The PC Improvement News
Issue 1-14
January 6, 1999

ISSN 1488-3163
Published electronically by PC Improvements (c) 1999
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Welcome to the 14th 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!

SOME OPENING THOUGHTS

Welcome to all of the new subscribers. After 2 weeks of relatively short and boring newsletters, I will now be going back to the regular format with more content.

THE NEWS

More about Betas Part VI

One small note on the Office 2000 beta; As I was preparing for this newsletter and writing an article to post on my site, I tried using the new HTML conversion utilities built into Word 2000. I will never, ever do that again. I started off with a text file that was 7526 bytes. The HTML conversion made it 26058 bytes, almost 4 times as large. I used Homesite to do manual editing and it was only 9393 bytes. It is very important to me that my pages are as small and as fast loading as possible. Except for a few exceptions, I think I have achieved this. I also tried using the HTML converter on one of my pre-existing pages. It blew it up from to 50646 bytes to 62065 bytes. That isn't too bad, but considering all I did was open the file and then save it again (I didn't make any changes), a 20% jump is bad.


One Question... Part II

I guess either no actually reads this newsletter, or no one knows the answer to last weeks question!
I would still like someone to email with a description of what "Region Free" is. I have a section of my website called the Niagara Region Free Listings, based on the Niagara Region (near Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada) where I live. Since I have the term Region Free I have a lot of people find me in search engines by looking for region free.

iMacs aren't PCs, but I'll talk about them anyway

Apple introduced an updated version of the iMac. They now come in different colours (very cool) and the price has been dropped $100. Cheaper, Colorful Imacs (Jobs Also Announces Another Quarterly Profit).

Windows 98 Service Release and Pie Throwers

In 2 completely unrelated stories, the Windows 98 SR1 is slowly coming along and the fellows who threw a pie in the face of Bill Gates were fined (did they throw it because they didn't feel that a newly released OS should have so many bugs that it needed a SR right away?!!).
Beta 1 of the Windows 98 Service release is currently in testing and Microsoft is hoping that some time in January they will have Beta 2 ready to test. They are hoping that some time near the end of the first quarter, they can release SR1 to the public.

Windows 98 refresh moves along
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2180579,00.html

The fellows who threw a pie in the face of Bill Gates last year in Belgium were fined $88. Hey, here is an idea. Maybe for charity (AIDS research, Cancer research, etc.) Bill Gates could stand there and people could pay $88 to throw a pie at him. I'm sure there would be a lot of people willing to do that!

Pie throwers get fine for hitting Bill Gates
http://www.mercurycenter.com/breaking/docs/042756.htm

1 brave soul wants to fix the Internet

Former magazine editor Jack Rickard says that he can fix the Internet. He has an elaborate theory as to what the problem is (bandwidth), and says he knows what to do to fix it. He has started a company called Brokered Exchange Systems and has put $500,000 of his own money into it to get it going.

Jack Rickard hopes to `repair' the Internet
http://www.amcity.com/denver/stories/1999/01/04/newscolumn2.html?h=Internet

What's up with Microsoft?

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 case represents unsettling trend
http://www.amcity.com/tampabay/stories/1999/01/04/editorial4.html?h=microsoft
Intuit Chief Tells Of Compaq-Microsoft Deal
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/tc/story.html?s=v/nm/19990104/tc/microsoft_2.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**

THE TIPS

What's the deal with the Temporary Internet Files directory?

For several weeks I have been talking about this, and it is finally ready. The only problem was, it is such a big article, and I couldn't put in the newsletter. The article is posted at http://www.pcimprovements.com/help/articles/tif.shtml and is available for immediate viewing.
This particular problem is only relevant to those people who use IE4 on Windows 95/98. It is interesting reading though because it also describes briefly how the Recycle Bin works. Please take the time to read this article and send me your feedback with regards to whether or not you have the same problem.

What is a Cookie?

This is a common question, and there are as many different answers to this question as there are people who ask it. In its most simplistic form, a cookie is a small text file that is written to your hard drive by a script on a web site that you visit. It contains information about what you viewed on that particular site, so that the site owner can present you with the right stuff the next time you visit. Cookies are a lot more complicated than that, and cause people a lot of stress worrying about privacy. Take some time to visit http://www.cookiecentral.com/ and read many of the great articles that are there. The site explains accurately the purpose and risks of cookies.

There is more to a PC than Microsoft products

I like Microsoft products. There I said it. It might be uncool to say that, but it is true. My problem is, this newsletter is called PC Improvement News (not MS Improvement), and so I need to broaden my horizons. I need help doing this. If you are a Netscape user, a Corel WordPerfect Suite user, or a user of any other major software program, I invite you to send me your tips for those programs. I will give you full credit in the newsletter (email address, URL, whatever you want me to include).

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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