The 17 Most Dangerous Places on the Web
The scariest sites on the Net? They're not the ones you might suspect. Here's what to watch for and how to stay safe.
Nick Mediati, PCWorld
Those photos of Jessica Alba may be murder on your PC. That Google search result that looks as if it answers all your questions may do nothing but create a serious tech headache. The fun you had watching that hilarious video you downloaded may not be worth the misery it can cause your system.
You've been warned that the Internet is something of a security minefield--that it's easy to get in trouble. You can do everything you can think of to protect yourself and still be taken by a malware infection, a phishing scam, or an invasion of online privacy. We'd like to provide a little help. Here are some of the hazards you may encounter, how dangerous they are, and what you can do to stay out of harm's way.
Not all Web dangers are created equal. Thankfully, our friends at the Department of Homeland Security have made our work of classifying Web threats a little easier. Will you get taken just by visiting that unfamiliar site? Or will you have to look for trouble? Let our threat level indicator be your guide.
Read full four page article here...
http://www.pcworld.com/article/206107/the_17_most_dangerous_places_on_the_web.html
And remember, Lenny The Computer Guy can help you make sure your computer is more secure so that you do not end up with malware just by visiting one of these potentially malicious websites or even a good website that might have been infected or hacked.
And if you are already infected with malware, I can clean that up and put you back in control of your computer.
Lenny Vasbinder
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
PCWorld.com - Malicious HTML In E-Mail Increases
PCWorld.com - Malicious HTML In E-Mail Increases
John E Dunn, Techworld.com
Spammers have suddenly cranked up the use of malicious HTML file attachments in recent days, according to security company Barracuda Networks.
Using a number of search engine optimization-driven subject lines, the latest campaign tries to get recipients to click on "harmless" HTML attachments which launches an obfuscated Javascript attack that sends users to a variety of websites peddling everything from bogus CODECS to pharmacy.
One in particular, a standard advertisement for fake antivirus software, installs a back door -- even if the browser is closed so by the time the HTML file has been clicked it is already too late. (See also "How to Spot an E-Mail Scam.")
The only defenses against this sort of attack are either for it to be filtered at the gateway so it never reaches the user, or for the user to disable Javascript in their browser. Security software on the PC might catch the exploit.
Spam built around HTML is nothing new, but does seem to have become a hot technique in the last year or so with some spammers. A popular variant is the bogus "Delivery Status Notification Failure," a sneaky way to get the attention of a user without arousing suspicion.
More recently still, the spammers started embedding the Javascript inside the HTML file (rather than as a simple file attachment), to spread the horrible Zeus banking Trojan.
"So yes, a seemingly innocent HTML email attachment can do plenty of damage, and while quite stealthy, definitely not harmless," concludes Barracuda Labs' researcher, Dave Michmerhuizen.
Since attachment attacks became a favorite tactic, spammers have tried almost every common format in existence, sometimes moving to obscure ones in an attempt to get around spam filters.
John E Dunn, Techworld.com
Sep 26, 2010 10:02 am
Spammers have suddenly cranked up the use of malicious HTML file attachments in recent days, according to security company Barracuda Networks.
Using a number of search engine optimization-driven subject lines, the latest campaign tries to get recipients to click on "harmless" HTML attachments which launches an obfuscated Javascript attack that sends users to a variety of websites peddling everything from bogus CODECS to pharmacy.
One in particular, a standard advertisement for fake antivirus software, installs a back door -- even if the browser is closed so by the time the HTML file has been clicked it is already too late. (See also "How to Spot an E-Mail Scam.")
The only defenses against this sort of attack are either for it to be filtered at the gateway so it never reaches the user, or for the user to disable Javascript in their browser. Security software on the PC might catch the exploit.
Spam built around HTML is nothing new, but does seem to have become a hot technique in the last year or so with some spammers. A popular variant is the bogus "Delivery Status Notification Failure," a sneaky way to get the attention of a user without arousing suspicion.
More recently still, the spammers started embedding the Javascript inside the HTML file (rather than as a simple file attachment), to spread the horrible Zeus banking Trojan.
"So yes, a seemingly innocent HTML email attachment can do plenty of damage, and while quite stealthy, definitely not harmless," concludes Barracuda Labs' researcher, Dave Michmerhuizen.
Since attachment attacks became a favorite tactic, spammers have tried almost every common format in existence, sometimes moving to obscure ones in an attempt to get around spam filters.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Yahoo Messenger Webcam Sharing, Video Calling And Audio Calling Issues
Because this issue has come up a couple of times this month in the Yahoo_Messenger Yahoo Group, I thought I would compile the questions and answers here for future ready reference.
-----Original Message-----
From: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Y!M] Video and Voice Call issues
Anyone having problems making Video or Voice calls with Y! Messenger 10 (10.0.0.1270-us) When I first installed it, it worked fine but now when I press Video call or voice call it shows that it is initializing the call but it does not ring and the person I am calling does not receive the notification of the incoming call.
First time I had this issue I re-installed and it fixed it but second time around it did not do the trick.
I am hoping someone else is experiencing the same issue and has been able to find a work-around/solution to the problem.
My first reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: Lenny The Computer Guy
To: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Y!M] Video and Voice Call issues
I've used it with no problems... but I don't use it often and haven't used it in the past few days. I'm testing it from one computer to another right now.
(key up Jeopardy music)
OK... clicking the Camera Icon on an open IM window did NOT work and acted as you indicated but this is not how I usually use Video and Voice. I activate them separately in most cases.
Hmmmmm... I just tried just a Voice Call to my other ID on another computer and that didn't work either.
Next, I turned on my Camera manually by going to the main Messenger Menu, then clicked "My Webcam" which did activate my cam. I then sent a Cam Invite to my other ID by clicking the Actions>More Actions menu on the separate IM window and that did send an invite and I was able to accept the invite on the other computer. But trying to initiate a Voice call, computer to computer, from either computer to the other FAILED.
Note that I have 10.x.1270 on one computer and 10.x.1267 on the other computer so it's not just limited to .1270... or possibly it is.
I'm going to fire up YM 9.x on my third computer and check it with the other two.
(key up Jeopardy music again)
Yep... it seems Yahoo is having major problems with Voice mainly as I was able to initiate Cam invites with each computer but couldn't get Voice to work at all.
If you look on your Help Menu, click Report A Problem To Yahoo and fill out the report. I am also going to on all three of my computers with different ID's.
More than likely, it's just Yahoo being Yahoo with their constant need to improve their servers... and yet never doing it as well as they should.
They have been reporting that they are improving their servers for as long as I can remember and any time there is a problem, they say they are improving their servers.
I'm SOOOOOOOO glad that I could not go through with buying a Yahoo Phone In/Out phone number last year when I tried. I had gone through the process, picked a number, went all the way to the check-out process, entered my credit card info and tried to process the order but that wouldn't go through. After trying to get someone from the Phone In/Out service to contact me for a few days to get my order processed and it didn't work, I gave up and got a Skype phone number... which works fine.
I also use MagicJack on my desktop computer... which works fine... but better yet, Google's Gmail accounts now include a Google Voice option so you can make unlimited incoming and outgoing phone calls in the USA and Canada and video/voice calls to other computers anywhere. They had a few glitches the first day that the unlimited FREE calls went online but every time I've tested it since, it has worked fine.
I wish Yahoo Messenger's other features worked fine all the time as I would like to be able to rely on YM but over the past 10 years, I've just seen too many times that it's not working properly often enough to rely on it alone. I guess the old saying, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" holds true for YM.
