|
Issue 212 - November 06, 2002
ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2002
==== 2215 Subscribers in 56 Countries ====
Welcome to the 212th issue of the PC Improvement News. PCIN consists mainly
of news and tips. There is something for everyone, and if this is your first
issue, I'm sure there will be something for you. If you give me two or three
issues, I know that you will come back for more!
You can reach me at editor@pcin.net with
any suggestions or comments.
Recommend PCIN at http://PCIN.net/recommend.php
Support PCIN at http://PCIN.net/donate.php
CONTENTS
OPENING THOUGHTS
Nothing new to say this week. Chris will have a review of Object Desktop (software
from http://objectdesktop.net/
) next week.
Graham editor@pcin.net
and Chris chris@pcin.net
Return to the top
The NEWS
Why Can't Hackers Be Stopped?
The battle between malicious hackers and system administrators is a never-ending
tug-of-war between constantly evolving adversaries. Every time administrators
seem to have gained the upper hand, their nemeses change in surprisingly agile
ways.
For example, as computer users and network administrators learn to take virus
protection more seriously, hackers are beginning to exploit a new avenue of
attack: active components. These are modules of code, such as ActiveX controls
or Java applets, that are passed between computers or applications. They are
routinely, and legitimately, used in thousands of applications.
The potential for malicious active components, or malware, to be distributed
over the Internet has been well known for years, but they have been overshadowed
by flashier and faster-spreading worms and viruses.
For more info:
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/19830.html
Bill Gates Views What He's Sown in Libraries
Bill Gates predicted in 1995 that the Internet would help rural people stay
put, in part because they would have the same advantages as city slickers
in the virtual world.
He made that prophecy in "The Road Ahead," a book whose jacket showed
Mr. Gates standing in the middle of an empty highway in remote eastern Washington.
But when Mr. Gates, the richest man in the world, returned recently to the
land of no stoplights as part of the last phase of a five-year philanthropic
effort to put computers in every poor library district in the United States,
he acknowledged that the road ahead was full of blind curves.
For more info:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/06/national/06GATE.html
Math discovery rattles Net security
Will Manindra Agrawal bring about the end of the Internet as we know it?
The question is not as ridiculous as it was just two months ago. Prof. Agrawal
is a 36-year old theoretical computer scientist at the Indian Institute of
Technology in Kanpur, India. In August, he solved a problem that had eluded
millennia of mathematicians: developing a method to determine with complete
certainty if a number is prime.
Prime numbers are those divisible only by themselves and 1. While small primes
like 5 or 17 are easy to spot, for very large numbers, those hundreds of digits
long, there never had been a formula of "primality testing" that
didn't have a slight chance of error.
Besides being a show-stopping bit of mathematics, the work was big news for
the Internet. Very large prime numbers are the bedrock of Internet encryption,
the sort your browser uses when you are shopping online.
For more info:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/830300.asp
Mac OS among least prone to attack
Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh was among the computer operating systems
least prone to attack and damage from malicious hackers, worms and viruses
in 2002, while Microsoft Corp.'s Windows and the Linux operating systems were
the most vulnerable, according to a report by technology risk management company
mi2g Ltd.
The report, which will be released Friday, presents data on the discovery
of software vulnerabilities and incidents of digital attack for 2002, according
to a summary of the report released Thursday.
For more info:
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/10/21/021021hnvulnerable.xml
POLL of the WEEK
Last Week's Poll
Do you pay to gain access to any web sites?
| Yes |
 |
11.51 % (16) |
| No |
|
88.49 % (123) |
| Total votes: 139 |
|
|
This Week's Poll
FREEHELP FORUM
Visit the new and improved PCIN FreeHelp Forum at http://www.pcin.net/help/forum/index.php
to post your questions or answer others.
Question
I have forgotten my windows XP administrative password. Is there any software
or any trick by which I can know or change it.
Response
No answers posted yet.
To post a response, visit the General Software Help forum at http://www.pcin.net/help/forum/index.php?board=3
and click on the "Windows XP Password" topic.
Visit http://www.pcin.net/help/forum/index.php
to post a question of your own.
PCIN.net UPDATE
Check out these new or updated pages on the PCIN.net site:
LG GCE-8400B 40x 12x 40x CD-RW Hardware Review
http://PCIN.net/help/hardware/lggce8400b.php
PCIN.net Search
http://PCIN.net/search/
Some Useful Registry Tips
http://PCIN.net/help/articles/registry_tips.shtml
THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF
TerraServer
Graham's Tip:
For some reason last night it came to me to do a search for satellite photos
and the first site was the Microsoft TerraServer web site. It has been a long
time since I checked out this site. I then did a quick search for Niagara
Falls, and sure enough there was a sattelite image from 1995 that shows the
3 falls, and the complex where I work. Pretty neat.
Check it out at http://terraserver.microsoft.com/
If you visit http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com/image.aspx?t=1&s=10&x=3283&y=23862&z=17&w=1
you can see where I work!
Printing CD Covers
Chris' Tip:
Printing CD covers from most graphics programs is a very easy task. The most
difficult part is cutting the image out. Unless you have a border (which could
be unsightly if you don't cut right on the line) or the image is a different
color than the paper all around, it is very difficult. I always like to cut
my images out using a metal edged ruler and an X-Acto knife. When I print
my image, whether it be a CD cover or my monthly calendar, I choose the print
options and enable printing corner crop marks. This allows me to align my
straight edge along the crop marks and cut exactly what I need to cut out
without worrying about messing up my image.
Recover a Document if Word Crashes
This is the November 5th PC Magazine Tip of the Day:
"Category: Word 97/2000
Recover a Document if Word Crashes
Go to the Tools menu, then select Options and click the File Locations tab.
Empty space next to AutoRecover files means your data is lost. If there is
a location, go there and open the document."
DISCLAIMER and
OTHER STUFF
PCIN is brought to you by Graham Wing. The opinions expressed are those of
the Editor, Graham Wing and the Assistant Editor, Chris Empey. Graham Wing
and Chris Empey accept no responsibility for the results obtained from trying
the tips in this newsletter.
- If any of the links are too long to fit on one line, you may have to cut
and paste.
- You can only win one contest every 30 days.
- To subscribe another address or unsubscribe, please visit http://www.pcin.net/
and follow the appropriate links.
- Recommend PCIN to others at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.php
and be entered in a monthly draw.
- There are only 2 ways to get on the subscriber list. You have either been
subscribed by filling out a subscription form on any of the pages on my
site, or you have requested FreeHelp from me in the past.
- If you have a web site or run your own newsletter, please email me at
editor@pcin.net and I will add it to
the subscriber web pages that I have on my site.
- Support PCIN by visiting http://www.pcin.net/donate.php
Return to the top
Graham Wing can be reached at editor@pcin.net
Chris Empey can be reached at chris@pcin.net
Copyright 1998-2002, Graham Wing. All rights reserved.
This publication may be reproduced in whole, or in part, as long as the author
is notified and the newsletter is presented as is.
Support PCIN by visiting http://www.pcin.net/donate.php
PC Improvement News Home Page
PC Improvement News
Archive
|
