GNOMEREPORT: It's Raining Gnomes

Apologies for the Texas-sized ad for Lockergnome Feedreader we published the other day. This is what we meant to run - my review. I have no stake in it. "Oh, she works for Lockergnome?" I hear you say, and that's true. But I still put the whole of the Gnomie community first when it comes to reviews. (Shh, don't tell Chris!)

This is not just another RSS feedreader. Like its name, it's got Chris' face (the cute cartoon one, not the real thing) emblazoned on it. And that's not the only thing unique about this feedreader. It's Flash-based, which is scalable. Resize the window either by clicking the Zoom button or putting the mouse cursor on the sides of the window and dragging it to the size you want. The larger the window, the bigger the fonts. Lockergnome feeds are already in there to save you a little work. In the premium or standard version you receive all of the Lockergnome feeds and can add 20 of your own. The folks behind assure no dogs or meat products were used in the creation of this reader, just lots of sweat and howls. A little doggy told me Sausage Software is toiling over a cross-platform version so it works on Mac and Linux operating systems (to be released in December) and devices including PocketPCs and PalmOSes. But hey, if you buy this one now, you'll get future updates free. You can try it first. We don't like to buy software blindly, either.

Now isn't that better?

And, WHOA! I have to say that you guys have been wonderful in responding to our questions in yesterday's posting. Because of the overwhelming feedback, we won't be able to reply to all of you, but take comfort in knowing that we are reading everything and processing the wealth of suggestions and information you're sending over. Thanks for your help! We're lucky to have an involved crew in you.

Have a great weekend!

Best,
Meryl K. Evans

GNEWBIE GNOOK: Pop the Pop-Ups!

Ken Colburn of Data Doctors helps Julie, who asks:

Q: I have tried to use various programs to stop pop-up ads, but it seems like they just keep coming back. What can I do to stop these darn things?

A: Force-feeding ads to Internet users has become one of the predominant methods of marketing goods and services to millions of people. While the jury is still out on just how effective they are in generating sales, the relative low cost per person will keep enticing companies to continue. Some pop-up blocker software companies are actually trying to market their software by annoying users with recurring pop-ups!

The first thing that you can do to help fight pop-ups is to never buy from any companies that use pop-ups to advertise their products. Much like spam, if just a small number of people respond, they will keep doing it. The delivery method that was once just a simple Java script that ran when you visited certain Web sites has spawned into downright infiltration of your computer from various vantage points.

There at least three major ways that your computer will receive pop-up ads.

The first is the traditional scripting that is embedded into Web sites that can be easily stopped with many of the free pop-up killers. The one that I have used for some time with a great amount of success is called EMS Free Surfer mk II. You can download the free version here.

The second that appeared about a year ago takes advantage of the Windows Messenger utility that is built into Windows NT, 2000, and XP (but not 95,98 or ME). This utility is intended for use by network administrators to alert users that the server is being shut down or for sending general information to everyone on a local area network. This type of pop-up is why some high-speed Internet customers are experiencing pop-ups even when they are not surfing the Internet. Unless you are on a corporate network, you can turn this feature off. In Windows NT, go to the Control Panel, then to Services. Highlight "Messenger" and click on "Stop."

In Windows 2000 and XP, go to the Control Panel, then to Administrative Tools, and then to Services. Highlight "Messenger" and click on "Stop." You must also set the "Startup Type" to "Disabled."

The third and most intrusive pop-ups are delivered by secretly installing software that is known as adware. If you have ever downloaded a free program from the Internet or you notice that an extra toolbar has appeared in your browser window, there is a good chance that an adware program has been installed in your system at some point. Once these adware programs get installed, they constantly run in the background of your computer and monitor your Internet access so it can pop-up ads specific to your surfing habits.

Some of the less scrupulous companies (mainly porn vendors) go a step further and pop-up ads constantly, whether you are surfing the Web or not.

If you seem to have extra toolbars in your browser window, start by going to the Add/Remove programs section of the Control Panel and look for anything that has the word "toolbar" in the description.

There are a couple of excellent free programs that will look for and remove adware & spyware programs from your computer. For non-technical users I recommend using Ad-aware, and more technical users may find SpyBot Search and Destroy more full featured.

These are the most common ways of getting pop-ups, but they are not the only methods. Instant messaging, file sharing utilities and a host of other programs are also incorporating pop-ups as a revenue source, so the battle will rage on!

FEEDBACK: Online Shopping

Ray Merriam, owner of Merriam Press, writes:

Just couldn't resist adding my two cents to this item.

Last year, someone got hold of the info for one of my business credit cards (I have no idea how, as I never lost the card or even misplaced it for awhile). One day I received an e-mail from Amazon.com who informed me that someone else had just tried using that card number to register with on their Web site (fortunately for me, I had registered that particular card with them to make a business purchase).

They advised me that there is no way anyone can get their customers' credit card info from them through their Web site. The computer that stores this information, according to this message, is a completely separate machine in another part of their building, in a locked room, and the only connection that computer has with their Web site computers is through a one-way serial connection, plus anyone who has to actually enter that computer's room for any reason has to sign in and out. This was to assure me that neither their employees nor anyone trying to hack their system could have gotten my credit card info through them.

I immediately called the company that handles this card and informed them of this theft of my card info. They immediately cancelled that card and then they checked the activity on my account (I hadn't used it for awhile so that was fairly easy to do). Only one unauthorized charge had been made, the day before, and I never had to pay a cent for this unauthorized charge (I assume because it was caught so soon). Have no idea if they ever caught the crook. I received a new card and account number a few days later.

This is the only problem I have had with shopping over the Internet - and I have made many, many purchases of all kinds to a wide variety of dealers on the Web for several years now.

