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Issue 228 - February 26, 2003
ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2003
==== 2117 Subscribers in 57 Countries ====
Welcome to the 228th 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.php
Support PCIN at http://PCIN.net/donate.php
CONTENTS
OPENING THOUGHTS
It has been so cold lately! I guess the one positive is that each passing day
brings us one day closer to Spring. Lisa borrowed a little sleigh from her cousin
so she could take Andrew outside for walks, but it has been too cold to go out
at all. She can't wait until she can take him outside to play. Speaking of Andrew,
I'll have some updated pictures up on the family web site next week. I'll include
a link in next week's PCIN.
Graham editor@pcin.net
and Chris chris@pcin.net
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The NEWS
Hackers Run Wild and Free on AOL
"Using a combination of trade tricks and clever programming, hackers
have thoroughly compromised security at America Online, potentially exposing
the personal information of AOL's 35 million users.
The most recent exploit, launched last week, gave a hacker full access to
Merlin, AOL's latest customer database application. As a security measure,
Merlin runs only on AOL's internal network, but savvy hackers have found a
way to break in."
For more info:
http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,57753,00.html
U.S. retail sales on Internet rise 28% in fourth quarter
"Retail sales over the Internet grew by 28.2 per cent in the fourth
quarter of 2002 compared to the same quarter a year earlier, rising to $14.33
billion (U.S.), the U.S. commerce department said yesterday.
The gain was the smallest year-over-year increase since the second quarter's
24.5 per cent gain, said the department's quarterly report on sales of goods
and services over the Internet or other electronic networks or by e-mail."
For more info:
http://tinyurl.com/6imp
(this was a 181 character link from the Toronto Star. The
above link takes you there, but without the long link)
Overture to buy search services
"Overture Services plans to acquire some services of Fast Search &
Transfer, another sign that it intends to compete more intensely for the Internet
search market.
Overture will pay Oslo, Norway-based Fast $70 million in cash, as well as
a performance-based incentive of up to $30 million over three years. The deal,
announced Tuesday, is expected to close by April.
The acquisition, combined with the recent purchase of search engine AltaVista,
is designed to help Overture 'create the most powerful and comprehensive search
capability on the Internet,' the company said in a release."
For more info:
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-985850.html
E-mails you wish you'd never sent
"When Devon schoolgirl Claire McDonald logged on to check her e-mails
she was taken aback to find an urgent missive from the Pentagon among the
chatty greetings from her friends. It contained confidential information not
intended for civilian eyes.
Claire replied to point out the error, but the e-mails kept coming, from the
Pentagon, the Ministry of Defence and elsewhere. One detailed communications
problems on British warships; another New Zealand's defence strategy.
On average 11 such e-mails arrived a day for six months - so many that Claire's
computer crashed, unable to cope with the huge files sizes.
It turned out a Royal Navy officer based at the Pentagon had inadvertently
included Claire on a mailing list because of a typing error."
For more info:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2787019.stm
POLL of the WEEK
Last Week's Poll
Which is your primary search engine?
| Google |
 |
83.33 % (160) |
| MSN |
|
2.60 % (5) |
| Yahoo |
|
5.73 % (11) |
| MyWay |
|
0.00 % (0) |
| Altavista |
|
1.56 % (3) |
| Mamma |
|
0.52 % (1) |
| Dogpile |
|
1.56 % (3) |
| Excite |
|
0.00 % (0) |
| Other |
|
4.69 % (9) |
| Total votes: 192 |
This Week's Poll
You can also vote online at http://PCIN.net/polls/
PCIN.net FREEHELP
FORUM
Visit the PCIN.net FreeHelp Forum at http://PCIN.net/help/forum/
to post your questions or answer others.
Question
I downloaded a file from Kazaa that was incorrectly formatted (i.e. it was
ripped badly or the file format is invalid). once I realized it was an invalid
file, I tried to delete it. but windows xp will not let me delete this file.
I get a message "cannot delete file xxxxxxxxxx.xxx. It is being used
by another person or program. please close any applications that might be
using this file and try again."
I have run windows in safe mode, with and without command prompt; I have disconnected
all network resources; I've tried to rename the file (which can't be done
either) and I can't move it. I have a brand new system, not a single other
problem, never a problem uploading or downloading from kazaa, except for this
one darn file.
I even searched the registry for part of the file name and found nothing.
Response
It seems like many people have this problem. Some people fixed it by going
to the command prompt, others by going to safe mode. Since that didn't work
for you, then the other suggestion I saw was to open up a command prompt window,
then end the Explorer process (when you press CTRL+ALT+DEL). Then from the
command prompt delete the file. This worked for someone. I guess killing the
Explorer process released any handles.
To post a response, visit the General Software Help forum at http://PCIN.net/help/forum/index.php?board=3
and click on the "can't delete file (access is denied)" topic.
Visit http://PCIN.net/help/forum/
to post a question of your own.
PCIN.net UPDATE
Check out these new or updated pages on the PCIN.net site:
Logitech Cordless Freedom Optical Hardware Review
http://PCIN.net/help/hardware/lcfo.php
Some Useful Registry Tips - Now 171 Tips!
http://PCIN.net/help/articles/registry_tips.php
Paragon Hard Disk Manager 5.5 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/paragonhdm55.php
Object Desktop Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/objectdesktop.php
THE TIPS and OTHER
STUFF
Script Debugging
This comes from the February 24, 2003 issue of Woody's
Windows Watch newsletter (WWW #6.03):
" It can drive you mad ... you're surfing away when you get a message
saying there's an error on the web page and what Script Debugger do you want
to use. Here's how to get rid of it.
Mostly these web page bugs won't effect your use of the page, it might but
usually they don't. The intrusive 'script debugging' errors are a nuisance.
That nuisance is made worse by many of these bugs generated by pop-up web
ads. Sometimes the same message comes up again and again for the same web
page (one for each separate error).
To stop the script debugging dialog in Internet Explorer:
In Internet Explorer choose Tools | Internet Options | Advanced
Near the top of the long list is the Browsing section.
In that section are two items:
Disable Script Debugging - should be ON
Display a notification about every script error - should be OFF
Click OK to finish.
It's that simple!"
Change Font Size in Word
Everyone knows that you can change the size of your fonts in Word by selecting
a different size from the drop down list. But here are 2 other ways you can
change font size:
With your selection highlighted, pressing CTRL + ] will increase the font
size by 1. If it was 28 and you press that combination it will be 29.
With your selection highlighted, pressing CTRL + SHIFT + > will increase
the font size by one full size (to the next "step" in the drop down
list). If it was 28 and you press that combination it will be 36.
Speed Up Your Computer
Over time, as new software is installed on your system, your user registry
file will become bloated and your system will become slower and slower. If
you are running W2K or XP and you system seems to be getting slower all the
time, try creating a new user and log in with the new credentials. You should
see an immediate increase in system speed.
DISCLAIMER
and OTHER STUFF
PCIN is brought to you by Graham Wing. The opinions expressed are those of
the Editor, Graham Wing and the Assistant Editor, Chris Empey. Graham Wing
and Chris Empey 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://PCIN.net/
and follow the appropriate links.
- Recommend PCIN to others at http://PCIN.net/recommend.php
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.
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editor@pcin.net and I will add it to
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Graham Wing can be reached at editor@pcin.net
Chris Empey can be reached at chris@pcin.net
Copyright 1998-2003, 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://PCIN.net/donate.php
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