Billps Tudios

It’s been a great year. We’ve had a lot of cool new tech toys and some really interesting business events. The number of people who come here has doubled since last year. My wife Cindi still can’t believe that many people care what I think.

Here are the 10 more popular posts of 2007.

Task Scheduler Provides Malware Hiding Place (10/8)

Detect Changes to Windows Automatic Updates (10/26)

Do I need Apple Mobile Device Service? (6/05)

WinPatrol: Best Products of 2007 (5/20)

Auto Update Programs Running All the Time (5/5)

Don't Change My File Type Associations (9/10)

Detecting FBI (CIPAV) Spyware (6/19)

Happy 10th Birthday to Scotty (11/18)

Mysteries of SD Flash Cards Exposed (12/6)

Worlds Best Vista Craplet Cleaner (1/11)

Thank you all for your support and feedback. I wish you all a safe and wonderful New Year.

Unless a change is announced you only have one more day to Give One to Get One.

“The Give One Get One (“G1G1”) initiative ends on December 31, 2007. In connection with your payment of US$399 to OLPC Foundation, OLPC Foundation will provide you with one XO laptop, and a second XO laptop will be given by OLPC Foundation to a child in one of the least developed countries in the developing world. “

The OLPC Foundation created the G1G1 program to seed interested U.S. XO laptop buyers and supporters. It was a good decision. Originally, this program was due to end in November but its popularity allowed it to be extended under December 31^st.

Will it be extended again? I can’t say but if you’d like to participate I wouldn’t risk it. This is a non-profit foundation so if it is extended it won’t be for the sake of profit. If anything I could see the OLPC Foundation making laptops available to prevent a black market in XO laptops that might prevent them from getting to the kids. Already, we’re seeing scumbags trying to sell XO laptops on eBay at inflated prices.

So if you have $400 cash left over after the holidays you have an opportunity to do something good and be a part of a growing community of new XO laptop users.

Just go to http://laptopgiving.org/en/give-one-get-one.php but don’t wait long.

Earlier this month I started to see an increase in requests for a file name Winter.exe. I didn't have a good feeling about this filename and our follow up research proved I was correct. Our friend Temerc has a good write up on this infiltration at his forum, Temerc Internet Countermeasures. The other exe’s that appear to be included are infos.exe, autos.exe and a few randomly created filename. Fortunately, they all show up in WinPatrols’ startup programs list. The filename bronto.dll showed up in our IE Helpers list.

Google has done a good job at making it easy for people to create Blogs, but in many ways, it’s too easy. A huge number of Google Blogspot, blogs are being created and have become host sites for this file and other malicious programs. I wrote earlier his month that Spamhaus was blocking any Email which included a Google blog in the content of the message. This was a dramatic step but has proved to be necessary.

Trend Micro is referring to these blog traps as “Poisonous Blogs”. There are a number of ways you might get to these blogs including…

A link to the Blog is included in a teaser Email.
(Typically, it’s a greeting card, free product, drug or naked celebrity. This week we’ve frequently seen what claims to be video of Bhutto’s assassination)

The blog might show up in a typical Google search.
(These sites are too new to be validated by programs like SiteAdvisor)

You click on the “Next” button on a Blogspot site.
(This feature is disabled on Bits from Bill)

Our friends at SunbeltBlog have also written about this topic and show how easy it can be to run across these blog traps. Alex at Sunbelt provided some good screen shots and stresses how video “codec” scams are frequently used as an malware entry point.

If you see a message that says “You need to download new version of Video ActiveX Object to play this video file”, run away! Don't press cancel or even trust the red close box in the corner. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del and look at your list of processes. Select your browser( iexplore.exe or firefox.exe) and click on End Process.

Christmas day at the Pytlovany house was very special and included no less than 25 family members of all ages. There were new babies, new clothes and naturally new toys.

Alexis, Emily and Michal

Except for my new XO laptop, nobody I know received a new computer or laptop this Christmas. I take that as a bad sign for the computer industry. It used to be that new versions of Windows generated new computer sales but there hasn’t been a lot of excitement around Vista.

John and Jim playing tetris
John and Jim exploring the new XO laptop.

Our big present this year was SmartParts 15” Digital Picture Frame. I have used and reviewed other digital picture frames and wasn’t expecting to be this impressed. I love it and even though it’s from a company I had never heard of. I’m happy to say the picture quality is awesome. The interface is easy and while I’m not sure I’ll use the feature, it will play audio and video files from what ever flash media you use.

The Nintendo DS Lite was still popular but the big kids were really excited about the Sony PSP. We already have a Wii which I have written about before. GPS Units were very popular with the adults. I really want one myself so I’m anxious to hear back which one works the best.

Santa gave one of my other favorites to my granddaughter Marisa. She’s been spending a lot of time playing with her new iTouch. I might get one when they expand the memory. She also received a lot of iTune gift cards which must be used in the country they were purchased. We’ll be doing a lot of downloading before she returns to Germany next week.

Click on “Comments” below and share information on your favorite new toy.

Over the last week my new XO laptops have monopolized much of my time and postings here at Bits From Bill. I realize that not everyone is interested in the OLPC XO Laptop so I’ve created a new site called XO Activity. If you are interested in learning more I’ll be documenting my adventures and sharing what I learn.

My first new post today will help XO user find new games and other XO Activities.

SimCity.xo is available free at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Activities

Thank you for your patience. Next week I’ll be back posting about auto updates, spyware, adware, spam and ranting about other more useful technical information.

My new XO Laptop is proving to be very controversial. People seem to either love it or hate it. If you’ve never heard of it you’re not alone but you’ll be hearing more. If you’re sick of me writing about it I promise to cover other topics soon.

The target audience for this laptop is not the typical computer geek but we’re all giving one to get one so we can play and learn more. Almost everything about this laptop is new and the excitement I feel is reminiscent of my old Commodore days.

The user interface for the XO is called “Sugar”.

Instead of programs or applications, the XO Laptop has “Activities”. Most Activities are designed to be used in a share mode.

Instead of a Desktop you’ll be “Home” when the laptop starts. Your Home lets you switch between Activies. Like the computers I grew up with, only one Activity will run at a time.

Your Local network of friends is called your “Group”. In a classroom environment you’ll see your classmates and can create a buddy list and/or participate in a group bulletin board.

The more familiar “Neighborhood” will show your available Networks.

The main User Interface of the XO Laptop using Sugar.
Home mode with Frame visible
Green text was added

Along the top the Places you can access are Neighborhood, Group, Home, and Activity. When you move the cursor into any “hot” corners, the “Frame” will appear and provide an interface to “zoom” to your Places, People, Objects and the “Activity” launcher. Move the cursor back off the frame and it will disappear.

