Defensive Computing

The Internet is littered with stories about the soon to be released third service pack for Windows XP. Here's an uncommon wrinkle. Don't install it when it's officially released on the 29th. Not yet, it's too soon.

I say this at the risk of not being a team player. Fellow CNET blogger, Robert Vamosi, recently wrote "Starting April 29, all Windows XP SP2 users should upgrade to SP3..." If this is my last posting, you'll know why.

A fundamental tenant of Defensive Computing is not to install newly released software. With Windows XP SP3, the reason to wait is software incompatibilities. Even though SP3 has underdone much testing, it's a big world and there are bound to be problems with some software. By waiting, you let everyone else find and fix the problems before you face them.

If you are using software that's impacted adversely by SP3, you don't want to be among the first people to call the software vendor for help. It's far better to call a couple months later when the problem and the solution are well known and grooved in.

Deciding when to install new software involves balancing the risk vs. the reward. While the risk with SP3 should be small, so too is the reward. In fact, the reward is pert near zero for anyone who is up to date on Windows bug fixes. Granted, this is one person's opinion, and reasonable people may disagree, ... Read more

It seems that Michael Dell is breathing new life into his company.

A year ago, Dell was brave enough to backtrack on its Vista-only policy for consumer machines (Dell brings back XP on home systems). It also showed some independence from Microsoft by offering Linux to consumers. And again, Dell is innovating.

Fact 1: As of June 30, large computer manufacturers such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard can no longer offer Windows XP preinstalled on new computers, though Microsoft has said it would consider re-evaluating the deadline if there's enough customer demand.

Fact 2: Anyone who buys a copy of either the Business or Ultimate versions of Vista is entitled to also get Windows XP Professional.* Each computer manufacturer decides whether, or how, to implement this.

Until now, consumers who exercised their right to get XP Professional when they purchased Vista got a computer with Vista preinstalled and an XP image CD in the box (an image CD is very different from a retail Windows CD).

Dell's innovation? It will do the XP image installation for you. It may not sound like much, but the net result is that the computer leaves the factory with Windows XP Professional on it, rather than Vista.

Deadline? We don't need no stinkin' deadline.

Microsoft can't be happy about this, though a cynic would note that even though Dell computers leave the factory with XP on them, Microsoft can tally it as a sale for Vista.

It's an interesting power

By July 1st, Dell, Lenovo, HP and all the other big computer manufacturers will no longer be allowed to sell new computers with Windows XP pre-installed. So says Microsoft. Microsoft also dictated to retailers that, come July, there will be no more shrink-wrapped boxes of Windows XP on their store shelves.

But, many of us prefer XP over the Microsoft-mandated Vista. To borrow from Star Trek, some of us don't want to be assimilated (sorry, couldn't resist). What are we to do this summer?

One option is to buy a computer with a business version of Vista rather than a home/consumer version. Microsoft allows computer manufacturers to include a copy of XP on a CD with computers running the business editions of Vista. Some, such as Fujitsu, Lenovo and HP do this, but check with your preferred vendor. Even those that offer it, may not offer it on every computer.

The included XP CD is an "image" of XP, rather than the Windows disc that comes in shrink-wrapped boxes. This means that installing XP over Vista should be a simple process, something anyone can handle. For example, the necessary drivers are already there.

However, you pay a big premium for this. Not only is there the price premium for a business version of Vista, you may also may have to pay for the XP image CD. Each hardware manufacturer sets their own pricing. When I last checked, Fujitsu was the only company to include Windows XP for ... Read more

Yesterday I wrote that with the exception of Windows XP, I do my best to avoid Microsoft software. Today I ran across this article by Gregg Keizer in ComputerWorld, Microsoft rings alarm on Windows rights bug, that starts with:

"Microsoft Corp. yesterday issued a security alert to warn users of a bug in most versions of Windows, but didn't promise to fix the flaw or -- if it does patch the problem -- say when a fix would be released. A little more than three weeks ago, Microsoft had denied that the problem was a vulnerability."

Wow. Permit me to paraphrase:

It wasn't a bug until it got publicity. Now it is a bug, but maybe we'll fix it, maybe we won't.

Previous postings on this blog, like any blog, have been narrowly focused. Sometimes it helps to look at the forest rather than the individual trees. To that end, I take a step back here for an overall cheat sheet to Defensive Computing.

Skepticism

Perhaps the most important aspect of Defensive Computing is something money can't buy, skepticism.

Obviously this applies to email messages, many of which are scams. A relatively new approach appeals to your patriotism - emails from people claiming to be soldiers stationed in Iraq who need help bringing money home. Yeah, sure. Skepticism is not only needed with the body of an email message, but also with the From address. Never trust it. Forging the From address is child's play.

Did someone point you to a really interesting video that just happens to require installing new software before you can view it? Don't do it.

Scams aren't limited to email, read my introduction to voice phishing.

Web sites too, need a skeptical review. Are you a customer of AT&T's CallVantage VOIP service? If so, be sure to go to callvantage.att.com rather than callvantage.com. The later is a phony website (for lack of a better term). Interested in public transportation in New Jersey? If so, go to njtransit.com rather than the phony newjerseytransit.com. Read the Wall Street Journal? Which of these domains belong to the newspaper: wsj.net, wsj.info, wsj.org, wsj.biz, wsj.us, wsj.... Read more

Robert X. Cringely wrote an interesting article today called The Truth About IT Consultants: Some are great but most are not. If you deal with IT consultants, it's a worthwhile read.

