"That couldn't possibly happen!"
I'm always amused when somebody in tech support tells me that something I've reported couldn't possibly have happened. While I make no claim to infallibility, I do my best to confirm that hardware or software problems are real -- not "operator errors" -- before I report them. Sometimes it takes a little convincing to get the tech support people on board.
Calls to tech support at many companies are fielded by "tier 1" technicians. These are often people with little or no technical knowledge. They have been trained to ask the obvious questions. Given the number of people who can't figure out how to program the time on a simple VCR, it's not too surprising that questions of the "Is it plugged in?" variety actually do solve a lot of problems. When I call, though, the changes are excellent that I've already done everything the tier 1 technician will have on the list.
If I'm lucky, I can break into the technicians script with a list of what I've already done and talk my way directly to a tier 2 technician without wasting the entry-level tech's time or mine. Usually the tier 2 men and women are willing to listen and capable of solving whatever problem I'm reporting. Occasionally a problem may need to be referred to tier 3 (if the company has people at that level) or to a hardware or software engineer.
In late November, I noticed a problem with my anti-spam service, GoodbyeSpam.com. I sent a message to developer Jeff Schwartz describing the problem. It was a minor cosmetic issue: When I released messages that had been held in quarantine, the subject line was doubled. He replied, saying that he had been unable to duplicate the problem and asked if it happened with every message. I replied with the full headers from several messages that illustrated the problem. Later in the day, Jeff sent a follow-up message indicating that he'd found and fixed the problem.
In October, I found two obscure bugs in my favorite text editor, UltraEdit. One had already been reported (and fixed) but the other was one the developer hadn't yet noticed. Within a day he had a new beta version out with the bug fix incorporated.
These people have heard from me before. They know that reports from me are at least worth looking into. But that's not always the case.
ACISPTMNBN client may lose e-mail without notice!
Recently I switched from Roadrunner to a certain Internet service provider that must not be named -- in part because I'd heard good things about the service and in part because I was interested in digital cable television. The service has been generally acceptable so far, except for one small thing.
I wanted to share my list of about 1000 anti-spam trigger words, subject lines, addresses, and domains with a friend, so I made a copy of it at the office and, just to see how well a certain Internet service provider that must not be named would handle a moderate size attachment (about 100K) I sent the files to my new "wowway.com" address. It never arrived.
I tried several other tests. Messages with no attachments or with attachments (larger and smaller than my list of spam terms and addresses) arrived. I was impressed. Clearly ACISPTMNBN had some sort of anti-spam engine working. But I was troubled by the fact that I hadn't received a message at the wowway.com account advising me that a message to me had been deleted and that my sending account hadn't received a warning, either.
That shouldn't happen. So I sent a note to ACISPTMNBN's tech support: "I suspect that the message has been automatically deleted by some sort of misguided anti-spam measures you're using. While fighting spam is good, deleting messages without notifying anyone is not."
The response was quick: "If your message was denied by our SPAM software, the sender's address would receive a bounced message indicating it had been blocked by SPAMcop. Try resending the message."
Over the next few days, the (tier 2) technician and I exchanged several additional messages. I provided the results of additional tests showing that any message that included all 4 of the files would be deleted without notification. Eventually he agreed to kick the message up to a network engineer.
Thinking that disbelief might infect the upper levels of ACISPTMNBN, I decided to conduct additional tests and eventually found the "smoking gun". Once I was able to duplicate the unwarranted message deletion reliably and at will, I advised ACISPTMNBN of my findings:
Before proceeding, I would like to re-state my primary objection: I do not mind that a certain Internet service provider that must not be named makes an effort to shield users from spam. In fact, I applaud that effort. What I find troubling is the fact that in certain (specific and repeatable) cases, messages are deleted without warning or error message. Neither the sender nor the receiver is notified that the message has been deleted. This is unconscionable!
TESTING PROCEDURES AND CONCLUSIONS
STEP 1: I wanted to determine whether messages are being deleted because they contain too many spam words or a specific combination of words.
(a) I opened the text file with 900+ lines of spam words, selected the first 400 lines and pasted them into an e-mail message that I sent to [my.address]@wowway.com. The message was not delivered. No error was reported to sender or receiver.
(b) I then created a message that consisted of lines 1 through 200 and set it. It was delivered promptly.
(c) The next test was a message that consisted of lines 201 through 400. The message was not delivered. No error was reported to sender or receiver.
CONCLUSION 1: I was a bit surprised by this result. I had thought that the problem might be the uncommon volume of spam triggers in the message. This test clearly suggests that a specific word or phrase is causing messages to be deleted.
