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The PC Improvement News
Issue 1-10
December 09, 1998
ISSN 1488-3163
Published electronically by PC Improvements (c) 1999
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NOTE: If any of the links are too long to fit on one line, they
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happens, please cut and paste. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Welcome to the 10th edition of the PC Improvement News. In this
newsletter I try to have a couple of tips to make your computing
life easier as well as highlights of the past weeks PC Industry
News. As always, I am more than willing to discuss any PC related
topics in this newsletter. Just email me at editor@pcin.net
with your suggestions. Also, if there is any strange formatting
in the newsletter you receive please use the same email address
to let me know so I can fix any incompatibilities. With your help
and suggestions, it will get better.
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THE NEWS
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The Browser Wars continue
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The first release in the new Star Wars trilogy (the trailer for
the first one is available at www.starwars.com)
is probably the most popular "War" that people are interested
in right now, but the Browser War is still being fought. Netscape
recently released their 4.5 browser and both Netscape and Internet
Explorer are working on the 5.x versions.
I have tried several of the new features of each browser, and
as is usually the case, there are things I like on both of them.
Starting with some of the 4.x Navigator versions, Netscape has
had a button on the toolbar called "What's Related."
This will automatically bring up a list of similar sites, kind
of like doing a search on a search engine for "sites like
this". Almost all of the sites listed are very relevant.
I have always used Internet Explorer, and one of the reasons
why, is the easy control you have over bookmarks / favorites.
This continues and gets better with the IE5 beta.
You can freely download betas of these and many other programs
in beta if you want, but remember that they are unsupported and
if you have any problems, you'll be stuck fixing them yourself.
Check out the following article:
Netscape 5 info:
http://cnn.com/TECH/computing/9812/08/netscape.idg/index.html
IE5 info:
http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/firstlooks/9806/f980611a.htm
More about Betas
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As many of you know, in August my wife and I moved from about
1 hour east of Toronto, Ontario to about 1 hour south of Toronto.
I had to cancel the ISP account I had originally and start a new
one in my new location. Just recently, the company that I was
with opened a POP location in my new city. I was able to sign
up again with the same user name and everything. That means I
have the same email address as before. The funny thing is that
I still get a tonne of mail at that old address.
The only thing I have gotten that has been of any interest, was
I found out that I had been approved to be a Microsoft Office
2000 Beta tester. I'm not talking about paying for the beta like
you can do sometimes. I'm talking about actually testing it and
having access to password secured areas where I can post bugs.
I guess I was supposed to get a package in the mail with all of
the info and the CD, but I moved, so someone else got it. They
will be sending out a new package to me so I will be able to tell
you all first hand about the new Office Suite. Stay Tuned...
Internet Security Part II
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I wrote a few issues ago about the importance of good passwords.
Well, here is a good article that talks about more than just passwords.
Internet privacy means more than passwords:
http://www.techserver.com/newsroom/ntn/info/111898/info22_23466_noframes.html
What's up with Microsoft?
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Every week, I will provide several links to articles about the
Microsoft case with the DOJ. I will provide no editorial comments,
other than this. I think that Microsoft should give every company
a chance to compete, but I don't think that they should be under
such intense scrutiny as they are right now. People complain about
the Starr report costing so much money. Well, this DOJ case won't
be cheap for either side, and I don't really think that anything
will come from this. A waste of time!
Links:
There weren't any good stories from the Microsoft Trial, so I
don't have anything to share with you this week.
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THE TIPS
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Get your Easter Egg today
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I shared an Easter Egg with you last week, and I will share another
one with you this week. It is only for Windows 98 users. Just
follow the instructions.
- Double click the time in the taskbar
- In the dialog box that appears, click the Time Zone Tab
- Place the mouse pointer over Memphis, Egypt. Hold down the
Ctrl Key, then the left mouse button. Move the pointer to Memphis,
Tennessee. Release the mouse button, the ctrl key. Repeat again,
but this time moving from Memphis Tennessee, to Redmond, Washington.
If you visit http://www.pcimprovements.com/images/win98egg.gif
you will find a picture of where the cities are located. The picture
should be available from 5:00 p.m. Wednesday.
It may take you a couple of tries, but it is a nice little display
when you get it. There is another way to get it, but I found this
one to be quite easy so I only shared this message.
Update your software regularly
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As I'm sure most of you know, the claims that you see advertised
about a certain software product are rarely true. I remember looking
at the Windows 98 site before Windows 98 was released and one
of their big headings was that Windows 98 was year 2000 compatible.
While this may be mostly true, it was still necessary for Microsoft
to release an update to fix any Y2K issues that Windows 98 has.
If you are a Windows 98 owner, be sure to run the Windows Update
to get the fix. If you own Windows 98, or you just want to read
about this problem, visit these sites.
Year 2000 problem found in Windows 98
http://www.techserver.com/newsroom/ntn/info/120798/info6_16031_noframes.html
Since you're thinking about it, take the time to visit the manufacturers
of the hardware and software that you use. Make sure you have
the latest drivers and the latest updates to everything. This
is the best way to make sure you computer will continue to run
effectively.
Well, that's all for this week. Remember that if there is anything
that you want to learn about, let me know and I will try to accommodate
you.
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The PC Improvement News is brought to you by PC Improvements.
The Opinions expressed are those of the editor, Graham Wing.
Editor: Graham Wing editor@pcin.net
Copyright 1998, PC Improvements and 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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