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The LangaList
Standard Edition

2003-07-31

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) More PC Setup Secrets

When you buy a new car, or even borrow or rent a car, the first thing you do is adjust the seat and mirrors to suit your own needs and preferences.

But, amazingly, many people accept the factory defaults on their PC--- they don't do the equivalent of "adjusting the seat and mirrors" on their new computer.

There are some sites and articles that can help. For example, Microsoft provides two articles called "Get Ready to Set Up Windows XP." There's a version for XP Pro ( http://langa.com/u/9.htm ) and for XP Home ( http://langa.com/u/1a.htm )

They're OK, as far as they go, but--- like the default settings of the OS itself--- the articles are quite generic.

My current InformationWeek article--- "System Setup Secrets For XP" at http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=12803122  --- lets you dig deeper by providing some real-world, step-by-step advice for setting up a new XP-based PC in ways *better* than the defaults. In fact, in ways that suit your own unique needs and preferences.

Here's a small example: On its own, XP places your "swapfile" or "paging file" (a portion of your hard drive that's used as a kind of pseudo-RAM) on your C: drive, and sets it up so it can grow and shrink as needed. However, you may be able to do better. For instance, if you have more than one physical disk in your system, you may get better performance by either placing the swapfile on the lesser-used disk (assuming it's as fast as or faster than the primary disk) or by splitting the swapfile across two disks. You also may see modest improvements in responsiveness if you set the swapfile to a fixed size, so Windows won't waste time growing and shrinking the file on demand.

The article at http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=12803122  lists literally 19 more things you can do when setting up a new XP PC. Of course, not all 20 items may pertain to you. That's OK--- you can cherry-pick, using only those steps that make sense for you, if your needs are less rigorous than mine. You even can adapt the same overall process for use on older systems too--- it's never too late to start perfecting and preserving your PC setup!

But that's what *I* do. What about you? Please join in the discussion: What tricks or techniques do you use? What tips can you share? What steps do you take to get your system running smoothly? Join in!

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2) OK, OK--- A Nitpicky Correction  8-)

In "Surges, Again..." ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-07-24.htm#1 ), I wrote that "Physically unplugging the PC is the only 100% sure method to protect against the worst kinds of electrical problems."

A number of readers took issue. Some pointed out that if you leave the disconnected plug too close to the outlet, a lightning strike can arc between the socket and plug, frying your gear anyway. OK: I stand corrected: I should either have said "unplug and move the cord some distance from the outlet...;" or said that unplugging is only something like 99.999%--- not 100%--- effective. Man, you folks are a tough crowd! 8-)

Other readers pointed out that even totally disconnected gear can get fried because lightning produces a form of localized electromagnetic pulse that can cook nearby electronics by induction, even if they're completely isolated from the power, phone, or cable grid.

While this is true, it's also almost impossible to guard against, short of wrapping your entire house in chicken wire to make it a giant Faraday cage!

But, to be really precise, I should have added more qualifiers to indicate that I was referring to protection against wire-borne spikes and surges. Unplugging doesn't make your PC impervious to rare, but real, EMP effects.

In the interests of full disclosure, let me further point out that unplugging your PC also won't protect it against other rare-but-real dangers, such as earthquakes, vulcanism, tsunamis, nuclear explosions, building collapse, solar flares, civil unrest, or the occasional meteor strike. <g>

But unplugging *will* protect against normal wire-borne problems, and that's really what we were talking about. Rather than focusing on problems we can't do anything about (like EMP), we'll look at solutions for those problems we *can* deal with!

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3) Cockroach-like Adware Hides From View

Hi Fred! I thought you might want to share this nasty spyware article with your readers. A friend of mine asked me to work on her computer as it was acting up. In the process, I ran into a piece of spyware on her system called "RapidBlaster". I've attached an article for your readers.

http://www.wilderssecurity.net/specialinfo/rapidblaster.html
http://www.doxdesk.com/parasite/RapidBlaster.html

---Karen (a subscriber)

Thanks, Karen. Rapidblaster is indeed an evil little thing:

"The most recent variants of RapidBlaster will 'morph' themselves to evade detection. Periodically, RapidBlaster will download data from its controlling server that contains a new folder and filename. It will then copy itself to that folder, terminate the original process, delete the original file, and run the new file in the new location..."

So, it's sort of a software cockroach, scuttling around your hard drive to evade detection! Sheesh!

