NWA-PCUG 06/2000 NewsLetter Article 18861 N. Hwy 112, Springdale, AR 72762-9303 Note to Editors: Editors are having a problem accessing the private editor's page right now and I can't find the problem. Even I have the problem if I try to go there directly. If I access the [dealsguy.com] page it goes there fine, then adding the URL for the editor's page, it goes there OK. However, not directly. How weird. If you don't have the private editor's URL, e-mail me. This column should have approximately 1636 words including the editor's note. From The Dealsguy, Bob Click, Greater Orlando Computer User Group I receive infected e-mail attachments more often than you might think from unknowing people. Recently, I received one called PrettyPark.exe from a friend. What might have fooled me is that I know the sender has McAfee on her machine, and I have Norton Antivirus. No virus alert was issued by mine. I checked with that person later, and as I suspected, she didn't even know she had sent it, but by that time she found she had a virus. The problem -- neither of us had updated our virus protection that month, but my precaution of not opening a .exe file attachment saved me anyway. A friend swears by F-Prot as his antivirus protection and it is free for home users. Since I hadn't deleted the suspected virus I downloaded F- Prot. After installing F-Prot, it found PrettyPark immediately and gave me the option to delete it. F-Prot can be found on various download sites. His favorite site is [ftp://ftp.telusplanet.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/virus/]. Find the current F-Prot file starting with fp and ending with .zip. For updates, go to [http://www.complex.is/f-prot/Download.html]. I was hesitant to change, so I ran Norton's live-update, but my subscription had expired. Next morning Customer Service immediately updated me at a cost of only $4.95 for the year and gave me a confirmation number. I signed on right away using that number to update my Norton Antivirus. I think that's cheap protection for a whole year, but granted, a free one is also very good. Many people sending a virus don't know it happened because some viruses run in the background using the address book. Virus protection is so cheap, even free. Do your friends a favor and acquire the protection -- PLEASE. People don't realize that a virus does not always inform you that it's there. Some even initialize your modem unbeknownst to you and send to every address in your address book (one version of PrettyPark does so every half hour. Happy99 sends an extra email containing its virus, without your knowledge each time you e-mail someone. Be very cautious of ANY .exe attachments to incoming e-mail. In last month's specials, I thanked PowerQuest for the deals that also listed "Open Linux." I'll bet some folks cringed a bit on that one. I was reminded that it's by Caldera. It didn't say Caldera on the price list. Sorry guys. By the way, the PowerQuest items and the Wizcom pen scanner in last month's column should both still be good. *I'm Featuring Some Reader's Feedback This Month. I e-mailed Dave Teschner of Hilton Head Island Computing Club after reading his virus article in their newsletter. He acquired a tough version of PrettyPark.exe. He answered my questions and sent me a government site on viruses that you might find interesting -- [http://www.nipc.gov/nipc/nipcaaw.htm]. It has information on 40,000 different viruses. His version of PrettyPark (there are three) didn't yield to the normal virus cleaners and required special cleaning instruction acquired off the aforesaid site. Dave is experienced, but used a Microsoft certified technician this time. *Other Interesting Feedback Bob Wexler of Western NY Computer Society tells me that PC Connection and Mac Connection (mail order catalogs) have a policy of offering free ground UPS shipping to all legitimate members of a user group if you mention that when you order. I checked and it's true. Phone 1-800-800-5555 for a catalog. Murry Davis of the Akron/Canton Users Group sent me the following: "[www.bargaindog.com] is featured in an article in the Circuits section of the NY Times on page D4 (4-20-00) as a source of hundreds of deals on many, many items." I checked it out and there are all kinds of interesting items, not just computer stuff, and I assume things change all the time. It will even do comparison shopping for you. *Feedback In The ISP Dept. Melvin Turetzky of the Boca PC Users Group e-mailed me a Web site that he says gives unbiased evaluations of ISPs -- [www.dogwolf.seagull.com]. Mel agreed with my good opinion of Mindspring until lately. Since the merger with Earthlink, his confidence faltered because of problems accessing his Web site, but their tech support came through again. Now I'm having similar problems they have yet to solve. John Chmura of HAPCUG in Daytona Beach gave me this URL -- [http://nzlist.org/user/freeisp/index.htm] -- and tells me he has found no less than 48 free ISPs available in the Daytona Beach area with local access numbers. He tried the