What You Need to Know about All Things PC
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The Naked PC - http://www.TheNakedPC.com What You Need to Know about All Things PC Publisher: Lee Hudspeth and T.J. Lee Editor: Dan Butler Contributing Editor: Al Gordon This issue is for Thursday, April 1, 1999 - Vol. 2 No. 7 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Table of Contents ** 01. Letter from the Publisher ** 02. Email, Melissa, Happy99, and Friends (by Dan Butler) ** 03. Melissa Irony and NT Surprises (by Al Gordon) ** 04. Annoyances Alley - More About Excel Range Names ** 05. Featured Web Tip - Configuring Your Browser Window for Maximum Readability (by Lee Hudspeth and T.J. Lee) ** 06. Software Bargains Part V ** 07. Featured Product Recommendation - BizBlast Resume ** 08. Featured Web Page Recommendation - Egg Heaven ** 09. Newsworthy - a potpourri of current events and interesting stuff ** 10. We Get Mail - Comments and Tips from TNPC Readers ** 01. Letter from the Publisher What a week it has been for computer professionals. You can't escape the hype and hysteria surrounding Melissa, the Word-borne, Outlook-distributed virus/worm that has caused several companies some real grief. TNPC Editor Dan Butler offers some thoughts on Melissa (as well as the other biggie email worm Happy99) and shows you how to deal with them and their ilk in this issue. The irony of Melissa and Microsoft's Office document ID tracking codes is not lost on our own Al Gordon as he checks in with some interesting thoughts on privacy and continues his NT sojourn. There have been some changes to the TNPC Web site in response to all the outstanding feedback we've received from you, and there will be much more to come. You can now check out our bios on the crew page (as soon as we can snap a digital pic of Dan we'll get him up there as well). Many of you wanted to be able to associate a name with a face and to know a bit more about us since we make ourselves at home in your inbox every two weeks. Stop by and take a look, you'll also find TNPC back issues (all searchable), our library of recommended books, and more. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/?v2.7 Our take on Melissa is that it should have been a non-event. People should be more aware of the dangers of files that find their way onto their computers via the Internet. Even the most basic precautions would have let people easily dodge the Melissa bullet. There's no Featured Book this issue. We here at TNPC as a group have been just too busy (well, aside from a BattleTech novel I'm trying to finish) with a number of consulting and development projects to keep up with our reading. Look for a recommended book in the next issue. As always reader support is what keeps TNPC free, so please pass a copy of TNPC onto co-workers and friends (no spam please!) and always say "I saw it in TNPC!" +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ Dr Patch Limited - Your Offsite IT Department Dr Patch scours the Internet daily looking for the latest patches Why waste hours looking for 'that patch' - we've already got it! As patches are posted, we add them to the Collection Get your FREE trial copy of The Patch Collection today Check out our special discount prices for TNPC readers! http://TNPC:TNPC@www.drpatch.com/TNPC/SpecialOffer.htm +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ ** 02. Email, Melissa, Happy99, and Friends (by Dan Butler) When it comes to email I'm the odd man out at TNPC since I refuse to use any Microsoft product for email. Of the four individuals listed in our banner head, three use Outlook and I use the freeware Pegasus email. And with the Melissa virus grabbing all the media attention (it replicates by exploiting what I'd call a weakness in Microsoft Outlook) I'm really glad I use a non- Microsoft email product. The recent Melissa virus/worm is a good example of why I choose not to use any Microsoft email reader. In their quest to be clever, new, and proprietary, Microsoft has created email products that just don't cut the mustard from a security standpoint. You don't know what's going on behind the scenes. You can tell Outlook to use plain text but if you cut and paste, your email may get sent out with all sorts of formatting that may or may not display for other users. Case in point is the last few issues of TNPC that have had funny characters inserted in them by Outlook despite our best efforts to eliminate them. In the past you pretty much knew which program on your computer did what. Your email did this, your browser did that, and your word processor did something else. You could make them work together but you had to set out to do so. More and more we find from Microsoft that they continually want to give their applications more and more control of your computer and bypass you completely. The latest discovery of ID numbers in Office documents is yet another example. Now, I'm not against being able to control one program programmatically from another, I just want to be able to disable the ability in applications I don't want going off and doing things unless I say okay, and email is high on that list. Enough of my ranting! Here are practical solutions to the two most prevalent virus/worms circulating today. The first solution will cover Melissa and her friends (like Papa), the second will ease your mind on the Happy99 worm. We presented the solution to avoid all Word and Excel macro viruses several years ago but it is now hidden in one of the PRIME FAQs at: http://www.primeconsulting.com/faqs/faq3400.html?v2.7 