[abcomputers] ABC ~ All 'Bout Computers, Vol. 21: Ad-aware, Valentine Graphics,and Lotsa Good Stuff!
- From: "Linda F. Johnson" <linda@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: ABCfreelists <abcomputers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 09 Feb 2003 01:22:26 -0500
______________________________________________________
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
______________________________________________________
ABC ~ All 'Bout Computers
Volume 21; February, 2003 - mailed to 3657 subscribers
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Please rate this Ezine at the Cumuli Ezine Finder
http://snurl.com/6si
ABC is also listed at FreeTechMail now. Please visit their
site and rate it there too:
http://snurl.com/6sj
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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
(frames)
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/vol21.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".
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For definitions of any terms you do not understand, visit
the GeekSpeak Translator:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc/gs.htm
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You are receiving this newsletter because you (or
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Using the "Reply" function will not unsubscribe you!
My subscriber list is NOT made available to other
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WATCH FOR LONG LINKS!
Most of these have been replaced with SnipURLs
http://www.snipurl.com
so you shouldn't have to copy/paste URLs anymore,
unless you have a reeeeaaallly tiny monitor ;-)
So...if the links are longer than a certain amount, I've
"snipped" them.
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**************STATION BREAK*****************
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THIS MONTHS' FEATURED SPONSOR:
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CONTENTS
(all links below these items take you to the non-frames
online versions)
(items with *** behind them include pictures and/or are
better if viewed online)
1. Important How-To Message for Reading This Ezine
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/vol21.htm#HowTo
2. Linda's Thought of the Month
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/vol21.htm#thought
(and animated GIFs) ***
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/vol21.htm#gif
3. Linda's Soapbox ~ Hitbox Is History....for me, anyway
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/linda21.htm
4. What's New at Linda's Computer Stop ~ Lotsa Stuff Happening!
(and Vic's added some downloads to supplement his great article
on locating a lost Windows Install Key ... don't miss 'em!)
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/newabc21.htm
5. Subscribers' Exclusive TipS ~ Two for the Price of One
~ #1 The Right Click Way To Speed Up Downloads, by Tom Glander
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/newabc21.htm#tip
~ #2 Deleting Temp Files...revisited, by Linda
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/newabc21.htm#tip2
6. GeekSpeak Translation from the Cap'n
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc/gs.htm
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7. THIS MONTH'S FEATURE ~ Steve's SPECIAL Review
~ STALKING THE SPIES HIDING IN YOUR COMPUTER
~~ NEW Ad-aware 6 Steps Up The Battle ***
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/steve21.htm
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<3 ~~~ <3 ~~~ <3 ~~~ <3 ~~~ <3 ~~~ <3 ~~~ <3 ~~~ <3
8. VALENTINE SPECIAL
~ from Charlene Russ
~ Creating a Heart Shape in 3D Studio Max ***
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/char21v.htm
<3 ~~~ <3 ~~~ <3 ~~~ <3 ~~~ <3 ~~~ <3 ~~~ <3 ~~~ <3
9. Vic's Multimedia Madness
~ Converting Your VHS Tapes To DVDs or CDs
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/vic21.htm
10. Kathy's Practical PowerPoint Tips
~ Creating a Complete PowerPoint Template,
Part I: Creating Slide Masters
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/kath21.htm
11. James's Database
~ Emailing Reports From Access, via Outlook/Outlook Express
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/james21.htm
12. Tina's FrontPage News
~ FrontPage 2002 Photo Gallery ***
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/tina21.htm
13. Mike's Safety Belt
~ Another Celebrity Virus ~ Lirva
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/mike21.htm
14. Charlene's Drawing Board
~ Using Modifiers in 3D Studio Max ***
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/char21.htm
15. Steve's Ravin' Reviews ***
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/stevea21.htm
<>JPEG Resizer - 5 geezers
<>Copernic Agent Basic - 4½ geezers
<>cam2pc - 6 geezers
<>AI RoboForm - 5½ geezers
<>Startup Control Panel - 6 geezers
16. Protecting Your Data, and Data Security
~ by guest author, John Galvin
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/john21.htm
17. How To Avoid Getting Ripped Off On-line
~ by guest author, Willie Crawford
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/will21.htm
18. A Computer the Way YOU Want It
~ by guest author, Bob Osgoodby
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/bob21.htm
19. Subscription Management
20. Contact Information
*** means the article includes pictures in the online version
or is better viewed online
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**************STATION BREAK*****************
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ECLECTIC ACADEMY ~ A Better Choice in Distance Learning
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://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
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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://eclecticacademy.com/index.htm
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FLASH!! Next classes begin March 2, 2003
DON'T DELAY -- SIGN UP NOW!!
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(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/abc3/v21/vol21.htm#HowTo
If you are reading this plain text issue, maximize your
email window for best viewing.
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**************STATION BREAK*****************
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Download Mad Mick's 200 Computer Questions & Answers
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(2.) LINDA'S THOUGHT OF THE MONTH
My thought this month is simple:
Look before you ask
What's it mean? It means before you ask a question or
make a statement or take an action...check out the Internet
and see if the answer is there, or there's something there
that would change your mind.
So...before you write to some support group and say
"I have a dumb question", go to a search engine and TYPE
your "dumb" question in the search box.
Before you tell someone they are wrong, go to a search
engine and make that statement there, in the search box,
and see what comes up.
And, PLEASE, before you forward some email to everyone in
your address book, telling them that some knowledgeable
friend of yours forwarded this virus warning to you and you
want them all to search their hard drives for this dangerous
file and delete it immediately, cuz you sure just did....go to a
search engine and type the name of that file in the search box.
MOST of these warnings are hoaxes and you will sure feel bad
if it's becuz of you that many people deleted a file in their
computer that was supposed to stay there.
Don't know what a search engine is? Go to www.google.com
and find out. You'll be glad you did...and so will your friends.
CLICK HERE FOR THIS MONTH'S ANIMATED GIFs:
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/vol21.htm#gif
(just rightclick on the gif and choose "Save Picture As...")
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(3.) LINDA'S SOAPBOX
~~Linda F. Johnson, Editor/Publisher
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HITBOX IS HISTORY...for me, anyway
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Boy oh boy. It seems more and more the hot topics in all the
newsletters are about the spies on the Internet. Just look at
the table of contents for THIS issue....Steve, John....and now
me. And this one has hit me PERSONALLY. grrrrr
Any of you who are in the tech support groups I'm in have
heard me whine many times about the web-de"bug"gers
zapping my pages and firewalls preventing people from
getting to my pages. Why was this happening to me? Well,
because I was using a service called Hitbox which allowed me
to count the number of visits each page at my site got each
day. It was really helpful to me... it allowed me to see which
articles in ABC were read the most and which of my online
free tutorials were being used the most. Not only did it tell
me what my visitors were looking for, but it also told me
which of my pages might be buried so deeply that my visitors
couldn't find them, so I was able to reorganize my site so
these pages were easier for people to find. So, when people
would tell me that Hitbox was spyware, I would go read
Hitbox's privacy policy YET again and try to convince them
they were wrong. As far as I could see, Hitbox had every
right to advertise on my site since they were providing me
with this valuable service for free and I had every right to let
them place a "necessary" cookie on my visitors' computers
since I was doing this for my visitors' benefit. I did include a
link at the bottom of every one of my pages, to Hitbox's
privacy policy and a statement that I was using Hitbox on
my site. (because I didn't want to do anything behind my
visitor's backs.) Sounds logical, eh? Who knows. Maybe I
just didn't want to face the ugly truth that I was allowing
Hitbox to spy on my visitors, becuz I was just too blinded by
it's ease of use. But, every time I read Hitbox's privacy policy,
I really was convinced that everything they did, they did ONLY
so the stats they provided me with were accurate. (Mind you
... Hitbox NEVER provided me with any personal information
about my visitors. The only thing they gave me was counts...
numbers only. However, I now believe that they were gaining
a lot more info about my visitors than they were telling me.)
