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The LangaList
Standard Edition

2002-11-18

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) Real-Life Spam Solutions

We all know spam is annoying, but have you thought about how much it actually costs you? If you spend, say, 10 minutes each workday identifying, deleting or otherwise dealing with spam, then you're expending some 43 hours a year--- over a week's worth of lost productivity--- on spam. If you earn $50K/year, then the value of that lost time is something like $1000. Of course, your actual numbers may be higher or lower depending on how much spam you get and what your time is worth, but you get the idea. Spam isn't just an irritant; it's costing us all huge amounts of time and money.

And it's getting worse: One anti-spam company, Brightmail.Com http://www.brightmail.com , has tracked spam worldwide for the last 18 months, and seen the volume of spam increase fivefold in that time http://www.brightmail.com/pdfs/1102_spam_attacks.pdf . Brightmail says that spam now accounts for almost 40% of the world's email traffic--- a colossal waste of bandwidth, storage, computing power, and human effort.

There's no easy solution to this because present anti-spam tools are woefully inadequate. For example, take blacklists--- a way of trying to block the email sources used by spammers: A study by the Giga Information Group http://www.gigaweb.com/homepage/  found that the best-known blacklist, MAPS RBL ("Mail Abuse Prevention System Realtime Black List"), catches less than 25% of spam, but blocks 34% of good mail http://www.nwfusion.com/research/2001/0910feat.html . In other words, it doesn't catch much spam in the first place, and then, for every spam that is blocked, it also blocks 1.4 totally valid non-spam emails!

The defenders of blacklists swear by them, usually because these users make the classic geek mistake of focusing on the details and missing the larger picture: For instance, they may see that their favorite blacklist has blocked some large absolute number of spams, and so they think it's working. But they're ignoring the fact that the blacklist is still only getting a small overall percentage of spam, and missing far more than it blocks. That still might be OK--- on the theory that blocking some spam is better than blocking none--- except for the fact that blacklists do huge amounts of collateral damage to totally innocent email. I don't see how anyone can argue that a low success rate coupled with a high error rate is anything but a grotesque failure. The defenders of blacklists don't want to face facts--- they want to believe, and so they do. But a more objective eye can see plainly that blacklists simply don't work.

OK, if not blacklists, what then?

I went looking, and rounded up information on other kinds of anti-spam filtering tools, plus info on a brand-new kind of probability-based spam analysis tool that promises to CORRECTLY identify most spam, while leaving most valid emails totally untouched--- a tool almost as good at filtering spam as you would be, if you read and individually processed each email sent to you! I then included information on the tools I personally use, and added the top reader-submitted anti-spam suggestions. When I was done, it was a 3,000 word, full feature-length article. It's too long for this newsletter, so I posted it at http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20021115S0018.

When you finish that article, you'll know what works---and just as importantly, what doesn't work--- in fighting spam. You have direct links so you can download and try the current best-available tools for fighting spam; and you'll known what's coming in near-term, brand-new spam-fighting tools that just might finally dig us all out from under the avalanche of spam we're experiencing.

Please check out the article at http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20021115S0018 and then follow the link at the end of that article to join in the discussion. See you there!

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2) Use Qfecheck/Qfechkup To Verify Installed Patches

Hi Fred! Devoted PLUS subscriber here and continue to thoroughly enjoy each issue. I am wondering if describing Qfecheck.exe for Windows 9X would benefit your readers in anyway. How does one go about using the information to ensure all patches found are activated properly? Is there a similar check for newer Microsoft operating systems? Thanks for providing us with interesting content and educational topics.---CuPNCaucer

Qfecheck/Qfechkup is kinda geeky, but useful: It "enumerates all of the installed fixes by Microsoft Knowledge Base article number. Customers can then confirm that they have installed the appropriate set of fixes before using a valuable support incident and potentially experiencing unplanned down time..."

In other words, it shows you what major "hotfix" patches are already on your system, and can help you avoid the kind of head-scratching that can happen when you see a patch or update but don't know if you've already installed it or not: Just run Qfecheck/Qfecheck, and you'll know, for sure.

Windows 2000 and Windows XP (Qfechkup):
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q282784

Windows 95 (Qfecheck; the same basic tool also is found in Win98/ME installations)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q145990

Win98 (scroll down midway through this page for info and link):
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q206071

WinME (scroll down midway through this page for info and link):
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;295413

Qfecheck/Qfecheck is good for verifying that you have the major stuff installed, but won't help with minor patches and updates. For those, use WindowsUpdate itself, or the non-Microsoft update services discussed here:
http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2002/2002-10-10.htm#4

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3) When MS Messenger Just Won't Quit

Fred, I administer the forums at http://www.tweakxp.com and http://www.tweakdb.com and recently we've run into a spate of questions about Microsoft Messenger starting up "on its own" all of a sudden. Turns out the cause - and fix - are quite simple and I thought they might be of interest and benefit to your readers.

