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The LangaList
2000-05-04
A Free Email Newsletter from Fred
Langa
That Helps You Get More From Your Hardware,
Software, and Time Online
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Long-time readers know I'm a fan
of ZoneAlarm--- a free "personal firewall" that sits between you and
the Internet, preventing hackers from breaking into your system and also
preventing "Trojan Horse" and other sneaky apps from sending out
information from your PC to other sites without your knowledge. (Click to http://www.langa.com/search.htm
and key in "zonealarm" to see all the previous Langalist coverage of
this app.) Trouble is, some people have
assumed that ZoneAlarm was a panacea for all security problems (it's not), or
that it was coded perfectly (no complex software ever is). And that's led to
trouble. For one thing, as ZoneAlarm gets
more popular, it will become a specific target for hackers who will look for any
weakness they can exploit in the software; they probably will develop attack
strategies specifically designed to try to defeat ZA. For another, and as I've tried to
stress in the past, ZA has its own glitches and shortcomings. The folks at Zone
Labs have been great at fixing the problems in short order--- that's one of the
reasons why I'm so positive about ZA--- but there still are glitches. For example, a short while ago, a
problem was uncovered in the way that ZA handles scans of Port 67 (DHCP/BOOTP):
ZA was vulnerable to this type of scan, creating a security hole. The folks at
ZoneLabs plugged the hole and posted a new version--- version 2.1.18--- at http://www.zonelabs.com/beta_download.htm
. If you're running any earlier version of ZA, I recommend you grab this new
version. No doubt there will be other
glitches discovered in ZA, but because it's so good at what it does, is so
low-cost (free for personal use, $20 for corporate use), and because the
ZoneLabs people are so conscientious about fixing problems, I still think it's a
great solution for most users. If you keep your copy of ZA up to
date, and follow the other FREE and low-cost security-enhancing tips in these
columns, you can rest easy: Just remember that there is no
"magic bullet," and no single solution that can prevent all security
problems all the time. The best defense is to use several different and
overlapping strategies, and to stay up to date. That way, you'll reduce the
chances of trouble down to negligible levels. Click to
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I have a confession to make.
While the last 3 LangaLists were being delivered to your mailbox, I was on
vacation with my family. <g> I wrote those issues in advance and had them
set for "timed release" by my list-mailing software so you'd still get
them normally. I'm mentioning this for two
reasons. First, I was slow in replying to email both when I was away and when I
returned. Even with autoresponders and mail filters handling a ton of the mail,
I had over 2,000 mail messages waiting for me that needed personal attention
when I got back online. It took a while to get through it all--- my apologies
for any delay you experienced. Second, there was a non-vacation
component to the trip: I visited Mike Elgan. Mike is a former Editor of Windows
Magazine; he and I worked together there for years. Mike's now Editorial
Director of Portable Life, a new one-stop resource for information about
laptops, mobile phones, pocket computers, pagers and other portable gadgets. And when I say "new" I
mean it: The site just went live this past Tuesday, and you can still
practically smell the wet paint. <g> Naturally, as with any brand-new site
there are some rough spots , but on the whole it's looking very good. You can
visit the site at http://www.portablelife.com. My personal connection to the
site is twofold: Mike asked me to write a "decision-tree" kind of
feature on Windows 2000. You click through the decision-tree pages, and
depending on how you answer certain questions, you can see if Win2K is a
worthwhile upgrade for you, and if it is, how you should go about it. Although
the information there is specific for Win2K on laptops and portables, much of
the information is valid for any user. You can find the decision-tree feature at
http://www.portablelife.com/pg/0,,504,00.html
. I'm also writing a weekly tips
column for Portable Life, the first installment of which is at http://www.portablelife.com/columns/0,,2,00.html
. Check it out! (And yes, it was a great
vacation, but it's also good to be back. 8-) ) Click to
email this item to a friend A number of readers have asked me
to post the HTML version of each LangaList issue at a fixed URL; this makes it
easier to set up "channels" on some devices, which either have trouble
with the length of the text version of the newsletter or linking to the unique
URL, date-based I've been using for each issue. (This issue, for example, is at http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2000/2000-05-04.htm
.) I'll keep using the unique
URLs--- they're the permanent address of each issue. But I'll also post each
issue at a constant URL: http://www.langa.com/current.htm
. This URL will always be the same, but the content will change as each new
issue is published. If you set up a shortcut or link to that page, just refresh
that page every Monday and Thursday, and you'll automatically have the latest
issue. Click to
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Wow--- there have been *lots* of
great emails and posts about the "Redefining Human" column at
Byte.Com. There's even been some element of religion in several posts, getting
into issues of "soul," and whether we humans or some higher power
control our destiny: That's an unusual topic for a tech-oriented publication!
