Uploading articles | Something Close to a FAQ

[Tom Hildreth]

OK, thanks guys, I'll be checking on those PDF programs you mentioned. I need to bring up one other thing that may be related to my PDFCreator trial. I went to uninstall it, and was advised it was not completely successful. Now I noticed a memory control program I have been using for a couple of years is gone, and there are some other odd glitches, most annoying of which is the loss of "sleep" mode on my computer.  :x  I do not have proof that PDFCreator did this, but if someone cares to give me their coordinates I'll lob a couple of rounds at them for good measure. :evil:

This crap is what I mean when I rant about the fallibility of the Wintel PC platform. I wonder if Gene ever got a Mac? I've located a few Mac stores not far away. But boy, are they expensive!

[nelsonfoto]

Tom, FWIW, PDF995 - at least the version I use - gave me no problems. And I'm pretty uptight about system control.

You might want to look into a program called Spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/) - great program, includes a Shredder tool which is great for deleting sensitive data, allowing you to overwrite the disk locale up to 99 times to thoroughly rid the info. Main thing I love is Tea Timer, a feature which prevents anything being changed in the reg without your permission. You wouldn't belive the crap that websites so far try to push. Make sure you keep Spy Bot updated, set it to block bad pages silently, and re-check immunizations when you update defs.

Also check Spyware Blaster. Used in conjunction, I'm a satisfied man.

[ImageMaker]

Another great PDF writing option -- OpenOffice.org has a freeware (Gnu Lesser Public License) office suite with word processor, spreadsheet, drawing/presentation program, database, and mathsheet (i.e. works similar to MathCad).  The word processor allows embedding documents or fragments from the other applications, and can export directly to PDF (or HTML, for that matter).  BTW, the suite can also import/export Microsoft Office formats and most other formats that have been common within the last few years (wouldn't handle GeoWrite, but that company's been out of business for 6-7 years and their format was always proprietary).

And did I mention it's free?  No "watermarks applied on advanced features", no restricted version, and it'll do a lot more than just export to PDF.  You could buy a used computer and install OpenOffice.org for less than the cost of a new copy of MS Office...

[Tom Hildreth]

Craig,
It gets curioser and curioser.  I've been using Spybot for about 18 mos now, though not as often as I should.  After doing a Norton virus scan (Norton was hosed for the first time in years-the Autoscan was set to off and the email scan said "error"!  Never seen this stuff before. Anyway, I got the system scanned clean after updating Norton, but now it appears as though I'm having communications problems getting Spybot updated-again, this never happened before either. OH well, I don't want to turn this into a boo-hoo my computer's hosed, but none of this occurred before I tried PDF Creator!

[nelsonfoto]

Tom, some of the servers for the update downloads are toasted, but not removed from the list. In the update pane, click on the server button and select the safer-networking server, or whatever it's called. If you STILL can't get a good DL of the updates - the others often resulting in a bad checksum - you might have managed to DL something to your box that nuked your tools.

As for Norton, screw them. I use AVAST, and I highly recommend them. GRISOFT makes a nice, free product as well.

Worst-case scenario... reboot into safe mode and attempt all scans.

[nelsonfoto]

BTW - you obviously know you can't DL updates in safe mode.

You might want to ascertain system is clean, then remove Spybot and reinstall, making sure you implement Tea Timer. I find it invaluable.

[P C Headland]

I downloaded PDF Creator about 10 days ago with the thought of using it when I had something I wanted to convert to a pdf file.  I was some surprised later when I tried to print out a Christmas card address list and it made a pdf file outta the thing. And kept doing it until the pdf sample was used up. Not the evaluation for which I was hoping. Wondering if I'll  have to restore my printer drivers when I get home.

Tom

PDF Creator, at least the one  linked to is GPL'ed software - free, open source software, no time limits, watermarks, evaluation versions or other restrictions.  I doubt very much that it would do anything dodgy, unless they've been hacked (which is also unlikely do have gone unnoticed, since they are on sourceforge).

