** Issue #9 December 15th, 2006 **

 

#1- News, News, News

In This Issue...

In the December 1st issue the groundwork for our Knock Down - Drag Out - No Holds Barred - Anti Spyware Cage Match! The issue began with Tom Mercado of www.temerc.com explaining where spyware and malware are today, and where they are going. I explained how the testing would be performed and introduced the contenders. Carol explained what all those funny keys on your keyboard do, and I finished up with some light hearted items to take the edge off. If you missed the issue, or are new, you should have a look so you are up to speed as I begin reporting test results.

#2 Malware: Where's it going, What's it doing, Can you stop it? - This is the last part of Tom Mercado's article explaining where Spyware and Malware are today and what we can do about it.

#3 Knock Down - Drag Out - No Holds Barred - Anti-spyware test results - Part 1 - I finished testing yesterday, so I'll show some preliminary information I've gathered from the testing.

#4 Configuring Delegates in Outlook - Work in an office? Want to share calendars? Inboxes? Carol tells you how!

#5 My Software Recommendations - Need antivirus, Photo, or other software? Check out my recommendations.

#6 The Lighter Side - A few videos and games to shake the stress.

#7 A Few Websites You May Find Useful - A few of the websites I've visited recently that may be of interest to you.

*** In the spirit of the Holiday Season Carol has included a gift for everyone! Formatting Text Using Styles is a free Microsoft Word quick reference sheet in Adobe pdf format. Download your free copy here. ***

In the next issue...

Coming in the next few issues will be in-depth results for each of the programs in the Knock Down - Drag Out - Anti-Spyware Cage Match. I'll show you what files and registry entries the programs removed.

Here is where I beg!

I hope you find this newsletter useful. I strive to provide information in a manner that is entertaining and useful for everyone. There is something in each newsletter for everyone. If you enjoy reading the newsletter I would appreciate if you would tell a friend, relative, or coworker. Use any means necessary to spread the word about Daves Computer Tips. A quick suggestion: Invite your neighbors over for movie night. Plug your computer into your big screen TV and explore www.davescomputertips.com. Your neighbors will thank you! I will thank you!

As always I appreciate your comments and suggestions about the site and newsletter. If you would like to share please contact me at dave @ davescomputertips.com.

Carol is our resident "Office Goddess". If you have Microsoft Office questions or suggestions for future Office articles shoot her an email at carol @ carolscorneroffice.com.

Click Here to recommend this newsletter to a friend!

#2- Where's it going, What's it doing, Can you stop it?

By Tom Mercado

Adware, spyware and malware. If you're on the Net with amount of regularity, then these are some of the most popular topics in many forums. Some other names: greynets, PUPS, slyware and lord knows all sorts of other names, many one which I cannot reprint here. But rest assured, I've used those names too. Just about every forum, regardless of its specific topic, has a section to assist users in removal of software they have no idea how they got and don't want. Or they know where they got it, but didn't expect it as part of the package or software they downloaded.

No matter what you call it, one thing is for certain: It's not going away any time soon. This isn't some trend, like social networking sites that pop up. No this is part and parcel of the Internet. As much a part of every day surfing as is a cell phone or car. I think with proper education and a slight change in our social engineering habits we can turn surfing into a 'non-contact' sport, as the case may be. I'll touch on that again a little bit down the page tho, as I feel there is hope.

It's an ongoing war, us, the security advisors and professionals, trying to keep pace with the malware authors who are driven by what is the likely the most powerful force: money.

The time of script kiddies is long gone. Adware bundled with popular software is at times a nuisance, but nothing compared to today's most invasive malware. People who write the software which gets installed to steal identities have huge criminal empires behind them. The amounts of money which have been tossed around are in the billions. Some say less, regardless it is a problem for the every day Joe Net user.

In the nearly three years that I have been involved with assisting and advising users either how to remove or prevent getting infections, the most popular questions are:

• How did I get infected?
• Why do these bits of software exist and how makes them?
• How can I prevent infections in the future?

While we can delve into the long winded answer to these, but by then you'll have had to answer the phone, get Sally to give up her toy to Johnny and need to refresh your coffee, so I'll keep it short and sweet here.

How did I get infected?

In many cases users know they were either surfing some site which they knew could be a landmine, e.g., pornographic, P2P file sharing sites or warez types of sites and they found out that when they downloaded that cool screensaver for their children or other family member, something went horribly awry. All of a sudden, you're getting popups for online pharmaceuticals, dating services, casino sites not to mention the always popular porn site. Then your PC begins to act sluggish and unresponsive and you have a new homepage. Worse yet, you could also have installed a keylogger trojan, just waiting for you to log into your bank account. And for many of those types of software, the symptoms are not too obvious. These are usually in the form of rootkits.

