1.0 AOL Users: Save $144 A Year With BYOA!
2.0 Quick Trick: Hardware Compatibility Checker
3.0 BHead 3.1 Makes Meta Tags And Style Sheets
4.0 Shell Extensions Enhance Windows Explorer
5.0 Book: Idiot's Guide To Online Genealogy
6.0 Humor: Musical Comedy
7.0 Instant Messaging: AOL, Microsoft, WebTV
8.0 Moving? Check Out ChangeAddress.Com!
9.0 Jigsaw Puzzle: Lilypond At Longwood
10.0 Bifocal Notepad: Say Goodbye To Squinting!
11.0 Subscribe/Unsubscribe/Suggest/Search/Etc.
AMAZON.COM -- A LOT MORE THAN BOOKS AND MUSIC!
I wasn't Amazon.com's first customer, but I've been buying stuff from them since the days when they only sold books. Today it's books and music and games and software and electronics and hardware and cars and cameras and phones and ...
NEVER DISAPPOINTED. I've ordered all kinds of goodies from Amazon and never been disappointed. I get what I ordered and fast -- sometimes the next day, although I've never sprung for express shipping. I guess they do that to keep folks happy.
MAKING MISTAKES PAY. And that time I didn't get what I ordered, I got to like them even better. They shipped a totally unrelated book instead of a copy of Windows Millennium. I called. They apologized, and shipped the right software overnight. Included was a pickup ticket to make it easy to return the unwanted book. All done in a day with no cost but the time it took to make the phone call.
I keep wondering if that mistake wasn't just another of their never-ending customer relations ploys. Like including a gift packet of one-cent stamps with my last order. Do you think?
1.0 AOL USERS: SAVE $144 A YEAR WITH BYOA!
If you use America Online (AOL) and have broadband Internet access (LAN, DSL, cable modem), you could save $144 a year by BYOA -- bringing your own access.
AOL'S PRICE PLANS. AOL charges $21.95 a month for unlimited access to its Internet service via a dial-up (modem) connection. That's if you use one of AOL's access numbers. The charge is only $9.95 if you connect via another Internet Service Provider (ISP).
Many users start with AOL's unlimited service, then upgrade from modem connection to broadband, but never change their Pricing Plan. To save $12 a month -- and enjoy higher speed connections -- there are two things you need to do.
CONNECT VIA ALTERNATE ISP. Make sure your AOL software is set to use the alternate means of connecting. From the Sign On screen, select Setup, then Add Modem, then TCP/IP: LAN or ISP (Internet Service Provider). The Select Location: drop down should now be set to ISP/LAN Connection.
CHANGE YOUR PRICING PLAN. GO keyword Billing, select Change Your Billing Method or Price Plan, then Update Pricing Plan, selecting the $9.95/BYOA (Bring Your Own Access) plan.
You're set to save $144 a year.
P.S. AOL imposes a surcharge if you use its access numbers after switching to BYOA. Don't switch if you connect at school or work via dial- up modem.
THE LOOK-UP CENTER AT INSTALLATIONS PLUS+
Scouring the web for basic information? Find what you need in one place for FREE!
The Look-Up Center has telephone numbers by name, by address and reverse. Weather, stock quotes, dictionaries, quotations, package tracking, calories, currency conversion, maps, metric conversions, books, music, and more.
The FREE Look-Up Center at Installations Plus+
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=19lookup
2.0 QUICK TRICK: HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY CHECKER
Upgrading from Windows 95 to 98 Second Edition will buy enhanced performance and more stability (fewer crashes). Upgrading to Windows Millennium gets you a system restore feature that's invaluable if you like to tweak your PC or try new games. But is your old hardware up to the upgrade?
PLAIN TEXT OR SEARCHABLE. Microsoft has tested thousands of motherboards, modems, sound cards, video cards, printers, etc. with their top operating systems -- Windows 98, ME, NT and 2000. The results are available in plain text lists for each system, and in a database you can search by product and category.
TO UPGRADE OR NOT. The Hardware Compatibility List tells you if a product has been checked and where you can find a driver. If a product is shown as compatible, you can proceed to upgrade with a reasonable assurance of success. If a product is missing from the list, or untested, you should consider upgrading the product as well as the operating system.
