Phishing Lures

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Vol. 10, #6 - Feb 9, 2010 - Issue #416  Phishing Lures Editor's Corner Phishing Lures Follow-up: "Antique" computers Quotes of the Week Cool Tools Tools We Think You Shouldn't Be Without News, Hints, Tips and Tricks New XP MID: Could it be an iPad Killer? Speaking of iPad killers ... IE 8 overtakes IE 6 as the "most used" web browser Windows Phone 7: Say it isn't so How To: Using XP Features How to make an application always open in a maximized state XP Security News IE vulnerability on XP XP Question Corner Can't play YouTube videos on new installation of XP XP Configuration and Troubleshooting Winspool.drv error message when you start your XP computer DirectX playback app fails when playing DRM content Fav Links This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff Product of the Week The Ultimate Troubleshooter Nothing Says "I Love You" More Than Free Antivirus Software Protect yourself and the one you love from online threats this Valentine's Day. Now through February 15, 2010 when you purchase a 1-year VIPRE Antivirus subscription you will get another subscription free! http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-BOGO-VIPRE  Editor's Corner Phishing Lures Phishing comprises a broad category of fraudulent activity, the objective of which is to obtain your personal information, account information, passwords and other sensitive information to use it for illegal purposes. Those purposes can range from merely embarrassing you by posting something inflammatory, offensive or inaccurate under your name on your social networking site to wiping out your bank accounts and destroying your credit record. With the right information and the highest degree of malevolence, a phisher might even be able to get you arrested by committing crimes using your identity. In an age of electronic communications and a world where so many people who don't know each other are connected to one another through the Internet, there are many different ways to steal information. For example, a hacker can use an operating system or application exploit to gain access to a computer and download files that contain the info, or install a key logger that will record usernames, account numbers and passwords you type in and send it back to him. But the easiest way is to let the victim do most of the work for him. The techniques used for that are called social engineering, and most phishing expeditions are a type of social engineering technique. Whereas the example above would be analogous to a burglar breaking and entering a home to steal valuables, social engineering is more like a con man tricking the victim into inviting him in and giving him the valuables - perhaps by claiming he's a police officer and is going to take them to the police station to mark them with your driver's license so they can be identified if they're ever stolen. Or maybe he uses intimidation tactics and tells you that your property is suspected to be stolen and you'll go to jail if you don't give it to him so he can "investigate" and verify that it's really yours. But he's not who he claims to be and he's the one who is really the thief. That's how phishing works. The phisher claims to be someone or something you're likely to trust, and tricks you into revealing the information he wants to use to profit (or, less often, just to hurt you). The term has been around since the late 1980s and became common on America Online (AOL) in the 1990s, when phishers pretending to work for AOL started sending instant messages and email messages asking users to "verify their accounts" by replying with a message containing their passwords and/or their credit card information. AOL cracked down on phishers years back but phishing attempts continue to flourish, and today phishers flood mailboxes with messages wherein they pose as bank and credit card company employees, representatives of well known corporations with whom many people do business (such as Microsoft, Ford, Dell, HP, etc.), IRS agents and other government officials. Phishing attempts have been on the rise for the last few years. Unique phishing reports reached a record high of 40,621 in August 2009. The number of phishing web sites was even higher, 56,362. The most targeted industry was, not surprisingly, the financial services industry. The good news, though, is that the number of computers infected with desktop "crimeware" (such as phishing-based keyloggers and other data-stealing malware) dropped some, to just over 11 million. Still, that is lot of infected systems out there. And although you might think most of the illegal sites are hosted on overseas servers, it turns out that the vast majority are hosted in the U.S. China, Canada, the U.K. and France are also consistently in the top ten list. For more about these statistics, see the 3rd Quarter 2009 Phishing Activity Trends Report by the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) at http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-Phishing-Trends-PDF On the other hand, China is reported to be the world's largest victim of cyber attacks, including phishing. That makes sense, as they have more potential victims than any other country. Phishing web sites have caused huge economic losses there, and over the last year, the government has begun to crack down harder on these types of crimes. http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-New-Laws Phishers can be creative when it comes to ways to profit from their scams. Last week a phishing scheme was reported to have been responsible for the theft of over $4 million USD in carbon emission permits registered with the German Emissions Trading Authority. Over 250,000 of the so-called "carbon credit" certificates were moved out of the accounts of seven different companies. http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-E-mail-Scam Many phishers love to prey on their victims' generosity. The recent earthquake in Haiti has spawned a plethora of fake charity solicitation messages and donation web sites, set up to con you into giving your credit card information in the name of doing a good thing. The same thing happened in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, September 11, and other major disasters. http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-Haiti-Scams Other phishing scams don't rely on anything as benign as gentle persuasion; they find scare tactics to be more effective. These can be relatively mild (such as the threat that your credit card will be cut off if you don't respond immediately) to severe (such as the threat that the IRS is about to seize your property and charge you with a criminal offense unless you provide the information they're asking for). Then there are those that count on your greed. Just yesterday, one of these landed in my mailbox. It was a notification from the "Managing Director of the HSBC Bank, UK," informing me that "the Obama's Foundation and the United Nations" had designated me as a beneficiary of $900,000 USD (why not a cool million?) as compensation for being a scam victim. Oh, the irony. Of course, to claim my money, I would have to fill out a form providing my personal information. Does anybody really fall for this? Apparently some people do. In the U.S., the official census data is collected every ten years, and 2010 is the year. Expect to see scam emails, requesting that you fill out and return an emailed attachment purporting to be from the census bureau, or containing a link to visit a web site purporting to be an official census site and provide your information there. These fake census forms and sites are likely to ask for information that the real census form doesn't require, such as your social security number, driver's license number, information about your mortgage loan, etc. The real census form asks only ten questions; you can see what they are here: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-Census If you receive a bogus message that uses the census premise in a phishing attempt, report it to the Census Bureau's fraud reporting address. You'll find that here: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-Scams Some phishing messages don't ask you to respond electronically. On the belief that most people are more trusting of someone they talk to on the phone, some phishers provide a phone number for you to call. These are usually Voice over IP (VoIP) numbers, which are portable and make it hard to track the physical location where the phone is. Some of these even use technology that fakes the caller ID information to make it appear that the phone belongs to a legitimate company or government agency. Popular web browsers now contain anti-phishing mechanisms, but it's important to be sure you have it turned on, and to realize that the technologies can't offer 100% protection against phishing. However, there has recently been controversy over the 3-D secure authentication protocols used by Visa and MasterCard to verify the identities of online customers, because it goes counter to most anti-phishing advice. That's because it pops up a box that asks for your password, which makes attacks easier and makes it harder