Issue 260 - October 08, 2003

ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2003
==== 2109 Subscribers in 60 Countries ====

Welcome to the 260th issue of the PC Improvement News. PCIN consists mainly of news and tips. There is something for everyone, and if this is your first issue, I'm sure there will be something for you. If you give me two or three issues, I know that you will come back for more!

You can reach me at editor@pcin.net with any suggestions or comments.

Recommend PCIN at http://PCIN.net/recommend.php

Support PCIN at http://PCIN.net/donate.php

CONTENTS

Opening Thoughts

The Opening Thoughts section is my (Graham's) opportunity to let you all know what is happening in my life, my thoughts on certain topics, and to let you know of upcoming improvements or additions to the PCIN.net site. Occasionally I leave it out, and when I do, I get many emails letting me know that they always read the Opening Thoughts and hope that it doesn't go away. On the other hand, I'm sure there are also many of you who just skip over this section.

Anyway, two weeks ago I shared information about my sister's wedding, and last week I included a link to some pictures. I had a subscriber email me, "Don't want to know about your humanist preacher wedding. Please unsubscribe me." I was quite taken aback by the abruptness of the email. The person could have gone to the web site to unsubscribe on their own. They could have emailed me asking to be unsubscribed. But the person felt the need to be rude. I have gladly unsubscribed this person. I never promoted the humanist beliefs. Many know that I have beliefs of my own (I am not a follower of Humanists). But that is what my sister wanted, so that is the wedding that I attended.

If you don't like something in the newsletter, feel free to let me know. If it turns out that it is something that the newsletter can do without, I will remove it. If the majority of the people seem to want the section, I will keep it. If you don't like it, skip over it. The second sentence at the beginning of the newsletter (under the header) states, "There is something for everyone." I never said you'd love the whole thing. But if you visit the links, read the stories, and participate in the polls and forum, then you will definitely learn something from visiting PCIN.net.</end of rant>

Graham editor@pcin.net and Chris chris@pcin.net

The NEWS

Fake FBI site tries to lure victims

A suspicious e-mail and Web site masquerading as a communication from the Federal Bureau of Investigation made their way around the Internet Tuesday, attempting to lure Net users into divulging their bank account information. Both the site and the e-mail sported realistic-looking FBI logos. The Web site claimed that there had been a massive theft of debit cards, and urged consumers to enter their account information so the agency could check to see if it had been compromised. The FBI (the real one) said it was investigating.

For more info:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/974015.asp

Proprietary software--banned in Boston?

Eric Kriss, state secretary of administration and finance, said the policy was articulated in an internal memo that circulated last week and was formalized in a state capital spending plan released Monday.
The policy says in evaluating new technology purchases, the state will give preference to open-source software and products that adhere to open standards such as Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).
'We're going to be evaluating all projects to ensure conformance to open standards as we move forward and to retroactively move legacy systems to open standards,' Kriss said. 'We want to make sure what we build is interoperable and interchangeable, so that different applications can use the same data, so we won't have to be constantly reinventing and rethinking basic functionality.'"

For more info:
http://news.com.com/2100-7344_3-5084442.html

The e-spy who loves you could be a felon

A company calling itself Lover Spy has begun offering a way for jealous lovers--or anyone else--to spy on the computer activity of their mates by sending an e-greeting, the equivalent of a 'thinking of you' card that doubles as a bugging device.
Computer security experts said the Lover Spy service and software appeared to violate U.S. law but also said the surveillance program pointed to an increasingly common way for hackers to seize control of computers.
Marketed as a way to 'catch a cheating lover,' the Lover Spy company offers to send an e-mail greeting card to lure the victim to a Web site that will download onto the victim's computer a Trojan program to be used for spying.

For more info:
http://news.com.com/2100-1029_3-5083874.html

Return to the top Recommend PCIN News

POLL of the WEEK

Last Week's Poll

How many email newsletters do you subscribe to?

