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Front Range PC Users Group Newsletter k-Byte |
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| v. 20, n. 9/10 September/October 2003 | Users Helping Users |
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Contents 1 State of the Group - Rick Mattingly 2 About k-Byte 3 The Drive-by Attack! - Jonathan Gerson 5 MSCONFIG - Bruce Cramer 6 The Virus Avalanche - Rick Mattingly 7 Filtering Spam in Outlook Express - Sue Whitehouse 8 Sticky Notes - Rick Mattingly 8 Compress The Windows 9x Registry - Rick Mattingly 9 Windows Restarting 9 Windows XP Activation Backup 10 Time To Consider A Notebook (Laptop) Computer? - Ira Wilsker 12 Controlling A Remote Computer 13 The Power Behind Meta Tags - Dennis Prince 14 Calendar of Events 16 October/November Calendars 18 Membership Application 19 The Swelling - Humor 20 eBay Hints And Tips - Cathy Margolin 21 Security Testing Online - Fraud Or Not? - Greg West 23 Right Click, Try It - You Might Like It - Les J. Kizer 26 The Tomato Company 29 Genealogy Anyone? 29 Bob Hope On Aging - Humor 30 Trading Post 31 FRPCUG Contacts State of the Group by Rick Mattingly At the September meeting all attendees explained their common use of their PC equipment and indicated what related topics they would like more information on. This was an excellent exercise which, while interesting in itself, provided some great direction in planning upcoming presentations for our meetings. Thanks for the input! For the October meeting we will have a representative of LP Broadband on hand to present a new Internet access service which will be available locally. LP Broadband is a radio signal based system which is claimed to be faster than cable. The exciting potential of this new service is that is will provide broadband service to areas where broadband has not previously been available. See you at the meetings! Published bi-monthly, k-Byte is the official newsletter of the Front Range Personal Computer Users Group (FRPCUG): our mailing address is PMB 152, 305 W. Magnolia, Fort Collins, Colorado 80521. Opinions expressed in k-Byte are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the group or its members. Publication of information in k-Byte constitutes no guarantee of accuracy. Use of any information found in this publication is at the sole risk of the user. Neither k-Byte, nor its officers, nor k-Byte, nor its editors or contributors assume any liability for damages resulting from use of information in this publication. Submissions Articles, letters and short items of interest on computer-related topics are welcome and encouraged. All items submitted for publication are subject to editing. Send your contribution to the editor via e-mail attachment or submit on disk. If you have questions about a submission, please contact the editor for information. Copyright k-Byte is copyrighted ©2003 by the Front Range Personal Computer Users Group. Unless otherwise noted, other nonprofit users groups may reprint or quote from any articles appearing in k-Byte without prior permission, provided that proper author and publication credits are given and that a copy of the publication in which the article appears is sent at no cost to k-Byte at the above mailing address. User groups wishing to exchange newsletters with FRPCUG are invited to send a copy of their newsletter together with an exchange request. IBM PC, OS/2, Compaq, MS-DOS, UNIX, Windows and other trademarks occasionally mentioned in k-Byte are registered trademarks of International Business Machines, Inc., Compaq Corporation, Microsoft, Digital Research, AT&T or their owners respectively. Neither FRPCUG nor its newsletter k-Byte are connected in any way with any manufacturer or seller. We, however, gratefully acknowledge sponsorship of our group by Data Service Center, Jim Becker, owner. Advertising Classified advertising is free to members for non-business ads. See “Trading Post” for pricing for camera-ready display ads. Charges for ad makeup from sketches, etc., are available on request. Deadline for camera-ready and classified ads is listed in the Calendar of Upcoming Events. Deadline for ad-makeup is the same as for articles. About FRPCUG FRPCUG is an independent nonprofit computer society, so incorporated with the State of Colorado and open to anyone interested in MS-DOS, OS/2, or UNIX microcomputers. Its purpose is to provide an educational and scientific forum of mutual benefit for members of the micro-computer community. FRPCUG holds a monthly meeting and conducts various special interest groups (SIGS) and seminars. Members have voting privileges, subscription to k-Byte newsletter, SIGs and selected seminars. Annual dues are $25 for individual/family membership and $50 for corporate/group membership. by Jonathan Gerson Internet marketing companies are getting more obnoxious and unethical every day. The marketers have come up with some incredibly unethical, horribly annoying gimmicks. The Surprise A few months ago, I started up my internet browser on my home computer (I have a dial-up connection) and was surprised to find myself looking a page I wasn't expecting. Nooo, it wasn't an adult site, but Xupitor.com. It is more insidious than any adult site. Xupiter.com bills itself as a helpful search engine, similar to Google, Yahoo and others, but it does the following: Installs an Internet Explorer toolbar containing link buttons to the search engine at Xupiter.com Runs a task at Windows startup to downloads updates to the software and may launch pop-ups Periodically resets your home page and search settings to point to Xupiter.com Adds links pointing to xupiter.com to your bookmarks. When Xupiter.com replaced my homepage, naturally I manually changed the homepage back to what it was, but Xupiter doesn't give up easily. When I restarted the browser or performed other actions, it reverted back to Xupiter. Every time I tried to use the Address, Favorites or Search functions, I was unable to do so, and Xupiter.com reinstalled itself as my homepage again. Xupiter consist of a hidden program file, a plugin and a sneaky, very well hidden ini or inf file, and makes changes to you system registry. The plugin allows Xupiter to call home for the updates, and possibly report your search and browser use. (thus it is also spyware). The Installation Why, you ask, would I have installed such a program? Well here is that insidious part, I didn't. It was a “Drive-by!” Xupiter can be installed when you visit a web site or click on an advertising link. Applications that install in this manner are also referred to as “ drive-by downloads.” Xupiter is a browser plug-in that gets installed automatically on your computer when you visit certain web sites. There is no comprehensive list of dangerous web sites of which I am aware. A pop up ad can also install Xupiter on your computer. Xupiter is downloaded to your computer as an Active-X control. An Active-X control is a small program or “applet” that lives on the Internet. It installs without your permission or knowledge. Removal OK, how do you get rid of this nasty program? First confirm that you have Xupiter by StartRun msconfig (Note: this utility does not exist if you are using Windows 2000). Look under the startup tab and see if it is running. Unchecking the box will have no effect because Xupiter just reloads itself at boot. Going to Xupiter.com and using their uninstaller is also useless because all the uninstaller does is to disable the tool bar, but leaves the program intact and spyware running. Are they nasty or what?!! At the time, I was religiously running Lavasoft's Ad-ware version 5.83, a free program that removes spyware. It didn't see Xupiter. I then heard about and used Spybot 1.1, release 4 Search & Destroy by PepiMK Software, another free program (the programmer does takes contributions) that removes spyware. It worked. It found all kinds of stuff (in addition to Xupiter) that that Ad-ware 5.83 missed. Unlike Ad-aware, which doesn't give you any information about what it finds on your PC, Spybot provides you with a clear list of everything it's discovered. Simply mouse-over any item on the list, and you can find out where it came from, what it does, and what Spybot recommends you do--keep it or destroy it. You control what to removes. It also has a spyware update capability like the better anti-virus programs have. Of course both spybot and anti-virus programs are needed to provide good protection. Since then, Ad-ware 6.0 came out. When I ran this new Ad-aware version it had a lot of bells and whistles that Spybot had including spyware updating and the choice of what to keep, save or destroy. It found more pieces of Xupiter in my registry that Spybot missed after I thought Spybot had flushed my computer of that !