Access more memory, even on a 32-bit system [Newsletter Comp Version]

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Windows Secrets Newsletter • Issue 179 • 2008-12-18 • Circulation: over 400,000 Learn the tricks Google uses to stay on top This new work, The Google Way, explains the secrets behind the search giant's success. The printed book won't be available until March 2009 but — by special arrangement with the publisher — all paid subscribers to Windows Secrets can download our exclusive excerpt until Jan. 21. In three full chapters, you'll learn how Google finds exceptional people and stimulates them with its "20% rule." Use the links below to download your bonus or upgrade to the paid version to qualify. Paid subscribers: Set your preferences and download your bonus Free subscribers: Upgrade to paid and download your bonus Info on the printed book: United States / Canada / Elsewhere

Table of contents INTRODUCTION: Did you miss the best stories of 2008? TOP STORY: Access more memory, even on a 32-bit system PATCH WATCH: Microsoft's out-of-cycle patch plugs hole in IE KNOWN ISSUES: More on troubleshooting Windows network glitches WACKY WEB WEEK: Even Santa can go a little holiday crazy LANGALIST PLUS: Slipstreaming simplifies Windows reinstalls BEST SOFTWARE: Keep your Net activities away from prying eyes PERIMETER SCAN: Free software-update service spots risky apps

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INTRODUCTION Did you miss the best stories of 2008? By Brian Livingston I'm proud of all the writers for Windows Secrets, but I'm especially proud when subscribers give our writers top ratings for articles they've written. I'd like to say that all of our articles are above average, but the truth is that some stories really stand out with especially high ratings from our readers. At the end of the major articles in our e-mail newsletter, we include polling buttons so our subscribers can vote on a scale of 1 to 5 to tell us how useful they found each article. Believe me, our writers pay close attention to this brutal but important feedback. (Note: the polling buttons don't appear in the Web version of our articles.) The three highest-rated articles of 2008 are: Fred's retirement announcement. Our editor-at-large, Fred Langa, decided to retire from computer writing in May 2008. In a huge sympathy vote, his fond farewell garnered the highest rating of any article we've ever published (4.59 out of a possible 5.0). Fortunately for his fans, however, retirement didn't suit Fred. He came back with a bang on Oct. 9 with an all-new weekly column in our paid content. Flash can be a privacy threat. Contributing editor Woody Leonhard scores right below Fred on Oct. 23 with an exposé of the way "Flash cookies" can be a bigger privacy concern than ordinary Web cookies. Breaking news on Internet Explorer. A news update we published on Oct. 24 featured advice from contributing editor Susan Bradley on an emergency IE patch that was released that week by Microsoft. Our readers clicked the links to Microsoft.com in Susan's column more than 190,000 times to obtain information on various versions of the patch. All of the 10 top-rated stories from 2008 are shown below. If you missed any, I hope you'll take a minute to review the ones that might be the most helpful to you. The 10 highest-rated Windows Secrets stories of 2008: All good things come to an end as Fred reboots Flash cookies are putting your privacy at risk • Microsoft posts emergency defense for new attack Install Vista's fonts on XP — legally • More need-to-know about network monitoring • More and better uses for Process Explorer • Hackers broke into my site — yours might be next • Flash ads bearing malware plague popular sites Use a sandbox to improve your PC security • Keep XP fresh until Windows 7 arrives • = paid content Six of the 10 articles appeared in our paid content rather than our free sections. If you're a free subscriber, there's no fixed fee to get access to our premium content. Any financial contribution — whatever it's worth to you — qualifies you to receive a full 12 months of our paid version and access to all past paid content. How to get the paid content To see other highly rated articles we've published in this and previous years, visit our polls page. Send your friends a holiday gift of secrets I announced in a special news update on Dec. 17 that I'd temporarily lost my mind and was letting subscribers give their friends a full three months of the paid version of Windows Secrets, absolutely free. If you missed that e-mail, you can still take advantage of this opportunity. Our holiday giveaway works this way: Step 1. Send the following URL