No technical problems

Scratching around for disk space

2006-05-01T14:08:00.000+08:00

Question : I keep getting a message saying my "scratch disk" is full when I try to save a photo I've been working on, and I'm unable to save the file. How can I fix this?

Answer : Adobe's Photoshop program and its offshoots temporarily grab extra hard drive space while you're editing and enhancing images. This extra space - which gives the software its own little workspace for processing and short-term data storage - is called the scratch disk.

One common reason for the error message is that all the computer's memory is in use, and its hard drive lacks the room the photo program needs. A scratch disk may be three to five times the size of the file you're working on, depending on the file and what you're doing to it.

Defragmenting your hard drive and deleting old files and documents to free disk space might help. You should also check the image size settings for the files you are working on.

Photoshop measures resolution in pixels per inch as opposed to the dots-per-inch standard printers use; increasing the photo's resolution to match the printer's resolution can result in huge space-eating files. (Resolutions of 200 x 300pixels per inch are usually fine for printers.)

If your computer has several drives or partitions, you can pick a place other than the main drive for Photoshop to use for its scratch disk.

To do so, go to the program's preferences area, and in the Plug-Ins & Scratch Disks section, select the drive or partition to use. increasing the memory the program is allowed to use might also help; these settings are in the Memory & Image Cache area of the program's preferences.

Your own address on the NET

2006-04-27T10:39:00.000+08:00

IF YOU want to prolong the life of an old PC, the good news is that it can be converted into a personal web server, file server or game server.

But doing so creates a new problem: How would other users (or even you) find your PC over the Internet?

Of course, you can easily contact all your users and give out the IP (Internet Protocol) address of your PC.

When you connect to the Internet, your ISP (Internet Service Provider) assigns a temporary IP address to your PC, which looks something like 219.95.45.33.

But if you accidentally or intentionally disconnect, and later reconnect, the IP address of your PC will change.

That means other users can no longer access your website or game server because it now has a different IP address.

To avoid this problem, you can use dynamic DNS (Domain Name System), or DDNS services.

These services allow you to assign a domain name to your PC, such as ahbeng.servegame.com, much like real websites.

Using dynamic DNS, you can maintain a website or a game server and not have to worry about updating users when the IP address changes.

Free DDNS services are available from various DNS hosting companies ( www.no-pi.com www.dyndns.com http://freedns.afraid.org/ ).

Typically, all you need to do is sign up for an account, pick from a list of domain names, download and run a DDNS program, and your PC now has a "real" Internet address.

The DNS company retains the current addresses in a database, while the provided DDNS program updates the service whenever the PC's IP address has changed.

Your users only need to know the domain name for your PC, which will remain constant.

A few broadband routers also have built-in support for DDNS, so users don't even need to download any software.

Security feature may need tinkering

2006-04-25T15:26:00.000+08:00

Question : My web browser often gives me a message that says "Your current security settings prohibit running ActiveX controls on this page." What is ActiveX?

Answer : ActiveX controls are little programs that work within a web browser to provide things like interactivity and animation to webpages. They can be helpful tools that let you do calculations in a browser window or upload pictures to a photo-sharing site. But there are also rogue ActiveX controls that secretly install software on your computer or do other malicious deeds.

Internet Explorer has security settings that can prevent pages from using ActiveX controls, which may be causing the browser messages. You can see and adjust those settings by going to the Tools menu, then to Internet Options, and clicking on the Security tab.

Browsers set to Medium security block downloading of unknown ActiveX controls. The High security setting blocks even more potential threats, but it can limit the functions of some webpages. You can tinker with the settings yourself by clicking on the Custom Level button and adjusting the browser handling of ActiveX controls.

Internet security software and antispyware programs can also block ActiveX controls from running on a webpage. You can usually adjust your security settings within these programs as well, but loosening the default restrictions can make your computer more vulnerable.

Filtering results on search engines

2006-04-13T11:02:00.000+08:00

Question : Is there a way to keep sexually explicit sites from showing up in web searches?

Answer : As you may have noticed, the Internet is full of sexually
explicit material. While blocking all of it may be a Sisyphean chore, there are a few things you can do to help cut down on the number of these sites landing on your search results page.

Most big search engines, including Google, MSN Search, and Yahoo!, include a
SafeSearch filter in their preferences, which you can use to sift out results
from sexually-oriented websites. (The filter is not related to an old adware program, also called SafeSearch, which redirected web browsers to certain sites.)

To use the SafeSearch filter with Google, for example, click the Preferences link on the main Google search page and select the level of screening you want to use with our search.

You can choose strict filtering, which blocks text and images, or moderate filtering, which just blocks images. Moderate filtering is the default in most cases. You can also use SafeSearch filtering when using the Advanced and Image search pages on Google, MSN, and Yahoo!

You can turn the filter off in the browser preferences as well. Filtering search results is an imperfect science, and depending on what you are searching for, you may block websites with information about reproductive health or political issues.

Filtering programs like ContentProtect from ContentWatch and Net Nanny can be bought and may be useful if you have children.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser also has a Content Advisor setting that can block sites with potentially offensive material. To use it, go on the Tools menu, click the Internet Options box, click on the Content tab, and adjust the settings.

Getting around notebook troubles

2006-04-04T17:20:00.000+08:00

Question : The screen on my notebook computer went black, and I can't get it back on. What could be the problem?

Answer : This could point to some serious issue with the notebook. Before you panic, though, do what a service technician would tell you to do.

First, shut down the computer and let it sit for thirty seconds or so. Turn it back on, and see if the problem is resolved.

Make sure that your notebook is not "docked" in a docking station, and be sure that you haven't accidentally activated the external video out mode and shut off the machine's main display.

After that, if the display still isn't working, it may be time to call the technical support number of your notebook manufacturer.

You'll probably be asked to run your machine through a "diagnostic mode." A diagnostic mode will allow the computer to emit a series of sounds that will tell you, or a service technician, whether a subsystem on the notebook has failed.

On Dell notebooks, the diagnostic mode is entered by turning the machine off, holding down the Fn key and the power button simultaneously, and then releasing both.

Question : My Windows XP notebook computer won't connect automatically to wireless networks that are within range. Why is this?

Answer : If the wireless network is "secured," you'll need a passkey, or password, to access it. Make sure you have a passkey, and double-click the wireless access icon in your Windows taskbar.

You should see a list of wireless networks available. Click the one for which you have a passkey, and then click the Connect button.

You should be prompted for the key. You will need to type it twice for verification purposes. Once you click OK, you should connect within a few seconds.

Windows remembers the wireless networks to which you've connected. The next time you're in range of a network that you have used previously, your notebook should connect automatically.

Speeding up Firefox browser

2006-03-28T22:54:00.000+08:00

Question : I am using Mozilla Firefox 1.0. How do I change the settings of the browser so it sends several requests instead of the default one, to transmit responses faster? Are there other ways to increase the download speed of the browser? Please help.

Answer : There are several ways to speed up Mozilla's Firefox. But before that, let's look at Firefox's configuration screen. To do that, start Firefox, type "about:config" (without the quotes) into the address box, and press the Enter key. This will bring up a page with a list of settings that can be configured.

The feature you're probably referring to is called pipelining. Pipelining is a method of speeding up data transfer between a browser and a Web server. Basically, it entails sending several requests at once instead of one at a time as is usually done. This can save quite a bit of time if everything goes well. This can also result in a reduction in traffic because with pipelining you will be able to put in several requests into one packet (which is a little like putting several letters to the same person into one envelope).

The main disadvantage of pipelining is that the whole page may take longer to display if the connection is less than perfect. This is because if a packet goes missing, several requests will have to be resent instead of just one. Also, for best results, both the browser and the server should be capable of pipelining requests and replies.

To turn on pipelining, look in the configuration window for the setting "network.http.pipelining" and right-click on it.
When the pop-up menu appears, select Toggle. The word "False" under the Value column to the right of this setting should change to "True". This will enable pipelining for this browser.

Do the same for the setting "network.http.proxy.pipelining" to enable pipelining for proxies, and set "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" to "8" for better efficiency. To do this, right-click on the setting, select Modify, type "8" (without the quotes) into the text box, and press the Enter key. If this is done right, the Value column to the right of the setting "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" should display the number "8".

The values for "network.http.max-connections", "network-http.max-connections-per-server", "network-http.max-persistent-connections-per- proxy" and "network-http.max-persistent-connections-per-server" can also be increased in the same way.

The Web page www.bitstorm.org/extensions/tweak/ contains an extension that will automate the modification of these settings. To install it, enter the Web site name in the list of sites allowed to install extensions.

To do this, select Tools --> Options --> Web Features and click on the button to the right of "Allow Web sites to install software". When the window labelled "Allowed Sites" opens, type "www.bitstorm.org" (without the quotes) into the text box under Address of Web site. Check the spelling to see if it's accurate. After the spelling is verified, click on the Allow button to add the site to the list. Click on the OK button to close the window and then on the OK button to close the Options window.

After that's done, visit www.bitstorm.org/extensions/ tweak/ and click on Install Tweak Network Settings. After a while, a window will pop up with the title "Software Installation". Click on the Install Now button. A window will pop up with the title "Extensions". This window will show "This item will be installed after you restart Firefox" when the installation is complete. The next time Firefox is started, a new option called Tweak Network Settings will be visible under Tools.

Another way to make Firefox seem faster is to turn off the built-in rendering delay. Firefox waits a little before actually rendering a page. This prevents elements of the page from "jumping around" as it's being reconfigured by incoming data. Turning off the built-in rendering delay will stop this from happening. This will appear to increase response time because "something happens" almost immediately after the Enter key is pressed.

