Doc's Place: Computers and Internet

What’s In A Name? Harrumph!!

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:58:11 GMT

Last Sunday I wanted to watch a segment of NHRA drag racing eliminations, but it had apparently been rain delayed. It was suggested by the station that the elimination tree and video clips could be found on espn360.com. When I attempted to register to watch the clips, this is the (partially redacted) onscreen response I received.

Member Registration
Please fill out the form below to become a ESPN.com Registered User. Member registration is easy and gives you instant access to ESPN Fantasy Games, customization, chats, message
boards and other exclusive content. Just follow the simple steps below to complete your registration.
Privacy questions? Click here for the ESPN Privacy Policy.
Some errors were encountered while processing your submission.
Please enter your Last Name.
Additionally, the following processing errors were encountered. These are listed below in order to help you determine the problem. If you feel that you cannot fix these errors, please call
ESPN Member Services at 1-888-549-ESPN.
INVALID_LASTNAME - The Last Name provided matches a filthy word in the system

Step 1: Member Name and Password
*Member Name: tabloodphd
Check Availability
*Password: xxxxxxxx
*Confirm Password: xxxxxxxx
User name and password must be at least 4 characters with no spaces.
*Date of Birth: January 22 1946
Step 2: Member Information
*Email: tabloodphd at gmail.com *First Name: Thomas *Last Name: Blood

At first I sputtered. Then I laughed. Finally, I entered some really filthy last names. The system accepted some of them. I taunted it a bit longer for insulting me and then left the site without giving it my credit card number. Numerologically speaking, the CC number probably would have been filthy, also. This station and website do not have a sense of humor, and as even computers go, seem to be a trifle simpleminded and straightlaced.

Peace, Ol’ Filthy

Perhaps if I had resorted to this, I would have been found acceptable. “Hemodialysis: A form of renal replacement therapy where a person’s blood is removed continuously and filtered through a machine that removes excess fluid and toxins. The filtered blood is then returned to the person.” www.bidmc.harvard.edu/display.asp

A Bit Of This, A Bit Of That, And Some Other Stuff

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 10:28:02 GMT

The end of this week has been a little stranger than usual for me. I say this in a comparative manner relative to peeling the paint off a candle holder. The replacement keyboard for this laptop flew in on Wednesday morning. It was ordered USPS ground, but the mail-person down by the group of mail boxes just grumbled and pitched it up the stairs. As I looked out the door, a small box with a large red FRAGILE sticker on it sailed over the porch railing, bounced off a window, and landed within a foot of my door. A good aim, if not a particularly enviable work ethic. Now that I have both the part and the assembly diagram it looks quite easy to swap. The only thing that seems to matter is which screws to remove and replace in what specific order. I think I can handle that. I just repaired a USB radio receiver for a wireless mouse very early yesterday morning.

On Thursday I did a bit of shopping at a very large computer store - Tiger Direct. I bought a copy of XP Pro SP2 while it is still being sold. I have read both June 15th and June 30th as official cutoff dates. Before I bought it, I had to have a look around the store. I had ordered things from them before but never been there in person. A sign in their large showroom said that if one didn't see what one wanted, just ask, because they had a 38,000 square foot warehouse attached. In partial answer to Jade's question, (" ... what the hell you talkin' about?") I am planning on building my next computer. I have a large old Dell Opteron 98SE case with lots of room to replace hard drives (remove one 17 GB drive - install two 500 GB drives,) lots of space for the new mother board, 4 GB of RAM or more, a hefty power supply, and an intention to set it up as a dual boot box ... XP Pro and (OS7? Linux?, Ubuntu?) I guess the point is that I'll have time to decide rather than impulsively buying something I would regret, off the shelf. My ranting which may not have been completely clear in my comment to her was about drooling on the glass showcases (in which new AMD quad core Phenom Black processors and liquid cooled, copper finned, heat sinks that would reside on top of said processor were displayed.) As an aside, no, I was not embarrassed to drool in public. I've reached an age where such behavior is tolerated quite well if expensive parts are the center of attention and a credit card is in view. Actually, I think this will be a great longer term project, and "barebones" kits with the correct combinations of motherboard and essential parts are available. Perhaps I'll even get a Pong game to make use of all that raw power.

I also bought groceries and some postage stamps.

Peace, Doc

"Miss Wormwood is Calvin's world-weary teacher, named after the junior devil in C. S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters. ... Regarding the difficulties of reining in rambunctious students, she once commented that "it's not enough that we have to be disciplinarians. Now we need to be psychologists." After Calvin once declared that school was a big waste of time, she tried catching him while he yelled into the hallway, "Help! It's the Thought Police!" - Bill Watterson comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes.

You Took The Words Right Outa My Blog!

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:53:55 GMT

Did any fellow Spacers lose bits and pieces of their blogs recently, or are "THEY" only out to get me? Am I off on one of my useless, paranoid rants, again? Probably. Oh well, I've started, so I'll rant anyway.

Something or somebody literally took the words out of the lists on my sidebars. The links are there and remain live. I need to delete a redirected one and generally look them over, but the descriptions of what they are have disappeared. The same happened to the sidebar lists on Anti-Panic Tips and on Thought Stopping. There is more of a problem there, however. All of the hints, tips, and instructions are gone except for the "Tip #" and only Tip # 1 in Anti-Panic Tips is a live link, leading circularly but directly back to the whole home page. I don't understand how this happened while all remained the same in the wider, center column. The quarter-wide columns beneath the center column did not appear to be affected.

Spaces Live often makes changes that go into effect on Fridays and this may simply be a glitch that will be repaired. If not, I will likely put the missing text on .doc and .pdf files on the SkyDrive thingie, and possibly add more topics of interest there. My computer does not appear to be malfunctioning. I get the same problem using either Firefox or IE7. The only things I can think of that might be interfering is my activation of an Office Live online workspace which appears to have many of the same features as SkyDrive, or a simple programming glitch on the Microsoft end.

