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Archive through November 01, 2004

The TVClubHouse: General Discussions ARCHIVES: 2004 Nov. - 2005 Jan.: All Things Technical: The Help Desk (ARCHIVES): Computer Problems? Ask Here (ARCHIVES): Archive through November 01, 2004 users admin

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Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Monday, October 25, 2004 - 10:35 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Borrowed a regular movie DVD from the neighbor this morning. Video plays fine!

Huh!

Draheid
Moderator

09-09-2001

Monday, October 25, 2004 - 9:31 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Juju: I'd have to venture a guess that the DVD you had created uses different standards then a regular DVD and the computers aren't compatible for some reason. The copies should retain that standard, though, so I'm not sure why they won't all play the same, especially on the DVD player.

How did this turn out when you changed the type of recording media? Did one work any better then the other between the +R and -R media? Have you tried Nero yet?

I'm sorry I don't have any quick answers. I haven't had an opportunity to work with recording DVDs yet so this is very new to me. You might want to look around at www.videohelp.com and see if anyone there has any suggestions.

Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Tuesday, October 26, 2004 - 10:42 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Thanks for your help, Dra, or maybe I should just say support on this one. I went ahead and recorded all of them on DVD -R after the one +R I made did not play.

The original and copies do all play the same - they play audio only on both computers, audio and video on the DVD player. I sure hope they play on Bigdog's relatives' DVD players because I am tired of messing with them.

I did find the Nero software but didn't install it, since the Sonic Record Now! seemed to be doing fine.

Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 3:39 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Latest update. AFTER I made 13 copies, Bigdog decided to try them out on some frineds and neighbors' DVD players. One person's DVD player plays audio only, just like in my computers. Other person's DVD player won't play any of original or +R or -R copies.

Bigdog took the DVD's and his tape to a local place. All three DVD's played on their machines but they said when you have an amateur place make the DVD in the first place, they don't have the right software to make the DVD to be compatible to all players. He promised if he makes a new master it and its copies will play on 98% of machines. And he convinced Bigdog to part with $50.

Sigh ...

Oh, and I am putting Nero 5.5 on my desktop computer. I am downloading a 19 Mb update now.

Sia
Member

03-11-2002

Thursday, October 28, 2004 - 3:16 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
CALLWAVE problem: I can't download callwave for my phone line. When I click on "Get it now" to attempt to download the 30-day trial software, my computer just starts clicking steadily and constantly. It does NOT do this if I click on the "business" option, but does for home phone line. I don't have a home business, so I don't want to download the business package.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Sia
Member

03-11-2002

Thursday, October 28, 2004 - 3:55 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Major annoyance: how can I prevent my computer from forcing me to pages that have web addresses that begin like this: http://apps.webservicehost.com/apps/epa/epa?cid=nave9882&s=http://www.petfinders.org/ ?

It's annoying to be trying to look at a page and be unable to see it. The page starts to load, then is forcibly routed to the apps.webservicehost.com page and I cannot read the page I wanted to see. Is there a way to block this? Thanks.

Ladytex
Member

09-27-2001

Thursday, October 28, 2004 - 5:58 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Sia, sounds like you have some major spyware on your system. I'd advise you to download, install, and run Ad-Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy.

Sia
Member

03-11-2002

Thursday, October 28, 2004 - 8:00 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Thanks, Ladytex, for your answer. I do have Ad-aware and I run it frequently, but I haven't in a week or so. I will do it again today!

Ladytex
Member

09-27-2001

Thursday, October 28, 2004 - 8:18 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Make sure you update it, too. Also try spybot.

Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Thursday, October 28, 2004 - 3:20 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Ha! Ladytex beat me to it. I had a friend who could NOT get rid of some spyware that Adaware should have eliminated. Finally I told him to update Adaware and then run it. Spyware gone. Duh.

Texannie
Member

07-16-2001

Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 7:27 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
For some reason the sound doesn't work on my puter. It happened after my son disconnected the modem for some games. Everything is all back. The speakers' power light is on so they are connected, but no sound comes out. I have checked all the settings and they seem fine.
What haven't I checked??????