Now, for basic IM'ing, YM still is the most popular IM program for me. While Skype works great for phone calls, voice and video calls... IM'ing someone on Skype is not an easy process. There's no way to just type in someone's Skype ID and initiate an IM session with them without adding them.. or trying to add them and then they can initiate an IM session with you without them actually adding you. Yes, I've notified Skype of this flaw... or lack of feature.
If you NEED to use these features, you could try doing a clean installation of YM according to my blog article (see sig) and see if that works but I suspect this is just a Yahoo server issue since it's not working on any of my computer with three different versions. Because of YM's inherent bugs, I ALWAYS do a full and clean uninstall before doing a full and clean install... just to make sure that any left over remnants of the older or uninstalled version aren't left behind to muck things up for the new install.
Lenny Vasbinder
Their reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
To: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Y!M] Re: Video and Voice Call issues
So I decided to do another install again after I had made the post. After it finished I launced it. Tryied doing a Voice call first and it started to ring. So I canceled the call and initiated a Video Call and it too started ringing. I was able to video chat for about 5 hours afterwards with no issues.
Sidenote: I reported my problem to Yahoo after every attempt to make a video and voice call so hopefully whatever bug appear everytime I reported it in.
And my final reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: Lenny The Computer Guy
To: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Y!M] Re: Video and Voice Call issues
It just worked for me also... without doing any uninstalling... which leads me to believe it was just another of the hundreds or thousands of issues that Yahoo have had with their servers over the years.
Eight out of 10 times, when YM is acting up, it's due to Yahoo Server issues. Signing out and signing back in will often fix things as you will likely get a different server but if you've tried that and are still having problems, then it's likely a dirty installation.
Glad yours is working again... and if you did a clean and full install, instead of the way Yahoo recommends, then you have an even better chance of things working well. Make sure you put a check mark in the box so you get an alert before Yahoo makes updates to your YM. That box is on the Messenger Menu>Preferences>Alerts & Sounds section.
Lenny Vasbinder
And now... a more recent issue...
-----Original Message-----
From: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
To: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Y!M] Problems with the invite to view my webcam in YM10 and Version 8
Hello can somebody help me, I have problems with chatting and using the webcam. On Yahoo!Mail I was online chatting with my friend, he asked me to send him an invitation to view my webcam. I tried to find the icon, but couldn't find it.
I did send a chat message to the Customer Care and they said : Regarding your concern, please be informed that viewing webcam using the Chat feature in Yahoo! Mail is currently not possible.
So what I did I installed the Version 10 of Yahoo! Messenger and thought everything will be fine and I can see my friend. I did read that Version 10 is compatible with the other Versions of Yahoo! But it seems not be the truth. I've got now 10 and he has 8. I did send him the invitation to view my webcam many times he accepts but it does not work at all.
He says the problem is with me I should fix it.
Can somebody help me to use this webcam? I tried to make Video and Voice Calls but its not working. I need to say that he is the only one I tried, because his the only contact I have, so I cannot try it with somebody else's.
I did read was Lenny The Computer Guy wrote on Tue Sep 7, 2010 11:40 am, on the Message #7412 Video and Voice Call issues and it was really interesting what he wrote down. I thought maybe he can help me or somebody else's.
Thanks a lot in advance for your help!
Alessandra
My first reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: "Lenny The Computer Guy" Vasbinder
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Y!M] Problems with the invite to view my webcam in YM10 and Version 8
I'm guessing you have tried several times on several different occasions? Sometimes, Yahoo's servers will just be acting up and signing out and signing right back in will get you on a better server and things will work fine.
Have you run the Audio & Video Help Wizard on YM yet?
On the Help Menu>Set Up Video And Voice.. then go through the steps. Let us know what it says so take notes of what each step says and does.
Also, check to see which version you have of YM 10. On the same Help Menu, click About Yahoo Messenger and let us know the actual version, including the numbers behind the decimal points (or does everyone call them dots now? lol) I want to make sure he has the latest version of 8.1x and not 8.0x.
Tell him to also do the above and let us know his version and that his audio/video is working... does he also have a cam and can he send you an invite that connects?
I don't have 8.1x running on any of my computer any longer so I can't test them but as far as I know, 8.1x, 9.0x and 10.x are all supposed to be fully supported and compatible.
I had to peek at the group message 7412 to see what I had said... I'm guessing you've tried things that way also.. instead of just a all-in-one video/voice connection?
Your other option, as you saw in that message, if both of you have reasonably new/fast computers, is to use Skype but Skype does use a lot more system resources than YM.
Lenny Vasbinder
And another follow-up reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: "Lenny The Computer Guy" Vasbinder [mailto:lennythecomputerguy@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2010 2:49 AM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Y!M] Problems with the invite to view my webcam in YM10 and Version 8
Here's the Yahoo Messenger Help pages for the issue and Yahoo also suggests checking and/or re-installing your webcam software.
Messenger Webcam Basics
http://help.yahoo.com/kb/index?y=PROD_MSNG&page=content&id=SLN338
The difference between Video Calling and Webcam Sharing
http://help.yahoo.com/kb/index?y=PROD_MSNG&page=content&id=DOC643
Use Video Calling to Avoid Webcam Errors
http://help.yahoo.com/kb/index?page=content&y=PROD_MSNG&id=SLN264
Lenny Vasbinder
---------------
I'll add more to this blog as it becomes available.
Lenny Vasbinder
-----Original Message-----
From: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Y!M] Video and Voice Call issues
Anyone having problems making Video or Voice calls with Y! Messenger 10 (10.0.0.1270-us) When I first installed it, it worked fine but now when I press Video call or voice call it shows that it is initializing the call but it does not ring and the person I am calling does not receive the notification of the incoming call.
First time I had this issue I re-installed and it fixed it but second time around it did not do the trick.
I am hoping someone else is experiencing the same issue and has been able to find a work-around/solution to the problem.
My first reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: Lenny The Computer Guy
To: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Y!M] Video and Voice Call issues
I've used it with no problems... but I don't use it often and haven't used it in the past few days. I'm testing it from one computer to another right now.
(key up Jeopardy music)
OK... clicking the Camera Icon on an open IM window did NOT work and acted as you indicated but this is not how I usually use Video and Voice. I activate them separately in most cases.
Hmmmmm... I just tried just a Voice Call to my other ID on another computer and that didn't work either.
Next, I turned on my Camera manually by going to the main Messenger Menu, then clicked "My Webcam" which did activate my cam. I then sent a Cam Invite to my other ID by clicking the Actions>More Actions menu on the separate IM window and that did send an invite and I was able to accept the invite on the other computer. But trying to initiate a Voice call, computer to computer, from either computer to the other FAILED.
Note that I have 10.x.1270 on one computer and 10.x.1267 on the other computer so it's not just limited to .1270... or possibly it is.
I'm going to fire up YM 9.x on my third computer and check it with the other two.
(key up Jeopardy music again)
Yep... it seems Yahoo is having major problems with Voice mainly as I was able to initiate Cam invites with each computer but couldn't get Voice to work at all.
If you look on your Help Menu, click Report A Problem To Yahoo and fill out the report. I am also going to on all three of my computers with different ID's.
More than likely, it's just Yahoo being Yahoo with their constant need to improve their servers... and yet never doing it as well as they should.
They have been reporting that they are improving their servers for as long as I can remember and any time there is a problem, they say they are improving their servers.
I'm SOOOOOOOO glad that I could not go through with buying a Yahoo Phone In/Out phone number last year when I tried. I had gone through the process, picked a number, went all the way to the check-out process, entered my credit card info and tried to process the order but that wouldn't go through. After trying to get someone from the Phone In/Out service to contact me for a few days to get my order processed and it didn't work, I gave up and got a Skype phone number... which works fine.
