DACS President's Message
Issue 1.6
September 2005

Fore… Left… Sometimes things don’t go according to plan… My plan was to hit a big sweeping cut around the dogleg on number 9. Unfortunately the ball didn’t cut, it hooked, and instead of playing my approach shot from the fairway I was stuck in the left rough with a generously sized pine tree between me and the hole… Not good… Ugly… Real ugly… You can’t get there from here… Forget par, try not to make a double; ugly.

But that’s golf. Sometimes the only thing you can do is grab a wedge, hack it out, and hope you can get it back on the next hole.

Unfortunately I didn’t get it back on the next… The rest of my round went pretty much the same way, hack it out and scramble to make par.

Better Late Than Never

Some things are worth waiting for… When my home computer failed on the morning of Saturday, June 25, I figured I’d have a replacement in about 10 days or so. As it turned out the or so was a more accurate estimate. It took HP a grand total of 43 days to build and deliver my PC. I can’t entirely blame HP; the computer I ordered was a brand new system that uses the latest generation of Intel Pentium 4 processors as well as Serial ATA II hard drives and PC2 5300 (DDR2-667MHz) memory. There were bound to be shortages… I wasn’t expecting them to be quite so long lasting though.

All in all it was worth the wait… The quality and performance of this computer are better than I expected. Which puts me in a bit of a quandary, I really want to be unhappy with HP, but I’m not… The computer is top notch; the technical support reps that spent roughly two hours helping me try to diagnose and repair a 3 ½ year-old out-of-warranty computer on that fateful Saturday were polite, professional, and helpful, as were the customer service reps I talked to about my order.

It’s hard to be unhappy with a company that provides tech support for out of warranty equipment and treats their customers like they matter.

As Promised…

During my presentation in July, I promised you an updated guide to hardening Internet Explorer against Adware. So here it is:

1. Make sure your computer is spyware free before starting this process. Trend Micro offers a free on-line scanner to help you identify and remove viruses and spyware from your computer. If you have a slow connection, or would prefer to work off-line, you’ll need to download and install a quality anti-spyware program like SpySweeper from Webroot Software.

2. Visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com and install all the critical updates.

Note: if you are using an older version of Internet Explorer, you really should upgrade to IE 6 Service Pack 1 or later.

3. Next, check the security settings in Internet Explorer. To do this start IE and select Tools > Internet Options to open the "Internet Options" dialog. Then Select the Security tab and verify that the "Internet", "Local Intranet", and "Trusted Sites" zones are set to Medium.

Next, select the Restricted Sites zone and click "Custom Settings" and set everything to "Disable". Anything that can't be set to Disable should be set to "Prompt".

Next, click the Privacy tab and move the slider to “Medium High”.

Finally, select the Advanced tab on and make sure that "Enable Install On Demand (Internet Explorer)" and "Enable Install On Demand (Other)" are disabled.

4. Visit http://www.javacoolsoftware.com and download a copy of SpywareBlaster. SpywareBlaster works on the same principle as the block lists I suggested last year, but is much easier to use.

5. Last, but not least, if you haven’t installed service pack 2 for Windows XP, please do. Service pack 2 includes several important security improvements that can greatly enhance your on-line safety and security.

End Notes

If you sent me an e-mail between June 25th and August 4th and haven’t received a reply I’m not ignoring you. I’m currently sorting through the backlog of e-mail brought on by recent technology troubles, please be patient, I’ll try to get back you as soon as I can. If you haven’t received a reply by September 15th please drop me a note.

Several members asked me about the astronaut screen saver that was running on my laptop at the August general meeting. That screen saver is part of the Microsoft Plus! Super Pack. The “Plus Pack” sells for $29.95 and includes desktop themes, screen savers, games and multimedia tools for Windows XP. See http://www.microsoft.com/windows/plus/PlusHome.asp for details.

The one good thing about being largely computer free for a month was that I had a chance to catch up on my reading. If you’re looking for some late summer/early fall reading I can highly recommend any of the following:

* Shadow Drivers by Robert Kurson,
* Pacific Alamo - the Battle for Wake Island by John Wukovits,
* The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by James D. Hornfischer
* By Order of the President by W.E.B. Griffin,
* Black by Christopher Withcomb,
* Liars & Thieves by Stephen Coonts,

That’s it for this month… Your comments & questions are always welcome. You can reach me at jasetaro@mags.net or jasetaro@yahoo.com.

 

 


 
 
© Danbury Area Computer Society, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Web Site Terms & Conditions of Use