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Issue 170 - January 16, 2002
ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2002
==== 2229 Subscribers in 58 Countries ====
Welcome to the 170th issue of the PC Improvement News. PCIN
consists mainly of news and tips. There is something for everyone,
and if this is your first issue, I'm sure there will be something
for you. If you give me two or three issues, I know that you
will come back for more!
You can reach me at editor@pcin.net
with any suggestions or comments.
Recommend PCIN at http://PCIN.net/recommend.shtml
Support PCIN at http://PCIN.net/donate.shtml
CONTENTS
OPENING THOUGHTS
OK... Let's try one of those special issues that I mentioned
last week. I would like to know about your first computer.
What kind was it? Why did you get it? How much was it? What
did you do with it? How long did you keep it for? What was
the first truly useful computer you had? Send me your stories
to editor@pcin.net and
I will include them in an upcoming issue.
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The NEWS
Jokester serious about taking on Microsoft
Ken Belanger's Pocket PC may be a gag, but his lawsuit
against Microsoft is not.
On Tuesday, the entrepreneur sued Microsoft in small claims
court in San Francisco, claiming he created a Pocket PC
17 years ago, and therefore has rights to the name the company
has given its handheld computer.
Belanger's product is not a computer at all but a decidedly
low-tech joke gift poking fun at tech industry hype. People
who shell out $9.95 for the device receive a box slightly
bigger than a deck of cards that contains a poker chip and
a set of instructions telling them how to use the chip to
make important business and other decisions by flipping
it like a coin.
For more info:
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5101509,00.html
Judge Rejects Microsoft's Class-Action Settlement Offer
A federal judge today rejected Microsoft Corp.'s billion-dollar
plan to settle more than 100 class-action antitrust lawsuits
filed against the company.
U.S. District Court Judge Frederick Motz refused to endorse
the settlement proposal, which would have concluded a bevy
of lawsuits stemming from allegations that Microsoft used
its monopoly power to overcharge consumers for its software
products.
For more info:
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173596.html
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5101599,00.html
Number of Viruses, Flaws Rocket Skyward
The number of viruses and other types of attacks making
rounds on the Internet, and the number of security vulnerabilities
discovered in software, climbed dramatically in 2001, according
to newly issued statistics by the Computer Emergency Response
Team Coordination Center (CERT/CC).
CERT's statistics, issued Friday, indicated that the number
of incidents rocketed from 21,756 reported in 2000 to 52,658
reported in 2001. For comparison's sake, CERT said there
were 9,859 reports in 1999, 3,734 in 1998 and six in 1988.
To be clear, an incident may involve one site or thousands
and may take place over a long period of time.
For more info:
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article/0,,10_953241,00.html
Lindows pleads for technical dismissal
Lindows.com, a software startup sued by Microsoft last
month for alleged trademark infringement, is hoping to have
the case thrown out of court on a technicality, its chief
executive said Friday.
Lindows.com is developing a version of the Linux operating
system that can run applications written for Microsoft's
Windows operating system, as well as for Linux.
Microsoft, in a lawsuit filed in December with the U.S.
District Court for the Western District of Washington, asked
for an injunction that would prevent Lindows.com from releasing
a product that uses the Lindows name. The Redmond, Washington,
software maker argued that the yet-to-be-released operating
system, to be called LindowsOS, would create confusion for
consumers in the marketplace.
For more info:
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/01/14/020114hnlindows.xml
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POLL of the WEEK
Here are the responses from the last poll:
Do you subscribe to any computer magazines or newspapers?
Yes: 61.97%
No: 38.03%
Total Votes: 71
Visit http://pcin.net/polls/
to participate in the new poll this week:
Do you use your computer more at work or at home?
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FREEHELP FORUM
Visit the PCIN FreeHelp Forum to post your questions or answer
others. Each week I highlight a question, and where to go
to get the answer.
