MMOs are broken? Really?

SyFy's Fidgit writer Tom Chick penned a column back in January talking about five reasons why he believed that the Multiplayer Online games are, in his words, "broken". Of course Tom used World of Warcraft for his visual features... I prefer City of Heroes.

But as a writer myself and the manager of my own MMO blog, here is my take on this whole subject...

(5) Subscription Fees.

How can this be a sign the MMO world is "broken"? Seriously. This is the fuel that feeds the fire that is MMOPRG. The companies that invest in these programs, that house the servers, that make the changes that people want and need and appreciate, they don't do these things out of the goodness of their hearts. They're in it to get paid.

(4) Aggro

This is a problem? Okay, so we have different classes and different categories for characters and you have to come up with a way to differentiate them to a computer.

You know what one of the most prolific discussions are in the CoH message boards? What kind of category Batman would fall under. He's a scrapper, okay, but he does have some stealth abilities, which is a stalker trait (villain category). He's a fighter and a martial artist, but are his reflexes "ninja" reflexes or are they "willpower" reflexes?

Don't want aggro? Simple: get rid of the classifications, archetypes, roles, whatever it is that differentiates types of characters. Just create characters and then mix-and-match types of powers. I understand that DC Universe Online will be doing just that.

(3) Button Lock

Yes I hate waiting around for a power to "recycle" too! Punch - wait 5 - punch - wait 5-punch... it gets annoying at first. Then you develop more powers and then you create combinations. Punch-jab-kick-jab-roundhouse-punch-jab-roundhouse-knockout-punch. Once you get used to it things just move.

You want a solution? I have one. Instead of "locking" a power until it fully charges, how about being able to use it depending on how long you recycle it? So the first punch is at 100%. If you wait another 5 seconds it will be back at 100%. If you punch immediately afterward it's at 20% power. If you wait 2 seconds it's at 40%. If you wait 3 it's at 60%. At 4 it's at 80%. That's what the human body does. Of course that requires another level of programming to make it all work.

(2) Static Worlds

This is an eternal problem for City of Heroes players too. Take, for instance, the Rikti invasions. Wave after wave of alien ships bomb the city, blow up streets, and yet the monuments are undamaged. The buildings that were standing before are still standing afterward. The cars are still running and the people are still walking. There are no rescue operations after the invasions to free trapped citizens in burning buildings or from cars damaged from the bombs. Giant monsters can go rumbling about and then five minutes later there is no sign that they ever were there. Now that is one GREAT city maintenance job!

There IS a solution for this, but it would require additional programming.

(1) You can't play with the people you want to play with.

I'll one-up this. See the girl on the above image? That's a player-created character. The male character on the left of her is a non-player character (hence the yellow ring at his feet). Rather than having him just stand there giving out missions, why can't she team-up with him? He's got the experience.

When it comes to other players, City of Heroes has one-upped the original author's complaint with their super-sidekicking feature, which elevates or hinders all team members to the level needed for the mission. But how about bringing in those legendary heroes or villains to work WITH you?

On the plus side, DC Universe Online is supposed to allow you to work side-by-side with their legendary characters. I hope this will really be the case whenever they go live with it.

Now I DO have an issue that the author didn't mention...

(0) Dice-Roll

Okay, so my character has immobilized a thug. The thug cannot move. Why is it I cannot hit that thug each and every time from point-blank range if the thug cannot move?

The problem is that games like City of Heroes are still based on the old Dungeons-and-Dragons rules, which meant that you rolled dice and then your attack depended on chance. But the real world is not that random. If you immobilize a person, they cannot move. If you attack them at point-blank range, then you should ALWAYS be able to hit that person.

MMOPRGs have obviously grown from the days of the old Ultima game, and even from the original paper-and-dice incarnations, but clearly there is plenty of work that needs to be done before they can resemble the intricacies of the real world.

Microsoft's XP Problem

Microsoft’s XP Problem
– by David Matthews 2

Microsoft has a serious problem on its hands.

How do you get rid of an operating system that nobody wants to abandon?

For many years now, Microsoft users have been working with the Windows XP operating system. Sure it was buggy at first. Pretty much every operating system that has been cranked out by the House That Gates Built has had bugs and a plethora of required security fixes waiting for users the minute that welcome screen appears for the first time.

But it’s been over a year since Microsoft has come out with their brand-new operating system called Windows Vista and the response has been pretty much met with disgust. Not only are people NOT ready for a new operating system, but they are DEMANDING that they be allowed to continue to purchase and install Windows XP. Computer retailers like Dell are still offering computers with XP installed instead of Vista. Worse yet, big companies, which are usually the backbone to computer sales, are categorically REFUSING not only to install Vista, but many of them have also REFUSED to upgrade their browsers to Internet Explorer 7!

Even worse, Microsoft has been forced to push back their end-date of their support for Windows XP to April of 2009, and quite possibly even later than that.

I’m sure the Microsoft geeks and suits are pulling the remaining hairs out of their balding heads trying to figure out why. After all, weren’t these the same geeks and nerds that were complaining about XP being buggy? Sure they were! Wouldn’t they relish the new security features that are incorporated into Vista? Maybe.

But there’s more to this than just hesitation about a new system. Microsoft has really handled the Vista rollout in a way that has done the product and themselves a huge disservice.

Let’s take it by the numbers…

Bad Minimums – When Microsoft cranked out the specs for computer retailers and manufacturers to determine if their product is “Ready for Vista”, they set the bar TOO low. Sure many computers COULD run Vista. It would be slower than molasses and you wouldn’t be able to add any other programs that would use up memory on top of the basic operation of the program, but it COULD run on Vista.

As a result, there were plenty of computer systems where even the salespeople were telling you NOT to buy because it barely operated with Vista on it as opposed to XP.

Basic rule, boys and girls… EVERY new operating system demands more and more memory, more and more hard drive space, more and more processor power, and more and more of pretty much everything else a computer would use. Microsoft or Apple, it doesn’t matter. If you want a bare-bones operating system, switch to Linux. Otherwise, consider every new OS a bloated monster.

Microsoft’s “minimum” requirements were simply TOO LOW. They needed to shoot for OPTIMAL requirements, not MINIMAL.

FORCED to go Cold Turkey – This was actually a problem going back to Internet Explorer 7, which they declared to be a REQUIRED CRITICAL upgrade. Their intention was to FORCE people to upgrade, whether they wanted to or not.

The same principle was used with the roll-out of Vista. They told the retailers that whatever leftover computer was in stock HAD to be upgraded to Vista, whether it would run or not, and then they were planning on shutting off support for XP only six months after the roll-out before the social pressure forced them to change that.

This has been an EXTREMELY BAD idea, and it is probably one of the chief reasons for resistance to getting people to upgrade both to Vista and to IE7. People don’t like being FORCED to upgrade unless it involves something like a security patch or updated drivers. Telling people that they need a whole new Internet browser or a whole new operating system and calling that a REQUIRED upgrade is simply demanding too much.

Bear in mind that some companies are STILL using computers that are running on the Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows 98 operating systems, and even a few are using Windows ME! They’re not changing because they’re afraid of change, they’re staying with a particular operating system because that what they are using right now WORKS for them. Maybe they have specialty programs that they can’t use with an upgraded operating system. Maybe it’s just not feasible for them to change computers and upgrade to the latest-greatest toys. This is where Microsoft SHOULD be encouraging people to upgrade, and instead they are simply being told “do this because WE SAID SO.”

Bad Legacy – One of THE most annoying things about game systems is their lack of compatibility with previous systems. You spend money on a game system like an Xbox or Playstation 2 and they produce a whole plethora of games designed for it, and then they come up with Xbox360 or Playstation 3, and you discover that NONE of the games you had spent all of that money on work on the new game systems! That’s why sales of Playstation 2 actually beat out all of the “new” game systems back in 2006.

Well the same premise applies to upgrades in operating systems. The key requirement for businesses to upgrade is to make sure that the new item works with their current applications. You want to make sure that your call center software or your modem or your database or your printer works with the new operating system or platform. That’s why businesses continue to use outdated operating systems, because it would cost them a lot more to upgrade than just changing the programs or even changing the computer. You’re messing with the things that make their businesses functional!

