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Please note: Older issues may contain information that is now out of date. How To Subscribe
and Unsubscribe is at the end of this note. Mailing List Trouble? See http://www.langa.com/help.txt Please recommend the LangaList to a friend! (And maybe win $10,000 !) An easier-to
read formatted HTML version of this newsletter is available on line at The LangaList 2000-05-22 A Free Email
Newsletter from Fred
Langa
1) Finding And Fixing "Resource Leaks"I get a lot of mail like this:
I certainly can sympathize with John, and you probably can too. No matter how much physical RAM you have in your system, it's still possible to run out of System Resources. When that happens, one of three things occurs:
In each case, your only remedy is a reboot. (Hope you saved your data recently!) So what's really going on? What can you do to prevent it from happening? And do those freeware apps that John mentioned (and others like them) really help? Let's take it a step at a time: The "System Resources" that John's letter mentioned are two very specific memory areas inside Windows: User Resources and GDI (Graphics Device Interface ) Resources. You can think of these areas as scratchpads---actually, internal tables and pointers---that Windows uses to keep track of running applications. The User area contains information about all the apps and windows currently running, including dialog boxes, the controls in dialog boxes, and so on. In fact, every DLL your apps use gets its own data area in the User section. Loosely speaking, the more things you ask your computer to do at once, the more heavily used your User area becomes. The GDI area keeps track of the things Windows uses to draw what you see on screen: For example, there are things called pens, brushes, fonts, bitmaps, regions, and palettes. Roughly speaking, the more graphical objects you have on-screen---windows, icons, wallpapers, etc.---the more heavily used your GDI area becomes. Both resource areas are of a fixed size regardless of how much RAM you have---and that's the problem. If you run too many things at once or have too many graphical objects displayed at once, you can deplete the User or GDI area. When that happens, you get the error messages mentioned earlier, or weird behavior, or a crash. This week's "Explorer" column at WinMag.Com has tons more information on "resource leaks" including which versions of Windows are most vulnerable (and why!), and what you can do about it. Plus, I'll show you two different (and FREE) ways you can track resources on your system and identify which applications you may have that are "leaking." I'll also tell you about some free and low-cost tools and utilities that claim to plug the leaks caused by other apps, and recover memory that otherwise would be wasted or lead to crashes. I'm in the middle of testing a bunch of those apps now; the full report on the results of my tests will appear in Part Two of this topic, which will appear in my next WinMag column. If you suffer from mysterious crashes or "out of memory" messages when you know you should have plenty of RAM available, these columns may have the answer you need. Click on over to http://content.techweb.com/winmag//columns/explorer/2000/11.htm ! Click to
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Microsoft just released a 3-in-1
security update for Internet Explorer4/4.01 and 5/5.01. It fixes: The "Frame Domain
Verification" vulnerability, the "Unauthorized Cookie Access"
vulnerability, and the "Malformed Component Attribute" vulnerability.
In turn, these could potentially allow a malicious web site operator to read
your files or your cookies, or to run arbitrary code on your system. You can grab the patch at FAQ/More info: Click to
email this item to a friend A highly publicized study from
Stanford University says, "Yes." In fact, it made headlines several
weeks ago when researchers at Stanford University's SIQSS (Stanford Institute
for the Quantitative Study of Society) conducted a national survey of web users
that led them to conclusions like this: "The more hours
people use the Internet, the less time they spend with real human beings…. The
Internet could be the ultimate isolating technology that reduces our
participation in communities even more than television did…. This is an early
trend that, as a society, we really need to monitor carefully." The study has all the normal
trappings of objectivity and statistical validity but, to me, it appears the
researchers' interpretation of the results is rooted in a subtle but distinct
anti-Web/anti-tech bias. This is especially disturbing in light of the wide play
the survey got in the national media. Let me pick one glaring example:
For instance, the study trumpets that 26% of Internet users report they spend
less time talking with family and friends on the phone---clearly, a symptom of
increasing social isolation, right? But the same study shows that by
far the most common Internet activity is sending and receiving email. Amazingly,
nowhere in the study did I find anything that recognized what is, to me, the
obvious causal link: Email simply has replaced the phone for many routine types
of communication. (As my daughter would say, "Duh!") The interpersonal
interaction still takes place; it's just shifted from one medium to another. I think this study is deeply
flawed by biases that view people who enjoy the online world as stereotypical
geek isolates. On the other hand, I probably have my own biases: I work at home,
alone, via the Internet. <g> Plus, I know many people---including some
friends of mine--- who feel the study is dead on: They see email and other
online activities as cold, impersonal, and essentially solitary. In an admittedly anecdotal and
nonscientific way, let me ask you: Has the Internet and Web enhanced or
detracted from the social connectedness of your life? Does the online world make
you feel more isolated, or less? Does it strengthen the social fabric of your
