Re-doing Martha’s Web

If you tried to visit my old web site, you got a ‘not found’ page because I took it down. It was mostly about Windows XP and Outlook Express with a smattering of pages about later versions of Windows, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 but none about Windows 10.

I know there are a lot of folks still using Windows XP and that is why I left it up as long as I did, but it’s time for those users to move on to something else.

My intensions are to just re-do it and put it back up. I just didn’t realize what a job that is! My vision is not what it used to be so I must take a lot of breaks from my computer. And this humongous site is so link heavy to other pages it is taking a long time to chase them all down.

If I live long enough I will get it done.  In the meantime, I also had a disastrous event with my other blog, My not so perfect pc., but that seems to be ok now.

When and if I get marthas-web back up I will let you know on both my blogs and Facebook. For now, it’s no longer available.

In case you don't remember what marthas-web looked like, here is a screenshot.



Martha

Those Tacky Cookie Warnings

A lot of folks really don’t like cookies from websites.Nearly every browser has a way to delete cookies and a lot of utilities have an option to delete cookies.

Personally I have never worried about cookies as for the most part they are harmless, but they are a method to track users. I just assume I am being tracked anywhere I go on the web.

But recently I keep seeing something like this on a number of sites:

(Click to enlarge)

Okay I know you are placing a cookie on my computer. I already knew this before you started with this obnoxious banner! So being the ornery old lady I am, I now do this:



The folks who put this on their sites are getting it from Google. If you click the ‘More info’ link you get taken to Google’s Privacy & Terms page.  At the top of the side menu is Technology and then Advertising. And the truth is revealed. Read it for your self!

Privacy and Terms/Advertising

Then there is ‘UClick’.



According to this banner they use a cookie to ‘get you the best experience on our website’. I fail to see how collecting information about a view to one of their sites is going to make the experience any better, all I see is they are collecting information to share with other sites, basically to do with your details as they see fit.

Universal Uclick Privacy Policy

This page is a bit long and I suspect they count on folks not bothering to read it all, but again, nothing they say here is really going to benefit the user, just the site owner and/or affiliates.

I know we are being tracked everywhere we go on the web. I don’t knowingly go to sites that are not what I would choose. But my information can be shared, sold or given to any number of other sites.

Keep in mind, nothing is or almost nothing is really free any more. We the consumers are the product, not the websites, free utilities or most advertised free stuff.

Blogging

The word ‘blog’ is a contraction of ‘web log’ according to Wikipedia. That page pretty much gives us a history of blogs and how a lot of them are used.  Some are specialized and some are sort of like mine, rambling.

I started blogging way back in 2004, on July 24th that year to be exact. I used Google’s popular blogging venue, BlogSpot. It was pretty much hit and miss if I made a blog post, as I really had no idea what I was doing or even how I should do it.

I was under the rather misconception a blog was sort of like a journal, just writing about thoughts in general, or stuff that happened that made an impression on me.  In all the time from the inception of that blog until the day I made the last post in May of 2011, I made only 43 posts.

Thanks to some really great MVPs, Pat Geary and Tina Clarke, I got introduced to the king of blogging, WordPress.  But again, I was pretty much hit or miss with my ‘blogging’ and I didn’t take the time to learn about all of the ways I could customize my WordPress themes. At that time I was too focused on my web site, Martha’s Web, so most of time I was concentrating on content and how it looked.

Fast forward to today.

I am finally starting to understand this world of blogging with WordPress and how versatile it can be. While I am still in the learning mode, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.

Since my web site was made back in the day when Windows XP was the latest and greatest, it is getting very dated and really doesn’t seem to be what is needed today, especially since I no longer use Windows XP or even Vista.  It no longer gets the ‘hits’ it used to get and while I certainly don’t want to leave all of the XP users in the lurch so to speak, I find it harder and harder to keep that site fresh and useful.

I am planning to turn Martha’s Web into a WordPress blog eventually, but today is not the day. I still need to learn more about what I can do and how I can do it before that happens. But I am told that once it happens, maintaining it will be oh so much easier.

