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LangaList 2002-01-28 Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 1) Auto-Validate Your IE Favorites ListReader Dan Penrod wanted to do something that I'd never tried:
My Favorites list is much smaller than Dan's, and I use it constantly. As such, I easily can find duds and change them manually on an ongoing basis. I've never had to try to deal with a list of 500 IE favorites, and so had no ready answer as to how to automate the process. But I did a little digging and thought I saw paydirt on Google at http://www.google.com/search?q=validate+favorites . I sent Dan the URL. A day or so later, he wrote back:
Thank *you,* Dan--- you not only brought up an interesting topic, but narrowed down the solutions to a proven piece of freeware. <g> You can get AM-Deadlink at Tucows, Webattack ( http://www.webattack.com/get/amdeadlink.shtml ), DaveCentral ( http://www.davecentral.com/projects/am-deadlink1/ ) or any number of other download location ( http://www.google.com/search?q=am%2Ddeadlink ) Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 2) "Spyware At Its Worst"
Wow. It seems that at least one of the culprits is "VX2," a kind of "foistware/spyware" that piggybacks on other software you may choose to download. The VX2 spyware installs silently and then monitors your "clickstream" as you navigate around the web, sending information about your activities and your PC to the VX2 corporation. The VX2 site ( http://www.vx2.cc ) does not tell you which software is foisting the VX2 on you; it's hard to unravel it all. It's also unclear whether VX2 by itself is involved with the popups, or if they're caused by something else (such as is covered in the next item, below). But you can tell if you're infected by VX2 itself by searching for the "VX2.dll" file on your system. If it's there, you got bit. You can supposedly fully uninstall the software by following the instructions at http://www.vx2.cc/uninstall.html . And the VX2 site also offers a way for you to request that any data already collected from you be deleted (see http://www.vx2.cc/delete.html ). But requesting info deletion involves providing VX2 with personal information, so I wouldn't submit a request unless you're sure you were infected--- i.e. you found the VX2 software on your system.I assume future versions of tools like PestPatrol (a LangaList advertiser; http://www.pestpatrol.com/promo/langa/0102.asp ) and Ad-Aware ( http://www.lavasoftusa.com ) will detect and remove VX2, but for now, it's a good idea to take a look for yourself. Click to email this item to a
friend 3) Even More "ScumWare" To Watch Out For
Thanks, Chet. This one's cropped up several time before--- Microsoft even tested a similar "feature," but then withdrew it in the face of withering criticism. Here's how this one works:
That sounds OK--- almost like regular hyperlinks. But these links are not placed there by the web site creator or author; they're inserted by the software, which bases its decisions not on simple contextual relevance, but on who's *paying* to be linked. In other words, the "links" are really ads. The Ezula site says:
Scumware vendors--- and bad spellers, too. <g> I'm not against advertising--- up-front, honest ads help support the Langa.Com site and the standard edition of this newsletter. But I'm dead set against ads that pretend to be something else; and against companies that try to foist their adware on us by covert means. Advertising can be done ethically, but to many companies, "ethics" and "advertising" don't exist in the same universe. Sigh. Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 4) Access Your DBX files--- Without Outlook Express!Paul Schindler--- whom some of you may remember from WinMag or Byte--- sent along a note about "a program that would extract messages from an outlook express .dbx file." One Philip Rynes had told Paul about the tool, which is part of a pair of related freeware tools available at http://chattanooga.net/~scochran/DBXtend.htm and http://chattanooga.net/~scochran/DBXtract.htm Both are tiny freeware utilities that let you extract or manipulate the email stored inside an OE DBX file, without having to use OE at all. In fact, if a corrupted or misinstalled DBX file prevents you from accessing your OE email, one of these tools still may be able to get inside the file and grab what you need. Cool! Thanks, Paul and Phil. Click to email this item to a
friend 5) Another Free Win2K Defrag Tool
Thanks, Larry! Click to email this item to a
friend 6) Last Week To Enter January's FREE DrawingOn Jan 31, I'll choose another monthly winner of a no-strings $30 Gift Certificate for any item at Amazon.Com--- books, software, hardware, kitchenware, toys... To have a shot at winning, 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 a $30 shopping spree! (Full details also available via this link): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm The more times you make a recommendation, the greater your chances are of winning! Or, if you'd like to try to win $10,000(!), try this
link (full details also available here): Either way, thank you, and good luck! Click to email this item to a
friend 7) IBM Deskstar 75GXP Class-Action Lawsuit
I hadn't heard of this one, but according to the web site (maintained by the lawyers handling the suit) it's about "alleged reliability problems involving the Deskstar 75GXP series of hard disk drives.... This case is being brought on behalf of all U.S. purchasers of a 75GXP series hard disk drive. The complaint alleges that IBM has falsely represented that the 75GXP is a reliable drive...." If you have--- or had--- a Deskstar 75GXP, the site might well be worth a look. Click to email this item to a
friend 8) More Reader Sites!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!" (If you've already
"Loaded The Code" and are wondering if your site will appear here or on the
Langa.Com web site, please see
http://www.langa.com/link.txt ) Floral Roberts My List Mate Ronnie Rutledge (opal jewelry) Green And Gold (cricket and more) Wood Carving Domainux KnowledgeBlock Irving Stein Computer Stuff Doug's Site Stone Artworks Escape From Hardware Hell Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 9) Quiet Down Your PC's Fan(s) For Free
Speak up, Paul; I can't hear you over the noise of my fans--- oh. There you are. <g> It's an interesting tool, but definitely aimed at the power-user crowd. It also requires fairly recent and advanced hardware to do its thing (probably won't work on older/budget systems). But if it can work for you, it can make things a lot quieter--- for free! Click to email this item to a
friend 10) Just For GrinsReader Bjorn Bjornsson passes along this mildly risqué item, which explains various marketing concepts:
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 11) Plus! Edition Special Focus On: Search Tools
Today's LangaList Plus! Edition contains all ten items above, plus about 30% more content including a special look at three interesting, powerful and FREE search tools that can help you zero in on the information you're looking for, right from your desktop: There's a free "Search Taskbar" that uses a special syntax to speed searching; a free "intellisearch" tool with 60 built-in search engines; and a new, powerful reader modification to Patrick Deal's popular (and free!) Search Bar! The Plus! Edition costs just a buck a month--- $1 for eight issues! Info: http://www.langa.com/plus.htm Click to email this item to a
friend See you next issue!
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