Preparing Windows XP for the long haul

Preparing Windows XP for the long haul

By Fred Langa

Microsoft’s support for Windows XP may be fading, but a loyal horde of XP users plans to stick with this venerable OS for as long as possible.

If that’s your long-term goal, there are a number of steps you can take now to ensure a finely tuned XP system for months — possibly years — to come.

Windows XP is almost a decade old, which in both computing and dog years makes it very long in the tooth.

Microsoft has officially dropped support and security updates for all XP versions through Service Pack 2. The only version of 32-bit XP that still qualifies for Microsoft’s security patches and major bug-fixes is the Service Pack 3 edition. (The relatively rare 64-bit flavor of XP is a special case. See Microsoft’s explanation.)

XP has had a long and excellent run, but SP3 is the end of the line.

That said, XP is not dead, and it’s still the best OS for older hardware designed with XP in mind. (I have XP on several of my older systems.)

If you’re still using an XP box by choice (or necessity), there’s lots you can do to keep things humming along until you eventually move to new hardware — which will almost assuredly come with the excellent Windows 7 already installed.

Here are some key steps you can take to get — and keep — your XP system running great! And if you move to Windows 7 (or are also running Vista machines), many of these techniques can also help you.

Start with a thorough XP system checkup

► Check the hardware. Hardware? Yes! No operating system can be better than the hardware on which it’s installed, and older systems are prone to age-related problems. One often-overlooked problem is dust buildup, which can cause chips and drives to overheat and malfunction. These hardware errors can masquerade as software problems, causing you to waste time troubleshooting the wrong thing.

It’s easy to clean your PC. Consult my how-to article, “Getting the grunge out of your PC.” (It’s a few years old, but still completely apt.) While you have your PC’s case open, make sure that all plug-in cards and socketed chips are fully seated and all cables firmly connected.

► Check your hard drive’s “physical” health. Most new and XP-era drives are equipped with Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology, also known as SMART reporting. SMART data is stored within the hard drive itself and can often alert you to impending problems before they get serious.

It’s easy to check the SMART data. Two tools I like are PassMark’s DiskCheckup (info/download page) and Active@ DiskMonitorFree (download page). Both programs are free for personal use and also come in commercial versions for organizations.

► Check your hard drive’s “logical” health. Run chkdsk.exe to check the integrity of your hard drive’s files and to repair any errors.

Click Start and Run, then type chkdsk c: /f into the Run dialog box. Hit OK.

Chkdsk may tell you that it can’t check the drive because the drive is in use. It will then offer to check the drive at reboot. Type Y (yes) and hit the Enter key.

Repeat for all drives/partitions on your system.

► Correct driver errors now, while you can. Just as Microsoft is providing less support for XP, third-party vendors are withdrawing support for older hardware. Someday soon, you may discover that the drivers you need are no longer available. Fix problems now!

Boot XP and right-click My Computer. Select Properties, Hardware, then Device Manager. (Or, click Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager.) Click View and select Show hidden devices to make sure you’re seeing everything.

Correct any problem indicated by a yellow exclamation mark or a red X; in most cases, you should get correct or updated drivers from the hardware vendor’s site.

It might also be wise to save copies of any special drivers your systems needs; burn ’em to a CD or DVD, and tuck the disc away in a safe place.

Review and update your PC’s security system

► Patch and update XP and apps. Starting with Windows Update, make sure your operating system is fully up-to-date with all necessary patches, fixes, and updates. Do the same for all your non-Microsoft software, visiting the vendor sites to download any new updates and patches for your applications and utilities. A tool such as Secunia’s outstanding, free-for-home-use Personal Software Inspector (PSI) (download page) can make this step a breeze.

► Verify system security. Regardless of the antivirus and anti-malware tool(s) you’re using, visit a competing vendor’s site and run their free live or online scan to verify that nothing slipped past your usual defenses.

Next, check that your firewall is providing the protection it should. There are many good, free, online firewall-test sites, such as Hackerwatch, Gibson Research ShieldsUP, and AuditMyPC.

Give your computer a thorough file cleaning

► Take out the trash — all of it. Needless file clutter makes a system harder to use and slower to operate. For example, AV scans and Windows’ indexing both take longer when they have many junk files to process.

Start by deleting old $NtUninstall{xxx}$ files from XP’s C:Windows folder; these files can occupy a shocking amount of space! You need these files only when a Windows Update fails and you (or the OS) have to roll back your system. If your system is working fine, $NtUninstall files serve no purpose.

Next, wade through your hard drive, folder by folder, making sure files are where they’re supposed to be and that you’re not storing needless duplicates or other useless files.

Next, uninstall obsolete or unused software.

Finally, use a tool such as Piriform’s free CCleaner (site) to rid your drive of useless junk files and broken or obsolete Registry data.

► Rein in XP’s three worst space-hogs. System Restore, the Recycle Bin, and browser caches are like black holes for data, and your system can run better if you limit their voracious appetites.

System Restore is at best a limited recovery tool, so I don’t feel it’s worthwhile to devote vast amounts of disk space to it. The Kellys-Korner article, “System Restore for Windows XP,” tells you how to manage it.

Windows’ default Recycle Bin can consume hundreds of gigabytes on a large drive. Pare this down to a reasonable size by right-clicking the Recycle Bin and selecting Properties. Reduce the size of the Recycle Bin to a smaller percentage of the total disk space. (Click the disk tab — e.g., Local Disk (C:) — to determine its reserved Recycle Bin space in gigabytes.) I set it to around 500 MB (0.5GB) on large disks and 250MB (0.25GB) on smaller ones.

To reduce Internet Explorer’s cache size, click Tools and Internet Options. Then, under the Browsing History section, click Settings and adjust the cache size downward to, say, 50MB.

For Firefox, click Tools/Options and then click Advanced. Under the Network tab, look for the settings box in the Offline Storage section.

Chrome’s cache-size adjustment uses the command line, as described on a Chrome Help forum page.

► Defrag. Once your disk is rid of all unnecessary files and is organized the way you want, run your defragmentation tool to reorder your files for optimal performance. If your disk was badly fragmented, it may take several iterations of defragging to achieve maximum benefit. (Paid subscribers can read an in-depth discussion of defragging in my Aug. 5 column.)

Use disk imaging to preserve your new setup

Once you’ve worked through all the above, your XP system should be lean, clean, defragged, and fully up-to-date. Wouldn’t it be great if you could somehow preserve your PC’s current software state so that, should you ever need to in the future, you can bring it back to this nearly perfect condition in just minutes?

You can! Use a disk imaging tool to create a perfect, complete, working copy of your current setup. You’ll never again have to rebuild your system and reinstall all your software from scratch!

XP requires third-party disk-imaging software (Win7 has it built in) such as Acronis’ U.S. $30 True Image (info page), Norton’ $70 Ghost (site), or — my personal favorite for non-Win7 systems — Terabyte Unlimited’s geeky-but-powerful $35 BootItNG (info page).

All three programs make disk images and bootable recovery discs that can be used to restore a complete, everything-installed-and-working setup — even to a raw, unformatted drive.

There’s plenty of free disk imaging software available, too. For example, see Freebyte’s page titled “Free disk image software;” TheFreeCountry’s list of “Free hard disk and partition imaging and backup software;” or OptimizingPC’s how-to, “Create free bootable Windows XP image disk.”

Run through the above steps once or twice a year to keep your system in tip-top shape, and make a fresh disk image from time to time — especially if you make any significant changes to your hardware or software. Store your disk images in a safe place (off the hard drive), such as on CDs or DVDs stored away from your PC.

With this kind of routine maintenance, your XP system will most likely run well for as long as you need it. And, should the worst (major crash, hard drive failure, etc.) happen, you can use your disk images to rapidly restore your system to the near-perfect state you just created.

You’re now set for the long haul!

Fred Langa is a senior editor of the Windows Secrets Newsletter. He was formerly editor of Byte Magazine (1987–91), editorial director of CMP Media (1991–97), and editor of the LangaList e-mail newsletter from its origin in 1997 until its merger with Windows Secrets in November 2006.

Dead language becomes dated placeholder

By Keely Dolan

Although placeholder text has been used in word processing for decades, it’s rarely the subject of scrutiny.

Lorem ipsum is the Latin-derived placeholder text used by graphic designers and layout specialists. But in this age of sophisticated digital-document product, is it time for an updated version?