Here's a sobering statistic from the article: "...more than 50 percent of big IT projects fail completely...". Why? According to Bob, projects sometimes fail at the requirements phase, a company may be incapable of setting their own requirements. Projects may also be "too grand" and Bob warns that companies may not realize they've bitten off too much until it is too late.

Certainly anyone involved in IT will get a chuckle out of Bob's 10 most frequent lies told by IT consultants. My favorite: "Of course your data is safe".

In Ed Foster's The Worst Vendor Poll back in January, Comcast beat out 23 other companies and was voted the second worst company, just behind Microsoft. After my first dealings with Comcast cable Internet access, I can confirm the opinions of those voters. While installing new service in an apartment, the Comcast guy screwed up my VPN.

Things started out on the wrong foot, the installer called ahead to his next appointment to say he'd be there in a few minutes before we were done. He had done the physical hooking up, but hadn't yet verified the Internet connection. So, when things went wrong with the initial net connection, he no doubt felt under the gun.

His first reaction when things didn't work, was to call the home office to activate the modem (or something to that effect). At the same time, he also opened Device Manager (the machine was running Windows XP) to see the Network adapters. That's where things went bad. When confronted with Network adapters that he didn't understand, the cable guy got rid of them, figuring they might be screwing things up.

In addition to the usual Ethernet and WiFI adapters, the computer (a laptop machine) had two VMware Virtual Ethernet Adapters and a TAP-Win32 adapter from my VPN. The cable guy disabled the two VMware adapters and removed the TAP-Win32 adapter. Re-enabling the VMware network adapters after he left was no big deal, but I lost access to my ... Read more

I had no intention on focusing so much on the Flash Player and Firefox, but there just seems to be a lot to say. This time the topic is installing the latest version of the Adobe Flash Player in a portable version of Firefox.

I'm a huge fan of portable applications; I all but live in the portable versions of both Firefox and Thunderbird, both downloaded from portableapps.com. This posting was written in an airport and traveling is one reason to like portable applications. I normally work on a Windows XP desktop computer and before leaving on a trip, all I have to do is copy a single folder from the desktop machine to my XP based laptop computer to bring along my copy of Firefox. Copying another folder gives me all my email. When I return from the trip, copying the folders back is all it takes to pick up where I left off.

The Firefox folder includes not only the program, but also my bookmarks, my preferred configuration options, the website passwords that Firefox saves for me and the customization I made to the toolbar (such as adding the New Tab button and removing the Home button). It also includes my extensions, for the most part.

This all works fine, with the slight exception of the Flash Player plugin. Adobe doesn't do portable. Neither the Flash Player installer nor the uninstaller is the least bit aware of, or concerned with, portable versions of Firefox.

A ... Read more

My last posting was about upgrading the Adobe Flash Player, a Web browser plug-in. Adobe Systems just released a new version that fixes critical bugs in older versions, so everyone should update to the latest version.

Adobe's Flash tester page displays the version of the Flash Player being used by your Web browser. Sometimes though, the Firefox results may not be what you think they should be. I've run across a couple instances in which Firefox was not using a newly installed version of the Flash Player.

The rules for where or how Firefox loads plug-ins have changed over time, and all software vendors may not have a perfect understanding of them. Then too, many uninstallers leave files behind; it's almost the rule rather than the exception. If your copy of Firefox isn't doing what it's supposed to do, there are two ways to find out from where it picked up a particular plug-in.

Start Firefox, and in the address bar, enter "about:config" without the quotes (see above). In the filter bar, enter "plugin", again without the quotes. Double-click on "plugin.expose_full_path." This should change the value from "false" to "true" and the status from "default" to "user set."

Go back to the address bar, and enter "about:plugins" (no quotes). As shown below, the file name in the Shockwave Flash section has the name and the full path of the file Firefox is using for the Flash Player.

If there is no Shockwave ... Read more

If you are reading this on a computer, it's a sure bet that Adobe's Flash Player is installed. A couple days ago, Adobe released a new version of the Flash Player web browser plugin and there are few things you need to know to upgrade correctly.

To confirm that you need an upgrade, point your browser to adobe.com/products/flash/about. The just-released version of the Flash Player is 9.0.124.0. The prior version, 9.0.115.0, was released in December 2007. Each web browser installed on your computer is a free agent (so to speak) so you need to check each one to know if an upgrade is needed.

If you need to upgrade, don't, not yet.

Uninstall First

The Flash installer has a long history of not removing older versions. Since it's never good to have buggy software on your computer, the first step to upgrading the Flash Player is removing any and all prior versions. Windows users can get a report of all copies of the Flash player from the free online Secunia Software Inspector. I suggest opting for the "thorough system inspection". Recently, on a brand new computer, Secunia found a copy of the downright ancient Flash Player version 6.

Firefox users on Windows will have two copies of the Flash player. Adobe packages Flash as an ActiveX control for Internet Explorer and as a "plugin" for Firefox, Opera, Netscape and Mozilla.

There are three ways to uninstall ... Read more