I was forced to face this cold hard fact this week when I got
my new version of Ad-aware (a program I have great respect
for...see Steve's review this month). I ran Ad-aware for the
first time in a couple months and was horrified to find that I
had 44 spyware cookies on my machine...and 43 of them
were from Hitbox! And I trust Ad-aware, since I know it is one
of the few spy detecting programs that uses good sense in it's
choices. I know many other programs that make these
decisions based on stupid criteria, like the size of a graphic,
or necessary session cookies which are placed on some sites
which use shopping carts from third party sites, like PayPal
(session cookies are placed on your computer while you are
at a site and removed when you leave). Ad-aware is one of
the few spy detecting programs that does it's homework...
so when Ad-aware tells me this is a spy, I believe them.
So...I decided that Hitbox indeed had to go. And what a job
THAT was since I had Hitbox code on 954 pages in my site.
Yes, thank goodness, FrontPage has a good find/replace
utility that allowed me to find parts of the code and "Replace
All" in a few steps. Unfortunately, what I couldn't replace in
one swoop was the individual tag on each page that let me
identify that particular page when I viewed my stats at Hitbox.
So, I had to endure the long boring task of going into every
one of these 954 pages and manually removing it's unique
tag. (See what I do for you guys?)
The only reason I was using Hitbox was that Hostway, my
web host, provided me with stats that weren't as easy to
attain and weren't updated as often. But, somebody was
watching over me, becuz the day I decided to get rid of
Hitbox, Hostway notified me that they had added an
Advanced Tracking System called Urchin and I could use that.
And, this one doesn't place any cookies anywhere and it also
doesn't require that I add code to all of my pages. I just
signed up for it, and it was automatic. (Though not free...
see what ELSE I did for you guys? LOL)
So...you may all rest assured now that you can cruise around
ABC and my website without fear of any bugs or spies
watching you (or biting you). On the pages where I have
PayPal buttons, there is a session cookie placed on your
computer, but I assure you it is removed as soon as you leave
that page. If you don't believe me, try running Ad-aware
after you visit my site and you will see that I am CLEAN. Also,
I've added links to PayPal's privacy policy on various places
on my site and you can see a link at the bottom of every page
on my site that takes you here
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/privacy_and_disclaimer.htm
so you can always see my own personal, up-to-date privacy
policy, as well as that of any sites like PayPal that require a
session cookie in order to serve you.
Thanks again to everyone who visits my site. I promise you
that it's ALWAYS my intention to serve you the best way I
know how. But, sometimes I just mess up. (and I guess I
can sometimes be a *tad* stubborn and lazy)
Happy Computing!
Linda
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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://snurl.com/6sk
Part II: Table Wizardry
http://snurl.com/6sl
AND, How To Get Started As a Software Trainer:
http://snurl.com/6sd
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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://personal-computer-tutor.com/library.htm
Only $15 each!! Where else can you master a software
Program for that price?
Separate eBook tutorials on Access, Excel, Outlook,
PowerPoint, Publisher, and Word. Terrific value!!
OR BUY THEM ALL ON ONE CD Only $45.00!!
Order online or by regular mail
Details here:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/cdtutorial.htm
Download the free Sample Version at CNET:
http://snurl.com/6sc
And PLEASE rate it there for me? Thanks!!
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**************STATION BREAK*****************
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Freelists to offer MailandFiles.com
http://www.mailandfiles.com/
Our amazing list host, FreeLists, has started a new email
and file storage service called MailandFiles.com: "For 5
bucks a month, you get access to 50MB of email and file
storage, a you@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx email address, access
to that email through web mail, POP3, and IMAP, plus
access to your files both through the web mail client and
FTP. (Software like WebDrive(tm) and Windows 2000+'s
"map a network drive" makes it easier on Windows users.)"
If their incredible service at FreeLists is any indication,
this is sure to be the best service of its kind on the Internet.
<snipped from MikesWhatsNews>>
To subscribe, send a blank email to
mikeswhatsnews-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with the word 'subscribe' in the subject line
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(4.) WHAT'S NEW at Linda's Computer Stop
http://personal-computer-tutor.com
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Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! Don't miss the fun
Valentine animated gifs I have in this issue.
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/vol21.htm#gif
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This has been a very busy month for me. I've been doing a
lot of site cleaning and reorganizing again. I was getting
emails from people telling me they couldn't find some pages
since my total reorganization two month's ago, so I have
once again changed my homepage so there are links from
there to most everything, and I hope you can find your way
around better. See my homepage's new look here:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com
also...if you want to see how my site has changed over the
years, you can always visit this page that shows
the evolution of Linda's Computer Stop.
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/evolution.htm
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I've also changed the whole way I track my webstats now,
and if you want to read the whys and hows of that, it's
covered in this month's Soapbox article, which you can
read here:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/linda21.htm
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Also, I've added PayPal donation buttons to each page of
ABC. Now, I don't want anyone to think that ABC isn't free
anymore, becuz it is and always will be. But, sometimes I
just feel so guilty that the Fleet works so hard to produce
these wonderful articles and I want to give them something.
So, just know that if you ever feel inclined to thank the Fleet
for what they do, clicking on the PayPal buttons will generate
some money that I can then distribute among them. Boy,
would that make ME feel good! For those afraid to use their
credit card online, I can assure you that PayPal is very secure
(all of their pages begin with https://, instead of http://,
which is how you can tell you are on a secure site) and their
privacy statement is quite clear. You can see that here:
https://www.paypal.com/privacy
But, rest assured that if you don't donate money to ABC, I
will still love you. For all I know, you are even more broke
than I am LOL
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Another new goodie: Tom Glander (maybe some of you
remember him from his days at The Newbie Club) has
produced a great new video tutorial called Show Me
Windows, which is super, and since I'm such a fan of Tom's,
I told him I would promote it at my site. Remember that I
do not promote ANYTHING at my site that I don't fully
believe is worth the money, so you can believe me when I
tell you this one is great! You can check it out here:
http://showmewindows.com/indexlj.htm
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I guess you've seen, in ABC, that I've finally twisted Vic
Ferri's arm and convinced him to share some of his
multimedia knowledge with us. See? He's not just a whiz
at Registry hacking, but he's also a genius when it comes to
this audio/video stuff. And his articles are just a tip of the
iceberg. If you want to REALLY know about multimedia,
you HAVE to check out his Expert Guides page. There is SO
much there that you can learn if audio/video is something
that interests you. And he even has stuff on Sony PlayStation!
Check it out here:
http://www.angelfire.com/va3/expert_guides/
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And speaking of Vic Ferri. Remember that great article he
wrote to help you locate your lost Windows Install Key?
Well, he's made a page of downloadables that will find the
Install key on your computer no matter which version of
Windows you are using. Go back and re-read his article...
the links are all there now:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc2/v15/vic15.htm
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Lately, since I've been teaching a PhotoShop class at the
college, and becuz I've been playing around with colors
more on my website, I've been finding a need for color
codes when I want to duplicate an exact color. So, I usually
hop onto the web and look for some article somewhere that
gives the codes. So, I thought to myself. "Self...why don't
you just make a chart of all these colors so you will have them
all available to you when you need them?" So, I spent hours
slaving over my graphics textbooks copying these colors into
an easy-to-use chart and figured, now that it's done, I might
as well share it with you all. So, it's on my website now...feel
free to print a copy for yourself or just bookmark the page so
you can access it when you need it. It's here:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/colors.htm
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I wrote a pretty good tutorial for TechTrax this month,
called What Is That Thingie Called, Anyway?, that describes
all the stuff you see on your screen. I recommend it for
newbies and techies alike. Newbies can use it to identify the
part of their screen where a problem may lie and techies can
send newbies there to do this also. No more will the techies
have to endure questions from the newbies like "What
happened to my doohickey on the whatsis on the bottom of
my screen?" This one's a good one to bookmark:
TechTrax version:
http://snurl.com/qlb
Copy on my website:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/thingie.htm
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Of course, I've also added some new links to my favorite
links page, so go there and check out the revolving Ns:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/internet.htm
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Well...that's about it for this month. Please come back
to my site often to see what else I've added and drop
me a line if you have any suggestions.
Linda
linda@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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**************STATION BREAK*****************
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SHOW ME WINDOWS
http://showmewindows.com/indexlj.htm
Imagine having a trusted friend sit down with you, guide
your hand, telling you where to click and showing you each
step to get the results you want.
There's No Easier Way To Gain Control Over Your PC
And Master Every Aspect Of Its Operation. Guaranteed!
Want proof that what I'm saying is true and totally honest?
Of course you do.
The best way is to Download my FREE sample video and
See for yourself.