Sure some operating systems were really just glorified bug fixes. For instance, Windows 98 and Windows ME were both glorified bug fixes for Windows 95, and Windows 2000 was a glorified bug fix for Windows NT. But with Windows XP you weren’t just fixing bugs, you were abandoning the MS DOS framework and embracing the NT framework. You were also changing file compression standards to the new FAT32 system. And Vista changed things even more. We’re talking not just some extra features and some new Graphical User Interface goodies. The whole operation of the program changed with Vista.

And this is where Microsoft has fallen flat, both in XP AND in Vista. They really don’t provide adequate support for backward compatibility and instead DEMAND that any applications that use their new operating system have brand new drivers for those applications. So if you have a 5-year old monitor that was made obsolete by the manufacturer, it won’t work on Vista because you lack the required drivers for it and Vista refuses to recognize the ones for XP.

Sure, Windows XP set up a “shell compatibility” system. It would mimic an earlier operating system for certain programs, but it would be just that… a mimic. It would be a shell, so it wouldn’t really integrate into other systems. So if you have a custom database program that needs to work with your email service, it really wouldn’t function in this “shell” environment. And you couldn’t guarantee that it would work in every situation either. I have tried the shell environment on some of my older programs and they really didn’t work the same.

One of the larger groups that complained about this incompatibility were the massive multiplayer online gaming community. Game-players for popular MMORPGs like Worlds of Warcraft and City of Heroes that got themselves new computers or upgraded their operating systems suddenly found their paid-subscription services no longer working because they lacked the needed drivers for Vista. Not exactly the kind of news you want to hear when you’re rolling out a new operating system and you want everyone to sign up on it.

This is something that Microsoft really needs to work on in addition to getting the bugs fixed with their new systems.

And finally…

New Corporate Security Rules – Corporate accountability! This is probably the biggest stickler to getting companies upgraded to Vista, and also one that Microsoft probably never imagined they would get caught up in.

There are plenty of reasons why corporate accountability is such a big issue.

You can start with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the all-encompassing federal law that REQUIRES that corporations sacrifice whole forests so they can document everything that they do, including their software testing. Companies now have to hire auditors to make sure that everything is in compliance, and auditors expect a full accounting of every program on the workstations, who has access to the company’s servers, and how they access it, and why they need to.

Add to that the push from software companies like Adobe for copyright and licensing accountability. The bean counters need to make sure that every computer uses a program has a license for it and can trace the purchase of that license.

And then throw on top of that the rise of identity theft and security breaches either through hackers or stolen equipment, or even through malicious software that gets downloaded. You know that “really cute program” you found on the Internet? You know, the one you got from a friend, that you forwarded over to another friend? It’s not that “cute” when it ends up putting a hole in your company’s server firewall and sending the server’s IP address and your username and password to a hacker in Hong Kong.

Put all of those things together and you have a corporate environment that is outright HOSTILE to any kind of change, much less one that Microsoft expects should be done immediately.

Microsoft’s biggest problem is they have an unrealistic expectation of change for their customer base, be it corporate or the personal user. Most people are not quick to make changes to their system, and not everyone is eager in getting the “latest-greatest” as they used to. Changing an operating system or changing a web browser is not the same as installing a security patch, and it should not be treated as such.

Getting people off an operating system is not something that can be done in a matter of a few months or even a year. We’re talking a process that takes YEARS to test, diagnose, test, fix, and test again. As much as the corporate executives would love to speed up that process, it’s not as feasible as it used to be.

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David Matthews 2 is a freelance writer living in the greater Atlanta area. He is a longtime computer user and has been involved with computers since the 1980’s.

This article can be distributed freely provided that it is unaltered and all proper credit is given to the author.

2008 – Get Brutal Productions

A quick holiday lesson

Courtesy of Joy of Tech....

A Warning About Those "Mainstream" Sites

A Warning About Those "Mainstream" Sites
– by David Matthews 2

"But I practice safe surfing!"

Oh what a clever oxymoronic statement that is!

"Safe surfing!" There’s no such thing as "safe surfing" nowadays when it comes to the Internet! You have "UN-safe surfing", you have "SAFER surfing", and then you have "NO surfing". That’s really all of the ranges of surfing capability you have today. I don’t care how many firewalls you put up, or how many rights and privileges you put in on the computer for users, or how many anti-virus and anti-spyware programs you install, you will ALWAYS run the risk of being on the receiving end of a nasty virus or spyware program as long as you have a connection to the Internet.

And the virus or spyware program that will REALLY get you will come innocently enough from people who have no idea how it happened.

Here’s a scenario for all you computer users that might seem a little familiar… Your formerly ultra-fast computer is now running slower than molasses. Everything takes time to upload and run, even the simplest of programs on your computer. You’re getting hit with pop-up ads every few minutes. Your home page changes on a whim and you don’t really know why. Plus it constantly goes online for seemingly no reason whatsoever. (That is, of course, if you still use dial-up connections… all of you cable and DSL users are REALLY in trouble with your always-on connections!)

So you take your computer over to the local "expert" and he or she tells you that your computer is THOROUGHLY hosed with spyware and viruses. They can’t even BEGIN to tell you where they can start to salvage anything on that computer because it’s all so contaminated with spyware and adware and virus components.

And that’s when you start your list of denials.

But… but… but… you CAN’T have a virus! You have that extra-special "security program" that you paid $40 for and it’s programmed to automatically run every week. You never open strange emails! Well, except for that one from your mom that said "I Love You", but that was one time and it wasn’t even on THIS computer! You NEVER go to newsgroups, because you don’t even know how to do that. And you certainly don’t visit "THOSE" kinds of websites! (You know which ones I’m talking about.) You don’t file-share, because you don’t want to get sued, and you wouldn’t know where to start looking for "those files" anyway. All you do is just visit "mainstream sites". Big name websites. Popular websites. Places where you go get the news, the weather, the sports scores, and that’s it!

Well guess what? That’s where it happened.

You may not realize it, but so-called "mainstream websites" are the perfect place for malicious programs to be distributed. They’re visited by millions of users at various times of the day, unlike those "other websites" (i.e. porn sites, gambling sites, file-sharing sites) and they usually aren’t blocked out by network administrators… unless the admin is a liberal who hates Fox News or a conservative who hates CNN.

Now in all fairness I must point out that the groups behind the "mainstream websites" usually run a pretty tight ship. They wouldn’t want to be known as a haven for malicious programming, because it would really hurt their sites. So they’ll be quick to say that THEY don’t put any malicious programs on THEIR websites or on THEIR servers. And it’s probably true. THEY don’t allow it.

But that doesn’t mean that you can’t get malicious programs from visiting those sites.

You see, in order to pay for the online costs, mainstream websites will rent out virtual "space" to advertisers. Originally this used to be a simple banner ad that the webmaster would post on behalf of the advertiser. But the ad companies found an even better way to distribute more ads through Java and ActiveX programming. So now, instead of sending webmasters a prepared banner, they actually pay for the SPACE for advertising, which is simply a link to the advertising server.

A digital "cookie" is placed on your computer to identify you to the ad company. This "cookie" is a small text file that can have all sorts of basic information about you, your computer, how you’re connected, where in the world you’re connected in, and what sites you’ve visited. You don’t even know that it’s being done, and the file is so small that it happens in a nanosecond, even with dial-up connections. That information is fed into the ad company servers, which then uses that information to send you specific ads. You’re in New York? We’ll send you advertising for a local business. You’ve been searching for car dealerships? We’ll send you an ad for one of our dealerships. You’ve already seen the travel ads? Then here’s some stuff for an online university.

By the way, this is also where many of the pop-up ads come from nowadays. Little itty-bitty pieces of script that tells your computer to pop open a new window for their advertising server to give you ads. They can also execute invasive, intrusive, media-rich ads; the kind that will literally take over your browser to force-feed you advertising whether you want it or not. The webmaster of these mainstream sites usually have no idea whatsoever that the ad companies are doing this. They don’t know it because it’s really not happening off THEIR servers! And they will continue to be ignorant of these things until people start complaining, which they rarely do. Most users won’t complain about annoying ads. They will just surf elsewhere.

So it’s not hard to sneak something "extra" in with those ads. The ad companies are already intruding into your computer by installing the digital cookies. Why not add a few other "helpful tools"? And by "helpful" I mean helpful for THEM, not for the computer user. So they’ll throw in some adware and spyware programs into the rotation. Your browser gets the code to automatically install these programs, you get a little "Term of Agreement" message for a program that will "enhance your viewing experience", you click "yes", and it is done before your finger leaves the mouse.

