Speaking of spyware...

The new Windows Vista incorporates the Windows Genuine Advantage program(where the Microsoft website has to test your copy of Windows to make sure that you, the user, are not a dirty pirate; if the test fails, you are not allowed access to the Microsoft website or to Microsoft technical support).
Once the WGA program began, computer reviewers and average users began noticing an abnormally high failure rate in WGA tests. Inconsistencies such as reporting that a system is valid one day and, after requiring another test the next day, reporting that the same system had failed the test also began to appear.

Because Windows Vista uses the Windows Geuine Advantage program, it means that Vista must report to Microsoft that your copy of Vista is legitimate. This doesnt happen just once like it does with WGA(Windows Genuine Advantage), but rather every time you turn on Vista and connect to the Internet. Most of the time it does this silently, but occasionally it interrupts what you are doing to notify you that you have installed a pirated or counterfeit version of Vista; even if you have passed previous authentication tests.

Why this matters to you is because Vista uses this same program to determine if your copy of Vista is genuine. If the WGA program in Vista determines that your copy of Vista is pirated or otherwise counterfeit, it will reduce the functionality of Vista to the point where all the user can do is use Internet Explorer for 60 minutes per day before Vista automatically shuts itself off.

Whether Microsoft will produce a patch that fixes the poor programming of the WGA program(so that it only shuts down "genuine" pirates) is yet to be seen.

This is another reason(of the vast number of reasons expressed elsewhere) to delay your purchase of Windows Vista.

How spyware can hurt you

My last post talked about the definitions of spyware; in this post, I would like to show how spyware can cause serious problems for anyone.

Norwich, Connecticut substitute 7th grade teacher Julie Amero was recently convicted of showing pornographic pop-ups to several of the children in her class. Her sentence could be as long as 40 years without parole.
You might be wondering how this is connected to spyware. As it turns out, the classroom computer was filled with spyware-launched pop-ups(stored on the hard drive, not coming from the Internet).
A discussion of the facts in the case can be read here.

If you let your anti-spyware protection lapse, or dont have it in the first place, you become a prime target of the bots that deliver the spyware.
You know you have some form of spyware when your computer mysteriously slows down for no reason and your anti-virus reports nothing found.

The teacher, Juile Amero, was caught in a never-ending loop of pop-ups. This is a common enough occurence that most people understand the confusion and helplessness that accompanies this. How this might hurt you is if you are caught, by your boss or a loved one, in the same situation it would be very embarrassing and possibly job threatening. You would know you were innocent, but would anyone believe you? Probably not, because the impression that most people have about porn is that you have to go to it to get flooded by pop-ups.
That's the wrong impression, because the advertising networks that use spyware will download the program onto your computer at an innocuous website and the spyware will look at your search terms and interpret certain words to mean that you are looking for "adult material" and give you pop-ups from pornographic sites on the same ad network. So you dont have to go to the porn, the porn will come to you.

This is how spyware can hurt you.

You really need up-to-date anti-virus, effective anti-spyware(some are better than others: Spy Sweeper and Counterspy are two good programs), a good two-way firewall(the firewall built in to Windows XP and Vista are not as good as good 3rd-party firewalls such as ZoneAlarm), and keeping up with Windows Updates.

Otherwise, you are just asking to end up like Miss Amero, losing your job and going to jail for 40 years for something that isnt your fault.

First new post of 2007

Todays post is all about spyware: what it is, and what the differences are between the various types.
Spyware(or mal-ware or bad-ware) is the generic name for any program, script or other software that is installed on your computer either unknowingly (you didnt know it was being installed, also called a "drive-by download") or unintentionally (you installed a program and the program installed the spyware).

Spyware can be divided into smaller groups called 'ad-ware,' 'spyware,' 'trojan horses,' and 'bots.'

• Ad-ware is relatively harmless software that is intended to monitor your Web surfing and shopping habits in order for web advertising companies to create better and relevant advertising. But you still do not want it on your computer.
  
• Spyware is much the same as ad-ware, but is used to monitor all activity on your computer, not just web surfing, but also to investigate what software you have, the presence of any illegally downloaded movies or music (the spyware used by the movie and record industries does not recognize music bought from legal online stores, as far as it is concerned any music is 'illegal'), and can be used to steal password information for secure websites such as banks or credit cards. Spyware is also used for identity theft.
• Trojan horses, or just 'trojans,' are like the trojan horse from Greek mythology (you may have seen it in the recent movie Troy). Its purpose is to sneak in past any defenses and then release a malicious program.

• Bot is an abbreviation for 'robot;' software robots are designed to sneak in, or be delivered, install themselves and then wait for orders from the Internet. Bots are programmed to do any number of things including sending spam, attacking websites (which they do as one part of a network of bot-controlled computers, called a 'bot-net'), or remotely controlling your computer. A bot-infected computer is called a "zombie," because, once controlled, it obeys orders mindlessly.

These are the main groups of syware and what they do. These are just general grouping because different groups of spyware fighters and anti-spyware companies (and even the spyware makers) call each type something different.

More on spyware and how to know if you have it in a later post.

News

Hi everyone,
I havent posted in several months as will have noticed. This was because of moving into the new house, settling in, and related items.

Since it is the new year, and a time to start afresh, I have resolved to post more often. So you can expect me to post at least once a week, hopefully three or four times a week.

