Monitor issues & How about

Hi there I posted my monitor problem in the wrong place the first time so… My monitor does not turn on like it should. If I turn off the monitor and not the PC it does not come back on when I try to power it on. Sometimes the power light is lit and sometimes it's not. If I keep pushing the button it will come on after a while. Same thing when I shut down and reboot. I tried to change the resolution and the refresh rate but it was not successful. I bought this in 2002. Also, I have not been able to update cuz I lost my Windows CD, but now I have it. Went to install the Microsoft updates and got hit with a decision I was unsure of. So I thought I would ask the experts. Do I have to install the the WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications) thing and if so, do I have to keep it? Not too thrilled about my stuff being sent to Windows. I read that it was sent everyday and should be going to once a week, but still…Do I have to? I read a lot of stuff about it, and the opinions are half and half. And then, I have these emails that keep coming in. I was told to use SPAMCOP to report them to the abuse department. But now I guess because I had to open them to get the headers I completely opened myself to keep getting them. Any suggestions? If I stop openeing them, will they go away? I never ever replied. Thanks y'all for all you do!

Hi, Sorry to hear of the problems you are experiencing with your monitor, and spam. It sounds very much like an electrical fault with the on/off switch of your monitor. One way of progressing this would be to borrow a known working monitor from a chum, connect it up, and see if the problem goes away, if it does then it indicates your monitor has a fault and you should consider having it examined by your local computer shop/tech as soon as possible. To update your computer with Windows Update you do not need your Microsoft Windows Install CD just click on Windows Update and away you go. Microsoft are increasingly concerned about the extent of software piracy, where folks try and run software that is not correctly licensed (i.e. has not been acquired legitimately) and has introduced the WGA as a check to make sure that folks only take advantage of the Windows or Microsoft Update service if they have a legitimate version of their operating system. I have WGA on my machines and am happy with it as I believe the advantages outweigh the disadvantages (just!!) but as always it's an individual decision. If you are receiving spam emails (unsolicited emails) then you are in good company as the folks that know about these things reckon that the majority of emails are now spam, with only a minority being "genuine" There is, to my mind, very little point in reporting to the "abuse" authority spam emails unless you feel incredibly strongly on the issue and wish to devote a large amount of time and resource to it (a lot of spam emanates from jurisdictions where there are few controls or sanctions on spamming activities and where the willingness to take action is thwarted by lack of resource, vested interest or both! It is possible to set up filters in your email client, filters at a server level, and use programmes like Mailwasher which will enable you to delete the emails directly from the server without having to open or even download them. Some Internet Security suites also include effective anti-spam measures and are worth considering on a powerful machine that has adequate memory and other resources. These actions will help to reduce the level of spam emails received, but the important thing to remember is to refrain from opening mail that you are not 100% happy about, and be particularly wary of attachments, read your mail (if it is from a known "good" source) in plain text only, (If you can bear to! and not HTML) and never reply to spam, particularly don't request being deleted from the spammers lists, this just proves that out of the huge number of spams they send out daily they have "hit a live email address" and they will then sell your address on to other spammers and your email will eventually become so cluttered that it may be practically unusable. In the final analysis, if after taking all these steps the amount of spam received is intolerable it is time to change your email address and providing you are selective on who you provide this to, it will have an immediate effect. For general surfing it is best never to use your "usual", regular address but set up one that is used purely for sites that insist on one! You do not then need to be so assiduous in checking your emails from this address! It goes without saying that you should ensure your anti virus product always has the most up to date definitions and your two way software firewall is correctly configured and provides good protection Regards paws

Hi Paws First, thanks for the wealth of information, it is very useful. I'll try the monitor suggestion, but what if it does not go away with the other monitor? The Microsoft updates issue: I have tried in the past to update but I lost all my excel, and word stuff. A window would pop up telling me to insert the disc. I chatted with a tech from MS and they said that I could restore my system to a prior time and that I would not be able to update until I had my disk. They even suggested I buy a new one. Now that I have the disc in the drive when I update it just goes to the WGA window. So I think that part of it is okay. I just wanted to make sure that WGA was something I could trust. (In the past I was told to stay away from SP2 as well.) The emails I have started just forwarding them to my spam thing from my ISP. Hopefully it will get caught up. I have never had spam before and this stuff is truly scary. They talk about all kinds of things that don't make sense when read normally, but you can almost pick out the pattern and decipher the point. I would just hate to be part of a conspiracy or something, inadvertantly. I know it sounds drastic but do you think someone like Homeland Security would want to see them? They reference people's names, other countries, and all kinds of stuff they shouldn't be talking about. (I know, I know, I sound paranoid.) Is there any free dependable firewall/antivirus protection out there that you could recommend? I used to have Norton's, should I go back to that? Thanks again so very much for all your help. You all ROCK!

Here's what one of those emails looks like

Personally, I'd wait until it goes through its first patch cycle before installing it on my users' machines.