<g> But there's lots of good tech
info too. For example, is a brain neuron analogous to a simple transistor, or is
it actually a simple kind of processor? If the former, then we'll soon have
computers with the same number of "switches" as a human brain. If the
latter, then we're many orders of magnitude away from having a computer with
similar processing power. You can see these posts (and
maybe join the discussion!) in the Byte Newsgroups either by clicking to http://www.byte.com/nntp/monitor
, or by using your newsreader to navigate to news.cmpnet.com, and from there to
cmpnet.byte.monitor. The column itself is at http://www.byte.com/column/BYT20000418S0002 Click to
email this item to a friend I recently added content ratings
to Langa.Com using a voluntary program run by the Internet Content Rating
Association: You embed special codes in a site's pages to alert
"nannyware" and browser content filters to the presence (or absence)
of potentially offensive materials: specifically sex, violence, nudity, and
strong language. (See http://www.icra.org/
and http://www.w3.org/PICS
) I hadn't rated the Langa.Com site
before because, well, it's pretty innocuous.<g> In fact, after wading
through the ratings process, I got a zero on all counts except language---
because of the occasional mild epithet (e.g. a rare "hell" or a
"damn"), I got a language rating of a "one" out of a
possible five, and I probably still could have made that a zero if I'd wanted to
push it. With such tame content, why
bother rating at all? Well, it turns out some ISPs, browser settings, nannyware,
and content providers won't let you view a site at all unless it's been rated;
unless it passes their content filters. Although this is a "guilty until
proven innocent" approach, I can understand why it's done: Otherwise, the
rawest, raunchiest X-rated site or hate-speech site (and the like) could simply
remain unrated and accessible to children--- the people these ratings are
intended to protect. Rating your site is easy and involves no censorship: All
you're doing is describing what's already there. I was glad to add the ratings
code to Langa.Com. But there's a darker side to
content filtering. For example, AOL uses its own content filters, which---like
almost everything else on AOL---are nonstandard. And they appear to go far
beyond filtering for sex, violence, nudity, and strong language. For example, AOL's content
filters can keep you from visiting competitors' sites, and they also appear to
be fostering a specific political agenda. For example, with restrictive settings
turned on, AOL lets kids visit the home page of the Republican National
Committee ( http://www.rnc.org ), but not the
very similar Democratic National Committee site ( http://www.democrats.org
). It's not a ratings thing--- I've looked at the source code for both sites,
and neither carries internal ratings. Rather, something or someone inside AOL
has decided that the Republican site is OK for young minds but that and the
Democratic site is not. Readers have told me that AOL
lets them visit some pro-life/anti-abortion sites, but not some
pro-choice/abortion-rights sites; or some pro-gun sites but not some gun-control
sites; and in general, allows access to conservative-agenda sites more often
than to liberal-agenda sites. I haven't personally checked out every
variation--- I avoid AOL as much as possible. But I did specifically check out
the Republican/Democrat sites, and it's true that kids can visit the former, but
not the latter. Regardless of your political
views, I hope you agree with me that this kind of content filtering is a truly
evil thing if it's deliberate; and a truly inexcusable thing even if it's just
programmatic sloppiness or stupidity: This has nothing to do with protecting
kids. It amounts to censorship, and it's dead wrong. Click to
email this item to a friend If you think the
LangaList is a worthwhile read, just use the following link to recommend the
LangaList to a friend. Your friend just may find a new source of useful
information; I just may gain a new subscriber; and you just may win $10,000(!)
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! Click to
email this item to a friend The discussion on Torture-testing
Netscape 6 is in its final days, but new items keep cropping up. (See http://content.techweb.com/winmag//columns/explorer/2000/09.htm
) For example, reader
"Cynic" wrote: not to be picky or
anything, but you _do_ realize that I do realize that. Actually, very
few pages pass full validation tests--- including the home pages of Microsoft,
Netscape and Mozilla.Org. The only pages that completely pass tend to be
*extremely* bland. But even with fully-validated
pages, Netscape has trouble. For example, columnist, author and Registry guru
John Woram wrote: If you get into any more
MS/Netscape comparisons, my http://www.woram.com/tests/tests.htm
page has a bunch of tests that produce generally disastrous results in Netscape,
despite most of the tests being W3C validated. Check it out for yourself, and
then click on over to the WinMag site to add your results to the mix! Click to
email this item to a friend Hundreds of sites now have
"Loaded The Code." Do you have a home page or website? (It doesn't
matter what size.) Please click on over to http://www.langa.com/code.htm,
and maybe you can join the growing crowd! And check out http://www.langa.com/readersites.htm,
which is a permanent repository for "code loader" pages. It's kinda
fun to see what your fellow readers are up to! There's even a "Reader Site
Roulette" link that shows you a new Reader Site with every click! Speaking of which: Here's another
eclectic selection of reader sites--- some professional, some very personal: Click to
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Computer
Problems? Get
answers from some of the same sources Fred uses Information/Order
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Reader Wyn Freeman asks: Fred- Thanks for all your tips There are several apps that let
you grab text from *any* dialog or results box. I use SnagIt32, from http://www.techsmith.com
for things like that; SnagIt also does all the usual screen-capture stuff, too,
and can even capture AVIs. Highly recommended! Click to
email this item to a friend Rick Stewart offers this oldie
but goodie--- especially appropriate in light of the religious issues that
cropped up in the "Only Human" item, above: If GOD Were a
Programmer... Click to
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You're
reading this--- so do over 1,000,000 others each month! Have
YOUR product or service seen See http://www.langa.com/ratecard.htm --------------( the above is an
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See you next issue! Best, (Please recommend
the LangaList to a friend! (And maybe win $10,000!) An easier-to read formatted HTML version is
available in the "what's new" section of http://www.langa.com.
