Workers' Edge

Web ads aren't just annoying, they can also be the source of a malware infection that attempts to steal your identity. In her September 15, 2009 InSecurity Complex blog, Elinor Mills describes how ads are being used by criminals to trick people into buying fake antivirus software, among other nefarious purposes.

Technology to block the ads that appear on Web pages has been around for almost as long as the ads themselves. No doubt someone will point out the irony of a blog that relies on ads for its livelihood explaining how to prevent them from appearing. For better or worse, few people will actually take the time to use an ad blocker when they browse. I don't think online advertisers are losing much sleep over the technology—yet.

Skip the ads when viewing pages in Firefox
One of the most popular Firefox add-ons is Adblock Plus, which puts an "ABP" icon on the far right of the main menu. Click it (or press Ctrl-Shift-V) to view the blockable items on the current page. Choose the down arrow next to the icon to open the program's Preferences dialog, disable ads on the page or site, or select other options.

Click the Adblock Plus icon to view blockable items on the current page.

(Credit: Wladimir Palant)

Hovering over the Adblock Plus icon shows the add-on's status and the number of blocked and blockable items on the current page. You can also open the program's Preferences dialog by clicking Tools > Adblock Plus Preferences. There you can subscribe to an ad filter, import and export blocklists, view and reset your "hit" list, and change your view. Another option lets you remove the block tabs that appear by default on Flash and Java items.

Block ads in Internet Explorer
Back in January 2008, I called the free IE7Pro "(t)he only Internet Explorer 7 add-on you'll ever need." Well, the name's the same, but the program now works with IE 8 as well. Blocking ads in IE is as easy as downloading and installing IE7Pro, clicking Tools > IE7Pro Preferences, and checking Ad Blocker on the main Modules tab. The program blocks Flash, Java, pop-ups, pop-unders, and other types of Web ads.

Activate ad blocking in Internet Explorer by choosing the Ad Blocker option in IE7Pro's Preferences dialog.

(Credit: IE7Pro Team)

To put a finer point on your IE ad blocking, select the AD Blocker option on the left side of the Preferences window. There you can enable the program's Flash blocker, which is off by default. You can also make changes to the IE7Pro filters, but you can't import or export filters as easily as you can using Firefox's Adblock Plus.

Use a proxy to squash ads in Chrome
It isn't surprising that Google decided not to include an ad blocker in its Chrome browser. After all, the company makes quite a bit of money from serving up those ads, so helping people to block them would be self-defeating. I found a couple of ad-blocking extensions for Chrome, but after taking a look at them, I just didn't trust them.

In one case, the home page of the extension's provider was crowded with ads itself. And another Chrome ad blocker I looked at had an unfinished appearance. The best solution I could find for blocking ads in Chrome is the Privoxy Web proxy, which is available on Source Forge. Configuring the add-on is a challenge, but a post on the GeekZone tech community boils it down nicely to seven steps.

Block ads in Opera, no add-ons required
The best way I found to block ads in the Opera browser is to use the program's built-in content blocker. To activate it, right-click anywhere on the page and choose Block Content. Only the blockable content on the page will be highlighted, and a toolbar appears at the top of the page. Choose an item to block it, and then click Done on the toolbar to reload the page minus the elements you selected.

To unblock an item, just reopen the Block Content toolbar and click the "Blocked Image" indicator. You can also view the URLs of all blocked items on a page, edit the entries, and add or delete items. There's no option to import or export a list of blocked URLs, however.

Bonus tip: Block ads and malicious sites via the free OpenDNS proxy service
Perhaps the greatest security resource on the Web is the free OpenDNS proxy service, which sends all your Internet traffic through a well-maintained set of filters to screen out ads as well as sites known to host malicious content. You can use the OpenDNS service to block gambling, adult, and other specific types of sites. For instructions on using OpenDNS, see Becky Waring's article "Use OpenDNS to surf safely with these tricks" on the Windows Secrets site.

Adobe Systems' Portable Document Format (PDF) is one of the great successes of the software industry. PDF has been the de facto standard for document exchange since the mid-1990s, but it wasn't an official ISO standard until 2008.