Question
Subscriber Kay Hill emailed me this:
I received a Panasonic Ipalm digital camera for Christmas
and learned very quickly that I need some type of storage
for the pictures. I'd like to keep it under $150 and as
simple and easy to operate as possible (the camera is enough
to deal with right now!) Do you, or any of your subscribers
have a recommendation?
Send your recommendations to editor@pcin.net
and I will post them all in next week's PCIN.
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PCIN.net UPDATE
Check out these new or updated pages on the PCIN.net site:
WE Compute Magazine's Cheap Tricks of the Week
http://pcin.net/help/articles/cheaptricks.shtml
(The entire collection is in Microsoft Word format and currently
has 100 tips and tricks. You can download the file from
here)
Windows Registry Tips and Tweaks
http://pcin.net/help/articles/registry.shtml
(The entire collection is in Microsoft Word format and currently
has 85 registry tips. You can download the file from here)
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THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF
Cheap Trick of the Week
Playing postman
If you have Outlook 2000, you can uncover and play a cute
little hidden game,
Open Outlook, type Ren Hoek (capitals are not necessary)
in the Find a Contact bar at the top and press Enter. If
you get a message saying no such contact can be found, click
OK and continue.
Under the Tools menu, select Macro and then, in the submenu,
select Macros. In the Macro Name box, type OL2KROCKS (lowercase
is okay) and click the Create button.
When the About Microsoft Outlook window appears, hold down
the Ctrl, Alt and Shift keys while clicking OK.
You'll be treated to a game in which you move a mailbox
up and down with the Arrow keys to catch envelopes as they
fly across the screen bearing developer credits.
Get your own copy of "The Little Black Book
of Cheap Tricks: 2001" by visiting http://www.pcin.net/lbbct/
How to Please Your I.T. Department
A coworker and subscriber Marg Pinard sent me this:
- When you call us to have your computer moved, be sure
to leave it buried under half a ton of postcards, baby
pictures, stuffed animals, dried flowers, bowling trophies
and children's art. We don't have a life, and we find
it deeply moving to catch a fleeting glimpse of yours.
- Don't write anything down. Ever. We can play back the
error messages from here.
- When an I.T. person says he's coming right over, go
for coffee. That way you won't be there when we need your
password. It's nothing for us to remember 700 screen saver
passwords.
- When you call the help desk, state what you want, not
what's keeping you from getting it. We don't need to know
that you can't get into your mail because your computer
won't power on at all.
- When I.T. support sends you an E-Mail with high importance,
delete it at once. We're just testing.
- When an I.T. person is eating lunch at his desk, walk
right in and spill your guts right out. We exist only
to serve.
- Send urgent email all in uppercase. The mail server
picks it up and flags it as a rush delivery.
- When the photocopier doesn't work, call computer support.
There's electronics in it.
- When something's wrong with your home PC, dump it on
an I.T. person's chair with no name, no phone number and
no description of the problem. We love a puzzle.
- When an I.T. person tells you that computer screens
don't have cartridges in them, argue. We love a good argument.
- When an I.T. person tells you that he'll be there shortly,
reply in a scathing tone of voice: "And just how
many weeks do you mean by shortly?" That motivates
us.
- When the printer won't print, re-send the job at least
20 times. Print jobs frequently get sucked into black
holes.
- When the printer still won't print after 20 tries,
send the job to all 68 printers in the company. One of
them is bound to work.
- Don't learn the proper term for anything technical.
We know exactly what you mean by "My thingy blew
up".
- Don't use on-line help. On-line help is for wimps.
Play Arcade Games
Visit http://www.flasharcade.com/
to play some fun arcade games made with Flash or Shockwave.
Bubble Trouble is a lot of fun 8-)
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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 editor@pcin.net and I will add it to the subscriber
web pages that I have on my site.
- Support PCIN by visiting http://www.pcin.net/donate.shtml
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Graham Wing can be reached at editor@pcin.net
Copyright 1998-2002, 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.
Support PCIN by visiting http://www.pcin.net/donate.shtml
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