Before I shuffle off to report problems to the Spaces Live team, I would like to know if others have experienced the same or similar problems and if they can even see the problem I am describing when they view this site. Thanks for your help.

Peace, Doc

"GIGO" - unknown prehistoric programmer.

Da Shredder Do Good

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 02:16:13 GMT

Sorry. That's a joke that only a few of my older readers will catch. Many years ago when "easy-open" beer bottles were not at all easy to open, one bottling company produced an advertisement making fun of that fact. It starred a "professional" wrestler opening a beer. When, after a great deal of grunting and sounds of great efforts being made, it was opened, he stated, "The Crusher do good!"

That does have a connection to today's topic, deleting and/or erasing files from one's computer drive. There are various degrees of deletion and erasure. The least secure is simply deleting a file by sending it to the Windows Recycle Bin and clicking on "Empty Recycle Bin." This action only erases the address (a few bits) of the file on the drive such that the computer no longer recognizes it as being present. The body of it remains. It can easily be found by someone with a little knowledge of computers and a program to view what is on the entire drive.

At the extreme opposite end of the security spectrum would be having a bit of thermite or a huge degausser installed in the computer set to destroy the entire hard drive if certain conditions are met. This method would be for serious hackers, intelligence agencies, those with child porn on their machines, or any of you who really don't want your high school nickname known, and are willing to have a lump of smoldering plastic and metal on your desk to prevent it.

In many cases, simply deleting a file is enough. If you don't care that there are retrievable remains of all your blog posts, emails to Aunt Edna, or grocery lists, fine. More sensitive information deserves more care, at least encryption and more complete deletion when you are done with it. At one time in the past, simple deletion was enough because people who wanted your data were not so common and ways to get it were not so sophisticated. Unfortunately, that has not been true for several years, so it is largely up to you to protect it.

A recent article by Linda Martin-Peoples on MakeUseOf.com reviews or mentions in the comments section, various free file, folder, and disk deletion programs. FileShredder seems to be a very useful free program. Another program mentioned in the article is a trial of a commercial program, not true freeware, and is not listed here. Data Shredder is available free from CBL Data Recovery Technology, LLC, a Canadian data recovery company. I highly recommend that you read the article on this link to their site which explains, in understandable terms, what the different levels and types of data destruction involve. There are many free file shredders available at various sites around the web. I use Eraser, parts of Crap Cleaner (which is again available at the linked site without the other software recently bundled with it,) and "other methods." There are some programs I have not listed because they are completely destructive of all data on a disk, and I don't believe any of my readers would need such an ability. If you are going to donate a computer to charity or dispose of one, contact me and I will send you the names and URLs.

Other caveats apply to this type of application. Be certain that you trust the source of any freeware you download. Open source sites with GNU licenses (like sourceforge.com, etc.,) large companies giving away a freebie to get you to buy other of their commercial software, and corporations giving away updates, add-ons, templates, etc., to their own commercial software are most often safe. The other "It seems too good to be true" sites frequently prove that old maxim to be true. The second caveat, specifically about file deletion software, is to know what you are doing! If you do, go ahead. If you have any doubt, don't do it. Ask someone first. When the files are gone, they really are gone unless you are willing to take the chance that a data retrieval company, charging $600 to $1000, might be able to get it back.

This article is presented for general educational purposes only, and does not constitute a recommendation or bad review of any particular company or bit of software. It is not all inclusive, and there are many other good and bad programs out there.

Peace, Doc

"The word 'free' can have multiple meanings." - Wikipedia

Eureka! A Mystery Has Been Solved!

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:01:37 GMT

Have you ever had a small mystery that nagged at you over time. The event only occurs in one circumstance, but you couldn't quite put the pieces together to get that "Aha!" finality? It is the kind of recurring puzzle that is of no real consequence to anyone, but it bugs the bejesus out of you that you can't find the answer. I am relatively certain that I am the only person on earth who would choose to be bothered by this particular mystery, but I did. In all likelihood it was not "solved" sooner because only a few other people in the world would have cared and they already knew the "answer." They made the puzzle. To an obsessive and inquisitive shrink, however, this became a "thing!"

I host a website with what used to be known as Microsoft's bCentral. At one point last March I had nothing better to blog about so I simply listed the names of the mail servers then in use for the email accounts on the site. I assumed that they had to be given some designation so that the rest of the network would recognize them, but the names were seemingly random and were probably assigned by whatever IT person installed and maintained them. I noted what they were, but gave no real thought to a pattern being there, as the names appeared whimsical and individual. They were:

freddie
io
monty
nudel
onyx
sparky
squeaky
sylvia

Since Microsoft outsourced its web hosting services to Concentric however, the names changed and became much more numerous. The more I saw, the harder I tried to find a pattern to their names. Some sounded like defenders of the realm, some seemed almost loving, some had an attitude, some seemed threatening, and I couldn't even pronounce one. Different subsets and arrangements were tried until one server name that I had not encountered before appeared. Click!! The names are listed below, along with a link to a list of which they are a subset:

adamant
albion
ardent
audacious
brilliant
dauntless
defiance
desperate
diligence
excellent
exertion
fervent
formidable
fortitude
hood
impregnable
indefatigable
indignant
inflexible
insolent
intrepid
invincible
iphigenia
irresistible
isis
nimble
resolution
retribution
safeguard
sentinel
strenuous
superb
tremendous
triumph
unicorn
vigilant
zealous

If you found the "giveaway" name, the derivation of the names won't come as too much of a surprise. If you didn't, it may. Give it a moment's thought before you click this link. I have to pull you into my obsession for at least a few seconds. There were four discrepancies from the list at that link, all of which I finally verified despite a slight difference in the spelling of one name, the fact that two were simply missing on that link, and that "safeguard" was included as something of a technicality.

