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The LangaList
Standard Edition

2002-10-17

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) Norton Personal Firewall 2003

Symantec/Norton is the 800-pound gorilla of security software--- not necessarily the best, but never one to ignore. The company recently released Norton Personal Firewall 2003, which currently sells for around $40-50. (See product fact sheet at http://www.symantec.com/sabu/nis/npf/features.html ) They sent me a copy, and I took a look.

The firewall seems to function reasonably well, but in a way very different from ZoneAlarm and Sygate Personal Firewall, which are the two products I most often recommend.

Like those other firewalls, Norton's stealths your ports and monitors all Internet traffic. Like ZA Pro, it can guard against popup ads and help prevent "leaking" of personal information to external web sites. Like Sygate, and to a lesser degree ZA, it monitors for Trojans and spyware. But beyond the necessary basics, Norton's firewall is intended to be much more of a "hands off" product. It seems designed for users who just want to install it and forget it.

For many people, that may be fine. If you use (say) ZoneAlarm or Sygate, and never adjust the access settings or permissions for individual Internet programs, then Norton's firewall may actually be easier to use. But if you ever need to get at any advanced settings for a particular Internet-enabled program, the Norton firewall can be a hassle: The advanced settings are there, but they're harder to get to; they must be accessed one program at a time; and they rapidly move you into the deeper waters of port numbers, IPs and "MAC" (media access control) identifiers.

In contrast, although Sygate and especially Zone Alarm offer the basic and advanced settings, they also give you a more comfortable middle ground that goes well beyond the basics in letting you access and change common security settings, but with far greater ease than Norton's.

The Norton interface surprised me: It normally offers no visual feedback on its ongoing operation. ZA and Sygate, for example, animate their "tray" icon to give a visual indication of Internet activity, including upload and download traffic, blocked intrusion attempts, and so on. I find this useful and nonobtrusive: You can ignore it if you want to, but it's also very easy to keep an eye on things.

The Norton firewall's tray icon is static. If you want visual feedback for upload/download traffic and blocking, you have to open a separate "Security Monitor" window. Because it's a normal window, it takes up a nontrivial amount of live screen space--- it just plain gets in the way.

Norton's "Alert Tracker" also is unusual: It's a small semicircular icon placed on the far right edge of your monitor so that it looks like a globe that's halfway off the screen. I expected to see it activate when the firewall detected an intrusion attempt, but instead it's triggered each and every time any program--- even "approved" ones--- tries to establish a normal Internet connection. And what a show: Every time any connection is made, a short, wide window flies out from the Alert Tracker into the middle area of your screen to tell you what's connecting. Then, after a few seconds, the window withdraws back into the half-offscreen icon. Alert Tracker can be disabled, but it's weird and extremely annoying until you turn it off--- which then leaves you with no way of knowing that a connection's going active.

So: For me, the overall mix of this product is wrong: It's harder to configure and control than others; it makes some important information needlessly hard to get at; and makes other less-important information highly intrusive and in-your-face. NPF feels like it was designed by committee rather than by feedback from real-life users.

Everyone needs a desktop firewall, and if you end up with Norton Personal Firewall 2003 as part of a bundle with other software, it could be OK--- it works. But I see no reason to buy it as a separate product: For about $10 less, you can get the excellent Pro version of Sygate Personal Firewall ( http://soho.sygate.com/products/pspf_ov.htm ); or for about $10 more get ZoneAlarm Pro, the generally-acknowledged category leader ( http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp ). 

For that matter, the free versions of ZoneAlarm ( http://www.zonelabs.com/ ) and Sygate ( http://soho.sygate.com/products/shield_ov.htm ) are almost as good, and you can't beat the price.

Other opinions:

CNet:
http://www.cnet.com/software/0-352108-1204-20272783.html?tag=pdtl-list

ZDnet's:
http://www.zdnet.com/supercenter/stories/overview/0,12069,562269,00.html

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2) Putting the "Nose" in Diagnosis

Hi, We live here in Flanders, where French Fries and world famous chocolate come from.

Mr. Langa, my son has a problem, when he installed a Thermaltake Chassis Fan, he had to remove his video card a Geforce 256 Annihilator and when he did put it back, and the card was not properly set in its mountings, so when he booted up again, some errors occurred. Also a strange smell filled his room, instantly we shut off the computer and looked at the card. Nothing was to be seen of something burned, so this time we installed it properly. But the damage was already done, some links did not show up and the computer halted and crashed.

Then we did put the card in another machine and luckily nothing was wrong with it, so it must be the system software…… All the trouble when he did put NVIDIA drivers for this card.... The drivers which come with the OS did work, now they don’t anymore.

Our question is which road we have to take:

1. save data, format hd, install all again
Or
2. Go to the registry, and clean it out (what to clean?)

Any suggestion will be welcome, we think you are doing great stuff with these letters, it solved many a time our problems. Kind regards, Amj2001

It's bad news, I'm afraid. A software error would not have caused an odor in the air. Therefore, it was a hardware problem.