In his thread titled “A new lorem ipsum?”, Lounge member peterg suggests there’s a need for a new string of text, usable for showing off typographic extras and letter-spacing anomalies in differing languages. The discussion into the intricacies of letter spacing and color make this thread an enlightening read. More»

The following links are this week’s most-interesting Lounge threads, including several new questions that you may be able to provide responses to:

☼ starred posts — particularly useful

If you’re not already a Lounge member, use the quick registration form to sign up for free. The ability to post comments and take advantage of other Lounge features is available only to registered members.

If you’re already registered, you can jump right in to today’s discussions in the Lounge.

The Lounge Life column is a digest of the best of the WS Lounge discussion board. Keely Dolan is a Windows Secrets Lounge administrator.

How to make your day at the zoo a blast

By Stephanie Small The zoo can be an exciting place — the lions roaring, the hyenas cackling, the elephants trumpeting. Too bad that every time you visit, the residents are taking naps. If only there were a way to get the wildlife back on their feet. Introducing the Zoo Horn! This simple, ingenious device — demonstrated in this video — will wake up those slumbering critters and have them performing their boisterous antics in seconds. Then try it on your lazy human friends and family — and witness its amazing results! Play the video

Tracking down and preventing unwanted reboots

By Fred Langa Unwanted restarts can be more than an exercise in frustration and wasted time — they can easily result in lost data. Fortunately, there are only three main causes of unintended reboots, so finding — and controlling — them is usually not hard.

Updates: The leading culprits for auto-reboots

Barry Karas wants to prevent annoying self-restarts in Windows.

• “I leave my computer turned on all of the time, even when I’m not using it. (The OS is Windows XP Home.) Occasionally, the system automatically reboots. How would I prevent that from occurring and not have the OS nag me to reboot?”

Piece o’ cake, Barry! There are only a few things that will cause a Windows system to automatically reboot itself.

The most common reason is software updates that need to refresh applications or software components — usually apps that are in use or loaded into memory at the time of the update. This can include always-on system software and programs that start when Windows boots.

• Windows Update is one source of such required reboots. But all versions of Windows let you control how and when Windows Update does its thing.

  In XP, open the Control Panel and click Security Center. At the bottom of the Windows Security Center dialog, under the Manage security settings heading, click on Automatic Updates and follow the instructions in Figure 1.

  
  Figure 1. In XP, choose the “Notify me but don’t automatically download or install them” option (circled in yellow).

  Vista and Windows 7 have similar steps: open the Control Panel, then click Security/Windows Update (in Win7, System and Security/Windows Update) and select Change Settings in the left-hand pane. Then follow the instructions as seen in Figure 2.

  
  Figure 2. In Win7 and Vista, the option labeled “Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them” (circled in yellow) gives you the greatest control over the Update process.

  In all versions of Windows, these settings mean that you decide when to download and install updates so that any required reboots won’t interfere with your use of the computer.

  But Windows Update is only one of the things that can cause your PC to reboot itself, so you’re not done yet!

• Non-Microsoft software updates (Apple, Adobe, Oracle/Sun, etc.) may also require reboots. The update process — and your ability to control it — varies from vendor to vendor. Your best option is to check the Help files for your third-party software to learn what controls are available to you.

  The other main reasons for a PC to self-restart are plain-old system errors. For example, a major software or hardware crash can trigger a spontaneous reboot.

• Software-related crash/restart cycles have become wonderfully rare, especially with Win7, but they can still happen. If you suspect that a software flaw is the root of the problem, make sure all your programs are up-to-date and look for patterns in the reboots. Is the same software always running when the reboots happen? Try disabling any suspect software; if the spontaneous reboots stop, you’ve found the culprit!
• Hardware-related spontaneous reboots are more common with older systems. One frequent cause is overheating due to a dead fan or because the guts of the system are encased in heat-retaining dust. Other times, system components simply wear out and can no longer operate within normal specifications.

If yours is an older system that’s never been cleaned internally, see my how-to article, “Getting the grunge out of your PC,” for information on getting rid of the dust. For more on keeping older systems running smoothly, see my Top Story, “Preparing Windows XP for the long haul.”