*sigh*

I can find some of the most irrelevant things in the world to become enthralled with when I'm avoiding moving a huge bookcase. 'Twas a turrible fight, but the dreaded bookcase has now been moved.

Peace, Doc

"Procrastination" - Kurtis Karr

Storage and Backup of Clinical Records

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 20:57:10 GMT

I believe in recycling. Therefore, when I post something on another of my blogs that might be applicable here, my readers get leftovers (or vice versa.) This was written for mental health clinicians, but the information contained in it might apply to anyone who uses a computer.

Clinicians should all be aware of the necessity of keeping secure and private clinical records. A major problem is where to store them. I have been engaged in a seemingly endless quest to find places to put my "stuff" following the sale of a large house in a rural-suburban area and the subsequent move into a much smaller apartment. This compacting process has included such trivial efforts as discarding standard sized Jewel Cases and using either the slim-line type or paper or vinyl sleeves to store CDs and DVDs. I have purchased a very large capacity but small sized Maxtor outboard hard drive. Along with efforts in the computer area, I have given away, donated, discarded, or sold items such as a breadmaker, unused cooking equipment, antique furniture, and half my "wardrobe." The latter was comprised primarily of jeans with holes in the knees and flannel shirts with gaping rents at the elbow, so not much loss there. I have shredded many records and plan to store client records in .PDF file form soon. I had tried the free CutePDF Writer and free Converter and found them to be the best for my needs among the various types of .PDF programs. I liked them so much, really, that I purchased the CutePDF Pro version which included the CutePDF Form Filler for $49.95. Among the many other features provided in the Pro version are the ability to scan to PDF (scan your session notes directly into a PDF document,) the ability to FTP upload the document (for file sharing or for online storage,) and most important to compliance with HIPAA requirements, the ability to encrypt the document at a 40-bit or 128-bit level. With the Form Fill portion, one could easily produce a standard intake or interview form, save to PDF, encrypt it, and be compliant in storing it online, burned to disk, or saved on a hard drive. I'm sure by this point I must seem like I am doing a paid advertisement. I am not. Certainly there are other similar programs available, but I have used this one and am thoroughly satisfied with it.

Another aspect to consider when using any computer to produce important documents is the absolute certainty that it will crash or die, taking all your records with it, at the most inconvenient possible time. The answer to this is backup, backup, backup! I have had enough computers quit without giving the required two weeks notice that I have learned this lesson several times over. Again, I have tried and accepted a method to insure against this disaster. I use a Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus 750 GB external drive which can be used with either a USB.2 or a FireWire 400 connection to the computer. A review of this drive by PC Magazine staff rated it very good and states that the bottom line is; "The Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus exists as extra storage, but it's really there to save your butt. The next time your system crashes, this drive will get you on your feet again." The drive comes in 250, 500, and 750 GB models, with a very recent release of a 1000 GB (1TB) model, made by pairing two 500 GB drives in one case. One can store the usual documents, pictures, music, and the like on any of them. This series of drives also backs up everything on your computer, including the Operating System, to restore to a new drive in case of a catastrophe. Again, I know that there are similar drives and programs that allow the same types of backup, but after obsessively studying the specifications and abilities of everything I could find with these capabilities, this was my choice and it has worked well.

Backing up only files of whatever type can be accomplished by burning them, in encrypted form, to CD or DVD. There are many programs that will do this efficiently and effectively. I use Roxio's Easy Media Creator 8 (it has advanced to Easy Media Creator Suite 10 recently) and find it more than adequate to do what I want it to do.

Finally, there is online storage for files. I trust it enough for blogs, songs, pictures, and relatively unimportant documents. However, having had my EIN and SS numbers with all other personal and business information "lost" by a government agency, I am less than enthusiastic about the security of information stored anywhere not directly under my control. If you have a Google account and use the Firefox browser, there is an add-on available called G-Drive that allows one to store up to about 5 GB of information online free. A number of other companies offer free and paid storage with varying sizes, charges, and layers of security. I will simply mention MediaMax which offers 25 GB of free storage and increasingly larger amounts for increasing fees.

Until I write next, I'll be trying to force myself to part with my dissertation data (collected over 30 years ago) and deciding what to do with the toy airplanes with 16 foot wingspans. Even the cats seem a bit anxious.

Peace, Doc

Keyloggers and Viri and Rootkits, Oh My!

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 12:05:22 GMT

Occasionally I recycle or do multiple posts of the same basic article on more than one of my blogs. Sometimes it makes sense to do so and sometimes it doesn't. One post that I did here first made its way to Solo Shrink, a blog primarily of interest to mental health professionals in private practice. The post on rootkits installed without with the individual computer owner's knowledge was posted on both because rootkits have the potential of compromising a client's Protected Health Information (PHI) without either the clinician's or client's knowledge. It was posted on Solo Shrink as it is very important that the private practitioner know of threats like this so that they can take all steps possible to protect confidentiality. In this instance, it seems only reasonable that anyone might want to know about some security software relevant to the same security problems. On a cautionary note, the software I list is almost always free or shareware, and not "top of the line," very expensive commercial software.

"In the last post, I ranted about rootkits being planted in consumers’ computers without their knowledge by unscrupulous corporations or by hackers with even less honorable motives. I vented my displeasure with a corporation but did not give any information about what one can do about a rootkit. To remedy that oversight I embarked on a quest for some free software that will detect their presence. I shall try to rectify the omission in this episode.

It has been written that rootkits and keyloggers hide quite well in the deep recesses of your computer’s innards, often to the degree that very good commercial software cannot find them. I found two anti-rootkit applications and one keylogger sniffer.

AVG, an excellent commercial security software company, offers three security software applications that are free for the downloading. The best known is their free anti-virus program, but they also offer an anti-spyware application and a rootkit detector. All three are available here.

