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The LangaList
Standard Edition

2005-08-25

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) The New ZoneAlarm, and The Issues It Raises

The new version of ZoneAlarm illustrates both sides of a classic software debate. On the one hand, it's more powerful than ever, with an array of impressive new features. But it's also bigger and more complex than ever, too.

Take just the issue of raw size: For example, the previous ZoneAlarm versions in the 5.x series had been creeping up through the 5MB range; the new 6.x version jumps to almost 9MB. An even more complex and complete version (which adds things such as its own antivirus tool, identity theft/privacy protection, anti-phishing and spam blocking, IM security/web site filtering, and more) weighs in at 22MB.

Contrast this to a simple, basic firewall like this http://www.zelow.no/floppyfw/ or this https://jimweller.net/jims/lfw/ ; these firewalls fit in their entirety on a single floppy disk. They don't do nearly as much as ZoneAlarm (and in fact take an entirely different tack), but do serve to illustrate how far beyond basic firewall functions ZA has grown.

And, as we discussed in another recent newsletter http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-08-11.htm#5 , it's also rare for any one company to produce the absolute best product in many different areas, so an all-in-one software tool may nor perform as well as a pseudo-suite of tools created by assembling a library of the best-in-class tools in each separate area.

I asked your fellow readers for feedback on ZoneAlarm in particular and on the "all-in-one" versus "standalone" tool debate, and many responded. I've gathered a representative sampling of emails; enough to give you a pretty good idea of their reported experiences. I've added my own experiences with ZA6, and then used that as a springboard for a wider discussion of the relative merits of all-in-one, complex software suites versus simple, focused, stand-alone tools. I also provide lists of both kinds of security tools, with live URLs so you can grab your own copies.

It's all available now, free, at http://www.informationweek.com/1052/langa.htm .

Check it out!

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2) F-Secure

Fred: My ISP Shaw cable provides "Free" a security package by F-Secure which includes anti-virus anti Spyware and anti-spam.

I have always use the Symantec/Norton products but all had to be removed before the F-Secure product could be installed.

I am wondering as to the effectiveness of this product as compared to Norton or other products.

I have had no problems up to this point, not sure if it's because of the product or just lucky. Any thoughts? Thanks, Bob

So here's what I do when faced with issues like yours: First, let's turn to the collective user experience in Google Groups. Here, for example you can see an interesting discussion on the pros and cons of the inner workings of F-Secure's software: http://langa.com/u/k.htm . A wider search turns up much the same: http://groups.google.com/groups?q=F%2DSecure ; a mixed bag of user experiences.

Next, let's look at web sites that have reviewed F-Secure's software. Hmmmm. You can see an (all-too-common, alas) disparity in ZDnet's review, where F-Secure gets an Editors' rating of 7.8 ("Very good") but only a 5.8 rating ("Average") from real-life users.

I used to be in the business of formal, large-scale hardware and software reviewing--- I established Byte Magazine's first formal testing lab when I was Editor in Chief there, for instance; and did the same at Windows Magazine. It's very, very hard to do formal reviews well. But on the other hand, when the "editors' picks" are substantially different from real-life user opinions, it suggests to me that the lab testing methods or analyses are deeply flawed--- an example of what we used to call the "ivory tower syndrome." To me, lab tests and editorial judgments have to predict real-life experiences, or they're pointless.

Because of this, I'd tend to view the ZDnet's editor's choices with suspicion; and give more weight to the real-life user feedback (a ho-hum "Average" rating), especially in light of what we saw in the Groups postings.

Another review at http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/ also places F-Secure in the middle of the pack of reviewed products; although I also have questions about their review process: Anytime you see a "review" with a "buy now!" button in it, with no discussion or disclosure of the reviewer's financial involvement, you have to wonder what kind of cut the reviewer is getting and whether they can be objective. But even with those questions, F-Secure is in the middle of their pack.

Other sites that review F-Secure mostly list similarly lukewarm ratings.

With all that, I'd conclude that F-Secure is probably OK, but not likely to be top-notch. It's certainly better than no antivirus tool (especially if you can get it free from your ISP), but it may not protect you as well as some other tools.

Of course, you can walk through the above steps and come away with a different conclusion, and that's fine. I'm just laying out the process I use when I don't have first-hand info on a topic, so you can similarly decide for yourself!

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3) "Dynamic Drive Overlay" Software

Fred- Your steadily useful newsletter is my longtime favorite and still a bargain for the Plus! service.

I bet you've mentioned it before but I wanted to let you know how a free utility called mbrtool saved my bacon from the Maxblast3 Dynamic Drive Overlay. Maxblast had closed me out from using a new HD with DriveImage, which wouldn't accept this boot record overlay. I didn't want or need the DDO but couldn't find a way to remove it. Curiously, Fdisk /mbr wouldn't do the trick of removing it, so I looked for stronger master boot record mojo and found the very helpful site http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/ It offers the freeware mbrtool.exe, which is a scary powerful piece of software, that restored my HD by refreshing the MBR basic code. Very nice site and software. ---Steve Goodale

Thanks, Steve.

