IB: InfoBulletin

1. Obituary: Andy Gibb of Type Help

Andy Gibb - founder of Type Help - sadly passed away on 25th May 2001, aged 49.

Andy was a well-known and well-liked IT consultant, with a great enthusiasm for Information Technology and its application within the charity/NGO sector. Not only was he a keen innovator, he was also very focused on helping organisations that weren't well-funded and often undertook work for reduced rates in order to assist these groups. Andy was also a well-rounded IT trainer and over the years helped hundreds of others develop the skills, firstly at LVSC and later through his company Type Help.

Andy fought a long battle against cancer and lived 10 years longer than originally medically forecast. Partly because of this, he was in good spirits up until his death and even kept up his interest in IT developments.

Co-Operative Systems eventually took over the role of supporting Andy's client base in October 2000 when he had to give up work. Many of the PCs and servers he set up are still in good use today. Perhaps you are reading this email on one.

To perpetuate Andy's memory and spirit we will be setting up a memorial resource, probably in conjunction with other of Andy's associates. This resource will provide a bank of free IT consultancy and expertise to charitable organisations in need of such assistance. We will forward more information on this later. If you would like to be involved in this project do contact me.

Philip Anthony

2. Diary sharing - in and out of the office

What is it ?
An example of where the Web starts to become really useful - calendars specially designed for sharing information with others, whether they're in the office or out and about.
An example of each of the two varieties are highlighted below :

• a pure calendar, like WebCalendar
• a calendar or diary which comes as part of a free Web email client that you have registered for, like MagicalDesk

3. New WordPerfect Office 2002

What is it ?
Corel has launched WordPerfect® Office 2002 - a new office application suite that arrives in 3 flavours: Home, Professional and Academic, the latter being available in quantity licensing for certain groups under the Corel License Program (CLP) Academic. Corel appear to have made strenuous efforts to include previous purchasers in their upgrade scheme as well as traditional educational and nonprofit organisations.

Applications
WordPerfect® Office 2002 collects together version 10 of some familiar applications as well as new ones: WordPerfect 10 (word processing), Quattro Pro 10 (spreadsheets), Corel Presentations 10 (presentations), CorelCENTRAL 10 (e-mail, address book, calendaring) Paradox 10 (database) and Dragon NaturallySpeaking 5.0 (speech-recognition software).

Features
Corel claims that more than 70% of the new features and enhancements are based on customer feedback, and emphasises the greater file-sharing capabilities (with Microsoft users too), dynamic Web features, time-saving innovations and ease of use of the new suites.
WordPerfect Office 2002 applications are more powerful and stable than previous versions and many of the features operate across all applications (suite-wide) to let users combine text, charts, spreadsheets and graphics in one document.

• Compatibility
  1. Compatibility with proprietary technologies - Exchange files with users of Microsoft's Word, Excel and PowerPoint applications and Adobe's Acrobat (PDF) applications via import/export filters.
  2. Compatibility with standard technologies - support for open standards, including HTML with cascading style sheets (CSS), XML and SGML, to share files with organizations using other applications
  3. Backward compatibility - the WordPerfect file format has been the same since version 6.0, allowing users to work with existing files. WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS files can also be easily imported. Plus, included in the box is the traditional WordPerfect function key template that users can place on top of their keyboards as a guide or learning tool. They have even kept the old template familiar to WP users of yore.
• Publishing
  1. Publish-to-PDF - straight from WordPerfect 10 into Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format, enabling document sharing across applications and platforms while keeping the formatting intact
  2. good handling of multi-chapter documents
  3. Pocket Oxford Dictionary - in addition to the traditional WordPerfect writing tool package of Spell Checker, Thesaurus and Grammatik, this authoritative English-language dictionary gives users the ability to look up word definitions and phonetic spellings, then add text to documents.
  4. Another useful feature is the 'variable'. This is a place holder that can be positioned multiple times in a document so that its content can be changed at a later date.
  5. RealTime Preview - users can save time by previewing formatting changes on the fly-before applying them to documents.
• CorelCENTRAL Mail - Send and receive e-mail, manage several e-mail accounts at a time and enjoy a high level of security in the process PalmPilot compatibility
• Perfect Expert - a wizard - available on the toolbar - to help you locate a particular menu or dialogue box when you have forgotten
• The Location Manager monitors files required by the various applications and attempts to reinstall broken or missing items without shutting the system down.
• Sound files support - Use compressed sound files in slide shows and keep file sizes down with MP3 and WMA support
• Macromedia Flash support - Publish slide shows as Macromedia Flash files for Web sites
• Paradox 10 - Database management aimed at all levels - new users, experts and developers. Data can be shared with any ODBC-based database, including dBASE, FoxPro and Access.
• Dragon NaturallySpeaking (Professional and Academic suites) - Dictate, create and format documents, but also navigate the desktop and surf the Web by speaking to your computer basic training (getting NaturallySpeaking to understand your vocal peculiarities) can be completed in about five minutes
• PerfectScript - Macros for automating repetitive tasks Support for updated Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications
• Support
  1. Recovery Manager - to recover from most application failures without losing work
  2. Free resources at OfficeCommunity.com - Exchange ideas, tips and tricks and more with other users through Corel’s community Web site. Plus, download templates, tools and the latest information about WordPerfect Office 2002.
  3. Additional supporting utilities - multilingual writing tools for over 30 languages-including French, German, Italian and Spanish-and an extensive collection of fonts, clipart images and photos.