If your hardware is just plain dying — well, there’s nothing to be done except replace either the part or the entire system. Nothing lasts forever, and if one component’s going down, others are probably not far behind.

But with all auto-updates turned off, and with your system properly cooled and running as it should, you’ll most likely never be troubled by auto-restarts again!

DVD drive will not read original discs

Keith’s DVD burner can read only copied discs.

• “I bought a Dell computer with a single optical drive — a 16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer write capability. From day one, my DVD burner did not read original discs, not even the Genuine WinXP installation disc.

  “I’ve gotten used to copying original discs in another computer and using only copied discs in the Dell. Somehow, that works.

  “I even tried to update my DVD software, but it says that no update is available.

  “I called Dell, but I was directed to India. After listening to my experience, the tech was unable to help.”

Tech support is often a hassle. Most first-tier phone techs aren’t very technical and simply work from scripts that pick up on keywords the caller uses. I’ve found that stating the problem in the simplest possible terms sometimes helps. In other words, giving a support tech too much information can actually work against you!

Simply stating, “My DVD drive can’t read DVDs” might get you a better response than explaining that it can read copied DVDs but not originals (or that you think it might be the software).

But first, I suggest you open your PC case and look for obvious problems such as a loose or partially dislodged cable connecting the DVD burner to the motherboard. Check both ends of the cable.

If nothing’s obviously amiss and your system’s still under warranty, get on the phone and make a fuss until Dell sends you a replacement burner. A simple, emphatic “It’s never worked properly; it arrived broken” with no further detail might be all it takes.

But if your warranty has expired, you’re probably just out of luck. Fortunately, brand-new replacement drives aren’t expensive. A few minutes with your favorite search engine should turn up a boatload of similar drives starting at under U.S. $30 or so.

But by all means, try the warranty repair first. That’s what warranties are for!

Two techniques for user-proofing Windows

Vicki Smith wants to lock down public-use PCs.

• “I’m thinking about installing Windows SteadyState, a free Microsoft program that is designed to return a PC to its pristine condition in shared computer environments.

  “We have four Vista computers for public use in a drop-in center, and keeping them clean and in working order is a nightmare. Just yesterday, someone was downloading something and ignored or canceled out the antivirus warnings.

  “Is SteadyState worth it?”

Yes, it is. In fact, Microsoft’s free SteadyState tool (download) is the easiest way I know to protect Vista and XP setups from unwanted changes. MS says it’s specifically designed for abuse-prone PCs “in a school computer lab or an Internet café, a library, or even in your home.”

This won’t affect you, Vicki, but SteadyState doesn’t work on Windows 7, and Microsoft says it’s not going to update the software to make it Win7-compatible. For more on this, see Yardena Arar’s April 8 Top Story, “Microsoft decision puts public libraries at risk.”

For Win7 boxes or for instances where SteadyState might be overkill, a simpler solution is to use a virtual machine (VM). For a discussion of using a VM as an alternative to SteadyState, see my April 22 column, “Two ways to make ‘self-healing’ Windows setups.”

My favorite free virtual machine software is Oracle’s (formerly Sun’s) VirtualBox (site). And, as with SteadyState, VirtualBox is free!

Pros and cons of ‘Search Everything’

New Zealander Pete Johnstone was one of several readers suggesting a free search tool in response to my July 1 item, “He hates Win7’s Search, wants alternative.”

• “Fred, I have found a small free program called Search Everything that can be downloaded from a Voidtools page.

  “When first run, it takes a few minutes to catalog the entire PC. But once done, it will show any search results in a flash. It lists any file matching the search, from all drives on the PC, in real time as you type. It also shows what drive they are on and the containing folder.

  “If you have not seen it before, it is worth a look just for its speed. I do not use anything else now, as I can locate every possibility of every file I search for, including operating system files.”

Thanks, Pete (and everyone else who suggested Search Everything)!

It’s a fine tool, I agree. But Search Everything is designed specifically to find files by name. In contrast, a tool such as Windows’ built-in Search or (my personal favorite) Google’s free Desktop search (site) can find files by name and by content — by words or phrases inside files.

For example, Search Everything can quickly find, say, all files with the word rutabaga in the title. Google Desktop search can do the same, plus it can find any file that mentions rutabaga, turnip, Brussels sprouts, or the phrase veggies I don’t like anywhere inside any file.

