Thank you for sharing your experience with both myself and the rest of
the group. Sometimes the old of adage of "If it ain't broke, don't fix
it" works very well, as it has to this point for you. If you're looking
to get Office out of the way sometime in the future, take a look at
Openoffice and its recent derivative, LibreOffice. They boh read and
write in Office 2003 format as well as the OpenDocument (ODF) format
that is taking hold in the open source community. Both are also able to
read Office 2007, but not write it, sorta. M$ is particularly reluctant
to allow open access to document formats from the current Office suites.
Linux with WINE to support any legacy Win32 programs would be another
effective solution to being hogtied by Gates and company. Just be
prepared for the learning curve with either option. Linux can look and
feel similar to Windows to a point, so long as you don't use the command
line. Small note: Windows Is Not an Emulator, WINE for short, is a way
to trick Windows programs into thinking they're running on the right
operating system instead of Linux, much like how newer Windows can trick
programs made for older Windows and DOS into working properly. In both
cases, games have the worst luck. Not a tremendous problem for some out
there, however. If anything else crops up, feel free to ask the group
for more help. Best wishes for safe computing. P.S.: Good call on
Firefox. It has saved my bacon more than once. :)

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Getting Rid of Viruses
From: computer9f <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, October 05, 2010 5:47 pm
To: [log in to unmask]

Thank you. I ought to be alright then. 

Yup, you are right, Kenneth, WGA lets MS do very bad things to your PC.
If it thinks you might have a pirated copy it is able to disable your
OS, delete files, etc. - and of course MS never makes a mistake, and
they are so easy to get ahold of to correct such a problem. I let WGA
run once when I downloaded a few hot fixes and patches that I wanted to
keep and install myself, after which I did a system partition restore
back to a time before I downloaded WGA. As I said, I don't allow
Microsoft to do unsupervised "updates" to my PC (I purchased a Retail
Version of XP SP2 so I could reload my OS if I needed to - and I have my
own copies of the patches and hotfixes that I want on my machine in that
case). 

I have Windows Error Reporting disabled completely in Services, as well
as services that allow remote access. SP3 does add "spyware" and
"controlware" to XP, not the least of which is NAP, which, whatever
vendors claim it will or will not be used for, puts the technology in
place for serious tampering with personal computers (euphemistically
described as "bringing a PC into compliance"). SP3 doesn't expose one to
nearly as much as Vista/Win7, but it's as much as MS could do with the
XP OS. 

I had one bad experience with WinLiveID where MS tried to cripple the
old version of MSMoney (2004) I was using - thank goodness I could
restore a prior image of my system partition to a time before I tangled
with "Live," and get everything back to the way it was before. Perhaps
I'm a dinosaur, but I like what I have, it does what I want, and I never
get viruses, trojans, malware, or other invasions (including from MS). I
don't even get spam in my email. I use a temporary, throw-a-way web
address for anything new, with the site name in the email address, so if
that site never spams (or "shares") the temp address, then I can send
them one of my real addresses.

I know Internet Explorer has always been a risk and other MSOffice apps
contain risks also, even if you don't actually use them, but what can
you do? -that's MS for you. I don't run I.E. and have it set on maximum
security (so it practically won't run anyway) along with my firewall set
to warn me if I.E attempts to run. It should never have been allowed to
be part of the OS - that was an attempt to bankrupt Netscape. So glad to
have Firefox. I think MSOffice is my only real exposure. I do run MSWord
2003 (the only part I installed), but after a week or so, I restore an
image preceeding that use, catch up any important changes I've made
(from my online computer diary) during that time, and make a new image,
thus negating any Word activity on the system partition. It's a pain,
but I'll probably use it until I find another decent word processor -
and I'll use XP as long as it functions okay for me, but I do see Linux
in my future. I have programmed on Unix using a form of Linux, so it
shouldn't be too much of a culture shock for me. I am, in fact, nervous
using Word2003, since it does "phone home" every time it runs - and I
wouldn't run it at all if I couldn't restore an earlier image of my C
partition afterward. The older versions of Office don't "phone home" - I
should probably go back to Word2000 until I find another WP that I like.
Is there anything else I may have overlooked? --AnnaSummers


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Kenneth Whyman SC 
To: [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Monday, October 04, 2010 12:22 AM
Subject: Re: Getting Rid of Viruses


The access I speak of is Windowes Genuine Authentication, WGA for short.
It is how Microsoft verifies that you are using a genuine copy of
Windows and conforming to the license agreement. WGA would allow
Microsoft to disable your Windows if you are using a pirate copy or
using your license key on more than the number of systems it is
authorized for. The Windows Update utility uses WGA constantly to
determine your elegibility for security patches and other upgrades.
Windows Error Reporting is another way Microsoft can look at your
system, for the purpose of helping you fix problems, or to let Microsoft
gather info for making security patches and the like. Internet Explorer
is exposed to attack as it is a part of the operating system, even if
you're not using it to actively browse the Internet. Service Pack 3 to
my knowledge has no extra features over Service Pack 2 to allow
Microsoft to spy on you beyond what I have outlined. Windows Live is a
set of programs that are separate from Service Packs, and that is
another story altogether. There is a place in each Live application to
opt out of monitoring that is designed much like Windows Error Reporting
to phone home when the program experiences an error condition. That is
all the monitoring I am aware of in the Microsoft operating system and
application suites.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Getting Rid of Viruses
From: computer9f <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sun, October 03, 2010 3:30 pm
To: [log in to unmask]

