ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2006
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Welcome to the 427th 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.
Support PCIN at http://PCIN.net/donate.php
We have another review for you this week. Chris has finished the review for the Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 and Adobe Premier Elements 3.0. You can read about it in the Digital Photography Tip of the Week section below.
This is the last newsletter before Christmas. I hope you all have a very happy Christmas! Feel free to email us about any new toys you get...
Graham editor@pcin.net and Chris chris@pcin.net
The big man in red goes online
Hold onto your sleigh-reins: Santa has gone interactive.
In either a blatant manipulation of a beloved Christmas legend or a genius attempt to bring children and parents together this festive season, one of the world's largest instant-messaging operators has taken last year's 'e-mail Santa' campaign to another level.
MSN has established a live website where people can read Santa's blog, download games and recipes, and even chat live with the big man himself.
An Ominous Milestone: 100 Million Data Leaks
On Thursday, Kevin Poulsen, senior editor for Wired News, noted in his blog, a milestone in the number of records that have been compromised in data breaches since the ChoicePoint breach nearly two years ago:
" Rapid-fire announcements this week by U.C.L.A. (800,000 records) and Aetna (130,000) moved the total to the threshold, when Boeing revealed yesterday that a laptop recently stolen from an employee's car contained names, Social Security numbers and other data on 382,000 current and former employees of the aerospace giant - bringing the total to a grim 100,152,801 records (as of this post)."
Companies grapple with Web use and abuse
By his own admission, James Pacenza was spending too much time in Internet chat rooms, in some of them discussing sex. He goes so far as to call his interest in inappropriate Web sites a form of addiction that stems from the post-traumatic stress disorder he's suffered since returning from Vietnam. Whatever it's called, Pacenza's chat-room habit cost him his job.
After 19 years at IBM's East Fishkill plant, Pacenza was fired in May, 2003, after a fellow employee noticed discussion of a sex act on a chat room open on Pacenza's computer. IBM maintains that logging onto the Web site was a violation of its business conduct guidelines and a misuse of company property - and that it was well within its rights to terminate Pacenza's employment...
But cases like Pacenza's, which involve Internet misuse, may no longer be quite so simple, thanks to a growing debate over whether Internet abuse is a legitimate addiction, akin to alcoholism.
Are You Suffering From Mouse Rage Syndrome?
A phenomenon as monumental as the Internet should have an ailment of its own. Indeed, the Web appears to be breeding its very own disease, a medical syndrome recognizable by a quickening of the heart, profuse sweating, and furious clicking and bashing of the mouse. In extreme cases, the ailment can be identified by loud screaming at video screens.
It's Mouse Rage Syndrome, and it infects all Internet users sooner or later, according to a study of 2,500 Web users that was released Tuesday. Conducted by the Social Issues Research Centre in the United Kingdom, the study identified key factors that can negatively affect cardio functions, as well as the immune and nervous systems.
What's the root cause of Mouse Rage Syndrome? It's primarily caused by badly designed and hosted Web sites, according to the research center.
Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 and Adobe Premier Elements 3.0 Software Review - Digital Photography Tip of the Week
Over the past several weeks I have been using the new Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 and Adobe Premier Elements 3.0. Having used every version of Photoshop Elements, I was pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of a few features I have long thought would make this the best product for amateur and serious hobbyist photographers, curves and better black and white support. Those additions, along with several other features make this a worthy upgrade from Elements 4.0.
Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0 is the third edition of Adobe's consumer level video editing package. Unlike Adobe Photoshop Elements 5, I had some difficulties with this product. Installation was not possible on my main system as the software requires a processor with SSE 2 instructions and my Athlon XP 2600+ processor does not include this instruction set (newer AMD processors and Intel Processors do). I was able to install the software on my second system though it ran slow. The feature set of Premiere Elements is excellent and apart from the speed on my test machine, the software was easy to use and quick to learn. I am sure that the performance on newer PC's would be fine, and have no doubts that today's Dual Core processors would provide a dramatic speed boost.
Together, the bundle, available for $119.00 US from Amazon is still a great value. Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 sells for $86.99 US from Amazon.com and Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0 sells for $89.99 US.
Until next time, happy shooting.
The digital photography tip of the week is written by the PCIN Assistant Editor, Chris Empey. Chris is a long time photographer and is currently the President of the Niagara Falls Camera Club. You can see more of his photography at his Photo of the Day website.
If you have a tip to send Chris, or a question about digital photography he can address in the newsletter, send it to chris@pcin.net.
Check out these new or updated pages on the PCIN.net site:
ExpoDisc White Balance Filter Review
http://PCIN.net/help/hardware/expodisc.phpParagon Software Group Partition Manager 8.0 Professional Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/ppm8.phpUpdate PCIN.net home page with "Top 10 Most Popular..." features
http://PCIN.net/Microsoft Digital Image Suite Plus Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/msdimagesuiteplus.phpOmega One Software Battery Pack Pro 2.1 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/bpp2.php
Secunia Software Inspector
Almost everyone uses WindowsUpdate to keep their Microsoft products up to date, but what about all the other applications that you have on your system? Secunia, the well-known security research company, has a new web-based scanner:
The Secunia Software Inspector relies on carefully crafted "Secunia File Signatures" to recognise applications on your system. The detected applications are then matched against our "Secunia Advisory Intelligence" to determine whether an application is up-to-date or not. The results are then used to advise you on how to update to more secure releases of the insecure applications.
Microsoft Windows Update is used to determine if your system is missing security updates from Microsoft.
The Secunia Software Inspector covers the most common/popular end user applications:
* Internet browsers
* Internet browser plugins
* Instant messaging clients
* Email clients
* Media players
* Operating systemsIt uses a Java applet, so it works in Firefox as well as Internet Explorer. I'm pretty active at keeping my system up-to-date. I just ran it and it took about 3 minutes to do a complete scan. It recognized about a dozen different programs that I had installed, and told me that QuickTime, Flash, and Java all had updates. I installed the updates and then reran the scan, and I'm all up to date now.
Ripping DVDs
I have a DVD burner at home and at work, but I've never tried to make my own video DVD. I'm not particularly concerned about any legal ramifications. I've just never really needed to. Lately I've been doing some reading and thought I'd share a couple of things.
The first is software called DVD Shrink:
DVD Shrink is software to backup DVD discs. You can use this software in conjunction with DVD burning software of your choice, to make a backup copy of any DVD video disc.
The people that make the software don't host it, but if you search on the Internet for it, it is pretty easy to find.
The second is a help description of copying a DVD that can be read on the wikiHow site:
While ripping CDs is a common activity performed by many software programs, even many advanced computer users don't know how to rip a DVD.
The instructions explain how to use a particular utility to do this.
2006 Year-End Google Zeitgeist
Last week I mentioned Yahoo's top searches of 2006. This week it's Google:
A year's worth of search speaks to our collective consciousness, and 2006 is no exception. To compile these year-end lists and graphs, we reviewed a variety of the most popular search terms that people typed into Google. Click on all the tabs to learn something new - or confirm that you too reflect the spirit of the times. Except where noted, all of these search terms are global for Google.com.
There are What's Hot, Current Events, Milestones, Entertainment, and Sports sections.
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:
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.
Graham Wing can be reached at editor@pcin.net
Chris Empey can be reached at chris@pcin.net
Copyright 1998-2006, 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