In reality, this doesn't necessarily make the page load faster. It just makes the browser display the elements as they arrive instead of waiting for everything to settle down before displaying the page. Some people regard this as "faster" because they spend less time staring at a blank screen.

To make this change, add the entry "nglayout.initial paint.delay" to the configuration list. To do this, right-click anywhere in the configuration window and select New --> Integer from the pop-up window. A new window with the title "New Integer Value" should pop up.

In the text box under New Preference Name, type "nglayout.initialpaint. delay" (without the quotes) and press the Enter key. A new box will display, this time with the title "Enter Integer Value". Type the number "0" into the box under "nglayout.initialpaint.delay", and press the Enter key. If this is done correctly, the new setting should be listed in the configuration window.

After this is done, close the browser (File --> Exit). The new setting should take effect the next time it's started.

Finding model number the easy way

2006-02-27T15:44:00.000+08:00

Question : I’m trying to find the model number of my digital versatile disc (DVD) combo drive, but I’ve lost the packaging. How do I find the model number?

Answer : There’s an easy way to find the model designations of many peripherals in the PC without having to actually open the system case. Many model numbers are listed on the “Device Manager” window.

To open this window, first open the “System Properties” window. In the classic interface, this window can be opened by selecting Start -> Control Panel and then double-clicking on “System” and selecting the “Hardware” tab.

Select Start -> Control Panel -> Performance and Maintenance -> System to do the same in the new (Luna) interface. From here, click on the “Device Manager” button and the Device Manager window should open. Click on the plus (+) signs next to the hardware classes to reveal the model numbers.

Overcoming printing woes on dot-matrix printer

2006-01-27T17:27:00.000+08:00

Question : I am trying to use an old dot-matrix printer. When I install the printer, everything goes well, but when I want to print, it prints out garbled characters. What settings do I need to set? I went into the basic input/output system (BIOS) and there are a few settings for my parallel port (ECP, SPP). Which one should I choose?

Answer : Most parallel printers will work with the printer port set to “SPP”.

There are several reasons why a printer might print out what appears to be garbage characters instead of what should actually be printed.

One reason is that the parallel port mode is set wrong. The parallel port mode should usually be set to “Standard Parallel Port” or “SPP”.

To determine the correct mode, check the printer documentation.

If the printer supports Enhanced Capabilities Port (ECP) or Extended Capabilities Port (ECP), it will say that in the printer documentation.

Otherwise it would be a good idea to set the parallel port to SPP mode. Another possible reason is that the drivers are incorrect or buggy.

To remedy this, install the latest drivers for the printer.

Garbled printing can also be caused by a faulty or loose printer cable. Check that the cable is properly secured at the personal computer (PC) end, and also that the cable is connected at the printer end.

Unlike many other connector cables, a parallel cable must be properly secured – the screws on the connector at the PC end must be securely tightened, and the latches on the printer connector fastened onto the connector at the end of the cable.

Also try printing with a known-good printer cable to eliminate cable damage as a cause.

One little-known reason for garbled printing is wrong settings on the printer itself. Many dot-matrix printers came with various character sets.

The character set to use for printing can usually be predetermined by pushing a button combination, or setting a bank of dual inline package (DIP) switches on the printer.

The important thing to remember is that this setting usually overrides any setting on the PC.
If the PC is set to print using one character set, but the printer is set to print using another, the result will be utter chaos – the printer will misinterpret all the characters and produce nothing more than a page full of garbled characters.

To prevent this, ensure that the correct character set is selected on the printer.

For most of us in the English-speaking world, the correct character set would most likely be ISO Latin 1 (also known as ISO 8859-1) or ISO Latin 9 (also known as ISO 8859-15), the main difference being that the ISO 8859-15 character set includes the “Euro” symbol, whereas the ISO 8859-1 character set does not.

Step-by-step guide to remove stubborn malware

2006-01-05T14:25:00.000+08:00

Question : Here are some attached files for your reference. The problem causes my PC to slow down dramatically and eventually I can hardly do anything with it. Before this, my PC was infected by malware/adware. The Internet Explorer was damaged, thus I had to get it fixed. From the Task Manager, there is a file called SVCHOST.EXE which uses most of the central processing unit bandwidth. Can any virus/malware/adware do such a thing?

Answer : They not only can do such a thing, they usually DO do such a thing. Malware is, by and large, very badly written. Because of this, a lot of malware have the tendency to slow down or otherwise impact the system in a negative way. It's gotten so indicative that the first thing troubleshooters look at when a system deviates from the norm is the presence of malware.

After looking through the logs, we noticed some suspicious behaviour. First of all, the line "C:\WINNT\TEMP\DS3C68.EXE" under "Running processes" tells us that the file "DS3C68.EXE" is running from a temporary folder in the WINNT directory.

The "TEMP" folder under the main directory (which is WINNT in this case) is usually used to store data files that are used by a running program. Because of this, any program running directly from the "TEMP" folder is highly suspect.

Another suspect entry is "04-HKLM\..\Run: [winsync]C:\WINNT\system32\wkrior.exe reg_run" -- this is probably where your problem is. It's malware that many virus cleaners call "Qoologic", and it is not easy to remove. Basically, Qoologic has three major components.

The first component runs from a "winsync" entry in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run -- this is the aforementioned entry. The filename is typically a random set of six characters.

The next component is typically a DLL (that would probably be the one eating up all the processor bandwidth). In some versions, this DLL is called "wuauclt.dll" and usually placed in the system directory (C:\WINNT in this case).

Note that the offending file is called "wuauclt.dll" and not "wuauclt.exe". Also, with many variants, an entry can be found in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup that refers to another executable file -- this is another location where programs can be started automatically.

We don't usually advocate wholesale re-installing for any Trojan infection, but this is one of the times that we're going to say it might be easier to just re-install it. Before we go to that extreme, though, we'll try to take it out.

The first thing to do is to figure out what DLL is causing svchost.exe to do this. The offending DLL can be located with Sysinternals' "Process Explorer" (available from www.systinternals.com). After downloading the program, run it, and then locate the "svchost.exe" entries (they're under "services.exe").

One of the "svchost.exe" entries may have a large number under "CPU". If one such entry exists, right-click on it and select "Properties". If not, note the number in the "PID" column of the offending "svchost.exe" entry, and select the entry with the same PID in Process Explorer.

Once this is done, click on the "Performance Graph" tab to confirm CPU usage. Once this is confirmed, click on the "Threads" tab to view all the DLLs that are being supported by this instance of "svchost.exe".

If there's only one listed, then we've found our culprit. If there's more than one DLL, use a search engine to identify the offending DLL.

Just type the DLL names (including the extensions) into a search engine and read what comes up. In this way, the offending DLL can be identified.

Now that we've identified every file and location, it's time to remove them. Before doing anything, update the browser at windowsupdate.microsoft.com (or download the IE6 service pack 1 from www.microsoft.com/ie and install it). This is a crucial step to ensure that the operating system doesn't get reinfected after the malware is removed.

After this is done, restart the OS in "safe" mode and use HijackThis to remove "04-HKLM\..\Run: [winsync]C:\WINNT\system32\wkrior.exe reg_run" (click on the checkbox to the left of it and then on "Fix Checked").

While you're here, open Windows Explorer, navigate to the "C:\WINNT\TEMP" directory and delete every file in it. Do the same for the "temporary" directories of every user (each user has a temporary directory named C:\Documents and Settings\(user name)\Local Settings\Temp (where (user name) is the name of the user).

The startup entries are more difficult to remove. Look through the entries in "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup" to see if all programs there are recognised. If the programs are not easily identifiable, just delete everything in it.

Each user will also have a Startup directory, usually called "C:\Documents and Settings\(user name)\Start Menu\Programs\Startup" where user name is, again, the user name of the particular user account.

The same should be done with these directories as well.

Also look in the C:\WINNT directory for a file called "wuauclt.dll". If it's there, remove it. Note that the name is "wuauclt.dll" not' "wuauclt.exe". "wuauclt.exe" is usually a legitimate program.

Okay, now it's time to cross your fingers and restart the OS.

After restarting the OS, run regedit again and see if it's gone. If it is, allow yourself a small pat on the back. It's gone for now. Don't bring out the champagne yet, however.

After this, run HijackThis periodically to see if it's coming back. If you see "04-HKLM\..\Run: [winsync]C:\WINNT\system32\wkrior.exe reg_run", or "04-HKLM\..\Run: [winsync]C:\WINNT\system32\(x) reg_run" again (where x is some random filename), you've been infected again, in which case you might just want to re-install, and remember to update the browser this time.

If you've removed everything from the "startup" directories, also remember to uninstall and re-install any firewall software/malware cleaners installed on this PC to replace the automatically loaded components.

Deleting entries in software installation programs

2005-12-06T13:39:00.000+08:00

Question : Whenever I switch on my personal computer (PC), these appear on the screen:

1) "Missing File: Windows Registry or System.INI. Please download this file." This is just the gist of what actually appears. I have to click "Enter" about nine times before anything appears on the screen.

2) "Advanced INF Install Error: Could not locate INF file D:\content\Win9X\Win98\W98resume.inf." I have to lick "OK" before the next message appears.

3) "RUNDLL Error loading C:\PROGRA"1\HOTBAR\HOTBAR1.DLL. The system cannot find the path specified." Again, pressing "OK" helps to continue.

Answer : The preferred (and ideal) method of updating Windows is via Windows Update (windowsupdate.microsoft.com).

All these problems stem from the one thing that most people are surprised by when they turn on the PC.

