______________________________________________________ ABC ~ All 'Bout Computers. The ezine YOU subscribed to. If you want to change your subscription options or unsubscribe, see the bottom of this email for full instructions. Thank you. Linda http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/ABC.htm ______________________________________________________ ABC ~ All 'Bout Computers Volume 14; July, 2002 - mailed to 2296 subscribers <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> Please rate this Ezine at the Cumuli Ezine Finder http://www.cumuli.com/ezines/ra21981.rate <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> If you would prefer to read the online Web-azine, which includes pictures and screenshots and is, basically, more user-friendly, follow either of these links: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/ABC.htm (frames) http://personal-computer-tutor.com/vol14.htm (no frames) or, scroll down to the Contents where you can click on over to any individual article NOTE: Unsighted readers or anyone who uses a screen reader shoud probably go online and read that version if my separator lines are making too much "noise". <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> For definitions of any terms you do not understand, visit the GeekSpeak Translator: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/capn3.htm <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> You are receiving this newsletter because you (or someone using your email address) subscribed to it voluntarily. If you would like to remove yourself from ABC, please see SUBSCRIPTION MANAGEMENT at the bottom of this newsletter. Using the "Reply" function will not unsubscribe you! My subscriber list is NOT made available to other companies or individuals. I value every subscriber and respect your privacy. <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> SPECIAL OFFER FOR ALL SUBSCRIBERS: I ran a special promotional offer to get some more subscribers and made them an offer of a free download of Vic Ferri's Temperature Converter. Just so the rest of you don't feel left out, go here and download yours now. Easiest way I know to convert between Celsius and Fahrenheit: http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/CFConverter/tempconvert.zip <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^IMPORTANT!-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^ <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> WATCH FOR ANY LINKS THAT WRAP TO MORE THAN ONE LINE! These will have to be copied and pasted into your web browser's Address Bar as one line in order for you to access them. <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> To view this text newsletter best, maximize your email window to FULL screen. <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> CONTENTS (all links below these items take you to the non-frames Online versions) (items with *** behind them include pictures and/or are viewed better online) 1. Important How-To Message for Reading This Ezine http://personal-computer-tutor.com/vol14.htm#HowTo 2. Linda's Thought of the Month (and animated GIF) *** http://personal-computer-tutor.com/vol14.htm#thought 3. Linda's Soapbox ~ Let's Hear It for the Little Guys http://personal-computer-tutor.com/linda14.htm 4. What's New at Linda's Computer Stop ~ Busy, Busy, Busy http://personal-computer-tutor.com/newabc14.htm 5. Subscribers' Exclusive Tip ~ Can't Hit That F8 Key Fast Enough To Get Into Safe Mode? http://personal-computer-tutor.com/newabc14.htm#tip 6. GeekSpeak Translation from the Cap'n http://personal-computer-tutor.com/capn3.htm <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> 7. THIS MONTH'S FEATURE ~ Vic's Registry Roundup & DOS Den ~ Windows File and Folder Security *** http://personal-computer-tutor.com/vic14.htm <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> 8. Chas' Word World ~ Styles in Microsoft Word (Part III) *** http://personal-computer-tutor.com/chas14.htm 9. Tina's FrontPage News ~ All About FrontPage 2002 Discussion Webs http://personal-computer-tutor.com/tina14.htm 10. Mike's Safety Belt ~ E-Mail Security and Attachments http://personal-computer-tutor.com/mike14.htm 11. Chad's Macro Mania ~ Built In Document Properties in Word http://personal-computer-tutor.com/chad14.htm 12. Steve's Ravin' Reviews *** http://personal-computer-tutor.com/steve14.htm <> Random Tagline Manager ... 5 geezers <> Google Toolbar ... 6 geezers <> NoteTab Light ... 6 geezers <> Reversi ... 5 geezers 13. Hal's Hardware Haven ~ How To Troubleshoot Your PC *** http://personal-computer-tutor.com/hal14.htm 14. GuitarMan's Outlook ExpressTip of the Month ~ Easy Way To Make a "Template" in OE http://personal-computer-tutor.com/gman.htm#template 15. Checking Your Message - Effective Web Copy ~ by guest author, Tom Neuman http://personal-computer-tutor.com/tomn14.htm 16. Is Your Website Optimized for Search Engines? ~ by guest author, Scott Buresh http://personal-computer-tutor.com/scottb14.htm 17. How to Invest in Your Online Marketing Today ~ by guest author, Scott T. Smith http://personal-computer-tutor.com/scotts14.htm 18. Subscription Management 19. Contact Information *** includes pictures in the online version ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- *****************STATION BREAK******************* ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- If you find this newsletter and/or my website at all helpful and would like to give me a hand here, I am now accepting donations through PayPal. To make a donation, go to the online version of this web-azine and click on the PayPal button. http://personal-computer-tutor.com/vol14.htm Thanks in advance to any who do this!! (NOTE: no one receiving this should feel obligated in any way to do this .....this is a FREE newsletter!) Linda, editor/publisher ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (1.) IMPORTANT HOW-TO MESSAGE If you decide to go to the Online "Web-azine" version, go here first for navigation instructions: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/vol14.htm#HowTo If you are reading this plain text issue, maximize your email window for best viewing and WATCH FOR ANY LINKS THAT WRAP TO MORE THAN ONE LINE! These will have to be copied and pasted into your web browser's Address Bar as one line in order for you to access them. <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (2.) LINDA'S THOUGHT OF THE MONTH Here's a fun little ditty from my buddy, Frank G. IF ONLY LIFE COULD BE LIKE A COMPUTER! If you messed up your life, you could press "Alt, Ctrl, Delete" and start all over! To get your daily exercise, just click on "run"! If you needed a break from life, click on "suspend". Hit "any key" to continue life when ready. To get even with the neighbors, turn up the sound blaster. To "add/remove" someone in your life, click settings and control panel. To improve your appearance, just adjust the display settings. If life gets too noisy, turn off the speakers. When you lose your car keys, click on "find". "Help" with the chores is just a click away. You wouldn't need auto insurance. You'd use your diskette to recover from a crash. We could click on "send" and the kids would go to bed immediately. To feel like a new person, click on "refresh". Click on "close" to shut up the kids and spouse. To undo a mistake, click on "back". Is your wardrobe getting old? Click "update". If you don't like cleaning the litter box, click on "delete". CLICK HERE FOR THIS MONTH'S ANIMATED GIF, http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/vol14.htm#thought (just rightclick on the gif and choose "Save Picture As...") <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (3.) LINDA'S SOAPBOX ~~Linda F. Johnson, Editor/Publisher ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- Let's Hear It for the Little Guys ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- Those of you who know me by now, know I'm a big fan of helping the "little guy". I always support small businesses over large corporations. That's my own personal route to supporting the "American Way". (As I have been known to say, "If I see someone stealing from the mom-and-pop store down the street, I'll be the first one to chase them and knock 'em down and call for the cops. But, when I see someone who is hungry, stealing food from some huge supermarket chain to feed their kids, I would probably trip the cop who was chasing them.") Many also feel that the little guys are usually less corrupt. (Hence the constant conversations on the net comparing Windows to Linux.) And, no, the answer to this is NOT to steal from the big guy. In the long run, this just hurts us all because the big guy just raises his prices to compensate for his losses. The big guy will never lose, believe me. So, how can people like you and me support the little guys on the Internet? Well, there is one big way we all can do this. And, that is to USE their affiliate links. Unfortunately, for some reason that I will never be able to figure out, affiliates seem to have a bad rep. If anyone can explain the rationality behind this to me, I would love to hear it. First of all, for those of you who don't even know what an affiliate is, here's a little tutorial: 1. Big guy sells a product and offers affiliate relationships to little guys like me. What this means is they give me a special link I can use at my website to advertise their product. 2. Little guy adds this special link to his/her site. Someone who views their site clicks on this link and buys this product. 3. Big guy gets the buckos AND THE BIG GUY GETS A NEW CUSTOMER. The little guy gets a small percentage of this ONE sale. (and the big guy invests this money until it is sent to the little guy at the end of the month, so the big guy MAKES money on the little guy too. The big guy is in a win/win situation.) 4. Depending on the affiliate relationship, if this person goes back to the big guy's site again in the future, without going through the little guy's site, the little guy may make NOTHING on the future purchases this customer makes. The only way the little guy can continue to make money is for the customer to go to the little guy's site and click on THAT LINK. So, if you want to support the little guy, don't use the link the big guy sends you when you order from them. Don't bookmark the big guy's link. Go back to the little guy's page where the link resides and BOOKMARK THE LITTLE GUY'S PAGE. And, if you do like the product....don't send your friends to the big guy....please send them to the little guy. ***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>*** Something I often see is this: Someone posts a link in an email group to a helpful product or service. Let's say it's one of my Newbie Club books. It would look something like this: http://newbieclub.com/wordmagic/?buntah Note that whatever you see behind the question mark (?) is what identifies the affiliate so they get their commission. Someone in this same group then sends in a comment like: "Here's another link without the affiliate garbage: http://newbieclub.com/wordmagic"; What purpose does this serve? The person who clicks on the second link gets the EXACT SAME PRICE as the person who clicks on the first link. The only difference is the big guy gets ALL the money and the little guy gets nothing. So, why is this helpful to ANYONE other than the big guy? It's similar with cookies. Many affiliate links rely on cookies that identify where the buyer came to them from. So, people who disable cookies on their machines, thinking they are preventing the big guy from identifying them, are actually preventing the big guy from identifying the affiliate. Those big guys who actually DO let the affiliate continue to make something on future purchases, place a cookie on your machine which identifies the affiliate when you go back to their site without using the link at the little guy's site. Disable this cookie and again, the big guy gets it all and the little guy gets nothing. Now, I understand the need people have to disable cookies, but all I'm saying is, if you use the link on the little guy's site, he will still get the commission without the need of the cookie. ***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>*** My third point, and then I'll shut up: Remember that a lot of us little guys give you WAY MORE FOR FREE than the big guys ever will. The only way we can do this, WITHOUT ANY COST TO YOU, is hope, when you do decide to buy from the big guys, that you will use our affiliate links to do so. In my case, I would never become an affiliate for a company I do not support or believe in. If I send you to a big guy, with my affiliate link, you can believe that I am sending you to a product that I believe to be good and have used myself. Affiliates are NOT a bad thing. In my opinion, they are what will keep things free on the internet. Without our affiliate income, many of us little guys will have to start charging to cover the expense of maintaining our web sites and giving you so much for free. Just think about who you may actually be hurting when you don't support affiliate links. Bottom line is you are probably hurting yourself, definitely hurting the little guy, and definitely