Actrix Newsletter May 2002

This newsletter has been produced to help you get the most out of the Internet,
and to keep you, as an Actrix customer, informed of developments and services within the company.
Past newsletters may be viewed at http://editor.actrix.co.nz/
Newsletters are now archived by article at http://editor.actrix.co.nz/byarticle/
Questions and comments about the newsletter can be e-mailed to editor@actrix.co.nz
Other inquiries should be e-mailed to support@actrix.co.nz

Please note: The initiative for the following article was entirely mine, and this program has been featured out of genuine intent to be of benefit to Actrix customers. While the originator of the program is aware that this article has been produced, they have had no input into it whatsoever. Neither does Actrix benefit in any way from this article's inclusion. -Ed.

I've mentioned before that I have been plagued by a Spam problem for some time now, and I know that I am not the only one. Spam, if you're not sure, means unsolicited e-mail, generally advertising, that comes to your inbox persistently, and without having been requested. The Spam I was receiving all claimed to have come from some list I was supposed to have signed up though, or from an "affiliated company." Obviously, one of my e-mail addresses was on a Spam list that was being widely circulated. I was receiving several offers a day to re-finance my mortgage, or get cheap printer cartridges, or even to improve certain aspects of my body that you really don't want me to elaborate on. Filling out the little form at the bottom of these e-mails that was supposed to get me off the lists, achieved nothing of course (except to confirm to the Spammers that they had found a real e-mail address with a real person they could annoy).

I have another e-mail problem related mainly to the fact that because my e-mail address has found itself into so many people's address books, and because it is on several web pages, I receive between five and ten viruses a day. Viruses just love to send themselves out to all the people in your address book, or to every e-mail address they can find.

I think these are problems that I am going to have to learn to live with. One option would be to change all my e-mail addresses so that I don't get these problem e-mails anymore, and so that the Spammers receive bounce messages every time they try to e-mail their rubbish to me. Seriously, though, who wants to go through the bother of doing that?

Enter Mailwasher.

Mailwasher is a neat little program created by a Christchurch programmer named Nick Bolton. It lives up to its name by allowing you to "wash" your e-mail before it is downloaded to you. Once you've installed it, the idea is to open Mailwasher before you open your e-mail program. Mailwasher will connect to your e-mail account(s) just like your e-mail program will, but it will only download the mail headings to you. This way you get a nice little snapshot of exactly what is in your e-mail mailboxes. You get to see the title of the e-mail, who it was from, and how big the e-mail is in terms of kilobytes.

Next to the headings for each e-mail, there are two little tickboxes, one named Delete, and one named Bounce. If you put a tick in the Bounce box, Mailwasher will delete the e-mail from your mailbox and send a message back to the sending Spammer making it appear as if the e-mail he or she sent you has bounced. This sends the message back to the Spammer that your e-mail address is no longer valid. Of course the Spammer may or may not be paying any attention to bounces, but if they are, you should find that Spam from that source will dry up. This has been what has happened in my case, though whatever list I was on has been pretty heavily distributed, by the looks of things, and it is going to take some more time.

If you put a tick in the Delete box, Mailwasher will simply delete the mail from your mailbox so that you don't have to download it. This is ideal for when someone has sent you something that you don't really want to download or that is clogging up your ability to download other mail due to size, such as a whole pile of attached photos you aren't really interested in or whatever. It is also ideal for deleting e-mails that contain viruses so that you don't have to download them. It's gotten to the stage now where I have received so many that I can often spot them just by the listed file size, if not by the title.

Once you've sorted through everything and ticked all the appropriate boxes, you can click on Process Mail, and Mailwasher will go ahead and do the bouncing and deleting. It will then automatically open your default e-mail program (e.g. Outlook Express). If you need to, while sorting, you can preview any message by double-clicking it. Mailwasher will then show you whatever text is in the e-mail (it can't show you what the pictures look like of there are any). At least this way you get to check that you're not about to delete something important by mistake, because once you hit the Process Mail button, anything you've marked for deletion is gone for good.

Mailwasher keeps what it calls a Blacklist. Any e-mail you tick for bouncing will automatically go into the blacklist so that next time an e-mail appears from that address, the bounce box will automatically be ticked. You can manually remove the tick, of course, and you can also manually edit the Blacklist if something got on there by mistake. Mailwasher will also try to be helpful by making an attempt to analyse the headers of the e-mail. If it thinks an e-mail might be a Spam or a chain letter, or whatever, it will alert you with a little coloured message.