I continue to believe that this is a bug in the application, not an intended outcome intended either by SpamCop or by a certain Internet service provider that must not be named.
STEP 2: The problem word or phrase seems to be somewhere in lines 201 through 400. I decided to conduct a binary search to identify the problem line(s).
I sent messages consisting of subsets of the list:
- lines 201 through 300 (discarded)
- lines 301 through 400 (delivered)
The problem is clearly in lines 201 through 300.
- lines 201 through 250 (discarded)
- lines 226 through 250 (delivered)
The problem is clearly in lines 201 through 225
- lines 201 through 213 (discarded)
- lines 201 through 207 (discarded)
- lines 201 through 204 (received)
The problem is clearly in line 205, 206, or 207.
The next tests were messages with just a single line (plus my signature block):
- line 205 (arrived)
- line 206 (DISCARDED WITHOUT A TRACE)
- line 207 (DISCARDED WITHOUT A TRACE)
CONCLUSION 2: I have identified two phrases that, if included in e-mail sent to a wowway.com account, the message will be deleted and neither the sender nor the receiver will be notified. The lines in question (I am placing # between letters and & between words in an attempt to sneak it through in THIS message) are:
- (206) e#n#l#a#r#g#e&&&y#o#u#r&&&p#e#n#i#s
- (207) e#n#o#r#m#o#u#s&&&d#i#c#k
I am sending a copy of this message to my wowway.com account to confirm that it will be transmitted. I believe this will give your e-mail guru something useful to work with.
The files I mentioned previously are still on my website at http://www.technology-corner.com/wow/. If you examine that file (the "subject lines" file), you'll find the "killer lines" are 245 and 246. The file on the website is a later version of the file than the one I had at the office. |
And there's more
The problem I reported initially was annoying, but not terribly troubling. One can safely assume that nearly any message with either of the two trigger phrases present would be spam. The likelihood that anyone would lose an important message this way was remote.
But on Tuesday, I sent a message with a moderately large (4MB) attachment to 4 people from home. The message was accepted without incident by smtp.mail.wowway.com, but none of the 4 people ever received the message. Even worse, I received no notification that the message had failed. The receivers were in two different domains.
When I notified ACISPTMNBN support about this more serious problem and asked when I might expect a response from the e-mail specialists, the response wasn't encouraging: "I have been forwarding your correspondence to our engineers so they can work with you on this
problem. I have too many daily responsibilities with high call volume, training, etc. I will
continue to forward these to appropriate personnel though."
So if you're a ACISPTMNBN customer, double-check your e-mail. And if you think you have a problem, please report it.
If (fill in) Made Elevators
Next week's show will be the final program of 2003, but today is probably Joe's final show of the year, so I thought we'd have a little fun. Someone (who will remain nameless) sent me one of those dumb "If X Made Y"
things that are forwarded all over the Internet. This one was called
"If Microsoft Made Elevators" and (surprise!) it's one I hadn't seen
before. I couldn't find who wrote it and the copy I received seemed a little flat. Maybe it wasn't well written. Maybe it had been "improved" along the way. Whatever. I changed it a bit, too. Maybe I improved it; maybe not.
Then I wrote a companion "If Apple Made Elevators" piece. Both are predictable,
but here they are anyway ...
If Microsoft built elevators
Dirty Old Stairs (DOS) have been eliminated, even for small tasks such as moving to an adjacent floor.
Microsoft elevator users are rendered incompatible with Otis or Schindler elevators and must be reformatted before using them.
The Microsoft elevator politely asks users "Are you sure?" whenever the user presses a button.
The Microsoft Elevator has a load capacity of 1260 pounds and assumes 9 passengers, each weighing 140 pounds. A small "issue" in the current version of the elevator means that only people who weigh exactly 140 pounds may use the elevator and each elevator must have exactly 9 passengers.
Microsoft Elevator 2003 includes the "Building Explorer" so that users can reach any floor in the building. Eventually.
Each Microsoft elevator includes advisory messages to explain unexpected behavior, such as "Access to this floor is not possible. It may be overcrowded or the door opening is not reliable. Please try later"; "The floor you are attempting to access no longer exists. Please verify that the button you pressed actually corresponds to a floor"; and "Please wait until the process terminates before exiting the elevator."
Additionally, users are provided a useful "Tip of the Day" whenever they enter a Microsoft elevator: "Standing between doors will inhibit elevator movement"; "Lying on the floor may impede the ingress or egress of other passengers"; and "To access a floor, press Start, Run, then the button corresponding to the floor you wish to access."