Toggle the Sugar Frame using this key There’s also a Frame key in the upper right corner to toggle it back and forth.

Most data items in your Activities may be stored in the XO clipboard as an Object. Multiple objects can be stored in the clipboard and hey will be displayed on the left side of the screen.
On the right side of the screen you’ll see other People you can share with on the Mesh network.

While many user interface elements are completely new you’ll find some familiar computer concepts.

For instance, Delete and Backspace have been combined into “Erase” which operates like the traditional backspace.
Clipboard concepts like Select All and Cut,Copy,Paste are available and so are the familiar shortcut keys of Ctrl+A,X,C,V.

Use the Function key to access Home, End, Page Up, Page Down You’ll want to know how to use Home, End, Page Up and Down. Hold down the function key and press the arrow key. Like legacy computers holding down the shift will select the text.

For a full description of all the keys Click Here

For all the Linux fans out there with good eyesight here’s what you’re looking for. You can access the Linux command line. by holding down Ctrl+Alt+Fn and press 1. When asked for a Login name, type “root”. To return to the Sugar User Interface hold down Ctrl+Alt+Fn and press 3.

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about my new OLPC so I expect to write a lot about my experience with this new XO Laptop. I doubt I’ll be the only one writing about this unique device.

OLPC Evaluation Guide

Rule 1: Forget everything you already know.
The target user for this laptop are kids who have never been exposed to a computer before. You’ll need to look at using this computer as if you’ve never used Windows, Mac or even a C64 before.
That means forget about double clicking by tapping on the touch pad. The position of OK and Cancel buttons won’t match the Windows interface. You shouldn’t expect File/Edit drop down menus. Instead of Save, you’ll “Keep” your data and access it from your journal. Forget any concept of a folder based file system.

Rule 2: Forget about the price
In theory, the kids won’t ever know the market value of the OLPC laptop. It was supposed to be the $100 laptop but that price will have to wait. If you Give One to Get One, you are making a donation. Don’t expect your OLPC laptop to be anything more than a conversation piece or toy.

Rules 3: Take your Time
I had thought I could spend a couple days to evaluate the OLPC. I was really wrong. I keep learning more and more and there’s no way I can do justice to this machine until I spend at least a month with it. Nobody should publish any review for this laptop until at least next year.

Tristan taking his photo with the OLPC
Tristan playing with the photo/video/audio application.

OLPC First Impression

My first impression was disappointment but that’s already starting to change. The interface is different which is ok and expected. Unfortunately, it’s fragmented. It tries to be different but still tries to teach computer skills. I think there’s always been a gap between academia and real world. What sounds good in some white paper may not convert well to a real product(::cough:: Ada). Profit is sometimes the best motivation in the creation of great products.

Earlier this month John C. Dvorak wrote an article suggesting it might be better to just give $200 worth of food. John was just being a cranky greek and I still disagree. Giving this laptop is an investment and while risky it’s worth a shot. It’s not like it could hurt America’s image any more than the Bush Admistration has already done.

What I Like

The browser doesn’t suck: It’s quick enough and while limited, it supports Flash, Javascript, PDF files and Cookies(Yea that can be a good thing)

Applications are plentiful: It even includes a number of programming examples for kids to learn how to create their own programs.

Size: It’s small for kids hands.

Networking: It took a little practice but it now always finds my WiFi network and searches for any available Mesh networks.

What I don’t Like

No power crank: I thought this was the whole point.

Durability: I expected it to be a little more ruggedized.

Bugs: I’ve had my share of reboots and mouse weirdness. I can’t say if it’s hard,soft or firmware related.

No Popups: Some web apps actually use pop ups.

Sound quality: The quality is similiar to my old C64 but the speaker isn’t as good. Seems like MOS Technology’s SID chip could gotten cheaply.

One thing for sure, there is a huge need for some instruction books along with tips and tricks. I have to wonder if David Pogue is already working on “OLPC: The Missing Manual”.

Update: I spoke with David and we won't be seeing a book from him but Edward Cherlin directed me to OLPC help available at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Publications. Edward also was kind enough to address my dislikes in the comments section below.

I received an early gift from Santa today and it looks like I’ll be snowed in all weekend so I’ll have plenty of time to play. It doesn’t come with manuals but after a little exploring I’m now connected to my WiFi network and surfing my favorite web sites.

My new Give One, Get One OLPC Laptop

OLPC stands for “One Laptop Per Child” and this is my half of the “Give One, Get One” program from the makers of this unique device. You may also hear it called the XO Laptop.

I really didn’t expect to receive my laptop so soon. Perhaps the folks trying to get out all the Nintendo Wii’s for Christmas could take a lesson from the OLPC Foundation. I have a 2^nd laptop coming so I can play with the wireless mesh network which is integrated into the machine and ideal for classroom usage. As a developer I’m looking forward to creating something useful to do my part.

I’ll be writing more but for now I just wanted to let folks know they’re real and they really work. If you participated in this program hopefully yours may be arriving soon. My only problem so far is, I keep trying to tap on the touch pad to select which isn’t supported. You have to click the left button.

I also took note of my Blog stats to see how accessing web sites is recorded.

How the OLPC appears when it visits a web site.
Web stats from an OLPC laptop

The Give One, Get One program is curently available but is scheduled to end on December 31^st. The price of the laptop is $200 so your total donation is $400 plus tax. If you’d like to know more go to http://www.laptopgiving.org

I love that when I travel I can get online from just about anywhere. High speed WiFi networks are now available in most hotels and airports of the world. This is a big change from when I used to bring wire strippers, electrical tape and a screw driver when traveling. In my old Q-Link days hotels didn’t even have modular jacks so I used to unscrew the phone jack to wire up my 300 baud modem.

Unfortunately, WiFi public networks can be a real danger to your privacy and the security of your computer. If you’re connecting to an unsecured WiFi network your data is up for grabs to anyone with the right tools. Keystrokes, Emails and passwords on unsecure web pages can be grabbed out of the air.

What you also need to watch for is bogus WiFi networks that phish for your connection. One of the guys at VirusList.com recently blogged, while sitting at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, that his computer found suspicious networks with names like “Free Public WiFi” and “US Airways Free WiFi”.

Just driving around my neighborhood I was able to find a number of wireless networks open to the public. At a hotel or airport you’ll see many others including some with the word “FREE” in their name. Beware!

According to VirusList.com

“It's easy to spot rogue WiFi links - you just need to look for the following signs:
- an enticing name like 'Free Wifi' or 'Free Internet'
- an AD-Hoc type connection, rather than an access point”

If it’s an AD-Hoc network you should see the words, “Computer-to-Computer” under the network name. The ones shown in my example are Access Point networks.