NOT hurting the big guy at all. Many little guys go to great length to disguise their affiliate links so no one knows they are making money. Not me. I WANT you to know when something you are buying helps me to help you better. I always proudly display my affiliate links when I recommend something. I am not ashamed that I get paid for what I do, cuz I know I do it well and I am not trying to mislead people. And, I assure you, since I DO understand the importance of affiliates in keeping some stuff free on the Internet, if I have a choice between going directly to the big guy or supporting the little guy, I will ALWAYS choose to support the little guy. Have a great month, everybody! Happy computing! Linda *********************************************************** Linda Johnson is a college instructor of all of the Microsoft Office Programs, as well as Adobe PhotoShop and Windows. She also teaches online distance learning classes in Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Word at Eclectic Academy. http://www.eclecticacademy.com/index.htm She has worked helpdesk and teaches and lectures at many local businesses and tech schools in her area. Support this newsletter by checking out Linda's website http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com and her ebook series, MS Word MAGIC! Part I: Fonts, Fun & Formats http://newbieclub.com/wordmagic/?buntah Part II: Table Wizardry http://newbieclub.com/wordmagic2/?buntah AND, How To Get Started As a Software Trainer: http://dreamjobstogo.com/titles/djtg0036.html?10456 <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> AND DON'T MISS LINDA'S NEWEST EBOOK SERIES: If you have been interested in taking any of Linda's Online Classes but don't want to wait six weeks to complete all the lessons or don't have the desire to be part of an online classroom, why not SKIP THE CLASS & BUY THE BOOK INSTEAD? Check out the eBook .exe versions of all of Linda's classes here: http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/library.htm Only $15 each!! Where else can you master a software Program for that price? Separate eBook tutorials on Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Word. Terrific value!! OR BUY THEM ALL ON ONE CD!! Order online or by regular mail Details here: http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/cdtutorial.htm Download the free Sample Version at CNET: http://download.com.com/3000-2125-10120628.html?tag=dir And PLEASE rate it there for me? Thanks!! ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- *****************STATION BREAK******************* ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- LINDA JOHNSON has published another eBook and this one is called HOW TO GET STARTED AS A SOFTWARE TRAINER http://dreamjobstogo.com/titles/djtg0036.html?10456 DO YOU LOVE PLAYING WITH SOFTWARE AND WANT TO TRY MAKING A CAREER OF IT? That's just how Linda started out and this book she tells you exactly how she did it and how YOU CAN DO IT TOO. No need for a college education! No need for professional certifications! No need for expensive classes! READ THIS BOOK TO LEARN HOW TO TRAIN AND PROMOTE YOURSELF. http://dreamjobstogo.com/titles/djtg0036.html?10456 Or, MAYBE HARDWARE IS MORE YOUR BAG? Check out HOW TO BREAK INTO COMPUTER REPAIR By Richard S. Harris http://dreamjobstogo.com/titles/djtg0019.html?10456 Or if you have ANY DREAM JOB in mind, check out DREAMS JOB TO GO http://dreamjobstogo.com?10456 All eBooks are written by been-there/done-that authors and sell for only $12.95, with a full money back guarantee. <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (4.) WHAT'S NEW at Linda's Computer Stop http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com Another month where I have been busy, busy, busy. First of all, for those who might be interested in buying any of my eBooks, I've compiled a bunch of them onto a CD that I am selling for just $45US. To those that think this sounds high, check out the competition at the Video Professor: Less info, more money. I promise you that my CD will DEFINITELY teach you how to use all the Office programs. I haven't had one complaint yet. And, believe me, if I do, I WILL address it in a constructive way. If you want a preview of what's on the CD, go here. See what it looks like and download the free sampler that gives you a free sample lesson for each program: http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/samplerscreenshots.htm I recently received this email from someone who bought the CD: "I did not think I needed the CD, but when I ran the Sampler I sure changed my mind. Superb!" So, I recommend you look at the Sampler if you are feeling the same way. Also, the sampler has been picked up by CNET/ZDNET and I'm real proud to have been recognized in this way. If you want to see, go here: http://download.com.com/3000-2125-10120628.html?tag=dir If you DO go there, please rate the Sampler for me. Rate it honestly. I don't expect any favors. ***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>*** I've also added an online form you can print and send to me by regular mail if you want to order anything of mine without using your credit card on the Internet. As always, I completely respect your needs and privacy: http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/ebookorderform.htm ***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>*** Well, since no one entered the "create a logo" contest for the plain text version of this newsletter and I received an email from a blind user who reads that version with a screen reader and he tells me ascii text makes the newsletter totally unreadable, I've abandoned the contest. Give me some time to think up another goodie and I will run a different contest soon, I promise you. BUT the Newbie Club is holding a prize drawing right now and all you need to do is is tell your friends about them. No strings. And they are giving away 36 eBooks! Including two written by me. It's a goodie indeed. Just go to my homepage and click on the big flashing banner at the top. And, good luck!! http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/ ***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>*** I wrote an article for TechTrax on Using Filters in Excel that might interest some of you. You can read that here: http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=60 Also, Vic Ferri has a great article there on increasing your icon cache if you are having problems with your desktop icons. You can read that here: http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=56 ***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>*** Also, don't forget to watch my What's New page for other additions to my site: http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/new.htm And always go to my Favorite Links page and check out the revolving Ns to see what's new there: http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/internet.htm ***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>*** Well, that's about it for new stuff this month. Thanks for your patronage of my site and ezine. Drop me a line any time and let me know of any additions you can think of. I may be busy, but I'm always open to suggestions. Linda linda@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- *****************STATION BREAK******************* ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- DO YOU WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL WITHOUT LEAVING THE HOUSE? It's the latest rage and it's called Distance Learning. Most colleges now offer Distance Learning classes because they know some people work hard and just can't fit a classroom into their busy lives. But, sometimes you don't want to enroll in a full program; you just want to take one class. ECLECTIC ACADEMY IS YOUR ANSWER! http://www.eclecticacademy.com/index.htm Eclectic Academy offers a large range of classes to suit many needs. Go there now and check out their curriculum and roster. Classes are only $20 for 6 weeks. HOW CAN YOU BEAT THAT? Here's a sampling of what they offer: *Art Courses, both digital and traditional *Business Courses, including all of the MS Office Programs (many taught by none other than Linda Johnson herself) *Graphics Courses - Flash, PhotoShop, Paint Shop Pro & more *Website Development Courses - FrontPage, Dreamweaver, ASP, DHTML, Website Promotion, and on and on and on *Eclectic Classes - Computer Maintenance, Writing Workshops, Feng Shui, Eating Safely - just about anything you can think of Go to Eclectic Academy now and sign up to be notified when classes are added or ENROLL NOW in the class of your choice. Go there now to enroll in the next set of classes. ONLY $20 FOR A SIX-WEEK CLASS! http://www.eclecticacademy.com/index.htm ********************************************************** NEXT CLASSES BEGIN ON SEPTEMBER 1st! ********************************************************** <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (5.) Subscribers' Exclusive Tip of the Month: <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> This is a great one from Vic Ferri!! NOTE FROM LINDA: Many people complain that when they need to boot into safe mode for some reason, they can never hit the F8 key fast enough and end up rebooting two or three times before they time it right. Vic made a cool little file that boots you right into safe mode automatically. He says he made it in 96/97. Is he ahead of his time or what? I didn't even know you could do this! And here's his instructions so you can do it too. Thanks Vic. Here is how you can create a desktop shortcut that, when clicked, will automatically boot you into Safe Mode. This works on Windows 95, 98, and 98SE only. It does not work on Windows Me, 2000, XP, due to the fact that Microsoft removed the ability to exit to dos using a shortcut in those systems. So for all you 95/98/98se users, here's how, step by newbie step: 1. Right click your desktop and choose New>Shortcut. 2. In the command line enter this command: WIN /D:M 3. Click Next and choose any name you want for the shortcut. 4. Click Next and choose your icon. 5. Click Finish. 6. Right click your new shortcut and go to Properties. 7. Click the Program tab and then the Advanced tab. 8. Put a checkmark next to MS-DOS Mode and remove the checkmark from "Warn before entering MS-DOS Mode" 9. Click OK And that's it. Now, whenever you need or want to get into Safe Mode (ie: as for a defrag), just double click the icon on your desktop Note: if you get an error, change the command line you entered to this: C:\WINDOWS\WIN.COM /D:M It seems, for some, that full path needs to be entered. Vic Ferri Lock and hide folders with maximum ease and security. http://personal-computer-tutor.com/lh/lockhide.htm ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- *****************STATION BREAK******************* ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- Free Tutorials, Free eBooks, Free Courses, Free Guestbooks, Free Autoresponders, Free Newsletter, Free Affiliate program and FREE MEMBERSHIP. Wow! Did I mention it was Free? Newbies and Oldbies alike are buzzing about the NEW Newbie Club. It's the most exciting Newbie Site ever to hit the Web. Join now - it's FREE! http://newbieclub.com/?buntah FLASH!! FREE: A Fabulous Library of Newbie eBooks 36 Top Selling PC and Internet Beginners eBooks waiting to be claimed in The Newbie Club's Fabulous First Ever FREE PRIZE DRAW. Time's Running Out real fast. http://newbieclub.com/pd/?buntah <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (6.) Cap'n Patt's GEEKSPEAK TRANSLATOR Visit the Cap'n's Official GeekSpeak Database at http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/capn3.htm If the word you need defined is not there, or the definition is not clear, too geeky, or just plain confusing to you, email the Cap'n. He would love to hear from you at CapnPatt@xxxxxxx ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- *****************STATION BREAK******************* ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A RELIABLE DOMAIN HOST FOR YOUR WEBSITE? Hands down, I think the one I use is the very best (Hal Cardona's been using them for over 3 years and he turned me onto them over a year ago). *My site has NEVER been down for more than 3 minutes! (except once late on a Saturday nite when it was being worked on and they warned we well in advance). *Their tech support are the greatest and I have never had to wait more than an hour for a good answer to any question or problem I had! *If you use FrontPage for your webcrafting, they are excellent with those pesky FP extensions! *And, the email server is non-failing! Obviously, I am a big fan of theirs. Their name is HOSTWAY and I believe if you try them, you will never regret it. http://hostway.onweb.cx <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- *************THIS MONTH'S FEATURE ************ ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (7.) VIC'S REGISTRY ROUNDUP & DOS DEN ~~ Vic Ferri, Windows Tips & Tricks ***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>*** Note from Linda: Because I teach the MS Office programs, I am surrounded by office workers full of questions. Some questions I get a lot relate to security. "I am going on