Our company eliminated 95% of Spam by adding a resend delay to mail coming from unknown sources. Put simply, our mail system says to such mail "hang on, I'm a bit busy, please try again soon" and adds the name to a Greylist. If the remote sender tries again (the recommended interval for mail systems is 10 minutes or so), we accept the mail next time adding something like

X-Greylist: delayed for 00:13:45 at (istgate.ist.co.uk [192.35.198.250])

to the header (which means that the mail was delayed by 13 mins and 45 secs)..

This works because most bulk mail systems don't bother trying again (too busy sending huge amounts of junk). But it can only be implemented by people that have their own server hosting their own domain.

Find out what is really running on your computer!

Hit the red 'Help' button in the box. Then let the analysis begin. This will tell you if there's anything untoward running or present on your machine.

And also from the same site, SuperAntiSpyware is brilliant. The 'Professional' version of the same program is even better.

Details of the Interbet Explorer vulnerability can be found at Security Advisory 961051.

Also, the Technet blog is here http://blogs.technet.com/swi/archive/2008/12/12/Clarification-on-the-various
-workarounds-from-the-recent-IE-advisory.aspx and a list of some infected sites.

Edit link should now work.

ExecLine - Likewise, I used to have a @btinternet.com account, but the spam I received was relentless, even with a spam filter which you have to set by going to your account via the BTInternet web page. The amount of Viagra spam I received started to make me think I was underperforming! Then I discovered the girlfriend was receiving the same thing, so then I knew I was!!!
Am now with Orange & their spam filter is absolutely 100% (so far).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/microsoft/3812567/Internet-Explorer-security-alert-how-to-protect-your-computer.html

Anyhow, I've done my Security Update from the above Telegraph link.

Not looked in here for a while.
Funny, I was just saying to a girliefriend today, I very rarely get any kind of spam even in my spambox in my hottie account (never in the inbox) - but btinternet is just out of control, with an increasing number landing in my inbox. Her private one is Yahoo, which is even worse, so she's resorted to using her business account for friends, which is spam-free.

Same old questions, I'm afraid:
Vista machine - how can I tell if I'm defragging?
Tried it a few times, and there is absolutely nothing to tell me if it's working.

Windows updates - they always get me sooner or later.
And then I have the same old relentless problem - always with a new twist - to re-activate my 2nd screen. I never know what I've done to achieve activation - always just relieved until the next time :S

Chocolat

In Vista, Startbutton, type defrag in the searc h box and select Disk Defragmenter. The window that pops up allows you to schedule a regular defrag, manually run and also gives the time of the last run. When it is running, the bottom portion shows the status but not a percentage bar.

To enable your second monitor, right click the desktop background and select Personalize then select Display Settings. Click the 2nd monitor and check Extend the desktop onto this monitor.

Lately, searching on Google seems to bring up a lot of fake results. For example, go to google.com, type "Gann techniques" and you will see the first result shows a link to "freescan.microsoft.com/gann.html" and that link has NOTHING to do with Gann techniques! Click the "Search" button again and this time it shows far more legitimate links. Is anyone else experiencing a similar problem?

Haven't noticed anything like that.

I got:

http://www.webtrading.com/gannintro.htm

as #1 for "gann techniques" without quotes, #2 with quotes. And everything else Gann-related.

Hmmmm....must be something to do with spyware/malware on my pc. I run daily scans for those and haven't found anything though.

Yes. I have noticed a difference in my search results of late.

I recently signed up for a Google Account so as to access a local community Google Group (a Residents Alliance to fight a local development scheme). I suspect this might have something to do with it.

When I now use Google, I now notice my e-mail address is ready up in the top RH corner of the page and there are also a couple of Google Account links

The Search results now have a variety of symbols associated with them. They are like little boxes. One has a vertical arrow in it ('Promote'), one has a cross in it ('Remove') and then there's one which is like a speech balloon ('Comment').

A search for "Gann techniques" doesn't do anything too wierd, though. Just normal results - with the little boxes as described above

Thanks ExecLine. By some strange coincidence, I too have just signed up for a Google account and have noticed that the earlier weird behaviour with Google search has disappeared. The little boxes you mention - I see then now.

Sorry i'm back!

This "crucial" site, i see i can get more memory from it, as the laptop
is 1.86ghz, can i get a speed grade from it or somewhere else.

Hope thats not a stupid question!.
d.

Sorry but I''m not sure what you mean by "a speed grade".

The 1.85GHz refers to your processor speed, the memory runs considerably slower - most likely around 400MHz although the fastest desktops now use 1GHz + memory speeds.

If you go to the Crucial site and run their memory checker, it will offer you the best memory for your machine although some of the options may involve discarding your existing RAM. If the crucial tool can't identify the machine then check the manufacturers website.

Dailos:

I will bow to superior PC knowledge from elsewhere (I'm just a simple computer scientist/software engineer), but the only cost-effective way I know of to upgrade the CPU speed of a laptop is to buy a new one.

Having said that, more memory will vastly increase the operating speed of your laptop. Don't worry about the CPU GigaHertz (GHz), upgrade the memory Gigabytes.

Your computer can only run program code that is resident in main memory. If the size of all the stuff, including the chunks of Windows you are using, exceeds the available main memory, Windows uses up lots of time swapping the things you're not currently using out so it can load the things you want to use back in from disk.

So, instead of things running at the speed of the CPU, you end up waiting for the mechanical disk heads to scrabble around reading the stuff that you need, while you wait at the keyboard with that dinky little hour-glass cursor in front of you.

Install more RAM.

Cheers

MM.

Thanks.. understand now.
:-)

The Belarc Advisor will build a profile of your hardware and software, and display the whole machine's shooting match in your Web browser.

Then you can print it out for future reference.

Who made the machines parts?
How much RAM and what sort?
What software is on the machine and exactly where is it located?
What are the software versions?
What are the Microsoft Product Keys?
What Microsoft Updates have already been downloaded and installed?

And more!

Less disk activity in swapping means a longer lasting disk drive. I have found that people with PCs with very low memory are frequently the ones with disk failures. A PC with low memory may be swapping almost continuously if you have more than one window open at a time or more than one web page open.

Thanks Optimist - again!
Hope I've cracked it this time - machine looks set for another updateything, so fingers crossed for an easy re-set.
Still don't understand why the screen goes every time though.