Microsoft licenses (does not sell) its elevators and users are assumed to have agreed to the Elevator User License Agreement (EULA) whenever they enter a Microsoft elevator. Before the elevator may be used the first time, it must be "activated", although registration is optional.
The Microsoft Home Elevator functions only in buildings with 2 floors or, with an optional extension, in buildings with 3 floors. The Microsoft Small Business Elevator functions for buildings up to 14 levels, but companies with structures shorter than 14 stories are permitted to network up to 6 Microsoft Home Elevator systems. Large corporations must purchase the Microsoft Enterprise Elevator package with Interfloor Integration Security (IIS). The Enterprise Elevator cannot be installed in buildings shorter than 25 stories and is available in 5-story increments. Buildings with more than 14 floors but fewer than 25 floors must be expanded to 25 stories. The Enterprise Elevator system is not compatible with any of the Home or Small Business models.
Whenever the Microsoft Elevator encounters a problem, it halts abruptly (usually without damaging the building's plumbing and electrical systems.) In rare instances, the elevator turns blue and the entire building collapses.
The Microsoft Elevator Company provides a hotline for use anytime from 8am to 8pm Pacific time, Monday through Friday (holidays excepted.) Calls are answered by a Microsoft Certified Elevator Engineer (MCEE).
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If Apple built elevators
The Apple Elevator System X has no wall buttons near the elevator system for summoning a car or for opening the door. Instead, the user must reach behind a large planter at the end of the hallway to press a button marked "F12".
Once inside the elevator car, the user discovers that the car has no buttons for floors. Instead, the Apple Elevator System X determine the best floor for each user and delivers that user to the floor. Users who insist on knowing what is on a given floor may use the "Floor Finder", but are still not be permitted to choose any particular destination.
Apple Elevator System X comes with a small "quick installation" card: "To install Apple Elevator System X, drag the crate into your office building." Once dragged into a building, the Apple Elevator System X installer begins setting up components in logical (but undisclosed) locations. The motor, for example is installed 3 levels below the basement and the electrical service cabinet may be located in a building across the street.
While the dual-motor Apple Elevator G4 with chrome doors is so noisy that occupants of nearby buildings often complain about the rumbling, Apple Evangelical Engineers, retired rock musicians who must wear "Jobs Model 99" ear muffs designed by Bose are unable to hear the noise and claim that it is probably an issue with the user's location.
A new Apple Elevator System X is incompatible with any floors that were previously served by earlier Apple Elevator systems, but the System X elevators can be operated in "compatibility mode" when access to older floors is essential. In this mode, however, the elevator stops working at random times for unknown reasons.
The Apple Elevator System X control panel consists of a highly-polished chrome rectangle, 24 inches wide and 16 inches tall. The panel is blank except for words engraved in tiny 3-point type: "YOU DO NOT NEED THIS INFORMATION." Unlike previous models, the Apple Elevator System X units include "open system" technology that allows eunuchs operators to modify the system in ways that were not possible with previous models. To ensure system safety, these tools are guarded by a surly "command lion".
David Pogue has written a "Missing Manual" book to explain how the Apple Elevator System X operates and what the user can do when things go wrong.
The Apple Elevator Company has hired a design firm to ensure that the "look and feel" of their elevators is unlike that of any other elevator. The designs are sent to China where the elevators are actually manufactured.
Apple Elevators have no confusing indicator lights to show where the elevator is located because Microsoft Elevators have that feature.
Apple elevators do move up and down, the same as Microsoft elevators, but this is only because Apple engineers concluded that sideways or diagonal movement, while interesting, reduced the utility of the device. The vertical movement was actually discovered by Xerox at the Palo Alto Research Center but never publicized, so most people believe Apple invented it.
New Apple Elevator Company technology renders passengers invisible to each other, but any passenger may view other riders' aliases by hovering a hand near the left, right, or back wall (this varies from one unit to the next.) The technique does not work on the front wall, which is reserved for a blue Apple logo. |
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Microsoft Elevator Hotline
call example
MS: Welcome to Microsoft Engineer support. My name is William. Could
I have your name and your Microsoft Elevator serial number please.
Customer: This is Fred. I'm stuck in the elevator and I don't know
the serial number.
MS: Did you look on the box?
Customer: I don't have the box.
MS: How about on the bottom of the elevator?
Customer: I can't see the bottom of the elevator. I'm inside and
I'm stuck.
MS: Are you really sure you are stuck? Is the elevator not processing?
Customer: How would I know?
MS: Is there an orange light flashing on the control panel?