The basic idea is to use the free Microsoft Word and Excel Viewers to view documents you receive. The viewers will not execute macro code, thereby preventing you from getting a virus. If you need to edit the text just cut and paste from the viewer to Word or Excel. If you want to make sure that no one using your computer opens an infected email document inadvertently, set the default open action for Word and Excel to point to the free viewers from Microsoft. We won't put all the details here but if you want to see how to do this go to http://www.TheNakedPC.com/extras/?v2.7 on The Naked PC Website for full details. If you don't have Web access send an email to virusfix@thenakedpc.com for full details minus the pictures. You can download the Microsoft viewers for Word and Excel from: http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/Articles/viewerscvt.htm You may also have heard of Happy99.exe which replicates by sending itself to everyone you send an email to. Here is the simple fix for both Outlook 98 and other email readers that support rules or filters. We don't know of a way to do this for Outlook Express. Our thanks to Paul Myers of the Talkbiz Newsletter ( http://www.talkbiz.com )for this tip. In Outlook 98 set a rule with the following parameters: Apply this rule after the message arrives with X-Spanska: Yes in the message header move it to the Junk E-mail folder For Pegasus, Eudora, Netscape, and others set a filter to match any header with "X-Spanska: Yes" (without the quotes) and move it to a junk folder that you setup. In Netscape 4.5 you'll need to add a custom header by clicking on the Advanced button in the Filter Rules dialog box. Name the new header X-Spanska then it will appear in the Filter Rules drop-down list. Hope this helps you avoid catching some of the nasty critters being sent through the email these days. You can reach Dan Butler at: mailto:dbutler@TheNakedPC.com ** 03. Melissa Irony and NT Surprises (by Al Gordon) Sometimes you just can't make this stuff up. It was being reported early in the week that the author of the already-infamous "Melissa" macro virus might be uncovered because his virus contains the ID code secretly interred in Microsoft Office documents. Evidently the author set Melissa loose before running Microsoft's privacy patch. Indeed, Richard M. Smith, president of Phar Lap Software Inc. -- the very same computer expert who uncovered the unique ID code -- is the one who figured out it was in Melissa. There are times when "ironic" just isn't a strong enough word. So here you have the privacy vs. security debate in a nutshell: we are all up in arms about Microsoft embedding the ID code in our documents. But who among us is not going to cheer if they find the jerk who distributed the virus? Indeed, I was originally going to write about how irked I was to discover, after running the privacy patches (discussed by my colleague T.J. in TNPC #2.6), that virtually all of the documents on my system contained the code. Even though I have a stand-alone computer installation, my cable modem uses a network card -- and thus generated the ID code. But on second thought... Maybe Scott McNealy is right: there's no privacy in computing. Get over it. The other entertainment value here comes from the fact that Melissa's first targets included Microsoft and Intel. Now, let us put aside for the moment the issues that arise from the theory that Melissa was first distributed on a porno BBS or newsgroup, and simply reflect on this: antivirus solutions for Melissa were available within 48 hours of the time its existence was widely known. Coincidence? Let's put it this way: if the virus had appeared on YOUR server first, when do you think the antivirus patches would have been released? Moving right along ... life is full of surprises. And almost nothing surprises me more than discovering that something involving software actually works the way it's supposed to work. Having survived my Windows NT 4.0 Workstation installation crisis, the next step has been to install my applications on the system. At you know, Microsoft's specifications require that to be considered "Windows compatible," a 32-bit application must support both Windows 95/98 and Windows NT. Frankly, I never believed it for a moment. However, much to my astonishment, everything that was supposed to run under both Windows 95/98 and NT actually did run under NT. I have had a remarkably uneventful application installation process. The object of this particular exercise has been to determine whether NT might offer some value to the "average" PC user -- specifically whether its greater stability might sharply reduce downtime from crashed computers. So far, we have advanced the ball this far: NT lets you use your standard office (and Office) applications. My experience to this point has been that the applications are running at least as fast on NT as they did on Windows 98. Sorry Linux fans, but score one for the Evil Empire on this one. And NT is more stable then Win9x -- but within limits. I experienced my first application fault in NT the other day. NT shut down the offending app and remained stable. But there was a little fine print I discovered. NT does protect the rest of your system's operations. However, the application that went bad wouldn't resume functioning. To get it to work properly, I did have to reboot. So some time savings, but not a total savings. You can reach Al Gordon at: mailto:algordon@TheNakedPC.com ** 04. Annoyances Alley - More About Excel Range Names Annoyances Alley is