One of the best things about Mailwasher is that it is so easy to use and install. Once you've downloaded and installed it, you can set up your account(s) just the way you would in your normal mail program (Tools/Accounts). If you have a lot of accounts to set up, or if you're not sure about how to set them up, just click Tools/Import and Mailwasher will find your current accounts as they are in your mail program and simply copy over the details.

1. Click Tools in the main menu, and then Accounts in the grey dropdown box. An Accounts dialog box will pop up.
2. On the Accounts dialog box, click the Add button and an Account Details dialog box will pop up.
3. Fill in the fields as follows below, substituting your details for editor's:

4. Click the OK button and you're done. Repeat the process adding other accounts if you have more than one Actrix mailbox to check.

You can download the latest version of Mailwasher straight from the Actrix website just by clicking here (1.51 MB). Simply download it to your desktop and once you've done that, double click it to run the install. To download the program, click the link provided in this paragraph. When you're asked whether you want to Save the file or Run the file, choose the Save option. This will download the install program to wherever you specify (e.g. your desktop).

Once you install the program, Mailwasher will automatically create an icon on your desktop (similar to the one pictured left) for ease of startup. The program is free for you to use, though the creator does ask that you send him some money if you are inclined - as little as $3, or as much as you think his program is worth to you. If you do, he'll send you an update to get rid of the little scrolling screen at the top of the program that tells you about how you can send him a payment. If you click Register on the Tool bar you'll be taken to an automatic feature that allows you to pay something to the creator using your credit card. As the only options are in U.S. dollars, you may find it easier just to send a cheque to him in Christchurch. His address comes with the program under the About Me button

Even though Mailwasher is so easy to use and install, I recommend that you have a look at the Mailwasher website once you've downloaded and installed it. There's a pretty good Frequently Asked Questions section that you may find helpful. Information about the program can be found at http://www.mailwasher.net.

There are a couple of other programs around similar to Mailwasher. Spamkiller is one that comes to mind and has been featured in the latest Netguide magazine. Admittedly I haven't tried the other programs. I may get around to trying them at some stage, but right now I am happy to recommend Mailwasher, after having used it for a couple of months. An added advantage, of course, is that it was developed right here by a New Zealander.

It seems there is a new virus to warn you about every month. KLEZ (and its variants) is the latest to exploit a vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express in an attempt to execute itself when you open or even preview the message. Most viruses need to be run (i.e. clicked on) before they will activate themselves and pollute your system. KLEZ comes attached to an e-mail and will execute itself as soon as that e-mail is viewed in your preview screen. In other words, you don't even have to open the e-mail in order to become affected. That is, of course, unless you have installed the latest patches from Microsoft.

This virus exploits a security flaw in Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express that has been known for well over a year. However, it must be a significant source of glee to virus writers that so many Internet users just plough on regardless and seem to pay no attention to security problems. These people then become unwitting participants, helping to spread the virus to others. And yes, every month the Actrix help desk gets flooded with calls from people who have become infected. In the course of writing this article, I have received the KLEZ virus in e-mail three times!

KLEZ comes with a false "from" address. It pretends to have been sent from someone in the address book of the infected machine, so if you receive the virus, you may well just confuse things if you reply to the infected e-mail in an effort to warn who appears to be the sender. Instead, you can easily see the true unwitting sender by looking in the email's headers. Look for the line that starts with "Return-Path" or "X-From" - these lines should contain the true sender's address. You can read out my previous article on how to check mail headers here.

There are a number of things you should do. If you're using a Windows system then you shouldn't just be relying on your Anti-Virus program. You really need to fix the problem with your system. Microsoft provide free security updates, and everybody with a Windows system should be visiting the Windows Update page regularly and updating their systems - for their own good as well as everyone else's. Now, If this sounds complicated, it isn't! Microsoft has made this a very easy so that ALL users can make use of this service. There are a couple of ways to receive these updates.

The easiest method is for those running Internet Explorer. All you do is click on the TOOLS menu in Internet Explorer, and select Windows Update. From here you will be taken to a special Microsoft Site which will check for the ActiveX Component that is the centre of this service. If this component is not installed, it will automatically be downloaded and you will be given the choice to install. I strongly recommend that you accept this tool. (If Internet Explorer is not your preferred browser, or if you have an older version without the Tools/Windows Update link, you can still use this method by going here - http://www.windowsupdate.com/) Once installed you will see a new Browser Window pop up, informing you that "Windows Update is customising the product updates..."

