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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.
- If any of the links are too long to fit on one line,
you may have to cut and paste.
- You can only win one contest every 30 days.
- To subscribe another address or unsubscribe, please visit
http://www.pcin.net/ and follow the appropriate
links.
- Recommend PCIN to others at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml
and be entered in a monthly draw.
- 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.
- If you have a web site or run your own newsletter, please
email me at mailto:editor@pcin.net
and I will add it to the subscriber web pages that I have
on my site.
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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