vacation and don't want the temp who's sitting at my desk to access some of my files. How do I prevent this?" Or, "I have to take some sensitive data home to work on. How can I keep my roommate from seeing it?" Of course, I deal with a lot of non-office types also, through my website, who have a different need for security: "I have a teenager in my house who is a whiz at snooping in my computer. How can I stop this?" So, I went to Vic and sought out his help. Here are his answers for all operating systems. Thanks, Vic! ***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>*** Windows File and Folder Security (or Why I Created Lock&Hide) For those who don't know, I recently released Lock&Hide, a simple, but effective folder security utility for Windows 95, 98 and Me. The goal in making this program was to find an easy way to highly secure data in Windows 9x. This type of security for sensitive files and folders is non existent in these Windows operating systems. Of course, you can set the hidden attribute on your important files, but that really is a very weak security level. Anyone can just go to Folder Options and enable Show All Files. To achieve any level of worthwhile data security, you must rely on outside programs to do the job, but most of these programs have a problem achieving high security levels in Windows 9x and the reason for that is the existence of MSDOS. These Windows systems must use the standard FAT (File Allocation Table) file systems for their hard disks. As long as there is FAT, there is DOS, and as long as there is DOS, your data's security level is compromised. It is very hard to hide anything in Windows from DOS. I tested Magic Folders (pc-magic.com), the most popular and highly touted folder security program in the world, and was surprised to see how easy it was in DOS to access any folder secured by this program. At most it gives you a moderate level of security, which contradicts the high security claims made by the devlelopers: "Your invisible folders and files can't be deleted, viewed, modified, or run". Yet, in testing, it took less than a minute to fully access a folder hidden by Magic Folders. We could view, copy, move, rename and even delete the secured folder! Other programs were tested as well, and all showed the same vulnerability. Anyone with intent, can simply go into DOS and gain full access to your secured folder and make it fully viewable and accessible in Windows. And it doesn't require any advanced DOS knowledge to do this, at all. In fact, it is very easy. Let's say you have a folder in Windows named "FINANCES" that was hidden with one of these programs. One could simply use the rename command to rename your folder and then go back into Windows, and there would be your renamed folder fully accessible. ie: C:\WINDOWS> REN FINANCES EXPOSED would rename your Finances folder to Exposed and make it viewable and accessible in Windows. Not what I would call high security. This illustrates the point how difficult it can be to hide from DOS. To be totally secure, no one should be able to view, access or delete your protected files and folders. That last one, delete, is often overlooked in security programs that only password protect or encrypt your data, without hiding it. As long as your data is visible it can be tampered with. Lock&Hide was developed with these points in mind and is one program that doesn't have these vulnerabilities, but it still means that you have to rely on a third party program to achieve any real security level - moderate or not - in Windows 95, 98 and Me. This is not the case in Windows 2000 and XP. Data Security in Windows 2000 and XP Unlike Windows 9x, Windows 2000 and Windows XP have the potential to protect your data without the need for any outside programs. I say potential because it all depends on the file system you use for your hard drives and the way you have those drives setup. If you continue to use the FAT/FAT32 file systems, then there's really no security advantage. The advantage of these operating systems is that they allow you to convert your hard drive to the NT File System (NTFS). With an NT File System you can restrict access to your data and assign specific permissions to your files and folders. NTFS can set security down to individual files within the same folder. There is no DOS in an NTFS drive. It is a completely different file system unique to Windows NT, 2000 and XP. Other operating systems can't see the local file systems. Another unique feature of NTFS is that there is really no limit to partition sizes. NTFS can provide you with two basic types of security, network and local. Network security is handled by share permissions but in this article, we are talking mainly about local security. Local securtiy is about restricting access to sensitive and personal data on your hard drive and keeping it away from prying eyes and other users of your computer. It's called Local because the security is limited to the computer holding the resources. How to Convert Your FAT or FAT32 Disk into NTFS There are two ways to convert your FAT disk to NTFS - during install or after install. During install, you are given the choice to convert your FAT type drive to NTFS (if it is possible). The nice thing about converting to NTFS is that it leaves your present data intact - you do not need to format your hard drive to convert, but if you have nothing of value on the drive, it's a good idea to partition and format anyway, just to get a nice, clean start. If you decide to forgo converting to NTFS during Setup, you can always convert your drive to NTFS later by using CONVERT.EXE This is a command line utility. To use, simply go to a command prompt and type your drive letter followed by /fs:ntfs. For example, if it's Drive D: you wish to convert, you would type: D: /fs:ntfs And again, you won't lose any data by doing this conversion. Realize, however, that once you convert a drive to NTFS there is no going back to FAT in the same easy way. You will need to reformat to go back. Securing Data With NTFS Once your drive is converted to NTFS, you can begin setting permissions on the folders you wish to protect. To do so, right-click the folder you wish to set permissions on and chose Properties. Click the Security tab, and then click Permissions. You will then see your options - you can remove any account, edit the right to a resource, or click add to allow more users or groups to access the resource. The security level offered by NTFS is highest if NTFS is the only file system on the computer. If MS-DOS is on the system, such as in a dual boot situation between Windows 95/98 and Windows XP with NTFS, then the security level weakens drastically as it is quite easy for someone with intent, to access any of your restricted data, by booting into MS-DOS and using an easy to create NTFS access disk that makes the NTFS drive transparent and fully accessible. Unfortunately, Lock&Hide doesn't work on NTFS, lol, but if high level security is an issue with you in such a dual boot situation, you can use something like Lock&Hide to protect your most important data on the 9x machine. Not only will that data be more secure this way but anyone after your data would naturally assume that your confidential files are on the NTFS drive and not even bother looking through your FAT drive. ;-) Microsoft was very aware of this vulnerability as you can see in this WIn 2k security article excerpt: "You can restrict access to sensitive information that is stored on an NTFS partition if Windows 2000 is the only operating system that can be run and, if the hard drive cannot be physically removed. If someone really wants to get at the information, it is not difficult if they can gain physical access to the computer or hard drive. Availability of tools that allow access to NTFS files from MS-DOS and UNIX operating systems makes bypassing NTFS security even easier. Data encryption is the only solution to this problem." http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/howitworks/security/encryp t.asp So now we get into data encryption. EFS Note: this feature is not available on the Windows XP Home version. Windows 2000 and Windows XP Pro ship with EFS which stands for Encrypted File Security. EFS is especially good for laptops that can so easily be stolen. EFS is the maximum "built in" security level you can attain for your data in these systems, but as you'll see the real security offered is no greater than the Windows password you choose to log on with. The reason for this is that Microsoft chose, for convenience purposes, to make EFS transparent. With EFS you can easily encrypt your files and folders with no awareness of the process. You save and access your data as you normally would but the data becomes encrypted when you save it. EFS works in conjunction with NTFS, so naturally, you need to have your disk formatted to NTFS to be able to use this file encryption feature. For this method to be useful you have to set up individual user accounts with passwords, because any encrypted data is accessible and viewable by anyone on the same account. This is what is meant by transparent. This means if you walk away from your computer, anyone can access your encrypted data. This becomes very important in a business workstation where others may access your computer while you are away and in a home situation where you wish to protect certain data from prying eyes and other family members. It is essential you have a good password and log off whenever you are away from your computer. This is the primary limitation of EFS - because of the required convenience and ease of use factor that Microsoft had to provide, EFS is ultimately no more secure than the strength of your password. EFS would be useless without a password. For greater security, you would need to buy outside programs. How To Encrypt Files and Folders Encrypting your files and folders, is as easy as setting a file or folder attribute, but note that you cannot encrypt system files (which should go without saying!) This applies to Lock&Hide, as well. Right-click the folder or file you wish to encrypt and choose Properties. Then click Advanced and select Encrypt Contents. (NOTE: If the folder is empty, choose Folder only for Encryption.) (See online version for image shots in each version.) http://personal-computer-tutor.com/vic14.htm Decrypting a File The only time you would need to decrypt a file with EFS is if you wanted to give access to it to someone else. You do not need to decrypt a file to view or edit it yourself. To actually decrypt is just a matter of right clicking the file or folder and going back to Properties> Adavnced and removing the checkmark from the Encrypt Contents.. box. TIP For maximum security, encrypt folders and not individual files. Doing so causes the files to be created as encrypted in the folder and theres no rendering of the file to plain text (if a file alone is encrypted, EFS first copies the file to a plain readable text file) Things You Should Know About EFS The encryption technology used by EFS is key-based. To be able to encrypt a file using EFS, there must exist a public and private key but you as a user, don't have to do anything to get them. These keys are generated automatically the first time you use EFS. The public key encrypts the files and the private key decrypts the files. This is great in that it makes it so easy to use for the newbie - no knowledge about encryption is needed at all. In fact, many users use EFS without even knowing about the existance of these keys. But, that can also lead to problems! Say you decide to re-format your c: drive and re-install Windows XP while having encrypted data on your d: drive. This would just result in disaster after you realize you can no longer access any of your secured files! That would be the result of not knowing that reinstalling Windows creates new security identifiers for each user. Your original keys are replaced with new ones making your encrypted data unaccessible and the only way to gain access is by using the Recovery Agent which only the Administrator has. If you're the Adminstrator on your own computer, EFS automatically generates recovery keys and self-signed certificates for you when logging on, making you, as the local administrator, the default recovery agent. But you have to KNOW all this to be able to recover. This ain't the simplicity of Lock&Hide. LOL To prevent such disasters, make sure to back up your personal encryption certificate (your private key) and the recovery agent certificate to a floppy disk and keep it in a safe place. It's easy to do but strangely, it's not mentioned at all during the encryption process. Here's the official how to: Backing Up Recovery Keys 1. Click Start>Run, type mmc, and then click OK. 2. On the File menu, click Add/Remove Snap-in, and then click Add. 3. Under Add Standalone Snap-in, click Certificates, and then click Add. 4. Click My user account, and then click Finish. 5. Click Close, and then click OK. 6. Double-click Certificates - Current User, double-click Personal, and then double-click Certificates. 7. Click the certificate that displays the words File Recovery in the Intended Purposes column. 