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Issue 116 - December 27, 2000
ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements (c) 2000
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Welcome to the 116th 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.
I was able to get Play, Inc. to donate a Snappy! 4.0 to the
newsletter. If you recall, I did a review of it some time
ago ( you can see it at http://www.pcin.net/help/software/snappy.shtml
). It is a piece of hardware that will let you use your parallel
port to input video into your computer. You can get screen
captures of TV shows, videos, etc. It is valued at over $100.
Recommend PCIN in December and you will have a chance to win
this. Each unique person that you recommend PCIN to will get
you one entry into the draw. The more you recommend PCIN the
more chance you have to win. Recommend PCIN now at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml
OPENING THOUGHTS
So, did you all have a nice Christmas? Lisa and I didn't
do too much. We figured the house would be enough of a gift.
Just in case you missed them, you can see pictures of the
house at http://www.gawing.com/house
I will have some new Niagara Falls desktop wallpaper available
next week, so look out for that.
Lastly, you've only got a few days left to recommend PCIN
in the month of December and have a change to win a Snappy!
4.0. Recommend PCIN now at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml
The NEWS
NetZero to Charge for Net Access?
"For the first time, NetZero Inc. -- the self-proclaimed
'Defenders of the Free World' -- plans to charge patrons
of its Internet access service but only those users that
exceed a threshold of 40 hours online in a single calendar
month.
In an effort to reign in costs associated with what it calls
'professional users,' NetZero Inc. Thursday introduced a
new service plan dubbed 'NetZero Professional.'
The company said the new policy will affect a small percentage
of its user base, noting that in November 2000 only about
12 percent of NetZero members who used its free Internet
access service surpassed the 40 hour mark. However, the
company said that 12 percent of users accounted for more
than 50 percent of its telecommunications costs in November."
For more info:
http://www.internetnews.com/isp-news/article/0,,8_542741,00.html
Confidence in Computer Security
From the December 15, 2000 issue of ComputerWorld Canada
newspaper, pg 39
After the latest attack on Microsoft, ha your confidence
level in vendors been shaken?
57% Giving personal information online may not be 100% secure,
but nothing is and doing things online is convenient.
24% I'm not reluctant to shop online and give vendors personal
information about myself now
19% Microsoft can't seem to secure its networks any better
than it can its software, but I think other vendors are
more careful.
Network Associates in Trouble
Network Associates, the company behind McAfee VirusScan,
has warned investors that they will lose up to $140 million
in the 4th quarter alone. They have a lot of unsold inventory,
and sales have been slumping. They have also lost their
top 3 executives as part of some reshuffling.
In a statement, Network Associates said: "The company
further believes that the lower fourth quarter demand is
not related to the general competitiveness of its products
but is due to concerns about the state of the economy from
the customer base."
For more info:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/15703.html
I NEED HELP
... will continue next week ...
This is the last week that there won't be any questions.
If you have any questions you'd like to ask other subscribers
about computers, email me at mailto:freehelp@pcin.net
THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF
Create a file input list with DIR
This tip came from a recent TechRepublic newsletter:
Situations might arise now and then in which you need to
extract a list of files from a directory and use that list
in a batch file. For example, maybe you need to search a
specific set of files for keywords or copy those files.
Maybe you have a custom application that takes file input
from a command line. Perhaps you just need to extract a
list of files to include in some documentation. Whatever
the case, you can use the DIR command to generate the file
list.
By default, DIR lists additional information other than
just the file or directory names. To obtain a file list
from a directory, you need to strip out that additional
information, exclude directories, sort the list, and redirect
it to a file. Sounds like a lot of work, doesn't it? It's
actually very easy.
To exclude directories, use the /A-D switch. The /A switch
normally directs DIR to include files with the specified
attribute, but using /A-D directs DIR to exclude directories
instead. To sort the list, use /ON, which directs DIR to
sort the list based on filename. Then, use the /B switch
to strip out everything except the filenames. Finally, use
the redirect symbol (>) to redirect to a text file. Here's
the command:
DIR /A-D /ON /B > FILELIST.TXT
Avery Wizard
There are a lot of utilities out there that will print
labels for you, but you might as well go to the "experts"
for the best. Avery, the makers of all shapes and sizes
of labels, has a software program called the Avery Wizard.
It runs with the last 4 version of Word and can be run on
its own or from within Word. I use it quite regularly.
If you go to http://www.averywizard.com/ you can register
and then download the files. The best thing to do though
is to visit their FTP site and download the software from
there. I've saved you the trouble. You can download the
programs directly (the file name indicates which version
of Word it is for):
ftp://ftp.avery.com/Wizard/English/Word00/wiz00e.exe
ftp://ftp.avery.com/Wizard/English/Word97/WIZ97E.EXE
ftp://ftp.avery.com/Wizard/English/Word7.0/WIZ70E.EXE
ftp://ftp.avery.com/Wizard/English/Word6.0/WIZ60E.EXE
Using Correct Drivers cont...
Last week I mentioned subscriber Don Horvath's advice to
use the proper monitor drivers with your computer. John
Hills emailed me wanting to let everyone know that if you
use the wrong drivers for your monitor, you could damage
the monitor. This leads to a general, sometimes not obvious
enough, tip...
Only use drivers that are made for your hardware. A driver
is software that tells Windows the features of the hardware
and how it runs. If you use the wrong drivers, the hardware
could be damaged as Windows tries to get the hardware to
do that it isn't meant to do.
There are very rare occasions where the correct drivers
are not so correct, but they are almost always updated right
away as the manufacturer corrects the problems.
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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