Now some of these programs will do more than just "help" themselves under the pretext of "helping you". They will actually sabotage your security system. If the programmers are afraid that their programs might get "detected" by a certain anti-virus program, they will write code that will tell your operating system to disable the anti-virus program. Oh the program will sign in, but it won’t work. The scheduled security sweeps will never run, so they won’t detect the programs, nor will they detect or stop any other destructive program from being installed on your computer.

And it is all very legal. After all, YOU were the one who didn’t read the Terms of Agreement!

Now, picture this nightmare scenario: eight so-called "mainstream" websites suddenly become the source of a serious and malicious virus. Each website is run by separate sponsors, hosted on separate servers, and yet they ALL manage to be the source of this virus on the same day.

How do you think it was done? Some malicious "hacker nation" like the kind seen in the movie "Hackers" somehow broke into eight separate servers to plant their viruses and then escape sight unseen? Maybe a small team of computer experts looking to make a statement (i.e. "Sneakers")? Come on, get real.

The answer is simple… if you want to spread a virus out to as many people as possible, then you don’t HAVE to break into eight different servers to affect eight different "mainstream" websites. You just need to find your way into one… the ad server that they all link to… and put your program in their rotation as a "software enhancement". Again, the administrators of those "mainstream" web sites will never know because it’s really not on THEIR servers, so they have no control over it.

The point being made is this: just because you’re visiting "mainstream websites" doesn’t mean that you’re safe from malicious programming. In fact, your chances of getting one of those "helpful tools" actually go up when you do!

Don’t be lulled into a feeling of complicity when it comes to where you surf on the Internet. Remember that there is no such thing as "safe surfing" when it comes to the Internet. There’s a reason why it is called the World Wide WEB, and certain people are quick to use that to the fullest extent possible.

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David Matthews 2 is a freelance writer living in the greater Atlanta area. He is a longtime computer user and has been involved with computers since the 1980’s.

This article can be distributed freely provided that it is unaltered and all proper credit is given to the author.

2006 – Get Brutal Productions

Update: AOL's Safety and Security Center and Microsoft's OneCare

Okay, here’s an update on my anti-virus quest.

Once upon a time I had McAfee’s VirusScan. It’s a nice system, and when AOL had their version available for free it was a pretty good deal. VirusScan normally runs $49.95 per year, and of course if you want to get the other "suite" programs you’d have to pay for a subscription price for those as well. Or you can get the hodgepodge of other programs and then be reminded from these "security suites" that you’re not getting "total protection".

Then AOL came out with their Safety and Security Center (SSC)… based, supposedly, on McAfee’s VirusScan program. You probably saw the commercials for it, right? The commercials that talk about how "easy" this program is and how "secure" it is. Well it’s not that "easy"… and my previous post on the matter sort of proved it. (By the way, check out the comments on it… you’ll see that I wasn’t the only person who had problems with it.)

When last I left my fellow tech-heads on this subject, I was waiting for the CD to arrive from AOL. Meanwhile, I was playing around with the beta version of Microsoft’s new OneCare system.

And it was during this waiting period that I noticed something about how OneCare worked compared to SSC.

Okay, for starters, I have a small network setup here. Pretty simple combination of wired and wireless connections between two computers (and sometimes three when needed). Now I noticed that when I had the SSC on my laptop, the laptop would lose connectivity anytime I tried to transfer files over from the main desktop. This might be understandable if we’re talking a wireless-only connection and the laptop was moving around. But the laptop has been stationary, three feet away from the wireless router, and even when I ran a Cat-5 line over it would lose its connection to the router. Now if you think the problem is with the firewall, you’d be right. Internet connection, no problem. File transfers in from the host computer, big problem. But even when I programmed it to accept the transfer of files, the connection would give out for both wired and wireless any time I tried to move files in.

So guess what happened when I uninstalled the SSC and went to OneCare? You guessed it! NO problems whatsoever transferring files from the host computer!

Now folks, I use both computers for audio recordings and I move plenty of files over on a weekly basis, so file transfer is important to me. I can’t afford to play games with this process just because the all-in-one security suite wants to get picky, so that’s one big minus for the SSC.

The other thing I noticed with OneCare compared to both the SSC and the old VirusScan program is how notifications come out. Both VirusScan and SSC have pop-up window notifications that you have to MANUALLY click to turn off. These can get really annoying, especially when they’re sending updates that you have to MANUALLY click to acknowledge. With VirusScan, if you don’t click to acknowledge the updates, the program won’t reactivate to protect you. Plus I would get a nice little notice from Microsoft’s Security Center that the anti-virus has been disabled. This annoyance was even more noticeable with the SSC because of the bug with the downloaded version that refused to recognize its own version number.

Memo to McAfee and AOL: pop-up windows that you have to manually click to close SUCK! Why do you think that pop-up blocking software was the big killer application a couple of years ago? We HATE these things! We HATE these annoyances, no matter if it’s an advertisement or an important message.

OneCare, on the other hand, does its own updates, and notifies you by message balloon. This is something that goes away after a while, not something that you have to MANUALLY click to close. And it certainly doesn’t hang up the system while waiting for you to do something. If OneCare needs to get your attention for something, the taskbar icon changes color. That’s another plus for OneCare.

So a little bit less than a month goes by and I FINALLY get the full disc from AOL. At the same time, I get the notices from Microsoft that the beta testing will come to an end soon, and that I could buy the full version at a nice discounted rate ($19.95) to cover three computers. (Mind you, that deal was only because I’ve been using the beta version. Everyone else has to pay the full price of $49.95.)

I wanted to see how the "fixed" SSC would work, but at the same time the downloaded version gave me a few headaches that I didn’t need to have, even without its design bug. Obviously free is better than paying $50 a year, which was why I ditched McAfee’s full version and went with AOL’s free version of the software in the first place.

Decision, decisions.

I ended up giving my SSC disc to a good friend who needed a security system and I purchased OneCare for my computers.

Don’t get me wrong… this friend of mine is a really good one, and I wouldn’t give her a program like that if I didn’t think it would work for her. She doesn’t have a network set up for her computers (at least not yet), and while she is getting to be pretty good with the tech, she’s still a newbie in certain areas. The SSC program is designed for someone like her.

Now I would HOPE that AOL gets off their asses and fixes the downloaded version of the SSC. My guess is that since we don’t see any of their commercials about the program right now, they don’t really have that bug worked out yet.

So here’s a look at both systems based on the information I’ve gathered:

America Online’s Safety and Security Center

• All-In-One security system (anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, system check, anti-phishing, anti-scam)
• Based on McAfee’s VirusScan system
• FREE for AOL members
• Can be programmed to run both a full scan and a mini-scan
• Downloaded version has a bug – ordering the CD can take a month to deliver *
• Has pop-up notification windows that require manual acknowledgement
• Has a hard time working with networked computers *

(* - As of this Blog post. Subject to change.)

Microsoft’s Windows Live OneCare

• All-In-One security system (anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, system check, system backup)
• OneCare Firewall is based on Windows firewall provided in Service Pack 2
• Anti-Spyware is provided by Microsoft’s Windows Defender program
• Works with Microsoft Update to make sure all necessary updates are installed
• $49.95 per year for up to three computers (sorry, the free Beta trial is over)
• Can be purchased and downloaded online
• Can be programmed to run an overall tune-up or run individual components manually
• Uses message balloons and taskbar icon colors for notifications
• Works well with networked computers

And while I’m at it, here’s a quick tip for anyone getting an all-in-one security system: any new firewall program you install will need a little "get to know you" time. There are a lot of programs that use the Internet for updates and information, especially your media players like Quicktime and Real Player, and for any chat programs you may use. Be patient when you get those inquiry boxes. Remember that your new firewall doesn’t yet know what is a safe program and what is malicious. You have to teach it. This is also a good way for you to know if you have a program doing something it’s not supposed to.

Oh, and just because either all-in-one system has an anti-spyware program, that doesn’t mean you should rely on just that one system. You can only have one anti-virus program running, but you can have several anti-spyware systems. That’s why I still recommend that you getting additional free anti-spyware programs like Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware and run those programs religiously. Remember, spyware creators are more deceptive than virus creators, and they have been known to write spyware programs that will avoid detection.

