Issue 86 - May 31, 2000

ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements (c) 2000
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Welcome to the 86th issue of the PC Improvement News. PCIN consists of news, tips, thoughts, and contests. There is something for everyone, and if this is your first issue, I'm sure there will be something for you. I am willing to discuss any computer topic. Email me at mailto:editor@pcin.net with any suggestions. If you give me two or three issues, I know that you will come back for more!

Recommend PCIN to others and be entered in a monthly draw (May draw is for Mijenix's PowerDesk Utilities 4 Pro) at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml

OPENING THOUGHTS

I guess this is an indication that the printed word isn't dead yet. I highlight 4 stories, but I have no links for any of them. They all came from printed sources. As I've said before, I do enjoy reading a magazine and newspaper while I'm relaxing.

I finally finished the review of Software602's 602Pro Lan Suite Lite. You can see it below in the Tips and Other Stuff section.

Lastly, don't forget to recommend PCIN during the month of May, as you will be eligible for a copy of PowerDesk Utilities 4 Pro. You can recommend PCIN at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml

SMILEYS and ACRONYMS of the WEEK

!-)   Black Eye
:-))  Double Chin
G     Grin
IDTT  I'll Drink To That

Get the WWW. Smileys & Acronyms book for the PCIN special price of $7.00 Cdn (around $5.00 US). You can only get this price by visiting http://www.pcin.net/help/books/reviewed/smileys.shtml

The NEWS

More Profitless Online Companies

From the Thursday, May 25, 2000 Toronto Star:
"Chapters Online Inc. has promised investors a profit by Christmas 2001, but investors appear unconvinced. The leading Canadian online bookseller reported yesterday that it lost 95 cents for every dollar of goods sold in the year ending April 1."
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I've had a lot of people try to explain it to me, but I still don't see how a company can continue to do business like this. The company remains upbeat though and they say all of the signs point to profitability within the next year or two.

Zip Inventor Dies

Few things are as universal as ZIP files. They are everywhere. Phillip W. Katz, the inventor of this compression recently passed away at the age of 37. In 1986 he invented the ZIP compression algorithm and used it in the popular PKZip program. In 1989 he founded PKWare, and the company today still makes PKZip, along with other programs.

Internet Everywhere

A couple of weeks ago I had a contest that asked people what they thought of the up and coming Wireless appliances that allow you to access the Internet. The May 19, 2000 issue of Computer World Canada had the following survey:
New wireless devices are making it possible for technology workers to connect to the Internet anywhere and at all times. How do you feel about that?
12% That's the last thing I need. I work with technology; I don't need it connected to me outside of the office.
12% It's a concern. I don't want to be working every minute of the day
27% It's a really useful option. I could keep up much better with my workload
49% It's the way I plan to work in the future. I want to stay out of office as much as possible.

Registering Microsoft Office

In an effort to curb software piracy, Microsoft will be shipping an Office Registration Wizard with all new copies of Office 2000. "The fifty-first time users open the application, they will be prompted to register with Microsoft. The registration process includes name, postal address, and email address, and the program itself takes a "snapshot" of the PCs hardware configuration. In return, Redmond gives users unique number codes to enter into the program, and - voila! - they can go back to using the software. Otherwise, it will cease to work."
Microsoft says that the software can be installed on 2 machines before a warning is issued. The wizard should also accept most hardware changes without accusing you of installing the software on another machine.

I NEED HELP

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 most of them, but there are things that I have never tried or experienced so I don't have an answer. I post those questions here and see if any of the readers have any suggestions. I will include all reasonable suggestions with credit to you.
These are NOT my own questions and they are NOT my answers. I will NOT check the validity of these comments. That is up to you. If you do try one of these tips, please let me know how the suggestions worked out. Did they work or not? Please send in your questions or results to mailto:freehelp@pcin.net

Previous Question 1
With all the new devices to add to your systems now days I was wondering how do I add more USB ports? I have a scanner and CD writer, digital camera, and desktop camera I hate to keep plugging and unplugging all the devices all the time. I saw a hub that has 4 ports but I don't know if it should be internal or external can you help?

Answers to Question 1
John Hills said, "You need an external USB 4 port hub £20 in UK and probably 10 cents in USA, which plugs into your existing USB port on your PC. Most Pc's have two ports thus making a total of 5 usable ports, the sixth used by the hub itself. There is no reason that I can think of why you cannot stick yet another hub into a hub. I suspect there must be a limit and I would be interested to know what it is."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leeor Geva said, "Whatever floats your boat. I believe the external hub has more plugs."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Simon Duffy said, "Just get an external hub as that way you can move all the connections from your computer instead of having them all at the back of the computer. If you get a card then that's one PCI slot you may want in the future."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sharky said, "There is a very simple answer. A USB Hub is what you're looking for... Local computer shops should stock such an item... Note: Depending on how many devices you want to connect at once, most good USB Hubs come with an optional wall adaptor. If you plan on using a lot of devices then you have to plug the USB Hub into the wall, for additional power requirements.
D-Link sells a cost effective device, you plug one end into the USB port on the computer, the USB HUB then provides 4 USB ports (4 port version). And yes the hubs can be connected to each other, to provide even more USB ports."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dan Najimian said, "One option for adding USB ports would be to purchase a Microsoft Internet Keyboard Pro. When you plug in the USB connector from this keyboard into a USB socket on the motherboard, the two additional USB ports found on the backside of this keyboard become active and available."

