1. EDITOR'S CORNER
   • Anonymity on the 'Net: Is it a Good Thing?
   • Followup: Spammers and Scammers
2. HINTS, TIPS, TRICKS & TWEAKS
   • Faxing from your cell phone
   • What's Coming up in Office 12?
   • Windows Mobile 5.0: It's Here
   • Credit Bureaus Get it Together
   • Honeymoon's over, Part 2?
3. HOW TO'S: ALL THE NEW XP FEATURES
   • How to Automatically Reopen Windows When You Log On
4. WXP SECURITY: UPDATES & PATCHES
   • Securing Windows XP
5. WXP QUESTION CORNER
   • Where can I find the XP Setup music?
   • Why Does My Computer Hang During Disk Cleanup?
6. WXP CONFIGURING & TROUBLESHOOTING
   • Troubleshoot invalid CD key error message during XP setup
   • "NTLDR is missing" message when you upgrade to XP
   • Removable devices don't appear when you use the Forgotten Password Wizard
7. FAVE LINKS
   • This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff
8. PRODUCT OF THE WEEK
   • Digital Media Converter: Convert Your Video and Audio Files between All Popular Media Formats

Anonymity on the 'Net: Is it a Good Thing?

For many, the Internet is a "place" in cyberspace where they can shed their day to day to identities and be whomever or whatever they want to be. According to the old cartoon, "on the 'net, nobody knows you're a dog." And nobody knows, unless you tell them, whether you're young or old, male or female, black or white, married or unmarried. This carries with it the potential for getting jobs or making friendships without any of the preconceived prejudices that go with dealing with people in the "real" world. It also carries with it a lot of dangers and temptations.

As a technical writer, I do most of my work over the Internet. I have long term business relationships with people I've never met in person. In hiring me for a writing gig, nobody cares whether I'm a pert young pipsqueak or a dottering old lady (I'm actually somewhere in between). They're only concerned about whether I can write the articles and be relied upon to get them in on time.

My husband and I met and got to know one another online before we ever got together in person. We each found out what the other was like on the inside before dealing with physical issues. It seems to have worked pretty well, we're still together after more than a decade of marriage.

However, the anonymous aspect of Internet communications has its dark side, too. I know people who use it to escape from their own realities, who create whole new personas that they don when they go online. Some say this is a healthy outlet, but I'm not so sure. One thing I do know is that other people, who believe these imposters' stories, sometimes end up getting hurt. I've known more than one friend who thought he/she had met the love of his/her life on the 'Net, only to find out that to the other person, it was all a joke. In some cases, the "beloved" had lied about marital status, job, age, looks, even gender.

But it's not just in matters of romance that 'Net anonymity can cause problems. It also makes it easy for someone to smear another's reputation without the victim ever having a chance to face his/her accuser or even know what provoked the smear campaign. Subtle innuendos or wild accusations against public figures get circulated widely with no original source (or a false one) given. And strangers who are upset by something you say on a mailing list, on a discussion board or on your Web site can set out to systematically destroy your reputation and credibility.

This is annoying and frustrating when it happens on a personal level. When the person with a grudge decides to try to damage your career, it's absolutely infuriating. I write regular monthly articles on network security issues for a Web publication. Like many tech sites, this one solicits feedback from readers, in the form of a ranking system where each reader gives each article a rating from 1 (poorest) to 5 (best).

My articles have generally pulled in rankings between 3.5 to 5. Recently, however, I noticed that my latest article had a ranking of 1.3. Wow, I thought, I'd better go back and reread that. What had I said to deserve such a low score? Had I made some gigantic technical error? Had I worded something in such a way as to inadvertently be offensive? I couldn't find any such gaffes upon reviewing the article, but then I noticed that the low score was based on almost 200 votes. Now that was strange - the article had only been posted for a couple of days, and the usual pattern is about 20 votes of the course of 3 months or more.

I went back and started looking at my previous articles on this site - and found that almost all of them had hundreds of votes and their rankings, previously averaging around 4, had all fallen into the 1s. Then I took a look at the voting system itself. The site owners had created a mechanism designed to discourage voting more than once. The purpose, I assumed, was to keep authors from giving themselves a bunch of 5s to increase their own rankings. But as I played with the system, I discovered that the "one vote" mechanism was based on cookies. To defeat it, all you had to do was clear your browser each time and you could vote as many times as you wanted.

I looked at the articles of other authors on the site and discovered that their ranking still followed the old pattern - each article had only 20-30 votes total after being posted for several months. It seemed pretty obvious that someone had mounted a targeted effort to lower the rankings on all of my articles. Who? Why? I have no idea. The site owners saw the pattern, too, and removed the bogus ratings, but the person who did this is free to do it again, to me or someone else.