in the text of an e-mail message to everyone you'd like to give, as a free gift, the paid version of the newsletter: http://WindowsSecrets.com/holidaygift You can include any text you like that will explain to your friends that they can get the paid version of this newsletter absolutely free as a gift. Please don't spam a bunch of strangers — just send your message to your friends, people who regularly receive e-mail from you. Step 2. The holiday gift is only for people who've never had a subscription before. Step 3. People who visit the link and enter a valid e-mail address by Dec. 31, 2008, will receive a confirmation message. They must click a link in that message to verify their address and begin their subscription. What's in this holiday giveaway for you? Just the satisfaction of knowing you gave something of value to people you care about. That's the true spirit of the holiday season. This freebie is a one-time thing in response to today's global economic slowdown and may never be repeated. Please alert your friends to take advantage of it today. No newsletters Dec. 25 or Jan. 1; see you Jan. 8 Our next regularly scheduled newsletter will be published on Jan. 8, 2009. We skip publication during the last two weeks of December, so there won't be any new content on Dec. 25 or Jan. 1. If something important occurs, we'll send you a short news update despite our year-end break. Please have a happy and safe holiday season! Brian Livingston is editorial director of WindowsSecrets.com and co-author of Windows Vista Secrets and 10 other books. Table of contents

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TOP STORY Access more memory, even on a 32-bit system By Scott Dunn No matter how much memory you have in your PC, you may not be getting the most out of your installed RAM. A few little-known system tweaks can improve the way Windows manages memory, freeing up more RAM for your applications. As described in an entry on the Microsoft Developer Network, all non-server 32-bit versions of Windows XP and Vista impose a memory limit of 4GB. Your system may allow you to install more than this amount of RAM, but with few exceptions, the extra memory won't do Windows or your applications any good. Moreover, even if you have 4GB of memory installed in your PC, you may not be able to use it all. For example, if your video card comes with 1MB of memory and you have 4GB of RAM, your system actually has 5GB of memory physically installed. But Windows will use only 4GB of that total, regardless. It gets worse: according to a comment posted to the MSDN article, Windows itself is getting only 3GB because the video card gets 1GB. This happens because the memory aperture — a portion of system memory — is used to work with the video system. Ways to break through Windows' RAM ceiling Fortunately, there are techniques you can use to get around Windows' system-memory limitations. One method is to use Physical Address Extension (PAE), a feature of x86 processors that lets 32-bit operating systems overcome the 4GB memory limit. Another MSDN article explains that 32-bit Windows operating systems support PAE. Even though XP and Vista still cling to the 4GB limit with PAE enabled, the feature may help you get back some of your unused RAM. In one or two rare cases, a developer may take advantage of PAE technology to get around the usual Windows limits. For example, reader Alan Gorski reports that when he increased a computer to 8GB, the program AutoCAD was able to open large drawing files without generating the "out of memory" errors he previously had seen. As Gorski notes, "AutoCAD has long used special memory management techniques since the DOS days to maximize use of available RAM." There's a good chance your system is already using PAE. That's because Windows relies on the technology to support the security feature known as Data Execution Prevention (DEP). For more information about Windows and DEP, see my Top Story in the May 3, 2007, issue. If a computer supports hardware-enforced DEP, then PAE is enabled as well. Here's how to check for it in Windows XP: Step 1. Choose Start, Run. Step 2. Type sysdm.cpl and press Enter. Step 3. Click the Advanced tab. In the Performance box, click Settings and choose the Data Execution Prevention tab. Step 4. Look for a status message at the bottom of the dialog box. If it indicates that your hardware does not support DEP, chances are PAE is not enabled. To check your system's PAE status in Vista, do the following: Step 1. Press Win+R to open the Run dialog box. Step 2. Type SystemPropertiesDataExecutionPrevention and press Enter. Step 3. If prompted by User Account Control, click Continue. Step 4. If the