Okay, here are my recommendations…

If you’re an AOL member and you don’t have a multi-computer network to deal with, go ahead and ORDER THE CD for the Safety and Security Center. DO NOT deal with the download version… at least not right now. Bear in mind that you’re going to be waiting for a while for that CD to come in, so if you already have an anti-virus program to work with, stick with it until you get that CD.

For everyone else, plop down some coin and get Microsoft’s OneCare program. Yes, yes, I know, "evil empire" and all of that crap. Suck it up, or start looking for other all-in-one programs to play with. I’m just giving you the pros and cons of these two systems. You can always try your luck with Norton or McAfee if you have a mad-hate for the geeks in Redmond.

Alert: AOL’s Safety and Security Center – DO NOT DOWNLOAD!

Okay boys and girls, you’ve probably seen the ads for America Online’s new Safety and Security Center. This is their all-in-one center for anti-virus protection, anti-spyware protection, firewall protection, and computer checkup along with a couple of other features that you can put in at an additional cost.

Up until this point, AOL users were able to get a FREE version of McAfee’s VirusScan program when they upgraded to the new Version 9 Security Edition of AOL. But now that the SSC is out, and it’s anti-virus system is “powered by McAfee”, that option has more or less gone away.

Well I wanted to give this new system a try, so I went ahead and downloaded it from AOL to my laptop computer. I figured that if it worked, I’d be able to put it in on my main computer and tell other people about it so they could run it as well.

It’s a good thing that I just put it on my laptop and not on all computers.

For the first week things were going fine. I got the occasional notice about the software being upgraded, and it ran the scheduled scans.

Then it went crazy. I was getting update notices every few minutes! Some of the notices wouldn’t even close, which would force me to close them through Task Manager, which would also close my link to AOL. Look, ONE notice per day is enough, especially if you have to manually close them.

Then I was getting this message occasionally: “We are unable to upgrade your Anti-Virus program. Please reboot your computer so we can try again.”

Uh, excuse me? Reboot my computer so YOUR program can check for even MORE upgrades so you can hit me with even MORE notices? No, I don’t think so.

Needless to say, I’m not happy with AOL’s Safety and Security Center.

So after repeated uninstalls and reinstalls of the SSC – and one IGNORED email message - I finally go on AOL and hit up their live tech support for some assistance. The first support person told me that my AOL is corrupt and that I need to not only uninstall the SSC, but also AOL itself, and then download and reinstall everything. That took about two hours to do (thank you broadband!) but by the evening I was right back to square one with the repeated notices.

Went back to the live tech support…

Attempt one: Before I could even say two words, I got “Session has expired!” Expired? WTF???

Attempt two: I actually got a live person, who then said that they were experiencing some problems with the anti-virus program and wanted me to open the SSC to check the Virus Definitions. Unfortunately right as he was asking me this, that damned update notice hit again and refused to close. I had to force it closed through Task Manager, which shut the whole SSC down and disconnected me from the live tech support chat.

Attempt three: I got a different live person, and after explaining the situation quickly, he asked me to check my installation CD. Uh, no, I didn’t install this from a CD. I downloaded this from the website like those commercials said that I should do! Fortunately I made sure I had the SSC program up so I could find out exactly where the problem is as this person explained it to me.

Here’s the skinny, folks: The version that you download from AOL has a bug in it. That bug blanks out the Virus Definition field. The SSC doesn’t recognize the latest upgrade (because the field is blank) so it will continually download it, thus giving you the continual update message.

So until AOL gets around to actually fixing this problem, this is what you need to do: DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE PROGRAM! I’m serious. Go to keyword “SAFETY ROM” and order their free CD of the SSC.

If you’re currently using the SSC and you don’t have any problems with it, hey, great, more power to you. Count your blessings and hope that it stays that way.

If you’re currently using the SSC and are getting the same repeated notices like I have, go ahead and order the free CD, then uninstall the whole SSC, and then hope you still have your previous anti-virus program to use while you’re waiting for the CD to arrive.

I’m currently trying Microsoft’s Windows OneCare Beta program, which is similar to AOL’s program only it uses its own anti-virus program, anti-spyware program, and the built-in firewall from XP Service Pack 2. Right now it’s free (because it’s in beta), but they will be charging for it in the future, so this will just be an interim program. But right now, I'm not getting a million notices every five-ten minutes and I'm not getting prompted to reboot my computer because their program doesn't want to work.

Meanwhile, AOL definitely needs to do something about their SSC program! I’m one of the more tech-friendly people you could ever know, and if this program could get under MY skin, imagine the kind of aggravation that other people are experiencing with it! Either they need to put a notice up on their website about getting the program through the FREE CD, or they need to stop running those ads telling people to download the program - or preferably both.

Oh, and AOL? Remember the LAST time you had something "powered by..."? It was the browser, and it was the reason why most of your AOL people ended up either using Microsoft's full Internet Explorer or using Netscape (which you ended up buying outright) or getting Mozilla's Firefox. Next time, don't play around with this "powered by" crap.

I’ll give you an update on this after I get the CD from AOL.

‘Tis the Season… for Spyware!

‘Tis the Season… for Spyware!
- by David Matthews 2

Christmas is coming, the coffers are getting fat…
Please put some spyware in the old man’s hat.

Okay, so I’m no Charles Dickens, but I am pretty good at seeing certain trends, and one of them is fast upon us.

Christmastime is always the best time for people to get computers. Stores are eager to pick up sales, people are willing to spend more money than at any other time of the year, and with a new Windows operating system on the horizon, computer prices are lower than they have ever been before. So if you’ve never had a computer before, or if you need to get a new computer, now is of course the BEST time to get one.

Unfortunately Christmastime is also the perfect season for really nasty and unscrupulous cyber-people to strike. They like to call themselves "intelligence collectors" or "marketing specialists" or "information marketers" or "digital research specialists" or any number of cute corporate-sounding names that make what they do seem innocuous. But we know them best as virus-writers, spyware-senders, Adware-senders, and SPAMMERS.

Christmastime is the perfect storm for these digital parasites. They know that we’re eager to spend money now more than any other time of the year. They know that there are plenty of markets willing to pay them to hawk their wares. And most importantly, they know that with all of these people getting new computers, there is a fresh crop of cyber-newbies that are the easiest targets to their plans.

Once upon a time, virus-writers were interested in how much chaos they could cause. They were looking to take over as many systems as possible so they could use them to destroy other computer networks and prove just how "powerful" they are. Some are still doing that, but the bulk of the virus-writers now call themselves "marketers" and they sell themselves as being able to sell a client’s wares to the masses. They’re not interested in destroying your computer, per se, because that would hurt their bottom line. Instead what these people want to do is to take over your computer so that it becomes their advertising machine.

Here’s a little oddity for you… you buy a new computer, you sign up with a new service like AOL or Earthlink, you start surfing the mainstream websites, and a few weeks later… that ultra-fast computer is suddenly getting slower and slower. Not only that, but little pop-up windows start to appear, even though you have a whole plethora of pop-up blocking programs in place. You could even be offline and those pop-ups will magically appear!

Congratulations! You’ve got Adware!

I’m sure that some of you are scratching your heads, wondering just how the hell this happened. You didn’t surf to any strange websites. You didn’t open up any stupid email programs. You didn’t visit the newsgroups… if you even knew what or where newsgroups are.

And that’s the thing… Spyware and Adware senders aren’t lurking in the fringes anymore. They’re hiding in plain sight in mainstream websites. You know those otherwise innocuous ads that you see on the news websites and the weather websites and the sports websites? Those ads don’t really reside on the website. Those ads really reside on a separate web server, which the web page calls upon when you download their page. (Note: every webpage that you visit is actually downloaded to your computer, albeit temporarily.) Hidden programming tells your browser to download all of the programs needed to "best view" that page, and imbedded in that programming is usually a Java script or ActiveX control that also tells your computer to download the Adware or Spyware program. The next thing you know, your anti-virus program has been disabled, your anti-spyware program has been disabled, and you’re getting more pop-ups than ever before because all of those pop-up blocking tools on all of those browser toolbars people love to give you have been bypassed.