8. Right-click the certificate, point to All Tasks, and then click Export. Follow the instructions in the Certificate Export Wizard to export the certificate and associated private key to a .pfx file format. Make sure you export your private keys with them, you will be asked to password protect your keys (to verify when importing later on). Save this to a secure floppy disk Now when you format or if your keys get damaged all you have to do is double click on the exported key, follow the wizard and you should have access to your files. ********************************************************** Vic Ferri owns the very popular WinTips and Tricks email group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WinTips-Tricks He is also in charge of the Printing Tips page at Linda's Computer Stop. http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/printing.htm ans also the Registry Tips page. http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/vic4.htm Vic has also created a program which allows you to Lock & Hide desktop folders in Windows 9X/ME. Read more and get the free demo here. http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/lh/lockhide.htm <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- *****************STATION BREAK******************* ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- LOCK&HIDE from Vic Ferri High level desktop folder security for Windows 95/98/Me Keep your personal and most valuable files locked and hidden from prying eyes, viruses, and other users of your computer. Easy to use and extremely secure. Lock&Hide is an extremely easy to use program that allows you to lock and hide any folder on your desktop. Folders secured with Lock&Hide cannot be seen, found, or accessed. Your folders remain totally invisible and highly secured, yet can be accessed quckly and easily at any time! More Info here: http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/lh/lockhide.htm Screenshots and instructions here: http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/lh/scrnshots.htm Or download the free demo here (the demo does not include the "Restore All" feature or the password protection utility.) http://personal-computer-tutor.com/lh/demoinf.htm <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (8.) Chas' Word World Charles Kyle Kenyon, J.D. ********************************************************** EDITOR'S NOTE: It is recommended that you read the online version of the following article , which includes pictures which might make it clearer. http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/chas14.htm ********************************************************** Styles in Microsoft Word (Part III) For a while this column will shift its emphasis to Word fundamentals. Those who want to read ahead are welcome to look at the Intermediate Users Guide to Microsoft Word on Chas's site. http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm If you do read ahead, and you have questions, please send them to me so that I might be able to answer your questions in this column. mailto:Chas_ABC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx This follows up on the article Styles in Microsoft Word (Part I), http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/chas9.htm and Styles in Microsoft Word (Part II). http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/chas13.htm If you haven't read these, it is suggested that you do so before tackling this material. Styles Overview If you're concerned about whether or not you need to learn styles, we can put it rather simply: you do. Styles are the architecture upon which Word is based. Just about everything in Word is style-driven. In fact, many people in the industry refer to Word as a "style-driven" program. What we'll cover here: Creating, Modifying and Locating Your Own Styles Where styles live - documents & templates Create, Modify and Locate Your Own Styles Now that you understand what a style is and what it can do, it's time to create some styles of your own. Not only can you create your own styles, you can modify existing styles to achieve the result you need. Create a New Style The easiest way to create a new style is to format text with the attributes that you want to apply to the style. It doesn't matter what you type, only what type of paragraph and character formatting that you have applied to the text. Formatting is the only thing that is applied when you apply a style. Although you can create styles that have more advanced attributes such as being followed by an entirely different style, the following exercise shows you just how easy the process can be. Practice: Create a Style Type your first name on a separate line in a document. Select your name and make the font Blue. Change the font size to 24-points. Apply Bold and Underline formatting to the text. Center the paragraph. >From the Formatting toolbar, click in the Styles box (where the style name Normal is usually displayed). Type your first name. Press ENTER. This step is important. If you do not press ENTER your style is not created. Click the Style drop-down list. You should see your newly created style. Test this by typing "This is a test" and applying the new style. You can use the Style dialog box to create or modify a style. Another option for creating and modifying styles is shown in the following exercise. You create a new style by typing text and formatting it, and then from the Format menu, choose Style. Practice: Create a Style Using The Style Dialog Box Type the following text: Styles help users master Microsoft Word. (press ENTER) Everything in Word is based on a style. Select the text "Styles help users master Microsoft Word." and the paragraph mark () that follows. Center the paragraph and apply a 14-point font. >From the Format menu, choose Style. Click New. Type My Style as the Name. Click OK, and then click Apply. Modifying Existing Styles There are two ways to modify an existing style. One of these methods is through the Style dialog box. However, an easier method is by changing the style by example using the Style drop-down toolbar button. The Style drop-down is useful if changes have already been manually made to a paragraph formatted in the style to be changed. If this is not the case, styles can be changed using the Style dialog box. Practice: Two Methods to Modifying a Style Add several paragraphs to the document from the previous exercise. Apply the style that you created to the new text. Select the text Styles help users in law firms master Microsoft Word. >From the Format menu, choose Style. Click Modify. Click Format, and then select Font. Change the font color to Blue and the font size to 20-points. Close the dialog box and apply the changes that you've made by clicking Apply. Notice that all text formatted with My Style updates to show the recent change. Select the text Microsoft Word. Change the font size to 36. Click on the style name in the white part of the Style toolbar button (not the drop-down arrow) and press ENTER. It's important to press ENTER and not move the mouse up or down the list of style names. This tells Word that you are working with the current style where the mouse is active. If this step was done correctly, the following Modify Style dialog box should display. You can either choose to Update the style to reflect recent changes, or Reapply the formatting of the style to the selection (go back to the original style format). Choose Update the style to reflect recent changes? And click OK. TIP: A keyboard shortcut is to press CTRL+SHIFT+S (to put you in the style drop down box), and then press ENTER, which will bring up the above dialog. The style is changed to reflect the formatting of the selected text and this method is referred to as modifying by example. Notice how all paragraphs with the style are updated automatically. WARNING: I do not recommend selecting the Automatically update the style box especially in any environment where multiple users work on the same document. This feature will update the style each time you make a formatting change in a paragraph that has a style attached. If your styles are acting weird, this is the first place to check! Method 2 - abbreviation addition Use Format => Styles... to call up the Styles Dialog Box. Select "Heading 1" and click on the Modify button. In the name for the style, after "Heading 1" add ",h1" - that is, a comma and h1. This adds a shortcut or abbreviation for the style name which you can type into the style box on the formatting menu instead of the the full name. If you want to save this change to the Style in your normal.dot template, you can check the box for Add to Template. Click OK. You can do the same thing for all of the heading styles, giving each of them an abbreviation, if you want. Finish by clicking on the "Close" button rather than the "Apply" button. If asked when you close Word whether you want to save the changes you made to the global template "normal.dot" answer yes. (You should be asked this question. If you are not, pay attention to future columns or skip ahead and take a look at Template Basics.) http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/templates.htm You can see why many people prefer the point-and-shoot method described earlier. When the modify style dialog box is up, you can click on the Format drop-down button to modify style settings for paragraph, font, language, borders & shading, and other settings. Where Styles Live A lot of confusion can come from not knowing where styles are stored and when they are available in documents. When new documents are created, the new documents are based on templates. http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/templates.htm The styles contained within these templates are copied to the new document. Changes made to styles in the document as well as new styles that you create only affect that one new document by default. If you want the change or addition to be added to the template, you have to tell Word to do so. Practice: Add it to the Template >From the Format menu, choose Style. Click Modify. Check the option to Add to template. This makes the style available for any new documents that are based on that template. The style is added to the currently attached template. NOTE: So, any specialized or modified styles in a template will go into a new document. Any of Word's built-in styles that weren't modified in a new document's template will come into the document from the user's normal.dot template. Documents that have previously been created based on this template are not affected when you add a style to the template. To automatically update style changes in templates and files previously created based on the same template, from the Tools menu, choose Templates and Add-Ins. Select the option to Automatically update document styles and click OK. I recommend not checking this option, at least not without a backup copy of your document. It can produce unexpected results, especially in documents that must conform to style rules. If you do check this box, click on Attach and then on OK to close the dialog box. Then reopen the Templates and Add-Ins dialog box and uncheck the Update box and click on OK again, so that the document is not saved with this box checked. For an excellent tutorial on styles and a methodical look at basing styles on one another and reasons not to base styles on normal, see John McGhie's Create a Template Part 2. http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart2.htm For a sample demonstrating styles based on one another, use of the style for following paragraph feature, and the AutoTextList field restricted by styles download my Letterhead Textboxes and Styles Tutorial. http://www.addbalance.com * This article is based largely on the tutorial "Understanding Styles" http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm which, itself is based on the Legal Users Guide to Microsoft Word. The original Legal Users Guide was not written by me but rather by a team of experts gathered by Microsoft. This article uses screen shots from Word 2000 but the methods and distinctions discussed hold true for versions of Word from Word 95 through Word 2002. Keyboard Shortcuts of the Month for Word Formatting and Styles Ctrl-SpaceBar Remove character formatting from selection Ctrl-Q Remove direct paragraph formatting. Ctrl-Shift-S Style Dropdown or dialog Ctrl-* Show All non-printing characters toggle Ctrl-H Replace (click on More button to access ability to replace styles) Headings Headings are a special kind of style and are built into Word at the foundation level. Here are some of the shortcut keys for them: Alt-Shift-Left Arrow Create or promote heading Alt-Shift-Right Arrow Create subheading or demote current heading. Alt-Shift-Up Arrow When in Outline view, move current heading up. Alt-Shift-Down Arrow When in Outline view, move current heading down Alt-Ctrl-1(-3) Heading Style 1(-3) NOTE: The above was changed for Alt-Ctrl-#. This only works with heading styles 1-3, not 1-9 as earlier indicated. ********************************************************** Chas Kenyon is a trial lawyer concentrating in criminal defense with a long interest (obsession?) with making word processing work well in the law office. His