Super stealthy with a purpose to gather your personal info for sale, these are some of the biggest threats to users. You can get your identity stolen, your credit cards can be run up to enormous amounts of money. Fortunately, most banks do not make innocent victims pay these bills. Well, you sort of do, but in a round-about way, with higher interest rates.

Some rootkit infections have upwards of 300 different variants which can get installed on your system. They can be bought for a relatively small amount of money to be dispersed all on the Net on hundreds of sites. The sites open and close frequently, and change the payload almost every day. In some cases, several times a day.

And mind you, it's not always the sites you think that would drop the nastiest malware. Yes, you're more likely to find these infections on porn related sites, P2P and warez sites, but just as often it's an innocent looking site which you think is something entirely different.

Why do these bits of software exist and who makes them?

As I stated earlier in the piece, money drives probably 99% of malware installs. With every pop up and hijacked homepage, some affiliate of an affiliate of an affiliate gets paid some small piece of the pie. Some get more than others. But all get some. The affiliate chains can be long and confusing, with some of the biggest companies in the world wrapped up in it and they may not even know. Some do know and turn a blind eye, because the market for your eyeballs to spot an online add or link is tremendous. By the time the first ad affiliate gets to the next and so on, the level of ethical placement of ads decreases. And then you're in the area of near, if not total criminal activity. This is where the crime rings come in, tho, most of the notorious ones are not involved with the bigger legit companies.

Lets face it, with users routinely looking for more and more ways to block annoying pop up ads, banner ads and linked text on sites, the companies have to try and recoup their investments. Of course the crime rings have no intention of worrying about recouping funds, for them it's all about getting funds.

On the one hand I don't blame them, on the other hand I know that if I visit a site with too many ads, I'm going to find another site which may more user friendly. It's like trying to read the paper at the kitchen table at breakfast on Sunday morning. You just know that one thing or another is going to make that reading take about 3 times longer than say if you were out on the porch at 8PM.

How Can I Prevent Infections In The future?

By now you're wondering, hey Tom, where is the 'hope' you mentioned earlier, my coffee is cold and its late to boot.

Well friends I truly think that we as a collective body of people can stem the tide. Maybe even push it back some. We just need to adjust some habits, add some unobtrusive software and read a little about online security.

If we all did our best to adhere to a couple of simple guidelines, these scum who make these kinds of software just wouldn't make as much. No, we can't stop them, but we sure can put a dent in their wallets:

• Not sure who that email is from? Delete it. Let your friend get over it, eventually they'll call you up.
• Email from your bank? Delete it. Never reply to any email purported to be from your bank, ever! Pick up the phone and call them. Better safe than sorry. Yes, it's a bit inconvenient, but it's more inconvenient to have to change your credit cards, banking account numbers and social security card.
• Sales pitches for any product, maybe even ones you have dealt with? Guess what? Delete it. Go to the site you already have bookmarked and if you get re-directed be sure it has the proper security designations in the address bar. Always be suspect when the links change or your asked for your info via email.

Anybody see a pattern here? I have never opened any mail from anyone I wasn't sure I knew. I'm sure I may have missed an occasional email from someone, but it's a risk I'm willing to take.

As the Net is prone to induce you to fits of wanting things for free, here is what I recommend you do before downloading any software:

• Google what software your looking for. Pretty simple to do. Results could be catastrophic tho from a malware point. I recommend users install SiteAdvisor on their systems. It's a free toolbar which has ratings for many millions of websites. They look for scam sites, spam sites and sites which may load malware onto your machine. they don't rate content in any fashion, just what the sites have to offer in so far as nuisances.
• Find a known software site that has a clean bill of health. One which offers software without bundles or extras. Where can you find these sites? Ask people you have come to trust about where to find them. People like Dave...or me for that matter. Or any number of others. just don't download blindly, your asking for trouble.
• Read up on security software and how to use that software. Just installing anti-virus and anti-spyware software is not enough. Learn how often if updates, how it updates. Most do not do so automatically.
• Aside from AV and AS software there are preventative, low to no resource applications you can install which are very effective. Most free too.

I truly believe that if as a collective group, we do the previous steps even 50% of the time, we can take a substantial step in improving our overall enjoyment of using the Internet and our PCs. And it really is quite easy to do. It takes a little bit more time, but in the end you will be able to surf securely and hassle free.

