Meeting Notes July

Instant Messaging:
In addition to e-mail several ISP’s offer the abilities to search for your friends on line and send them instant messages. AOL calls their service AIM, (AOL Instant Messages). MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and several others. Allow to sign on for free and get a screen name and password to use their service.
These services became an instant hit with many young users, since they could be on the computer "working on homework" while chatting with their friends. Parent couldn’t hear them talking, like on the phone. Although most people will screen calls, most find it hard to resist an instant message that pops up on their screen.
How does it work:
First you must download an instant message software from the ISP. They will ask for your name address, email address and screen name and password. If your are using that ISP your email name and passwords are used as defaults. You can have other names and password if you wish. If you are an outsider you can request a screen name and password of your choice and if it is not in use, it will be accepted. Most new computers have AIM, and MSN Messenger already on the computer. When you agree to the service you grant then the right to find your IP address and use connect to it for this service. They do promise to keep this information secret.
When the software is loaded and opened the first order is to create a "Buddy List" These are the friend also on the service that you want to chat with. If they are users of that ISP, their email name is all you need to add them to the :Buddy List". Some services allow subscribers to search for screen names using real names of users. For example if your friend use that ISP and you don’t know their screen name you can search for their screen name. That service is only granted to subscribers. Now you are ready.
Start the program and if any of your "Buddies" are on line you will see them listed. If one of them comes on line while you are logged in, you will here a door opening and their name will show as available. You can then send them an Instant Message and wait for a reply. To do this click on the "People" menu and select "send a message". A new screen will appear and you must choose who you want to message. The pull down menu will show all the "Buddies" on line. Pick the one you want to write. You can add "smilies" and use most of the normal word processing tools to send the message. After you message looks right click the send button and you wait for a reply. Your buddy can either accept or block your message. Once the message is sent it appears in the upper window with your screen name and the message. If they answer their name and message appears.
Options:
You can create an "Icon" to identify yourself and that icon will appear on your screen and your buddies screen when you are chatting. You can se their Icon also if they have one. Icons can be very small photos or funny images. To add and Icon open and instant message window and click on "File/IM Preferences/ Expression". Find the image you want and select it. Once you and your buddy are chatting you can go to a private chat or if you both have microphones talk. Just click the talk button, your buddy will be asked if they will accept the call, if they "say hello".
If you both have camera’s you can chat face to face by using the video button.

Spamming and Invasions

Plishing and Pharming are two terms you should know. Plishing is sending out random email with the option for you to be removed from their list. Usually it sound pornographic, when you reply you email address is added to a list for sale to other companies for spamming. Never reply to these messages. They are generated by a random address generators, with the hope you will respond and prove that the address is real.
Pharming is even more evil. It doesn't require you to respond, but instead routes you to a fake site that looks like the one you requested. Then it records your passwords and other information for a later invasion. It requires real tech skills, but several Pharming have occurred at eBay, google and Weather.com. The site you are routed to looks exactly like the one you request so most users don't know they have been Pharmed. Security measures are being added to browsers which double check the web address against the DNS (domain Name Server) list and if they don't agree you are warned.

June notes

What Browsers are available ?
Internet Explorer 6.0
IE, Internet Explorer, is supplied with every copy of Windows operating system. It is built into the operating system and cannot be removed as it is also used to recognize file and programs on your computer. This has been the subject of the Federal case against Micro-Soft being a monopoly. Other browser manufacturers claimed that Micro-Soft exploited this and banned other browsers. When Bill Gates tried to show that there was no conflict in front of Congress, his computer crashed proving the validity of the case.
Since it is already installed on all Windows computers it is the most used browser. The basic computer code is copied from the original free, open source browser Mozilla. The code has been modified to suit MS needs and has many problems with security. MS has issued over one hundred fixes to repair these problems, but they still exist. Many expert recommend that you use IE when surfing the web only when there is a special need, like downloading Micro-Soft updates.
Several ISP’s like AOL use modified versions of IE and require that you start on their home page using their version of the browser. With all these problems, it still accounts for 80% of the surfing today. The program itself is very large and seems to run slower then some other browsers according to articles in PC Magazine.Several third party programs are available to fix some of the problems, like Google’s tool bar which blocks pop-up and verifies site address. It also lacks features like "Tab Browsing" offered by other browsers. It’s biggest feature is that it installed on every Windows PC . Micro-Soft is planning a newer version, but the early reviews point to problems with privacy.
Netscape 7.2
Netscape had an 90% share of the surfing market until Windows 98 was brought out. It blocked the use of Netscape and although the problem was fixed, the delay gave the market to Micro-Soft.
The early Netscape browser version 4 was a direct copy of Mozilla. At that time high speed connection were rare and Netscape offered disk copies of the software. Several ISPs used netscape as their browser of choice . (Ameritech, Earthlink). The early versions had excellent control of "cookies" and security.
AOL bought Netscape 2000 and the browser quality suffered. About 2 years ago AOL spun-off Netscape as a separate company and the quality has returned and the speed is greatly improved. It follows the code for Mozilla very closely and uses the same plug-ins and controls as Mozilla.
It offers skins (different color schemes), and pop-up blockers . Is it more secure, or are there less problems because there are fewer users? I do not know, but it seems that there are few reports of problems and no reports from "nerds" about flaws.
There are appearance problems with poorly written HTML web pages. IE is more tolerant of programing errors. There is a Beta version of Netscape 8.0 available which offers tab browsing.
Since Mozilla and Netscape are so similar we won’t review Mozilla.
Firefox 1.04
This is a slimed down version of Mozilla that is fast. I don’t know how fast, but magazines report as much as a 35 % increase in page loading. It is an open source browser and is the browser of choice for "Nerds".There was a security problem announced two weeks ago with FireFox, When you had some other software running on your computer there could be a problem. The fix (version 1.04) was posted one day later. It offers Skin, Pop-up blocking, and tab browsing.
All of these browser are free for downloading. It seems that Netscape and FireFox are more secure from all reports. Micro-Soft claims that is because less people use them and they offer less profit to people who load spam and gain control of computers. They are also open source and all of the code is open to the public. Therefore it would seem that if they could be exploited it would be easier then I.E.’s secret code. Some claim that Micro-Soft has built in back doors so they can ensure that no one is illegally using their software. I don’t know the answer.
There are other browsers available at a cost like OPERA. Opera is a fast and small browser, but it costs $39 to download. It has no reported problems and is used by some very security aware users.
Experts suggest that LINUX is the most secure operating system and is much like APPLES operating system. Linux is open source and free, but requires that users have computer knowledge and a awareness of how they work to use it. Both Linux and Apples code is based on UNIX which was developed for main frame computers by Bell Labs. It is still the major operating system for internet servers. It was made open source when Micro-Soft Windows system became the main operating system for Personnel Computers.

June Meeting June 13th

The next meeting of the Computer Club is June 13 at 1:00 PM
The Internet is a dangerous place and how you access it effects the level of security control you have. This month we will discuss BROWSERS. A browser is the program that displays information on you screen when you are surfing, reading email and searching the web. In addition to Internet Explorer, there are several free choices that offer more security, speed and control. Fire Fox, Netscape and Opera all have advantages and draw back, you can decide.