From: listadmin-newslettertxt@opcug.ca on behalf of Jocelyn Doire Sent: April-26-12 1:47 PM To: NewsletterTXT Subject: [NewsletterTXT] 2012 05 Newsletter Hello, This OPCUG Newsletter is sent at your request. To cancel this service, send a message to listserve@@opcug.ca with the plain text "unsubscribe Newslettertxt" (without quotes and with a single @) in the body of the message. No subject line is required. For more information send the message "get info" (without quotes) to listserve@@opcug.ca. You can send comments/suggestions regarding the emailed newsletter to jocelyn.doire@@opcug.ca. I have NO input regarding the content of the newsletter, so any comments should be sent the newsletter editors or to the author(s) of the article. I hope that you will enjoy this service. Jocelyn Doire Newsletter Emailing ____________________________ Vol. 29 number 5 May 2012 The newsletter of the Ottawa PC Users' Group Calendar OPCUG General Meeting National Museum of Science and Technology 1867 St. Laurent Blvd. Second (*first) Wednesday of each month, 7:30pm Beginner SIG After the OPCUG General Meeting, at the Museum. Linux SIG After the OPCUG General Meeting, at the Museum. Beer BOF (Wing SIG East), after all the SIGs, at 10 p.m. Liam Maguire's, 1705 St. Laurent at Innes (formerly Hooters) Please note that unless otherwise noted, SIGs meet at 9:00 p.m. (immediately following the OPCUG General Meeting). ____________________________ Coming Up... Wednesday, May 9th, 2012 Speaker: Bob Walker, OPCUG Topic: Accessible Computing Accessible Computing including the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) from the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative. This includes making web content accessible for disabled users as well as making content accessible for normal users using limited devices such as mobile phones and tablets. The presentation will include sections on accessible design, text to speech applications, speech to text applications and a brief section on mobile computing. Wednesday, June 13th, 2012 PIZZA PARTY (at 6:30 pm) The OPCUG is pleased to host the FIFTH Annual Pizza night to thank its members for their continued support. Please come early to ensure you have a choice of several popular varieties of Pizzas. As usual, we will also supply several varieties of soft drinks, plus water and dessert. The food will arrive, at 6:30 pm, under the big tent in the front yard of the Canada Science and Technology Museum. Guests are welcome. At 7:30 the regular meeting will take place (see MEETING notice below). ____________________________ May Raffle Courtesy of the McAfee Canada, we have a copy of McAfee All Access 2012. "All your devices. All your stuff. All protected." That is how McAfee describes All Access 2012. This powerhouse gives you complete anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-phishing, anti- spam, anti-bot, 2-way firewall, safe web searching, encryption, wireless network security, digital file shredding, web content filtering, URL shortening, social network monitoring, on-line activity monitoring, and more. And this one-user license will do this for all the devices you own - PCs, laptops, Android tablets, Macs, and smartphones (iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, or Symbian.) McAfee All Access 2012 is valued at $100. Tickets are, as always, a good deal at $1 for one, a great deal at $2 for three or the unbelievable bargain of $5 for ten! ____________________________ April Prize Winners George Leir, Herb Gillingham and Denis Theriault each won a doorprize (a copy of the Kaspersky Security Suite donated by Kaspersky labs) at our April general meeting. Our raffle prize, a copy of Microsoft Office (Home/Student edition), was generously donated by our speaker of the evening, Pierre Roman. And Harold McClemens was glad of it when his ticket came up the winner!! Thanks to our prize donators and congratulations to all the winners. ____________________________ Review of Finances - 2011 Once again, Richard Aylesworth has conducted a detailed review of the financial records for the past fiscal year and has confirmed that the Treasurer's report, published in the February newsletter, accurately stated the club's financial position for 2011. Our-eagle-eyed reviewer noted one error in the associated documentation. The Board of Directors would like to thank Richard for his thorough review of the club's accounts. Report: Recommendations from the previous year's review have been implemented. This year, there was one incorrect cheque number, which did not affect the totals, and some minor inconsistency in the reporting of accounts having no transactions. Alan did a great job. Richard Aylesworth ____________________________ Product Review Using DNS to avoid malicious sites by Chris Taylor In the article The Failure of Antivirus (Ottawa PC News, November, 2011), I talked about how there is no such thing as a safe web site any more. As reported by the security company Sophos, in 2011, they found 19,000 new malicious URLs per day. Eighty percent of them were compromised, legitimate web sites. There are frequent zero-day exploits for vulnerabilities in common software. A zero-day exploit is one for which no security patch yet exists. The bad guys are reverse-engineering security patches to develop and distribute malware that exploits vulnerabilities before people get the security patches installed that fix those vulnerabilities. Time frames to react are getting shorter and shorter. Signature file updates in antivirus software is simply not a complete solution any more. New techniques are needed to deal with all this bad stuff. One technique that has been around for years and is now baked into browsers or available as a plug-in, is to verify the reputation of a web site before allowing your browser to render that content of a web site. Here is an example of how it all works. Say you want to browse to www.CoolApps.net. The