websites are: http://www.addbalance.com/index.htm http://members.aol.com/~marspd/index.html <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- *****************STATION BREAK******************* ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- Discover How To Create Stunning Letters, Presentations, Greetings Cards, Promotional Materials, Memos, Reports And More - Just Like The Professionals! Imagine using the Famous Newbie Club Easy Learning System to create Newbie-Speak Tutorials of the World's No. 1 Favorite Word Processing Program. What do you get? MS Word MAGIC! eBooklet Series by Linda F. Johnson Book I teaches all about the formatting of text, words, and paragraphs. Book II is all about Tables and how to use them to get the most out of your Word documents. And both ebooklets come with the famous Newbie Club unconditional guarantee: "If, within 12 months of purchase and for any reason whatsoever, you decide that MS Word MAGIC! is not for you, simply let us know and we'll refund your purchase price immediately. No Questions Asked! No ifs, buts or maybes. No hidden clauses and no small print. With us, unconditional means unconditional!" So...what have you got to lose? Check out this series: Book 1: Fonts, Formats and Fun http://newbieclub.com/wordmagic/?buntah Book 2: Table Wizardry http://newbieclub.com/wordmagic2/?buntah <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (9.) Tina's FrontPage News ~~Tina Clarke, AccessFP - Frontpage Resource Centre All About FrontPage 2002 Discussion Webs HOW TO MAKE A DISCUSSION WEB AND INCLUDE IT IN A CURRENT WEB SITE A discussion group is a FrontPage web that supports interactive discussions of topics by users. Users submit topics by entering text in a form, they search the group using a search form, and they access articles using a table of contents. The easiest way to create a discussion group is by using the Discussion Web Wizard. To create a discussion group and include it in your web site, first open up the website you wish to add a discussion web to, then: 1. On the FrontPage menu, File | 'Page or Web' 2. Select from the 'New Page or Web' Task Pane | under 'New from Template' | Web Site Templates and a new dialog box called 'Web Site Templates' will popup up. Select from the list, Discussion Web Wizard. 3. To add the Discussion web to your main web, tick the box marked 'Add to current web' under the browse button. This will add your discussion web to the website your are in. 4. In the 'Discussion Web Wizard' dialog box that pops up, press Next then select the main features for your discussion from the list provided. You have a choice of: <> A Table of Contents contains hyperlinks to articles in the discussion topics. Adding a TOC will enable your users to find content that is of interest to them. <> A Search Form lets users search the articles for a word or phrase. <> Threaded Replies allow users the choice of either creating new top-level topics for discussions or replying to topics in current discussions. (I would click threaded replies) <> A Confirmation Page displays a confirmation of an entry in a discussion to a use. <> A submission form, which is required and so, is greyed out. <> A registration form that lets site visitors log in to the web site, if the discussion web is protected NOTE: Only the UNIX operating system allows registration through a Web browser. 5. Enter the FrontPage web Title of your discussion group, and the name for the discussion folder. Usually it is best to leave the FrontPage default name in, but you don't have to, just make sure you leave the underscore ( _ ) in and click Next. 6. Choose the input fields for the submission form from the list provided. Click Next. You have a choice of: Subject, Comments Subject, Category, Comments Subject, Products, Comments NOTE: You can always add more fields later if need be. 7. You are now asked if you want the web to be protected or not. Select whether or not users will be required to register for the FrontPage discussion web and click Next. If you select to register users, the Discussion Web Wizard will create a registration form. You need to configure and insert the registration form in your main root FrontPage web to make it available to users. NOTE: Only the UNIX operating system allows registration through a Web browser. 8. Select the sort order for the table of contents and click next. (Newest to oldest is best) 9. Specify whether or not you want the table of contents to replace your Home page and click Next. (Say NO you don't want the discussion web to overwrite your main web's index page.) 10. Select the settings for the Search form and click next. You have a choice of: Subject Subject, Size Subject, Size, Date Subject, Size, Date, Score NOTE: You can create a search form to let a site visitor search a specific discussion web site for words or phrases. If your server finds the search text in the text index for the specified discussion web site, the visitor sees a weighted list of hyperlinks to the pages containing the search text. A. If your server is using Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS), the search form uses the Indexing Service to search the text index. Indexing Service has more extensive support for searching non-English systems and Microsoft Office documents. In Page view, right-click the search form you want to format, click Search Form Properties on the shortcut menu, and then click the Search Results tab. In the Scope of search results section, click Directory, and then enter the name of the folder containing the discussion web site to which you want to limit the search. B. If your server is not using IIS, Microsoft FrontPage uses the WAIS (Wide Area Information Server) search engine that is included with FrontPage to search the text index. In Page view, right-click the search form you want to format, click Search Form Properties on the shortcut menu, and then click the Search Results tab. In the Word list to search box, type the name of a discussion group folder to limit the search to that folder. 11. Select a frameset (if applicable) in which to display the discussion group and click next. You have a choice of: No Frames Dual interface - use frames if available, or normal pages if not Contents above current article Contents beside current article NOTE: The discussion web documents can be configured for use with browsers supporting frames. In a framed discussion, users can see the Table of Contents and the articles at the same time. Not all browsers support frames. If you select one of the first two options above, the discussion web will work with any browser. The last two options are only for browsers with frames. I find the last option works best. 12. On any panel of the Discussion Web Wizard, you can click Finish to create the FrontPage discussion web using defaults for any settings you did not modify, at this point you can go back using the back button or click Finish to conclude the creation of your discussion web. 13 The discussion web is then created and appears in your files and folders. In Navigation View, select the file named disc1_frm.htm and drag it into your navigation view to include it in your Navigation bars if you use them. Click on the name of the file in navigation view to select it and right click and choose 'rename' change to something more appropriate than 'Frameset for discussion' and then right click within the navigation view and select apply changes. The Discussion Web (DW) is then updated. Next, right click in an open space in Navigation View and select Web Settings | Advanced Tab | and tick the 'Show hidden files and folders box' under 'Options'. Click OK and click Yes when asked to refresh the web. (This will enable you to edit posted articles.) Double click the disc1_frm.htm to open or right click and choose open and customize the DW as needed. CUSTOMIZING YOUR DISCUSSION WEB A. HOW TO CONFIGURE FONT AND HEADINGS ON THE POST RESULTS PAGE First you need to make a theme and configure the theme headings, fonts, font size, background and links. You then apply the theme to all the files within the Discussion web to maintain a uniform look. In the root web disc1_cfrm.htm disc1_frm.htm disc1_nav.htm disc1_post.htm disc1_srch.htm disc1_tocf.htm disc1_welc.htm In the _borders folder disc1_aftr.htm disc1_ahdr.htm In the _disc1 folder tocproto.htm This last file in particular is important, as this is the post results page. To make a theme, go to Format | Theme. Select any theme and, for our purposes, lets say we want a plain look. Untick Vivid colors, Active graphics and Background picture. Then click modify and three buttons will then be available. Click the Text button. The dialog box changes to the modify theme mode, click the 'More Text Style's button. Another dialog box called 'Style' will pop up. Then click the h1 under Styles and then the 'Modify' button, and then click the 'Format button and select font from the drop down menu. Now you can select the font type and you can insert more than one font. For example, Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans serif. You can select the colour and the size, plus other features if wanted. Make your selections and click OK twice and you are back at the 'Style' Dialog box. Select the next heading h2 and repeat your configurations and selections. Do this for other styles you want to configure. When finished press Ok and Ok again on the 'Modify Theme' Dialog box. Now you are back at the Themes box. Click the 'Colors' Button and select the Custom tab. Where it says 'Item' select your background colour from the colour box beside it. Then click the drop down menu next to background and select each of the hyperlinks in turn and select their colours (Hyperlinks, Followed and Active). You can do similar selections to what we have already done for the headings but there are not as many choices in this section. Press OK. Once you have finished configuring your theme click 'Save As' and name your Theme (Do not use the names of any of the themes you have or they will be overwritten) Now you can apply the Theme to your files listed above. Open up each file (for example disc1_post.htm) and click Format | Theme | make sure 'Selected pages' is ticked and select your theme from the alphabetical listing of your themes. Untick Vivid colors, Active graphics and Background picture and press ok. The theme will then be applied to your file. Repeat for each of the files above. Now when visitors post you won't have the ugly default look of the Discussion Web. HOW TO RECEIVE AN EMAIL, WHEN SOMEONE POSTS TO YOUR FRONTPAGE DISCUSSION WEB Go to Folders View and locate disc1_post.htm (the number depends on the amount of discussion webs you have made in any particular Web). Select the file and double click to open or right click and press 'Open' Go to HTML View and locate the following code. (There will similar sections of code, you want the one that is last in the line of code) url="disc1_?.htm" --> (Where I have put ? indicates the page file name, depending on how you set up your DW it could be post or cfrm or other files names in the DW, so just look for this line of code which comes last in the sequence.) Insert DIRECTLY before the --> end comment arrow the following code: S-Email-Address="Tina@xxxxxxxxxxxx" S-Email-Format="TEXT/PRE" So the end of the code should now look something like this. As mentioned above, where ? is inserted in the code below, will indicate the file name you have last in your code depending on how you set up your DW. url="disc1_?.htm" s-email-address="Tina@xxxxxxxxxxxx" s-email-format="TEXT/PRE" --> NOTE: Things you MUST do: Cut and paste the code to notepad and then reselect and cut & paste to HTML View. Change the email address to your own. REQUIRE POSTERS TO INSERT EMAIL AND SITE ADDRESSES If you require your visitors to leave their email or site URLs, you can insert scrolling text boxes via Insert | Form | Textarea. Next, select the scrolling text box and mouse over one of the selection points, then pull the box out to the size you want. Next right click and choose Form Field Properties. Where it says Initial Value insert the text mailto: Next click Validate and tick the box marked required. For the site URL scrolling text box do the same but insert http:// this time in Initial Value. If you wanted to make your own 'URL of Validation Failure Page' the option is now ungreyed. PRESENT YOUR RULES FOR POSTING IN THE WELCOME PAGE Open the disc_welc.htm file and add your content MODERATING YOUR DISCUSSION WEB First Open the web live Open up FrontPage and close down any webs you have open. To open the site live File | Open | on the pop up box click 'Web Folders' on the left hand menu. Insert the URL of the site you wish to open e.g.: http://www.accessfp.net/ A box will appear asking for your username and password. Insert them and press OK. In FrontPage, click on the navigation view so you know when the site will fully load. Next go to Tools | Web Settings 1. In the Advanced tab, select 'Show Documents in Hidden Directories'. 2. Click OK. 3. On the View menu, choose Refresh. 