Customer: No, I can't see anything.
MS: Can you remember what you did that might have caused this problem?
Customer: Well, I pressed the 4th floor button, the elevator started,
and then stopped.
MS: Just a moment. Let me check the Knowledgebase. <click,
pause, click> Ahh -- Are you certain that you're not
on the 4th floor?
Customer: I'm stuck IN the elevator.
MS: Does the elevator interface with a building that has a 4th floor?
Customer: Well, it had one yesterday.
MS: Ah! So the floor might have been moved or could be temporarily
unavailable. Maybe it's being formatted. Just a moment. Let me check
the Knowledgebase. <click, pause, click> Ahh
-- Let's try something else -- are you alone?
Customer: I am alone.
MS: Do you weigh more or less than 1260 pounds?
Customer: Quite a bit less.
MS: And how many other people are with you there in the elevator?
Customer: I said I'm alone.
MS: Oh, yes. I see. Well, the elevator is certified for 9 people
with an average weight of 140 pounds. You don't have 8 other people
with you?
Customer: No, I am alone and I am stuck in this elevator.
MS: And you didn't see a diagnostic message from the elevator? A
warning that a serious underload condition might exist?
Customer: No.
MS: All right. Just a moment. Let me check the Knowledgebase. <click,
pause, click> Ahh -- Can you get out of the car?
Customer: No, doors are closed. I'm stuck.
MS: Did you save the floor you want to get to? Otherwise, you will
have to press the button again when the elevator is back in operation.
Customer: No, I didn't save it, but I can remember it.
MS: You may want to write it down just in case. Just a moment. Let
me check the Knowledgebase. <click, pause, click> Ahh
-- What is your elevator version?
Customer: I'm not sure, but it's pretty new. It was installed around
the beginning of the year.
MS: What color is the Start Button and are the buttons flat or rounded?
Customer: Green and they're rounded, why?
MS: Just a moment. Let me check the Knowledgebase. <click,
pause, click> Ahh -- I see. You have the Microsoft
Small Business Elevator with a double extension. We have several
patches out for that model. Do you know if all of the patches
have been installed?
Customer: No, I don't.
MS: Well, try this. Get out of the car and open the doors from the
outside, and you'll be free. Then ask your Microsoft Elevator retailer
to install the appropriate patches. Or you may want to upgrade to
the latest Microsoft Elevator Small Business XP (that for "Extra
Profitable") for the most reliability. You will then have no trouble
getting to the 4th floor. Thank you for calling Microsoft!
Customer: But -- I'm stuck in the elevator ...? |
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Nerdly News!
Internet Explorer has a "new" problem
Or rather an incompletely patched old problem. Four new methods have been identified that would allow attackers to compromise vulnerable PCs. The best known is a Trojan horse application (Qhost-1) which changes an infected machine's DNS settings and adds entries to the Registry. It doesn't do anything else. Yet.
How might you get the Trojan on your computer? All an attacker needs to do is entice you to open a malicious message or browse a malicious website with Internet Explorer.
The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) at Carnegie Mellon University recommends editing the Registry to delete or rename this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\MIME\Database\Content Type\application/hta.
Another option, of course, is not to use IE. But there are other problems:
- Opera isn't able to display some sites properly.
- Netscape makes a lot of changes to the operating system and installs a lot of junk that you may not need.
There are other options, though.
- If you're on a Mac, you can try Apple's new Safari browser, which keeps improving.
- Both Windows and Mac users can use the Mozilla browser, which is Netscape without all the junk.
- While Opera isn't able to display some sites properly, it works well with a lot of sites.
- Having another browser on your computer (even another browser installed as the default browser) doesn't eliminate IE. Mozilla or Opera could be your default browser and you can speficially open IE when you encounter a site that doesn't work well with your default browser.
Another security hole, but not in Windows
Symantec announced a serious bug in the Linux kernel this week. The bug could allow someone to gain "root access" to a computer. Being "root" on an Linux computer is like being "Administrator" on a Windows machine, only more so.
The bug has already been exploited and because the bug is in the Linux kernel, it affects most distributions. Specifically affected are any distributions that use kernel version 2.4.0 through 2.5.69. It does not affect versions 2.4.23-pre7 and 2.6.0-test6 according to EWeek.
Some of the companies that distribute Linux have already issued patches. Symantec says any user with "shell-level" access to the system could use the bug to become "root" and then to do anything at all with the computer.
Let us know what you think about this program! Write to:
Bill Blinn --
(wtvn@blinn.com still works)
Joe Bradley -- |