It’s also important to note that the people who run those mainstream websites with all of the Adware often have no idea what’s going on. All they know is that these advertising companies are paying them to put up their ads, and possibly letting them know how many people visit their site. And if they DO know that these advertising companies are doing more than just sending ads, then they’re usually nonchalant about it. After all, it’s not coming from THEIR servers, so why should they be concerned?

So what do you need to do?

Well for those of you who are getting a new computer this holiday season (or for any time) here are a few things that should be added to your "must get" list along with the obligatory bushel of batteries.

Invest in an anti-virus program and check it regularly! America Online users can get a free version of McAfee’s VirusScan, but they have to manually look for it and download it to their computer. It sucks, but at least they’re offering it for free. Be sure to check with your service provider to see if they offer any kind of free security packages. If not, then make sure that your new computer includes some kind of security package. If it doesn’t, then buy one. It’s worth the cost. And once you do get it, make sure that you check it regularly so that you know that it is not only updated but also working. Remember that some Spyware and Adware programs are designed to disable anti-virus programs if you’re not vigilant about their use.

Download "Spybot Search & Destory" and "Ad-Aware"! These are FREE programs that look for and remove Spyware, Adware, and even certain tracking cookies that can be used to track your web surfing habits. And like the anti-virus programs, these are programs that you have to be vigilant about in regards to updates and regular scans of your hard drive.

Download Mozilla’s Firefox Browser and the "Adblock" extension! This really should be your preferred browser for any kind of personal web surfing, especially for visiting the so-called "mainstream" websites. The people at Mozilla are the same ones who created the original Netscape browser (before they sold it to America Online) and elements of that browser were later incorporated into Internet Explorer. The Firefox browser is completely FREE and can be customized in ways that neither IE or Netscape could. One unique extension is called "Adblock", and it is probably the most effective tool for online users, because it allows you to block images and certain scripts that pertain to advertising. You can even use it to block whole servers, so that no advertising can ever reach your computer from that server. Not only do web pages upload faster once the advertising has been removed, but it also blocks the commands that would order your computer to download spyware. (You may also want to consider using Mozilla’s Thunderbird email program, since it also has built-in Spam-blocking tools and the same level of customization as Firefox.)

Of course as more and more people jump to Firefox, the greater the chances are that Adware and Spyware creators will come up with ways to sneak their wares in through this browser as well. But right now having this edge over the digital parasites helps keep your computer clear of their programs.

Adding these things to your new computer’s gift list will help make sure that your holiday present doesn’t become an expensive holiday paperweight by New Year’s Day. And of course the best part is that most of these software toys are FREE… which is good because getting your computer cleared of that nasty Spyware, Adware, and viruses is pretty expensive. You certainly don’t want to be spending even more money than you have to.

And for those of you who are already online, now is certainly the perfect time to make sure that your online protection tools ARE already in place and updated. Remember that this is the time of year that the "marketers" have been waiting for, because it’s Christmastime for them when they can usurp your computer.

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David Matthews 2 is a freelance writer living in Georgia. He has been around computers in one form or another since the 1980’s.

This article may be distributed freely only so long as it is reprinted in its entirety, with all proper credit given to the author.

2005 – Get Brutal Productions

Netizens: Help Yourselves Out By Helping A Newbie

(The following has been reprinted from the Brutally Honest website with permission of the author)

Netizens: Help Yourselves Out By Helping A Newbie

– by David Matthews 2

"The march of science and technology does not imply growing intellectual complexity in the lives of most people. It often means the opposite." - Thomas Sowell

You know, one of the more annoying things about being a techno-geek is this belief that yours truly knows EVERYTHING there is about computers! I suppose it comes with the territory. I’ve surrounded myself with computers and computer-related subjects since the 1980’s. I was playing with Apple computers before the birth of the Macintosh. I was writing BASIC code on Digital mainframes. I played on the network that would become what we all know today as the Internet. (I just didn’t realize it back then.) So it’s sort of expected that I would know SOMETHING about computers.

But I also know that just about every computer user gets asked by someone less knowledgeable than them to do the same thing. It gets so absurd that one website that caters to my fellow techno-geeks has a popular tee shirt that says, "No I will not fix your computer". (I may actually order two or three of those!)

In fact, I’m sure many newbies will get pissed off when I mention this, but the geek community has some colorful abbreviations for them. For instance, the most common problem that exists is known as PEBKAC, or "Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair". Think about that one for a minute. Then there is RTFM, or "Read The (Frelling) Manual". It seems to be the universal solution to many of the PEBKAC problems.

Of course, the attitude is understandable. You see… once upon a time, the only people who would ever have anything to do with computers ARE the geeks and nerds of the world. The Internet, email, online chatting… those were all OUR domains! But then it became more and more affordable for your ordinary people to get computers, so they did. Then your online services like America Online started offering Joe and Jane Six-Pack easy access to the Internet; and that pissed off the old-school geeks, because now they’re having to deal with these newbies who like to type with the CAPS LOCK on, and know more about football than they do their own computers.

At the same time, there is a general attitude when it comes to many a newbie that just infuriates your seasoned geek. Newbies seem to revel in their technical stupidity, taking great pride to admit that they are "technically illiterate" and how they need to ask their neighbor’s 8-year old kid to program their TiVO, much less figure out how to get their email. That is just unfathomable in the minds of your typical seasoned computer user who is used to figuring these things out for themselves. (You know, that little book called "Users Manual" isn’t just there for decoration.)

So I would like my fellow seasoned netizens to consider this little nightmare…

We all hate Spam, right? That’s pretty much a foregone conclusion. We detest Spam! We hate it and we hate the scum that use it! The only people who like Spam are the advertisers themselves, but then again they love shoving their wares in our faces to begin with, no matter what the medium is.

So imagine all of a sudden that your online service is hit with a fresh deluge of Spam messages. Maybe some of them can be filtered out. Maybe some of them make it through to your inbox. But even if they don’t make it to your inbox, the sheer volume of Spam messages coming in is enough to slow down your provider’s mail servers, or maybe even crash them.

Where are these new messages coming from, you ask? Well they’re coming from all of those newbies out there!

Every year right around Christmas, hundreds, if not thousands, of new computers are purchased and go online. Sure, people buy computers at any time of the year, but it’s only during Christmas that there is a specific concentration of new purchases. Thousands of computer users go online for the very first time, and they start surfing the Internet like crazy. These brand-new users are simply unprepared for some of the viscous little tricks the advertisers have waiting for them. The advertisers will send out viruses and spyware programs, knowing full well that these new users wouldn’t know how to defend against them, even IF they had the right tools.

As a matter of fact, you may have even noticed a wave of new virus-laden emails that came right after Christmas. Coincidence? Hardly! It’s a blanket assault by Spammers specifically timed to go after all of those new netizens while they’re still ignorant enough to surf without any kind of protection.

Oh sure, some new computers will have anti-virus programs already installed. But probably not the computers you get from your local mom-and-pop computer shop. Remember that not everyone can afford to buy the top-of-the-line models. Many of those computers are lucky to just have the bare-bones OEM operating system. And even IF they have the programs installed, how many of these users would know enough to use them, much less see if they’re updated? Not many of them.

It doesn’t take long for Spammers to have a brand new army of "zombie" computers at their disposal. With these computers, Spammers can both send out new Spam messages and use those computers to carry out illegal attacks on anti-Spam efforts.

And here’s the twist: most of these newbies will have absolutely no idea that they’re being used that way! Why should they? The most effective and notorious of the spyware and zombie-virus programs are so sneaky that their victims don’t even know that it’s on their system to begin with! All they’ll know is that their brand-new computer is gradually slowing down, and they really won’t know why.

So let’s get brutally honest here… if we’re going to beat the Spammers and the other unscrupulous advertisers, then we have to reach out to the newbies and offer to help them.

If you know someone who just got a new computer and they don’t know the difference between RAM and ROM, offer to help them get things set up! Ask them if they know whether they have anti-virus and firewall programs on that brand-new computer. Offer to help them get the basic online skills they need to spot Spam messages instead of blindly opening them up.

Now I know what some of you are thinking right now… "Why should I give a damn about these newbies? I’m not in tech support! I found this stuff out the hard way, and so should these people."

And that’s exactly what the Spammers are counting on! They WANT the newbies to be ignorant, and they EXPECT the seasoned netizens to simply watch the newbies fall prey to viruses and spyware. And so far that tactic has rewarded us with BILLIONS of Spam messages hitting our mail servers PER DAY! Nice going guys. Great plan. Keep up the good work.