I also use MagicJack on my desktop computer... which works fine... but better yet, Google's Gmail accounts now include a Google Voice option so you can make unlimited incoming and outgoing phone calls in the USA and Canada and video/voice calls to other computers anywhere. They had a few glitches the first day that the unlimited FREE calls went online but every time I've tested it since, it has worked fine.
I wish Yahoo Messenger's other features worked fine all the time as I would like to be able to rely on YM but over the past 10 years, I've just seen too many times that it's not working properly often enough to rely on it alone. I guess the old saying, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" holds true for YM.
Now, for basic IM'ing, YM still is the most popular IM program for me. While Skype works great for phone calls, voice and video calls... IM'ing someone on Skype is not an easy process. There's no way to just type in someone's Skype ID and initiate an IM session with them without adding them.. or trying to add them and then they can initiate an IM session with you without them actually adding you. Yes, I've notified Skype of this flaw... or lack of feature.
If you NEED to use these features, you could try doing a clean installation of YM according to my blog article (see sig) and see if that works but I suspect this is just a Yahoo server issue since it's not working on any of my computer with three different versions. Because of YM's inherent bugs, I ALWAYS do a full and clean uninstall before doing a full and clean install... just to make sure that any left over remnants of the older or uninstalled version aren't left behind to muck things up for the new install.
Lenny Vasbinder
Their reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
To: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Y!M] Re: Video and Voice Call issues
So I decided to do another install again after I had made the post. After it finished I launced it. Tryied doing a Voice call first and it started to ring. So I canceled the call and initiated a Video Call and it too started ringing. I was able to video chat for about 5 hours afterwards with no issues.
Sidenote: I reported my problem to Yahoo after every attempt to make a video and voice call so hopefully whatever bug appear everytime I reported it in.
And my final reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: Lenny The Computer Guy
To: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Y!M] Re: Video and Voice Call issues
It just worked for me also... without doing any uninstalling... which leads me to believe it was just another of the hundreds or thousands of issues that Yahoo have had with their servers over the years.
Eight out of 10 times, when YM is acting up, it's due to Yahoo Server issues. Signing out and signing back in will often fix things as you will likely get a different server but if you've tried that and are still having problems, then it's likely a dirty installation.
Glad yours is working again... and if you did a clean and full install, instead of the way Yahoo recommends, then you have an even better chance of things working well. Make sure you put a check mark in the box so you get an alert before Yahoo makes updates to your YM. That box is on the Messenger Menu>Preferences>Alerts & Sounds section.
Lenny Vasbinder
And now... a more recent issue...
-----Original Message-----
From: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
To: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Y!M] Problems with the invite to view my webcam in YM10 and Version 8
Hello can somebody help me, I have problems with chatting and using the webcam. On Yahoo!Mail I was online chatting with my friend, he asked me to send him an invitation to view my webcam. I tried to find the icon, but couldn't find it.
I did send a chat message to the Customer Care and they said : Regarding your concern, please be informed that viewing webcam using the Chat feature in Yahoo! Mail is currently not possible.
So what I did I installed the Version 10 of Yahoo! Messenger and thought everything will be fine and I can see my friend. I did read that Version 10 is compatible with the other Versions of Yahoo! But it seems not be the truth. I've got now 10 and he has 8. I did send him the invitation to view my webcam many times he accepts but it does not work at all.
He says the problem is with me I should fix it.
Can somebody help me to use this webcam? I tried to make Video and Voice Calls but its not working. I need to say that he is the only one I tried, because his the only contact I have, so I cannot try it with somebody else's.
I did read was Lenny The Computer Guy wrote on Tue Sep 7, 2010 11:40 am, on the Message #7412 Video and Voice Call issues and it was really interesting what he wrote down. I thought maybe he can help me or somebody else's.
Thanks a lot in advance for your help!
Alessandra
My first reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: "Lenny The Computer Guy" Vasbinder
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Y!M] Problems with the invite to view my webcam in YM10 and Version 8
I'm guessing you have tried several times on several different occasions? Sometimes, Yahoo's servers will just be acting up and signing out and signing right back in will get you on a better server and things will work fine.
Have you run the Audio & Video Help Wizard on YM yet?
On the Help Menu>Set Up Video And Voice.. then go through the steps. Let us know what it says so take notes of what each step says and does.
Also, check to see which version you have of YM 10. On the same Help Menu, click About Yahoo Messenger and let us know the actual version, including the numbers behind the decimal points (or does everyone call them dots now? lol) I want to make sure he has the latest version of 8.1x and not 8.0x.
Tell him to also do the above and let us know his version and that his audio/video is working... does he also have a cam and can he send you an invite that connects?
I don't have 8.1x running on any of my computer any longer so I can't test them but as far as I know, 8.1x, 9.0x and 10.x are all supposed to be fully supported and compatible.
I had to peek at the group message 7412 to see what I had said... I'm guessing you've tried things that way also.. instead of just a all-in-one video/voice connection?
Your other option, as you saw in that message, if both of you have reasonably new/fast computers, is to use Skype but Skype does use a lot more system resources than YM.
Lenny Vasbinder
And another follow-up reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: "Lenny The Computer Guy" Vasbinder [mailto:lennythecomputerguy@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2010 2:49 AM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Y!M] Problems with the invite to view my webcam in YM10 and Version 8
Here's the Yahoo Messenger Help pages for the issue and Yahoo also suggests checking and/or re-installing your webcam software.
Messenger Webcam Basics
http://help.yahoo.com/kb/index?y=PROD_MSNG&page=content&id=SLN338
The difference between Video Calling and Webcam Sharing
http://help.yahoo.com/kb/index?y=PROD_MSNG&page=content&id=DOC643
Use Video Calling to Avoid Webcam Errors
http://help.yahoo.com/kb/index?page=content&y=PROD_MSNG&id=SLN264
Lenny Vasbinder
---------------
I'll add more to this blog as it becomes available.
Lenny Vasbinder
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Update - New Info Added To "Some Computer Security Programs That I Use And Recommend"
I've made a few changes to the original article, Some Computer Security Programs That I Use And Recommend, including but not limited to:
Updated - September 15, 2010 - F-Secure Online Scanner Added and MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials removed since I've had two recent customers who had infected computers using MSE)
Updated - August 08, 2010 - a-Squared Free changed to a-Squared Anti-Malware
Updated - August 04, 2010 - Added info about VirusTotal.com since I forgot that info initially.
Lenny Vasbinder
Updated - September 15, 2010 - F-Secure Online Scanner Added and MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials removed since I've had two recent customers who had infected computers using MSE)
Updated - August 08, 2010 - a-Squared Free changed to a-Squared Anti-Malware
Updated - August 04, 2010 - Added info about VirusTotal.com since I forgot that info initially.
Lenny Vasbinder
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Yahoo Messenger - Yahoo Web Messenger - Yahoo Mail Chat (or Yahoo Mail Messenger)... And How Friends Or Contacts Are Handled By Each... And How I Manage My Contacts / Friends List
Based on a long and recent thread in the Yahoo_Messenger Yahoo Group, I thought I'd create a blog about this issue which seems to cause a lot of confusion for users of the two web based versions of Yahoo Messenger (YM)
See the below thread.
Lenny Vasbinder
-----Original Message-----
From: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
On Behalf Of
Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2010 4:21 PM
To: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Y!M] Need clarification : Messenger client and web messenger Contacts
Hi all,
Could anyone tell me clearly how contacts are supposed to be synchronized between the webmessenger of Yahoo! Mail and the Yahoo! Messenger client.
For some reasons I do not see the same contacts and people added in Yahoo! Mail will not show up in the client.
My main ID is (deleted) but I also have aliases. could this be the problem ?