They also recommend the following…

“- use a VPN link over any public WiFi internet access link to dial back home and access the internet using a secure proxy over the VPN link
- use only encrypted IMAP e-mail connections to read mail, TLS or SSL
- beware of fake certificates
- use a firewall and IPS or a combined security solution such as KIS7”

Most of you don’t have or probably don’t know what a VPN is so I’ll offer you an alternative. I use a service from GoToMyPC.com.

Using GoToMyPC when I travel, I connect to my home/office PC. I open up my Outlook Email as if I was sitting in my chair at home. It also means I don’t have to sync up stuff I’m working on when I leave and return. I even sign on AOL from that computer via GoToMyPC. Essentially my laptop acts as a dump terminal and the entire session is done using 128–bit AES encryption. The service is $20 a month but you can click here for a free trial.

If you’re a regular reader you’ll remember I recently changed from Time Warner Road Runner to Verizon FIOS which provides much greater upload speed. Many broadband providers give you lots of download bandwidth but a small slice for upload. Having more bandwidth allocated to upload is especially helpful for using GoToMyPC.

Like many others, I’ve always included a link to my Blog in my Email signature. Apparently, it’s not always a good idea. If you’re a Blogger who uses BlogSpot (and you include a link in your signature) some folks may never see your Email.

I recently tried to respond to a friend at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society only to have my Email bounce back. Apparently, my blog is listed on the Spamhaus Block List.
When I checked the link included in the bounce I read the following…

“Google's blogspot.com - seeming endless abuse (HerbalKing)”

I wrote to Spamhaus and received the following reply.

Harvard is trying to protect their users from the tens of thousands of blogspot.com URL's set up by spammers in just the past month.

We advise all users to consider emails with blogspot.com links in them as probably spam. Your emails include your non-spam blogspot URL. Sadly, on the same IP address is the tens of thousands of spammer URLs.

Until Blogspot (Google) can come up with a solution to the abuse, we'd advise you to use tinyurl.com or easyurl.com to "mask" your blogspot.com link when included in emails.

--
Regards,

John Reid
The Spamhaus Project
http://www.spamhaus.org/

I personally think Spamhaus is being a little heavy handed but that’s why I don’t use any auto spam filter. By the time I publish this, HerbalKing and other spammers may be including Tinyurl links in their spam. This could potentially kill Tinyurl.

Luckily, I recently registered “BitsFromBill.com” and can use that domain to redirect folks to my Blog. This may not be an option for other BlogSpot/Blogger.com users so you may want to review how you sign your Email.

Don't forget to Give but when you do, Give Wisely.

It’s the time of year when you’ll start to see some real and some illegitimate organizations asking for donations. While we’re all in the holiday spirit and the credit card is close at hand it’s a good time for fund raising. I knew it was time as soon as I started to receive bogus invitations for have letters from Santa sent to my kids. Yea, like I want to give anyone a kids Email address.

In general, I reject any requests that come via my phone or in my Email. I often give to those in need, both organized and personal but I don’t need to be reminded. I certainly don’t want unrequested Emails added to all my spam. Chances are high that charity Emails you get this month are not to be opened.

I hate to say but even some seeming reputable charities may not be spending your donation in a way you’d want. There are a number of web sites including “Charity Navigator” that will rate charities and provide details on how funds are utilized.

I was pleased to see that the “Marine Toys for Tots Foundation” received a 4 star rating. Only 2.5% is used for non-program expenses. Our local “Animal Protection Foundation” in Scotia, NY also received fours stars. Unfortunately, I noticed the Northeast Animal Shelter only received one star and only 52% of the funds go to programs. About 8% goes to administration and 40% is spent on fund raising expenses like advertising on Google.

Charity Navigator also includes compensation for CEO’s, historical data and my favorite is their privacy policy. Many well known charities will share your personal information unless you explicity Opt-Out. I found some real surprises but I’d rather not pick on anyone specific. Visit and see for yourself.

The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA is having a special celebration on Monday, December 10th. Invited speakers include former CBM president Jack Tremial, Apple pioneer Steve Wozniack, Amiga developer Adam Chowaniec and William C Lowe, father of the IBM PC. I’m sure my invitation was lost in the mail.

The Commodore C64

Let me just say that the C64 changed my life like no other device. It was like a drug that addicted me with its charm and personality. It helped me find new love, friendship, travel and a completely fun new career. Call me sentimental but it allowed me to find confidence and purpose in my life.

I had become quite the advocate of the C64/128 when I met up with a guy named Steve Case and his friend Marc Seriff. We shared a vision that personal telecommunications could be so much easier. I won’t bore you with sorted details of my C64 history but I’ll share some of my favorite tricks and memories that might be interesting to other C64 users.

Click for Video of my 1985 Q-Link Demo

I used to bring my Commodore Vic-20 with me into my chemistry lab in college. Instead of spending one hour studying the lab work the night before, I would spend three hours writing a program to input and process my lab results. I thought my professor would be impressed but he was more excited that I could make the computer duplicate the sound of a phone ringing.

Unlike other computers of the time, the Commodore 1541 floppy disk drive had a processor and memory which allowed it to be programmed as well. While this was typically used for copy protection, someone actually wrote a program that made the disk drive play the tune “Bicycle Built for Two” by moving the drive head back and forth at different frequencies. It was a cute trick but not one I demo’d very often.

My favorite trick was created by programmer, Michael J Henry. It was easy to customize the text in programs by editing characters on the floppy disk so you could make the screen say anything. Well, Michael’s trick discouraged people from removing his name on the screen. The “L” in his first name was represented as “4C” which in the machine language of the C64 was also the code for the instruction JMP or Jump to the address of the next two bytes. At startup, his program would jump to the physical screen address where the “L” was visible and it would cause the program execution to jump to the address “204A” which was represented by the “space J” in his name. If anyone changed his name, the program stopped working. If you were able to follow that you can claim geek status.

One person missing from Mondays’ event will be my old friend and mentor Jim Butterfield. In doing research for today’s post I discovered that Jim passed away peacefully June 29th of this year.

I ran into a great article on CNet today that was nostalgic for me but might be of interest many of you as well. Many years ago I worked on a project called Habitat in a partnership with Lucasfilm LTD. One of the benefits of the project included visits to Skywalker Ranch, just north of the San Francisco. It was a quiet year for the ranch. No new Star War movies were planned and the most recent feature film had been Howard the Duck.

Click to view video promo

CNet’s Daniel Terdiman reported on his recent trip to Skywalker Ranch and was allowed to take and publish a number of photos.