I prefer the broad flexibility of the latter type of search, but it’s a subjective thing. Sort of like tastes in vegetables!

Fred Langa is a senior editor of the Windows Secrets Newsletter. He was formerly editor of Byte Magazine (1987–91), editorial director of CMP Media (1991–97), and editor of the LangaList e-mail newsletter from its origin in 1997 until its merger with Windows Secrets in November 2006.

Software organizes your photo collection

By Lincoln Spector The most daunting task for digital photographers of all types, from snapshooter to pro, is organizing the hundreds or thousands of images they’ve captured. You can put your images into simple folders, but free or inexpensive photo organizers are a better way to wring order from chaos.

Use tags to make images easy to search and sort

You probably have no idea how many digital photos you’ve accumulated, but even if it’s just a few hundred, by now you’ve undoubtedly discovered that searching for a specific shot can be a difficult and time-consuming task. So, under which folder did you file that great photo of your nephew Hamlet (taken at his mother’s third wedding)? Was it Hamlet, Wacky Weddings, or 2008-12-Elsinore?

Unless you have an, uh, photographic memory, the best way to find that one outstanding image again is to give it descriptive tags. Later, you can use the tags to quickly filter, sort, and otherwise reorganize your photo library.

Tags are stored as metadata — data stored within a file’s header and describing the file’s contents. When you move an image file from one computer or storage device to another, the tags always go with it. Some of these tags are standardized, so you can utilize them regardless of what image viewer or operating system you have.

Good photo organizers make the process of adding tags and using tags quick and easy. These apps let you tag photos in all sorts of ways, including adding multiple tags to the same image. That way one photo — a family portrait on a beach in Hawaii, for instance — can be sorted by various categories: for example, vacations, brother Frank, Kona, and so forth.

Within seconds, I can pull up all the photos with my youngest daughter or just the photos of her taken near the Pacific coast.

The most appealing photo organizers, like the best things in life, are free. Two of the better ones come from Google and Microsoft. I’ll tell you what they have to offer, and I’ll add an extra little program, too.

But before you start using any photo organizer, consider this: each program has special tags that cannot be read by another app. For example, the People tags in both of these organizers may look the same, but that tag created in one application is invisible to another. So, once you’ve started using, say, Google’s product to tag people in a few thousand images, switching to another organizer may negate many hours of work.

You can get around this incompatibility by using the universal, generic tags for people as well as for places and events. But you lose the program’s people-searching abilities if you do that.

So take some time to try different organizers before settling on one. You’ll find that each has its own style and a few specialized features not found in competing products.

Photo organizer puts your images on the map

A free download (site) from Google, Picasa 3’s specialty is keeping track of where you took your photos. Of course, you or your camera must first tell Picasa where the picture was taken.

GPS and geotagging are finding their way into a few digital still cameras and many smartphones. When you snap the shutter, the longitude and latitude are saved as part of each photo’s metadata. Click Picasa’s Places tab, and the camera location gets pinpointed in a small Google Maps window. (See Figure 1.) You can also geotag a photo manually by selecting a point on that map or in Google Earth.

Figure 1. Using geotagging, Google’s Picasa can show you on a digital map where each photo was shot.

Picasa’s People tags go a long way in helping you identify who’s in a photo, although they’re still far from automatic. The program finds faces in the photos, makes a guess as to who it is, and lets you accept it or correct it. If you use Gmail, it fills in the name from your address book.

In my experience, Picasa correctly identifies and tags a face about half the time. That’s enough to significantly cut the amount of time you spend telling it who’s in your photos.

Picasa’s regular, generic tags seem like an afterthought. The navigation panel on the left lets you easily find images by Albums, People, Projects, and Folders — but not by tag. You have to use the less-convenient search tool for that.

A good photo organizer should offer at least minimal editing capabilities, and Picasa’s are that — minimal. You can crop and straighten photos, fix redeye, add text, and even click an option called I’m Feeling Lucky (I wasn’t lucky). The only option for manually correcting exposure is a Fill Light slider bar.

Once your photos are ready for the world, you can print them, order prints online, export them to another folder, blog them, e-mail them (with a very Gmail-friendly tool), or upload them to Picasa Web Albums.