Thank you very much
My first reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: Lenny The Computer Guy
Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2010 4:42 PM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Y!M] Need clarification : Messenger client and web messenger Contacts
Yahoo Mail contacts are not the same as Yahoo Messenger contacts. Yahoo Mail contacts are people that you email and have added to your Yahoo Mail contact list.
Yahoo Mail contacts can have an email address from any of countless email service providers or ISP's whereas Yahoo Messenger contacts have to have a Yahoo ID (which can be the same as a Yahoo email address, but not necessarily) or a compatible user ID like a Windows Live ID.
The thing you are referring to as "webmessenger of Yahoo Mail" is probably not the correct term. Yahoo's Web Messenger is a browser based version of Yahoo Messenger that has limited functionality. Yahoo Mail Chat is the Yahoo Messenger version that works right off of your Yahoo Mail page when you have it turned on. I leave it off since, if you are on YM and then sign into Yahoo Mail and the Yahoo Mail Chat is turned on, it will boot you off of YM.
Your "friends" list from Yahoo Messenger should be the same when on Yahoo's Web Messenger or Yahoo Mail Chat but your YM "friends" may not be the same as your Yahoo Mail "contacts".
Lenny Vasbinder
Skype - LennyTheComputerGuy
YM - LennyTheComputerGuy
My Yahoo Messenger related blogs:
http://lennythecomputerguy.blogspot.com/search/label/Yahoo%20Messenger
-----Original Message-----
From: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
On Behalf Of
Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2010 5:35 PM
To: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Y!M] Need clarification : Messenger client and web messenger Contacts
The webmessenger is well... a web version of the messenger. In this sense it is the same thing as what you call Yahoo! Chat
I'm not at all talking about the address book contacts but about the messenger contacts. In my case those are not the same.
In your terms my Yahoo mail chat contacts are not the same as my Yahoo messenger client contacts.
And my follow-up reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: Lenny The Computer Guy
Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2010 9:13 PM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Y!M] Need clarification : Messenger client and web messenger Contacts
OK. Just to be sure we're on the same page, here is Yahoo's Web Messenger. You do need Java and Adobe Flash working in your browser to use this. http://webmessenger.yahoo.com/ Remember that signing into WebMessenger (or Yahoo Mail Chat) will sign you out of YM. When you sign in (for me, the sign-in window opened as a new tab on IE8 and then when I signed in, that tab closed and the WebMessenger tab became the active version of Yahoo WebMessenger. You will see an active image of your YM program with the same friends listed. You can IM your friends from there but with limited function compared to the regular YM program.
If you go to http://mail.yahoo.com/ and sign in, that will be your Yahoo Mail account and on the new version of Yahoo Mail, up at the top you will see Yahoo! Mail | Hi, (your name) | Available (or whatever your YM status is set to) | Sign Out. If you click on the Available or other status, you will get a drop down menu to change your status. On the left panel, under your Inbox, Drafts, Sent, Spam, etc. folders, you'll see a dotted line, then Contacts and your Yahoo Messenger friends will be listed there. If you click (or double click) on a name, it will open a new tab inside that Yahoo Mail frame and you can start IM'ing someone from there and it will work just like Yahoo Messenger but with limited functions (i.e. - no Webcam or many other features that are on YM). Yahoo calls (or called) this Yahoo Mail Chat when it first came out... although I don't see that name listed on the Yahoo Mail page.
Yahoo Chat is the Yahoo Chat Rooms which you can access from your main version of YM.
On all of the above, your Yahoo Messenger *friends* or *contacts* should be the same since Yahoo stores the database of our friends on their own servers so we can see our friends no matter which computer or YM version we sign in on.
Your Yahoo Mail contacts will be different and probably will include all of your YM *friends* but also any email contacts that you have. I just clicked on the Add link next to Contacts in the Yahoo Mail left panel and that opens a new Contacts Tab in the Yahoo Mail window frame and if you click on View All Contacts, you will see options. You will also see a BIG contact form that can be filled in with all the same kind of Contact Details that can be filled in for anyone on your *friends* list on the main YM program. I haven't checked to see if this info is kept on Yahoo Servers or our own computers. I did a test on one of my own other Yahoo ID's and then signed back into the main YM program which then "Disconnected" me from the Yahoo Mail Chat version of YM. I then viewed the Contact Details for my other Yahoo ID and sure enough, the change I had made was there so that kind of proves that the "Contacts" listed under Yahoo Mail Chat is synced with the main Yahoo Messenger program, at least as far as contacts/friends are concerned and any edits made to their contact information.
I hope that explains things better from my end.. and answers your questions but let me know if you still have any other questions.
Lenny Vasbinder
Skype - LennyTheComputerGuy
YM - LennyTheComputerGuy
My Yahoo Messenger related blogs:
http://lennythecomputerguy.blogspot.com/search/label/Yahoo%20Messenger
-----Original Message-----
From: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
On Behalf Of
Sent: Sunday, September 12, 2010 6:17 AM
To: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Y!M] Re: Need clarification : Messenger client and web messenger Contacts
Thanks for this long comprehensive reply. In fact after emailing a Yahoo! employee I got an answer to my problem. This explain the core of my problem being that messenger contacts lists are not the same, should I use the client of the web version in mail.
Here is what I was told:
-----
"- The Address Book stores private info you know about other people. We allow you to store a Messenger ID for people you know without inviting them to be Messenger Buddies.
- The Messenger Buddy list is a separate list of people who you have invited to be Messenger Buddies. This is NOT synced with the Address Book (but often is coincidentally in sync).
- Almost all Messenger clients get your Buddy List first, then fills it in with Address Book data. Mail, in contrast, gets your Address Book data first and fills it in with Messenger data (online status).
IMHO Mail should act the same as other Messenger clients and get your buddy list first. This is being reviewed but not do not expect a change in the near future.
Do you mind if I share your email with the Product Managers who are currently reviewing this behavior?"
----
Now hopefully I can find a way to replicate my contacts.
And my reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: Lenny The Computer Guy
Sent: Sunday, September 12, 2010 10:18 AM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Y!M] Re: Need clarification : Messenger client and web messenger Contacts
That's what I said in my first reply! ;-)
As far as which version of YM you use, the main YM program has the most options but if all you want to do is be able to send IM's back and forth, then any version will work.
HOWEVER (I guess I could have said BUT, since there's always a BUT... lol)... when using the Yahoo WebMessenger or Yahoo Mail Chat version's IF you save your archives of chat sessions, they will NOT be saved in your archives (although I do recall that Yahoo was going to give people the option of saving their archives on Yahoo's servers). ONLY your chats done on the main YM program will save into your archives on your computer.
I'm still not sure what you mean by "a way to replicate my contacts". As Yahoo also said in their reply, your YM contacts/friends are the same no matter which version of YM you are using. AND... on the main YM program, your Yahoo Mail contacts also get added to your friends list at the bottom under the folder, Address Book. You may have to click the arrow to expand that list if you want to see them all.
Lenny Vasbinder
Skype - LennyTheComputerGuy
YM - LennyTheComputerGuy
My Yahoo Messenger related blogs:
http://lennythecomputerguy.blogspot.com/search/label/Yahoo%20Messenger
-----Original Message-----
From: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
On Behalf Of
Sent: Sunday, September 12, 2010 11:19 AM
To: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Y!M] Re: Need clarification : Messenger client and web messenger Contacts
OK.
If you want:
people that show up online in Yahoo! are different than people who show up online in the messenger client. Or for exemple, if I want to chat with someone in Y!Mail, I'm asked to first add this person as a contact, but then when I login later in the Yahoo messenger desktop client it does not show up in my contact list.
That's why there is no synchronization between the two messenger contact lists. And obviously there are several databases.