Many operating systems allow software installation programs to place entries in the OS' configuration routines. These entries can start other programs that are required by some software when the OS starts. A problem occurs when the programs that the entries refer to are inaccessible (for instance, if they were deleted or never installed).

If this happens, you'd have a lot of "Missing File" and "Error loading" error messages popping up one after another. This typically happens when the OS starts because that's when the entries request the OS to start the programs.
So basically what the OS is saying is, "I'm being asked to run a program (or programs) after I start, but I can't find the program (or programs)".

There are actually several ways to fix these errors. The easiest way is to delete the entries that call for these programs to be started when Windows starts. Here are the steps to delete these entries:

1) Click on the "Start" button and select (click on) "Run...".

2) Type "regedt32" (without the quotes) into the white box to the left of "Open:"

3) Click on the "OK" button just below the box. A window titled "Registry Editor" will open. This provides access to the OS' "registry". The "registry" is where a lot of the configuration data for the OS is stored.

4) The registry has a tree structure and this is reflected in the "registry editor" window. If one looks at the structure, one will see an arrangement that looks like the way branches are arranged on a tree -- the larger "main branches" are attached to the "trunk". Several smaller branches branch off from each main branch. Still smaller branches branch off from those. This continues until one reaches the last, or smallest branch, after which there are no more branches.

In the "registry tree" The main branches are typically "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT", "HKEY_CURRENT_USER", "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE", "HKEY USERS" and "HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG".

Smaller branches branch off these, but they are initially hidden.

To reveal a sub-branch, click on the plus (+) sign to the right of a branch. For instance, clicking on the plus (+) sign next to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" will typically reveal the sub-branches "HARDWARE", "SAM", "SECURITY", "SOFTWARE" and "SYSTEM". Also notice that the plus (+) sign next to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" turns into a minus (-) sign. This is to signify that the branch has been expanded (the sub-branches have been revealed).

Clicking on the minus (-) sign next to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" will compact the branch (hide the sub-branches). In this way, the sub-branches for a particular branch can be hidden and revealed.

5) Click on the plus (+) sign next to "HKEY_ LOCAL_MACHINE" to reveal the sub-branches. After the sub-branches are revealed, notice that they themselves have hidden sub-branches.

These sub-branches can be revealed in the same way (by clicking on the plus (+) signs). Also notice that the sub-branches are indented inwards. A branch of another branch will be indented inwards under its parent branch. For instance, clicking on the "HARDWARE" sub-branch will reveal the "ACPI" sub-branch. Notice that the "HARDWARE" sub-branch is indented to the right under the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE branch, and the "ACPI" sub-branch is indented to the right under the "HARDWARE" sub-branch.

6) The "leaves" on a particular "branch" are listed on the right pane of the window. These are the actual configuration commands. For instance, if one navigates to the "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Event Labels\.Default", one might see in the right pane "Disp FileName" followed by "REG_SZ" and "@mmsys. cpl,-5824". These are the actual configuration settings.

Now that we know how the registry and "regedt32" works, all that's left to be done is to remove the entries that are causing this.

To do so, navigate to the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" section of the registry, look in the right pane for entries containing "W98resume.inf" and "HOTBAR1.DLL", right-click on the relevant entries and select "Delete" from the pop-up window.

The next time Windows starts, the error messages should no longer appear.

Converting video capture to VCD format

2005-11-16T20:44:00.000+08:00

Question : My laptop has over 700 mega-bytes of random access memory. I'm using a software to convert video camera capture to VCD format. Which format do I need to choose before I start capturing the image?

Answer : Since you're going to be recording to video CD, we will recommend MPEG-2. Actually, we recommend MPEG-2 as an all-purpose general format. It's a fairly good compression protocol and should only need to be converted if the video is going to be recorded on a "standard" VCD.

Question : During conversion from a 60-minute tape, it needed almost a whole day to complete the job (from image capture to rendering to copy to VCD). How can I cut down on the time taken?

Answer : It's not the capture that takes time (which takes place almost instantaneously), but it's the conversion and burning. Video conversion is very processor-intensive, so a faster processor will help in this respect. If the video can be captured in MPEG-2 (for Super VCDs/DVDs) or MPEG-1 (for VCDs), then the conversion process can be eliminated. This will speed things up considerably.

Also, because different software use different ways to convert video, some software will be faster than others.
The speed of the DVD-RAM/RW writer will also matter, of course. Some DVD-RAM/RW writers have faster access times; some are capable of recording at higher transfer "speeds" (SMILY_.png as opposed to 4X, for instance).
All these factors will have an impact on how fast the work gets done.

Question : Sometimes, after I finish the job and play the VCD, I find that the quality is lacking - the picture breaks into little squares. Did I choose the wrong format?

Answer : One problem with video is that if you pan (swing the camera from one side to another) too fast, the video may break into little squares. This happens because of the way the video is rendered.
To save on bandwidth, many codecs use what is called "delta compression". This type of compression chops the image into small squares. The squares are independent of each other and can be updated independently of each other. This saves bandwidth because in any moving image, there are large parts of the image that don't move, or don't move all the time.

For instance, if you take the standard "reporter at a crime scene" video, you can see that most of the time, the only things that move are parts of the reporter's face and maybe the cars on the road. A building behind the reporter, for instance, usually never moves. So, by dividing the screen into square sections and updating only the sections that change, a codec can save bandwidth.

The main drawback with this approach is, if the whole screen suddenly moves all at once, all the sections will need to be constantly rendered and updated. If there isn't enough bandwidth to update the whole screen at once, the video will break into squares as different sections of the screen update at different times. To prevent this, avoid moving the camera too quickly. Increasing the bandwidth (for instance, by recording to DVD video instead of VCD) will also help.

Another possible reason for "squares" on a video is the capture bit rate is set too low. The capture bit rate of a particular movie can usually be set on the capture device or camera.

Refresh your Windows Explorer

2005-11-15T09:32:00.000+08:00

Question : I have a problem with my floppy disk drive (FDD). It seems that it is unable to "recognise" the content of diskettes. Let's say I have two diskettes; diskette A (containing "abc.doc") and diskette B (containing "xyz.exe"). First, I insert diskette A and "abc.doc" will appear. After that, I close everything and eject diskette A. When I insert diskette B and open it, "abc.doc" appears instead of "xyz.doc". Sometimes, my FDD prompts me to format a formatted diskette.

Answer : It may be a simple case of Windows Explorer not refreshing. To attempt to fix this, when the "wrong" directory list appears in Windows Explorer, select View --> Refresh. This will refresh the display and present the right directory listing. If this doesn't work, it's probably due to a failing FDD. Try replacing the drive to see if that fixes things. Also, floppy discs and their drives are somewhat prone to failure - they've been around since the earliest days of the personal computer, and the technology hasn't really advanced all that much. USB thumb drives and DVD-RAM provide the same functionality as a floppy disc, and are much more reliable.

Blocking malicious websites

2005-11-13T10:09:00.000+08:00

Question : Can you recommend software that could block access to certain Web sites?

Answer : What you're looking for is probably "Internet filter" or "content filter" software. These software attempt to block sites that are deemed by many to be "objectionable". Due to the spontaneous, ad hoc and largely unpredictable nature of the Internet, and indeed of this species of primate the biologists term "homo sapiens", make it almost impossible to censor anything online, and not risk throwing the baby out with the bath water. It doesn't mean that people don't stop trying though. We can't really recommend any, because we haven't actually seen one that worked. Radiant Morning's Naomi (www.radiance.m6.net) seems to work quite well, and at $0, you can't really beat the price. Even so, however, it's nowhere near perfect - some sites that should be blocked are not, and some sites that shouldn't be are blocked. On the commercial side, Cyber-sitter (www.cybersitter.com) has had good reviews.

Rectifying IE script error

2005-11-07T12:09:00.000+08:00

Question : Every time when I sign in to MSN messenger I get this message:

"Internet Explorer Script Error. An error has occured in the script on this page.

Line: 455
Char: 3
Error: object doesn't support this property or method
Code: 0
URL: http//t.msn.com/en-my/default.aspx?
Do you want to continue script on this page? Yes/No"
How do I fix it?

Answer : This either means that there's a bug in the script on that page, or the software being used is out of date. To attempt to solve it, download and install the latest version of Internet Explorer (IE). The latest version of IE can be found at windowsupdate.microsoft.com or at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx -- just point to "downloads" and select the latest version of IE from there.

All too often, when people update the operating system, they forget to update the browser. This will break compatibility with a lot of pages and applications which attempt to use functions that are only available in the latest versions. Because of this, the browser should be updated when the operating system is updated.

If the error still occurs after the browser is updated, then it's a good bet that there's a bug in the script on that page.

Tackling slow computer shutdowns

2005-10-31T19:37:00.000+08:00

Question : My problem is when the time comes to shut down or restart my PC - it takes about two to three minutes to shut down or restart. Please help.

Answer : Slow shutdowns can be due to various reasons. The main reason for slow shutdowns is page file clearing. This is especially indicated if the hard disk light goes on and stays on while the operating system (OS) is shutting down.

The page file is a file on the hard disk that's used as virtual memory. Virtual memory augments the random access memory on the system board. Since the page file may contain sensitive information, many OSes can be set to clear the page file when it (the OS) shuts down.

Many Web sites state this improves the security posture of an OS. They're not wrong in this, except that saying this improves the security posture of an OS is a little like saying installing 12 locks and a biometric identification system with voice analysis improves the security posture of a house.

Page file compromise is very low risk because there are many other ways to attempt to compromise the security and integrity of an OS, many of which would be easier and have better yield rates. Because of this, this option is not recommended for all but the most secure environments.