Sophos Software also offers free anti-rootkit software, a threat detection test, and an application discovery tool in addition to their commercial line of security software.

One of the stranger freeware security tools I found, the SnoopFree Privacy Shield, is a paranoid and compulsive little program that detects any application that could be a keylogger or take over your browser, displays what it is, what it is doing, and asks if you wish to allow it. I found it to be something of a revelation that it classified desktop search programs as serious threats and desperately tried to convince me not to allow them to function. This program for Win XP is worth installing, if only to see which applications are paying attention to what is being typed on your keyboard.

An updated version of Check Point’s free ZoneAlarm Security Firewall has just been released and is certainly worth using.

Belarc freely gives its Advisor application that lists all the software installed on your computer, for non-commercial purposes only. This app lists every piece of software installed on your computer, along with patches, identification numbers, version numbers, and much other valuable information. This program has been installed on every computer I have owned since 1995.

Finally, EmiSoft’s a-squared free anti malware program (Anti-Trojan, Anti-Worm, and Anti-Spyware) is available, as is an Anti-Dialer program.

When you try these programs, as I have, please give consideration to purchasing the full featured versions or making a donation to the software’s author if you like them."

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2007, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

Sony Does It Again

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 20:49:56 GMT

Once upon a time in the not too far distant past I really liked Sony products. I still do. I have Sony tape deck, receiver, CD/DVD player, pocket recorder, and was drooling over several of their high-end cameras, but I have resolved never to buy another of their offerings because of their corporate behavior.

In 2005 there was a Sony BMG scandal in which rootkits were hidden in over 100 of the CD products manufactured and sold by them. When the customer played the "copy protected" "XCP" CD, a rootkit, otherwise known as spyware or malware, was installed in their computer without their knowledge. It interfered with the way in which Windows systems play CDs and opened several security holes for viruses to enter the unsuspecting owner's computer. Rather than go on at length here, I refer the reader to the wiki link above, for a thoroughly researched and well written explanation of the problem and the various electronic, ethical, and legal ramifications of their ploy. The first time, I was relatively quiet about it, but made my resolution and have abided by it.

Now they have done it again! "... F-Secure's Deep-Guard software has detected rootkits in more software distributed with Sony products." In my opinion, this goes beyond the point that I can simply shut up and not mention it to others whose computers may be affected. They not only did it, but they did it poorly in an attempt at security through obscurity. The TechRepublic Forum post I read most recently on this subject found many others with the same feelings about Sony as I have developed.

*Sigh* At least I'm not the only one who became really cranky over this.

Peace, Doc

"Experience is the best teacher, but the tuition is high." - Norwegian Proverb

Panda Nanoscan and Totalscan

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 07:44:04 GMT

There are a few good, free, web based applications out there amidst all the crapware. I used Panda Software's computer-based anti-virus program for a year some while back and found it to be satisfactory. Not perfect, but good. That was at a time when many of the viruses, trojans, and worms were coming from the area of the world in which Panda Software is located. My assumption at the time was that they would therefore be the first AV company to encounter many of the new threats "in the wild" and the first to develop new countermeasures. It seemed to be a good assumption. The only drawbacks I encountered at that time were a somewhat unappealing user interface and a very aggressive advertising program. Panda was one of the "other good commercial AV programs" to which I referred in a previous post on free AV protection.

When I evaluate a program for my own use I quickly head in the opposite direction from AV and other security programs that immediately do a scan, find 1,284 possible infections on my computer, and warn me of the grave consequences of not purchasing their software or services immediately. When I found and tried Panda's nanoscan online scan it quickly had a look at my computer after I allowed it to install an ActiveX application. It reported that it found no viruses and that my other security programs were up to date. Hmm. Could it be true?

After one has scanned their computer with nanoscan, a pitch is made for totalscan. It is stated that this version can be used in either “brief” (about five minutes) or “full” (about an hour) modes. One has to sign up with an email address and a password for the free totalscan. I did so and allowed another ActiveX to run. This action started the download of a short program that literally took almost three hours to complete on a dial-up Internet connection. When this process was completed, totalscan found 10 cookies that I knew were present and showed a large red button labeled "disinfect." I hopefully pressed it. The next screen informed me that I must be a member of totalscanPRO for anything to actually happen. Technically, Panda delivered exactly what was promised, a scan. I am so freaking gullible that I must be a relative of Wily Coyote.

The purchase page even insisted that I was from the UK and wanted payment in pounds. I'm afraid I cannot recommend nanoscam, totalscam, or totalscamPRO. Some might want to take a look at Panda's relatively non-technical descriptions of crimeware, hoaxes, rootkits, and the like. Otherwise, it did nothing that the previously listed freeware did not do except leave me with junk to clean out of the computer and two or three hours of subvocal swearing which I must attend to. Despite my current displeasure, I would still state that Panda's programs and services are probably in the class of "other satisfactory commercial security software." I'm glad I used a throwaway e-mail address, though.

Peace, Doc

"Dammit!" - Doc

MS Live SkyDrive is Alive

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 11:52:54 GMT

Drat! They got one past me again. I had seen reference to this new Live feature in the recent past and now it's here. Once again, the Live Team did not seek my input or permission. There are a number of other free online storage spaces, some with nearly three GB of space, but the Live Team has integrated a storage space into the Spaces Live program and I almost didn't notice it.

On the first "What's New," screen that one encounters on the way into their space, a tiny new icon has appeared in the group at the upper right corner of the page. It is labeled "Share files." Share files? That didn't sound familiar so of course I had to click the icon. This action takes one down the rabbit hole to a part of spaces I didn't know existed yet. One can upload up to 500 MB of Documents, Pictures, Music, and Videos. While 0.5 GB is not a great amount of storage space for music or videos, I suspect there will soon be a closer connection to Spaces such that one can integrate stored material into their Space, but that feature is not there directly yet and I really don't know if it will be.

