Past Two Weeks

Time passed quickly these past two weeks. Between regular activities, thunder storms, working on my Mobile Survival Kit, trying to find sugar-free iodized table salt, checking out the 30 Kindle ebooks that were available for free yesterday only, and wondering what's going on with my Kindle and what to do about it, I forgot to blog until now.

About storms - I keep my laptop unplugged during lightning storms so it won't get zapped and save the battery for use in case of emergency. Although I have a surge protector, I prefer to ensure I'm safe rather than sorry.

Mobile Survival Kit - I have all but hand sanitizing and insect repellent wipes which won't much change the current weight (under 5 lbs.) and bulk (approx. 540 cu. in.). I'd like to trim it down further.

Kindle - nothing's actually wrong. In fact, several things are much better. One thing is now Kindle ebooks are available for borrowing from participating libraries. Another is that user-documents are archived.

My issue is in order to use the new features, there's an update for which I have to go to the library to use the Wi-Fi. Normally, that isn't a problem. What makes it an issue for me is that somehow, I have an Audible book, a foreign language course, also waiting to download via Wi-Fi. I'll get the Audible book, whether I want it or not, when I receive the Kindle update.

Since I did not order the book, it must be a gift. However, gift Kindle books are supposed to be announced by an email stating who is the gift-giver and allowing the recipient the opportunity to accept or exchange it for a gift card. I did not receive the email.

Because I have several foreign language courses on CDs and already used up 1 Gb on my Kindle, I'm reluctant to receive the Audible book. As a result, I decided to try the sample only to discover to my dismay that the sample is also too large to be delivered except by Wi-Fi to my Kindle, not that I thought to try to request the sample be delivered to my PC in the first place.

At this point, I'm thinking I'll have to call Customer Service. But, wait! Look, there's a shiny thing!

What if I finally buy an MP3 player? I could put the Audible book on it thereby saving space on my Kindle and retrieve Kindle space by deleting the MP3 Bible's New Testament in favor of putting the entire Bible on the player.

So, I started shopping. I really like the idea of SanDisk's expansion SD slot because it means I can have my entire music collection, all my foreign language courses, the entire MP3 Bible, plus any Audible books I may acquire with me, conveniently, at all times wherever I may go. All I have to do is decide whether to buy a Fuze, Clip+, or Clip Zip and figure out how to write to an SD card from my laptop which doesn't have an SD card slot. I would probably have to take it to a computer shop for the transfer service or buy something external to do it myself.

Dead Batteries

In rotating out my flashlight batteries last week, I encountered one that had leaked and gotten stuck in the Mini Maglite LED I keep in the car.

Unable to pry or shake it out, faced with having to buy a new flashlight, I took a chance and filled the battery compartment with water hoping to dissolve the cell loose.

It worked.

After rinsing it several times to get all the battery acid out, I shook the excess water out into the sink as best I could, disassembled it as much as I could, and let it set a couple of days to air dry.

After reassembling it and installing new cells, I turned it on and was very happy to see it working as it should. Whew!

The next battery to go was in my laptop. The flashing light quit blinking a couple of days after getting my flashlight working, indicating that I was running only off the AC. All I had to do was install the replacement I bought in May.

Interesting Week - Laptop Battery

This past weekend, my laptop started displaying a pop-up warning about my battery reaching the end of its usable life with a link to order another whenever I powered it on or took it off Stand By. You'd think I would have been getting this warning since November, but I haven't.

So, first thing Monday morning, I ordered a new battery from Dell which currently has an offer for free shipping with a minimum purchase the battery satisfies. The order process and confirmation email indicated that the battery would arrive today. It arrived Wednesday from TN. That's great order fulfillment. Plus, it was free!

After ensuring the new battery is the right one, I decided to set it aside to save it until the old one is dead. A new battery is so expensive (the old battery was 32 months old when the flashing light first appeared), I want to make it last as long as possible.

I've been working off of AC, mostly, anyway. The only reason I need a battery otherwise is so I don't lose anything if the power suddenly goes off.

Score! (Kindle for PC)

Always on the lookout for ideas to make traveling easier for me, recent television commercials for Amazon's Kindle got me thinking how nice it would be to have a single ebook reader when I go to Europe one of these days instead of packing travel guides, phrase books, and reading material for flights and long train rides.