for users to determine whether the site is secure (since there is no address bar to display indicators that SSL encryption is being used). http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-3D-Secure-is-Insecure Have you ever been the victim of a phishing scam, or do you know someone who has? Have you come close (maybe by clicking a link and starting to enter your information before realizing that something was "not right" about the web site)? Do you take any special precautions to protect against phishing? Or do you believe that only dummies could possibly fall for the phishers' scams and that anyone who does, deserves what he/she gets? Tell us about creative (or ridiculous) phishing attempts you've seen. We invite you to discuss this topic in our forum at http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-Forum-Discussion Follow-up: "Antique" computers In last week's editorial, I wrote about how some people prefer classic cars and classic computers to brand new ones. We seem to have plenty of those people out there who read this newsletter! While some took issue with my calling almost-ten-year-old XP an "antique," others are running systems that truly qualify as "ancient" in computer years. Markkino has an IBM Pentium 3 running Windows 2000, and several of you are still running Windows 98 or Millennium. George95662's favorite machine is running NT 4.0 with SP6. Joatman is running Windows for Workgroups 3.11 as a main home system. Kenneth F. even has a Turbo-XT 8 MHz machine with 640K of RAM and MS-DOS 5.0. That OS was released in 1991. C'mon, Ken - I think it's time to upgrade to MS-DOS 6.22. And fidolido still owns an 8088 with 32MB of RAM and a 5 MB hard drive. PhilC is definitely a winner in the antique race with his Atari 400 that he bought in 1980 and still runs today, and TimG's antique OS really is: CPM. DavidW made a really good point: that many people truly don't realize how much faster a new system can be - until they upgrade. If speed is important to you (and in this fast-paced world, for most of us it is), a new system can make a huge difference in your productivity. But just as my mom would have been perfectly content with a car that wouldn't go more than 40mph since she went out of her way to avoid freeways and highways, some folks are not in a hurry when they log on, and are happy with a system that takes minutes to boot up and doesn't open applications instantly. PapaJon56 also brought up an important issue for both cars and computers: preventative maintenance. Most people take their vehicles in for regular oil changes, tune-ups and other scheduled maintenance. Preventative maintenance for computers is becoming more automated - installation of updates, schedule defragmentation, and so forth - but many people allow their systems to bog down over the years because they install many programs, fill up the hard drive with unneeded data files, and don't take any preventative steps until the OS balks and shuts down. Thanks to all of you who participated in this discussion. I enjoyed reading about your experiences. 'Til next week, Deb Shinder, Editor feedback@wxpnews.com PS: Did you know this newsletter has a sister publication called Win7News? You can subscribe here, and tell your friends: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-Win7News And for IT pros, there's our "big sister," WServer News, at http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-WserverNews Join the WXPnews Fan Page on Facebook! Quotes of the Week "Nothing can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has just discovered an old idea and thinks it is his own." - Sidney J. Harris "There is nothing new under the sun but there are lots of old things we don't know." - Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914) "The surprising thing about young fools is how many survive to become old fools." - Doug Larson Own a Single-user VIPRE? Upgrade Now To Unlimited Home License For Just $19.95 You run VIPRE and love it. But what about the other PC's at the house? We have a special, limited time upgrade offer. You can upgrade now and just pay the difference (20 bucks) between the Single License and the Unlimited Home License (UHL). But wait, it gets better. Your UHL starts fresh and you get a new 12 month subscription! Do the math. Wait and pay 30 bucks later, or buy the upgrade now and get a whole year for 20 bucks. A no-brainer! Remember this is for a limited time only, get that upgrade now! Click here to learn more and order: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-UHL-Upgrade  Cool Tools Tools We Think You Shouldn't Be Without ADVERTISEMENT Never reinstall your Windows again. New technology: easy set-up, no loss of data or applications. The ultimate professional repair tool. Free comprehensive PC diagnostic with every scan, get it now! http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-Reimage MediaWidget is the quickest and easiest way to transfer all of your music, videos, photos, podcasts, and more from your iPod to PC. Check out the cool Youtube demo and download the trial here: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-MediaWidget Do you have programs you just can't seem to get rid of? Uninstaller! 2010 "ALL New" Version Just Released: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-Your-Uninstaller Billing address autofill, Secure password storage, all automatic and safe. Not a little toolbar utility. Huge time saver! http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-RoboForm Moving to Windows 7 is Easy! PCMover moves programs, files, and settings from your old PC to your new PC http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-PCmover Search for a driver and you get a ton of Driver Software offers instead. But how do you know which one is good? Try Driver Genius 9.0. Free scan. http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-Driver-Genius Behind on your backups? Why back up when you can sync? Simply replicate every piece of data to another drive in real-time. Set it and forget it. http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-GoodSync Spellchecker is NOT ENOUGH! Improve your English writing skills with WhiteSmoke a smarter solution for high quality writing. Try it: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-WhiteSmoke  News, Hints, Tips and Tricks New XP MID: Could it be an iPad Killer? What's a MID, you ask. It stands for Mobile Internet Device and it's a small flat handheld computer with wi-fi that you can use for web surfing, entertainment, etc. Sound familiar? Sound a little bit like the Apple iPad that was introduced to such fanfare late last month? A new MID from China might give the iPad a run for its money if it becomes widely available in the U.S. It has a 7 inch screen with 1024 x 600 resolution, a 1.1 GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM and a 32 GB SSD. And unlike the iPad, it also has USB ports and an HDMI port. Finally, it runs Windows XP, which is still the OS of choice for many of its loyal fans. Read more about it here: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-WindowsXP-MID Speaking of iPad killers ... Now Sony wants to get into the act. The company has said this is "a market we are also very interested in." That's exciting, because Sony is the only company that has outdone Apple when it comes to making a light, super-thin notebook PC (the Sony X series weighs less than the Macbook Air and has a more elegant look). Will it run Windows, or a proprietary OS? Nobody knows that yet, but I'll be watching this one closely. Read more here: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-iPad-Clone IE 8 overtakes IE 6 as the "most used" web browser According to Net Applications, which monitors web browser usage, IE 8 has taken over the number one spot in the world in the web browser market, with 22.31 percent of market share as of January 2010. IE 6 is still in second place with 20.07 percent and Firefox 3.5 comes in third with 17.01 percent. Although IE 6 comes with XP, this doesn't necessarily indicate that all of those people are dumping XP (as this article seems to imply). Many XP users have upgraded their web browsers to IE 7 and then IE 8 while continuing to use the older OS. http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-IE8 Windows Phone 7: Say it isn't so The rumors are swirling around the unveiling of the latest Windows Phone OS, formerly known as Windows Mobile 7, which is expected to occur at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week. http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-MobileWorldCongress According to some of those rumors, the new Windows Phone will incorporate some of the iPhone "features" that I hate most, such as no multitasking and distribution of applications only through "official channels" (think App Store). Maybe (I hope, I hope) the rumors are false. The other big rumor is that the interface will resemble that of the Zune - which isn't necessarily a bad thing - but also that the Zune software will be responsible for synchronization (shades of iTune). I really hope my Omnia II doesn't turn out to be my last Windows phone. I would hate to have to switch to Android to have the freedom to get my applications wherever I want. http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-WindowsPhone7  How To: Using XP Features How to make an application always open in a maximized state You may have certain programs you prefer to always run maximized so they fill your whole screen, especially programs like Excel. It's annoying to always have to maximize them manually and it's easy to change them to open up that way every time. Just do the following: Right click the shortcut for the application. Click Properties. Click the Shortcut tab. In the Run field, click the down arrow and in the drop-down box, click Maximized. Click OK. You'll need to do this for every app that you want to always open in full screen mode, but once that's done, it will save you some clicks.  