Can you still get burned? Of course - just be careful (and maybe register all your cards with Amazon.com!).

BOOKS: Dave McClure Recommends

The BrainTrust participants have been discussing their favorite books, which is a dangerous exercise for some of us who have no willpower when it comes to buying them! We'll share their recommendations with you over a few issues.

Dave McClure of 500 Hats shares his top three books:

• Guns, Germs, & Steel, Jared Diamond
• The Mystery of Capital, Hernando De Soto
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert B Cialdini

He says Cialdini should be required reading because it's an amazing book!

NEWS: Open Letter To Dell

Prompted by an article we ran in Windows Fanatics last week (Dude! You're Getting A Runaround!), Mike Healan of SpywareInfo has written an open letter to Dell that goes a little something like this:

December 2, 2003 -- We in the antispyware, antivirus and security communities would like to express our disappointment with the new technical support policy in place at Dell Inc. Dell's new support policy does a disservice to its customers and puts everyone on the Internet at risk, including non-Dell customers, by discouraging the removal of malicious software.

Dell's new policy came to light in a recent issue of the Lockergnome Windows Fanatics newsletter. This policy forbids Dell technical support persons from providing assistance to customers in removing infections of unwanted commercial parasites. This policy forbids providing removal instructions or recommending a spyware removal program. The policy even forbids mentioning informational Web sites that can provide information about the spyware and how to remove it.

According to a Dell employee, the only acceptable response to a customer infected with spyware is to refer them to their Internet Service Provider (ISP).

A spyware-infected computer is not a problem for the ISP. This is a problem for the company that sold the customer an agreement for technical support along with their PC. Dell should honor that agreement, not pass the buck to overworked ISPs who correctly will refer people back to the PC vendor.

Dell claims that removing spyware may violate the license agreement of other software that may have installed the spyware and cites this as the reason for the new policy. Perhaps Dell Inc. is unaware that many spyware programs and most other commercial parasites are classified and targeted as viruses by industry-leading antivirus software.

Will Dell forbid employees from recommending an antivirus program? Will Dell prohibit their techs from suggesting a firewall because it might be used to block a spyware program from sending user data to its vendor? How far does this policy go before common sense prevails?

The letter continues here...

SYSTEM: Creating an Unattended Windows XP CD WinXP/Win2003

http://unattended.msfn.org/

{Install XP without interaction} Its purpose is to provide a guide to create a CD for saving time when re-installing Windows, manually installing applications, downloading Windows updates, and tweaking the OS to perfection on every format performed. I don't know how often a person would need to use something like this, but it's a great idea. The Windows XP CD installs Windows XP by automatically putting in your name, product key, time zone, and regional settings followed by silently installing applications along with DirectX 9.0b, .Net Framework 1.1 and then all the Pre-SP2 hotfixes, updated drivers, registry tweaks, and a readily patched UXTheme.dll without any user interaction whatsoever. The Web site is dark and might be hard for some people to see. There is a light switch under Switch Theme - select light to switch to a lighter background. [Meryl]

DOWNLOAD: BoogiePOP Enterprise v3.5

• [1124K]
• Win2k/XP
• Shareware
• Screenshot
• Update

http://www.mywebattack.com/gnomeapp.php?id=107290

{E-mail Bounce Automation} BoogiePOP Enterprise allows you to fully automate the process of handling e-mail bounce messages. It runs as a local POP3 service and can be configured to retrieve messages from several POP accounts. BoogiePOP scans the configured POP accounts and automatically recognizes more than 1000 different e-mail bounce formats. It categorizes your bounced mail into the different categories and can execute custom SQL queries to update an ODBC data source with the information extracted from the bounced e-mails. The program offers several variables that can be used in your queries and will be replaced with information from the e-mail message (bounce type, e-mail, message text, subject and more).

FILE: Kinati 2PDF Converter

http://www.k2pdf.com/

{Convert files to PDF} PDF converters from companies other than Adobe are nothing new, but this one is an online converter. It can handle Word, Excel, and Powerpoint documents as well as RTF and TXT formatted files. It deals with files up to 1M in size, which is the only drawback (as many of the PDF files I have are over 1M). The converted document is available for downloading within six hours after conversion and then it will be removed from the server. The waiting time depends on the number of requests before yours and my file came back within ten minutes, so it must've been a slow day! [Meryl]

DOWNLOAD: Directory Report 19

• [6.12M]
• Win9x/2k/XP
• FREE Trial

http://go.lockergnome.com/194

{Directory printer} Directory Report is a directory printer with features to help you maintain and clean up your files. It features a directory printer. Print a directory tree of an entire disk or just one directory. It prints DLL and EXE version information, and AVI, MP3, MSI, MSM, WAV properties. It prints cyclic redundancy checksum (CRC) and searches for duplicate files. It features multiple file rename, multiple file change date, directory compare, and file compare, and displays the file owner. It reports total file size grouped by file owner, shows directory size without right-clicking, shows the largest directories on your computer, finds and processes NTFS streams, and much more.

FAVORITE: ColorMatch Remix

http://color.twysted.net/

{Color DJ} When playing with this tool, you feel like a disc jockey - only instead of playing music, you're playing color! Start with a predefined theme or just move the tabs till you find something you like. The one I created has plum, maroon, and grays. I exported my creation as a Photoshop .ACT file so I can import it into the software and use it. In Photoshop, select Swatches and Load Swatches. Be sure the file type is set for Color Table (*.ACT) and select the file you saved from ColorMatch Remix. The new colors join the existing swatch colors. If you have a sense of deja vu, you're right; ColorMatch Remix is based on ColorMatch 5K by Kim Jensen [Meryl].