Category Archives: Technical Tips

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Say Hello to my Little Friend!

Technical Tips,

Love that scene in Scarface. But that’s not what this is about. I recently got a Solid State drive for my laptop and wanted to share the improved performance test results with my readers.

The program I used for benchmarking was HD Tune 2.55. I tested the computer both in normal and in safe mode, but I’m only posting the results gotten in safe mode, because they are the ones that I consider more reliable, since in safe mode the computer is only running the most basic programs and other software won’t interfere by using the hard disk while it’s being tested. Anyways, here’s the results of my “traditional” hard disk drive:

The blue line in the graph represents the data transfer rate over the course of the test. It fluctuated between 40 and 87.5 Megabytes per second, with an average of almost 70. Not bad for a traditional hard disk, especially since it belongs in a laptop. But now let’s see the same laptop, with a solid state drive instead of the traditional hard disk drive:

You can immediately see from the graph that this is a very different animal. The data transfer rate was between 203 and 208 Megabytes per second! Very impressive. And look at the access times! 18.7 milliseconds for the traditional hard disk drive against 0.2 milliseconds for the solid state drive!

As covered in earlier articles, a computer is as fast as its slowest component. And with the way different components have evolved over time, the secondary storage device (hard disk drive) has become the slowest component, generally speaking. But now, with the newest generation of solid state drives, there’s been a step forward towards a more balanced performance of all components.

How does this translate in the actual, normal, everyday use of the laptop? When starting the computer, from the moment the power button is pushed to the moment when the Windows login screen is available, the time went from 80 to 42 seconds! similarly proportional many applications and files were opening that much faster. It is without a doubt the single most noticeable upgrade a computer can get (as long as it’s not too old). Again, especially true for portable computers.

The only thing that is not small and compact about these solid state drives is the price. True, the one I got is (presently) the second fastest in the world, and at its biggest available size. But I could have bought a low-end, basic laptop with that money. So as usual you have to pay to play. Yet with how expensive it was, I feel I got my money’s worth. AND when I upgrade to a newer laptop, this solid state drive is going into it.

Problems With Outlook After installing Windows Update

Technical Tips, ,

I was minding my own business on my computer today when I noticed two emails in my Outlook 2007 outbox, seemingly stuck and going nowhere. I checked to see what the problem was and got this error: “None of the Authentication Methods Supported By This Client Are Supported By Your Server”. Thanks Microsoft, very informative. What the hell does that even mean and why is it happening all of a sudden?

I was thinking about what had changed recently and then I remember earlier today I had installed the latest batch of Windows Updates. Went through the list and sure enough, an update for Outlook 2007 had been installed (KB2412171). Now to the task of finding out what that update had changed and revert it or if I couldn’t revert the change, uninstalling the update. As it turns out, there was one setting that the update apparently changed. For many email accounts one is supposed to check the “My outgoing mail server requires authentication” meaning Outlook must provide username and password for the mail server to accept and relay outgoing emails. I knew the error was in the general area of authentication so I unchecked that option and the emails left, no problem.

Good, I thought, problem solved… only to receive two emails shortly after, where I was informed that my ongoing emails had been rejected at the recipients’ servers because they were not authenticated (a security measure to avoid somebody from just spoofing the sender’s email address and be able to send emails in your name without having to provide a password). OK so that brings me back to square one. What else could have changed? Turns out there is a setting in Outlook that uses a certain protocol when providing credentials to the web mail server to be allowed to send emails, called Secure Password Authentication (SPA). That was checked, but I could have sworn I didn’t set it that way. So I unchecked it, while leaving checked the earlier setting (“My outgoing mail server requires authentication”) and that did it.

Thought I pass it on to you in case the same happens to your computer.

Also, many Outlook  users have reported problems after installing this update, namely loosing the ability to archive old emails, and an extreme slowness when switching between folders. If you’re experiencing these problems, uninstall the particular update that is causing the issue:

  • Win7/Vista: Start > Control Panel > Uninstall a Program > View Installed Updates… find KB2412171 and remove it.
  • WinXP: Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs.  Make sure “Show updates” (at the bottom) is checked.  Find KB2412171 and remove it.

