This morning’s Washington Post has a well-written article that includes a couple of chilling predictions: Fight Against Viruses May Move to Servers (TechNews.com).

The article quotes Brian King, an Internet security analyst with the government-funded CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon University, as saying: “Users may not realize that just having anti-virus software and a firewall isn’t enough to protect them anymore.”

Virus writers are getting more clever, and the gap is narrowing between the time vulnerabilities are discovered and exploits are launched. It is no longer realistic to expect ordinary users to be completely responsible for every aspect of security. ISPs and those companies that manage the Internet backbone need to take a much stronger role in blocking dangerous or hostile traffic before it has a chance to reach critical mass.

If your ISP is allowing dozens or hundreds of virus-infected messages to land in your mailbox, maybe you should be asking them why they don’t eliminate those dangerous messages at the server?

I found this collection of satellite pictures from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) remarkable. The photo at the top left shows the blackout zone; the photo below it and to the right shows the same view from the night before, with all lights blazing brightly. Remarkable!

[PLEASE NOTE THE DATE ON THIS POST. The deal referred to has expired… There are often equally good deals on the same software, however. Just keep your eyes open. – Ed]

Amazon.com is selling Norton AntiVirus 2003
for $40, with $40 worth of rebates if you can rustle up an old copy of any Norton or McAfee antivirus product. If you can’t find one, you can still get a $20 rebate, for a net cost of $20. Great deal!

A reader named George writes:

Hey Ed,

I guess you were pretty tied up writing your new book about Office 2003. Please let us know when it hits the shelves (I heard something about August 15)…

I got a copy of your Office XP book and earned every possible Microsoft Office Specialist Certification. So kudos to you guys for your excellent work.

PS: I noticed that the new book is quite bigger than the previous one. Are you covering the new Office 2003 members like Infopath and OneNote???

Thanks for the success story, George! Yes, I’ve been pretty thoroughly tied up working on Special Edition Using Microsoft Office 2003. But it’s in the hands of the publishers now, who are feverishly putting in the final touches to get it ready for availability in mid-September. The book covers all the applications in the retail version of Office 2003 Professional. That doesn’t include InfoPath (which is intended for enterprise installations). We do have a small section on OneNote (which is only sold separately and is not bundled with any Office version).

Coincidentally or not, Microsoft announced today that Office 2003 has released to manufacturing, which means it will be available on new computers in late September and in retail packages on October 21. I think they’ve done a good job and will have a lot more to say about it in the next few months.

One common problem that affects just about everyone who uses Windows is the tendency to have too much stuff running at startup. Sometimes it seems like every program you install wants to make sure it runs every time you turn on your PC. The result, especially if you use Windows 98 or Windows Me, is a general slowdown and the risk of an unstable system.

To solve the problem, I recommend Mike Lin’s Startup Control Panel, a free utility that allows you to see exactly what’s running at startup. You can disable or delete any item on the list with just a couple of clicks.

Excellent stuff.

Arie Slob of Windows-Help.NET passes along the news that a New TweakUI 2.10 for Windows XP is available. He’s got a nice list of the new features you’ll find there, plus links to the download site.

Be sure to read the documentation first. This update requires Windows XP Service Pack 1 or Windows 2003 Server. If you’re running XP and you don’t have SP1 yet, go to Windows Update and get it.

If you use Windows 2000, it’s time to download and install Service Pack 4. You’ll find an impressive array of fixes. No new features, though – that’s not what SPs are for…

I normally try to stay clear of political discussions on this site. But recent comments by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) caught my eye. I was startled to read his apparently serious suggestion that copyright holders should be allowed to reach out over the Internet and destroy the computers of those who download illegal copies of music or movies.

Oops. It turns out that Sen. Hatch’s Web site is using an unlicensed copy of a JavaScript-based menuing program, and if the Honorable Senator were to extend his ill-tempered thoughts to software, the server hosting his Web site would be a pile of smoking rubble right now. (For details see the Wired News article Orrin Hatch: Software Pirate?)

Now, as someone who makes a living selling copyrighted materials (the meager commissions I make when you buy my books from Amazon.com pay for the hosting of this site), you’d think I would be at least a little bit on Sen. Hatch’s side. And I do agree that most programs like the defunct Napster and Kazaa are simply ill-disguised tools for wholesale theft of intellectual property. But someone needs to tell Sen. Hatch that this is the 21st Century, and that he’s not in the Wild West anymore.

My most recent column at Microsoft.com, Share Digital Photos, contains all sorts of wonderful advice for anyone who owns a digital camera. (It also includes a great photo of my amazingly photogenic cat Katy.)

Since that column appeared, I’ve received several emails from people who tell me that their copy of Windows XP is missing the Resize command that I write about.

Apparently, some graphics programs scramble a DLL in Windows XP. Fortunately, there’s a pretty easy fix. If you can’t find the Resize menu, follow these steps to restore this functionality:

Click the Start button, click Run, and type this command in the Open box:

REGSVR32 SHIMGVW.DLL

(Note that there’s a single space in that command, after REGSVR32.) Click OK.

That should get you back in business.

About six weeks ago, I warned you about Critical Update 811493 (see edbott.com: When an Update Needs an Update…). As promised, Microsoft has revised this patch to address the performance issues that were plaguing users of Windows XP Service Pack 1.

If you’ve been holding off on installing this patch, it’s safe to do so now. You’ll find it on Windows Update.