Since I made that decision, it seems only sensible to just slowly migrate stuff to a new blog. So I am transitioning new stuff and maybe some old stuff to MyNotSoPerfectPC. I’ll see how that works for now.

Martha

Don't Depend on the Cloud

The Cloud, what is it really?  It's just a big old server located who knows where. Who really has control over the server can be anyone of a number of companies, corporations  or even individuals.

Your ISP has servers.  They may own them or depending on the size of the ISP, could even rent space from some other entity.

Think you don't use the Cloud?  If your email is in the Cloud, Yahoo, G-mail, Hotmail, etc. You DO use the Cloud. Even your mail with an ISP is in the Cloud. It's all on a server somewhere and it is being scanned.  All the time. Normally the scanning is for keywords, either for advertising purposes or to be sure you are not misbehaving in some way.

Read what happened to this guy! And keep in mind, this was a PAID account. Here is another guy that lost his stuff in the Cloud! Microsoft Cloud Services Locks You Out Of Your Digital Life, Won’t Explain Why

If you keep your stuff online, better encrypt it.  That should keep the powers that be from 'scanning' your stuff. Believe it, they DO scan it.  And if they find something they don't like, well, 'Goodbye stuff'.

And don't forget about hackers! They can and do hack the Cloud, constantly. Everyday some site gets hacked and even though the site may deny it, your stuff is at risk!

If you really need to keep your email or other stuff in the Cloud for easy access from other locations, at least keep it all backed up somewhere close, like external media you can actually see and get your hands on it.

 

Martha

Fixing Firefox

My favorite web browser is Firefox.  But lately it was so slow. Some pages (sites) didn't seem to open at all and other pages were oh so slow. I was getting 'not responding' as well when trying to load pages.

After awhile I decided to just use Chrome as my default browser because it was so much faster. Chrome is OK and I do like it, but I missed Firefox.

So I decided to try to 'fix' Firefox. That was an exercise in frustration.  All of those tweaks I found while searching for a fix for Firefox were just a little bit of help or no help at all.

I tried removing all of the settings, extensions and other stuff from Firefox by going to Help/Troubleshooting Information and selecting 'Reset Firefox to default state'.

This saved all of my stuff in a folder called 'Old Firefox Data' and supposedly set it back like a new install.  No help there, still as slow as molasses in January.

I decided to go the uninstall/reinstall route.  I had done this before and it seemed to help a bit, but this time Firefox was still way to slow.

I decided to get drastic.  I backed up my Bookmarks and used Revo Uninstaller to uninstall Firefox.  I selected the Advanced mode to uninstall Firefox and it uninstalled everything, including the Registry entries and all of the stuff in AppData.  Nothing remained of my old Firefox. (One thing I noticed when I selected Mozilla Firefox in Revo, it showed version 15 and I had version 16 installed.  I am thinking all those older versions may have still had bits and pieces still lingering on my system and eventually let to the terrible slowdown for Firefox.)

I opened Chrome and downloaded a fresh new copy of Firefox and installed it.

Wow! It's fast! I am still testing it , but oh, yeah, I've got my Firefox back!

Martha

Windows 8 or Windows Hate?

Which will it be? So far I am not enamored of Windows 8. I am not using a touch screen, but a regular laptop. The Metro screen has a few good points, but not enough to make it worthwhile for me. I miss the Start button, and I find the navigation to be, well, challenging.

There are seemingly some folks that like Windows 8.  I suppose once a user gets used to using it, more will like it.  The key here is getting used to it.

I started trying out this new version of Windows when the very first Windows 8 Developer Preview was made available for download. I couldn't believe my eyes when it installed.  I was totally dismayed by this 'Metro-style (Modern UI)' screen. I tried finding my way around and eventually managed to 'find stuff', but it seemed that for everywhere I wanted to go, it took more steps than in my Windows 7. This is progress? Maybe I just needed to look longer and figure it out. The 'Charms' bar wouldn't come up without a lot of clicking. (This could be related to the notebook which really isn't top of the line.)

Then Microsoft released another build of Windows 8, so I figured that maybe this one would be better, easier to use, so I downloaded it and installed it. I didn't see much difference, but it was probably stuff 'under the hood' that had been changed. That ugly (and yes to me it IS ugly,) Metro-style (Modern UI) was still there.