You tried the video card in another system, and said it worked. Therefore it's probably not the video card.

Best guess: You fried something on the motherboard or (less likely) in the power supply.

Note that it's possible for some components to overheat (and give off an odor) but still to work afterwards. However, the useful life of the overheated component is almost always shortened: Even if things seem to work OK after the overheating incident, the machine may be less reliable and more prone to an early death than it would have been otherwise.

There's some testing you can do:

If you can get the system to boot, there are a number of free or inexpensive low-level diagnostic tools that may help see if everything's OK, at least in the short term: See
http://www.pchardware.ro/Download/index.php?catid=5 or http://www.google.com/search?q=motherboard+diagnostic

If the system won't boot, there are special hardware tools (such as http://techimo.store.yahoo.net/pciposdiagpo.html ) that can help identify the problem. But these diagnostic tools cost as much as some new motherboards, so it may be less expensive simply to replace the motherboard. On the other hand, if you need to work on many motherboards, the tool may save money in the long run.

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3) Auction Automater Tool

I may be the last Internet user on the planet who has never bought or sold anything on eBay, so I can't comment meaningfully on the specifics of this tool. But it sounded like something the other 99.9999% of you might like. <g>

Hi Fred, Here's a couple of neat things I found, and feel free to use them without mentioning me or my site - and I won't include a link so you know I mean it.

Open Selection by Naveed Ahmed (and some other stuff too)

--Track auctions and automatically place bids on them 'n' seconds before closing.
--Add auctions by simply pressing a hotkey
--Track as many auctions as you want
--Data is stored as an XML file, which you can view like an ordinary web page and track from other locations

http://naveed.digitalrice.com/software.php

Don Crowder, happy subscriber.

Thanks, Don! I'll bet you've made a bunch of eBay-ers very happy. 8-)

(BTW, Don has written before--- see http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2002/2002-05-23.htm#12 )

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---

4) Win98 Coverage Going Away?

Why don't you give more coverage to Windows 98? Have you orphaned it? ~Jim~

Not at all, but I can understand why you're asking: There's very little new information about Win98 to write about. That's because (1) Microsoft has ceased development of Win98--- it's frozen in time with nothing being changed; and (2) the OS is coming up on being 5 years old, and already has been exhaustively covered in the past.

There simply are no new discoveries being made about Win98, and no significant new Win98-only software is being released (except patches and bug fixes, which I do cover). So, rather than re-hash Win98 information that I've covered before, I'm presenting new information we have not previously covered. Because XP is barely a year old, there's all kinds of new information coming available on that OS, so it's a natural for coverage.

But even so, consider the mix: In the last several issues of this newsletter (for example) 97.5% of the content applied to any or all versions of Windows, and only 2.5% of the content involved XP-specific information. Today's issue has one item out of thirteen that's XP-specific. Although it may seem like a lot of you're not using XP, in reality, XP-specific coverage is actually only a fraction of what we do.

I have and will continue to cover Win98 when there's something new to discuss. And because we have covered Win98 so much in the past, there's already a ton of information right at your fingertips in places like the Archives ( http://www.langalist.com/Plus/archives/archives.asp ) and at http://www.freetune.com/most_popular_pages.htm and at http://www.informationweek.com/LP/columnists/Fred Langa.html . All told, there are literally hundreds and hundreds of Win98 items there, and--- because Win98 is no longer changing--- the information won't "go bad;" It will remain useful for as long as you continue to run Win98.

In any case, please don't shoot the messenger! I like Win98 a lot. But all products have a life cycle, and Microsoft has decided it's time to pull the plug on Win98. Eventually, either with a voluntary OS upgrade, or when you get a new PC that comes with a new operating system, you'll have to change to something else--- Win2000, XP, Linux, the Mac, whatever. And whatever you change to (OK, except for the Mac<g>), the LangaList will be there to help.

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5) CPU Cooling And Performance Meters

Hi Fred....My CPU is running at 100% all the time....Have uninstalled the last few programs, reinstalled ZoneAlarm....no luck. Would you have any suggestions on a diagnostic algorithm? Heck I even went to the microsoft.com site....no luck.... thanks...Jim Murata

Some OSes (like Win2K and XP) and some "CPU cooling" software for all Windows versions run "idle processes" that consume all available CPU cycles. The idle process is basically a "do nothing" loop that involves no real work, thus keeping the CPU cooler than when it's really working hard---  in effect, the CPU is doing nothing really, really fast. 8-).

But from the outside (to a CPU-meter or performance monitor), a do-nothing loop may look the same as a do-something loop: Your CPU may be just twiddling its thumbs, but the monitor may show it running at 100% of capacity.

On the other hand, if you're running some other OS besides Win2K or XP, and are not running any CPU-cooler apps, then you may indeed have some app or process running out of control.

Most Task Manager-type tools can show you what's really running, and give you at least an idea of whether or not there's real work going on; Win2K/XP even correctly identify the Idle Process by that name, so you can easily see it in action.

