The PC Improvement News
Issue 1-38
June 30, 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, please cut and paste.
Note 2: You can only win one contest every 30 days.

Welcome to the 38th 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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I know I'm dragging this out a little, but I have extended the new name
contest another week. I had a lot of voters for PC TechTalk and
Computeracy, but I also had several people tell me they like the original
name. I have made another poll at
http://www.pcimprovements.com/newpoll.shtml that I hope you all will visit
and help me come to a decision. The winner (Alex Tanaka, John Hills, or
Bob Ingalls depending on which name gets the most votes) gets a 2-CD Set
from HP with full versions of PrintMaster from Mindscape (basic version)
and PhotoDeluxe 2 from Adobe. Hopefully next week I can announce the new
name and the winner. Again, you can vote at
http://www.pcimprovements.com/newpoll.shtml


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THOUGHT OF THE WEEK
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"People are the custodians of the world's wealth; if you want them to hand
some over to you, you have to be nice to people!"
          - Stuart Wilde

Thought courtesy of http://www.HappyPublishing.com/

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


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THE NEWS
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The Death of the PC?
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This seems to be a frequent topic in a lot of industry magazines. New
devices that are smaller and faster are seen as the replacement for PCs.
Well, according to DataQuest, worldwide PC shipments in the first quarter
of 1999 grew by 17 percent over the same time last year. Compaq, Dell, and
Gateway are all experiencing strong growth, with Compaq holding the
largest share at 13.4 percent.

For more info:
http://gartner6.gartnerweb.com/dq/static/dq.html


Holiday Weekend is here
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July 1 is Canada Day in Canada (obviously) and July 4 is Independence Day
(in the US). There are lots of good sites out there for both of these
holidays. Check out Yahoo! for a good listing. Here are a couple of Yahoo!
categories:

http://dir.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Virtual_Cards/
Holidays_and_Observances/Fourth_of_July/

http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/Canada/
Society_and_Culture/Holidays_and_Observances/Canada_Day/


Jail-time for Software Piracy
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A court in Germany has sentenced a Texan to 4 years for software piracy.
When he was caught, authorities confiscated $64 million worth of
merchandise. There were floppies, CD-ROMs, manuals, certificates, and
labels. The software included Windows 95, 98, NT, and Office.

For more info on Microsoft's software piracy statement:
http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/
http://www.microsoft.com/PressPass/features/1999/06-29piracy2.htm


Fast Internet Access
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Cable access through services like @Home and DSL services are popping up
all over the place. Cable access is available in a lot of metropolitan
areas. DSL (digital subscriber line) access isn't available in a lot of
places, but it is getting there. There are a lot of us (including me) who
are stuck using the old 56k modem to get on the Internet. I was hoping
that some of you lucky people with faster access would share their
experiences with the rest of us so we can know what the "fast lane" is
like. Please email your comments to editor@pcin.net


Cyber Trial of the Century
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As the Microsoft trial winds down, another trial might just be beginning.
Caldera, a company that distributes a version of Linux, is trying to take
Microsoft to court of another competition issue. Today, a judge ruled that
the case could continue. Microsoft had file several motions to try to stop
the case, but they were denied.

For more info:
http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/reuters/REU19990630S0001

For information on the Microsoft vs DOJ trial, visit:
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/special/msdojtrial.html


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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. I will not check the validity of
these comments. That is up to you.

Previous Questions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q1) How do I activate the screensaver with a keyboard shortcut?
Q2) When reading text on my screen there are frequently lines or blocks
across some text. I can click and drag them off but it is very annoying
and time consuming. This happens mostly when I am on the net but does
happen in word etc. What causes this?

Loyal subscriber Silvan Kuipers is the only person who answered either of
these questions this week. Thanks Silvan for all of your help.
A1) Simply make a shortcut to the screensaver (*.SCR file), then right
click the shortcut (a menu appears) and select Properties. Click on the
Shortcut tab. Click in the field next to "Shortcut key". Press the key
combination you prefer for it. Ready!
A2) Cute! Probably a virus (I expect this because you can click and move
these objects). If it isn't a virus, your software has probably become
"confused". In that case, a complete re-installation of Windows and Word
(and the other Windows programs that you may have installed) will be the
answer.


New Questions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No questions this week. Enjoy the holiday and be prepared for more
homework next week.

If you have any answers to these questions, please email me at
freehelp@pcin.net


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THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF
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What are those files anyway?
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Have you ever looked at a file extension and wondered what it was for?
Well, there is a site that tries to help you out with this. A file
extension is usually associated with 1 program (although not always).
Sometimes there will be files on your system and you don't know where they
came from. You can visit http://www2.crosswinds.net/san-marino/~jom/filex/
and see what they have to say. It is a collection of 2000 Applications,
3200 extensions and 600 MIME types.


Who needs www and .com?
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In the 4.0 browsers and above, you can just type in the name of the site
you want to visit without the http://www and .com and you will get to the
site. For instance, just type in pcimprovements and you should be taken to
my site. In some browsers if that doesn't work, you can also try typing in
the name and then pressing CTRL and Enter at the same time.


Password protect Word documents
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If you are working on a sensitive document, you can add a password to it
so other can't open it. When in Word, choose Save As from the file menu.
Press the Options button. You can add a password to restrict who can open
it, and you can add a password to restrict who can change it (you can
allow anyone to open it and view it, but they need a password to change
it).


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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 pcinews@pcimprovements.com
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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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