4. Change to the Folders view to see the pages (named 0001.htm, 0002.htm, etc.) created by users. Do not delete offending articles. Open them up and type a standard message replacing the article body, such as "[Deleted Article]." This will protect forward and backward hyperlinks to other articles in the thread. TIPS: 1. Be sure to close all files and go to Tools | Recalculate Hyperlinks BEFORE publishing after all your tweaking. 2. When you want to move your site to another host, download your site first so you can take your posts with you. The posts reside on the host server, NOT on your hard drive where your local web resides. So you must first download the site and then you can republish to your new host. ********************************************************** Tina Clarke is the Webmaster of AccessFP - FrontPage Resource Centre http://accessfp.net and an editor of "AnyFrontPage Bytes Ezine". Subscribe to the FrontPage ezine and get FREE FrontPage E-Books upon joining. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AnyFrontPageBytes <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- *****************STATION BREAK******************* ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- Do you want to know the latest on FrontPage? Do you want Tips, news, articles, links and ebooks on FrontPage? Well the AnyFrontPage Bytes Ezine is the best place for your FrontPage and web crafting needs, join up at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AnyFrontPageBytes Are you looking for resources for FrontPage? Want to know where all the best FP links are? The hosts, the lists, the forums? Use AccessFP - FrontPage Resources Centre as the start site for your FrontPage Information facts. http://accessfp.net <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> NOTE FROM LINDA: If you haven't been to Tina's site lately, you have to go there now and see how nicely she's renovated it. Looks great and it's really well organized so you can find all the wonderful stuff she has there. <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (10.) Mike's Safety Belt ~~ Mike Baynes, MikesWhatsNews Email Security and Attachments Do you frequently receive email with interesting subject lines and attachments? Be careful, many viruses will come to you this way. They may even come from people you know. Some of the new viruses can obtain addresses to send themselves to, from email in the inbox of an infected person's computer, or their address book, or the addresses contained in an email. The 'Klez worm' has even managed to get into one of the email lists I subscribe to, which requires a confirmation email to verify that the person actually did subscribe. Fortunately the list did not allow attachments, and the moderators spotted the action immediately. Many email list/groups require that you use Plain Text, rather than Rich Text or HTML to avoid 'Scripts' hidden in the message. See Visual Basic Script virus ~ http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/articles/glossary.html#vbsvirus You should be wary of all attachments in your email. If you receive one from someone you know, email them before you open it to be sure they sent it. If you are sending someone an attachment, right click the attachment to obtain the file size. Then send them a email to let them know the name and file size of the attachment. Ask your friends to do the same when they send you an attachment. I recommend scanning all attachments with a recently updated AV program. I check my AV program every morning when I start my computer, just in case a new virus update has been created to catch a virus which I was not aware of. Just because you have an Anti-Virus program installed does not mean you will be protected. You must have the 'Email Scanning' enabled. HackFix has a series of pages on setting up (configuring) most of the more common Anti Virus programs here: Software reviews - Configuration Section http://www.hackfix.org/software/configure/ If you do not have an Anti Virus program, here are some links to some freeware programs: AntiVir ~ http://www.free-av.com/ Tauscan is free for 30 days and removes most Trojans ~ http://www.agnitum.com/ There are also several on line virus scans available, but not all of them are capable of a removing virus. In fact, some viruses will prevent you from accessing Anti Virus sites, and updates. Trend Micro's free online virus scanner http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall Symantec (Norton Anti-virus) Security Check - Free on-line scan http://security1.norton.com/us/intro.asp?venid=sym&langid=us I also list several of the Anti Virus/trojan/Firewall programs And links on page 4 of my Virus Info pages; http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/mikebike/hackfix_program_updates.htm ********************************************************** Mike Baynes is the editor of MikesWhatsNews. To subscribe, send a blank email to mikeswhatsnews-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=subscribe. See Mike's Anti-Virus pages ~ http://virusinfo.hackfix.org To subscribe, send a blank email to: virusinfo-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=subscribe <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- *****************STATION BREAK******************* ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.- Are you into Video Computing? VIDEOMAKER is the world's most popular monthly consumer video production publication and covers the use of digital video editing, camcorders, cameras, and desktop video and audio production for novice and expert enthusiasts alike. Its articles teach production techniques, survey and review the latest equipment, and explain the newest technological advances. Published monthly, and is available on select newsstands and to subscribers. In addition, you receive a password giving you full access to Club VId, Videomaker's vast online resource of information about making video. And the best part is, it's CHEAP! Only $14.97 for 13 issues! http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/vxdoin/VideoMaker.html <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (11.) CHAD'S MACRO MANIA ~~Chad K. Welch BuiltInDocumentProperties in Word Wow, another month is upon us. Was it just me or did June just fly by? This month we will be discussing Microsoft Word's VBA, specifically the built in document properties. Murali from India sent me the following request: Hello Mr. Chad... I am a computer consultant from India, and I do take up small time projects...I was really struck where I had to get the no. of pages in an Excel worksheet thru VBA, and I found your solution given in http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/chad8.htm page, to be very correct and was very helpful to me. I have another query where I need to get the no. of pages in an MSWord document thru VBA...hope you can mail me the solution as soon as possible, as I am struck with it. Thanks, Regards, Murali Thank you, Murali. That is a very good question. The page numbers are actually much easier to access and use in Word, as we will see. However, if you don't know how to find them the search can be a bear. There is a collection in Word's Object Model called DocumentProperties. That collection can be broken into two parts: custom properties and built in properties. As luck would have it the number of pages is saved in the built in properties. To access it just use the line: ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties(wdPropertyPages) Incidentally there are several properties that are built into word that can be accessed. For example: wdPropertyTitle Title wdPropertyCharacters Number of characters wdPropertySubject Subject wdPropertySecurity Security wdPropertyAuthor Author wdPropertyCategory Category wdPropertyKeywords Keywords wdPropertyFormat Format wdPropertyComments Comments wdPropertyManager Manager wdPropertyTemplate Template wdPropertyCompany Company wdPropertyLastAuthor Last author wdPropertyBytes Number of bytes wdPropertyRevision Revision number wdPropertyLines Number of lines wdPropertyAppName Application name wdPropertyParas Number of paragraphs wdPropertyTimeLastPrinted Last print date wdPropertySlides Number of slides wdPropertyTimeCreated Creation date wdPropertyNotes Number of notes wdPropertyTimeLastSaved Last save time wdPropertyHiddenSlides Number of hidden Slides wdPropertyVBATotalEdit Total editing time wdPropertyMMClips Number of multimedia clips wdPropertyPages Number of pages wdPropertyHyperlinkBase Hyperlink base wdPropertyWords Number of words wdPropertyCharsWSpaces Number of characters (with spaces) Sometimes it is beneficial to create a summary sheet of a document. The following macro will create one: Sub SummarySheet() Dim CurrentDoc As Document Dim SummDoc As Document Dim Prop As DocumentProperty Set CurrentDoc = ActiveDocument Set SummDoc = Documents.Add On Error Resume Next For Each Prop In CurrentDoc.BuiltInDocumentProperties SummDoc.Content.InsertAfter Prop.Name & " = " SummDoc.Content.InsertAfter Prop.Value SummDoc.Content.InsertParagraphAfter Next Set CurrentDoc = Nothing Set SummDoc = Nothing End Sub Here is the results of that macro (of course the word count, paragraphs and etc. are counted before the following was pasted so it isn't included in the statistics): Title = BuiltInDocumentProperties in Word Subject = Author = Chad K Welch Keywords = Comments = Details of the BuiltInDocumentProperties of the Word Object Model Template = Normal.dot Last author = Chad K Welch Revision number = 8 Application name = Microsoft Word 10.0 Last print date = Creation date = 7/4/2002 8:56:00 AM Last save time = 7/6/2002 12:01:00 AM Total editing time = 61 Number of pages = 2 Number of words = 434 Number of characters = 2669 Security = 0 Category = ABC Computers Format = Manager = Company = VBA Magic Number of bytes = 43008 Number of lines = 115 Number of paragraphs = 90 Number of slides = Number of notes = Number of hidden Slides = Number of multimedia clips = Hyperlink base = Number of characters (with spaces) = 3112 ********************************************************** Chad K. Welch works as a technician/enabler in Utah. He is available for consulting or application programming with Microsoft Office and VBA. Contact him directly for more information at chad@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (12.) STEVE'S RAVIN' REVIEWS ~~Steve Mills It's summertime and I'm in low gear. I don't know whether it was me or the authors, but I had a hard time finding good stuff this time. (Patting myself on the back) eventually we came up with good stuff. A varied combination of usable stuff. Stay Cool! Your suggestions are welcome and encouraged. Take Care... Steve steve@xxxxxxxx ***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>*** THIS MONTH'S REVIEWS Random Tagline Manager ... 5 geezers Google Toolbar ... 6 geezers NoteTab Light ... 6 geezers Reversi ... 5 geezers <screen captures of the software interfaces online> http://personal-computer-tutor.com/steve14.htm ***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>*** Program: Random Tagline Manager Version and Date: 4.4.2 05-18-02 Author: Frank Brower Web Site: http://programs.fbrower.com/ Freeware Rating: 5 Geezers OK! I amuse easily, but I find some of the best stuff written today at the bottom of emails - the infamous tag line. There are a number of managers available and this one by Frank Brower is one of the best. All take a little effort to set up, but you should be cooking in well under an hour. The program comes with a database of over 6,000 tags, which you can modify to your liking. -<> Ability to create Text, HTML, and RTF tagline files -<> Randomize taglines, or use a single tagline, from selected database -<> Center taglines on line(with and w/o word wrap) -<> Change color of displayed tagline(HTML & RTF files only -<> Change font of displayed tagline(HTML & RTF files only) -<> Change size of font in displayed tagline(HTML & RTF files only) -<> Display border around tagline -<> Works with Multiple users(each with their own settings) -<> Display date in tagline with a variety of options, even Random, and Roman Numerals -<> Append, Edit, or Replace tagline(s) in current tagline database -<> Copy tagline file to a second directory(helpful if using two separate user profiles using same tagline file) -<> Edit custom signature file(like a blueprint for how the tagline file will be saved) -<> Works with most Email programs(except for Web Based Email, like AOL) ***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>*** Program: Google Toolbar Version and Date: 1.1.57 Author: Google Web Site: http://toolbar.google.com/ License: Freeware Rating: 6 Geezers At one time I heard a lot of argument about the best search engines. Today, it seems like more and more Internet users are convinced Google is the king. Searchers there seem to be almost mystically accurate. The Google Toolbar sits as a browser toolbar (Internet Explorer 5 or higher) and is always available for quick searching. Lots of usable features: -<> Google Search: Access Google's search technology from any web page. -<> Search Site: Search only the pages of the site you're visiting. -<> PageRank: See Google's ranking of the current page. -<> Page Info: Access more information about a page including similar pages, pages that link back to that page, as well as a cached snapshot. -<> Highlight: Highlight your search terms as they appear on the page; each word in its own color. -<> Word Find: Find your search terms wherever they appear on the page. Another nice thing is the toolbar takes up very little space for what it does. ***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>*** Program: NoteTab Light Version and Date: 4.9 06-10-02 Author: Fookes Software Web Site: http://www.notetab.com/ntl.htm License: Freeware Rating: 6 Geezers Last month I covered my favorite text editor, UltraEdit. At that time I said there are many fine alternatives available. One such example is this fine freeware editor, NoteTab Light. It is the free version of a series of 3 produced by Fookes Software. I'm not going to try and cover its many features. It has macros, an internal clip system, help files and on and on. I've never seen a better piece of free software. The paid versions top out at only $19.95. Give this a try! ***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>*** Program: Reversi Version and Date: 1.1 3/18/02 Author: ArtPol Software Web Site: http://www.artpol-software.com/index_software.html License: Freeware Rating: 5 Geezers I like games that aren't brain busters. I remember when Othello came out, the slogan was "a minute to learn - a lifetime to master". A true statement. This is just a nice implementation - and it's free: -<> Play human vs human or human vs computer -<> Network play (through the Internet or a local network) -<> Varied levels for the computer game -<> OpenGL graphics (nice but a fast machine is needed) or GDI -<> You can change the angle of view with arrows keys in the OpenGL mode while playing -<> Save, restore and edit (use left and right mouse buttons) the game layout -<> Move undo possible -<> Customizable colors ***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>*** Final Thought: The whole world looks like a nail when all you have is a hammer. ********************************************************** Steve Mills currently does clerical work with a search engine consulting firm and has been reviewing software in different capacities for many years. <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (13.) Hal's Hardware Haven ~~ Hal Cardona, PC Sleuth ********************************************************** EDITOR'S NOTE: It is recommended that you read the online version of the following article , which includes pictures which might make it clearer. http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/hal14.htm ********************************************************** How To Troubleshoot Your PC In this issue, I am going to talk about troubleshooting your Windows PC. It really isn't all that hard to do, if you follow some simple steps. The first thing is to be prepared, just like I learned in Boy Scouts. Preparation starts by knowing your PC. You need to know what hardware and software you are using, preferably before a problem crops up. To find out what hardware is installed in your PC you can often look at the invoice or packing label from your PC's manufacturer. If you can't find it or your PC didn't come with a hardware list, you can use a 3rd party application. My favorite for determining what hardware is installed is the Belarc Advisor, which is free and available here: http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html The next thing to do is to find out what Operating System (OS) and what version of it you are using. You can do this in Windows by right clicking on My Computer and selecting properties. If you are using any version of Windows, Microsoft has integrated Internet Explorer (IE) in to it, so it helps to know what version of IE you are using. You can find out by opening IE and dropping down help from the menu bar and selecting About Internet Explorer. One crucial ingredient is: What causes the problem? You need to know what software is running, what software you are using and exactly what you were doing leading up to the problem. The last thing that I use that really helps me is a notebook. Paper and pencil can really help here. Remember you may not have access to your computer while you are fixing it, so having a hard copy is essential. I keep a file folder for each of my customer's computers. In it I keep a list of all the hardware and software installed. Take notes, write down what you're doing and why. If you make a mistake and make things worse, your notes should allow you to reverse the change that caused the problem. When I am done troubleshooting a system, I add my notes from that session to customers folder so I have written history of what's been done to the computer. Let's get to the nitty gritty of troubleshooting. The most likely cause to any problem is the last piece of hardware or software that you installed. If you just installed a brand new pop-up stopper and now you find you can't access some of your favorite websites. Chances are the pop-up stopper is the culprit; usually removing it will correct the problem. If the hardware or program is something you feel that you can't live without, then you need to try and correct the problem. The first thing to do is try the manufacturer's website and read any Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) they have regarding your hardware or software. This where knowing your system can help, in the FAQ you could learn the pop-up stopper requires a certain version for the video card driver if you are running a 3Dfx Voodoo 6000 video card. You should also look for any patches or new drivers while you are there. With so many different computer configurations out there, it is impossible for a manufacturer to test on all of them prior to releasing a product, you may find your cure in an available patch or updated driver. Ok. That was the easy stuff. What do you do if the problem starts out of the blue, your system has been stable, but it is crashing? The first thing I do is reboot. I've found simply shutting down the system for about 30 seconds can often correct the error. This is particularly effective for problems that are related to System Resources (for more information on System Resources, see my article on them here: http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/hal3.htm ). If the problem is fixed, great. If it recurs right away or later, then we need to locate the cause. Now we need to determine if the problem is with hardware or software. Hardware problems usually happen without regard to what you are doing. For example, if your PC reboots randomly after 30 minutes of use, then the problem is probably hardware related. Software problems usually manifest themselves as error codes or crashes that happen only when do certain things. For example, if your PC crashes each time you launch Microsoft Word the problem is usually related to Word. Of course, these are very general statements and every problem is unique. <> If you can't boot your PC, pay attention when you turn it on. <> If it makes it to a Windows Start-up screen or past the initial BIOS screen, then your hardware is booting OK. <> If it doesn't make it that far, then you have probably added some new hardware or had some of your existing hardware fail. The first thing to check is power, make sure your PC is plugged in and that the outlet has power. A cheap lamp works great for this test. If you're sure you have power, try setting your CMOS to boot from the floppy drive and put a floppy in it. If you boot or get an Operating System not found error, then the problem is probably either with Windows or the Hard Drive subsystem. <> If you've added new hardware, remove it and try to boot. If it works then try your new hardware in a different slot. It may work. If it doesn't, then you probably have an IRQ conflict. To troubleshoot an IRQ conflict, boot to Windows with the new hardware removed and check the properties for My Computer in the Device Manager, then choose to View Resources by Type, and look for a free IRQ. If there aren't any free then you will need to either share an IRQ or free one up. Not all devices are capable of sharing an IRQ, so be careful. To free one up you will need to either rearrange your other devices so that they are sharing an IRQ or disable or remove one of your existing devices. You can often free an unused IRQ by disabling one or both of your serial ports in the BIOS (only do this if you aren't using one or both of them though!). IRQs for PCI cards are assigned by the motherboard's BIOS, so if you to move a PCI card to a new IRQ, try putting it in a different PCI slot. <> If you haven't added any new hardware recently, but your computer still doesn't make it to the Windows boot screen, try removing the case from your computer, take a look inside and make sure that all the wires and cards are firmly connected. If everything looks OK at this point turn your computer on and look at the fans, make sure they are spinning freely. If one or more of them isn't, replace it and try again. <> If things still won't get to the Windows screen, listen when you turn it on. Make sure that you hear the fans, and the Hard Drive. If you here anything that sounds out of place, try to identify it's source, I recently found a cheap power supply that was keeping the PC from booting by listening and locating a soft high pitched whine coming from it. Hold your hand over the opening in the back of the power supply, and make sure that you feel air coming out when your PC is on, if don't your power supply fan has failed or you need a new power supply. WARNING - DON'T DISCONNECT OR DO ANYTHING INSIDE THE PC UNLESS YOU ARE GROUNDED AND THE PC IS DISCONNECTED FROM POWER. PULL THE PLUG. DON'T JUST TURN IT OFF!! <> If it still isn't making it to the Windows boot screen, start removing and disconnecting things, make notes or take a picture before you do though so you can put things back where they were. Now, I remove and reseat all the cards. Try it. The next step is removing all cards except the video card from the PC. Try it, if it gets to the Windows boot screen then you have a bad card, start adding the cards you removed one at a time until you can't boot. If it works with all the cards, then you had a loose card. If it still doesn't work, try removing and reseating your memory. Still no go, try removing your memory cards, you may need to remove them in a specific pattern, so check your motherboard documentation. Don't just remove them, try swapping them around too. Now try a different Video card if you have one, and, if your current card fits an AGP slot, then try a PCI based card. <> If you still aren't making it to the Windows boot screen, it is time to try disconnecting your hard, floppy and CD-ROM drives, once you disconnect your HD you will not be able to get to a Windows boot screen, so pay attention after you disconnect it and see if you get an Operating System Not Found error. If you do, you will probably need to replace the Hard Drive, it's IDE cable, or your Hard Drive Controller. You may need to set a partition as active or recreate your Operating Systems boot sector. When you are troubleshooting hardware, it really helps to have some spare parts around to swap out. The easiest way to find a bad cable is to try one that you know is good, the same thing goes for memory and other components. I think we've covered enough for this article (besides, I now have the other half already written for Linda). See you next time! To be continued..... ********************************************************** Hal Cardona, PC Sleuth, serves as tech support and/or offsite Sys Admin for over 200 clients around the US. He designs, builds, and troubleshoots networks and builds custom computer systems. http://www.pcsleuth.com <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (14.) GuitarMan's Outlook Express Tip of the Month ~~ PCTechTalk's G Man Easy Way To Make a "Template" in OE If you have a highly formatted email message that needs to be sent out more than once (such as a list of rules for an email list, images and descriptions from the latest family reunion or an announcement of someone's birth including pictures), here's a suggestion for saving yourself a whole lot of work. 1. Create the entire message using Rich Text (Format/Rich Text), including all text and image formatting to get it exactly the way you want it to look. Type in the subject line you wish to use and make sure it's set to use the correct email address in the From: field (this will be one of your own email addresses). Just be sure that you don't put anyone's address in the To: field. 2. Before sending it off to someone, click on 'File' and then 'Save As' and save it with a descriptive name to your My Documents folder (such as 'My Grand Canyon Trip'). You might even want to create a new subfolder under My Documents to hold them if you expect to be making a few of these. The resulting file will have a .eml extension once it's been saved. 