Experts Exchange Newsletter

June 8, 2004

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	In this issue
	What's [NOT] new and who is PayPal spoofed, more viruses and a new Mod and PE Featured experts Two of EE's best Your questions and solutions mlmcc and ThG do the deed		Nata's Corner More virus talk Inside the numbers ameba's list of new Certificates Tip for New Members Getting your solution

What's [NOT] New at Experts Exchange, and Who Is

PayPal being spoofed: We might have been fooled -- whoever tried to get us to change our information at PayPal did a very nice job on the layout of the email -- except they sent it to an email address that doesn't have a related PayPal account. PayPal has some pretty strict procedures and failsafes for keeping your information safe, but clicking on those links in the emails isn't their fault -- it's yours -- so don't do it. If you receive an email that looks like it's from them, then forward it to spoof@paypal.com.

Just when you thought it was safe, version n: Two more viruses are out there, including one that is sneakier than most. The Netsup virus looks for all the world like the typical email you'd get back from an email server to which you had sent a virus. Since many of us are the victims of spoofed email addresses -- in other words, it looks like someone has used your email address and spammed the world with it -- getting this message has become almost commonplace. Now, we can't even believe those messages, because if you open the attachment to find out who is spoofing your email, you've infected yourself with a virus. And while we're on the subject, Microsoft has come up with a CD compilation of security updates. It's free.

New to the Team: Please join us in welcoming DarthMod to the list of Moderators, and gregoryyoung as the new Page Editor for the C# topic area.

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Our questions, articles and featured experts were provided by Page Editors mlmcc and ThG.

Your questions and solutions		Featured Experts
Still open: Game of Life programming Ah, if life were that simple... This user is trying to learn Pascal on his own. Points: 50 05/20/2004 09:26PM PDT Can you help? Still open: php/postgresql inserting null values "I'm trying to insert data from website to a postgresql database and am having problems with date and timestamp datatypes. I have a date field which can be null." Points: 250 05/30/2004 08:36PM PDT Can you help? Formatting floating point numbers "I've got a double in a mysql data base - looks pretty much like 0.85746363783. How do I format that number to 2 decimals for example. I'd like 0.86."Points: 250 Date: 01/08/2004 12:32PM PST View the solution External Sorting Sometimes, the question that gets asked isn't really the question that needs to be answered. In this question, the person asking the question knew what he wanted, but didn't know how to describe it. Date: 04/12/2004 08:03AM PDT View the solution "Top 21 PHP progamming mistakes - Part I: Seven Textbook Mistakes" The article is written about PHP, but a lot of its principles apply to any kind of interactive web programming. Read the entire article.		cracky cracky came to Experts Exchange in January, 2001, and has picked up points in many of the various web development topic areas. At the top of the list for him: PHP and MySQL. Login Name: cracky Registration Date: January 15, 2001 Expert Points: 176133 Certificates: Master, PHP mlmcc mlmcc is the Page Editor for the Pascal and Database Reporting topic areas. He started out using FORTRAN to program wargaming and space-related systems on mainframes, and has taught classes in Pascal, FORTRAN, C, C++, and Visual Basic. His current projects involve working with databases using Visual Basic frontends and Crystal Reports. Login Name: mlmcc Registration Date: November 30, 2000 Expert Points: 899393 Certificates: Sage, Crystal Reports; Master, Visual Basic, Programming ThG ThG initially began his studies as System Administrator on Unix and Linux operating systems. During the last four years he learned most programming languages widely used nowadays for work requirements, with a particular attention to Web related technologies. He has been working as database designer and web developer (mostly on PHP/MySQL) for the past two years. Login Name: ThG Registration Date: April 12, 2003 Expert Points: 257639 Certificates: Master, PHP, PHP Databases CetusMOD Some people just jump out at you. CetusMOD joined EE about seven minutes before the "Last Login Date" stopped working (July 8, 2003 if you're wondering) -- and he started working. He made the HOF, cleaned thousands of questions, and when asked to join the Moderator program in March 2004, took all of a minute or so to join in. Since then, he's been tireless.



PE Tip: If you're not sure what to do to close your question, the first thing you should do is look at the Help Page, which will tell you everything you need to know. Some of your options need Moderator or Page Editor assistance; that's when you should post in the Community Support topic area.

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If you would like to swap links with EE, just fill out the form at the Link Exchange page.

Nata's Corner: Still more virus talk

I find little tips and tricks all over the Internet -- okay, so I browse a lot -- and one of the things I've seen a lot of lately is people complaining that this virus protection company's system didn't work, or that one's missed the Beagle virus and the whole system crashed.

