Google's Gmail Not All It's Cracked Up to Be

Millions of people use free email services like Hotmail or Gmail. Have you ever considered the downsides of using these types of free email services? This article takes a brief look at Gmail.

Earlier this year I was going to write an article about Google's free email service, Gmail, after some members of an online group I administer had problems. Yesterday a Digg story caught my attention about Gmail. It was about hundreds of users getting their accounts disabled for no apparent reason. These problems aren't limited to Gmail, as I'm aware of other free email services that suffer their users with similar fates.

Not Receiving Email

For the past few years I have had a Gmail account. For most intents and purposes, it works just fine. However, earlier this year I had a high number of Gmail users, which are members of an online board game community that I administer, that did not receive their emails from our site. (Here's a little plug for Carcassonne Central, for fans of the board game Carcassonne).

There were also a number of Hotmail users that did not get their emails as well, but by far the largest number were Gmail users. I checked to make sure we weren't on any known spammer blackhole lists by mistake, which we weren't. Just for good measure, I created an "SPF record" for our site, which is an open standard that helps prevent sender forgery, which is a way of guaranteeing that we are who we say we are. Once this was done, and since we weren't on any blacklists, there should have been no problem at all for anyone to receive our emails. However, Gmail (and Hotmail) users still more often than not, did not. It's not that they received them in their Spam folder; our emails never showed up at all.

This was very frustrating for our users, and for the admin team. The problem wasn't on our end, we did everything we were supposed to do. People who never had a problem with their Gmail accounts were now upset at us, when in reality it was their own free email provider that was filtering our emails out for some unknown reason. A quick search netted an interesting article by Roger Johansson from October 9, 2006, entitled appropriately enough, "Want to receive email? Stop using Gmail." After about 50 comments were posted, Roger closed the comments.

Your Account Has Been Disabled

Not receiving email is just one problem. Another is having your account disabled for no apparent reason. There have been two major instances that I'm aware of. The first was in 2005, and the most recent one a few days ago where hundreds of people had their accounts disabled (see Gmail Help Discussion) I say hundreds only because it is usually a minority who will go to the effort of posting on a help forum. Given the short time ago that this happened, there are probably many more people who haven't checked their email lately but will discover this problem in a week or two. Google explained the problem in the thread with this:

Thanks for everyone's patience and effort in seeing this through to resolution. As some of you now know, this situation has been resolved. Our efforts to prevent breaches of our Terms of Use caused a number of users to be incorrectly identified. I know this had to have been frustrating for those of you that were affected.

Privacy Issues

Most people skip right by software and web site license agreements, privacy policies and usage agreements without first reading the fine print. A site called "Gmail Is Too Creepy" outlines four major issues with using Google as your email provider. Some might call it alarmist but it is certainly food for thought.

Account Hijacking - added 28 Dec 2007

I came across a couple of downloadsquad articles on Gmail account hijacking here and here. Gmail is not the only email application that is vulnerable to this and other types of malicious acts. Any email server or client could potentially be compromised.

Personal Help

When you have a problem with Gmail, there usually isn't a friendly voice at the other end of the telephone to help you. No one will show up the next morning to demonstrate how a particular feature works, or what you might have done with that email that you swore was in your inbox. Outsourcing your business email makes good sense for the support aspect, although Google does have a corporate email service as part of their Google Apps Premier package that offers telephone support.

Your Professional Image

I know a number of individuals who use free email services as their main professional email account. While the cost can't be beat, this article points out some considerations you should be aware of if you choose this route. Most business people I know can ill-afford to have their email account shut down for no apparent reason or fail to receive some emails from what could be an important customer. If your professional image is at stake, consider a hosted email package from a reputable provider. (At PDS, we have inexpensive hosted email plans starting at $50 per year including a web site. Including a real person at the other end of the phone for when things aren't working the way you expect!)

Should You Use Gmail?

Gmail has its place, and I will still continue to maintain my own Gmail account. Gmail has some incredibly powerful features and unbeatable storage space. However, give some considerations to what it is you are using the service for, and hopefully this article will help you decide if it is appropriate for your usage!