In Windows, this option is controlled by a registry entry. The registry entry in question is "ClearPageFile-AtShutdown". This key is usually located in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management section of the registry.

To attempt to turn off page file clearing, start (run) the program regedt32.exe and navigate to the HKEY_ LOCAL _MACHINE\SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Control \ Session Manager\Memory Management section. On the right pane, check if the entry "ClearPageFileAtShutdown" is visible. If it is, right-click on it and select Modify from the pop-up menu. When the EDIT DWORD window pops up, type "0" in the box under Value Data and click on the OK button. After the PC restarts, the next shutdown should take a little less time.

Another possibility is that there are programs or services that take some time to shut down. In general, it is not advisable to have too many services or programs running in the background because all these will have to be terminated before the OS can shut down gracefully.

To test for this, try closing all open programs and manually shutting down all background applications (including all firewall/anti-virus software) just before shutting down the OS.

Most background applications can be shut down by right-clicking on the icon in the taskbar and selecting Exit or some similar option. If it shuts down faster after all the background applications have been shut down, it's possible that there are one or more background applications that take a long time to shut down. If this is the case, not much can be done other than shutting down the offending application or finding a way to configure the parent program so it doesn't load a background application when it starts.

The offending application can be identified by looking through the event logs (Start --> Control Panel --> Administrative Tools --> Event Viewer). If nothing looks amiss, it can also be identified in this manner: First, shutdown a background application and then shut down the OS. Not the shutdown time. On the next restart, shut down another background application and note the shutdown time. This should be repeated for every application that runs in the background. If at any time the shutdown time improves after a background application is shut down, the same application becomes a prime suspect in the "slow shutdown time" issue.

It's also possible to decrease shutdown time by decreasing the time Windows waits for hung and slow applications to shut down.

To change this time, open the registry editor (regedt32) and navigate to the HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control section. From here, right-click on "WaitToKillServiceTimeout" and select Modify. In the box under ValueData, enter the time (in millisecond) the OS should wait until it summarily kills the service. The default value is 20,000 (20,000 milliseconds or 20 seconds).

Other settings that can be added here include "Hung-AppTimeout" and "Auto-EndTasks".

HungAppTimeout controls the amount of time the OS should wait before killing a hung or frozen application. AutoEndTasks tells the OS when to end hung applications automatically, or display the End Tasks dialogue.
To add any of the two settings, right-click on the right pane and select New --> String Value. Enter the name of the setting (HungApp-Timeout or AutoEndTasks as appropriate). Next, right-click on the added setting, select Modify and enter an appropriate value.

For HungAppTimeout, an appropriate value is the amount (in millisecond) that the OS should wait before terminating an application. Suitable values for AutoEndTasks include "0" and "1 ", with "0" meaning "end hung applications automatically, do not show End Tasks dialogue" and "I" meaning "show End Tasks dialogue when the shutdown time exceeds the value stated in HungAppTimeout".

If using Internet Explorer, ensuring that the browser clears the Temporary Internet Files folder every time it shuts down (Tools --> Internet Options --> Advanced --> Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed) and defragmenting the hard disk drive may result in faster shutdown times.

Enabling PC to access more memory

2005-09-28T14:59:00.000+08:00

Question : I tried to install Windows 98 on a 266-megahertz central processing unit to access some old applications. During the installation, the following error message appeared: "Standard mode: bad fault in ms-dos extender Fault: 000D stack dump: 0000 0000 0070 raw fault frame: 00000 IP..." Before installing Windows 98, I had formatted the hard disk to use FAT32. I have another computer of the same specifications which the vendor managed to install Windows 98 successfully. So what seems to be the problem?

Answer : The Web page http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q87239/ contains the answer to this question. According to the Microsoft support, there are several reasons why this would happen. One likely possibility (in this case) is that HIMEM.SYS was unable to control the A20 gate. HIMEM.SYS was the "high memory" driver for Windows 9x systems.

When the first "IBM-compatible" PCs were made, the maximum amount of memory they could address was one megabyte (MB). This was further divided into roughly two sections. The first 640 kilobytes (KB) was called conventional or base memory and this was all that most applications could use at that time. The area above 640KB was used mainly for optimising the system, thus was unavailable for application use.

Eventually, as operating systems and applications outgrew these boundaries, a solution was needed that would enable the PC to access more random access memory (RAM) and at the same time remain compatible to the earliest PCs manufactured.

Several methods were used to try to break the 640KB barrier. These software became known as DOS extenders. Two of the most popular DOS "extension" methods were known as Expanded Memory Specification and Extended Memory Specification. These methods are supported in the Windows 9x series via the HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE drivers.

Now that we've seen the software part of the equation, let's look at the hardware part. As mentioned earlier, the earliest PCs could only address (access) a total of 1 MB RAM. This is because they only had 20 address lines, each capable of carrying one bit. The maximum amount of locations thus becomes 220, or 1,048,576, which is exactly 1 MB. What was more interesting was that the last location in RAM was "connected" to the first location, so anyone going past the last location would end up at the first location. This got to be such a standard that people were writing software that actually took advantage of the "wraparound" effect.

When more advanced processors were introduced, they could address more RAM. This essentially got rid of the wraparound effect at the 1 MB barrier. This also made software that relied on the wraparound effect incompatible with the new processors.

In an effort to achieve full compatibility, system designers put in a "gate". This gate protected the area of RAM above I MB. Closing the gate produced a wraparound effect at the 1 MB barrier. Opening it allowed program access to any available RAM above it. The old method (wraparound effect, memory limited to 1 MB) is usually called real mode. The new mode was called protected mode. This gate is called Gate A20.

Now that there's a way to switch between modes, there needs to be a way to control the switch. The standard way was to use a spare pin in the keyboard controller. This was later found to be too slow, so some chipset manufacturers put in an option for the gate to be controlled via the mainboard chipset. This option can be controlled via the basic input/output system (BIOS) firmware -- it's usually called Fast Gate A20, Gate A20 Option or something similar.

Locate this option in the BIOS and select another setting. This should fix any problems the operating system has controlling the Gate A20.

Update the BIOS if possible, and check to see that all settings in the BIOS firmware are accurate, especially RAM "speeds" and sizes if they need to be set manually.

If the other PC has the exact same specifications, try using the exact same BIOS settings on the problem PC that the good PC uses. If this doesn't work, try replacing the RAM on the problem PC with the ones from the good PC.
If it works then, the problem is likely to be that the RAM on the problem PC is failing. By replacing the RAM one module at a time, the problem module can be identified and replaced.

For best results, it's recommended that the hard disk be erased before partitioning and formatting are attempted. This can be done with a "zero-fill" utility usually available for download at the hard disk manufacturer's Web site.

Resolving power supply issue

2005-09-13T09:19:00.000+08:00

Question : After changing my power supply for ATX, my PC always shuts off by itself. This problem happens more than five times every day. I tried to change the "PC health status in the BIOS" by disabling Auto Shut-down if the central processing unit's temperature went above 70 degrees Celsius, but that did not help at all. What should I do?

Answer : It looks like a power supply issue. This seems to happen with many low-cost generic power supply units. When people talk about power supplies, they talk about peak load (that is, how many watts/W it can put out in total).

Many power supplies are compared based on total wattage alone. For in- stance, some people may say that a 300W power supply is inadequate, and a 350W power supply should be used instead. This over-emphasis on total wattage is, we think, not a very good idea at all.

As far as power supply units are concerned, there are many factors that are as important (if not more important) than total wattage. In fact, the total wattage figure is like the peak maximum power output (PMPO) figure that's used to sell "mini-component" stereo sets.

Every audiophile knows that the PMPO figure of a stereo set does not say much about how powerful it is. A much better figure for comparison, they say, is the root mean square (RMS) figure, which represents the "real world" output of the stereo and is a more accurate statistic.

The PMPO figure is used to sell stereo sets most probably because it's usually a larger figure than the RMS, and thus sounds more impressive. In the same way, the total wattage figure is used to list and sell power supplies.

There's a lot more to a power supply unit than total wattage. If one looks at the label (or the user manual) for the power supply unit, one will see several statistics (+5V, +12V, +3.3V, etc). These statistics are more relevant than total wattage when choosing an adequate power supply.

Before choosing a power supply, add up the power requirements for the PC. Many hardware manufacturers have technical documents available for download at their Web sites. These documents will provide information on the power drawn by that particular peripheral.

The "power supply unit" in a PC actually delivers power at several levels called rails. These rails are the ones labelled +5V, +12V, etc, on the power supply unit. Different peripherals will draw power from different rails, so in a power supply unit it's important to see if the individual rails will supply enough power to run the system than to look at the overall total wattage figure.

Also useful is the basic physics equation W = VA, which states that the wattage of a particular peripheral is equal to the voltage multiplied by the amperage. With this equation (and the technical documents available), one should be able to find out how much power one needs to run the PC. A good site to automatically calculate the size of the power supply needed is http://www.casemodgod.com/psu_calculator.htm -- we find the calculations here tend to be more accurate than other sites.

One specification that is frequently overlooked when considering power supplies is the operating temperature. The operating temperature is the temperature range at which it will work as advertised.

With lower-quality power supplies, the power output drops significantly after the temperature exceeds the stated operating temperature. Some lower-quality power supplies have an operating temperature of zero to 25 degrees centigrade. This basically means that the power supply will start the PC, but then will slowly lose power after the temperature rises above 25 degrees centigrade. At one point the power supplied will not be enough to power the PC and the PC will turn off.