free Juno service, but says he gets disconnected a lot, which I've heard before. And this detective work from John Hedinger of Manatee PC User Group: Concerning K-Mart's "BlueLight.com;" by following and snooping behind the links, it appears that this service is part of [www.spinway.com] free ISP service. Besides [www.bluelight.com], Spinway seems to be providing the software, or engine (and perhaps the advertising) behind a number of free ISP's, including [www.collegeclub.com], [www.nettaxi.com], and [www.webland.org]. Try [www.alladvantage.com]; they actually pay you to be on the Net. And the beat goes on." Mike Ungerman of Central Florida Computer Society in Orlando sent me this. "FINALLY, there is a FREE Internet access service with e-mail accounts without any banners, pop-up windows, floating bars -- you name it. It works nationwide (in US) with a great amount of local access numbers. How do they do that? Tell you the truth, I do not know. But yes; no banners, no ads, no floating bars -- unlimited and stable connection. So, go grab it!! [http://freewarehome.com/services/internet.html#913840507]. And while you're at it, the link to the Freeware site which also has some great free downloads. Note I said 'free' and not 'shareware.' There are no registration fees required using the programs located at [http://freewarehome.com/]." Mike also sent this URL for checking out virus alerts and hoaxes -- [http://www.911virusalert.com/home1/home1.html]. *Want To Plan The Perfect Trip? This is a subscription service by PlanetWare, but there is some free stuff here too. For the traveler, it can be a great help in planning your trip, especially overseas. The PlanetWare Travel Encyclopedia, the largest, searchable source of travel attraction data on the Web, is on-line at [http://www.PlanetWare.com]. The PlanetWare site helps travelers search for travel gems related to their special interests, provides visit decision details and serves as a one-stop source for making judgments about the relative merits of tourist attractions The PlanetWare Travel Encyclopedia is probably the largest site of its kind on the Internet with over 110,000 pages of attraction data. While the bulk of data is available by monthly subscription at a cost comparable to that of a single paper tour guide book, about 10,000 pages are free. The free data includes all photos, complete details of a featured city of the month (currently 550 attractions of London, England with maps), lists of the top-rated sites, suggested walking and driving tour sequences, plus lists of the 8,000 towns currently featured on the PlanetWare site. All PlanetWare maps are interactive. Cursoring over a map shows attraction names. Similarly, rolling over a list of attraction names pinpoints each site on the map. Clicking either the name or the pinpoint on the map brings up attraction details. There's more, but my readers can get a two-month subscription for the price of one month ($20.00 US). The minimum is two months, maximum is twelve months. If this catches your attention, e-mail [info@planetware.com] and provide: 1. The secret word 'dealsguy' in the subject line to qualify, 2. An e-mail address where they can send the password, 3. The name on the credit card you are using, 4. Visa, MC or AmEx, 5. Card number, 6. Expiration date. They'll then send you your secret password. If you take a two-month subscription to plan any trip, it should more than pay for itself. I think $20.00 for two months is cheap for what they offer. *Does Your Computer IQ Fit This Category? Below is a note from Marcia Laughry, author of the book "Active Directory for Dummies." "Intimidated by Windows 2000's Active Directory? "With all the media hype surrounding the release of Windows 2000 Server, you may already be a bit intimidated by the prospect of working with Active Directory. You've seen the presentations and articles discussing trees, forests, sites, and namespaces. Not only must you assimilate a new technology, but you must also pick up an entire new language just to understand what everyone's talking about. But Active Directory doesn't need to be difficult! In this book (Active Directory for Dummies), you find out in clear and simple language what Active Directory is, what it does and what benefits it brings to your organization - and to your job. "To Order, simply type WIN2000NEWS in the referral field on the Shopping Basket Checkout page. [http://www.fatbrain.com/shop/info/0764506595?from=XUU975]. This is good for 10% off the online price of $19.95." That's it for this month. Thanks for all your wonderful feedback. Looks like I've exceeded my word count again. Sorry Editors! Meet me here again next month if your editor permits. This column is written to make user group members aware of special offers I have found or arranged, and my comments should not be interpreted to encourage, or discourage, the purchase of products, no matter how enthused I might sound. Bob (The Cheapskate) Click [dealsguy@mindspring.com]. Visit my Web site at [http://www.dealsguy.com] for past columns.