Welcome to the new & improved Free-Office-Software
We've upgraded our content management system (E107) and are diligently working on content updates. In addition, we should have a CD-Rom available soon for those of you who don't want to follow all the links to get the software we link to. More on that later.
Existing Users We heartily apologize in advance - you'll need to recreate your account as no accounts were carried over in the upgrade.
Downloads The News page is now the home page for our site so we can keep you up-to-date about changes. You can always get to Downloads via the link at the top of the page.
Thank you for visiting Free-Office-Software.com.
Posted by e107 on Saturday 11 November 2006 - 16:39:43
{PDF=create pdf of this news item^news.1}
Spam Survey
I'm pleased to present you with my first ever, terribly non-scientific spam survey. I reviewed 1010 spam messages collected over the course of a month from two domains that I manage. I reviewed each message and categorized it based on the text-only content. I did not open attachments, and I certainly did not follow URLs.
The reason this is non-scientific is because: 1. I failed to collect several key points of data including the actual time range the messages are from. 2. There's an excellent chance that many messages were zapped by my server-based spam filtering thus reducing the range of categories seen here 3. Virus spam isn't represented at all: virus-laden mail never hits my inbox because the server-based filter catches some and my anti-virus software (Trend Micro Internet Security) catches the rest 4. The email client I used for these domains (Mozilla Thunderbird) doesn't always categorize spam properly and I regularly just delete it from my inbox rather than take the time to recategorize the messages as spam so the filter improves. This ensures that spam messages were lost rather than included in the survey. 5. The email addresses are on commercial domains so there aren't any "drive by" spam messages that you'd see on Yahoo, Hotmail or even Gmail now. These would be messages that spammers send by automatically generating (geek-speak for "guessing" using a program) email addresses.
Posted by jps on Sunday 20 January 2008 - 18:35:02
{PDF=create pdf of this news item^news.13}
Website Hacking Brief
Ever wonder what sort of traces a hacker leaves behind when they are probing for vulnerabilities on your website? I though it would be entertaining to give you some details of a very recent probe of another website that I manage.
The website is an in-house system for a customer of mine that has it open to the Internet so they can access their web-based CRM software from outside the office. They're running a Triad-style (aka WAMP) setup of Apache, PHP and MySQL on a Windows server.
It looks to me like the hacker was running a script of some sort that was looking for known vulnerabilities in several web-based applications like Joomla, LiveAlbum, Focus, phpSiteBackup, PhpRealty, NuclearBB, and Smarty Cart. This would make the hacker either (a) lazy, or (b) a Script Kiddy who doesn't actually know what he's doing beyond running tools other folks have written and released on the Internet.
Posted by jps on Wednesday 16 January 2008 - 16:00:41
{PDF=create pdf of this news item^news.12}
How to convert a Zebra 105SL from 300dpi to 200dpi or vice versa
There are essentially only three differences between the 200dpi and 300dpi versions of the Zebra 105SL:
the printhead,
the pulley on the drive motor, and
the factory model setting.
In a nutshell to convert either direction you need to replace the printhead, replace the motor (the pulley is press-fitted and therefore not field replaceable), and change the model setting in the factory menu.
Zebra part numbers: G32433M 105SL 300dpi printhead (list $575) G32432-1M 105SL 203dpi printhead (list $470) G46199M 105SL DC Stepper Drive Motor with 300dpi pulley (list $81) G46198M 105SL DC Stepper Drive Motor with 203dpi pulley (list $80)
Changing the Model Setting:
Power on the printer while holding the '-' key and hold until all the lights flash.
Press Next/Save until you see 'Model Select'
Select 105-8 for 203dpi or 105-12 for 300dpi
Press the right arrow to save that setting
Power off the printer, count to 10, and power it back on to test
Posted by jps on Thursday 06 September 2007 - 12:39:53
{PDF=create pdf of this news item^news.10}
Outlook 2003 address book is empty
Symptoms: Outlook 2003 has contacts but the address book is empty. When addressing email the addresses will auto-fill when you begin to type an address but if you click on "To/CC/BCC" it comes up with an empty address book. In addition, if you click on the folder properties for the contacts or subfolders under contacts the option to use as an addressbook is shaded.
Solution: Your contacts will not be deleted by this process but you really ought to back them up anyway just to be safe.
On the Tools menu, click E-mail Accounts.
Click to select View or change existing directories or address books, and then click Next.
If your Outlook Address Book is listed, select it and click Delete,
Restart Outlook.
On the Tools menu, click E-mail Accounts.
Click to select View or change existing directories or address books, and then click Next.
Click Add.
Click to select Additional Address Books, and then click Next.
Click to select Outlook Address Book, and then click Next.