Checking the features and reading the reviews for the latest version of the Kindle, the only thing I didn't like is that when the non-user-replaceable battery has to be replaced, customers have to send the unit back. After it's returned with a new battery, users have to download their libraries all over again. Since Amazon stores a backup copy of the user's library, bookmarks, highlighting, and notes, the inconvenience is only a matter of time unless there's a glitch somewhere that causes the loss of some books. However, users are able to download to a PC and save to a hard drive or other media, so it's easy enough to make your own backup of your library of ebooks and magazines which you should do anyway if you want to save all your magazines.

Seeing that the Kindle can read free ebooks from other sources as well, such as those from the Gutenberg Project, I decided to download the free Kindle for PC application along with several free ebooks to try out on my laptop. I have already finished reading two of my free ebooks and am very pleased.

In addition to the Kindle for PC app, other free Kindle apps are available for the Android Phone, BlackBerry, iPad, iPhone, and Mac. With the iPhone app, you may also read Kindle books on the iPod Touch.

As a result, when I'm ready to travel to Europe, I plan to buy a Kindle to keep my load down. Looking at the two piles of books next to me, maybe I should get one sooner. After all, it is a whole lot less expensive than an iPad and according to KindleTruth.com, it has a lot of nice features that make it better for reading than an iPad.

Whether I get a Kindle right away or not, free app + free ebooks - the inconvenience of going to a library or buying from a regular book store = Score!

Flashing Light

My Dell laptop's battery status light is repeatedly flashing red-red-red-red-green.

It's supposed to flash only orange when the charge is low, and be a solid orange when critically low. I've never seen it orange before, only green since I don't use the battery much.

The green light is on when I'm working off of the battery. It flashes when the battery is recharging. The light is off when I'm working off the AC and the battery's charged.

However, I'm on AC and have been for several weeks. The Power Meter says the battery is charged 100%.

Also, the light on the power brick is green, so I know the AC is coming from the electrical outlet just fine. Thus, the puzzlement and concern of my previous post.

With the help of my good friend, Google, I learned where to click and finally found a message on my laptop that says:

"Your battery is able to charge normally. However, you may begin to notice reduced operating time because your long-term battery life is reducing."

After that, there's a button to order a new battery online. Evidently, my battery's health is diminished so while it can still be charged, I won't be able to run my laptop off the battery for as long as I did when it was new. No big deal. As much as I use my battery, I can afford to wait and get a new one sometime next year.

[Updated 5/27/11 - The message started popping up, so I finally ordered a new battery.]

It surely would have been easier, and less alarming, if the combination of flashing lights I'm seeing was described in the User's Guide.

BFN

There's a red light blinking on my laptop.

Since I don't know what it represents, I'm currently backing up my hard drive.

Since I don't know how bad it may be, this post is "Bye for now" because if it's bad, I may be offline for a while.

POOF!

I typed up a post and saved it as a Draft to verify something before submitting it.

The screen flickered.

POOF!

The post disappeared.

Apparently, you don't need to read what I wrote because I can't find it anywhere and I'm certainly not retyping it.

Sorry, this is all you're getting this week.

Have a nice weekend! I'm going to practice playing "Yankee Doodle Dandy" on my tin whistle to see how good I can get by Independence Day.

Laptop Cable Lock

Boy, do I feel dumb.

Have you ever not seen something right in front of you simply because you weren't paying attention?

That's what happened to me.

I bought my current laptop online from Dell early in 2008 and kicked myself for not ensuring that it had a security port after not being able to find one on the back or right side like it was on two previous laptops. Most laptops have it and, since my last laptop was made by Dell and had a security port, I expected the feature to be standard on the series. Sure, I could have returned the laptop and gotten another, but I liked the other features too much which is why I selected it in the first place.

So, for close to two years, I haven't taken my laptop to the public library because I couldn't figure out how to secure it and didn't want to have to carry it with me every second.

However, on Christmas Day, probably due to the atypical blizzard that shut down mid-Oklahoma through the top half of Texas, I found myself contemplating the ports on my laptop where I discovered one on the LEFT side that I didn't remember having seen before.

"Wait a minute. That looks like..."

I got my cable lock, fit it into the hole, and it locked down tight. Sure enough, the left side is where Dell put the security port for this laptop. Boy, do I feel dumb for not noticing it before!

