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Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

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Mailbag: Viruses you didn't send, the Windows update blues and more


April 25, 2004


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2004, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2004, The Post-Standard

   When I realized a few days ago that I still had a few hundred unanswered e-mails sitting in my inbox, I knew I had some catching up to do. This week and next I'll get to the most pressing questions I've received in the last few weeks.
   
   NO, I DIDN'T SEND YOU THAT VIRUS: If you are wondering why you're getting "bounce-backs" of e-mail messages you never sent, you're simply seeing the effects of the latest Windows viruses. They attack Windows PCs (but not OS X Macintoshes or Linux computers) and steal e-mail addresses, then send themselves out to other computers using the stolen addresses as fake return addresses. Mail servers that are trying to block viruses then send notices to the owners of those purloined addresses telling them their e-mail messages were infected.
   That's dumb, because everyone who runs mail servers knows by now that this happens. Create a rule in your e-mail software to toss such bounce-back messages into the trash. Or just delete them manually.
   
   PATCH THIS IF YOU CAN: Windows users have been asking me what they can do to fix the problems they are having with the Windows Update site. Microsoft has been finding bugs, flaws and security lapses in Windows at the rate of a couple a week, and it insists that Windows users do the rest of the company's work by patching their own copies of Windows. That sounds like a good idea, but the Windows Update site doesn't work well enough for many users -- especially those who are using older versions of Windows, which are also the most vulnerable.
   Microsoft will no doubt improve the Windows Update site before long. In the meantime, Windows users should be patient and make sure they have good antivirus software, an effective spyware blocker, a script blocker, a spyware eradicator and a sense of humor. (They need the last item just to put up with the other four.)
   
   GAMES PEOPLE PLAY: When I wrote recently about Virtual PC, software from Microsoft that allows Macintosh computers to run Windows, many readers asked me whether Windows games will run on such an emulated PC. I'll be reporting on this soon, after I install the newest version of Virtual PC. It's being released in May. Stay tuned.
   
   KEYS TO SUCCESS: I've been asked how someone could find out what the various non-alphabetical keys do on a Windows or Macintosh keyboard. One way: Look in the menus. Windows and Macintosh OS X programs often show the keyboard equivalent to every menu choice. (You'll see "Ctrl-S" listed next to "Save," for example, in many Windows programs, and "Cmd-S" listed for the same operation on a modern Mac.) Windows also shows underlined letters in its menus. If you hold down the Alt key and press one of the underlined letters, you get the menu action.
   
   BURNING DESIRES: Readers often ask if I really did mean to say that CD-RWs are a bunch of junk. You bet I did. CD-RW disks are erasable but only in the most awkward way. They're not like VCR tapes, for example. You can't just pop in a CD-RW and make a new recording on it if it's already full. You have to erase it first, and that can take a long time.
   Worse yet, CD-RWs are likely to fail you at the worst time. The fact that they are erasable means you or your kids will erase the vital files you put on your CD-RW someday. Accidents happen and all that. In brief, don't use CD-RWs to store anything valuable. Translated, that means don't use them at all.
   
   CAMERA OBSCURA: Of all the questions I get about digital cameras, the craziest one concerns the picture-quality setting. Cameras often have an adjustment for low-, medium- or high-quality pictures. Buying a good camera and then intentionally taking bad pictures makes no sense. Set the quality all the way up and leave it there. Always.
   
   SPLIT DECISION: Should your new hard drive be split up into partitions? Don't do it unless you absolutely have to. If your computer is old or you have an old operating system, you might be forced to partition your new drive. Otherwise, don't do it. Check your computer's owners manual; it might help.
   
   INKY-DINK: Should you refill your ink cartridges? Go ahead and try it, but follow these guidelines: Refilled color cartridges seldom do a good job printing high-quality photos, so stick to refills only when you're printing reports and other texts.