March 20, 2008:Traditions	Just a few more weary days and then... I'll fly away... And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
	December 29, 2007:New Year's 2008
	November 3, 2007:How To Be Successful in Christian Ministry
	October 23, 2007:Salmon

Things to give or get for Christmas William H. Haller

For my Christmas note this year, I'm going to do something completely different. I'm going to recommend some software for your computer.

I don't usually do that sort of thing, but I figured why not? There are a couple of remarks I must make before I do so. This page is directed primarily at the Microsoft Windows crowd. Users on other operating systems have long had a host of other options to handle these common computer jobs, including those I list here. Even if you aren't using Microsoft products, you might want to give the list a quick check. I try to never use Microsoft products, although I do have a single box at home that can dual boot to Windows for the kids' games. Many of the recommendations below come from comments from those who have tried these products on the Microsoft platform. I have used all of these products both at home and work on the Linux platform and have been pretty happy with them. I have currently moved to their KDE equivalents (K-Mail and Konqueror) for most of my work. As with all recommendations - your mileage may vary. All products listed are free of charge. The only cost is any cost associated with downloading them.

• Your web browser: Give Firefox a try. It has recently been released as an official 1.0 release. It features tabbed browsing, good popup control, and some fantastic extensions. Of particular note is Adblock. You can customize a list of strings to match in links and images that indicate ads and either suppress loading of or hide the ad from your display. Firefox takes a bit longer to load in Microsoft since most or all of Explorer is loaded during the system boot, but it renders pages more quickly once it is started. There are a few sites that have made use of Explorer only features that you will still need to use it for, but most sites will render fine in Firefox. (2006 update - Opera is also a good alternative, I hear good reports for Firefox 1.5, although Firefox 2.0 seems to be slightly less stable).
• Your e-mail client: Give Thunderbird a try. Thunderbird has also been released as an official 1.0 release. It has some very nice junk mail controls available in it. You also have to go through more steps to actually activate a virus with it than Outlook. It can still be done - so don't get rid of your anti-virus software by any means. But it is an improvement over the client that Microsoft ships. (2006 update - Opera also includes e-mail support).

  Both Firefox and Thunderbird are descended from the original Netscape suite. The source was opened by Netscape/AOL and became the basis for the Mozilla integrated browser/e-mail/et cetera suite of programs. Parts of these have been reworked extensively and spun off into individual packages. Firefox and Thunderbird are the most important of these to date. You can also still download the latest Mozilla suite if you want, which has some of the features of the individual packages if you want an integrated package.

  • Spam Filtering: Try to push your ISP to provide SpamAssassin. I use it at home and at work and love it. I get around 150 to 200 spam e-mails per day at work and 100 to 150 per day at hoome. It is very nice to have SpamAssassin analyze the incoming traffic and mark up suspected spams with headers that my procmail filters can route to files on the hard drive or send directly to /dev/null (the Linux incinerator). The number of spam messages that make it to my inbox is virtually 0. That leaves a handful to actually check to see if SpamAssassin made the right choice. Some rule extensions do aggressive adult filtering so those can be identified more easily and automatically deleted if you choose. If you are running a Unix server, give it a try. If you turn off the remote checks a current mid range PC can churn through around 20,000 messages an hour. With remote black lists and DNS enabled, you drop to around 1,200 messages per hour. There are versions of this product out for Windows, but it was developed for Linux and the latest versions are always available there first.

  My Filtering Ruleset (updated for 2006):

  I have added aggressive SARE rulesets to the base that comes with SpamAssassin.

