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The LangaList
Standard Edition

2003-01-30

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) Firestorm!

OK, maybe I really am the spawn of Satan. Maybe I've been numbed by years of exposure to Microsoft products, so that I'm now incapable of seeing the truth. Maybe I'm just an idiot who can't count. 8-)

Or maybe---just maybe--- some Linux users are just a teensy bit oversensitive about anything that remotely resembles criticism of their favored operating system.

My "crime," in the eyes of some Linuxen, is in the article at http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20030124S0013 . You see, I counted the number of patches, bug fixes and updates released for Red Hat Linux 7.2, and compared that to the number of patches, bug fixes and updates released for Windows XP. Even though both OSes have been out almost exactly the same amount of time, and even though I explicitly stated the caveats and conditions necessary for the stats to make sense, some Linux fans simply couldn't accept the numbers, which show that Linux has its own full share of bugs--- some 151 patches to date.

But--- this is important--- there's lots more to this than the raw numbers. For example, patches may be "ganged" to fix more than one bug at a time, so (say) one Microsoft patch may actually reflect several different bugs. Plus, there's no exact, one-for-one correlation between even the base, low-level services in the different OSes. And both systems usually ship with many additional bundled high-level components that carry their own, separate load of bugs, and that may required their own patches.

So, the point wasn't the exact numbers per se. The point was to get a rough comparison between operating systems to show that--- despite the extravagant claims of some Linuxen--- no OS is immune to bugs and security issues: As Linux grows in popularity, it will have its own full share of problems. Indeed, it has that full share even now.

But some (actually many) among the Linux user base can't admit this: Anything that suggests that Linux has some serious warts, or that not all Microsoft products are Absolute Evil Encoded, gets denied or rejected out of hand: One poster actually tried to argue that my analysis was flawed because "Red Hat Linux isn't Linux." (What?) Another took the tack of arguing that I'm simply a "bootlicking shill." (Yes, ad hominem arguments and debate-by-name-calling are staples of discourse in the Linux community.)

So, am I a bootlicking shill? Decide for yourself: Come check out http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20030124S0013 . You can follow the links in that article back to the actual bug-report pages and judge the number and seriousness of various bugs for yourself, so you can make your own informed assessment as to what's real and what's not in this ongoing debate about the quality of Open Source software. The firestorm of comment appears in the associated discussion area.

(And please excuse the sulfurous smell. I had an itch behind one horn, and ended up stabbing myself in the cloven foot with my pointed tail. It ain't easy being Satan's spawn...)

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2) More On Cleaning Out Old "Service Pack" Folders

We initially covered this in http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-01-16.htm#7 :A way to remove unneeded uninstall data in Win2K and XP. At the time I said, "Some people  report recovering 'huge' amounts of disk space through this technique, though they rarely quantify the amount." Well, this reader stepped up to the plate:

Fred, thank you very much for this tip. I freed up 288mb thanks to you. I appreciate your tips! Be well! ---Kimberly

Wow! I only got a few tens of megabytes back--- but getting almost 300 back makes the process a lot more interesting.

Reader Michael Horowitz also offered more info:

Fred, The issue of cleaning out old service pack files is a bit more complicated. There are, to the best of my limited knowledge, three classes of service pack related files. The Microsoft KB article that you referred to discusses the undo files (my term). These exist so that you can un-install the service pack if it makes things worse. These undo files are in the $NtServicePackUninstall$ folder in the system root folder (such as C:\WINNT). [or C:\WINDOWS].

Each bug fix (my term again) applied by Windows Update also seems to get an undo directory (based on observation, I'm no expert on this). It resides in a folder with a name like $NtUninstallQ326886$, also in the system root folder.

The third category of service pack related files reside in a folder called "ServicePackFiles", also under the system root folder. I have seen this folder created when installing SP2 and SP3 to Windows 2000. In each case, I told the service pack installer NOT to make the first category of files. Like you, I depend on disk images for my fallback, so I don't need to depend on possibly buggy service pack undo routines. I have not seen anything describing this third category of service pack files. As such, I documented them in my Windows 2000 gripes http://www.computergripes.com/Windows2000.html

For SP3 the C:/WINNT/ServicePackFiles directory was 197 MB with 1,107 files in 5 folders. For SP2 it was 154 MB. Renaming, deleting and moving these files seem to have no effect on Windows 2000.

