The PC Improvement News
Issue 1-16
January 27, 1999

ISSN 1488-3163
Published electronically by PC Improvements (c) 1999
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Welcome to the 16th 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.

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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Everything is finally back up and running. I lost hundreds of email
messages, hundreds of MB worth of data, and some programs that I had
purchased online, but had not backed up to disk. I have almost everything
together and my system seems to be running better than ever.


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THE NEWS
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Little-known bug could end civilization as we know it
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The following little article appeared in the January Niagara edition of
"We Compute" magazine... "Forget Y2K - the 100GB bug is almost upon us.

The Year 2000 bug that will kick in when computer clocks click over into
the next millennium is nothing compared to a lesser-known bug also created
by a two-digit code, according to experts on the Internet.

You've probably seen McDonald's restaurants whose golden arches show the
number of hamburgers the giant chain has sold. That number now stands at
99 billion burgers or 99 Gigaburgers (GB).

Within months, or even weeks, that number will roll over to 100GB.

McDonald's signs, however, were designed years ago, when the prospect of
selling 100 billion hamburgers seemed unthinkable. So the signs have room
for only two digits. So after the sale of the 100 billionth burger,
McDonald's signs will read "00 Billion Burgers Served."

The public will be led to conclude that in over 30 years no McDonald's
hamburgers have ever been sold, causing a collapse of consumer confidence
in McDonald's products.

The ensuing catastrophic drop in sales is almost certain to force the
company into bankruptcy. This in turn could bring down the North American
economy over the brink which will finally push the shaky global economy
over the brink, ending civilization as we know it.

Remember, you read it hear first."


Intel and Security and the Super Bowl
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"Intel announced on January 20 that it was planning to include a unique
Processor Serial Number (PSN) in every one of its new Pentium III chips.
According to Intel, the PSN will be used to identify users in electronic
commerce and other net-based applications."

This caused quite an uproar with security and privacy activists. They say
that anytime there is a unique ID number assigned to a person, there is a
chance that it could be abused. The thought is that certain web sites
could ask for the PSN for authentification, and once they get that, the
webmaster could potentially know more about you than they should.

Read the article for more info
http://www.privacy.org/bigbrotherinside/

In an unrelated story, Intel decided to pull the planned ad for the
Pentium III that was going to be shown during the Super Bowl.

Read the article for more info:
http://www.techweb.com/printableArticle?doc_id=TWB19990126S0010


Sony buys email news company Infobeat
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When users of Microsoft Outlook Express first install the program, they
are greeted with a couple of default messages. They include one about
security, and another about Infobeat, and the email that it can deliver
free to your inbox daily. Well, industry giant Sony has purchased
Infobeat. I sure hope Sony runs it well and fixes some of the problems.I tried a
couple of week sago to unsubscribe from the newsletter that I was
receiving, and there was no place on their web site where I could do that.
I had to email customer service and ask them to do it. it still took
about a week for someone to get back to me.

Read the article for more info
http://www.urlwire.com/newsarchive/012199.html
http://www.infobeat.com/
http://www.exactis.com/


How much are you worth?
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I figure my wife and I might be able to last 2, maybe 3 months if neither
of us worked. Bill Gates on the other hand could last 100s of years. His
estimated net worth from Microsoft stocks alone is about $80 billion
(that's billion!).

Read the article for more info:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/cte208.htm


What's up 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:
MS exec denies DOJ claims
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/cte223.htm
Microsoft Under Fire: At Trial; MSN Earnings; 'Windows Refund' Group
http://www.thestandard.net/articles/article_print/0,1454,3221,00.html
Cyber Trial of the Century
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/special/msdojtrial.html
**Check this site out often as it is updated daily as new case information
becomes available**


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THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF
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What's the deal with the Temporary Internet Files directory? Part III
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This is the last time I will ask for comments on this. I went to great
efforts to write an article on the problem there is with the Temporary
Internet Files folder in Windows 95 and 98 with IE 4.x browsers. I still
have not received any comments from any of the readers. I had a lot of
readers and other visitors to my site read the article, and I was hoping
to share some of the findings with you in future newsletters.

If you haven't read it yet, please read it at
http://www.pcimprovements.com/help/articles/tif.shtml and send me your feedback with
regards to whether or not you have the same problem.


Backup your stuff regularly
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This is so simple and obvious, but many people don't do it, including me.
I lost literally hundreds of hours worth of work when my hard drive died.
I had no backup at all. Luckily I had all of the Internet files for
myself and my customers up on the net already, but that was only a small
part of the problem.

I went out and bought myself a Zip drive and now have a semi-daily
backup set up. If you have important data, make sure you back
it up. Go out and buy a Zip drive, a Sparq drive, or another removable,
portable drive. It is worth the money when you actually do lose your hard
drive.


Web site of the week
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I am a big sports fan, specifically Baseball. There is an all-sports
radio station in Toronto called The Fan 590 (http://www.fan590.com/.
They have live broadcasts via RealPlayer. Its great!) that I listen
to on the net and on the real radio. I recently heard about a new site
called Jerk of the Week (JOTW). The site chooses a basketball JOTW and a
baseball JOTW. The site just started, but it is still pretty good, and I'm
sure it will get even better. Check it out at http://www.jerkoftheweek.com/


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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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