SURFING THE INTERNET
By Alan Winstanley
HAPPY KRIZ-MAS
The worm Happy99.exe is
the most-reported virus in Eu-
rope, according to virus detec-
tion specialists Symantec
(www.symantec.com/avcen-
ter) – discussions of worms,
Trojan Horses and viruses (or
viri/virii!) took place in earlier
editions of Net Work.
A new Windows virus called
W32.Kriz.3863 (and variants) is
starting to appear, Symantec
says, and this particularly nasty
virus can damage critical Win-
dows system files. Furthermore,
on December 25th it will deliver
a payload by flashing the BIOS
of the host computer. Damage
to a PC’s BIOS (Basic Input/
Output Operating System) chip
is disastrous, because this
PROM chip contains all of the
system’s configuration data,
which is interrogated when the
PC starts up.
A faulty BIOS can cripple a
PC system completely: I discov-
ered this for myself when I in-
stalled a Philips 646 USB web-
cam, and found that my PC
would no longer boot up when
the camera was plugged in.
Considering that USB is a hot-
swappable technology, I was not
impressed. However it became
apparent that the BIOS required
flashing to update the USB han-
dling, and after a quick visit to
the Dell web site, all was well.
Symantec have once again
posted information on the latest
viruses on their own web site,
and as if Y2K worries aren’t
enough, this Chernobyl-like
virus is one to guard against if
Copyright © 1999 Wimborne Publishing Ltd and
Maxfield & Montrose Interactive Inc
your Christmas on the Net is to
be a happy one.
I-SEEK-YOU
At nearly 750,000 hits per
week, ICQ (I-Seek-You) must
rate as one of the world’s most
popular programs (followed by
WinZip) if the stats at down-
load.com are to be believed.
ICQ is a very useful and cus-
tomisable “chat” and messaging
program which has a number of
cute tricks up its sleeve. It is a
neat and thoroughly sorted pro-
gram, and best of all – it’s free!
An ICQ user is allocated a
unique digital ID number (this is
the “ICQ #23501235” that you
often see in a user’s signature)
and users can then compile a
list of other ICQ users with
whom they wish to communi-
cate.
When ICQ is started up
(e.g. by dialing into the Inter-
net), this logs the user into the
ICQ network, a process which
can happen instantaneously
when the system isn’t busy. Af-
ter successfully logging in, the
network updates your ICQ list to
show you who else on your list
is also on-line at that time. Simi-
larly those users are also
alerted by ICQ that you have
gone on-line.
At this point several options
become available. You can sim-
ply fire off a quick message to
any user on your list. If they are
logged on they may receive it
within a few seconds, and you
might get a reply say a minute
or so after that; however if they
are not currently connected to
EPE Online, November 1999 - www.epemag.com - 1072
ICQ, then the message can be
delivered when they next log
on.
It is also possible to forward
any web URLs which you think
may be of interest to other
users, which is a good way of
sharing web resources. There
are also plenty of web sites
which are specially provided to
enable a sentiment (e.g. a
poem or humor) to be mailed to
other users. ICQ lets you easily
transfer files (e.g. word-
processing documents or other
files) to other users on your list
when they are on line. An E-
mail service is also provided by
ICQ, and you can send voice
greetings when on-line too.
Handy “To Do” lists and Win-
dows desktop reminder notes
are built in for the benefit of
those who run ICQ at their
desks, and almost everything
you see is customizable. A rea-
sonable ICQ search engine fa-
cilitates convenient web
searches.
There’s more fun still with
the ICQ Chat facility; seasoned
users will probably have used
IRC (Internet Relay Chat) but
ICQ Chat adds many amusing
features. Messages can be
typed in by one user which ap-
pear in real time in the corre-
sponding user’s window. They
reply the same way, and a con-
versation can carry on all night!
There are several Chat en-
hancements included: sound
effects can be played on the
other user’s computer, such as
an attention-grabbing klaxon.
Sounds (e.g. giggling or cough-
ing effects) can be associated
with typed messages too. Chat

sessions can also be stored and
played back later, and like
watching those pianos that play
themselves, seeing the chat un-
fold is quite an eerie feeling!
The versatility of ICQ
doesn’t end there, however. I
have sometimes envied a num-
ber of my American ICQ friends
who leave their ICQ connection
live all day (or night). Remem-
ber that American users can en-
joy a full-time dialed-in connec-
tion by paying a standard flat
rate per month. If they decide to
go out, they can still leave their
system hooked up to the ICQ
network, and they can notify
that they are away by changing
their on-line ICQ status – such
as “Extended Away” or “Not
Available.” If they actually need
to do some work, they can
leave ICQ running and display a
“Do Not Disturb” or “Occupied”
message.
ICQ IN PRIVATE
A number of privacy fea-
tures are available. You can
make yourself “invisible” to cer-
tain other users so that they are
unaware of your presence on
ICQ. You therefore call the
shots and can then decide
whether or not to contact them.
To prevent your ICQ number
from finding its way onto the
lists of countless other users,
you can set an option whereby
permission must be sought first:
seldom will I give mine, before
you ask! Hence your individual
ICQ list develops into a selected
Copyright © 1999 Wimborne Publishing Ltd and
Maxfield & Montrose Interactive Inc
1HW :RUN
list of friends and contacts and How to install ICQ: it is easi-
there is no worry about being est to visit
pestered by other users (unless www.download.com and
you choose a “random chat” search for the file. There have
session with a complete been rumors of virus-infected
stranger). versions being distributed from
The use of ICQ for convers- unofficial sites, so be sure to
ing with others has its share of fetch only from trusted sources.
dangers though. There is the You should also visit
ever-present risk that a careless www.icq.com
choice of words could be misin- Last but not least, if you
terpreted by the recipient, so if have any interesting links you
you wish to avoid any upsets or can contact the author at
disappointments due care alan@epemag.demon.co.uk
should be exercised, especially
with real-time ICQ Chat. Make
liberal use of emoticons
(smileys) at appropriate times
just to be sure. Also, there can
be delivery delays with ICQ
messages sent to off-line users,
so this system should not nec-
essarily be relied upon for im-
portant communications.
It is best to tailor ICQ to fit
your own work pattern, and
don’t feel guilty if you simply
cannot spare the time to engage
in a discussion at that moment.
Everyone else on your list gets
busy too, and a pattern of send-
ing quick ICQ messages usually
emerges. Don’t burden yourself
with a burgeoning list of users
either: some occasional house-
keeping is useful in keeping the
list down to manageable levels.
Life on ICQ can be rapid-fire
and brief, or it can take up an
entire evening if desired. It’s a
sure way of making new friends,
or staying in touch with existing
ones, and some users just can’t
live without it.
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