And it’s equally easy for us to simply fob all of this off to online providers like AOL. After all, AOL is going ahead and giving away free anti-virus programs and free anti-spyware programs and free firewall programs. Most service providers are also providing free tools. Even Microsoft is getting into the game by putting in its own firewall and buying its own anti-spyware program. These companies are also spending big bucks suing the pants off of the Spammers… if they can be tracked down and sued, that is. Remember, these Spammers love to hide behind false accounts and zombie computers.

Yes, the tech giants can provide the tools, but all of the tools in the world are useless if the user doesn’t know they’re out there or how to set them up and turn them on. AOL does give away McAfee Virus Scan for free as part of their new "Security Edition" version, but you have to download and install the program yourself. It doesn’t come pre-loaded. And again, your typical newbie wouldn’t know that… unless they’re keen on reading fine print.

That’s where the seasoned netizen comes in. We may not all have those glorious certifications, but we do have the knowledge and the experience. And unlike those 1-800 tech support people, we can actually be there and take the time to explain things to the new user in a way that THEY can understand. That certainly beats having them turn to a seventeen-page web document put out by Microsoft programmers that only other programmers can understand.

And helping the newbies become more knowledgeable netizens pays off for us in the end, because the more net-aware they are, the less likely that Spammers can take over their computers to be used to send US more crap. Every newbie that gets helped by a more experienced netizen translates into one less computer that can get exploited by Spammers. That gives the Spammers fewer resources to abuse, and that translates into fewer Spam messages in OUR inboxes!

We need to remember that we were ALL newbies once upon a time. Sure we could figure this stuff out ourselves, but geeks need to admit that not every user is that talented. Computers and the Internet are no longer the stuff of geeks and nerds.

And who knows? You might actually LIKE helping these newbies out! After all, you may not consider yourself to be an "expert", but right now you certainly know more that these newbies, so in their minds, you’re the closest thing to an "expert" that they’ll probably ever encounter. There’s a certain amount of ego-gratification that goes with having that little tidbit of knowledge, and it’s high time that my fellow netizens put that little perk to use.

Easy Computer Tips For Newbies

Easy Computer Tips For Newbies
– by David Matthews 2

Every year, thousands of people join the online world. Some will buy their own computers; others will simply be given them either as a gift or for work or school purposes.

Unfortunately, every year, we also see a new influx of computer viruses, snooping programs, and illegal schemes to deprive the online users of their money and/or their identity. These threats are bad enough of an annoyance for your more seasoned computer users, but to a new computer user, these threats can turn their new gift into a nightmare. Some new users have become so traumatized by these threats that they have literally abandoned their computers, vowing to never use one again.

With that in mind, I have come up with a few tips that should apply to most new computer users. Of course, I know that not everyone uses Microsoft products, but a few tips should also apply for those of you playing with Macs and Linux.

RTFM: Read That (Fine) Manual! – The biggest tool at your disposal is a book (and in some cases it really IS a book) that has all of the essential information about your computer. This book is called a MANUAL. I know we all hate to read… unless it’s our paycheck, or a sales circular… but this is one book that you should get to know. Take the time to go over this book and get to know the particulars about what your computer has and doesn’t have.

Upgrade and check often! – Even though you may have Microsoft’s Automatic Updates turned on, there are some patches and upgrades that you still have to download and install yourself. Visit Microsoft’s Windows Upgrade website (http://windowsupgrade.microsoft.com) on a regular basis, even if you have Automatic Updates turned on. Also, some updates may be available BEFORE the Automatic Updates feature gets around to doing your computer. Virus writers don’t wait until Microsoft gets around to coming up with a patch before they exploit the holes, so don’t wait for MS to get around to you!

Learn to like Microsoft! – Whether you think that Bill Gates is a genius or the devil incarnate; whether your love or hate Microsoft; if you’re using Windows, you better learn to LIKE Microsoft!

Visit their website (http://www.microsoft.com) regularly because they have some great tools that go beyond your standard system upgrades. One of the best little free trinkets is a program called Tweak UI, which helps you make little changes to the Windows XP system so you can customize things to your liking.

Microsoft also has their Knowledge Base, which is a repository of technical support documents of all of the various changes, updates, and problems that may occur at any given time. You’ll find that many companies will simply defer their Microsoft-related questions to the Knowledge Base. Trying to get the result you need may take a bit of time, but just like an Internet search engine, if you phrase the question right then the Knowledge Base SHOULD come up with the right answer for you.

Check your anti-virus program! – What sort of anti-virus program do you have? Do you have a whole suite of security programs? Are they running? How do you know it’s running? You’ll usually see an icon over by the taskbar showing what is working in the background.
If you bought a computer from a retail store or from one of the major computer stores like Dell or Gateway, then they will probably throw in at least an anti-virus program, if not the whole suite of security tools. The same, however, cannot be said if you bought a second-hand computer or one from a local mom-and-pop computer store. So make sure you check to see if you have an anti-virus system installed, and if you do not, then you better make sure to get one and install it as soon as possible.

The latest version of Windows XP (Service Pack 2) has a new feature called the Security Center. This monitors things like firewalls anti-virus programs and makes sure you have the latest version, and if you don’t then it will let you know. This version of XP will also come with its own firewall program, which is turned on by default.

If your anti-virus program has a schedule feature, set up a time every week to have it automatically scan your computer. Set it for a time when you know that you probably won’t be using the computer too much, such as very late at night or very early in the morning. That way your computer will be checked regularly for viruses while not interfering with your day-to-day activities.

Get multiple anti-spyware programs! – Yes, some anti-virus programs will offer anti-spyware protection as well. But that is usually not enough. Spyware programmers are notorious for designing their programs to avoid detection by some of the most popular security programs, sometimes even disabling those services to open the door for more programs to be downloaded and installed without your knowledge or permission. So it’s always best to have a second or even a third opinion in this matter.

There are two FREE spyware-detection programs available online. Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware will check your computer for spyware and other potentially dangerous programs. Install them and set some time in the week to have them run. (Not at the same time, though. That would really slow things down.) Do so once a week if possible, and make sure that these programs are updated with the latest data before using them. Remember that Spyware programmers are always looking out for new ways to hack into your computer.

Check your pop-up blocking programs – Pop-up windows are those advertising windows that either pop up in front of or behind your browser window. Pop-ups are a nuisance to people because it shoves all sorts of advertising on their computers, wasting computer resources and also slowing down your online browsing to any given website. For instance, you could visit a news website, and it could take forever for the page to load. In most instances, it’s not a problem with the page itself. The actual page itself could load in half-a-second. It’s all of that advertising being downloaded to your computer that’s slowing it down.

Some online services will provide you with free pop-up blocking software that will work on MOST forms of pop-up and pop-under advertising. Users of Windows XP with Service Pack 2 have a built-in pop-up blocker with their Internet Explorer browser. Browser toolbars from America Online, Yahoo, Google, and Earthlink will also have pop-up blocking features included. Unfortunately these programs aren’t instant cure-alls, and while they will block most pop-up and pop-under windows, they will also block essential pop-up windows that are not used for advertising.

Keep in mind that this is an all-or-nothing setup. Blocking programs cannot tell the difference between a legitimate window and junk advertising, so it will block everything unless you tell it otherwise.

Holding down the CRTL key while surfing through a page or clicking on a hyperlink will usually temporarily suspend the pop-up blocker. If you’re looking for a more permanent solution, your blocking program may allow you to include certain websites as "acceptable" locations for pop-up windows. Check with the program’s "options" to see how this is done, since the method can vary from program to program.

Watch the CAPS LOCK! – It’s very easy for people who have very little typewriting or data entry experience to leave the CAPS LOCK button on. But in the online world, especially when it comes to instant messaging and chatrooms, leaving the CAPS LOCK button on is considered SCREAMING AND SHOUTING AT THE TOP OF YOUR LUNGS!

It’s very annoying to the seasoned computer users and it makes you look like an idiot.

You don’t want to look like an idiot, do you? Of course not! So mind the caps lock.