That's why I want to be able to replicate my contacts which ever messenger I am using
Anyway i find all this very confusing
And my reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: Lenny The Computer Guy [mailto:LennyTheComputerGuy@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 12, 2010 12:39 PM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Y!M] Re: Need clarification : Messenger client and web messenger Contacts
When you added them in Yahoo Mail Chat, did they add you back and allow you to see them? If they didn't, then that may be why they're not showing up. When adding people on YM, if they don't add back, it shows up as Pending but I'm not sure if the Pending thing transfers over to the other YM versions on the web.
Hang on while I test this....
(Jeopardy Music)
OK. I just signed into Yahoo Mail under one Yahoo ID, call it 1st ID, and then opened Yahoo Mail Chat or YM in Yahoo Mail, which caused that ID to get signed out of YM. Then I manually added another Yahoo ID, called 2nd ID, that I have. Of course, it showed that 2nd ID as offline, since it was. I then sent a test message to that 2nd ID also.
I then signed into YM under that 2nd ID and I got the offline message from the 1st ID BUT I did not get an add-request to the 2nd ID that I had added from the 1st ID... so it seems the "adding" of a contact on Yahoo Mail Chat (or YM in Yahoo Mail) doesn't send the same kind of add-request as happens when you add someone from the regular YM program.
Next, I signed out of the 2nd ID on the main YM program and signed back into the 1st ID. That 2nd ID that I had added as a contact in the Yahoo Mail Chat (or YM in Yahoo Mail) DID NOT show up as a friend/contact in the main YM BUT did show up as a new "contact" in the Address Book group of "friends" on the main YM program
So.. it seems that when adding a contact from either WebMessenger or Yahoo Mail Chat (aka YM in Yahoo Mail), it will add them as an address book contact for Yahoo Mail, which will show up on your friends list under the Address Book group but it doesn't add them as a normal "friend" in one of your other groups.
I had a feeling this would happen since, when adding a friend from Yahoo Mail Chat, it did not offer me an option as to which group I would like to add the new contact. I have groups for "Business & Customers", Family & Close Friends" and then all other "Friends". On my older Yahoo ID's, I also have groups for people I have not chatted with in over two years as those will be deleted from the main list of friends (but kept in my address book group) since Yahoo only allows 500 friends... at least that's the last count I remember them allowing. I know that if I don't delete people once in a while, my friends list fills up and YM prompts me that I have to delete someone before adding someone new. Since figuring that out a long time ago, at the beginning of each new year, I start a new group of "Friends" with the year in front of it, like 2008-Friends, 2009-Friends, 2010-Friends and next year, 2011-Friends and for my non-business and non-family/close friends, as I chat with these *other* "Friends", I move them into the new year's group and this also lets me know that the people in the 2008 group have not replied or been online in over two years and it's probably OK to delete them from my friends list (but I still leave them in my address book... just in case they pop up again). I keep my YM set to ONLY show Online Contacts so I can quickly see if someone from an old group signs in... then I look at the archived chats for that person and decide if I should send them a "Long time no see" type IM or just delete them.
I hope that clarifies things... or at least leaves you in such a state of confusion where only overly medicating (or drinking a bunch of adult beverages) will fix things. It is still the weekend... at least here in the USA. LOL
Lenny Vasbinder
Skype - LennyTheComputerGuy
YM - LennyTheComputerGuy
My Yahoo Messenger related blogs:
http://lennythecomputerguy.blogspot.com/search/label/Yahoo%20Messenger
See the below thread.
Lenny Vasbinder
-----Original Message-----
From: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
On Behalf Of
Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2010 4:21 PM
To: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Y!M] Need clarification : Messenger client and web messenger Contacts
Hi all,
Could anyone tell me clearly how contacts are supposed to be synchronized between the webmessenger of Yahoo! Mail and the Yahoo! Messenger client.
For some reasons I do not see the same contacts and people added in Yahoo! Mail will not show up in the client.
My main ID is (deleted) but I also have aliases. could this be the problem ?
Thank you very much
My first reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: Lenny The Computer Guy
Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2010 4:42 PM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Y!M] Need clarification : Messenger client and web messenger Contacts
Yahoo Mail contacts are not the same as Yahoo Messenger contacts. Yahoo Mail contacts are people that you email and have added to your Yahoo Mail contact list.
Yahoo Mail contacts can have an email address from any of countless email service providers or ISP's whereas Yahoo Messenger contacts have to have a Yahoo ID (which can be the same as a Yahoo email address, but not necessarily) or a compatible user ID like a Windows Live ID.
The thing you are referring to as "webmessenger of Yahoo Mail" is probably not the correct term. Yahoo's Web Messenger is a browser based version of Yahoo Messenger that has limited functionality. Yahoo Mail Chat is the Yahoo Messenger version that works right off of your Yahoo Mail page when you have it turned on. I leave it off since, if you are on YM and then sign into Yahoo Mail and the Yahoo Mail Chat is turned on, it will boot you off of YM.
Your "friends" list from Yahoo Messenger should be the same when on Yahoo's Web Messenger or Yahoo Mail Chat but your YM "friends" may not be the same as your Yahoo Mail "contacts".
Lenny Vasbinder
Skype - LennyTheComputerGuy
YM - LennyTheComputerGuy
My Yahoo Messenger related blogs:
http://lennythecomputerguy.blogspot.com/search/label/Yahoo%20Messenger
-----Original Message-----
From: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
On Behalf Of
Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2010 5:35 PM
To: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Y!M] Need clarification : Messenger client and web messenger Contacts
The webmessenger is well... a web version of the messenger. In this sense it is the same thing as what you call Yahoo! Chat
I'm not at all talking about the address book contacts but about the messenger contacts. In my case those are not the same.
In your terms my Yahoo mail chat contacts are not the same as my Yahoo messenger client contacts.
And my follow-up reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: Lenny The Computer Guy
Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2010 9:13 PM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Y!M] Need clarification : Messenger client and web messenger Contacts
OK. Just to be sure we're on the same page, here is Yahoo's Web Messenger. You do need Java and Adobe Flash working in your browser to use this. http://webmessenger.yahoo.com/ Remember that signing into WebMessenger (or Yahoo Mail Chat) will sign you out of YM. When you sign in (for me, the sign-in window opened as a new tab on IE8 and then when I signed in, that tab closed and the WebMessenger tab became the active version of Yahoo WebMessenger. You will see an active image of your YM program with the same friends listed. You can IM your friends from there but with limited function compared to the regular YM program.
If you go to http://mail.yahoo.com/ and sign in, that will be your Yahoo Mail account and on the new version of Yahoo Mail, up at the top you will see Yahoo! Mail | Hi, (your name) | Available (or whatever your YM status is set to) | Sign Out. If you click on the Available or other status, you will get a drop down menu to change your status. On the left panel, under your Inbox, Drafts, Sent, Spam, etc. folders, you'll see a dotted line, then Contacts and your Yahoo Messenger friends will be listed there. If you click (or double click) on a name, it will open a new tab inside that Yahoo Mail frame and you can start IM'ing someone from there and it will work just like Yahoo Messenger but with limited functions (i.e. - no Webcam or many other features that are on YM). Yahoo calls (or called) this Yahoo Mail Chat when it first came out... although I don't see that name listed on the Yahoo Mail page.
Yahoo Chat is the Yahoo Chat Rooms which you can access from your main version of YM.
On all of the above, your Yahoo Messenger *friends* or *contacts* should be the same since Yahoo stores the database of our friends on their own servers so we can see our friends no matter which computer or YM version we sign in on.