Organize images with hierarchical tags

Microsoft’s organizer is all about tags. Sure, it has the specialized People tags, but it was the simple, generic tags that Microsoft really ran with.

For one thing, Microsoft made these tags hierarchical — like the folders on your hard drive. Your Alaska tag, your Hawaii tag, and your Nepal tag can all go inside your Travel tag, making them easier to group and organize. When you select the Travel tag, you get all photos tagged Travel or tagged with one of the subtags. These nested tags show up in nonhierarchical programs, such as Picasa, as a path — for example, Travel/Alaska.

Photo Gallery doesn’t look particularly pretty, but anyone who’s used Windows Explorer will know immediately how to navigate it. The hierarchical left-hand nav-panel (shown in Figure 2) lets you click on folders (described by the header All photos and videos), plus Date taken, People tags, and the generic Descriptive tags. Click a tag, and you’ll get thumbnails of all the photos with that tag and all the photos with that tag’s subtags.

Figure 2. Windows Live Photo Gallery outclasses Picasa in its selection of general photo tags but does not offer geotagging.

Photo Gallery doesn’t do People tags particularly well. Yes, it finds faces, and it asks you to identify them, but it doesn’t even try to guess based on people you’ve identified in other photos. And there’s no geotagging of any sort.

On the other hand, Photo Gallery’s editing tools far outdo Picasa’s — it has a fine assortment of controls for adjusting exposure, color, and sharpness. With exposure, for example, you have separate sliders for brightness, contrast, shadows, and highlights, plus an adjustable histogram.

Once your pictures are organized and ready, you can print them, order prints online, upload the photos to Flickr or Windows Live’s own Web service, or post to a blog.

The original Windows Photo Gallery was part of Vista, but Microsoft wisely improved it, separated it from the OS, and made it part of the Windows Live series of free applications (download site).

One other consideration when choosing Photo Gallery: it’s tightly tied into the Windows Live system of applications and social networking. If you’re concerned about privacy issues, just select No to any installation option that isn’t about photographs. Don’t change your search provider or your home page, don’t offer to improve Windows Live, and don’t get yourself a Windows Live ID.

A new photo gallery for Vista and Windows 7

If you click the Learn about the beta link on the Photo Gallery download page, you’ll find a very different, work-in-progress Windows Live Photo Gallery beta. Like any beta, it’s use-at-your-own-risk, although I found no bugs in it.

But I did find limitations. For one, it won’t work with XP. For another, it can’t co-exist with the current version of Windows Live Photo Gallery. When you install the beta, the standard, stable version disappears. According to a Microsoft spokesperson, this version “will come out of beta later this summer.” XP users should download and install the current version now.

It’s clear that Microsoft wanted this version of Gallery to act like Picasa but look like Microsoft Office. Tabbed ribbons at the top of the window display all the program’s tools as attractive icons.

This new Gallery also offers geotagging, but without Picasa’s map-based finesse. Click on a photo taken by a GPS-equipped camera, and up pops a description of the location — but not necessarily a useful one.

I took two photos with a Droid X at nearly the same location on the California coast. According to the beta Gallery, one is listed as Mendocino, CA (which was reasonably accurate); the other, according to the new Gallery, was shot in CA, United States — accurate, but not helpful. You can manually add geotags by typing in city names.

Microsoft has changed the People tag a bit but hasn’t really improved it. It almost never guesses correctly who someone is.

But most disappointing in the beta version of Gallery is the loss of easily accessed hierarchical tags. So to select specific tags, you now go to the Find ribbon and pull down the Tags menu for a flat, nonhierarchical list. (See Figure 3.) This list does, however, put the most-used tags at the top for greater convenience and includes a link that opens a hierarchical list in a separate window.

Figure 3. The next version of Windows Live Photo Gallery, currently in beta, uses Office-like ribbons for its controls, but the hierarchical tag view is buried under the Tags icon.

The new Photo Gallery’s editing tools are still excellent (for an organizer). If you’re looking at the picture in thumbnail view, you get quick, automatic adjustments. View the photo full-screen, and you have the same tweaking abilities as the old version. You can also combine photos into a panorama or fuse two very similar ones into a composite photo.