Of course, the most popular abuse of anonymity on the 'net is in the form of spam. For that reason, identity authentication solutions such as the Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and Microsoft's Sender ID have been developed. If these systems become widespread, it would be much more difficult to send e-mail anonymously - or at least, to get it through to most recipients.

Of course, it wouldn't address anonymity in chatrooms or when posting to Web sites. However, some have proposed broader based authentication systems that would assign everyone user credentials, which would be required to access the 'Net through any computer. This would eliminate the ability to get around present identification systems such as IP address tracking by using public computers in libraries, Internet cafés, etc. It's a long way from becoming reality, but if Internet users continue to abuse the 'Net's anonymity features, it will probably be a part of the Internet of the future.

Of course, this solution poses its own concerns. Will free speech be stifled if we all know that every opinion or question we post electronically can be traced back to us? Or will such accountability just deter people from saying things on the 'Net that they shouldn't have been saying in the first place? Is someone who won't sign his/her name just a coward? Or are there legitimate reasons to disguise your identity?

What do you think? Should we have a way to track and identify everyone who posts on a Web site, sends e-mail, engages in online chat or otherwise communicates over the network? Or should people have the right to hide their identities if they want to? Let us know your opinions (anonymously or not) at feedback@wxpnews.com.

Followup: Spammers and Scammers

Last week, we talked about the deteriorating "quality" of spam. Lots of you had something to say on the topic. Brian B. tells us he has 33 email accounts in addition to those in his own domains, and the spam patterns he's been seeing lately match those I described. Anne E. says she's been getting a lot of Nigerian scam spams lately. Jim tells us he's seen a marked decrease in pornographic spam and a switch to less offensive spams offering loans and college degrees. Jesus R. notes that after he deletes the spam in his mailbox, he starts getting multiple popups (we'll be researching that one).

Several of you mentioned that you're received hundreds of ads selling watches (usually Rolex). That seems to be one of the most popular ones lately. Some others said you're getting lots of "delivery notice failure" messages. These are often the result of a spammer using your email address as his/her return address. They can also indicate a virus that's been sending mail from your address without your knowledge.

And if you think you're getting a lot of spam, Greg N. tells us that he ran a report for the last 30 day period that showed his filters had blocked 216,000 pieces of spam. And he brings up a good point: even though those spams never make it to users' mailboxes, they do more harm than just the cost of buying filtering software. In addition to using bandwidth and slowing down the network, a huge volume of spam like this overloads the server on which the filtering software is installed, making it necessary to upgrade the hardware (RAM, processor) just to keep up with the load.

Protecting your family against the Internet Nasties becomes more and more important. The publisher of this newsletter would like your input regarding a suite of software security products that help protect families while connected to the Internet. This software suite will include internet monitoring and filtering, and protection against spyware and spam. Could you take 30 seconds and answer this online survey? Thanks a bundle in advance!
http://www.wxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=050927ED-Product_Survey

Quote of the Week:
He who laughs, lasts. -- Mary Pettibone Poole

Faxing from your cell phone

Last week, reader Larry said he hadn't been able to figure out how to send faxes via a cell phone/modem connection. Several of our readers wrote to suggest that he use eFax or Send2fax. It was my understanding that he wanted to be able to send from fax software on his computer rather than via a Web-based service, but that's certainly one alternative. Niels R. tells us that he uses WinFax with a cell phone and it works fine. It's also possible to send a fax directly from your cell phone with a data account, if you have the right phone and your account is configured for it. For a discussion of sending a fax via a T-Mobile account, see:
http://www.wxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=050927TI-Cell_Faxing

What's Coming up in Office 12?

There's been a lot of focus on the upcoming release of the new version of Windows (Vista) next year. But something else that will affect a lot of us in 2006 is the release of a new version of Microsoft Office. Office 12 is expected to bring some of the most dramatic changes in a long time to old familiar friends like Word, Excel and PowerPoint. At the heart of the new interface is a list of familiar commands that appears in a "ribbon" and is task dependent (different options are displayed depending on what you're doing). Getting used to the new look may taking some doing, especially for longtime Office users, but we're looking forward to an Office that's easier to use and provides better performance. Read more about it here:
http://www.wxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=050927TI-Office_12

Windows Mobile 5.0: It's Here

The first phone running the new version of Windows Mobile is being offered by Sprint. If you're in the market for a new Pocket PC phone, you might want to check this one out. It has just about everything: slide-out QWERTY keyboard (that slides to the side instead of the bottom like other PPC phones), WiFi, Bluetooth, EV-DO, even a 1.3 megapixel camera. You can read more about it here:
http://www.wxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=050927TI-Windows_Mobile

Credit Bureaus Get it Together

Last week, the big three credit reporting bureaus (Equifax, Experian and Transunion) announced that they are going to standardize on an encryption technology in an effort to protect consumers' financial information. The question now is whether this will actually make the data more secure, or make it easier for hackers since they'll only have to crack a single encryption standard. Read more about the decision here:
http://www.wxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=050927TI-Credit_Bureaus

Honeymoon's over, Part 2?