When this is done you will be presented with a list of available updates. Pay special attention to the critical updates!

From here, simply choose which you wish to install according to time requirements and preference and click Download. Confirm your choice of updates, read and accept the license agreement, and wait for the updates to download and install. This is when I normally make a coffee, or do the dishes. When you return everything should be installed and you will be informed of any errors. A quick restart (Not always needed) later and... DONE! Couldn't be easier!

The other method is to go to the Windows download page for your particular Operating System (www.microsoft.com/windows) and download and install each update manually. This method is both more time consuming and recommended for Advance Users due to the fact that all updates are listed, not just the ones that you may need.

KLEZ does the usual obnoxious stuff. It has the ability to email copies of confidential files or documents it finds on your hard drive to other people, thus posing a potential security risk or causing embarrassment if you have sensitive or private information inside any of your documents. The virus also attempts to disable any antivirus software you may have installed on your computer. Lastly, the virus places a second virus (the ElKern virus) onto your computer, which has the ability to damage or erase the files and documents on your hard drive.

Once you have the patch installed, Outlook or Outlook Express will no longer run the virus automatically. Instead, a warning box will pop up allowing you to either run, save or cancel the virus. Once you've clicked Cancel, you can delete the offending e-mail.

Symantec have also released a good removal tool which you can download from http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.klez.removal.tool.html This tool is free to download and use, and will scan your hard drive for the Klez and ElKern viruses, and remove any instances it finds for you. Remember, though, this is no substitute for the patch.

We recommend that you consult this site. Please download the tool from there and pay careful attention to the instructions as you run it.

To avoid viruses, remember the following:

1) Keep virus definitions up to date and scan regularly.
2) Keep your operating system up-to-date with security patches.
3) Watch out for attachments which you are not expecting.
4) Really watch out for attachments. Full stop.
5) Really, really, really be careful about attachments.
6) Bad spelling should ring alarm bells.
7) Joke e-mails are great, but will you still be laughing when they have erased those files that your computer needs to work?
8) Microsoft DOES NOT EMAIL PATCHES AND FIXES!

Please note: Actrix supplies links to these sites for your interest and possible use. We cannot endorse or take any responsibility for their contents. Got a site you think would be neat to share with other readers? Let me know and receive a free Norrie the Nerd chocolate bar courtesy of Actrix!

Congratulations to last month's chocolate bar winners who correctly identified a memory technique from the Mind Tools site. There were just too many to mention them all, but I hope they all enjoyed their free chocolate!

Longevity Game
http://northwesternmutual.com/games/longevity - How long will you live? Try Northwestern Mutual's Longevity Game, an interactive lifestyle and health awareness quiz, to get a general idea of how long you may live past retirement. I'm suspect it presents you with the maximum amount of life you could expect with your current lifestyle. My result was pretty high. This is a site that would be encouraging you to save for your retirement, after all. If you want to know the secrets of longevity, you can read what some Centenarians have to say.

Scholastic News Zone
http://teacher.scholastic.com/newszone/index1.asp - Here's a well-presented and interesting site for kids. It features latest international news articles in a colourful, yet serious way. Click the article to get to a brief description of the issues (Eg. Holy Land Crisis), and then try a few of the side links to extra information. There are also games and quizzes, and a number of other things of interest. This site may be able to compete with the more low-brow attractions of the Web, at least for a little while. Great resource for teachers!

Backstage Tour
www.thesmokinggun.com/backstagetour/index.html - Well, this is less of a backstage tour, and more of a list of a whole lot of famous performers' "requirements" for backstage conditions at concert venues when they are performing. All sorts of artists are featured from Britney Spears to Bob Dylan. I wonder what it would be like to have the sort of clout to make some of the demands you'll find there. I'm sure you're all interested to know that Christina Aguilera insists on Flintstones chewables, whatever they are. And why do Jane's Addiction want all those pairs of underpants?

Tell the Time Anywhere
http://timeticker.com/main.htm - You're supposed to call Kuala Lumpar but you have no idea where it is, let alone what time it is there. Consult TimeTicker, a site that gives you an instant read on the local time anywhere on the globe as soon as you scroll down to the city you want. Or, just glide your mouse over the map to see the different time zones. Click the one you want, if you know where the place roughly is. Great clock music plays in the background while you're there.

