The PC Improvement News
Issue 1-28
April 21, 1999

ISSN 1488-3163
Published electronically by PC Improvements (c) 1999
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Welcome to the 28th 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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HELLO! Last week I shared some subscriber comments on their browser. This
week and next week I will be sharing what the Internet is like around the
world. I currently have reports from Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa,
Pakistan, Singapore, Argentina, Italy, and New Zealand. I'm still waiting
for response from people from India, Ireland, Norway, Vietnam, Israel, and
Sweden. Some of the reports are very interesting. If you live in a country
that isn't mentioned above, please send me a paragraph or two on what the
Internet is like in your country.


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THE NEWS
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If Britney Spears says it, it must be true!
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Pop singer Britney Spears was recently on an AOL chat and when asked about
what she would be doing this news years eve she replied, "I'm definitely
going to be at home because all these computers, I hear, are supposed to
shut down and I'm going to be sad. So my mom's like, 'Britney, you're
home.' So I'm probably just going to party with my friends."

For more info:
http://www.y2kculture.com/arts/19990419.britneyspears.html


Windows 95 Y2K Patch
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It doesn't seem like Microsoft can satisfy anyone. They have been saying
for a while now that they would not issue another patch to Windows 95.
They said it is Y2K compliant with a few small issues. These issues are
enough to cause a large company like EDS to plan a full corporate upgrade
to Windows 98 so that it would be Y2K compliant. Well, it has come out now
that Microsoft will issues a patch to make Windows 95 fully compliant.
This has caused quite an uproar. People feel that it was dishonest of
Microsoft to not tell people what their plans were. A lot of people
purchase Windows 98 expecting that Windows 95 had problems. Now those
problems will be fixed for free, but Microsoft has already made the sale.

For more info:
http://www.computerworld.com/home/print.nsf/all/9904199FA2


Illegal Domain Names
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A judge in Virginia has ruled that a company can not register a domain
name that is a misspelling of a trademark. For instance, a person might
register the address misrosoft.com or mnsbc.com to try to capture visitors
who typed in the wrong address. Microsoft has filed a lawsuit against the
men who registered those 2 addresses.

Experts feel that this will set a precedent for others who try to do the
same thing. The ruling is not expected to affect a name like
netscapesucks.com as it is protected by the first amendment

For more info:
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article/0,1087,3_100051,00.html


Lycos and Netscape
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Lycos has announced a deal with Netscape to use its Open Directory for
some of its answers. The Netscape Open Directory used to be called NewHoo
(before it was purchased from Netscape) and is a Yahoo!-like directory.
Volunteer editors select sites that get listed.

I am currently in the NOD 2 or 3 times and I don't even know how I got in.
If you are a webmaster and aren't listed with them yet, I would give it a
try. This could be a big traffic builder.

For more info:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/wr/story.html?s=v/nm/
19990419/wr/internet_lycos_6.html


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


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The Internet is a World Wide Web
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Here are some descriptions of what the Internet is like in some of the
countries that my subscribers live in. Entries were edited for length, not
for spelling or grammar. If you live in a country that isn't listed,
please email me at editor@pcin.net and fill me in.

Netherlands
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Silvan Kuipers reports that, "over here there is a
variaty of ISPs. The better ones (e-mail addresses, large homepage-space
etc) are more expensive: 25 to 35 guilders (which is about 15 euros) per
month. There are also a few ISPs that offer free Internet. Some are
showing many commercials, some are not: probably to obtain some good-will.
Our TV cable supplier (Castel, there are more of them in our country) also
is offering free internet. Usually it is very busy. However, if you are up
early (say, before 7 o'clock) it is pretty fast and you can use the full
capacity of your 56k6 modem. Internet via cable had yet been introduced in
only a few cities. Prices vary from 40 to 90 guilders, which is about 20
to 45 euros, per month. From here, services in America, England, Germany
and Scandinavia are reasonably fast. Sites in other countries are usually
much slower.

Belgium
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Dirk Dupon reports that, "Internet
access in Belgium is like anywhere else in the world; slow at peak times,
and fast at other times. It's not expensive anymore to go on line, because
there are different companies that provide internet access. People can get
online from 100$ a year and payments can be done by the hour, by month or
by year. The government doesn't restrict any sites, but net users can
report net abuse or child-porn to an official net-policy site."