How to Automatically Reopen Windows When You Log On

By default, when you log off Windows, the programs and documents that you had open are closed and they don't reopen when you log back on. Did you know you can change this behavior? Here's how:

1. Click Start | Control Panel | Appearances and Themes | Folder Options (in Control Panel default XP view) or right click Start, click Explore, then click the Tools menu and the Folder Options selection.
2. Click the View tab.
3. Scroll down in the Advanced Settings list and check the box that says "Restore previous folder windows at logon."
4. Click OK.

Securing Windows XP

Where can I find the XP Setup music?

QUESTION:
This might seem like a silly question, but I like the music that plays when you're installing Windows XP. Where can I find it? Thanks. - Cory C.

ANSWER:
You'll find the song in WMA format in the following folder, on the drive to which you installed XP: WINDOWS\System32\oobe\Images. The file is called title.wma. In that same folder, you'll find the animated intro (intro.wmv) and other sounds and graphics used during Setup. By the way, "oobe" stands for "Out Of Box Experience."

Why Does My Computer Hang During Disk Cleanup?

QUESTION:
I have been experiencing problems w/ my disk clean up and hoping you may have an answer/solution. Why does the Disk Cleanup tool in Windows XP hang when I try to start it? I have literally 'let it go' for hours, and only see 4-5 of the blue bars on the screen. it can't complete the process. - Ursula

ANSWER:
There are several possible causes for this. One is a fragmented disk. Be sure you run the defrag utility (Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk Defragmenter) before starting a cleanup. Another possible solution is to empty your Temp files folder. If Disk Cleanup is hanging during the compression process when you've selected to compress old files, you may be able to fix the problem with this registry edit:

• Open your favorite registry editor.
• Navigate to the following key:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches.
• Right click the folder labeled Compress Old Files and delete it.
• Close the registry editor.

Troubleshoot invalid CD key error message during XP setup

You're trying to install or reinstall Windows XP, but when you enter your product key, you get a message that says "The CD key which you entered is invalid. Please try again." Yet you know you're using the right key and you know you have a legitimate copy of Windows. What's up with that? Well, there are a number of reasons this could have happened, including a damaged CD, installing Windows XP SP1 or SP2 to a second partition on the disk, or it could even be the fault of your anti-virus software. To find out how to pinpoint the problem and how to resolve it, see KB articdle 310637 at:
http://www.wxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=050927CO-KB_310637

"NTLDR is missing" message when you upgrade to XP

If you upgrade your computer from Windows 95, 98 or Me to Windows XP, you might get an error message the first time you reboot that says "NTLDR is missing. Press any key to restart." NTLDR is one of the system files that's required to start Windows. This happens when you have a startup partition that's formatted in FAT32 and the previous version of Windows that you're upgrading was cloned. To find out how to fix this problem, see KB article 314057 at:
http://www.wxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=050927CO-KB_314057

Removable devices don't appear when you use the Forgotten Password Wizard

This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff

• Reduce stress with soothing sounds from nature
  http://www.wxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=050927FA-Get_Relaxed
• Are you superstitious?
  http://www.wxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=050927FA-Superstitions
• Where does your money go?
  http://www.wxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=050927FA-Money
• Tease your brain
  http://www.wxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=050927FA-Brain_Vista
• Neverending survey
  http://www.wxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=050927FA-Survey
• Are you a caffeine addict?
  http://www.wxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=050927FA-Caffeine

Digital Media Converter: Convert Your Video and Audio Files between All Popular Media Formats

Our featured product of the week is real digital maestro --- or diva. Digital Media Converter makes it easy for you to convert your video files to DVD or VCD format. Now you can easily organize and batch convert all your video and audio files and between most of the commonly used media file formats. Digital Media Converter can also automatically search folders for video and audio files and convert them. You can even split the audio from the video and save the just the audio tracks. Digital Media Converter uses the Microsoft DirectShow technology and can therefore convert faster than other conventional products. Download your free evaluation version here.

INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND FREEDOM FROM INFRINGEMENT.