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Issue 396 - May 17, 2006

ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2006
==== 1613 Subscribers in 51 Countries ====

Welcome to the 396th 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.

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CONTENTS

Opening Thoughts

A few weeks ago I changed my blogging platform from b2evolution to WordPress. One of my biggest complaint about b2evolution was that the version I was using didn't handle comment spam very well. Apparently this is being addressed in future versions, but I couldn't wait any longer. Wordpress has a built-in antispam feature called Akismet Spam. So far it has caught 35, 994 comment spams. Pretty good!

As I'm sitting here putting the newsletter together, my wife is in the family room with her feet waving in the air doing pilates. She loves it, but it looks weird to me. Lisa gave up chocolate a couple of months ago, and I've decided to do the same to support her in it. It's amazing the number of things that have chocolate in it. If you try to avoid it all together, then you'll end up giving up lots more food than you were expecting. I guess that's a good thing for me.

This coming Monday is the Victoria Day holiday in Canada. I'll have a long weekend. Other than a wedding on Saturday that I'm involved with, I've nothing else to do. Hopefully the weather is nice and I can get out in the garden.

Graham editor@pcin.net and Chris chris@pcin.net

The NEWS

Worried sick on the Web

Patients surfing obsessively for answers can fall prey to `cyberchondria’ — health anxiety made worse by a deluge of information
When 37-year-old Toronto comedian Gerry Dee had a series of headaches, he decided to consult his family doctor. Some blood tests were ordered, and Dee didn’t think much about it until he returned home on a Friday to discover a voicemail from the doctor’s office, asking him to call back “as soon as possible.”By the time he got the message the office had closed for the weekend, so Dee had two days on his hands to wonder and worry and surf the Internet.

Read the Toronto Star article...
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The Evils that Lurk in Idle Web Surf

While summer is almost upon us, there’s never a worry over good or bad weather when it comes to clients heading out for some Web surfing. And what better place than the office to check out some sites?
But for IT managers acting as life guards on the corporate beach, enforcing network health and safety rules can get dicey.
The experience of IT pros and the results of a new survey show that most clients aren’t getting the message about security and the Web. Or perhaps, they just don’t care.

Read the eWeek article...
Leave a comment...

Putting the Wire Back Into Networking

Back in the Stone Age of home networking, anyone who wanted to play on a computer not hooked directly into an Internet connection had to snake phone lines or Ethernet wires across floors and up staircases.
People talked about a promising idea: using the electrical wiring already in the house to move data from room to room. One early application, the X10 system for controlling lights and appliances, didn’t always work well. The technology was certainly not ready to be used to bring Web pages to computers anywhere in the house.

Read the New York Times article...
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No Space for MySpace?

The campaign to crowd out predators from MySpace.com is gathering steam in Washington. House of Representatives lawmakers proposed a bill on May 9 that would block access to social networks and Internet chat rooms in most federally funded schools and libraries.
Social networks such as MySpace (NWS) and Facebook let users to create an online profile, often including photos and blogs, for sharing and making friends. Phenomenally popular, these sites have attracted criticism for making it easier for predators to contact teens and children.

Read the BusinessWeek article...
Leave a comment...

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PCIN.net UPDATE

Check out these new or updated pages on the PCIN.net site:

Update 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.php

Omega One Software Battery Pack Pro 2.1 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/bpp2.php

Makayama Interactive DVD to Pocket PC 3.0 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/dvd2ppc3.php

Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/elements40.php

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THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF

PDFill PDF Tools - FREE!

I read about this on RedFlagDeals.com:

For a limited time, PDFill.com has PDF Tools available for FREE download. This program will let you merge, split, reorder, encrypt, decrypt, rotate, crop, reformat, add header, footer, watermark, convert images to PDF, PDF to images, and more!

The program sounds interesting. The only catch is that the tools come with the PDFill PDF Editor trial. I’ve downloaded an installed it and the tools seem quite useful if you work with PDFs a lot. I haven’t tried the Editor software though.
Check out RedFlagDeals.com...
Read more about the PDFill PDF Tools...

Leave a comment...

Get new Windows XP desktop themes for free

This is from the latest TechRepublic Windows XP Tips newsletter:

Need a change of scenery? No need to pay Microsoft when you want a new desktop theme–now you can escape to virtual versions of Egypt, Québec and New Zealand for free. Windows XP columnist Greg Shultz leads the tour.

I’m not really into themes, but I have previously downloaded the New Zealand Bliss theme. I like the colours. TechRepublic links to several other freely available themese from Microsoft. Check it out!

Leave a comment...

Microsoft Patch Reliablity Ratings

You may be familiar with Woody Leonard. He is a well-known computer book author and Microsoft antagonist. He writes a column for the fabulous Windows Secrets newsletter.
In the latest issue of the newsletter, he referred to the Microsoft Patch Reliablity Ratings that he runs on his web site. His site explains it this way:

I have a rating system that lets individual Microsoft consumers know when it’s safe to install patches. I call it the Microsoft Patch Defense Condition Level, or MS-DEFCON for short. It’s modeled after the US armed forces DEFCON system.

There are lots of patches listed with a description of what some of the problems have been. If you are responsible for more than a couple of computers, or if you are just interested on what is really going on when you patch your system, then you should check out the site.

Leave a comment...

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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:

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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.

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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.

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