Issue 258 - September 24, 2003

ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2003
==== 2100 Subscribers in 60 Countries ====

Welcome to the 258th 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

We attended the wedding for my sister Alisa and her fiance (now husband) Jason. They were married on a street car in Toronto by an officiator from the Humanist Association of Canada. The streetcar took us from the pub where they met to the stop at the corner near their house. I took a bunch of pictures but haven't had a chance to put them up on the site yet. Hopefully this week sometime.

PCIN.net is hosted with OKIHost.com and they have acquired a new server and I will be moving the web site to the new server sometime between Thursday and Sunday. If you visit the site and it appears that there are a bunch of errors, just try again a few hours later. Chris and I hope to make the move as seamless as possible, but there are bound to be a few hiccups.

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

The NEWS

(Hard Drive) Size Does Matter

"A group of computer owners has filed a lawsuit against some of the world's biggest makers of personal computers, claiming that their advertising deceptively overstates the true capacity of their hard drives.
The lawsuit, which seeks class action status, was filed earlier this week in Los Angeles Superior Court against Apple Computer, Dell, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba.
The lawsuit brought by Los Angeles residents Lanchau Dan, Adam Selkowitz, Tim Swan and John Zahabian centers on the way computer hard drives are described by manufacturers.
Representatives of the eight defendants were not immediately available to comment.
According to the lawsuit, computer hard drive capacities are described in promotional material in decimal notation, but the computer reads and writes data to the drives in a binary system.
The result is that a hard drive described as being 20 GB would actually have only 18.6 GB of readable capacity, the lawsuit said."

For more info:
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,60505,00.html

Spammers now need permission in Britain

"Spammers beware. Britain has announced that those sending unsolicited e-mail must get recipients' agreement in advance.
Violators will be subject to fines of 5,000 pounds ($8,000 U.S.) or more and possible lawsuits from those they've spammed.
The rule, aimed at shrinking the heavy traffic of junk e-mail messages, also applies to unsolicited text messages sent to mobile phones, the government said Thursday."

For more info:
http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030919.gtspamsep19/BNStory/Technology/

VeriSign stands firm on domain redirect

"VeriSign said Monday that it would not abandon its decision to point unassigned domain names at its Web site, but representatives did say the company would form a technical committee later this week to look into the problems caused by the change.
During the last week, criticism has steadily grown over VeriSign's 'SiteFinder' service, which has caused problems for network administrators and confused spam-blocking utilities. A number of Internet standards bodies and administrative groups have asked the Mountain View, Calif.-based company--which enjoys a government-granted monopoly over the .com and .net registry--to stop, and a second lawsuit seeking an injunction against the practice was filed Monday."

For more info:
http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5080384.html

Dell to name its own tunes

"The PC maker is preparing to unveil a new consumer-electronics plan under which it will sell two types of devices--a portable music player and a line of LCD TVs--under its brand name for the holidays.
Outside of computers, Dell has put its name on only a limited number of product categories, such as printers, network switches, projectors and USB storage devices. But Dell, which uses its online store to sell a large quantity of consumer-electronics products from other companies, asserts that offering such devices under its own name can help it meet revenue goals."

For more info:
http://news.com.com/2100-1042_3-5080430.html

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POLL of the WEEK

Last Week's Poll

How many fonts do you have on your computer?

< 50 22.12 % (23)
> 50 and < 100 17.31 % (18)
> 100 and < 200 11.54 % (12)
> 200 18.27 % (19)
Who knows? 29.81 % (31)
What's a font? 0.96 % (1)
Total votes: 104

This Week's Poll

How is your computer's power protected?

UPS
Surge Protector
Power Bar
It's not protected (plugged directly into the wall)
What do I need to protect it for?

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

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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 have been having trouble with removing a lot of files from the Autocomplete since when I try to click on it, I get the mouse to have the hour glass and I have to click out of it since it won't work. The files are piling up and when I go to post in the yahoo clubs, or the Google, I have to go through lots of files to find the one I want, I want to remove these. I can start over new when they pile up, but I am having problems with this.

Response

Sounds like your "Protected Storage" is too large or corrupt. You can use a program called Cain to edit these. You can find it at http://www.oxid.it/
You can read more about "Protected Storage" at http://www.cpcug.org/user/clemenzi/technical/ie/IE_ProtectedStorage.htm

To post a response, visit the General Hardware Help forum at http://PCIN.net/help/forum/index.php?board=4 and click on the "Wireless Card Access" topic.

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

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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

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THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF

Talk Like A Pirate Day

" Avast, me hearties!
Welcome to the one and only, official, accept-no-substitutes Talk Like A Pirate Day Web site.
You've read about it in Dave Barry's column. Maybe you caught one of our radio interviews. Or maybe you just stumbled on to our site while googling around for sites your mother probably wouldn't approve of.
However you got here, stick around an' learn all about September 19 - International Talk Like A Pirate Day!"
Unfortunately we missed the day (it was last Friday), but you can still check out the site at http://www.talklikeapirate.com/

Font Questions

Last week the poll was regarding how many fonts you have on your system. This brought up the question of how many fonts is too many. Here are a few links to help answer various fount questions:

Help! I Have Too Many Fonts
http://desktoppub.about.com/library/weekly/aa081202a.htm
Microsoft's Typography Group
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/
Fonts Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.pixelatingdivas.com/Fontastic/Fonts/

Visit http://www.pcin.net/help/forum/index.php?board=2;action=display;threadid=354 to add your thoughts on the issue.

Data Backups

If your data is important to you, it is wise to periodically back up what you have. You can use a variety of methods, backup to a second hard drive, to CD ROM and now to DVD ROM, to a second computer (or server) on your network if you have one or to a dedicated tape backup device. There are also services that will back up your data over the Internet for a fee. Hard drives are very cheap now for what you get so you can purchase a lot of space at very little cost. Tape drives have also come down but are still more expensive than a second drive, but allow you to take you backups off site. All options have their benefits and drawbacks, but in the end, if you experience a system failure, at least you still have your data.

Here are some links that may help you determine the best way to backup your data:

Maxtor Desktop Personal Backup Device
http://www.maxtor.com/en/products/external/onetouch/index.htm
Telus backup service
http://www.teluscentral.com/application_services/desktop_backup.html
Article discussing personal backup strategies
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,10684,00.asp
Also, try Google searches for the following
http://www.google.com/search?q=Personal%20Backup%20Software
http://www.google.com/search?q=Desktop%20backup
http://www.google.com/search?q=how%20to%20backup%20to%20CD-ROM

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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:

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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.

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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.

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