Your Yahoo Mail contacts will be different and probably will include all of your YM *friends* but also any email contacts that you have. I just clicked on the Add link next to Contacts in the Yahoo Mail left panel and that opens a new Contacts Tab in the Yahoo Mail window frame and if you click on View All Contacts, you will see options. You will also see a BIG contact form that can be filled in with all the same kind of Contact Details that can be filled in for anyone on your *friends* list on the main YM program. I haven't checked to see if this info is kept on Yahoo Servers or our own computers. I did a test on one of my own other Yahoo ID's and then signed back into the main YM program which then "Disconnected" me from the Yahoo Mail Chat version of YM. I then viewed the Contact Details for my other Yahoo ID and sure enough, the change I had made was there so that kind of proves that the "Contacts" listed under Yahoo Mail Chat is synced with the main Yahoo Messenger program, at least as far as contacts/friends are concerned and any edits made to their contact information.
I hope that explains things better from my end.. and answers your questions but let me know if you still have any other questions.
Lenny Vasbinder
Skype - LennyTheComputerGuy
YM - LennyTheComputerGuy
My Yahoo Messenger related blogs:
http://lennythecomputerguy.blogspot.com/search/label/Yahoo%20Messenger
-----Original Message-----
From: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
On Behalf Of
Sent: Sunday, September 12, 2010 6:17 AM
To: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Y!M] Re: Need clarification : Messenger client and web messenger Contacts
Thanks for this long comprehensive reply. In fact after emailing a Yahoo! employee I got an answer to my problem. This explain the core of my problem being that messenger contacts lists are not the same, should I use the client of the web version in mail.
Here is what I was told:
-----
"- The Address Book stores private info you know about other people. We allow you to store a Messenger ID for people you know without inviting them to be Messenger Buddies.
- The Messenger Buddy list is a separate list of people who you have invited to be Messenger Buddies. This is NOT synced with the Address Book (but often is coincidentally in sync).
- Almost all Messenger clients get your Buddy List first, then fills it in with Address Book data. Mail, in contrast, gets your Address Book data first and fills it in with Messenger data (online status).
IMHO Mail should act the same as other Messenger clients and get your buddy list first. This is being reviewed but not do not expect a change in the near future.
Do you mind if I share your email with the Product Managers who are currently reviewing this behavior?"
----
Now hopefully I can find a way to replicate my contacts.
And my reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: Lenny The Computer Guy
Sent: Sunday, September 12, 2010 10:18 AM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Y!M] Re: Need clarification : Messenger client and web messenger Contacts
That's what I said in my first reply! ;-)
As far as which version of YM you use, the main YM program has the most options but if all you want to do is be able to send IM's back and forth, then any version will work.
HOWEVER (I guess I could have said BUT, since there's always a BUT... lol)... when using the Yahoo WebMessenger or Yahoo Mail Chat version's IF you save your archives of chat sessions, they will NOT be saved in your archives (although I do recall that Yahoo was going to give people the option of saving their archives on Yahoo's servers). ONLY your chats done on the main YM program will save into your archives on your computer.
I'm still not sure what you mean by "a way to replicate my contacts". As Yahoo also said in their reply, your YM contacts/friends are the same no matter which version of YM you are using. AND... on the main YM program, your Yahoo Mail contacts also get added to your friends list at the bottom under the folder, Address Book. You may have to click the arrow to expand that list if you want to see them all.
Lenny Vasbinder
Skype - LennyTheComputerGuy
YM - LennyTheComputerGuy
My Yahoo Messenger related blogs:
http://lennythecomputerguy.blogspot.com/search/label/Yahoo%20Messenger
-----Original Message-----
From: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
On Behalf Of
Sent: Sunday, September 12, 2010 11:19 AM
To: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Y!M] Re: Need clarification : Messenger client and web messenger Contacts
OK.
If you want:
people that show up online in Yahoo! are different than people who show up online in the messenger client. Or for exemple, if I want to chat with someone in Y!Mail, I'm asked to first add this person as a contact, but then when I login later in the Yahoo messenger desktop client it does not show up in my contact list.
That's why there is no synchronization between the two messenger contact lists. And obviously there are several databases.
That's why I want to be able to replicate my contacts which ever messenger I am using
Anyway i find all this very confusing
And my reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: Lenny The Computer Guy [mailto:LennyTheComputerGuy@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 12, 2010 12:39 PM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Y!M] Re: Need clarification : Messenger client and web messenger Contacts
When you added them in Yahoo Mail Chat, did they add you back and allow you to see them? If they didn't, then that may be why they're not showing up. When adding people on YM, if they don't add back, it shows up as Pending but I'm not sure if the Pending thing transfers over to the other YM versions on the web.
Hang on while I test this....
(Jeopardy Music)
OK. I just signed into Yahoo Mail under one Yahoo ID, call it 1st ID, and then opened Yahoo Mail Chat or YM in Yahoo Mail, which caused that ID to get signed out of YM. Then I manually added another Yahoo ID, called 2nd ID, that I have. Of course, it showed that 2nd ID as offline, since it was. I then sent a test message to that 2nd ID also.
I then signed into YM under that 2nd ID and I got the offline message from the 1st ID BUT I did not get an add-request to the 2nd ID that I had added from the 1st ID... so it seems the "adding" of a contact on Yahoo Mail Chat (or YM in Yahoo Mail) doesn't send the same kind of add-request as happens when you add someone from the regular YM program.
Next, I signed out of the 2nd ID on the main YM program and signed back into the 1st ID. That 2nd ID that I had added as a contact in the Yahoo Mail Chat (or YM in Yahoo Mail) DID NOT show up as a friend/contact in the main YM BUT did show up as a new "contact" in the Address Book group of "friends" on the main YM program
So.. it seems that when adding a contact from either WebMessenger or Yahoo Mail Chat (aka YM in Yahoo Mail), it will add them as an address book contact for Yahoo Mail, which will show up on your friends list under the Address Book group but it doesn't add them as a normal "friend" in one of your other groups.
I had a feeling this would happen since, when adding a friend from Yahoo Mail Chat, it did not offer me an option as to which group I would like to add the new contact. I have groups for "Business & Customers", Family & Close Friends" and then all other "Friends". On my older Yahoo ID's, I also have groups for people I have not chatted with in over two years as those will be deleted from the main list of friends (but kept in my address book group) since Yahoo only allows 500 friends... at least that's the last count I remember them allowing. I know that if I don't delete people once in a while, my friends list fills up and YM prompts me that I have to delete someone before adding someone new. Since figuring that out a long time ago, at the beginning of each new year, I start a new group of "Friends" with the year in front of it, like 2008-Friends, 2009-Friends, 2010-Friends and next year, 2011-Friends and for my non-business and non-family/close friends, as I chat with these *other* "Friends", I move them into the new year's group and this also lets me know that the people in the 2008 group have not replied or been online in over two years and it's probably OK to delete them from my friends list (but I still leave them in my address book... just in case they pop up again). I keep my YM set to ONLY show Online Contacts so I can quickly see if someone from an old group signs in... then I look at the archived chats for that person and decide if I should send them a "Long time no see" type IM or just delete them.
I hope that clarifies things... or at least leaves you in such a state of confusion where only overly medicating (or drinking a bunch of adult beverages) will fix things. It is still the weekend... at least here in the USA. LOL
Lenny Vasbinder
Skype - LennyTheComputerGuy
YM - LennyTheComputerGuy
My Yahoo Messenger related blogs:
http://lennythecomputerguy.blogspot.com/search/label/Yahoo%20Messenger
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Jokes - A Couple Of Computer Tech Funnies That Someone Sent Me
Here's a couple of problems I may not be able to help you with... well, maybe I can help you with paper training your puppy! ;-)
Lenny Vasbinder
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Jokes - Computer Errors
As we Silver Surfers know, sometimes we have trouble with our computers.
I had a problem yesterday, so I called Eric, the 11 year old nerd next door, whose bedroom looks like Mission Control and asked him to come over.