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PowerLine Networking: An Alternative to Wireless

If the promise of wireless networking in the home or small office hasn't lived up to your expectations, and wiring Ethernet cables is costly or difficult, then consider using your existing electrical wiring to run network signals throughout your location.

I've tested and installed a number of wireless technologies (wireless A, G and Linksys-N) in home and business locations, but there are situations where, because of interference or concern over security, wireless is not a desirable choice. D-Link's DHP-301 PowerLine HD network starter kit uses your existing electrical wiring to connect computers, routers and switches, eliminating the need to run or install separate Ethernet wiring.



Although the theoretical maximum data rate is 200Mbps, you'll get lower, but unlike wireless, the connection will be consistent and fast, at regular wired Ethernet speeds. This means for home users, it is great for gaming, streaming music and video, while business users can run VoIP, large file transfers or other high-bandwidth traffic consistently. It also includes a Quality-of-Service (QoS) engine so you can prioritize data packets to improve streaming.

What you get in the kit is 2 identical adapters that are similar in size and shape to an electical wall timer, but instead of a clock it has one standard 10/100 Base-TX Ethernet connector on it, as well as 3 diagnostic LEDs. You also get two 4-foot Cat5 Ethernet cables, which are a bit short for 10/100 cables; six- or eight-footers would have been more useful. The diagnostic LEDs are for power, Ethernet network connectivity, and a useful light that shows if another PowerLine device has been detected.

Out of the box, simply installing the PowerLine devices and connecting your switch with a computer will work. However, you'll want to use the included setup CD to secure your DHP-300s, especially in situations where your location shares power with other offices or residences. Effectively, your breaker panel acts like a firewall, preventing network signals from leaving the premises, but without a guarantee of how a multi-unit location is wired you'll want to secure the connection between the two PowerLine devices.

The install CD was fairly straightforward, although they refer to a "PLC" and "ETH" node but don't specifically say which unit is which. The two units are identical and interchangeable as I discovered by trial and error. The PLC node is the unit that attaches to your switch while the ETH node is the one that attaches to your PC. As the installation and manual warns you, set up your PLC node first, otherwise you won't be able to connect to the ETH node and you'll have to reset the devices. All you need to do is set the Net ID and 3DES Encryption Key the same on both and they'll communicate. Write them down somewhere secure, because if you decide to add more nodes you'll need to assign it with these values. The setup is generally quicker and simpler than setting up a wireless router, and there are far fewer variables to worry about. Presumably, you could also segment your network using different Net IDs but sticking to the IP addressing side for this is probably a better solution. You could also use it to locate a wireless access point to increase your wireless coverage.

D-Link's PowerLine kit comes with 2 units, but as of this writing they do not sell single units. I installed a kit to replace a faltering wireless-N connection and it has worked flawlessly, without the usual concerns that a wireless installation brings. Highly recommended.

Tags:
Computers, Gadgets, Hardware, Networks, Reviews, Technology, t4t

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Online Virus Multi-Scanners

If your computer's antivirus software reports a virus in a program that you're sure isn't a virus, there is an easy way to confirm if it is infected or not. Two web sites can give you a second opinion by scanning your file with multiple antivirus programs and report back to you the results.

Jotti's Malware Scan and Virustotal are free services that let you upload a suspect file, and they will run it through multiple antivirus engines and report back to you. Just remember not to upload anything confidential or important because if it is infected, the file gets forwarded to antivirus companies for analysis of the virus.

Use common sense, if both sites report that most of the scanners report a virus, then it's probably infected. But if few or no other engines report a virus, it may be a false positive, and you should do some research just to make sure.

Tags: Computers, Windows, Windows, Software,Windows, t4t

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Should Consumer Reports Do Anti-Spyware Testing?

Consider this sentence from an article in Information Week from Randy Abrams, the person responsible for making sure Microsoft products are malware-free: "I was livid about the testing [Consumer Reports] did. They tested anti-spyware software without ever testing how it detected and removed spyware." Should Consumer Reports be trusted for testing anything?

Consumer Reports have been under fire recently for their blatantly poor job of testing anti-virus and anti-spyware software. If their tests are irresponsibly ineffective, can Consumer Reports be trusted for testing other things, like medications, foods, or life-saving equipment? The article can be found here.