3. Open up Windows Explorer, make your way to the My Documents folder and locate the file you just saved. Use your right mouse button to drag the file onto your desktop or QuickLaunch taskbar (I prefer the QuickLaunch taskbar location). When you get there, let go of the mouse button and a menu will appear. Choose "Create Shortcut(s) Here". >From now on, you can click on this shortcut to open up a new email message that's already ready already. All you need to do is personalize it (Hi Frank,), address it (with Frank's email address) and click on the Send button. This method is a LOT easier than recreating the whole thing for everyone who deserves to see the new baby/Graduation pictures/etc. ********************************************************** G Man runs a free, 24-hour-a-day email tech list, called PCTechTalk, where you can submit any questions you have about computer hardware & software. You can request fixes for specific problems you're having with your computer or just sit back and learn from the conversations of the other members. This group truly caters to newbies and nerds alike, so you can be assured that your questions will be taken seriously. To join, visit the group's homepage here: //www.freelists.org/webpage/pctechtalk <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (15.) Checking Your Message - Effective Web Copy ~~ By Tom Neuman ~ Medium Blue Internet Marketing Dale Carnegie said, "Talk in terms of the other man's interests." Writing effective web copy begins with a clear understanding of the goals and objectives of your internet strategy. Are you trying to persuade the visitor to buy something? Are you trying to get them to sign up for your newsletter? Perhaps you want them to join your organization or simply learn more about your service so that they will call your 800 number. The common theme with all of these web strategies is that you are trying to get someone you have never met and can't see to take a step toward building a relationship with you or your organization. Typical website copy uses a great deal of prime real estate telling the web audience how wonderful the organization is. Imagine going to a party and meeting someone who talks endlessly about himself. He talks about his job, his family, his interests. How long will you stand there and listen before politely excusing yourself? Now imagine the party guest who seems more interested in you- your family, your job, your interests. Wouldn't you react more favorably? It's very similar on the Internet. It is very tempting to write web copy that is focused on your company. Your first thought is probably something like, "I have to tell them who I am. They don't know anything about me." In reality, they don't care! (At least not in the first few seconds). Most web users are on a mission to find as much information as quickly as possible about the product or service they need because they want to make a decision. If they find your page, the first thing they want to know - even before bothering with anything else - is how they will benefit from buying (subscribing, calling, joining). You need to answer that question clearly and concisely within seconds or you will lose that visitor (maybe forever). If you can't cut through the selfish copy, the clutter, the fancy graphics, and communicate the value you offer that nobody else offers, they will go somewhere else- and likely never come back. Here are 3 additional ideas to help with effective web copy: 1. Create an effective Unique Selling Proposition (USP): A USP is the statement (2-3 sentences at most) that explains why you are different than everyone else. This is the unique factor that sets you apart from your competition. Make this the first thing your visitor sees. 2. Write about what you offer. Focus on benefits (not features) and de-emphasize your organization. The Website visitor needs to understand the value in a relationship with you. 3. Use your copy to help steer your visitor down an intended path. This can be accomplished by placing your "Point of action" near benefits-related text, making it easier for your visitors to take action at that moment. ********************************************************** Tom Neuman is a Senior Partner with Medium Blue Internet Marketing (http://www.mediumblue.com). For monthly tips on how to get the most out of your internet presence, sign up for the Medium Blue Internet Marketing newsletter at http://www.mediumblue.com/newsletters <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (16.) Is Your Website Optimized for Search Engines? ~~ By Scott Buresh ~ Medium Blue Internet Marketing For the technically inclined, there are numerous places on the web to get detailed, in-depth information on how to properly optimize a web site for the best possible search engine rankings. However, many people don't care about the technical aspects of search engine optimization- they just want to know what is wrong with their site (and how to fix it). What follows is a practical guide that covers some of the most basic search engine issues. It is in no way intended to be comprehensive, but it should help the average site owner determine whether their site is optimized, and if not, how to make some simple changes to improve their search engine rankings. Issue #1- The Title Bar On your homepage, what does the title bar say? If you use Internet Explorer, this is the blue bar at the extreme top of the window that displays your page (it may include the words "Microsoft Internet Explorer" at the end). Does your company name appear here by itself, when you have more important keywords to emphasize? Worse yet, does it say "untitled"? This area should contain the most important keywords you see on your homepage (Don't have any text on your homepage? See issue #2). To check the rest of your site, click on any link from your homepage and see if the words in this title bar change for each page in your site. They should- and each title bar should contain the most important keywords from their corresponding page. Note: Very long keyword strings in the title bar should be avoided- six words or less is optimal. Also, words in the title bar should not repeat more than once, and identical words should not appear next to one another. Issue #2- Content Search engines all try to list sites that contain good content. Translation- you need words on your pages, not flashy graphics. This text should contain the most important keywords that your potential customers would use to find you on a search engine. If you have very few or no words on your pages, it is a good idea to add some, ideally around 250 per page. For aesthetic reasons, this is not always practical, but even 100 well-written words can have an impact on rank. It is also important that you make certain that the words are written in a language the search engines can read. Using your mouse, bring your cursor down to the text on one of your web pages. Clicking and holding down the left mouse button (make sure you aren't near a link) see if you can highlight just one or two words of the text. If you can, everything is most likely fine. If nothing happens, or you can only highlight a large block, it is most likely in graphic form. Graphic text needs to be replaced by standard html text to allow the search engines to read it. Your web expert should have no problem understanding what you require, and the transition should be fairly simple and affordable. Issue #3- Meta Tags Some people believe that meta tags are the Holy Grail of search engine optimization. Unfortunately, their effectiveness is limited (many engines ignore them completely), but they can play a limited role in determining rank on some engines. To see if your site has meta tags, go to your home page. Click the "view" command at the top of the browser window. From the pull-down menu, select "source". This should open up another window that shows your code. Much of this may seem indecipherable, but there should be two commands there (usually near the top of the code). One of these says meta name="description" content= and will go on to describe your company and products, and one says meta name="keywords" content= and goes on to list applicable keywords for your site. If these tags are missing, have your web expert insert them. Issue #4- Links Link popularity has become increasingly important to search engine rankings, with 19 of the top 20 engines using it in their ranking algorithm. Simply put, search engines give a ranking boost to sites that have incoming links from quality, related sites. There are numerous free tools on the web that will allow you to see what sites link to yours (just type "free link popularity check" in your favorite search engine). If you don't have many sites linking to yours, it may be time to start a link building campaign. This is where you find quality, non-competing sites in your industry and ask them if they would like to exchange links. An additional benefit of link exchanges is that these links can bring you additional, highly targeted traffic. Conclusion Although following the above guidelines will by no means guarantee you top page rankings for your keywords, fixing one or more of the problems should have a very positive impact on your search engine rankings. For the volumes of potential customers that a search engine can send to your site, it's certainly worth the effort. ********************************************************** Scott Buresh is co-founder and principal of Medium Blue Internet Marketing. For more helpful tips, visit http://www.mediumblue.com For a free search engine analysis, please visit http://www.mediumblue.com/analysis.html <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (17.) How to Invest in Your Online Marketing Today ~~ By Scott T. Smith ~ LinkageXpress Most Web business owners have limited marketing resources, so it only makes sense to invest in marketing that really works. Today the top two ways people find what they want online are through search indexes, and through links. Which means, search engine optimization (SEO) and targeted link building are the top marketing tactics today that are worth your investment. You can certainly choose one or the other, but here's why we recommend you do both: SEO services are all about getting you the best possible search engine positioning. Although search engines are used by close to 80% of the population online today to find resources, currently they index less than 40% of the Internet overall. Which means that more than 60% of all Internet resources cannot be found through the search engines at all. This raises the question: 'If people can't find the resources they want through search engines and directories, how DO they find them and where do they look?' The answer is, 'through links'. After search indexes, this is the 2nd most popular way to find anything online, and opens the door to a much higher percentage of the Internet's resources than search indexes can offer. Targeted link building finds the sites where your market gathers, then works to establish a direct link from those sites to yours. In this way it brings you one step closer to reaching your target markets - the people frequenting sites in your market niche. And because targeted links enhance your listings with the top 19 search engines and directories today, you'll become a more visible and a recognized player in your niche market. SEO and link building combine in a symbiotic relationship, and it works to your advantage. Can you see why you need to invest in both site optimization and link building? Targeted link building reaches out to the online community to find your target audience and build your network, while an SEO campaign enhances and effectively submits your Web site assets. So make the investment. Do BOTH site optimization and targeted link building. Concentrate on these two areas of your marketing online to put your products and services before the most 'buying eyes' and gain the widest possible reach. Invest in your online marketing today and you are investing in a bright future, because your Web site is an asset that grows. ********************************************************** Scott T. Smith runs LinkageXpress, the hand-tailored link popularity service for commercial business Web sites. Get properly linked within your niche market, attract pre-qualified site visitors prone to buy what you offer, and improve your search index listings. For a FREE link popularity consultation, visit http://www.linkagexpress.com SEOs call 1.800.798.4471 <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> Well, gang.....that's about it for this edition of ABC ~ All 'Bout Computers. I sure hope you enjoyed it! If any of it was over your head and you need some clarification from one of the Fleet, just send me an email to linda@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and I will pass it on to them. Remember that they do this in their spare time on a voluntary basis, so you might have to wait for an answer. To make all things work more quickly, include as many details as you can in your email and make your questions as specific as possible. Also, feel free to write to me and let us know what you want the Fleet to teach you. This is YOUR newsletter! Happy computing, my friends! Linda Johnson http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com ********************************************************** READ THIS CAREFULLY! ********************************************************** ------------------------------------- (18.) 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