If you didn't know there's a way to secure your laptop, examine the back and BOTH sides for a little rectangular hole that doesn't seem to have a purpose (photo below). Then, visit a store that sells computer accessories or search online for "laptop cable lock" for the type of lock you prefer. There are combination locks, keyed locks, locks with short cables, locks with long cables, locks with expandable or retractable cables, locks with motion detectors, and locks that will link more than one device together provided each device has a security port.

Because my last laptop was stolen from the locked trunk of my car in broad daylight, I recommend getting a cable lock and figuring out how to secure your laptop to a part of your car as an additional theft deterrent. While your home owner's or renter's insurance policy may cover the theft of your laptop, the loss of the data you have on it will be what devastates you unless you're really good about keeping a current backup. Even then, losing personal data puts you at risk of identity theft.

Better safe than sorry.

What's Your Internet Safety Score?

Before I get to the tests, there are four more downloads I got since my last post.

On my stolen laptop, I had WinPatrol by BillP Studios because it uses a heuristics approach for checking system changes instead of comparing against a list that must be updated and downloaded periodically as do the other security software I mentioned in "The Bad, the Great, and the Tedious." After I downloaded it for this laptop, I decided to add SiteAdvisor by McAfee, available for IE and Firefox, because it isn't expedient to read the Privacy Policy for every website I visit and the nefarious websites don't come right out and say, "This site distributes adware and/or spyware." I also downloaded Opera because it's now free, is the first of only two browsers to pass the Acid2 test, and because the bad guys are paying more attention to how they might exploit Firefox. The other browser that passes the Acid2 test is the new Safari for Windows by Apple which I also downloaded to try out.

Now for the tests.

SiteAdvisor's website has two tests of eight questions each to gauge yourself in regards to spam and spyware.

"Are you spam savvy? Can you tell which sites will respect your personal information? Can you tell which ones might sell or rent your e-mail address to spammy third parties? Take our Spam Quiz and find out. Can you spot the spammy Web sites?"

How did you do?

My score: "YOU GOT 8 OF 8 QUESTIONS CORRECT Rating: Safety Guru."

Whoo-hoo! Thank God for the teachers who taught me how to read, although I hate plowing through those Privacy Policy statements!

"They say it's hard to judge a book by its cover. We'd argue that it's even harder to judge the safety of a Web site by its looks. Think you can sniff out which sites are adware & spyware free? Take our spyware quiz and see."

Did you score higher than, lower than, or the same as on the spam quiz?

My score: "YOU GOT 6 OF 8 QUESTIONS CORRECT Rating: Tightrope Walker."

I'm not concerned about one of my wrong answers because I don't use file-sharing sites, but the other wrong answer was for lyrics sites and I have used a few of them on occasion. Now, with SiteAdvisor, I'll know which sites to avoid when I google to verify song lyrics.

How safe is your PC? Here are some tests for you to run on your computer to see if the nasties can get in and if they can send your data out or enslave your PC without your knowledge:

On the Gibson Research Corp. websute:

ShieldsUP!

LeakTest.

On the PC Flank website:

A quick test for now until you have time to do the rest.

A leak test

A stealth test

A browser test

A Trojans test

An advanced port scanner test and,

An exploits test.

There are also tests from other sites.

Some observations:

My ZoneAlarm Free passes GRC's LeakTest, but fails PC Flank's Leaktest which exposes a particular vulnerability. I used Firefox and didn't even have to open Internet Explorer as instructed by the PC Flank leak test. My laptop failed repeatedly until I figured out how to make it pass.

One important thing to note is that the little PC Flank window ALWAYS reports that the test failed, even when it doesn't, so be sure to check your results on the webpage. The last little window has a link to it, also. When your PC passes the test, you won't see your IP address, the date and time you did the test, or the text you typed. (I can't help wondering: If they're so good at making tests, why didn't they make their little window display the right test results? Harumph!)

How to disable this vulnerability and pass PC Flank's Leaktest if all else fails:

1. Set your firewall to request permission each time IEXPLORE.EXE is used.

In ZoneAlarm Free under Program Control, this is listed as Internet Explorer. Under Access and Server, click and select Ask so that question marks appear in all four columns. When you use IE (or OE or Outlook), ZA will pop up a window for you to select Allow or Deny. Do NOT check the box for "Remember this setting" or your PC will be able to leak your data EVEN WHEN YOU'RE NOT USING IE (or OE or Outlook)!