Unfortunately, the ubiquity of Adobe Reader and other PDF software has made the format a target for malware perpetrators. Along with Sun's Java, Adobe's Flash Player, and Apple's QuickTime media players, it's imperative that you keep your PDF reader up-to-date to prevent it from becoming an entryway for viruses. (I wrote about the importance of keeping your apps updated in a post from last April.)

So when I heard last week about an important security update for Adobe Reader 9, I hurried to the Adobe site to download the new version 9.2. But the 45MB download included a separate program: Acrobat.com with Adobe AIR. This is a Web service for sharing and collaborating on documents. It was formerly called Create Adobe PDF Online.

Update, October 27, 2009: The Adobe site is now offering the Adobe Reader 9.2 upgrade without the Acrobat.com with Adobe AIR component. Thanks to CNET member baddy_3- for pointing this out.

I hadn't signed up for Acrobat.com—registration is required to use the service—I just wanted the Adobe Reader update. I couldn't find it offered on Adobe's site minus the Acrobat.com add-on I didn't want. I contacted Adobe to ask them about this. Adobe spokesperson John Cristofano told me the following via e-mail:

"(I)f a user downloads the full installer of Adobe Reader 9.2 (Windows or Macintosh in English) from the 'Get Adobe Reader' page on Adobe.com, the Acrobat.com on Adobe AIR application will be included. If a user already has a previous version of Adobe Reader 9.x installed on his/her system and the Adobe Updater delivers that person the version 9.2 update (the latest dot release update to their existing product), Acrobat.com on Adobe AIR is not included."

I didn't recall installing Acrobat.com with AIR on my system, but I can't verify that it wasn't installed prior to the update to version 9.2, either. The machine's only six months old, though, and I hadn't signed up for the Acrobat.com service, so I certainly had never used Acrobat.com with AIR if it were on this PC.

In any event, I wasn't inclined to wait for Adobe Reader's auto-update component to fetch and install the latest security patch without Acrobat.com, nor would I recommend that other Adobe Reader 9.x users wait to update their version. And if you updated the program manually from Adobe's download site, you got Acrobat.com with AIR, whether you wanted it or not.

Downloading Adobe Reader 9.2 from the Adobe site requires that you also install Acrobat.com with Adobe AIR.

(Credit: Adobe Systems)

You're also offered a free McAfee Security Scan, but at least you can uncheck that option to do without the scan. (If you're still using Adobe Reader 7 or 8, you can update to versions 7.1.4 and 8.1.7, respectively, without having to install any other programs.)

I could've saved myself a lot of time and trouble if I had just stuck with Foxit Reader, the free PDF reader from Foxit Software. I used Foxit Reader exclusively on my old laptop, but for some reason I switched back to Adobe Reader when I bought my new machine last spring. Foxit Reader has a lot of fans, but it's far from the only free Adobe Reader alternative.

Tracker Software Products' PDF-XChange Viewer does a good job of matching Adobe Reader's features and interface while—like Foxit Reader—taking up much less disk space (though at 15MB, PDF-XChange Viewer is almost three times as large as Foxit Reader).

If small is what you're after, try the open-source Sumatra PDF Viewer, which at just over 1MB is downright lilliputian, compared to the competition. The program may lack some of the polish of its larger brethren, but it might be all the PDF reader you need.

An even-smaller free PDF reader is PDF2EXE Software's CoolPDF Reader, which weighs in at a modest 900KB. You'll find capsule reviews of these and one other free PDF reader at the Tech Support Alert site.

By the way, if you're looking for a free way to create PDFs, I described one in a post from March 2008: Acro Software's CutePDF Writer. Coincidentally, that post also included information about the free trial of Create Adobe PDF Online, which has since become Acrobat.com. Talk about going full circle!

Browsing the Web has become like walking down a carnival sideshow. Everywhere you turn, you're bombarded with come-ons. You know there's a catch to each and every pitch because these barkers are pros at separating you from your money.

The people offering free software and Web services appear to be taking lessons from retired carnies. Their offers are too good to be true—literally. Most of these folks are in business, after all, so they have to make money somehow.

And as they say, the most successful cons are the ones where the victim doesn't even know he or she has been conned at all.