status message at the bottom of the dialog box says your system supports DEP and the "Turn on" button is selected, then PAE is enabled as well. If PAE is not already enabled on your system, here's how to activate it in Windows XP: Step 1. Choose Start, Run. Step 2. Type notepad c:\boot.ini and press Enter. Step 3. Under the [operating systems] heading, look for a line that contains the /noexecute switch, which turns software DEP. For example, it may be /noexecute=optin, /noexecute=optout, or /noexecute=always on. Place the cursor directly after that switch and type a space followed by /pae. Save the file and reboot. If you don't have DEP enabled on Vista (or you don't want it enabled), you can still activate PAE by following these steps: Step 1. Click Start, type cmd.exe and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter. Step 2. If prompted by User Account Control, click Continue. This opens a command prompt window with administrator privileges. Step 3. At the prompt, type BCDEdit /set PAE ForceEnable and press Enter. You can read more about PAE in this post on Microsoft's TechNet site. Microsoft warns in another TechNet article that some drivers will not load if PAE is enabled. After you make this change, keep an eye on your system. If you have problems with drivers or your system starts acting up, remove the /pae switch from boot.ini in XP, or enter the following command line in an administrator command prompt in Vista: BCDEdit /set PAE ForceDisable For more information on the switches and settings related to PAE, consult this MSDN paper, "Boot Parameters to Configure DEP and PAE." Reader Alan Gorski will receive a gift certificate for a book, CD, or DVD of his choice for information used in this story. Send us your tips via the Windows Secrets contact page. Help people find this article on the Web (explain): Digg Delicious Reddit StumbleUpon Other Permalink Please tell us how useful this article was to you: Poor Fair Good Great Superb   Scott Dunn is a contributing editor of the Windows Secrets Newsletter. He has been a contributing editor of PC World since 1992 and currently writes for the Here's How section of that magazine. Table of contents

PATCH WATCH Microsoft's out-of-cycle patch plugs hole in IE By Susan Bradley Please stop your holiday preparations long enough to apply this week's important security update for Internet Explorer. While most of the sites that currently host the so-called XML exploit are located in Asia, this attack on IE is likely to spread quickly to other sites, so make sure to update your PCs with this patch before using Microsoft's browser for anything else. Microsoft security bulletin MS08-078 (Knowledge Base article 960714) was released on Dec. 18 to correct a serious hole that affects every flavor of IE from version 5 to the beta of version 8. Install this patch immediately, if not sooner. The easiest way to install it is to click Start, Microsoft Update (or Start, Windows Update) and download the patch from there. Unlike many other Internet Explorer patches, this one is not a cumulative update. It's only patching the issue discussed in Windows Secrets contributing editor Mark Edwards' Dec. 17 special alert. As a Dec. 17 post on the Microsoft Security Response Center blug discusses, patches are now available for more than 300 versions of Internet Explorer in 50 different languanges. So far, although most of the Web sites that are known to be infected have been found in Asia, the Microsoft Malware Protection Center Threat Research and Response blog indicates that the exploit has been discovered at porn sites as well. I haven't encountered any problems while testing this patch, but as with any Internet Explorer update, be prepared for conflicts with third-party firewall and security software. The vendors of those programs may need to update their applications to work with the IE patch. Give this fix the highest priority — even if you use Firefox — because core components of Windows itself may be vulnerable to this exploit even if you're not using IE as your default browser. Please tell us how useful this article was to you: Poor Fair Good Great Superb   The Patch Watch column reveals problems with patches for Windows and major Windows applications. Susan Bradley recently received an MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award from Microsoft for her knowledge in the areas of Small Business Server and network security. She's also a partner in a California CPA firm. Table of contents