The practice of shipping large drives with Dynamic Drive Overlay software installed (and/or available on a CD or floppy in the box) started when drive sizes ballooned beyond what some older PCs could handle--- or even recognize!

The DDO software can fool an older system's BIOS into thinking it's talking to a familiar, smaller, comfortably-sized drive. The software inserts--- overlays--- the drive's real address space on top of what the BIOS sees. The BIOS is happy because it doesn't know it's talking to a huge drive of a size that may not have even existed when the PC was manufactured; the users are happy because they get full use of a new drive on even an old PC; and the vendor is happy because they avoid support calls.

But newer PCs often can work with very large drives in native form, and may not need the DDO software at all. For these systems, the DDO software (and the strange little partition(s) it creates) can indeed get in the way of normal partitioning and imaging tools.

All my in-use PCs are of recent enough vintage so as not to need DDO software. Because of this, when I get a new drive, I like to wipe it clean, removing all preinstalled software and starting fresh with new partitioning and formatting, to my own specs. Some partitioning tools can whack the odd little DDO partitions for you, or--- as Steve did--- you can just wipe out the old master boot record, which has the same effect. Of course, you do this *before* you add any data to the drive!

And yes, we did cover "MBRtool" before. <g> For a discussion on it and some similar tools, and the MBR in general, see http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-03-31.htm#3

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4) Too-Long Filenames

Hi Fred regular and grateful plus subscriber - you both help keep me sane and my
(computing) blood pressure within bounds.

However I have come up against a hassle that many others must have had although I can find little reference to it in my searching and wonder if you / other readers can cast light on it as it has wider implications.  The problem is 'path length' and in particular seen with backing up and then trying to restore data files. (I should add - system is a stand-alone, 3 GHz Intel CPU, 512 KB RAM, running Windows XP Pro)

For example a 2 level nested structure under 'My Documents' can give an absolute pathname such as

"C:\Documents and Settings\Phillip\My Documents\Net Capture Data Files -
COMPUTING\Collection - KNOWLEDGEBASE Articles - Numeric\314060 - CD-ROM Access Is Missing and Messages Cite Error Code 31, Code 32, Code 19, or Code 39 After You Remove E.mht"

which the OS allows you to save, but then possibly not manipulate or delete. (the above is in fact a little shortened to allow this).  Personally where I can I save web pages as  .mht  rather than  .html  filetype in order to decrease the pathnames and directory structure at least a little.  Several commercial backup programs seem to copy the directory / file structure ok, but on checking to 'restore' it will fall over with or without error messages.

I realise that I could shorten the file name further, and directory names also, but this is self defeating and the above are not 'gross' I feel apart from the long file name in this instance. Even within Windows Explorer you seem to be able to save a pathname in excess of 260 characters, but then will either generate warnings when manipulating it or in fact the OS will refuse to do so and a third party utility such as DeleteFXP has to come to the rescue.

Worth casting this in front of the readers perhaps to see if there are ideas out there: a utility perhaps to scan your directory structure and highlight long pathnames over a certain limit . Cheers and thanks, Phillip Hughes

Yes, the path to a file counts as part of the file's name when calculating its total length. There's no simple way to overcome the various length limits you'll encounter in  Windows itself, in third-party backup tools, in burning software, and so on. Some of these limitations are accidental--- we're simply using our PCs in ways the software designers never imagined--- but others are intentional: The common "Joliet" CD-ROM format, for example, has a limit of 64 character filenames to allow backward compatibility with older CD ROMs and software. (Yes, you can save longer filenames with some CD-burning software, but your CDs are then no longer Joliet standard.)

(BTW, this site http://osdev.berlios.de/osd-fs.html is a handy reference as to what different file systems allow for name lengths, "legal" characters, etc.)

So, because you can't force all software to accept the names you want, the only real option is to make your names fit your software.

There's help: For example, "The Rename"
http://www.herve-thouzard.com/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=1 (freeware/donationware) lets you find all names over 64 characters, and then batch-rename the offending files:

Select all the options you need to rename files then click on the Preview button. You will see a button called Find long file names. This option will search for file names longer than 64 characters. This option can be very useful for people creating CD Roms. This option acts like Windows, to compute the total length, it takes the length of the path plus the length of the filename....

We covered "The Rename" some time ago in http://langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-05-17.htm#4 . Another free tool we mentioned then, http://www.1-4a.com/rename/ , also is still around, and also can process too-long filenames.

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5) Free HTML Editor Finally Ships

In "Free HTML Editor" ( http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-02-03.htm#2 ) we discussed a freeware what-you-see-is-what-you-get HTML tool called Nvu (pronounced "en-view"). It was in beta, was open source (IOW, free) and available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

It's out of beta:

In case you hadn't noticed, Nvu 1.0 is now available for download in three versions, Linux, Mac and Windows. Here's the home page http://www.nvu.com/index.html ---jim washburn

Thanks, Jim!