This Day in History
http://infoplease.com/cgi-bin/dayinhistory - Type in any date at Learning Network: This Day in History. You'll find out what happened on that day in years past. This would be a great tool for public speakers wanting a an introductory speech hook relevant to the day you're speaking on. You can reference a relevant battle, event, or death. Just for kicks, you can also use the site to find out who shares your birthday.

Seventh NZ Internet Survey
http://survey.consultco.com/s/nz?refid=friends_family - For those interested, the Seventh New Zealand Internet survey (conducted by a market research company AC Nielson) is out. By taking part, you go into the draw to win some neat prizes, and it helps them get a good idea of the Internet usage and online behaviour of New Zealanders.

Did a Plane Hit the Pentagon?
http://www.snopes2.com/rumors/pentagon.htm - You may have read about that Frenchman's study of the 9/11 Pentagon attack which quite blatantly claims that a giant Boeing 757 couldn't have hit the Pentagon because the damage didn't show it. Snopes.com claims this is false, and here's their counter-argument. Snopes (www.snopes2.com), by the way, is an excellent site for debunking all those urban legends that abound!

Internet Time Killers
www.orisinal.com/games/bubble.htm - Choose any of these simple games from the QUICKLAUNCH menu, and your 15 minute break period will be gone in no time!

American Mile Markers
www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/features/onTheRoad/ - Matt Frondorf drove from New York to San Francisco, stopping every single mile to take a photo of whatever he found of interest at that mark. Join Matt as he drives from the Statue of Liberty to the Golden Gate Bridge, his camera clicking all the way. Retrace his trip through the Picture Viewer (Flash 4.0 Plug-In Required).

UFO Sightings by Astronauts
www.anomalous-images.com/astroufo - According to the NASA Astronaut Neil Armstrong, Aliens have a base on the Moon and told us in no uncertain terms to get off and stay off the Moon. According to hitherto un-confirmed reports, both Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin saw UFOs shortly after that historic landing on the Moon in Apollo 11 on 21 July 1969. Their spaceships were huge and they watched the humans from the crater rim! Hey, it's gotta be true if it's on the Internet, right?

The British Lard Marketing Board
http://www.blmb.freeserve.co.uk/frameset.html - "Not for Weirdy Vegetarians," this site serves as a wonderful example to marketers everywhere. If you can make lard a sexy, sellable product you can probably do anything. The advertising section is pretty amusing and I was tempted to buy a T shirt. However, I didn't get around to the Goodies section where you can download wallpaper and lard-themed music...

Letterman Late Show
http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/ - Fans of Dave Letterman's late show (screening on Prime at the moment) should enjoy this site. See the latest Top Ten lists, watch show highlights on video, check out the book club slide show and more.

Gates: GPL will eat your economy, but BSD's cool: "Bill Gates took another shot at the Open Source question last week, and came up with some interesting new spin. Essentially, if your country standardises on Linux, then you're not going to have any IT jobs in your country, says Bill." Click here for more.

Linux working well for Kachingo: "The Kachingo consumer rewards scheme may be having trouble convincing some winners to claim their prizes, but Linux, the operating system Kachingo runs on, is working well. " Click here for more.

TSB goes Linux: "TSB Bank is to move to the Linux platform across all its branches and will use Borland's Kylix development tools to create Linux banking applications." Click here for more.

Code free or die: "A new biography of Richard Stallman looks at how the free software mastermind got to be so single-mindedly stubborn." Click here for more.

TSB goes Linux: "In the programming world, open source software such as Linux is known for its publicly available source code. Because of this availability, communities of unpaid programmers around the world work to develop and troubleshoot such software." Click here for more.

Who's Making Money from Open Source?: "In the programming world, open source software such as Linux is known for its publicly available source code. Because of this availability, communities of unpaid programmers around the world work to develop and troubleshoot such software." Click here for more.

Why Do New iMacs Surf So Slowly? : "But some who rushed to order the attractive new computer sight unseen say they have been disappointed: For Web browsing -- still the biggest time use of home computers after e-mail -- the new iMacs are notably slower than a PC. Yep, even an older, cheaper one. " Click here for more.