Every day I see new infections popping up from all sorts of sites from all over the world. China is currently in a huge Internet boom, recently allowing access to the Net to many of its millions and millions of users. Not surprisingly, now malware is popping up from Chinese sites. While the language barrier is a small hurdle, we already have a few automated tools to deal with some of these infections. Just as driven as malware authors are to make the crippling software, there is another group of people just as devoted to helping users remove and stay free of infections. That's the group I count myself in.

All the big anti-virus and anti-spyware companies are spending more time in collaboration than ever before. Sharing files and details of how infections are spreading and evolving. It is because of these ongoing collaborations and the strong hope that users realize they can prevent most of what's out there from installing on their machine I think this battle is turning towards the good guys favor.

Tom Mercado is a Microsoft Security MVP. Tom's website, www.temerc.com provides information on internet security, adware, malware, spyware, and hijackers. Whether you are infected, or want to prevent infection Tom's site has the information you need.

Click Here to recommend this newsletter to a friend!

#3- Spyware test results - part 1

By David Hartsock

I just finished testing yesterday, December 15th. The amount of time involved in this process is huge. I would estimate 5 to 7 hours a day for the last 4 weeks. The amount of data generated as a result of the testing is enormous. It will take me several weeks to sort through it and put it in an understandable format. This week I'll list some basics about each program and give you a list of the spyware/adware/trojans that each program reported it found. All results will be in alphabetical order. I apologize to those that will have to scroll left and right to view this, but there really isn't a better way to show these results.

These are the results generated by the programs themselves and are only shown to give a basic idea about each program. In the next few issues I'll go into much greater detail about each program, including exactly which files and registry keys they removed.

You will notice that several of the programs list multiple items which are very similar. This is because there are many variants of each peice of spyware. Johny Spyware writes a nasty little spyware program and he is happy. Two things happen: 1). Anti-Spyware company, inc. discovers this peice of spyware and adds it to their database. Now Johny Spyware modifies his original program trying to out-smart Anti-Spyware company, inc. 2). Marty Malware gets a copy of Johny Spyware's program and makes a few changes. This results in 2,3, or more versions with similar roots and similar names. Some programs list these similar variants as one entry, while others list each variant seperately.

I can say that the free programs (AdAware, Spybot, and Spyware Terminator) don't appear to be as affective as the paid programs (AVG, CounterSpy, SpySweeper, and Spyware Doctor). We'll see how this cookie crumbles in the next few issues!

Click Here to recommend this newsletter to a friend!

#4- Configure Delegates in Outlook

by Carol A. Bratt

Delegate access enables users to share Outlook resources, such as appointment schedules, for better coordination across workgroups and throughout organizations.

Approximately sixty percent of companies worldwide use MS Outlook. That is because along with e-mail, calendaring and personal information management, there are features like delegate access that simplify collaboration among workers.

Using Outlook's delegate access feature lets group members view each other's calendars among other things. Bosses can allow secretaries to view their calendars, enabling them to more efficiently set up appointments when the boss is out of the office. There are many other instances where Outlook's delegate access feature comes in quite handy.

Setting up Outlook's delegate access feature is fairly straightforward and taken only a few mouse clicks.

Click Tools | Options on the Outlook toolbar. In the Options box, click the Delegates tab.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 2

 

To add a delegate, click the Add button and select the appropriate person. You can select a delegate from any of the Outlook address lists that are available to you. After you've added the delegate, click OK and then use the drop-down lists shown in Figure 3 to select the desired permissions for the delegate. The levels of permissions are:

None: The assigned delegate is unable to view or modify your calendar.

Reviewer (Can Read Items): The assigned delegate is allowed to read items on your calendar.

Author (Can Read And Create Items): The assigned delegate is allowed to read, create and modify items on your calendar.

Editor (Can Read, Create and Modify Items): The assigned delegate is allowed to read, create, and modify items on your calendar.

Figure 3

When you're assigning delegate access, be very careful to assign the appropriate permissions to each delegate. For example, you'll want to avoid confusion by limiting the number of folks who can modify your calendar. Click OK to return to the Options dialog box, where your new delegate will be listed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 4

 

To finish the process of assigning a delegate, just click Apply and then click OK. Your new delegates now have access to view your calendar and to use the privileges that you have granted to them.

Modifying delegate settings and managing your delegates are easy tasks. To modify a delegate's permissions, go to Tools | Options and click the Delegates tab in the Options dialog box.

Select the delegate and click the Permissions button to open the Delegate's Permission dialog box. After you have made your changes, click OK and then click Apply to apply the updated delegate settings. Click OK to close the Options dialog box.