Tags:
Malware, Microsoft, Security, Spyware, Virus, Windows, Windows Vista, t4t

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Finding More Free Software From Microsoft

This July, I had read about a free little utility that Microsoft released free of charge to people who went to their web site and validated their copy of Windows. The program was called "My Private Folder" which allowed you to create a private folder on your desktop and protect the contents with a password. However, when I went to the Microsoft Windows Validation web page and successfully validated, the program did not appear for me. The reason behind this led me to discover hidden programs available for download.

After validating, it goes to the Special Offers page and asks you to pick what country you are from, and being from Canada I naturally picked it from the drop-down, then the site displayed the free software available to me. My Private Folder wasn't there, so I went back and chose the United States, then lo and behold it a couple of other downloads appeared. I went through the list of countries and it seems as though Microsoft is determining that some countries are not suitable to be offering some free programs. So if you want to look at their full list, choose United States and you should see the full listing of all available free software!

To test this, just compare the software list from the USA (10 items) vs the list that appears when you select Afghanistan (5 items)! Interestingly, there is no Iran or Iraq in that list. Also, Microsoft quietly removed My Private Folders reportedly due to many people forgetting passwords and not being able to recover their files, as well as some instances where it caused high CPU usage.

Politics aside, if like me you are not American, you can now see and obtain the full list of free software in the special offers for Windows Genuine Advantage customers.

Tags:
Computers, Freeware, Microsoft, Software, Tips, Windows, Windows Vista, t4t

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Rootkit Resources

Most people know little about the danger of rootkits, which is yet another thing that needs to be guarded against on your computer. In this article you will find some resources to free tools that can help you detect and remove rootkits.

Sophos just released a free anti-rootkit tool available for public download, which reminded me that I haven't yet written an article on rootkits. Like viruses, the subject is long, technical and dry but suffice to say if your computer has been cleaned of nasty viruses but still seems to be acting strangely, you should look into these trusted resources.

I'll only mention my favourites that I have in my own toolkit, but there are others out there. The first is Sysinternal's RootkitRevealer, available here. It detects all sorts of rootkits but alas it is up to the user to interpret and clean the rootkit.

F-Secure's Blacklight tool is only available as a download for a short time longer, after which it is believed to be included in their Internet Security Suite. You can get more information here.

The last one is Sophos' Anti-Rootkit, which not only finds them but cleans them as well. It was just released. You can get it here.

If you want to read more detail on rootkits, the links above will lead you to more information, or you can read the wikipedia page on rootkits.

Tags:
Computers, Freeware, Malware, Rootkits, Security, Spyware, Tools, Virus, Windows, Windows Vista, t4t

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Windows 98 Users Abandoned

If you are using Windows 98, 98SE (Second Edition), or Windows ME (Millenium Edition), July 11, 2006 marks the end of support from Microsoft. I will outline some options for you if you are using any of those operating systems.


Microsoft will be ending support for those products, which means that they are no longer offering telephone support nor will they be releasing security updates. A lack of security updates is a critical issue because your computer is open to potential attacks. All new exploits will not be patched by Microsoft meaning your computer will be an easy target. What can you do?

Upgrade

This is the recommended solution. Upgrade your computer or purchase a new one with Windows XP (make sure it's capable of running the new Windows Vista if you really want to future-proof it), and donate the old one to your local school or computer recycling program. Giving your old PC to your church or the kids only passes on the problem, it doesn't solve it! If you do, give them a link to this article.

If you are really adventurous, consider an Apple Mac or using the Linux operating system, which are both less vulnerable to exploits in general than Windows.

Do Nothing

If you are one of the 70+ million people running one of the Windows 98-era operating systems, you are likely running it on an older computer, probably a Pentium II, III or early Pentium 4. If the cost of buying a new system or upgrading is prohibitive, you might consider simply continuing to use your existing system and take your chances. Not recommended, but if there is no alternative then there are some steps you can take to protect yourself.

First, make sure you have up-to-date antivirus that supports your operating system. Go to your antivirus company's web site and make sure that the antivirus software you are using is listed as supporting Windows 98/98SE/ME.