XP Security News IE vulnerability on XP A presentation at the BlackHat conference in Washington, D.C. demonstrated a vulnerability in Internet Explorer that can allow it information from your computer to be exposed to malicious web sites when running on Windows XP. This normally doesn't happen with Vista and Windows 7 because IE runs in "protected mode" by default on those operating systems, although if that mode has been disabled, they could be vulnerable, too. Microsoft issued a security advisory on February 3rd. There are several workarounds for XP users, which include setting Internet and Local Intranet security zones to "high," set IE to prompt before running Active Scripting (or disable Active Scripting), and enabling IE Network Protocol Lockdown for XP. You'll find links to the instructions for these actions here: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-Security-Advisory  XP Question Corner Can't play YouTube videos on new installation of XP QUESTION: I bought a computer with Vista installed on it last summer. I didn't like Vista so I wiped the hard drive and installed XP. I found the drivers and it works fine except I have never been able to play videos on sites like YouTube. I get a message saying Flash isn't installed but when I try to get it at the Adobe web site it says Flash is already installed. I am using IE 7 and I uninstalled it and reinstalled it but the same thing happens. Can you help? - Justin V. ANSWER: Close all running applications that could be using Flash. Uninstall Flash and the ActiveX control using the Adobe Flash Player uninstaller. You can download it here: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-Adobe-Flash-Plugin Now reinstall Flash from the Adobe site. This often fixes this problem. If that doesn't work, try installing the updated version of Windows Script engine. You can get it here: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-Windows-Script-5-6  XP Configuration and Troubleshooting Winspool.drv error message when you start your XP computer If you get an error message when you boot your Windows XP computer that says "The application or DLL C: \ Windows \ system32 \ winspool.drv is not a valid Windows image," it probably means that file has become corrupted. Winspool.drv is a process that belongs to the Windows print spooler. The fix is pretty easy; for instructions, see KB article 919753 at http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-Valid-Windows-Image DirectX playback app fails when playing DRM content If you use certain DirectX applications (not Windows Media Player) to play video content that is protected by Digital Rights Management (DRM) on your XP computer, you may find that the application fails. This happens when the content you're trying to play is interlaced. There is a hotfix for the problem, for both the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Windows XP. You can read more about it and download the fixes in KB article 939209 at http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-DRM-Protected-Video  Fav Links This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff Disclaimer: WXPNews does not assume and cannot be responsible for any liability related to you clicking any of these linked Web sites. Ah-choo! Sneezing baby panda startles mom http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-Sneezing-Panda How to view the IP addresses and connection speeds of everyone connected to a web site (not). If you know anything about common network utilities, you'll get a laugh out of this. http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-IP-Addresses Play Continuity http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-Continuity Time lapse snowfall http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-Snow Oops! How not to right an overturn semi truck http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-Semi Snowboarding bulldog http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-Snow-Dog Exclusive outtake footage of the E*Trade Baby and his buddies. Check this out - they did not show it during the Big Game: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-Outtakes Universal Orlando's Harry Potter Super Bowl ad with Daniel Radcliffe: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-Harry-Potter-Commercial My favorite Super Bowl 2010 commercial. With knowledge comes confidence: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-Cars-Commercial Looking for dirt cheap real estate in the Tampa Bay area? ListingBook is an online tool that will give you access to the same database that real estate business pros use and you can access it 24/7. It will provide you with up-to-the-minute data on all the hot properties that matter to you. Sign up for an account: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-ListingBook  Product of the Week The Ultimate Troubleshooter Possibly The Most Complete And Most Effective PC Tuning Program Ever Written A staggering 65% of problems which a PC encounters (PC slowness, temporary freezes, full lockups, crashes, blue screens, sluggish behavior), whether in business or at home, are not caused by hardware problems, they are not caused by spyware, they are not caused by viruses - they are caused by background tasks belonging largely to legitimate and often well-known software you use every day! Don't believe it? OK - here is a little story.... http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100209-UltimateTroubleshooter  About WXPnews What Our Lawyers Make Us Say These documents are provided for informational purposes only. The information contained in this document represents the current view of Sunbelt Software on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because Sunbelt must respond to changes in market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Sunbelt and Sunbelt cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication. INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND FREEDOM FROM INFRINGEMENT. This newsletter and website and may contain links to other websites with whom we have a business relationship. Sunbelt Software does not review or screen these sites, and we are not responsible or liable for their privacy or data security practices, or the content of these sites. Additionally, if you register with any of these sites, any information that you provide in the process of registration, such as your email address, credit card number or other personally identifiable information, will be transferred to these sites. For these reasons, you should be careful to review any privacy and data security policies posted on any of these sites before providing information to them. The user assumes the entire risk as to the accuracy and the use of this document. This document may be copied and distributed subject to the following conditions: 1) All text must be copied without modification and all pages must be included; 2) All copies must contain Sunbelt's copyright notice and any other notices provided therein; and 3) This document may not be distributed for profit. All trademarks acknowledged. Copyright Sunbelt Software, Inc. 1996-2010. WXPnews Archives Looking for a past issue? Missing an issue? Accidently deleted an issue? Trying to find that article that pointed you to that cool site? All our newsletters are archived and are searchable: http://www.wxpnews.com/archives.cfm About Your Subscription to WXPnews This is a posting from WXPnews. You are subscribed as cpedley.killcomputer@blogger.com. To manage your profile, please visit our site by clicking on the following link: http://www.wxpnews.com/profile.cfm?wxp=MY5HU3 If you have feedback or wish to write to the editor, write to us at feedback@wxpnews.com Sunbelt Software 33 North Garden Avenue Clearwater, Florida USA 33755

Gizmo's Daily Tech Treats

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Download Gorgeous Mouse Cursors for Free Posted: 07 Feb 2010 03:27 PM PST

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Weekend Roundup February 5, 2010 Posted: 05 Feb 2010 02:47 PM PST

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Mac Attack: 100 Free Programs for Mac OS X Posted: 04 Feb 2010 01:51 PM PST

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FREE Download “The Complete Windows 7 Shortcuts” eBook Posted: 02 Feb 2010 09:25 PM PST

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How Well does Windows 7 Run on a Notebook with Modest Specs?