The latest version of Norton Anti-Virus (2003) includes a brand new option to monitor instant messengers (AOL, MS Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger). Well, if you enable the option to "protect" Microsoft's Windows Messenger it will also cause the program to start every time Windows loads. The fix is obviously to just uncheck that option - but because it seems to be enabled by default and is new to this release of NAV, most users simply aren't aware of it. Nor of the relationship to Messenger starting. Thought you might be interested. Allan Grossman

Thanks, Allan, This is one of those topics that just won't die--- sort of like Messenger itself, sometimes. <g>

Previous Coverage:
http://www.google.com/search?q=disable+messenger
http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2002/2002-10-24.htm#2
http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2002/2002-10-28.htm#4

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4) Don't Ask Why...

Sometimes, I get read mail that makes me go Hmmmm. Or in this case, mmmmmH.

Hi Fred, This sounds silly, but I have my reasons. I was wondering if there is a program or procedure that can play an MP3 backwards. Any leads? thanks, jIMMY

Umm, sure, Jimmy.
http://www.computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/28733.html
http://www.google.com/search?q=play+mp3+backwards

!nuf evaH

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5) What About Langa.Com's Own Credit Card Security?

After our recent coverage of "Online Security With Bank Cards/Credit Cards" ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2002/2002-11-07.htm#7) several readers wrote to ask about what steps *I* take to protect subscribers who order the Plus! edition via credit card. I guess they wanted to see if I practice what I preach. <g> It's a fair question, so here's the short answer:

Finally, I don't auto-renew anyone. Some sites do that because it makes things easier for the site owners, but it's bad for end users. First, it makes it harder to get out of a subscription because it will never expire unless you take specific steps to make it stop. Worse, if live credit card info is kept on a site, then if the site were hacked, the card numbers might be compromised. So I *don't* do that on my site. When it's time to renew a Plus! subscription, readers do have to re-enter their credit card numbers from scratch. But for that extra 15 seconds of work, each Plus! subscriber gets a year's worth of time in which their credit card numbers literally cannot be hacked from my pages--- because they're not there!  Not a bad deal, eh? 8-)

For more info on the steps I take to protect your privacy and security, please see:
http://www.langa.com/privacy.htm .

And BTW: For readers who still distrust any online ordering system, I also have a paper mail subscription option. Not many readers use it, but for those who prefer to pay by check, it's there.

All the subscription options are spelled out in detail at: http://www.langa.com/plus.htm

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6) Two Reader-Crafted Freeware Updates

We've mentioned Search Bar many times in the past. It's a free custom search bar for your desktop, created by LangaList reader Patrick Deal, that lets you instantly access any major search engine without having to first open your browser. I use my copy literally every day.
http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-q=searchbar&sp-a=0008002a-sp00000000

Now, there's a new add-on available:

Hey Fred! Just thought I'd let you get a sneak peek at an addon I'm working on for Search Bar 1.1. Basically, it lets you add search engines to the right-click context-menu in Internet Explorer. Let's say you're surfing around the net and find something you want to search for. Normally, you'd select the text, right-click and copy, then paste it into Search Bar. With this addon, you just select the text, right-click and choose one of the search engines and it does the search. You can check out the web page I put up for it at http://www.searchbarpro.com/sb11ieaddon.asp  Thank you, Patrick Deal

Then there's Favorites Home Page, a free tool by LangaList reader Robert Perry, that parses your Favorites folder, and places the URLs into a custom web page that resides on your own system. Using that web page as your Home Page means you have instant access to all your Favorites in a format that's easier to navigate than via the Favorites menu.

Hi Fred, There's a new release (v 2.3) of Favorites Home Page available. Download:
http://www.geocities.com/favoriteshomepage/fhp.zip or http://favoriteshomepage.com/fhp.zip

Here's what's new:
- A background image can be added to the home page.
- All hyperlinks have optional tooltips.
- Each group of page elements can appear independently in bold or normal font.
- The page title can be specified.
- The amount of padding can be specified.
- The name of the file used for backing up and restoring the user's profiles can be specified in the configuration settings file.
- The progress dialog has a Cancel button.
- New command-line argument for updating the home page silently without showing Internet Explorer or dialogs. (Useful for running FHP from the Windows Task Scheduler)
- When a table of folder names exceeds the width of the page, the individual names are truncated with an ellipsis instead of framing the table with scrollbars.
- The installation automatically attempts to export any preexisting profiles to the file "profiles.bak".
- Fixed a bug that prevented import/export of the correct profiles when the home page wasn't located in the default folder.

Regards, Robert Perry

Thanks, Patrick and Robert!

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7) Want $10,000 To Spend This Season?