Second, make sure you are connected to the Internet using a firewall - either a software or hardware firewall. It is important to note that the most popular software firewalls, Zonealarm and Kerio, do NOT support these operating systems! With a little digging I discovered Freedom Firewall (98SE/ME but not 98), BlackIce Defender (98/98SE/ME), Outpost Free v1.0.1804 (98/98SE/ME, the newer version does not support ME), and Soft4Ever's Look'n'Stop (98/98SE/ME). Please note that I do not endorse any of these products nor have I tested all of them; I am familiar with Outpost and BlackIce Defender which in the past have been decent products.

Third, make sure you protect yourself against spyware, malware and other threats, especially through email. Regularly use free products such as SpywareBlaster, Spybot, and Ad-Aware - they all support Windows 98/98SE/ME.

Just remember that if you do nothing and continue to use Windows 98/98SE/ME, I leave you with this clip from BBC News:

According to computer security firm Secure Science, at least one hi-tech crime gang based in Eastern Europe specialises in Windows 98 and produces viruses that prey on the software's weaknesses.

This is because users of it tend to have little knowledge of potential dangers - and are older, so are more likely to have substantial financial assets worth stealing.

Tags:
Business, Computers, Home, Linux, Microsoft, Security, Tips, Windows, t4t

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GroupBar from Microsoft Research

With all the recent articles about the Windows Vista Sidebar, I thought I would mention a little tool for jealous XP users made by Microsoft Research called "GroupBar".

From the GroupBar site:

GroupBar is lightweight desktop tool created by the VIBE group that offers enhanced window management capabilities in a Windows taskbar-like setting. The basic concept is that through simple drag-and-drop operations on window tiles within the bar, users can create lightweight, transient grouping relationships that allow them to perform certain higher-level window layout functions on multiple windows at once. In addition, windows and groups in the GroupBar can be persisted in a "Snapshot" which attempts to remember the position and contents of each window in a way that allows the Snapshot to be recreated at a later time, even if the windows have been rearranged or closed.

There are a few minor presentation bugs that are clearly outlined on the site but nothing that should interfere with any other programs. The nice thing about playing with GroupBar is that it requires no installation, simply run the executable file. Likewise, just delete the file to uninstall it.

Tags:
Computers, GroupBar, Home, Microsoft, Software, Tips, Windows, t4t

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Windows Vista Sidebar Gadget Sites

The next version of Microsoft's flagship operating system, Windows Vista, is not news, but the sidebar gadgets are cool enough to warrant a mention.

Having used OS/2 Warp, Linux & Unix desktops, and various incarnations of Mac OS', I cannot say gadgets are a new idea, but as far as I am concerned they are a welcome addition to the functionality of Windows Vista. I expect a lot more gadget sites and blogs to appear in the next while.

Windows Vista Gallery - only a few gadgets, but sure to grow. Info for developers, too.

Microsoft Gadgets - another official Microsoft gadget site, this one with a lot more than the Vista Gallery.

More on the new Sidebar and Gadgets here.

Tags:
Computers, Gadgets, Microsoft, Software, Tools, Windows Vista, t4t

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Microsoft Office Genuine Advantage

Users of Microsoft Office have validation tools similar to that of Microsoft Windows. If you are a Microsoft Office user, you can follow these steps to make sure your copy is genuine.

In my "Tools for Windows Genuine Advantage" article, I showed some tools that are available for validation issues in Microsoft Windows. Microsoft Office users can also validate their software to make sure it is a legitimate copy by running the Office Validation Assistant on the Microsoft Office "How to Tell" site. Not having a legitimate copy of Office XP or 2003 and above means that among other things, eventually the Save commands will no longer work, effectively making Office useless.

For a refresher on what "validation" means, check out my article, "Microsoft Registration, Activation and Validation Explained".

Tags:
Computers, Freeware, Internet, Microsoft, Tips, Tools, Windows, t4t

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Mastering your Windows XP Quick Launch Toolbar

Do you get tired of a desktop cluttered with icons? Do you hate digging through your Start, Programs menu to find what you want? Does your most recently used programs list in the Start menu leave a lot to be desired? Are freeware and shareware application launchers a pain to configure? If so, in this article I will show you how to master your Quick Launch toolbar!

