Registry Tools

I was at a neighbor's house a couple of weeks ago, and there were maybe a dozen people sitting on the deck. One person asked me what Windows Registry cleaner I recommended. I was talking to a gentleman from Microsoft at the time, and we both looked at this person and said "none!"

First, if you aren't familiar with the Windows Registry you might want to check out the Wikipedia definition. Basically, the Registry is a hideously complex file that contains all the information that is necessary (and necessary is the key word here) for Windows to talk to all the hardware and software. The following is directly from the Microsoft Support site:

• WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

There are a lot of tools out there that claim to be able to root out and remove unused entries and to prevent unauthorized Registry entries. But how do these developers know what's necessary and what's not? I recently had a client who couldn't install the latest Microsoft service pack (SP3) on her XP machine. Seems the Registry optimization tool she was using had locked a couple of critical Registry entries.

In my opinion, Registry tools should all be looked at skeptically. I believe there are some that can dig out entries that no longer have prorams associated with them, but I don't think these entries really impact your computer's performance. What's your take?

Selling Out

I hate to admit it, but I'm finally giving in. I've seen so many sites cave in and start offering ads to their visitors. In my most holier-than-thou voice I have said "We'll never do that!" But now we are. If you visit the Byte Slaves Website, you'll find ads on every page. Shoot, we even have a whole Cyber Mall filled with various ads.

The thing that I hope sets us apart is that we don't get paid for running the ads. We only get paid if you click on the ads and actually buy something. That's called affiliate sales. We won't put up ads for anything we wouldn't buy ourselves. We are affiliates for online retailers like the NationalGeographic store, Top Selling Software at the Apple Store and even Uncover special offers and exclusive savings at Sony Style.

Yes, I did embed links to these various stores, but these are store I have personally purchased products from. Our employee's families and friends buy from these stores. These links offer discounts not available to you if you went to the site yourself.

Now for the ironic part: while I'd love for you to search through our Cyber Mall for deals (and I encourage you to do so), what I'm really trying to do is open your eyes to a whole new revenue stream. Yes, you to can sell products for national businesses with no out-of-pocket costs. Sign up at Websites such as Commission Junction and you can be offering your Website visitors discounts on products and services they want and need. And you get paid when they purchase!

Do you think this is a legitimate way to boost your income. Let me know your thoughts for and against this type of marketing. I'll even include one last link to another product I fully believe in...

Protect Your ID and Your Credit

I was surfing the news while eating some leftover spaghetti and saw this article on MSNBC. It really got my attention. It wasn't long ago that I switched my business account because my bank decided to implement "improved security." This security required that I provide mt debit card number, my PIN, and the validation code from my card. All on an unsecured connection. These are all the things I (and so many others) say NEVER to give out online.

This also brought to mind the article I read about credit card skimming. Seems ne'er-do-wells can use a palm-sized scanner to steal the coded information from your debit or credit card. They then use this information to create a copy of your card that they can use as if they were you. There are even scanners that can be put over the faces of legitimate ATMs or point-of-sale terminals (here's one exasmple).

My thinking? Use a credit card (NOT debit) whenever you know your card will be out of sight or suspect a terminal has been tampered with. You can contest a credit card charge. A debit card takes the money out of your account immediately and it can be a major challenge to get it back.

Is Your Wireless Network Dangerous?

The debate over the potential for our wireless toys to cause health problems in humans has raged since the first cell phones came on the scene a couple of decades ago. Personally I've wondered how it can be healthy to walk around with a source of electro-magnetic radiation clipped to my belt. But I worked in the cellular industry for several tears and the powers that be always siad there was no evidence that cellular emissions posed a health risk (notice the didn't come out and say it was safe, either). But then I'd sit down in front of my computer and my cell phone would start making some goofy noises come out of my speakers. Hmmm.

Now people are starting to ask the same questions about Wi-Fi. I caught this article in an e-newsletter today. It's not out-and-out proof that your wireless Internet will kill you, but it got me thinking. Again.

Look at all the sources of radiation that have appeared and proliferated in the last hundred years or so: AM/FM radio (and then a whole spectrum of radio from short wave to cellular and Wi-Fi), television, microwave and more. Maybe all this stuff just passes harmlessly through our bodies. But then again, when they give you a lead vest and hide behind a wall to X-Ray your teeth, you've got to wonder.

Find out more about different sources of radiation and what the mean to you here.

Loss of Focus

At Byte Slaves we get annoyed by the little problems that bother other computer users, too. Lately for me it's been with my new Toshiba Satellite laptop running Vista Home Premium. It seems it's always losing its focus.

In the computer world, focus means the window in which the cursor is active. Typically that's the one you're working in. But often times the focus will change when an urgent message pops uo. Or, as I'm finding, when a not-so-urgent message pops up. For me it happens mostly when I'm in email. I've got a program that syncs my Outlook calendar with my Google calendar. Every time it runs succesfully it changes the focus.

I'm a touch typist, so I'm not always looking at the screen. I type pretty quickly, too. So when the focus shifts I'm suddenly typing NOTHING. And I hear "ding ding ding" every time I hit a key. That really chaps my hide. Especially when I'm in a hurry.