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Vol. 2, # 5 - Feb 4, 2010 - Issue # 21   How Well does Windows 7 Run on a Notebook with Modest Specs? Editor's Corner How Well does Windows 7 Run on a Notebook with Modest Specs? Follow-up: It's just a game Quotes of the Week Cool Tools News, Hints, Tips and Tricks Release candidate will start expiring soon iPad as a thin client for Windows 7 Microsoft earnings way up, thanks to Windows 7 How to: Using the New Windows 7 Features How to upgrade from Windows 7 Home to Pro or Ultimate when you bought the boxed version How to fix touchpad problem with Windows 7 upgrade Windows 7 and Vista Security Not even Windows 7 can stop social engineers Question Corner Get the Classic Start Menu on Windows 7 Windows 7 Configuration and Troubleshooting How to use the Bootrec.exe tool in Vista or Windows 7 Error message when you log on using a temporary profile Fav Links This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff Kiss Your Antivirus Bloatware Goodbye We asked users of antivirus products what they didn't like about their AV software. They told us they are resource hogs and slowed their computer down. They told us that scan times took way too long, and that the AV software nagged them. In short, old-style AV software takes too much Memory and CPU. Time to switch to VIPRE! It gives you malware protection that combines antivirus, antispyware, anti-rootkit and other technologies into a seamless, tightly-integrated product. Even if you run "free" antivirus software, it hijacks 20% of your PC, so it's really not free at all! Get VIPRE now and see how fast your PC can really be: http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-VIPRE Editor's Corner How Well does Windows 7 Run on a Notebook with Modest Specs? Last week, after much agonizing, I bought a new Windows 7 notebook. If you're interested in the decision process that I went through and the details about the system I ended up with, you can read about that in my blog post at http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-New-Laptop I admit I had a little trepidation about how well Windows 7 Ultimate would run on a notebook with modest technical specs - a bit more powerful than the typical netbook, but not much. Part of the reason I picked the Sony was because I loved my two previous Sony ultra compacts - but I did get off to a rocky start with the second one. I bought the Sony TX back in January 2007, right after Vista was released. I had specifically waited for the release so I could get a new notebook that came with Vista pre-installed, because my Sony T didn't support an upgrade to Vista. The TX came with Vista Business edition. The hardware was very nice, but the operating system ran as slowly as molasses. I had been running Vista Ultimate on my Dell XPS for over a year (in beta and RC) with no problems, so I was shocked at the lousy performance on my brand new notebook. I tried upgrading it to Ultimate, but that didn't help (although it didn't seem to make it any worse). I resigned myself to the fact that this time, I had made a $2200 mistake. Then Service Pack 1 came out, and it proved to be a miracle worker for my little Sony. I'm not saying Vista suddenly became blazing fast, but after I installed SP1, it performed as I had expected it to and was perfectly fine for doing the kind of work I did with the notebook. I installed Windows 7 on the TX when the RTM came out, and it worked pretty well. However, it has an old wi-fi adapter that doesn't support 802.11n, it maxed out at 1.5 GB of RAM, and its hard drive is smaller than I would have liked (60 GB). I was ready for a new one, and the Sony X was not only smaller and thinner but it also had the n adapter, more RAM and more than twice the disk space - and that disk was a faster solid state drive (SSD). Best of all, the cost was hundreds of dollars less than I'd paid for the TX. Any fears about performance went out the window when I got the little guy home and started using it. Getting used to its "Chiclet" keyboard took a little while, but the system is super responsive and I don't have to wait for a service pack to enjoy using it. Despite its Atom processor, it has proven to be quite peppy. I give the 128 GB SSD at least some of the credit for that, and I expect to continue seeing the benefits of that technology, thanks to Windows 7. Windows 7, along with Windows Server 2008 R2, is optimized for SSDs. It partitions them more efficiently, which reduces the number of redundant read-write cycles. The operating system also uses a technology called TRIM, which uses ATA commands to increase the write speeds on SSDs (flash memory has a fast random read speed but a low write speed). TRIM also addresses a problem that SSDs had with older operating systems, whereby they would slow down over time as more of the cells were written to. TRIM can cause the SSD to erase invalid pages before they're overwritten to increase performance. TRIM also decreases wear on the drive because it gets rid of the necessity for many merge operations. Defragmentation and other features that are designed for traditional hard drives are disabled when Windows 7 detects an SSD. For more about the engineering of Windows 7 to better support SSDs, see http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-SSD-Support Another thing I was worried about was battery life. One of the primary reasons I chose the Sony X was the incredible 12 hours of uptime claimed for the extended battery. I wasn't sure if it would really live up to those numbers, but so far it seems to be doing so. Battery life has been an issue for laptops that were upgraded to Windows 7 from Vista, though. Some people have reported huge decreases, from two hours to just thirty minutes, for example. I did notice a very slight decrease in my battery time when I upgraded the TX from Vista to Windows 7. Before, I had been able to get close to 7 hours. After the upgrade, I was down to about 6 and a half. Some people are getting messages saying their batteries need to be recharged when they still have plenty of charge, and even messages saying the battery needs to be replaced completely. http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-Win7-Battery-Life Apparently most of the time, the battery warnings are bogus and have to do with the way some laptops' BIOSes detect whether a battery needs replacement. That's good news, but it could lead to problems. As with the boy who cried "wolf" too many times, you may ignore your computer's warning if/when your battery really does go bad. Microsoft is working with PC vendors to try to determine exactly what the cause is, and correct it. http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-Battery-Issue The battery issue may scare some folks away from buying Windows 7 laptops, or from upgrading their current laptops to Windows 7. I would certainly think twice about it if I read a report that my model of computer was getting hours less battery time than before. All in all, though, Windows 7 runs extremely well on laptops, notebooks and netbooks - certainly better than Vista did prior to SP1. And you don't have to stick with the puny Starter edition just because you have a low powered system. The Atom processor in my Sony X can handle Win7 Ultimate just fine; one of the first things I did after bringing it home was to upgrade the Home Premium edition that came with it. What has your experience been with running Windows 7 on a portable computer? Have you bought a new Win7 laptop or installed Win7 on one of your old ones? How do you think performance on a small machine compares to Vista? To XP? Have you noticed any problems with the battery life - either real ones or false alarms? Have the scare stories made you hesitate to upgrade your laptop or buy one with Windows 7 installed? We invite you to discuss this topic in our forum at http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-Forum-Discussion Follow-up: It's just a game In last week's editorial, I wrote about how Windows 7 is proving to be pretty popular with the gamer community and asked for input from readers about your experiences with Win7 as a gaming OS. I guess most of you are like me - you use your computer for work and personal communication rather than playing games - because we had a lower than usual number of discussion posts. One reader pointed out that although Windows 7 supports DirectX 11 for graphics and it's a great technology, it's not easy to find video cards yet that support it, especially if you happen to be an nVidia fan. But apparently DX 10 is working well on Windows 7 for some of you. Tim G. made some good points about gaming in general, both in regard to how time consuming it can be and bringing up the idea of "family gaming time" so that the games allow you and your loved ones to do something together, instead of taking time away from them. He also noted that playing PC games is pretty sedentary, even if it is mentally intense, and pointed out the benefits of the Wii with its involvement of the whole body in the gaming experience. I know many folks are looking forward to Microsoft's Natal technology that goes even further in putting you into the game interactively. It will soon be part of the Xbox and I expect it to give the Wii a run for its money. Hey, I might even get an Xbox and start playing games myself if I can justify it as part of my exercise program. As always, thanks to all of you who participated in the discussion. 