Welcome to the January 17,2002 issue of Hewie's Favorites Views & Reviews. Be sure to visit Hewie's Favorites at http://www.hewie.net/. Hewie's Quick Thoughts appear almost daily at http://www.hewie.net/weblog/.

Make it a daily routine to see what is added. It is a log of items as I find them. There are archive pages, so you can catch up on older items. Feel free to let your friends know about this page and the entire site.

+++ Update on my WindowsXP computer
+++ Dot name now active
+++ Are home PCs the next hacker target?
+++ X10 Ads
+++ Microsoft Passport Check
+++ Hewie's Favorites has been updated

January 17, 2002

+++ Update on my WindowsXP computer

The Windows Explorer was crashing regularly. I could restart Explorer, but it sometimes took several tries to get to the folder that I wanted. It was very annoying. Every time that it crashed, WindowsXP would ask if I wanted to create a report and send it to Microsoft. I thought this was worth a try and did so at each crash. One time when I created a report, I got a message that Microsoft now had a fix for the problem. It instructed me to go to the WindowsXP website and download and install the fix. I did, and the problem has never reoccurred. Put a star on Microsoft's report card for this one!

I was also having a problem with the system arbitrarily going to a blue screen and rebooting. XP isn't supposed to do that. Although the blue screen only showed momentarily, I was able to read some of it and each time it contained "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL." I did a search on Microsoft's Knowledgebase. The result said it could be a software or hardware problem. Duh!!!

I did a search on Google which resulted in several messages in newsgroups. Most of resulting messages were pointing to Black Ice, a firewall software product, which I also was running. I had updated to the version that Black Ice said had fixed problems with XP, so I figured that this could not be the problem. Since I have a hardware firewall, I decided to remove Black Ice. I have not had a reboot since I did. Second problem solved.

My third problem concerns writing CD's with Roxio's Easy CD Creator. I am waiting for their next upgrade to remedy the problems. Their XP fix didn't.

In general, I am pleased with Windows XP. At this writing, my system has been up for 6 days without having to reboot.

+++ Dot name now active

The first Internet address suffixes created exclusively for individuals came on line on January 15. They were added to the other Top Level Domains (TLD) such as ".com", ".org", and ".net" (as in hewie.net). You can register a name in form of "firstname.lastname.name" for Web sites and "firstname(at)lastname.name" for e-mail addresses. You would still need an Internet service provider for an e-mail account and Web hosting services.

Last year 7 new TLD names were approved.

Now active:
.info for informational sites and have been available since September .biz for businesses only. since October .name for individuals since Tuesday January 15

Coming soon
.museum for some museums scheduled for March 2002
.aero for the aviation industry
.coop for business cooperatives, such as credit unions and electric co-ops .pro for professionals, initially doctors, lawyers and accountants and must show proof

See <http://www.icann.org/tlds/> for more information. A list of the TLD country codes can be found at <http://www.iana.org/cctld/cctld-whois.htm>. Another site is the InterNIC FAQs on New Top-Level Domains at <http://www.internic.net/faqs/new-tlds.html>.

+++ Are home PCs the next hacker target?

Computer hackers are turning their sights to the humble home PC, which is now faster, more powerful and less secure than ever before. Fueling the onslaught are several factors, including the trend toward home-based DSL or cable connections that are "on" all the time, and the lackadaisical attitudes of most home PC owners who generally don't keep up to date with the latest antivirus and firewall software.

In addition, many home users are naïve about the potential threat and willingly click on unsolicited e-mails that could be infected with malicious programs. "Home users have generally been the least prepared to defend against attacks," warns Carnegie Mellon's Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center. "In many cases, these machines are then used by intruders to launch attacks against other organizations."

Antivirus firm Message Labs reported that it detected one virus per 370 e-mail messages in 2001, double the rate of the previous year.

This information came from NewsScan Daily, January 4, 2002 ("Above The Fold") <http://www.newsscan.com/newsscan/newscup.html>

+++ X10 Ads

This comes from the Kim Komando newsletter at <http://www.komando.com/media/newsletter/>

If you're tired of constantly closing pop-up/under ads for X10 "home solutions," make it easy on yourself and opt-out! While you won't be able to scuttle the ads forever, you can at least get 30 days worth of relief. To X-out X10 from your computer, go to: <http://www.x10.com/x10ads.htm>

+++ Microsoft Passport Check

Do you use Microsoft Passport? You might, if you use Hotmail, MSN or maybe you set up an account with Windows 98 or Windows XP. Your personal data in Passport could be at risk. Be sure that your computer is protected from the vulnerabilities with the latest patch at by checking at: <http://securitycheck.passport.com/default.asp>

+++ Hewie's Favorites has been updated