a tiny glimpse into the Annoyances series of Office 97 related books from Woody Leonhard, Lee Hudspeth, and T.J. Lee. This is just one of the detailed tips related to optimization and customization that appears in "Excel 97 Annoyances" published by O'Reilly & Associates (ISBN 1-56592-309-X) and reprinted here with permission. "The Name Box The quickest way to add a named range to a sheet is to select the cell or cells to be named and then click on the Name Box. Type the name and press the Enter key. This creates the name and associates it with the selected cell(s). The Name Box displays names in alphabetical order. You can't use the Name Box to redefine a name, since the box also lets you select or type in a range name and when you hit Enter that range is automatically selected. This makes it impossible to use the Name Box to rename something, since instead of associating a new range with an existing name, the old range is selected when you press the Enter key. Define Names Pull down the Insert menu, click on Names, and choose Define from the cascading menu. This displays the Define Name dialog box. You type in the name, and in the Refers to text box you can enter a reference, select one with the mouse, or you can type in a formula. The current selection in the current sheet is the default entry in the Refers to box. Click Add if you want to create another name, or OK if you're done. The Delete button deletes the selected name, but there is no warning or confirmation message, so be careful with this command. If you realize your error, you can use the Edit Undo command to restore the name. One potential annoyance: the Refers to text box suffers from a limit of 255 characters so if you have a very complex set of range coordinates you might exceed this limit. Excel just truncates your reference without warning, so beware! Name an entire row or column by just selecting the rows or columns (or both) you want and creating the name. This is how Excel keeps track of print titles, those rows and/or columns that are printed on each page of a report. Excel just takes the coordinates you enter into the Sheet tab of the File / Page Setup dialog, and creates a range name for the current sheet called Print_Titles. There are several names that have special meaning to Excel like Print_Titles, Print_Area, Database, Criteria, Data_form, Extract, Consolidate_Area, Sheet_Title, and a slew of names beginning with the prefix Auto_ that are used in triggering macros when specific events occur -- like opening a particular workbook. By default, the cell references in the Refers to text box are entered in their absolute form (note the dollar signs in the cell reference). We'll discuss relative and absolute cell references shortly and revisit their effect on range names at that point." Annoyances titles are available for order at the Office Annoyances Web site: http://www.PRIMEConsulting.com/annoyances/?v2.7 or at the publisher's site: http://www.ora.com/annoyed/ +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ WANT TO GET YOUR WORD OUT? Classified ads in The Naked PC can be yours for the ridiculously low price of $15 per issue. Get your message out to over 21,000 TNPC subscribers. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/tnpcadvertising.html?v2i7 +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ ** 05. Featured Web Tip - Configuring Your Browser Window for Maximum Readability (by Lee Hudspeth and T.J. Lee) A browser is just like any other Windows application: it has preference settings you can tweak endlessly. Here are some steps you can take to improve the readability of your screen, sometimes in a subtle way, sometimes in a substantial way. By readability here we're not talking about pixel clarity or screen resolution - - that's the job of your graphics card, monitor, and driver -- rather how much information your eyeballs can absorb at once. Ideally you want to allocate as much space as possible to Web page content instead of user interface components like toolbars and the status bar. You can always get a bigger monitor, so with that caveat out of the way... (Specific steps described here cover IE4 and Navigator 4.) 1. Turn off text labels on your toolbar buttons. This small change will gain you a tiny slice of vertical real estate, but any gain here is worthwhile. In Internet Explorer, select View / Toolbars / Text Labels to toggle them off (or back on). In Navigator, select Edit / Preferences / Appearance / choose the Pictures Only option button / OK. 2. In Internet Explorer, put the Address Bar on the same horizontal slot as the Standard Buttons toolbar. This specific technique only works in Internet Explorer, although Navigator has its own neat toolbar tricks (more in a moment). Since the Address Bar ordinarily appears below the Standard Buttons toolbar, this wastes all the horizontal space occupied by the height of one toolbar. By turning off text labels you'll have room to move your Address Bar up and over. To do this, grab it by the move/sizing handle at the left margin and drop it its new position (you can also stretch or shrink the toolbar using this handle). In Navigator you can collapse the Location Toolbar to about half its normal height by clicking on its move/sizing handle (in Navigator jargon, its "tab"). Note that the half- height toolbars are cumulative. If you collapse two of them they go on the same line giving you more of a gain. This, combined with a quick toggle of the status bar, opens up quite a bit. 3. Turn off the status bar. We prefer not to, though, since it's an important source of status information while pages are loading. In Internet Explorer, select View / Status bar to toggle it off (or back on). Use Ctrl+Alt+S to toggle Navigator's status bar off and on during a normal session. (Alternately, you can close Navigator and restart it in Kiosk mode which disables the menus, toolbars, and status bar, although you can still use keyboard keys to control some aspects of the browser, for example, Ctrl+O to display an Open Page prompt.) The command sequence is: Start / Run / navigator -k / OK Annoyingly, when you exit Kiosk mode, the next time you start Navigator normally you'll have to turn back on your preferred toolbars. 