All this is for Windows 2000 only. I'm not sure how this works in other flavors of Windows. --- Michael

Thanks, Michael. It's a little different for XP, but not hugely so. Like you, I rely on disk images for roll-backs, so whenever some update process offers to archive or back up old files, I decline; this is probably why I gained so little space from this method--- there wasn't much wasted in the first place.

But for users who let Windows back up its Update files (and I believe that's usually the default), Kimberly's note shows there can be some significant space gained by cleaning out the old uninstall info, as described in http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;290402 .

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3) Stop Programs From Getting Self-Startup Privileges

I thought you might like to hear of a simple security tip that can give some protection against viruses and other pushy programs. It occurred to me recently when I was trying to decide if Pest Patrol could stay on my system.

A worthy program, but every time it ran it insisted on making a registry entry to add PPMemCheck.exe to the list of programs that run at startup. I'd delete it - it would add it again. I have to like a program a lot to put up with its icon permanently in my system tray.

My tip is to edit the security permissions of the registry key that holds the list of startup programs so that no one has write permission. This key is also a favourite place for a virus get its code running each time a computer boots.

I've explained it in more detail at http://www.rhebus.com/#tt21 In the end Pest Patrol stayed - but on my terms. Richard Dent

Thanks, Richard!

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

4) New, Free "Application Accelerator" Available

This item might be of interest to anyone with an Intel-based PC running any version of Windows--- Win98, ME, NT, 2K, XP. (Note that the following item starts off sounding tightly-focused and XP-specific, but the benefits are actually much broader, and apply to all Windows versions.)

Hi Fred. I'm the admin for the tweakxp.com forums ( http://www.tweaknetwork.net/idealbb/ ). For some time now we've been getting the odd complaint about XP reporting the Your System Has No Paging File, or the Paging File Is Too Small error message and all standard troubleshooting efforts have failed to identify the cause or correct the problem short of a full format and reinstall of the OS. Well, it turns out it's due to certain Intel Chips and can be cured with a simple installation of the Intel Application Accelerator! MS has posted KB Article #316528 addressing this issue and it can be found here http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316528 . We've recommended the fix a couple of times on our site and are told that not only does it rectify the pagefile problem but seems to free up some additional ram.

Hope this can help some of your other readers.---Allan

Thanks, Allan. I knew about the "Application Accelerator," but the last time I looked at it, it was just a glorified way of enabling hard drive DMA settings in systems using Intel hard drive controller chips.

I hadn't realized the software was evolving so fast--- there have been four upgrades to it in the last year alone. The newest version, in addition to being able to fix the specific issue Allan mentions, also claims to offer (and seems to deliver) many more benefits:

Enhanced System Performance
Improved Application and Game Performance
Optimizations for Intel Pentium 4 Processors
Faster Boot Time
Large Hard Drive Support
Automatic Selection of Highest DMA Transfer Mode
Diagnostic Utility

One of the neat things the Application Accelerator showed me was that my system supports "Acoustic Management" of its hard drives, letting me trade off between raw speed on the one hand and nearly silent drive operation (no chatter) on the other. I never knew my drives had this ability, or that I could control it!

You can get the full spiel--- including how to tell if it's OK to run the Application Accelerator on your system--- at http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/iaa/ .

Whether you're trying to solve the problem Allan mentions, or just want to explore what capabilities your controller and drives offer, check it out--- it's free!

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5) AOL Email Security Compromised

Ironically, this item came out on the same day I argued (in this newsletter) that users shouldn't rely on AOL to provide their online security ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-01-23.htm#4 ). This is a different class of problem, but illustrates the point I was trying to make:

Security Flaw Exposes AOL Accounts

The accounts of millions of AOL subscribers were jeopardized this week due to a serious flaw in the company's Web-based mail system, BetaNews has learned.

The vulnerability stems from an error in one of AOL's international e-mail authentication systems, which granted users access without correctly verifying passwords. By simply entering an account name, an AOL user had the ability to read any other user's e-mail and all personal data contained therein.

Private correspondence suddenly became open for public perusal, and sensitive information such as passwords and account numbers were potentially exposed to prying eyes.

Although AOL plugged the security hole early Wednesday morning, it is unclear at this point how many AOL and AIM accounts have been compromised.

The only accounts entirely spared from the snafu were those of AOL employees....

Full story: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,840980,00.asp

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6) Last Day To Enter January's FREE Drawing

Tomorrow, on January 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):
http://www.recommend-it.com/l.z.e?s=143182

Either way, thank you, and good luck!

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7) HTML Oddities

I must apologize--- some funky punctuation marks crept into several recent issues of this newsletter, mostly in the HTML version.