Currently, one may set the viewing or listening permissions of their uploads to Personal Folders (Just for you,) Shared Folders (to share with friends,) or Public Folders (which anyone may view.) I just played with it a bit and left a document and some pictures open to public view. The module should appear just above this post on this Space, although one may either hide it or place it in different positions on the page as one can with other modules. The only bug I noticed was the tendency to show the picture of my Model A Ford as a mountain and river until it was clicked upon while showing all the others quite nicely. I have no idea why it does that. Maybe it just doesn't like hot rods.

I won't encourage any of you to potentially disrupt your spaces, but that little "Share files" icon is quite compelling, once you see it. I believe that one can safely back out of the process gracefully, long enough to read the instructions at least, if you feel like you're in over your head. I suppose you will know if I was successful if you are able to read this and access the document and pictures I have set to be viewed by anyone. If you don't see this post or the module above it, I screwed up and just never mind.

Peace, Doc

"I wonder sometimes if manufacturers of foolproof items keep a fool or two ... (around) ...to test things." - Alan Coren

Repairing A Mouse In A Dream

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 02:50:46 GMT

I am getting way too far into being frugal with my computer peripherals. More specifically, with a Hewlett Packard USB wireless optical wheelmouse. To be even more specific, the third in a series of exactly the same make and model of the mice. I am seriously beginning to wonder why, but I really like the little critters. They are perfectly sized, Stinky the Cat has no "mouse tail" to gnaw into useless fragments, and they all worked very well until they didn't.

These mice were, of course, not produced by HP directly, but were imported and branded for HP by Micro Innovations Accessories and were, further of course, Made in China. Micro Innovations replaced my first broken mouse without question, for postage and handling only. Meanwhile, I had tried other brands, promptly returned them to CompUSA, and bought the second of the HP series. When the replacement for the first arrived, it was number three and I believed I was in RF mouse heaven. Micro Innovations still lists it in the HP mouse section of their wares as # PMO99A but HP has replaced it with a Belkin MiniWireless Optical Mouse in their product lineup. I am distraught. The warranty on the second HP mouse I purchased expired about two months before the mouse itself expired. I will have to dig up my replacement receipt to determine if there is a warranty on a mouse replaced under warranty, and if so, am I too late for that, also?

I don't usually reach this level of obsessiveness about minor things, but I really like that type of mouse, right down to the way it fits my hand. When I dream vividly, logically, and accurately about how to swap out parts so that I have working devices, I think it has gone too far. The current problem is that the scrolling wheel action has become intermittent and also sends erratic and occasional "self-produced" signals to the little RF receiver in the USB port. In turn, the computer responds to these chaotic commands by doing odd things at unpredictable times. Some examples are "automatically" scrolling to the bottom of a list or page, producing a "jittery" screen where I cannot successfully chase and catch a button with the cursor to click, and occasionally refusing to do anything at all in response to a wheel scroll.

The frightening thing about the dream was that it was exactly what I would try to do to repair the problem. For now, however, I replaced the battery compartment cover that was broken on the #1 mouse with the intact cover from the #3 mouse and I am back in business for a while longer without the use of duct tape. Maybe it's time to consider fixing a few of the corded optical mice that Stinky ate. Just in case.

Peace, Doc

"Thrift comes too late when you find it at the bottom of your purse." - Seneca

Security Software Cyber-Leftovers

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 12:32:45 GMT

Please excuse my laziness, but this post is recycled from one I did for another of my blogs, primarily written with psychotherapists as an audience. It then seemed that anyone using the internet might well be interested in the same information. Therefore, you get cyber-leftovers for lunch.

Most mental health professionals would agree that we have a duty to keep confidential our clients’ PHI. This seems especially true if we keep that information on computers that can be lost, hacked, or subject to viruses of all kinds.

I recently had, and am continuing to have, an experience of possible identity theft. I did nothing to cause it or to leave myself open to that attack. Stupid things happen. A portable drive with a database of providers was lost or stolen. The VHA wrote to notify me and to offer a year of free credit monitoring and fraud alerts. As most of my personal information including SSN, EIN, name, address, and all the rest was on it, I accepted their offer quickly. My suspicion is that a less experienced employee or an intern copied it to a thumb drive to work on at home. The information was obtained from the Social Security Administration’s database of mental health providers without my knowledge or permission, to be used in a provider demographics study. As a client would feel in a similar situation, I am concerned, anxious, and feel that someone is responsible for potential harm to me. To the VHA’s credit, they immediately admitted their loss and offered some protective measures. Of all the times that I believe my personal information may have been lost, stolen, or compromised this was the only time I was notified.

We owe our clients the best security we can provide. Probably the best security software available to the public is produced by Norton/Symantec and McAfee. They are good and their respective prices reflect that. Many other commercial security software brands are available and usually, as good as the two named, but possibly not as comprehensive.

I have found free versions of some lesser-known software brands available that have proven as effective, in combination, as one of the major manufacturers’ software suites. AVG offers free versions of their Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware, and Anti-Rootkit software. As far as I am currently aware, their Anti-Rootkit program is the only free rootkit software available. I use all three. CheckPoint Software’s ZoneAlarm Firewall is a well-known and effective free security application that I also use and rely on. Spybot-Search & Destroy is a very effective free “donation-ware” anti-spyware application. I also use it with confidence. LavaSoft’s Ad-Aware-2007 is a free adware search and removal application. It has very recently been updated and apparently did not install well on my computer. Its past versions have been quite useful and worked perfectly in combination with all the other free programs listed. Microsoft also offers free anti-virus and internet filters, as well as updates to your operating system. I use Microsoft Update, Windows Live OneCare safety scanner, Windows Defender, and the Malicious Software Removal Tool. All of the Microsoft tools may be found on the single Microsoft link appearing above.

