page3

KCNET NEWSLETTER
TECHNICAL PAGE
FEBRUARY 2010

TECH TALK BY ROXANNE FRYER
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
VIRUS AND OTHER STINKY STUFF
DOWNLOAD FREE ANTI VIRUS, SPYWARE AND ADWARE
INTERESTING SITES

TECH TALK
By KCnet Tech - Roxanne Fryer

Emailers do not like the Preview Pane
With all the viruses today people are uneasy about opening emails from people they don’t know. This is a good policy to follow! I have a lot of people that are asking how to set up email so that you have to click on a message to view it. They do not like the preview pane showing.
In Outlook Express and Windows Mail
Click on View
Choose Layout
Uncheck Show Preview Pane
Click Apply at the bottom of the box
Click OK
Windows Live Mail
Click on View
Choose Layout
Uncheck Show the Reading Pane

TECHNICALLY SPEAKING:

Stop Cyberbullying This appeared in a recent WorldStart Newsletter.
Did you know that Cyberbullying is a crime? It is a cyber crime that is perpetuated by children on other children. Sadly, it can lead to the death of the children involved if it is escalated. Like most things in life the best defense you have against cyberbullying is to be knowledgeable about how it works, why it happens, and what you can do to prevent it.

Navigation will take you through the following sections:

What is it? – Here you can learn all about what cyberbullying consists of, and why schools can’t prevent it successfully.

How it works – this category divides up into two categories: direct attacks and cyberbullying by proxy. They are completely different scenarios so make sure you check both out.

Why Cyberbully? – This has to be a question that has plagued many a parents mind. Why do children cyberbully each other? Here you can find out what some of the reasons might be.

Prevention – now that you know a little more about the beast that is cyberbullying you have to be wondering, how do you prevent it from happening to your child? This section will give you ideas on how to do just that.

Take Action – what do you do when your child has been attacked by a cyberbully? What recourses do you have? This section explains to you how you can take action against the cyberbullies.

Age Categories - along the bottom of the page by the giant question mark (that will take you to the about page btw) you’ll see a listing of age groups. Each of those is a category that is for children in those age groups. It asks if they are a cyberbully teaches them to recognize what one is and gives them advice on how not to be a bully.

Cyberbullying isn’t a trend that is going to go away. Now that kids have access to the internet and mobile phones just about everywhere it is going to get worse unless we start teaching them the way they should behave and to treat each other with respect. A lot of cities and states are passing cyberbullying laws, so not only are they behaving in an ugly manner they may be committing crimes without knowing it that they have serious repercussions.

http://stopcyberbullying.org/

Secrets of the Windows Taskbar

To some, the Windows taskbar just takes up space at the bottom of the screen. But learning how to interact with the taskbar can make you more productive. Here are some tips and tricks that will help you manage and customize the taskbar.

Managing Open Applications - When you open an application, a button representing it appears in the taskbar. If that app is buried under others open on your desktop, left-click once on its button to make it appear instantly. Many people don't know that clicking on an app's taskbar button again minimizes it, bringing another app to the foreground.

You can also close an open app without bringing it to the foreground and using its built-in Close command; just right-click on its button and click Close. You'll be prompted to save any unsaved data.

Items you have opened with the same application, such as multiple word processor documents, may be collapsed into the application's taskbar button if the taskbar is crowded with many open items. If you don't see an item on the taskbar, hover your cursor over its application and up will pop a vertical list of open items from which you can select.

Customizing the Taskbar - You can customize the taskbar by right-clicking any empty space in the taskbar, then select Properties, then the Taskbar tab. The Lock option prevents resizing of the taskbar so you don't accidentally mess up your taskbar settings while mousing over it. Autohide gives you more display space by hiding the taskbar until you hover your cursor over the bottom edge of the screen.

Be sure to enable the Quicklaunch bar within the taskbar. Then you can drag any desktop icon to the Quicklaunch area, drop it, and launch the application by clicking on its Quicklaunch icon. A Desktop icon that takes you to your desktop instantly is also available when Quicklaunch is enabled.

I think it's nice to have a click in the taskbar, but you can remove the clock if you like. It's also useful to hide inactive icons, but you don't have to. Click the Customize button to enable or disable any of the icons. This option also lets you turn off those info balloons that pop up in the Notifications area at the right-hand end of the taskbar. I'm forever digging for the Volume icon, so I keep mine always available on the taskbar.