browser or a plug-in will first check the reputation of the web site through a trusted service. If it is not known to be bad, the browser or plug-in will allow the browser to load the page. Let's say the reputation service gets word that the site www.CoolApps.net has been compromised. They might find out through a report from a user. Or perhaps they have robots checking sites. As soon as they find out that a given site now contains malicious content, they can make a change in their reputation service so that the next time someone who uses their reputation service tries to go to the site, a code goes back to the browser to not load the page. Usually it will cause a warning page to be displayed indicating the site contains known malicious content. The user can then decide to over-ride the warning and go to the site anyway or they can heed the warning and avoid going to the site. There was one part in the chain of events above that I skipped over. Your browser has no idea about how to get to www.CoolApps.net. It can only go to an IP address, such as 24.103.2.12. How does your computer figure out the IP address to go to? Enter DNS or the Domain Name System. You type in www.CoolApps.net, your computer queries DNS to find the IP address and then your browser connects to the IP address. What if you could combine DNS with a reputation service? That's exactly what Symantec has done with Norton DNS for Home. All you have to do is configure your DNS settings to point to Norton DNS for Home rather than the typical configuration where you point to the DNS server operated by your Internet Service Provider. Once configured, all DNS queries go through the Norton DNS for Home server. If the site is not known to be bad, everything operates as usual. If the site is known to be bad, you get directed to a page that tells you why you are being prevented from reaching the site. More than just malware protection One of the cool things about Norton DNS for Home is that Symantec is actually running three DNS services. The first one blocks sites for security issues - malware, phishing, scam sites and web proxies. The second blocks based on security issues as well as pornography. The third blocks for security, pornography and what Symantec calls non-family- friendly sites that deal with mature content, abortion, alcohol, crime, cults, drugs, gambling, hate, sexual orientation, suicide, tobacco or violence. If you have a router that you use to connect multiple computers to the Internet, Symantec recommends that you configure the DNS settings in the router to use Norton DNS for Home. If all computers connecting to the Internet through your router are set up in the default configuration, they will point to the router for DNS and automatically use Norton DNS for Home. If you only want certain computers to use Norton DNS for Home, you can easily configure individual computers to use Norton DNS for Home. Individual computer configuration is also good when you want to use different levels of protection for different computers. For example, you might have your own computer use protection just for security reasons. On the kids' computer, you might go for protection for security, pornography and non-family friendly. While Norton DNS for Home is only for personal/home use, Symantec also runs a service for businesses. To see how to configure your computer to use Norton DNS for Home, visit their site at https://dns.norton.com/dnsweb/dnsForHome.do ____________________________ Article Windows 8 Consumer Preview by Chris Taylor At the April meeting, Pierre Roman from Microsoft Canada gave us a great demonstration of the Consumer Preview of Windows 8. It can be downloaded by anyone from windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/consumer-preview. A question came up in the days following the meeting as to how people could provide feedback to Microsoft on issues they have found in this test version of Windows. Pierre responded as follows; The best way to provide feedback is to participate in the Windows 8 Consumer Preview forum (answers.microsoft.com/en- us/windows/forum/windows_8). On this dedicated forum, you'll find thousands of other Windows enthusiasts who are testing our product, posting their experiences, and participating in the Windows 8 Consumer Preview online community. In particular, if you think you've encountered a problem that you'd like to have addressed in future releases of Windows 8, post a "Bug Report" about your issue on the Windows 8 Consumer Preview forum. In your post, describe what you encountered, any text or messages that were displayed, and other information that would help us reproduce your issue in our own testing environments. The product group in Redmond is monitoring the Windows 8 Consumer Preview forum and might ask you to post additional information to help us improve the experience. If you want to share experiences within the OPCUG, the General conference area on The PUB is a great place. As well, we can discuss it at the Beginner's SIG which is held after the general meeting. If we have enough interest, it might be a neat idea to have one of our early fall meetings dedicated to mini- presentations by members on their favourite - or most frustrating - aspect of Windows 8. If you would be interested, please let Jocelyn Doire (Program Chair) know. ____________________________ Speakers Wanted! Do you know people that could make a presentation at one of our meetings? Or even better, would you like to make a presentation? There are lots of subjects that we have never covered that would be of real interest to our members such as gaming, digital TV, 3D scanning, mapping, data center and many, many more. So, if you know someone or have suggestions, don't hesitate to let me or any of the members of the board of directors know about it. Any help to find presenters is more than welcome. Thanks in advance. Jocelyn Doire, OPCUG Meeting Coordinator ____________________________ Article Volumouse - Turn Volume Down Quickly by Sandy Berger If you like to listen to music while you are working on the computer or browsing the Web, this free program is for you. It lets you control the volume with your mouse. Get a phone call or a summons for attention from your spouse? You can quickly and easily turn down the volume. Volumouse (http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/volumouse.html) is a small program that lets you control the volume of your computer with your mouse. It turns your mouse's click wheel into a volume dial. Just hold down the Alt key and move the mouse wheel to increase or decrease the volume. It is quick and easy. No window to open. No menu to scroll through. You can also set up other keys to activate Volumouse, if you like. And you can use it to control the volume when you are using Windows Media Player. This article first appeared in Amateur Computer Group of New Jersey News; Volume 36, Number 11; November, 2011 and is reprinted here with permission of ACGNJ (http://www.acgnj.org). ____________________________ Product Review Exploring Linux - Part 22 by Alan German As noted in the previous article in this series, several of the backup packages available for Linux are based on the rsync file synchronization utility. One such program is Lucky Backup (http://luckybackup.sourceforge.net/). This package lets you create a backup profile by specifying both the source and the target locations of the files to be processed. The resulting backup is a file-by-file copy of the source to the target disk. This requires a bit more disk space, due to there being no file compression, but it does make file retrieval very simple. Lucky Backup lets you run a simulation so that you can see what is going to happen without copying any files. Then, when you run the actual file transfer there shouldn't be any surprises. But - surprise! While, on my system, the simulation worked just fine, the actual file transfer generated dozens of error messages in very evident red text. Most of these were to the effect that rsync copy operations were not permitted due to file ownership (chown) issues. However, the confounding issue was that the files were actually transferred, and the backup process did appear to have been successful. Nevertheless, the production of so many "errors" did not induce a great deal of confidence in Lucky Backup, and life is too short to see if the error messages can be eliminated. So, for me, it was on to the next backup program. My ultimate selection for backup software is Back In Time (http://backintime.le-web.org/). This program is available through the Ubuntu Software Centre and installs itself with an entry in Applications - System Tools. Actually, it creates two entries, one to simply run the program, and another to run the program as root (in order to process files for which the regular user doesn't have sufficient permissions). Running the program as a regular user works just fine for my purposes. The first time the program is run, the settings dialogue box is displayed. The initial tab lets you specify the target drive, the folder where the backup files are to be stored, and select a schedule for the backup process. If, like me, you intend to run the backups manually just leave the default for the scheduled backup as "Disabled", rather than selecting one of the timed options (e.g. every 5 minutes, daily, weekly, etc.) The next two tabs are for specifying the files and folders to be included in or excluded from the backup. In my case, I chose to initially include my entire data partition (/media/DataDisk) and then to exclude certain files and folders, such as SyncToy*.* (configuration files for Microsoft's SyncToy utility). Additional default entries on this list include items such as .* that will eliminate backing up any hidden files or folders. A number of tabs provide further program options, including the ability to automatically remove backup files after a given period of time or when disk space becomes an issue. There are a couple of "expert options" that the program says to only change "if you know what you are doing". Needless to say I gave the latter a wide berth! Once the configuration has been set, running the backup process is as simple as clicking on an icon on the main menu bar. The program then makes what it terms a "snapshot". This and subsequent snapshots are listed by date in a panel on the left side of the program's window, together with an option to view the current state of the source disk ("Now"). Clicking on any snapshot causes a listing of the files and folders that the snapshot contains to be displayed in the right-hand panel of the program's window in a tree-directory format. The beauty of this layout is that it is easy to browse through the entire backup, and identify any single file or folder that needs to be restored. Simply clicking on the "Restore" icon (a dustbin with a "return" arrow) causes the selected item to be restored from the target disk to its original location on the source. Now, what could be simpler than that? However, it's also possible to restore an entire snapshot. In my case, I click on the /media/DataDisk entry under "Backup folders" and then click on the "Snapshots" icon in the upper-right corner of the dialogue box. All of the available snapshots are now listed. Simply selecting one of the available snapshots allows me to either compare the backup to the current disk status, and display any differences, or to actually restore the backup. One useful aspect of Back In Time is that it has the ability to create "hard links" of files within backups. This is an rsync feature whereby the backup process stores a link to a file that is already stored on an existing backup rather than creating a second copy of the file itself. Intended to save space by eliminating storage redundancies, the downside to this facility is that it isn't available when storing backups