There are some good things about Windows 8 I like, if only I could overlook that awful 'Metro-style (Modern UI)'.

It installed very easy. It found my wireless network with no problem. (That was a big plus.) I still had problems with getting the Charms bar to come up and the so called improved method of
capturing screenshots would not work. (It did once, but never again. I still suspect my hardware.) I just couldn't 'get in to it' and didn't even try much, as other more important stuff had my
attention. However, I experimented with a combo of keys and at least for now, pressing the Win key, Fn key and Prt Scr key simultaneously did work. (Previously it worked once by pressing the Win key, Ctrl key and Pr Scr key) If I used the onscreen keyboard it worked just fine.

Then Microsoft released the last version 'Windows 8 Enterprise Evaluation'.  Same stuff. I still don't like it. I have a computer, not a tablet! What didn't work on the previous version still doesn't work n the Enterprise Evaluation.  However, the Charms bar is easier to get to. There are tweaks galore available on the Internet, but I haven't tried any of them yet. My feeling is a new Windows should work out of the box and not have to be tweaked in order to use it.

I will get Windows 8 when the final version is available to buy and install it on my Compaq but I won't buy a new computer with Windows 8.  I will buy an extra copy of Windows 7, just in case I need to install it.

Now since I just hate to give up on anything computer related, I am going to make Windows Hate into Windows 8 or at least try! (But I think the majority of folks, especially those who used Windows XP for a long time, will totally and absolutely hate Windows 8.)

I do hope that Microsoft will do a better job for desktop and laptop users when they come out with the next version of Windows.  In the meantime I am saving for a Mac. At least Apple computers don't look like my iPad!

So listen up, Microsoft! My computer is not a tablet! I don't want it to be a tablet, I want to use it like a computer! Seems like Windows Desktop and laptop users are being totally disregarded in favor of the tablet users.

Guess maybe we've been thrown under the bus!

Martha

 

 

 

Can't Find Google

Some time back I wrote a post about 'Firefox cannot find the server'.

I had to go back to Firefox as it just has too much going for it the other browsers don't.  But I do use Opera and Chrome, rarely Internet Explorer (that ActiveX thing is still there) and rarely still, Safari.

Imagine my surprise when Google Chrome couldn't find Google!



Martha

 

 

Lost in Cyberspace

Somewhere between Gmail and Outlook, an email vanished. I looked everywhere, but to no avail. Since I always check Gmail in the AM before I open Outlook, I did see the email so I know it was there.  It came yesterday into Gmail but it never came into my Outlook which stays open all day once I open it.

So where did it go?  All of the other messages received in Gmail downloaded into Outlook, but not this one. It's not in the Inbox or the folder where it should have filtered. Not in the junk maik folder, the deleted folder or anywhere else. It just didn't download.

So now I am wondering.  Did all of the extra stuff Google has added to Gmail 'break' something? Or is Outlook having hiccups?

So now I start to think, I have seen some replies to emails that I don't recall seeing.  Hmm, I will check my Yahoo mail online.  (I have two email accounts that download mail into Outlook.) I know I turned the spam filter off, but just in case I looked. There were 41 legitimate emails in the Spam filter! Is Yahoo playing a 'gotcha' on me?  (I think Yahoo is broken.)

I reset the settings, so now I will check to see if more legitimate email goes to the spam filter.  I think too much is happening with Google and Yahoo, each wanting to be a 'Social Network', and stuff may be getting broken along the way.

Martha

Get your Own Email Account (Email Account Oddities)

Every now and then I see an email account that seems to belong to more than one individual.
An example is 'johnandmaryjones@some isp.com'.

You've probably seen an account like this as well.  Causing even more confusion, the email address might be johnsmith@some isp.com, but the sender signs the email with a totally different name, like 'Charles Smith'.

I suspect at least one of the reasons for email account oddities is because the owner may not be aware he/she should have a separate private email address. Or perhaps the owner of the account does not want anyone else to have a separate email account so he/she can read emails intended for the other party. (Possessive?) At any rate, this practice seems odd.

