|
0.0 Don't Let The Storm Take Your System Down
1.0 Results: Where Do You Get Your Software?
2.0 Make Your PC Run Faster: Part II of II
3.0 The PC Doctor Deals With a Sick CD-Drive
4.0 Empty Temporary Folders in One Swell Foop!
5.0 Humor: English is Tough Stuff
6.0 Jigsaw Puzzle: Sojourner On Mars
7.0 Subscribe/Unsubscribe/Suggest/Search/Etc.
EBAY -- AUCTIONING EVERYTHING IMAGINABLE!
Didn't
find that vintage LP in a dozen downtown
stores? Did you try eBay?
Couldn't
sell that brooch at the flea market? Did
you try eBay?
eBay,
the world's online marketplace. Click below
and try it now.
eBay -- Auctioning everything imaginable!
0.0 DON'T LET THE STORM TAKE YOUR SYSTEM DOWN
The
trees outside our office groan with the weight
of snow and ice. The weatherman calls for more
freezing precipitation tonight and tomorrow. And
the all-news channel reports power outages
affecting thousands. That may make you think of
getting away to the Caribbean. It makes us think
UPS -- not the reliable package delivery service,
but the reliable power delivery system.
SURGE
SUPPRESSION, TOO. A UPS (uninterruptible
power supply) is basically a giant battery,
charged when the power is on, and capable of
running electronic components like your PC system
for 15 or 20 minutes when the power goes off. It
also functions as a super-efficient surge
suppressor, offering long-lasting, high-capacity
protection far beyond what you can get in a $10
outlet strip.
MANY
CHOICES. Many companies make excellent UPS
units, including industry-leader American Power
Conversion (APC), Tripp Lite, and Belkin. Most
units provide power line and telephone line
protection; some will also protect ethernet and
cable-modem lines.
READILY
AVAILABLE. Basic units suitable for a
modest PC system (tower or desktop, monitor,
scanner, inkjet printer) provide 400-500 VA of
sine-wave AC power for about 15 minutes after a
failure. These are available in stationary and
computer stores for under $200. For a little more
money, you can get a UPS that automatically closes
open programs and shuts down an unattended PC
(great for systems left on all the time).
So
get away from it all if you must, but remember
to disconnect your PC system before you go, or
leave it protected by an auto-shutdown UPS.
P.S.
Tell us about your Sturm and Drang in The PC
News Forum.
APC
American Power Conversion
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23apc
Tripp
Lite
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23tripp
Belkin
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23belkin
The
PC News Forum
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23pcnf
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=23lookup
1.0 RESULTS: WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR SOFTWARE?
Last
week's poll asked: "Where do you get your
software?" The table shows the results.
WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR
|
SOFTWARE?
|
Local store
|
61%
|
Online store
|
16%
|
Friends
|
16%
|
Freeware
|
7%
|
Shareware
|
0%
|
SURPRISING
RESULTS. It's not surprising that a
few respondents skirt the copyright laws and
borrow from friends, or that a few stick to free
sources. We are surprised that an overwhelming
majority buy commercial software, and NOBODY in
our poll buys shareware.
TRY
BEFORE YOU BUY. At least it's a surprise to
us. We like shareware because we can try it
before buying. It's the other way around for
commercial applications, which you buy, then try
and keep, whether you like it or not, whether it
does the job or not. We've never paid for bad
shareware, but we've got a cabinet full of awful
commercial software. (Local and online stores
don't refund opened software. They do exchange
open or defective packages, but only for the same
product.)
QUALITY.
Perhaps because shareware typically
costs less than its commercial competition,
there's the lingering impression that shareware
doesn't measure up. While that's sometimes true
-- as is the reverse -- it's not definitive. The
fact is that much of the commercial software
setting today's standards began life as shareware.
Witness the highly-respected McAfee antivirus
programs, and Paint Shop Pro from JASC, arguably
the best photo editor around.
PERSONAL
INNOVATION. The siren call of shareware
isn't try before you buy, or price, but innovative
flexibility. Shareware authors like Gregory Braun
produce an array of imaginative high-quality niche
products with no commercial counterparts.
Gregory's Software Design company makes more than
two dozen applications, ranging from a text editor
to a battle star game. All are efficient, easy to
use, and FREE or modestly priced. And you can
email Greg with a question or problem, and the man
who writes the software responds promptly with a
pertinent and courteous reply.
If
we've whetted your appetite for shareware,
check out the Association of Shareware
Professionals. It's the guild for the best
shareware authors, and a good way to find software
at a discount.