Image resizer shrinks photos in a flash

Here’s the best type of utility photo application: it does one thing but does it exceptionally well.

VSO’s Image Resizer (info/download page) resizes photos quickly and easily — handy if you want to save storage space, share images via e-mail, or post them on your blog. It can also convert images to other formats or compress them into .zip files — although most photos don’t compress well. (See Figure 4.)

Figure 4. VSO’s Image Resizer offers a wealth of options for reformatting digital images to fit mobile devices and the Web.

Image resizer loads from the start menu, or you can right-click one or more images in Windows Explorer and select VSO Image Resizer from the context menu. Select an image size (there are presets), define how the shrinking will affect the shape of the picture, add a watermark, or invert colors. Once done, you can easily send your work off by e-mail.

The free version of Image Resizer is nagware. It’s fully functional, but each time you load it you’ll have to wait five seconds while it tells you that you really should register. Doing so costs $15.

Lincoln Spector writes about computers, home theater, and film and maintains two blogs: Answer Line at PCWorld.com and Bayflicks.net.

Record number of Windows patches released

By Susan Bradley If this seems like an especially heavy patch week, you’re not mistaken — this might be the largest batch of Windows patches released at one time. The most-critical patches address flaws in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and two Adobe products.

MS10-053 (2183461)
IE gets numerous fixes in one big patch

This cumulative fix, rated critical, includes both security and nonsecurity fixes to Internet Explorer versions 6 and up. So it applies to almost all Windows users — whether you’re using IE as your default browser or not.

Included in the update is a fix (briefly described in Support article 2175840) for IE 7 and 8 to prevent these two browsers from suddenly and intermittently locking up while browsing Web pages.

This patch also corrects six security issues, most of them vulnerabilities allowing an attacker to take remote control of your system. They are described in detail in the Vulnerability Information section of Security Bulletin MS10-53.

► What to do: Install this update as soon as it’s offered, or go to Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-053 to find the correct download file for your combination of OS and IE.

Adobe Flash and AIR need immediate updating

Adopting Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday updates process, Adobe released critical patches for its Flash Player (which some PC users consider the most attack-vulnerable application you can use). These updates fix six security flaws that could allow Flash Player to crash, letting hackers gain control of your computer.

This patch applies to all computing platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, and Solaris) supported by Flash Player version 10.1.53.64 and earlier. It also repairs vulnerabilities in Adobe AIR versions 2.0.2.12610 and earlier.

As always, make sure you uncheck any unwanted toolbar offers that might accompany the updates.

► What to do: For more information, go to Adobe Security bulletin APSB10-16, which includes links to Adobe’s Flash and AIR Download Centers.

MS10-052 (2115168), MS10-055 (982665)
Media files represent a growing security risk

With the wild growth in digital music and videos, media files are becoming an ever more popular path for attacks — and the updates in Security Bulletins MS10-52 and MS10-55 specifically target malicious media files.

The MS10-52 (2115168) update is critical for systems with Windows XP SP3, Windows Professional x64 SP2, and two versions of Windows Server 2003. The vulnerability addressed in this update lets attackers take over PCs once users have downloaded malicious MPEG-3 video files or streaming video.

MS10-55 (982665) describes a similar problem with the Cinepak video codec. This patch, too, is critical, but it affects current versions of Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7. (Windows Server is not affected.)

► What to do: Install these updates when offered, or go to MS10-052 and MS10-055 for links to the appropriate patch downloads.

MS10-060 (2265906), MS10-051 (2079403)
Set aside time for new .NET and XML updates

As if this Patch Tuesday weren’t painful enough, we also have to deal with .NET and XML updates. In the past, both products have had patch-installation glitches — and when the updates failed, both needed to be completely uninstalled and reinstalled.

As most Patch Watch readers know, the only sure way to remove .NET is with Aaron Stebner’s tool, available on his blog. Fortunately, XML is easier to uninstall.

Line-of-business applications such as QuickBooks use various versions of .NET; but typically, if you are offered a .NET update, you need it.

Silverlight, Microsoft’s answer to Adobe Flash, has a vulnerability similar to that of .NET but should get its own separate update. If you have Silverlight 4 installed on Vista or Windows 7, you are not affected. (To check your Silverlight version, click Start and then type Silverlight into the search box. When you hit the Return key, a dialog box will pop up that identifies the version you have installed.)