Of course, the purveyors of these "free" services assert that there's nothing underhanded about their method of doing business. Many are up-front about their business model, whether it involves placing ads in their products and services, downloading unrelated browser toolbars along with their updates, charging only organizations who use the software while letting individuals have it for free, or offering only dumbed-down versions of the programs for free and requiring payment for access to all the products' features.

Still, sifting through the "free" claims to find the true price you pay for such products can be daunting. Anyone who has used the Internet for any length of time knows it pays to be skeptical. While there are hundreds—perhaps thousands—of truly free programs and services available on the Web, finding the best of them isn't always easy. And clicking the wrong free-download link can be downright dangerous.

One way to determine whether a program is really free is its use of the Free Software Foundation's GNU General Public License (GPL). The GNU GPL stipulates that the software can be used, copied, and distributed verbatim without limitation, though it cannot be changed. While you can usually get the source code of programs that adhere to the GNU GPL, the license differs somewhat from open-source software.

The Open Source Initiative defines 10 criteria that programs must follow to be considered "open source." Among these are that the software can be redistributed—whether sold or given away—without limitation, and that the source code be distributable as well. Such programs must also allow "modifications and derived works" that can be distributed under the same terms.

SourceForge provides the most comprehensive collection of open-source software for Windows, Linux, and other operating systems. The programs listed on the site are often poorly documented and may be labeled as "projects," so you may not want to pin your business's success on one of them.

In fact, you'll often find more complete reviews of the programs listed on SourceForge by searching for them on Download.com. For example, here's the SourceForge entry for the KeePass Password Safe password-management freeware, and the product's entry on Download.com.

Whose bandwidth is it, anyway?
My biggest beef with software vendors—whether they charge for their products or not—is their cavalier attitude toward our system resources. Microsoft ties up our PCs every second Tuesday of the month with multimegabyte Windows updates. But a more recent example is Apple's latest iTunes and QuickTime update, which comes in at a whopping 101.2MB download. Apple, Microsoft, and other software vendors repeatedly expect me to put my workday on hold and turn my system over to their monster updates.

Apple's iTunes + QuickTime updater wants to download more than 100MB of patches in the middle of my workday.

(Credit: Apple)

Many antivirus and other security programs let you use them for free but request a donation—sometimes repeatedly. For example, InformAction's popular NoScript add-on for Firefox opens a page after each update that solicits donations.

Other times, the vendor offers a free version of their commercial products, but finding it on the company's site becomes a game of Where's Waldo? If you're looking for AVG Free, you'll find it much faster on Download.com than you would on AVG Technologies' site.

Perhaps the greatest danger when looking for free software is becoming a victim of rogue security programs. This form of malware tricks you into downloading it by promising free protection, and then it claims to have found viruses that aren't actually there. The software holds your system for ransom, requiring that you pay to "remove" the infection that the program itself created.

The best way to avoid such traps is to restrict your software downloads to sites such as Download.com that scan all the files they host for malware prior to offering them for download. Better yet, think twice or even three times before installing any program. Every piece of software you load on your PC comes at a price, even if it's just the time, effort, and bandwidth required to keep it up-to-date so it doesn't become a security weak point.

Outlook, Thunderbird, and Yahoo Mail put Gmail and Hotmail to shame in one important area: handling attachments. Moving e-mail-attached files to a folder on your PC is a breeze in Outlook, Thunderbird, and Yahoo Mail. Doing the same in Gmail and Hotmail? Forget it!

Freeware strips e-mail attachments in a few clicks
Back in June 2008, I wrote about Kopf Outlook Attachment Remover donationware, which lets you save some or all of the files attached to Outlook messages to your PC or network. The program adds a button to Outlook's menu that opens a single dialog box showing your attachment-removal options.

Kopf Outlook Attachment Remover's single dialog lets you save attachments to a folder outside Outlook.

(Credit: Kopf)

The attachments can be removed from the message or simply copied to a separate folder. You can detach specific types of files, remove files larger than a size you choose, and save images embedded in the body of messages. Other options let you overwrite or rename duplicate files, reproduce subfolders in the target folder, and even return the files you remove to the e-mails they were originally attached to.

You get many of the same options in Mozilla's Thunderbird e-mail program via the AttachmentExtractor donationware. After you download and install the add-on and restart Thunderbird, an AE Extract button is added to Thunderbird's toolbar and an AttachmentExtractor option is added to the program's Tools menu.