Nvu is positioning itself as a free, open-source alternative to FrontPage in much the same way that "Writer" (the free word processor from http://OpenOffice.Org ) is an alternative for Microsoft Word. I'll be trying Nvu out myself in the next few weeks.

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6) Is This Information Useful?

If you think the LangaList is a worthwhile read, maybe a friend would find it useful too! Just use the following link to recommend the LangaList---your friend may find a new source of useful information and you just may win 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.)

Check out the details at http://langa.com/recommend.htm . Thanks for recommending the LangaList--- and good luck!

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7) SynchToy

Fred: I would like to point to a link that you and some of your readers may find helpful. 
 
Microsoft released a new powertoy on 2005/08/02 called SyncToy v1 Beta.  As the name implies, its purpose is to help keep different directories of files synchronized by reproducing any changes. 
 
A description from the whitepaper referenced in the link below:

"Increasingly, computer users are using different folders, drives, and even different computers (such as a laptop and a desktop) to store and retrieve files.... SyncToy is a free PowerToy for Microsoft Windows XP that provides is an easy to use, highly customizable program that helps users to do the heavy lifting involved with the copying, moving, and synchronization of different directories. Most common operations can be performed with just a few clicks of the mouse, and additional customization is available without added complexity. SyncToy can manage multiple sets of folders at the same time; it can combine files from two folders in one case, and mimic renames and deletes in another. Unlike other applications, SyncToy actually keeps track of renames to files and will make sure those changes get carried over to the synchronized folder."
 
More information and a download of a whitepaper: http://langa.com/u/j.htm
Page with a download link: http://langa.com/u/l.htm 
 
I hope you find this link useful enough to include in an upcoming newsletter. ---Kevin T.

Thanks Kevin! I'm still using Karen Kenworthy's free "Replicator ( http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptreplicator.asp ) but this could be an interesting alternative.

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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://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://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://langa.com/randomlink.htm

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

An Easy Way to Help Charities
http://www.cartridgecharity.org/

Blog This
http://blog.oheresy.net/

Need A Safe Cracked?
http://www.protectionlock.com/

Baby Blog
http://baby.moored.net/

Amsterdam Rentals
http://www.amsterdamrentaflat.com/

Smolinski Consulting
www.smolinskiconsulting.com

The Shepherds
http://mysite.verizon.net/resptaiq/

Woodland Studio
http://home.twcny.rr.com/printmaker/

Phillip Sear, pianist
http://bridalmarch.co.uk/links.html

Wooden Bowls, Software, Links & More
http://www.rbrunton.ca/

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9) Answers,  Specific And General

Hi Fred, I really am enjoying the PLUS edition. I should have switched sooner.

I am getting ready to move from Win98 to XP. Somewhere you have instructions for getting or making a stripped down XP install disk for better performance, but I can't find it. Could you point me in the right direction? Keep up the good work! ---Allen Rice

The specific reference you want is here:
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml;?articleID=51202853

But here are some other URLs I hope you'll bookmark to make future searches more fruitful:

Index of all my more in-depth articles on XP (and many other subjects):
http://www.informationweek.com/LP/columnists/fredlanga.html

Index of older, in-depth articles on many frequently-asked-about topics (including some from Windows Magazine's days):
http://www.freetune.com/most_popular_pages.htm

Plus! Archives (100% of all newsletter content, back to the very first issue):

A) Online version: http://www.langalist.com/Plus/plus_issues.asp
B) Downloadable, local version (runs from your hard drive):
http://www.langalist.com/plus/archives/archives.asp

Free Standard Edition Archives (about 60% of the above; no Plus! content included)
http://langa.com/archives.htm

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10) Just For Grins

Callie Jordan sends along these, um, unusual links. If you're very, very easily offended, you may want to skip 'em....

I'm interested in permaculture and sustainability so I follow links about, for instance, composting toilets. From one site I clicked on a link to another and from there to another and WOW this is where I ended up: http://tinyurl.com/cx6ma

but that particular page has a link to this actual product: http://www.bathroom-mania.com

to skip the intro and go to English: http://tinyurl.com/axz6g

Actually, the entire gadgetry blog looks like a lot of fun, and this is a great one:
http://tinyurl.com/abg94

OH NO, I can't stop: http://tinyurl.com/dfd2n

---Callie Jordan

Decaf, Callie, decaf. <g>

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11) Plus! Edition Highlights:

DID YOU KNOW that Plus! subscribers have access to over 100,000 additional words in special features, extra content and private links, all on a private web site? All that, plus 40% more content in every issue, for around a dollar a month!

This issue's extra Plus-only content:

• "Housecall" Project Update
    (more on Fred's plan to service reader PCs)
• Ready-To-Go (Free!) Linux
    (a preconfigured Linux that includes apps and utilities already set up)
• Two Tips, Two Questions
    (two useful tools, plus info on NOD32 vs Norton AV)
• MacOS On Standard PCs?
    (want to run Mac software on your PC?)

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

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(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, 2005-09-01!

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.

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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

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