Almost all ISPs (Internet Service Providers) allow several email addresses for the account. So John Jones can have a separate account and Mary Jones can have her own account. Even if the ISP allows only one account, why don't folks make use of Yahoo or Gmail to get their own account?

I have no idea why an email account that includes someone's name would belong to another person that signs a totally different name.  I imagine there is a reason, but what it could be escapes me.

Sometimes I wonder too much about stuff, this may be one of those times.

Martha

Uninstalling AVG Link Scanner

LinkScanner supposedly stops those drive-by rogues from installing on your computer.

I installed this program because I am paranoid about security. However, it never let me know if it stopped anything and to be truthful, I suspect my ESET Smart Security was doing the same job.

Since it seemed like my web browsing was slower I decided to uninstall LinkScanner.

The uninstaller kept hanging. The only way to get out of it was through Task Manager.

What a challenge this was! Every thing I found in searches on how to remove this program indicated first I would need to install AVG's virus scanner and then uninstall it. Since I have ESET, I knew that wasn't an option for me. I would have had to uninstall ESET first and then install AVG!  No way was I going to uninstall ESET!

AVG's website was no help, or at least it was well hidden.

So I just kept trying to uninstall the LinkScanner. The uninstaller would get to a certain point and just hang. The dreaded 'not responding' message would pop up every time.

Then I tried to uninstall LinkScanner by using Advanced Uninstaller.  It finally managed to uninstall it after I performed some other steps first.

I stopped it from running by disabling it in Task manager and rebooted. Then it finally uninstalled, but there were 'leftovers'  that had to be deleted manually. When trying to delete these files I kept getting a message 'The action can't be completed' because the file is open in AVG LinkScanner©9Watchdog'.

So what is this? I did a search for this on my computer  and all it did was take me back to the files I couldn't delete.

Finally it occurred to me it must be a running service. So I went to Administrative Tools/Services and sure enough there were two entries for this stubborn program, 'AVG LinkScanner©9WatchDog and AVG Security Toolbar Service.  Once I disabled these two services I was able to finally delete the 'leftover files in Program Files.

CCleaner removed the leftover Registry entries and now the LinkScanner is finally gone.  And browsing is much faster!

Martha

Facebook Friends

Why is it so important to so many folks to have hundreds of friends on Facebook?

By far the majority of these folks don't have a clue who all of the 'friends' really are and I suspect they don't care. They just say 'OK' and 'befriend' anyone who asks.

Case in point.

I think that pretty much says it all.

Martha

Change Your Email Password!

When you joined Facebook, (or ANY other social network site) did you give them the password to your email? Why for heaven's sake did you do that? Did you actually want Facebook to send an invitation to your bank? Did you want them to send an invitation to anyone and everyone in your address book? (And remember, some email programs will save every email address for anyone you ever sent an email including replies.)

Oh, you didn't know they would do that?  What exactly did you think would happen when they said 'Find friends using your email account?' Did you think they would know exactly who your friends are and wouldn't send invites to anyone you didn't want to receive an invitation? Really, did you think that?

I suspect you didn't think at all, you just blindly followed and gave them your password. For shame! Don't you know you shouldn't give your email password to anyone?  Even your ISP won't ask you for your email password!  Your bank, your credit card company, Paypal, etc., none of these will ask you for your email password, so why on earth would you give a stranger your password?

Oh, you say, Facebook isn't a stranger.  Really? Do you know who lurks behind the site that is asking for this information? I bet you don't!

If you did fall for that 'Find friends using your email account' and now that everyone in your address book has been spammed at least once, all those
folks that didn't join you on Facebook are going to spammed again to remind them of the 'invitation' to join you. This fact makes me wonder about the
validity of the blurb below the box to enter your password.  You know, the one that says 'we won't store your password'.  Then how do they manage to send out 'reminder' spam?

I would guess it's because your password is still there. I would remove it if I were you.  Then you should go to where ever your email is hosted and change the password for your email account. And for goodness sake, don't ever give away your email password again! Ever!

Martha

Well, that was fun, NOT!

Word Press has a new version and so I decided to upgrade. Everything seemed to go fine until I reached the last step, upgrading the database. This new version requires MySQL 4.1.2 or greater (old requirement was 4.0) Now a techie I am not. So I hop to my host's control panel and start searching for how to upgrade my WP database.

