The PC Improvement News

Issue 1-50
September 22, 1999

ISSN 1488-3163
Published electronically by PC Improvements (c) 1999
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit
http://www.pcin.net/

Note 1: If any of the links are too long to fit on one line, you may have to
cut and paste.
Note 2: You can only win one contest every 30 days.

Welcome to the 50th edition of the PC Improvement News. In this newsletter,
I have a couple of tips to make your computing life easier as well as
highlights of the past weeks PC Industry News. I am more than willing to
discuss any PC related topics in this newsletter. Just email me at
editor@pcin.net with your suggestions. I would also appreciate it
if you let me know if there is any strange formatting in the newsletter so
that I can fix them.

There are only 2 ways to get on the subscriber list. You have either been
subscribed by filling out a subscription form on any of the pages on my
site, or you have requested FreeHelp from me in the past.

Give me two or three issues, and I know that you will get something great
out of this!

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SOME OPENING THOUGHTS
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More and more prizes. I will be getting 2 copies of 602Pro PC, an Office 97
compatible office suite, and 2 copies of Gizmos 98, a group of programs that
include games, CD Player, screensavers and more.

One of the courses I am taking right now is on Visual Basic 6. Hopefully in
a few months I will be able to start writing some little utilities to solve
some of our common problems.

As noted above, this is the 50th issue of PCIN. I've had a lot of fun doing
this, and hope to do it for a long time to come. I almost have 500
subscribers. Still small, but going strong.

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THOUGHT OF THE WEEK
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NONE

To subscribe to the FREE "Aspire to Something Higher" Thought-Of-The-Day
list, send a blank email to HappyQuotes-subscribe@listbot.com

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THE NEWS
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The Barbie PC
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Several issues ago I mentioned that there was a Barbie printer available.
Well, I'm sure you will all be happy to know that you can now get a Barbie
computer to match the printer that you ran out and bought.  Mattel has a
deal with patriot computers to sell these silver and pink computers.  There
is also a Barbie digital camera. Your son may want a Barbie computer too,
but the chances are he'd enjoy a Hot Wheels computer better. This computer
is blue and gold and has a special steering when controller and mouse. The
computer themselves are Celeron 333 processors, 3GB HD, 32 MB RAM, 32x
CD-ROM, 56k modem, 15inch monitor and a bunch of software from Mattel and
The Learning Company. They will cost only $599 US. Sounds pretty impressive.
The web sites have pictures so you should check out how colourful they are.

For more info:
http://www.barbiepc.com/
http://www.hotwheels.com/


Recharge Your Batteries
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Summarized from the October 5, 1999 issue of PC Magazine:
Compaq computer has filed for a patent on a technology that will recharge
your battery in portable devices. There is a certain amount of energy
transferred to the keypad of a cell phone or keyboard when you press (Energy
isn't created or destroyed, just transferred/transformed or something like
that). This technology will use some magnets and coils to channel this
energy into the battery to charge it.

I looked all over the PC Magazine web site and the Compaq web site and could
find no page to send you to.


More than Coke Machines
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A couple of issues ago, I mentioned the coke machines that would be wired up
to contact the warehouse when supplies were low. Well, in a continuation of
the Why do we need it? series, Tokheim, a manufacturer of gasoline pumps,
will be providing pumps that will let people check their email. The pumps
will come equipped with 10' LCD screens. I get frustrated enough at times
waiting for people to finish pumping their gas. I certainly don't want to
wait for people to read their mail from Cousin Fred.

For more info:
http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?990920.hnoil.htm


Don't Go There!
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The Foreign Office, a branch of the Federal Government in the UK, has come
out with a list of places to avoid because of Y2K problems. This article
mentions that Ukraine is the most dangerous place, but doesn't share any of
the other places, or give a link as to where to go. If any of our UK friends
know this information, please let me know.

For more info:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=177963&in
_review_text_id=143630

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CONTEST RESULTS
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Wow! Double Wow! I am so pleased with all of you. I had 27 people send in
their suggestion for last week's contest where I asked you to come up with 3
people who would be an interesting combination to golf with.  There were
those who hated golf (Dan Ference and John Hills) and those who like golf
(Judy). Even though they didn't win, I'd also like to mention Paul Bedard
and Jack Simmons. They both mentioned people who were heroes or other people
that it would be a dream to be with. Lastly, Sandy West gave a trio of "My
Dad, my maternal grandfather, and my paternal grandfather." What a great
tribute to the importance of family.