You also can check it out indirectly, via software that takes your CPU's temperature: A CPU in an idle loop will run cool, but one that's really working at 100% all the time will be quite toasty. See http://www.informationweek.com/LP/columnists/langa/2001/06.htm for lots more on temperature software.

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6) Recommend It!

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.recommend-it.com/l.z.e?s=143182

Or, win a no-strings $30 Gift Certificate for any item at Amazon.Com--- books, software, hardware, kitchenware, toys... and more. 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 Gift Certificate! (Full details also available via this link):
http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm

Either way, thank you again, and good luck!

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7) Slow CD Drives?

Dear Fred: Enjoy the Plus edition immensely. Thought I would pass on a tip for your readers concerning Windows XP and CD-ROM drives.

I recently upgraded my system at work from Windows ME to Windows XP Professional (holding to my policy of waiting for the first service pack to be released before changing operating systems). I've been greatly impressed so far with the OS; no longer have to reboot 8 times a day a la ME.

I did a clean install per your past recommendation which went without a hitch. However, we just purchased another computer preloaded with XP and rather than redownload Service Pack 1 at work again (we're on IDSL) I downloaded the full network patch at home via my cable modem and then burnt the file to a CD-R. So far so good...

However, when I got to work, my system would see the contents of the CD-R but when I tried to copy off files, it gave me an error message to the fact that the data was corrupted and halted. Curious, I tried the CD-R on another box running Windows 98 and everything went fine. After thinking for awhile, I tried checking to see what settings were present on the CD-ROM under Device Manager. I finally discovered the problem after searching for "Windows XP CD-ROM DMA" and found the following MS article

http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/tech/storage/IDE-DMA.asp

It seems that Windows XP by default puts regular CD-ROM drives under "PIO" mode; once I made the switch to "DMA if available" (see the article for instructions; the option to use DMA is no longer on the CD-ROM entry in Device Manager, rather under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers), my original CD-R worked fine.

Hope this helps someone out there (before they start cursing at their innocent CD burner...)

Michael Wyatt

Thanks Michael! Actually, DMA is terra incognita for many users; it's not just an XP issue. See, for example, "Nearly Secret DMA Can Speed Up Your Drives" at  http://www.informationweek.com/LP/columnists/langa/2001/02.htm

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8) Code Load Success Story

Code-loader "TD" writes:

Thanks for "plugging" my site ( http://www.e4all.info ) in the 2002-10-07 issue. My hits have nearly tripled and peaked Monday by 500%. Thanks again, TD

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 thousands 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 )

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

PCForrest
http://www.forrestandassociates.co.uk/pcforrest/

"Tucson, Arizona's most avid golfer"
http://members.cox.net/donguzman/

Online Shopping
http://www.pc-shop2drop.com/

Johno&Sarah
http://www.johnoandsarah.com/index.html

PayGiant
http://paygiant.com/index.html

qstart_techie
http://www.geocities.com/jontyawc/

Marat
http://webpages.charter.net/cynic/contact.html

Marilyn Zavitz
http://homepages.dsl.ca/~timex/

Graybeards
http://graybeards.home.att.net/

Save The Wolves And Hybrids
http://home.earthlink.net/~rdmsdtb/index.html

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9) Yet Another (Grrr!) "Unchecked Buffer" Problem

Remember how I said that "unchecked buffers" are Microsoft's #1 security blind spot? Well, here's another:

Unchecked Buffer in Outlook Express S/MIME Parsing Could Enable System Compromise (Q328676)

Date: 10 October 2002

Affected Software:
Microsoft Outlook Express 6.0
Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5

Impact: Run code of attacker's choice.
Max Risk: Critical

Notes: (1) The fix for this issue was included in Windows XP Service Pack 1, and in Internet Explorer 6.0 Service Pack 1. (2) Microsoft Outlook is a different product than Microsoft Outlook Express, and is not affected by the vulnerability.

More info and patch:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS02-058.asp

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10) Just For Grins

Frequent contributor Bronson C. Elliott sends this along. It requires a click to see, but here's how Bronson describes it:

The ULTIMATELY Secure Firewall

The following website touts the ultimate secure firewall and I have no doubt it works as advertised: http://www.ranum.com/pubs/a1fwall/

I agree, Bronson--- it absolutely, positively will work to keep you 100% safe from all online security threats. <g>

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11) Plus! Edition Highlights:

• Definitive Guide To Adware
• More Ways To Obfuscate Your Address
• "Stealth Executables"

Today's LangaList Plus! Edition contains all ten items above, plus about 30% more content including: a rich help resource on all kinds of adware, spyware, and other online nasties; a very sophisticated way to hide (obscure) your email address from spammers; and ways to identify "stealth executables" before they can harm you.

Complete Plus! Edition info: http://www.langa.com/plus.htm 

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See you next issue!

Best,

Fred
( Editor@Langa.Com )

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

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