Selecting either option opens the add-on's settings, which let you select the target folder, save attachments of certain types or with specific attributes, and auto-extract all attachments or only those meeting specific criteria. You can also delete some or all of the attachments, mark the messages as read, and delete the messages automatically.

The AttachmentExtractor add-on for Mozilla Thunderbird provides several options for handling e-mail attachments.

(Credit: AttachmentExtractor)

Download attachments in Yahoo Mail
It's no secret that Webmail services can't match the features of their desktop counterparts, but when it comes to attachments, Yahoo Mail can teach Gmail and Hotmail a thing or two. While Gmail and Hotmail make it easy to find messages with specific types of attachments via search operators, downloading them once you've found them is another matter.

By comparison, zipping and downloading the files attached to your Yahoo Mail messages takes only a couple of clicks. In Yahoo Mail's Classic interface, click My Attachments in the left pane, select those you want to save, or click Check All to choose them all. Then click the Save to Computer button and choose Zip & Download Files button.

Yahoo Mail's attachment-extraction option makes it easy to save e-mail attachments to your PC.

(Credit: Yahoo)

All the attachments are saved in a single zipped file to your browser's default file-download location. You don't get the many options provided in Outlook Attachment Remover or Thunderbird's AttachmentExtractor add-on, but at least the files are backed up and available on your PC or removable medium. I still haven't figured out how to accomplish the same feat with the attachments in Gmail and Hotmail.

Gmail and Hotmail do let you search for all attachments, and in Gmail you can find files by name or extension. To find all messages with attachments, enter has:attachment in the search box of either Gmail or Hotmail and press Enter. Gmail lets you add filename:*.doc, for example, to find only messages to which a Word .doc file is attached. You'll find a complete list of Gmail search operators on the service's help site.

Unfortunately, once you find the attachments in Gmail and Hotmail, there's not much you can do with them except open them one at a time and forward them to a POP or IMAP account. Then you can detach or otherwise process the attachments using one of the free add-ons described above.

You can also set Gmail to automatically forward messages to a POP or IMAP account. (In Hotmail you can forward automatically only to another Microsoft mail service.) I described how to forward mail from Gmail to Outlook and Thunderbird in a post from December 2007.

This won't help you detach the files already received by your Gmail account because there's no way to forward messages in bulk from Gmail. I realize that such a capability would be a spammer's dream come true, but a feature that lets you detach in bulk the files attached to Gmail messages would be nice.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Friday, October 9, that the H1N1 virus was widespread in 37 states. Fortunately, vaccines are on their way, and seasonal flu shots are currently available (the map on the Flu.gov site helps you find a vaccination center near you).

The best way to avoid bringing the flu bug home with you from the office is to stay out of the office. If you have the flu, do yourself and your coworkers a favor: stay home and rest! Not sure if you have the flu? Check the CDC site for a list and description of the symptoms of both H1N1 and seasonal flu. You'll also find information on the CDC site for taking care of people with the flu, prevention for people at high risk, and travel updates.

One of the best ways to track the flu's spread is via Google Flu Trends, an interactive map that indicates the frequency of flu-related search terms in various countries.

The Google Flu Trends map tracks flu-related searches by country.

(Credit: Google)

Additional information on flu trends is available for the U.S. and several other countries. For the U.S., you can compare yearly flu trends and view data for each state.

For several countries, Google provides more annual and regional flu data.

(Credit: Google)

Link to your office PC for free
In many work situations, there's no substitute for being face to face. But every year it gets easier to get your office work done from outside the office. One way to do so is via Windows' Remote Desktop Connection component, which lets you link to a PC that's on an office network, but only if the machine's running XP Professional or Vista/Windows 7 Professional, Business, or Ultimate.

... Read more

It has become conventional wisdom in the PC industry that periodically reinstalling Windows can restore an old PC's youthful vigor. Unfortunately, the process has become a challenge—and a real time-sink, to boot. Better to create a disc image of your hard drive when everything's working well and restore that image when things turn sour.