Tom Glander
Show Me Windows
http://showmewindows.com/indexlj.htm
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(5.) SUBSCRIBERS' EXCLUSIVE TIPS OF THE MONTH:
Two Tips for the Price of One This Month
Tip #1 from Tom Glander:
THE RIGHT CLICK WAY TO SPEED UP DOWNLOADS
Is there a best way to download from an Internet web
page? Do you end up watching the hourglass, never to see
the Save As window appear that lets you get the download
started? It's happened to me. And here's what to do to
ensure safe and sane downloads ALL the time.
1. You can click the download link with your left mouse
button. If the download "hangs" (you get to watch the
hourglass), then try the next thing.
2. The next thing is to click the download link with your
RIGHT mouse button. When you do, you should see the
context menu appear. On that menu you'll see "Save As..."
or "Save Target As..." and when you do, left click that line
item. The Save As window should appear, giving you the
contents of your hard drive and allowing you to select the
location for the download.
Okay, already know about this right clicking method? Great!
But if you don't, you learned something new.
Oh, one more thing. If you right click and use the "Save As..."
method, and you still get hung up, you may need to see a
specialist. Or reboot (restart) your computer and try again.
**********
If you want to see over 100 tips, tricks, methods, shortcuts
and more work right on your computer, check out the Video
Tutorials at http://showmewindows.com/indexlj.htm
Get your free sample video while you're there, and see if
this method of discovery doesn't rock your computing world.
Tom Glander is the creator of Show Me Windows for Windows
98 computers. He specializes in making information easy to
understand, writing and speaking primarily to those with little
computing experience.
<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>
Tip #2 from Linda:
DELETING TEMP FILES.....REVISITED
Reader Frank G. recently sent me this note:
Dear Linda,
I have one you can help me with. I lost the link for my
**Chk** files and cannot delete them. Would you be kind
enough to send it again. Might be a good idea to add it to
one of your future newsletters. I am sure there are others
who would appreciate it.
Love, Frank
Sure thing, Frank!
One of the most popular pages on my website is my Deleting
Temp Files 101 tutorial. Some people write to me in a panic
and tell me that they regularly empty the contents of their
Windows/Temp directory, but when they tried my method,
they found THOUSANDS more temp files and they were
scared to get rid of them. I usually reply and tell them the
story of the time when I visited a senior center to teach an
email class to some elderly people who wanted to get into
the email thing with their grandkids. One of the women there
was having some really screwy problems with her computer
(missing fonts, toolbars all messed up, constant errors and
BSODs, etc.), so I told her this is often caused by some temp
files that are hanging around and wreaking havoc (they
TRULY are little gremlins in your computer and need to be
exorcised regularly). So, I used my method of searching for
temp files (which doesn't just search your Temp directory,
but searches your whole computer ..... and it doesn't just
search for *.tmp files, but also searches for files beginning
with a tilde [~] left behind by all of the Office programs and
*.chk files left behind when you run scandisk). Anyway, I
did my search and found over 4200 temp files! Well, I have
to tell you that this poor ol' gal LITERALLY dropped her teeth
when she saw me hit the delete key on her keyboard. LOL
I thought we might have to call the paramedics. But, after I
deleted them and rebooted her computer, all of her nagging
problems had vanished. And this is NOT unusual.
It's not JUST a good idea to delete temp files regularly....
it's a necessity!
And my method is easy and even teaches you how to make
a shortcut on your desktop so you can do it anytime you
want, with a simple click of a button.
So...make sure you have LOTS of Fixadent holding your
dentures in and go to the link below and give it a try. I only
wish I could be there with you when your eyes pop out in
amazement at the number of temp files you didn't know
you had.
Have fun!
Deleting Temps 101
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/deletingtempfiles.htm
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<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>
(6.) Cap'n Patt's
GEEKSPEAK TRANSLATOR
Visit the Cap'n's Official GeekSpeak Database at
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc/gs.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
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**************STATION BREAK*****************
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*****THIS MONTH'S FEATURE*****
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(7.) STEVE'S SPECIAL REVIEW
~~ Steve Mills
STALKING THE SPIES HIDING IN YOUR COMPUTER
NEW AD-AWARE 6 STEPS UP THE BATTLE
I hate what they are doing to my Internet!!
<> SPAM
<> Viruses
<> Trojans
<> Pop-Ups
<> Pop-Unders
<> Unwanted Pornographic Ads
<> Browser Hijacking
<> Ads on my Desktop
<> Upgrades that disable old and paid for versions
<> Commercial programs like Quicken that leave crap all over
the place and try to sell me something at every turn
Shall I go on? I guess I'm getting old and grumpy - well, I
know I'm getting old - the grumpy part you can decide. I
want to go to Comiskey Park, I don't want to go to U.S.
Cellular Field! Of all the things that irritate me when I sit
down to my computer, it's the constant marketing that
bothers me the most. SPAM can be dealt with by judicious
use of filters and a good anti-spam program. Norton does a
great job with viruses and Trojans, as long as you stay up to
date. I can delete the garbage that programs like Quicken
leave and reduce the problem. They'll still periodically find
ways to sneak in a sales pitch for some product or service,
but I can even live with that.
But, to me, the most heinous of crimes are committed by
the purveyors of spyware. What is spyware? I find this
definition adequate and to the point:
Software installed on a computer without the user's
knowledge or consent which watches the habits of the user,
gathering information for retrieval by or transmission to the
owner of the spyware.
Shall we call it market research? Some commentators further
divide it into advertising and surveillance categories. However
you define it, spyware is junk on your computer, using your
resources and bandwidth for the sole benefit of some
marketing company. At its worst, it causes crashes,
dramatically slows down your computer, steals passwords
and hijacks your browser and replaces the home page. I
could go on and, for those that have an interest, a quick
trip to www.google.com will give you plenty to read.
You need to get this garbage off of your computer - now!
I've read that this stuff mostly comes from file sharing
programs and chat rooms. I do neither and find that seldom
a week goes by without something finding its way onto my
computer. I test a lot of software and some of it leaves
these little droppings behind. This is probably as good a time
as any to let everyone know that some of this stuff doesn't
go easily - like a tick with its head buried. Disabling the
spyware can affect the operation of the program that
brought it and I've even heard of browsers being disabled
after removal. Take every precaution possible. Set a restore
point if you're running XP and take advantage of all roll back
provisions of the program. Most of the time, there will be no
problem, but you've been warned.
For a long time, Ad-aware from Lavasoft
http://www.lavasoft.nu/
has been the most popular and, arguably the best, spyware
removal tool. For some reason, unknown to me the regular
updates stopped on June 20, 2002.
(see Mike Bayne's article last month for the full story
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v20/mike20.htm ),
They received a lot of bad press and disappointed users.
Some suggested that the definitions were so out of date
that it could actually harm the computer. I doubt this, but I
do know that the other program I use after Ad-aware began
finding more and more of this junk. This week, they released
version 6.0 and I'm impressed. This review is being written
earlier in the life cycle than I would prefer, but we wanted
the readers of ABC to get early information and I do know
Lavasoft has already updated the program to cure an early,
nonfatal, bug. I'm sure readers don't need to be reminded,
but I'm doing so anyway, that new software should be
treated like a new car. Don't drive it too fast before you
know if the wheels are going to fall off.
The first thing users of prior versions will notice is the
dramatically improved interface:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/steve21.htm
Ad-aware 6 is available in 3 versions. Prior releases had a
freeware version and a commercial version only. The
freeware version is called the Standard Edition.
Important new features are:
<> Complete control over what is scanned on their computer;
from a total system scan down to a single folder.
<> Improved safety, including automatic quarantine and
recycle bin storage of removed components, allows for simple
restoration procedures.
<> An all new backup archive viewer that allows the user to
quickly and easily review components that have been
removed and stored for future restoration.
<> All new and integrated reference file updating capability
that will include the ability to search for new reference files
automatically when Ad-aware is started.
Since I haven't had a chance to review the commercial
versions, we'll rely on their explanation.
Ad-aware Plus ($26.95) offers the following:
<> Ad-aware Plus Edition is designed to provide continuous
protection from known Datamining, aggressive advertising,
Parasites, Scumware, Keyloggers, selected traditional
Trojans, Dialers, Malware, Browser hijackers, and tracking
components.
