How To Subscribe and Unsubscribe is at the end of this note. Mailing List Trouble? See http://langa.com/help.htm
Questions about the advertisers? See the end of this note. Please also see legal notices at the end of this note. LangaList: ISSN 1533-1156

Please recommend the LangaList to a friend! (And maybe win a prize!)

An easier-to read formatted HTML version of this newsletter is available
<a href=" http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-07-21.htm ">here</a>

The LangaList
Standard Edition

2005-07-21

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) Got A Phone Cam? Other Digital Cam?

We recently covered some options you could use to capture the text in dialog boxes and error messages for later investigation or troubleshooting, even if the text is presented in such a way that you can't swipe it with the mouse for highlighting and copying. For example, see: http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-05-12.htm#3 and http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-05-16.htm#3

But this reader had another idea, which joins this software discussion with another one we had earlier on hardware errors and settings:

Fred - All the answers to the question "Capturing 'Uncopyable' Text" with the error dialog box on the screen pre-suppose a working computer system, but on many occasions the only way forward is to go backwards, i.e. a reboot, whereupon the error text is lost forever.

In those situations I use my digital camera to take a snapshot of the screen, thus preserving the text and any error code. The image can be subsequently read at leisure, saved, or emailed to the program authors/helpdesk or whoever. ---John Churchill

You're right, John, and with digital cams and even phone cams so cheap and ubiquitous now, they make a great way to capture all kinds of data you might want to refer to later. See, for example:

Oddball Hardware Troubleshooting Tip
http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-03-14.htm#9

Make Your PC Say "Cheese!"
http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-03-31.htm#9

Click to email this item to a friend
http://langa.com/sendit2.htm

return to top of page

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

"I have really enjoyed my Plus! subscription to Langalist.
It's a real treasure trove of information." ---Annette Williams

Thanks, Annette!

The LangaList Plus! Edition only costs around $1/month, and
is ad-free, spam-proof, and contains even more content---
tips, tricks, advice, downloads---
than the Standard Edition you're now reading.

Get all the details:
http://langa.com/plus.htm

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

2) Newsletter Delivery Tests A Success

The last Standard Edition prior to my vacation was delivered in "Notify" format--- the email contained just a URL linking to the full Standard Edition on the website. Many readers liked it:

Thanks for moving the newsletter to the website! it's so much easier getting a URL! You have saved me time and mistakes on many occasions.... I have become, over the years, the [family's] IS person of record. (my husband, bless him, is a luddite of limitless proportions.) thank you for all you do. ---Jessica Schafer

Fred, I love the new format you used in today's Langa List. THANKS! ---Fred Nadel

wow great- faster better easier - please do this or include such a link for ALL future newsletters instead of making us read an email. the font that comes in via hotmail is very hard to read but this was far better! ---william adams

Hi Fred, I really like reading the newsletter on the web! Thanks for doing that. Best, Trish

The "Notify" email format also improved delivery rates because there was nothing in the email to trigger overeager spam filters. So, readers got the full content, with greater reliability and less email bandwidth consumed. It seemed to be a success pretty much all around.

A few readers wondered about the security implications:

Fred, In the past, you've warned us about the potential danger of clicking on links in email messages. Instead, we should go to the desired website and then navigate through links until we reach the desired page. For this newsletter, do you have any way of telling how many people clicked on the link in the email, vs how many went to the site and navigated to the email from there? Just wondering... Thom in Omaha

The Langa.Com privacy statement spells it all out, too: http://langa.com/privacy.htm

With today's issue, we're trying the Notify option for the Standard Edition again. If you have strong feelings about it, one way or the other, drop a note to Editor@Langa.Com and put the words "Standard Edition Notify" in the subject line. As always, I appreciate your feedback, and am just trying to make sure that everyone gets their issues as safely, reliably and hassle-free as possible!

I realize that no one format works for all people, and so if we do switch to the "Notify" format as the default for the Standard Edition, I'll still offer a way to get the full text of the Standard Edition by plain-text email, just as it's now delivered, for readers who prefer that format.