Click for Skywalker Ranch photos

The ranch has expanded a lot since my last visit and is the home of Skywalker Sound, the recipient of 18 Oscars. If you’re into state of the art sound production this is the place to go. Daniel has all the details in his article, “The hills are alive with the sounds of Skywalker”

I used to backup my data to CDs, then DVD’s but now with the low cost of solid state memory I’m actually archiving data on postage stamp sized 2 GB cards. Secure Digital Flash memory is also becoming the most popular storage for camera’s, PDA’s, mobile phones and Audio players.

Unfortunately, if you’ve been shopping for SD cards you’ll easily be confused about which one to purchase. For instance Kingston has Secure Digital, Secure Digital Elite Pro, Secure Digital Ultimate and Secure Digital High Capacity. SanDisk has its standard SD memory, Ultra II, and SD Extreme III.

Secure Digital Logo Secure Digital ( <= 2 GBs )
Below are current rates from Amazon. Read/Write are maximum speed when no fragmentation of data blocks is found. Sometimes speed is measured in 66x or 133x. x = the standard CD-Rom speed of 150kb/s.
Name                   Price        Read    Write           Warranty
San Disk 2 GB           $15            ?        ?                 5-year
Kingston 2 GB          $15          5 MB/s 1.5 MB/s        Lifetime
San Disk Ultra II        $30         10 MB/s 9 MB/s        Lifetime
Kingston Elite Pro 50x $27        8.2 MB/s 7.7 MB/s     Lifetime
San Disk Extreme III   $38        20 MB/s   20 MB/s        Lifetime

Secure Digital High Capacity Logo Secure Digital High Capacity ( > 2 GBs )
Speed is measured by class which is the minimum data rate even with fragmentation. In theory these cards could grow to 128 GBs although 8 GB is most currently available. While the higher capacity SD cards are typically formatted with the FAT32 file system that isn’t the difference between SD and SDHC. SDHC uses SD protocol 2.0 to store data blocks.
Class   Speed
2         2 MB/s
4         4 MB/s
6         6 MB/s

You might think price equals quality and speed but it’s a little more complicated. Many camera’s and other devices won’t support the larger SD cards. Many card readers don’t support the new SDHC format for cards over 2 GB. For instance, our grandson is getting a Kid-Tough Digital Camera from Fisher Price which doesn’t support “high speed” SD or cards greater than 1 GB. The Nintendo Wii only supports up to 2 GB. Some devices may support new protocols if their firmware is updated. Not every store includes this very useful information in their product description.

One of the cool things about the SD type memory is its SDIO expandability. This allow devices to be built along with the card including wireless, cameras, GPS, fingerprint recognition and much more. I recently wrote about the Eye-Fi SD card which uses this functionality.

The big question for me is how many times can the memory be written to, and how long with it last? This information isn’t easy to find. The industry claims this kind of memory( NAND) can be written to up to 100,000 times and operate up to 51 years. My research concludes that SD memory should last up to 10 years when stored in a safe place.

What you really need to remember…

When purchasing SD cards make sure it’s compatible with your device and your SD reader and vise versa.

When writing data to your SD card, be sure the operation is complete before removing the card from the reader.

Over many years the focus of digital camera improvements have been price, pixels and speed. It’s all the same technology, just bigger, better and cheaper. The popularity of the digital camera has however spawned a welcome industry evolution in solid state memory cards.

I’ve been snapping digital photos for over ten years and finally, I’m starting to see some real innovations.

Wireless Photo Transfer
This is a natural progression and Eye-Fi just made it simple and cheap. Instead of each camera company building it into their camera, Eye-Fi has built it into the memory card. Eye-Fi even supports automatic upload to 20 photo sharing sites with more to come. For only $99, if your camera uses SD cards you’ll want to order one of these before supplies run out.

Eye-Fi Wireless SD Card

Global Positioning Tagging
It may not be available for all cameras but if Sirf has its way it will be soon. Your camera currently records the date and time you take your photo. How nice would it be to know exactly where you were when the photo was taken? In my opinion this isn’t any kind of brilliant idea, it’s a natural convergence of technology. The GPS network is there and available, why shouldn’t your camera use it.

Navman 750

What would really be really cool is if they could just build GPS functionality into the Eye-Fi card. Smile, it's sooo sweet!

End of month summary of postings in November 2007.

DreamScene Ran on Windows 95 But Not My Vista

My Verizon FiOS is Speedy

Top Ten Online Shopping Mistakes

Happy 10th Birthday to Scotty

CNet: Top 9 Windows Utilities

Give a Child a Laptop

Facebook Recommends IE7

Windows XP SP3 Includes Four New Services

"TiVo Like" Features on your PC

Searchland Security Advisory High

Here are the top Bits from Bill that Google has found interesting enough to send folks here when they searched.

Detect Changes to Windows Automatic Updates

Do I need Apple Mobile Device Service?

What is Zwinky?

IE7 changes include IEFrame.dll

Christmas Computers

If you haven’t gotten around to updating your anti-virus software and/or installed the newest Windows update patches the time is now! In the last few weeks our users have reported 3 times the normal number of malware attempts.

One new approach is to bomb search engines with malware sites. Google and others have been cleaning up their results as quickly as possible but it’s an ongoing battle.

HEADS UP: More Google poising on the way? SunbeltBLOG

If you think the search engines are in the business of filtering out the bad guys you would be wrong. Even some paid advertising was recently found to send folks to malware sites. They do their best to keep you safe but that’s not really their responsibility.

The bottom line is you need to take steps to stay safe. Here are just a few timely tips.

Update Windows
One of the most common entries into your system is a well known vulnerability you’ll see referred to the IFRAME exploit. Microsoft has corrected this problem and as long as you’ve installed all the Windows Update patches you’re better off.

Don’t download that CODEC
A popular trick to get users to download files is to make you think it’s required. It doesn’t have to be a video of a naked Brittney. It could be a video of a cute kitty but if it says, you must install this codec before viewing the video, STOP.

Your computer is not a “potential Spyware operation”.
Don’t fall for a pop up that says your computer is infected. Even if this is true any web page that detects this without you asking is a scam. You’ll end up with is Rogue Anti-Spyware software which will exhort a payment from you before giving you control of your own computer. If you want security software go with a known company.

Disconnect your computer at night. (New)
Turning off your computer at night has long been debated within the computer industry and I won’t get into it now. I will advise at the least, disconnect your computer from the Internet when not in use. Even if you think your computer is clean you could may infected and your computer could act as a “bot”. You’re also at risk to be infected by some vulnerability like MSBlaster that hasn’t been made public yet. If everyone got in the habit of turning off the internet when not in use it couldn’t hurt.

TiVo My name is Bill and I am a TiVoholic. I’m almost embarrassed to say we currently have six TiVo’s in our house and home office. It really annoys me when I hear someone say they have “TiVo like” features in their product. Google results in over 100,000 sites when searching on “TiVo-Like”.