Click OK when you receive the prompt that the address book you added will not start until you click Exit from the File menu.
Click Finish.
Click Exit from the File menu, and then restart Outlook.
Now you'll want to verify that the contacts folder(s) are set properly:
On the File menu, point to Folder, and then click Properties for your folder name.
On the Outlook Address Book tab, click to select the Show this folder as an e-mail address book check box, type a descriptive name, and then click OK.
Repeat for any subfolders in contacts
Notes: I believe in my case this problem cropped up after using the Windows Vista (Business edition) migration expert to copy data from a Windows XP Professional system.
Steps provided above were included in Microsoft Support Article #287563 although that article didn't specifically address the problem existing when the Outlook Address Book service was already present.
Posted by jps on Thursday 06 September 2007 - 11:40:00
{PDF=create pdf of this news item^news.9}
"Virus Sample" reply email supposedly from Symantec
One my hosting customers just alerted me to a message he received that purported to be from someone at Symantec. He was confused because he does use Symantec Antivirus but thought to forward it to me first and ask if it's legit. It isn't. In fact the attached file "signature.zip" was infected with W32.Netsky.P@mm according to Symantec Antivirus.
Symantec does not have information about this bogus email but they do have info on the attached virus which has been around since 2004 . I can't imagine that the creative folk who came up with this will stick to faking mail from Symantec - all the major Anti-Virus software folk are likely next so keep in mind a couple things when reading email:
Don't trust email from people you don't know - regardless of who they pretend to work for.
Don't open attachments from people you don't know - and be awfully careful of ones from people you do.
For heaven sakes keep your antivirus software up to date - turn on it's auto-update feature and make sure you buy the newest version when your subscription runs out. I recommend Trend Micro to my customers but realistically any of the major players work fine - Mcafee, Symantec, etc.
A text copy of the email:
From: support@symantec.com [mailto:support@symantec.com]
Sent: Monday, August 13, 2007 9:08 AM
To: xxxxx@xxxxx.com
Subject: Re: Virus Sample
The sample file you sent contains a new virus version of buppa.k.
Please update your virus scanner with the attached dat file.
Forget about the WGA! 20+ Windows Vista Features and Services Harvest User Data for Microsoft
This is a must-read for security minded folks who are using Vista or intend to.
Found on news.Softpedia.com: By: Marius Oiaga, Technology News Editor "Are you using Windows Vista? Then you might as well know that the licensed operating system installed on your machine is harvesting a healthy volume of information for Microsoft. In this context, a program such as the Windows Genuine Advantage is the last of your concerns. In fact, in excess of 20 Windows Vista features and services are hard at work collecting and transmitting your personal data to the Redmond company. "
McAfee VirusScan (Dell SecurityCenter) breaks Outlook
A customer of mine is using ATT/SBC DSL service at their business and recently was informed they needed to change their email settings so that both POP and SMTP were using new server names and had SSL enabled.
Apparently McAfee VirusScan (Build 9.0.10, Engine Version 4.4.00) doesn't like the SMTP SSL port of 465 that ATT has told my customer to use. Basically it breaks sending in Outlook 2003.
The fix: disable outbound email virus checking in VirusScan by doing the following: 1. Double-click the McAfee icon in the icon tray (lower right) 2. Click VirusScan on the left 3. Click Configure VirusScan Options 4. Click the Advanced button 5. Click the E-Mail Scan tab 6. Uncheck "Outbound e-mail messages" 7. Click OK 8. Click OK 9. Close the SecurityCenter
Attempting to load some versions of Norton Antivirus on Windows Vista will result in a compatibility error. The URL that the error references is incorrect.
The referenced site is: http://www.symantec.com/vista_compatibilty
Posted by jps on Thursday 15 March 2007 - 12:26:34
{PDF=create pdf of this news item^news.5}
Windows Vista and Sonic DLA
I've come across several instances of a Vista error caused by the Sonic Drive Letter Access (DLA) driver.
The error text is as follows:
"Program Compatibility Assistant
This Driver is blocked due to compatibility issues
Check online to see if solutions are available from the Microsoft website. If solutions are found, Windows will automatically display a website that lists steps you can take.
Driver: Sonic Solutions DLA Publisher: Sonic Solutions Location: Not available
A driver is installed that causes stability problems with your system. This driver will be disabled. Please contact the driver manufacturer for an update that is compatible with this version of Windows."
Roxio, the manufacturer of Easy Media Creator 9 Suite, MyDVD 9, and RecordNow 9 which include this driver has information at this link which details solutions for Dell OEM customers and non-Dell customers.
Posted by jps on Thursday 15 March 2007 - 12:24:58