Previous Question 2
Is it possible to adjust shared video RAM? My computer has 8MB shared RAM.

Answers to Question 2
John Hills said, "In the BIOS you can normally adjust you video ram to 4mb, 8mb or 16mb. This obviously knocks out your main memory proportionately."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leeor Geva said, "I say yes, but I never had to do this, so I don't know how to direct you. I know you can tweak from right clicking on My Computer, Selecting Properties from the pop up menu, and looking in Advanced features."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Simon Duffy said, "You can adjust the amount of shared video ram in the bios. Just hold down the del key on boot. Have a look around for the shared memory it should be pretty obvious but don't touch anything else you don't know about."

New Questions
Q1) How do I change the folder icons on my desktop to something other than folders?
Q2) Task bar! It has elongated itself, to the left and to the right. I can view only 1/4 of the start button over on the left, and the clock is out of view - on the right.  Nowhere in the literature can I find mention of how to rectify this. I think I should be able to correct it without resorting to the monitor's controls - which, by the way, do not correct the problem.

If you have an answer to these questions or have a question of your own, please email me at mailto:freehelp@pcin.net

THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF

Cheap Trick of the Week

**Clean up as a minesweeper - again**
So your friends eventually caught on to your cheating in Minesweeper using the winmine.ini-editing trick you learned here last month? That's okay, because now we've got a new trick you can pull to beat Windows' built-in game and rack up record-breaking times.
Launch the game and click on a square to start the timer. Then click both the left and right mouse buttons simultaneously on any square. You'll see a nine-square indentation. Still holding the mouse buttons down, press the Esc key.
This stops the clock and lets you complete the game at your leisure while recording an incredibly low time.

You can get the Little Black Book of Cheap Tricks yourself
for only $9.95 Cdn (about $7.00 US)
http://www.pcin.net/help/books/reviewed/cheaptricks.shtml
(Please mention that you heard about it from PCIN)

Reverse IP Lookup

If you have a utility like ZoneAlarm running on your computer, you will find that there are people out there who are trying to get into your computer. Not that they are specifically targeting you. They are using utilities that scan Internet IP addresses for openings. Most of these people are harmless. ZoneAlarm logs the IP address of these people. But you need to know how to find out where these people came from if you'd like to do anything about it. You can visit http://www.arin.net/whois/index.html and enter the IP address. You will then receive all of the information about the ISP that the person is coming from. If you want, you could then contact the ISP and report the offending IP address.

An Attempt at Internet Privacy

Many people try to use the Internet in anonymity. This is very difficult though as there always seems to be a way to track you (see above). Well, I haven't tried this service, but http://www.proxymate.com/ offers a service that supposedly will allow you privacy while surfing. You use their service as a proxy. I guess this site would know where you had been.

Internet Sharing

Speaking of proxies, depending on the speed of your Internet connection and how many computers you have, you may want to use one ISP connection to allow all of these computers access to the Internet. In most cases, you will need a program that will accept request for web pages and route them through a main machine, a proxy. Software602, the same people who made 602Pro PC Suite, have made a program called 602Pro Lan Suite. This allows unlimited numbers of computers to access the Internet though the proxy machine. They also have a Lite version that allows access to 3 computers.
This is perfect for small home networks.  I tried this out with my desktop as my proxy machine, and my laptop as the computer that wanted access to the Internet. I have a cable connection, and my provider only assigns one IP address. Any computer that wants to connect to the Internet needs an IP address, so I can't have another IP address unless I pay for it. 602Pro Lan Suite Lite allowed me to have Internet access through both machines. Very cool. But the program has other useful features such as email retrieval (and distribution to the other PCs) and even a network fax client.
If you have been wondering how to share your Internet connection, then you should definitely check this out. An evaluation version of the program is available, and the program costs $49.94 if you want to buy it.

You can check out my full review at http://www.pcin.net/help/software/602prolanlite.shtml

DISCLAIMER and OTHER STUFF

PCIN 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 for the results obtained from trying the tips in this newsletter.

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Graham Wing can be reached at mailto:editor@pcin.net
Copyright 1998-2000, PC Improvements and Graham Wing. All rights reserved. This publication may be reproduced in hole, or in part, as long as the author is notified and the newsletter is presented as is.

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