BTW, Plus! edition readers have had a high-reliability "Notify" version available to them for some time, as one of the four delivery options for the no-ads/extra-content Plus! editions. If you're a Plus reader and want to try the Plus! Notify version, please use the "change format" option here: http://www.langalist.com/plus/address.htm Plus! subscribers can select any of four available formats, and switch among them any time, and at will! I'm also in the final "proof of concept" stages of testing a different server for all the Plus! deliveries--- one that should help delivery reliability even more, if I can work out the final details. Stay tuned!

Click to email this item to a friend
http://langa.com/sendit2.htm

return to top of page

3) What Does "Locking" The PC Really Do?

Hi Fred: Subscriber since 1 year (& about 2 years free edition before that) & really like this letter.

My Q is: when I lock my PC using the quick-key Windowsflag+L & my PC is not logged out from Internet, how safe/unsafe is my PC at that time? I can't se if anything happens & I don't know what's going on behind the dark window.

I have wondering about this since 1 month ago when my ISP (Telia in Sweden) change from manual to auto login. Before I have to use ICLogin but now I just hit the IE-icon & I'm connected to I-net. Any ideas/advices/warnings/tips? ---Bjn

"Locking" your PC is really just locking the keyboard and mouse to secure against local tampering by people with physical access to the PC. It has no direct effect on network connections. Unless you actually log off your account, any and all software that was previously running, or is scheduled or triggered to run while you're away from the keyboard, still will run completely normally while the PC is locked.

And even if you log off your account (with the PC still on at the log-in prompt), deep OS-level "services" keep running, and may connect to the internet. That's why you need strong, up-to-date, and multi-layered defenses running all the time. A good AV tool will load early, and help protect even deep services; and good additional tools will load at logon and help prevent the higher-level forms of attack. (See the section on "Beefing Up Local Security" in this article: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=164300008 )

Note that most firewalls offer a pretty good "network lock down" option that's entirely separate from Windows' keyboard and mouse lock. Zonealarm, for example, offers a "Stop All Internet Activity" option and a more selective "Engage Internet Lock" option when you right click on its icon in the system notification area, down by the clock. While no firewall (or any other single tool) can prevent all possible attacks, using a firewall this way to "close the network door" when you're away from the PC can significantly reduce the chances of anything bad happening via your network connection when you're not there to monitor what's going on.

Click to email this item to a friend
http://langa.com/sendit2.htm

return to top of page

4) Needs A Third Hard Drive In His PC

Hi Fred, At the risk of seeming greedy, I need to install a third hard drive. I already have two (120 GB) physical drives, DVD player, CD burner, a zip drive, and a floppy for emergencies....

The third drive (partitioned) would be used for running apps and for storing data required by just one specific business client. With my present setup, one physical drive (c:) is used for Windows and other programs exclusively, while the second physical drive (D:) is for data storage only.

As far as I recall, your column has never covered the issue of installing a third hard drive.

Best regards, Cliff Hutton

One simple option might be to free up a drive bay and one of the motherboard drive connectors by replacing your current CD/DVD setup with one all-in-one DVD drive that will let you play DVDs and CDs, and also burn DVDs and CDs. All the major electronics retailers, including LangaList sponsor Tigerdirect ( http://langa.com/sponsors/tigerdirect_2.htm ) offer such multifunction drives for less than you'd think. For example, as I write this, Tigerdirect is selling a drive for less than $40 that can play or burn DVD -R, +R and RW; and CD-R and CD-RW. (See http://tinyurl.com/ab3hj )

Other options might include a USB external drive ( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=USB+external+drive ), letting you add capacity without affecting your current setup at all. Or, you might consider replacing one of the current internal hard drives with a much larger one, and dedicating a large partition on the new drive exclusively to your client. Or, if you're on a network, you could use a second drive elsewhere on the network as storage for that client....

