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This article is part of our premium content. Join Now. Already a paid subscriber? Click here to login. The Lounge Life column is a digest of the best of the WS Lounge discussion board. Kathleen Atkins is Associate Editor of Windows Secrets.
Wacky Web Week
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What do lemmings, daddy longlegs, ostriches, baby birds, goldfish, dogs, bats, and frogs have in common?
They all are victims of widely shared misconceptions professed by millions of human beings. Setting the record straight, this rapid-fire mini-lecture begins with the persistent myth of the suicidal lemming. Fortunately, the truth is far more interesting than the fable. Play the video
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LangaList Plus
When Windows goes badly wrong, rebuilding the operating system without reformatting and reinstalling apps and data can save hours of work.
A fast, nondestructive Windows reinstall is a manual process in XP, Vista, and Win7, but it’s built in and fully automatic in Windows 8.
Reader seeks no-reformat reinstall for Win8
A nondestructive Windows reinstall completely refreshes the operating system but retains your user accounts, data, passwords, and/or installed programs. This type of repair takes a fraction of the time required for a standard, full reinstall — and it’s much, much easier to do.
I’ve covered nondestructive reinstalls for previous versions of Windows in several earlier stories. See, for example, the July 14, 2011, Top Story, “Win7’s no-reformat, nondestructive reinstall.” The process for Vista is nearly identical. For Windows XP, check out the 2006 InformationWeek article, “XP’s no-reformat, nondestructive total-rebuild option.”
Reader William Searle wondered about this capability in Windows 8.
- “Is there a Win8 version of the ‘no-reformat, nondestructive reinstall?'”
Indeed there is, William. Microsoft made it easier than ever and built it right into the operating system; it’s nondestructive for your settings and user data and for native Win8 apps downloaded through the app store. (From-disc apps, however, might still have to be reinstalled the old-fashioned way.)
Fred Langa is senior editor. His LangaList Newsletter merged with Windows Secrets on Nov. 16, 2006. Prior to that, Fred was editor of Byte Magazine (1987 to 1991) and editorial director of CMP Media (1991 to 1996), overseeing Windows Magazine and others.
Woody's Windows
Over the holiday break, three people sent me panic messages asking about an antivirus product that was demanding money to fix their computers.
If my admittedly small sample is any indication, the venerable and virulent “System Progressive Protection” rogueware is back with new infection methods to delight us all. Oh boy.
System Progressive Protection’s persuasive ways
System Progressive Protection — SPP to its friends — presents some truly scary statistics to personal-computer users unfortunate enough to fall under its sway. It reports finding dozens — even hundreds — of Trojans, dialers, pernicious autoruns, spyware, and the like on a system. In truth, it’s probably the only thing infecting the machine. Of course, your only “solution” is to send money to the purveyors of System Progressive Protection so their bogus program can “activate” and rid the computer of the creepy-crawlies it “found.”
That’s the scam. In practice, if you send money, you’re giving the con artists both your credit-card number and the keys to your PC.
Yes, it’s the old rogue-anti-malware shtick. But recently, SPP’s infection vectors have become considerably more subtle — and the demands more outrageous. It’s particularly galling to see an SPP scan flag dozens of rogue applications on a completely clean machine (a bit of the pot calling the kettle black).
Less sophisticated rogue-malware scanners typically perform an ersatz scan and threaten fire and brimstone if you don’t activate the “scanner” by sending money. Most bogus scanners turn belly-up when confronted by a quick run of Microsoft Security Essentials, Malwarebytes, or some other legitimate AV product.
That’s not the case with this new version of SPP. It digs deep into Windows, making it resistant to nearly every type of malware-scanning software I’ve used. Manual disinfection methods that work on earlier versions of SPP might be ineffective with the latest incarnation. I haven’t yet seen a detailed analysis of this new version, but it appears to burrow in and run as a rootkit (Wikipedia definition) — a particularly tenacious type of infection.
Woody Leonhard is a Windows Secrets senior editor and a senior contributing editor at InfoWorld. His latest book, the comprehensive 1,080-page Windows 8 All-In-One For Dummies, delves into all the Win8 nooks and crannies. His many writings tell it like it is — whether Microsoft likes it or not.
Best Practices
One of the common challenges of Wi-Fi is getting good coverage throughout your home or small business.