(There's a picture here of some trading ad for chefbroker.com)

One of the questions on the personal auto insurance application is - "Do you use this vehicle for business purposes? However -any new art work can be created by Asbjorn Lonvig. NET controlsImproving designer support for extender controlsHandling and displaying data binding errors consistentlyThis article uses the following technologies:ASP. If you trust your internal users, you may decide to just ride it out until Microsoft patches the problem.
: Plant a tree and save the Earth? : Health Officials Investigate E. If an attacker can fool you into downloading and opening a malicious Word document, he can exploit this vulnerability to execute code on your computer, with your privileges.
Clicking on this result will take you to an overview page that summarizes the patent and its claims, and allows you to search just within this patent. As a point of departure editions are open. Send an email or join the forum. Otherwise, you should disable ICS in XP and find an alternative solution.
With so many critical patches released simultaneously, it's hard to pick which to install first.
: Congress Extends Wind Energy Production Tax Credit For An Additional Year - Congress :.
So now you have an attorney prepare the "buy-sell agreement" and everything is all legal. : You touched on one of the problems with America today.
TheyFriday FantasiesTim Who? Disagreement is fine. I'd just keep it off your users' machines until its kinks get ironed out.
And if, over several trips, you discover that your brand of antivirus consistently fails to spot problems that other software finds, it's better to find out this way than by getting infected.
: Ohio AG Petro Sues USA Baby Stores For Failure To Deliver - Ohio :.
If you have sufficient assets on hand, that's fine, but what if you don't? We live in a society today where people look for ways to sue someone, especially a business. com, Google helps you to find, register and buy a domain name in three clicks. This new Firefox revision boasts improved tabbed browsing, improved searching, improved identity theft protection, and a cool new spell check feature.
Does Google Allow Cloaking Whe
: Environmental Coalition Fights Oil Subsidies to Help Alleviate World Poverty - World :.
If a user with the vulnerable control installed is enticed to a Web page containing the attack code, the attacker can execute code on that user's computer, with that user's permissions.
Google currently supports . We canoffer posters and prints with Asbjorn Lonvig's printedsignature.
Personally, I'd start with the cumulative IE patch, since Web-based attacks are on the rise. NET features in the Visual Studio Code Name "Orcas" - October CTP. The solution is a properly executed buy-sell agreement, where, in the event of death, each partner agrees to buy the deceased partner's interest in the business, at a pre-determined price. If you are using Cisco's Security Agent products, we recommend you download, test, and install the patch as soon as possible.
So while you ought to know about it, and take defensive actions against it, you shouldn't worry about it as much as, say, the recent zero day Word vulnerability.
It is a way to get ride oEros Boutique: caveat emptorJ.

Pretty weird, huh? This is a very mild one. I have a ton of others that are worse.

Hi, I'll take the points you raise in order, You have raised some interesting questions. On the monitor situation if a known good alternative monitor displays the same characteristics as your existing one (when substituted for it) then it indicates that the problem lies with your computer system and we need to probe deeper to identify the problem area and recommend actions to solve or improve it. WGA is a genuine Microsoft product and a lot of people, including me, are relatively relaxed to have it on their system (but as I said before, it's your call!) The specimen email you posted is a pretty standard one and some of the top spammers will issue up to around 40 million of these (or so) each day, Yes that's right each day, so by the law of averages its only a matter of time before you got a few! I am not a resident or citizen of the USA and my knowledge of the the Dept of Homeland Security is limited, but I do feel that they may either directly or indirectly, already be aware of the situation. Here again it's your call but but most folks do not trouble them unless they feel particularly strongly on the issue. It may be helpful if I explained a little about the wordings used in some of these spam emails as this may help put your mind at rest. A lot of folks, companies, organisations, firms and corporations (advised by folks like me) have set up filters to identify spam emails by checking them for certain known words or phrases (usually but not always, including things like, loan offers, stock tips, replica watches or medical apparatus or medications and when these words are found consigning the whole email to an isolation folder, or just deleting them automatically. Unfortunately the spammers are constantly seeking new ways to make money (Believe me they make huge amounts) and to try and defeat the filters we set up they "bulk up" the number of words in the spam mail with nonsense text, weather forecasts, poetry and anything else that will help to confuse the filters and let the spam mail through. For this reason the content of the text they choose to send is purely random and is sent to everyone and is NOT, repeat NOT targeted at you as an individual. So please do not worry. Included in the random text there will be embedded an image, which contains in text or pictures, the real hard sell of the product or service they are trying to push or maybe a device (called a beacon) If you are unwise enough to open such an email (Rather than deleting it unread as you should!) then when your system tries to open the spam mail it will indicate to the spammer that you have opened the spam mail and therefore that it has reached a real live email address! This is not what you want so the best advice to you is do NOT open any mail that you are not 100% happy about. There is a wonderful tool on your computer keyboard… it is called the "Delete" key and is ideal for these spam mails! To sum up, do not worry about these emails, they are not targeted at you as an individual, they are sent out en masse and they can be deleted easily, unread! There are some excellent free applications available, and I use AVG free for anti-virus and Zone Alarm Free for a 2 way firewall. A lot of my customers also use these products on their computers and have found them to be reliable, effective and simple to install and maintain. There are other free products available but as I have not used them I can't really comment on them. Note the free products are free for personal use only (not for business or commercial use) Having in place effective firewall and anti virus protection is important and keeping them up to date is also vital, however it is easy to become too reliant on these protections and to forget that being conservative where you click and not opening stuff that you are not 100% happy about is just as, if not more important. Its a fact that most folks tend to be curious, and if an intrieging email or link appears on their monitor they are tempted to click on it to find out what its all about, without thinking long and hard before doing so. This is how the spammers make their money, how a lot of malicious code, (viruses, worms, trojans etc) are spread so quickly throughout the internet. Hope this puts your mind at rest and remember that "delete" key! Regards paws