Text 12044, 107 rader
Skriven 2005-10-27 04:08:59 av Gerald Miller (1:342/512)
  Kommentar till text 11921 av Jeff Guerdat (1:106/2000.0)
Ärende: Doc's Place
===================
Hello Jeff,

    Responding to a post in the WIN95 area:
    On Saturday October 22 2005 at 09:23,
    Jeff Guerdat [1:106/2000] wrote to Gerald Miller,
    about: Doc's Place

[snip]

 JG> You *should* be able to browse the network using only machine names
 JG> locally. It gets a bit more complicated when mixing in any Win9x
 JG> machines which sometimes have problems with this resolution using only
 JG> TCP/IP.  The usual "fix" is to also use NETBEUI as a secondary
 JG> protocol to help these machines out.  Of course, this is an extra step
 JG> and XP has to be coerced into using NETBEUI since it's not supplied
 JG> with the install CD.  Once a reliable connection has been installed,
 JG> you shouldn't need to use hosts entries at all since MS networking
 JG> will broadcast and locate the machine based on machine name only.

Yes, the W98SE machine can be quite obstinate at time (when trying to use
machine names) and I usually have to get it to browse the Workgroup name in
order to have it locate a particular machine name, AND, even if it finds
the correct machine name within the workgroup, it doesn't always want to
connect with a given machine...

Would you provide some "clues" as to how I may confirm the existence of the
NETBEUI protocol (I _thought_ it was part of TCP/IP and therefore, it would
be installed when TCP/IP is setup)?

And with my uplink address being in my Hosts file...  I put it in there
because I found it easier to assign an alias name to his system -- I can
never remember his system's full name / address and I can never find that
scrap of paper that I have it written on.  <vBg>

 JG> Works fine here.  This will also overcome the fact that the default
 JG> DHCP configuration allows the IP address to move around.  I force
 JG> it to be stationary (I use DHCP to supply only one address for a given
 JG> machine) but that's because I'm a geek.  Addresses entered into a
 JG> hosts file without use of static IP addresses in the first place is a
 JG> problem, obviously.

That would simplify the addressing problems, but I cannot afford the
monthly fee that my ISP wants to charge for such a service.

W2K and WinXP network cards are Wake On Lan aware, but the WOL software
relies on MAC address assigned to each card and the whole process can "go
south" if I should lose my connection with my ISP.  This type of situation
could be resolved if I had one static IP address, I suspect.

 GM>> Yes, SpywareBlaster did put a ReadOnly attribute on the Hosts file,
 GM>> but you're entirely correct about other programs also having the
 GM>> ability to change and apply attributes to this file.

 JG> It can't be just a read-only attribute since any program worth its
 JG> salt would be able to change that.  It needs to be locked for writing
 JG> via the OS, just as Word locks an open document so another user can't
 JG> also access it for writing. Without the much more stringent locking,
 JG> the attempt is useless.  Try changing the attribute, see if you can
 JG> modify the file and successfully save it.  If you can, you need to
 JG> find something else to protect it.  Since ZA is always running, it's a
 JG> likely candidate to be used for this locking.

Only have ZA installed on WinXP Pro and I'll have to look around to see if
the program has the Hosts file locked for writing.  Unfortunately, I don't
think ZA will lock the Hosts files on the other two Windows systems, across
the network..... ?

 GM>> I forget exactly where I read about putting "Blocked" sites into
 GM>> the Hosts file, but I now know that a bloated Hosts file will bring
 GM>> a Web browser to its knees.  Is there a more specific purpose for
 GM>> the Hosts file (other than a place for the default loopback
 GM>> address)?

 JG> That's a tough one but you simply wouldn't be able to keep up with all
 JG> the bad sites that would need to be blocked or the good sites to
 JG> ensure you get the right location.  There's no one solution but hosts
 JG> file locking, spyware scanning, common sense, looking at the address a
 JG> link points to before clicking on the link as well as other utilities
 JG> all need to be used consistently.  Since I use Firefox for a web
 JG> browser, I've recently started using Fraud Eliminator
 JG> (www.fraudeliminator.com) as an extension.  It also works with IE and
 JG> perhaps other browsers.  There's a free version and an inexpensive
 JG> ($20 per year) subscription.  It alerts you as to risky addresses as
 JG> well as potentially risky countries where excessive fraud is known to
 JG> be based out of.  No one of these are perfect and can't be relied upon
 JG> by itself but there are many ways of protecting yourself without
 JG> trying to manage a single file that can be grossly out of date...

I'm using Firefox on the W2K Pro and W98SE boxes; Mozilla on WinXP Pro.  I
installed the free Fraud Eliminator program on W2K and installed the FE
extension in Firefox on W2K.  The FE extension is _supposed_ to display a
menu bar for Fraud Eliminator, but I think my Personal menu bar is
interfering with the FE extension because I can't see the FE menu bar. I'll
probably disable the FE extension until which time I can figure out how to
replace my Personal menu bar (without destroying it and its contents) with
the FE menu bar.

I _think_ SpywareBlaster will permit manual entries of sites to be blocked,
but I haven't investigated it too thoroughly and I have no idea how
permanent such entries would be or if they could be disabled / deleted
should a need arise...

           Cheers ... Gerald

... The worms start multiplying when the chickens stop scratching.
--- GoldED+/DPMI32 v1.1.5-040330 [msg of Thursday October 27 2005]
 * Origin: Any man making a pun should be drawn and quoted! (1:342/512)