This is one reason why lower-quality power supplies seem to work well initially and then shut off after a while.
Good-quality power supplies will have an operating temperature of at least zero to 50 degrees centigrade. Check to see that the power supply is certified by the standards bodies of various countries. If so, their logos will be present on the label. If you have a lower-quality, "generic" power supply, try one from a company with reasonable quality control measures.

Also ensure that all connectors are secure (the ATX power plug especially can be a bit tight). Ensure that the plug fits securely and the latch is positioned over the notch on the mainboard power connector. An automatic voltage regulator is also recommended. This helps regulate power delivered to the power supply unit.

Trouble-shooting mouse problems

2005-08-25T18:37:00.000+08:00

Question : I have a problem with my mouse. This usually happens when I leave the PC idle for more than five minutes. The mouse goes berserk whenever I try clicking it. It would point to another icon and then run the related program. Although I press the "Escape" key, I still could not control it. I have to wait for about five minutes for it to settle down. The problem would recur whenever I leave it for a while.

Answer : Several things can cause this to happen. The most obvious possibility would be that the mouse is faulty. The first (and easiest) thing to try is to replace the mouse with a fairly simple one that's known to work on another PC. If that works, then it's a fair bet that the mouse (or the mouse driver) is faulty.
Before the mouse is replaced, consider installing the latest version of the mouse's driver software (if one is needed or available). If that doesn't work either, then it's probably time to replace the mouse. But before that, remove the cable and look at it closely. If any pins are bent, straighten them very gently. A pair of "needle-nose" pliers are ideal for this job.

If it's a ball mouse (mechanical or opto-mechanical) try cleaning the mouse ball and the rollers. Mechanical and opto-mechanical mice tend to gather dust and dirt around the rollers and the ball after they've been used for a while - sometimes cleaning them will solve a lot of issues.

Most mechanical and opto-mechanical mice have an "access port" on the "bottom" where the ball protrudes. This "access port" is akin to a manhole cover with a hole in the middle to accommodate the mouse ball.

Most of the time, the mouse's cover can be removed by rotating it counter-clockwise (arrows showing the correct direction of rotation may be embossed onto the cover itself). Rotate the cover to remove it. Care should be taken at this stage because very often, the cover is the only thing supporting the ball -- removing the cover will cause the ball to drop out of the mouse. Because of this, it's best that the mouse be upside down when the cover is removed.

Once the ball is removed, two shafts will be visible. They're quite easy to spot because in an uncleaned mechanical mouse, they will have dirt wrapped around them. The best way we've found to remove dirt from a rolling shaft is to cut it lengthwise with a small spade-end screwdriver. After this, it can be picked up with a small pair of tweezers and lifted out.

Another reason is because the display driver is bugged. Most modern PCs have something called a "hard-ware cursor" in which the position and display of the cursor is actually controlled by the display card. This "hardware cursor" is used to accelerate cursor rendering and positioning. Because of this, a bug in the display driver can cause the cursor to appear to suddenly go haywire.

A bug in the display driver can lay dormant for a while, only to be triggered when something happens, for instance, if the display card is instructed to put the monitor on standby.

Updating the display driver might be able to solve this problem. Also, to avoid such problems from recurring, the power management options can be turned off. To do this, right-click on any empty area of the desktop, and select "properties" from the pop-up menu.

When the "display properties" window pops up, click on the "Screen Saver" tab, and then on the button that says "Power". This will open a windows titled "Display Properties". From here, click on the downward- pointing arrow just below "Power Schemes" and select "Home/Office Desk".

Next, under "settings for Home/Office Desk Power Scheme", click on the downward-pointing arrow to the right of "Turn off Monitor" and select "Never". Do the same for "Turn off Hard Disks" and "System Standby". After this, click on the button labelled "Save As". A window titled "Save Scheme" will pop up, with "Home/Office Desk" already filled in. All that needs to be done here is to click on the "OK" button. This will save the new scheme.

After the new scheme is saved, click on the "OK" buttons to close the "Power Options Properties" and "Display Properties" windows. This will effectively disable the "power saving" functions in Windows XP and might help solve any problems related to device drivers behaving strangely after the PC idles for a while.

The "power saving mode" can be turned off in the PC's basic input/output system (BIOS). This can usually be done by adjusting a setting in the PC's BIOS firmware. This setting is usually called "Power Management" or a similar term.

One other possibility is that the system's been infected with some sort of malware that makes the cursor go haywire. This can be cleaned up with a virus cleaner software.

PC Upgrade

2005-08-12T23:05:00.000+08:00

Question : My PC uses an Intel Pentium II 350-mega-hertz operating system with 32 megabytes (MB) of synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM) and a four-gi- gabyte (GB) hard drive disk. I want to upgrade to 256MB DDR SDRAM and a 40GB (7,200 revolutions per minute) hard disk. Can I upgrade my PC without changing the motherboard and processor? How much will it cost?

Answer : There's almost no chance that DDR SDRAM will fit into a "normal" (SDR) SDRAM slot. DDR SDRAM has 184 pins while SDR SDRAM has only 164. Because of this, DDR SDRAM will not fit into SDR SDRAM slots.

As for the hard disk, it might or it might not, de- pending on the basic input/ output system (BIOS). The best way to find out is probably to update the BIOS to the latest version and then borrow a 40GB hard disk from a friend. If that works, then there's a good chance that 40GB hard disks will install and work fine. Otherwise, they probably won't. Many sites (such as www.lowyat.net) con tain price lists that can be used to check the latest prices.

Decoding error message on VCD

2005-08-07T10:19:00.000+08:00

Question : Whenever I want to play a VCD, an error message will appear: "MCI ERROR. MMSYSTEM296. The file cannot be played on the specified MCI device. The file may be corrupt or not in the correct format." Please advise.

Answer : This error typically appears in Windows 98/ SE/ME. There are several reasons for this error message to appear. One reason (the most obvious one) is that the VCD is corrupted.

Most videos are compressed, that is they are not recorded on disc in a raw form. They are encod- ed in a specific format (usually MPEG-1 or MPEG- 2 in the case of VCD). Many formats have stan- dard, predictable patterns that a decoder (such as a VCD player or VCD play- back software) can "translate" (decode) into a movie that can be watched and enjoyed by anyone. The data on the VCD itself is not the actual movie - it's an encoded, compressed heap of data that will make no sense to anyone until after it's decoded.

In personal computers, this decoding is usually done with the help of a compressor or decompressor component in the operating system. This compressor or decompressor component is commonly referred to as a "codec".
As anyone who's been in the PC industry long enough knows, there's never ever one "standard" for anything. This is perhaps unique to the industry. It's probably what makes this industry more fun (and headache-inducing) than many others.

Many other industries only ever have one specification or standard for anything - after all, it's what a "standard" is for: to "standardise". In the computer world, however, there are typically many "standards", all of which perform the same function, albeit in many different ways.

So, to make sense of any video file, the VCD play-back software must load the right codec. How does it know which codec to load? It looks at something called a "fourcc" (or 4CC) code.

The 4CC code is a sequence of four bytes (characters) embedded in the video file that tells the player what format the file is in. A list of the various codes can be found on the www.fourcc.org Web site (under Video Codecs).

The code tells the VCD player which codec to use. After it loads the video file, the player looks for this code. It then compares the code against a list of codecs that are available on this system. When it finds the correct code, it loads the corresponding codec and passes the data through it, which results in a displayable movie. At least that's what happens if all goes well.

However, here in the real world, several things can go wrong, and there are several reasons for why they can happen. The first possibility is that the video file does not have a 4CC code or does not have the correct one. In the former case, the video player would not know which codec to load, and in the latter the video player might load the wrong codec for the job. In either case, this might result in the above-mentioned error message.

Another possibility, of course, is that the VCD player does not have the proper codec needed to render the video file. In this case, an external "codec pack" can be used to augment the functionality of the VCD player.
Examples of external codec packs include the K-Lite Codec Pack (available from home.hccnet.nl/h.edskes/ mirror.htm) and XP Codec Pack (www.xpcodecpack.com). These codec packs include additional codecs that the video player might need to decode the video file.

Many codec packs also include 4CC identifiers which can read the embedded 4CC code in the video file and provide a clue as to which codecs a video file needs. The Web page support. microsoft.com/kb/ q219047 documents this error and provides a possible fix for it.

The last possibility is that the file is just corrupted. Some codecs have "error correction" mechanisms which will take care of many data faults, but if the file just doesn't make sense then there's not a lot anyone can do.

Track your visitors, using PHP

2005-07-31T22:21:00.000+08:00

There are many different traffic analysis tools, ranging from simple counters to complete traffic analyzers. Although there are some free ones, most of them come with a price tag. Why not do it yourself? With PHP, you can easily create a log file within minutes. In this article I will show you how!

Getting the information
The most important part is getting the information from your visitor.
Thankfully, this is extremely easy to do in PHP (or any other scripting language
for that matter). PHP has a special global variable called $_SERVER which
contains several environment variables, including information about your
visitor. To get all the information you want, simply use the following code:

// Getting the information
$ipaddress = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
$page = "http://{$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']}{$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']}";
$page .= iif(!empty($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']), "?{$_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']}", "");
$referrer = $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'];
$datetime = mktime();
$useragent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'];
$remotehost = @getHostByAddr($ipaddress);

As you can see the majority of information comes from the $_SERVER variable. The
mktime() (http://nl2.php.net/mktime) and getHostByAddr()
(http://nl2.php.net/manual/en/function.gethostbyaddr.php) functions are used to
get additional information about the visitor.

Note: I used a function in the above example called iif(). You can get this
function at
http://www.phpit.net/code/iif-function.