These are some of the best free security programs available. They are recommended with with some caveats, however. I am making recommendations based on my personal use of Microsoft’s XP Pro and XP Home operating systems and cannot generalize to other OSs. If you do not use these links to obtain the software, be certain that the providers and spellings of the program names are exactly the same. There are imitators using names very similar to the good software that may contain malware or be malware themselves. Finally, if you like the software, please consider purchasing their commercial versions. Be careful out there.

Peace, Doc

"Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone may be looking.” —H. L. Mencken

A Missive From Da-Niece

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 07:46:24 GMT

Ok now this is cool you gotta try it.

Bring up notepad on your computer and type:

Bush hid the facts

now save the document to your desktop as 911truth.txt

Close the document and then reopen it from your desktop.

What do you see?

This Windows Easter Egg brought to you by www.911truth.org

I tried this, then wrote something totally different and could pull

it up, just as it was created~very interesting . . . .did it three times and came out the

same. Hmm.

Peace, Doc

Move along, people. Nothing to see here.

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 05:12:25 GMT

I have not done much writing for the last few days. I am unlikely to do so tonight, either. Bittle's surgery, the insurance adjustor for "the great upstairs bathroom flood of '07," Rocky the contractor deciding what actually needed to be fixed, the frantic search for all the records I needed for my tax return, the severe trauma of finding out how much I owed the IRS, and assorted similar events have kept me otherwise occupied. The oral surgeon installing two more steel posts in my jaw this afternoon pretty much killed any creative urges. So, once again, you get haiku, but with a twist. They are not mine and no reader will get the same ones. I have discovered a number of random haiku generator sites. Simply choose any in the first 20 or so in the search list and play to your heart's content. Depending upon the algorithm each site uses, one gets anything from totally nonsensical words in haiku style to some that actually make sense. Probably more sense than mine. Enjoy.

Peace, Doc

Too bad men aren't like computers. Predictable, compliant, full of answers but no questions...yet able to deliver an occasional delightful surprise.
-- Brenda Starr

Those parts of the system that you can hit with a hammer (not advised) are called hardware; those program instructions that you can only curse at are called software.
-- Unknown

Lifehacking

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 08:39:22 GMT

When I first discovered Lifehacker I immediately liked their web site and their stated reason for producing it: "Computers make us more productive. Yeah, right. Lifehacker recommends the software downloads and web sites that actually save time. Don't live to geek; geek to live." Some of their more recent posts have included a free Smart Bookmarks Bar for Firefox, Alpha Geek: Make Microsoft Word less annoying, Calculate your caffeine intake (with nearly 200 popular beverages listed,) Create a living will online, How to find the best web freebies, Build a ten day survival pack for $25 or less, Tips for faster bar service, How to be a gentleman (first rule is "do not spit," and 75 comments followed it,) Prevent your dryer from catching fire, Financial mistakes redux - how to avoid them, Alpha Geek: 10 cool cell phone tricks, Mobile sign language lookup, and a free bandwidth NetMeter for windows. These were under half the entries between March 16, 2007 and March 20, 2007.

Google offers a specialized Lifehacks custom search page which includes a search tool which seeks information from five sources: www.lifehacker.com, www.lifehack.org, www.43folders.com, www.ehow.com, and www.howstuffworks.com. I have found this to be a very useful tool that produces mostly relevant responses to common, real-life questions and some quite useful software. My first query using the Lifehacks custom search engine was "cyber stalking" which produced this relevant response as its' first citation from www.lifehack.org.

I hope you find these resources useful.

Peace, Doc

"I don't profess to be profound; but I do lay claim to common sense." - Charles Dickens

Cat and Mouse

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 22:23:28 GMT

I have recently had a number of difficulties with my wire-chewing cat, Squeaky. In response to his destruction of five telephone cords and four optical mouse USB wires I purchased a HP wireless USB optical scroll mouse for the laptop. Heaven. He had no connecting wire to attack and mangle so there was no problem, right? Well, not exactly, but not in the way I expected. Is that not the way many problems occur, by simply not anticipating them and therefore not being able to do anything to avoid them?

At first the new mouse performed flawlessly and I was greatly pleased and encouraged. I may have savored the success a bit too soon, however. Initially when I purchased the mouse at the local Big Box computer store, a young sales associate gave me flack about not opening the battery charger in the store although she had already run the credit card. I wanted to make sure I wasn't mismatching the battery capacity with the charger and to determine how many AA and AAA cells were included with the charger as I was going to use this charger/battery combination for a digital camera combination, also. Following a fair amount of curmudgeonly grumbling and making her job more difficult, I simply "disobeyed" and opened the package anyway. I was right. The battery capacity of the AA cells was different and there were only two of them. I needed at least four of the same capacity, so she ended up making a larger sale when I returned from the NiMH aisle with two more packages of batteries. Whatever happened to "The customer is always right, whether they are or not?"

The new mouse worked well for a while and Squeaky lost interest. After a month or so, the USB connector on the tiny RF receiver became loosened from the plastic housing and the performance became intermittent. This was not enough to make me return it under warranty because I could always fix it without too much trouble and go on with what I was doing. This went on for about another month with me happily charging and changing AAA batteries in the mouse as required. I guess HP doesn't expect end-users to actually use their products as much as I do. The design for the latch on the battery compartment of the mouse seemed ill conceived from the beginning and was difficult to use. Of course that was the next thing to break. I was now working with a mouse on which I have to tape the cover closed and a receiver that I have to extract and reinsert frequently. Still, it worked.

