Dennis Faas

This feature article is a step away from our normal discussions, as I am currently out of town visiting a friend in Toronto, Ontario for the next few days. RE: My encounter with the Backdoor.Agent.B Trojan I arrived at Frank's place in Toronto this ... past Sunday, and was unable to access the Internet until Wednesday. Unfortunately, Frank's computer was host to 35 virus-infected files, 7 Spyware variants, 4 Trojans, and 2 Internet worms (including MyDoom and SoBig) -- and he didn't even know it. I spent much of Monday and Tuesday "undoing" the damage caused by the malware. I have to ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Doug D. writes: " Dear Dennis, I get a lot out of your newsletter, and hope you can help me. I recently read that I can control the number of programs that 'autostart' themselves when I start my computer, thereby speeding up my ... boot time dramatically. I've used the built-in Microsoft utility for editing Startup programs, called MSConfig, but there are so many things listed, I don't know what is legitimate and what is not. Some programs that are listed in my Startup have been uninstalled and no longer exist on my computer -- but the names still appears on this startup ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Kim S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I love your site! It is one of the best I have ever seen to date. My question for you is this: I have Windows XP Home Edition and I would like to be able to save my the programs I download directly to ... CD recordable. The problem is, I don't see an option in the 'Save as' window to save to disc. Can you help? " My response: First, let me say that this is a tricky subject and requires quite a bit of technical knowledge. I will do my best to give you the 'break down' with the least amount of techie-talk; however, I strongly believe that ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sherrie R. writes: " Hi Dennis, I am currently using Windows 2000 and Outlook Express. Sometimes when I receive an email, I see a lightly outlined small box with a red X in the center where a picture should appear. The red X also ... appears (but less frequently) with some web sites I visit. Why does this happen? Many of my friends report this has happened to them too, but they don't know why either. I would appreciate any and all help/advice you can give. " My response: There are a number of reasons why a red X may appear on your screen, and is not necessarily a ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Brian W. writes: " Hi Dennis, I've got a question: at one time, I had a program that searched for duplicate files on my PC; unfortunately, I can't find this gem of a program on the web any longer, and was wondering if you might ... know the name or where to get it? PS: I must say, your infopackets newsletter is a *must read* every time it's received in my inbox! " My response: Aside from Ashampoo WinOptimizer (which searches for duplicate files / weeds out garbage files / makes Windows run faster), I don't remember mentioning any freeware programs that have this ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Bob M. writes: " Dear Dennis, I always enjoy reading your newsletter. Every issue seems to have a topic or two of interest. Thanks very much for that. I have a question: I would like to receive the 'online' version of the ... newsletter, so that I don't always have to click on a link to read the rest of the story online the web site. I cannot find how to change my subscription information so that I receive all of the newsletter in my email inbox. How can I change my subscription to receive the online version? " My response: The newsletter used to be delivered via ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Betsy S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am such a beginner on the computer, but enjoy reading your newsletters (even though some topics are way over my head)! I'm writing you today because I am concerned about some of the freeware ... programs that are mentioned -- not only in your newsletter -- but on other web sites, as well. I just read your article on " How to Visually trace down a Hacker ", and I was very interested in downloading VisualZone and trying it out on my machine. My question is: Don't hackers often use 'free' software to get into your computer? How can ... (view more)

Since writing this newsletter, I have received a number of questions with respect to burning CD recordable discs. One question came from Infopackets Reader Bob T., who recently asked how it was possible to transport movie files from his computer ... onto his DVD player. Bob writes: " Dennis, I have a number of .MPEG movie files that I've downloaded through Kazaa. Friends tell me it is possible to play these files using my DVD player, but I need special CD burning software to do it. Is this true? If so, what program do you recommend? " And Infopackets Reader Sheila S. asked how to ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jim R. writes: " Dear Dennis, I read your article about sending music with e-mail. I had already been through all the HTML setup when I had trouble not getting pictures sent. All the solutions you mentioned I have done, but I ... still can't send music as background with email. Any other solutions? I am at a loss as to where to go next. I am running Windows XP, Internet Explorer 6, and Outlook Express 6. " My response: You are correct, in that that you need to ensure that your mail sending format is set for HTML (rather than plain text), in order to insert (*not* ... (view more)

Is there a simple way to organize Internet Explorer (IE) favorites -- without the need to 'flip' through dialogue menus, or worry of accidentally moving the wrong file? That's the question I asked Infopackets Readers last week after describing the ... method I used for sorting IE bookmarks. Below are some of the responses I received: Leo F. recommended AlphaCuts: " AlphaCuts swiftly displays, in alphabetical listings, your programs on the Start Menu, favorites in Internet Explorer and documents in the My documents folder. It lists the relevant directories and categories and the items they ... (view more)