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Brian's Buzz on Windows has changed its name to the Windows
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CONTENTS — 2004-04-22 — Issue 28
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INTRODUCTION — news about your newsletter
Brian's Buzz hits the big Five-O
Our Windows newsletter has finally reached 50! Fifty thousand subscribers, that
is. Since the first issue went out in Feb. 2003, our circle of inquiring
Windows users has steadily grown to exactly 51,467 today, by my count.
I'm celebrating this big ol' number by adding a clickable table of contents to
the top of each issue, as you see above. Unfortunately, some e-mail programs
don't scroll down properly to "named anchors" within messages.
Let me know if this limitation affects your e-mail application.
I'd like to thank everyone who's signed up, sent in tips, or just enjoyed the
newsletter in their own way. And I'd especially like to express a hearty
"howdy" to our new subscribers who've pushed us over this milestone. The
best is yet to come. Stay tuned. —Brian Livingston
TOP STORY — info you need to make Windows work
IntelliMouse phones home
By Brian Livingston
I've seen several comments from readers about versions of Microsoft's
IntelliMouse software — its configuration utility for pointing devices
— trying to quietly establish an Internet connection. For example, Bill
Kennedy sent in the following description of his experiences:
-
"Here's something that caught my eye after I changed my firewall to
Outpost
a few weeks back, which traps outbound IP sniffs. It has to do with the
MS IntelliMouse Pointer.exe program attempting to contact MS via ports 453x
at regular intervals.
"Sometimes it's an MS 207.xxx.xxx IP address, and sometimes it's
origin2.microsoft.com, which appears to be a clone of
whatever the current www.microsoft.com home page is at that time.
[Note: At present, the origin2 URL re-directs to Microsoft's Windows Update
page. —Brian L.] Needless to say, I've permanently blocked Pointer.exe
from hitting the Internet.
"Perhaps you can find out why it is doing this surreptitious nonsense
(I would like to use a much stronger word), as well as why MS
does not tell us!"
Everyone is justifiably worried about programs that try to contact a
server on the Internet without the knowledge and permission of the PC
owner. But in this case, the "phone home" behavior seems to be caused
by IntelliMouse's "auto update" feature, not a privacy or security
threat.
I should note that there are several IntelliMouse products that have
been sold by Microsoft over the years, many of which are now obsolete.
(Some wags suggest that many of these products were obsolete when
they first came out.) For example, the Basic IntelliMouse and IntelliMouse
with IntelliEye have been discontinued for some time. Microsoft now sells
the IntelliMouse Explorer, IntelliMouse Optical, Wireless IntelliMouse,
and so forth. Each of these products is a hardware pointing
device with associated software.
The older IntelliMouse's attempts to contact microsoft.com are caused
by its driver file, which is named Pointer.exe. The cure is to download and
install a newer driver, which bears a name such as Point32.exe (if available
for your model of IntelliMouse).
It's best to first uninstall the old IntelliMouse software, using the Control
Panel's Add/Remove Software applet, and then install the newer driver. During
the setup routine, you can disable "auto update."
More info
There are several other quirks about the various versions of Microsoft's
IntelliMouse software that are worth mentioning, in case they relate
to problems you may be having. These gotchas are described below.
Wheel and button problems in Windows XP
If you use IntelliPoint 5.0 software on Windows XP Home or Pro, the mouse's
scroll wheel and customized button assignments may not work. You might
also find that the entire PC crashes about 10 minutes after being
restarted. This affects at least the wireless versions of Microsoft's
IntelliMouse Explorer, Optical Mouse, and Wheel Mouse.
Microsoft says this is caused by Terminal Services not being enabled on
Windows XP. You could turn on Terminal Services, but if you don't have a
need for this program, I recommend you leave it turned off.
A better solution is to install an IntelliPoint software update, which
Microsoft re-released as recently as February. If you use that Microsoft's
IntelliType Pro 5.0, it has a related problem that also requires an update to
its software.
More info
Mouse and USB keyboard cause 1-hour bootup delay
If you plug a PS/2-style mouse into some of the current crop of USB
keyboards, it may take up to one hour for Windows 2000 to boot up.
Microsoft says this happens about 5% of the time in this configuration.
If this occurs to you, you may be able to work around it by plugging and
unplugging the keyboard during the waiting period. This point in the
startup process occurs when the progress meter is showing its 12th bar.
Upgrading to Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 solves the issue. But if you
don't wish to install that upgrade, you can get an updated version of
a file named i8042prt.sys from Microsoft's Product Support Services.
More info
Mouse preferences need resetting on every restart
If you need to re-establish your preferred mouse properties every time you
boot up, something probably knocked Point32.exe out of the Startup group.
This prevents it from running automatically and finding your pre-established
settings.
The easiest way to fix this is to drag a shortcut to Point32.exe into the
Startup group. To do this, open Windows Explorer, then look for Point32.exe
in the Microsoft Hardware subfolder under the Program Files folder. Make
sure you can see the Startup subfolder in another Windows Explorer pane or
another instance of Windows Explorer (the subfolder is under Documents and
Settings, your logon name, Start Menu, Programs). Then right-drag Point32.exe
into the Startup folder and click Make Shortcut on the context menu that
appears.