[Tom Hildreth]

Paul,
Apparently I got off on the wrong one for PDF Creator, though I thought I used the link provided here. I did note it was supposed to be freeware, so I should have been suspicious of the trial period of 5 uses. After having it on my system for a few days,  I started getting emails from a "Trent Steel" asking me how my trial was going. Methinks my "computer savvy" level has slipped a bit-I got suckered.

Craig,
We have differing opinions of Norton. I've used it for 5 years with little or no problems and it seems effective.

"Bad checksum" error is what I was seeing when attempting to dowload updates for Spybot. Are you saying because I am seeing this that I may be accessing a bogus URL?[/i]

[edthened]

Tom, in Spybot go to Update page & at the top of the page to the left of the update button there is a little arrow, press arrow & select another site nearer to you & press update again.  That should get rid of the "bad checksum" :?:
The above should be as clear as mud so if you have any more problems let me know :roll:  :roll:

Edwin    

[nelsonfoto]

Tom, apparently some of the servers in the list (in the update window) are not working correctly. If you click the button, it will drop down and display other servers  - choose theSafer-Networking server. Now, click on Download and you should be fine. Once the update is done, click on the Immunize icon on the left, make sure you Immunize to current specs. The bad-pages-blocker should be activated from the  Immunize screen - I set mine to block silently.

[edthened]

Thats what I said only different :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

Edwin    

[Tom Hildreth]

That's OK, it's got to be explained to me in several ways before I stand a chance.  :wink: Sort of like having conversations with drop-down boxes:  Just pick the meaning that suits you at the moment.

I had no idea about the server list. Probably something that I dealt with when I first got Spybot, and have forgotten about since. Gentlemen, I'll be looking into this shortly-thank you.

[ImageMaker]

BTW, Tom, the reason you kept getting PDFs when trying to print simple text is because whatever PDF maker you downloaded installed itself as the default print driver.  If it were me, I'd be tempted to reply to the e-mails from "Trent Steel" and let them know I was planning to let all my friends know what a dishonest piece of garbage their software is -- from masquerading as freeware, capitalizing on (probably) a mistyping or search engine link to the free PDF Creator, to installing in a way that will use up your trial in the shortest possible time, to using a "phone home" spyware system to check up on your "free trial."

Following that, I'd take all steps available, up to and including downloading a different spyware utility, to restore your spyware blocker, which might well have been bollixed by this "phone home" PDF maker.  And, of course, I'd do a search and destroy on every trace, both in storage and the Registry, of this poser software.  I did that once with Comet Cursors (which masked a tracing app) after it refused to uninstall, even using their instructions -- right down to telling the company exactly what I had to do to manually uninstall their software, and suggesting that it might be interesting to see what the Feds would make of a report of illegal computer tampering from their software that covered its true purposes and tried to be impossible to remove.  Funny how quickly they replied with instructions for doing exactly what I'd figured out on my own (funny because it proved they were responding only to the threat, not having read the rest of my e-mail).

Do not take spy/fraudware lying down -- protect youself.

[Tom Hildreth]

ImageMaker,
Great advice, all of it. Thanks for the thoughtful reply.  You may be right, I may have Googled for PDF Creator thinking I could find a server of theirs closer to home and wound up on a poser site. That seems the most likely way for me to end up with Trent Steel's operation. I responded immediatley to his inquiry and told him of my dissatisfaction. I'm left with feelings that this is an inadequate response nevertheless.  

Had to reinstall Norton to get it working correctly again. It updated and scanned clean first attempt, but kept coming up with no email scans and an error message. It appears I have no viruses on the system following reinstall and rescan.

Followed edthened & Craig's advice on Spybot-had to update from the Safer Networking #1 Europe link to get an update. Seems like a troubled service to me.  Anyway, it updated and scanned clean, though it reported 1500+ items blocked. (Good!)

Tried unsuccessfully to reinstall my Keyboard driver to get my sound card control and sleep functions back. Couldn't find it on the original O.S. CDs, and it claims the one installed (which seems hosed) is the best one to use. I need to check the keyboard status when I get home, in case (wishful thinking here) it got straightened out following Norton reinstall.  I really want those functions back, as it is a real convenience when I am recording my old vinyl albums and casettes to CD.

Sometimes I view my internet connection as a sewer pipe. At times the flow is going the wrong way.