Today I was using this patched up system when Bittle curled up under my arm and edged in close for warmth. That was fine with me because we are going through a very cold spell of weather here, and a "one cat day" was of mutual benefit. Then the mouse stopped working again. Admittedly, Bittle is somewhat overweight. OK, fat. Both of The Boys are. This time in my problem solving, I tried the KISS principle first and moved the mouse closer to the receiver by placing it on a planner calendar on my midsection. It worked fine. When placed back in the usual position to my right, it stopped. I couldn't quite believe that I had guessed right on the first try. Bittle is simply so tubby that the low power RF waves were not getting through his body to the receiver. It is time to once again do battle with the HP "defense against customer assistance program" to get the mouse repaired or replaced. Given my experience described earlier with this group, I'm not at all sure it is worth it.

Peace, Doc

"Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you." - Aldous Huxley

The Last Place You Look

Sun, 03 Dec 2006 11:50:27 GMT

Have you ever noticed that you find whatever you are looking for in the last place you look? Of course you have. One would be more than a little silly to continue to look after one found it, after all. I am more than a little silly. To rationalize this, let me just state that I didn't recognize the cause of a problem because I had searched for complex answers before finding the right answer, a simple one, which had crossed my mind but which had been dismissed as being "too easy." I suppose that doesn't cast me in a brighter light, does it? Ah, well. I save on electricity by using low wattage bulbs.

A bit less than two months ago I "lost" the modem on my PC and was unable to connect to the Internet with it. I went through various testing processes at different times. To my credit, I stopped each time before I smote anything, cursed in rage, or did more harm than good. My efforts consistently proved fruitless until today. I had gone through the seemingly easiest answers first; checking the phone for a dial tone, using sys restore, running a diagnostics app, running the modem troubleshooter, finding the modem then uninstalling it followed by re-installing it, and much more. Often several times. I was also on the web with the laptop searching the Microsoft and HP tech spaces. I found and downloaded two drivers which should both have worked with the problematic device and tried them. After I installed them? Nothing. The PC even had the audacity to lie to me. While the dial-up interface was telling me I had no modem, the troubleshooter was telling me that my modem was present and working correctly! Arrgghh! Time to stop for the seventh or eighth time in as many weeks and go away to simmer down.

Today the "fix-it" bug bit me again and I decided to have another go at it. I was snowed in, so the time seemed as good as any. I went forth, girded for battle, with at least as much confidence as my history with the problem warranted. I continued the attack, armed with my thumb drive containing two HP modem drivers, the moral support of two cats, and a bad attitude. After re-installing the newest driver and trying again, I got the same results. The dial-up interface telling me I had no modem and diagnostics telling me it was present and working. The answer came in the form of a flash of insight generated by seeing Squeaky in close proximity to wires. This is the same little darling that ate four USB optical scroll mouse cords, almost every string window blind pull in the house, and at least five telephone cords . Nooo! No fair! Too easy! Too cognitively dissonant to have put in this much time for such an obvious answer.

Squeaky is trying to look innocent but the evidence is clear.

When I finally found an unchewed phone cord in the kitchen junk drawer, I tried it. It worked immediately. Seven hours later, the modem and PC are still working, downloading two months' worth of patches, program updates, reminder messages chiding me for not being diligent with my updates and, I'm sure, will have even more to say when I reboot for some of the patches and updates to become effective. Still another proof of either Occam's Razor or one of Murphy's Laws, I suppose.

Peace, Doc

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Albert Einstein

Free Software

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 04:35:29 GMT

I have little of personal or psychological interest to say so I will just pass along some good, free software sources that I have found useful.

EverNote © 2006 EverNote Corporation, is a magnificent little application that makes note gathering for multiple projects very simple. The free version does not support handwriting, but everything else is fully functional including saving pictures, web pages, text from a site, and the like.

Snippy is from bhelpuri-users Yahoo Group. “How often have you carefully selected some text from a Web page and copied it to an email message? Snippy makes this a snap! Simply click on the little Snippy icon in the taskbar notification area, and mark out the region of the screen that you want to copy — that's it, you're done! The cut-out image will now be in your clipboard, and you can paste it in another application.” It also works well with EverNote.

Windows Live Writer (Beta) © 2002-2006 Microsoft Corporation, has been created to write specifically to Spaces Live and to some other compatible blogs. I have set this up on my system but have yet to post from it. One enters their blog URL and password into the spaces provided and Live Writer then becomes your dedicated, multifeatured blogging tool with WYSIWYG authoring.

Peace, Doc

Think twice before you speak, and then you may be able to say something more insulting than if you spoke right out at once.
- Evan Esar

On the Appropriate Use of Comments

Wed, 13 Sep 2006 20:33:57 GMT

Some thoughts on blogging have occurred to me during “The Troubles” currently playing out on this and others' sites. They may not make sense to all because, after all, I am old, silly, and likely suffering some form of pre-senile or senile dementia. Just take them as the comments of a possibly deranged shrink. Initially, I was inclined to erase the whole blog and simply convince myself it was not worth the trouble or embarrassment. My second thoughts on the matter involved erasing all the offensive materials, closing my entries to comments, and reopening the blog. Finally, however, I have come to the conclusion that I am simply too stubborn to do anything other than reopen it, as is, and let any reader judge it and comment on it as they wish. However, I do have some recommendations regarding appropriate comments:

Do not drink and blog. You might hit a toad and spill it all. (With apologies to the Smothers Brothers.)
Use a spellchecker or at least try to come close.
Do not use terribly mixed metaphors.
"Copy and paste” comments, with only a word or two changed, generally only waste innocent little electrons’ time. They have better things to do.
Never blog while enjoying a manic episode.
Occasionally one chooses precisely the right tagline for their blog.
Windows Live Terms of Use and Code of Conduct apply to the users of the Spaces MSN freely gives us.
The first MSN Spaces abuse report about this problem was number SRX1020222078ID - Windows Live Spaces Abuse.
Be careful of old people. They may be wiser and bite harder than you.
This post should be understandable as it has a Flesch-Kincaid Reading Grade Level of 7.7.
Finally, Gerard Martin Donnelly and others to whom these suggestions may apply, this is a public notice that, on this space or others, you are to cease and desist all harassment, threats, vulgarity, and general lack of common sense regarding me immediately. No further warning will be given. The consequences depend upon your actions.