%#@$ program. I now use Ad-aware 6 as my main spyware removal program. I run it every time I finish using the internet. Drive-by Download Prevention OK, how do I prevent from getting a drive-by download in the first place? Security settings are a matter of personal choice, but on the IE menu bar, under tools internet options under the security tab (with Medium security selected for the Internet zone) under the Custom level button, you should change your activeX settings to: ActiveX controls and plug-ins... prompt, prompt, enable or prompt, enable, enable. If you were to set everything for prompt, IE will be asking all the time if you will allow this or that and drive you crazy. Then go down to your java settings and set for “ high safety” . Those are not the only security settings a user should make “ as a matter of choice” but that should keep you from getting the Xupiter curse unless you accept a popup download and then it's your fault. Please note, do not rely on your network firewall if you have one. A co-worker at my office was hit by Xupiter about a month after me and we have a pretty hefty firewall running there. What is Hijackware? Hijackware (e.g., Xupiter, Gator, Comet Cursor, Bonzi Buddy, Go Hip), places adverts from the software over the adverts on a site, robbing the site creators of revenue and taking away all control over who gets advertised to their customers. For instance, if the webpage had an ad for shoes, the hijackware would replace that ad with another company's ad for shoes or something else. If the webuser clicks on the hijacker ad, instead of the website getting credit (read money) and the webuser being sent to the legitimate webpage, the webuser is sent (read hijacked) to the hijacker's paid sponsor's site. The revenues the original web site would have received is lost and the legitimate advertiser loses a potential customer. This latest evolution looks to be capable of actually destroying many web sites. These programs are in wide-spread usage among the internet users. What is Spyware? Spyware is internet jargon for Advertising Supported software (adware). It is a way for shareware authors to make money from a product, other than by selling it to the users. There are several large media companies that offer them to place banner ads in their products in exchange for a portion of the revenue from banner sales. This way, you don't have to pay for the software and the developers are still getting paid. If you find the banners annoying, there is usually an option to remove them, by paying the regular licensing fee. Why is it called “Spyware” ? Most (not all) advertising companies also install additional tracking software on your system, which is continuously “ calling home,” using your internet connection and reports statistical data to the “mothership”. While according to the privacy policies of the companies, there will be no sensitive or identifying data collected from your system and you shall remain anonymous, it still remains the fact, that you have a “ live” server sitting on your PC that is sending information about you and your surfing habits to a remote location. Is Spyware illegal? Even though the name may indicate so, “ spyware” is not an illegal type of software in any way. However there are certain issues that a privacy oriented user may object to and therefore prefer not to use the product. This usually involves the tracking and sending of data and statistics via a server installed on the user's PC and the use of your Internet connection in the background. What's the hype about? While legitimate “adware” companies will disclose the nature of data that is collected and transmitted in their privacy statement, there is almost no way for the user to actually control what data is being sent. The fact is that the technology is in theory capable of sending much more than just banner statistics - and this is why many people feel uncomfortable with the idea. On the other hand ... Millions of people are using advertising supported “spyware” products and could not care less about the privacy hype..., in fact some “spyware” programs are among the most popular downloads on the Internet. Be aware that some of these “ adware” programs will not work if the “ spy” portion of the program is removed. To quote an old TV Police program: “Let's be careful out there.” NTPCUG PC News newsletter, April, 2003 LP Broadband Presentation in October Rod Parks of LP Broadband will be on hand for the October FRPCUG Meeting to describe a new technology broadband Internet service now available in our area. The LP Broadband system will provide broadband coverage to areas where broadband has not previously been available. by Bruce Cramer reprinted from the April 2003 issue of the PC Alamode, Alamo PC Organization Do you ever wonder what takes your computer so long to start up? In most cases the reason for that is that computer manufacturers and software developers think you need or even want all those programs and accompanying little icons to start every time that you turn your computer on. By the time Microsoft, Compaq or whoever your computer manufacturer is, and a few software companies are done with your computer you probably have 10 or more different programs running into each other every time your computer starts. Most of the programs that startup when your computer starts up are being shoved in there vying for room for no reason at all, but you can prevent that. I used to work as a computer technician at a national computer chain store where they charged a pretty penny for this little operation but you can do it at home armed with a little knowledge. First of all, MSCONFIG stands for Microsoft Configuration Utility. If you click on Start, Run, then type MSCONFIG you will get a window with see 6 tabs. On the far right you will see Startup. Click on the startup tab and there you see what loads up when your computer starts. Many applications put items in your startup group that are absolutely unnecessary such as Real Player streaming audio, calendar birthday reminder, bill payer reminder to name a few. Even if you have 512 megabytes of RAM or more, I don't recommend that you load any unnecessary applications on startup. With any luck, you'll know about aunt Jenny's birthday before your computer tells you. It's like the guy who is unpacking the family car at the beach, he dropped the family off near the water so they are there ready to have fun but dad has to go park the car half a mile away, then walk through the hot sand loaded down with the sun tan lotion, towels and ice chest. Do you really think he needs to carry any more? Even without the beach balls and rafts he's lucky if he doesn't fall and spill