There is WAY MORE to TiVo than its ability to pause or fast forward through commercials. Unless they own a TiVo most people won’t understand.

The most common offenders relate to the software that comes with TV video cards for PC’s. Even Microsoft strives to be TiVo-Like with its Windows XP Media Center Edition. While I’m impressed with the hardware that decodes TV signals for your PC, I have yet to find TV-PC software that isn’t crap.

Last year I tried out the ATI All-in-Wonder graphics board. The software that was included made my system so unstable I no choice but to remove it. Last week I needed to do some testing with Pinnacles Program Scheduler so I picked up a PCTV HD Stick on Amazon. When I could get it to work the HD analog signal that streamed on to my screen was crystal clear. I didn’t have the patience to do a full software evaluation so I’ll just summarize by saying, it sucks.

I have checked out others but none have the stability or power of TiVo. I do have a little bit of experience in this area. When I worked for Microsoft my job was to design an EPG(Electronic Program Guide) for something called the Information Highway PC. Some of my time was spent doing focus studies, observing people from behind a one-way mirror. It was a lot of fun but unfortunately I didn’t stay out west long enough to make a difference.

Now TiVo has announced a partnership with digital software company, Nero AG, best known for their CD/DVD burning suites. At last, a real TiVo interface on a PC. According to TiVo’s CEO Tom Rogers…

“This agreement provides TiVo with an opportunity to deliver its interface and differentiated feature set globally via the PC, enabling TiVo to use all avenues of mass distribution -- from consumer electronics, to cable and satellite boxes and soon, the PC”

This sounds promising but I’m still a little skeptical. The current TiVo software is Unix based and I’m not sure how successfully it can be ported to run under Windows. You’d think I’d be doing the dance of joy but I’ll stick with my current TiVo boxes for now.

Microsoft is in the process of testing service packs for both Vista(SP1) and Windows XP(SP3). There has been a lot of talk about how Windows XP may be the biggest competitor for Vista. I’ll never forget Bill Gates showing the Blue Screen of Death on Windows 98 as the reason to upgrade to Windows XP. Many of us are satisfied with what Windows XP offers and I’m pleased with the continued support from Microsoft.

While reports of Vista’s service pack have been mixed, many folks testing Windows XP SP3 report a more robust operating system. While I don’t typically upgrade immediately, as a developer I need to keep up with new versions of Windows. I wasn’t included on Microsofts’ beta list but I was able to check out SP3 on a friends laptop.

Windows XP SP3

You won’t find a lot of visible changes to SP3. In fact, I was very surprised that it didn’t force an to upgrade to IE7.

Using WinPatrol’s date “First Detected” feature, I did find a few new services that weren’t there before. This list could vary depending on your configuration.

EAPSVC.DLL – Provides windows clients Extensible Authentication Protocol Service Click for more info

KMSVC.DLL – Manages health certificates and keys (used by NAP) This relates to managing keys for volume licenses and their health, not medical information.

QAGENTRT.DLL – Allows windows clients to participate in Network Access Protection. This includes some of the new security features of Vista minus UAC.

DOT3SVC.DLL – This service performs IEEE 802.1X authentication on Ethernet interfaces. Improves detection and connection to wireless networks

Luckily, I was able to run some benchmarks on the system before SP3 was installed. I’ll write more if I find a difference in performance or other issues as I continue to perform tests.

I may have mentioned once or twice that I’m not always the first to upgrade to new versions. When something works for me I’m happy and will continue using it until I have a good reason to upgrade. I still haven’t upgraded to Internet Explorer 7 and haven’t had a good reason to switch. Most of the time I use Firefox but I do occasionally use IE especially on my tablet PC which has some problems with Firefox.

I was surprised when I went to Facebook today and saw that they were encouraging me to upgrade to IE7.

Of course, they’re not just promoting Microsoft's Internet Explorer. They also provided links to Firefox and Opera.

According to my Blog reader stats 46% of my readers are using IE7. Only 16% are still on IE6. I guess it might be time to upgrade. I haven’t heard any horror stories from IE7 users lately. What do you think? Click on “Comments” below and let me know.

Do you remember the concept of the $100 laptop that would be designed for kids in developing countries? Well, it’s here! The price didn’t quite make it under $100 but there’s a good chance many kids will still benefit from this project.

There are a few days remaining for you to participate in a special “Give One, Get One” promotion. By purchasing one of the new XO Laptops for a child, you can purchase one for yourself at the current price of $199 USD. After November 26^th don’t expect to see them for sale at the Wal*Mart.(see update below)

The “One Laptop Per Child” project is the vision of MIT Professor Nicholas Negroponte as discussed in his book Being Digital . The original idea came from MIT Media Lab Professor Seymour Papert in the 1960s.

Click Here to Participate

The XO Laptops are being distributed as a first-come first-serve basis so they won’t guarantee shipping by December 25^th. I contributed twice so I’ll have two laptops which can communicate with each other via a “mesh” wireless network. I am looking forward to creating some software especially for this project.

I had hoped to do my own review by now but instead I’ll point you to that zany David Pogue who published a comprehensive review already for the NY Times. Click Here

Update: I haven't seen word on the OLPC website but Engadget is reporting the time to particate has been extended to December 31st.

I was pleased today to see that CNet’s Executive Editor, Tom Merritt was letting folks know about what they called “Must-have Windows downloads”. The article by Peter Butler was also titled, “Giving Thanks: Top Windows Utilities” in honor of this weeks American holiday.

I’m always looking for tips on good programs but I was even more happy to see that WinPatrol was listed as number three!

“For protecting Internet Explorer against browser hijackers and for keeping my startup list free of unwanted entries, I know that I can always count on Scotty the Watchdog and the excellent security app WinPatrol.”

This was a nice present for Scotty on his 10th birthday.

CNet also included some of my other favorites like Process Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. CNet also has a review of the beta 1 of Firefox 3 by Stephen Shankland.

“Firefox 3 beta 1 includes a number of significant features that Mozilla said should improve security, ease of use, rendering of Web pages, and location of previously visited Web pages. And for the new era of rich Internet applications, the browser can run Web-based applications even when the computer is disconnected from a network.“

I use Firefox but will probably wait for the final release before upgrading.

Monday, November 19^th is the 10th Anniversary of the public release of WinPatrol. ( 70 in dog years ). This program was originally created for friends and family after I had a machine infected with a clever trojan designed to steal my AOL password. Below is a screen shot of WinPatrol 1.0 which still runs today but has obviously improved a great deal since 1997.

Screen shot of what WinPatrol 1.0 looked like.
WinPatrol 1.0

Going through my old backup CDs I was pleased to find some great video and audio of our friends spreading the news about WinPatrol. Keep in mind what you see and hear is about an old version. The interviews will tell you more about BillP and WinPatrol then you ever cared to know. Smile and the whole world smiles with you.