'Til next week, Deb Shinder, Editor feedback@win7news.net PS: Did you know this newsletter has a sister publication for XP users called WXPnews? You can subscribe here, and tell your friends: http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-WXPNews And for IT pros, there's our "big sister," WServer News, at http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-WserverNews Join the Win7News fan page on Facebook! http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-Win7News-on-Facebook Quotes of the Week "Computer games don't affect kids. I mean, if Pac Man affected kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive music." - Marcus Brigstocke "It's never just a game when you're winning." - George Carlin (1937 - 2008) "You learn a lot about people when you play games with them." - Laura Moncur "Once the game is over, the King and Pawn go back in the same box." - Italian proverb Kiss Your Antivirus Bloatware Goodbye We asked users of antivirus products what they didn't like about their AV software. They told us they are resource hogs and slowed their computer down. They told us that scan times took way too long, and that the AV software nagged them. In short, old-style AV software takes too much Memory and CPU. Time to switch to VIPRE! It gives you malware protection that combines antivirus, antispyware, anti-rootkit and other technologies into a seamless, tightly-integrated product. Even if you run "free" antivirus software, it hijacks 20% of your PC, so it's really not free at all! Get VIPRE now and see how fast your PC can really be: http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-VIPRE Cool Tools ADVERTISEMENT Never reinstall your operating system again. New technology: easy set-up, no loss of data or applications. The ultimate professional repair tool. Free comprehensive PC diagnostic with every scan, get it now! http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-Reimage Do you have programs you just can't seem to get rid of? Uninstaller! 2010 "ALL New" Version Just Released: http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-Your-Uninstaller Moving to Windows 7 is Easy! PCMover moves programs, files, and settings from your old PC to your new PC. http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-PCmover Search for a driver and you get a ton of Driver Software offers instead. But how do you know which one is good? Try Driver Genius 9.0. Free scan. http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-Driver-Genius Billing address autofill, Secure password storage, all automatic and safe. Not a little toolbar utility. Huge time saver! http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-RoboForm Get your speed back! Advanced Vista Optimizer will tweak Vista for Max performance. Easy to use: http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-System-Optimizer News, Hints, Tips and Tricks Release candidate will start expiring soon If you're still running the Windows 7 release candidate (RC), get prepared: on February 15th you'll start getting warnings of the impending doom of your operating system. On March 1, it gets worse: the OS will shut down every two hours. If you can actually put up with that, it'll go on until June 1, at which time it will turn into a "non genuine" copy of Windows and you'll get anti- piracy pop-ups. But in the meantime, you could lose data if you lose track of time and Windows shuts down on you, so it really is a good idea to move to the final version of Win7 as soon as you can. http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-Release-Candidate iPad as a thin client for Windows 7 Apple's iPad was released last week amidst much fanfare. It didn't exactly impress everyone; many in the tech industry expressed disappointment. You can read my reaction to the unveiling in my blog post here: http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-iPad But if you feel compelled to go out and buy one even though it lacks so many features that I consider basic, here's some interesting news for you: Citrix has announced that they are going to release software to make the iPad a thin client that you can use to connect to your real operating system - Windows 7. Hmm. Now that might actually make the thing useful. Read more here: http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-iPad-Remote-Access Microsoft earnings way up, thanks to Windows 7 There's good news for those of us who own Microsoft stock: earnings in the most recent quarter are up 60 percent, and one reason for that was the release of Windows 7 last October. In fact, revenue from Windows increased by 70 percent and around 60 million copies of the operating system were sold. That wins it the title of fastest selling version of Windows ever. http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-Microsoft-Earnings Customer satisfaction is up, too - also thanks to Windows 7 In another report, a market research company determined that Microsoft's customer satisfaction rating increased by 14 percent in 2009, following the release of Windows 7. That compares with a 6.9 percent increase for Apple after releasing Snow Leopard. http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-Customer-Satisfaction How to: Using the New Windows 7 Features How to upgrade from Windows 7 Home to Pro or Ultimate when you bought the boxed version Here's an interesting issue that I encountered when I decided to upgrade my new laptop from Windows 7 Home Premium (which came preinstalled) to Windows 7 Ultimate. I had a few boxed copies of Ultimate that I'd bought at the Microsoft Store, so that should be no problem, right? It installed without a hitch, but instead of a box to enter my product key, I got a message telling me that I needed to upgrade with Windows Anytime Upgrade. That caused a few moments of consternation - was I going to have to buy another license through WAU, when I already had a perfectly valid license. Well, I discovered that the answer is "no." I clicked to go to the WAU page, and there was an option that said to click if you already have a Windows Anytime Upgrade license. That wasns't exactly what I had, but I clicked anyway. And then I got a dialog box asking for the product key. I wasn't optimistic, but I entered my key (which I didn't get through WAU) and lo and behold, it was accepted. That was a big relief, and I'm sure it will come as good news to anyone else out there who finds him/herself in the same predicament. How to fix touchpad problem with Windows 7 upgrade If you upgrade your laptop to Windows 7, you might bet a message that your Synapics touchpad has been disabled. This happens because an external USB device was detected. You can enable the touchpad when an external USB device is detected by performing these steps: Click Start. In the Search box, type main.cpl and press ENTER. Click the Device Settings tab. Clear the checkbox that says "Disable internal pointing device when external USB pointing device is attached." Click OK. Windows 7 and Vista Security Not even Windows 7 can stop social engineers Windows 7 includes new security mechanisms that can keep malicious code from running on your computer - that is, unless you explicitly download and install that malware. Unfortunately, that's often what happens; instead of exploiting vulnerabilities in the operating system, applications or protocols, social engineers exploit human weaknesses and trick you into doing it to yourself. No OS will ever be safe from those tactics until users wise up and learn to recognize these for what they are. http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-Windows7-Safeguards Question Corner Get the Classic Start Menu on Windows 7 QUESTION: There are some things I really like about Windows 7, like better security. But I've been switching my XP back to the Classic Start menu forever - I just prefer it that way. Why oh why did Microsoft remove that option in Windows 7 and is there any secret way to get it back? - Steve L. ANSWER: I totally understand why one would want to switch back to the Classic interface in XP, since the native XP interface is, to put it mildly, not very attractive. I would never want to replace the Vista or Windows 7 Start menu and interface with the old NT one, but we all have different likes and dislikes. I think Microsoft removed the option to go back to the Classic look from Windows 7 because, well, it was time. However, for those die-hards who have put off upgrading because of this, or who has upgraded and are now unhappy with the new look, I have good news for you. SourceForge.net has a free program called Classic Shell that lets you have the classic Start menu, Explorer toolbar and other classic elements. You can see screenshots and download it here: http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-Classic-Shell Windows 7 Configuration and Troubleshooting How to use the Bootrec.exe tool in Vista or Windows 7 You can use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot the master boot record, boot sectors or a boot configuration data (BCD) store if the Startup Repair option doesn't work. To find out how to start the Windows RE and how to use Bootrec.exe for common problems, see KB article 927392 at http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-Bootrec-Tool Error message when you log on using a temporary profile If you log onto a Vista or Windows computer with a temporary profile, you might get an error message that says "The User Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded. This happens because of