The Recommend-It site gives away up to $10,000 as an incentive to use their service to recommend newsletters like this one!

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 or other prizes from the folks at "Recommend-It:" 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. (Full details also available via this link):
http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm

Either way, thank you, and good luck!
 

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8) Code Load Success Story

Code-loader Bill P writes:

Now I really know how much loading the code works. I've already had double my normal WinPatrol Plus ( http://www.winpatrol.com ) registrations today. I might have expected that but it's only noon and I haven't even gotten my copy of the letter yet today! Thanks! Bill

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

Hacker Talk (No, it's not what you think. <g>)
http://www.wmkvfm.org/hacker.htm

The Hymns and Carols of Christmas
http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/index.htm

Vmaxx
http://www.vmaxx.net/

Model Railroading
http://www.moctezuma-us.com/bonkyrail/

Tommyred's
http://members.cox.net/tommyred/newpage.htm

Anmeldung Newsletter
http://thelochers.ch/

ensifex
http://www.ensifex.nl/

The Online Community of Jewish Professionals
http://ocjp.org/

Cap'n Jacq'
http://jacq.org/

maraband
http://www.maraband.com/

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9) Outlook Tags Your Office Docs

Microsoft Office maven Woody Leonhard sent out this note a few days ago:

The technical details are in Bugtraq...
http://online.securityfocus.com/archive/1/299761/2002-11-11/2002-11-17/0
...but permit me to demonstrate. Assume you're using Outlook 2002, and you have a friend who's also using Outlook 2002. I further assume that your friend has sent you an Office file (specifically a Word document, Excel spreadsheet and/or PowerPoint presentation) that did not originate on your PC, as an attachment to an email messages. The Office file can be from any version of Office.  Got it?

Okay. Go into Outlook's Sent Items and find a recent message with an attached Office file that originated on your PC. Open the attached file. You should get a message that says something like

**************
"Do you want to merge changes in "WOW751.doc" back into "c:\Documents and Settings\Woody\My Documents\SomeFolder\WOW751.doc"?
Yes | No | No, And don't ask again
**************

Click No. Then click File | Properties | Custom. You should see an entry that looks like this
_AdHocReviewCycleID 1294394770

That ten digit document number on the right specifically identifies this document, and it can be used to identify the machine on which the document originated.

To see how the document number is tied to your specific PC, open up a text file called c:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\Office\AdHoc.rcd. Search for the ten digit document number. Bet you'll find it.

Now look in your Inbox or Deleted Items, and do the same thing with an Office file that's been sent to you by a friend who's using Outlook 2002. You won't get the "Do you want to merge..?" question when you open the file. Look in File | Properties | Custom for the ten digit _AdHocReviewCycleID document number. Then see if you can find it in AdHoc.rcd.

Bottom line any Office file sent as an attachment to an Outlook 2002 message contains a ten digit number that can be easily traced to the machine on which the message originated. And that ten digit number appears even if you've told Word 2002 to remove any personally identifiable information (Tools | Options | Security | "Remove personal information from this file on save").

This is different from the "unique identifier" problem that Richard Smith discovered in Office 97 (see, e.g. http://news.com.com/2100-1001-223200.html?tag=bplst  ). But it ain't all that different.

Thanks, Woody. One more reason why I'm glad I use Eudora for email...

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10) Just For Grins

Kurt Wilner & Tammy Green send along this quiz, which they say is "the world's easiest," requiring only 4 correct answers to pass:

1) How long did the Hundred Years War last?
2) Which country makes Panama hats?
3) From which animal do we get catgut?
4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?
5) What is a camel's hair brush made of?
6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal?
7) What was King George VI's first name?
8) What color is a purple finch?
9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from?

All done? Check your answers below!

1) How long did the Hundred Years War last? *116 years
2) Which country makes Panama hats? *Ecuador
3) From which animal do we get cat gut? *Sheep and Horses
4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution? *November
5) What is a camel's hair brush made of? *Squirrel fur
6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal? *Dogs
7) What was King George VI's first name? *Albert
8) What color is a purple finch? *Crimson
9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from? *New Zealand

What do you mean you failed? Pass this on to some other  "brilliant" friends.......grin

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11) Plus! Edition Highlights:

• 1.62MB On A Standard Floppy?
• Free Ways To Monitor Network Traffic Visually
• "Over Quota" Errors

Today's LangaList Plus! Edition contains all ten items above, plus about 30% more content including: a mix of freeware and shareware tools, plus a program that can read, write and archive almost any floppy format there is, including nonstandard high-capacity formats, Sony Mavica, etc; free tools that let you see your network traffic at a glance; and an explanation for often cryptic "over quota" messages you may get by email from time to time.

C'mon, it's just a buck a month for extra info like this in every issue. <g> 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)

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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