When you Lose a Key, and Can't Call a Locksmith

Nearly every program people install on their computers these days require a CD and a code (a "key") for the installation. What happens when you lose the "key" and then have to re-install?

Magic Jelly Bean Finder extracts keys for Windows XP and Microsoft Office.

How to go into your registry and extract the key for any installed program:

How to extract product keys using DOS commands (i.e., you can't get back into Windows and need to format / reinstall from DOS):

Go Phish

No, Phishing has nothing to do with that 90s band - the one with the Grateful Dead-like cult of fans.

Phishing is the practice of sending very legitimate-looking e-mail that attempts to get you to reveal financial & personal information - account numbers, user ids, passwords, etc. You don't have to be a victim. Be very skeptical of any such e-mail.

You say you're already doing that? Let's see how good you are at telling a Phishing expedition from a legitimate e-mail. Take the PHISH TEST to see if you can detect which are phish attempts and which are legitimate. Be sure to click on each link to see an example of the email before making your guess.

For those of us with a short memory, on Tuesday, May 18, 2004 I wrote this column:

SpoofStick Phights Phishers
Phishers are an especially nasty sort of cyber-criminal. A phisher creates web sites that look "just like" legitimate web sites (such as Earthlink, PayPal, eBay, Citibank, and so on). The phisher then tries to trick people into going to a spoofed site by sending out fake email messages or posting links in public places - hoping that some percentage of users won't notice the incorrect URL and give away important information.

SpoofStick is a simple browser extension that helps users detect spoofed (fake) websites.

Download SpoofStick for Internet Explorer
Download SpoofStick for Firefox (Mozilla)

Some Things You Just Can't Make Up

MALTRON single handed keyboards have been developed as a logical step forward to meet the needs of those who must perform keyboard operations with one hand.

The shape matches natural hand movement and the key arrangement minimises finger movement (click this link to see why), raising speed and relieving frustration.

For Kids (of all ages)

Bembo's Zoo

The Top 8 Features of Touch-Screen Voting Machines

8. Your first "trial" vote is free, but you can purchase six months of unlimited voting for only $29.95.

7. A newly installed loudspeaker allows the machine to actually *laugh* when you request a recount.

6. Paper receipt? Check.
   Visual and auditory confirmation? Check.
   Ability for any script kiddie to hack in? Uh-oh.

5. If you do the proper "Dance Dance Revolution" moves, you can vote more than once.

4. "To vote for Bush, press any key. To vote for Kerry, set KerryOptTLD=1 in democrat.ini and reboot your voting machine."

3. It scans the fingerprints of Kerry voters and automatically adds them to no-fly terrorist watch lists.

2. For some reason the machines can't calculate the winner, but the loser keeps coming up as "John Q. Public."

and the Number 1 Feature of Touch-Screen
Voting Machines...

1. Voters are now able to give Bush the finger without fear of reprisal.
Copyright 2004 by Chris White

Why Bother To Play Games If You Aren't Going To Win?Part Deaux

Solitare. More time is wasted on this one computer game than all other games combined. (I just made that up). How the cards turn up in the deck controls the game much more than any strategy you might have. Basically, you can manage the deck in one of two ways:
- take one card at a time - so that you see every card in the deck - but you get only 1 pass through the deck; are you still with me?
- take three cards off the deck, and you can have an unlimited number of passes through the deck; take your time - we're almost there
- clearly the best option would be to take one card at a time off the deck, but have an unlimited number of passes through the deck; but that's not allowed, right?

Wrong. If you hold down the following keys: SHIFT + CTRL + ALT - then you get the best of all worlds: one card at a time, as many times through the deck as you wish.

This Windows Easter Egg was brought to you by the letter S and the number 7.

Clear Your Cache

Sometimes while using Internet Explorer or FireFox to cruise the Web, you'll encounter a problem accessing a web page. Another related common problem is discovering that a web page you expect to be current is actually several days old.

If you ask for help on either of the problems, very often the first question is "Did You Clear Your Cache?"

Now you don't have to appear to be a complete moron. (Tech Support people have a way of making you feel that way). Read on, and you'll learn what "Clear Your Cache" means, and how to perform the process.

Both of the following procedures will delete the temporary files that Web browsers use to redisplay pages. These temporary files can take up lots of hard disk and RAM space, and slow down you computer. Clearing your cache will not adversely effect your browser in any way and it can help improve your page download time and your computer's general performance.

To clear your cache in Internet Explorer
- View Menu -> Internet Options -> General -> Temporary Internet Files -> Delete Files

To clear your cache in FireFox,
- Tools Menu -> Options -> Cache -> Clear

Why Would You Want To Copy Your CD To The Hard Drive?

Sometimes you want to install components or make changes to Windows (or MS Office). To do this, you may need to read your Windows (or Office) CD. You can avoid this inconvenience by copying the entire CD to your hard drive.

Create a directory on your hard drive
Copy the entire contents of your Windows CD to that folder.
When prompted for the Windows CD, just point to that folder on your hard drive.

Same goes for MS Office.

"Spring Forward in Spring....."

"Spring Forward in Spring.....Fall Back in Fall"

It's that time again. Set your clocks back an hour. Gain an extra hour of sleep.

Note: most computers are smart enough to reset themselves twice a year.

Speaking of clocks on computers:

If yours consistently loses time, you may need to replace the battery on the computer's motherboard. Good luck finding it!

To keep your computer's clock current, download and install Atomic Clock Sync, a free program. To download and use Atomic Clock Sync, you must be connected to the Internet.

Why Bother To Play Games If You Aren't Going To Win?

- Start the Windows Hearts Game Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Games
- Close Hearts
- Edit the Registry: Start -> Run -> Regedit [ ENTER ]
- Find HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Hearts
- Create a new String Value right click -> New -> String Value -> label it ZB
- Right click the ZB name -> Modify -> Set Value to 42
- Close the Regedit
- Start the Windows Hearts Game Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Games

To see the cards of the other players, press & hold Ctrl-Alt-Shift-F12

NOTE: editing the Registry is dangerous; you risk corrupting your entire Operating System. Before starting, set a Restore Point (except Win98, which has no Restore Points). To set a Restore Point
- Right-click My Computer
- Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore -> Create a Restore Point -> Name it Pre-Regedit -> Create

If things go wrong after you tweak the Registry, Restore the Restore Point just created.
- Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore -> Create a Restore Point -> Name it Pre-Regedit -> Restore -> Next
- Select the Pre-Regedit Restore Point.
- Violá