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Goodies to Go ™
March 21, 2005 — Newsletter # 329
This newsletter is part of the internet.com network.
http://www.internet.com
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Featured this week:
* Goodies Thoughts – Hacker Attack!
* Q & A Goodies
* News Goodies
* Feedback Goodies
* Windows Tech Goodie of the Week
* And Remember This…
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Hacker Attack!
When we think about hackers these days, we are usually thinking of the folk who
try to break into a computer system. That’s not what the word traditionally
meant. I dug out my 1979 Webster’s Dictionary to see what it had to say about
hacking. The book predates the common use of the Internet and although it gives
no less than thirty-six different meaning for "hack", organized into nine
categories, not one of them mentions a computer or anything related to it. How
quickly things change! One meaning struck me in particular: "to chop or cut in a
clumsy or unskillful way."
In the world of computers, hacking used to refer to the manner in which
programmers would sit for hours on end at a console on a big old mainframe
computer and work and work, foregoing sleep and food (but never foregoing
coffee!) until a problem that had reared its ugly head was solved and the
machine was humming along nicely once again. I was once just such a programmer
and I know from experience that if anybody asked me how it was going, or what I
was doing to solve the problem, I would invariably answer with something like "I
don’t know. Now leave me alone!" It wasn’t that I actually didn’t know, or that
I was being anti-social; it was simply that I couldn’t afford to have my
concentration broken. Nevertheless, it created the impression of "unskillful
chopping" at the problem, groping for a solution. If they eventually came to the
conclusion that I was a hero for averting the crisis, I wouldn’t know — I was
home sleeping!
These days, the impressions are just the opposite. Hackers are seen as using
skill, but to ruin systems, not to solve problems. To my way of thinking, skill
is something used in a creative process. When the objective is destruction, not
creation, there can be no "skill" involved. What knowledge there may be involved
in the task, loses all value because of its objective, and consequently loses
its right to be called skill. I don’t consider a burglar to be a "skilled home
protection engineer".
I apply the same thinking to the so-called skills of the programmer who writes
viruses. We have used the medical or biological analogy because of the manner in
which the code can replicate itself, but I take it further. A disease is a
disease. The programmer who writes a virus has diseased "skills". The only thing
to be done is to correct the situation — remove or disable the disease.
Corporations around the world spend huge amounts of money to protect themselves
from the plague of these two diseases. When you connect to the Internet, you
also need protection. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that since you turn
off the computer most of the time, never bring in diskettes or CDs that were
recorded on someone else’s computer and are careful not to open email
attachments, that you are immune. It only takes a moment for something to find
its way through an open hole. You have got to close them up. A hole, by the way,
in this context is any mechanism by which a feature of the software (including
the operating system) in a computer system can be exploited for other than its
originally intended use.
Make no mistake — there is no complete block; no sure fire protection. With the
number of people having destructive intent working on finding holes and
communicating with each other over the net, there will be new holes discovered
every hour of every day. What you can do, is to harden your system as much as
possible; make it as difficult as possible to exploit and provide the most
up-to-date virus protection you reasonably can.
Windows XP offers a much higher degree of protection than earlier versions,
incorporating file security options and a built-in firewall. If you have SP2
installed, go to the control panel, then to Security Center. If you don’t have
SP2 installed, use Windows Update to apply updates to your system (keep going
back to it until there are no more available updates.) (See also
this issue of Goodies To Go.)
For other systems I suggest you get a commercial firewall program such as
Symantec’s Norton Internet Security/Norton Personal Firewall (Windows/Mac) or
McAfee’s Personal Firewall Plus (Windows). There are also some pretty good
products from smaller vendors such as BlackIce Defender (Windows). Symantec and
McAfee are also vendors of the most popular antivirus products. Another is Panda
Software. For both firewall products and anti-virus products I think there is
value in using products from large vendors. They have sophisticated, automated
update mechanisms and a lot of people involved in keeping the updates
up-to-date. Also, the larger the user base, the quicker any problem in the
product itself will be discovered (and hopefully, fixed!) All of the above
mentioned vendors fit this category. Pay the (relatively small and definitely
worth it) license fee and use the automatic update features to keep your
products in fighting fit form. I do not recommend using any shareware products
for security. (!!)
