Recently falling vitim to having all ads blocked, I need to find out why and where.

The host file.

The hose file is found in:

c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\

Most are blank or have a # symbol in them. Mine was filled with, was filled with ad servers and other sites. To fix the problem simply open the host file with a text editor and delete everything in it.

Symptom - When you load www.hotmail.com or windowsupdate.microsoft.com the browser returns nothing, in other words you have a blank page.

At first thought I figured it was some spyware that either tried to hi-jack hotmail accounts or prevent Microsoft users from using their mail or updating. Either of these could still be the case; however the fix comes from Microsoft.com

Solution - More than likely the vb(visual basic) scripting is corrupt. Microsoft relies a lot of Visual Basic scripting for the services they provide. Example, hotmail/windows update.

To fix this problem visit the following link that applies to your operating system. The link will take you to Microsoft's website to download the file.

Windows Script 5.6 Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition, and Windows NT 4.0

Windows Script 5.6 for Windows 2000 and XP

The current buzz around the spyware world is that two of the leaders in spyware removal(lavasoft,pestpatrol) have without notice delisted Whenu. WhenU previous to the New Year, was labeled as spyware.

I have tested pestpatrol and microsoft anitspyware definitions as of Feb.22.2005 and found that they both remove all WhenU spyware. Also the memory check service, within pestpatrol, detects WhenU as spyware at install. Microsofts realtime protection feature does the same.

What is WhenU? WhenU makes ad serving software which is bundled with unrelated programs available for download for free from the internet. WhenU's software includes Save!, SaveNow and ClockSync. According to a PCPitstop user survey, 87% of persons with WhenU software on their computer had no idea how it became installed.

WhenU is listed in add/remove programs as SearchBar.

I do not have the time to go into why WhenU is trash. Here are some links to get you where you need to go for that information. WhenU Link1. WhenU link 2.

So why are spyware software sites displaying information on their site that details that their software isn't spyware. It is like the emails that you get that tell you that they are not spam, when in fact they are. It hurts these spyware companies real bad when the top downloads and searches on the internet are for removal of spyware.

The same rule applies to spam email as they do spy ware. These rules apply to spyware, why? Mainly because I say so. Q. Why do I have the right to remove spyware? A. Because it is a free country and I will do what I please with my computer however I see fit. I will also put my trust in a software company just like anyone else would put their trust in anyone or anything else. I trust that the anti-spyware software that I am using will remove unwanted, CPU hogging, bandwidth leeching, privacy invading trash programs.

Let’s get back to WhenU. First and foremost they were originally known for a couple things. One thing they were known for was "damn, where did all these pop-ups go, man my machine is slow". And when people found out it could be removed, queries started to go out on the internet asking "remove save now", "remove WhenU"

Now we visit WhenU sites on the present day. The well known spyware software camp, all of a sudden turned legit, has anti-spyware and privacy stamped all over their site. Now it seems that WhenU is an anti-spyware portal and you can scan your computer for free. Wait, first you have to download the program that does the magic work.

This magic program is a toolbar for Internet Explorer that functions like a search bar. Not only does the search bar search, it blocks pop-ups and removes spyware. That’s fantastic, other than the fact that two months ago their software was removed by every single anti-spyware software program out there. You see this way, if you use their scan, WhenU will surely keep its place on your machine and why not? It makes them millions and millions of dollars. Do not think for one second that they want to offer you a free tool just to better your life. They want to give you a free tool so you will bypass the privacy policy or not even care enough even if they are breaking their own words. Tell me this, how do any of these programs send targeted ads to your computer, without giving them any of your personal info? They can not, they need data.

All of this boils down to one simple thing, money. With money you can buy your way out of jail, you can catch a cold and get out of court for a few days, live off of room service seven days a week, and with enough money, you can buy your spyware company off of the spyware removal list.

Conclusion: I predict there will be a lot of lawsuits over spyware classifications and lawsuits over articles written about spyware.

The only people that are complaining and suing are the companies that make the crap software. Ask yourself this, how many people do you think that are out in the world today, are ready to end it all (kill themselves), over having WhenU removed? The only people that find it useful are the people making money off of it.

Never again will I use or recommend lavasoft, nor will I bring up the name "WhenU" in conversation again. Other than the bashing it deserves.

