Issue 309 - September 15, 2004
ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2004
==== 1977 Subscribers in 58 Countries ====
Welcome to the 309th 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
Graham is busy today, so I am sending out the newsletter again.
We had an excellent time in London. We had great weather, met a lot of nice
people and had no problems with anything. I have posted a few more of my 850
photos I shot while I was there. You can view them at http://gallery.chrisempey.com/categories.php?cat_id=27.
I will post more over the coming days.
Chris chris@pcin.net and
Graham editor@pcin.net
The NEWS
U.S. Open Puts Serve in Server
"Winding your way beneath the stands of Louis
Armstrong Stadium at the U.S. Tennis Association's National Tennis Center,
you'll eventually come to a fluorescent-lit room dubbed "mission control" by IBM
staff. Inside the sparsely decorated and, thankfully, air-conditioned room sits
a bank of more than 35 IBM ThinkPads, flat-screen TVs, Blade servers and a dozen
technicians. These are the guts of a tech operation that handles everything,
including scoring, recording serve speeds, monitoring webcams and running the
site that tracks the most important two weeks in U.S. tennis: the U.S. Open
championship at Flushing Meadows in Queens, New York.
Like the penny, the floppy drive is hardly worth the trouble, computer
makers say."
For more info:
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,64897,00.html
Firefox drawing fans away from Microsoft IE
"Open-source browsers Mozilla and Firefox have won over a significant number of defectors from Microsoft's
Internet Explorer in the past nine months, Web site metrics suggest.
The gains for Firefox, which was released in a version 1.0 preview on Tuesday, and for Mozilla are most noticeable
at Web sites popular by geek-chic early adopters. For example, W3Schools.com, a Web development tutorial site found
that Mozilla-based browsers were used by 18 percent of its visitors in September, up from 8 percent in January.
Internet Explorer use dropped to 75 percent from 84 percent in the same period"
For more info:
http://news.com.com/Firefox+drawing+fans+away+from+Microsoft+IE/2100-1032_3-5368302.html
400,000 tech jobs lost in 3 years
"The U.S. information tech sector lost 403,300 jobs between March 2001 and this past April, and the market for
tech workers remains bleak, according to a new report.
Perhaps more surprising, just over half of those jobs -- 206,300 -- were lost after experts declared the recession over
in November 2001, say the researchers from the University of Illinois-Chicago.
"
For more info:
http://www.cincypost.com/2004/09/15/tech091504.html
POLL of the WEEK
Last Week's Poll
Have you ever tried to use the Internet to make phone calls?
Yes, but the quality was poor |
|
36 % (32) |
Yes, and the quality was fine |
|
16 % (14) |
No, that's what a real phone is for |
|
44 % (39) |
I didn't know you could do that |
|
4 % (4) |
Total votes: 89 |
This Week's Poll
You can also vote online at http://PCIN.net/polls/
PCIN.net UPDATE
Check out these new or updated pages on the PCIN.net site:
WinGuides Software Email Saver Xe 2.0 Software Review
http://pcin.net/help/software/emailsaverxe2.php
Newsgator 2.0 by Newsgator Technologies Software
Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/newsgator2.php
CDBF for Windows by WhiteTown Software Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/cdbf.php
Photoshop Elements 2.0 plus Photoshop Album 2.0 by Adobe Software
Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/elementsplusalbum.php
Updated PCIN.net Site Search
http://PCIN.net/search.php
THE TIPS and OTHER
STUFF
WinGuides Software Email Saver Xe 2.0 Software Review
"Quite a while ago we reviewed Email Saver Xe
1.6, a utility to help users backup their email data. At that time was program
was by Amic Games, but it is now offered by WinGuides Software. You may
recognize WinGuides from their excellent site that has hundreds of registry
tweaks. Email Saver Xe will allow you to back up your email data and settings
from many email programs such as Microsoft Outlook (97, 98, 2000, XP), Outlook
Express (5, 6), Eudora (5, 6), Netscape Messenger (6, 7) and Opera (6,
7). Email is a critical form of communication. If you've ever lost an
important email, you know how frustrating it can be. If you don't have any
utilities to help you backup your email data, then Email Saver Xe 2.0 is a
valuable tool to own."
Check out the full review at http://pcin.net/help/software/emailsaverxe2.php
Free IT "Courses"
"Try our free
Computer Engineering courses. Download as many as you wish, pass them on or even
upload them to your own website." We haven't tried these ourselves, but the
site has several free tutorials such as Windows Share Security, Windows XP
Installation, Windows XP System Restore , and PC Assembly
Check
it out at http://www.bteccomputerengineering.co.uk/Freecourses.htm
Process Library
I recently
received an email from Uniblue Systems (the makers of WinTasks, WinBackup,
etc): "We have now released a new site that I think your visitors will find
very interesting and useful. ProcessLibrary.com is a free service site that
provides the user with detailed information about every common process. In
the recesses of most computers, 20-30 invisible processes run silently in the
background. To know what every process is doing is the best way to ensure that
the system is clean from adwares, spyware, viruses, trojans and other unwanted
processes. We have spent a lot of resources for completing this free site
over the last six months and intend to update the process library weekly to make
sure that every new process gets listed."
Check
it out at http://www.processlibrary.com/
PCIN.net AFFILIATED
SITES
Both of us have other sites other than PCIN.net. These are all sites that
we are actively involved in (they aren't client sites). Don't forget to check
them out from time to time for updates:
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.
- To subscribe another address or unsubscribe, please visit http://PCIN.net/ and
follow the appropriate links.
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be entered in a monthly draw.
- The only way to become a subscriber is by asking. You have either filled
out the subscription form or asked me directly.
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I will add it to the subscriber web pages that I have on my site.
- Support PCIN by visiting http://PCIN.net/donate.php
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Graham Wing can be reached at editor@pcin.net
Chris Empey can be reached at chris@pcin.net
Copyright 1998-2004, 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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