the sun tan lotion all over the towels - yes that would be a mess. After you turn your computer on it has to wake everything up (BIOS, network card, ports, etc.), load all its drivers, the bare essential applications, and the fonts. The only startup items you absolutely need are these: ScanRegistry TaskMonitor SystemTray LoadPowerProfile Your antivirus software There is an extensive and regularly updated list of startup files and what they do at this site (http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_pages/startup_full.htm). As of February 27, 2003, this guy had 2,277 files listed. [Ed. Note: as of early September, the site is now up to 3310 files.] I applaud his enthusiasm, but he really should get out more often. The general rule of thumb is: if in doubt leave it alone. After you uncheck the boxes of unneeded items and click Apply, OK, you will be asked if you want to restart or exit without restarting. You can do either, but you will not reap the benefits of unloading the items until after you restart. After you restart your computer Microsoft will give you a message that says you have run the MSCONFIG utility and wants to know if you are satisfied with the results. If you do not want to see this message again, check the box. You should notice an immediate improvement in performance and stability, all for free! And you did it yourself, the all natural way, without adding more programs such as Ram Booster or an “optimizer” program which only leads to more memory use and possible software conflicts. MSCONFIG is not available for Windows 95, NT, or 2000. However there is a free "Startup Control Panel" at Mlin.net that will work just as well for Windows 95 and if you are using Windows NT or 2000, you can download the official, Windows XP version of MSCONFIG on the Tech Guide Web site. Bruce is recently retired from the Army and provides on-site computer services to individuals and businesses in the South Texas area. by Rick Mattingly Unless you have been living in a cave, it should come as no great surprise that virus have been running rampant on Internet email recently. The majority of the virus involved are packaged in file attachments. As always, be very, very careful with email file attachments. Do NOT open any file attachment unless you are absolutely certain that it is from a valid source and you are expecting the attachment. If you were not expecting the attachment, play it safe and contact the source to inquire before opening it. Many virus are being disseminated from infected computer systems by utilizing the system's address book to propagate the virus to all entries in the address book. This occurs in the background without the legitimate system user's knowledge! The end result is that you can easily receive an email with an infected attachment from a source which you recognize. Be aware that surfing the Internet without benefit of a virus protection program is a sure fire way to load a virus onto your computer system! There are any number of excellent virus protection software applications available, from low cost to free, and there is simply no excuse for not protecting yourself from the damage and grief resulting from a virus attack. While on the subject of email attachment virus, be aware that this activity is undoubtedly the cause of some of those strange email return messages which you may be receiving. In this event, you may receive an email indicating that mail submitted to a particular email address has been refused due to presence of a known virus. The odd thing will be that you probably do not even know the intended recipient nor did you actually send that person email! You are seeing the result of a virus which has infected someone else's computer system and propagating itself through that person's address book. Your email address was in that address book and was used to forward a virus infected email attachment. The intended virus attack was then refused due to the recipient being protected by a virus protection software installed on the individual PC or on the Internet Service Provider's (ISP) system involved in the transaction. In this regard, also do not take offense should you receive an infected email attachment from anyone else. As noted above, it is very unlikely that the person attached to the sending email address even knew that the transaction took place. Again, protect your system with a virus protection software application NOW! And, remember -- update the data file of known virus for that application on a regular basis, as any virus protection application software is only as good as the data file being used. New virus and variants of old virus are generated daily. If your data file is out of date -- you are still not protected from that new virus! Friday August 2, 2002 Today's Internet tip: An easy way to filter spam in Outlook Express is to use Outlook Express' message filtering. To check this out, choose File|Folders|New. Select Local Folders and type "Spam" into the "Folder name" entry box. Click OK to continue. Now choose Tools|Message Rules|Mail. Click New and then select the check box labeled "Where the To line contains people". Next, select the check box labeled "Move it to the specified folder". Next, under Rule Description, click "Contains People" and then type in your e-mail address and click Add. Now click Options and select the radio button labeled "Message does not contain the people below" and click OK. Back in the New Mail Rule dialog, click "specified" under "Rule Description" and double-click your Spam folder. Now, click OK to close the dialog box. In Message Rules again, click OK to close the dialog and record your new rule. Outlook Express will now send all e-mail that arrives without your e-mail address in the To box to the Spam folder where you can check to see if you need it. - Sue Whitehouse eMazing.com by Rick Mattingly How did we ever live without Sticky Notes? You know, those little tacky note sheets that we stick all over everything to remind us to do things. But, if you have Sticky Notes pasted all over your computer monitor it is time to consider using the computer version instead. 3M, maker of the Sticky Note product line, have now made a software version available - "Post-it Software Notes." You can now still paste those Sticky Notes all over your monitor screen, only inside the glass instead of outside! And, these Sticky Notes are smart. The best news is that the Lite version of this neat little software tool is Free! One really useful feature provided by the software version of Sticky Notes is audible alarms. Now your Sticky Note can ring an alarm to remind you to pay attention to that important task which prompted you to create a note to yourself in the first place. Visit 3M on the Internet at http://www.3m.com/market/office/postit/com_prod/psnotes/ to view more information on this product and to download your own free lite version. While there also take a look at the low cost Stand and Office versions for advanced features which might fit the bill for your particular application. And, while you are surfing the 3M site, have a look at the history of the original Sticky Note product line. at http://www.3m.com/us/office/postit/learn_history.jhtml for the fascinating story of how an accidental adhesive discovery resulted in the little product which we all use and take for granted today. by Rick Mattingly As hardware and software is added to the Windows 9x operating system, pertinent entries are submitted to the Registry. However, when items are removed from the system entries are very often deleted in such fashion as to leave gaps in the Registry or are not removed at all. This blank space and unused entries can dramatically slow the operating system down. You