4. Managing email information overload

What is it ?
A short article - promise!

A few guidelines

1. Clear incoming email asap - it's a major stress reliever.
2. Set aside a specific time to check do this, rather than being distracted from your immediate tasks
3. Really delete all those junk mails, confirmations and out-of-date newsletters - the less baggage the better
4. House-keep your mail account regularly. Group items by topics in folders or directories. Grow the structure slowly to maintain your familiarity.
5. Try to keep your messages and replies short. Make time for longer, considered compositions
6. Just because you can use e-mail, doesn't mean that's always the best use of your time. Work out your priorities first.
7. Use filters to route newsletters and subscriptions to dedicated folders where you can read them at a suitable time
8. Develop your master contact list (which may include email addresses) in one place. Multiple copies make for stress and wasted time
9. Never fire off an e-mail in anger or haste - you will probably cool off later but your recipient won't

5. Everyday keyboard shortcuts

What is it ?
Faster typing without practice.

If you're still doing a lot of retyping or using Cut/Copy/Paste functions by pulling down the Edit menu with the mouse, then learning these simple keyboard shortcuts is long overdue - have those little fingers poised!

Benefits

• Faster than using menus-plus-mouse
• Less eye strain - keep your eyes on the typing cursor, not the menus
• Fewer identical hand movements - RSI reduced
• Feel like a keyboard champ, even if you type like a keyboard chump!

6. Patch for Internet Information Server (IIS) hack

"You know how you remember your first kiss ... perhaps a frisson of excitement mixed with panic? Anyway, I felt the same today about my first ever Denial of Service (DoS) attack, and felt I had to share it with you ..... " writes Andrew Brooks.

Andrew discovered that an installation of Microsoft's Internet Information Server IIS was soon a subject of 'attacks' on the FTP server, despite security patches and Service Pack 6 for NT. A Trojan Horse - which had been surreptitiously downloaded - was denying email services to the server and sending out continuous signals (pings) which may have been helping (unwittingly) to bring down other servers on the Internet.

The bottom line is, if you are running IIS as well as FTP and Web Server facilities, you are highly likely to be the subject of hacking attempts. Details that make such attempts easier for hackers are permitting anonymous FTP logins and giving external users a space on your Web server where they can store files, eg a /public/ directory.
Update yourself on the vulnerabilities ....

What is it ?
A serious vulnerability inherent in Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS) web server software allows it to be hacked by so-called 'script kiddies' (relatively inexperienced hackers) with a tool and code released on to the Internet in May.

Which machines are vulnerable
Machines running IIS and Windows 2000 with support for Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) via an Internet Services Application Programming Interface (ISAPI) extension (usually installed by default). The IPP extension - only accessible through IIS 5.0 - contains a buffer overflow that could be used by an attacker to execute arbitrary code. However, patches for both IIS 4.0 and IIS 5.0 are provided (see below). In excess of 6000 IIS servers have been defaced.

How it works
An attacker with little technical knowledge could exploit the buffer overflow and take full control of a web server running IIS. The C script code, called jill.c, works by disguising incoming malicious data to appear as though it comes from a web server. The firewall thus does not block what seems to be normal traffic. The code automates exploitation of the IPP/ISAPI weakness to give a command prompt to the hacker with full administrator level rights over the server under attack.

