The PC Improvement News

Issue 66 - January 12, 2000

ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements (c) 1999

==== 709 Subscribers in 42 Countries ====

There are only 2 ways to get on the subscriber list. You have either been subscribed by filling out a subscription form on any of the pages on my site, or you have requested FreeHelp from me in the past.

To subscribe, unsubscribe, or view previous issues please visit http://www.pcin.net/

Note 1: If any of the links are too long to fit on one line, you may have to cut and paste.
Note 2: You can only win one contest every 30 days.

Welcome to the 66th edition of the PC Improvement News. In this newsletter, I combine 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 topics in this newsletter. Email me at editor@pcin.net with your suggestions.

If you give me two or three issues, I know that you will come back for more!

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SOME OPENING THOUGHTS
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On the main page of my site at http://www.pcin.net/ there is a rating form from InfoJump, a newsletter directory. I have my newsletter listed under the computer category at http://www.infojump.com/cat/Computers/ and as of 10:00 a.m. I am ranked number 2, just behind LockerGnome. I don't plan on catching LockerGnome, but I do have several other publications hot on my heels. Visit my main page at http://www.pcin.net/ and rate PCIN. It's okay, be honest. If you don't like it, unsubscribe. If you like it, rank it well.

If you have a web site or run your own newsletter, please email me at editor@pcin.net and I will add it to the subscriber web pages that I have on my site.

I have also created a recommend page at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml and hope you will take the time to recommend PCIN to others. See this week's new contest below

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THOUGHT OF THE WEEK
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If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means
paint, and that voice will be silenced.
          - Vincent Van Gogh

Thought courtesy of http://www.HappyPublishing.com/
To subscribe to the FREE "Aspire to Something Higher" Thought-Of-The-Day list, send a blank email to aspire-request@happypublishing.com with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.

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THE NEWS
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China vs Microsoft
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Last week there was a report going around that Chinese government offices had been ordered not to install Windows 2000 on their machines.  The rumour was that they are going to install Red Flag Linux, a version of Linux developed by Chinese researchers. It sounded like a hoax to me, but it was very interesting to read anyway. Although it wasn't declared a hoax, Chinese officials did come out and say that the report was true. That sure would be something if Windows 2000 was boycotted.

For more info:
http://www.cnnfn.com/2000/01/06/emerging_markets/wires/windows_wg/
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000107/tc/china_microsoft_3.html

AOL and Time Warner to Merge
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In a $350 billion merger, AOL and Time Warner will merge. Among other things, they will control AOL, Time magazine, CNN, Entertainment Weekly, Sports Illustrated, Netscape and much more.

For more info:
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2419733,00.html
http://www.internetstockreport.com/tracker/article/0,1785,1711_279091,00.html
http://www.msnbc.com/news/355658.asp?cp1=1
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_597000/597479.stm
http://www.msnbc.com/news/355625.asp
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-1519200.html
http://www.personalwealth.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/SNP?action=gotoDocument
Page&location=research/stock/EquityInsights&tracking=BWT00210

IBM Awarded Record Number of Patents
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1999 was a very good year for IBM researchers.  They patented 2,756 technologies, some of which are already in use in products today. This is a new direction for IBM. They are focusing on coming up with new technologies that they can then license to other companies.

For more info
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-1520114.html?tag=st.ne.1002.thed.
1006-200-1520114

Internet II Alive and Well
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A couple of years ago, there was a big deal about a new Internet that was being created for educational institutions, but I haven't heard much about it lately. Well, it is working and there are 150 US educational institutions connected to it. It is so fast that five Midwestern and southern colleges have the power to see full motion video images from a telescope in Arizona and steer it around the cosmos at the same time.

For more info:
http://www.cpnet.com/cpres/backtoschool/docs/000104internet2.asp

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CONTEST RESULTS
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One last kick at the Y2K can.
Congratulations to Steve Doering for winning the copy of ZipMagic 2000. I ended up with 29 entries and would like to thank all of you who participated.

As usual, all contest entries are available on my web site at http://www.pcin.net/contests/index.shtml Most people didn't have any problems, but there were some interesting comments.

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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.

