PCIN, The PC Improvement News logo

Issue 324 - December 29, 2004

ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2004
==== 2018 Subscribers in 60 Countries ====

Welcome to the 324th 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

Since this is the last time you'll hear from us this year, we wanted to thank you all for being subscribers, and for sharing PCIN with your friends. We hope you all have a safe and happy New Year's Eve and we look forward to bigger and better things in 2005.

Unfortunately, not everyone is having a safe holiday. The news and clips from the earthquake and tsunami in East Africa/South Asia are unbelievable. It's quite humbling to see the raw power of nature. Google has put up a nice page with some summary information on news and where you can donate funds. Already the Amazon Honour System account for the American Red Cross Disaster Relief has collected over 40,000 donations totaling more than $2 million. Be sure to give what you can and to pray for those people affected.

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

The NEWS

U.S. Still Spam King

"The U.S. has maintained its dubious distinction of being the world's top producer of spam, leading the 'Dirty Dozen' list compiled by security Latest News about Security authority Sophos by a wide margin.
After scanning all spam messages received at a global network of traps throughout the past year, Sophos researchers determined that the U.S. is responsible for exporting 42 percent of all mass e-mail attacks. South Korea is second, at 13 percent, followed by China (8 percent), Canada (6 percent) and Brazil (3 percent)."

For more info:
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=29306

Warez Raids Net First Conviction For Software Piracy

"A 26-year-old college student faces 15 years in prison as the first person convicted of software piracy stemming from April's international raids dubbed 'Operation Fastlink.'
Court records say that Desir and others set up an online library for a private group to share movies, games, software, and music in January 2003. By April 2004, the collection had mushroomed to about 13,000 titles."

For more info:
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=56200691

Online shopping traffic jumps

"Visits to Web shopping and classified sites jumped 25.6 percent from the year-ago holiday season and peaked on Thanksgiving, Internet research company Hitwise said Tuesday.
During the holiday period -- from Nov. 1 to Dec. 25 -- those sites claimed 9.1 percent of all U.S. Internet visits, Hitwise said.
The data comes on the heels of news that online retailer Amazon.com had record-breaking sales, and amid expectations that the whole sector had a healthy holiday season."

For more info:
http://money.cnn.com/2004/12/29/technology/online_shopping.reut/index.htm

2004 Year in Review: Road to Recovery

"It's been a long dry spell for initial public offerings since the go-go days of early 2000. But two highly anticipated stock market launches gave investors something to get excited about this year.
Amid much hoopla and controversy, search giant Google and applications service provider Salesforce.com entered the public markets. The Internet business IPOs were two of the 220 stock debuts listed this year--a marked improvement on the 86 racked up last year, but still short of the 300-plus launches in 2000."

For more info:
http://news.com.com/2009-1014_3-5505858.html
Note that from this same page you can view year in review information for a variety of topics.

Return to the top Recommend PCIN Poll of the Week

POLL of the WEEK

Last Week's Poll

Are you giving or receiving any tech gifts this year?

Giving 14 % (9)
Receiving 10 % (6)
Both 27 % (17)
Neither 40 % (25)
I don't know 10 % (6)
Total votes: 63

This Week's Poll

Where did you buy most of your presents this year?

Only at retail stores
Mostly at retail stores
Equally at retail and online stores
Mostly at online stores
Only at online stores
Other

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

Return to the top Recommend PCIN Poll of the Week

PCIN.net UPDATE

Check out these new or updated pages on the PCIN.net site:

PCIN.net Update Blog
http://PCIN.net/update/

Sunbelt Software iHateSpam 4.0 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/ihatespam4.php

Micro Solutions RoadStor Hardware Review
http://PCIN.net/help/hardware/roadstor.php

Album Creator by FirmTools Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/albumcreator.php

Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Administrator's Pocket Consultant, Second Edition Book Review
http://PCIN.net/help/books/w2kapcse.php

Return to the top Recommend PCIN Poll of the Week

THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF

Crossword Help

I don't do a lot of crossword puzzles, but when I do, I can't stand leaving a few clues unanswered. I tried just using a search engine to search for answers, but that didn't work at all. Then when I searched for crossword help, I found the OneAcross web site. You can enter the clue, and then an answer pattern. For instance, a clue I couldn't get today was 6 across Patronage. I entered patronage as the clue, and then .E..S (the periods are place holders, and I knew the E and S) and the site came back with the word AEGIS. The word is clickable and it gives you a possible definition. As it turns out, it was right and it then helped me get another 6 clues. Check it out at http://www.oneacross.com/

"Top 10"

Michael Otey is a senior technical editor for Windows IT Pro magazine and writes a regular column called Top 10. He'll write about the top tips for certain software, or the top features of a specific program. You can see all the columns at http://www.windowsitpro.com/Departments/DepartmentID/92/92.html Be sure to check out the Internet Explorer Tips and Renaming Special Folders
Note that anything from August and beyond is open for anyone to view. More current columns are only available to magazine subscribers. But they will become available as time goes by.

Web-Smart Palette

As someone who builds web sites, I've know about the web-safe palette for years. Back in the day, there was a concern that if you tried to use non-standard colours, people using 256 colour video cards and monitors would see bizarre colour combinations as the video card tried to render and the monitor tried to display the colours. If you've started your computer in safe mode lately, you'll have an idea of what that looks like. You can read about the 216-color browser-safe palette at http://www.morecrayons.com/palettes/browserSafe/
Well, now I find out that there is a web-smart palette which allows for 4,096 colours. I'm not sure why we need to worry about this. If you can display 4,000 colours, you can display 16,000 colours, and most likely millions of colours. But you want to see the pallet, check it out at http://www.morecrayons.com/palettes/webSmart/

Return to the top Recommend PCIN Poll of the Week

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:

Return to the top Recommend PCIN Poll of the Week

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 1998-2004, Graham Wing. All rights reserved.

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