ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2004
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Welcome to the 319th 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.
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Support PCIN at http://PCIN.net/donate.php
After weeks of problems in sending the newsletter out (but not being able to figure out what the problems were), last week we used Dada Mail, and ended up getting over 1400 bounces! The support at my web hosting provider thinks they've fixed the problem, so hopefully everyone is getting this today.
I finished the review for iHateSpam 4.0. It is anti-spam software that integrates with a number of different email clients. Check out the Tips and Other Stuff section for a small blurb from the review, and a link to the full version online.
Graham editor@pcin.net and Chris chris@pcin.net
In search, the butler did it
"A life-size replica of a butler stands in Ask Jeeves (ASKJ) CEO Steve Berkowitz's office here, ready to serve.
The company's signature cartoon butler, known as Jeeves, was a symbol of dot-com excess, of untold millions spent marketing, of layoffs, of a highflying stock that soared as high as $169 and later could be had for under a buck.
Jeeves is thinner and seemingly a much happier chap these days. His Internet search site has rebounded quite nicely, one of the survivors of the dot-com era. Well off its lows, the stock now trades for about $23."For more info:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/corporatenews/2004-11-22-jeeves_x.htm
Gates may be world's most spammed person
"E-mail users inundated with unsolicited spam messages have reason to hope Microsoft will develop better tools for tackling the problem: Bill Gates is suffering more than anyone.
Gates, Microsoft's chairman, gets 4 million e-mails a day and is probably the most spammed person in the world, his Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said Thursday."For more info:
http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-22_11-5459764.html
Internet Porn: Worse Than Crack?
"Internet pornography is the new crack cocaine, leading to addiction, misogyny, pedophilia, boob jobs and erectile dysfunction, according to clinicians and researchers testifying before a Senate committee Thursday.
Witnesses before the Senate Commerce Committee's Science, Technology and Space Subcommittee spared no superlative in their description of the negative effects of pornography."For more info:
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,65772,00.html
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I promise, I promise, this is the last time you will see the poll below!
This Week's Poll
You can also vote online at http://PCIN.net/polls/
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Check out these new or updated pages on the PCIN.net site:
Sunbelt Software iHateSpam 4.0 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/ihatespam4.phpMicro Solutions RoadStor Hardware Review
http://PCIN.net/help/hardware/roadstor.phpAlbum Creator by FirmTools Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/albumcreator.phpMicrosoft® Windows® 2000 Administrator's Pocket Consultant, Second Edition Book Review
http://PCIN.net/help/books/w2kapcse.phpRemote Task Manager by SmartLine Inc. Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/remotetaskmanager.php
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Sunbelt Software iHateSpam 4.0 Software Review
"If you have an email account, then you get SPAM, Unsolicited Commercial Email, Junk Email, or whatever else you want to call it. If you have a web site of your own, then the amount of junk email you get is probably even higher. The increase of junk email has brought a number of products to the marketplace that claim to reduce or all together eliminate your junk email. I previously reviewed iHateSpam by Sunbelt Software, and have now had a change to review the newest version of the product, iHateSpam 4.0."
Read the full review at http://PCIN.net/help/software/ihatespam4.php
Inside Microsoft Outlook Express
"Help, tips and technical information for Microsoft Outlook Express© for Windows, versions 5.0 until 6 SP2. All information here applies to all these versions unless otherwise stated."
Check it out at http://www.insideoe.com/
Using the PrintScreen Key
I've been looking for a good, free utility that will make the PrintScreen key work in Windows. By default, when you press the PrintScreen key in Windows, you copy a screenshot to the clipboard. You can read about the PrintScreen key by browsing some of the sites when you search.
One that I've found that seems quite impressive is PrintKey 2000 v5.10 Full by Alfred Bolliger. This is an older freeware product. He has a newer version that is shareware. You can still find the older product by going to your favourite search engine and searching for either the name of the program or the name of the zip file that you would download
Search for printkey510ef.zip
Search for printkey 5.10
Follow-up from last week
I included some tips for creating strong passwords. John Schowalter emailed me the following:
"I wanted to make a note about your Creating Strong Passwords section of this week’s issue.
I have found from personal experience and from supporting over 250 users that creating a simple phrase and selecting the first or last letter out of each word makes it easy to remember your password. A phrase like "The big grey wolf ate two red elephants" with added punctuation could results in a password similar to this. &Tbgwatre!
The phrase is much easier to remember than the actual key strokes.
I tend to sing it or say the phrase in my head as I’m typing it.
After a while I may forget the actual password, but saying the phrase gets me to remember it and type it correctly.
Everyone has their own way of doing this but I have found for myself and the users that I support, this works great."Chris talked about Trillian and IM2. He mentioned IM2 was free and implied that Trillian wasn't. Wayne emailed to say, "Trillian Basic is still free. Don't know why you would say there is a charge!" You can download either the Pro or Basic version of Trillian at http://www.trillian.cc/downloads/
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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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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.
Graham Wing can be reached at editor@pcin.net
Chris Empey can be reached at chris@pcin.net
Copyright 1998-2004, 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