4. Reduce font size. Depending on your screen size, resolution, and visual acuity, you might prefer a larger or smaller overall font size than your browser is currently using. In Internet Explorer, select View / Fonts and then choose one of five values from the fly-out menu: Smallest, Smaller, Medium, Larger, Largest. In Navigator, select View / Increase Font or View / Decrease Font. 5. Run your browser in full screen mode. You might like it, we don't, but hey, that's what makes the world go 'round. In Internet Explorer, select View / Full Screen. To toggle out of it click the Full Screen button (the fifth button from the right). The Standard Buttons toolbar that hosts the Full Screen button always appears in Full Screen mode even if you have it hidden in non-Full Screen mode; alternately, you can use F11 to jump in and out of Full Screen. If you set Internet Explorer to Full Screen and want it to stay that way, you're out of luck because every time it restarts it returns to its non-Full Screen display. With Navigator, the closest you can get is to compress all toolbars to their shortest heights or run in Kiosk mode. ** 06. Software Bargains Part V In TNPC #2.6 we discussed how to get bargains on software by staying one version behind and purchasing it from someone who always buys the latest version. I've received lots of email from folks who reminded me that an upgrade does not entitle you to pass the old version on. I agree with this! In the article we are pointing out that many times you can buy a new copy of software for less than the upgrade price. In this scenario the new copy is not an upgrade so keeping the old version around isn't mandatory. Another sharp TNPCer reminded me that the software license prohibits selling your old software in any case. While the license does state this in practice you find used software in online auctions, second hand bookstores, and even computer stores. The manufacturer is not likely to be buying the product back from you either. We wouldn't recommend you trying to stock a multi-user business this way. But if you need an application for home use, don't require phone support, aren't concerned about whether you can register the software or not, and promise to check for viruses before you install - used software can be a bargain for you. In any case, for your mission critical applications where you have to have good tech support we always recommend purchasing through a traditional retail channel. The free (after-rebate) Encarta CD we found at Beyond.com is still available. If you're looking for a computer-based encyclopedia here's one with the right price. http://www.beyond.com/AF23174/PKIN669642/prod.htm Compare prices on CNET Shopper: http://www.shopper.com/prdct/189/342.html?pt.tnpc.ad We also found you can get Disney's A Bug's Life Action Game or Winnie The Pooh & Tigger Too for free (after rebate). Just the thing for the young computer users in your house. A Bug's Life: http://www.beyond.com/AF23174/PKIN760417/prod.htm Winnie The Pooh: http://www.beyond.com/AF23174/PKIN760421/prod.htm ** 07. Featured Product Recommendation - BizBlast Resume This is one of those ideas we run across once in awhile that causes us to slap palm to forehead and exclaim, "Why didn't we think of that!" Peter Kent, of Poor Richard's Web Site fame, has come up with a great idea. Lots of people want to put their resume out on the Internet but don't have their own Web site to host it. Well, for $19.95US, Peter's BizBlast will host your resume page for one year. What's more the BizBlast Wizard steps you through the entire page creation process, you don't have to know anything about HTML. Just fill out the forms and wind up with a resume that's just a URL away from anyone on the Web. If you want to keep responses separate from your regular email account, BizBlast provides a free email account. Very slick. http://bizblast.com/npc/ ** 08. Featured Web Page Recommendation - Egg Heaven The Home of Microsoft Easter Eggs! Hidden deep in the bowels of most software programs are Easter Eggs -- little programs within programs that require a special sequence of events to be activated and which then display some fun bit of fluff to show off the names of the development team or other silly demonstration. This site has the instructions to display all the secret Easter Eggs in Microsoft applications, from Access to Word and everything in between. Egg Heaven is a proud member of the Naked Horde so check them out. http://www.supersite.freeserve.co.uk/eggheaven/ ** 09. Newsworthy - a potpourri of current events and interesting stuff *-* The hot tip for those lusting for Linux on their desktop is the KDE Office Suite (KOffice). Although still in development this is the one to watch. http://www.mieterra.com/article/koffice.html *-* Amok Shing welcomes Lisa's home page to the Naked Horde. Lisa has, um, an interesting page although I'm still clueless as to what or whom a "Pertelote" is. Still, not many places you can get a 1989 Buick Riviera, newly detailed, AND dolled. With only 172,000 miles too. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/horde.html *-* If you downloaded a branded version of IE5, i.e., one that has been branded with icons and pointers to some company's Web site, there's a site that purports to have all the un-branding tools you need to restore IE5 to the Microsoft defaults. We've not used them and therefore use at your own risk. http://mh106.infi.net/~veratech/debrand.html *-* If you wind up getting infected by Melissa or one of its variants go here for what to do (and stop double-clicking on files inside your email reader): http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/ 0,4161,2233627,00.html (Beware: this URL may wrap in your email reader) *-* June 10th is the official retail release date for Microsoft's Office 2000. Mark your calendars and "yes" we will be updating our best-selling Annoyance Series books that deal with Office. ** 10. We Get Mail - Comments and Tips from TNPC Readers TNPCer Philippe Cornu-Marquis had a bad experience with IE5. After installing Microsoft's latest browser his copy of Outlook 98 refused to run. It would return an error message about a page fault in an unknown DLL but would not load. Some research in the newsgroups helped him zero in on the problem, a MAPI file on his system (mapi32x.dll in c:\windows\system) did not get updated properly. His original version of this file was 4.00.993.3 but once he installed the 5.5.2174.0 version Outlook 98 was happy again. Thanks Philippe for sharing this tip with TNPC. **PLEASE SUPPORT TNPC BY VISITING OUR ADVERTISERS** +++----------------------- classifieds -----------------------+++ The Mezzenger Newsletter This bi-weekly newsletter sandwiches fascinating segments of computers, science, technology and the web, with provoking facts and words of wisdom. Free subscriptions: http://theMezz.com/news +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ IT'S CRAZY!!!! Do you know the Amazing Formula? Find out why this crazy formula can bring amazing results for you too. http://www.higherresponse.com/track/t.cgi/8076 or send email to: mailto:formula@zcat.com +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ PRIME for Office Add-ins The authors of the definitive Underground and Annoyance Office books bring you the software add-ins you need to be productive! PRIME for Office add-ins are available for both Word and Excel. http://www.PRIMEConsulting.com/software/ +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ LEARN ALL THE SECRETS! How to Start and Promote an Internet Business. Insider Tips and Secrets for Marketing Your Business on the Internet. http://www.marketingtips.com/t.cgi/5790/ +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ GET THE BEST PRICES ON THE INTERNET CNET is the place to go to find the best prices for computers, printers, RAM, supplies, video displays and adapters, modems, software applications, sound boards, digital cameras, and more! http://www.shopper.com?pt.tnpc.ad +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ DISCLAIMER Personal computers are individual machines with performance that can vary with components, software, and operator ability. The Naked PC is not responsible for the manner in which the information presented is used or interpreted. Also, although we work hard to provide you with accurate Internet links in The Naked PC, we are not responsible for Internet links herein that represent sites owned and operated by third parties. We are not responsible for the content, accuracy, performance, or availability of any such third-party sites. Grass stains may not wash out. Do not leave on your car dash with the windows rolled up on a hot day. REDISTRIBUTION POLICY We encourage you to forward this newsletter to your friends, associates, and colleagues for their review and enjoyment. However, please do so only by sending it in full, thereby keeping the copyright and subscription information intact. We do request that, once they've reviewed an issue or two, they subscribe independently rather than continue to receive issues from you. This helps TNPC grow and prosper, thereby funding its continued publication. Also, if you wish to post this newsletter to a newsgroup or electronic discussion group, you may do so if you preserve the copyright and subscription information. Thanks. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe, surf on over to: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/subscribe.html To make comments or suggestions, surf on over to: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/tnpfeedback.html or send email directly to: mailto:tnpc@TheNakedPC.com Get back issues form our Mailbot by sending email to: mailto:Mailbot@TheNakedPC.com WEB BULLETIN BOARD Check out our 24x7 Web bulletin board. If you've got a technical question about PC issues, or suggestions of your own, this is the place to hang out: http://www.PRIMEConsulting.com/cgi-local/annoy.pl ADVERTISING To advertise in TNPC go to: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/tnpcadvertising.html Mail services provided by Blue Horizon Enterprises, one of the very few "Mom and Pop" operations left on the Web: http://www.bhorizon.com Copyright (c) 1999, PRIME Consulting Group, Inc. and Dan Butler. All Rights Reserved. The Naked PC is a trademark of PRIME Consulting Group, Inc. ISSN: 1522-4422 RMH: 640 TNPC Hot Tips:
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