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Issue 109 - November 08, 2000
ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements (c) 2000
==== 1203 Subscribers in 48 Countries ====
Subscribe/Unsubscribe/View Archives at http://www.pcin.net/
Welcome to the 109th 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 November prizes are copies of PowerQuest's Lost &
Found. 10 copies will be given away, so recommend PCIN at
http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml
OPENING THOUGHTS
Last week I mentioned that since it was the beginning of
November I had another monthly question/contest. Then I forgot
to put it in :-) Anyway, it is in the current issue below.
I'm still looking for some suggestions for web site hosting
companies. I've received a few suggestions that I've been
looking at, but I'd like a few more so I can do a better comparison.
I am interested in a reliable, low-cost NT hosting package,
which has mailing list capabilities. If any of you can recommend
anything, contact me at mailto:editor@pcin.net
Lastly, don't forget to recommend PCIN in the month of November.
I will give out 10 copies of PowerQuest's Lost & Found
in November to those who recommend PCIN. You'll have a great
chance of winning, so recommend PCIN now at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml
The NEWS
Yahoo! legally obliged to ban the French?
In a court case today in Paris, Yahoo! is expected to be
told it must ban French users from those auction sites that
sell Nazi memorabilia.
It is illegal under French law for people to sell Nazi memorabilia
in France. Yahoo!'s French site therefore contains no such
items. However, due to the Internet, French visitors are
currently able to bid for these goods on US sites. It is
this that various French groups wish to prevent.
For more info:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/1/14510.html
More Microsoft Hacker problems
It has been news lately all of the "spin" and
so-called truth about the hacker who got into the Microsoft
network and might have seen some source code (might have
seen and done a lot more, depending on who you believe).
Anyway, now a Microsoft web server has been hacked. "The
hacker, using the pseudonym 'Dimitri,' gained access last
week to a backup Web server and posted the message 'Hack
the planet,' a Microsoft spokesman said."
For more info:
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-3416559.html?tag=pt.xdrive
.techdispatch..ne3416559
Transmeta Chip Claims Wrong?
Last week Transmeta, who makes low-power, low-cost CPU
(and has Linus Torvald as an employee) received the bad
news that IBM would not be offering any products with their
chip. Tuesday morning, Transmeta began its IPO, and now
there is news that Compaq won't use the chip either. It
seems that both IBM and Compaq were not able to validate
claims of Transmeta's battery life or processing speed.
Transmeta still has deals with several other big companies,
but it hurts not having IBM and Compaq on board.
For more info:
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2650967,00.html
MONTHLY CONTEST
What do you do to keep your computer in tip-top shape? Do
you run scandisk, defrag, or virus scan nightly? Weekly? Monthly?
Ever? Are utility suites (Norton, Ontrack, McAfee) any help?
I'd like to hear from all sides, those who do pc maintenance
regularly, and even those who don't think you need to. Why
do you or don't you?
I actually have a prize this time that matches the contest.
I will randomly choose 5 winners who will each win a copy
of PowerQuest's Lost and Found. Email your answers/entries
to mailto:contest@pcin.net
I will send out a very short reminder on Saturday.
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 107-02)
Where can I get some good AOL help? Are there any good
sites or newsgroups that I can check out?
A 107-02)
Subscriber JamSpam suggested that AOL users try the newsgroup
aol.newsgroups.help
Q 108-01)
No matter how many times I reinstall or 'repair' it,
I still get a message when using any of the programs in
the suite that Office Assistant cannot be started. What
am I doing wrong?
A 108-01)
No Suggestions Given.
Q 108-02)
When opening Word I do not see any of the toolbars or
menus at the top of the window, a bit like full screen
view mode. Again, I've been driven to reinstalling it,
but to no avail. Note that the program worked fine for
several weeks and has only developed this behaviour recently.
It is unusable as it is now!
A 108-02)
Ken Berry said, "In word click on the "View"
menu then hover the mouse over "Toolbars" menu.
In the resulting menu make sure "standard" and
"formatting:" are selected (depressed). Those
are the standard tool bars, you can also select any of
the other special toolbars in the list for use."