Hi Kenneth,

How is it that Microsoft has access to my OS with XP SP2? (assuming of
course, that I run NO Microsoft "Live" applications or use a "winliveid"
(or something like that) for anything)
I have disabled any services I don't want, including the ones that make
possible any kind of "remote access." I have disabled any ports that I
don't use. My firewall is set up to not let Microsoft apps access my PC
without asking me first. I don't use I.E.. I have downloaded and
manually installed any patches or hotfixes that I wanted on my PC - I've
never let Microsoft just "update" or "install" anything on my PC. Are
you saying I'm still vulnerable to Microsoft invading my PC without my
permission? I know they built in ways to violate my PC in SP3 and with
WinLiveID & other "Live" (cloud) apps, but I thought I was safe. How can
MS access my OS, given the above? I hope this isn't so.

Thanks,
AnnaSummers

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Kenneth Whyman SC 
To: [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2010 8:26 PM
Subject: Re: Getting Rid of Viruses


I will respectfully disagree with your advice to stop with Windows XP
SP2. That is a highly insecure operating system. Windows XP SP3 is a
much more secure operating system, and the only way with XP to get any
kind of support or security updates beyond making the jump to Windows 7.
I will recommend bypassing Vista altogether as a very unstable and
unworthy Windows operating system, below even Windows 9x Millennium
Edition on my list of things to avoid. Microsoft already has access to
your OS with XP SP2, so SP3 is not going to change that. Beyond that
little bit, the rest of your post is sound advice.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Getting Rid of Viruses
From: computer9f <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, September 30, 2010 3:35 pm
To: [log in to unmask]

You got McAfee on your PC because McAfee paid Dell to put it on your
hard drive (without asking you if you wanted your hard drive space used
up that way) and it is improbable that you could ever get out all the
pieces of it out of your registry, even if you uninstall it.

I preface this by saying that I use XP SP2 and Outlook Express and have
no plans to go any further with Microsoft. When XP SP2 won't do what I
need, I'm moving to Linux. I'm not willing to give Microsoft carte
blanche access to my PC, which is what I would have to do for SP3 or for
Vista or Windows7. So everything below applies to XP - whether it
applies to later MS systems, I have no idea.

I have used Avast Anti-Virus, Zone Alarm Firewall, Spywareblaster
spyware/adware guard for many years with never a problem. All are free,
but if you want auto-updating with Spywareblaster it is $9.99 per YEAR
(and well worth it IMO). You must be sure all the Windows "security"
stuff is disabled. I know these are better than MS offerings and the
not-free (Symantec, McAfee, etc). I've never had a virus or trojan or
malware in the last 10 years (or spy/ad ware after installing
Spywareblaster). I used to run AdAware and SpyBot, but eventually
stopped because, since I started running Spywareblaster, they never
found anything. I do also use a router with a hardware firewall.

The best insurance you can have is a simple backup COPY (not a
proprietary backup file that requires particular software to
read/restore) of your documents/email store and an image-file creator,
such as Acronis True Image for your C: drive: system, registry, &
installed programs. You really need two partitioned hard drives to do
this effectively (internal hard drives are now pretty cheap and quite
easy to install). 

Drive 1 - C:\ system/registry and installed programs
D:\ My Documents (all of your files, including email "store" - there is
a way to 
move these to a different partition & still maintain MyDocument
pointers)
Many applications allow you to redirect their data to a different
folder.
G:\ Pagefile (fixed size to fit into partition with a bit to spare)

Drive 2 - E:\ backup COPY of partition D: (Second Copy Backup will
maintain this easily)
F:\ image files of partition C: (Acronis True Image)

With this, there is pretty much nothing you cannot recover from except a
lightning strike - and even that if you copy partitions E:\ and F:\ to
an external drive occasionally. Even a hard drive crash won't hurt your
data, because you have a redundant copy of everything on your second
hard drive. Using this system, you would of course, turn off System
Restore on all drives, as it would be unnecessary. You could restore
your system (registry/programs) to any earlier date for which you saved
an image file (even to the very beginning of a new computer) without
affecting your data at all (including email store).

And of course, good sense. Don't ask a site to "Remember Me" unless it
is innocuous information with security like "useridme" and
"password4me"; don't visit questionable sites; use Firefox instead of
Internet Explorer; if you keep sensitive information on your PC, then
zip it into AES encrypted files with something like WinZip or SecureZip
(then you don't have to encrypt your backups). Roboform is a great
password / form filler if your master password is good.

AnnaSummers

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