Why Do New iMacs Surf So Slowly? : "So on Wednesday, Anderson announced Apple's actual results for the three months ended March 31--$1.5 billion in revenue and flat earnings growth as a result of higher component costs and ramped-up production of the new iMac." Click here for more.

New worm uses Outlook, IRC, AIM: "A variant of a worm that takes advantage of preventable vulnerabilities in Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Outlook Express software is spreading, antivirus vendors are warning." Click here for more.

"A variant of a worm that takes advantage of preventable vulnerabilities in Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Outlook Express software is spreading, antivirus vendors are warning." Click target="_blank"here for more.

"Nearly 10,000 Americans reported losing $18 million in online scams last year. The median loss for those scammed was $435. Almost half of the 16,775 fraud cases investigated by the centre were people complaining they were duped in online auctions." Click here for more.

"Internet auction fraud was the top consumer complaint in 2001, according to figures released by the FBI this week.

Nearly 43 percent of all cases of Internet fraud reported last year resulted from online auctions gone bad, said the Internet Fraud Complaint Centre, a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Centre." Click here for more.

"Internet auction fraud was the top consumer complaint in 2001, according to figures released by the FBI this week.

New Zealand's small-business community is increasingly relying on technology and the internet. With this reliance comes a growing threat to small businesses as they become vulnerable to attack from complex viruses, network infiltration and malicious hacker activity aimed at stealing company and customer financial information." Click here for more.

"According to a study from Knowledge Networks/Statistical Research, one-third of children ages 8 to 17 say the internet is the medium they would choose if they could only have one, topping television, telephone and radio. For boys, television was a strong second choice, though girls ranked TV third behind the net and telephone." Click here for more.

"Very little is known about the mysterious computer, which seems to have been designed for military or spying purposes. It has been "Tempest-shielded" to prevent it from radiating electromagnetic signals, which can be snooped on." Click here for more.

Things To Do TODAY... thank you Diane McLelland

I don't want to do the dishes, I don't want to do the wash,
I sprinkled clothes a week ago and now my iron is lost!

I don't wanna clean the pots, I don't wanna rattle pans,
I wanna read my e-mail, and chat with all my friends!

The table needs some dusting and the floor could sure be mopped,
But I know if I get started there'll be no place to stop.
The closets are so full, things are falling off the shelves,
I wish for cleaning fairies and magic laundry elves!

They could sprinkle fairy dust and twitch their little nose,
And the windows would be sparkling and I'd have no dirty clothes.

I don't know what I'm saying, my head is in the sky,
I must cook that meat that's graying and bake that apple pie!

My husband needs a flea bath, the dog needs some attention...
Oh, the other way around I mean! My brain is in suspension!

I am running round in circles, I am getting nothing done,
I keep thinking of the internet, I'm missing all the fun!

I know I'm not addicted, though I hear that all the time,
But I guess this stuff will have to wait, Cause today I'll be ON LINE!!!

Let's see if I understand how the world works lately...
Thanks again, Dianne.

If a man cuts his finger off while slicing salami at work, he blames the restaurant.
If you smoke three packs a day for 40 years and die of lung cancer, your family blames the tobacco company.
If your neighbour crashes into a tree while driving home drunk, he blames the bartender.
If your grandchildren are brats without manners, you blame television.
If your friend is shot by a deranged madman, you blame the gun manufacturer.
And if a crazed person breaks into the cockpit and tries to kill the pilot at 35,000 feet, and the passengers kill him instead, the mother of the deceased blames the airline.

I must have lived too long to understand the world as it is anymore.
So, if I die while my old, wrinkled butt is parked in front of this computer, I want you to blame Bill Gates... okay?

Thanks for visiting the Actrix newsletter. Once again I hope there was something of benefit for you here.

I'd like to finish by re-emphasising the importance of Windows Updates for security. I realise that many who read this newsletter are new to computers and all this talk about downloads and operating system updates can seem intimidating. However, if you have yourself a computer and you've some this far, then there's no reason why you can't do these updates. Microsoft make it very easy to do, and once you've done it you'll probably wonder what you were so worried about. Remember, the way to get better at things is to just do them. If things go wrong, there are resources at your disposal to help, such as the Actrix help desk (0800-228749). Call them from the midst of your confusion and they'll put you right.

Always remember your questions and comments about the newsletter are more than welcome.

Again, I need to say that I have a pretty steady workload and I can't always respond very quickly with advice on problems. You'd do better to e-mail the help desk on support@actrix.co.nz.

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