To pass the leak test, do not allow IE to access the Internet. (In ZA, click Deny when the pop-up first asks for permission. Whatever you answer the second time, doesn't matter. Your data's already leaked out if you failed the test.)

2. Do NOT use IE unless you absolutely have to for those websites that don't display decently with other browsers such as Firefox or Opera or Safari because your computer WILL be vulnerable during those times.

Comments on the other tests:

I haven't done all of the other tests listed because Atelier Web, Breakout #1 and 2, Copycat, DNS Tester, Firehole, and Thermite set off the Avast! alarm while I was downloading them, which was neat to hear, and I want to verify that Avast! was giving false positives, that the programs are virus- and trojan-free, before I run them. While a couple of websites recommend them for testing, upon hearing the alarm, I decided to check them out further because I've known of safe files in the past that were perverted by the bad guys after they became popular to take advantage of their safe reputation in order to slip malicious code onto people's systems. Other tests simply wouldn't work.

The cpil.exe has left some PCs with something that keeps trying to start IE. Some people clear it up by simply rebooting. Some have had to download and install a HIPS program to stop it. Since I'm waiting to see if my system is affected and what I'll have to do to clean it up if it is, please don't run it. I figured it's okay for me to run because, if I should have to rebuild my system if it leaves trash behind that can't be cleaned up otherwise - the worst case scenario, it won't bother me so much since I don't have any personal files on it, yet. But if someone else has to do it, who has personal files, that may not be backed-up, and who wasn't expecting to spend time cleaning up after the test much less doing a system rebuild, well, let's just say that I don't want to get put on anybody's bad list. Of course, since you now are warned about it, go ahead and run the test if you want. Just don't blame me if it keeps trying to start IE and you have to clean up after it to make it stop.

Ghost, when I allowed IE to access the Internet, proved once again, that we shouldn't be using IE. In all fairness, though, bad people have always looked for ways to break into anything containing value and there's no reason to expect them not to continue. Remember, people didn't use to have to lock their house doors and could leave their cars unlocked with keys in the ignition and now there are security systems for both homes and autos in addition to our having to use the regular locks. Computer crimes are just another venue for the bad guys.

Jumper acted like it wasn't working, giving an error because my laptop wouldn't let it create a file on my C drive named jumperleaktest_dll.dll, but it then proceeded to hijack my IE home page to change it to http://www.google.fr, a harmless change that demonstrates that a bad guy could make something worse happen, even though IE was never open during the test. Scotty, my faithful little watchdog from WinPatrol, caught it and warned me so I could stop it.

The TooLeaky test was passed because I told ZoneAlarm to Deny it the first time. After that, when I had ZA Allow it, it was passed because it couldn't run scripts, ActiveX controls, or plug-ins due to my setting them to Prompt which I denied when action was requested. I never did let them run during repeat tests, either.

(In IE version 6, see Tools -> Internet Options -> Security tab -> Internet -> Custom level. Under "ActiveX controls and plug-ins," set "Download signed ActiveX controls," "Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins," and "Script ActiveX controls marked safe for scripting" to Prompt. Set the others in that section to Disable.

Next, directly below, is a Download section. Set the three listed there to Disable. Be sure to remember doing this so you can change it back when you want to download files or fonts you want, except you won't be using IE as much after reading this post and conducting the tests, right?

Anyway, after that, there's another heading for "Scripting." Set the three there to Prompt. You may be tempted to set "Active scripting" to Enable because you're likely to be prompted a lot as I am; it's your PC, your choice, and your risk if you want to Enable it. Click OK to save changes.

While you're at it, you may as well go over to the Advanced tab and ensure that the box for Java is clear. Click OK to save changes. You can always go back to check the Java box if you need it.)

WallBreaker consists of four tests. The first and third tests are especially sneaky in that they got around ZA which didn't ask for permission for IE.

Remember, it's not just what gets into your computer from the outside that can mangle your hard drive, it's also what goes out that can hurt you and others.

1 Peter 5:9. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.

The Bad, the Great, and the Tedious

Taking me three times as long as I should have to find the half-dozen items on my list because the store is rearranged, I find myself in the electronics department next to the laptops looking at accessories.

"What's the difference between a notebook and a laptop?" a male customer asks a saleswoman.