can clean up and compress the Registry by dropping to DOS mode and doing the following. At the DOS prompt type scanreg/backup to create a backup of the Registry, in case something goes wrong (In such event the Registry can then be restored by rebooting to DOS and typing scanreg/restore). Now, to clean up that Registry type scanreg/opt. And press the Enter key Windows 2000 and XP are installed with a default setting to restart the operating system automatically in the event of a "fatal error." A fatal error would be described as any condition which locks the operating system completely. Fortunately, experiencing a true fatal error with either of the latest incarnations of these operating systems is not a common occurrence. However, under certain circumstances an error caused by a software application bug may fake out this feature resulting in the operating system rebooting itself automatically with no error message or explanation. If you have experienced this unwanted reboot condition you can turn off the setting. Open Control Panel and choose System / Advanced / Startup / Recovery Settings. Uncheck the box titled "Automatically Restart" under System Failure. If you ever need to reinstall Windows XP you will need to also perform reactivation through Microsoft. However, there is a way to avoid this. Windows XP stores it's activation information in a file named "wpa.dbl" which is stored in the \Windows\System32 subdirectory. Copy this small file to an external diskette and store in a safe location. At any point that new hardware may be installed to the system, be certain to recopy the wpa.dbl file to the diskette. Should Windows XP ever need to be reinstalled, upon completion of the installation process copy the backup wpa.dbl file from the diskette to the \windows\system32 subdirectory and reboot the system. Your reinstalled Windows XP operating system is now registered. by Ira Wilsker One of the questions I often have been asked on my weekly radio shows, and emails from readers of this column is, "What would be better (for me); a new laptop or a desktop computer?" A simple review of the Sunday sale-books from the major office supply and electronics stores clearly shows that there is an abundant supply of notebook computers available. Standing in the security lines at the major airports also shows the popularity of notebook computers. So, which one is better? Desktop or notebook? As I have consistently replied, "What are you going to use it for?" If a computer is intended for home or office use, likely in one location for a period of time, a desktop computer is more practical. Usability features, such as a full size keyboard, large screen monitor, and readily accessible drives, coupled with significantly lower prices for comparable machines, make the desktop the clear choice in this scenario. Another factor is longevity. The average useful life of a desktop computer, according to both personal experience and published reports, is typically four to six years. Desktop computers are also usually easy and relatively inexpensive to upgrade or repair. The average desktop computer becomes functionally obsolete long before it physically fails. Notebook computers, commonly called "laptops" by many, have some very strong advantages, compared to desktop computers, as well as some very strong disadvantages. The obvious advantage of a notebook computer is portability. At Golden Triangle PC Club meetings, when I would have to present, I would often have to drag my desktop from home to the meeting place; it was heavy, bulky, and easy to break. Lugging around the computer, monitor, keyboard, and mouse was a headache. I was not the only one hauling a monster around. For a while, I had a "lunchbox" computer that I used for my presentations. It contained a standard sized PC motherboard, hard drive, floppy, and other internal parts, along with an integral 7" monitor. The keyboard snapped over the front of the computer, closing it. While mine was a home built, no-name generic, it was the early lunchbox computers that gave Houston's Compaq its early competitive edge. While still large and heavy, it was portable. Today's notebook computers are a far cry from my long-gone lunchbox. They are a fraction of the size and weight of the old lunchbox machines, but contrary to other high-tech electronic items, have not dropped substantially in price. Feature for feature, it is not rare for a notebook to be twice the price of a comparably equipped desktop computer. The relatively small size, and light weight is what makes today's notebook computer popular. They are convenient portable, and can often run for a few hours on their internal battery, but those are about their only major advantages. For those who need portability, such as businesspersons who travel and need computing power, or people like me who frequently do presentations, a notebook computer is a near necessity. For those who want the power of a modern PC, in an even smaller and lighter package, the next generation of "Pocket PCs" is speculated to do to the contemporary notebook the same thing that the notebook did to the lunchbox; render them functionally obsolete. Pocket PCs will be covered in a future column. The disadvantages of a notebook computer are many, yet still they are a necessity to many users. Other than their relatively high cost, notebook computers are also typically fragile, difficult to repair, hard to upgrade (other than swap hard drives or add memory), and according to widely published tests, have a much shorter operational lifetime than do desktop computers. Notebooks are also subject to easy loss or theft. In a recent news article, citing a report from Safeware, an insurance company that specifically insures computers for loss or damage, notebook computers have a far higher rate of loss. In 2001, for example, Safeware states that an estimated 600,000 notebook computers were lost or stolen, up 53% from the year 2000. A large part of this increase is due to the rapid increase in sales of notebook computers. Notebook computers are also one of the most obvious items to steal (and stolen) at airport security checkpoints, due to their small size, high value, and obvious nature. By comparison, while there is an estimated seven times as many desktop computers in use than notebooks, only 15,000 desktops were reported stolen in 2001, according to Safeware. While there are "ruggedized" notebook computers, such as Toshiba's Toughbook series marketed to law enforcement, utility, and construction companies, the majority of notebooks are very easy to break, and expensive to repair. The notebook reviews published in the major computer magazines often include a "drop test" where an open notebook computer was gently pushed off a tabletop on to a carpeted floor, simulating a common falling accident. Many notebooks suffered major physical damage, with some models of major brands shattering to utter destruction. In addition to extraordinary care in protecting from theft, notebook computers must also be transported in quality protective cases. I have seen people ruin a $2000 notebook in a $29 carry case, a false economy. Screens are especially sensitive to physical shock, can easily crack, and cost several hundreds of dollars to replace. Lacking a large physical volume to circulate cooling air while turned on, notebook computers are more vulnerable to heat damage than desktops. Often containing only tiny cooling fans, and using the notebook itself as a heat sink, overheating is the principle cause of internal notebook failure. The more powerful the processor, the more prone the notebook is to overheating, a well-documented problem. I have heard several anecdotal stories of fairly new notebooks failing when left on