New Questions
Q 109-01)
Every time I turn my computer on the "Regional Settings"
page pops on the desktop. How can I eliminate that?
Q 109-02)
I had 2 USB ports installed, then after having hard disc
reformatted and windows reinstalled there is no sign of
USB in device manager, how do I get them back
(Win98, 64MB RAM, 4.2GB HD, IE5)
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
**The disappearing drives trick**
Why would you want to remove drive icons from the My Computer
folder? Because you never use them. Or maybe to play a prank
and make a friend think his or her drives are missing.
Whether you want to use this trick for good or evil, here's
how:
In the Registry, work your way to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Policies\Explorer. In the right pane, right-click and select
New and DWORD value. When the value appears in the right
pane, rename it NoDrives and double click on it to open
its Edit DWORD Value window. Enter 3FFFFFF in the space
provided and make sure Hexadecimal is selected. Click OK.
The next time the computer is restarted, My Computer will
have no drive icons in it.
To get the icons back, return to the Registry to delete
the NoDrives value. Reboot and everything will be back to
normal.
Niagara Falls Desktop Wallpaper
Last week I mentioned that I had some nice pictures of
Niagara Falls that you could use as wallpaper. Even without
any thumbnails and the files being quiet large, I still
had almost 100 people download some. Well, for the rest
of you, I have created a web page with thumbnails and 2
zip files (my original digital camera photos, and the cropped
ready-to-go pictures).
Just remember that these are coming from my home machine
so if you can't get through right away, try again later.
You can download the pictures at http://www.gawing.com/falls
Eastern Time Zone Time Change Virus?
Last week Joan Anderson had a virus problem:
"I had the unhappy experience of being attacked by
a virus sent to my computer to be activated with the time
change in Ontario Canada from Daylight saving to Standard
time. No one knows how long the virus may have been lurking
in my system waiting to come alive - but alive it came and
wiped out all my config files and himem files, my video
driver etc. and believe it or not - wiped out Norton AV."
If any of you have heard of this or have any details on
it, we'd appreciate hearing from you at mailto:editor@pcin.net
Rave 2 Subscriber Recommendation
Alec Thompson sent me this:
"Rave 2 version 2.07 dated 3rd October 2000 is now
compatible with ICQ 2000 a & b and has improved sound
quality and contact list refresh.
New features:
Support for all ICQ versions higher than 99b including 2000a
and 2000b
Reduced file size, approx 435Kb
Right mouse click on a user name to send them an ICQ message
Supports the ICQ group feature
Selectable voice quality for different network bandwidth's
Resizable window
Automatic VOX control
Firewall, Proxy Server, Internet connection sharing support
The one and only lifetime payment of $15 (Fifteen United
States Dollars) for Rave 2 will allow you make as many calls
for as long as you like anywhere on Earth at any time of
the day or night. Plus you receive free upgrades and priority
technical support.
They currently have a buy one and get one extra for free
offer, to enable you to gift an associate, friend or family
member.
Download Rave 2 from http://www.rave2.com/ravetry.html
Carefully read and follow the download instructions on that
page.
Having paid the one-off and very reasonable $US15 registration
fee, Rave 2 is totally free! It works in association with
ICQ the very popular communications program now available
as ICQ2000b [also Free!]
Download ICQ 2000b from http://download.cnet.com/downloads/0-10000.html?tag=st.cn.10061-ron.sb.10000
Rave 2 can only be used with other persons who also have
downloaded and installed Rave 2 however. It is for one on
one audio use only and totally secure. Until you have registered
it the caller is cut off after 5 minutes, but you can simply
just call again. I experience very little break-up or delay,
and use it constantly between Australia and the USA and
the UK, and also inter-state in Australia. It can - in fact
- be used with anyone anywhere in the world who has installed
both ICQ and Rave 2.
I give it 9 out of 10, as there are times when heavy net
congestion cause it to break up.
I really don't know what I would do without ICQ and Rave
2 - they are such useful Internet tools, they save me many
dollars in long distance and interstate phone calls. They
assist me in both giving and receiving help in exploring
the Web and fixing up problems with my computer."
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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