Jan
Member

08-01-2000

Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 8:18 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
my very simplistic suggestion (but it has happened to me so many times I can't even count). You have most likely done this already but just in case :-):

check the speakers to ensure the volume control on them is not turned down

check the volume control on your computer to ensure it is not turned down or muted

ensure there is no headset jack in the speaker (at least three times that has been my problem sigh!)

(also ensure the speaker is plugged into the right port. I had that problem once also. Did I mention that I am not too technically inclined )

Texannie
Member

07-16-2001

Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 8:32 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Thanks..i will crawl back under the desk and check all the wires again!

Starshine40
Member

07-30-2002

Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 9:42 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Technology News - October 31, 2004

Sneaky Spyware Becomes Scourge of Internet

October 31, 2004 05:22 AM EST


NEW YORK - Spyware, an amorphous class of software that mostly gets onto computers without their users' knowledge, has become epidemic in the past year as people spend more time online and spyware developers get more aggressive. The resource-hungry programs often render machines unusable.

"It makes spam look like a walk in the park," said Bob Bowman, chief executive of Major League Baseball's Internet unit, which in June started banning new advertisers from using such techniques.

San Francisco marketing consultant David Eckstein turned on his computer one day and launched his Web browser, just as he had every day. This time, however, CNN.com did not automatically open. Instead, the page was a search engine he'd never heard of.

Eckstein tried changing the browser settings back to CNN but the search engine would return whenever he rebooted. Finally, he just gave up, yet another victim of spyware.

"It makes you want to throw your computer out the window," Eckstein said.

As part of a government-backed study, technicians visited Jenna Dye recently in Young Harris, Ga., and found 1,300 spyware-related items on her machine.

"It would shut itself down in the middle of doing stuff. We had lots of pop-ups. The (CD-ROM) drawers would pop open," the mother of two complained. "It's frustrating. We spent $1,800 on our computer and we didn't want to use it."

Until the machine was cleaned up, Dye and her husband would make 2 1/2 hour trips to the nearest mall to avoid shopping online. "We use it every day now again," she said.

Spyware was found on the computers of 80 percent of participants in the study, conducted by America Online Inc. and the National Cyber Security Alliance.

Since EarthLink Inc. began offering free anti-spyware tools, each scan has found an average of six such programs. When including "cookie" data files that online sources use to track user behavior, the average rises to 26.

The most common type of spyware is more properly termed adware, its main goal to generate pop-up and other ads.

Browser hijackers, the kind Eckstein got, direct users to rogue search engines, from which spyware developers or distributors get a commission. Dialers scam users by making international phone calls that carry hefty per-minute surcharges. A rare but malicious form can steal passwords and other confidential data.

The intrusive programs aren't always well-written and can use resources inefficiently.

"Often, you don't just have one. You might have a half-dozen or even a dozen that can bring your computer to a screeching halt," said Tim Lordan, staff director of the Internet Education Foundation. "They are undermining confidence in the Internet. People are getting fed up."

The most common way to get spyware, including adware, is to download file-sharing software, screensavers and other free programs that rely on revenues from such tagalong programs to cover costs. Spyware developers consider it part of the bargain, though they also depend on users' fascination with freebies.

"A lot of them say, `I'm going to get free smileys in my e-mail or some sort of free ... download without realizing the resource drain the sponsoring software is going to cause," said Wayne Porter, co-founder of SpywareGuide.com.

Users themselves invite spyware by breezing through prompts and not reading licensing agreements they are required to accept. Consent to spyware is often buried there.

Many of the larger companies whose software is delivered online with freebies have tried to clean up their act to the point that many don't actually harvest data anymore, though the term "spyware" has stuck.

And their methods for disclosure and removal have improved in response to consumer complaints.

But for every reputable operation, scores of shadier ones, often located abroad, are intent on tricking users into accepting spyware without any accompanying software.

In a technique known as drive-by downloading, code embedded within pop-up ads or on Web sites that offer free songs, games or even pornography can instruct computers to begin downloading the rogue programs with minimal warning.

Sometimes, those warning prompts even are programmed to keep popping up until users finally give up and say "yes," said Neel Mehta of Internet Security Systems Inc.

And exploiting known flaws with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system or the Internet Explorer browser, spyware developers can bypass the prompts entirely.