Moving or Sizing the Taskbar - I can't tell you how many times I've accidentally moved my taskbar to the side or top of the screen, then couldn't remember how to get it back on the bottom. Oh, you too?!? To move the taskbar to any side of the screen, just left-click on an empty portion of the taskbar (not on an open application's button) and drag the taskbar to where you want it.

You can also make the taskbar taller or wider, depending on where it's located. If you have lots of icons on the taskbar, and it's on the bottom, you might want to make it taller. If you prefer your taskbar on the side of the screen, adjusting the width can be helpful. To resize the taskbar, hover the mouse pointer on the edge of the bar until it turns into the little double-arrow grabber, the left-click and drag. Note that the taskbar must be unlocked to move or resize it. And once you get it where you like it, locking is a good idea!

Your Mileage May Vary...
Some taskbar features are only available in Windows Vista or Windows7. If you have the Aero premium desktop experience installed, hovering your mouse over an open item's button in the taskbar will pop up a small preview window of the item. Windows 7 dubbed its taskbar a "superbar," although some people feel it's a bit of overkill. One nice feature of the Windows 7 superbar is that it displays progress bars in place of application buttons if an application shows the progress of some task it's performing, such as a downloading file or an update installation.

Windows 7 hides the Show Desktop function by default. Right-click on the Notifications area at the far right-hand end of the taskbar and select Show Desktop to jump directly to the desktop. There are many other Windows 7 superbar features we may explore at a later date. But give each of these a try, and work on integrating them into your daily routine.

This one from Bob Rankin, The Internet Tourbus.
Subscribe to the Tourbus Newsletter at:

ComScore: Bing grows to 11.3 percent of U.S. search market Posted by Mary Jo Foley For ZDNET 02/10/10
The January search data from comScore is out, and Microsoft’s Bing is now has 11.3 percent of the U.S. search market, the firm claims.

Yahoo’s share continued to slide, with the current No. 2 vendor now at 17 percent. Google also slightly declined, with 65.4 percent of the U.S. market.

(In December, the totals for each of the Big Three were: Google, 65.7 percent; Yahoo, 17.3; and Bing, 10.7, according to comScore.)

As a couple of other bloggers have noted, Microsoft seems to be making these gains by buying traffic, with various promotions and deals. That’s one reason the company’s Online Systems Division, of which Bing is big chunk, is continuing to lose money, hand over fist.

As TechFlash blogger Todd Bishop points out, the combined Microsoft-Yahoo search team is looking increasingly less powerful, given that Yahoo’s search share is continuing to slide. Sure, if and when the partnership deal the pair announced last summer gets regulatory approval, Bing will become the No. 2 vendor. But it will be a No. 2 with less than 30 percent share, compared to Google’s 65 percent.

Try Bing at: http://bing.com
Go back often, the opening graphic changes every day.

Some WorldStart Tips

What is "Safe mode"?
Safe mode is a Windows maintenance mode where only the bare minimum of drivers are loaded. You don't have access to CD ROMs, printers, or other non-essential devices.

It's helpful to use this mode when you are having problems with your PC. For example, maybe you just installed an awesome new video card, but in all the excitement loaded the wrong driver for it. This in turn caused your video display under windows to be non-existant. If you go into Safe mode, you can fix it.

I also use it to help find problems with programs. If I get lots of "illegal operation" messages, I try running the program in safe mode to see if the program itself is the problem. If the program runs fine in safe mode, I can assume I have another program or driver that's interfering with the program's operation and causing the error. (Note that not all software runs in Safe mode - especially more robust programs, but it's still worth a shot).

To get to Safe mode, press the F8 key when Windows starts to boot. You have to do this BEFORE you see the first "Windows" screen. I start tapping away at mine when as soon as I get by the BIOS startup screen or the manufacturer's splash screen. Experiment and you'll get it.

Social media data harvesting
It seems like everything on the internet these days is "social". Social media web sites like Facebook, Myspace and Twitter allow you to share interests, opinions, pictures and many other personal things with your friends on the Internet. While sharing these things with friends is what these sites are made for, it's not just friends that can view your personal information.

Social media harvesting is a new way of stealing identities on the internet. Data harvesters collect your personal data from many locations on the Internet and combine it. With all of this data combined, they can identify enough about you to steal your identity. Here's an example.

Let's say you open an account on Facebook. In your settings, you provide your full name and allow everyone to see it (this is pretty normal since no one would find you if they couldn't search by your full name). To be safe, you set your facebook account settings to hide your city and state. Now, after creating your Facebook account, you decide to create a profile on Twitter. In your twitter profile, you provide your city and state, but use a screen name for safety. Lastly, you decide that you want to tell your friends on Facebook about your twitter account, so you place a link on your public Facebook profile.