How to fix the vulnerability
A patch is available from Microsoft :

For IIS Version 4:
http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/nts/downloads/critical/q269862/default.asp

For IIS Version 5:
http://www.microsoft.com/Windows2000/downloads/critical/q296576/default.asp

Contacts, more info, FAQs
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS01-023
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms01-023.asp

The vulnerability was discovered by eEye Digital Security.

References: sadmind worm, IIS worm, ISAPI, jill.c

You can read an excellent and detailed personal account of a Denial of Service (DoS) attack by Steve Gibson at:
http://grc.com/dos/grcdos.htm

[Acknowledgements: Andrew Brooks, Asif Johar, CERT, James Middleton]

7. Don't feed the computer !

What is it ?
One person's food is another machine's pollution.

Food doesn't go down a treat with PCs - they run on Watts and bits, not chocolate and chips!
We all do it - sitting next to our computers munching away, oblivious to the encroaching damage our feeding habits are inflicting on our essential working tools, until, that is, disaster strikes!

Your typical IT engineer is an expert on cold tea and half-eaten curly sandwiches (we live on them), but is acutely aware that they don't make computers run faster or better. It is possible to minimise the damage or even cure it in some cases.
Here's a comprehensive guide of the ones we have (unfortunately) come to grips with .....

CONCOCTION	DAMAGE	FIXES
Tea/Coffee - the Common Cold of computer pollutants: ubiquitous and difficult to shift	Liquid sloshes between the keys and makes them sticky or stuck. If it's a bulk-carrier grade spillage, the key contacts get shorted out.	Wipe between the keys with a damp (not wet), lint-free cloth. If you're determined you can dismantle the layers, wipe the printed screen layers very very carefully too and put it back together (mantle it?) again. Face it though - you've just written off £20-worth of keyboard; don't spend more than an hour of your time to replace it - and that includes buying a new one if necessary! Just give us a ring.
Crusty breadcrumbs, biscuits, crisps - keyboard jammers par excellence	Most likely to jam the keytops	Try turning the keyboard upside-down and shaking it gently
Focaccia with sun-dried tomatoes on mozzarella	A mega-oily melee, but since your mouse and keyboard don't have any parts that need oiling, the olive oil just gums up the balls and keys	Back to that damp cloth but also see here for tips on mouse maintenance - basically involves removing a couple of parts and cleaning carefully.
Soft sandwiches and bagels	Surface damage only on the keys and mouse	Get that cloth out again, maybe a new one by now.
Pasta bake with a fork. Bananas, chocolate bars	All reasonably good, limited fallout options, unless dribbling comes naturally to you	Any concoction needing 2 hands on the job means you can't touch the computer - hurray! Keeps the cleanup operation to a minimum
Diet fizzy geek juice	One of the few that additives will damage your insides more than your workstation - anything in a tin is sooner or later going to end up sprayed on the screen	Use a damp cloth liberally without fear. The monitor probably hasn't been cleaned since you bought it, right? Remove that greyscale dust too and restore the 24-bit colours you remember from days of yore
Oranges	Oranges are not the only fruit to cause complete havoc; just about any similar citrus items will spray unpredictably over screen, mouse and keyboard and produce the stickiest fingers	Back to that damp cloth but also see here for tips on mouse maintenance - basically involves removing a couple of parts and cleaning carefully.
Hot mugs	Your mouse mat has been (ab)used as a coaster. Large rings emboss its once-smooth surface. It's doing a remarkably good impression of the volcanoes on Io, resulting in mouse movement reminiscent of real mice ... twitchy.	Not a lot you can do with a bent mouse mat - cost-efficiently or otherwise. Carry on using it as a coaster. Treat your poor rodent to a brand new home.
Sneezing!	Doesn't bear thinking about ...	Use a cloth for your nose - NOT the same one as above! Stay at home for everyone's sake

So - if you've ever had to clean someone else's PC ....

or - if you've ever read articles about the germs you can catch from dirty keyboards ....

... just take a break, go out, sit down and have a healthy, sociable lunch.
Your over-fed PC will appreciate it at least as much as you do.

Nuff said.

[Paul Craig]

8. Poptastic pop promo - new Ciccone single out !

What is it ?
Just to prove that Co-Op geeks do have other lives outside the virtual networking world, Mike Strickson's band "Ciccone" has a new single out on Monday 25th June :