<> Redundant archival backup capability
<> Real-time alerts
<> Customizable file size limits
<> Non-executable file exclusion
<> Kill popups
<> Block ActiveX and web installations
Ad-aware Professional ($39.95) appears to be designed
primarily for IT departments and adds the following features:
<> Scan mapped drives from one central location.
<> Customize your preference and configuration files for
remote AND local scanning
<> Have complete flexibility in where you save your log files,
including the ability to store them in remote locations.
<> Store and read reference files from any location in your
network. You can also use MULTIPLE reference files for
customizable scanning and troubleshooting.
<> Use specially created plug-ins designed to extend the
functionality of the Professional edition for the average to
the most advanced user. Visit our Plug-ins page to obtain
more information about available components.
There are other differences, but this should give you a feel
for the 3 versions. From my initial perspective, the freeware
version seems perfectly adequate for manual operation and
the Plus version would be nice for ongoing, real-time
protection. Obviously the latter is an additional drain on
computer resources and this must be balanced with the
desired level of protection. My conservative nature tells me
to wait on the Plus version until most latent incompatibilities
are ironed out. In any case, go to the download page at
Lavasoft and grab the Standard version (sometimes called
Personal) and give it a try. You can always upgrade to the
next level.
http://www.lavasoft.nu/support/download/
If you've got a fairly large hard drive, this is a program you
start and then go do something else. I have about 30
gigabytes of stuff on my hard drive and a massive registry.
Scanning takes about 30 minutes, depending on the settings.
Really not bad and it seems much faster than prior versions.
Personally, I run a spyware program (actually 2) once a
month or so, unless I'm having strange and sporadic
problems. It's surprising how often a purging of spyware
modules can cure unexplained problems.
The other spyware eradicator I run, as neither one catches
everything, is:
Spybot - Search & Destroy
Version: 1.1 release 4
Date: December 28, 2002
Author: PepiMK
Web Site: http://spybot.eon.net.au
I've covered this in earlier columns, so won't go into detail
here. Search & Destroy has developed a reputation as a
geek's program while Ad-aware is more "consumer". I'm
not sure where this came from. This has been a stable,
frequently updated program with a very usable interface.
I developed a deep appreciation during the Lavasoft hiatus.
Both should be on your hard drive.
We'll keep testing Ad-aware this month and try to examine
the Plus version and report back with additional findings. I'm
certainly interested in comments and experiences with this
important, new program. Write me: steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
AFTERTHOUGHTS: As regular readers know, I have a long
standing prejudice against junior versions of software. Of
all the software I currently use on a regular basis, only
Adobe Photoshop Essentials leaves me satisfied and not
wishing I owned the big brother. I get doubly frustrated
when I click on a cool option in a program and something
pops up and says - Neat huh? Please send money to get it.
Grrrrrr!!! I absolutely don't begrudge authors an opportunity
to make money off their hard work, but I do resent demos
posing as freeware. I worry as popular freeware programs
gradually morph into commercial products and the program
you've come to rely on is orphaned into obscurity. I think
Lavasoft has done a commendable job in describing what you
get at each level, but I feel there's more of a difference here
between the free and paid version than there was in version
5 and if it progresses as so many have, you will be forced to
buy the commercial version at some point. If that happens
it's not all bad, just another consideration if you plan to rely
on Ad-aware for spyware removal. I could be dead wrong
(wouldn't be the first time), but it's just one of the things I
think about when I put freeware in my working arsenal.
********************************************
Steve Mills has been reviewing software in different capacities
for many years. He has recently left his job with a search
engine consulting firm and is looking for a new adventure.
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<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>
(8.) CHARLENE'S SPECIAL VALENTINE TUTORIAL
~~Charlene Russ, Corndancer Design Graphics
CREATING A HEART SHAPE IN 3D STUDIO MAX
**********************************************
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article includes pictures and is
clearer if read online. You can see the online version here:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/char21v.htm
**********************************************
You can draw any linear spline and extrude it into a 3D shape
from tools available on the modeling tab. You simply select
the line segment tool and draw your shape, such as a heart.
You click and drag with your mouse; stop and click as you are
drawing and another point is created, drag your mouse
down from this point. You must draw the shape as a single
piece or line for the extrude or bevel modifiers to work.
You right click on the last point where you want the line to
close, a prompt will appear that asks 'Close Spline?' If you
are satisfied with the line shape, click ok.
Next, click the extrude tool from the modeling tab, this
should be a sort of star shape icon with an arrow pointing
upward. A rollout menu will be displayed on the right side of
your screen; you can adjust parameters for the amount of
the extrusion there.
Modeling Tab: Drawing a Shape In 3D Studio Max
First, select the line segment tool, then select the appropriate
radio buttons under creation method. Additional line width
properties can be adjusted by using the parameters under
the rendering rollout.
I do not recommend using the Bezier drag type unless you
are very familiar with drawing Bezier curves, as they can be
a bit cumbersome for even the advanced user.
After closing the spline you have just created using the line
segment tool, you may now extrude the shape by clicking
the 'Extrude Modifier'. (See my other article on using
modifiers in this issue, for more details on modifiers and how
they work.)
NOTE: The second icon to the right of the extrude modifier
is the bevel modifier which allows you to apply beveled
outlines to your newly created shape. There are three
separate bevel outlines. Height and outline parameters are
adjustable for all of these.
The hand-drawn, extruded and beveled hearts are displayed
in the online version of this article. Each heart has been
rotated slightly for effect. Lights have also been added to
the scene.
********************************************
Charlene Russ is an instructor with Eclectic Academy, and
is currently teaching Introduction to 3D Studio Max. She
teaches novice students the basics of 3D design and
modeling techniques. She is also an adjunct instructor
with a Florida community college in the Digital Arts dept.
To enroll in one of her on-line courses you need to access
the Eclectic Academy website at
http://www.eclecticacademy.com and click 'enter'.
Charlene's personal site is Corndancer Design Graphics,
which features a wide gamut of useful design related
information.
http://corndancer.hypermart.net/
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**************STATION BREAK*****************
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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://personal-computer-tutor.com/lh/lockhide.htm
Screenshots and instructions here:
http://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
<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>
(9.) VIC'S MULTIMEDIA MADNESS
~~ Vic Ferri, WinTips&Tricks
CONVERTING YOUR VHS TAPES TO DVDS OR CDS
Last month, we talked about creating video CDs from video
files on your computer
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v20/vicm20.htm
and mentioned that you can also convert video from outside
your computer to video CDs or DVD as well. In this article, I
will show you the basics of transferring your old VHS video
tapes to CDs or DVDs. Of course, if you prefer, you can store
the converted video on your hard drive, providing you have
space to spare and just want to watch them on your PC monitor.
Why Convert?
A main reason to convert your VHS tapes to CD or DVD is to
put a halt to the degradation of your tapes. Tape is a magnetic
medium that erodes with time and every time it plays. The
result is the gradual loss of the original video quality. By
burning your tapes to CDs or DVDs, you stop this erosion
process. No matter how many times you play a CD/DVD, the
quality will remain the same as when you first made and
played it. Another reason to convert is convenience.
CDs/DVDs are compact and easier to mail to family and
friends than bulky VHS tapes are.
How to Convert
The actual conversion is usually a three step process - first
you have to capture the video to your hard drive, then you
edit it as needed or preferred, and finally, you burn it to a
VCD or DVD in the proper format needed.
Before even considering this process, it's important to know
that video files require an enormous amount of disk space,
so make sure you have about 5 gigs of free space to work
with. This space is needed only temporarily - the files can be
deleted once done. You should also have a fairly fast computer
and hard drive but I can tell you that even with my old
Pentium 425 and 256 mbs of RAM, it is possible to work with
video like this, just not as fast, of course. Defragging your
hard drive before beginning can help improve performance.
If possible, I would recommend setting aside an entire hard
drive partition of 20 gigs or more just for video work.
To get your video to your hard drive, your computer must
have an analog video capture device or video card that
includes a video input that captures analog signals (which is
the norm if your video card has a video input). If you don't
have a video capture device, then you will have to invest in
one - the price can range from about 50 dollars to well over
1000 dollars, depending on the type of device, its qualities,
and features. We can break down the types of video capture
devices into three categories, Video Capture Cards, USB
devices and IE-1394 (Firewire) devices.
