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Issue 98 - August 23, 2000
ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements (c) 2000
==== 1113 Subscribers in 47 Countries ====
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Welcome to the 98th 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.
The August prize will be Microsoft Word 2000. Recommend PCIN
at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml
OPENING THOUGHTS
It's been a while since I have done any special reports,
but subscriber Dean sent in a good suggestion. You'll find
down below a Special Feature section that talks about digital
cameras. We'd like your feedback on what cameras are good,
what you'd recommend, and good sites for comparisons. Read
further below.
Thanks again to everyone who contributes to the I Need Help
section. Although this week there were no answers sent in,
there was praise sent in for all those who take the time to
help the other subscribers.
Lastly, don't forget to recommend PCIN before the end of
August (recommend as many times as you'd like) and win Microsoft
Word 2000. Recommend PCIN at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml
The NEWS
DVD Crack Can't Be Posted
"What may become one of the most important rulings
in the history of the Internet was handed down late Thursday
by a U.S. federal judge who issued a permanent injunction
barring Web sites from linking to others that contain illegal
code, such as De-Content Scrambling System (DeCSS) in some
instances." The judge denied all of the defendant's
claims.
For more info:
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/00/08/17/000817hndvd.xml?0818frap
Windows ME Step-Up or Upgrade?
At the beginning of August, Microsoft announced special
pricing of $59 for an upgrade to Windows ME. Now the upgrade
is being called a "Step-Up" which has people wondering
if it is just an upgrade or if a clean installation can
be done. Windows 98 SE had a step-up which only cost $29,
so Microsoft wasn't being as generous as originally thought
when they set the price at $59.
For more info:
http://www.wininformant.com/display.asp?ID=2883
HP Hardware Problem
In response to a lawsuit that has been filed against them,
Hewlett-Packard has posted a patch that can be applied to
several of their computers that may lose data when writing
to a floppy disk. "We are offering a free software
patch to owners of HP computers which eliminates the possibility
that some models of HP computers could, in rare circumstances,
silently misrecord data that is transferred to or from a
floppy disk or tape device that uses a floppy disk controller."
For more info:
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-2595643.html?tag=st.ne.ron.lthd.ni
http://www.hp.com/cposupport/nonjsnav/pc_patchhome.html
SPECIAL FEATURE
Dean Saba was the one who originally suggested this, but
I think it is a great idea. Here is what he said: "Could
you open up a discussion topic on digital cameras? There are
a lot of cameras with a lot of features. Some are easy to
use, some are very difficult. I thought maybe a users comments
section updated on a regular basis might be of help to some
people." I don't know about a regular section, but I
certainly think I could devote an issue or two to this. If
you can answer any of these questions, then please send in
the answers. I will collect them and include them in one of
the next two issues.
Do you have a digital camera?
If not, what is holding you back? (Price,
quality, etc.)
What camera do you have?
Would you recommend it to anyone else?
What features are most important to you?
Whether or not you have one, which camera
would you like to have?
Which manufacturers do you trust/rely on
the most?
Do you understand all of the terminology?
(Megapixels, zoom, etc.)
Send in you thoughts on digital cameras, and more specifically,
your digital camera to mailto:editor@pcin.net
I will send out a brief reminder on Saturday.
KEEP THAT HELP COMING!
A month or so ago subscriber Joan emailed me and told me
how much help the I Need Help section has helped her. Well,
you've helped her again. She said, "Q & A on unsuccessful
defrags were so timely - I also had the same problem - followed
advice submitted by one of your learned subscribers and voila
- success. I right clicked on as much as was allowed by all
the goodies in my task bar, and shut them off, did an MS Dos
prompt Scandisk (I agree here this is the only sure fire one)
and proceeded. So thank you again." Keep those suggestions
coming.
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 Questions
Q 97-01)
I am using IE5 Offline Web Pages. When creating off-line
folders it asks you how deep you would like to go. The
exact wording is:
Download pages '3' links down from this page.
Is there anyway to increase this value to greater than
3?
A 97-01)
None given.
Q 97-02)
All the icons in my personal folder will change. For
no reason at all that I know of. All GIFs to something
new and all JPGs as well. Sometimes they will change to
an icon that's on the desktop & other times something
else.
A 97-02)
None given.
New Questions
Q 98-01)
I would like to have my Internet Explorer windows open
at full screen size but every time I click on a link or
a window port it opens to a partial window. I am
sure this can be corrected but I don't know how.
Q 98-02)
I am looking for a website where I can find the specifications
for computer models no longer being manufactured--name
brands, not "orphans".
Q 98-03)
Often times my screen momentarily turns completely black
when I'm on line, then comes back on like nothing has
happened. Can you tell me what may cause this?
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
**Putting commands in context**
When you right-click on a folder in Windows, a menu pops
up giving you several options, such as Open, Explore and
Find. But you can add almost any other command you like
to this context menu.
To do this you need to edit Windows' Registry. (If you are
unfamiliar with the Registry, be sure to check the instructions
and precautions at http://www.WE-Compute.com/registry.html.)
In the Registry, make your way to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell.
Right click on the shell key and select New and Key from
the brief menu that appears. Name the new key whatever you
want the new command to be. For example, if we want to be
able to launch Microsoft Word from folder context menus,
we might enter Word as the key name. Then right-click on
the new key (Word in our example) and again select New and
Key. This new key should be named Command. Click once on
the new Command key and in the pane on the right double-click
on (Default).
In the Edit String dialogue box, enter the path to the file
as the Value Data. In our case, the path would be C:\Program
Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Winword.exe, but you can make
a path to any other program, file or shortcut on your system.
Click on OK, close up the Registry Editor and press F5 to
refresh the Registry. Right-click on any folder on the desktop
or in Explorer and your new option will be available.
Windows Resource Kit
Subscriber Joe Crowe sent me this:
The tip I have is about the Windows Resource Kit Book that
can be found in the Windows 98 upgrade version CD. To find
it go to Win98 / tools / reskit / help / rk98book.chm and
click the rk98book.chm file. This file contains a wealth
of information about Windows98 from preparing for the Windows98
installation to Tips, How To's and Trouble Shooting. Advanced
users might want to install the complete Windows 98 Resource
Kit Sampler, which includes the Windows Resource Kit Book
and a host of utilities such as Tweak UI, Policy Editor,
Cliptray, Windif, USBview, Check Links, Quick Tray etc.
For anyone not wanting to install the complete Resource
Kit Sampler the utilities can be installed individually.
The File System Spy
People are always having trouble using Defrag or Scandisk.
It keeps restarting. Well, if you have Norton Utilities
installed, then there is a very handy utility that you can
try. Go to ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/products/norton_utilities/
ver3_win95/updates/ and download the fssetup.exe file.
You can then run the File System Spy. This is a little utility
that runs in the background and monitors what programs are
writing to the disk (the file system). This utility is used
by technical support at Symantec, but it is freely available
and might help you find out what program is writing to your
hard drive and causing Defrag or Scandisk to restart.
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.
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http://www.pcin.net/ and follow the appropriate
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and be entered in a monthly draw.
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You have either been subscribed by filling out a subscription
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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
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