The steps listed above are something that nearly anyone could do, but it's a big mistake. If a Data harvester goes to your Facebook account and gets your full name, then clicks the link to twitter where they get your city and state, you have the beginnings of a problem.

Now, just imagine what kind of information a person could collect about you if you had profiles on 10 different social sites! All of this information combined could tell the harvester everything about you.

So, what do you do to avoid this?

I'm not going to tell you to go cancel all of your social media accounts; that would be a little drastic. I will, however, tell you to be careful and put thought into your actions. When you create an account on any social site, check to see what they publish publicly and if they have privacy settings. If they do, make sure your privacy settings are set up to hide un-necessary personal information.

By simply thinking ahead and keeping on top of your accounts, you can remain anonymous online.

What's the difference between Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer?
Actually, nothing. It's a program with a split-personality. The Internet Explorer side of the program is for surfing the web. The Windows Explorer side is used for exploring the files, folders, drives, and directories on your computer.

What's cool about it is they work very much the same manner. For example, click the Back button on Internet Explorer and you go back to the previous web page. Click the Back button on Windows Explorer and you go back to the previous folder (or wherever you just were).

In fact, try this. Open Internet Explorer and type:

C:\My Documents

Since I have XP, I need to type in:

See? You can use the Internet Explorer side of Explorer to sort through files.

Oh, and yes, you guessed it. You can also type a web URL into the Windows Explorer address box and hit Enter to go there. You know, just in case you're busy looking at files and feel the need to get on the web really quick.

Yeah, it's a little confusing, but then it wouldn't be a Microsoft product if it wasn't...

Interesting games!!!

China, US, Russia in cyber arms race: net security chief By Hui Min Neo (AFP) for Google News – 01/28/10
DAVOS, Switzerland — China, the United States and Russia are among 20 countries locked in a cyberspace arms race and gearing up for possible Internet hostilities, according to the head of web security firm McAfee.

Dave DeWalt, chief executive and president of the US firm said the traditional defensive stance of government computer infrastructures has shifted in recent years.

"This movement from a defensive posture to a more offensive posture is just very obvious," he said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

McAfee said it has identified at least five countries with cyber weapons, including the United States, China, Russia, Israel and France.

"We're now seeing 20 plus countries, governments arm themselves for cyber warfare, cyber espionage, cyber offensive capabilities," said DeWalt.

"There's an arms race going on in cyberspace," he told AFP.

DeWalt is not the first to sound alarm bells about cyber warfare. The UN telecommunications agency chief Hamadoun Toure warned in October that the next world war could take place in cyberspace.

Pointing to the recent attack on Google, DeWalt noted that it illustrated a shift from espionage and attacks on government infrastructure to an offensive on structure that is "commercial in nature."

Google had threatened to pull out of China due to cyber attacks which it claimed originated in the Asian giant. The complaint has escalated into a major diplomatic row.

DeWalt said the attack on Google was "really one of the first government on commercial, and potentially highly sophisticated cyber espionage really focusing in on highly intellectual property companies like Google, Adobe."

The attack, dubbed Operation Aurora, has hit over 30 companies and the number of victim firms could still grow, said DeWalt.

But it was just one of "a series of highly escalated attacks in the last 12 months."

McAfee has seen a "more than 500 percent increase in net new malware" -- harmful software such as spyware, viruses or trojans -- in the past 12 months.

"That's more malware than we have seen in the past five years combined," said DeWalt.

McAfee's latest report compiling a survey of some 600 IT security executives found that 60 percent of those who responded believe representatives of foreign governments were involved in infiltrations of their infrastructure.

Some 36 percent said the United States posed the biggest threat to their infrastructure while 33 percent named China.

The survey also found that attacks are costing 6.3 million dollars a day, or 1.75 billion dollars a year, around the world.

Service outages brought about by attacks on web infrastructure are most costly for the oil and gas sector.

"As nation states and very sophisticated criminal organisations have piled into cyberspace to engage in activities designed to steal secrets or interrupt services, the private sector is increasingly caught in the crossfire," said Stewart Baker, who authored the report.

Despite the potential damage, governments appeared to be lagging behind in taking measures to get private sector to protect their web infrastructure.

Only China appeared to be "developing a relationship with their industry... in getting companies to adopt particular security standards," said Baker, who is a visiting fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

War game reveals U.S. lacks cyber-crisis skills
By Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Scene: The White House Situation Room.

