the test, you get a detailed summary of what was tested, a list of the problems, and your score: For every problem it detects, it takes away one or more points.

A perfect score is zero--- no problems detected. You can see the score summaries of other users on the site, and some people have scores running to around -200 indicating a whole raft of security problems. I was glad to see my score was -1; a nearly perfect result indicating just one minor security problem, which actually was a choice on my part, and not really a problem at all. Whew!

But note: The Secure Me documentation is spotty; it presumes you have a fair amount of knowledge of what the results mean and what to do about any problems it may uncover. (This is in marked contrast to Steve's Shields Up, which explains everything in a wonderfully clear way.) It's a deep-geek service for techies; Steve's tests are for anyone.

So both tests have their place. I recommend you start with Steve's test and get your system as secure as you can with all the information there. ( Plus, Steve is busy expanding and improving Shields Up almost daily; his tests will get even better, and deeper, with time.) When you've gotten your system as secure as you can with Steve's tests, take your one free shot with Secure Me. If you pass, you're done! If you fail, then you have some homework to do, and you may wish to pay for additional Secure Me tests to ensure that you've closed your security holes. Or, you may wish to bookmark Steve's pages and return there periodically, as I'm betting his tests will soon come close to doing what Secure Me does, anyway.

You'll find DSL Report's "Secure Me" service here:
http://www.dslreports.com/r3/dsl/secureme

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