I'm sending a gift certificate for a book, CD, or DVD of his choice to reader
Kennedy for his help with this topic.
To send me more information about these problems, or to send me a tip on any
other subject, visit
WindowsSecrets.com/contact.
RECOMMENDED READING — my book reviews of tech topics
Windows Server Hacks
O'Reilly & Associates has done it again with another "Hacks" book that's packed
with little-known tricks to make your life easier. Like
Google Hacks, its famous predecessor, Windows Server
Hacks delivers 100 different pointers, ranging from easy to programmatic.
Author Mitch Tulloch covers every Windows server from NT to 2000 to 2003, so
there's probably something here for you.
More info:
United States /
Canada /
Elsewhere
50 Fast Windows XP Techniques
This book, by Keith Underdahl, provides only half the number of topics as
the book above — but its detailed, step-by-step treatment of the material
means that both works are about the same length. From encrypting files to
making your laptop battery live longer to setting up and troubleshooting wired
and wireless networking, 50 Fast Windows XP Techniques entertains
you while it educates you.
More info:
United States /
Canada /
Elsewhere
Group Policy, Profiles, and IntelliMirror for Windows 2003, Windows 2000,
and Windows XP
If Windows books that have a "fun" component aren't your cup of tea, you'll
love the latest in Mark Minasi's Administrator Library series. Group Policy
and Shadow Copies aren't ha-ha material, but they can be essential to your
career advancement. This book will help anyone moving from Windows NT or 2000
to the world of Windows XP and 2003.
More info:
United States /
Canada /
Elsewhere
FORWARDING INSTRUCTIONS — news gains value when
it's shared
Please share this information with your friends
You're encouraged to refer your friends and colleagues to this free
newsletter. Because most e-mail programs don't correctly display a formatted
message that's been forwarded, simply call people's attention to
the permanent Web address of this issue:
BriansBuzz.com/w/040422.
HERE'S A TIP — you'll get a better newsletter if you choose the
paid version
You're reading the free version of Brian's Buzz on Windows
Subscribers to the paid version receive additional information in each issue.
Some of the extras this week are:
- Patch fixes 14 holes in NT, 2000, XP, and 2003 — but is buggy.
A whopping update, which patches more Microsoft flaws at once than we've
seen in recent memory, can bite you with some nasty side-effects.
- Cumulative update fixes RPC/DCOM.
This patch replaces all previous updates and closes newfound holes in Remote
Procedure Call/Distributed Component Object Model.
- Outlook Express 5.5 and 6 get patched.
This is a "protect yourself against malformed URLs" patch, defending you
against malicious Web sites that want to take over your PC.
- Free tools liberate Outlook attachments.
Several user-friendly add-ins make it easy to selectively remove attachment
restrictions from Outlook 2000, 2002/XP, and 2003.
- SBS Windows Server 2003 Registry needs a hack. A configuration error
made by the setup program corrupts disk data, unless you know the secret.
- Cure for slow file transfers in 2003, 2000, and XP.
Microsoft's documented remedy doesn't survive a reboot of Server 2003, experts
say, but you can make the fix stick using corrected instructions.
To upgrade, simply make a contribution of any amount that you choose.
If you do this by May 5, 2004, you'll be sent the full, paid version of
this week's newsletter.
To upgrade to the paid version, please visit
WindowsSecrets.com/upgrade.
Thanks in advance.
BRIAN'S BOOKSHELF — new e-books from the author
Spam-Proof Your E-Mail Address
This 27-page e-book in PDF format gives you step-by-step instructions
that can eliminate 97% of the spam that would otherwise clog your e-mail
account. You could call it "Brian Livingston's Spam Secrets." The book
is the result of months of experiments and tests I conducted, and I now
receive little or no spam to the addresses I used as guinea pigs. These tests
show that you can actually reduce your volume of spam to practically nothing,
not just battle an unstoppable and ever-growing flood. The methods I describe
work with Windows, Apple, and Linux and don't require any filters or block
lists — but you can use those in addition to the book's techniques, if you wish.
More info
WACKY WEB WEEK — playing for you the Internet's greatest bits
Nice horn you've got there
Reuters reports (via CNN.com) that a male rhinoceros in a British
drive-through nature park got a little too user-friendly with a passenger
car that had stopped to watch him frolic with a lady rhino.
According to the story, the male suddenly turned his amorous attentions to the
visitors' Renault, denting in a door and knocking off side mirrors
before the sightseers were able to drive away. "He's got a bit of a reputation,
this lad," said a park spokesman, explaining the animal's behavior.
More info
USEFUL LINKS — more stuff that's good to know
In this section, I link you to stories I've reported in other media that you
might find interesting.
Never install an application to a PC again
The first time you "install" a major upgrade to every PC throughout your
company — by simply "turning on" a distribution file — you may be
very glad you adopted this time-saving software approach.
More info
Is one-fourth of your e-mail getting lost?
A new report shows that most major Internet service providers shunt
into end users' Junk Mail folders (or simply delete) about one-quarter
of the opt-in communications that their customers have requested.
More info
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