Eric clicked a couple of buttons and solved the problem.
As he was walking away, I called after him, "So, what was wrong?"
He replied, "It was an ID ten T error."
I didn't want to appear stupid, but nonetheless inquired, "An, ID ten T error? What's that? In case I need to fix it again."
Eric grinned.... "Haven't you ever heard of an ID ten T error before?"
"No", I replied.
"Write it down," he said, "and I think you'll figure it out."
So I wrote down:
ID10T
I used to like Eric, the little brat.
LOL
-------------
Which reminds me of another joke... an acronym used in the biz when explaining a computer related problem... PICNIC... Problem In Chair, Not In Computer. ;-)
But don't worry folks... they're just jokes and I'm more than happy to help you get through these issues and never have them again.
Lenny Vasbinder
I had a problem yesterday, so I called Eric, the 11 year old nerd next door, whose bedroom looks like Mission Control and asked him to come over.
Eric clicked a couple of buttons and solved the problem.
As he was walking away, I called after him, "So, what was wrong?"
He replied, "It was an ID ten T error."
I didn't want to appear stupid, but nonetheless inquired, "An, ID ten T error? What's that? In case I need to fix it again."
Eric grinned.... "Haven't you ever heard of an ID ten T error before?"
"No", I replied.
"Write it down," he said, "and I think you'll figure it out."
So I wrote down:
ID10T
I used to like Eric, the little brat.
LOL
-------------
Which reminds me of another joke... an acronym used in the biz when explaining a computer related problem... PICNIC... Problem In Chair, Not In Computer. ;-)
But don't worry folks... they're just jokes and I'm more than happy to help you get through these issues and never have them again.
Lenny Vasbinder
Flash - Adobe Flash Tutorial And How I Help Folks Diagnose Their Flash Issues
-----Original Message-----
From: WinTips-Tricks Yahoo Group
Subject: [WinTips-Tricks] Flash Trouble
Hi all,
A friend of mine has an Asus laptop with Vista Home Premium. Lately she has been having trouble with Adobe Flash. For example, going to YouTube and attempting to play a video causes the browser to freeze. Sometimes right-clicking on the task or opening the Task Manager (not even doing anything with tasks) can cause the video to start, but after a second or two, the video and/or audio chokes and stops.
Other sites like WeightWatchers (which has a Flash gizmo at a certain place on its site) just produce an error message that Flash has crashed.
I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling Flash several times, always getting the official uninstaller and the latest version of Flash from Adobe. I have also tried disabling all other plugins in Firefox (IE has the same problem), but to no avail.
Any thoughts on this? I am stumped. Thanks in advance for any assistance.
~pt
My first reply:
Has she updated her Adobe Flash Player? This page, http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/ will check your version for you and tell you if it's the latest version on the chart below. If you don't have the latest version, it should be updated as Adobe Flash is a common add-on that is attacked by hackers.
Same with Java. Java can be easily updated through the Java Applet in the Control Panel on your computer.
I use Secunia Online Scanner to check most of the common programs (Flash, Java, IM programs, Media Players, etc.) on computers to see if they have the latest, most secure versions. http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/online/ Once you do the first scan, it will offer to email you each time new definitions come out and you can run the scan again. I like Secunia as it will also give you the file path to any OLD remnant .exe files of programs that were left behind by a previous uninstall, so you can manually remove those remnant .exe files. This is common with Adobe and can cause the problems you are seeing. Adobe also offers a clean-up tool on their site for removing the remnant files it's uninstaller leaves behind.
Have they cleaned out their Flash Cookies? CCleaner, Spybot and I'm sure other security/cleaning programs will also clean out Flash cookies. I have a blog page on how I use CCleaner since I don't use all of the default settings since I don't want to clean out some of the things it will do as a default. I also use CCleaner to manage all the other cookies that I do allow to stay on my computer.
Do you or your friend know how to set the settings on Adobe Flash to have it run well without giving it too much freedom over your computer?
Last but not least, I use Toggle Flash and turn off Flash except for when I'm on a site that I want to turn it on for, like YouTube, Hulu, etc. Otherwise, I leave Flash turned off so it doesn't cause freeze up problems when wildly surfing the net since many advertisements are based on flash and lots of malware will try attacks through unsecured Flash Players or unsecured browsers. See my blog article and review of Toggle Flash
Lenny Vasbinder
Their follow-up reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: WinTips-Tricks Yahoo Group
On Behalf Of
Subject: [WinTips-Tricks] Re: Flash Trouble
Hi Lenny the Computer Guy,
Thanks for all the tips. I updated her to the latest version of Flash, as per Secunia. Secunia doesn't currently report any outdated or compromised software.
I was unable to find the Adobe program that cleans up old installs. How might I find it?
I installed the Flashblock (to have Flash items on a page disabled by default) and BetterPrivacy (to delete Flash cookies) extensions on Firefox. (Flash seems to be working on IE8 now, btw.) I have also used Adobe's tool to adjust Flash security settings. For good measure I ran CCleaner to delete Flash cookies (as well as over 470 MB of other junk!) and used Eusing's Registry Cleaner to clean up the registry.
However, I continue to have the same issues with YouTube. Any other thoughts?
~pt
My follow-up reply:
If you have Flashblock, I see this is a FireFox (FF) add-on, then that would be blocking the videos with YouTube... and possibly causing it to freeze. It could also be your settings to block flash cookies. I think you have to allow them on most sites that have flash features that you actually want to see. Then use CCleaner or other utility to clean the flash cookies up.
Flash, in and of itself, does cause browser freeze-ups on a regular basis, usually related to malicious ads or flash vids created with old versions or other related problems, which is why I use Toggle Flash in IE8 when doing power surfing. Then if I'm on a page where I do want to see the video or animation, I click the Toggle Flash button on my browser tab's bar, do a refresh on just that page and I'm able to see the video/animation. After I'm done, I click Toggle Flash again so Flash is turned off when I go to the next site.
I only use FF as a backup browser so I'm not as familiar with all of it's tweaks but I know there have been problems with some of the recent updates and most folks had to uninstall FF and then reinstall it to get a clean installation and then re-customize it.
While all of the add-ons are great for some folks, each add-on can also bring it's own unique set of problems in how it plays with the other add-ons or the browser itself. I know that with many other programs, add-ons are almost always the cause of problems with the main program... I'm sure it's the same with FF.
Re-run the Secunia scan and do the "Enable thorough scan..." and if it comes up clean with no old fragments of Flash.exe files, then you shouldn't be having any immediate problems related to Flash itself.
If you still have problems, http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/191/tn_19166.html#main_Uninstall, which should cleanup current and all previous versions... or you can use RevoUninstaller to really do a cleanup of Adobe Flash program and registry entries, then get the latest version here, http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ and start from scratch again. That entire page in the first link in this paragraph has LOTS of other info for troubleshooting Flash problems with IE8, FF, etc.
Depending on the users download speed, you may have to go into the Flash Settings (right click on the flash video and choose "Settings" and give it more buffering capacity. For folks that do not have the fastest download speeds but do lots of YouTubing, if they have secure computers, I might give them 10MB of memory on the host computer. For most others, 1MB or less is sufficient. This needs to be tweaked from time to time depending on the situation for folks that use different internet connections like wi-fi hotspots. The downside of giving too much memory is that malicious Flash ads also have access to that memory so it's important that any computer connected to the internet be very secure.
If the above didn't answer all of your questions or doesn't work, give me more info and details related to your last paragraph, "However, I continue to have the same issues with YouTube. Any other thoughts?" Is this happening on both IE8 and FF or just FF? You said that Flash was working on IE8, so I'll presume YouTube was also working but if it's not, let me know. If your issue is only with FF, then it's likely one of the add-ons that are causing the problem. Disable them one by one until you find the culprit.