Greek! It might as well be Greek, 'cause I don't understand this stuff.

I call the help line for my host and get a very helpful person who is trying his best to help me, but he must be in another country, because I just can't understand what he is telling me.  Finally I mange to get most of what he is saying.  I create a new database and start the export from the old database to the new database, but the in the last step I get an error and there I am lost.  So the nice tech tells me he will send me an email with instructions on how to fix the error and now I wait for the email. (I know he knew I would never understand the verbal instructions!)

Sure enough, the email comes through with the instructions. Fortunately for me my programmer son is home and I turn this over to him. He fixes the database and now the export from the old database to the new database goes through with no errors.

So now all I had to do was update the config file and now I have the new version up and running.

I did learn something, but I hope I don't have to do this again for awhile!

Martha

Secunia

I use Secunia to test my computer for insecure applications. I had a question about something so joined their online forum to see if there was an answer there. I went through the usual hoopla when joining a forum and at last got to the Congratulations screen telling me to 'login using the form' below.

Except there was no form below. (In Firefox, my default browser) So I reloaded the screen.  Nope, no form.  On a hunch I opened IE and loaded the same screen.  Yep, there was the form.

Now while this is normal for some websites, the funny thing is, Secunia reports that Internet Explorer (both regular and 64 bit) are insecure and there is no fix!

Now since they know IE is insecure, wouldn't you think their page would work in another browser like Firefox?!!!!  (But it did work in Opera!)

Martha

Scareware!

For safer surfing, better use Firefox with NoScript installed.

I have read numerous emails from folks that get one of these scareware alerts. Most of them are wanting to know how to remove it as their security protect doesn't help.

Today I experienced first hand one of these 'fake alert' scareware/malwares. I like to read the comics online and have a few sites bookmarked. As soon as I clicked on one of them the 'fun' began.

My browser opened full screen (which is an annoyance) and then I got the alert telling me 'your computer is infected!' It appeared to be scanning something, however I know it wasn't scanning my computer.  These malware writers really know how to scare folks. The alert looked real and if I hadn't known about these scammy 'alerts', I might have been hooked into buying thus infecting my computer with more spyware!

Firefox had opened a new tab from a site, isoft-online. (I would not go there if I were you!) The alert was there, all but screaming at me. I could not close the tab and I could not close Firefox. My ESET flashed that a threat had been quarantined, but I still could not close Firefox.

I brought up the Task Manager and closed Firefox. When I reopened Firefox there it was again. Task Manager again closed it. The next time I opened Firefox it asked me if I wanted to restore the previous session and of course I clicked 'no'.

Lesson learned, install NoScript on Firefox.

To test, I went back to the infected site. Something tried to load besides the site, but was unsuccessful. I am still going to update my spyware programs and run indepth scans, just to be sure there are no infections.

I checked the quarantine logs to see what was blocked and it was listed as 'NSIS/TrojanDownloader.FakeAlert.C trojan. You just can't be too careful on the Internet these days.

Martha

Copycat Names

Computers can be confusing even for some of us that have used them a long time and think we know what we are doing. To add to the confusion for a lot of folks is the 'naming' of programs and processes.

Microsoft really confused folks by giving their email programs such similar names, Outlook (part of their Office suite) and Outlook Express which came with Windows 95 up through Windows XP. Tech support long ago learned to ask if their email problems are for OE or MS Outlook in Office.

There is the 'Messenger' as well. There is the regular Messenger, the instant messenger application and then there's the Windows Messenger Service (which the hackers found all too soon and used it to spam users even when not in email).

Microsoft is not the only culprit giving stuff almost the same names. There's Windows Media Player (comes with Windows) and Media Player Classic (not a Microsoft program). Guess the program author couldn't think of something unique.

There are a lot of stuff out there with similar names and the bad guys take advantage of this copycat name thing. They make really bad programs that sound like a good program and get folks to install them on their computers.  Sometimes these programs are touted as being free, but usually there is a charge. These nasties do two things, first they take your money and then they spy on you.