Microsoft Hardware Compatibility List
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=19hcl
NEED HELP SELLING IT ON EBAY? LOOK HERE!
The WebShop at SERVENET.COM builds websites for commercial, professional, and non-profit clients..
But did you know we can build one for you to sell your car, your house, or your mink on the web and on eBay?
Check out the site we built to sell a Man Ray chess set.
Man Ray Chess Set For Sale
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=19manray
And here's the site we created to sell a frozen yogurt machine. It was on the web and on eBay.
Taylor Freezemaster 339 Frozen Yogurt Machine http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=19softserve
3.0 BHEAD 3.1 MAKES META TAGS AND STYLE SHEETS
[Editor's Note. This article is for intermediate webpage authors.]
Designing webpages can be great fun and intensely rewarding, but it includes drudgery too. Creating the page header -- the information between the <head> and </head> tags -- is one such task. The header is never seen by a website visitor, but provides important instructions to the webserver, search engines, and the visitor's browser.
JUST FILL IN THE BLANKS. If you understand meta tags and style sheets but want a faster, more accurate way to produce them, download a FREE copy of Mino Studio's BHead v3.1. This straightforward application makes the expected Title, Keyword, and Contents tags and all the others too -- Robots, Language, Author, Generator, Pragma, etc. You fill in the blanks or select from drop-down menus, it produces properly formatted HTML output.
BHead also produces Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) tags and classes to use separately in *.CSS files or in the page header. The CSS creator is nicely programmed with drop-down menus, radio buttons, and a pop-up color picker to minimize your effort.
FAST AND ACCURATE. You can copy the meta tags and style sheets and paste them into an existing page in your favorite editor (or use the included Simpledit Editor); save them separately for later re-use; or let BHead produce a blank HTML page ready for input. Whichever way you choose, BHead beats hand-coding for speed and accuracy.
BHead v3.1
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=19bhead
FEATURED FORUM: SHOP TALK (AUTOMOTIVE)
The Mohawk Shop Talk Forum is your place to talk about automotive equipment.
It's the place to share a tip, tell a good story, pass on a belly laugh, and to ask or answer a question. It's also the place to buy, sell, and trade things automotive.
Shop Talk is hosted and moderated by SERVENET.COM and sponsored by the Mohawk Lift dealers.
The SHOP TALK FORUM for things automotive.
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=19shoptalk
4.0 SHELL EXTENSIONS ENHANCE WINDOWS EXPLORER
Have you ever wanted to delete a file for good? Or wanted to protect a file with a password? Well now you can, easily and for FREE.
FILE SHREDDING AND PASSWORDS. rjhExtensions adds file shredding (overwrite and permanently delete) and password protection (encryption/decryption with powerful Blowfish algorithm) to the Windows context menu. That's the pop-up menu you get when you right-click on a file or folder in Windows Explorer.
 It's not just the added privacy and security that earned rjhExtensions our Best Choice Award. Trouble-free installation, interaction-free operation, and easy uninstallation figured in too. But wait, there's more.
AND MORE EXTENSIONS. rjhExtensions also lets you rename multiple files (this is a powerful, multi- parameter extension), duplicate files within a directory, and print a directory listing or store it in a file. Oops, almost forgot the function that lets you copy the path of a file or folder to the clipboard, and the one that opens a DOS prompt in the selected directory.
This powerful FREE shell extension package works with Windows 95/98/NT/2000. It comes with an organizer that lets you select which functions to add to the context menu (or a submenu), and in what order.
P.S. We covered two other shell extensions that let you make a folder or annotate a file in an earlier article referenced below.
rjhExtensions
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=19rjh
Shell Extensions Organize Your Hard Drive
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=19shell
5.0 BOOK: IDIOT'S GUIDE TO ONLINE GENEALOGY
There is no clearer manifestation of Jung's collective unconscious than the widespread and pervasive fascination with genealogy. Everybody wants to find their roots.
COMPUTERS AND GENEALOGY -- PERFECT TOGETHER. Computers and the Internet make the search easier and more successful than ever. It's almost as if computers, with their ability to store, organize, and search large amounts of data, were made for genealogy.