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 results to freehelp@pcin.net

Previous Question 1
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This morning I had to do a Norton Rescue disk, never has been a problem, but when it was finished, my recycle bin icon, now has a windows icon on it instead of a trash basket. I tried to find it in my c: drive to make another one on my desktop, but all recycle bin information is now also in a Windows icon. How did this happen and how can I correct it?

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Ian Williams said, "I hope this will help:
1. Open up the display properties (right click on the desktop then select properties).
2. Click on the Effects tab.
3. Select the icon you wish to change.
4. Either click the default button to restore the default settings or click the browse button, the majority of the icons relating to the desktop are situated in the windows directory. If you do select browse then choose ICONS as the file type."
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Simon Duffy said, "As for missing icons, use TweakUI with win 98 or from Microsoft to rebuild icons. It is also useful for those paranoid and for technicians who can have time to start in safe mode to remove customers unwanted devices."
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Marty said, "They might try MS Plus! Themes if they have it on their PC. If not, there are several free theme manager programs available on the Internet."
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Carlos Roman said, "Go to Control Panel and click on the Display Icon. On the Display Properties window select the Effects tab and click on the Default Icon. This should bring back the default icons on the desktop window."

Previous Question 2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every time I try to bring up live photo images on my computer when using the Web it never brings up the photo completely. There are always some strange clusters of colored squares in clumps throughout the photo and others are completely scrambled in this way. I have been told that I can fix it by using properties but I don't know how too.

Marty said, "The photo thing sounds like they might get a better picture if they view the images through a smaller window. Tell them to play with the image size. If the images are of poor resolution they won't render very well to a large size e.g. full screen."

New Questions
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Q1) Bought a new hard disk. The OS didn't get the right size of the hard disk. It is 13G hard, but it comes out as 8G hard. What is the problem?

Q2) My HP ScanJet 3300c (USB) is listed 11-times as 'unknown other device' with a yellow? And no drivers, and 1 time as 'Imaging Device' with driver installed, in my Window's System Properties Device Manager. I installed my scanner on Dec.1st of 1999 and had no problems so far. Should I remove all 11 occurrences?

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

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NEW CONTEST
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As I mentioned in the opening section, I have added a recommend page at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml I this week you goal is to recommend PCIN to your friends and family.  I have 8 prizes to give away to the 8 people who recommend the most people to join. The form allows you to recommend to 5 people at once. I trust that you won't Spam anyone either as it will be a reflection on you.

The prizes are:
Windows Washer - cleans up your Internet tracks
TweakDUN - Speeds up some Dial Up connections
DU Meter - measures download speeds and times them
IE5 on CD - good to have so you don't need to go to Windows Update

I know these aren't the best prizes, but they are all excellent little programs, and I need to get rid of them before I give away others.

Visit http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml to recommend PCIN to others. If you prefer to email them personally, then please forward a copy of you email to me with the so I know you recommended me.

I will remind you on Saturday again about this contest.

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THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF
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Cheap Trick of the Week
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**Erase Screensaver Password**
Password-protecting your screensaver can keep your PC's contents from prying eyes when you're away from your desk. But what if you forget your password? Restart your computer, load Notepad (or any other text editor) and change directories to the Windows directory (usually C:\Windows). Look for the CONTROL.INI file and open it. Cursor down to the [Screen Saver] section and the line that begins "Password=" followed by your password in encrypted form. Delete everything right of the equal sign on this line. You can then enter a new, more memorable password using the Display applet of the control panel.

Buy the Little Black Book of Cheap Tricks for only $9.95 Cdn (about $7.00 US)
http://www.pcin.net/help/books/reviewed/cheaptricks.shtml

Latest Virus List
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A while ago I had a joke list of viruses named after famous people. John Hills sent me a URL for a longer, updated list. It is quite funny, check it out.
http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Lights/5856/virus2.html

Use the Proper Font
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I'm sure you've noticed that some fonts are listed in your Word Processor as a single entry, and others are listed as:
Font Name
Font Name Bold
Font Name italic
If you want to bold your font, then it would look better if you choose the Font Name Bold font rather than pressing the bold button.  The bold button tries to make your font bold using a certain pattern and technique. The Font Name Bold on the other hand was deigned specifically to be a bold font so it will look better. I hope you followed that :-)

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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 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 author is notified and the newsletter is presented as is.

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