It's not an easter egg or a windows egg, it's a missing space between two words. After searching through Microsofts's help and support I have stumbled on to a Microsoft error for all eyes to see.

That is untill Microsoft changes the typo. You can view the typo here: http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=gp%2flifean1

In the first paragraph:

"Microsoft is pleased to announce a clarification in our extended security update support for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium (Me) Editions forcritical security issues. As part of this extended support, Microsoft will provide information about whether critical issues affect these operating systems. Microsoft will provide security updates on the operating systems that are affected and the severity rating is critical."

Last Review: January 14, 2005

When you're evaluating e-mail archiving technology, look for a system that can do the following:

• Automatically capture all incoming and outgoing messages and all internal messages between employees, index their full text and archive them.
• Identify each message and attachment individually, while eliminating duplicate records sent to multiple users.
• Give end users the ability to search the archive via a Web client or other user interface, with a customized lexicon of specific words, terms or phrases.
• Perform automated data migration of certain records based on policy to the appropriate storage device (disk, tape or optical, for example).
• Allow personal e-mail stores, such as Exchange or Outlook .pst files (personal folders), to be migrated to the archive store as needed. This helps by relieving users of the need to do .pst file archiving and management while still allowing them to search for and retrieve their own e-mails.

The inability to search and retrieve e-mails in a timely fashion is what led the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to fine five Wall Street brokerages a total of $8.25 million in December 2002. The firms included Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs & Co. and Salomon Smith Barney.

The SEC, the New York Stock Exchange and the National Association of Securities Dealers all require brokerages to retain e-mail traffic. The brokerages that were fined failed to preserve the e-mails for three years and/or to preserve them in an accessible place for two years.

The SEC's shot across Wall Street's bow was heard throughout the entire financial services industry.

I like the Microsoft anti-spyware software and it is doing a great job of cleaning up Internet Explorer's/Windows problems.

Spyware first started to make its way into our life by being bundled into free or shareware programs. When first word of this got around many folks became paranoid of the idea, that useless, privacy invading software was being installed on their system.

The game changed and advertisers had to go about installing their malware using trickier methods. Most of the methods used today, to install spyware, resemble hacking exploits or trojan type attacks.

And here we are several years down the road. We get word from our operating system manufacture, Microsoft that has just released a beta version of an anti-spyware program. Microsoft does let us know that they may charge for the program and why shouldn’t they, hey we all need money.

What got me the most was that Microsoft didn’t write this software from the ground up, they bought out another company that had already developed their Giant Software Anti-Spyware:
*http://www.giantcompany.com

*(Please note that the website listed above is best viewed in IE, If you don't believe me load up firefox.)

In December of 2004 Microsoft makes it official and buys out Giant. Why shouldn’t they? Microsoft doesn’t need to be the developer of a product they just bought. Look in your task manager under processes. If you see an exe called GIANTAntiSpyware.exe running, you'll know what it is.

If you want to see another anti-spyware program that greatly resembles the new Anti-Spyware from Microsoft, download a free trial of CounterSpy @ http://www.sunbelt-software.com/product.cfm?id=410

Conclusion:
Microsoft for four years did nothing about spyware and when they felt they needed to, they bought out a company that had a final release product on the market, put Microsoft’s endorsement behind it, changed the name, and release it to the public in beta. Yes, I know, this doesn’t sound like such a big deal at all, but we are talking about Microsoft, supposedly the biggest software "giant" in the world, and they can’t write their own software to fix the problems that IE has created, since the integration of the browser Internet Explorer, with the core of the entire system, the operating system.

What's Next? Microsoft is planning to buy  Sybari Software which makes programs designed to protect business computer networks from viruses, worms and other threats. What does Microsoft know about preventing viruses, nothing? That’s why Windows is exploited every second of everyday, and that’s why they don’t write their own anti-virus software.

This is the destination folder used by Windows Updates to save the hotfix. The hotfix will be deleted automatically once installed. Therefore, copy the WUTEMP directory contents to a new folder, while the install process has just started

Want to improve the performance of your FireFox browser with your broadband connection? By setting a couple of configurations in FireFox you can send many requests to a site to get the information faster.

Firefox - Broadband Settings:

Open up FireFox and: