The PC Improvement News
Issue 1-33
May 26, 1999

ISSN 1488-3163
Published electronically by PC Improvements (c) 1999
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Welcome to the 33rd edition of the PC Improvement News. In this newsletter,
I have a couple of tips to make your computing life easier as well as
highlights of the past weeks PC Industry News. I am more than willing to
discuss any PC related topics in this newsletter. Just email me at
editor@pcin.net with your suggestions. I would also appreciate it
if you let me know if there is any strange formatting in the newsletter so
that I can fix them.

Give me two or three issues, and I know that you will get something great
out of this!


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SOME OPENING THOUGHTS
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I have recently acquired the means to upgrade the computer I use. It
was a Pentium 120 with 48 MB of RAM. It is still sufficient for my needs,
but after using Pentium IIs recently, I just had to do something to
increase the speed. I have spent the day shopping around and it looks like
I will get a Pentium III 450. I will be purchasing my new system in parts
and building it myself. Today I bought a 17" monitor, a USR external v90
modem, and an HP CD Writer. Wow, now that I have a 17" monitor I don't
know how I have lived without it! And the CD Writer is neat as well. I got
the modem because I am still playing with Linux and the WinModem I had
won't work in Linux.

All of this got me thinking. What is the most essential peripheral on your
computer? Is it your colour printer you can't live without? Is it having
the convenience of a Zip drive? Do you just love your big monitor or your
cable modem? Please email me at editor@pcin.net and let
me know what you love the most about your computer hardware. I'll include
the comments in upcoming newsletters.


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THOUGHT OF THE WEEK
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"Formal education will make you a living. Self-education will make you a
fortune."
          - Jim Rohn

Thought courtesy of http://www.HappyPublishing.com/

To subscribe to the FREE "Aspire to Something Higher" Thought-Of The Day,
send a blank email to HappyQuotes-subscribe@listbot.com


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THE NEWS
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Windows 2000 Looking Good
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Although I used to be a Microsoft Beta tester, I requested to be removed
from their list, as I wasn't impressed with the Office 2000 beta.
Therefore, I haven't actually used Windows 2000 myself, but I have read a
lot of articles that say that the latest beta is very good. This is the
final beta before the get into the RC (release candidate) phase. This last
beta phase will allow them to see if the hundreds of thousands of programs
out there will work in it.

For more info:
http://www.businesstoday.com/techpages/w2k05191999.htm


The Good Side of the Y2K Problem
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Found circulating around the Internet:
January 4, 2000
RE: Vacation Pay

Dear Valued Employee:

Our records indicate that you have not used any vacation time over the
past 100 year(s). As I'm sure you are aware, employees are granted 3 weeks
of paid leave per year or pay in lieu of time off. One additional week is
granted for every 5 years of service.

Please either take 9,400 days off work or notify our office and your next
paycheck will reflect payment of $8,277,432.22, which will include all pay
and interest for the past 1,200 months.

Sincerely,
Automated Payroll Processing

If only this would really happen and no one would catch it :-)


The Elderly Side of the Y2K Problem
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According to some news reports, there are approximately 64,000 people in
the US who will have the chance to live in parts of 3 centuries. They were
born in the 1800s sometime, lived through the 19xxs and will make it to
the 20xx. These people have seen the wide spread use of cars, electricity,
and telephones. They have lived through wars, the depression, and have
made it well into the age of political correctness. Then add on to that
all of what has happened in the last 10 years with technology and they
sure have lived through a lot.


UK Spies Part II
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Last week I reported that a web site posted the names of some of Britain's
top spies. Well, a former intelligence officer says that says the Internet
spells the end for the world's intelligence services.

For more info:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_347000/347912.stm


Cyber Trial of the Century
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America Online Inc. Chairman Steve Case Friday conceded his company has
convinced computer makers to feature the AOL service directly on the
desktop of most PCs sold. Microsoft lawyers have long used that fact to
suggest Microsoft doesn't have the monopoly control over the PC desktop
that AOL and the government claim it has.

For more info:
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2263387,00.html

For information on the Microsoft vs DOJ trial, visit:
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/special/msdojtrial.html


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I NEED HELP
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As many of you know, I offer a free help service via email. If you have a
question, you can email me and I will try my best to answer them. I can
answer about half of them. Those are things that I do regularly or have
experience with. There are other things that I have never tired or
experienced so I don't have an answer. I hope to post those questions here
and see if any of the readers have any suggestions. I will include all
reasonable suggestions with credit to you. I will not check the validity of
these comments. That is up to you.

Previous Questions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q1) I know that Windows has startup and shutdown screens that are bitmap
images. Does anyone know of a way to just input text and have it converted
into one of those bitmaps so that it will appear in one of the
startup/shutdown screens?
A1) Charles Yacoub in Lebanon, Yasin Shaikh, and John Mesh all emailed me
to tell me that the "shutting down" screen is the logow.sys file, the
"starting windows" screen is the logo.sys, and the "safe to power off"
screen is logos.sys. The files are just bitmap (BMP) files, but they are
saved with the SYS extension in this case. You can replace any of those
screens with custom-made screens. They need to be 320x400 pixels in size.
John Mesh recommends visiting the PC Magazine site at
http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/ and downloading the LogoMania program (do a
search for it). That program will help you change those screens.