 The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Genealogy by Rhonda R. McClure and Shirley Langdon Wilcox shows you how to gather your family data and conduct online searches. This is a square-one book for people just getting started. You'll come away from it knowing how to mine government archives, communicate with other genealogical researchers, and even how to publish your data online.
HOW AND WHERE TO SEARCH. McClure not only teaches you how to search online, but also guides you to the current hotspots on the web. Her easy style is supported by lots of graphics and hint boxes. A few hours with this book should have you firmly in control of your personal time-machine.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Genealogy is on the shelves at your local bookstore and on sale here from Amazon.com for $11.86, a saving of $5.09 (30%).
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Genealogy
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=19gguide
PUT IT IN WRITING: HOW TO WRITE A MEMO
In another life and time, I was asked to teach my company's salesmanagers to write a memo. I wrote them a memo.
"How to write a memo" applies to anyone who needs to learn to communicate in writing, not just folks who sell for a living.
It's a fun read. Give it a try.
6.0 HUMOR: MUSICAL COMEDY
[Editor's Note. These are actual answers to tests on music.]
The principal singer of nineteenth century opera was called pre-Madonna.
It is easy to teach anyone to play the maracas. Just grip the neck and shake him in rhythm.
Gregorian chant has no music, just singers singing the same lines.
Sherbet composed the Unfinished Symphony.
All female parts were sung by castrati. We don't know exactly what they sounded like because there are no known descendants.
Young scholars have expressed their rapture for the Bronze Lullaby, the Taco Bell Cannon, Beethoven's Erotica, Tchaikovsky Cracknutter Suite, and Gershwin's Rap City in Blue.
Music sung by two people at the same time is called a duel; if they sing without music it is called Acapulco.
A virtuoso is a musician with real high morals.
Contralto is a low sort of music that only ladies sing.
Diatonic is a low calorie Schweppes.
Probably the most marvelous fugue was the one between the Hatfields and the McCoys.
The main trouble with a French Horn is that it is too tangled up.
The correct way to find the key to a piece of music is to use a pitchfork.
Refrain means don't do it. A refrain in music is the part you'd better not try to sing.
I know what a sextet is but I'd rather not say.
Most authorities agree that music of antiquity was written long ago.
My favorite composer was Opus. Agnus Dei was a woman composer famous for her church music.
Henry Purcell was a well-known composer few people have ever heard of.
Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a great many musical compositions and had a large number of children. In between he practiced on an old spinster which he kept up in his attic.
Rock Monanoff was a famous post-romantic composer of piano concerti.
HEAVY SMOKER? WANT TO QUIT? HERE'S HOW!
No cost, no gimmicks, no drugs. Just a proven behavioral method that helps the heavy smoker quit and not want to smoke again. Written by an ex-smoker and based on sound psychophysiological principles, How to Stop Smoking is a WannaLearn.com Selected Instructional Site.
7.0 INSTANT MESSAGING: AOL, MICROSOFT, WEBTV
If you thought instant messaging (IM) systems were just for kids, think again. Librarians field reference questions with IM. Businesses conduct instant meetings. Grandmas swap digital photos of the progeny. And everyone keeps tabs on the hot and the not.
LACK OF INTEROPERABILITY. That's what's good about IM. What's bad is the lack of interoperability -- tech talk meaning if you use Microsoft's MSN Messenger System you can't communicate with me using AOL's Instant Messenger (AIM).
AOL DOESN'T PLAY WELL WITH OTHERS. The fly in the interoperability ointment is AOL, whose AIM and ICQ services (popular overseas) account for 80% of users. AOL argues that opening its system would make it vulnerable to spammers, hackers, and other miscreants. And why should they when anyone with any type of Internet access can use AIM or ICQ for FREE just by downloading the software? (There are AIM and ICQ versions for Windows, MACs, Linux, and Palm.)
FCC RULING HAS NO TEETH. AOL's chief IM competitors, Microsoft and Yahoo!, see things differently. They petitioned the FCC to make interoperability a condition of the recent merger of AOL with Time-Warner. It did, sort of. AOL was instructed to provide access to its system as soon as it begins offering "advanced, IM-based high-speed services" like streaming video. Surprise! AOL has no plans for those services any time soon.