► What to do: These .NET and XML patches are listed as critical and affect most current Windows machines, so they need to be installed soon. But as usual, be prepared to have problems installing the updates. If you’ve had .NET update issues in the past, make sure to back up your system and allow yourself time to work through any installation problems.

MS10-060 covers the .NET patch and has download links; MS10-051 addresses the XML fix.

MS10-047 (981852), MS10-048 (2160329)
Google researcher pushes kernel patching

At the recent Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, Google security researcher Tavis Ormandy described newly discovered vulnerabilities in the Windows kernel. Google found these flaws as it was developing apps that sit on top of Windows. Two of these problems are patched in MS Security Bulletins MS10-047 (981852) and MS10-048 (2160329).

Neither patch is rated critical by Microsoft, but both of them affect most current versions of Windows and Windows Server. The good news is that only local attackers — those who have already gained access to your system — can exploit these kernel flaws.

That said, these vulnerabilities could show up as part of a blended attack, where hackers use Web-based malware to access your system and then take control through kernel-driver flaws.

► What to do: Accept these patches. For more information, consult Security Bulletins MS10-047 and MS10-048.

MS10-050 (981997), MS10-056 (2269638), MS10-057 (2269707)
Opening unknown documents makes PCs vulnerable

Remember the old adage, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure? Adding the just-released patches for MS Word, Excel, and Movie Maker are helpful cures, but the best way to reduce risk is to not open files from unknown sources in the first place.

MS10-050 (KB 981997) affects Movie Maker running on current Windows XP and Vista systems and is rated important. MS10-056 (KB 2269638) patches Word and is critical for Office 2007 SP2, but only important for Office XP SP3 and Office 2007 SP2. For the Excel vulnerability, MS10-057 (KB 2269707) is important for systems with Office XP SP3 and Office 2003 SP3.

Both the Word and Excel updates also affect versions of Office for Mac.

► What to do: These are pre-emptive updates — install all three updates during your next round of patching.

MS10-054 (982214)
A not-so-critical update for Server Message Block

In the past, I’ve urged you to be quick about patching Server Message Block (SMB) problems. (SMB is the technology behind file sharing in peer-to-peer and larger networks.) But the vulnerability described in MS10-054 (KB 982214) doesn’t appear to be easily exploited. This is another case where the threat might be used in a blended cocktail of malware — an attacker has to gain access to a system before using this particular flaw.

The patch is rated critical for Windows XP SP3 and XP Professional x64 SP2, but only important for versions of Vista, Win7, and Windows Server.

As with the Windows kernel, the SMB protocol is constantly being reviewed for security issues — so expect more patching in the future.

► What to do: For information and patch links, check out Security Bulletin MS10-054.

MS10-058 (978886)
Networking protocol flaw needs a local attacker

At the risk of sounding like a broken record: this is another instance where a hacker needs a valid sign-in to a PC before the vulnerability becomes a real threat. But in my mind, if someone already has your credentials, the battle is already lost.

Rated important, this patch affects all systems except Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. One item of note: MS10-058 (KB 978886) fixes a flaw in IPv6, the IP protocol replacing IPv4. Sometimes newer isn’t always better.

► What to do: Consult Security Bulletin MS10-058 for details and patch downloads.

MS10-059 (982799) and MS10-049 (980436)
Tracing Feature patch affects newer Windows

Another post–Black Hat update, described in MS10-059 (KB 982799), tackles an issue with Windows’ Tracing Feature for Services. Another noncritical fix, it affects systems running Vista, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008. Ironically, this is a case where we’ve taken a step back in OS security — Windows XP is not affected.

On the other hand, the patch in MS10-049 (KB 980436) affects all platforms. The update closes up some Secure Socket Layer (SSL) problems you may run into when Web-browsing.

► What to do: For information on the Tracing Feature flaw and links to patch downloads, go to MS10-059. See MS10-049 for help with the SSL vulnerability.

The Patch Watch column reveals problems with patches for Windows and major Windows applications. Susan Bradley has been named an MVP (Most Valuable Professional) by Microsoft for her knowledge in the areas of Small Business Server and network security. She’s also a partner in a California CPA firm.