So look forward to more and new posts.

Stop errors

Todays post is about stop errors, otherwise known as the Blue Screen(s) of Death.

A Blue Screen of Death, or BSoD, happens when a piece of software attempts to do something it is not allowed to do, and Windows has no way to handle the error this causes except to stop working and give the person using the computer(the user) an error message.
This error message is called a stop error because Windows stops whatever it was doing at the time.

Just about everyone who has used a Windows-based computer has experienced the BSoD at one time or another.

The reason it is called the Blue Screen of Death (or Doom) is because you lose anything and everything you were working on at the time and your only option for getting back into Windows is to restart the computer.

Now that we know what a BSoD is, now we have to see what all the stuff in the error means, so that maybe whatever caused the error can be fixed.
According to Wikipedia, "the text on the error screen contains the code of the error as well as its symbolic name (e.g. 0x0000001E, KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED) along with four error-dependent values in parentheses that are there to help software engineers with fixing the problem that occurred. Depending on the error code, it may display the address where the problem occurred, along with the driver which is loaded at that address. Under Windows NT and 2000, the second and third sections of the screen may contain information on all loaded drivers and a stack dump, respectively. The driver information is in three columns; the first lists the base address of the driver, the second lists the driver's creation date (as a Unix timestamp), and the third lists the name of the driver."

Each BSoD usually displays a message such as FILE_SYSTEM as well as a number like 0x00000022. The usual parameters displayed for the BSoD are the following:

   number of error (parameter, parameter, parameter, parameter) name of error

Knowing all of the above information is important in understanding and determining the cause of the Blue Screen.

If you computer "blue screens" then what you should do is:

1. Write down the name of the error message (i.e. MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION or whatever is in all caps).

1. Write down the error number (it will look like "0x00000000").

1. If Windows says why it stopped (for example, "driver error" or something specific not just "Windows stopped working to protect your system") write that down too.

You may be thinking "why should I do this, when I wont be fixing it?" The answer is if you have a repair done because of the Blue Screen, you will be able to tell the repairman what the error said so that they know where the problem is. Or so that you can look it up on the internet yourself.

The View On Vista

The news is out! There will be six, count 'em 6, versions of Microsoft Windows Vista released next Spring (or whenever Vista is finally released).
The 3 home version are: Windows Vista Basic - The lowest end of Vista; least gee-whiz features and no fancy desktop, it'll look mostly like Windows XP.
Windows Vista Premium Edition - Fancy, Mac-like desktop, and security features.
Windows Vista Ultimate Edition - All the gee-whiz features you've heard about that are supposed to be included in "Vista;" except the ones Microsoft has said they are leaving out.

In other news, if you are having trouble with your cable modem connection, have Comcast as your provider, and you have Norton Internet Security 2005 installed, Norton may be the problem. Try disabling Norton and then see if the problem goes away.
I ran into this situation this morning with a customer; after uninstalling Norton, the problem went away.
There are a whole host of reasons why you should not use Norton, any product, any version; If you have Norton and you want an effective solution, try (well, just about anything other McAfee is a better alternative) one of the free anti-virus programs available for download off the Internet. These free alternatives are Anti-Vir and AVG ; they are both effective and easy to use. They dont, however, offer all the bells and whistles of Norton. The only real difference between the free programs and Norton is "do you want your computer to be safe" or "do you want lots of fancy features and only the impression of being safe."

Patent Trolls

In the news today, Ebay is being sued by a heretofore unknown company called MercExchange. ME says Ebay is infringing on ME's "Buy It Now" patent. Buy It Now is one of the features Ebay has to allow people to purchase objects without going through the auction process.

MercExchange is a business whose entire business model consists of applying for or buying patents and then suing successful companies for "infringing" their patent.

What is a "patent troll"? "Patent troll is a pejorative and controversial phrase coined by former Intel assistant general counsel Peter Detkin in 2001 to describe entities that broadly assert specious patents across an industry for the purpose of generating nuisance value settlements. Instead of actively developing a technology, a "patent troll" would acquire or register a patent and pursue a strategy of looking for potential infringers and proposing license agreements to companies. Where the "patent troll" is unable to achieve a licensing agreement, it threatens, or enters, patent infringement litigation. To avoid litigation, companies often choose to settle by purchasing a license. Today, "patent troll" is used to describe a number of businesses using similar patent strategies."(From wikipedia)

There are a number of companies whose stated goals and business models are to sue successful, deep-pocketed companies for enough money to either keep the troll from ever having to work agan or to cripple the defending company.
Some "patent trolls" are listed on the NYSE, and, as such, must please investors and analysts every quarter. Which means lawsuits and "infringement" settlements.

This is why America needs patent reform.

In the Beginning...

There was the Command Line. And everyone was sad. Then came the Gui, and all the people were happy. Except those who liked the command line; they were unhappy.

Thus begins my first post for Peter's PC Repair and Consulting.

In the news today, the release date of Microsoft's Vista OS was delayed. Again. But this time it was not delayed for "technical" (i.e. the programmers hadnt finished it) reasons, but rather for "security" reasons. Microsoft said, "We just have to close a few security holes and it wil be fine."

Right. Sure.

More likely, the Digital Rights Management software wasnt playing nice with the rest of Vista.

Anyway, more later.

Honest.