To delete a delegate, open the Delegates tab in the Options dialog box. Select the delegate that you want to delete and click the Remove button. The delegate will be removed and will no longer be able to view or modify your calendar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 5

 

Carol writes the monthly Word Bytes Newsletter with more tips and tricks each issue. Visit Carol's website for more great Microsoft Office tips and tricks! Visit Carol's site at www.carolscorneroffice.com.

Click Here to recommend this newsletter to a friend!

#5- My Recommended Software

Anti-spyware and Anti-malware Software

Webroot SpySweeper - Daves Computer Tips Seal of Approval Winner! See the test results HERE. Spysweeper provides the best protection of the seven anti-spyware programs tested! Great detection and removal rates with a small real-time protection memory footprint. This is the one you want! SpySweeper includes the ASK toolbar. Be sure to uncheck this option during installation. Free 14 day trial.

CounterSpy - Runner-up in my Anti-Spyware test. Not only does CounterSpy scan and remove spyware, it also uses real time protection. Real-time protection prevents spyware infection. Free 15 day trial. Winner of Computer Shopper Magazine's Best Buy Award!

Antivirus and Firewall Software

ESET Smart Security - New from the maker's of NOD32. Antivirus, Antispyware, Antispam, and Firewall all wrapped into one effective, swift, and low resource package. It is what I use to protect each of my computers!

Kaspersky Antivirus - Kaspersky is my second choice for antivirus software. A good program that is very close in performance to NOD32. Free trial.

Online Armor Firewall - You shouldn't be on the internet without a software firewall that offers inbound and outbound protection. Online Armor is the Best of the Best. Online Armor uses an interface that is easier to navigate than most other firewalls and the protection level can't be beat! Online Armor is available in both a free and reasonably priced paid version, which offers even more protection!

Audio and Video Software

Acoustica Audio Converter Pro - This program converts audio formats and bitrates. Perfect for those with portable audio players or large music collections. 30 day trial.

Adobe Premier Elements - Elements is the consumer version of Adobe Premiere. It costs 1/6th the price, but is very capable of making videos that will impress everyone.

DVDFab is my favorite DVD software. I tried over 30 different programs before settling on DVDFab. It offers every function of the other programs and more! Copy, burn, shrink, convert for mobile devices, or convert for streaming. Almost all of the other programs I've tried did not function as advertised, were extremely slow, or did not have features that worked as advertised. DVDFab works, and works as advertised! It's easy to use, has a pleasant user interface, and it updated often.

Computer Hardware

Crucial Memory - Memory (RAM) is the upgrade that gives any computer the best bang for the buck. If you want to speed things up with more memory, why not purchase it from the leading source of quality RAM memory. Great selection, good prices, excellent support, and a lifetime warranty! A real winner!

CyberGuys - The place to get those hard to find cables and accessories for your computer!

HP Computers - My current pick for new laptops and desktops. In the current market I don't think you can beat HP's combination of price and performance. Their laptop line is very cost effective and the design is absolutely beautiful!

Newegg - Newegg.com is known for great service and awesome pricing on computers, upgrades, and electronics. If you're looking for computers, computer parts, or electronics you owe it to yourself to start here! Great Products. Great Prices. Great Customer Service!

Computer Maintenance Software

Diskeeper 2008 - My current favorite defrag program. As files are written and erased from the hard drive they begin to leave "spaces" behind. When the drive is written to again files are broken up to fill in these spaces. This causes the drive to go to several different locations to read an entire file, which slows performance greatly. Diskeeper has several advanced features such as; automatic defrag, scheduled defrag, and the ability to defrag the MFT (Master File Table) and paging file. 30 day trial.

Registry Mechanic - A very thorough and efficient registry cleaner and defragmenter. A definite must to maintain peak performance and stabile operation. 30 day trial.

Computer Utility Software

Acronis True Image 11 - Do you value the data on your computer? Do you value your time? How much time will you spend recovering data and returning your computer to its original state after a hardware failure or software glitch? True Image is my #1 choice in backup tools. Whether you choose file or image based backups (you should use both!) True Image will perform better than any other application I've used. Disk images created with True Image are generally 10-20% smaller than those from comparable programs. If your time and files are as important to you as mine are to me this is a must have.

Acronis Disk Director - My favorite tool to partition, format, and resize hard drives.