P.S.
Got a different take on shareware? Post
your thoughts and experiences on the PC News
Forum.
McAfee
Antivirus
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23mcafee
Paint
Shop Pro
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23psp
Gregory
Braun
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23braun
Association
of Shareware Professionals
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23asp
The
PC News Forum
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23pcnf
WEBSITES FOR THE LODGING INDUSTRY.
Ready
to join the Internet explosion? Let our
experts build a website for your bed and
breakfast, your hotel, motel or inn.
Want
to see a sample of our work? Check out the
site we're building for The Inn at Rose Hill Farm,
a Hudson Valley Bed and Breakfast. Bookmark it
now, and come back from time to time to watch it
grow.
Call
1-914-328-6152 mailto:info@servenet.com
2.0 MAKE YOUR PC RUN FASTER: PART II OF II
Last
week we wrote about software tweaks to make
your PC faster. We covered viruses, disk and
cache optimization, reducing open files and
programs, and video settings. This week we'll
look at three hardware upgrades that can really
make a difference.
RAM
FIRST AND FOREMOST. The first is RAM or
active memory. Ideally, your computer stores the
code (instructions) for the programs it runs in
RAM. When there isn't enough RAM, it stores some
of the code in a swap file on the hard drive,
dramatically increasing access time. RAM access
is measured in nanoseconds; hard drive access in
milliseconds --a million times slower.
HOW
MUCH RAM IS ENOUGH? As a bare minimum, 32
megabytes (Mb) might satisfy the patient user with
no big graphic, video, or game software. A
comfortable amount for most users is 64 Mb, but
users who multi-task, edit photos, and surf the
web extensively won't be happy with less than 128
Mb. After that, the benefits of more RAM are
marginal, except for power gamers, musicians, etc.
CHEAP
AND EASY. It's fortunate that RAM, which
can make a ten to a hundred-fold difference in
apparent speed, is both relatively inexpensive and
easy to install. At about 50 cents per megabyte,
an upgrade to 128 Mb costs under $100 for newer
PCs. Installation is simple: you plug the memory
board into a socket.
NAME-BRAND
PCS ARE NO-BRAINERS. For name brand
PCs, selecting the right RAM is straightforward.
First, open the case to see what you own. You
might have one, two or four boards. Let the
memory configuration wizard on the Crucial
Technology website do the rest. It's quick and
accurate. Crucial's price, delivery, quality and
service are top-notch, too.
FOR
CLONES, CALL IN THE CLOWNS. For clones, the
selection is not so easy -- there are multiple
physical and electronic parameters that have to be
matched exactly. Handy upgraders can research the
specifications in the system or motherboard
manual, then try Crucial's wizard or the red-
shirted whiz kid at your local electronic outlet.
Often it's best to pay an installation fee
(usually about $25) to let the geeks at the store
do the brainwork.
DRIVE
AFTER RAM. Once you have enough RAM, you can
buy additional speed by upgrading your hard drive.
By design, Windows accesses the hard drive
frequently as it runs large but commonplace
programs, such as word processors, browsers,
accounting software, etc. Upgrading to a faster
hard drive can provide three to ten times more
apparent speed.
HARD
DRIVE SPECS. The hard drive specifications
that count are access time (look for less than 9
milliseconds), platter speed (7200 RPM is ideal),
and buffer size (2 Mb or better, preferable
SDRAM). It's not hard to find a fast 20 Gb or
larger drive from a major manufacturer (Maxtor,
Seagate, Western Digital, IBM, Quantum) for $100-
$200. Egghead, CDW, and Insight are reliable,
fairly-priced sources.
CHECK
THE OLD. Before running out to buy a new
hard drive, look up the old one on the maker's
website. The drive in a new, high-end machine may
be up to snuff already. PCs more than two years
old can almost all benefit from an upgrade. Buy
the fastest, biggest drive you can squeeze into
your budget.
INSTALLATION.
If you've never opened a PC before,
or if your system is belching and barking, let the
computer store techies install your new hard
drive. Savvy readers with smoothly running
systems might want to tackle the job themselves.
(Want to learn how? Scott Mueller's Upgrading and
Repairing PCs, which we reviewed last week, is
what you need.)
COPY
THE OLD. Use the instructions and software
that come with retail-packaged drives. Install
the new drive temporarily as a slave, copy the
contents of the old to the new, remove the old,
and boot up on the new. When you're happy with
the new, you can erase the old and re-install it
for storage.
