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support information on the Web.
Issue 68 - 15th January 2002
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FROM THE EDITOR
Just how popular is Microsoft's forthcoming .NET technology? How many companies are planning to use it as the basis of their Web-based applications in the coming months?
As it happens, ZDNet is conducting an online poll to find
out whether companies are thinking of .NET or whether they'll be
sticking with Java. And as of December 21st 2001, the voting was
running at around 3:1 in favour of Java.
But after December 21st, things changed. The figures started to change direction, until .NET pulled ahead with a massive surge of votes that resulted in it gaining a 6:1 margin of the votes.
The boys at ZDNet became suspicious and decided to investigate.
And, surprise surprise, it was discovered via the site's log files that
a large number of votes in favour of .NET had come from addresses in the
microsoft.com domain. The logs also showed that some people had tried,
unsuccessfully, to vote more than
once. A large number of these attempts also came from within
microsoft.com.
Microsoft has not made any public comment about its attempts
to rig the poll in favour of its own products. And it doesn't
have to. Not only was the company clearly stupid enough to do such
a thing, but it was also stupid enough to do it so badly as to get caught.
Clearly someone at Microsoft hasn't heard of the 11th commandment.
Robert Schifreen
editor@techsupportalert.com
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IN THIS ISSUE
1. TOP SUPPORT SITES
- Software Tip Of The Day
- Windows XP Tweaks
- What's Coming?
2. UTILITIES
- Free Network Scanner
- Easy Web Pic Downloader
- Remote Task Manager
- Enfish Find
3. BUGS, SERVICE RELEASES AND PATCHES
- Exchange 5.5 OWA Patched
- WebStyle 2.1
4. OTHER USEFUL STUFF
- Microsoft Caught Rigging Votes
- Online Museum
- File Extension Database
- Virus Charts
5. TECH SUPPORT RESOURCES
- Web Management and Bandwidth Control
- Microsoft's 2001 Security Patches
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1. TOP SUPPORT SITES
====================
Software Tip Of The Day
If you're after tips on Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Windows,
keep an eye on the Nerdybooks site and its excellent "tip of the
day" feature. http://www.nerdybooks.com/tipofday.html
Windows XP Tweaks
No sooner had Windows XP hit the streets than people started working
out how to tweak it. You can read the results here, at a great site
dedicated to providing info on how to make minor adjustments to Microsoft's
latest Windows. http://www.tweakxp.com
What's Coming?
Keep up to date with what new software is just around the corner,
with this great site all about beta software. Lots of useful downloads,
plus news stories too. http://www.betanews.com
2. UTILITIES
============
Free Network Scanner
GFI, purveyor of network security products, has 2 freeware offerings
on its Web site to help LAN administrators produce hardware audits and
file checksums. Recommended. http://www.gfi.com/languard/lantools.htm
Easy Web Pic Downloader
Express WebPictures is a great new tool for downloading pictures
from Web sites. Drag the URL of a page onto the program and WebPictures
downloads all the images on that page and stores them on your hard disk
for later viewing and sorting.
http://www.express-soft.com/webpics/
Remote Task Manager
SmartLine has launched version 3.7.1 of Remote Task Manager, which
allows you to remotely control a range of tasks on Windows PCs over a network. It's great for support staff, and a 30-day free trial version is downloadable.
http://www.ntutility.com
Enfish Find
Here's a handy program to help you locate information on your PC,
even if you don't know what file it's in. Enfish Find creates an index of all the text on your hard disk, enabling you
to find words or phrases in just seconds.
http://www.enfish.com
3. BUGS, SERVICE RELEASES AND PATCHES =====================================
Exchange 5.5 OWA Patched
If you use Exchange 5.5 Server, and specifically the Outlook Web
Access (OWA) component, you need to install a security patch which Microsoft
issued back in December. It is possible for a hacker to send an HTML
email message that contains a specially-constructed script, which will
automatically execute if that message is opened in OWA. You can't
simply work around this by turning off scripting on the server, because
OWA requires it to be enabled. More details, plus the patch, are
online now.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS01-057.asp
WebStyle 2.1
Our favourite Web graphics creation suite, Xara Webstyle, has just
been upgraded from 2.0 to 2.1. The new version has loads of new stuff,
including better integration with FrontPage and Dreamweaver. If you've
already bought 2.0, installing the downloadable trial version of 2.1 will
upgrade you for free. http://www.xara.com
4. OTHER USEFUL STUFF
=====================
Microsoft Caught Rigging Votes
Here's the full story of how Microsoft was caught rigging
the results of the .NET vs Java online poll at ZDnet.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2102244,00.html
Online Museum
Remember when computers had 4 KB of RAM and a 5 MB hard
disk? If not, then visit this excellent online computer
museum and be amazed. There's pictures of more than 500
old machines, plus factsheets and screen shots and reviews.
http://www.old-computers.com
File Extension Database
Got a PC or Windows file with a 3-letter extension that you've
not come across before? Want to identify which application produced
the file? Here's a great list.
http://www2.ozin.com/threeletters.htm
Virus Charts
Antivirus company Kaspersky has launched a Web site which maintains
details on which are the most prevalent viruses at any time. The
list is updated monthly and makes
fascinating reading.
http://www.viruslist.com
5. TECH SUPPORT RESOURCES FROM ITP ===================================
Web Management and Bandwidth Control
Does your WAN or internet connectivity often slow down? Ever
wondered why? It's probably because staff who are supposed to be
hard at work are actually listening to music over the Internet or download
games to play at home later. Read all about Web management software
in the latest issue of PC Support Advisor or check out the full article
right now, completely free.
http://www.pcsupportadvisor.com
Microsoft's 2001 Security Patches
The current issue of PC Network Advisor includes a comprehensive
list of all the Windows security patches issued by Microsoft in 2001.
The list is helpfully arranged by product, so it's easy to look up the
core products used by you or your staff to check whether you need to install
any important fixes. If you don't subscribe to PCNA you can still
read the article online for free. http://www.pcnetworkadvisor.com
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