Roboform - This program is the next best thing since sliced bread in my book! This program integrates into Internet Explorer and firefox. It generates very secure passwords at the click of a button. How do I remember these complex passwords? Roboform allows you to save passwords and personal data in an encrypted format. A master password (yes only one password to remember!) allows access. Roboform in IE and FireFox works like a super powered bookmark. You click the site you want to go to and Roboform opens the site, enters your username and password for the site (if required) and as if by magic clicks the submit button. If you shop online Roboform can enter your personal information and credit card information, which is also stored in a secure encrypted file, in one click. A real time saver with great security thrown in to boot! 30 day trial.

WinRar - What is commonly called a zip utility, similar to the more widely known WinZip. WinRar is faster and works with more formats for about 1/2 the price of WinZip. 30 day trial.

Desktop Utility Software

LogonStudio - Change the screen that appears when you boot Windows (the one with the moving bar graph). Hundreds of free skins available online. It's free.

Cursor XP Plus - Change the cursors on your computer. Hundreds of cursor packs are available online for free.

Icon Packager - Change the icons on your computer. Icon Packager puts you in control to change every icon with the click of a button. Tired of the plain icons built into Windows? There are hundreds of Icon Packs available online for free, which will add a truly personal feel to your computer.

WindowBlinds 6 - This is the icing on the proverbial cake. WindowBlinds changes the look and feel of Windows. By changing the appearance of the task bar, start menu, and any other window or program you open. It adds transparency, shadows, alpha blending, and animations. Hundreds of themes are available online for free.

Internet and Email

1&1 hosting - If you want to start your own website, blog, photo gallery, or have a personalized email address then 1&1 is for you. 1&1 can not be beat for reliability, features, support, and price. 90 day guarantee.

Google Gmail - The best internet based email (webmail) available. Each mailbox has a 6.5GB limit. The interface is superb, and the spam filter is top notch. You will never need to delete an email again! It has a great search function and a feature called thread view, which makes finding emails easy. A webmail account offers several advantages including not being required to change your email address if you change service providers. Gmail requires an invitation from a current member. If you are interested shoot me an email and I'll send you an invite.

Microsoft Outlook 2007 - Outlook is the current email client of choice for corporate America. I get well over 200 emails a day. Outlook has a few features I really need such as a plug in for automatic backups, office sounds which offers me some audible feedback, and the ability to change headers. I've used Mozilla Thunderbird and liked it a lot. With the amount of mail I go through I really need the features of Outlook. If you aren't a heavy user, or don't need the features I do then Thunderbird is a great alternative.

- An amazing, free, web browser. If you aren't using it you should be! Highly customizable through addins called extensions. There are thousands of extensions which can allow FireFox to do just about anything you can imagine. More importantly, Firefox is not subject to ActiveX, which is a large part of Internet Explorer, AOL, and MSN. No ActiveX means much less chance of getting spyware! Firefox also conforms to web standards more closely than Internet Explorer, which means you will see what the authors intended, not Microsoft.

Mozilla Thunderbird - A great free email client, from the same folks that brought us FireFox. Easy to use and highly customizable through extensions.

Photo and Picture Software

Adobe Photoshop Elements - Photoshop Elements is a consumer version of Adobe Photoshop. If you are serious about digital photos you will find Photoshop Elements a great program to have at your disposal. Elements provides all the functionality most will need at 1/6th the price.

Picasa - A great (FREE) way to organize, edit, and share your digital photos.

#6- The lighter side

After spending countless hours surfing the web in search of various funny or interesting things to share with you here are a few of my finds to lighten your day! I go through a lot to please my readers!

Ahh, The Holiday Season. Here are a few tidbits in the spirit of the season!

No snow? Too cold outside? Check this out! The Snowman Construction Kit allows you to make a snowman right on your computer! Check out some of the ones made by the other visitors!

Amazing Christmas Lights #1 - All my wife would say to me is, "NO!".

Amazing Christmas Lights #2 - She said NO again.

White Trash Christmas - I apologize to my white trash subscribers.

Christmas Music by two guys and a toilet! - Scary!

Larry The Cable Guy Carols - git-r-done!

Redneck Christmas - Again, I apologize to my red neck subscribers!

Mosquitos Christmas - animated mosquitos.

Click Here to recommend this newsletter to a friend!

#7- A few website's you may find useful

Quno - An interesting search engine, which uses live people to answer your questions.

Click Here to recommend this newsletter to a friend!

---

If you would like to subscribe to future newsletters, or change your current subscription please do so by visiting www.davescomputertips.com/subscribe.php.

This site and all content are copyrighted by their respective authors. Copyright © 2006 by David Hartsock. All rights reserved.