a Group Policy setting and may occur when a profile is manually deleted. You can fix the problem with a registry edit. For the step-by-step instructions, see KB article 947215 at http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-User-Profile-Service-Failed Fav Links This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff Disclaimer: VistaNews does not assume and cannot be responsible for any liability related to you clicking any of these linked Web sites. My new puppy http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-Puppy For fans of vans http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-Vans What your email address says about you http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-Email-Address On a roll http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-Rolling-Man They don't make 'em like this anymore: 557,000 miles on the odometer and still running strong http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-557000-Miles Dancing Owl http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-Owl A clever technology of making a solid brick wall transparent: http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-Transparent-Wall An amazing self-working mathematical card trick: http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-Card-Trick Jeff and Erin created this stunning "trailer" as their wedding invitation: http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-Save-the-Date My favorite Super Bowl 2010 commercial. With knowledge comes confidence: http://www.win7news.net/O52HI2/100204-Commercial  About Win7News What Our Lawyers Make Us Say These documents are provided for informational purposes only. The information contained in this document represents the current view of Sunbelt Software on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because Sunbelt must respond to changes in market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Sunbelt and Sunbelt cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication. INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND FREEDOM FROM INFRINGEMENT. This newsletter and website and may contain links to other websites with whom we have a business relationship. Sunbelt Software does not review or screen these sites, and we are not responsible or liable for their privacy or data security practices, or the content of these sites. Additionally, if you register with any of these sites, any information that you provide in the process of registration, such as your email address, credit card number or other personally identifiable information, will be transferred to these sites. For these reasons, you should be careful to review any privacy and data security policies posted on any of these sites before providing information to them. The user assumes the entire risk as to the accuracy and the use of this document. This document may be copied and distributed subject to the following conditions: 1) All text must be copied without modification and all pages must be included; 2) All copies must contain Sunbelt's copyright notice and any other notices provided therein; and 3) This document may not be distributed for profit. All trademarks acknowledged. Copyright Sunbelt Software, Inc. 1996-2010. Win7News Archives Looking for a past issue? Missing an issue? Accidently deleted an issue? Trying to find that article that pointed you to that cool site? All our newsletters are archived and are searchable: http://www.win7news.net/archives About Your Subscription to Win7News This is a posting from Win7News. You are subscribed as cpedley.killcomputer@blogger.com Your personal W7N Number is: O52HI2 To manage your profile, please visit our site by clicking on the following link: http://www.win7news.net/profile?w7n=O52HI2 If you have feedback or wish to write to the editor, write to us at feedback@win7news.net Sunbelt Software 33 North Garden Avenue Clearwater, Florida USA 33755

Keeping your "Antique" OS Up and Running

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Vol. 10, #5 - Feb 2, 2010 - Issue #415  Keeping your "Antique" OS Up and Running Editor's Corner Keeping your "Antique" OS Up and Running Follow-up: High Tech Animals Quotes of the Week Cool Tools Tools We Think You Shouldn't Be Without News, Hints, Tips and Tricks Windows Experience Pack: Something new for XP users Does XP really get better battery life? Microsoft encouraging you to give up on XP? How To: Using XP Features How to change the default wallpaper folder in XP XP Security News XP users should update Flash Player now XP Question Corner How do I get the date displayed in the system tray? XP Configuration and Troubleshooting Find out how long your XP computer has been up and running Problem ejecting USB Mass Storage Device Fav Links This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff Product of the Week MediaWidget Kiss Your Antivirus Bloatware Goodbye We asked users of antivirus products what they didn't like about their AV software. They told us they are resource hogs and slowed their computer down. They told us that scan times took way too long, and that the AV software nagged them. In short, old-style AV software takes too much Memory and CPU. Time to switch to VIPRE! It gives you malware protection that combines antivirus, antispyware, anti-rootkit and other technologies into a seamless, tightly-integrated product. Even if you run "free" antivirus software, it hijacks 20% of your PC, so it's really not free at all! Get VIPRE now and see how fast your PC can really be: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-VIPRE  Editor's Corner Keeping your "Antique" OS Up and Running A few weeks ago, I ran across a news article about how people are driving their old cars longer than they did a years ago, no longer trading them in for a new model every couple of years. This isn't good for the auto industry, but is no doubt having a positive effect on many consumers' finances. http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-Auto-Sales I've never been one of those folks who cares about having a brand new car. I bought a new Saturn in 2007 and it only has a little over 13,000 miles on it now. I don't exactly drive a lot; working at home helps to keep the miles off the odometer. My last three cars have been Saturns and since GM has killed that line and there won't be any more, I'll probably keep this car until it falls apart. I come by that attitude honestly. My dad always told me that a car was just getting broken in good at 100,000 miles, and he sometimes drove his vehicles until he'd racked up twice that. We just never saw our transportation as a primary status symbol in my family. In fact, there was a certain amount of pride taken in how long you were able to keep your old car running well. It's interesting to see the same sorts of attitudes emerging toward computers. Some people are emotionally invested in their systems and in having the fastest, prettiest or most expensive one on the block. Others see them just as workhorses and don't care whether they look nice or have impressive specs or run the latest and greatest software, as long as they get the owner to where he/she wants to go. Some folks really need to buy a new car every few years because they use their vehicles so extensively. Those who commute long distances or use their cars to travel in their businesses may put tens of thousands of miles on them in a year. Sometimes you need to get a new vehicle because your needs have changed; the little sports car doesn't work for you after you get married and have twins, or a subcompact isn't the best choice if you have to haul large items frequently. Other people are just hooked on the "new car smell" and would prefer to have a brand new Ford than a Mercedes or BMW that's a few years old. People who really care about cars will sacrifice in other areas of their lives in order to drive the one they love. Our reasons for buying a new computer - or not - can vary just as much. Some of us need to replace our equipment fairly often because we make our livings testing new software, which may not run well or at all on older systems. Sometimes our needs change and we want to run a program that requires more RAM than our old computer's motherboard will support. Sometimes the little low powered laptop that served us fine for checking mail and surfing the web can't handle the video-intensive PowerPoint slideshows and VM demos we now need to be able to present when we go on the road. And some of us are just hooked on living on the technological edge and we're willing to forego other luxuries to have the computers that make us feel like ubergeeks - whether we need them or not. Our choices aren't always based on purely practical considerations, and maybe they shouldn't always be. Your head might tell you that the sensible thing to do is buy the ugly little hybrid, but that sleek and sexy sports convertible with the motorized hardtop that costs only a little more may be tugging at your heart strings. If you get the hybrid, you might feel more righteous for being "good" and you might save some money on gas, but you also might always wonder what it would have felt like to zoom down the highway at night with the top down and your hair blowing in the wind. In my opinion, everyone who wants one should find a way to own a convertible at least once in his/her life. And that brings us back to computers. I struggled with a similar dilemma last week when I was trying to make up my mind about which new laptop to buy. My head