The bottom line is that I don't care if a program has run successfully. Whether it's my sync program, my email program or my anti virus. These are NOT urgent messages. They certainly should not pop to the front of whatever I'm doing and make me click OK

If you have programs that are doing this, please take a moment to visit the company's support or customer service page and let them know you don't appreciate these little messages. If they get enough feedback maybe they'll make a change.

Outrageous Spyware Story

I copied the following from the Internet Patrol Web site. Seems the folks at Lexmark really want to know about your printing habits. I did a little research and it seems a lot of people have discovered this little bugger. One of our techs ran into an issue with a customer using this printer. Seems he couldn't print at all. Turns out that the customer had a dialup connection. When he wasn't connected to the Internet the printer couldn't "phone home" - no contact with Lexmark's server and the printer won't print. My tech verified this with Lexmark support.

Do you have a Lexmark printer? If so, you could also have Lexmark’s Lx_CATS spyware — which Lexmark euphemistically calls “tracking software” for “reporting printer and cartridge use back to the company for survey purposes” — living on your computer, without your knowledge.

A user calling himself “Commander” has posted to the printer-focused Usenet group, comp.periphs.printers, that:

“Just the other day I purchased a new Lexmark X5250 All-in-one printer. I installed it as per the instructions and monitored the install with Norton as I do with all new software.

On reviewing the install log I noticed a program called Lx_CATS had been placed in the c:program files directory. I investigated and found a data log and an initialisation file called Lx_CATS.ini. Further investigation of this file showed that Lexmark had, without my permission, loaded a Trojan backdoor on to my computer. Furthermore, it is embedded into the system registry, so average users would likely never know it was there and active.”

Commander noticed that the spyware was programmed to surreptitiously report back to a URL, www.lxkcc1.com, every thirty days. lxkcc1.com is registered to Lexmark International, Inc..

When Commander called Lexmark to demand an explanation, the company first denied that they had installed any spyware at all. Ultimately the person with whom he spoke conceded that Lexmark installs “tracking software” on their users’ computers “to report back on printer and cartridge use for survey purposes.” While the Lexmark representative avowed that they did not transmit any personal information, they also admitted that the program does transmit the printer’s serial number, which of course is registered to the user. No personal information my foot!

Rumours of the installation of spyware along with their printer software have swirled around Lexmark for several years, and posts to Usenet complaining of Lexmark spyware date from as early as 2001. Some users complain of their computer trying to connect to the Internet every time they print a document; others worry that the program is reporting not only their cartridge usage, but whether they are using non-Lexmark cartridges, or even refilling their own cartridges, thus possibly setting the stage for a denial of warranty service.

According to “Commander”, the offending files include a program file called lx_CATS, and a related .ini file, lx_CATS.ini, as well as 2 DLL files in the c:program fileslexmark500 folder.

In order to remove Lexmark’s spyware from your system, delete the file (probably in your c:program directory) called “lx_cats.exe”, and also search for and remove a file called “lx_cats.ini” (and, for that matter, any other file including the term “lx_cats”).

My New Favorite Gadget

I've been a fan of Star Trek for a while as you may have guessed by other posts. I can't help but compare so many ordinary things today to what seemed so whizz-bang just a few years ago. Think about it: cell phone "communicator" (I love it when William Shatner opens his cell phone on Boston Legal - it makes the communicator sound), doors that open when you walk up to them and voice activated cars - it's all coming so quickly.

Now the PADD has come to life. This is the coolest the coolest gadgetto date, IMHO. It is the iPhone's cousin the iPod Touch. It's about 8mm thick and fits nicely in the palm of your hand. I fell in love with it when I got it just before Christmas. It's got WiFi capability, an Internet browser that lets you zoom in on Web sites so they can easily be read on it's crystal-clear 3.5" screen. It's got a calendar and address book that you can sync with your PC or Mac. Not only that, it plays music and videos! With the WiFi feature you can even buy tunes straight from your iPod!

But wiat! There's more! Just this month Apple "unlocked" the iPod so you can now add email, real-time stock quotes, Google maps, weather and more. It is now truly as cool as it gets. I can do pretty much anything I would normally do on a laptop without ahaving to worry about where I can plug it in or waiting for it to boot. It fits in my shirt pocket (I got it a rubber case so it doesn't slip out of said pocket), it has all my favorite music and videos on it as well as a hundred or so photos. Way cool.

I've been a PDA user since the first Palm Pilot came out, and I've jumped to the next coolest as fast as it came out. Well, that and the amount of money in my wallet. I've had Palm-powered devices and Windows Mobile devices, but this really takes the prize. It's sleek, it's pretty, it is easy to use. I encourage you to check it out.

People are asking why I didn't just get an iPhone. Well, I've heard the battery life isn't too hot for one thing. My iPod will play music all day and still let me surf the Web. I also happen to like my current wireless carrier (and I've still got a contract). But it does make my once-cool cell phone look a litte clunky.

What's your favorite gadget?