Event: A massive cyber attack has turned the cellphones and computers of tens of millions of Americans into weapons to shut down the Internet. A cascading series of events then knocks out power for most of the East Coast amid hurricanes and a heat wave.

Is the assault on cellphones an armed attack? In a crisis, what power does the government have to order phone and Internet carriers to allow monitoring of their networks? What level of privacy can Americans expect?

A war game, sponsored by a nonprofit group and attended by former top-ranking national security officials, laid bare Tuesday that the U.S. government lacks answers to such key questions.

Half an hour into an emergency meeting of a mock National Security Council, the attorney general declared: "We don't have the authority in this nation as a government to quarantine people's cellphones."

The White House cyber coordinator was "shocked" and asserted: "If we don't have the authority, the attorney general ought to find it."

The Bipartisan Policy Center, which focuses on issues such as health care, energy and cybersecurity, staged the war game to demonstrate to a complacent public the plausibility of an attack that could in many ways be as crippling as the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist strikes. Organizers said they wanted to prod Congress and the Obama administration to act.

"We were trying to tee up specific issues that would be digestible so they would become the building blocks of a broader, more comprehensive cyber strategy," said Michael V. Hayden, former CIA director and the principal creator of the "Cyber ShockWave" simulation.

During the war game, held over four hours at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, three wide-screen monitors flashed maps of the United States showing network coverage and electric power ebbing. The breakdown was covered by a faux news network, GNN. Senior administration officials watched the reporting of the unfolding crisis -- 40 million people without power in the eastern United States; more than 60 million cellphones out of service; Wall Street closed for a week; Capitol Hill leaders en route to the White House.

Former senior officials from Republican and Democratic administrations participated in the war game, as did one former senator. Jamie S. Gorelick, a deputy attorney general under President Bill Clinton, pressed the issue of individual privacy. In a crisis, she said, "Americans need to know that they should not expect to have their cellphone and other communications to be private -- not if the government is going to have to take aggressive action to tamp down the threat."

She recommended that the Obama administration seek legislation for comprehensive authority to deal with a cyber emergency.

Participants also wrangled over how far to go in regulating the private sector, which owns the vast majority of the "critical" infrastructure that is vulnerable to a cyber attack. Stewart Baker, a former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security who played the "cyber coordinator" on Tuesday, said that the private sector was not prepared to defend against a cyber act of war and that the government needed to play a role.

"People have trouble understanding warnings," said John McLaughlin, who served as acting CIA director in 2004 and who played the director of national intelligence. "It was only after Sept. 11 that people could visualize what was possible. The usefulness of the simulation is it will help people visualize [the threat]."

Former Clinton press secretary Joe Lockhart, who played a presidential adviser during the simulation, said it was immaterial whether the attack was an act of war; it had "the effect" of an act of war, he said.

Lockhart said that people would be scared by the simulation but that "that's a good thing." Only then, he said, would Congress act.

Sponsors, most of whom made financial donations that ranged up to $150,000, included General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, PayPal, Symantec, SMobile Systems, Georgetown University and Southern Co. The Chertoff Group contributed guidance, not money. The BPC, sponsors and CNN contributed to production costs.

Update: Adobe issues emergency PDF patches Researcher questions Adobe's patch delivery consistency
By Gregg Keizer February 16, 2010

Computerworld - As expected, Adobe today released an emergency update that patched a pair of critical vulnerabilities in its popular PDF viewing and editing software.

Adobe ranked both bugs as critical.

Last Thursday Adobe said it would issue a rush patch for Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat on Feb. 16; it made good on the promise today by addressing two flaws. One was identical to the cross-domain request vulnerability fixed last week in Flash Player, Adobe's ubiquitous media player, while the second was a vulnerability that attackers could exploit to install malware on a targeted machine.

The bug related to Flash Player, tagged as CVE-2010-0186 in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database, cannot be used to inject malicious code into a system, but could be exploited by information thieves in a cross-site scripting style of attack, said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Network Security.

Between Thursday, when Adobe updated Flash Player, and today, when it patched the same flaw in Reader and Acrobat, the latter programs were theoretically vulnerable to attack if an ambitious hacker had pulled apart the Flash patch and managed to figure out where the vulnerability was within Reader. That didn't happen, Storms noted.

It was the second vulnerability, tagged as CVE-2010-0188, that drew his attention. "Adobe credited it to Microsoft," said Storms, "which in itself is interesting." The bug was reported by the Microsoft Vulnerability Research Program (MSVR), where Microsoft security researchers submit flaws they find in third-party software, such as browser plug-ins like Reader.