You just can't be too careful out there on the wild and wooly web and never take a name at face value!

Martha

Internet Explorer 8

Did Microsoft finally get IE right? Time will tell.

I installed IE 8 on my test computer which is using a nearly pristine version of Vista Home Premium. The computer is less than two months old and so far I am only using it to test stuff (no betas yet).

I attempted to import my bookmarks from Firefox (a nice improvement) and then I got the same old thing, 'not responding'. I closed IE and reopened it and found to my surprise that the bookmarks did import.

So I looked to see if the humongeous security hole was gone, but nope, it's still there! (ActiveX)

Until ActiveX is removed from IE, it will never be my default browser.

When I get a new computer with Windows 7, I will get two other browsers, Firefox and Opera and then I will disable Internet Explorer! (I hope they keep this option in the final release!)

Martha

The Vista Bashers; Will They Bash Windows 7?

I am using the beta for Windows 7 and it is pretty cool.

It still has UAC. There are several levels of UAC, but if you really want protection, it needs to be the top level. (Security. Stops MBR Rootkits from installing as well as untold other crimeware).

Vista bashers like UAC turned off; guess they don't like to rely on Windows to protect their computers. First they fuss about the lack of security, but when they get it, they don't like it. Can't please some folks regardless of what you do.

It still won't support your old printer or scanner, because the printer and scanner manufacturers don't make drivers for them. (Not the fault of Vista or Windows 7, but try and make folks believe that!)

It looks cool and still puts things in different places than Windows XP. (The locations make more sense!)

The Internet connection utility is super cool. Windows 7 found my print server and installed the printer with no problems. I was amazed at how well that went.

So far Windows 7 seems to be fast, lean and working well. I did have to download an email program as no email client is included with Windows 7.

Unfortunately the biggest security hole in Windows is still there. (Internet Explorer) I hear there will be an option to turn IE off; that is great news!

After updating Windows 7 the first thing I did was download and install Firefox. Then I installed Avast for virus protection. For what it is worth, everyone should have a backup browser. Even if you use and like Internet Explorer, you never know when IE will have a 'spasm' and quit working.

I expect some of the Vista bashers will try Windows 7 and really like it.

Martha

Microsoft Antivirus NOT!

I normally do not post virus warnings, as they are generally hoaxes.

However since a lot of people will trust stuff labeled 'Microsoft', I deemed it necessary to warn folks about a new or rather updated and renamed, rogue antivirus/antispyware software being offered using Microsoft's name.

For more information, see this site.

The spyware remover being advertised on this site is SpyHunter. The site owner could be affiliated with SpyHunter and I have done some research about SpyHunter. It is a legitimate program but is not among the top ten rated removers. It also has a name that was once connected with a rogue program that is no longer available. (I suspect they should have checked that out and didn't.)

There are a number of sites that rate spyware removers, but without knowing whether or not these sites are affiliated with any of the programs it is difficult to decide which is the best.

If you want to check to see if your favorite remover is among the top scanners, here are a couple of sites to check.

Top Ten Reviews

Safer-networking

Just keep your spyware scanners updated and scan frequently to prevent malware from installing, and if a program has a name you think you can trust, check it out first!

Martha

Those Awful Fakes!

(Why you shouldn't use Google to search for security products.)

Everyday a new so-called security program rears it's ugly head. These rogue programs invade a user's computer in several ways and one of the ways is by an unsuspecting user downloading the scumware on purpose.

A few of the fakes.

So many of these ripoff products name their scumware something close to a real and good security product. So if a user sees something that looks familiar they think it's the real deal. Not.

I've been reading a book about security on the Internet and trust me, the ways that crimeware can intrude on a user's computer is almost enough to make me stay offline and keep the computer turned off.

However, most of us will be safe if we only follow a few simple rules. Use a firewall, an updated anti-virus scanner and 'good' spyware removers. Don't click on links in email from unknown senders (better, don't even open those emails) turn off ActiveX in Internet Explorer (better, use Firefox or Opera), disable javascript in all browsers and never, ever, search Google for security products.

One last thing, if you are using a router, change the default password to something harder to guess than 'password' or 'admin'.

Stay safe!

Martha