  • Some repetitive system logs go straight to the incinerator.
  • People I want to hear from are whitelisted with SPF testing (when available) and aren't subject to further filtering.
  • OEM products are filed separately for eventual removal - SpamAssassin rules that trigger AS_SEEN_ON, FUZZY_SOFTWARE, ROLEX, SARE_OEM & URIBL_, SARE_PRODUCTS & URIBL_, SPEC_REPLICA_OBFU
  • Forgeries are filed separately for eventual removal - SpamAssassin rules that trigger BANK_URI_IP, EBAY_SPOOF, FORGED_*, SPOOF_EBAY, or SPF_FAIL. There are too many FORGED_* rules to list individually here.
  • Stock scams are filed separately for eventual removal - SpamAssassin rules that trigger FORWARD_LOOKING, FWDLOOK, INVESTMENT_ADVICE, LW_STOCK, MICRO_CAP_WARNING, NOT_ADVISOR, SARE_CSBIG, SARE_CSNUMTAG, SARE_CSSM, SARE_CSTRADES, SARE_LW1933, SARE_LWACT_QUICKLY, SARE_LWCURTRADE, SARE_LWDRIVE, SARE_LWEMERGE, SARE_LWFORWARD, SARE_LWHUGE, SARE_LWMICROCAP, SARE_LWOILCO, SARE_LWPINK, SARE_LWPOISED, SARE_LWPROJECTION, SARE_LWREDHOT, SARE_LWSAFEH, SARE_LWSHARES, SARE_LWSHORT, SARE_LWSHORTT, SARE_LWSKY, SARE_LWSYMFMT, SARE_LWTARGETP, SARE_LWWATCHIT, SARE_ML[BH]_Stock, SARE_OBFU_STOCKS, SARE_PROLOSTOCK, SARE_RMML_Stock, SARE_STOX_IMG, SARE_SUB_STOCK, STOCK_, STRONG_BUY, SUBSTOCK, YOUWON, SARE_GIF_STOX.
  • Business scams are filed separately for eventual removal - SpamAssassin rules that trigger BE_BOSS, BILLION_DOLLARS, BIZOP, EARNINGS, EARN_PER_WEEK, EXTRA_CASH, FIN_FREE, FINCLOP, FUZZY_BILLION, FUZZY_MILLION, FUZZY_MONEY, GENUINEOP, GET_PAID, INITIAL_INVEST, MARKETING_PARTNER, NIGERIAN, OBFUMONEY, SARE_FRAUD, SARE_MONEYTERMS, SARE_NTWKMRKT, SARE_OBFUAUCTION, SARE_UNOBIZ, UNIQBIZ, URGBIZ, VALOFFR, WORK_AT_HOME, YOUR_INCOME fit this bill.
  • Credit scams are filed separately for eventual removal - SpamAssassin rules that trigger ADVANCE_FEE, BAD_CREDIT, BANKRUPTCY, CONSOLIDATE_DEBT, FASTAPPRV, FREE_QUOTE, FUZZY_AFFORDABLE, FUZZY_CREDIT, HOMELOAN, LIFE_INSURANCE, LOANOFF, MORTGAGE, NO_FORMS, NONSECURED_CREDIT, REFINANCE, SAVE_THOUSANDS, SUBRATES, THE_BEST_RATE, YOUR_DEBT. fit this bill.
  • Education scams are filed separately for eventual removal - SpamAssassin rules that trigger COLLEGE_SCAM, PREST_NON_ACCREDITED, SARE_DEGREE, SARE_DIPLOMA, SARE_LIFE_EXP, SARE_NONACCRED, SARE_NOTESTS, SARE_PRESTIGE, SARE_SUBLRNMR go here.
  • Drug scams are filed separately for eventual removal - SpamAssassin rules that trigger ALL_NATURAL, BEASTUD, BETTERORG, BETTERSEX, BIGRMEMBER, BODY_ENHANCEMENT, CIALIS, DIET, DRUG_, DRUGS_, ENLRGYOUR, EXERCISE, FUZZY_AMBIEN, FUZZY_CELEBREX, FUZZY_CPILL, FUZZY_ERECT, FUZZY_MEDICATION, FUZZY_MEDS, FUZZY_PHARMACY, FUZZY_PHENT, FUZZY_PRESCRIPT, FUZZY_TRAMADOL, FUZZY_VLIUM, FUZZY_VICODIN, FUZZY_VIOXX, FUZZY_VPILL, FUZZY_XPILL, HAIR_LOSS, HG_HORMONE, IMPOTENCE, INET_PHARM, INLENGTH, INLENGTH, LADYINLIFE, LRGPNS, MAGICLUBE, MALE_ENHANCE, MEDS, MOREENERGY, MORE_SEX, NO_MEDICAL, NO_PRESCRIPTION, NOEMBARASS, NO_RX , OBFU_PHARM, PILLS_, PLEASEPARTNR, POWERBOTTLE, PRODEREC, REVERSE_AGING, SARE_ENLRGYOUR, SARE_OBFUENLARGE, SARE_OBFUTESTO, SARE_PNSPTCH, SARE_STRIPE, SEXDRIVE, SEXENHANCER, SUPERVIAGRA, URI_VDRUG_GIF, VIA_GAP_GRA, VICODIN, WHILE_YOU_SLEEP, WRINKLES, XANAX make this cut.
  • Adult subject matter is filed separately for eventual removal - SpamAssassin rules that trigger a host of rules are included in this cut, but I won't list them here because there are a great many sickos out there.
  • Other unsolicited commercial e-mail uses blacklists to weed out a bunch more - SpamAssassin rules that trigger URIBL_, RCVD_IN_BL_SPAMCOP_NET, RCVD_IN_BSP_OTHER, RCVD_IN_DSBL, RCVD_IN_MAPS_, RCVD_IN_NJABL_, RCVD_IN_SBL, RCVD_IN_SORBS_, RCVD_IN_WHOIS_, RCVD_IN_XBL, BIZ_TLD, FAKE_HELO, _FORGED, FORGED_*, INVALID_DATE Invalid Date: header, INVALID_MSGID, PYZOR_CHECK Listed in Pyzor, SARE_SPEC_XXGEOCITIES2, SPOOF, SPAM_RECV_IP, SUBJ_ILLEGAL_CHARS are some that get killed here.

  I have software that sorts through the archived load of messages periodically and let's me quickly review the few with characteristics that might make them legitimate. Every once and awhile there is something that gets caught that shouldn't, but the number of false positives is very, very small. After checking those, everything else is dumped.

  Update for 2006: Linux might not be completely ready for the Desktop, but I've been using it on the desktop for years and it has made great strides. Give a live version like Ubuntu or Kubuntu (the KDE version of Ubuntu) a try. It might just cover most all your needs. Just be sure to back up all your data first and know how to use a restore! The only things it seems particularly weak on is games. Dual-boot if you have to. Try running it on a second hard drive. The plus side is that there are fewer viruses in the wild that will nail you in Linux. The minus side is that device driver support is weaker in Linux for cutting edge devices. Best wishes to all and Merry Christmas.