told me one thing, but my heart was telling me something else. If you want to know how I resolved it, read my blog post at http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-New-Laptop But for some people (or for the same people, at different points in their lives), the new car dealership holds no attraction. What turns their heads are classic cars, or what some might refer to as "antiques": a beautifully restored '59 AMC Rambler, an immaculate '55 Thunderbird or a big old '47 Plymouth Deluxe with "suicide doors," or for those with really deep pockets, a souped-up'66 Shelby Cobra. And I know people who have similar feelings for their elderly computers. Although a Pentium III running Windows 95 may only have been around for a little over a decade, in "computer years" it's as least as much of an antique as those mid-century cars. Now, I don't know many people who are still running that combination (although I do know a few) but there are plenty of people out there - probably many of those reading this newsletter - whose Windows XP computers are approaching the decade mark. And for a computer, that's old. But just as with older cars - whether true classics or just well-preserved "clunkers" - that doesn't necessarily mean it's time to get rid of it. It all depends on what you want it to do and whether you're willing to give up some of the new features (or spend extra to add them) and whether you want to spend a little extra time on maintenance and TLC. If you want to have all the modern driving amenities like anti-lock brakes and airbags and GPS, some may be difficult or impossible to retrofit to your classic car and others may not work as well as the ones that are built into new cars. Others, such as seat belts or a new stereo system, can be installed fairly easily. It's the same with computers. It's pretty simple to upgrade the amount of disk space in your old machine or buy it a new monitor to make things look nicer, but you might not be able to do anything about the RAM (unless you replace the motherboard, which is like putting a whole new engine in your car). Likewise, you might be able to add some of the Vista/Windows 7 feature set to XP with add-on programs but they may not work as well since they aren't integrated parts of the OS. And there are some new features that you just can't add to the old OS, such as the ability to join a homegroup or run DirectX 11 or some of the more sophisticated security mechanisms in Vista and/or Windows 7. There is no reason you can't continue to drive an old car or use an old computer or operating system as long as it works for you. And there are many advantages to doing so: you don't have to pay for new hardware/software and there's no learning curve to become familiar with a new way of doing things. You're comfortable with your old car and it feels almost like part of the family. You know where the controls for the windshield wipers and lights are, how to reset the dashboard clock. You don't want to unlearn long established habits. And you know exactly how to perform your common tasks with your old operating system. Why go through a frustrating transition period if you don't have to? You might have to engage in a little more maintenance on some things that are automated in the newer models and you might have to spend a little extra money on "extras" that come built into the newer models, but it's up to you to decide whether it's worth it. Don't let anyone tell you that you're hopelessly old fashioned for sticking with what you know and love. Tell us what you think. Why do you stick with your old computer: is it purely an economic decision? Do you love the interface and don't want to learn a new one? Are you a little lazy and just haven't gotten around to it? Do you take pride in having a high-mileage system? We invite you to discuss this topic in our forum at http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-Forum-Discussion Follow-up: High Tech Animals Last week, I went way out there and picked a topic that some folks might think is too far afield: how technology is affecting even our pets. Still, it seemed to strike a chord with several readers. And the consensus seems to be that when it comes to pets, generally less technology is better. One reader brought up a "high tech" device that I hadn't thought of when I wrote the article - although I should have, as my cats love it: the laser pointer. This must be one of the best "exercise aids" for animals ever invented, even though it wasn't invented for that purpose. I was glad to see that most of our readers feel as I do about the "invisible fence" - I could never use a device that inflicts an electrical shock, no matter how slight, even though its advocates swear that the pain is minimal. Of course, there are some folks who always have to scold me for something. I've come to expect it and would feel lonely without it. One of those readers took me to task for researching breeds to find the right fit for our family; it seems that is "unthinkable" and I should have adopted from the local shelter instead. I beg to disagree. Far too many animals end up in the shelter in the first place because the owners didn't take the time to make sure they had a good fit. I've adopted several pets from shelters over my lifetime, but I lived a more flexible lifestyle then and didn't have two other animals already in the home to consider (one of whom, in fact, came from a shelter) or a husband who can be a little picky about things. For us, it was a far better choice to get a breed with known characteristics that we could be reasonably certain would fit in well and thus have a long and happy life with happy people and co-pets. I don't care about the "papers," but I do care about having a known lineage that makes it much easier to predict temperament and health issues. To me, it's "unthinkable" to pass judgment on anyone who takes a pet into his/her home with the intent of loving it and caring for it and giving it a full, healthy, happy life - regardless of where you get it. For anyone who's interested in seeing the first movie of the newest addition to our family, check it out at http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-Video As always, thanks to everyone who participated in this discussion. 'Til next week, Deb Shinder, Editor feedback@wxpnews.com PS: Did you know this newsletter has a sister publication called Win7News? You can subscribe here, and tell your friends: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-Win7News And for IT pros, there's our "big sister," WServer News, at http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-WserverNews Join the WXPnews Fan Page on Facebook! Quotes of the Week "If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. That is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain (1835 - 1910) "Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow." - Jeff Valdez "I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals." - Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965) "We could have bought a small yacht with what we spent on our dog and all the things he destroyed. Then again, how many yachts wait by the door all day for your return?" - John Grogan Own a Single-user VIPRE? Upgrade Now To Unlimited Home License For Just $19.95 You run VIPRE and love it. But what about the other PC's at the house? We have a special, limited time upgrade offer. You can upgrade now and just pay the difference (20 bucks) between the Single License and the Unlimited Home License (UHL). But wait, it gets better. Your UHL starts fresh and you get a new 12 month subscription! Do the math. Wait and pay 30 bucks later, or buy the upgrade now and get a whole year for 20 bucks. A no-brainer! Remember this is for a limited time only, get that upgrade now! Click here to learn more and order: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-UHL-Upgrade  Cool Tools Tools We Think You Shouldn't Be Without ADVERTISEMENT MediaWidget is the quickest and easiest way to transfer all of your music, videos, photos, podcasts, and more from your iPod to PC. Check out the cool Youtube demo and download the trial here: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-MediaWidget Never reinstall your XP again. New technology: easy set-up, no loss of data or applications. The ultimate professional repair tool. Free comprehensive PC diagnostic with every scan, get it now! http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-Reimage Do you have programs you just can't seem to get rid of? Uninstaller! 