Issue 192 - June 19, 2002

ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2002
==== 2301 Subscribers in 57 Countries ====

Welcome to the 192nd 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.shtml

CONTENTS

OPENING THOUGHTS

For the last 4 days Lisa and I have been staying with my grandmother. We had our hardwood floors refinished, and whoo hoo! They look great. Unfortunately in order to get them done, we had to empty all of the rooms (virtually the entier main floor) and now that is done, we have to carefully put everything back.

The company I work for just recently opened up some new attractions in Niagara Falls. This evening my parents, my grandmother, my three sisters, Lisa and I all went mini-putting, walked through the Movieland Wax Museum, went on the Ghost Blasters ride, and went on the Fun Express motion simulator. They were all a lot of fun. If you have the opportunity to visit the Falls, you should definitely check these out.

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

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The NEWS

Lawsuit challenges copy-protected CDs

"The five major record companies have been hit with a class-action lawsuit charging that new CDs designed to thwart Napster-style piracy are defective and should either be barred from sale or carry warning labels.
The suit was brought this week in Los Angeles Superior Court by class-action specialists at the law firm Milberg, Weiss, Bershad, Hynes & Lerach on behalf of two Southern California consumers.
It marks the first legal challenge of CD copy-prevention technology to 'tackle the issue on an industry-wide basis,'Alan Mansfield, an attorney representing the two named plaintiffs in the complaint, said Friday."

For more info:
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-936527.html

Disney Shifting to Linux for Film Animation

"The Walt Disney Company, the doyen of animation studios, is joining Hollywood's embrace of a technological upstart — the GNU Linux operating system.
Disney's animation division is announcing today that it plans to use Hewlett-Packard workstations and data-serving computers running Linux for digital animation work in the future."

For more info:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/18/technology/18LINU.html

Net activist locks horns with Web filterers

Internet activist Bennett Haselton has made a name for himself by helping minors disable filtering programs designed to block Web sites that their parents deem offensive or pornographic.
His Peacefire.org site offers free downloads and details methods for circumventing filtering software that critics say also inevitably blocks out a range of useful, even beneficial, Internet content.
Yet while Haselton's crusade, launched six years ago while he was a college student, has made him a hero among some Web-savvy minors, he's something of a supervillain to filtering advocates.

For more info:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/06/18/net-filter-war.htm

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POLL of the WEEK

Here are the responses from the last poll:

What antivirus software do you use?

Norton            40.74 % (44)
McAfee            14.81 % (16)
Panda              1.85 % (2)
Kaspersky Lab      1.85 % (2)
Command Software   0.00 % (0)
Aladdin            0.00 % (0)
Other             40.74 % (44)

Total votes: 108

Visit http://pcin.net/polls/ to participate in the new poll this week:

Do you use a personal firewall (either hardware or software) on your PC?

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FREEHELP FORUM

Visit the new and improved PCIN FreeHelp Forum at http://www.pcin.net/help/forum/index.php to post your questions or answer others.

Question

How do I compress audio files, before burning onto a C.D?

Response

what do u mean by this? Do u want to convert them to .mp3 format and just chuck the file onto the CD or do u want to copy them and make them into a music CD?
If compression used, the .MP3 is the best format... get urself wdac154.exe <-- search this in google, and compress it.
If u want to make a music CD (aka. play it straight on a HiFi), u cannot use compression as making a music CD is time-defined and not space defined.

To post a response, visit the How-To... forum at http://www.pcin.net/help/forum/index.php?board=6 and click on the "File Compresion" subject.

Visit http://www.pcin.net/help/forum/index.php 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:

Updated PCIN.net FreeHelp Forum
http://PCIN.net/help/forum/

Updated Registry Tips (now 131)
http://PCIN.net/help/articles/registry_tips.shtml

New and Improved PCIN.net Links section
http://PCIN.net/links/

pdf995 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/pdf995.php

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THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF

Shortcut Comments

When creating a shortcut in Windows, on the shortcut tab you can include a comment to the shortcut. This is especially useful if you are creating multiple shortcuts for the same program, such as shortcuts to mulitple computes using PC Anywhere or launching a program using different parameters for startup.

Adding Quick Toolbars

For quick access to a commonly used directory, follow these instructions:

  1. Right Click on the Windows Taskbar
  2. Choose Toolbars
  3. Choose New Toolbar
  4. Pick the Directory you would like quick access to
  5. Right click on the new toolbar and turn off Show Text
  6. Finally, move the toolbar all the way over the the right

You will now have a menu listing each item in the directory and subsequent directories available to you quickly.

The Worldwide Holiday & Festival Site

"Have you ever travelled, perhaps on business, only to find on arrival that your customers are all on holiday or that instead of five days work, you will, due to National day or religious celebrations, get only two? I have, and it's very frustrating, so I decided to try to put together a page to bring together as much information about National holidays as possible by providing either links to other pages in the net which have appropriate information or else, where that is not available, including it in these pages."

Check it out at http://www.holidayfestival.com/

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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.

  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://www.pcin.net/ and follow the appropriate links.
  4. Recommend PCIN to others at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.php and be entered in a monthly draw.
  5. 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.
  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://www.pcin.net/donate.shtml

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

Copyright 1998-2002, 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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