Lenny Vasbinder
Their final reply and thanks...
-----Original Message-----
From: WinTips-Tricks
On Behalf Of
Subject: [WinTips-Tricks] Re: Flash Trouble
Thanks, Lenny. It was the storage settings. They were set to 100KB, which obviously is not enough to buffer video. When I set it to 10MB, YouTube works like a dream.
~pt
From: WinTips-Tricks Yahoo Group
Subject: [WinTips-Tricks] Flash Trouble
Hi all,
A friend of mine has an Asus laptop with Vista Home Premium. Lately she has been having trouble with Adobe Flash. For example, going to YouTube and attempting to play a video causes the browser to freeze. Sometimes right-clicking on the task or opening the Task Manager (not even doing anything with tasks) can cause the video to start, but after a second or two, the video and/or audio chokes and stops.
Other sites like WeightWatchers (which has a Flash gizmo at a certain place on its site) just produce an error message that Flash has crashed.
I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling Flash several times, always getting the official uninstaller and the latest version of Flash from Adobe. I have also tried disabling all other plugins in Firefox (IE has the same problem), but to no avail.
Any thoughts on this? I am stumped. Thanks in advance for any assistance.
~pt
My first reply:
Has she updated her Adobe Flash Player? This page, http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/ will check your version for you and tell you if it's the latest version on the chart below. If you don't have the latest version, it should be updated as Adobe Flash is a common add-on that is attacked by hackers.
Same with Java. Java can be easily updated through the Java Applet in the Control Panel on your computer.
I use Secunia Online Scanner to check most of the common programs (Flash, Java, IM programs, Media Players, etc.) on computers to see if they have the latest, most secure versions. http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/online/ Once you do the first scan, it will offer to email you each time new definitions come out and you can run the scan again. I like Secunia as it will also give you the file path to any OLD remnant .exe files of programs that were left behind by a previous uninstall, so you can manually remove those remnant .exe files. This is common with Adobe and can cause the problems you are seeing. Adobe also offers a clean-up tool on their site for removing the remnant files it's uninstaller leaves behind.
Have they cleaned out their Flash Cookies? CCleaner, Spybot and I'm sure other security/cleaning programs will also clean out Flash cookies. I have a blog page on how I use CCleaner since I don't use all of the default settings since I don't want to clean out some of the things it will do as a default. I also use CCleaner to manage all the other cookies that I do allow to stay on my computer.
Do you or your friend know how to set the settings on Adobe Flash to have it run well without giving it too much freedom over your computer?
Last but not least, I use Toggle Flash and turn off Flash except for when I'm on a site that I want to turn it on for, like YouTube, Hulu, etc. Otherwise, I leave Flash turned off so it doesn't cause freeze up problems when wildly surfing the net since many advertisements are based on flash and lots of malware will try attacks through unsecured Flash Players or unsecured browsers. See my blog article and review of Toggle Flash
Lenny Vasbinder
Their follow-up reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: WinTips-Tricks Yahoo Group
On Behalf Of
Subject: [WinTips-Tricks] Re: Flash Trouble
Hi Lenny the Computer Guy,
Thanks for all the tips. I updated her to the latest version of Flash, as per Secunia. Secunia doesn't currently report any outdated or compromised software.
I was unable to find the Adobe program that cleans up old installs. How might I find it?
I installed the Flashblock (to have Flash items on a page disabled by default) and BetterPrivacy (to delete Flash cookies) extensions on Firefox. (Flash seems to be working on IE8 now, btw.) I have also used Adobe's tool to adjust Flash security settings. For good measure I ran CCleaner to delete Flash cookies (as well as over 470 MB of other junk!) and used Eusing's Registry Cleaner to clean up the registry.
However, I continue to have the same issues with YouTube. Any other thoughts?
~pt
My follow-up reply:
If you have Flashblock, I see this is a FireFox (FF) add-on, then that would be blocking the videos with YouTube... and possibly causing it to freeze. It could also be your settings to block flash cookies. I think you have to allow them on most sites that have flash features that you actually want to see. Then use CCleaner or other utility to clean the flash cookies up.
Flash, in and of itself, does cause browser freeze-ups on a regular basis, usually related to malicious ads or flash vids created with old versions or other related problems, which is why I use Toggle Flash in IE8 when doing power surfing. Then if I'm on a page where I do want to see the video or animation, I click the Toggle Flash button on my browser tab's bar, do a refresh on just that page and I'm able to see the video/animation. After I'm done, I click Toggle Flash again so Flash is turned off when I go to the next site.
I only use FF as a backup browser so I'm not as familiar with all of it's tweaks but I know there have been problems with some of the recent updates and most folks had to uninstall FF and then reinstall it to get a clean installation and then re-customize it.
While all of the add-ons are great for some folks, each add-on can also bring it's own unique set of problems in how it plays with the other add-ons or the browser itself. I know that with many other programs, add-ons are almost always the cause of problems with the main program... I'm sure it's the same with FF.
Re-run the Secunia scan and do the "Enable thorough scan..." and if it comes up clean with no old fragments of Flash.exe files, then you shouldn't be having any immediate problems related to Flash itself.
If you still have problems, http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/191/tn_19166.html#main_Uninstall, which should cleanup current and all previous versions... or you can use RevoUninstaller to really do a cleanup of Adobe Flash program and registry entries, then get the latest version here, http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ and start from scratch again. That entire page in the first link in this paragraph has LOTS of other info for troubleshooting Flash problems with IE8, FF, etc.
Depending on the users download speed, you may have to go into the Flash Settings (right click on the flash video and choose "Settings" and give it more buffering capacity. For folks that do not have the fastest download speeds but do lots of YouTubing, if they have secure computers, I might give them 10MB of memory on the host computer. For most others, 1MB or less is sufficient. This needs to be tweaked from time to time depending on the situation for folks that use different internet connections like wi-fi hotspots. The downside of giving too much memory is that malicious Flash ads also have access to that memory so it's important that any computer connected to the internet be very secure.
If the above didn't answer all of your questions or doesn't work, give me more info and details related to your last paragraph, "However, I continue to have the same issues with YouTube. Any other thoughts?" Is this happening on both IE8 and FF or just FF? You said that Flash was working on IE8, so I'll presume YouTube was also working but if it's not, let me know. If your issue is only with FF, then it's likely one of the add-ons that are causing the problem. Disable them one by one until you find the culprit.
Lenny Vasbinder
Their final reply and thanks...
-----Original Message-----
From: WinTips-Tricks
On Behalf Of
Subject: [WinTips-Tricks] Re: Flash Trouble
Thanks, Lenny. It was the storage settings. They were set to 100KB, which obviously is not enough to buffer video. When I set it to 10MB, YouTube works like a dream.
~pt
System Restore Tutorial - How To Set System Restore Points And How To Clear Them All Out If Your Computer Gets Infected With Malware
vssadmin resize shadowstorage /on=[drive letter]: /For=[drive letter]: /Maxsize=[maximum size]
MaxSizeSpec must be 300MB or greater and accepts the following suffixes: KB (for kilobytes), MB (for megabytes), GB (for gigabytes), TB (for terabytes), PB (for petabytes) and EB (for exabytes). If a suffix is not supplied, MaxSizeSpec is in bytes. If MaxSizeSpec is not specified, then there will be no limit to the amount of space it may use.
For example, if you want System Restore to use a maximum of 1GB of space for the restore points on drive "C:", you should type the following:
vssadmin resize shadowstorage /On=C: /For=C: /Maxsize=1GB
Although you would likely want more than 1GB of space on a newer BIGGER hard drive. I set mine at 10GB.
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