Don’t forget to protect yourself from Spyware also. My favorite spyware
protection program is Spy Sweeper from Webroot (http://www.webroot.com)
or for a free alternative, use Kolla’s Spybot (http://security.kolla.de)
While there is also spyware protection in the latest versions of the commercial
internet security programs, experience shows me that you get stronger protection
from programs like Spy Sweeper.
Once you rid yourself of disease, all that is left is ease!
Thanks for Reading!
– Vince Barnes
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Q & A Goodies
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Questions are taken from submissions to our Community
Mentors. You can ask a Mentor a question by going to
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/mentors
Q. How do I link parts of the same image to different urls?
A. You should use an image map to create links on one image to different
URLs. HTMLGoodies.com has a couple of tutorials on image mapping. One is called
a Client-Side Image Map and the other is called a Server-side Image Map. The
server side uses CGI scripts to make the map work. The client side does not. I
suggest using the client side image map as it will probably be easier to do.
Here is the link to the entire tutorial.
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/tutorials/image_maps
Q. Is there a way to "hide" email addresses on a website or create an
"alias" email that will automatically forward to the real email address. The
person can then view the subject line and delete any unwanted emails, only
responding to valid emails. Currently, our emails use the mailto: link and can
be viewed by anybody.
A. An "alias" email address is exactly what you want. The person that
creates the email addresses for your domain should be able to set it up. That
address then points to an actual email address. If the "alias" starts to get
spammed a lot then you can change the name of it. The best way to avoid the
alias and the spam is to use contact forms instead of the "mailto:" link.
Another way to trick the spam bots is to use JavaScript to hide the email
address.
[see the following HTML Goodies articles for more information:
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/tutorials/forms
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/tutorials/forms/article.php/3479081
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/tutorials/forms/article.php/3479071
— Ed.]
Q. Is there was a way to position a background image in the center of a
page regardless of screen resolution?
A. This code will position the image in the center:
body {
background-image : url(image.jpg);
background-position : center center;
background-repeat : no-repeat;
}
To position in the center of a table, try using this (be sure to replace __ with
the height and width of the image):
<body>
<table height="100%" width="100%">
<tr><td valign="center" align="center">
<table height="__" width="__" background="image.jpg">
Any text on the background
</table>
</td></tr>
</table>
</body>
Q. Is it possible to have a date field automatically filled with today’s
date?
A. This tutorial explains how to write the date with JavaScript,
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/primers/jsp/hgjsp_3.html
Q. I’ve put some background music on some of my webpages using this code:
<BGSOUND SRC="filename.mid" LOOP="1">
As I’m aware that not everyone likes music while they’re browsing, I want to
offer the option to turn the music off. I’ve searched the web and found various
codes that are supposed to open a small on/off bar which people can use to turn
the music off but none of them actually show the on/off control, they just show
a bar but with no on/off. I’m using basic HTML on the site so don’t know if
that’s got anything to do with it. Is there a HTML code that will let me offer
this on/off option?
A. This tutorial should explain exactly what you want:
http://www.wdvl.com/Multimedia/Sound/Audio/include.html
Q. What function returns the square root of a number?
A. That would be Math.sqrt(arg) where arg is your numeric variable. There
is a whole list of Math Object methods in Joe’s book starting at the bottom of
P159.
News Goodies
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Big Blue Embraces Online Backup
[March 21, 2005] IBM will launch new services next month to help businesses
backup and retrieve critical data for faster recovery from a disaster or outage.
Read the article:
http://www.internetnews.com/storage/article.php/3491631
IAC to Buy Ask Jeeves for $1.85B
[March 21, 2005] UPDATED: IAC agrees to acquire Ask Jeeves in a deal that puts
it squarely into competition with Google, Yahoo and Microsoft.
Read the article:
http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/3491496
Tightening Honchos’ White Collars
[March 21, 2005] Corporate heads have a lot to consider in the midst of Enron
and WorldCom fallout.
Read the article:
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3491606
The Shape (and Cost) of Visual Studio to Come
[March 21, 2005] Microsoft prices out next generation of visual development
tools.
Read the article:
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3491471
Yahoo Smiles Big For Flickr
[March 21, 2005] The search giant reported to have purchased the Flickr online
photo management company.
