Issue 115 - December 20, 2000

ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements (c) 2000
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Welcome to the 115th issue of the PC Improvement News. PCIN consists of news, tips, thoughts, and contests. There is something for everyone, and if this is your first issue, I'm sure there will be something for you. I am willing to discuss any computer topic. Email me at mailto:editor@pcin.net with any suggestions. If you give me two or three issues, I know that you will come back for more!

Recommend PCIN to others and be entered in a monthly draw. I was able to get Play, Inc. to donate a Snappy! 4.0 to the newsletter. If you recall, I did a review of it some time ago ( you can see it at http://www.pcin.net/help/software/snappy.shtml ). It is a piece of hardware that will let you use your parallel port to input video into your computer. You can get screen captures of TV shows, videos, etc. It is valued at over $100. Recommend PCIN in December and you will have a chance to win this. Each unique person that you recommend PCIN to will get you one entry into the draw. The more you recommend PCIN the more chance you have to win. Recommend PCIN now at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml

OPENING THOUGHTS

Lisa and I just bought our first house.  It is an older house, and we get all of what's inside (some old stuff). Lisa definitely wants to redecorate (you'll see what I mean). If you're interested, you can see some pictures at http://gawing.com/house

This is the last chance I will have before Christmas, so here goes... Merry Christmas! I hope you all have a safe and Merry Christmas. If you get any good "toys" let me know and I'll mention them in the newsletter. The next couple of issues of PCIN will be a little shorter. I imagine most people will be a little busy.

Lastly, don't forget to recommend PCIN in the month of December and have a change to win a Snappy! 4.0. Recommend PCIN now at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml

The NEWS

Yahoo!, NFL, and Gambling

"Yahoo Inc. has reportedly agreed to move advertisements for gambling-related sites off its football-focused Web pages following a complaint by the National Football League (NFL).
An Associated Press report today observed that Yahoo immediately tackled the problem after NFL officials noted that ads for online casinos and betting tips were inappropriately placed on sports pages. Yahoo has a lucrative agreement with the league to Webcast radio play-by-plays as part of a deal signed in October, a time when the ads in question were not yet up."

For more info:
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/00/159457.html

Mortgage.com Sold for $1.8 Million

Even with all of the Dot Com failures, people are still willing to pay big bucks for the rights to domain names. The latest one was the purchase of Mortgage.com by a Dutch banking group ABN AMRO. Mortgage.com was actually a company that was traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange. They had announced at the end of October that they were closing their doors and is selling of its assets. ABN AMRO Bank also purchased the rights to the domain name Hipoteca.com, the Spanish word for mortgage.

For more info:
http://miami.internet.com/news/article/1,2974,9501_537761,00.html

Napster vs. Nazis

"German media giant Bertelsmann has said it will co-operate with the country's Constitutional Protection Office to eliminate neo-Nazi songs from Napster - but it's not sure what it can really do to help.
Yesterday, the CPO, an organisation set up to enforce German's strict anti-racism and anti-Nazi laws, warned that Napster's software makes it very easy for extreme right wing rock bands to publish their music. Nazi symbols and rhetoric are illegal in Germany."

For more info:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/15598.html

I NEED HELP

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 most of them, but there are things that I have never tried or experienced so I don't have an answer. I 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.
If you do try one of these tips, please let me know how the suggestions worked out. Did they work or not? Please send in your questions or results to mailto:freehelp@pcin.net

Previous Questions

Q 114-01)

A 114-01)

John Hills said, "??"

Q 114-02)

A 114-02)

John Hills said, "??"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tony Lowell said, "As far as the 2 Questions go they were the easiest to answer ever. Just have the author put the questions in under the titles."

New Questions

There won't be any questions for the next couple of weeks. Hopefully we'll all be busy with our families and friends and we won't be at our computers to have any problems.

THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF

Cheap Trick of the Week

**Switch hitter**
When you've got several tasks running or several folders open in Windows 95, 98 or Me, you can switch among them without resorting to your mouse to click on the taskbar.
Instead hold down the Alt key and hit the Tab key. A box appears showing an icon for each open program.
Keep holding down Alt and tap the Tab key to move the selector rightward from program to program. Or hold down the Shift key with Alt and hit Tab to move left.

More Windows ME Comments

Subscriber John Hills wrote in to comment on subscriber John Tounoussidis' comments about Windows ME. John T thought Windows ME was great and was running very well. John H. commented, "And these are my sentiments too.  It is a major leap forward and the restore feature is worth the money alone."
Steve Black had commented that you don't get a CD-ROM with OEM computers. John H. also commented on that; "The OEM version does come on CD. It is the suppliers saving money who cause that problem, not Microsoft unusually."

What Loads at Startup?

I saw this link in one Neat Net Tricks Issue 92. It is a site that has a lot of information about what loads at startup. There is an extensive list of programs that may install itself to run when your computer loads Windows. It colour codes them so you know what can safely be removed, what is necessary, and which ones you should delete with caution. Check it out http://www2.whidbey.net/djdenham/

Use the Correct Monitor Driver

Subscriber Don Horvath was telling me about a problem he was having recently. He'd try and play a game (NHL 2001 I think) and it would crash on him. He has a very good system that has been very reliable. He did all sorts of troubleshooting, and finally discovered that the problem was with his monitor driver. He was using a default driver (usually Standard VGA 800x600) and as soon as he installed the right driver for his monitor, the game worked fine.
If you find yourself having similar problems, check to see what monitor is listed in the Device Manager. The monitor drivers don't really make the monitor work any better, it just lets Windows know what resolution it supports and at what frequencies.

DISCLAIMER and OTHER STUFF

PCIN 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 for the results obtained from trying the tips in this newsletter.

  1. If any of the links are too long to fit on one line, you may have to cut and paste.
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  3. To subscribe another address or unsubscribe, please visit http://www.pcin.net/ and follow the appropriate links.
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Graham Wing can be reached at mailto:editor@pcin.net
Copyright 1998-2000, PC Improvements and Graham Wing. All rights reserved. This publication may be reproduced in hole, or in part, as long as the author is notified and the newsletter is presented as is.

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