(The HTML version of each issue normally is available by 9AM EST [GMT-5] of the
issue date.) All past LangaList issues are also available via the same link. Why are you getting this newsletter? There are
only two ways to get on the list (direct email request or via the WinMag mail
list signup page) so if you're getting this newsletter; your name came to me
through one of those channels. SUBSCRIBE (it's free!): Create and send a new
email address it to subscribe-langalist@lyris.dundee.net About
the advertisers: Langa Consulting LLC will never knowingly accept
advertising for a fraudulent product, company or service. However, Langa Consulting LLC makes no implied or explicit warranty, recommendation or endorsement
of or for the products, companies or services mentioned in the ads. Disclaimer:
(Please see full disclaimer here: http://www.langa.com/legal.htm.)
Abbreviated version: The tips and other information given in the newsletter are
researched and are believed to be accurate, but we cannot and do not guarantee
that all the information here will work on all systems, for all users, all the
time. All information herein is offered as-is and without warranty of any kind.
Neither Langa Consulting LLC, nor its employees nor contributors are responsible for
any loss, injury, or damage, direct or consequential, resulting from application
of any information presented here. This newsletter is a free service of Langa Consulting LLC and is Copyright © 2000 Langa Consulting LLC. All rights reserved.1)
New, Safer ZoneAlarm Version
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Fred Comes Clean
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Speaking Of HandHelds, Portables And PDAs...
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Only Human
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---and also get a full 20% discount in the process!9)
Grabbing Text From Graphical Windows
I'm a subscriber and have gotten lots of good info from langalist. I've been
interested in the discussions on printing folder contents. I use PrintFolder and
am happy with it. But is there a way to print the contents of the 'Find' box?
http://www.langa.com/sendit2.htm
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Just For Grins
Q: Does God control everything that happens in my life?
A: He could, if he used the debugger, but it's tedious to step through
all those variables.
Q: Why does God allow evil to happen?
A: God thought he eliminated evil in one of the earlier revs.
Q: Does God know everything?
A: He likes to think so, but he is often amazed to find out what goes
on in the overnight job.
Q: What causes God to intervene in earthly affairs?
A: If a critical error occurs, the system pages him automatically and
he logs on from home to try to bring it up. Otherwise things can
wait until tomorrow.
Q: Did God really create the world in seven days?
A: He did it in six days and nights while living on cola and candy
bars. On the seventh day he went home and found out his girlfriend had
left him.
Q: How come the Age of Miracles Ended?
A: That was the development phase of the project, now we are in the
maintenance phase.
Q: Will there be another Universe after the Big Bang?
A: A lot of people are drawing things on the white board, but
doubt that it will ever be implemented.
Q: Who is Satan?
A: Satan is an MIS director who takes credit for more powers than he
actually possesses, so people who aren't programmers are scared of
him. God thinks of him as irritating but irrelevant.
Q: What is the role of sinners?
A: Sinners are the people who find new and imaginative ways to mess up
the system when God has made it idiot-proof.
Q: Where will I go after I die?
A: Onto a backup tape.
Q: Will I be reincarnated?
A: Not unless there is a special need to recreate you. And searching
backup files is a major hassle, so if there is a request for you,
God will just say that the tape has been lost.
Q: Am I unique and special in the universe?
A: There are over 10,000 major university and corporate sites running
exact duplicates of you in the present release version.
Q: What is the purpose of the universe?
A: God created it because he values elegance and simplicity, but then
the users and managers demanded he tack senseless features onto it
and now everything is more complicated and expensive than ever.
Q: If I pray to God, will he listen?
A: You can waste his time telling him what to do, or you can just get
off his back and let him program.
Q: What is the one true religion?
A: All systems have their advantages and disadvantages, so just pick
the one that best suits your needs and don't let anyone put you
down.
Q: How can I protect myself from evil?
A: Change your password every month and don't make it a name, a common
word, or a date like your birthday.
Q: Some people claim they hear the voice of God. Is this true?
A: They are much more likely to receive e-mail.
Q: Some people say God is Love.
A: That is not a question. Please restate your query in the form of a
question.
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over 1,000,000 times a month!
Fred
(fred@langa.com)
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