Video Capture Cards
This is still the most common method of capturing video by
most professionals and video hobbyists, though Firewire
devices are being used more too and are an excellent choice
for fast, accurate digital video transfer. A card, however,
gives you more features and is more like a complete video
station in your computer. Most also include television tuners
- this means you can plug your TV cable or antenna-based
TV signal into the card and watch and record television on
your desktop. The better ones also include dual monitor
support (even triple) and more connectivity possibilities than
the other capture devices do. The downside of cards is that
they need to be installed in your computer and can cause
conflicts and problems which can be a real headache if you
are a newbie (this is especially true of high-end complex cards)
You need to know what you are doing and read the manuals
carefully when installing. The most popular cards are the
ATI-ALL-IN-WONDER cards like the RADEON 8500DV
http://www.ati.com/products/pc/aiwradeon8500dv/index.html
and the 9700 PRO
http://mirror.ati.com/products/pc/aiw9700pro/index.html
which are both commonly included in many of today's
top-of-the-line home computer systems. The 9700 PRO is the
latest version but, disappointingly, it lacks a firewire port and
dual monitor support - both of which were included in the
older 8500DV. The digital TV tuner was also dropped in the
new card. The nice thing about these ATI cards (besides
being Canadian ~LOL) is that they are all-in-one cards --
video cards with video capture capabilities. You do not need
a separate video card and video capture card.
If you are not heavy into games, have a top of the line
computer, and cost isn't an issue, even better than these
ATI cards for video capture, are some of the MATROX cards
like the professional MATROX RT.X100
http://www.matrox.com/video/products/rtx100/home.cfm
but this is a very expensive card requiring a powerful
computer and used more in business, studios and educational
facilities where 3D gaming features aren't needed. You should
be aware that when you read reviews on video cards, they
are primarily based on the gaming features of the card, not
the video transfer quality needed by professional video and
graphic artists.
All these top cards do best with a fast computer. A Pentium
4 at 2.2 GHZ or AMD Athlon XP 2000+ with 512 mbs of ram
would be great. Most also require that you have the latest
version of DirectX installed.
For a less expensive, less complicated video capture card
with lesser system requirements that would be good for basic
video capture, you can get an entry level card like the ATI TV
Wonder card which has a built-in television tuner and can
capture video at MPEG-2, for about 50 dollars. See my
Experts Guides Page for more information.
http://www.angelfire.com/va3/expert_guides/
The same card comes in a USB version but costs more and
doesn't encode at MPEG-2
USB Devices
The easiest, most uncomplicated way to capture your video
is by bypassing a video capture card altogether and using a
USB analog video capture device. Typically, you simply plug
your VCR into the USB capture device using the standard
composite RCA-type plugs and plug the capture device
cable into a USB port on your computer. No need to open
up your computer. The device captures your video, digitizes
it, and transfers it to your hard drive as a video file.
However, many of these USB devices cost more than a
capture card like the ATI TV Wonder and capture video only
at the lowest quality. I would advise to stay away from the
ones that can only convert video to MPEG-1 resolution. Look
for one that can encode at MPEG-2 resolution. Most of these
devices are USB 1.1 but there are a few USB 2 ones out that
I would recommend. Theoretically, USB 2 is 40X faster but
in actual use, it rarely achieves that speed. However, even
just 2X faster is significant - double the speed - so definitely
worth looking into. And don't worry if your computer only
has the older USB.1.1 as USB 2 is backward compatible and
you can buy an add-on PCI card that will add several USB 2
ports to your computer, if you prefer. A popular one that
can capture at the higher MPEG-2 quality and also uses
USB 2. is VideoOh!DVD by Adaptec.
http://snurl.com/qlo
It's very easy to use and comes bundled with the equally
easy-to-use Sonic's MyDVD,
http://www.mydvd.com/default.asp
which is the only currently-available video editing software
that transfers video to burner in one step (i.e.: you start
the capture and can walk away). Another good one for
basic video capture is the ADS USB Instant DVD
http://snurl.com/q6
which can capture at MPEG 2 at a full-screen resolution of
704 X 480. Also check out Dazzle,
http://www.dazzle.com
who make both low-end and high-end video capture devices,
and Hauppage,
http://www.hauppauge.com/html/usb_data.htm
who make the popular WinTV-USB video capture devices
which include TV tuners. The WinTV-PVR-350 supports data
rates up to 12Mbits/sec. A typical one hour TV show will take
2 gigabytes of hard disk space. Of all the mentioned USB
products here, my personal preference would be the Adaptec
VideoOh!DVD, if it is compatible with your computer.
IEEE 1394 (Firewire)
Firewire is the real choice for speedy high-quality digital
video (DV) transfers, and it should be no wonder, considering
it's an Apple invention. It has transfer rates of up to 400 Mbs
(mega bits per second) which, though rated slower than
USB2, has proved itself as faster and more reliable in actual
use. It is the standard used for high quality digital transfer
and, besides, there are no USB2 camcorders currently
(January, 2003) available. USB2 for video is still emerging
and being tested, and it will probably be a few years before
we can really know whether it will replace or be able to
outperform Firewire.
Firewire has a fixed digital video compression rate of 3.6
megs per second which works out to 13 gigs per hour, with
the transferred quality identical to the original. And you don't
need as fast a computer as you would with a high-end video
capture card to use a firewire capture device. However, you
need to have Windows 98se or up to support Firewire.
Firewire is based on what's known as the 1394 standard
and is an Apple trademark and standard feature on every G4
and iMac. On non-Apple computers, the proper name is just
IEEE 1394 but Firewire is the name that has caught on most.
On Sony computers, the name is iLink. Most new computers
contain at least one Firewire port but, just like USB, if you
don't have one, you can add a Firewire port to your computer
with an add-on PCI card that can give you several Firewire
ports. You can also get combo cards that will give you both
USB and Firewire ports. As for video capture Firewire
devices, for what we are talking about here, they are way
more than what you need but a good choice if you plan to
expand your video interest and get into digital later. For
VHS transfer, you would need one that can also capture
analog signals, as opposed to digital only. One of the better
ones is the Hollywood DV-Bridge,
http://www.dazzle.com/products/hw_bridge.html
which captures both digital and analog signals. The digital
is transferred directly to the hard drive, no conversion, and
thus the quality is just like the original. Another excellent
video capture device that uses Firewire is the Canopus
ADVC-100,
http://www.canopus.com/US/products/advc-100/pt_advc-100.asp
which can capture both analog and digital video, as well. A
good, easy-to-use, more affordable Firewire digital and
analog capturing device is Studio Version 7 or 8 by Pinnacle.
http://snurl.com/qlp
Capture Formats
The format your video is converted to depends on the codecs
that your capture device comes with. The codec is the largest
determining factor affecting the quality of your saved video
file. Because analog signals must be converted or rendered
to digital, there is always some loss of quality in any
conversion. The cheaper devices typically only allow you to
convert to MPEG-1 which is the lowest quality format or AVI
which is uncompressed and huge in size, and which you must
then convert from your hard drive using an encoder to the
desired format for burning. If a cheap device is all you can
afford and the choice is between AVI and MPEG-1 only, then
I would go for AVI, providing you have sufficient disk space
to work with. At least with AVI, you have the choice to
convert the AVI to various formats using encoders of your
choice and you'd end up with better video quality than you
would normally get from the hardware MPEG-1 encoder in
your capture device. The disadvantage of AVI is mainly a
convenience one. - You need to convert the AVI video
yourself before burning. whereas most video capture devices
encode the video for you to the proper format for burning on
CD or DVD: MPEG 2 for SVCD-DVD and MPEG 1 for VCD.
Many of the popular video capture devices include a variety
of encoders allowing you to save your video files in not only
MPEG-1 and MPEG 2 formats, but also in formats like Real
Audio, QuickTime, Windows Media, etc. There is a big
difference in disk space used based on the compression,
resolution and format used. For example, an hour of video
encoded using MPEG-2 with a 740x480 resolution and 16 bit
stereo sound can require over 2 GIGS of disk space. The
same one hour encoded in a format like Windows Media with
a resolution of 320x200 would probably use up less than
150 Mbs of disk space. That's an extreme difference not
only in compression but video quality too. The MPEG-2
conversion results in DVD-like quality at full screen, whereas
the Windows Media conversion is jerky and fuzzy at full
screen, only viewable in a tiny window. However, the lower
quality can be suitable for sharing with family and friends
over the internet or by email or messaging services. The
best quality with the most compression is MPEG-4 format
using a DivX codec, where you can fit a feature-length
movie with near DVD quality on a regular CD.