Interview with TeMerc Internet Countermeasures (Text)

TechWatch Radio Interview with BillP (25 Minutes – mp3)

WinPatrol on Screen Savers with Sarah Lane and Leo Leporte (Video)

Steve Bass demos WinPatrol on Tech TV with Patrick Norton (Video)

Bill Pytlovany featured on WRGB (Video)

I never really advertised WinPatrol so its international popularity is due completely to friends. The majority of new features came as suggestions from friends of Scotty. So, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all of you who have encouraged and supported my WinPatrol project. It’s been a rewarding ten years.

We’re approaching the time for holiday shopping and for me there’s no better place to shop then from the comfort of your own home. I’ve seen many articles that provide tips for online holiday shopping but I always like to look at things a little differently. So here are the top ten mistakes that people are likely to make while shopping online. And yes, I know many of them from experience.

High Shipping Costs
It’s really easy to find things online which are cheaper but sometimes you’ll pay the difference in inflated shipping and handling fees. This is especially true when making a purchase from a small retailer or via an online auction sites.

Late Delivery
If you’re buying a present for someone, you’ll want to be sure that your item is available and will be delivered before date you need it. Always leave yourself some time for unexpected delays.

Wrong Shipping Destination
Many sites will remember previous locations where you had items shipped. Usually, they’ll remember the last location used so don’t be tempted by One-Click purchases. Your item will be shipped to the last person who received a present from you.

Buying by Email Marketing
Don’t be tempted by Email specials unless you specifically requested information from a company. Don’t respond to any spam promotions. Just because it’s a well known product, it doesn’t mean the Email came from the real company. Anytime you respond to spam, you just encourage more.

Generating More Spam
When purchasing items online don’t use the Email address which is personal or important to you. There are a number of free Email services where you can create a throw away Email account just for shopping. Create something like MeShopping07@gmail.com or a similar account.

Losing Track of your Purchases
I have one credit card which I use for online purchases. When the bill comes in I make sure to compare it with online purchases. Frequently, the company name on the bill won’t be obvious to the purchased item. I do this more for tracking then for security. Using a credit card online is usually safer than giving it to a waiter or store clerk. Always print out any orders you make online and keep them in a special pile.

Wrong Product or Model
Sometimes the image shown isn’t identical to the product model you’re ordering. Read the full description of what you’re ordering. The title may say “Beatles Greatest Hits” but it doesn’t mean the songs are actually performed by the fab four.

False Credentials
Just because a vendor displays images from the Better Business Bureau or eTrust doesn’t mean they really have been approved. If buying from an unfamiliar store verify they really do have the credentials they claim.

Costly Return Policies
Brick and mortar stores aren’t the only ones with so called “Re-stocking Fees”. Check the return policy of any store your order from. If you receive a defective product will the store pay the shipping to return your item?

Rushed Purchases
This really summarizes all the previous mistakes. I don’t recommend using a 1-Click® purchase process like Amazon will set up for you. Usually the system will remember your important information but seriously, how difficult is it to type in your name and address or credit card. Re-entering your credit card is a good idea because you may notice the expiration date has passed. This may not be picked up on a 1-Click purchase and will delay your delivery.

Feel free to click on the comments link and tell us what mistakes you or others have made.

It may be the jet lag from my recent trip but I had to write a quick article about the various titles I see in my spam folder. The following are just a part of a one day sample of the spam I received.

You know it’s spam if it says…

Buy OEM Software
You're approved! You are approved for an unsecured $7,500 credit line
250 Free Full Color Business Cards - Don't Miss Out!
prescription medications online
Urgent Equity Alert
US $ 69.95 Viagra 100mg x 10 pills
Watch your body change with Anatrim
Wir wissen was Frauen wollern
Photoshop, Windows, Office
Your order approved
Send this to your friends
November 70% OFF
Next Big market Winner
New Company Pick for November
Legal software sales
Home-based job opportunity
Free Dating Profile - Limited Time
exclusive watches, affordable prices rolex
Credit Card Debt Relief

I’m sure most of you would just hit Delete on any of the subject lines above as well as many of the imaginative lines below.

Add some more male meat to your package!
Sail down the love canal more confidently
Increase your love stick to make it really magic!
This remedy is a true godsend for your little willy
True masculinity is impossible without a substantial volume of male meat
We'll teach you how to get a schlong you could be proud of!
Say "I can have sex all night long"!
Prepare your love wand for the next battle
Not enough length? We'll show you how to change it!
No woman will resist your masculine attractiveness!
Have a great night with your girlfriend!
Great news for men in despair
Get more pleasure in love with your new big phallus
Encouraging news for your willy

I’m not sure I even know what it means but I really had to laugh today when in mail today I saw

Now your penis can serve as the lighthouse in the open sea.

Early this week I wrote about my switch from Time Warner Road Runner to Verizon FiOS. The Verizon installer was here all day and then I spent the next couple days fine tuning my computer to finally obtain the full benefits of the advertised 20 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload.

I’m spending a long weekend in Portland so I thought I’d give everyone an update before I flew across the country.

Ta-Da!

I wish I could point to a single example of what I changed to double my download speed but it required a couple applications to do the job.

Our friends at PC Pitstop have a cool little app called PC Pitstop Optimize. This application allowed me to do a lot more than the optimize program provided by Verizon. Even better, it actually told me what it was changing so I could decide for myself if I wanted to make the change.

I also used WinPatrol PLUS to review many of Windows Services which were set to Automatically start even though I had no interest in using their associated product on a regular basis. I certainly didn’t need six services running just to phone home to check for autoupdates. WinPatrol allowed me to set some Windows Services to Disabled or Manual and I immediately noticed that more memory and resources were available.

I’m still not ready to give my full blessing to Verizon FiOS but I’m really happy with my new found speed. Stay tuned for more FiOS details as I discover them.

This weekend I switched my home office to the new Verizon FiOS fiber optic service. I’m pretty excited to be one of the first in our area to have it. I pay a few dollars more but the advertised speeds are twice what I’ve been getting on Road Runner.

The package I signed up for is 20 Mbps download and 5 Mbps Upload for $49.95 a month. Time Warner is charging me $38.53 for an advertised 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload.

On Road Runner my advertised 10/1 would usually test as 5–6 Mbps down and 0.7 on upload. When I tested my FiOS connection today on DSLReports.com I was pleased with my new upload speed but a little concerned with my download.

Verizon FiOS Test
(Advertised 20/5)

When they installed FiOS they ran an optimizer program which I assume changes the registry values like MTU that many other optimizers do. I plugged back into my Road Runner to see if maybe the optimizer helped their service too. It did make my upload a little better then my previous tests but I’m obviously pleased with the improved speed of FiOS.