Beware Friendly Attachments! – This one is a little hard for people to pick up, but this is how many of those viruses get spread around. You get an email, supposedly from a friend, or a family member, or a coworker or even just someone you know, and they have some sort of weird attachment with it. They claim it’s a new screen saver or some graphical display that you MUST check out. Only it’s NOT what they claim it to be. It’s a virus, and by the time you realize it, your computer is already under the control of hackers and Spammers.

Just like parents tell kids to never talk to strangers, you need to remember to never open up strange attachments, even if they supposedly come from people you know. At the very least, double-check with the sender themselves to make sure they really did send you that email. If they don’t know anything about it, then their computer may be infected with the virus itself. Be sure to delete the email in question, go offline, and run your anti-virus and anti-spyware programs IMMEDIATELY. Don’t go back online until you know for certain that your computer hasn’t been affected.

Also, if your email program has what is called a "Preview Pane", make sure this feature is turned off as soon as possible. The preview pane was a nice feature once upon a time, but then virus writers learned how to exploit it, allowing viruses and Spyware programs to be installed just when the message is previewed, without the actual message even being opened. So now this neat little feature has become a liability to users. (Note: Users of Microsoft’s Outlook and Outlook Express will find that the Preview Pane feature is turned on by default.)

Check your time zone – Double-click on the clock and check to make sure that it’s showing you in the right time zone. By default, Windows is set on Pacific Time. (Because Microsoft’s headquarters is on the West Coast, in case you’re curious.) If you’re not on Pacific Time, though, several clock settings for things like email will be screwed up. Make sure that Windows reflects the RIGHT time zone that you’re in. And if you’re in one of those areas that doesn’t recognize Daylight Savings Time, then make sure that the option box is NOT checked. (That feature is checked on by default.)

If your computer runs on Windows XP, connected to the Internet regularly, and you’re not on a company network, there’s a little feature that you way want to try out called "Internet Time". This allows your computer to coordinate its clock with one of several atomic clocks in the world to ensure precise time. You can set it up to check every day at a certain time, and you can even manually tell the computer to check it. (Note: if you’re connected to a network, you might find this option is either disabled or simply not available.)

Beware the pitfalls of multi-tasking! – Yes, you can have multiple programs and windows open, but bear in mind that each active program gobbles up computer resources, even if you’re not using it at the time. (And yes that includes that cute little screen saver you may have running when you’re not around.) Once the easily accessible resources (RAM) are used up, then the computer has to dip into some space on your hard drive, which isn’t as easy to play around with and slows things down considerably. So unless you’ve got plenty of RAM to spare, you may want to start closing down those applications that you’re not using.

Guard your personal information! – Identity thieves try all sorts of tricks to get you to give up your personal information. They look to steal things like your credit card numbers, bank account numbers, Social Security number, and even your home address and phone number. Their most notorious trick is to impersonate a bank or an online store and tell you that you need to correct some sort of error in their records. This scam is called "phishing". (Yes, that is how it is spelled, and not to be confused with the sport that involves a rod and reel.) Their deception will take you to a website that will even look like the real deal, but the only thing they are interested in is getting your information, and then exploiting you and bleeding you dry.

Banks and online services WILL NOT ask you for your personal information or passwords via email. If you have any suspicions about an online account, DO NOT follow the link given by email. Instead do a search yourself for the website and visit it. If everything is as it should be with your account, then the email is just another phishing trap, and you should delete it immediately.

Keep in mind your specifications – If you happened to get a brand-new, top-of-the-line computer, then you should be able to play most programs on the shelf today. But if you got one that’s been on the store shelf for a few months, or if you got a second-hand computer, then you really need to keep in mind what sort of setup you have. Most, if not all, programs have a list of specifications of what your computer SHOULD have at the very least in order for the program to run. Some will even have both a minimum and an optimal standard. If your computer is leaning closer towards that minimum standard, then you may still be able to run the program, but it will probably be quite slow or you’ll have limited functions.

The key things you need to know about your computer are the operating system, RAM, video memory, and not only your hard drive space, but also how much space you have left on your hard drive.

Power games demand MORE! – High-graphic computer games can be fun, but keep in mind that they are notorious for demanding the latest-greatest computer specifications. One well-known simulation game that came out a few years ago was so advanced for its time that it demanded that users have computers that weren’t even AVAILABLE yet.

Some game specifications will recommend a certain kind of video or audio card to get the "optimal result". Part of that is a subtle push to get you to either buy a computer with that hardware or to upgrade your current system with that hardware. Will the program still work if you don’t have that exact brand? Probably, but it may not look or sound as good as what you see on the box.

Oh, and if you’re still one of those who has dial-up Internet access, then you’ll probably want to steer clear of those online games. Most of those programs are designed for people with high-speed broadband access.

Many game designers will presume that ALL uses of their programs have the same kind of computers as they do. So if they have the latest, greatest, most recent computer system, then they believe that everyone else does too, even if that hardware still costs upwards of $3000. Call it the "Jones Principle", as in "Keeping up with the Joneses". (By the way, you’ll find that many web designers also operate under the "Jones Principle".)

Watch out for your kids! – We all hear about online predators who try to entice kids. But what doesn’t get reported is how much of this problem is the fault of parents who simply do not keep an eye on what their kids do online. Some parents will even make the critical mistake of letting their kids have an Internet-capable computer in their bedrooms. This is akin to having them play in the middle of a busy freeway.

As a parent, it is YOUR responsibility to make sure that your children are using the Internet properly. It’s not the responsibility of your online service or the various websites to watch out for your children. There are plenty of tools available for parents to help monitor computer use. Some of these may even be available through your online provider. But the best tool at your disposal is simply good parenting. You don’t have to be a software expert to figure out what your kids are doing online… just be a parent.

Read "Idiot" and "Dummies" books! – This isn’t to insult anyone’s intelligence, but rather to point out that there are books that are designed for those people who take pride in calling themselves "computer illiterate". You don’t have to default to your eight-year old neighbor to figure out where the power button is. There are plenty of books to help you out of that "technically-challenged" category, with the best ones being either "For Dummies" or being an "Idiot’s Guide". They’re very informative and they’re designed specifically for people with little or no technical experience, and they’re a whole lot cheaper than the computer courses at your local college or computer store.

Backup if possible – If your computer has a CD or DVD burner and you have something stored on your computer that you really want to keep, then it would be to your advantage to back it up to a disc. This includes things like any documents or family photos that you may store on your computer. If something were to happen to your computer, such as a virus attack or if your hard drive crashed, then you won’t have to worry about these things being forever lost.

And finally…

The computer is not smarter than you – That box full of silicon, copper, plastic, and electricity may be a wonderful device, and it can do a lot of things all by itself faster than a human being. But it is still not smarter that a normal human being. Keep that in mind before you start throwing your hands up in frustration, screaming and shouting about what that computer "won’t let you do".

Every program in your computer was written by a human being, and it only does what it is told to do. It can’t guess what you want it to do. It can’t even figure out what you MIGHT want it to do. It just works on whatever it is programmed to do along with whatever commands you give it, and that’s only if it understands the command you give. In that regard, even the most intelligent computers are still pretty dumb compared to the human brain.

And yes, that includes those of you who consider yourselves to be "technically-challenged".

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David Matthews 2 is a freelance writer living in Georgia. He has been around computers in one form or another since the 1980’s.

This article may be distributed freely only so long as it is reprinted in its entirety, with all proper credit given to the author.

2005 – Get Brutal Productions

About Spyware

What You Need To Know About Spyware
– by David Matthews 2

Of all of the things that annoy Internet users, the big three are Spam emails, viruses, and spyware. Of those three things, the most insidious is spyware.

You don’t have to be an expert to know when you’ve been infested with Spam emails. Most viruses can be contained with some common-sense applications and good software. But most people have absolutely no idea that their computers are infested with spyware. Some computer users will even have dozens, if not hundreds, of spyware programs running on their computer, and they would never even know it until something specifically happens to affect their use of that computer.

What is Spyware?

Spyware is essentially a program that is installed on your computer that gets information about you, the web sites you visit, the words that you search for online, and any other kind of data that can be used for information-collecting or advertising purposes.

"Spyware" goes by several names. The most common is "Adware", because the most common use of these programs is for advertising. "Spyware" is often used to describe those programs used to collect the information on your computer. But since "Spyware" has a negative connotation to it, some companies that use such programs are eager to sue anyone who dubs their software as such. (The more annoying of these companies have demanded that such programs be henceforth referred to as "Valueware".) The more malicious of such programs are referred to as "Malware". These are programs that basically operate like destructive viruses, causing havoc on infected computers. The best examples of "Malware" have to be the "mouse-trapping" websites, where programs would be used to disable your mouse or to prevent you from closing certain pop-up windows. Or if one window would close, five more would appear.

