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The LangaList
Standard Edition

2002-03-04

A Free Email Newsletter from Fred Langa
That Helps You Get More From Your Hardware, 
Software, and Time Online

Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!

1) Can Using A Freely Available PC Utility Get You Fired?

In a recent article ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2002/2002-02-18.htm#5 ), we discussed various utilities that can let you recover a forgotten password. One such tool was "Snadboy," an ancient Win95- style "password revealer" that turns the text-obscuring asterisks (or dots) in a password dialog-box back into plain text, so you can write down the forgotten password and store it in a safe place.

That seems innocuous enough, but check out this horror-story:

Fred: I have a bit of a problem. I was hurt doing my job and went on compensation. I was given modified work in the office while I was recovering. During this time in the office the secretary told me she often forgot her passwords and had difficulty in accessing her data. I told her about Snadboy, a password revealer that changes asterisks into readable letters. After a lot of trouble with the company I was laid off. The reason for being laid off was that because I told the secretary about the password revealing software they suspected I was an underhanded thief and would attempt to steal the office passwords and sensitive data. Now, based on that suspicion they are trying to recover the pittance of compensation I was paid. OK, this is my question, is Snadboy and other software like it, legal software? --- Herb

It's a surprisingly complex issue with few absolute answers: By the time I worked through the range of possibilities--- from simple Snadboy-class tools up to serious password crackers, WPA-spoofers, and similar software--- what started as a simple reply to Herb had grown into a full-blown article. But when completed, it covered a wide range of "dangerous" software that might get you into trouble, touched on various ethical matters, and ran through several scenarios showing how this sort of thing *could* be handled gracefully in a business.

If you use a PC at work, I think there's information in there that you'll find interesting. It might even help save your job, or an unnecessary disciplinary action. The full article is now posted over at http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20020301S0004 .

If you use your PC at home, then the ethical issues alone might be interesting--- how far can you go with "hacker" type tools without slipping off into illegal or unsavory realms?

Please come check out the article at http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20020301S0004 , and then join in the associated discussion: Does your company let you do more or less what you want with your PC, or are you bound to a rigid set of rules? If your company has an "acceptable use" policy, does it make sense? How does your company handle cases like Herb’s? Have you ever run afoul of a too-restrictive or too vague computer-use policy? Join in!

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2) How To Modify Your IE Security Settings

After reading how Cox internet, AOL and Netscape (and probably other services) all can insert themselves into your "local" security zone in Internet Explorer (thus bypassing your Internet security settings--- see http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2002/2002-02-21.htm#2 and http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2002/2002-02-25.htm#2 ), many readers asked this question, as first posed by Connie McCray:

I can't know exactly how your system's set up, but here's a general procedure you can adapt to almost any circumstance:

First, copy the current settings: Either make a full system backup, or simply write down whatever you see in the Local Intranet or Trusted Zone dialogs, including anything on "advanced" and "custom" tabs. Then simply highlight and delete the entries you don't want in those zones. By removing web sites from the Local Intranet or Trusted areas, you'll automatically be restoring them to the normal Internet Zone.

Next, reboot and try accessing web sites, especially any from the areas you just removed. If your Internet connection works--- and odds are it will--- you're all set. But if something isn't working, use your backup or your notes to recreate the settings the way they were before.

Alternatively, you can restore the settings with greater security: Recreate the Local or Trusted zone entries, but then use the "custom" tab to ratchet up the security levels for various browser actions. If you're unsure what a given action is or what it does, change the action's security setting to "prompt." That way, you'll be asked (via a dialog box) if your browser tries to take whatever action(s) you've set to "prompt." Over time, you can get a feel for what's going on; and can figure out what's OK to "enable" and what you may wish to permanently "disable."

If all this made your eyes glaze over, just do the first step: Make a backup or written copy of whatever's in your Local or Trusted zones, and then delete the items there. Chances are, everything will still work, but you'll be safer. And you'll still be able to restore what you deleted, should you need to in the future.

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3) "The Ultimate Freeware Dial Up Enhancer?"

Reader John Woolford writes:

Only having a mere 64MB RAM on my internet connected PC, I've spent over 12 months looking for an application which would automatically load up my Firewall, WebWasher, Download Manager and Telephone Cost Monitor when I connected to the internet, and then when my browser disconnected - automatically shut them all down.

I've tried both NetRunner and NetLaunch, but neither application did the job properly, they'd load - but not close things down properly, but at last I've found something that can do it 100% + it's FREE! I think that this utility - TICK v1.05 has to be the ultimate freeware dial up enhancer for Win95/98/NT4/2000/XP and Me.

Not only does it do the launch/shutdown I wanted, but it can also log all dial up networking calls including length, cost of call and the amount of data transferred. PLUS It also has POP3 mail checker, finger, ping, web notify tools, popup digital display, password database, IP Address finder, auto disconnect, call log, call statistics. It even has context sensitive help.

You can download it from - http://software.reallyeffective.co.uk/tick_index.html

By the way - I'm not a salesman or PR person, just an ordinary 56k dial-up user who appreciates good freeware. I have absolutely no connection whatever with Really Effective Software who are the authors, but was so impressed with how well it works that I had to send this.

Thanks, John. I don't use dial-up, so I can't personally test this software. But from the descriptions, I suspect a lot of readers in situations similar to yours will find the software extremely useful!