0 3.15 % (4)
1-10 68.50 % (87)
11-20 14.17 % (18)
21-30 5.51 % (7)
> 30 8.66 % (11)
Total votes: 127

This Week's Poll

During election time, where do you get your results?

Newspaper
TV
Internet
Radio
Word of mouth
Other

You can also vote online at http://PCIN.net/polls/

Return to the top Recommend PCIN Poll of the Week

PCIN.net FREEHELP FORUM

Visit the PCIN.net FreeHelp Forum at http://PCIN.net/help/forum/ to post your questions or answer others.

Question

I just had to reinstall windows me and i wanted to install all the updates. is there any site that will let me just download the updates, rather than going to windowsupdate.microsoft.com and sending microsoft my personal data ?

Response

No responses yet.

To post a response, visit the General Discussion forum at http://PCIN.net/help/forum/index.php?board=6 and click on the "windows updates" topic.

Visit http://PCIN.net/help/forum/ to post a question of your own.

Return to the top Recommend PCIN FreeHelp Forum

PCIN.net UPDATE

Check out these new or updated pages on the PCIN.net site:

Logitech Cordless Elite Duo Hardware Review
http://PCIN.net/help/hardware/lced.php

XemiComputers Ltd. DeskLook 3.0 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/desklook3.php

Symantec Norton Ghost 2003 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/ghost2003.php

Amic Games Email Saver Xe Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/emailsaverxe.php

Return to the top Recommend PCIN.net Update

THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF

Excel Tips

To populate a range of cells in Excel with the same data, select the cells, type the data you want, the press CTRL+ENTER. The cells will now all have the same value. This works for selected adjacent cells as well as cells that are not adjacent to each other.

To show a drop-down list of content previously typed in a column in Excel,
Select the cell.
Press ALT+DOWN ARROW. A list of all previously typed entries appears.
Release ALT, and use the UP ARROW or DOWN ARROW key to select the entry you want to apply to that cell.
Press ENTER.

To move between worksheets in an Excel workbook, press CTRL+PGDN (right) or CTRL+PGUP (left)

These tips came from the Crabby Office Lady at the Microsoft Office Online site, http://tinyurl.com/q5q3

Font of the Day

Visit http://www.fontface.com/fotd/ for a free and a pay font every day.

Getting the most out of your Windows keyboard

To learn the function of a key, click on it.
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/winkeyboard.htm

Return to the top Recommend PCIN Tips and Other Stuff

PCIN.net AFFILIATED SITES

Both of us have other sites other than PCIN.net. These are all sites that we are actively involved in (they aren't client sites). Don't forget to check them out from time to time for updates:

Return to the top Recommend PCIN Tips and Other Stuff

DISCLAIMER and OTHER STUFF

PCIN is brought to you by Graham Wing. The opinions expressed are those of the Editor, Graham Wing and the Assistant Editor, Chris Empey. Graham Wing and Chris Empey 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.
  2. You can only win one contest every 30 days.
  3. To subscribe another address or unsubscribe, please visit http://PCIN.net/ and follow the appropriate links.
  4. Recommend PCIN to others at http://PCIN.net/recommend.php and be entered in a monthly draw.
  5. There are only 3 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, you have requested FreeHelp from me in the past, or you have registered with the FreeHelp Forum.
  6. If you have a web site or run your own newsletter, please email me at editor@pcin.net and I will add it to the subscriber web pages that I have on my site.
  7. Support PCIN by visiting http://PCIN.net/donate.php

Return to the top

Graham Wing can be reached at editor@pcin.net
Chris Empey can be reached at chris@pcin.net

Copyright 1998-2003, Graham Wing. All rights reserved.

This publication may be reproduced in whole, or in part, as long as the author is notified and the newsletter is presented as is.

Support PCIN by visiting http://PCIN.net/donate.php

PC Improvement News Home Page

PC Improvement News Archive