Road Runner Test
(Advertised 10/1)

I’m not ready to give my full blessing to FiOS yet. I’m especially suspicious because when I go to Verizons own speedtest page, I get values much higher than I get using DSLReports.com. When I go to Verizon Central they consistently tell me the following.

Test results from Verizon Central
http://speedtest.verizon.net/

So much for truth in advertising. For instance, my 1000 GB hard drive only has 926 GB’s available which is common. This kind of “rounding up marketing” is getting out of hand.

Update: Its working better. Now if only they would come back and fix my phone. See http://billpstudios.blogspot.com/2007/11/my-verizon-fios-is-speedy.html

I was pleased when I heard that Microsoft was making their Vista Ultimate Extras available. I was especially looking forward to DreamScene which provides cool animated, video desktop backgrounds.

Unfortunately, the machine I use for Vista testing doesn’t support DreamScene. This Ultimate Vista Extra requires the Windows Aero theme. Unfortunately, Aero doesn’t seem to be supported on my year old NVidia GeForce3 graphics card.

Not many people know that animated desktop backgrounds were introduced over ten years ago on Windows 95. An ingenious Seattle programmer named Joe King created a wallpaper animation engine called Crystal Walls. Joe, who once worked on the Windows 1.0 team, had the support of over 30 programmers and artists who created over a dozen unique flowing backgrounds.

I was honored to be one of the programmers who created a scene to include in the product which was first launched in Egghead Software stores. My scene “13 Sharpei’s Contemplating the Universe” included a number of playful pups including Nosey who would occasionally approach and tap his paw on the monitor glass.

Crystal Walls puppy used in my animated wall paper

Crystal Walls was considered to be included in a “Windows PLUS Pack!” but instead, Microsoft introduced something called Active Desktop with Internet Explorer 4.0. Active Desktop broke the Crystal Walls engine and promised to provide a similar experience. Active Desktop was created to take advantage of “push” technology but it never really gained mass appeal.

According to his LinkedIn profile Joe’s talent has been discovered by the folks at Amazon where he’s Senior Manager of Social Computing.

Vista Trick: There’s a window handle trick on Vista that lets you to use a screen saver as desktop wallpaper. LockerGnome wrote about it today and according to Chris Pirillo, this works on monitors that may not support DreamScene. Unfortunately, it didn’t work well on mine.

From the cmd.exe box, type “ribbons.scr /p65552”. This trick is cool but be sure to close any open files before you try it. While it may work on some machines it could jumble the screen on others. If you try this and it messes up, you’ll need to Ctrl-Alt-Del and either Log Off or Restart. You can use other screen savers and it should work on all version of Vista, not just Ultimate.

Imagine a huge Water park for kids with no fence, adult supervision and plenty of little places to hide. There are no rules and instead of admission fees, kids are encouraged to bring their personal information and keys to their house. That’s basically how I see sites like MySpace. Sure, they can be a world of fun but at what price?

MySpace, Zwinky and other social sites have been become a magnet for pedophiles, drug dealers, criminals and anyone wanting to perpetrate a new scam. This is the ultimate in a targeted audience.

Alex over at Sunbelt is reporting his research department is following another clever new social engineered scam that is appearing on MySpace. Kids are invited to view a profile and a familiar popup appears encouraging them to download the latest security update for Windows.

This pop up dialog looks so real that even if they stop and ask mom or dad, it’s likely parents would be fooled into downloading this nasty Trojan with the filename, “updateKB890830.exe”.

I’m told that MySpace abuse team is quick to respond to such scams but the scammers out number MySpace employees and have much better tools to distribute their tricks. Parents should read MySpace Tips for Parents which includes a link on how to delete your childs MySpace profile. ( WinPatrol users, if you want to completely block MySpace.com send a note to support and I’ll tell you how.)

I’ve seen many Halloween activities curtailed over the years because of fear. Well, it seems a lot safer to allow your kids to Trick-or-Treat and/or dress up for school parties than it does to let them go online without supervision.

Most of us who have used PC’s since Windows 95 have always looked forward to new versions of Windows. While it’s been almost a year since Vista was introduced to the public, I’m now waiting for the next new version.

I really wanted to fall in love with Vista but like many I feel like I’ve been cheated on. I’m seeing folks who don’t even own Macintosh's writing reviews for the new Apple Mac OS X Leopard operating system.

Yesterday one of my favorite authors Steve Bass said it as best he could, “There’s No Doubt: Vista Sucks”.

Steve also had a link to one of the best Vista video’s I’ve seen yet.

There has been a lot of controversy lately over the Windows Automatic Update feature. First Microsoft made change some files used in the Auto Update mechanism on a users machine without ever making it an option. Now, Microsoft has been accused of making changes to the Windows AutoUpdate settings. Some claim during the last Windows update their configuration was changed to “Update Automatically”. Microsoft denies the accusations. Others report that Microsoft One Care or other application make changes for you.

WinPatrol has a long history of monitoring unique settings that most other programs don’t worry about. Many new WinPatrol features are requested by users but a lot of changes are based on things I want for myself. I thought “Hey, I’d like to know if something changes my Automatic Update settings”.

Windows Automatic Update Settings

Available today, WinPatrol 12.2.2007 will now alert you if changes are made to your Automatic Update settings. Like most features, the intention is to protect users from changes made by malicious programs. As a side however, it will also detect if Microsoft or one of their applications decide to change these settings without your knowledge.

Also included in this new version will be detection of a few other unique settings like the prefix inserted by your browser (http://). If you don’t include http:// when you type in an address, Windows automatically adds it. If I changed this setting to http://www.billp.com/ no matter what you typed into your browser you’d always come to me. Depending on what comes after it, I could display a fake look-alike phishing page and grab your eBay, or Paypal account number.

I didn’t have a lot bugs to fix so I also included a few other safe changes. WinPatrol will now correctly read registry startup entries that use invalid formats. I’ve also included an online component to the PLUS activation process. This will finally allow the creation of an affiliate partner program and can accurately thank the folks who help promote WinPatrol.

As always, this version is a free upgrade to all WinPatrol users and is available at http://www.winpatrol.com/download.html.

My personal recommendation for Windows Automatic Update has always been “Notify me but don’t automatically download or install them”. I like to wait at least a week to see what problems are reported.

Headlines:

WinPatrol 12.2.2007 Press Release
Newest Windows Update Snafu Puzzles Microsoft
Microsoft: We Didn't Change Automatic Updates
Microsoft OneCare Silently Changes Automatic Updates

I’ve had a lot to celebrate this month. I have a new grand niece, Ella Grace Pytlovany born Oct 11th. On October 15^th our nephew John returned from his 2^nd long tour in Iraq. Today, I received the good news that Direct Revenue LLC and Best Offers Networks have ceased operations.