Recently, my nearly new laptop PC froze in the middle of Windows loading. After a forced shutdown, Vista repaired itself and reverted to a saved restore point. Things were back to normal in no time, but the event reminded me that I hadn't yet created a disc image of the hard drive's active partition.

Doing so doesn't cost home users anything other than the price of a few blank DVDs or some other removable medium. Paramount Software's Macrium Reflect disk-imaging software is free for personal use, though businesses, schools, and charities are asked to pay $39.99 for the full version (30-day trial available).

After you install the program, you're prompted to create a backup, including an XML Backup Definition File to facilitate restoring the backup from your desktop. You can also create a rescue CD (or DVD) that uses either Linux or the BartPE boot routines. Linux is the default selection and the one recommended for all but Windows XP and Server 2003 systems.

Macrium Reflect prompts you to create a disc backup after it installs.

(Credit: Paramount Software)

Backing up 68GB of data on a 222GB hard-drive partition took about 45 minutes and four DVDs. Even if restoring the partition required twice that amount of time, the process is still faster than reinstalling Windows, downloading and installing the gigabytes of Windows updates, reinstalling your applications, and restoring your data files and settings.

Backing up a 66GB drive partition to four DVDs took Macrium Reflect less than 45 minutes.

(Credit: Paramount Software)

Once I had created the Linux boot disc, I was ready for nearly any Windows emergency. Now I have to lug around five DVDs, but that's a small price to pay for the added peace of mind.

Of course, there are times when reinstalling Windows is your only recourse—such as when you have to repair a PC that has no backups. You'll find step-by-step instructions for reinstalling XP and older versions of Windows in Lincoln Spector's "How to Reinstall Windows XP." Microsoft's Windows Help and How-to site describes how to use Vista's Startup Repair feature. A separate article on the site explains your Vista installation and reinstallation options.

If your PC shipped without a Windows installation disc—and chances are increasingly likely it didn't include one—your only option is reinstalling your OS from the recovery partition on the hard drive. The steps vary depending on the PC vendor, so check the company's site for the instructions for your system.

With or without a Windows installation CD, restoring a known-good disk image is faster, simpler, and at least as effective as starting from scratch.

Someone told me recently that they had 22 different log-in IDs. My first thought was, you must get out more. My second thought was, how do you remember 22 different Web services, let alone log-in IDs and passwords?

The answer, of course, is a password manager. These days, I see PC security as a form of insurance. The more you have to risk, the more you should spend to protect it. Anyone who banks or otherwise transacts online will find the investment in a password and personal-data manager worthwhile. Fortunately, if your password-management needs are meager, the protection doesn't have to cost you anything.

Siber Systems recently announced the beta version of RoboForm Online that lets RoboForm users store their log-in data securely online. Just log into the service from any browser and get fast access to the IDs you've saved on your PC. With just one you're logged into your favorite Web sites.

Log into the RoboForm Online service to access your favorite Web services with a single click.

(Credit: Siber Systems)

The first time you use the program, you're prompted to enter a master password. You can change the master password via the program's Options drop-down menu and selecting Security settings, but if you forget a master password, you have to delete all the password-protected files and start over.

... Read more

CNET has been the premier technology-news site since there have been technology-news sites. It's great to be even a small part of it. But lately I've been spending more and more of my time on one-person tech sites run by people who are among the sharpest on the Web.

The sites themselves couldn't be more different, and one specializes on Windows XP, so it's anything but a "news" site, but each one offers something of value that you won't find anywhere else.

Before I describe these tech sole proprietorships, let me plug two of my favorite CNET reporters. Elinor Mills' InSecurity Complex blog keeps me up-to-date on the latest in tech security. And I get a fresh perspective on Microsoft and its products, among other interesting tech topics, in Ina Fried's Beyond Binary blog.

The guy with his finger on the technology pulse
I get winded just reading about all the events and product announcements Harry McCracken writes about on his Technologizer site. The former PC World editor-in-chief covers topics so diverse that about the only thing they have in common is that they're all so interesting. Harry cuts through the hype and gives you the low-down quickly and simply.

By the way, Harry will be tweeting during Chris Anderson's videocast about disruptive technology on Sept. 30 at 3 p.m. Pacific time. I'll be working, but I hope to catch at least a couple of his tweets during my afternoon break.