A few questions later, she falters at his asking about wireless.

"May I answer that?" I ask. At their response, I continue, "All new laptops should come with wireless by now. What you need to watch for is which standard they're using."

"Which standard?" he asks.

"Yes, the draft 802.11n is 80% approved and will be official maybe late this year, surely sometime next year. With such a high percentage of approval, some companies are making compliant products already. If the computer you want doesn't use the 802.11n standard, you should wait, if you can, to buy it when it does because it's so close."

An older saleswoman joins us, then goes and checks their routers. "Here's one," she calls over to us. He and I go over to her while the first saleswoman leaves.

"Yes," I point to the box. "See this? This is the standard you want. Make sure your laptop and router match." I point to another router. "See this box? It uses an older standard. If you get the 802.11n on your laptop, it'll work because it's backwards compatible, but it won't be as fast. As long as you're buying new equipment, you may as well get the latest technology."

"How do you know about this stuff?" he asks. "I took some classes to learn about computers, but they didn't teach anything about this."

"I used to be a programmer; different system, but the principles are the same. If two sides don't use the same standard, they can't communicate or don't communicate as well as they could."

"Oh, no wonder! Say, can you tell me how people are able to steal other people's data when they're using wireless?"

The saleswoman leaves.

"Essentially, it's radio like your cordless and cell phones, just a different frequency, and the sniffers tune in. That's why you'll need to get a VPN, a Virtual Private Network, if you'll be doing anything sensitive like using passwords and doing online shopping or banking. A VPN makes a tunnel for your data to go through so sniffers can't see it. You'll have to google to find one. If you just surf and read, don't worry about it because you won't be submitting any personally sensitive information."

"Thanks a lot! I learned a lot and I think you gave me more help than the salespeople would have."

"It's possible. I just ordered my fourth laptop and I've always known more than the salespeople."

"Fourth laptop?" His eyes are big.

"The first hardly counts because it didn't have the hard drive I wanted. The salesman lied about the size and I had it about two months while going through him, his manager, and up to the district manager before they accepted it back. My third got stolen last July while I was in California and the fourth is to replace it."

It's Monday evening and my new laptop arrives the next morning, more than a week earlier than Dell said to expect it, only five days after I ordered it. Wow! How great is that? Not only did it arrive a lot faster than my last one, it doesn't have all the pre-loaded trial software crap I had to delete off the other. Much better!

I'm ready to go online with it before the new CD from my ISP arrives, so I decide to set up the connection myself since I have my username, password, and the ISP's phone number on my eight-year-old laptop.

First, download and install a firewall from ZoneAlarm to keep the hackers out. Check.

Next, the ShieldsUP! test at the Gibson Research Corp. to ensure the firewall didn't leave any open ports for the hackers to sneak through. Check.

Firefox because it's safer than Internet Explorer. Check.

SpywareBlaster to prevent malware from getting into those little hidden places in the first place, probably why Ad-Aware and Spybot-S&D never found anything after I ran it on my old laptop. Check.

Ad-Aware. Ad-Aware. Ad-Aware. Ad-Aware. In four tries, I can't get more than half a meg of the free version to download. Hmm, it hasn't found any adware, spyware, or other malware since the first time I ran it on my old laptop, so maybe I'll be okay without it for awhile.

Spybot-S&D to catch and kill malware if it gets past SpywareBlaster and its own defensive measures. While it overlaps a lot of what Ad-Aware covers, it also covers what Ad-Aware misses, and vice versa. That's why it's best to have two good antispyware programs. Check.

Avast! antivirus software to handle viruses, trojans, and worms. Check.

System updates - there are 41 of them. (No, I didn't get Vista.) The estimated download time at 49 Kpbs is over seven hours. How tedious. I think about going to the library to use their high-speed connection, but rather stay here watching "Monk," "Without A Trace," and "Law & Order" on TNT and USA. I fall asleep and nap during a couple of episodes of "Walker, Texas Ranger." Check. Finally.

I guess maybe I'll start working on my (ugh) income tax return tomorrow during the "N.C.I.S." marathon on USA.

Or maybe not.

[Note: SUPERAntispyware is another good antispyware program but since it's weak on defensive measures, takes about an hour and a half to run, has a bit of nagware, and doesn't uninstall cleanly, it's best reserved for cleaning up spyware and malware that other antispyware programs can't eradicate.]