overnight, due to overheating. I recently replaced my oldest daughter's notebook due to that exact cause. Published reports indicate that the average life expectancy of a notebook computer is only about 18 months, before it is lost, stolen, accidentally broken, overheated, or worn out. Notebooks, on average, have only about a fourth of the longevity of a desktop. Desktop or notebook is a common decision to be made. Weigh the advantages and risks before purchasing either. Golden Triangle PC Club From the December 2002 issue of the I/O Port Newsletter Milestones May, 2003 saw several milestones in the personal computing industry. According to NPD Group, an organization which tracks national retail sales, the sale of notebook computers exceeded the sale of PC's. Also in May, NPD reports that LCD flat screen monitor sales surpassed the sale of the traditional CRT display monitor. VNC (Virtual Network Computing) is a freeware client/server software package that allows remote control of another computer via a network. Although we have used VNC and liked it very much, we are impressed with the latest version-- TightVNC. TightVNC runs faster and is more versatile than the original VNC. You should give TightVNC a try. TightVNC can be used to perform remote administration tasks in Windows, Unix and mixed network environments. It can be very helpful in distance learning and remote customer support. Finally, you can find a number of additional VNC-compatible utilities and packages that can extend the areas where TightVNC can be helpful. http://www.tightvnc.com/ by Dennis Prince Don't let the terminology intimidate you - meta data is your online business' best friend. Simply defined, meta data is “data about data,” and meta tags are those special lines of HTML code that contain the keywords (meta data) that represent the style, topic matter, or actual items you're offering to online shoppers. It's these meta tags, then, that tells the Internet's search engines what sorts of items can be found at your Web site or in your Showcase. Because search engines actively seek out meta tags, the data within them becomes key to helping more online shoppers find your items, your site, your business. Meta tags are easy to use and, with some insight on how to maximize their usefulness, they can help guide millions of online shoppers to your virtual front door. Understanding Meta Tags Meta tags are embedded into the source of a Web document (the source being the complete code that would generate and display your web site or Showcase page, for example). But, the meta tags aren't displayed when your page appears on a computer screen. Instead, they work behind the scenes, facilitating the categorization, classification, and retrieval of your page or showcase by Internet search engines. When you created your COL showcase, the Showcase Wizard prompted you to enter pertinent keywords and phrases to be used in the meta tags. If you're designing your own standalone page on the Web, the design tool you use might also prompt for entry of meta data (though some folks actually write this information directly within the HTML code itself). But what does a meta tag look like? Well, here's a snippet of the tags found in the source of COL's Yesteryear Here showcase: <meta NAME="keywords" CONTENT="antique, antiques, collectibles, glass, china, fifties, decorative art, Noritake, Art Deco, mid-century, 20th century, shabby chic . . . <meta NAME="description" CONTENT="I specialize in decorative articles from the 1925-1939 period. I try to always have in stock Harlequin china, Noritake Art Deco . . . If ever you'd like to view the meta tags of your page or any other page on the Web, simply use your browser's “View” menu and then choose “Source” - you'll be shown the actual source code of the page you're viewing. Keys to Keywords While constructing meta tags is easy, don't underestimate the power of the keywords you'll specify within. Besides wanting to ensure the keywords properly reflect what you'll offer at your site or showcase (unrelated, irrelevant, and excessively repeated words could be considered “spam,” you know), you'll also want to note these “key” factors: · Use the keywords your customers use most! Know the most common terms your buyers are likely to use and be sure to include those in your meta tags. · Include words that generally define your site, showcase, and items. For example, consider additional terms like “decor,” “collectibles,” “keepsakes,” “crafts” or “handmade goods.” · Incorporate words that reflect the style or period of items you offer, such as “vintage,” “contemporary,” “elegant,” “retro,” and so on. · Specify your geographic location to further define the source of your goods. · Include common misspellings your customers might use in their searches. You'll want to cover every angle for greatest success. Where Will You Rank? Your final task in establishing your meta data is to construct and position it in such a way that search engines will rank your site highly within search results lists. As studies have shown, the most popular sites online are those that rank within the top 30 “hits” of an online search result. Here's how can your improve your site's chances of being among the top matches: · Include keyword combinations (“Harlequin china,” “Hallmark keepsakes”) in you meta tags that will more narrowly define your site, boosting you higher in specific search hit-lists. · Use keywords in your site title (“Movie Mania - Original Theatrical Posters, Stills, and Memorabilia”) that reflect the meta tag keywords you've listed. Search engines assume a Web page is more relevant to a search if the search terms used are found in the page title. · Include a descriptive sentence or two at the top of your Web page design that contains your most relevant meta tag keywords (“Welcome to the home of handmade country crafts, direct from America's Heartland”). Many search engines assume that if a specific word is mentioned in the top several lines of a site, it's likely the page is highly relevant to the search term. So, whether you misunderstood meta tags before or simply considered them as being of little consequence, now is the time to give them another look. By establishing thoughtfully constructed meta tags, you'll not only succeed in helping more customers find your site, you'll excel at ensuring the right customers find your online store - customers looking to purchase exactly the items you're offering. - IMPORTANT NOTICE - FRPCUG meetings are held at the Fort Collins Senior Center. Check below for directions to the Senior Center. October General Forum Meeting We will meet at the Fort Collins Senior Center on Tuesday, October 7 at 7:00 pm. Meeting Agenda 7:00 - 7:15 Announcements 7:15 - 7:30 LP Broadband 7:30 - 8:45 Digital Imaging-Digital camera images from the camera to the computer and software adjustment. 8:45 - 9:00 Break 9:00 - 9:30 Open Forum November General Forum Meeting We will meet at the Fort Collins Senior Center on Tuesday, November 4 at 7:00 pm. Meeting Agenda 7:00 - 7:15 Announcements 7:15 - 7:30 Nomination of Officers 7:30 - 8:45 GIS Mapping-Demonstration of computerized mapping. 