The PC Improvement News
Issue 1-1
October 07, 1998

ISSN 1488-3163
Published electronically by PC Improvements (c) 1999
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Welcome to the first edition of the PC Improvement News. In this newsletter I will try to have a couple of tips to make you computing life easier as well as highlights of the previous weeks PC Industry News. As this newsletter is just starting out, I am more than willing to discuss any PC related topics in this newsletter. Just email me at editor@pcin.net with your suggestions. Also, if there is any strange formatting in the newsletter you receive please use the same email address to let me know so I can fix any incompatibilities. Bear with me, it will get better.

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THE NEWS
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Who said computers are getting smaller?
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The October 20, 1998 edition of PC Magazine had a very interesting article about how the chip manufacturers (Intel, AMD, etc.) test their new CPUs.

Did you know that if Intel tried to validate every potential set of circumstances, they'd have to examine 2^(5.5 million) combinations. That's a 1 followed by 1.6 million 0s. Obviously it would be nearly impossible to make sure there are no bugs in the CPU. Intel does a pretty good job with its testing, though. I thought the most interesting thing was when they build a new processor, they sometimes will build a room-sized chip that is connected to a regular computer. The Pentium Pro running at 150 MHz cost them $8 million.

Could you imagine having to use up a room in your house with your computer CPU?!!

What's happening with Microsoft?
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Every week, I will provide several links to articles about the Microsoft case with the DOJ. I will provide no editorial comments, other than this. I think that Microsoft should give every company a chance to compete, but I don't think that they should be under such intense scrutiny as they are right now. People complain about the Starr report costing so much money. Well, this DOJ case won't be cheap for either side, and I don't really think that anything will come from this. A waste of time!

Links:
Microsoft Trial Delayed
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,27227,00.html?pt.ms..feed.ne_home
Will the Department of Justice nail Microsoft?
http://coverage.cnet.com/Content/Features/Dlife/Forecast98/ss03.html?st.cn.nws.rl.cn

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THE TIPS
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Why does my phone disconnect when I get a call?
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Does your modem disconnect whenever any tries to call you. This could be because you have call waiting on your line and this is interfering with your connection. It is a good idea to disable call waiting whenever you connect to the internet. This can be done automatically by changing a setting in your modem setup. To fix this, open up the Control Panel and then open the Modems applet. Under the General tab, click on the Dialing Properties button. There should be a check box for "This location has call waiting. To disable it, dial..." When you check that box, you will be able to enter in the command that your local phone company uses to disable call waiting. The usual one is *70, but your company may be different.

My computer won't _____ , where can I get help?
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One of the services that I offer at PC Improvements is a Free Help service. I get a lot of people who take advantage of it, and I always reply as quickly as I can. I've discovered that it is hard troubleshooting problems through email when I don't really know what it running on the problem computer. What I usually do is refer people to Deja News at http://www.deja.com/ From their you can do a search on anything (problems, hobbies, you name it), and it will show you postings that other people have made to newsgroups. Newsgroups are frequented by people who are interested or experienced in a particular field. If I see a problem that I can solve, I'll post to a group. I also learn a lot from the postings of other experts. If you are interested in learning more about computers, then I highly recommend learning how to use newsgroups.

Well, that's all for this week. Remember that if there is anything that you want to learn about, let me know and I will try to accommodate you.

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The PC Improvement News is brought to you by PC Improvements.

The Opinions expressed are those of the editor, Graham Wing.

Editor: Graham Wing editor@pcin.net

Copyright 1998, PC Improvements and 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.

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