In short: this is the good kind of problem to have--- one with lots of solutions, none of which is terribly difficult or expensive to implement! <g>

Click to email this item to a friend
http://langa.com/sendit2.htm

return to top of page

5) Two Problems, Maybe The Same Solution

At first, these may sound like totally separate issues, but they both just may be resolved by the same simple fix:

Fred: I am currently using XP Home with Norton Firewall and Virus checker as well as their utilities. When I am into an e-mail session, all at once my computer slows down markedly. The CP usage bounces around 100 percent, with nearly all of the usage being CCAPP.exe. If I disconnect, and delete this file then everything is normal. I can not restart a web session with Norton protection unless I reboot. I have tried contacting Norton but as usual, I do not get an answer. Any help would be appreciated. ---Charles Buchanan Jr.

Fred: I have an unusual problem that I have not seen addressed anywhere, nor in my research can I find an explanation or a solution. I operate a WinXP Home Edition PC with all the current Microsoft updates.... My problem is that without shutting down my firewall temporarily, I cannot get to the internet. I am able to connect to the email server about half the time. I have run all of my anti-virus and anti-malware tools and believe my PC to be clear of malware (Norton AV, Spybot S&D, Ad-Aware, PestPatrol, CounterSpy, and Spyware Blaster). I don't have all of these in service at one time, of course. My first assumption was that I may have too many anti-malware tools slowing down the connection and that it finally times out. The status bar on IE always identifies the address of my home page (or any other web site) but the connect bar never completes its journey. I disengaged these tools one by one with no impact. I tried to toggle the images off to reduce the load. This problem is recent in origin. In pursuing alternatives in the LangaList archives, I stumbled on the potential problems caused by the Hosts file. I removed the items placed there by SpyBot S&D, and while that action greatly sped up my computer, it did not solve the connect problem. I even placed the numerical address of my home page in the hosts file to bypass any lookup steps that could slow down the connection process.  My high-speed cable connection delivers 3950 kbs/sec so I cannot fault my ISP. I found that if I shutdown Zone Alarm, then the connection to either Outlook Express or IE is accomplished quickly. Then, of course, I reactivate ZA. Maybe ZA was corrupted? So I removed this tool, then reinstalled it. No impact on the connection problem. The odd thing is that for a time after connecting to the internet by toggling ZA, I can shut down my connection, and reconnect a bit later without a problem. After several hours, however, something (?) has reloaded on my machine to start tugging at the connection again. I have reviewed all of the active tasks, and I recognize every entry. I am concerned that by shutting down ZA even for the 10 to 15 seconds it takes to connect to the internet that I am greatly increasing my vulnerability. That procedure has to be a temporary solution until I can resolve this problem.... Any thoughts? ---Allen Whitehead

PC troubleshooting follows the law of diminishing returns, or the 80/20 rule: You can fix maybe 80% of your problems in 20% of your total fix-it time; but the remaining 20% of problems will take 80% of your total time. Greater and greater effort can lead to smaller and smaller benefits.

While it's sometimes worth beating your brains out to find a fix, other times, frankly, it's just not worthwhile: For example, you may have some one-in-a-million combination of hardware and software that the designers never anticipated or tested for. In this case, your system may have unusual conflicts or limitations that may take a long, long time for you to try to sort out. Or: Your system may have some subtle problem in one area that only manifests itself in a seemingly unrelated area. You can slave away in that unrelated area, and never find the real, root problem.

So, although most problems *can* be solved, you have to ask yourself if the investment of time and effort is worthwhile. Again, sometimes, it is.

But with these two classes of tools--- antivirus and firewalls--- there are many, many products to choose from. If any one tool causes trouble on your system, and you've taken the normal troubleshooting steps that solve the most common kinds of problems, you may be better off simply removing the problematic software, and trying a different brand. If ZoneAlarm is giving your system fits, for example, try Sygate. Or, if Norton AV is dragging your system to its knees, try NOD32, or Avast, or any of the other good choices we've written about.

Now, if your system fails to work with *all* or *many* products in a given category, that suggests there's something fundamentally wrong with your system; and that is indeed worth spending the time to fix. But if your system runs fine with a different tool, then the original problem simply may have been one of those one-in-a-million flukes that isn't worth worrying about, or spending your life trying to fix. <g>

Note that I'm not advocating corner-cutting. But I am suggesting that not all problems are of equal gravity, and some simply aren't worth a lot of hassle to resolve--- not when simple, free, or low-cost alternatives abound!

