The LangaList

I've written many times about the necessity of plugging the holes that various OS settings and products can open on your PC. (See item #1!) For example, many people have no clue that a wrong click or two, or a wrong setting, can leave their PCs wide open to snooping by hackers whenever they're online. (See http://www.langa.com/newsletters/1999/oct-14-99.htm and http://www.langa.com/newsletters/1999/oct-18-99.htm and http://www.langa.com/newsletters/1999/nov-18-99.htm#secure ... )

Reader Boyd Rowe Jr. has another suggestion along the same lines:

Something that everyone out there should be concerned about is hackers trying to gain access to people's computers [using hacker tools such as Back Orifice, sometimes called simply "BO"]. In fact I just had an incident happen to me on 12-26-1999... I tracked down their server and reported them. I gave the information, that my Anti-hacker program gave me.... 

I am running Anti-BO ver.1.5b and it gives quite a bit of information, that can lead you to where the hacker's home is. Or at least who his ISP is, along with what I'm pretty sure is his user name. Anti-Bo and Jammer (not to be mistaken for the freeware Jammer) are very good anti-hacker programs. This is where to go for Jammer http://jammer.comset.net/  and this is where to go for Anti-Bo http://www.swiftp.com/anti-bo  . Either program will write a log file that you can reference at any time.

Thanks, Boyd. These are commercial apps (actually low-cost trialware/shareware) and they can be excellent tools to help lock out hackers, along with other well-known tools such as Black Ice Defender.

But check out the links to previous LangaLists at the top of this item: If you close the security holes in the first place, there's no need to use monitoring software because hackers can't get in without at least one unguarded opening. 

But if you can't or don't want to use the free tools I discussed in those issues, then an after-the-fact monitoring tool that detects attempted intrusions is the next best thing. 

Click to email this item to a friend
http://www.langa.com/sendit2.htm

return to top of page

6) Many Readers Share Their Best/First Computer Experience

There are some wonderful posts showing up in the discussion area at Byte.Com: people at all skill and experience levels are jumping into the discussion. Some had their first PC experience just a few years ago and others are real veterans of the earliest days of computing. It makes for a fascinating mix!

Newbie or veteran, young or old, what was *your* first hardware and software? What was your all-time favorite computer or favorite software? Why; what made it special? What was your first real "wow" experience with computing? What were your PCs highs and lows? If you have old hardware or software in the attic, what is it? Why did you keep it? Does it still work?

Read my experiences in my current Byte column and then share your own memories in the discussion going on right now at http://www.byte.com/column/BYT19991221S0006 !

Click to email this item to a friend
http://www.langa.com/sendit2.htm

return to top of page

7) Thanks!

Thanks to thousands of you, the LangaList has become one of the ten most-recommended "Computing & Internet" web sites, according to the folks at Recommend-It! (See http://www.recommend-it.com/RecCenter/10.html .) It's a great feeling to know that this newsletter (and Langa.Com) is useful enough for many, many of you to have suggested it to friends and colleagues. 

And, as a way of saying "Thanks!" there are two prizes you can win simply for making a recommendation. For example, if you use the Recommend-It service, you can win a Palm III organizer (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 again, and good luck!

Click to email this item to a friend
http://www.langa.com/sendit2.htm

return to top of page

8) Hubble Fans Target Fred

I was surprised that a number of space aficionados thought I was denigrating the Hubble Telescope last week in the item that talked about how it just got upgraded to a 486 in last December's repair mission. (See http://www.langa.com/newsletters/jan-3-00.htm#7 )

But that wasn't the case at all--- it was just a "gee whiz" kind of item, and certainly not a criticism. In fact, long-time readers may already know that I'm actually quite an avid supporter of space exploration; I consider it tax money well spent. (And in context, it's not all that much money, despite what the naysayers claim: For example, most space missions cost about what it takes to make a Hollywood movie, and yet they deliver far greater and more lasting social and technical benefits than Hollywood will ever do.) 

Besides, I'm in no position to criticize: I just got a new telescope for Christmas, thanks to my extremely generous wife. It's a state-of-the-art beauty from one of the most renowned makers of amateur scopes. Its basic electronic brain is a PIC16C57 microcontroller: a 20 MHz, 8 bit chip with a whole 72 bytes of RAM. <g> 

But that's all it needs--- and the 2MB 486 is all the Hubble needs. Gee whiz!

Click to email this item to a friend
http://www.langa.com/sendit2.htm

return to top of page

-------------( Please Visit This LangaList Sponsor!) ------------

--------------( the above is an advertisement )--------------

9) Year's Top Story?