KNOWN ISSUES More on troubleshooting Windows network glitches By Dennis O'Reilly The connectivity woes Scott Spanbauer reported in his Dec. 11 Top Story represent only a portion of the network problems Windows users are encountering. Finding the source of a failed or intermittent Internet link can be a mystery worthy of a fictional sleuth. Whether for work, play, or otherwise, our day-to-day lives rely more and more on our connection to the Internet. Unfortunately, as network links become more important, network failures become more difficult to diagnose. Scott's story described a change Microsoft made to Vista's DHCP settings that caused problems with some routers, among other Windows network glitches. Several readers contacted us to share their tales of Windows-connectivity disaster. Richard Chase also reminds us of some other useful network-troubleshooting tips: "More than a few times I've seen broken antivirus programs causing the Internet to simply not work at all. Sometimes your antivirus may appear to be working correctly, but if you've tried everything and it still doesn't work, remove it. I have seen McAfee, Norton, and AVG products do this on occasion and I've seen Telus's antivirus program do it almost all the time. "A simple uninstall .. and ... reinstall usually solves the problem. If, after the reinstall, your Internet [link] is broken again, seek out the antivirus company's full removal tool. Your Internet-connection woes could be caused by corrupt configuration settings that are left behind after a standard install. "You guys failed to mention that it could also be as simple as a bad Ethernet cable or network card. Power surges, dust, and a million other things can fry a network card. Cables get bent, chewed, and stepped on all the time. A network cable tester costs no more than $20 ... and a network card is [priced] the same. For convenience, USB-to-LAN adapters also exist for those who want to try solutions outside the computer before going internal." Secunia's software scanner IDs some patched apps Several Windows Secrets columnists have recommended Secunia's free Online Software Inspector and downloadable Personal Software Inspector for ensuring that your applications receive all the security and other fixes they need. In fact, Ryan Russell describes the service in this week's Perimeter Scan (paid column). Also, Susan Bradley pointed to the company's software-update services in the Dec. 11 Known Issues 2 column. However, in recent weeks we've been hearing from readers whose experience with Secunia's update service is less than perfect. Here's what Mel Slane wrote in to tell us: "Regarding using Secunia PSI to check whether your computer is patched and secure, be aware that they aren't perfect either. I just concluded a two-day nightmare, thinking that my Microsoft Office 2003 — specifically Word 2003 — wasn't secure (not updated). "Secunia PSI said that [Word] wasn't being patched because it was located in the wrong folder (in C:\Program Files\MicrosoftOffice\OFFICE11). Got a lengthy explanation from Microsoft on how I could fix my 'problem,' with the fourth possible step being to uninstall Office 2003 and reinstall it. Fortunately, I resisted taking that step because I knew how much of a hassle it would be, including backing up Outlook 2003 with my e-mails and addresses. "Then I followed one of Microsoft's recommendations, which was to check the Secunia user forum. When I did, I discovered that many, many other people had the same problem, and it wasn't with Microsoft but Secunia. Secunia wasn't responding to the problem (they apparently don't pay much attention to the user forum), even though the PSI program was apparently giving us all a false positive. "Fortunately, [the company] finally did respond and updated their definitions, or whatever the proper word is. When I did a rescan of my software using PSI, I was suddenly not 'insecure' anymore. The moral to the story is not to trust the software people who check the software too much, because Microsoft is not the only [company that] has problems." Plenty of free network-usage meters available In his Dec. 4 LangaList Plus column (paid content), Fred Langa fielded a question from a reader who was looking for a way to track the amount of bandwidth his network connection used to avoid extra charges from his ISP. Several readers told us about their favorite network-usage meters; one of them is Rory Gordon: "...You mentioned various usage monitors in response to Peter Sutherland's enquiry. Like Peter, I am in Australia, and I find usage monitors essential. "There are a number of tools that are ISP-specific. For example, I am with iiNet and use iiUsage, which grabs the usage data from the ISP on user-configurable intervals and presents the data simply and quickly. It works only for iiNet, however. "If Peter is using Firefox, then there is an add-on