Microsoft may have found the vulnerability through its own security process, or it may have been reported by a Microsoft customer to the company, which then passed it along to Adobe. The latter declined to say which was the case, but did say it wasn't aware of any in-the-wild exploits of either vulnerability patched today.

What intrigued Storms the most was that today's update was outside the regular quarterly security release schedule Adobe's set its PDF software. "Now we know that there's a vulnerability in Reader and Acrobat, but because Adobe's gone out-of-band it's going to draw attention from researchers. The rush is on to disassemble the patch and reverse-engineer an exploit."

Storms argued that by updating Reader and Acrobat today -- about two months before the next slated update, April 13 -- and not explaining why it went out-of-band, Adobe's actually made the CVE-2010-0188 vulnerability more conspicuous to hackers.

TIPS FOR WINDOW VISTA USERS:

Do you want the low-down on Vista?
Wikipedia does a great job with their review.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Vista

Excellent How to Vista sites.

Free how to use Vista
http://www.yoingco.com/main_vista.htm

Videos about how to use Vista
http://movies.atomiclearning.com/highed/vista_wn

Learn more about Windows Media Center
http://www.windowsvista.com/mediacenter

Watch how-to videos
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/mediacenter/help/default.mspx

Learn about TV with Windows Media Center
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/mediacenter/features/tv.mspx

Find out about movies and DVDs
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/mediacenter/features/movies.mspx

Do more with pictures and videos
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/mediacenter/features/picturesandvideos.mspx

Windows Vista RTM Software Compatibility List - IeXwiki
http://www.iexbeta.com/wiki/index.php/Windows_Vista_Software_Compatibility_List

How to Personalize Vista's Windows AERO Graphics
http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/vista/vista_aero_windows.htm

Understanding Windows Vista Aero Glass Requirements
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/understanding-windows-vista-aero-glass-requirements/

TIPS FOR WINDOW 7 USERS:

Do you want the low-down on Vista?
Wikipedia does a great job with their review. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7

This one from WorldStart
New Folder Shortcut for Windows 7
If you're the kind of super-organized Windows 7 user that creates a lot of new folders, then today's tip is specifically for you! Sure, you can just right-click and select “New Folder” to get the job done, but shortcuts combinations are always quicker! Besides, you'll look cool doing it, too!
Check this out!
Simply go to the location where you'd like to create a new folder and press Ctrl+Shift+N. A new folder will appear and all you have to do is type a name for it! Quick and easy!
Oh, and this shortcut even works to create a new folder on your desktop, too!

VIRUS AND OTHER STINKY STUFF:

New Russian botnet tries to kill rival By Robert McMillan For ComputerWorld 02/09/10
Kill Zeus' removes rival software from PCs, giving Spy Eye access to usernames, passwords

IDG News Service - An upstart Trojan horse program has decided to take on its much-larger rival by stealing data and then removing the malicious program from infected computers.

Security researchers say that the relatively unknown [Spy Eye toolkit] added this functionality just a few days ago in a bid to displace its larger rival, known as Zeus.

The feature, called "Kill Zeus," apparently removes the Zeus software from the victim's PC, giving Spy Eye exclusive access to usernames and passwords.

Zeus and Spy Eye are both Trojan-making toolkits, designed to give criminals an easy way to set up their own "botnet" networks of password-stealing programs. These programs emerged as a major problem in 2009, with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation estimating last October that they have caused $100 million in losses.

Trojans such as Zeus and Spy Eye steal online banking credentials. This information is then used to empty bank accounts by transferring funds to so-called money mules -- U.S. residents with bank accounts -- who then move the cash out of the country.

Sensing an opportunity, a number of similar Trojans have emerged recently, including Filon, Clod and [Bugat], which was discovered just last month.

Spy Eye popped up in Russian cybercrime forums in December, according to Symantec Senior Research Manager Ben Greenbaum.

With its "Kill Zeus" option, Spy Eye is the most aggressive crimeware, however. The software can also steal data as it is transferred back to a Zeus command-and-control server, said Kevin Stevens, a researcher with SecureWorks. "This author knows that Zeus has a pretty good market, and he's looking to cut in," he said.

Turf wars are nothing new to cybercriminals. Two years ago a malicious program called Storm Worm began attacking servers controlled by a rival known as Srizbi. And a few years before that, the authors of the Netsky worm programmed their software to remove rival programs Bagle and MyDoom.

Spy Eye sells for about $500 on the black market, about one-fifth the price of premium versions of Zeus. To date, it has not been spotted on many PCs, however.