The whole purpose of Spyware is to collect information about you and your computer, and to shove advertising culled from that information in your face. Companies pay big bucks to get advertisers to shove their wares in front of your face, and they don’t care how it gets shoved in front of you.

For the most part, it comes in the form of pop-up advertising. You may have pop-up blocking software running, but for some reason you still get pop-ups. Sometimes you may get pop-up windows for no reason, even when you’re not connected to the Internet. When that happens, you know that Spyware is involved. Advertising may also appear at the bottom of certain function windows. For instance, you go to print a document, and when the print window appears, the window extends to ask you if you need to buy some more ink. Or if you try to save a document, the "Save As" window expands to ask if you want a new hard drive or need some more floppy disks. These are all visible examples of Spyware in action.

Sometimes Spyware will even overlay ads on top of other ads on a website. Or you may get ads from companies that compete against the website you visit. For instance you may visit the website of a certain brand name cola, and instantly you get a pop-up ad from the competing brand. That’s Spyware in action. No name-brand company would ever allow their website to display an ad to their competition.

Why is Spyware so notorious?

Three reasons. First, because Spyware is often installed without your knowledge. Most Spyware programs are bundled in the installation program of another file. For instance, you hear about this really neat screensaver program, so you download it from a website. It has a self-installing program, which you have to run in order for it to work on your computer. Bundled in with that program is the Spyware program, and it also gets installed without so much as an introduction, much less your permission.

However, if you ask the Spyware companies, they will tell you that YOU DID give your permission for any and all Spyware programs to be installed on your computer. Then they’ll point you to some obscure piece of legalese in the Terms of Service agreement for the screensaver program, which says in a roundabout way that if you agree to install the screensaver, then you also agree to have Spyware installed on your computer. Yes, it’s deceptive. Yes, it’s devious. Yes it’s unethical. Yes, the people behind this stuff should be flogged and keelhauled, but it’s also quite legal.

Sometimes, though, a Spyware program may be automatically installed just by VISITING a certain website. Well, you know, if the webmaster feels that he has a right to put data cookies in your computer, then he should also have a right to put in any other kind of program on your computer… especially if that program will generate money for him.

Some computers even have Spyware pre-installed! It’s on your computer even before you take it out of the box.

The second reason why Spyware is notorious is that it self-regenerates. It comes back to haunt you, even if you use the Add/Remove Programs feature in Windows or one supplied by the program itself. Not only are some Spyware programs scattered all over your computer and all over your Registry files, but if even one portion of the program is intact, it is instructed to go back to the website and download and reinstall the rest of the program. Next thing you know, the Spyware program is back like Freddy Kruger, ready to resume the nightmare. And it is hard to remove every aspect of Spyware by yourself. One such instruction to remove every line and every hint of a certain popular Spyware program is over forty pages in length! (And yes, you DO have to remove every single piece in order to be free of these things!)

The third reason is that Spyware isn’t just relegated to some obscure porn websites and file-sharing groups. These things show up on so-called "mainstream" websites, including those run by major corporations. The list of companies that have engaged in partnerships with those that develop and distribute Spyware programs reads like the who’s who in Fortune Magazine. These are major players with dibs on as many computers as they can get their cyber-mitts on.

Why is Spyware bad for your computer?

At best, Spyware is an annoyance. Pop-up windows showing up when you don’t want them to… extra windows being generated to push advertising when you don’t want them to… Pop-up windows automatically opening even when your computer is off-line can be embarrassing, especially when they’re for pornographic websites and it’s on a workplace computer.

At worst, Spyware invades your privacy. It collects sensitive information about you and your online habits. It can track your keystrokes, grab passwords, bank accounts, email addresses and anything else it wants to, without your permission, and sends this information to other people to use at their discretion, again without your permission.

Plus, Spyware can bog down your system, wasting system resources and online bandwidth grabbing needless advertising to shove in your face. And because most of it operates without your knowledge or permission, you don’t even realize why your top-of-the-line system is suddenly slowing down.

What can you do if you think you have Spyware on your computer?

First, mutter some well-needed colorful remarks at the advertisers and programmers who burden us needlessly with their trash. It won’t fix the problem, but it will vent some frustration.

Next, get some programs to scan your hard drive and completely remove the spyware. And I do mean "programs" in the PLURAL sense.

There are two FREE programs available that will do the job quite well. The first one is Ad-Aware, and it was developed by a company called LavaSoft. The other one is called Spybot Search & Destroy, and it was created by Patrick Kolla. Both of these programs will thoroughly search your hard drive for Spyware, tracking cookie files, and even vulnerabilities in your Windows registry. You can find both of these programs through any search engine by searching under the name of the program.

Now unlike anti-virus programs, you shouldn’t just pick one Spyware-hunting program or the other. In fact, it’s advisable to have both programs on your computer, because some Spyware programs are designed to evade any one of the most common Spyware-detecting programs. So to have two or more systems will increase the odds that you will find whatever elusive program is hiding in your computer. (Just don’t have the multiple programs running at the same time, because that will really bog your system down.)

Yes, there are a plethora of other programs out there that you can buy that will do just as good a job or better. It’s up to you to decide whether you want to make the investment. Obviously someone running a business will want to make sure they have ample protection in a way that some of these other programs will provide. But for the average home-user, Ad-Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy are the best way.

There are some companies that will also claim to scan your computer online and make the necessary fixes for a nominal fee. I’d be somewhat skeptical of those. It’s way too easy for some fly-by-night company to offer such a program, tell you there’s something wrong with your computer, and then pretend to fix it, and either do nothing, or worse yet scan your computer, copy your important information, and actually install Spyware.

Check with your Internet provider. Some providers offer free Spyware-detecting software in addition to virus protection and pop-up blocking software.

Speaking of virus protection, some of the major virus protection companies like McAfee have included Spyware-detection as part of their regular service. They properly recognize Spyware as being a threat to the computer.

But whatever group of programs that you use to check your system, make sure to use them regularly. Just like viruses, Spyware programs change and new ones are developed, so make sure that you get the latest updates for your detection programs. Ideally, you’ll want to set aside a block of time when you know that you aren’t going to use the computer and then run your detection programs.

Also, if you’re surfing the Internet and suddenly you see a "Terms of Service" window open, say NO to whatever it is immediately. That’s Spyware trying to get installed. Get yourself offline, start up those Spyware-hunters, and start scanning your hard drive.

If you do come across a website that tries to stick you with Spyware and you don’t want to part with the website itself, there is a way to block the Spyware from being installed while still visiting the website. You can add the website’s address to the "Restricted Sites" list in your Windows Explorer Internet Options, which will block all automatic downloads and ActiveX components on that site from running on your browser.

The other thing is that if you come across the program or website that you know is spreading Spyware, make sure you warn other people about it. If you found the program through a service like Download.com which offer user reviews, use that to warn people about the Spyware. Believe me, you’ll be doing other users a huge favor by getting the word out on these things.

Spyware: Not a good trade-off!

The companies that use and include Spyware in their programs claim that what they are doing is providing a convenience for computer users. They believe that allowing others to snoop into your computer so they can force-feed you advertising is a fair trade-off for providing free programs. Of course if they were so confident of that belief, then they wouldn’t be sneaking the Spyware programs into our computers. They’d tell us up-front that this is the condition for having their "free" programs on our computers. They wouldn’t hide this inside weasel legal language that most people won’t see, much less understand. But then again, it wouldn’t really be a "free" program, would it?

The important thing for people to understand is that they now have one more thing to look out for online besides viruses and email scams. And while the various bodies of government are weighing possible new laws and regulations to try to reign this stuff in, online users will just have to be wary of these things from now on, not even being able to completely trust mainstream websites. A near impossible but very necessary task to perform, from a medium that once prided itself on blind trust.

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David Matthews 2 is a freelance writer living in the greater Atlanta area. He is a longtime computer user and has been involved with computers since the 1980’s.

This article can be distributed freely provided that it is unaltered and all proper credit is given to the author.

2005 – Get Brutal Productions