The folks behind “A Better Internet” and MyPCTuneUp.com were well known for invading and taking over PC’s without a users knowledge or permission. In April 2006, New York State sued Direct Revenue and I reported on the results here in my post, “Death Threats for A Better Internet “. These guys knew all the tricks and showed no mercy yet, they thought it was a legitimate business model.

Last years lawsuit included relief and penalties from, the company's founders and chief officers Joshua Abram, Alan Murray, Daniel Kaufman, and Rodney Hook. It will be interesting if these names appear in any new companies or if they’ve learned anything from past consumer responses to their dastardly deeds.

Thanks to researcher Ben Edelman, Assistant Attorney General Justin Brookman and all the others who spent time and resources to expose these guys.

Microsoft recently announced sales figures for the Xbox 360 for September and for the first time this year, Xbox out sold the Nintendo Wii. If you ever wonder how much a kick-ass game can impact console sales here is the proof.

There’s no doubt the surge in Xbox sales were due to the release of Halo 3 exclusively on Microsoft Xbox. Halo 3 broke all records taking in $170 million in sales during the first 24 hours. In the first 12 days, 3.3 million copies of Halo 3 were sold. Revenue from this single game has far exceeded any profits from Xbox hardware. Oh wait, Xbox still hasn’t recorded any profit.

In the 90’s I worked at MicroProse Software in an office next door to industry guru Sid Meier but I make no claims to be a true serious gamer. I will however still put my money on the Nintendo Wii. Sales of the Wii have out performed expections and will continue to do so.

When the Wii was first announced most gamers looked at the graphics and walked away unimpressed. Game developers wrote Nintendo off and went with Microsoft and Sony. Now they’re scrambling to create games which take advantage of the Wii’s unique features. The Nintendo Wii provided something completely new and innovative in game play while the other consoles just enhanced the pretty polygon graphics you control your with fingers and thumbs.

Some folks claim people will eventually get bored with Wii, but they neglect to see how this machine has attracted a much wider mass audience than just serious gamers. I predict we’ll eventually see additional tactile feedback devices for your body and custom controllers for your feet and head as the Wii phenomenon takes off.

If you’re into selling things on eBay for double or triple their retail price, start now and get your hands on every Nintendo Wii currently available. You won’t find them on the shelves in December.

( Ancient BillP quote of the day, “If they had only called it the Cabbage Patch Computer, the Coleco Adam may have had a better chance to succeed.” )

Thanks to Tyler Reguly who writes at .:Computer Defense:. for letting us know about this notorious scam which has recently resurfaced. If you’ve registered a domain name, your personal information including your Email is probably accessible to anyone.

So what would you do if someone sent you an Email saying they’d like to purchase your domain name for what ever price you want? This happens daily to a lot of folks and while they’re already spending the money in their head, a follow up Email usually includes the following catch.

“Have you had your domains appraised already? Can you show me your valuation certificates? As fas I know it’s a common practice to show appraisal of domain name (even without traffic and web site) before doing business.
Without appraisal I risk to overpay. In other words I won’t be able to make a profit on reselling this name. It’s very important for you and me to know the current market value of your domains.

Naturally, the Email contains a link to a site which claims to be a forum discussing various domain appraisal web sites. Not surprising, it’s a read-only message forum. While I haven’t done all the investigative work to connect the dots, it’s pretty clear the domain appraisal fee will be the only transaction that occurs. A number of victims have come forward to report after $100 or more in appraisal fees, the buyer changed their mind.

There are legitimate sites who will appraise your site and provide services to help sell your domain name but beware. Personally, I think parking a domain name just to resell it is wrong but it’s a pretty common practice.

So here are a few tips.

If your name and other contact information shows up in a WhoIs request, you should check with your provider. Most web hosting services offer a feature to hide your contact information.

If someone does offer to purchase your web site make sure the transaction is final before turning it over. Even certified bank checks can be faked. Just because your bank hands you the cash it doesn’t mean the check is good.

Set your domain name to automatically renew without you doing anything. A lot of folks have tools which let them know the minute a domain name has expired so they can swoop in and register it.

You may receive regular mail from a company telling you that your domain is about to expire with a handy return envelope to send a payment to renew your domain. This company probably isn't the one you used to register your domain and they're just trying to steal your business so you're registered through them.

I was sad to read that AOL in Dulles, VA has laid off another 2000 workers as part of a “incredibly complex and significant transformation“. Just last month AOL officially moved their headquarters to New York City not far from Madison Avenue. Until now, AOL had been the 2^nd largest employer in Loudoun County, Virginia.

It’s time I accept the reality, AOL is no longer the innovative online service that I once knew and loved. Our vision was to create a service that could be used by anyone and didn’t require knowledge of parity bits, baud rates and intricate commands. We were proud to provide clickable graphical content instead of black and white scrolling screens of text.

According to CEO Randy Falco in his letter to employees, “my vision for AOL is to build the largest and most sophisticated global advertising network”. This is change from the late 80’s when AOL employees laughed at Prodigy because their service had advertising covering the lower third of the screen. Now I wonder if AOL will be looking to purchase adware companies the likes of 180Solutions, Claria or Direct Revenue.

The point was hammered home last night when I received “Certified AOL Mail” from a travel search company called Side Step.

Junk mail certified by AOL
AOL Certified SPAM

I never signed up or requested Emails from Side Step. The Email was very careful to follow the minimum requirements of the Can-Spam Act of 2003. Having this Email “Certified” by AOL means nothing to me other than “Advertising OnLine” was paid by this company to spam my Email account.

These days AOL has little to offer besides a familiar interface and that’s slowly being eroded. This is a far cry from efforts like the original AOL Greenhouse designed to encourage unique and interesting content. The current AOL Greenhouse is an Add-on tool development group for AOL staffers only.

Previous AOL posts:
Ads in AOL Email
Remove AOL Free Email Advertising
Full Pay & Benefits for forum volunteers
Welcome to the End of the Computer Age

Task Scheduler Provides Malware Hiding Place (10/8)

Detect Changes to Windows Automatic Updates (10/26)

Do I need Apple Mobile Device Service? (6/05)

WinPatrol: Best Products of 2007 (5/20)

Auto Update Programs Running All the Time (5/5)

Don't Change My File Type Associations (9/10)

Detecting FBI (CIPAV) Spyware (6/19)

Happy 10th Birthday to Scotty (11/18)

Mysteries of SD Flash Cards Exposed (12/6)

Worlds Best Vista Craplet Cleaner (1/11)