Logging the information

Now that you have all the information you need, it must be written to a log file
so you can later look at it, and create useful graphs and charts. To do this you
need a few simple PHP function, like fopen (http://www.php.net/fopen) and fwrite
(http://www.php.net/fwrite).

The below code will first create a complete line out of all the information. Then it will open the log file in "Append" mode, and if it doesn't exist yet, create it.

If no errors have occurred, it will write the new logline to the log file, at
the bottom, and finally close the log file again.

// Create log line
$logline = $ipaddress . '|' . $referrer . '|' . $datetime . '|' . $useragent . '|' . $remotehost . '|' . $page . "
";

// Write to log file:
$logfile = '/some/path/to/your/logfile.txt';

// Open the log file in "Append" mode
if (!$handle = fopen($logfile, 'a+')) {
die("Failed to open log file");
}

// Write $logline to our logfile.
if (fwrite($handle, $logline) === FALSE) {
die("Failed to write to log file");
}

fclose($handle);

Now you've got a fully function logging module. To start tracking visitors on
your website simply include the logging module into your pages with the
include() function (http://www.php.net/include):

include ('log.php');

Okay, now I want to view my log file
After a while you'll probably want to view your log file. You can easily do so
by simply using a standard text editor (like Notepad on Windows) to open the log
file, but this is far from desired, because it's in a hard-to-read format.

Let's use PHP to generate useful overviews for is. The first thing that needs to
be done is get the contents from the log file in a variable, like so:

// Open log file
$logfile = "G:projectsphpitcontentrack your visitors using phplog.txt";

if (file_exists($logfile)) {

$handle = fopen($logfile, "r");
$log = fread($handle, filesize($logfile));
fclose($handle);
} else {
die ("The log file doesn't exist!");
}

Now that the log file is in a variable, it's best if each logline is in a
separate variable. We can do this using the explode() function
(http://www.php.net/explode), like so:

// Seperate each logline
$log = explode("
", trim($log));

After that it may be useful to get each part of each logline in a separate
variable. This can be done by looping through each logline, and using explode
again:

// Seperate each part in each logline
for ($i = 0; $i < count($log); $i++) {
$log[$i] = trim($log[$i]);
$log[$i] = explode('|', $log[$i]);
}

Now the complete log file has been parsed, and we're ready to start generating
some interesting stuff.

The first thing that is very easy to do is getting the number of pageviews.
Simply use count() (http://www.phpit.net/count) on the $log array, and there you
have it;

echo count($log) . " people have visited this website.";

You can also generate a complete overview of your log file, using a simple
foreach loop and tables. For example:

// Show a table of the logfile
echo '<table>';
echo '<th>IP Address</th>';
echo '<th>Referrer</th>';
echo '<th>Date</th>';
echo '<th>Useragent</th>';
echo '<th>Remote Host</th>';

foreach ($log as $logline) {
echo '<tr>';

echo '<td>' . $logline['0'] . '</td>';
echo '<td>' . urldecode($logline['1']) . '</td>';
echo '<td>' . date('d/m/Y', $logline['2']) . '</td>';
echo '<td>' . $logline['3'] . '</td>';
echo '<td>' . $logline['4'] . '</td>';

echo '</tr>';

}

echo '</table>';

You can also use custom functions to filter out search engines and crawlers. Or
create graphs using PHP/SWF Charts (http://www.maani.us/charts/index.php). The
possibilities are endless, and you can do all kinds of things!

In Conclusion...

In this article I have shown you have to create a logging module for your own
PHP website, using nothing more than PHP and its built-in functions. To view the
log file you need to parse it using PHP, and then display it in whatever way you
like. It is up to you to create a kick-ass traffic analyzer.

If you still prefer to use a pre-built traffic analyzer, have a look at
http://www.hotscripts.com.

About the Author

Dennis Pallett is a young tech writer, with much experience in ASP, PHP and
other web technologies. He enjoys writing, and has written several articles and
tutorials. To find more of his work, look at his websites:
http://www.phpit.net,
http://www.aspit.net and
http://www.ezfaqs.com

What is a server ?

2005-07-16T23:39:00.000+08:00

For those of you who don’t really understand where or how your web page is sitting on your hosting sever, this is a basic over view of how it works.

A server is basically hardware and software and protocol. We will go over these three basics of your hosting server.

• Server hardware.

Server hardware is so similar to your old PC hardware that the price of server hardware has come down considerably. Down enough that it’s tempting for a lot of us to host our own server. But that’s a whole different article. All a server is:

• Very fast processor.
• A large amount of RAM.
• A vast amount of Disk Space.
• Connection to a T1 line (access to the outside world).

The hardware is housed in very large office buildings. There are many racks of servers filling these climate controlled rooms. Most of the server host brag of their 99% or better uptime. This is very impressive and another reason to use a server host. How often have you re-booted your PC in the past?

• Software. (Operating system)

There different operating systems on the market. Most likely the software on your server is running Apache on Linux, an open source product. Servers need to be secured and an open source application is more likely to be less buggy and more secure then their larger competitor Microsoft.

These servers use an interface for you to access and configure them, a control panel. Some control panels are more complicated then others. Depending how technical you are, this is a point of concern when picking a server host.

• Protocol. (FTP)
To get your page on the server you need to FTP (file transfer protocol). FTP is a client (you) server application. If you created your page on your desk top, obviously to share it you would need to get it on your server. It’s also used to transfer files between your own pc to someone else’s computer.

This is a very simplistic overview of what a server host is, but I hope it will give you a basic idea how it works.

The Easiest way of sharing your video and audio files online

2005-07-07T20:59:00.000+08:00

You probably know this problem when you try to send huge file to your friend through email but because of some unknown
reason you can not do that. Your provider just does not allow you to send such a big file. What if there was an
solution to your problems. What if you could do match more than just sending file to your friends. What if you could
also share link for downloading this file with others. And exactly that we will discuss in this article.

Here is situation which occur almost too often on Internet. You have video, audio or other files which you would
like to share with your friends and family on message boards, chats, blogs or just on your personal web page. To do that you have three
options. You can split your files and email it, but it just takes to long and not all people can split files.
You can upload to your own web space if you have one, which is not an option for many. Or you can just forget about it.

And as always on Internet, there is a solution to your problem.
Lately there has been opened new services which will help you in your "dilemma". Services like SendMeFile.com allow you
to upload any files and share it with others anywhere. After you uploaded your file you get a link which you can use wherever you like.
So basically you can share your files everywhere you want to. And what's more important that no registration is required, so from now
on it will only take 5 seconds for you to upload and share your files.This way you do not have to think twice
before you can share your files with your friends and family.

Services like SendMeFile.com are very easy to use so that people new to Internet would be able to use it. All you have to do is
to click on browse button and find your file, click upload and it's done. After that you can post your link anywhere you like.

If hope this article will help people like me who struggled to find a fast and easy way for sharing files with others.

( Roman Kovalenko writes on many Internet topics. To learn more go to: http://dir.AllHostTalk.com )

Virus removal basics

2005-07-02T21:43:00.000+08:00

The day you learn your computer is infected with a virus or spyware is a lonely yet aggravating day. You’ll be angry that you fell victim, and may feel helpless because of your lack of knowledge about virus removal or pc repair. But don’t worry - you’re not alone! Unfortunately, you’re actually part of a club of tens of thousands of people who feel the same way every day!

According to AVG, virus protection usually doesn’t detect adware or spyware both of which can wreak havoc on a computer. Thousands of people each day are infected with malicious programs! Worry no longer and stop feeling helpless because this guide is a basic computer virus repair guide that will help you identify and remove viruses and malware.

Are You Running Antivirus Software?

If you already have virus software perform an update for the latest version and then run a system scan. If you do not have such software, download a free copy of AVG virus protection at http://www.grisoft.com/doc/40/lng/us/tpl/tpl01. This will give you free real time virus protection, email scanning and virus removal tools.

Next, download and run Ad-Aware to remove spyware, adware, and other troublesome programs http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/. Then download SpyBot Search & Destroy http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html. By using Ad-Aware and SpyBot you will have excellent protection against files that are often missed by virus protection.

To check for and eliminate browser hijackers, download and run CWShredder at http://www.intermute.com/spysubtract/cwshredder_download.html.

With the above programs simply run a scan and follow the prompts to remove any infected files or unwanted programs. Once that is done, upgrade your operating system, or download any needed patches, then reboot your computer.

These steps won’t solve every problem, but they will fix a large percentage of the things that cause your computer to act up.

( John Lenaghan writes about solving computer problems for the Computer Help Squad website, where he provides valuable tips and advice about internet security, computer upgrades and other computer related topics. )

Removing rogue pop-ups

2005-06-24T22:23:00.000+08:00

Question : Every time I'm on the Internet I get pop-up wallpaper messages from "http://www.advnt>O1-sfondi Desktop-Micro...". With that the connection to the Internet is disconnected. How can I remove this pop-up?

Answer : Rogue pop-ups are typical symptoms of virus or Trojan infection. Here's a basic guide on what happens, how it happens, and how they can be stopped.

There are generally two types of malware: those that run as separate programs, and those that "attach" to a browser and operate from there. The first category is the standalone malware program. These programs usually start when the operating system starts, and continue running throughout the computing session. This is done by exploiting the various ways operating systems allow for programs to start up when the operating system starts.

For instance, in Windows, the file can be placed in the Startup directory. Any programs placed here will be executed when Windows starts. A Trojan can quite conceivably place a program in that directory. This will result in the program starting up when Windows starts; and quite possibly remain resident throughout any computing session.