But that's another story!
The Connection
Almost all video capture cards have composite video inputs
to allow you to connect your VCR or camcorder. Composite
cables are the typical RCA-type cables you use to connect
your VCR to your stereo. There are three colored inputs -
the yellow is for the video signal, the red is usually for the
right audio signal, and the white is usually for the left audio
signal. If your capture or video card has only a single video
input and no audio inputs, connect the yellow to the video
input and use an adaptor cable to connect the two audio
plugs to your sound card's Line-In. The adaptor cable
needed is the same as was discussed in January's article
for connecting stereo to computer
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v20/vicm20.htm
- a 3.5mm (1/8") plug
on one end and two standard RCA connectors at the other
end. USB and Firewire connections are a snap to set up -
just plug one end to your USB or Firewire port, and your
VCR cables to the device. When you buy your device, install
instructions will be included and you will see how easy it is.
The Actual Capture
Once all your connections are made, you will need to install
- if not already installed - video software that can recognize
and record the video and audio entering your computer from
the video and audio inputs. Almost all video capture devices
come bundled with video editing software that can both
record your video and edit it after it is recorded. For
transferring VHS to your burner, the one I would
recommend based on ease of use is MyDVD, which comes
bundled with Adaptec's VideoOh!DVD or you can buy it
separately. When you first open your video editing program,
make sure your capture device and sound card are
recognized and spend some time getting to know your
program and setting your preferences. Also, do a sound
check and make sure the volume is not muted for your sound
card. You will have to choose the output format of the video
you capture. With MyDVD the format used is MPEG-2 and
you're offered three compression settings of Good, Better,
and Best. This makes it easy for beginners to choose, but
for VHS tape don't choose Good if you have this program.
The video quality is poor at this high compression. Choose
Better. Best is overkill for VHS tape quality. With the Better
setting, you can fit about two hours of video on a DVD disk
or maybe up to 45 minutes on a regular 700 mb CD.. Once
you've made your settings, you're ready to start recording.
With MyDVD, you simply turn on your VCR with your tape in
it and hit the "Start Recording" button. You will see your
video as it records in a preview window and hear the sound
through your speakers. Your video will now begin its transfer
to your hard drive. This is the longest part of the process.
Depending on the speed of your computer, it can take hours.
Video Editing
Once done, you may want to try to improve and, perhaps
trim, the finished movie file by removing blank or boring
frames, adding a title screen with your own image, placing
fades between scenes, adding various effects, creating
menus for each scene, etc. Most of the video editor programs
that ship with the capture cards allow you to do basic editing
like this and make it easy for beginners, but for more
advanced editing possibilities, video editors like Adobe
Premiere, Ulead Media Studio Pro, Pinnacle Studio and
DVDit! are on top. You can also use free utilities like Tmpgen
- which was mentioned in last month's article - to help
improve your video and sound. VirtualDub is another popular
free one. The video editing part is the most challenging and
where you can show your creativity and skill, and shine as a
video editor. In Hollywood movies, it's the video editor who is
largely responsible for the way the movie looks.
Burning Your Video
This is the easiest part. Your video editing software usually
takes care of this for you too. In other words, you do not
need to use a separate burning program. With MyDvd you
simply click the Burn button when you're ready. Depending
on the options in your package, you may be able to burn a
regular CD to VCD (for MPEG-1) and/or SVCD (for MPEG-2).
The resulting disc should be playable in any PC with a CD or
DVD ROM drive and in most home DVD players. You may also
have the option to burn a disc playable on your PC only. If
that's all you require, this is a great option as it gives you
much higher quality since no conversion to VCD or SVCD
format is needed.
This was just a basic introduction to the world of video
capturing. If you would like to learn more, you may want
to check out my Experts Guide, "Converting Video Tape
to Digital Video," on my main page. You will also find the
TV Wonder Card on the same page.
http://www.angelfire.com/va3/expert_guides/
********************************************
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://personal-computer-tutor.com/printing.htm
and also the Registry Tips page.
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc1/v4/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://personal-computer-tutor.com/lh/lockhide.htm
And, he now offers a service to convert PowerPoint
presentations to .exe files which can be viewed on
computers which do not have PowerPoint installed.
http://www.angelfire.com/va3/vic3/index.html
Also, check out his Expert-Guides on Video topics:
http://www.angelfire.com/va3/expert_guides/
<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>
(10.) KATHY'S PRACTICAL POWERPOINT TIPS
~~Kathryn Jacobs, PowerPointAnswers
CREATING A COMPLETE POWERPOINT TEMPLATE
PART I: CREATING SLIDE MASTERS
Ready to create your own templates? This tutorial will walk
you through the steps to create a fully enabled template
from a blank presentation.
What do I need for a fully enabled template?
Templates in PowerPoint are made up of a number of elements:
<> Master slides
There are a maximum of two master slides: the Slide Master
and the Title Master. These slides contain the common
elements and formatting for the slides in your presentation.
All of the slides in your presentation are based on one of
these two masters. The Slide Master is inserted automatically.
The Title Master must be inserted manually.
<> Master for notes page
There is one master for the notes page. This page generally
contains a small picture of the slide at the top, with a space
for speaker's notes on the bottom. It also can contain
headers and footers at the designer's choice. Changeable
items on this master include the size of the slide and the
format and placement of the text items.
<> Master for handouts
There are six masters for the handouts page, one for each
printable handout style: All you are able to change on these
masters is the content and style of the headers and footers.
Furthermore, all though there are six handout masters,
changes made on any given handout master are reflected
on each of the other handout masters.
To ensure that your template is fully enabled, you need to
format each of these masters in turn. This article will lead
you through the steps to do this. To start, open a new
presentation. You can base this presentation on an existing
template, or you can base it on the "Blank" template. For
the purposes of this tutorial, use the blank template. Do not
add any slides to the presentation.
To start work on your template, you must view the existing
slide master. You get here by selecting the "Master" option
on the "View" menu. Slide left from the word Master and
select "Slide Master". The slide master should appear, with
black text in Times Roman on a white background.
Create a background for your slides
The first thing to do is to decide what you want on your
background. You have several choices, all of which can be
found by right clicking on the master slide and selection
"Background". This will bring up an option window. On the
bottom of this window, is a white filled box with a dropdown
arrow to its left. Clicking the arrow reveals the options that
allow you to....
<> Create a plain color background -
To select this option, select the color you desire. You will see
a default set of eight colors to choose from, as well as other
options. If you do not like any of the default colors, select
"More Colors" and pick the color you desire from these
expanded options.
<>Create a gradient background -
To select this option, select "Fill Effects" from the dropdown
list. The first tab on the resulting window lets you either
pick a pre-created gradient or create your own. Play
around with the options and see which one you like.
<> Use an existing texture square for your background -
To select this option, select "Fill Effects" from the dropdown
list. The second tab will show you a list of the available
textures to use. Since textures are graphics, the picture
you see will be tiled on your slide to create a full background.
If you have a graphic you wish used as a tile, click Other
Texture" and select your graphic.
<> Create a patterned background - To select this option,
select "Fill Effects" from the drop down list. The third tab will
show you a set of 46 patterns. In addition, the two boxes at
the bottom of the tab allow you to choose the background
and foreground colors to be used for the pattern.
<> Use an existing graphic for your background -
To select this option, select "Fill Effects" from the dropdown
list. The fourth tab will allow you to navigate to and select
your graphic. It will preview your graphic once you have
selected it. Where texture makes your graphic into a tile for
the background, picture stretches it to cover the entire slide.
If you use an animated gif or a transparent gif for your
background, it will neither show as transparent nor animate.
It will be merely inserted as graphic.
Once you have selected your background, you will return to
the "Background" window. Here you can either preview your
background or apply it. Further, you have the option to apply
it to just the current slide or all slides. In this case, your slide
master is the only slide, so after you preview it, click ?Apply?.
Determine which elements will show on each slide
The next step is to decide what additional graphical elements
you want on each slide. Examples are company logos,
signature shapes and graphics, and design related items. In
addition, you may a picture or a graphic on each slide. This
is the step to add those items as well. Be careful with what
you add. The items you add here will show up on each slide.