on FAT volumes such as (normally) external USB drives. Perhaps the only real limitation of the program that I have found to date is the rather sparse documentation that is included in the software through the help menu. There is a comprehensive list of the various commands that are available, but a lack of detail on how to use some of them. Fortunately, Back In Time is pretty intuitive when it comes to basic usage, and there are many tutorials available on the Internet covering various versions of the program. Back In Time functions very efficiently and seems to provide all the features that I need. Consequently, I think that this one is a "keeper" and, for now at least, will become my standard application for data backup under Linux. For those who remain unconvinced, or who would like more details of the backup programs mentioned in this and the previous article, please check out the series of blog posts on the subject commencing with "Backing up a step" at: http://linuxnorth.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/backing-up-a- step/. ____________________________ Article Recovery Vs Installation Disks - What You'll Need If Your Hard Drive Crashes by Leo A. Notenboom of Ask Leo! (http://ask-leo.com) Are you prepared if your hard drive crashes? Your recovery disk has helped you recover from certain types of failures. However is it always enough, or do you need an installation disk as well? To answer the question, it is important to first understand the difference between a recovery disk and installation disk. * The recovery disk, typically included with your system, contains information to recover your system. However, the disk relies on information still stored on your hard drive to do so. * The installation disk contains all the information necessary to install system software, such as Windows, or application software, such as Quickbooks, on your hard drive. It doesn't require additional information from the hard drive to work. Can you see the problem? A recovery disk works great to restore your system if you delete an application or corrupt the system. For example, if you accidentally deleted Windows, the recovery disk could find a copy of Windows in a hidden partition on your drive and use that to re-install your system from scratch. However, if your hard drive crashes, your recovery disk has no information to draw from. Now, you need either an installation disk, or image type of back up that backs up everything on your hard drive. Here's the complicated part: installation disks aren't always included with your computer. If you don't have an installation disk, insist on one from your computer vendor. It is worth the extra cost. When you receive the disk, make sure to save it, and its product keys, in a safe place. Remember, every recovery disk is created differently. There is no standard for what recovery disks should contain or what information it needs from the hard drive to restore your system. Just because the disk worked for one failure does not mean it will work for all. For ultimate security, it is essential to back up your information with a reliable image back up. Taken regularly, image back ups protect your computer and can replace the need for an installation disk. ____________________________ OTTAWA PC NEWS Ottawa PC News is the newsletter of the Ottawa PC Users' Group (OPCUG), and is published monthly except in July and August. The opinions expressed in this newsletter may not necessarily represent the views of the club or its members. Member participation is encouraged! If you would like to contribute an article to Ottawa PC News, please submit it to the newsletter editor (contact info below). Deadline for submissions is three Saturdays before the General Meeting. Group meetings OPCUG normally meets on the second Wednesday in the month, except in July and August, at the National Museum of Science and Technology, 1867 St. Laurent Blvd, Ottawa. Meetings are 7:30-9:00 p.m. and Special Interest Groups go until 10 p.m. Fees: OPCUG annual membership: $25 per year. Mailing address: 3 Thatcher St., Nepean, Ontario, K2G 1S6 Web address: http://opcug.ca/ Bulletin Board - PUB II (BBS): http://opcug.ca/default.htm President and System Administrator: Chris Taylor, chris.taylor@@opcug.ca, 613 727-5453 Meeting Coordinator: (Mr.) Jocelyn Doire, Jocelyn.Doire@@opcug.ca Treasurer: Alan German, alan.german@@opcug.ca Secretary: Gail Eagen, gail.Eagen@@opcug.ca Membership Chairman: Mark Cayer, Mark.Cayer@@opcug.ca, 613 823-0354 Newsletter: Brigitte Lord, Brigittelord@@opcug.ca Email: (Mr.) Jocelyn Doire, Jocelyn.Doire@@opcug.ca Public Relations: Morris Turpin, PR@@opcug.ca, 613 729-6955 Facilities: Bob Walker, 613 489-2084 Webmaster: Brigitte Lord, opcug-webmaster2@@opcug.ca Privacy Director: Wayne Houston, privacy2@@opcug.ca Special Events Coordinator: Bob Gowan, bob.gowan@@opcug.ca Beginners' SIG Coordinator: Chris Taylor, chris.taylor@@opcug.ca, 613 727-5453 Linux / Open-Source software SIG: (vacant) Note: We added an extra "@" to the emails to reduce spam. (c) OPCUG 2012. Reprints permission is granted* to non- profit organizations, provided credits is given to the author and The Ottawa PC News. OPCUG request a copy of the newsletter in which reprints appear. *Permission is granted only for articles written by OPCUG members, and not copyrighted by the author. ____________________________ Newsletter by email: To receive the newsletter by e-mail, send a message to listserve@@opcug.ca with the plain text "subscribe NewsletterTXT" or "subscribe NewsletterPDF" (without quotes) in the body of the message. No subject line is required. To cancel e-mailing, send a message to listserve@@opcug.ca with the plain text "unsubscribe NewsletterTXT" or "unsubscribe NewsletterPDF" (without quotes). To change your e-mail address, cancel using the old e-mail address and re-subscribe using your new e-mail address. 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