Hope this helps.

Another Record Number of Windows Updates

Computer Security, Technical Tips

Monster-patch Tuesday this coming one is. On Tuesday the 14th, Microsoft is releasing a record 17 security updates to patch 40 ongoing vulnerabilities in Windows.

Two of the 17 updates were tagged with Microsoft’s “critical” label, the highest threat ranking in its four-step scoring system. Another 14 were marked “important,” the second-highest rating, while the remaining update was labeled “moderate.”

Worthy of mention is that some of the patches are intended for resolving the 4 vulnerabilities that a notorious piece of malware –  Stuxnet – exploited in the recent past.

As usual if you have Automatic Updates turned on, there is no action required by the user except perhaps a restart once the updates are installed. If your computer is not set to download and install updates automatically, user intervention will be needed.

For Firefox Users – HTTPS Everywhere

Computer Security, Technical Tips

Computer security is as strong as its weakest link. Nowadays, the weakest link is, frequently, the user himself. That’s partially why I write these articles, in an effort to do my part to improve the general knowledge level of the average computer user. What is HTTPS? It’s a secure method of HTTP. And what the … is HTTP? an acronym that means Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. Simply put, the method your computer uses to display websites. OK so back to HTTPS now. HTTPS is therefore a secure method of displaying websites. How does that affect you?

Well, with the Internet becoming more and more interactive, the communication from your computer is not just from the internet to it (like what happens when you make your computer’s web  browser go to a website) but also from your computer to the Internet. So it’s becoming more and more a two-way street. That takes us to a recent problem. Recently somebody created Firesheep, a plug-in that allows any user using the Firefox web browser to “steal” login information from other users logging in to sites like Facebook, as long as the victim is using a public wireless connection and is nearby. You might have read about it, it made the news recently. As a result, the attacker can impersonate the legitimate user at which point he/she will have total control over your account and can do anything the legit user can do.

Ok so that’s the bad news. What’s the good news? Actually, I didn’t say there were any. But in this case you got lucky, because there are. At least if you use Firefox as your web browser. There is a counter-measure plug-in called HTTPS Everywhere. This one forces the use of HTTPS in several well-known and frequently use websites, resulting in being invulnerable to the Firesheep plug-in attack. Again, you can only install this plug-in in Firefox. You can find HTTPS Everywhere here.

Note: Using the plug-in might have adverse effects in some minor functions in certain websites. For example it breaks the functionality of Facebook chat. The bug is not in the plug-in, but in Facebook’s website, so it’s something Facebook would have to fix.

Some of the popular websites HTTPS Everywhere works in include:

  • Google Search
  • Wikipedia
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • bit.ly
  • GMX
  • WordPress.com blogs
  • The New York Times
  • The Washington Post
  • PayPal
  • EFF
  • Tor
  • Ixquick

Wishing you a safe surf.

To Scan Emails or Not to Scan Emails, That is the Question

Computer Security, Technical Tips

The content of this article might make some readers think I’ve lost my marbles. Regardless, here we go. As most users know, antivirus protection usually includes email scanning. What that means is incoming and outgoing emails are scanned (assuming you use an email client of course, as discussed in this recent article) by the antivirus software installed on your computer, to detect and eradicate any known threats from all emails. So here’s my advice: Turn email scanning off.

First, let me explain why, then I’ll explain the benefits of it.

Let me start by telling you that most antivirus programs have what is call “real-time protection” or “active shield” or some other similar name. In an antivirus, this is a function that scans every file you access in your computer. So when you open a document, a picture, a video, a new program, sometimes even a folder that contains such files, the antivirus scanner function quickly gets in the way and examines the file for anything that would make it be classified as malware, and if the results are positive, the antivirus will take action, the action taken largely depending on what it has been set to do. It might alert you of the threat and ask you for a decision on what to do, or quarantine the file in question, delete it, and so on. If after scanning the file the results for any malware trace are negative, the scanner naturally allows normal access to it. But the point is, providing the real-time protection is enabled, the email scanning function is redundant, for the email scanner will do the same than the real-time protection scanner, but with emails and their attachments, which are after all, just files.

Fair enough, you might say, let’s assume for a moment the above is right; However the more protection the better and so if I get a file scanned twice, there’s no harm in it.

That’s true. Well no, actually, it’s not. And here’s where the benefit part comes in. The truth is, an email scanner is likely to cause a corruption in the files your email client uses to store emails, and that will cause problems with the normal functionality of said client. Ironically, email scanners are more often responsible for inbox corruption in an email client than malware! So when you look at it that way, it doesn’t seem so beneficial anymore, does it?

I sometimes even wonder why antivirus program vendors still sell antivirus software with email scanners. It seems like a vestigial function that somehow is still there even though it’s not really needed and is more or less famous for causing trouble.

So turn off your antivirus email scanner if it’s on. And if you don’t know how to do that, ask an expert for help.

How Does Email Work?

Technical Tips

Most people know how it works. You open a new email, put the intended recipient in the “To” field, put a subject, write the email and click on the “send” button. Nothing to it. Or is there more to know about it? Yes, and that’s what I’m here to talk to you about today.

There are two main ways of handling your email, depending on how it is accessed:

The first one is accessing it straight from the web. In this case, the term webmail applies; This is a web-based page that displays your emails, allows you to see, reply to, and compose new emails. Example: you go to yahoo.com, or msn.com, sign in, and thus gain access to your mailbox, right there on the web server that contains them.

The second one is… accessing it straight from the web. But wait, didn’t I just say that? Let me explain. The truth is, the second way could be said to be by using a program installed in your computer that downloads the emails to it and allows you to do the same as what you can do with webmail – see, reply to, compose new emails. Programs such as Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail, Thunderbird, Eudora, to name a few, are examples of the second way – These are called email clients. But the point is, and this is what I wanted to emphasize, all the email client does is access your mailbox in the web to download (receive) and uses the same mailbox to send emails from it. So in both cases, whether displaying a web page so you can see your email on the web or using a program that will access the same information on the web but will download it and then display it on your computer, the web-based email server is used.

So what use does all this information have to the average user?

First of all, it opens the door to understanding some of the “mysteries” related to email. Example: you’re talking to a friend on the phone and he/she says he/she just sent you an email. You use Outlook to receive your email. You check your inbox, but minutes go by and the email is not showing up. Finally, about half an hour later, the email shows up. Where was it all this damn time??? In your web server mailbox. Well then why didn’t you get it earlier? by default Outlook will do an automatic send/receive every 30 minutes. This default value can be changed, but if it hasn’t, that’s how long Outlook will wait between automatic send/receives. So if you don’t force a manual receive, the emails in your web-based mailbox are not going to download by themselves. At least not for up to 30 minutes.

So what exactly happens when emails get downloaded to your computer, whether by a scheduled email run, or by manually causing that to happen? 1) Your email client contacts the web server that contains your mailbox. 2) They say hello to each other, and the web server asks for credentials. 3) The email client must now provide the right username and password to the web server in order to gain access to the mailbox. Once that’s done, 3) The email client compares what’s in the web-based inbox with what’s in your computer email client’s inbox, and thus decides which if any emails are new and need to be downloaded. 4) It proceeds to download the individual emails (at which point you’ll see them appear in your email client inbox) and 5) Normally it will delete the emails from the web server’s inbox. This setting (whether or not to leave a copy in the server of what gets downloaded) can be changed, but that’s normally the behavior by default – deleting emails from the web server that have been downloaded to your computer.

There’s also an email protocol that will behave differently (it will keep in the web server’s mailbox whatever you keep in your local mailbox, and will delete in the web server whatever you delete in your local mailbox). But generally speaking, the aforementioned way is currently the most common one.

Speeding Up Your Web Browser

Technical Tips

A client recently complained of extreme slowness in his computer, especially when browsing the Internet. Now, as many of you know, that is a possible sign of a malware infection and the client correctly suspected so. And so did I at first. A thorough check with specialized detection tools and detailed running programs analysis revealed… nothing. So with that possibility out of the way, I just went down the list of other possible reasons for the problem. The computer itself was not very fast, but even so the browsing was excruciatingly slow.

I checked the internet connection speed, which at some point had been a problem in the past. But not anymore, speed was very decent. The default browser was Mozilla Firefox, and although that’s not the fastest browser, it is at least faster than Internet Explorer (in case you’re wondering, as of this writing Chrome and Opera are the fastest). So I decided to look into the browser’s installed plug-ins (in general terms, plug-ins are small additions to a larger program that enable certain additional functions). I directed the client to use Firefox without ANY plug-ins running, and the speed change result was instantaneous and considerable. So we had the general area to address.

Rather than trying to find out which individual plug-ins were slowing the browser down to then proceed to disable them, I tried a different approach: I got ALL the plug-ins disabled, and enabled only the couple that were absolutely needed for the browser to function properly. At the end of that the browser was still quite faster than before.

Therefore, if your browser is slow as hell and pages take forever to load, providing your computer is not from 2000 or you use Internet Explorer ( 🙂 ), has no malware infection or a really slow internet connection (read this on how to test your internet connection speed), this is something you might want to look into, for this is one of the cases where less is more.

Record Number of Windows Updates Released Today

Computer Security, Technical Tips

This number of monthly updates released today (October 12) by Microsoft is a record one at a total of sixteen. Windows updates can have 3 different enhancement purposes: stability, performance and security. In this case, the whole batch is classified under enhanced security. Products affected include both the operating system and the Office products (all versions actively supported currently on both); even, in the case of Office, Macs.

Four of the updates are classified as critical (the top classification as far as urgency is concerned). Ten are classified as important, the next level down, and two as moderate, the next one down from important. Nine of the sixteen updates are designed to prevent remote code execution (i.e. a hacker taking control of your computer remotely by exploiting a vulnerability in your computer).

If you have Windows Update set to automatically download and install updates in your computer, there is no action required (other than a restart when the updates have been installed). If you have Windows Update set to notify you but not download, or set to download but not install automatically, or turned off, installing these updates will require user intervention (Of course if you have Windows Update set to anything but automatic, you might have more than these 16 updates to install).

My Computer is Making a Noise… What is it?

Technical Tips

Recently a client of mine brought up the fact that a computer seemed to be making a loud humming noise, and had assumed the hard disk drive was working harder than usual for some reason. Truth is, it’s the computer fans that were making the noise.

Whether a desktop or a laptop, all personal computers have at least one fan, used to create air flow while the computer is operating, to prevent overheat. In a desktop computer, one might find up to 4 or even 5 fans, all dedicated to provide air flow to different parts of the computer.

Not everyone knows that computers nowadays have different temperature sensors at different internal components AND also are able to speed up or slow down the fans speed depending on the temperature reading of said sensors. In some cases a fan is off until the related sensor reaches certain temperature and then it turns on. So when the temperatures inside a computer raise, whether it is because the ambient temperature is high or because the computer is working harder than usual, the fans speeds will raise. Most users will have noticed this at one time or another, and many describe it as the computer “seems to be racing”. This in itself is not bad – higher fan speeds when the computer gets hot is an appropriate response. But it might be a sign of something else if it’s happening too often.

As covered in this article, computers that have not been cleaned internally at regular intervals tend to get hotter. If by design your computer does not have sufficient airflow and is in an environment that gets hot, plus does not get cleaned regularly, chances are it might overheat and thus reduce the normal lifespan of its internal components.

What to do?

1. Make sure your computer internals are dust free.

2. relocate your computer as needed to provide good airflow. It is not a good idea to have a desktop computer in a closed cabinet with little or no airflow.

3. Depending on the situation, it might be a good idea to provide an external fan to force airflow around a computer that is getting poor or no airflow.

4. Keep the room temperature from getting too extreme.

5. There is software that can monitor the sensors’ readings in a computer and alert you if the temperature goes above a certain level, so you can take action before overheating ruins your computer. An expert should be able to install and configure such software.