Anyway, no one knew of a program that would allow you just to type in a
phrase and have it formatted for you. If any one figures out a way to do
this, please let me know.

Q2) I want to download movies but it will not let me. I tried save target
as and it worked for awhile but now it stops down loading about 1 to 5
minutes after it starts. HELP. It happens on every site.
A2) Jumpin' Johnathon emailed me several suggestions as to what might be
causing this problem.
#1) They're is a limitation on how much they can download thru the server
they are using. (IE:) 1 meg limit, (just like attachments).
#2) If they are going thru an FTP address as a guest, there sometimes can
be limitations on how much you can download. Or perhaps it is a 'Ratio'
FTP address, & requires uploading prior. (IE:) Ratio of 10 - 1, for every
meg uploaded, you get 10 megs worth of downloading.
#3) Perhaps where he/she is trying to download to doesn't have enough
space for the amount needed, (IE:) Not enough hard-drive space.
#4) Might be they need some other program to help them resume those
downloads, (IE:) GetRight, or some other assistant client software that
allows the user to recover & resume lost downloads.
#5) There may be some 'trojan virus' infecting the 'OS', try cleaning it
with an appropriate virus killer. (This would hold true if he/she were
downloading from an area with 'Pirated' or 'suspicious' software).
#6) Buy a help for idiots book.
#7) His/Her IP is being blocked or banned for one reason or another. (This
also would hold true if he/she was trying to 'hammer' there way into an
FTP site, getting themselves 'BlackBalled'.
#8) When all else fails, it can't hurt to 'DeFrag'.
#9) He/she could also try re-installing the "OS", perhaps there is a
glitch somewhere.

I just want to put my 2 cents in and say that these are good suggestions
for anyone who is having a problem downloading anything. You should consider
all of these when trying to fix your problem.


New Questions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q1) I have an old Apple II Plus for which, years ago, I wrote some
educational software containing cartoon type graphics. I would like to
convert these graphics for use on a PC. Originally, I used a Koala Pad to
draw them freehand in a PIC format. This took several hours for each one.
Hence, I don't want to have to redo them. Do you have any suggestions as
to how I might accomplish this conversion? Please include any specifics as
to equipment I might need.

Q2) I've had several people email me lately asking for help with WebCams.
I do not have one, so I do not really know anything about them. Does
anyone know of any good sites that explain how to set one up that I could
share with this person?

If you have any answers to these questions, please email me at
freehelp@pcin.net


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THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF
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Who made your sound card?
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When you buy cheap computers they come with cheap parts. Sometimes it is
hard to find out who actually made your sound card, your graphics card, or
any other device. If you are trying to find an updated driver, this can be
especially annoying. Well, one thing you can do is to look at your device.
Look at your sound card and see if there is something stamped on it that
says FCCID: XXXXXXXX. This is the FCC ID number that is assigned to the
company and that device. You can visit http://www.fcc.gov/oet/fccid/ and
do a search for that ID and you may be able to find out who the
manufacturer is.


Get a Folder/Directory Listing
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Have you ever tried to get a listing of all of the files in a directory to
print out and you can't figure out how to do it? You can't do it through
Windows and if you try to do a dir command and then press Print Screen
then you only get the information that is currently on the screen. Try
typing in "dir>dirfile.txt" at the command prompt (without the quotes).
You can do this from a DOS window within Windows 9x and you can use any of
the switches that you could use before (/a for show all attributes, /o for
alphabetical order, /w for width listing, etc.). Listing your folder
contents in a file can be useful if you are trying to see what files are
stored where or if you want someone else to see what you have.


Do Some Spring Cleaning
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Dust your computer. Dust it every month or so. The dust can insulate your
electrical circuits and cause them to heat up too much. In very rare cases
the dust can short out circuits. Do not use any commercial spray product
that emits a liquid spray. Instead pay a few bucks and buy a can of
compressed air. You should be able to pick up a can for $5 - $10. Hold the
can upright when you spray. That should keep your parts clean and you
should avoid any problems that might arise from a dusty computer.


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Lastly, send in your comments, tips and news and you too can be included in
The PC Improvement News with a reference to your name and web site.
Send email to pcinews@pcimprovements.com
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Well, that's all for this week. Remember that if there is anything that you
want to learn about, let me know and I will try to accommodate you. Also,
feel free to send any comments about the newsletters and the topics covered.
This newsletter is sent to those who subscribed only. We don't believe in
SPAM, so if you have somehow gotten this and you don't want it, please see
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The PC Improvement News is brought to you by PC Improvements. The opinions
expressed are those of the editor, Graham Wing. PC Improvements and Graham
Wing accept no responsibility (either good or bad) for the results obtained
from trying the tips in this newsletter.
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Editor: Graham Wing can be reached at editor@pcin.net

Copyright 1999, PC Improvements and Graham Wing. All rights reserved.
This publication may be reproduced in whole, or in part, as long as the
editor is notified.

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