ON
TO THE PROCESSOR. The last place to look for
increased speed is probably the first place that
came to mind -- the processor. Processor upgrades
pack less punch than you might imagine for two
reasons. You're one of them. After about 300
Mhz, all processors seem pretty much the same for
all but the most demanding tasks (heavy-duty
number crunching, demanding photo editing, mind-
blowing games). No kidding.
PLUG-IN
UPGRADE PROCESSORS. The other reason is
physical/electronic. It would be nice if you
could unplug your old 133 Mhz Pentium and plug in
a new 1 gh Pentium IV. You can't. What you can
do is plug in an upgrade processor, but it is
still limited by the motherboard, whose speed was
designed for the old chip.
PNY,
Kingston, and Evergreen make plug-in upgrades
in four categories: 486 to Pentium 100 clone, slow
Pentium to Pentium 233 mmx clone, 166 Mhz Pentium
and AMD to 400 Mhz Pentium mmx clone, and Pentium
II and some Celeron to 566 Mhz Pentium II clones.
The best you can hope for is a 100% (two-fold)
increase in performance for $75 to $150. RAM and
hard drive upgrades pack a lot more wallop for the
buck! But processors are among the easiest
upgrades to install. They're usually packaged
with a video or animation providing more
information than you'll need.
LAPTOP
LEMMA. The upgrades we've discussed are
primarily for tower and desktop PCs, whose RAM,
hard drive, and processor are generally modular.
By design, laptops take easy but expensive RAM
upgrades, no or same-speed hard drive changes, and
no change to the soldered-in processor. Where is
Henry Ford when you need him?
LAST
WORD. We've limited ourselves to the three
hardware changes that are cost-effective and
efficient. It's important not to spend a lot on
upgrades when new PCs get cheaper by the day. And
power-users with unlimited budgets don't need us
to suggest spending $300-500 on a video card
upgrade that will increase gaming performance 20%.
Do they?
P.S.
Got a hardware tip to pass on? Post it in
the PC News Forum.
Make
Your PC Run Faster: Part I
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23speedup
Crucial
Technology
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23crucial
Egghead
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23egg
CDW
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23cdw
Insight
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23insight
Upgrading
and Repairing PCs
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23pcupgrade
PNY
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23pny
Kingston
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23king
Evergreen
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23ever
The
PC News Forum
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23pcnf
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.
3.0 THE PC DOCTOR DEALS WITH A SICK CD-DRIVE
As
you probably know, our sister company,
Installations Plus+, runs a FREE PC Clinic for
sick computers. While making the rounds, we
recorded this exchange between a user with an
incompetent CD-ROM drive and our favorite geek,
the PC Doctor.
QUESTION.
My CD-ROM drive is not working. I can
put a CD in the drive, but when I try to run or
access the CD, I get an error message that says
the drive is not accessible.
ANSWER.
This error message usually means that the
system recognizes the drive, i.e. it is properly
installed, but it is not responding to commands.
CHECK
THE SOFTWARE. First eliminate the small
possibility that the software driver is corrupt or
damaged. In Windows' Device Manager, expand the
CDROM line (double-click or use the plus sign).
Then select your drive in the list (it's probably
the only one there) and press Remove. Select
Computer at the top of the Device Manager
listings, and press Refresh. That will re-install
the CD-ROM drive with a fresh copy of its software
drivers. Try accessing the CD-ROM again.
NOW
THE HARDWARE. If refreshing the software
doesn't solve the problem, it's time to examine
the hardware. There are three sources for the
symptom. From least to most likely, they are the
drive controller on the motherboard, the ribbon
cable connecting the drive to the motherboard, and
the drive controller on the drive itself.
KINKY
CABLE? First try straightening out any
kinks in the cable and making sure it's firmly
seated in the connectors at each end. If that
solves your problem, replace the cable. If not,
the simplest thing is to buy a replacement drive
from a store that will give you a full refund if
it's not needed.
DEAD
CD-ROM DRIVE? Replace the drive (and the
cable). If that solves your problem, you're home
free. If not, you'll probably want to return the
drive for a refund, and think about whether to
replace the motherboard or buy a new computer. But
that's for after we firm up the diagnosis.
The
FREE PC Clinic at Installations Plus+
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23pcclinic
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+.
4.0 EMPTY TEMPORARY FOLDERS IN ONE SWELL FOOP!
Today's
hard drives are so big -- make that
humongous -- that it's not necessary to delete
temporary files to reclaim needed disk space. In
fact, we encourage you not to delete files unless
you must. To coin a phrase: What you don't delete
can't hurt you.