Anyway, congratulations to Ruth Wilkowski and MW Bare. They are the winners
of this week's contest. Here are their responses:

MW Bare (choose Window Washer as a prize)
I would have to say that my "Dream Golf Foursome" would include Anna Nicole
Smith, Dolly Parton & Pamela Anderson. We have a lot in common; We're all
boobs! ;-)

Ruth Wilkowski (choose the ZD Net Office 97 Tutorial CD as a prize)
I'd love to play a round of golf with Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinski and
Judge Judy. I'm fairly certain there would be spectacular fireworks by about
the 4th or 5th hole (enough to put July 1st to shame) because by that time,
JJ would be dishing out tongue-lashings and reprimands with far more gusto
than Kenneth Starr ever could. Hey! Maybe Hillary could caddy for Monica!
That would liven things up, don't you think? We'd have to keep a close eye
on her, though. We don't want Bill to have a 5 iron wrapped around his neck.
While we're at it, Dr. Ruth could caddy, too and offer HER special brand of
advice. She might even be able to pick up a few tips! Well, that's MY choice
of lively golfers. What do you think?
PS At the 19th hole, Martha 'Get-A-Life' Stewart could serve some of her
fabulous snacks (that only took her 3 days to make).

This week, instead of putting all 27 entries in the newsletter, I have made
a contest results page. This will cut back on the length of the newsletter.
Also, I can space things better in HTML than I can in plain text. Check out
all of the entries at
http://www.pcimprovements.com/pcinews/contests

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I NEED HELP
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As many of you know, I offer a free help service via email. If you have a
question, you can email me and I will try my best to answer them. I can
answer about half of them. Those are things that I do regularly or have
experience with. There are other things that I have never tired or
experienced so I don't have an answer. I hope to post those questions here
and see if any of the readers have any suggestions. I will include all
reasonable suggestions with credit to you. These are NOT my own questions
and they are NOT my answers. I will NOT check the validity of these
comments. That is up to you.

Previous Questions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q1) I have installed the new Windows 98 2nd edition on 3 new computers now
and they come with Outlook Express 5.0. On all 3 machines, Outlook Express
will not let me Import the Mail Messages from Windows Messaging, which is
the e-mail server the clients are using on their network. I have done that
with 2 other machines with Outlook and had no problems with the import
function. First error message: "cannot import from MAPI client". Did some
research and found in Microsoft Support that you have to disable the default
MAPI client in the settings. Did that, and now when I try to import, it just
locks up Outlook Express! No other suggestions have appeared in the support
home page from Microsoft. Any ideas? Is it an OE5.0 flaw or incompatibility
with Windows Messaging? Is there something else I am supposed to be doing
and not see it?

A1) John Hills said, "It's one of those problems where it could be virtually
anything but for what it is worth perhaps you should import them with
Outlook as you were successful with that and then presumably you can do with
them what you will from there."

Q2) Have a question about cookies...are they in chronological order? In
other words, when I first started using my computer a year or so ago, are
the first sites I went to shown as the first cookies, and conversely, are
the more recent sites at the end of the list? I need to delete a bunch of
them, but can't necessarily tell by looking at them what they relate to. For
instance, a contest for a spa vacation might show up in cookies as "Flycast"
or something like that. I don't want to delete the ones I need/want, but
just get rid of a lot of "trash", i.e., sites I never use any more. Is there
a program that will read the cookies and tell me where they are from?

A2) Lonnie Whelan said, "Use Windows Explorer (NOT Internet Explorer). Look
in C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files. Be sure View is set for Details. You
should be able to see the date the file was Last Modified, Last Accessed,
and Last Checked. You should be able to delete old cookies accordingly."
A2) John Hills said, "Two things you can do. Select "all files" in Word and
open the cookies. It will be nice and neat and easy to read but the info of
use will be just the one or two words that you appear to have found anyway.
Any program handling HTML will read these files - at least what there is to
read. Invariably the text within the cookie is not much difference, if any,
to the name of the cookie. The second thing you can do is click on the date
column and put them in date order and guess which ones you don't want. This
order should reflect the date on which you received them. (modified date).
This date however, may have changed if you have returned to a particular
website. I understand but I am not sure that the figures are peculiar to the
web site that implants the cookie and the numbers are probably unique to
you. I personally have cookies turned off, because I don't understand them
fully and have this feeling that personal info could be retrieved from my PC
without my knowledge - but maybe I'm paranoid, after all, I am English. For
future cookie use, you may wish to change your cookie options to prompt
rather than enable and then you can make additional notes to remind you when
you feel a recycle bin urge coming on."

New Questions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q1) I have a Hewlett Packard Pavilion 4440 that I use just for recording
audio and Midi. Although, I do occasionally play a game on the machine.
Well, I just added a Monster 3D Graphics accelerator - and everything works
perfectly. Except, suddenly - it can't find the audio hardware. Which
obviously is a problem considering what I use the machine for. Just curious
what you think the problem might be... where do I start looking? What should
I check first?

Q2) I have had my PC for a few months, but for the last few days when I boot
up the PC there is a weird (sounds like a Hoover) noise for the first 8-10
seconds. The noise then fades to the normal sound of the PC. This problem
only occurs when the PC is booted when off for a few hours (i.e. sounds
normal is PC turned off then on).