This will (also quite conceivably) enable it to capture data being sent to or received by the system. This means, of course, that a malicious program can capture sensitive data such as passwords and personal information.

At this point, some people might be thinking, "But we only use sites that support SSL (secure sockets layer), so our data is safe". We'd like to address this assumption. To do that, we'll have to study SSL, and how it attempts to make data transfer safer for everyone.

SSL is a protocol that facilitates secure transmission of data. It works this way: a user first visits a site capable of supporting the SSL protocol. Such sites are different from "normal" Web sites in that they start with "https://" instead of "http://". Any time one sees "https://" in the browser's address bar, one can be reasonably certain that the particular Web page supports SSL.

As an example, try typing "http://mail.yahoo.com" ( without the quotes ) in the browser's address bar. This will display Yahoo's "normal" sing-in page. However, if "https://mail.yahoo.com" is typed in, the secured sign-in page will load. Both pages look the same; the only difference is that with the SSL (https://) page, some or all of the data that a user types in will be encrypted. This keeps it (somewhat) obscured from people on the Internet who may have an interest in obtaining the data.

Let's look a little more closely at how SSL works: the user types in the data, the browser encrypts it and then sends it off to its ultimate destination. The encryption only happens after the data is typed in. Suppose a program is able to somehow intercept the keystrokes before the browser receives them. What will happen then? Data sent to the "secure site" will be no more se- cure than any other "normal" site.

The point we're trying to make here is that SSL only secures data transmission over the Internet. If the data is somehow intercepted before it can be encrypted, then it will still be compromised. So using an SSL site is not a guarantee that anything anyone types in is secure. It only provides some measure of protection over the Internet.

If a Trojan that intercepts keystrokes is running on a PC, it's completely possible for the data to be intercepted before it's encrypted. As such, it's a bit of a misconception to say that if one uses an SSL-capable site, the data one enters will be completely secure. It is true that, once it is encrypted, data entered into a page that uses SSL is somewhat safer than data entered into a "normal" Web page, but as the old saying goes, There's many a slip 'twixt cup and lip.

The second category is the "browser helper object", or BHO. These BHOs basically act as extensions to the browser and extend the functionality of it. BHOs do many useful things (Microsoft uses one for Windows Update). These objects are actually placed on a server on the Web site. When a browser loads a page, it may ask to install something. In Internet Explorer, this is done via a yellow band near the top of the browser.

As for actually removing it, we'll have to look at what's installed on that PC and then maybe we can offer some advice on what needs to be removed. If you could send us a log from the Hijackthis program, we would be in a better position to advise.

Based on what we have right now, the best advice we can offer is to run a malware scanner. This might clear it up. If it doesn't, however, we'll need to have that log before we can proceed any further with this.

MOD_REWRITE for Dummies

2005-06-20T11:31:00.000+08:00

A short article in human language

This article is not a complete guide to Apache's mod_rewrite or .htaccess.
Its purpose is to help you - the webmaster - to create "mod_rewritten" versions of your dynamic webpages even if you have limited technical knowledge.
I won't show you all the tips-and-tricks - my aim is to bring all the complexity of the Apache's documentation into 1-2 pages of human language - easy and fast.

What is mod_rewrite?

Mod_rewrite is Apache extension which allows you to "rewrite" the URLs of your web pages.
If your server supports this technology (most linux webhosts do nowadays) you are able to rewrite virtually any URL into anything you like. Most often it is used to rewrite the URLs of dynamicly generated webpages such as www.mywebsite.com/index.php?par1=1&par2=2&par3=2...
This can easy be 'translated' into www.mywebsite.com/par1/par2/par3

Why mod_rewrite?

- Search engine optimization - there are a lot of debates on this topic, but it is still
true that the static-looking links rank better than the dynamic ones.
Here is a confirmation from Google on that topic:

"Your pages are dynamically generated. We're able to index dynamically generated pages. However, because our web crawler could overwhelm and crash sites that serve dynamic content, we limit the number of dynamic pages we index. In addition, our crawlers may suspect that a URL with many dynamic parameters might be the same page as another URL with different parameters. For that reason, we recommend using fewer parameters if possible. Typically, URLs with 1-2 parameters are more easily crawlable than those with many parameters."

- User-friendliness - Some users remember the URLs visally. Even if they bookmark, they can easier recognize a link like www.mywebsite.com/services.html than www.mywebsite.com/index.php?task=12 for example.

- Security - mod_rewrite helps you hide the parametters passed in the application. Basicly your dynamic pages should be secure enough even without mod_rewrite. But hiding the parametters will decrease the danger of attack

How to use it?
Mod_rewrite is really powerful if you are familiar with the regular expressions which it uses.
But learning the whole pattern syntax can be quite complicated, especially for the non-technical user. That's why I'll teach you at several simple patterns which are pretty enough to get your website URLs rewritten.

Lets start:
First you need to create a file called .htaccess and place it exactly in the folder where you want the rewriting to take effect (it will also take effect over all subfolders). In case you already have a .htaccess file you can simply add the lines to it (if it already has mode_rewrite directives you can mess them however).
Open it in a simple text editor an start with:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on

Now the rewrite engine is switched on. You can now start adding as many rewrite rules as you want. The format is simple:

RewriteRule rewrite_from rewrite_to

Here "RewriteRule" is static text, i.e. you should not change. "rewrite_from" is the address which will be typed in the browser and "rewrite_to" - which page the server will actually activate. Both of these can contain "masks", but in "rewrite_to" we will only use $ and will discuss more or "rewrite_from" part. Let me "meet you" with the very few masks you'll need and bring you some samples. You'll see how easy is it.

Let's stop talking theory and see an example. Let's imagine your server runs an e-shop, which
uses URLs like index.php?task=categories to list the categories, index.php?task=category&id=5 to show a category contents and other parametters in 'task' to do other things.

RewriteRule ^(.*).html index.php?task=$1

What does all that mean? This is a rewrite rule which allows you to make your URLs looking as "static". In this example categories.html will be "translated" to index.php?task=categories.
So you no longer need dynamic URL to list ther categories, but can write categories.html

But what do all these strange characters mean?
- ^ character marks the beginning. i.e. you tell the server that it should not expect anything before it.
- (.*) - This combination is the most often used and it means literally "everything". So everything you type before ".html" (i.e. your fake file name) will be passed as:
- $1 - This is a parametter, saying where the first mask should be put. If you have more than one masks (masks are everything which you use to represent dynamich text or file names) you can use $2, $3 etc. You'll see more in the following examples.

So, if you have categories.html it will be translated into index.php?task=categories, services.html into index.php?task=services etc...

What if you have more than one parameter? First, you should use some characters as delimiter:

RewriteRule ^(.*)-(.*).html index.php?task=$1&language=$2

Here how you can also pass task and language. For example:
categories-englist.html will be translated into index.php?task=categories&language=english.

IMPORTANT: If you first write
RewriteRule ^(.*).html index.php?task=$1
The second one may not work. You need to always start from the most complicated rule to the simplest one.

Make it Better:
The rule (.*) is too general and often may prevent you from making more complicated rewriting rules. So it is recommended that you "limit" the rules into something more concrete. Here are a couple of advices:

- Use the "OR" operator. In our e-shop example we have only few possible "tasks" passed to index.php. Lets say:
index.php?task=categories
index.php?task=category
index.php?task=product
index.php?task=services

What will happen if you want to use your static file about.html? It will be rewritten into index.php?task=about and won't work. So you can use the OR operator and limit the rewriting only to the cases you need:

RewriteRule ^(categoriescategoryproductservices).html index.php?task=$1

This tells the server to rewrite only if the file name is categories.html OR category.html OR product.html OR services.html

- Using "numbers". You can easy limit the rewriter to rewrite if it meets only numbers at a certain place:

RewriteRule ^category-([0-9]*).html index.php?task=category&id=$1

With ([0-9]*) mask you tell the rewrite engine that on the mask place it should expect onlly numbers. So if it see category-english.html it won't rewrite to index.php?task=category&id=english, but to index.php?task=category&language=english (because of the rule we have shown above - RewriteRule ^(.*)-(.*).html index.php?task=$1&language=$2.).

Complete example: Here is how will look the final .htaccess file for our imaginary e-shop:

--------
Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on

RewriteRule ^(.*)-(.*).html index.php?task=$1&language=$2.
RewriteRule ^(categoriescategoryproductservices).html index.php?task=$1
RewriteRule ^category-([0-9]*).html index.php?task=category&id=$1

The author is Senior Deveoper in PIM Team Bulgaria and Consultant in SEO PIM Team

Memory size discrepancy in products

2005-06-13T12:04:00.000+08:00

Question : Why is a thumb drive or an MP3 player's memory size usually smaller than what is stated on the package?

Answer : There are several reasons for this, one of which is because people are famously imprecise. Take cooking, for example. People say "add a pinch of this" and never say how much a "pinch" really is.

If they want to be more precise, maybe they will say "add a teaspoon of that" but even then, teaspoons come in various shapes and sizes. There's actually a standard for "teaspoon" (five-millilitre) but unless you're that fussy and fastidious, a teaspoon is a teaspoon.

Human minds work in a decidedly illogical way. While they're capable of logic, they're also capable of making decisions based on inference, assumption and plain guesswork sometimes. This sort of decision making is what makes humans different from computers. This sort of decision making also means humans tend to make lots of mistakes. In fact, they make so many mistakes, there's actually a saying "To err is human".

All this indirect, emotional, instinctive thinking, however, also has its advantages. For instance, if I were to write a sentence like this: "ths iz rIly bd splg" most people would be able to figure it out. Software designed to understand language (translation software, etc) might probably reject this as bad input. So in some ways, humans are "smarter" than computers.