2010 "ALL New" Version Just Released: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-Your-Uninstaller Billing address autofill, secure password storage, all automatic and safe. Not a little toolbar utility. Huge time saver! http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-RoboForm Moving to Windows 7 is Easy! PCMover moves programs, files, and settings from your old PC to your new PC http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-PCmover Search for a driver and you get a ton of Driver Software offers instead. But how do you know which one is good? Try Driver Genius 9.0. Free scan. http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-Driver-Genius Behind on your backups? Why back up when you can sync? Simply replicate every piece of data to another drive in real-time. Set it and forget it. http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-GoodSync Spellchecker is NOT ENOUGH! Improve your English writing skills with WhiteSmoke a smarter solution for high quality writing. Try it: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-WhiteSmoke  News, Hints, Tips and Tricks Windows Experience Pack: Something new for XP users Just when you thought Microsoft had forgotten all about XP users, here comes a new release - the Windows Experience Pack - that isn't just for Vista/Windows 7 users. It's also available for XP. It contains several goodies that include new wallpapers and screensavers and winks, emoticons and scenes for Windows Messenger. The good news is that it's free. The bad news is that you need to use Windows Live to benefit from it. http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-Windows-Experience-Pack Does XP really get better battery life? Well, that depends. Some of the new laptops designed to run Windows 7 are getting pretty incredible battery times - but if you're thinking about upgrading your existing laptop from XP (or Vista), you should know that some users are reporting much lower battery life with the new OS. But it seems that might not really be the case - instead, users are getting warnings and even seeing their laptops shut down even though the battery isn't out of power. It's apparently related to a problem with the way Windows 7 reads some system firmware. You can read more about it here: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-Win7-Battery-Life Microsoft encouraging you to give up on XP? Well, of course they are. And although of course the company wants you to buy their new software, that's not the only reason. In today's world, everyone seems to need to blame someone for every misfortune, and if you fall prey to a hacker's attack that exploits their software, they know they'll be the ones who take that blame. And unfortunately, even those tech experts who love XP for other reasons have to admit that it's just not as secure as its younger "siblings," Vista and Windows 7. But there are ways you can increase its security - for instance, by installing the latest version of IE (v8) instead of sticking with IE6 that came with the OS. http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-Abandon-IE6  How To: Using XP Features How to change the default wallpaper folder in XP By default, Windows XP looks in C:\Windows for the wallpaper images that it uses to populate the list of available backgrounds in the Display Properties | Desktop dialog box. Wouldn't it be handier if you could have it look in a different folder, such as your My Pictures folder where you probably save your favorite images? Well, you can - with a simple registry edit. Here's how: Open the registry editor Navigate to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion In the right details pane, double click the value WallPaperDir (if it doesn't exist, create a new string value and give it that name) In the Value data field of the Edit String dialog box, type or paste the path to the My Pictures folder (or whatever folder you want Windows to look in for wallpapers). For example: c: \ Documents and Settings \ *your user name* \ My Documents \ My Pictures Close the registry editor You should not have to reboot to apply the change; you can now open the Display Properties | Desktop dialog box and you'll see the images from your chosen folder in the list.  XP Security News XP users should update Flash Player now Earlier this month, Microsoft issued a security bulletin urging XP users to update the Flash Player that comes with Windows XP, if they haven't already done so. The old version of Adobe's Flash software suffers from multiple security vulnerabilities and this affects XP even if you've installed SP2 or SP3. Adobe itself no longer supports Flash v.6, and since Flash is one of the most commonly exploited desktop applications, it's important to make sure you're using a more secure version. The current version is 10.0.42.34. So why would anyone still be stuck back with v. 6? It's something that can easily happen if you reinstall XP - which many folks do if they have problems with the OS - and don't automatically update all of the programs. http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-Update-Flash-Player  XP Question Corner How do I get the date displayed in the system tray? QUESTION: I have been running XP on my computer for years. I got a bad virus and had to reformat the hard drive and reinstall XP, which was no problem. But now I only have the time showing in the tray instead of the time and date like I had before. It shows the date if I hover over the time but I didn't have to do that before. How do I get the date back? I don't remember where I set that way back when. Thanks! - Mitchell N. ANSWER: You can customize the clock display in the notification area (system tray) in several ways, including having it display the date along with the time. Click Start | Control Panel and open the Region and Language applet. Now click the Formats tab. Here you will find the settings for date and time formats; for example, you can change from A.M./P.M. format to military (24 hour) time. At the bottom of this page, click the Additional Settings button. This opens another dialog box; click the Date tab. Now select the date format you want to use (depending on whether you want to see just the date, the day of the week as well, etc.). Click OK to apply.  XP Configuration and Troubleshooting Find out how long your XP computer has been up and running Maybe you have your system tweaked so perfectly that it never goes down. Maybe you haven't rebooted in such a long time that you can't remember when you did it last. Want to be able to brag about your system's uptime? There are several ways you can find out exactly how long it's been since the last restart, including installing third party utilities. But you don't have to go to all that trouble; you can use a simple command line tool. Find out about it in KB article 555737 at http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-Windows-Uptime Problem ejecting USB Mass Storage Device If you have a USB storage device connected to your XP computer and you click "Safely Remove Hardware" in the system tray, sometimes you might get an error message telling you there is a problem and that the device "Generic volume" cannot be stopped. You're advised to try stopping the device again later. What's up with that? This happens if there are open handles for files on the USB drive are being used by another problem. So what do you do? See KB article 555665 to find out: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-Ejecting-USB-Issue  Fav Links This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff Disclaimer: WXPNews does not assume and cannot be responsible for any liability related to you clicking any of these linked Web sites. Miniature horse in Norway - I want one of these! http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-Mini-Horse Switched - Man/baby photos http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-Man-Babies Hitler's reaction to the iPad http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-iPod HOA gone wild (doorbell malfunction? Seriously?) http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-HOA-Letter Voicemail Hell http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-Voicemail Criticism http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-Criticism Previously unseen time lapse footage of crews pulling US Airways jet 1549 out of the Hudson River: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-Time-Lapse Play this 7-second clip and listen. Now close your eyes, replay and listen again. LOL http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-Listen-With-Our-Eyes Kyle Franklin performing his 'Wingtip Draggin Comedy Act'. Here is some of the most skilled flying by any pilot I've ever seen: http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-Aerobatic-Comedy  Product of the Week MediaWidget MediaWidget is the quickest and easiest way to transfer all of your music, videos, photos, podcasts, and more from your iPod to PC. Transfers all of your critical iPod content back onto your PC and into iTunes. Whether your computer crashed, died, or was stolen - or if you simply bought a new computer, or want to share your iPod content with a friend - MediaWidget can help. Media Widget is an easy to use iPod transfer utility designed to help you get your iPod contents off of any iPod and back into iTunes. And, unlike many other competing products, can help you put content from your computer back onto any iPod. This allows you to share your iPod music, photos, videos. Try it today! Watch You Tube Demo here. http://www.wxpnews.com/MY5HU3/100202-Media-Widget  About WXPnews What Our Lawyers Make Us Say These documents are provided for informational purposes only. The information contained in this document represents the current view of Sunbelt Software on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. 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Trying to find that article that pointed you to that cool site? All our newsletters are archived and are searchable: http://www.wxpnews.com/archives.cfm About Your Subscription to WXPnews This is a posting from WXPnews. You are subscribed as cpedley.killcomputer@blogger.com. To manage your profile, please visit our site by clicking on the following link: http://www.wxpnews.com/profile.cfm?wxp=MY5HU3 If you have feedback or wish to write to the editor, write to us at feedback@wxpnews.com Sunbelt Software 33 North Garden Avenue Clearwater, Florida USA 33755