Fortunately, the sites above also offer solutions; and the major anti-adware/spyware vendors are also on the case. Keep your guard up!

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4) Speaking Of Anti-Adware...

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--- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList S.E. Free! ) ---

"Fred, I can't tell you the number of ways I have spent twelve bucks - but I can tell you the best twelve bucks I've spent in a long time was to upgrade to the Plus Edition of the LangaList. And so darn organized too, your operation that is. I've got another twelve just waiting for next year! ---John"

 The LangaList Plus! Edition is ad-free, spam-proof,
and contains even more content--- tips, tricks, advice, downloads....---
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5) More From CptSiskoX

Frequent contributor CptSiskoX sent along this interesting link:

"From Windows To Linux --- The Bottom Line  (Or, How I Came To Love The Penguin)" is a very engagingly written piece, with tons of intrinsic and linked-to information on making the switch to Linux from Windows. Worth a read:
http://www.jediknight.com/~smpoole/switchtolinux.html

Thanks again, Captain.

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6) Last Day To "Recommend And Win"

At the end of the day, July 31, I'll choose another monthly winner of one of three FREE ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTIONS to the LangaList Plus! edition given each month. (If your name is drawn and you're already a Plus! subscriber, your current subscription will be extended by a full year.)

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 FREE ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTION! (Full details also available via this link): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm

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7) Better Than Spam Assassin?

Fred,  I've been using Saproxy [see http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-07-24.htm#5 ] to filter spam for a week. After using various other tools, I really like the proxy filter model for handling SPAM. A couple days ago I switched to Spamihilator, also a proxy filter. SAproxy does a great job of "tagging" spam, but it still gets into Outlook and its difficult to handle false positives. On the other hand, Spamihilator quarantines spam in its own store, so it never gets in my inbox and handling false positives is much easier. Like Saproxy, Spamihilator is free. Check it out at http://www.spamihilator.com/index2.php?lang=en ---Brian Deeley

Thanks, Brian. Spamihilator also combines a plain word filter with a Bayesian filter, giving you the best of both approaches. Nice find!

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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

Folsom Technical Services
http://folsomtech.com/index.html

Accenda TV Remote
http://www.accenda.tv/

Artistic Memories
http://artistic_memories.tripod.com/

The Bush Tramway Club
http://bushtramwayclub.com/?links.htm

Personal Diet Fitness Manager
http://www.bpsoftware-colorado.com/

Stokes Site
http://www.stokesflag.com/

Smith Family
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/ve6gls/

House Of Fly Art Gallery
http://www.houseofely.addr.com/index.html

Diuguid House Bed & Breakfast
http://www.diuguid.homestead.com/

planeticthus
http://www.planeticthus.com/

Design Reflections and PC Services
http://www.designreflectionspc.com/index.html

Lowdown (Rock Band)
http://www.lowdownrocknroll.com/

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--- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList S.E. Free! ) ---

Fred's Reference Shelf--- And Up To 20% Discounts!

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personally selected and recommended by Fred Langa
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9) Two Week Summer Break

One of the ironies of being self-employed is that you often end up with *less* time off than your conventionally-employed cohorts.<g> But still, I'm going to try to squeeze out a couple weeks of R&R to let my carpal tunnels cool off and to bask in something other than the light of my monitor!

My email will be up and running so that my mailbox won't overflow, but I won't be actually answering mail or attending to customer-service issues for a short while: I apologize for any inconvenience.

The next issue of this newsletter will mail on Aug18. See you then!

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10) Just For Grins

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11) Plus! Edition Highlights:

• Reader Rave Re: Page-Watcher
      ("a hundred times" better?)

• Google Toolbar 2.0 W/ Popup Blocker
      ( plus form-filler, blogger tool, more...)

• Free, Beta Sticky Note Tool
      (highly configurable!)

The Plus! edition is only pennies per issue, and comes with a MONEY BACK
GUARANTEE from Fred. How can you lose? Check out the details:
http://www.langa.com/plus.htm

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(Want to give a gift subscription to the LangaList Plus edition?
Click <a href= " http://www.langa.com/plus_gift.htm ">here</a>)

See you next issue, Aug18

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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This newsletter is a service of Langa Consulting LLC and is Copyright © 2003 Fred Langa / Langa Consulting LLC. All worldwide rights reserved. LangaList: ISSN 1533-1156

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