"In the rush of doing things, people get confused and end up hitting one wrong button, and all of a sudden stuff is on your computer and you can't get it off," restaurant manager Damien LaRuffa said.

His Washington, D.C., restaurants lost two computers for a few days because an assistant manager apparently was tricked into accepting a fake pitch for anti-spyware software. LaRuffa said the repair bill exceeded $400.

Matt Davin, technical services manager at a repair shop in Walla Walla, Wash., estimates that half his jobs are directly tied to spyware. Customers, he said, often blame it on their kids downloading free programs.

Spyware can infect power users as well. Just ask Ricky Rodrigue, who runs Dell Inc.'s customer support center. His son invited spyware onto his home machine while downloading games, and he once found more than 100 spyware items on his work machine.

"That's how creative (they are) and how challenging it is to protect PCs," Rodrigue said.

The less innocuous programs can usually be removed manually or by running one of several anti-spyware tools, many free. The nastier ones, however, immunize themselves and persist.

"Almost every new threat released today comes with a reinstaller so that as soon as you try to remove it, it goes and reloads it," said Ron Franczyk, co-founder of anti-spyware vendor Giant Company Software Inc.

Many spyware files carry names that mimic key Windows components and even hide among them in folders typically reserved for system files.

"How do you know if you need a spool.exe?" asked Vilis Ositis, chief technology officer at Blue Coat Systems Inc. "Windows comes with thousands of files. How do you know which ones you need and which ones are spyware?"

Congress is working on a ban, and industry groups have launched efforts to educate consumers and fight back with technology. Experts believe a solution will ultimately involve a combination of law enforcement, education and engineering.

"We're at a crossroads," said Ari Schwartz, associate director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a privacy-advocacy group.

Fail to properly address spyware, Schwartz warned, and "users will not want to use the Internet for commerce, for government services, for interaction with other people. We'll lose the great potential of the Internet."

---

Anick Jesdanun can be reached at netwriter(at)ap.org.

---

Upcoming in Part II: Anti-spyware programs clean but don't disinfect.




Starshine40
Member

07-30-2002

Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 9:50 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Technology News - October 31, 2004

Users Often Invite Spyware Trouble

October 30, 2004 08:42 PM EDT


NEW YORK - Tagalong software, generally known as spyware, is an especially tricky security threat because user carelessness is nearly always to blame.

All Dennis McGrath wanted was to belong. Just about everyone else in his chat room began displaying new kinds of smiley faces with their messages. So he downloaded a free program to get some, too.

Little did McGrath know he would also get a pesky toolbar that keeps reappearing no matter how he tries to disable it.

"When you go install something, a big window should come up with big letters and tell you in the first paragraph, `Here, we're going to install this, this and that,'" said McGrath, a former truck driver in San Jose, Calif.

McGrath realizes he might have agreed to the toolbar in accepting a licensing agreement he didn't bother to read.

Craig Herold, a retired phone company employee in Fort Wayne, Ind., allows that software developers may have the law behind them when they include consent within the licenses, but "everything that is legal is not necessarily ethical."

At one point, he broke his computer trying to remove spyware himself. It took three technicians at the local repair shop to figure out how to restore his machine.

Indeed, some repair shops blame spyware for more than half the trouble they're seeing. At Dell Inc., spyware accounts for 15 percent of service calls, up from 2 percent in August 2003.

And it comes down to the same reason: Users don't know better.

Not that spyware developers make it easy on them. Many ride on the same techniques that legitimate software like Macromedia Inc.'s Flash use to get onto machines.

"People are just so used to clicking OK, OK, OK," said David Purcell, owner of PCTechBytes in suburban Philadelphia.

Spyware is the first thing technicians look for when customers visit Purcell's shop. And in 20 percent of spyware cases, he said, the problem is so bad that it's easier, and cheaper, simply to reformat the computer's hard drive and start from scratch.

How can users avoid spyware?

For one, they should read licensing agreements that come with free software. Many will name programs that tag along. For more details on what such programs do, try typing their names into a search engine or a spyware database like SpywareGuide.com's.

"If they would read the end-user license agreement, they would prevent 80 percent of the spyware," said Andrew Newman, co-founder of Giant Company Software Inc.