The first word on computer security
Bruce Schneier writes about more than just security on his Schneier on Security blog, which is a good thing because you really have to read about the discovery of giant squid and the nonrandomness of coin-flipping to get a break from all the bad news. And unfortunately, there's no shortage of bad news when it comes to computer security.

Granted, many of Schneier's stories don't affect everyday PC users directly, but scan Schneier's blog whenever you need a reminder of why we need to take security so seriously.

Nobody knows more about PC annoyances than the Bassmaster
There's a lot to enjoy about computers, but for every source of PC joy there are 10 sources of PC aggravation. And when your tech hardware and software starts getting on your nerves, head over to the newsletter archive on Steve Bass's TechBite site for solutions with a touch of wry.

Along with great Windows troubleshooting tips, you'll find money-saving tricks and freeware recommendations. But my favorites are Steve's Time Wasters: deceptively difficult puzzles and games, optical illusions, stunts gone askew, and other Web wonders. The Internet the way it was and the way it should be!

A site for the operating system that wouldn't die
You have to hand it to Windows XP. The software has been around since wireless networks were young and cell phones had only 15 buttons. The fact is, XP continues to be the most widely used operating system in the world. And when your XP machine starts acting up, make Kelly Theriot's Kelly's Korner one of your first stops.

Troubleshooting's topic number one on this site, but you'll also find plenty of XP interface tweaks and links to other resources, particularly Microsoft Knowledge Base articles. This site is never going to win any design awards—some of its pages are text links in long, unbroken tables—but if it can go wrong in XP, it's probably described on Kelly's site.

Sometimes you just have to laugh
More malware, more defective hardware, more privacy breaches. Reading the daily technology news makes it easy to lose your sense of humor. Sure, you can browse over to The Onion or another humor site, but you get a whole different sensibility—or nonsensibility—from Dan Tynan and his cronies JR Raphael and "Dr. Smartass" on the ESarcasm site.

I'd like to report that I found some redeeming value on this site, but I'm still looking. (You'll find Dan's more serious take on matters technological on his Tynan on Tech blog.) If you're at all inclined to take technology—or yourself—seriously, avoid this site like the H1N1 virus!

My previous post described how to add information to and otherwise customize Windows' Welcome screen. But maybe you just want to get your PC going without having to log into an account. You can bypass Windows' log-on screen by changing settings in the Windows Registry, as described in a tutorial on the Computer Performance site, but I find it much simpler to use a free Windows-tweaking utility to do the same thing.

The program I used to customize the Windows Welcome screen—TweakNow PowerPack 2009—is the same tool I used to disable the log-on screen on my Vista laptop. Click Windows Secret in the utility's left pane and choose User Accounts. Click "Enable auto log-on," select the account you want to log into automatically, enter the account's password and domain name (if necessary), and click Save. The next time you start the PC, Windows will start and open that account automatically.

Set Windows to start logged into a specific account—without having to enter a password—via this setting in TweakNow PowerPack 2009.

(Credit: TweakNow)

TweakNow PowerPack 2009 works with XP, Vista, and Windows 7, but I tested it only with Vista. I didn't need to download the program to my XP test machine because that system already has Tweak UI, Microsoft's free XP-reconfiguration utility that lacks a Vista version.

To set XP to start a specific account without requiring a log-on, open Tweak UI and click Logon > Autologon in the left pane, check "Log on automatically at system startup" in the right window, enter the account's user name and domain (if necessary), and click the Set Password button.

The free Tweak UI utility makes it easy to start Windows without having to log into an account.

(Credit: Microsoft)

In the Set Autologon Password dialog box, enter the account's password in each of the two text boxes and click OK.

Add the account's password twice and click OK to start Windows without having to log in.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Why bypassing the Windows log-on is dangerous
Setting Windows to open an administrator account automatically is risky, period. Even starting a standard account without requiring a password is dangerous, though less so. There are many very good reasons why Windows accounts are password-protected, and far fewer good reasons for doing without passwords.

That's why I recommend against allowing automatic log-ons in general. But far be it from me to tell you how to use your PC, so if you want to save a few seconds each time you start your system—and you're not worried about somebody doing serious mischief after gaining easy access to your account—it's okay by me.