If you have an answer to these questions or have a question of your own,
please email me at freehelp@pcin.net

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NEW CONTEST
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What good is the Internet? The news media seems to think that the Internet
is a breeding ground for perverts or credit card number stealers. Is there
anything out there for you? I have a client here in St. Catharines that is a
senior and the Internet lets her communicate with people when she can't get
out of the house. There is a subscriber to this newsletter who uses the
Internet to send out genealogy based mailing lists to help people get
together and find their ancestors. That is what this week's contest is
about. What is the main reason you use the Internet? Of course I can't
really judge one reason being better than another, but I can judge your
explanations. Explain yourself in such a way that will let someone think of
the Internet in a way that they never have before.

The 2 winners will get a copy of the book Data Smog: Surviving the
Information Glut.

Email you contest entries to editor@pcin.net

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THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF
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Cheap Trick of the Week
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**The first Windows 98 Easter egg
Like many Easter eggs, this one shows off the software's developers. But it'
s not a simple list of names - it's a little multimedia slide show. Also
unusual is that you can find this hidden treat in two different ways.
Method #1:
Double-click on the time in the tray at the right end of your Windows 98
taskbar. Click on the Time Zone tab to take you to the map of the world.
Figure out, maybe with the help of an atlas, where the following cities are
located: Cairo, Egypt in northeast Africa, Memphis in the southeast United
States and Redmond (home of Microsoft) in the American northwest. Now hold
down the Ctrl key all the way through the next steps. Click on the Time Zone
map where Cairo should be and, holding the mouse button down, drag the
cursor to where Memphis is. Let go of the mouse button, without moving the
cursor. Press the button again and drag the cursor from Memphis to Redmond.
Let go of the button and you can also release the Ctrl key now. The show
should be starting.
You may have to try this several times before you get the positions exactly
right to make this trick work.
Method #2:
Find the file Weldata.exe. It should be in your Windows directory, in the
Application Data\Microsoft\Welcome subdirectories. Right-click on the file
and select Create Shortcut. Click on the Shortcut tab. In the Target box,
type a space after what's there already and add You_are_a_real_rascal (don't
leave out the underscores between the words) to the end of what's in there
already. In the Run box, select Minimized. Click OK to close up the dialogue
box. To start the show, just click on the shortcut.

Buy the Little Black Book of Cheap Tricks for only $9.95 Cdn
http://www.pcimprovements.com/help/books/cheaptricks.shtml


Manage Windows Memory Better
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George Wise emailed recently regarding a problem with running out of memory.
"My computer kept locking up for lack of memory. While on your website I saw
a note to refer to a site called Windows-Help.NET. On that site there was an
article called Improving Performance. Part of that article included a part
on adjusting your Disk Cache. Since adjusting my Disk Cache according to the
article, I have ceased having problems with running out of memory. Attached
is a copy of the website that has this article.
Fine Tuning Windows 98: Improving Performance - Windows-Help.NET
This is the only thing I have found that has resolved me memory problem."

Thanks George for bringing this up. I have read the same article before and
it is very helpful. It discusses changing some values in your system.ini
file that will help Windows manage memory better. Well, if you visit
http://www.outertech.com/en/soft/cacheman/cacheman.html you can download a
program called CacheMan that will change these settings for you.


Some Great Newsletters
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Judy, a very loyal subscriber, sent in this suggestion. She subscribes to
many newsletters sent out by TipWorld. TipWorld can be found at http://www.tipworld.com/ and is run by PC
World magazine and IDG Books (the Dummies people). They have lots of little
newsletters with tips about programs, operating systems, web sites and more.
I currently subscribe to 2, a Searching the Web list and a Web Site of the
Day list. Check it out for yourselves.


More from Judy.
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Judy also thought it would be a good idea to mention
http://themes.tucows.com/install.htm This is a site run by TUCOWS where
they provide desktop themes and other multimedia objects. This page in
particular explains how to install many of these things.


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Lastly, send in your comments, tips and news and you too can be included in
The PC Improvement News with a reference to your name and web site.
Send email to editor@pcin.net
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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. Also,
feel free to send any comments about the newsletters and the topics covered.
This newsletter is sent to those who subscribed only. We don't believe in
SPAM, so if you have somehow gotten this and you don't want it, please see
the subscribe/unsubscribe options at the start of the newsletter.

The PC Improvement News is brought to you by PC Improvements. The opinions
expressed are those of the editor, Graham Wing. PC Improvements and Graham
Wing accept no responsibility (either good or bad) for the results obtained
from trying the tips in this newsletter.
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Editor: Graham Wing can be reached at editor@pcin.net

Copyright 1999, PC Improvements and Graham Wing. All rights reserved.
This publication may be reproduced in whole, or in part, as long as the
editor is notified.

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