Also, keep Internet Explorer security settings at medium or higher so prompts will warn you of so-called drive-by downloads. Read those prompts carefully. Alternative browsers like Opera or Firefox or even alternative platforms like Mac computers can reduce risks greatly.

Some spyware bypasses such prompts entirely by taking advantage of known flaws with Internet Explorer or the Windows operating system. Get the latest security updates from Microsoft Corp. Installing the Service Pack 2 update for Windows XP computers should give users more warnings.

Users should also scan their systems regularly using one of a number of spyware scanners and removal tools, many of which are available for free. Be sure to obtain the latest definitions before running a scan, and try more than one because the tools vary in what they catch.

Dell Inc. and the nonprofit Internet Education Foundation recently launched a spyware education campaign. Video tutorials and other tips are available at getnetwise.org.

Teaching users safe practices won't be easy, but it's not impossible, said Neel Mehta of Internet Security Systems Inc. Though it took years, he notes, users today are more cautious about e-mail attachments that contain viruses.

---

On the Net:

GetNetWise: http://spotlight.getnetwise.org/spyware

Security updates: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com




Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 10:03 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Draheid, got a question for you. You know those silly graphics programs in mIrc? Not sure what they are called - maybe slaps? It I knew what to call them, I could probably look this up. The things like the roses and M&M's, you know what I mean. Anyway, I have one called first pop that I copied off my old computer and want to put in mIrc on my new computer. I have it in the mIrc folder, but I apparently don't have it in the right place. How do I get it to activate? It is just a wordpad looking document.

Draheid
Moderator

09-09-2001

Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 11:06 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Juju: In mIRC, you need to paste the information into your popups. To do that, open the file in notepad and select it all, then 'copy'. In mIRC, type 'Alt-P' for 'Popups' then 'View - 4 Nicklist' and paste the text into that window. Click 'Ok' to save and you should then be able to right-click on a username and use the popups you want.

Starshine40
Member

07-30-2002

Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 6:41 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Technology News - October 31, 2004

Companies Scramble to Deal With Spyware

October 31, 2004 01:56 PM EST


SEATTLE - The people who call Dell Inc.'s customer service line often have no idea why their computers are running so slow. The ones who call America Online Inc. can't necessarily explain why Internet connections keep dropping. And those who file error reports with Microsoft Corp. don't always know why their computers inexplicably crash.

Sometimes, the company that gets the complaint is rightly to blame. But with alarming frequency, officials at these and other technology companies say they are tracing customer problems back to one culprit: spyware.

In the past year, spyware problems have become especially pernicious, leaving companies scrambling to respond to customers who don't necessarily realize they have spyware.

Companies are concerned about the cost of dealing with such calls. But perhaps more worrisome, they fear customers will wrongly blame them.

Spyware generally refers to programs that land on computers without their owners' knowledge. They can deliver hordes of pop-up ads, redirect people to unfamiliar search engines or, in rare cases, steal personal information.

Users most often get them by downloading free games or file-sharing software - and consenting to language buried deep within a licensing agreement.

And because they consented, "in some ways it ties our hands because we can't legally interfere," said Mike George, head of Dell's U.S. consumer business.

Russ Cooper, senior scientist with TruSecure Corp., said a longstanding fear of legal repercussions is likely one reason companies have only recently begun to address the problem.

But now that spyware has become epidemic, he believes Microsoft and other companies ought to do much more to educate the public - such as by running public-awareness commercials akin to the old Smokey Bear slogan "Only you can prevent forest fires."

The industry's incentive is simple survival, Cooper said.

"It's almost ridiculous," said Bill Bane, 33, a derivatives trader in New York. "You buy a computer. It's new, bright and shiny and looks great and three months down the road, it's infested with spyware."

Though he recognizes he's partly to blame for his surfing habits, he believes his service provider and manufacturer share responsibility.

"Either the Internet providers figure out a way to clean up the Net or people are just going to pull the plug at home," Bane said. "It ain't worth it."

Microsoft officials blame unwanted software for up to one-third of application crashes on Windows XP computers. AOL estimates that just three such programs together cause some 300,000 Internet disconnections per day.