Still, the Trojan is being developed quickly and has a growing list of features, Greenbaum said. It can, for example, steal cached password information that is automatically filled in by the browser, and back itself up via e-mail. "This is interesting in its potential, but it's not currently a widespread threat at all," he said.

Have you updated your anti virus program lately?
If not, may I recommend that you do it now?

**************************************************************************************************
Free Virus Scans Best done with The Internet Explorer Browser.
Computer Associates, a reputable and reliable anti virus developer introduced a new free program which allows anyone to do a virus scan without downloading any software or registering for an anti virus program. You must use Internet Explorer for access to Computer Associates and to perform the scan. This is a good one and very simple to operate The address is http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/virusinfo/scan.aspx

Trend Micro, more commonly referred to as Housecall, offers free virus scans and in most cases can fix damage down by a virus or worm that your computer may have contacted. The program works well. The first time one uses the free program it is necessary to download a small program. Trend Micro walks you through the process. Then the virus scans are quite simple for each return. Go to http://housecall.antivirus.com/ then choose the link "Scan without registering". Follow the directions.

You should disable any anti virus program that you have running. If you do not have a virus program I recommend that you use one of the programs offered above first and then download and install one of the free programs listed below or install any anti virus program you have purchased.

**************************************************************************************************
Free Anti Virus programs for download.

Quite a few KCnet members use these programs and like them.
Be careful if you download a virus program and you already have one installed on your computer. You need to at least disable the program already installed.

AVG Free

Version 9.0

AVG Free Edition is the well-known antivirus protection tool. AVG Free is available free of charge to home users for the life of the product. Rapid virus database updates are available for the lifetime of the product, thereby providing the high level of detection capability that millions of users around the world trust to protect their computers. AVG Free is easy to use and will not slow your system down (low system resource requirements. Highlights include automatic update functionality, the AVG Resident Shield, which provides real-time protection as files are opened and programs are run, Link Scanner, free Virus Database Updates for the lifetime of the product, and AVG Virus Vault for safe handling of infected files.
Version 9.0 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.
http://free.avg.com/us-en/download?prd=afg#tba2

Avast
Avast has been "anti virusing" for quite awhile. The following info comes from their download page: Avast! Home is now free of charge for HOME users for NON-COMMERCIAL use. You can find more info here.
http://www.avast.com/eng/free_software.html
Note: This product is free for home non-commercial use after registration!
HINTS: Click on the English Version Link and download the installation file. Then click on the installation file and follow the directions. You will need to return to the download page and click on the link to get the registration key. It will be sent to you in an email after you provide some registration information. This will give you 14 months of coverage including any updates which can be set to auto download. You can reregister for additional free coverage at the end of the 14 months.
You will want to browse around and choose from the many options available for operation. This process will take some time and digging.

Avira
Avira Anti-Vir - claims over 30 million users worldwide, and the free Personal Edition gets good reviews. There is a paid version with anti-spyware and firewall protection as well.
http://www.free-av.com/

ClamWin
ClamWin AntiVirus - is a free open source antivirus program, which means it comes with the programming source code. ClamWin has a high detection rate for viruses and spyware, but does not include a real-time scanner. This means you have to rely on scheduled or manual scans to detect viruses. Normally I view open source software as a Good Thing, but in the case of security software, I wonder if it might help the Bad Guys exploit the defenses. Using it in conjunction with another anti-virus program might be a good strategy.
http://www.clamwin.com/

**************************************************************************************************
Free antispyware/malware programs for download.

Our KCnet Techs recommend SUPERAntiSpyware
SUPERAntiSpyware is designed to remove ALL the spyware, NOT just the easy ones!

SUPERAntiSpyware features many unique technologies including:

Quick, Complete and Custom Scanning of Hard Drives, Removable Drives, Memory, Registry, Individual Folders and More! Includes Trusting Items and Excluding Folders for complete customization of scanning!
Detect and Remove Spyware, Adware, Malware, Trojans, Dialers, Worms, KeyLoggers, HiJackers and many other types
        of threats.
Repair broken Internet Connections, Desktops, Registry Editing and more with our unique Repair System!
Real-Time Blocking of threats! Prevent potentially harmful software from installing or re-installing!*
Multi-Dimensional Scanning detects existing threats as well as threats of the future by analyzing threat characteristics in
        addition to code patterns.
First Chance Prevention examines over 50 critical points of your system each time your system starts up and shuts down
         to eliminate threats before they have a chance to infect and infiltrate your system.
Process Interrogation Technology allows threats to be detected no matter where they are hiding on your system.
System Requirements:
Windows 98, 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, Vista or Windows 2003, 300 Mhz CPU or above, 128MB memory (minimum)

