ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2004
==== 1977 Subscribers in 58 Countries ====
Welcome to the 309th 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
Graham is busy today, so I am sending out the newsletter again.
We had an excellent time in London. We had great weather, met a lot of nice people and had no problems with anything. I have posted a few more of my 850 photos I shot while I was there. You can view them at http://gallery.chrisempey.com/categories.php?cat_id=27. I will post more over the coming days.
Chris chris@pcin.net and Graham editor@pcin.net
U.S. Open Puts Serve in Server
"Winding your way beneath the stands of Louis Armstrong Stadium at the U.S. Tennis Association's National Tennis Center, you'll eventually come to a fluorescent-lit room dubbed "mission control" by IBM staff. Inside the sparsely decorated and, thankfully, air-conditioned room sits a bank of more than 35 IBM ThinkPads, flat-screen TVs, Blade servers and a dozen technicians.
These are the guts of a tech operation that handles everything, including scoring, recording serve speeds, monitoring webcams and running the site that tracks the most important two weeks in U.S. tennis: the U.S. Open championship at Flushing Meadows in Queens, New York.
Like the penny, the floppy drive is hardly worth the trouble, computer makers say."For more info:
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,64897,00.html
Firefox drawing fans away from Microsoft IE
"Open-source browsers Mozilla and Firefox have won over a significant number of defectors from Microsoft's Internet Explorer in the past nine months, Web site metrics suggest.
The gains for Firefox, which was released in a version 1.0 preview on Tuesday, and for Mozilla are most noticeable at Web sites popular by geek-chic early adopters. For example, W3Schools.com, a Web development tutorial site found that Mozilla-based browsers were used by 18 percent of its visitors in September, up from 8 percent in January. Internet Explorer use dropped to 75 percent from 84 percent in the same period"For more info:
http://news.com.com/Firefox+drawing+fans+away+from+Microsoft+IE/2100-1032_3-5368302.html
400,000 tech jobs lost in 3 years
"The U.S. information tech sector lost 403,300 jobs between March 2001 and this past April, and the market for tech workers remains bleak, according to a new report.
Perhaps more surprising, just over half of those jobs -- 206,300 -- were lost after experts declared the recession over in November 2001, say the researchers from the University of Illinois-Chicago. "For more info:
http://www.cincypost.com/2004/09/15/tech091504.html
Return to the top | Recommend PCIN News |
Have you ever tried to use the Internet to make phone calls?
Yes, but the quality was poor 36 % (32) Yes, and the quality was fine 16 % (14) No, that's what a real phone is for 44 % (39) I didn't know you could do that 4 % (4) Total votes: 89
This Week's Poll
You can also vote online at http://PCIN.net/polls/
Return to the top | Recommend PCIN Poll of the Week |
Check out these new or updated pages on the PCIN.net site:
WinGuides Software Email Saver Xe 2.0 Software Review
http://pcin.net/help/software/emailsaverxe2.phpNewsgator 2.0 by Newsgator Technologies Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/newsgator2.phpCDBF for Windows by WhiteTown Software Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/cdbf.phpPhotoshop Elements 2.0 plus Photoshop Album 2.0 by Adobe Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/elementsplusalbum.phpUpdated PCIN.net Site Search
http://PCIN.net/search.php
Return to the top | Recommend PCIN.net Update |
WinGuides Software Email Saver Xe 2.0 Software Review
"Quite a while ago we reviewed Email Saver Xe 1.6, a utility to help users backup their email data. At that time was program was by Amic Games, but it is now offered by WinGuides Software. You may recognize WinGuides from their excellent site that has hundreds of registry tweaks.
Email Saver Xe will allow you to back up your email data and settings from many email programs such as Microsoft Outlook (97, 98, 2000, XP), Outlook Express (5, 6), Eudora (5, 6), Netscape Messenger (6, 7) and Opera (6, 7).
Email is a critical form of communication. If you've ever lost an important email, you know how frustrating it can be. If you don't have any utilities to help you backup your email data, then Email Saver Xe 2.0 is a valuable tool to own."
Check out the full review at http://pcin.net/help/software/emailsaverxe2.php
Free IT "Courses"
"Try our free Computer Engineering courses. Download as many as you wish, pass them on or even upload them to your own website."
We haven't tried these ourselves, but the site has several free tutorials such as Windows Share Security, Windows XP Installation, Windows XP System Restore , and PC Assembly
Check it out at http://www.bteccomputerengineering.co.uk/Freecourses.htm
Process Library
I recently received an email from Uniblue Systems (the makers of WinTasks, WinBackup, etc):
"We have now released a new site that I think your visitors will find very interesting and useful. ProcessLibrary.com is a free service site that provides the user with detailed information about every common process.
In the recesses of most computers, 20-30 invisible processes run silently in the background. To know what every process is doing is the best way to ensure that the system is clean from adwares, spyware, viruses, trojans and other unwanted processes.
We have spent a lot of resources for completing this free site over the last six months and intend to update the process library weekly to make sure that every new process gets listed."
Check it out at http://www.processlibrary.com/
Return to the top | Recommend PCIN Tips and Other Stuff |
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 |
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