for May 12 & 19, 2004

 

May 12

Hi, All;

This Week: Another nasty Virus

Dear Trend Micro customer,
As of May 2, 2004, 10:07 PM (PST), TrendLabs has declared a High Risk Virus Alert to control the spread of WORM_SASSER.B. Several infection reports have been received indicating that this worm is spreading in the Latin American region.
This variant of WORM_SASSER.A similarly exploits the Windows "Local Security Authority Subsystem Service" (LSASS) vulnerability, which is a buffer overrun that allows remote code execution and enables an attacker to gain full control of the affected system. To propagate, this worm scans random IP addresses for vulnerable systems. When a vulnerable system is found, the malware sends a specially crafted packet to produce a buffer overrun on LSASS.EXE, which causes the program to crash and eventually require Windows to reboot.
For more information on WORM_SASSER.B, you can visit our Web site at: http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/virusencyclo/ default5.asp?VName=WORM_SASS ER.B.

I am using my column to help everyone know about these potentially destructive viruses to help remind everyone to get an anti-virus program for their PC's and keep to it updated, or use one of the free versions on the Internet.

Also, turn on "Windows update" on your Windows Operating system, if it has it (98,ME and XP), as this will help keep your Windows up to date and have its security holes plugged as Microsoft fixes them.

'Til next week, (ComputerFAQ#189)

Robert

 

May 19

Hi, All;

This Week: Clearing addresses from the address bar in Internet Explorer?

I got a call from a reader about what to do with all the URL addresses that were showing up in Internet Explorer when he clicked on the arrow on the address bar of IE.

This is easy to fix; there are two ways to delete old addresses. First, if you want to keep most of your address history, just single click on the address you want to delete, and when it is highlighted in the address bar box, just press the "Delete" key on your keyboard and that will remove that address from your history file. If you want to clear your entire history, click on "tools" on the IE menu bar. A menu will drop down; click on "Internet Options," and a drop-down box will display with several tabs across the top of the box. The "General" tab will be displaying; this tab is where you can set your home page, (the web site that displays whenever you start IE), work with your cookie and Internet files, and clear your URL history.

The last section of this window provides the "History" options; click on the "Clear History" button, and all your URL history is gone. You can set how long to keep history by days, from one to ninety-nine. There are many other options available in this "Internet Option" box; I will cover more of them in future columns.

'Til next week, (ComputerFAQ#190)

Robert

 

Please send your questions to

May 12&19, 2004 Worm_Sasser.B and Clearing Old URL Addresses from IE

May 5, 2004 The F5 Refresh key and other Function keys

Apr. 28, 2004 First Purchase on Ebay and More on Recycling Computer Eqpt.

Apr. 21, 2004 Repairing a Laser Printer and More about Disposing Used Computer Equipment

Apr. 14, 2004 How to get rid of an old PC

Apr. 7, 2004 Another Virus Alert

Mar. 31, 2004 Keeping Both Home and Ebay Pages Open At the Same Time

Mar. 24, 2004 A Complex Alert about a Very Complex Virus

Mar. 17, 2004 A Hoax Virus Can Cause You To Damage Your Computer

Mar. 10, 2004 Should I Reload Windows?

Mar. 3, 2004 HTML Email Viruses: Disable Preview and Receive Only Text Email

Feb. 25, 2004 Spoofing and Zombies

Feb. 18, 2004 Using Spyware

Feb. 11, 2004 Spyware

Feb. 4, 2004 Phishing and the MyDoom virus

Jan. 28, 2004 Microsoft Extends Support for Windows '98 and ME

Jan. 21, 2004 More Keyboard Shortcuts

Jan. 14, 2004 The Lifesaver "Undo" and Other Keyboard Shortcuts

Jan. 7, 2004 Microsoft quitting support for Windows 95 & 98 plus minimum computer requirements for Windows XP

Dec. 24, 2003 The Trouble with Mice

Dec. 17, 2003 System Restore & Windows Safe Mode

Dec. 10, 2003 Backing Up using an external USB Hard Drive

Dec. 3, 2003 SpamSubtract, a good way to reduce spam, also other ways

Nov. 26, 2003 Disgusted about Spam

Nov. 19, 2003 How Vulnerable is Your Computer to Data Theft?

Nov. 12, 2003 Safely Deleting Thousands of tmp Files

Nov. 5, 2003 Finding the Windows Search Button & Misc Program Problems

Oct. 29, 2003 How to Print a List of Files

Oct. 22, 2003 Fall Cleanup Part 3

Oct. 15, 2003 Fall Cleanup Part 2

Oct. 8, 2003 Fall Cleaning of Your PC

Oct. 1, 2003 Explanation of DSL

Sept. 24, 2003 Installing DSL at the Shopper

Sept. 17, 2003 What New Computer Should I Buy? Part 2

Sept. 10, 2003 What New Computer Should I Buy?

Sept. 3, 2003 Protecting from Viruses and Worms

Aug. 27, 2003 Current Viruses "Bast Worm" and "Sobig"

Aug. 20, 2003 Does Microsoft Password Make Changing Passwords Easier?

Aug. 13, 2003 Passwords and Passport Part 2

Aug. 6, 2003 More About PassPort and Passwords

July 23 & 30, 2003 Where Are Microsoft Passport Passwords Stored? and More About Passport and Passwords

July 16, 2003 Internet Explorer Helpful Hint Part 2

July 9, 2003 Internet Explorer Helpful Hint Part 1

July 2, 2003 Some More Icons Explained

June 25, 2003 Online Ordering

June 18, 2003 Followup on Refilled Ink Cartridges

 

July 05, 2000 Introduction to ComputerFAQ

July 12, 2000 Computer Definitions

July 26, 2000 More Computer Definitions

August 02, 2000 Defining Bits, Bytes and Hex

August 09, 2000 Internet Service Providers (ISP)

August 16, 2000 Backup up your PC

August 23, 2000 Backup Devices.

August 30, 2000 What is the slowest PC for Internet Access

September 06, 2000 PC Nomenclature

September 13, 2000What to do with Mail Attachements.

September 20, 2000What Happens at boot up

October 04, 2000Desktop Areas

October 18, 2000Start Button

October 25, 2000Display Made Bigger

November 01, 2000 More Monitor Controls

November 15, 2000 Right Click Display Menu

November 22, 2000 More on Desktop Menus

November 29, 2000 More on Desktop Menus

December 06, 2000 Desktop Properties Menu - part 1

December 13, 2000 Desktop Properties Menu - part 2

December 20, 2000 Desktop Properties Menu - part 3