In some other ways, computers have the advantage. The important thing to note is that humans think differently from the way computers "think".

People think in more abstract terms ("it's too hot in here, I'll just turn on the air-conditioner") while computers "think" in more concrete terms ("the room temperature is now above x degrees Celsius, so I'll turn on the air-conditioner"). This is probably why not a lot of people understand computers and how (unless they're specifically trained to do so). There are efforts to make computers more understandable to humans, and vice versa.

In fact, there's a whole branch of logic dedicated to making computers more "human" -- it's called "fuzzy logic". The name itself tells you how illogical humans can be -- logic by definition cannot be "fuzzy". If it's "fuzzy" it must not be completely logical.

"Fuzzy" logic is not "fuzzy" at all, it just creates the impression of "fuzziness" in that it appears to mimic human thinking. You have to "tell" a computer how hot is "too hot" before it knows, but humans just know, no one has to tell a human he's too hot. All the fuzzy logic in the world will not make a computer think the way humans think.

Another reason is that people want things to be easy and simple. Because of that, they are willing to live with some imprecision. Nothing in the world is really that precise. Ask anyone his age, and he might say, for in stance, that he is 31 years old. Chances are he probably won't say he's 31 years, so many months, so many days and some hours and minutes and seconds old. Part of the reason, though, is probably because he doesn't want to take the time to calculate his precise age.

People want things to be simple and easy because they can be easily understood and accepted. While some people are interested in the nitty-gritty details, a lot of people are just turned off. Another reason is because round numbers are easier to remember. It's easier to remember, for instance, one billion dollars ($1,000,000, 000) than to remember one billion, two hundred and forty-nine million, nine hundred and eighty-five thousand, three hundred and twelve dollars and thirty-nine cents.

People who sell hardware know all of these things, and that is part of the reason why the stated memory capacity on storage devices and MP3 players seem smaller than they actually are - it's because the numbers have been adjusted to make the product more appealing and memorable. But how do they get away with it? We'll find out in the next instalment.

Understanding techno-trouble terms

2005-06-08T09:26:00.000+08:00

ARE you bewildered and confused by such terms as "malware" and "pharming"? We take a look at how spyware, scum- ware, malware, phishing and pharming work, and offer tips on how to avoid being conned.

Spyware is a program that hides on your computer, gathering as much information as it can. The sort of information it collects varies; it may check what Web sites you visit, who you send e-mail to, or even capture your every keystroke and mouse click.

Spyware is designed to report back to its owner without your knowledge and consent whenever you go online. The biggest telltale sign your computer is infected with spyware is that it slows down.

Solution: Good anti-virus programs can be programmed to prevent spyware from installing and removing those that have already made their home on your hard drive.

Scumware and malware (short for "malicious software") are pesky programs that often promise to do something useful, such as offer a special button on your toolbar that acts like a dictionary or translator, but have a tendency to mess up your program settings.

Scumware might reset your start page, alter your bookmarks, disable security settings, shower you with pop-ups, and much more. Malware is even worse than scumware. It typically resets your dial-up settings, reconfiguring your modem to call an overseas number instead of 1511 or 1515 and other cheap-rate local numbers.

Solution: You can avoid scumware and malware by downloading programs only when you are sure that you know exactly what they do. Also, good anti-virus software will deal with known scumware and malware.

Phishing (pronounced "fishing") is a scam that starts off with an e-mail that looks as though it comes from a bank or well-known business. The message is designed to frighten people into clicking on the link and to "confirm" details of sensitive information "in order to prevent the account from being closed".

Panicked at the thought of being banned from online banking or shopping, unsuspecting surfers click on the link, visit a Web site and hand over details of credit cards and other important information.

But although the link looks legitimate and the page it leads to also looks like the real thing, users are actually diverted to a hoax page that is set up to capture all volunteered information.

Solution: Never click on links within an e-mail and always distrust messages that ask you to confirm sensitive information. If banks or other legitimate agencies want you to confirm details of sensitive information, they'll phone or send a letter via snail mail!

Pharming (pronounced "farming") is very much like phishing, but without the lure of the e-mail. Pharmers are thieves who manage to redirect traffic to fake Web sites that appear to have the proper domain names.

This type of camouflage is the result of thieves hacking into the domain name system server, the machine that translates Internet domain names from easy-to-remember words like "lepak.com" into numerical addresses like "222.156.0.0" used by computers. An older term for such activity is domain spoofing.

When users visit the pharmed site, they don't feel in the slightest bit suspicious: everything looks fine. They are led into giving sensitive information such as passport numbers or credit card details in the ordinary course of business. That this is then stolen by the thieves is something they'll only find out later.

Solution: To thwart pharmers, some sites offer certificates. When you visit these, you see a dialogue box asking you if you want to trust the certificate. If the details of the certificate don't look right, leave!

Switching PC boot-up from C: to A: drive

2005-06-04T09:10:00.000+08:00

Question : My computer boots directly from the C: drive and bypasses the A: drive after I had installed a CD-RW drive. How do I make my computer boot from the A: drive first?

Answer : The manual that comes with the mainboard should show you how to change the boot order. In most cases, the basic input/output system (BIOS) can be accessed by depressing the Del or F2 key after the system is turned on.

The actual key that should be depressed to access the BIOS will depend on the type of BIOS on the PC. In many cases, a message will be displayed on the bottom- most part of the display. This message will provide some indication as to which key should be pressed to access the BIOS set-up firmware.

After that, it's just a matter of poking around in the BIOS menu to look for an option called Boot Order, or something similar.

There are basically three types of BIOS firmware on the market: Intel's custom-made ones or Award's modular ones.
For Intel boards, select Boot and then Boot Device Priority. From here, set 1st Boot Device to Removable Device, and 1st Removable Device to Floppy Disk Drive (1st Floppy Drive). After this, select Exit, Exit Saving Changes and Yes.

Award's modular BIOS settings vary greatly from version to version. In some earlier versions, select BIOS Features Setup and then "A, D, C" or "A, C, D" from the Boot Sequence option. Later versions may have a First Boot Device option (in which case it should be set to Floppy).

In either case, hitting the Esc key, selecting Save and Exit Setup and then hitting the "Y" key in response to the question "Save to CMOS and Exit (Y/N)?" should save the new settings.

Reading .rar, .php files

2005-06-02T22:46:00.000+08:00

Question : I have downloaded .rar and .php files from the Internet, but no software on my PC seem to be able to read them. Please help.

Answer : .rar files are typically compressed with a RAR archiver. An "archiver" (or compression program/software) compresses a file so it becomes smaller than its original size. A popular compression format is PKware's Zip format. The RAR format, created by Eugene Roshal at Chelyabinsk University in Russia, claims to compress data more efficiently than the Zip format.

Whatever the format, data packed in this way has to be unpacked before use, the same way a shirt folded for packing has to be unfolded before wearing. A compression/decompression program that understands the RAR format has to be used to unpack the file before it can be used or executed. There are a few programs (both free and commercial) that can do this. One such program is 7zip (www.7zip.org). Released by Igor Pavlov under the GNU Lesser General Public Licence, it's a small and fast program that installs, executes and uninstalls cleanly.

While we were doing our research for this article, we tried several other programs that claimed to extract RAR files. In doing so, we found that a lot of software did annoying things like stuffed the registry with entries, left junk in the temporary folders, installed or modified file types, and installed desktop and "quick launch" icons.

In practically all of those cases, the default install auto- matically assumed the user wanted to install all of those bells and whistles. Sometimes the software failed to install completely, leaving pieces of themselves all over the operating system. Because of this, we were glad to find 7zip that worked, and worked well.

After installing the program, all one needs to do is right-click on the rar file, select Extract Files and then click on the OK button. The files will then be extracted under a directory named after the rar archive file. For instance, if the file name is "xyz.rar", the extracted files will be placed in a directory named "xyz" under the current directory.

Note, however, that compressed files (.rar, zip, etc) are sometimes used to bypass malware protection. Many malware scanners cannot de- tect malware in a compressed file. Because of this, it is ad- visable to scan the archive file and then scan the extracted files after they have been extracted from the archive.

PHP hypertext preprocessor (PHP) files are actually source code like hypertext markup language. There's nothing much anyone can actually do with them. The Web site visitor never actually see the PHP code because it's not sent at all.

PHP code consists mainly of instructions to the server to do various things such as retrieve data from a database. These instructions are then used to generate a Web page, which the visitor sees as a php page. In other words, from a Web site visitor's point of view, a .php page is the same as any "normal" Web page. There's not a lot anyone can do with it other than read it.

Some people do get confused, however, when they click on a link and end up downloading a php page instead of the file they thought they were downloading. This is sometimes because they right-clicked on the download link and selected Save As from the pop-up menu instead of right-clicking the link.

This is how it happens: The Web site visitor right clicks on a link that looks like it refers to an executable file and selects Save As. In usual circumstances, a Save As window would open with the name of the file in the File Name textbox. The visitor then clicks on the Save button to start the download. Some download links, however, do not work that way. Instead they work this way: the page displays a link to an executable file. In actual fact, the link points to a .php page.

One reason it looks like it might point to an executable file is because the link location (in the status bar) has been modified to look that way. If, however, the visitor right clicks on the link and selects Save As, the php file (the actual destination of the link) will be offered for download. Clicking on the Save button would then save the php page, and not the file the php page is supposed to locate and offer.

The only way to get the actu- al file is to left click (not right click) on it. If you right click on a link, select Save As and see a .php file in the File Name textbox of the Save As window, click on the Cancel button and then left click on the link.