Read the article:
http://www.internetnews.com/xSP/article.php/3491566
Motorola to Serve Saudi Network
[March 21, 2005] The company will build a nationwide wireless system enabling
push-to-talk services for businesses and government users.
Read the article:
http://www.internetnews.com/infra/article.php/3491591
HP to go NonStop For NASDAQ
[March 21, 2005] HP provides more processors and software to the exchange; the
systems vendor also creates a blade program for SMBs.
Read the article:
http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/article.php/3491491
BVRP Expands In Asia
[March 21, 2005] Communication software vendor opens new business units in China
and Korea.
Read the article:
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3491571
Microsoft’s Rudder: VB6 Support Not Done Yet
[March 18, 2005] The Whidbey team opens up and leaves door open for VB support.
Read the article:
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3491316
No Security in SSNs?
[March 18, 2005] FEATURE: Have you bought a house? Paid a traffic ticket? Been
married or divorced in the last 10 years? Those documents may have been posted
online as a matter of public course.
Read the article:
http://www.internetnews.com/security/article.php/3491351
Feedback Goodies
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Did you ever wish your newsletter was an easy two way communications medium?
Ploof! It now is!
If you would like to comment on the newsletter or expand/improve on something
you have seen in here, you can now send your input to:
mailto:nlfeedback@htmlgoodies.com
We already receive a lot of email every day. This address helps us sort out
those relating specifically to this newsletter from all the rest. When you send
email to this address it may wind up being included in this section of the
newsletter, to be shared with your fellow readers. Please don’t send your
questions to this address. They should be sent to our mentors: see
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/mentors
Thanks for all your feedback!
Windows Tech Goodie of the Week
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An Introduction to Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services
http://aspnet.4guysfromrolla.com/articles/031605-1.aspx
Microsoft recently released their own reporting solution software,
Reporting Services for SQL Server 2000. This article provides a simple
walk-through on creating and displaying a report in an ASP.NET Web page
using Reporting Services.
*** AND ***
Colors ASP.NET Sample Code
http://www.asp101.com/samples/colors_aspx.asp
Basically this script just plays around with some colors. That said, it’s a
great example of a couple different things. Not only do I use ASP.NET’s
HTML controls instead of the Web controls that I normally use, but I also
show you how to apply a style to an HTML control.
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Real-World Value of XML and CMS – New Opportunities for Capco.com
http://www.15seconds.com/issue/050317.htm
In this case study, Dr. John Tunnicliffe relates the process Capco went
through when overhauling their corporate web-site. They wanted a flexible
content management system (CMS) which fully utilizes XML as well as the
very latest in ASP.NET-based development tools.
And Remember This …
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On this day in…
1788 A fire in New Orleans, Louisiana destroyed 856 buildings; 1868
The first
professional women’s club in the US, Sorosis, was formed in New York; 1871
Journalist Henry M. Stanley began his expedition to Africa ("Dr. Livingston, I
presume."); 1891 A twenty year old family feud started by an accusation of pig
stealing ended as a Hatfield married a McCoy; 1934 A fire destroyed Hakodate,
Japan, killing about 1,500 people; 1935 Persia was officially renamed as Iran;
1961 The Beatles made their first appearance at the Cavern Club in Liverpool,
England; 1963 The Federal Penitentiary on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay
closed; 1964 The Beatles’ "She Loves You" hit #1 (stayed there for two weeks);
1975 Ethiopia ended it’s 3,000 year old monarchy; 1980 JR Ewing was shot on the
TV soap opera "Dallas";
Born today were: in 1685 German composer Johann Sebastian Bach; 1816
English
novelist Charlotte Bronte; 1902 musician Eddie James "Son" House;
1906 Oil
magnate / philanthropist John D. Rockfeller III; 1916 novelist Harold Robbins;
1918 sportscaster Howard Cosell; 1929 actor James Coco; 1943 English musician
Vivian Stanshall (Bonzo Dog Do-Da Band); 1946 Welsh actor Timothy Dalton;
1950 English musician Roger Hodgson (Supertramp); 1962 actor Matthew Broderick;
1962
comedienne Rosie O’Donnell;