GET MSN MESSENGER AND TAKE AIM. That leaves us with reality in two parts. If you use WebTV or have friends that do, you need to run Microsoft's MSN Messenger System. It's currently the only service that works with WebTV. Of course, you'll also need AIM to communicate with AOL and AIM users. After that, well...
AOL Instant Messenger
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=19aim
ICQ.com
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=19icq
MSN Messenger Service
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=19msnm
Yahoo! Messenger
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=19yahoo
WebTV
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=19webtv
THE PC CLINIC AT INSTALLATIONS PLUS+
PC PROBLEMS? Help is just a mouse-click away! PC News Digest subscribers get priority treatment at the FREE personal computer clinic at Installations Plus+.
8.0 MOVING? CHECK OUT CHANGEADDRESS.COM!
With over 40 million Americans relocating each year, ChangeAddress.com could quickly become as popular as frozen yogurt. For a flat $9.95 fee, this site helps you change your address when you move.
HOW IT WORKS. What ChangeAddress.com does to earn its fee is to shorten the notification process from hours to minutes. You provide your new and old addresses, then select your banks, credit card companies, magazines, the post office, etc. from a database of over 200,000 organizations. You okay each organization, authorizing the release of specific information as needed, e.g., your account number to your bank.
Additional organizations can be added during the next 60 days. After that, or for a different move, the $9.95 fee applies again. That's it. ChangeAddress.com does the rest.
PRIVACY GUARANTEE. ChangeAddress.com promises not to divulge anything about you, except to designated third parties. They back up the promise with Better Business Bureau, TRUSTe, and VeriSign assurances. That's as good as it gets.
ChangeAddress.com is a competent niche dotcom in a virgin market. Use it to take some of the pain out of moving. Watch for it to make a tasty IPO.
ChangeAddress.com
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=19address
9.0 JIGSAW PUZZLE: LILYPOND AT LONGWOOD
 It's a little early for lilies, but we can wish, can't we? This week's puzzle of 40 rotated pieces solves to show a lilypond at Longwood Gardens, Delaware. Lou Bruno took the photo last August. We used Tibo Software's Jigs@w Puzzle program to make the puzzle, which downloads in 45 seconds at 56.6 kb and plays in 13-20 minutes on Windows 95 or later PCs.
TIP. To rotate a puzzle piece 90 degrees: select, then right-click it.
P.S. You can download puzzles from earlier editions of the PC News Digest from our Puzzle Archive. You can also get a list of past puzzles with download links by sending an email to library@pcnewsdigest.com with the subject "send file puzzles" (no quotes).
Lilypond Puzzle
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=19lilypond
Jigs@w Puzzle
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=19tibo
10.0 BIFOCAL NOTEPAD: SAY GOODBYE TO SQUINTING!
It's a law of physics or something. Monitors keep getting bigger (today a 17" monitor is average), and the fonts and icons get smaller. While you can't do much about webpages designed for a 1024 x 768 resolution (tons of tiny pixels), you can do something about Windows Notepad. Replace it with a FREE copy of Bifocal Notepad by Dennis Vanderspek.
NOTEPAD REPLACEMENT. Bifocal Notepad is a Windows Notepad replacement with features geared to the visually impaired and folks just tired of squinting. You can easily select the background color, font face and type size (up to 40 pt), and they become the defaults automatically.
ERGONOMICALLY EASY. Bifocal Notepad includes large, clearly labeled function buttons, redesigned open and save file dialogs, and a spiffy Search/Replace function. Word wrap is automatic.
Like big-button phones, Bifocal Notepad doesn't break any new ground technologically, but it makes using technology easier.
P.S. If you decide to replace Windows Notepad with Bifocal Notepad, follow the instructions in the Help file slavishly to maintain file associations.
Bifocal Notepad
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=19bifocal
11.0 SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE/SUGGEST/SEARCH/ETC.
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SUGGESTIONS. Your thoughts about our newsletter and our website are always welcome. Tell us. We're listening!
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LINK TO US.  Grab our button. Write for HTML help.
Copyright © 2000 Louis J. Bruno, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy.
Written by Louis J. Bruno Edited by Judith Reinfeld
ICQ:101670502 AIM:LouisBruno
Produced in the WebShop at SERVENET.COM. Please report bad or changed links to the WebMaster. Last update: 1/30/2001.
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