Introducing Quick Launch

The Quick Launch toolbar sits on your Windows taskbar, ready to provide you with a handy categorized list of your favourite programs:




Why not just use the Start, Programs menu you may ask? Even if you reorganize the Programs menu, over time it tends to get cluttered when new programs are added and removed. Other, often useless or rarely used icons are put into the Programs menu. Quick Launch always looks the same for each user until edited, and it only includes the icons you need to run the programs.

Features

Quick Launch features:

• an almost unlimited number of categories and links to programs, files or folders
  
• low system resources that allow it to work on any computer running Windows XP
  
• very simple method to add or remove links
  
• built into Windows XP, so there is nothing to buy
  
• each computer user has his or her own personalized Quick Launch toolbar
  

Setting up Quick Launch

The first thing you need to do when you are setting up or editing the Quick Launch toolbar is to unlock the Windows taskbar. To do this, move your mouse pointer to an empty area of the taskbar and right-click, then de-select Lock the Taskbar:




If you do not see the Quick Launch toolbar on your taskbar, it may be hidden. To make it visible, move your mouse pointer to an empty area of the taskbar and right-click. Go to Toolbars, and click Quick Launch so that it has a checkmark next to it:




To position it, you can drag it around by selecting the dotted vertical line, clicking then dragging it into position. Be careful not to drag it off, onto the desktop. If this happens you can always close the one on the desktop, then re-enable it on the taskbar to get it back. Remember, you can only position it when the taskbar is unlocked.

Add & Remove Items

In working with Quick Launch, there are two things you should remember. The first is that you want to add only shortcuts to your Quick Launch bar, not the actual programs themselves. If you move a program's icon from its folder onto the Quick Launch toolbar, the application will likely not work. If this happens you should move it back to where it came from.

The second thing you should remember is that the Quick Launch toolbar is actually a folder on your computer. As such, it becomes much easier to visualize how it works, and how you can use it.

The default Quick Launch toolbar usually includes a few standard icons such as Internet Explorer and Show Desktop. If you let your mouse pointer sit on the icon for a few seconds, the description will appear above it:




The most straightforward way to get a program into Quick Launch is to create a shortcut to it on the desktop, then drag the shortcut onto the Quick Launch toolbar. Removing a shortcut is equally simple, just right-click on the shortcut and choose Delete.

Using Categories

Remembering that Quick Launch is a folder, this allows us to get fancy and create sub-folders which act as categories, so you could have something that looks like this:




If fact, if you prefer, you can work with Quick Launch as a regular folder view. To do this, right-click on an empty area of the Quick Launch toolbar and choose Open Folder:




What you should see is the folder view:




The location shown in the address line tells you that it is located in that particular user's Documents area. Also note the two circled items that show the typical contents, shortcuts and folders. You can simply create new folders for any types of categories you want, then drag shortcuts into those category folders.

Expert Tips

Open a Web Site - You can make a shortcut to a web site easily. Just right-click anywhere on your desktop and choose New, Shortcut. Type in the address, such as www.techforthetimid.com, click next, give it a title and choose Finish. Now drag it to your Quick Launch and it will start your web browser with that web site.

Restore the Show Desktop icon - If you ever accidentally delete the Show Desktop icon, you can re-create it easily by the following. Open Notepad and entter the following into it:

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

Save it to your desktop as Show Desktop.scf then drag it from the desktop onto your Quick Launch toolbar.

Create a New Email - You can make a shortcut to start up your email client and begin a new email easily. Just right-click anywhere on your desktop and choose New, Shortcut. Type in mailto: and click Next, then enter "New Email" and choose Finish. Drag it onto your Quick Launch and test it out. Your email program doesn't even have to be running to use this quick shortcut!

Quick Launch Documents - In addition to programs, you can also put shortcuts to frequently-used documents in your Quick Launch toolbar. When you select the shortcut, it will open the file in the application it was created in.

The Windows XP Quick Launch toolbar is not difficult to use, but I still see people struggling with dozens of icons on their desktops and hunting for programs among sometimes hundreds of Start programs. Mastering the Quick Launch toolbar can save a lot of time and keep you organized!

Tags:
Computers, Home, Microsoft, Software, Tips, Windows, t4t

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