INTRODUCING
EMPTY TEMP FOLDERS V2.3. Of course,
there are probably a few of you nursing small
drives until the new PC arrives, and a few who
want/need to remove evidence of sites surfed,
emails sent, and memos written. For drive riders,
trail hiders, and folks who just want to be neat
and tidy, may we suggest Empty Temp Folders v2.3
FREE from Finn Ekberg Christiansen? (Finn is his
given name; he's a Dane.)
Empty
Temp Folders (emptemp) helps you manage
folders containing temporary files left over by
other applications. These are folders like temp,
tmp, msdownld.tmp, cookies, temporary internet
files, history. emptemp comes with a list of the
usual suspects to add to your folder patrol.
COMMAND
LINE INTERFACE. Experienced users will
like its command line options. For example,
running "emptemp /all" from Run or a batch file
causes the application to run minimized, empty all
temporary folders and then terminate. The
"/keepdirs" switch allows the contents but not the
folders to be deleted.
HANDY
CONSOLE, TOO. The rest of us will find it
easy to open the emptemp console, examine the list
of folders (and their contents if desired), then
zap all with the click of a mouse. (What you
delete with emptemp is removed from the hard
drive, not sent to the Recycle Bin, so zap with
care.)
WHISTLE
WHILE YOU WORK. Will you join us in a
chorus? No loitering, no litter. emptemp --The
Emperor of Temp -- rules!
P.S.
Need more info on EmpTemp, post your
question in the PC News Forum.
Empty
Temp Folders v2.3
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23emptemp
The
PC News Forum
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23pcnf
FEATURED FORUM: THE PC NEWS FORUM
The
featured Forum this week is our just-opened PC
News Forum. The Forum, like this newsletter, is
dedicated to Windows computing -- hardware,
software, searching, news, books, websites, web
design, humor, and, of course, our puzzles.
Enjoy!
5.0 HUMOR: ENGLISH IS TOUGH STUFF
Multinational
personnel at NATO headquarters near
Paris found English to be an easy language --
until they tried to pronounce it. To help them
discard an array of accents, the verses below were
devised. After trying them, a Frenchman said he'd
prefer six months at hard labor to reading six
lines aloud. Try them yourself.
English
is Tough Stuff
Dearest
creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.
Just
compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.
Hear
me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.
Billet
does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation's OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.
Ivy,
privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.
Query
does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.
Liberty,
library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.
Petal,
panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.
Compare
alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.
Face,
but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.
Pronunciation
-- think of Psyche!
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won't it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It's a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.
Finally,
which rhymes with enough --
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!
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.
6.0 JIGSAW PUZZLE: SOJOURNER ON MARS
 After
you download and play this week's puzzle --a
NASA photo showing the Sojourner robotic surveyor
on Mars -- take a minute to tell us what you
think. Not about Sojourner, about the puzzle. Is
it too difficult or too easy? Do you like rotated
pieces? (There are 35 in Sojourner.) Is there
anything we could do to make it more fun? Send
your comments to editrix@pcnewsdigest.com, or post them in the PC News Forum. Thanks!
We
used Tibo Software's Jigs@w Puzzle program to
make the puzzle, which downloads in 48 seconds at
56.6 kb, and plays in 12-20 minutes on Windows 95
or later PCs. Jigs@w fans should visit the Tibo
website for an updated version, released this
week, that adds support for 16 languages. Do you
speak puzzle? (The graphic decorating this
paragraph in the web version of the newsletter
previews the puzzle.)
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).
Sojourner
Puzzle
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23sojourn
Jigs@w
Puzzle
http://servenet.com/go/to.cgi?l=23tibo
7.0 SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE/SUGGEST/SEARCH/ETC.
PAST ISSUES.09/19/2000 09/26/2000 10/03/2000 10/10/2000 10/17/2000 10/24/2000 10/31/2000 11/07/2000 11/14/2000 11/21/2000 11/28/2000 12/05/2000 12/12/2000 12/19/20
00 12/26/2000 01/09/2001 01/16/2001 01/23/2001 02/06/2001 02/13/2001 02/27/2001
SUGGESTIONS. Your
thoughts
about our newsletter
and our website are always welcome. Tell us. We're listening!
RECOMMEND
US. Tell a friend about our website and newsletter.
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: 3/13/2001.
|
|