life, or weaken it? Do you have email friends whom you've never (or rarely) met
in person; if so, are these friendships inferior to ones that rely more on face
to face meetings? To post your replies, please join
the discussion associated with this month's "Monitor" column that goes
live today (May 22, 200) at http://www.byte.com/column/BYT20000517S0001
. The column is about this study, and presents lots more details. After you get
the rest of the story, please share your thoughts in the Byte Newsgroups either
by clicking to http://www.byte.com/nntp/monitor
or by using your newsreader to access news.cmpnet.com, and from there,
cmpnet.byte.monitor. Join in! Click to
email this item to a friend Late last week a new and
more-hostile version of the Luv Bug appeared; like the original bug, it arrives
as a mildly disguised Visual Basic email attachment. And like the Luv Bug, it
will do no harm unless you click on it. It arrives with varying subject lines
(the worm re-writes the subject each time it's resent) so I can't tell you
exactly what to look for. But this advice applies to any
and all attachment worms, trojans, and virii: Never, ever click on any
attachment unless you are 100% sure what it is and what it does. If you need more info, please
check the back issues of this newsletter (see http://www.langa.com/2000.htm
). Click to
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Microsoft has released a patch
for an "IP Fragment Reassembly" security problem in Windows95/8, NT 4
and Win2000. The problem is a vulnerability
that could be used in a "denial of service" attack that would
temporarily overwhelm the target system and cause it to stop responding until
the attack was over. As such, it's not a high-risk problem for individuals (who
aren't likely to be the target of such attacks in the first place); and besides
which, it's an annoyance rather than a major headache. Still, it's pervasive throughout
all versions on Windows from Win95 onward, so it's probably worth grabbing the
patch. (Note; these longs URLs may wrap
in your email reader; they should all be one long line) Win95: Win98: NT 4 Workstation, Server and
Server, Enterprise Edition: NT 4 Server, Terminal Server
Edition: Windows 2000 Pro, Server and
Advanced Server: FAQ: Click to
email this item to a friend Here's a surprise: The email
address you use--- the one you give your friends and colleagues; the address you
think is yours---may not be your real address at all! There's a good chance your ISP or
email server or gateway may be disguising your name or generating an
"alias" or "expanded name" without your knowing it. In fact,
if you've ever gotten on a mailing list you can't get off of, or gotten on a
spam list you can't unsubscribe to, you may be a victim of aliasing. Here is
just one example: If you're an MSN member, you
probably think your email address is yourname@msn.com . But that's an alias:
Your REAL address is probably something like yourname@email.msn.com . (Note the
extra "email" inserted after the at-sign. MSN doesn't tell you it's
there---but it really is. The MSN system hides it from you!) If you sign up for an email-based
service using an alias, the system you're dealing will see you as (say) "yourname@email.msn.com"
and may not recognize you if you later try to identify yourself as "yourname@msn.com."
To it, "email.msn.com" and "msn.com" are completely
different addresses representing completely different users. Many ISPs (besides MSN) do the
same thing. Many companies do it, too. If you think about it, I'm sure
you can imagine the kinds of headaches this mismatch can cause. In short, it's a
good idea to know if you've been "aliased." I wrote about this some time ago
in http://content.techweb.com/winmag//library/1998/0501/ana0008.htm
and while some of the details of that article are dated, most of the info there
still pertains. If you've never checked into what's really lurking behind your
email address, it might be worth a quick read. Check it out! Click to
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Do you have a home page or
website? (It doesn't matter what size.) Please click over to http://www.langa.com/code.htm,
and maybe you can join the hundreds and hundreds of LangaList readers who have
"Loaded the Code!" Speaking of which: Here's another
eclectic sample of reader sites--- some professional, some very personal: Manually Browse All
Posted-to-Date Sites Starting At Huge Link Collection Click
to email this item to a friend Reader Marv Neufeld sends along
this fabulous hoaxmail that's just starting to make the rounds. I wonder how
many people will fall for it? *** Attention *** It's that time again! As many of you know,
each year the Internet must be shut down for 24 hours in order to allow us to
clean it. The cleaning process, which eliminates dead email and inactive ftp,
www and gopher sites, allows for a better working and faster Internet. This year, the cleaning
process will take place from 12:01 a.m. GMT on May 27 until 12:01 a.m. GMT on
May 28 (the time least likely to interfere with ongoing work). During that
24-hour period, five powerful Internet search engines situated around the world
will search the Internet and delete any data that they find. In order to protect your
valuable data from deletion we ask that you do the following: 1. Disconnect all
terminals and local area networks from their Internet connections. 2. Shut down all
Internet servers, or disconnect them from the Internet. 3. Disconnect all disks
and hard drives from any connections to the Internet. 4. Refrain from
connecting any computer to the Internet in any way. We understand the
inconvenience that this may cause some Internet users, and we apologize.
However, we are certain that any inconveniences will be more than made up for by
the increased speed and efficiency of the Internet, once it has been cleared of
electronic flotsam and jetsam. We thank you for your
cooperation. Click to
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