 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Internet Newsletter No 15 George Skarbek gskarbek@melbpc.org.au |
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Progress Report
All is well with our Internet. Data from our new wholesale supplier Connect.com is flowing well, response
times have been very good, mostly better than in the past. All services are working well.
The next step in the upgrade program will be the connection of the 10 Mbit fibre cable to our premises in
Dorcas St. This is expected to happen early in the year and when operational will give us more bandwidth.
With the Southern Cross cable going operational by then the response times will improve even further.
Our tentative plans for early this year will be to add more phone lines and possibly allow more than the
current two hours per day. The annual fees will not increase. There will be a test period when we will
increase the time limit to measure the effect on both the phone lines and bandwidth before proceeding with
the final implementation.
Are You Spreading Viruses Without Knowing It?
The Internet team and many other Melb PC members have recently received virus attachments, which are
spreading almost unabated worldwide, and most often sent without a user's knowledge. The virus currently and
frequently being propagated first appeared in October 2000. This attaches a file called joke.exe,
dwarf4you.exe, midgets.scr or sexy_virgin.scr and these viruses use the victim's address
book to propagate.
There are dozens of new viruses appearing every week, therefore anyone who purchases a new computer
containing antivirus software is being left wide open to hundreds of new viruses. Even if you purchased a
brand new computer last week, the new antivirus (AV) software that comes with this computer will be three to
six months old, because often the dealers obtain a package deal. Recently I installed a new Dell computer for
a client and its antivirus signature files were five months old. Fortunately most of these can be easily
upgraded via the Internet.
Our expectation is that all computer users should have current virus scanning software to protect their own
computer and to prevent viruses from spreading. Unfortunately many users do not keep their virus scanning
software current and some don't have any virus protection at all. There is a very good article on software
scanning, with links to good and free virus scanning software at:
http://www.melbpc.org.au/faq/antivirus.htm.
Important Warning! Read The Next Two Paragraphs!
As part of the conditions of use of the Melb PC Internet Service and similarly with most reputable
ISPs, causing damage to the service or to other subscribers or Internet users can result in your access being
temporarily disabled. Spreading computer viruses may be considered as falling within the category of
causing damage, and any disabling of access would be done only to prevent the further spread of these
damaging viruses.
We have been making contact as soon as we are aware of a user having an infected computer, and we will not be
taking any immediate action against users who spread a virus. We will do that only if they persist in sending
infected mail, after having been informed and offered assistance. Then will we take action to protect others,
with suspension as a last resort. We would again like to point out the very good article and links to free
virus-scanning software, at:
http://www.melbpc.org.au/faq/antivirus.htm.
Virus infection can come from sources other than the Internet. This includes diskettes, CDs and other media.
All users should be aware that some viruses could lay dormant on your computer for a long time before
activating their payload. The "event" can be a date or some action, such as the third occurrence of hard disk
activity during the 47th second of a given minute and hour. This makes it much harder to detect which of the
programs (or files) you recently downloaded has caused the damage. Although many viruses are benign, some of
them are particularly destructive.
An example of a destructive virus is the Kriz virus and it variants. If an infected file is run on Christmas
Day (25 Dec.) in any year, the virus clears the computer's CMOS memory and attempts to destroy the
computer's Flash BIOS. (This works only on certain types of BIOS). It also deletes files on both local and
network shared drives.
Note:
- If the Flash BIOS is damaged, the chip on the PC's motherboard will need to be replaced.
- If the BIOS chip happens to be soldered to the motherboard, repair is unlikely to be cost effective.
You should be updating your antivirus software at least weekly or fortnightly. Internet team members do this more often than weekly. Please practice safe computing. Download the latest antivirus updates now. If you're unsure about updating your AV software, the main steps are documented opposite. While some antivirus programs will use a Live Update link to the publisher to download and automatically update "virus definition" or "signature" files, other programs may require the steps to be carried out manually.
Download the update onto you hard disk and remember the folder. I suggest that you create and always use a folder called downloads or similar. Then run that program. After the update has completed successfully, the downloaded file can be deleted.
For Vet users the best page to start with is probably: http://www.vet.com.au.
For users of McAfee software, Scan or Vshield, the update link is: http://download.mcafee.com/updates/updates.asp
Symantec users should activate the Live Update link on their Symantec console as this will automatically perform the download and upgrade all the virus definitions in one sequence of steps.
If the Live Update does not work or is unavailable then go to: http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/download.html.
If you are not sure which AV software you are using, slowly move the mouse over the icons on the taskbar near the clock and you should see the name of your AV software. If you are still not sure, e-mail help@melbpc.org.au.
If your AV software license has expired you may consider uninstalling it and using the free software mentioned above. Running two AV products concurrently wastes resources and may cause unusual conflicts.
Are You Experiencing Busy Tones?
It is seldom that all lines are busy but it happens occasionally during our peak period, between 9.00 and 10.00 pm on weekdays. If this happens to you then you could try dialling another bank of modems that may have many lines free. The phone numbers are listed http://www.melbpc.org.au/faq/ipnames.htm. After you bring the dialler onto your screen all you have to do is type another number over the one that is displayed. The original will be retained and will appear the next time you dial. Alternatively if you have some computing knowledge you can create new dial up icons for the other numbers. To see the graphs of the phone line demand go to: http://www.melbpc.org.au/stats/mrtg-dialup/.
This link is available from the MOTD (Message of The Day) page. From the System Statistics link select Melb PC Dial-Up Server statistics.
Just a reminder that the Intranet lines are almost never busy and they will enable you to read mail and news even after you have used up all you time. The Intranet phone line is 8626 5001. Note: you cannot surf the Net via this number.
A "Call Waiting" Solution
The Call Waiting feature on our home phone systems is a common reason for line drops when you are connected to the Internet. This is the signal that comes across the line when you are on the phone and another person rings you. However, by now most users know this must be turned off. So before dialling into the Internet through your ISP you must turn off call waiting by manually dialling #43# and after you have completed your Internet session, dial *43# to turn it back on again.
By far the easiest way to disable call waiting for one call only is simply to place *44, (comma included) for Telstra lines, or #87 for Optus lines, in front of your ISP's dial up number. This will turn off call waiting for that call only. Then you don't have to remember to turn it off and on again every time. The option in the Windows dialler to do this automatically will not work in Australia as is has been designed for the US market.
Thanks To The Team
I would like to extend my thanks to the entire Internet team who worked very hard throughout last year to provide the very good and reliable service to our members, and if I may, single out Stan Johnstone and John Morris for special praise for their constant work.
The Melb PC Internet System is not one static computer but a room full of computers and other telecommunications hardware that must change constantly with our needs. The software for both the Operating Systems and Applications needs to be updated and modified without causing disruptions. There are over 100 new and renewing members each week who must be processed without fail, plus, all the help calls must be answered. The hard working and experienced volunteers on the Internet team do this.
This is your Internet team. The photo was taken recently in our Internet room at 27 Dorcas St.
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Reprinted from the February 2001 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
