The PC Improvement News
Issue 1-23
March 17, 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 23rd 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'd like to thank all of those who sent in their named phone numbers last
week. I chose 2 winners instead of 1. The winner for the best phone number
was Tina Hicks of Hicks Truck Parts. Their phone number
is 1-800-HICKS55. Tina says, "the owner is well known for his collection
of old cars particularly a 1955 Crown Victoria so it is very easy for our
customers to remember!" Tina wins the World League Soccer game. Since this
number wasn't created using the site I mentioned last week, I decided to
give the Lunatic game to Alex Tanaka who actually visited
http://www.phonespell.org/ and found that his phone number made
JOE-5-BUG or JOE-LAUGH (the site also gave 8-digit possibilities).
Congratulations to both of this weeks winner. There will be another
contest in a couple of weeks.


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THE NEWS
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Some other interesting number problems
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There was an article recently in a magazine I get (I can't remember which
one now) that described a few other "number" problems like the Y2K bug.

Global Positioning Systems time is kept in 20 year or 1024 week cycles.
The beginning was Jan 5, 1980 and it will roll over on Aug 21, 1999. This
could affect banks and power plants.

C and C++ use a 32-bit integer for time keeping. The maximum number is
2147483647 seconds, which would be Jan 19, 2038. C and C++ are very common
programming languages and the "experts" aren't sure what will happen with
this one.


More money talk
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Sorry if I seem a little obsessed with the high value of Internet stocks,
but it just amazes me. According to the April edition of Fast Company
magazine Sotheby's Holdings Inc. (the world famous auction house, the
second largest in the world) was founded in 1744 and has a stock-market
value of $1.8 billion. eBay Inc. (the largest online auction house) was
founded in 1995 and has a stock-market value of $6.5 billion dollars.
Crazy.


Intel still in trouble with ID number
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I'm sure all of you by now have heard that Intel has built a unique ID
number into each of its new Pentium IIIs. A lot of people fear that this
is an invasion of privacy as some people (namely webmasters) might be able
to use that number for tracking what you do on your computer. Intel said
that they had disabled the ID number and the only way to activate it is to
restart the computer. Jumpin' Johnathon informed me that a company in
Montreal has developed a small ActiveX utility that will activate the ID
without restarting your computer. That would mean that even though you
think it is off, it really isn't.


What's up with Microsoft?
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For the next month or so I will only have this one link (for new
subscribers). The trial is on a recess.

Cyber Trial of the Century
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/special/msdojtrial.html


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THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF
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Do you need computer help?
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I am currently attending a local College taking a computer
programmer/analyst course. There is a "job board" at school where local
businesses post openings for positions that would be relevant to students
in a particular program. Yesterday I noticed a notice from an individual.
I called her up and it turns out that she is a retired senior who just
needs some help cleaning up her computer of some junk and bit of tutoring.
What a great idea. If you need help and don't want to pay $30-$40 an hour,
see if your local college or university has a "job board" where you could
pay a student $15 an hour to do the same thing and I'm sure the student
would be happy to get a bit of extra spending money.


Speed up your CD-ROM
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Last month in PC World magazine there was a small review of a program
called CD-Quick Cache. It is a caching program for your CD-ROM that
greatly improves the overall performance of a CD-ROM. I emailed the
programmer and he sent me a copy to test it. It works as good as he
claims. A cache is a storage space on your hard drive. CD-Quick Cache
works by storing CD-ROM data on the hard drive so that when it needs it
next, it accesses from the much faster hard drive. It works great for me
when I use my PrintMaster program and have to look through a bunch of
graphics. I wrote a review of the program and it contains extensive
technical information on how a CD-ROM works.

Check out my article at
http://www.pcin.net/help/articles/cdromspeed.shtml

You can download a trial of CD-Quick Cache from
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/circuitsys/


Minimize all windows
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Last week I shared a tip on how to close all of the open explorer windows.
Hannes Cornelius, the moderator for the Share Your Pearls newsletter
(Visit http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/ShareYourPearls) wrote in to
share a few shortcuts with me. I'm sure most of you have a newer keyboard
that has a few new keys. There are 2 new Windows key (the little Windows
symbol) and 1 new Menu key (looks like a right-click menu). These keys can
help you with shortcuts. Hannes wanted everyone to know that when you
press the Windows Key + M, you will minimize all open screens and expose
the desktop. Very useful tip. If you have Windows 98 and/or IE4 installed
with the Windows Update, you now have an icon on your taskbar that will do
the same thing for you. If you are interested you can visit
http://www.concentric.net/~Rdurfee/Win95Tips.htm and look through some of
the tips there (there are also more Windows key shortcuts.


We Don't Like Frames
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DayCareAnn says, "I have seen some sites that allow the surfer to resize
the frames as you would on your own computer. I think if you have to use
frames this is the way to go. A lot of us still have old equipment and
small monitors. It is annoying to have to scroll sideways as well as up
and down to be able to read something at a site. I rarely go back to such
sites. Too many others out there that take these things into
consideration!"

A good point for all of you aspiring webmasters out there. You could be
losing out on a lot of visitors if your frames aren't set up well.


New Articles Have Arrived
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If you visit http://www.pcimprovements.com/help/articles/index.shtml you will
see that there are a few new articles. I have finished the articles on why
it is important to shut down the computer properly, the importance of
having a policy for company email use, and an article describing where
device drivers are hidden and the best way to reinstall them. I am still
working on the "What to Backup article".


Special Software Offer
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I have the opportunity to buy OEM bundles of Partition Magic 3.05 from a
local distributor. It comes shrink-wrapped with a CD and a 200-page book.
The book contains excellent step by step instructions on how to repartition
a drive on the fly. It also has a good glossary and a section that gives
you some background on how hard drives work. Partition Magic is a program
that lets you change the size of a partition without reformatting. It also
lets you change to FAT32 and back again. It is an excellent utility and is
a must-have for all those who like to change their system around.
Partition Magic has come out with version 4 now, but there have been few
improvements. If you plan to work with Linux, you should probably get
version 4.

If you are interested in this, please email me immediately. If I don't get
them within 24 hours, then the distributor will send them back to the
manufacturer. The price is $25 US. Shipping is included. There is no
return allowed on this either.


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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.
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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. 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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