8:45 - 9:00 Break 9:30 - 9:30 Open Forum See you at the meetings! Up-Coming SIG's, Seminars and Meetings Board Meeting FRPCUG's executive board meets on Wednesday of the week following the General Forum Meeting at 7:00 p.m. All members are welcome and are encouraged to attend. These meetings are held at the offices of JYM Information Systems: 311 S College Avenue in Fort Collins. New Directions SIG The LINUX SIG and the Telecommunications SIG have been combined to form the new Advanced Systems Support SIG. This SIG provides advanced support for all PC-related operating system and telecommunication issues. The meetings are held at 7:00 PM on the third Thursday of each month at the offices of JYM Information Systems: 311 S College Avenue in Fort Collins. For more information contact Chuck McJilton at 493-2987 or email telecomsig@jymis.com. Northern Front Range Netware Users Group NFRNUG meets at 5:30 pm on the second Wednesday of each month at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife building, 2101 Oakridge Drive in Fort Collins. NFRNUG meetings are open to any users that are involved with Novell networking products and integration of other networking products into the Novell environment (Unix, NT, Mac, etc.). Contact Jim Stephens at 303-541-3376 or jcsteph@concentric.net or contact Chuck Kluko at 970-663-4770 or c.kluko@ix.netcom.com for further membership information. Yearly dues are $000.00 (yes, FREE) with pizza and pop served at 5:00 pm prior to meeting. Saturday labs and training sessions open to NRFNUG members only, space is limited. Rocky Mountain Internet Users Group Meets on the second Tuesday of 'odd' months at NCAR in Boulder. Meetings start at 7:00 pm, but members are encouraged to arrive at 6:30 pm for informal networking and refreshments. NCAR is located in Boulder at 1850 Table Mesa Drive. For more information see the RMIUG Web site at: http://www.rmiug.org/. Web Design SIG If you're an HTML author/WEB page designer, or would like to learn, contact SIG coordinator Doug Boicourt at 495-6949 or e-mail db@jymis.com for the date and location of the next SIG meeting. Upcoming FRPCUG Meetings Along with presentations of new hardware and software, we will certainly continue to present tips, hints, solutions, as well as what is new with Public Domain and Shareware offerings. If you have ideas for presentations which you would like to see at future General Forum meetings or seminars, please let us know. We would appreciate the input and opportunity to improve your meetings. Know of a another computer-related meeting in our area? Please let us know so we can post it here. 7 FRPCUG General Forum Meeting 7:00PM 13 Columbus Day 15 FRPCUG Board Meeting 7:00PM 26 Daylight Saving Time Ends 31 HalloweenNovember 2003 4 FRPCUG General Forum Meeting 7:00PM Election Day 11 Veterans Day 12 FRPCUG Board Meeting 7:00PM 27 Thanksgiving Day A man left work one Friday afternoon. Friday, being payday, instead of going home, he stayed out the entire weekend partying with the boys and spending his entire paycheck. When he finally appeared at home, Sunday night, he was confronted by a very angry wife and was barraged for nearly two hours with a tirade befitting his actions. Finally his wife stopped the nagging and simply said to him. "How would you like it if you didn't see me for two or three days?" To which he replied. "That would be fine with me." Monday went by and he didn't see his wife. Tuesday and Wednesday came and went with the same results. But on Thursday, the swelling went down just enough where he could see her a little out of the corner of his left eye. by Cathy Margolin, President North Orange County Computer Club, California Buying on eBay ebay is the largest global marketplace with very low entry cost. Tons of new and used and collectable items are bought and sold every day as there are millions of sellers putting up items that you may not be able to find anywhere else! Last year, eBay users exchanged some $9.3 billion worth of goods. On an average day there may be over 1 million sales occurring. First off you should start watching some auctions to get a feel for the process. Once you get used to the process, get an Ebay id (do not use your e-mail name as your user-id, the spammers will get it!). Then start bidding on small items to learn the process and develop positive feedback. It all runs on feedback. Also multiple user-ids are still ok. Some people use one for selling and another for buying, so as not to let people know their sources. How To Find What You Want You can search titles and descriptions such as: Haviland -johann -theo* (which means look for haviland with no johann and no theo* which is a wild card to ignore any theo-----). You can also look under categories to find an item, but remember not everyone puts their article for sale in the correct categories. When the seller has tons of items and you want to Only search Palm Pilot, go to seller search, go to the bottom of the page, enter Palm Pilot, and under Multiple sellers, put the person's eBay id (or several id's). Bidding Make sure you check the sellers feedback-too many negatives and neutrals is NOT good. Beware of a seller with no feedback and a large dollar item for sale, they may be good or bad or just not know the ropes yet, but you do not have enough information to trust them with your hard-earned money. If you have a concern about the seller, ask them a question a few days before the auctions end (such as cost of shipping, do they take Paypal, etc.) to see how they respond. Use odd numbered cents, such as .99 since the bids go up in increments of 50 cents, $1 (depending on the value of the bid), you may win an item by just one cent. Think of any auction you have been to - it is only the last price at the close of the hammer that counts! Always snipe -- which is bidding at the last minute. In this auction format, it is only the highest bidder at the close of the auction that wins. If you bid during the week, you keep driving up the price, but bidding at the last second masks interest and usually results in a lower cost. You can use a service (www.esnipe.com which charges a fee or hammersnipe at hammertap.com which does not) or use a program on your own computer. Bid the maximum amount you want to spend (proxy bidding -- only goes up to this amount if someone places a bid against you). Be aware of the Terms of Sale (TOS) for each seller. They differ greatly. - What form of payment do they take? - What is the shipping cost, as this can be very high! The Post Office uses zip codes to price shipping, so it is now less complicated. - Check out seller feedback and what type of items they usually sell. A set of tips is at the Vendio site (which also has an online bulletin board about ebay auctions). http://www.vendio.com/service/tipsandtactics/index2.html How To Pay To help protect yourself, use a credit card, if possible, Paypal, check or lastly a money order. If the transaction goes wrong, you can stop payment on your check and it is easier to get reimbursed (chargeback) if you use a credit card. When the item has arrived, don't forget to give feedback to the seller. Ebay is where the market is in online auctions - it is an ever-changing marketplace, where change is constant. Happy Ebay-ing! by Greg West Editor of SCUG REPORT Sarnia Computer User's Group (SCUG), Sarnia, Ontario, Canada gjwest@sympatico.ca Recently, while researching material I came across an article which discussed "Spring Cleanup" and computer maintenance. The first suggestion was to run your computer through an online test to see whether your system is secure or insecure. The current warnings of updating patches, Spam attacks, and overall computer safety, prompted me to say, "why not" as I clicked into "NanoProbe Technology Internet Security Testing for Windows Users" that uses a program called: Shields UP!! (http://grc.com). Suspecting a scam of some sort I figured I would attempt to trick this program. I would run the test twice, once with my firewall turned off and another test with it operating. My curiosity peaked immediately after my first click when I received a message that I "was about to view pages over a secure connection", a more than familiar message indeed. So I continued on, yet still mostly skeptical that there was some sort of come-on to reach out and