South Africa
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Vijeprathap Vijendranath reports that, "
Internet access in South Africa is much slower, than accessing the
internet in America (as I experienced it when I was in Washington a year
ago). Having a 56K modem over a 28.8K modem makes a very little difference
as the phone line works at a constant 9600 baud rate. The telephone
company (AND THERE IS ONLY ONE IN THE WHOLE
COUNTRY!) has told us, that they will install digital
lines in the country, but I haven't seen anything
happening. All of the ISP's I know, provide unlimited internet
access, and you pay ranging from (converting to dollars) $9.80 to $16.30
dollars a month. Most of them provide about 5 MB of free web space to
upload your own website on the net. The telephone bill is apparently very
expensive (about 85$ a month, for about 3hrs of internet per day). There
aren't any government restricted sites I know of.

Pakistan
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Asad Mumtaz reports that, "The Government owned
ISP is extremely slow, some of the others are good and
some satisfactory. There are some really good ISPs around here. Some ISPs
offer extremely poor browsing speed but excellent speed while you are
downloading softwares or e-mails (I have a seperate account for
downloading and for e-mails from such a comapny). You cannot say that
Internet is cheap over here nor is it expensive. But the unlimited
accounts (1 month fees = Rs. 2500 or $50) are expensive. Most of the
people here buy hourly accounts which are around Rs. 25 to Rs. 45 ($0.5 to
$1). Some ISPs offer discounts if you buy 100 hours or like that. There
are also Student packages and Corporate packages for students and
companies respectively. There is some discount for students in Student
Packages and some extra facilities for business owners in Corporate
Packages. There is no restriction as to which site you go to. But some
ISPs do monitor you (in my opinion, although some don't agree to this
opinion)."

Singapore
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Tony Tay reports that, "There are currently 3
main ISPs in Singapore. Internet is fast catching up
here, with the main ISP (Singnet) already obtained 200,000 subscribers in
this country of 3 million. The government is very supportive of access to
the internet. Secondary school students are also exposed to the cyber
highway and using it to do research/study and even post their project work
onto the web for all to see. For Singnet dial-up(my ISP):-I pay for S$7.00
per month for access hour of 25 as a student. The adult rates : access per
month are - $3.50 for email $9.50 for 13 hours $24.95 for 35 hours $59.95
for 90 hours $84.95 for 135 hours (excess usage are charged at S$0.05 per
minute.) Yes, the government do restrict certain sites (eg. adult sites,
sites whose content are not advisable such as those portraying
violence/cult group etc.) This is governed by the Singapore Broadcasting
Authority (http://www.sba.gov.sg) We have to configure our browsers to
point to the ISP's proxies in order to connect to the internet. In this
way we could not access those restricted site."


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THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF
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Quickly format a Word Document
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When you cut and paste into Microsoft Word, sometimes the formatting is
all messed up. There are tabs, line breaks and other unwanted tings. To
fix it, highlight the part you want to fix and press Ctrl-Shift-N. This
applies the Normal AutoFormat to the selection. If it doesn't work, then
don't highlight it, just put the cursor in the paragraph you want to fix
and try it again.


Excel 97 Easter Egg
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With a new worksheet open in Microsoft Excel 97, press the F% key that
brings up the Go To dialogue box. Type X97:L97 and hit Enter. Press the
Tab key. Hold Ctrl and Shift. Now click on the Chart Wizard toolbar
button. Your entire screen becomes a flight simulation game. Use your
mouse to navigate over the alien terrain. Pressing the left mouse button
speeds you forward, while the right button slows you down or sends you in
reverse.


IE5 has some new buttons (and they come in different sizes)
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One of the nicest things in IE5 (in my opinion) is the addition of some
new buttons. The first one is "stolen" from Netscape. I always like on the
newer versions of Navigator that there was a button called What's Related.
It is a service provides by Alexa that will give you a listing of sites
that are similar to the ones you are visiting. I found that it almost
always gave me good results. Well, Microsoft has added this to IE5. You
can view What's Related by going to the Tools menu and choosing Show
What's Related. You can also add a button to the toolbar by choosing
View--Toolbars--Customize. and move the Related button to the right. This
will add it to the toolbar.

While you are there, why don't you click on the Icon Options box and
choose small icons. You'll save some space and you'll be able to fit more
icons on the toolbar, especially if you have two toolbars on the same line.


Keep a Journal (shared it last week but worth sharing again)
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I just learned this myself. Open Windows Notepad and type .LOG on the
first line. Below, type whatever notes you want to record. Save the file
under a name of your choice and close the file. When you next open it,
you'll find the time and date below your notes. Each time you open the
file and then close it, you can have the date and time show up. One
problem is that if you just open up your file to look at it, it will
prompt you to save the changes when you close it. Even though you didn't
make any changes, it is asking you to do that because a new time stamp
wants to be created. If you haven't changed anything, then just click no
when it asks you to save the changes. This works in Windows 3.1 and
Windows 9x. I don't know about Windows NT.


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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.
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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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