Forrester Research analyst Jonathan Penn said a spyware-related support call can cost $15 to $45, and companies may lose business.

"Security is a component of loyalty," Penn said. "People, they want all these various services, but they expect security to come with it."

Some companies have begun offering spyware-detection tools - Yahoo Inc.'s is free, while AOL and EarthLink Inc. limit key features to paid subscribers. Anti-spyware software that Hewlett-Packard Co. began shipping with new computers in June comes with a 30-day free trial; it's about $20 a year after that. Dell will have similar software by the holidays.

Most tools leave it to users to decide what to do with any programs found.

EarthLink's tool - and AOL's by default - will quarantine spyware without removing it completely. EarthLink spokesman Jerry Grasso said some users may decide that having spyware is worth the nuisance in exchange for the free program that came with it.

Microsoft's Service Pack 2 security upgrade for Windows XP warns users of spyware and other unexpected programs before they are loaded. And the company plans spyware-specific tools to give users more control, said Paul Bryan, a director in the security, business and technology unit. He said it was too soon to say when they would be available.

Advertisers are responding, too. After using the criticized delivery methods for nearly two years, Verizon Communications Inc. suspended those campaigns in July.

"We realize it was being raised as a consumer issue," spokesman John Bonomo said. "We wanted to make sure we were keeping with the trust they place in us."




Ketchuplover
Member

08-30-2000

Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 7:06 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I have XP Service Pack 2 I haven't received any spyware warnings

Ktbb
Member

08-10-2003

Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 8:39 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I am having a horrible time with my comp. Zone alarm if it is on will not allow me to go anywhere on the internet. I have uninstalled it and reinstalled it and it is still the same.

Also for some reason trying to sign on to tvch is not working. On internet explorer anyway.

Help please.

Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 8:44 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Draheid - Heh, I followed your instructions, Dra, but when I tried to use them, it pasted every danged one of them, and of course I flooded out. LOL. I will go look at how I have them in my old computer and copy that now that I know where to put them. Thanks a bunch.

KL, it is possible you are not frequenting websites where spyware lurks. :-)

Draheid
Moderator

09-09-2001

Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 9:53 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Ktbb: You may need to change one or more of the programs allowed by ZoneAlarm to access the internet. To do this, double-click on the ZA icon in your system tray. Then locate the 'Program Control' tab on the left. Next click on 'Programs' to view a list of the currently recognized programs. Find 'Internet Explorer' and click in the box under 'Access'. Select 'Allow' for IE to be able to access the internet. Check any other programs you are trying to use for the same setting. This should let you keep Zonealarm running and protecting your computer while enabling you to access the internet again.

Another option is to right-click on 'Internet Explorer' and 'Remove' the program. The next time you use IE with Zonealarm running, you will be prompted for permission to allow the program to access the internet. You can do this with any other program you aren't sure about.

Hope this helps.

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Monday, November 01, 2004 - 9:57 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Dra, I am finally getting the nerve to tackle my self-install kit for cable thru Comcast. Now I will reveal both my computer and math deficiencies simultaneously! Just want to make sure I have enough memory before I start.

Comcast tells me I need 150 mg of free disk space and 128 mg of RAM.

I have a Dell computer. On my C drive, I found I have a total capacity of 55.8 GB and 46.66 GB free space. I figure GBs are bigger than mgs, so I guess I am safe, but . . .

Because I don't know the conversions from GB to mg, just would feel better getting your nod.

I'd appreciate a speedy response, if you're around and free! (My hubby wants to cut off our house phone TODAY, since we don't really need it except for the dial-up connection we've been using on my PC--and I've been dragging my feet taking the plunge to install.) Thanks, Dra.

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Monday, November 01, 2004 - 10:24 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Ok, I went searching, and of course, found a conversion chart online!

Conversion Chart - General Computer File Size Conversion Chart

This information on this particular chart is round-off; if you need to be exact, there are actually 1024 bytes in a kilobyte


1 Gigabyte= 1,000 (GB) Megabytes =1,000,000(MB) Kilobytes = 1,000,000,000 (KB) Bytes

Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Monday, November 01, 2004 - 12:28 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Draheid -In mIrc, I pasted the popups into Aliases\Remote, and it works just like I remembered from the old days.