Never explain--your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.

- Elbert Hubbard

Peace, Doc

Making Good Passwords

Sat, 09 Sep 2006 02:38:52 GMT

Today’s subject is passwords and how to make effective ones that are relatively hard to crack. I read somewhere a few years ago that the most commonly used password was “password.” Shorter passwords are easier to crack than longer ones. Words that appear in any dictionary or are publicly related to you are the easiest to crack. Even spelling the word or words backwards helps. The same applies to an all-numeric combination, especially if it is something like your birthday or follows a predictable pattern like the value of pi, your zip code, or your telephone number. A very simple cracking app can be used to get through either type in a very short time, especially if the bad guy has access to your computer.

A better password is really a passphrase made of seemingly nonsensical words with numerals, capital and lower case letters, and special characters inserted in a way that you can easily remember but with which others are unfamiliar. A single word like “delete” becomes much more difficult to guess or crack when it is spelled “D373t3?.” The longer the passphrase is, usually the better it is. The more nonsensical it is the better. I believe a commonly used encryption program uses a string of about 100 randomized characters.

I have heard the suggestion that a combination of words and numbers that are real and known to you make a good password if it is long. An example might be a combination of the street you lived on as a child plus some numbers like your seven-digit zip code (using the hyphen) plus a city you like. You can substitute almost anything here, as long as it is meaningful only to you. As an example, you might use “Main59021-3371Rainbow.” Doing the previously mentioned conversion, this could end up as “M41nS9o21-EELlr41nb0w.” A knowledgeable hacker could get this or most any password, but it certainly is not easy for most to guess. The time a year or so back that I password locked my BIOS, thus successfully locking myself out of my own computer, I was using a passphrase made up of nonsense words I used with my children when they were young. It was then further converted by changing some letters to numbers and adding special characters and was 17 characters long. An example could be changing “Are you my little snookums?” to “Rum171tt735n00kUM5?” That is a 19-character phrase that nobody will simply guess and will be at least somewhat difficult for anyone without access to your computer to determine.

The password itself may soon be replaced, even for home users, by the use of biometric devices such as finger or palm print readers, retinal scanners, smart cards, USB dongles, or subcutaneous chip or transponder inserts. As the world becomes more complicated, the bad guys keep up quite well. Be careful out there.

Thanks to all the visitors I see coming by in my stats. The post following this one hopefully will end this nonsense.

Peace, Doc

The Troubles

Thu, 31 Aug 2006 07:42:50 GMT

OK, People, Doc’s Place is once again open to all, but with some general conditions clearly stated. I absolutely reserve the right to delete any comments I deem offensive or otherwise contrary to the MSN Spaces conditions of use. Actually, I reserve the right to delete them if I simply don’t like them.

I have noted that one person has stated; “toad's space is closed down at the moment. I see this as a success. When it opens again, I'm gonna be in there like ‘Oprah on a ham’

-G-”

I apologize for any trouble that this person has caused to my friends. My site was closed so as not to allow him further access to your site addresses. I am concerned that, in opening the site again, he may continue this behavior. Treat anything he has to say as you wish, but understand that wherever it may be, it is quite likely aimed at me.

I’ll conclude this with a quotation to give Oprah equal time in a quote that I like better:

“Duct tape is like ‘the force.’ It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together.”

Oprah Winfrey

Peace, Doc

What Are Bloggers?

Sun, 27 Aug 2006 15:54:06 GMT

Who are we here, anyway? Are any bloggers really themselves on the web? That seems to be rather doubtful. I am not even suggesting that we should be. There are so many types and flavors of blogs that we could not be. The blogosphere is a fantasyland that we all perceive and treat differently. Some small groups are tightly knit and use their blogs as a sort of delayed Internet Messenger. Others center on a particular area of expertise or topic. Still others are online journals, self-advertisements, humorous, political, cultural, vengeful, friendly, current events, or just plain strange. Each one represents some part of the author, but never the whole. What you see here is truly a large part of me, enhanced a bit around the edges such that I do not appear to be a total dolt, but certainly not all of me.

Very recently, I was requested by two people to help stop two others, who they felt were stalking them, from doing so. You see the results of one in the comments sections of my last two posts. The other immediately had comments deleted. I could certainly be mistaken in either or both cases. I chose to honor the requests because I “know” the people who made them and do not “know” the people whose comments I will erase from this point onward. Do I “really” know who is right and who is wrong? No, I do not. I believe I am taking the action that prevents the most harm, but I might even be wrong in that assumption.

Despite what those who have comments deleted might believe, I do encourage free speech. Disagree with me if you wish, but do it civilly and do not cover your motives or use my blog as a soapbox. Make your own space if you have things to say and do not use my high traffic space to get click throughs to advertise your own if it disses another. Some tricks used to arrive here unidentified (only by the MSN stat counter, by the way) are childish. Some sites have a simple rule of either identifying yourself fully or being deleted. I have never done that in the past, and I am sure that if anyone cared to take the time to look, some quite unflattering remarks about me in old comments would be found. I have done more deletions in the past two days than I have in the entire history of this Space.

For a time, I will simply close the doors of the site at times I cannot check it relatively frequently and leave it open to all at times that I can. If you will read my last comment in the post just before this, I stated that I would delete comments in the way mentioned above. Both of the people that comment was directed to commented within an hour. I will miss a few for a while, I know. Please do not let that deter the vast majority of you from dropping by and leaving your thoughts as you wish. I welcome them. Thank you from the silly old man.

Peace, Doc