Dennis Faas

Over the last 2 weeks, Microsoft has issued a number of patches related to exploits recently discovered in Internet Explorer. Today, I received 2 additional notifications: one of them listed as critical and, if not applied immediately, may allow ... "remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a malicious website or JOB file." (Source: cve.mitre.org ) Yikes! This section of the Gazette is normally dedicated to answering questions I receive from Readers between the time that newsletters are sent out; however, this time, I feel it is imperative to inform Readers of the importance of ... (view more)

With the summer holiday season in full swing, many of us are snapping photos with our digital cameras to remember those special moments. Unfortunately, most software packages that come standard with our beloved cameras make it difficult to organize ... photos into meaningful presentations, let alone share them with friends and family. Introducing InAlbum: a feature-packed photo organizer InAlbum is an easy-to-use picture organizer that turns ordinairy digital photos into stunning theme-based photo albums, chalk-full of animations, clipart, and sound. Presentations can be shared online the web, ... (view more)

Recall -- Last newsletter, Infopackets Reader Frank C. asked if there was a way to make a web page 'fit' properly on a page when printed: " I enjoy reading your newsletter very much. Whenever I find a particularly interesting topic, I like to make a ... hardcopy for later reference. Unfortunately, some of the information on the web page gets cut off when my printer goes to print the page (this also happens to me with other web sites). Is there a way I get around this problem? " I suggested 2 methods using Internet Explorer (adjusting margins and printing in Portrait mode, or try ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Tom' asks: " Somewhere, someone told me about a website that allowed users to download a windows 98 Second Edition full CD that included all the critical updates. I also heard that you needed to use the original CD key to use ... this install. Do you happen to know if this is true, and if so, what is the web site? " My response: As far as I understand, it would be illegal to distribute any Microsoft product that is normally for sale (I.E.: the Windows Operating System itself -- Service Packs , on the other hand, are free). On that note, I happened to stumble across ... (view more)

Have you ever wanted to print a web page, only to find out that part of the page is cut off at the right margin? Infopackets Reader Frank C. writes: " Dear Dennis, I enjoy reading your newsletter very much. Whenever I find a particularly interesting ... topic, I like to make a hardcopy for later reference. Unfortunately, some of the information on the web page gets cut off when my printer goes to print the page (this also happens to me with other web sites). Is there a way I get around this problem?" My response: There are 2 options I can think of off the top of my head (using Internet ... (view more)

Last Friday's article touched upon the importance of backing up an entire computer system (including Windows itself). As you may recall, disk imaging is mentioned frequently in this newsletter, as it is an important part of 'disaster recovery' ... planning. Over the weekend, I received a number of comments and questions from Readers: many of which referenced the fundamentals of disk imaging. Since the questions were similar in nature -- and because disk imaging is such an essential topic -- I have decided to repost an article which illustrates the basics of disk imaging versus 'regular file ... (view more)

Recall -- A few weeks back, I announced that I would be making major changes to the infopackets web site. Since making that announcement, I have rewritten the newsletter delivery program to optimize distribution and to collect statistical ... information as the newsletter is delivered. The information gathered now allows me to see which newsletter emails are being accepted, rejected, or failed during delivery. The information collected can also be used to prune the subscriber base by identifying email addresses that continually bounce. Side note: Optimizing the newsletter delivery program is of ... (view more)

What would you do if your hard drive crashed and the data it contained was not recoverable? Worse yet -- what would you do if the software you used to backup your drive refused to work unless you paid the company for another license? Yesterday, ... Pippie1969 sent me the following email: " ... [Continuing on with your discussion on PC Security ], I thought I would share with you the following story. A little while back, I purchased 2 identical 120 gigabyte Western Digital (WD) hard drives. In April, one of the drive's crashed (totally), and I was not able to recover *any* of the data on the ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Vicki S. writes: " I've been reading up on next major release from Microsoft (Windows XP Service Pack 2). From what I understand -- and, as with all Service Pack releases -- there are major security issues addressed in the ... upcoming release. I'm a bit confused: I understand the Service Pack 2 is not due to be released for a while yet, however, Microsoft is offering 'Release Candidate 2' [RC2] of Service Pack 2. My question is, do you think RC2 will work for me? I have Windows XP home edition, a cable modem, and Norton Internet Security 2004, not to mention all the other ... (view more)