take my money. No sooner than I clicked the "ok" button, did I receive this strange message: " Greetings Gregory! Without your knowledge or explicit permission, the Windows networking technology which connects your computer to the Internet may be offering some or all of your computer's data to the entire world at this very moment! (For example . . . that's how I know your name!)" Next I was given a choice of testing my "Shields" or "Ports"…I clicked on "Shields" became even more skeptical when I received this message: "Preliminary Internet connection established! Your computer has accepted an anonymous connection from another machine it knows nothing about! (That's not good.) This ShieldsUP! web server has been permitted to connect to your computer's highly insecure NetBIOS File and Printer Sharing port (139). Subsequent tests conducted on this page, and elsewhere on this website, will probe more deeply to determine the extent of this system's vulnerability. But regardless of what more is determined, the presence and availability of some form of Internet Server HAS BEEN CONFIRMED within this machine . . . and it is accepting anonymous connections!" The message continued to give the full details of its findings, or non-findings: "The rest of this website explains the implications and dangers of your present configuration and provides complete and thorough instruction for increasing the security of this system. At the moment, any passing high speed Internet scanner will quickly spot this computer as a target for attack. The phrase you must remember is: "My port 139 is wide OPEN!" Unable to connect with NetBIOS to your computer. The attempt to connect to your computer with NetBIOS protocol over the Internet (NetBIOS over TCP/IP) FAILED. But, as you can see below, significant personal information is still leaking out of your system and is readily available to curious intruders. Since you do not appear to be sharing files or printers over the TCP/IP protocol, this system is relatively secure. It is exposing its NetBIOS names (see below) over the Internet, but it is refusing to allow connections, so it is unlikely that anyone could gain casual entry into your system due to its connection to the Internet. Several of your private names are being served up to the Internet by the Windows networking system. (see below) While it's unlikely that this information can be exploited, you should know what anyone can learn about you and your system." But the kicker was that my User Name, my Computer's Name, and my Workgroup was identified on screen…I knew I had to go to the next level and test my Ports. Here are the results of the Port testing: It declared that my Port 80 (http) was open and that "having port 80 "open" as it is here causes intruders to wonder how much information you might be willing to give away." The test program also found my Port 139 (Net BIOS) was open and I received this warning: "As you probably know by now, the NetBIOS File Sharing port is the single largest security hole for networked Windows machines. The payoff from finding open Windows shares is so big that many scanners have been written just to find open ports like this one. Closing it should be a priority for you!" Well, I must admit I was becoming a tad worried, but still I was skeptical towards the reality of these results. Next I wanted to run these test using my Zone Alarm Firewall operating. Here are the results of testing both my shields and ports: On the Shield's test I got the same first "GREETINGS" message, only this time it did not contain my name. The results were amazingly secure. The Shield's UP test could not find my Port 139, nor was it able to connect with my NetBIOS to my computer. Here are the results of the Shield's test: "Your Internet port 139 does not appear to exist! One or more ports on this system are operating in FULL STEALTH MODE! Standard Internet behavior requires port connection attempts to be answered with a success or refusal response. Therefore, only an attempt to connect to a nonexistent computer results in no response of either kind. But YOUR computer has DELIBERATELY CHOSEN NOT TO RESPOND (that's very cool!) which represents advanced computer and port stealthing capabilities. A machine configured in this fashion is well hardened to Internet NetBIOS attack and intrusion. Unable to connect with NetBIOS to your computer. All attempts to get any information from your computer have FAILED. (This is very uncommon for a Windows networking-based PC.) Relative to vulnerabilities from Windows networking, this computer appears to be VERY SECURE since it is NOT exposing ANY of its internal NetBIOS networking protocol over the Internet." My firewall came through with shining colours and with full security. Next was the Port test with the firewall operating. This test reported my Port 80 was open (http), however this is my connection to the net and my firewall blocks the incoming attacks as they are produced…giving me the choice whether to accept or reject, but nothing comes through without my acceptance. So this warning is ok. The next warning I received was again concerning Port 139, this time I got the same message that it could not get through to this port and furthermore, "There is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER that a port (or even any computer) exists at this IP address!" Not a fraud, only success! My confidence in firewalls stands firm, sound and free of worry. by Les J. Kizer Greater Tampa Bay PC User Group Mid-Hudson Computer User Group My friends, there was a time long ago. It was way back in the early age as computer time is told. Even some of us old folks find it hard to recall; however, you know, for the children's sake we need to remember history. It was a time before the ascent of the rodent. In those prehistoric PC days, when we copied text from one place to another, we blocked the beginning of the copy or move by pressing ctrl-b. Then we would use the up and down arrow keys to go to the end of the block. Again we would press ctrl-b to define the end of the block. Eventually someone, who is long forgotten, highlighted the area from the beginning to the end of the block and told us the text was now selected, not blocked. Unblocking was done with ctrl-o, which today will help you open a file. Ctrl-b now causes selected text to become bold, which in those dark days before the rodent invaded, I can't remember having bold type at all. Then while the text was blocked, or selected, we pressed ctrl-x for cut or ctrl-c for copy followed by using the up and down arrow keys to point to the place where we wanted the text inserted. Then press ctrl-v for paste. Ctrl-x, ctrl-c and ctrl-v still exist and are used by only the oldest among us. When the rodent arrived and we plugged its tail into the PC, many advances came. The menu bar was enhanced buttons, and then the tool bar was added. Most application programs added rodent buttons for cut, copy and paste. With the index-finger pressing on the rodent's hind quarter, selecting text was easier, and highlighted also. Moving the rodent to the cut or copy button followed by a flick of the index finger gave the command to be. Then sliding the somewhat tamed rodent to the location of the insert, a quick flick and then back to the paste button for another flick of the index finger. Progress! Ease of Use! Fabulous! And rodents become famous, heralded throughout the land. That, though, is not the end of the rodent's march to fame. For all this fame was obtained by pressing the rodent with only the left or index finger. What about pressing the rodent's other hind quarter? Silently, with great stealth, someone slipped in something new. It was done so quietly and without a fanfare, we are not