Click to email this item to a friend
http://langa.com/sendit2.htm

return to top of page

6) Three More Winners!

"Spence9" "papc" and "all2twisted" each won a FREE full one-year subscription to the LangaList Plus! edition by using the "Recommend To A Friend" form at http://langa.com/recommend.htm .

You see, each month I choose three winners of a new FREE ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTION to the LangaList Plus! edition. (Existing Plus! subscribers get their current subscription 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! (Full details also available via this link): http://langa.com/recommend.htm

Click to email this item to a friend
http://langa.com/sendit2.htm

return to top of page

7) Speaking Of Free....

In item #5. above, we spoke of free AV, firewalls, and the like. Here's a reminder of an about-to-expire one-year free trial of a popular antivirus tool:

Fred, Worth mentioning again that [this] free antivirus is still available until August 2005. http://www.my-etrust.com/microsoft/index.cfm  I enjoy your newsletter. Best regards, John

Thanks, John. IMO, "EZ-Antivirus" isn't one of the best available, but it's free in this incarnation, and certainly better than nothing. There are plenty of other free options, too: http://www.google.com/search?q=free+antivirus

Separately but relatedly, Microsoft has released the final code for its Antispyware tool. If you're still running the beta code, you should get the final code ASAP; it's good until the end of the year when, I assume, there'll be another update of the core engine. (The malware signatures are updated far more frequently--- every couple days.)

Click to email this item to a friend
http://langa.com/sendit2.htm

return to top of page

8) Another Code Load Success Story

After his site was listed in the last "Load The Code" section, code- loader Mohammed wrote:

Hey, Fred! Just wanted to thank you for displaying my computer/tech site( http://www.techjunkeez.com ) on the newsletter last week. I got 10694 hits in addition to my usual amount of daily traffic! I really can't thank you enough, Fred. Hope most of the new visitors you sent me keep returning :-) Good day! Mohammad

Do you have a home page or website? (It doesn't matter what size.) Please click over to http://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://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://langa.com/randomlink.htm

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

Dan's 20th Century Abandonware
http://www.dans20thcenturyabandonware.com/

Rosanne's Interior Restoration
http://rosannes.webhop.net

Koike Fishing Tackle
http://www.koike.co.uk/

Home-Buying Tips
http://www.buyritehomes.com/index.html

Real Estate; Linda McDermond
http://www.mcdermondsellshomes.com/

HobbyKat
http://hobbykat.com/

JP's
http://www.jinnette.com/

Summerville, SC, MS Support Group
http://www.summervillems.net/

H&H Photography
http://www.hhphoto.net/index.htm

Computer Forensic Software
http://www.robware.com/index.html

Click to email this item to a friend
http://langa.com/sendit2.htm

return to top of page

9) Free Fixes For Dozens Of Problems

This reader went in search of a fix for a particular problem, and not only solved that, but many other problems besides:

Hi Fred, I have been a Plus! edition subscriber almost since day one. I have received much valuable advice and information since subscribing and at last I may be able to give something back.

Recently I installed a software program that somehow disabled the autoplay function for CD's. When I put a music CD in the CDrom for example, rather than play the CD it opened and listed the files. This happened with all CD's that previously had automatically played when inserted. I tried running the Microsoft Autoplay fix wizard (from the Microsoft site) but the fault continued. I was about to restore my system backup (yes, I follow your advice on backing up) when I thought I'd carry out a search for an answer on the internet. This led me to the point of this email, the following site: http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

This site contains a whole list of small scripts for tweaking and fixing problems in Windows XP. Number 10 in the list was one called "Enable CD autoplay for Pro". I downloaded it, ran it, re-booted and Bingo! autoplay was working perfectly.

The number of scripts on this site runs into hundreds, each one for a specific function. It is well worth a look and keeping for future reference.

I hope this is useful, Regards, Derrick Copeland

Yes, Derrick, it's a great site. We've covered a number of specific tips from that site in the newsletter before (e.g. http://langa.com/u/0u.htm ). But the site is also an excellent resource as a whole, and I agree it's worth a bookmark and periodic revisiting.