called Net Usage [download page] which functions across a variety of ISPs, both Australian and [in] other countries. Again, this [program] grabs the data from the ISP. Both of these tools have (un)official support through Whirlpool forums. "Finally, a utility that isn't ISP-specific — NetMeter [download page] — is purely a bandwidth monitor that graphically shows your PC's traffic. It also keeps a log of your daily usage and can maintain the history for years. "All three of these tools are free. Need I say that I recommend all of them?" Reader Ken Heppel recommends yet another free network-use monitor: "I've been using a free utility name BitMeter2 [download page]. It does just what is needed here by tracking bandwidth usage and keeping a history of it. You can look at the results by month, day, or hour in graph or table format." Readers Richard, Mel, Rory, and Ken will each receive a gift certificate for a book, CD, or DVD of their choice for sending tips we printed. Send us your tips via the Windows Secrets contact page. Help people find this article on the Web (explain): Digg Delicious Reddit StumbleUpon Other Permalink The Known Issues column brings you readers' comments on our recent articles. Dennis O'Reilly is technical editor of WindowsSecrets.com. Table of contents

WACKY WEB WEEK Even Santa can go a little holiday crazy By Katy Abby The pressures of the holiday season are enough to drive anyone nuts. Just think what it can do to a man who already spends his days amongst tiny toymakers and flying reindeer. It's not such a stretch to imagine that Santa might snap — and take some of the denizens of the North Pole with him! Take a look at this classic Christmas lampoon by legendary satirist Weird Al Yankovic. Happy holidays, everyone! Play the video Help people find this article on the Web (explain): Digg Delicious Reddit StumbleUpon Other Permalink Table of contents

PERMALINKS Use these permalinks to share info with friends We love it when you include the links shown below in e-mails to your friends. This is better than forwarding your copy of our e-mail newsletter. (When our newsletter is forwarded, some recipients click "report as spam" and corporate filters start blocking our e-mails.) The following link includes all articles this week: http://WindowsSecrets.com/comp/081218 Free content posted on Dec. 18, 2008: INTRODUCTION By Brian Livingston Did you miss the best stories of 2008? Send your friends a holiday gift of secrets No newsletters Dec. 25 or Jan. 1; see you Jan. 8 TOP STORY By Scott Dunn Access more memory, even on a 32-bit system Ways to break through Windows' RAM ceiling PATCH WATCH By Susan Bradley Microsoft's out-of-cycle patch plugs hole in IE KNOWN ISSUES By Dennis O'Reilly More on troubleshooting Windows network glitches Secunia's software scanner IDs some patched apps Plenty of free network-usage meters available WACKY WEB WEEK By Katy Abby Even Santa can go a little holiday crazy   You get all of the following in our paid content: LANGALIST PLUS By Fred Langa Slipstreaming simplifies Windows reinstalls Refresh your Windows setup with a single click Keep tabs on how much use a computer is getting Why won't these .csv files open in IE? How to delete "undeletable" Registry entries BEST SOFTWARE By Ian "Gizmo" Richards Keep your Net activities away from prying eyes Simple solutions for maintaining your privacy Erased browser histories may be recoverable A more-robust solution for browsing privacy Limitations of browsing via an anonymizer PERIMETER SCAN By Ryan Russell Free software-update service spots risky apps Stay safe by keeping your PC's software patched Advantages of a non-Microsoft patch scanner View update history, uninstall at-risk relics Get our paid content by making any contribution There's no fixed fee! Contribute whatever it's worth to you Readers who make a financial contribution of any amount by Jan. 7, 2009, will immediately receive the latest issue of our full, paid newsletter and 12 months of new paid content. Pay as much or as little as you like — we want as many people as possible to have this information.   A portion of your support helps children in developing countries Each month, we send a full year of sponsorship to a different child. Your contributions in December are helping us to sponsor Farianis Esther, an 8-year-old girl from a village in Colombia. Children International channels development aid from donors to Farianis and her community. We also sponsor kids through Save the Children and other respected agencies. More info Use the link below to learn more about the benefits of becoming a paid subscriber! More info on how to upgrade Thanks in advance for your support!