even sure when it began to happen. It is called simply: right-click, as opposed to click. Now we can select the text we want to cut or copy. Then without an arduous effort of guiding the rodent to the menu or tool bar, we simply right-click. Walla! A menu pops up on the spot giving us likely choices upon which to flick our index finger. Move the rodent to the insert point, and right-click again. The same or a modified menu pops up for us to flick our choice. Neat, and so effortless. Today, we can right-click almost anything - desktop, icons, menu bars - or anywhere, and a small menu pops up containing the choices we are most likely to flick. Such is the added triumph of the rodent and right-click. Is there any end to what we can accomplish simply by flicking a rodent's hind quarter-one side or the other. Long live the rodent! The Microsoft Internet Explorer Favorites feature is extremely useful, unless the Favorites listing is no longer in alphabetical order. To resort the Favorites directory back into alphabetical order do the following: Open Internet Explorer and choose Favorites from the TOP menu bar. In the resulting window move the cursor to the category listings (below Add to Favorites / Organize Favorites). Right-Click on any of the category listings and choose 'Sort by Name' from the resulting menu. You will need to repeat this action for each category listed to re-sort each of them. An unemployed man is desperate to support his family of a wife and three kids. He applies for a janitor's job at a large firm and easily passes an aptitude test. The human resources manager tells him, "You will be hired at minimum wage of $5.15 an hour. Let me have your e-mail address so that we can get you in the loop. Our system will automatically e-mail you all the forms and advise you when to start and where to report on your first day." Taken back, the man protests that he is poor and has neither a computer nor an e-mail address. To this the manager replies," You must understand that to a company like ours that means that you virtually do not exist. Without an e-mail address you can hardly expect to be employed by a high-tech firm. "Good day." Stunned, the man leaves. Not knowing where to turn and having $10 in his wallet, he walks past a farmers' market and sees a stand selling 25lb crates of beautiful red tomatoes. He buys a crate, carries it to a busy corner and displays the tomatoes. In less than 2 hours he sells all the tomatoes and makes 100% profit. Repeating the process several times more that day, he ends up with almost $100 and arrives home that night with several bags of groceries for his family. During the night he decides to repeat the tomato business the next day. By the end of the week he is getting up early every day and working into the night. He multiplies his profits quickly. Early in the second week he acquires a cart to transport several boxes of tomatoes at a time, but before a month is up he sells the cart to buy a broken-down pickup truck. At the end of a year he owns three old trucks, his two sons have left their neighborhood gangs to help him with the tomato business, his wife is buying the tomatoes, and his daughter is taking night courses at the community college so she can keep books for him. By the end of the second year he has a dozen very nice used trucks and employs fifteen previously unemployed people. He continues to work hard. Time passes and at the end of the fifth year he owns a fleet of nice trucks and a warehouse that his wife supervises, plus two tomato farms that the boys manage. The tomato company's payroll has put hundreds of homeless and jobless people to work. His daughter reports that the business grossed a million dollars. Planning for the future, he decides to buy some life insurance. Consulting with an insurance adviser, he picks an insurance plan to fit his new circumstances. Then the adviser asks him for his e-mail address in order to send the final documents electronically. When the man replies that he doesn't have time to mess with a computer and has no e-mail address, the insurance man is stunned, "What, you don't have e-mail? No computer? No Internet? Just think where you would be today if you'd had all of that five years ago!" "Ha!" snorts the man. "If I'd had e-mail five years ago I would be sweeping floors at Microsoft and making $5.15 an hour." Which brings us to the moral: Since you got this story by e-mail, you're probably closer to being a janitor than a millionaire. Sadly, I received it also. Thanks to Glenn York From: "Jim Willard" To: "Rick Mattingly" Subject: Re: Larimer County Genealogical Society Date: Wednesday, May 14, 2003 Dear Rick, The web page for LCGS is http://jymis.com/~lcgs/index.htm. The basic information and meeting schedules are listed. Contacts are linked. The Local History on the Fort Collins Library has a genealogy page with some helpful links. Jim Willard ON TURNING 70 - "You still chase women, but only downhill". ON TURNING 80 - "That's the time of your life when even your birthday suit needs pressing." ON TURNING 90 - "You know you're getting old when the candles cost more than the cake." ON TURNING 100 - "I don't feel old. In fact I don't feel anything until noon. Then it's time for my nap." ON GIVING UP HIS EARLY CAREER, BOXING - "I ruined my hands in the ring .... the referee kept stepping on them." ON SAILORS - "They spend the first six days of each week sowing their wild oats, then they go to church on Sunday and pray for crop failure." ON NEVER WINNING AN OSCAR - "Welcome to the Academy Awards or, as it's called at my home, 'Passover'." ON GOLF - "Golf is my profession. Show business is just to pay the green fees." ON PRESIDENTS - "I have performed for 12 presidents and entertained only six." ON WHY HE CHOSE SHOWBIZ FOR HIS CAREER - " When I was born, the doctor said to my mother, 'Congratulations. You have an eight-pound ham'." ON RECEIVING THE CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL - "I feel very humble, but I think I have the strength of character to fight it." ON HIS FAMILY'S EARLY POVERTY - "Four of us slept in the one bed. When it got cold, mother threw on another brother." ON HIS SIX BROTHERS - "That's how I learned to dance. Waiting for the bathroom." ON HIS EARLY FAILURES - "I would not have had anything to eat if it wasn't for the stuff the audience threw at me." ON GOING TO HEAVEN - "I've done benefits for ALL religions. I'd hate to blow the hereafter on a technicality." Weird Facts FOR SALE: Viewsonic 17GA 17" monitor with speakers in bezel. Must see/hear this monitor to appreciate how wonderful it is. $100 or best offer. Paul, 484-7680 FOR SALE: Apple iPod 20MB MP3 player. Holds 4000 songs in a box the size of playing cards. Perfect, just a few months old. $500 new, sacrifice for $300. Contact John at (970) 226-6152 or email PII@jymis.com. FOR SALE: Gateway 800C Desktop w/Monitor, 20GB Hard Drive plus Epson Stylus Color 777 printer. Less than one year old. Only $600 complete. Contact Frances in Fort Collins at (970) 224-0776. Members: Place your FREE ad here! About Trading Post k-Byte runs classified ads in Trading Post for three consecutive issues. Trading Post ads up to 10 lines (or 70 words) long are free to FRPCUG members: $5 for non-members. To place an ad in Trading Post contact Rick Mattingly at 223-2154 or email rmatt@jymis.com. Commercial Advertising Specifications (Monthly rate) Full Page (8 1/2” X 7”) $30 Half Page (3 1/4” X 7”) $20 One Third Page (3” X 4”) $15 Business Card (2 3/4” X 1 1/2”) $ 5 We offer a substantial discount for repeat ads and continuing contracts. For additional charge, we will design your ad for you. Contact Will Horton for information on this service at 223-2154 or email whorton@willsigns.com. |