There are numerous devices for extending a Wi-Fi network, but picking the best device can be confusing.
Most of the confusion stems from terminology — different devices have different applications, but their names are often used interchangeably. For example, an access point is often thought of as an open wireless modem or router, accessed by the public. But the term is also applied to devices that supply wireless connectivity to a modem that doesn’t natively support it. “Access point” can also be used to describe a device that simply extends the range of a wireless network.
To help sort through this labeling morass, I’ll take you through the common wireless devices and software options, and I’ll describe how each can help get you a better Wi-Fi signal.
Bridges, boosters, access points, and more
The typical home or small-business net is made up of various devices performing one or more tasks. To make things more confusing, a single device can play different roles in a network, depending on how it’s configured. Here are some key elements in a small network:
- Wireless bridge: This device provides a link between wired and wireless network segments. In a small network, the bridge is built into the router, which typically has both a wireless transmitter and Ethernet ports. In corporate/enterprise applications, wireless bridges can be standalone devices used to divide a large network into segments for better management.
Windows has a built-in bridging option that lets you link different connections through your PC. You could, for example, use the bridge to connect two PCs via an Ethernet cable, giving Internet access to both through one system’s Wi-Fi transceiver.
Setting up bridging within Windows is relatively easy. In the Control Panel, select Network and Sharing Center. Click the Change adapter settings link in the left sidebar (see Figure 1). Next, you’ll see a list of available wired and wireless connections. Select the two segments you want to bridge; right-click. Select Bridge Connections; a new listing — Network Bridge — should appear, as shown in Figure 2.
 Figure 1. The Change adapter settings link takes you to a list of available network connections.
Ryan Matthew Pierson has worked as a broadcaster, writer, and producer for media outlets ranging from small local radio stations to internationally syndicated programs. He presently serves as a content producer for the Chris Pirillo site and LockerGnome.
Patch Watch
When there’s an out-of-cycle update from Microsoft, it’s almost always one we want to install quickly.
This special edition of Patch Watch has two critical fixes that should be added to Windows workstations without delay.
MS13-008 (2799329)
Critical zero-day patch for Internet Explorer
In the Jan. 10 Patch Watch, I recommended that Internet Explorer 6, 7, or 8 users install fixit 50971 to block a new exploit that’s already attacking PCs. At that time, there was no patch available. But there is now; this past Monday, Microsoft released an out-of-cycle patch, KB 2799329, rated critical for all client versions of Windows using IE 6 through 8. PCs running IE 9 and 10 are unaffected.
An important note: According to the FAQ in MS Security Bulletin MS13-008, cumulative update KB 2761465 (MS12-077) must be installed before installing KB 2799329. In Windows Update, click the View update history link, look for KB 2761465, and confirm it’s on your system.
 What to do: Install KB 2799329 (MS13-008 ) as soon as possible. If you installed fixit 50971, remove it after installing the patch by running its companion fixit: 50972. Removing it should restore any lost browser speed you might have encountered.
Java: Use it if you must; lose it if you can
Like browsers, Java is one of those apps you really need to keep updated. But, unlike a browser, you might be better off living without Java. So before installing Java 7 Update 11, consider whether any of your applications or computing tasks needs Java to run. If you’re not sure, uninstall Java completely from your Windows workstation and see whether anything breaks.
In some cases, you can keep Java on your system but disable it in your browser. An easy way to do this is through the Java Control Panel, which should reside in your Windows Control Panel. If you don’t see Java’s control panel, it’s because you’re not running Java 7 Update 10 or 11. Proceed to the Oracle Java download page and install Version 7 Update 11. Be sure to untick any offered — but unwanted — accessory apps, such as the McAfee security software Oracle tried to foist on me.
Susan Bradley is a Small Business Server and Security
MVP, a title
awarded by Microsoft to independent experts who do not work for the company. She's also a partner in a California CPA firm.
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Table of contents
Trademarks: Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. The Windows Secrets series of books is published by Wiley Publishing Inc. The Windows Secrets Newsletter, WindowsSecrets.com, WinFind, Windows Gizmos, Security Baseline, Patch Watch, Perimeter Scan, Wacky Web Week, the Logo Design (W, S or road, and Star), and the slogan Everything Microsoft Forgot to Mention all are trademarks and service marks of iNET Interactive. All other marks are the trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.
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