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YOUR SUBSCRIPTION The Windows Secrets Newsletter is published weekly on the 1st through 4th Thursdays of each month, plus occasional news updates. We skip an issue on the 5th Thursday of any month, the week of Thanksgiving, and the last two weeks of August and December. Windows Secrets resulted from the merger of several publications: Brian's Buzz on Windows and Woody's Windows Watch in 2004, the LangaList in 2006, and the Support Alert Newsletter in 2008. Publisher: WindowsSecrets.com LLC, Attn: #120 Editor, 1700 7th Ave., Suite 116, Seattle, WA 98101-1323 USA. Vendors, please send no unsolicited packages to this address (readers' letters are fine). Editorial Director: Brian Livingston. Senior Editor: Ian Richards. Editor-at-Large: Fred Langa. Technical Editor: Dennis O'Reilly. Program Director: Tony Johnston. Program Manager: Ryan Biesemeyer. Web Developer: Damian Wadley. Editorial Assistant: Katy Abby. Copyeditor: Roberta Scholz. Contributing Editors: Susan Bradley, Scott Dunn, Mark Joseph Edwards, Stuart J. Johnston, Woody Leonhard, Ryan Russell, Scott Spanbauer, Becky Waring. Trademarks: Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. The Windows Secrets series of books is published by Wiley Publishing Inc. The Windows Secrets Newsletter, WindowsSecrets.com, Support Alert, LangaList, LangaList Plus, WinFind, Security Baseline, Patch Watch, Perimeter Scan, Wacky Web Week, the Logo Design (W, S or road, and Star), and the slogan Everything Microsoft Forgot to Mention all are trademarks and service marks of WindowsSecrets.com LLC. All other marks are the trademarks or service marks of their respective owners. YOUR SUBSCRIPTION PREFERENCES (change your preferences): Delivery address: cpedley.kill-that-computer@blogger.com Alternate address: cgpedley@gmail.com Country: Canada ZIP or postal code: L3B 5N5 Reader number: 35034-18272 Bounce count: 0 Your bounce count is the number of times your server has bounced a newsletter back to us since the last time you visited your preferences page. We cannot send newsletters to you after your bounce count reaches 3, due to ISP policies. If your bounce count is higher than 0 or blank, please visit your preferences page. This automatically resets your bounce count to 0. To change your preferences: Please visit your preferences page. To access all past issues: Please visit our past issues page. To upgrade your free subscription to paid: Please visit our upgrade page. To resend a missed newsletter to yourself: If your mail server filtered out a newsletter, you can resend the current week's issue to yourself. To do so, visit your preferences page and use the Resend link. To get subscription help by e-mail (fastest method): Visit our contact page. Subscription help by facsimile: 206-282-6312 (fax). Emergency subscription help by phone: 206-282-2536 (24 hours). HOW TO SUBSCRIBE: Anyone may subscribe to this newsletter by visiting our free signup page. WE GUARANTEE YOUR PRIVACY: 1. We will never sell, rent, or give away your address to any outside party, ever. 2. We will never send you any unrequested e-mail, besides newsletter updates. 3. All unsubscribe requests are honored immediately, period.  Privacy policy HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: To unsubscribe cpedley.kill-that-computer@blogger.com from the Windows Secrets Newsletter, Use this 2-click Unsubscribe link; or Send a blank e-mail to unsub@WindowsSecrets.net with leave cpedley.kill-that-computer@blogger.com as the Subject line; or Visit our Unsubscribe page. Copyright © 2008 by WindowsSecrets.com LLC. All rights reserved. Table of contents