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4) More Floppy Info

Readers are still sending in mail about "Floppy Drives In The Dishwasher" ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2002/2002-02-21.htm#3 ). For example, Curt Holmer writes:

Fred - In a recent issue of Langa List (great work by the way, keep it up!) you were talking about bad diagnosing bad floppy drives. I recently came across an article from Techrepublic.com that tells how to tell if the drive or the control is bad. The article can be found at http://www.techrepublic.com/article_guest.jhtml?id=r00320020213pos01.htm&fromtm=e043

I find techrepublic to be a good source of information on a variety of IT subjects form PDAs to management issues.

And Clayton Falter writes:

You're right--- the 5.25" floppy is all but dead. (I keep two old 5.25" drives working here just in case, but they almost never see service.)

But "Mode 3 floppies" (a.k.a. "3-mode floppies") aren't the ones that have two or more drives stuffed into the same housing. Three-mode floppies all are 3.5" in size, but can vary in data density among 720 KB, 1.2 MB and 1.44 MB formats.

The 720 KB and 1.2 MB formats for 3.5" drives are very old, and the 1.2 MB 3.5" format was never very popular anyway. (The 1.2MB format was, however, the most popular density for 5.25" floppies.) Support for the other, older formats is evaporating fast. For example, Windows XP supports only the 1.44MB format in 3.5" drives, even if the hardware can support the older formats. Microsoft says:

Windows XP supports formatting only the 1.44MB disk format. Three-mode floppy drives (drives that are capable of reading/writing with 720KB, 1.2MB and 1.44MB 3.5" disks) requires special driver support, and support for this feature is not included in Windows XP.

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5) A Fix For That Bad Intel Driver Update

We recently discussed an Intel data storage driver that the Windows Update "wizard" erroneously recommended to many people: Microsoft quickly corrected the problem so the wizard would only recommend the download to those for whom it was intended, but many still got caught: They trusted the wizard, downloaded the software, and then lost the ability properly to access one or more of their drives.

Some people were able to uninstall the update; others had to use backup or roll-back software to undo the damage. But Herbert A. Kargan was the first of many readers who found another way to set things right:

Thanks, Herbert, and all who wrote in!

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6) New Month--- New Chances!

It's a new month, and right now your chances are the best they'll ever be!

To have a shot at winning a no-strings $30 Gift Certificate for any item
at Amazon.Com--- books, software, hardware, kitchenware, toys, and
more--- 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 mini-shopping spree! (Full details also available via this link):
http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#2

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(really!), try this link (full details also available here):
http://www.recommend-it.com/l.z.e?s=143182

Either way, thank you, and good luck!
 

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7) O&O Defrag

I thought I'd heard of 'em all--- that I knew of all the defrag tools out there. But I was wrong:

A reader calling himself "youdid_ask" writes:

...I found a brilliant piece of software from a company called O&O Defrag v2 (find them here http://www.oo-software.com/ )

You can get a freeware version of the software, but i think it's well worth the purchase of 59 Euros. [around US$51] Defrags faster than anything that I have seen and does the job in one fell swoop. some defragmenters need to be started 2-3 times before they get the job done, but this one is excellent. you can schedule the time and if you have multiple win2k partitions it can perform the defrag task on all volumes. it will also defrag any removable drive through the option menu.

Thanks for the tip!

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8) They Just Keep Coming And Coming and Coming...

Almost two thousand of your fellow readers have "Loaded the code." Please click over to http://www.langa.com/code.htm , and maybe you can join them! (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 )

Speaking of which: Here's another eclectic sample of reader sites--- some professional, some very personal:

View A Randomly-Chosen Reader Site
http://www.langa.com/randomlink.htm

Manually Browse All Posted-to-Date Sites Starting At
http://www.langa.com/readersites.htm

WebWorks
http://www.webworksite.com/index.htm

U.S. Lawn Mower Racing
http://www.letsmow.com/

HathorAnet's Sojourn Down the Nile
http://www.hathoranet.com/

Purple Unicorn
http://purpleunicorn.therapids.net/index1.html

Antietam Travel Service
http://www.antietamtravel.com/

Ole Hjelle Ice Works & Threshing
http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/hjelle/

The mainevent
http://go.to/themainevent

PC Sympathy--- News and Tech Support
http://www.pcsympathy.com/

Caddo-Bossier Windows User Group
http://www.shreve.net/~cbwug/

Conscious Vibes
http://chin.freeurl.com/

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9) Easiest Win9x Startup/Shutdown Screens Ever?

Fred, I read your article on changing the startup and shutdown logos for windows, did a little digging and found this neat software that makes it real easy, www.gromada.com/1stimpression. You can add your own pics. and text, or let it run its own, its worth checking out. Keep up the good work, Dave Ullman

http://www.gromada.com/1stImpression.html

Thanks, Dave!

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10) Just For Grins

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11) Plus! Edition Highlights:

• "Sneaky Mail"
• Easy Way To Un/Re-Register Software Components
• Restoring Lost "AutoRun" Function in WinME (and 9x?)

Today's LangaList Plus! Edition contains all ten items above, plus about 30% more content including: a reader-recommended anti-spam/anonymizer email service; an easy method (and FREE tool) that makes it easy to re-register/install some essential Windows components; and a simple way to restore autorun capability to WinME and 9x systems that have lost it.

All that for just pennies an issue <g>. Plus! Edition info: http://www.langa.com/plus.htm

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(please do not forward this item to non-Plus! subscribers)
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See you next issue!

Best,

Fred
(fred@langa.com)

Please recommend the LangaList to a friend! (And maybe win $10,000!I)

An easier-to read formatted HTML version is available in the "Current Issue" section of http://www.langa.com.  (The HTML version of each issue normally is available by 9AM EST [UT-5] of the issue date.) All past LangaList issues are also available at the Langa.Com site.

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