We can't say it often enough. Get yourself some protection. Even if you're using a 56k modem, you're still vulnerable; trojan horse viruses can sit there and wait until you have a rainy Saturday where there's no decent movie, and all of a sudden, your computer is sending a new virus to everyone in your address book.

None of the virus protection companies really wants you to use someone else's, but they all say that in addition to theirs, you should take a few other precautions:

Use a firewall. They're not as expensive as reinstalling your entire O/S, recreating your address book and bookmarks, and all of the other nasty stuff some of the viruses cause.
Use antivirus software, and make sure it's always up to date. You can also take advantage of TrendMicro's online virus scan, even if you're using someone else's software.
Don't open an attachment from someone you've never heard of, and don't open one from someone you've heard of if you weren't expecting it. Viruses are coming in all shapes and sizes, and you might get one early -- before the antivirus companies get a chance to update the definitions.

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Inside the numbers

Somehow, our issue of two weeks ago got lost in the shuffle, so we've included the new certifications list for the last month below. ameba did his usual stellar work in sending the list to us, so don't go blaming him. His list of all of the Certified Experts is located at his site. The list below covers the period from May 2 through May 30.


Expert	Certified	in Topic Area	Expert	Certified	in Topic Area	Expert	Certified	in Topic Area
hes sirbounty bingie jmwheeler rockiroads Arthur_Wood flavo SidFishes 0tacon Mighty_Silly tbsgadi bluelizard monosodiumg jitganguly YZlat ryancys puranik_p rllibby Slick812 mocarts Ivanov_G bpana Zvonko OMC2000 orangehead911 zzynx GrandSchtroumpf maheshexp krakatoa Hilaire amit_g adwiseman ChrisFretwell jchopde iboutchkine culshaja	Guru Master Master Master Sage Wizard Guru Guru Master Master Master Master Master Wizard Master Master Master Wizard Wizard Guru Master Master Genius Master Guru Guru Guru Master Master Wizard Guru Guru Master Master Sage Master	Visual Basic Visual Basic Visual Basic Visual Basic MS Access MS Access MS Access MS Access MS Access MS Access MS Access MS Access MS Access ASP ASP ASP ASP Delphi Delphi Delphi Delphi Delphi JavaScript JavaScript Java Java Java Java Java Microsoft SQL Microsoft SQL Microsoft SQL Microsoft SQL Microsoft SQL .NET .NET	YZlat sirbounty JammyPak Callandor PeteLong buckeyes33 tinchos AlexFM vijay_visana KurtVon gemarti sirbounty Fatal_Exception jjmck dstoker509 ikm7176 ahmedbahgat MFay Emptyone baonguyen1 mrichmon Plucka PE_CF_DEV sebastienm cookre mayankeagle AlexFM lbertacco Dabas Dhaest shalomc dfu23 ozo Tintin sirbounty YohanShminge	Master Guru Master Wizard Master Master Master Wizard Master Master Sage Wizard Wizard Guru Master Master Master Master Master Master Guru Master Master Master Guru Master Master Master Master Master Master Master Sage Guru Master Master	.NET Windows 2000 Windows 2000 Hardware Hardware Hardware C++ MFC MFC MFC Windows XP Windows XP Windows XP Exchange_Server Exchange_Server Exchange_Server Exchange_Server Exchange_Server Exchange_Server Oracle ColdFusion ColdFusion ColdFusion Excel Programming Programming Programming Programming Programming Programming Web Development Web Development Perl Perl Networking Networking	anupnellip gregoryyoung qwaletee cracky CosminB ankuratvb GrahamSkan sirbounty oBdA seanpowell brunobear sirbounty LucF walterecook frodoman objects TimYates snoyes_jw leannonn Fatal_Exception Bartender_1 kronostm seanpowell JFrederick29 yuzh shamstar ldbkutty Mercantilum gregoryyoung RonaldBiemans bryanh khkremer jlevie mmarinov lesouef	Master Master Sage Master Master Master Master Master Master Wizard Master Master Master Master Wizard Guru Master Master Master Master Master Master Guru Master Guru Master Master Master Master Master Master Guru Guru Master Master	Networking C# Lotus Notes/Domino PHP PHP C VB Controls Microsoft Network Microsoft Network HTML HTML Operating Systems Operating Systems Databases Crystal Reports JSP JSP Mysql Mysql Windows Server 2003 Storage Storage FrontPage Routers Solaris Graphics PHP and Databases Apache VB.NET VB.NET Linux Prog. Adobe Acrobat Sendmail ASP.NET FileMaker

742 experts have 1051 certifications: Genius:8 Sage:38 Wizard:77 Guru:180 Master:748

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