Issue 117 - January 03, 2001
ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements ©2000
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Welcome to the 117th 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. Recommend
PCIN in January and win a copy of the book "The Unauthorized Guide
to Windows ME" by Paul McFedries. The more you recommend PCIN the
more chance you have to win. Recommend PCIN now at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml
OPENING THOUGHTS
I hope you all had a nice New Year's Eve. Lisa and I didn't do much,
but it was what we had planned on. We stayed up and watched the specials
on Fox, CityTV (a Toronto Station), and a local station showing the Niagara
Falls festivities.
The new Niagara Falls desktop wallpaper are done now so look in the Tips
and Other Stuff section below for the link.
This issue is pretty well back to the regular content and length. It
is still a little bit short, but will be back to normal by next week.
Lastly, don't forget to recommend PCIN in the month of January and have
a chance to win a copy of the book "The Unauthorized Guide to Windows
ME" by Paul McFedries. Recommend PCIN now at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml
The NEWS
Super Bowl DotCom Kiss of Death?
"The Super Bowl 2001 will not see the dotcom ad orgy of last year
- mainly because many of the outfits that splashed out on the event
have become dotcom dodos in the interim.
Just three dotcoms have so far coughed up the necessary $2.5 million
for one of the 30-second spots on CBS in this month's football fest
- E-Trade, jobs sites Monster.com (going for its Super Bowl ad hat-trick
this year) and Hotjobs.com. E-Trade is going all out - it is sponsoring
the Super Bowl XXXV half-time show for the second consecutive year,
while all 66,321 audience bottoms in the stadium will be resting on
cushions emblazoned with the financial site's logo.
Other dotcoms have not been so lucky - of the 17 technology or Internet
companies that bought ad space for Super Bowl XXXIV, seven have gone
out of business. These include Pets.com and Computers.com."
For more info:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/15763.html
India enlists teen hackers as cyber cops
"Teen-age computer hackers will play cyber policemen to help
an Indian panel tackle Internet crimes, a top software industry official
said on Wednesday.
The National Cyber Cop Committee set up by the industry will be advised
by a group of 19 hackers, all between 14 and 19 years of age, based
in metro cities, Dewang Mehta, president of the National Association
of Software and Service Companies, told a news conference."
For more info:
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/computing/01/03/india.crime.reut/index.html
NEW MONTHLY CONTEST/QUESTION
So, what "toys" did you get for Christmas? Did you get any
new games, peripherals, gadgets, etc.? Did you get a digital camera, a
Playstation 2, a DVD player? Let me know. If you got any technology items
at all, email me and I will share them with the other readers. Let me
know why you wanted it (for fun or was there a real purpose), and if you
know, where it came from (an online purchase or local retailer).
Don't worry if you think your gift sounds "boring" or if you
think others won't want to hear about it. You'd be surprised how "boring"
gifts to one person can be exciting and new to others.
I will randomly choose one of the entrants to win a copy of PowerQuest's
Second Chance 2.0 and PowerQuest's Lost and Found. Email your entries
to mailto:contest@pcin.net
I will send out a short reminder on Saturday.
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
New Questions
Q 117-01)
I was exploring Windows. I punched up search, searched all files
and documents, and 133 files popped up some, dating back to 1993 94
95 97 99. Is this normal to have these dates on a new pc?
(Win98, 64MB RAM, 14GB HD, IE5)
Q 117-02)
I'm dual booting NT 4 and Corel Linux, using the Corel Linux Boot
menu thing. I've not really found any use for Linux so I want to get
rid of it. Obviously I would like remove Linux without having to reinstall
NT.
If you have an answer to these questions or have a question of your own,
please email me at mailto:freehelp@pcin.net
THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF
Changing Directories in DOS
When you view a directory listing in DOS, the first lines will be .
and then ..
The . represents the current directory, and the .. represents the parent
folder. If you were to type "CD ." then you would remain in
the folder you were in. If you were to type "CD .." you would
move "up" a folder You can continue this on though. If you
are currently working in the D:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft
Shared\PhotoEd folder, you can type:
CD . to stay in your folder
CD .. to move to the Microsoft Shared folder
CD ... to move to the Common Files folder
CD .... to move to the Program Files folder
CD ..... to move to the d:\ root folder
There are lots of ways to move around while working in DOS, and this
is just another tool to use.
Books on Sale
There are sales on books all the time, but I just received a postal
mailing from ComputerBookstore.com with their specials for January 2001.
The Sybex "Mastering" series, the IDG "Bible" series,
Microsoft Press "Programming" series, and more are all 41%
off the list price. You can check it out at http://www.computerbookstore.com/
FYI: I have several of the "Bible" books and they are great.
More Desktop Wallpaper
I finally got around to getting the winter pictures of Niagara Falls
ready. You can view them now at http://www.gawing.com/falls_winter/
The previous Autumn pictures are still available at http://www.gawing.com/falls_autumn/
and you can always get to either of these pages by visiting http://www.gawing.com/falls/
Keep in mind that these are being hosted on my home computer through
my cable Internet connection. If you find it particularly slow one day,
try again later.
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.
- If any of the links are too long to fit on one line, you may have
to cut and paste.
- You can only win one contest every 30 days.
- To subscribe another address or unsubscribe, please visit http://www.pcin.net/
and follow the appropriate links.
- Recommend PCIN to others at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml
and be entered in a monthly draw.
- There are only 2 ways to get on the subscriber list. You have either
been subscribed by filling out a subscription form on any of the pages
on my site, or you have requested FreeHelp from me in the past.
- If you have a web site or run your own newsletter, please email me
at mailto:editor@pcin.net and I
will add it to the subscriber web pages that I have on my site.
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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