I received a question from Adam, a Terry’s Computer Tips web site visitor recently, who was having problems with two of his computers:

Hey Terry, just read your XP SP3 woes, got another one two for you. i have a small home network running with shared internet connection. When SP3 came out both computers immidiately downloaded the update. on PC1 the same happen to as did to your previous writer with the dvd-rom issue (gave up and bought another) on PC2 my onboard network adaptor, uh, mulfunctioned and my computer no longer registers any outside computers from my network port. i do not want to use system restore point. is there a way of repairing online? SP2 cd does not work

I wrote back to Adam to tell that there is a new online service about which I have been reading, that might be what he was looking for. InformationWeek, NetworkWorld and eWeek had very interesting articles about it. I also advised him that I have not tried ReImage yet.

Continue reading ReImage for Windows XP

Subscriber V.R. wrote to ask about Microsoft Word calling home…

Terry, I need your advise. How do I stop Word 2003 from wanting to access the internet everytime I launch the program? AVG pops ups asking if want to allow. It then takes about 10/15 seconds for Word to come up. I’ve googled and went to several sites, tried what they suggested but no luck. Any help would be appreciated.

I wrote back to V.R. to tell him that if he always wants to deny that communication, he should be able to tell AVG to deny the connection and remember that answer. It might also be in a configuration dialog box in AVG.

However, I don’t use AVG and so I can’t advise him on specifics of it.

Regarding making Word stop trying — good luck. I haven’t found a way to do it other than to control it with a good third party firewall (I use Sunbelt Personal Firewall ). See my review of SPF on my site.

In IP Addresses and Security, I wrote about how the Internet works — your computer has an IP address, your intended destination has an IP address, and both have to know and use the IP address of the other in order for communication to occur between them.

The article was in response to a reader who wrote to ask if he could keep his IP address secret, since he had been accused of copyright infringment by downloading a movie (which he says he didn’t do).

One of the potential issues was that his IP address could have been involved, even without him or anyone in his family being involved.

He uses a wireless router, as many of us do. He mentioned that he had a wireless password that had to be used in order to access his router. This kind of password is not a log-in password to the router — it is a password to the router’s encryption. Over the years, though, password security has gotten better and better. Unfortunately, some of the older encryption methods have become almost trivial for someone to crack with today’s fast computers.

However, even using the best wireless encryption available isn’t enough. There are other steps necessary to secure a wireless network.

Continue reading Wireless Security Issues

Long-time subscriber Irving wrote to ask:

I have XP SP2. I downloaded a zip file to my desktop. I then clicked the icon and ran into a problem. The screen started to “blink” and I couldn’t do anything. CTR-ALT-DEL couldn’t do anything. I had to shut down with power switch. Tried again…..same problem. This has also occurred on other downloads and blinking screens when trying to install with a click on icon on desktop. What can cause this?? Irv

I wrote back to Irving to suggest some possibilities.

1) a malware program in the zip file – did you scan it after downloading? what did you scan it with?

2) a program that attempted to change your graphics card resolution or other setting, and couldn’t do it right – or didn’ want to…

Continue reading Problems Opening Zip Files

Do you use the Internet every day? Do you surf the web, or just go to specific web sites that you already know? Do you check out web sites that someone’s recommended to you? Or, do you skip all the web stuff and just do emails, mainly with family and friends?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you’re at risk. That’s right — we’re all at risk when we deal with the Internet.

Most sites on the Internet are perfectly legitimate. Most emails you receive are, too — unless you’re so unlucky that you get more spam emails than you get that are really from your family, friends, business associates and companies with whom you do business. But sometimes legitimate web sites get hacked, and sometimes spam emails appear to be sent by friends and family.

Over the last few years, the dangers of the Internet have changed, mostly changing because we (you and I) are using better and better protection tools. Even Microsoft has finally woken up to Internet Security as an issue.

Contine reading Internet Security for Normal Users

Reader Bev Lammert has written me about an alternative anti-spam program that she’s picked:

Hi, I just read my newsletter of which I love but had to comment on your Anti Spam article. You mentioned MailWasherPopFile & IHateSpam. I haven’t tried any of them but I do use one called Spam Bully and have used it a very long time. Really like it a lot and is easy to use and no slow down. I have it on my HP Desktop Windows Vista Home Premium using Microsoft Outlook 2007 with Linksey router. I found this through Cloudeight a long time ago. Have a good day.

Get more information and a free trial of Spam Bully

Longtime reader Ron Spruell wrote about his experience with Gmail’s spam filtering:

I don’t know what Google does, but the Spam on this account has been almost zero.

Continue reading Anti-Spam Programs — Reader Comments

A reader wrote to ask for more details about how I configure my firewall to block Microsoft.com’s call–home attempts:

In your Email Newsletter — Volume 3, Number 12 — September 3, 2007, article “Windows Genuine Advantage SNAFU” you say, “When they want to check in with Microsoft, they run into my copy of Sunbelt Personal Firewall,” and “Sunbelt Personal Firewall has shown me that Microsoft’s products often want to connect to Microsoft.com, whether it makes sense or not.” You do not give enough details on the matter so one could take action…or not. QUESTION: 1. Is there a problem if they are prevented from calling home? 2. If not, how can I set up my Sunbelt PFW to do that, as you infer you have done. P.S. I used your links to purchase said product a while back along with Counter Spy and iHateSpam. Thanks in advance for your help.

The good news was that Ed was asking about Sunbelt Personal Firewall, since it will actually apply its controls to Microsoft’s programs. The process with SPF is easy, too.

Continue reading Blocking Call-Home Attempts by Microsoft Software

Recently, one of my subscribers wanted to know about a free program to let him fill in PDF forms.

I made a quick check and realized that the free PDF reader Foxit Reader would do this. While Foxit Reader also has a Pro Pack available to add additional functions, the free version does almost everything that most users need.

More importantly, it does it without the baggage of Adobe Reader and its huge memory requirement, the huge delays in starting up (unless you let Adobe Reader preload and take up a bunch of your memory all the time, and its automatic updating, which caused me problems.

I’ve been using Foxit Reader for a couple years, off and on, but now it’s my main program for reading PDF files.

Before responding to the subscriber, I checked the Foxit website and found that I was using a version that was several iterations old…

Continue reading A Look at Foxit Reader | Foxit Reader Review

In my August 31st online Terry’s Computer Tips newsletter, I wrote about my experience trying to install Windows XP Service
Pack 3 on my notebook computer. Service Pack 3 didn’t like me.

This week, I got some feedback from Bob in South Africa on his experiences:

Terry, Microsoft’s auto update of SP 3 on my XP Home SP 2 OS was an unmitigated DISASTER (!) and required me to do a format and reinstall of XP SP 2. Then I saw that TechRepublic was kindly offering an ISO download of SP 3 of which I took advantage and burned myself an SP 3 install CD (with install wizard). After disconnecting from the Internet and shutting down everything in my notification area, I ran …

Continue reading XP Service Pack 3 Feedback

For the first time in a few weeks, I think the last week went by without any new reports from subscribers about problems installing XP Service Pack 3. That probably means that the rest of us are waiting for reports that Microsoft has solved and updated it to fix some of the incompatibility problems. Notice that I said “us” — I haven’t installed it yet, either.

I received an email recently from reader Claire who asked:

Hi Terry, Did XP Service Pack 3 come in as an Automatic Update
or do you have to retrieve it separately? I thought service packs included all important updates in one package. Does the Service Pack have more than what is normally sent out in the Automatic Updates? Thanks.

Continue reading More on Windows XP Service Pack 3