Remember to choose the FREE version http://www.superantispyware.com/

Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.6.2.46 - product description
Application to scan for spyware, adware, hijackers and other malicious software.
Choose one of the sites to download from.
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html

Ad-Aware Personal provides advanced protection from known data-mining, aggressive advertising, Trojans, dialers, malware, browser hijackers, and tracking components. This software is downloadable free of charge.
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

Windows Defender is a free program that helps protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software. It features Real-Time Protection, a monitoring system that recommends actions against spyware when it's detected, and a new streamlined interface that minimizes interruptions and helps you stay productive.
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

**************************************************************************************************
Free Anti-Rootkit Program

Sophos Anti-Rootkit scans, detects and removes any rootkit that is hidden on your computer using advanced rootkit detection technology.

Rootkits can lie hidden on computers and remain undetected by anti-virus software. Although new rootkits can be prevented from infecting the system, if you had any rootkits before you installed your anti-virus, they may never be revealed.

Removing rootkits without compromising system integrity is particularly challenging and needs to be done with care.

Using Sophos Anti-Rootkit is easy. Whether you use its simple graphical user interface or run it from the command line, you can easily detect and remove any rootkits on your computer. Sophos Anti-Rootkit will support the following operating systems:

    * Windows 2000
    * Windows XP
    * Windows Vista
    * Windows 7
    * Windows Server 2003
    * Windows Server 2008
    * 64-bit platforms

Sophos Anti-Rootkit requires a minimum of 128 Mb RAM.
You need to register with Sophus before downloading. Simply click on the home version box and fill in the starred boxes. A download link will appear. https://secure.sophos.com/products/free-tools/sophos-anti-rootkit/download/

True Viruses and Warning Letters of Impending Doom.
Believe it or not, the amount of harm done by sending false computer virus alarms and letters of impending doom to your thousand closest friends can be just as damaging as the alleged virus (if it even exists!); if you remember the story of the boy who cried wolf, you understand why.
If you think you've got the scoop on the latest new devastating virus or latest doom warning, check it out at the Web sites below before taking it on yourself to alert the world. If the virus is as terrible as you think it is, odds are the virus fighters already know about it and -- good news here! -- your anti virus software provider probably knows about it too and already has an update for it.
Sophos supplies this current information about actual hoaxes. Look at them. Read about them. If you are sent one of them, delete it.

Here are a few sites of many that can help you determine if an email is a hoax or real.

http://www.snopes.com/
http://vil.nai.com/VIL/hoaxes.asp
http://kumite.com/myths/
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html
http://www.scambusters.org/VirusHoaxes.html
http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/hoaxes/
http://www.truthorfiction.com/
http://www.quatloos.com/

INTERESTING SITES:

This is the virtual wall honoring those lost during the Viet Nam war with the
names, bio's and other information on our comrades.
The Vietnam War casualties are listed by Home of Record.

The name you are looking for may not be under the city/town/state you expect.
This index is based on each casualty's Official Home of Record. The home of record may be the place the person entered military service or that person's residence at that time. The home of record may or may not be that person's birthplace or home town. If you don't find the name where you expect, please also look under nearby cities or see the index pages by last name.
First click on a state....... scroll down to the city when it opens.....
names will appear ...... click on name ...... the biography will appear,
medals earned and sometimes a picture of the person will be included.
Many have testamonials or comments from family, friends and comrads.
This site is awesome and very moving. Thanks to Tom Livingston for this site suggestion.
http://www.virtualwall.org/iStates.htm
Sample of a Viet Nam casualty's page:

Wildflowers of Tucson
This site simply blew me away! There are 330 different species of wildflowers in this collection. That means there are 330 different species of wildflowers in Tucson! Can you believe that?! Wildflowers are my absolute favorite kind. There are several ways to navigate through the flowers on this site.

You can browse them by color: Pink, Red, Orange, Yellow, Violet and White. You can also check out the Other Flowers and Other Plants sections.

You can browse them by scientific names from A to Z or by their common names from A to Z.

You can also scroll down to the bottom of the page and browse the Newest Plants, as well as, download an Arizona Plants checklist.

The flower sections are awesome no matter how you choose to browse them, because you get a picture of each flower with its common name, scientific name and the date the picture was taken under each flower.

If you click the image of the flower you want to know more about, you get another image of it, along with even more information. Information like the colors it grows in, how tall the plant is and the author’s notes, which are usually an awesome description of the plant.