The main culprit was a "curly apostrophe" instead of the normal "straight apostrophe" ( ' ).  Depending on how your system is set up, you may or may not see this example, but the character I'm talking about is this: ( ’ )

Without special coding, the curly apostrophe may be misinterpreted by various email readers and browsers as any of several different--- and weird--- symbols and foreign characters. Thus, a simple word like "don't" might appear as "don[weird character]t."

The odd punctuation crept in because I wasn't using my normal editing tools. A family member was recently hospitalized, and I was jumping back and forth between composing on a laptop in hotels and waiting rooms, and on my normal PC at home. In transferring the files back and forth, I simply didn't notice that one of the laptop editing tools was set up to use the "curly" versions of what should have been straight punctuation marks.

I apologize for any confusion or concern the odd punctuation caused you.

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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 )

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

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

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

Discover the Web
http://www.discovertheweb.net/

Trekkie Links
http://www.trekspot.com/linksindex.html

Pond scum and lawyers
http://www.pondscumandlawyers.com/

Dia Daoibh
http://danannthedressmaker.bravepages.com/

A Canadian Visits Europe
http://members.shaw.ca/cfc/index.htm

London Travel Tips
http://www.jerry.sanders.org/

Truth Miners
http://truthminers.com/truth/

Mrozewski on the Web
http://mrozewski.ca/

Adventures of Kurtis Star
http://www.realmsofreflection.com/darenkh/index.html

ENCAR'S COLLECTIBLES
http://www.encarnacionseeley.com/

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9) Much Cheaper Than A "Data Recovery Center"

Hi Fred! Love the newsletter, a good read and lots of great info!

I recently had to change mainboards in one of my systems and unfortunately XP Pro wouldn't open, got so far and (oh no) Blue Screen Of Death! (Had I done a backup, as I know I should, this wouldn't have happened.) Anyway, after reformatting and reloading, I try several *file recovery* programs, but much to my dismay they either find what is currently installed or just cluster files which cannot be converted back, or if they could be converted, it's virtually impossible with over 100GB's of info. After doing a little more research I found a program that is really finding all the former info and is completely recoverable! A great utility called GetDataBack, which can be gotten here http://www.runtime.org/hints.htm . It is shareware, but fully functional. I've managed to recover everything I *lost*.--C Chadwick

Thanks! Alas, the shareware's not cheap--- GetDataBack for FAT costs $70 and GetDataBack for NTFS costs $130. Another alternative is http://www.restorer2000.com/ , which is a little less expensive, and has a free version. Either way, this kind of software is way less expensive than sending the disk out to a data recover house, which can charge hundreds or thousands of dollars to resurrect a dead disk.

(Of course, as you stated, having a backup avoids all this hassle and expense. <g>)

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10) Just For Grins

Reader Andrew Graham  was the first of several readers to send in this list, whose origins are lost, but which is making the rounds even as we speak:

You Know You Are Living In The Year 2003 When...

1. Your reason for not staying in touch with family is because they do not have e-mail.
2. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three.
3. Your grandmother asks you to send her a JPEG file of your newborn so she can create a screen saver.
4. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home.
5. Every commercial on television has web site address at the bottom of the screen.
6. You buy a computer and 3 months later it's out of date and sells for half the price you paid.
7. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go get it.
8. Using real money, instead of credit or debit, to make a purchase would be a hassle and take planning.
9. You just tried to enter your password on the microwave.
10. You consider second-day air delivery painfully slow.
11. Your dining room table is now your flat filing cabinet (or the pool table).
12. Your idea of being organized is multiple-colored Post-it Notes.
13. You hear most of your jokes via e-mail instead of in person.
14. You get an extra phone line so you can get phone calls.
15. You disconnect from the Internet and get this awful feeling, as if you just pulled the plug on a loved one.
16. You get up in the morning and go on-line before getting your coffee.
17. You wake up at 2 AM to go to the bathroom and check your E-mail on your way back to bed.
18. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. :-)
19. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.
20. Even worse; you know exactly who you are going to forward this to...

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11) Plus! Edition Highlights:

• 7 Reader-Selected Free/Shareware Favorites

• More Folder Options

• Is All Phone-Home Software Bad?

Today's LangaList Plus! Edition contains all ten items above, plus about 30% more content including: A reader's hand-selected favorite freeware and shareware utilities; two additional ways to make Windows folders open just the way you want; and a discussion on "backweb" and other suspected spyware.

See what you're missing! 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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