You need to be sure that you are not adding so many items
that you leave no room for the elements of your individual
slides.
If you decide to add elements purely for design purposes,
such as shapes and swooshes, keep them clean and in
keeping with the colors you used in your background.
Next, you need to determine what will show in your header
and footer of each slide. Do you want the page number on
each slide? Do you want the date on each slide? Each of these
elements is controlled by the "Header and Footer" window,
found on the "View" menu. Be sure to notice the bottom
check box on this window. It allows you to turn on footer
elements on your content slides, but leave them off of your
title slides.
In general, the busier your slide background, the less you
want to add to the slide master. A simple background
supports more elements than a complicated one, but even
there simple and sparse is better than complicated and
crowded.
Format the text on your slides
Now that you have the graphical background of your slides
done, it is time to be creative with the text. You format the
text on your master slides just as you would on a regular
slide. You can change the font, the color, the size, etc. Make
sure that your font color is a complementary one to your
background, but will still show from the necessary distance.
You have two options to change here that you do not have
on the content slides: Changing the indent on the sub-bullets
and changing the look of the bullets. Changing the indentation
is done with the ruler at the top of the slide. Changing the
bullet look is done via the "Bullets and Numbering" item on the
"Format" menu. If you really want to get fancy, you can even
select a picture for your bullet.
One more hint: Say you have a busy background, but you
want the text to show on a contrasting color. Right click and
select "Format Placeholder". This will bring up a window
much like the AutoShape format box and allow you to change
the look of your text placeholder. If you do change the color
of your placeholder's background, I recommend turning on
the "Resize AutoShape to fit text" option. This step will allow
the colored area to grow and shrink with the text on your slide.
Define the animations for your slides
The next item to define for your template is how you want
elements to become visible when the presentation is running.
Do you want all of the master elements to appear at once,
as soon as the slide appears? That is the easiest to set up -
you don't have to do anything. When the slide show is run,
the elements will appear immediately without any effects.
However, this is not likely to be the case on all of your
presentations.
The most likely change you will want to make is to define on
the master how the text on content slides will appear. This
gives you a head start for your main slides, and keeps your
presentation consistent and professional looking. The next
most likely change you will want to make is to animate your
logo in some manner so that it stands out.
You set animation effects by using "Custom Animation" on
the "Slide Show" menu. You will want to define both the
order items appear and the effect used to cause the item
to appear.
Remember: If you wish to adjust the animation for items in
the header or footer of your slides or for master element
graphics, you need to do it here on the master. There is no
other place to do it, as these elements are not able to be
selected individually on the content slides.
While I do recommend setting up the base animations for
your slides, I do not recommend that you set a standard
sound to be played with each slide change. If you feel that
sounds on each slide transition are necessary put yourself in
the audience's shoes before you do so. If you are creating a
show that will have more than 20 or so slides, will that sound
be as affective after it has been heard 20 times as you want
it to be? Chances are, not really.
Watch for the next issue, Creating a Complete PowerPoint
Template, Part II, where I will discuss Title Masters,
Handout Masters, Notes Masters, Color Schemes, and
Saving Templates.
**********************************************
Kathryn Jacobs, BrainBench MVP, MS PowerPoint
Get PowerPoint answers at
http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with
http://www.outdoorcook.com
Hardware, software, and history:
http://www.oldcpu.com
Kathy is a trainer, writer, Girl Scout, parent, and whatever
else there is time for.
I believe life is meant to be lived. But, if we live without
making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived.
<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>
(11.) JAMES'S DATABASE
~~James La Borde
EMAILING REPORTS FROM ACCESS
VIA OUTLOOK/OUTLOOK EXPRESS
**********************************************
EDITOR'S NOTE: The code in this article may have line
breaks caused by email formatting and is clearer if read
online. You can see the online version here:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/james21.htm
**********************************************
As promised last month, I am going to show you the code to
email reports from Access through Outlook or Outlook Express.
I will not take credit for the code as being original as it is
cobbled together from a number of sources. The primary
source for much of the code is Grace Grady from one of the
Access lists I am on.
I use this code as a call from my code that was published last
month.
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v20/james20.htm
In that code, I choose to send a link to a report on the network,
however, the file can be sent as an attachment as well.
Whether or not you are interested in this topic, I would like
to hear from you on what you would like to see in this space.
Is there something troubling you? Some point about Access
you just aren?t getting? Please email ABC at
abcomputers-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
and let me know.
Here is the code (I have tried to comment it in Green so
that you can follow along...to see my green comments, go
to the online version of this article...in this text version,
the comments have been removed from the code):
Option Compare Database
Option Explicit
Dim mOutlookApp As Outlook.Application
Dim mNameSpace As Outlook.NameSpace
Dim mFolder As MAPIFolder
Dim mItem As MailItem
Dim fSuccess As Boolean
Private Function GetOutlook() As Boolean
On Error Resume Next
fSuccess = True
Set mOutlookApp = GetObject("", "Outlook.application")
If Err.Number > 0 Then
Err.Clear
Set mOutlookApp = CreateObject("Outlook.application")
If Err.Number > 0 Then
MsgBox "Could not create Outlook object", vbCritical
fSuccess = False
Exit Function
End If
End If
Set mNameSpace = mOutlookApp.GetNamespace("MAPI")
If Err.Number > 0 Then
MsgBox "Could not create NameSpace object", vbCritical
fSuccess = False
Exit Function
End If
GetOutlook = fSuccess
End Function
Public Function SendMessage(strRecip As String, strSubject As String, strmsg
As String, strAttachment As String)
On Error Resume Next
If Len(strRecip) = 0 Then
strmsg = "You must designate a recipient."
MsgBox strmsg, vbExclamation, "Error"
Exit Function
End If
fSuccess = True
If GetOutlook = True Then
Set mItem = mOutlookApp.CreateItem(olMailItem)
mItem.To = strRecip
mItem.Subject = strSubject
mItem.HTMLBody = strmsg
If Len(strAttachment) > 0 Then
mItem.Attachments.Add strAttachment
End If
mItem.Save
mItem.Send
End If
Set mOutlookApp = Nothing
Set mNameSpace = Nothing
If Err.Number > 0 Then fSuccess = False
SendMessage = fSuccess
End Function
**********************************************
James La Borde works in the computer department at a
Credit Union, where he uses Access, SQL Server, VBA,
and ODBC daily. He also teaches online Access classes
at Eclectic Academy.
http://eclecticacademy.com/curriculum.htm
**********************************************
NOTE FROM LINDA: Those of you who are new to Access
or VBA coding, might want to join my Microsoft Office email
group where James and many other members are happy
to help newbies learn this stuff. To join this group, just go
here and enter your email address and hit the Subscribe
button.
//www.freelists.org/webpage/mso
**********************************************
<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>
^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-
**************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
<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>
(12.) TINA'S FRONTPAGE NEWS
~~Tina Clarke, AccessFP - FrontPage Resource Centre
FRONTPAGE 2002 PHOTO GALLERY
**********************************************
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article includes pictures and is
clearer if read online. You can see the online version here:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/tina21.htm
**********************************************
With Microsoft FrontPage® 2002 you can add a collection of
photos or other images to your Web site in the form of a
visual catalogue. A photo gallery is very useful for visitors
to your site because it gives them a quick way to scan a
collection of images by reviewing a collection of smaller
(thumbnail) images. When visitors view your photo gallery
in a browser window, they can choose which images they
want to see and click each thumbnail to display the full-size
image the thumbnail represents.
How to create a Photo Gallery
<> Create a blank page.
<> On the menu bar click Insert | Web Component
<> Click Photo Gallery in the left pane.
<> Select one of the four types of layouts that you want to
use in the right pane.
<> Click finish.
<> The Photo Gallery Properties Dialog box will pop up.
<> Click ADD to insert a graphic
NOTE: You can add as many graphics at a time as you want.
>From the drop down menu you can either locate pictures
from files (either files on your computer, the world wide
web or Microsoft Clip Organizer) and Open. Or, bring them
in from a scanner or camera, (This can be either a web cam
or digital camera).
The ?Insert Picture from scanner or camera? dialog box will
pop up. From the drop down list under ?Device? your devices
will be listed, choose one.
<> If you choose a scanner you can select a custom insert
and choose the scanner settings you want.
<> Just follow the directions you normally would for your device.