If you’re headed to Tucson anytime soon, you can even check out the Where to See Wildflowers in Tucson section which gives you several places you can go to really check out the plant life there.

These are simply wonderful photos of beautiful flowers that make you feel like you are walking through a meadow of flowers from the comfort of your computer chair. Enjoy!

http://www.fireflyforest.com/flowers/

~ Amanda From WorldStart ~

Phone Arena This one from Amanda
It seems to me that almost every month there is a brand new, hot phone that comes out that you just have to have. Or at least that is the way the advertising makes it sound. I’m quite happy with the phone my mom sent me to keep in touch, but sometimes I can’t help but drool over the latest new phone with its shiny exterior and multitude of functions. It’s the geek in me!

However, with all those new phones and fancy features how are you supposed to find the phone that is right for you? Well, I suggest you check out this site. Here you’ll find phone reviews by people who have really used the phones you’re looking at and who aren’t trying to sell you on it. You can also check out side by side comparisons, editor picks, and get the latest news on phones.

Navigation is easy; you can either type in the phone you want to look at in the search engine or you can select the brand that makes it under phones on the side menu. On the side menu you’ll also find links to reviews, news, and even carriers!

If you’re thinking of purchasing a new phone be sure to check this site out first and get all the information you need before spending the money.

http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/home.php

Pick a year. Learn what happened! You can choose decades or specific years. The Timelines are fun and there are hundereds of them covering events like: U.S. History, African-American History, Significant U.S. Conflicts, Korean War (1950–1953), Cold War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War, U.S. Military Operations, Changes in the Presidency, Space Shuttle, The Supreme Court and Equal Rights, The Supreme Court and Federalis,Third Parties, U.S. Census, U.S. Flag, U.S. Voting Rights, Sept. 11, 2001: Terrorist Attacks, Asian-American History, Famous Firsts by American, Federal Gun Control Legislation Milestones, Modern Civil Rights Movement,* Tallest Building Timeline School Shootings (1996–Present, Women's Rights Movement, Key Events, etc.

Take a look at the subjects in the header above. You could be there a year. A good idea would be to bookmark/favorite this site and wait for a question.
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/timelinearchive.html

Joyofbaking.com was founded in May of 1997 as a way for me (Stephanie Jaworski) to connect with other people who love to bake. At the time I was a stay-at-home mom baking daily for my family, friends, neighbors, school functions, and any one else who enjoyed a cookie or two. My husband decided I needed an outlet for my passion and so this website began. We started small with just a few recipes and a very simple design. Over the past 11 years we have continued to grow in content and now we are fortunate to receive, on average, over 3.5 million page views per month and 6.5 million during the fall holiday season. I've been asked many times why I don't have a cookbook and the reason is that, for now, I want to focus all my resources on Joyofbaking.com.Independent Food Site Reaches Top 1500 U.S. Website Ranking

Alpharetta, GA (PRWEB) December 24, 2008
Joyofbaking.com, one of the the Internet's top independent food websites, announces it has reached a U.S. ranking of 1483. This ranking is generally occupied by large corporations, popular magazines and newspapers. According to Quantcast which does the ranking, in the 30 days prior to December 23, 2008, 1.6 million people visited the website at least once, 1.1 million from the U.S. In the same period the site served 6.5 million pages of scrumptious baking recipes and information.

I have been asked many times over the years when I will produce a cookbook and my answer is simple, I can reach far more people on the Internet then I could ever reach with a cookbook. In the last 30 days Joyofbaking.com has reached as many people as many best selling books

An exceptional site feature is the hundreds of illustrative photos of scrumptious baked goods that truly anyone with an interest in baking can make. Everything on the site is fully tested and retested to ensure success even by the novice baker. Many bakeries, restaurants and Inns around the world have used recipes from Joyofbaking.com in their business.

This site was a Kim Komando site suggestion the week of January 31, 2010.

My suggestion is... Do not venture to Joy Of Baking on an empty stomach.

BTW, the recipe web pages are printer friendly. I've printed a few for future dining and snacking. (Mike)

Joyofbaking.com

	HOME PAGE KCNET NEWSLETTER
	COMMENTARY AND CLASS SCHEDULE PAGE MIKE'S COMMENTARY, COMPUTER CLASSES AND COURSES, ADVANCED USER GROUP NOTES, SUE'S NEWS & NOTES
	FUN PAGE TRIVIA, QUOTES, CHUCKLES AND BELLY LAUGHS
	Send Mike An Email

Mike Foust is webmaster for the KCNET NEWSLETTER.
The KCNET NEWSLETTER may be updated during the month.