Click to email this item to a friend
http://langa.com/sendit2.htm

return to top of page

10) Just For Grins

Fred, Just received your Plus letter and wanted to see some of the pictures of your motorcycle trip to Canada. ( http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-07-18.htm#1 ) I am also a motorcycle rider and would love to see the pictures. I suppose you ride a BMW? I ride a HD full dresser. ---Jim Roberts

No, Jim; although a BMW LT was my second choice. <g> We ride a Honda Goldwing, which is (ahem) probably the most comfortable and capacious of the true long-distance touring bikes.

Like some of the previous trips I've written about here, this trip was planned via the web, and guided by GPS all the way. (Past GPS info: http://langa.com/newsletters/2004/2004-10-04.htm#1 ) This year's trip was with a brand-new GPS--- the most capable I've ever owned--- and also made use of some other very high-tech gear, including a new digital camera. I'll have a full write up once I get all the info and photos sorted out.

For a taste, here are a few quickly-done, reduced-resolution images:

Gorgeous scenery: http://langa.com/images/nfl05/bonnebay.jpg

My wife on the bike on the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia: http://langa.com/images/nfl05/cabot.jpg

Moose-chewed evergreens (like a corn cob stood on end!), in the photo's background, in Newfoundland: http://langa.com/images/nfl05/eatentrees.jpg

One of the evergreen-chewers himself: http://langa.com/images/nfl05/bullwinkle.jpg

Ammonite fossils, probably 350-400 million years old, that we found weathering out of beach rocks near Cape Norman, the northernmost point in Newfoundland:. Residents of Wild Bight, the tiny town there, had a polar bear visit last winter! http://langa.com/images/nfl05/ammonites.jpg

Lots more to come, including full resolution pix and videos from this most-recent trip. Stay tuned!

If you just want to see some photos from a previous GPS-guided trip: Plus! Edition Subscribers can click here to access medium- and high-resolution photos and files from the private download area: http://langalist.com/Plus/euro/eurotrip.asp Standard Edition Subscribers can click here for the standard resolution photos from the public download area. http://www.freetune.com/euro/eurotrip.htm

Click to email this item to a friend
http://langa.com/sendit2.htm

return to top of page

11) Plus! Edition Highlights:

Today's LangaList Plus! Edition contains all ten items above, plus about 40% more content including:

• Chkdsk "Autochk" Runs Amok
     (fixes for XP, Win2K)
• High "Wow" Factor Gadget
     (makes drive recovery easier)
• "A 3D Interface To The Planet "
     (zoom from space to treetop level, over your house)
• "Read-Only" File Problems
     (tool makes fixes even simpler)

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

Click to email this item to a friend
http://langa.com/sendit2.htm

return to top of page

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

The LangaList is published about 72 times a year, or about 6 times a month. See you next issue, 2005-07-25!

Best,

Fred
( Editor@Langa.Com )

Please recommend the LangaList to a friend! (And maybe win a prize!)

An easier-to read formatted HTML version is available in the "Current Issue" section of http://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.

return to top of page

Administrivia:

UNSUBSCRIBE (instant removal!): http://langa.com/leave_langalist.htm

SUBSCRIBE (it's free!): http://langa.com/join_langalist.htm

CHANGE ADDRESS? LIST TROUBLE? HAVE QUESTIONS? OTHER PROBLEM? NEED HELP? See http://langa.com/help.htm

This newsletter is SPAM PROOF and requires two levels of subscriber confirmation before delivery begins: See http://langa.com/info.htm

About the advertisers: http://langa.com/privacy.htm#ads

Disclaimer: http://langa.com/legal.htm In brief: All information herein is offered as-is and without warranty of any kind. Neither Langa Consulting LLC, nor its employees nor contributors are responsible for any loss, injury, or damage, direct or consequential, resulting from your choosing to use any information presented here.

This newsletter is a service of Langa Consulting LLC and is Copyright © 2005 Fred Langa / Langa Consulting LLC. All worldwide rights reserved. LangaList: ISSN 1533-1156

return to top of page