NEWS Update - Opera 9.1 released, adds real-time phishing protection

Opera has just released the latest upgrade to their critically-acclaimed web browser, version 9.1. While a .1 upgrade is not normally an event worthy of a news post, the new version adds an interesting and important feature: real-time phishing protection for web sites.

Phishing is rapidly becoming the malware of choice for the Internet's motley gang of spamming scammers. As it relies on social engineering rather than any technical vulnerability to do its dirty work , no amount of downloading security updates or switching operating systems can protect against it.

The automatic site checking tool makes loading new sites slightly slower, as it runs the site through the database, and for this reason it is turned off by default. However, even with the feature turned off, a black question mark icon appears on the right hand side of the address bar for every site. When clicked, this question mark allows the user to check the site manually, as well as turn on automatic checking for all future sites. When a site is verified as being safe, the black question mark turns into a black lower-case "i" to indicate that the site has been identified.

Even if the user turns off the automatic fraud protection, sites that have been previously verified as being safe will still display as such. Sites flagged as unsafe get a red warning label and a popup dialog box to inform the user.

The fraud protection has also been redesigned to prevent reverse cross-site request scams, such as the ones that recently affected MySpace and caused problems for both Firefox 2 and Internet Explorer 7.

Opera 9.1 also contains some non-phishing updates, such as fixes to the Windows Media plugin player, as well as several memory leak and crash fixes. It remains the fastest web browser in many speed comparisons and has many handy features such as the ability to put browser tabs on any side of the screen.

The Windows XP Page File

Performance is always an issue when dealing with computers. We tend to think of major items such as processor speed, amount of installed RAM and the graphics card when talking about how fast a computer performs. It's true those components do play a large role in performance, but one item that can substantially impact overall performance that doesn't get nearly the amount of attention as the more well known components is the paging file. The paging file is very closely related to the physical RAM installed in the computer. Its purpose is to extend the amount of physical RAM and make it available to the system. Both services and installed applications can benefit from this 'extra' RAM, even though it is substantially different from the sticks that plug into the motherboard.

Not all that long ago 32 to 64 megabytes (MB) of RAM was considered a huge amount for a personal computer. Today, amounts of 128MB to 256MB are common with many machines sporting 512MB or even 1GB of RAM. It might seem that with such a huge jump in installed RAM that the paging file would be unnecessary. There must be some sort of law or correlation that I don't know about, but operating systems and applications keep finding ways to suck up all that memory so the page file remains with us. There have been a number of schemes for extending the installed amounts of RAM but basically they are all paging files. When the load imposed by applications and services running on the computer nears the amount of installed RAM it calls out for more. Since there isn't any additional RAM to be found, it looks for a substitute; in this case virtual memory which is also known as the page file.

We now have two types of memory; random access memory (RAM) and virtual memory, or the page file. The page file is created during the Windows XP installation and resides on the hard drive. Page files are measured in megabytes. The size of the page file is based on how much RAM is installed in the computer. By default, XP creates a page file which is 1.5 times the amount of installed RAM and places it on the hard drive where XP is installed. Other than plugging the RAM into the motherboard, there is little than can be done to alter its performance characteristics. The page file is a different story. Because it's located on a hard drive, it's subject to a number of factors that can hinder its performance.

How to Remove Windows Messenger on Windows XP

What is Windows Messenger?

Windows XP and Windows 2000 both have a software program called Windows Messenger installed and loaded by default. This software allows you to send and receive messages directly from one computer to another. Advertisers have now discovered how to abuse this option to send advertisements direct to a users screen.


How do I disable Windows Messenger?
In Windows XP:
(1) Select "Start"
(2) Choose "Control Panel"
(3) Choose "Administrative Tools"** note in Windows XP Home edition, Admistrative Tools is in Performance and Maintence
(4) Choose "Services"
(5) Right-click on "Messenger"
(6) Select "Stop"To permanently disable Messenger:
(7) Right click "Messenger"
(8) Select "Properties"
(9) Change "Startup Type" to "Disabled" and click "OK"

In Windows 2000:
(1) Select "Start"
(2) Choose "Settings"
(3) Choose "Control Panel"
(4) Choose "Administrative Tools"
(5) Choose "Services"
(6) Right-click "Messenger"
(7) Select "Properties"
(8) Click "Stop" To permanently disable Messenger:
(9) Change "Startup Type" to "Disabled" and click "OK"

In Windows NT:
(1) Select "Start"
(2) Choose "Control Panel"
(3) Choose "Services"
(4) Right-click "Messenger"
(5) Select "Properties"
(6) Click "Stop" To permanently disable Messenger:
(7) Click "Startup"
(8) Change "Startup Type" to "Disabled" and click "OK"

What about Windows 95 or Windows 98 IP Messaging?
Although the technology for this type of IP Messaging is available in Win95/98, it was in the form of a program called WinPopUp. It can be installed or uninstalled from Add/Remove Programs. In Windows 95, it is found in the Accessories section, while in Windows 98 it is installed through System Tools.

Although the version in Win95/98 and the version in Win2K/XP are not compatible with each other, they do offer an interesting way to communicate between computers (as long as its not abused). For more information on how to use WinPopUp or Windows Messenger to send and receive emails, you may want to visit the World of Windows Networking article on PopUp Messages.