Now you can tweak the settings on the ?Photo Gallery Properties? box
<> Move the pictures up or down according to the order you
want your graphics.
<> Edit - Select the graphic you want to edit by clicking it. A
preview of the photo is displayed next to its name
Size: You can change the width or height of the graphic.
You can also choose to maintain the aspect ratio, or not,
depending upon how you want to change the graphic.
Orientation: You can flip or rotate the graphic: Under
Rotate Picture, do one or more of the following:
<> Click Rotate Left to rotate the graphic 90 degrees
counter clockwise.
<> Click Rotate Right to rotate the graphic 90 degrees
clockwise.
<> Click Flip Vertical to turn the graphic upside down.
<> Click Flip Horizontal to create a mirror image.
Crop: You can crop the graphic. For example, if you want
only part of a graphic visible, crop out the rest.
<> Under Crop Picture, click Crop.
<> A cropping box appears on the graphic.
<> By clicking and dragging the handles on the box, resize
the box to include the part of the graphic that you want to
keep.
<> To draw the cropping box yourself, click outside the
cropping box but inside the graphic, and then draw the box.
<> Click Crop again to remove the area outside of the
cropping box.
Reset: If you have made changes to the graphic, you can
click the Reset button to return the graphic to its original
state.
TIP: Click Previous or Next to edit the graphic before or
after the one you just edited.
<> Specify the width and height of the thumbnail under
?Thumbnail size?. By default, the thumbnails are 100 pixels
by 100 pixels in size (a little more than 1 inch by 1 inch square).
NOTE: Thumbnails are automatically created.
<> Add a caption or description below the graphic
NOTE: If you choose ?Montage Layout?, the text boxes for
?Caption? and ?Description? will be greyed out.
<> Click the graphic that has the caption you want to edit.
<> A preview of the graphic is displayed next to its name.
<> In the ?Caption? box, type the caption you want to appear
Under the graphic.
<> In the ?Description? box, type the description you want to
appear in the space below the graphic and its caption.
<> Change the layout of the photo gallery.
<> Click the ?Layout? tab.
<> Choose a layout from the list.
<> View a preview of the layout under ?Preview?.
<> Select a number from ?Number of pictures per row?
<> Click OK.
NOTE: If you choose Slide Show or Montage Layout, this
option will be greyed out.
There are four different types of photo gallery layouts
available in FrontPage 2002: Horizontal, Vertical, Montage,
and Slide Show.
<> Use a Horizontal layout when you want your photos to
appear in a simple album-style layout.
<> Vertical layout also presents your photos in a simple
album-style layout, with users viewing images from top to
bottom.
<> Display your images as a collage with the Montage layout.
<> Create a scrolling catalogue of your images with the Slide
Show layout. When a thumbnail is selected, the full-size
image appears below the row.
You can also apply a theme to a photo gallery just as you
would with any other web page.
When you create and add a photo gallery to a site that
already has a theme applied, by default the photo gallery
will take the same properties. For example: background,
formatting, and bullet style are the same as the rest of the
pages within the site. However, for captions and photo
descriptions, you can choose whether or not you want to use
the font formatting from the page's theme or override the
theme's formatting and select your own custom font. This
feature can be used to make your captions and descriptions
stand out from other text on the page
NOTE: If you don't select the text in the Caption and
Description boxes before changing the font, the settings
you specify will not be applied.
This feature also applies to Web pages that are associated
with a cascading style sheet (CSS).
TROUBLESHOOTING GRAPHICS
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
My thumbnails are looking tired.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
To refresh and update your thumbnails back to their
previous sparkling look resizing them will restore them to
their former glory:
<> Right click on the photo gallery in Normal View and
choose 'Photo Gallery Properties' from the pop up menu or
double click the photo gallery.
<> Select the graphic you want to work with
<> Check that the 'Maintain Aspect Ratio' box is checked
<> Change the size in the width box under 'Thumbnail Size'
- the default is 100 pixels so select something slightly larger.
Do this for all the thumbnails you want refreshed.
NOTE: If you do this again reset the thumbnails to the
default first.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
I can't crop part of a photo gallery graphic.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
FrontPage can only crop photo gallery images down to
a certain size. If you find that your graphic is too large, you
can insert it onto a blank page, crop it like you would any
other graphic, and then resave it and insert it again into
your photo gallery.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Slide Show Photo Gallery Finish button is greyed out.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
When you try to insert a Photo Gallery in Slide Show
layout you can?t because the Finish button is greyed out.
This is because the Slide Show layout only works on browsers
that have Java-Script capability. If your compatibility
preferences tell FrontPage to suppress features that require
JavaScript, FrontPage will suppress the Slide Show Photo Gallery.
To fix this, just turn on JavaScript:
<> In FrontPage on the Tools menu, click Page Options.
<> When the Page Options dialog box appears, click the
Compatibility tab.
<> In the Available Technologies area, select the JavaScript
check box.
<> Click OK to close the Page Options dialog box.
Now the Slide Show Finish button will be come available.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
When I double-click a graphic to edit it in another editor,
"No picture editor is configured" appears.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
You must first choose the picture editor you want to use
to edit your graphics, and you must choose one for each type
of graphic (JPEG, GIF, BMP, and so on):
<> On the Tools menu, click Options.
<> Click the Configure Editors tab.
<> Click Add.
<> In the File type box, type the extension of the type of file
you want to add. For example, gif or jpg.
<> In the Editor name box, type the name of the graphics
editor you want to use.
<> In the Command box, type the path to the executable
file (.exe) for the editor, or click Browse to locate the file.
Repeat the steps for each type of file to which you want to
assign an editor.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
My graphic is broken on my web site.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
This can be caused by one of the following:
<> You acquired this graphic from another web site When
you add a graphic to a web site and then save the page that
it's on, you are prompted to save that graphic to the same
web site where your page is saved. If you acquired this
graphic from a shared location or another web site, and you
didn't save it to a folder in your web site, the path to it will
be broken if that graphic is removed from the shared location
or web site, and it will not display on your web page.
<> You need to publish the image or the folder where it lives
to your Web server If you have a graphic that you are using
for a web page located in a local folder, when you publish
that web page, you also need to publish the folder where
all the graphics are or all your graphics will appear to be broken.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
When I click a hot spot, it returns a 404-error message.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
This can be caused by one of the following:
<> The destination may have moved or may no longer exist
Verify that the file exists by viewing the destination file with
your Internet browser if the file is on the Internet, or with
Microsoft Windows Explorer if the file is on your hard drive
or a network.
<> You may not have access to the destination. If the
destination file is on the Internet, make sure you have a
connection to the Internet.
<> You may be trying to link to a page or directory that
does not have anonymous browsing permissions. If the
destination is on a network, contact your network
administrator to ensure that you have access to the
destination file.
<> There may be a technical problem. If you believe that
the file you are linking to exists and that you have permission
to link to it, try deleting your temporary Internet files.
**Open Microsoft Internet Explorer.
**On the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
**Under Temporary Internet Files, click Delete Files.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
When I am resizing a graphic in percentages, the 'Keep
aspect ratio' check box appears greyed out.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
This behaviour occurs because Microsoft FrontPage bases
the percentage width or height of a graphic on a portion of
the browser window (or table cell). The aspect ratio is not
preserved. If you want to preserve the aspect ratio, you must
resize your graphic by entering the width and height size in pixels.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Clicking a thumbnail opens the full-scale picture in the
same window.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
When you make a FrontPage Photo gallery, a folder is made
automatically called photo gallery, and another folder within
that named something like photo111816. (The folder is
always called photonnn ? nnn is always a random number)
In here you will find the thumbnails, .JS file and three .htm
files. If you open the real.htm file you can edit the photo
gallery graphics and do anything you would on a normal
page, such as setting the hyperlink target on the thumbnail
to open up in a new window, adding alt tags etc. Making the
thumbnail hyperlink to a new window, you can make a new
page for the larger graphic and then configure the page for
background, and add your own text. This looks much smarter.
<> Open real.htm
<> Select the first graphic
<> Right click and select ?Hyperlink? on the pop up menu.
<> Click ?Target Frame?
<> Select ?New window? and ?Default?.
<> Save the page.
WARNING: You can do all manner of tweaks this way BUT
if you opened the .htm page that the photo gallery has been
inserted to and resaved it, all your tweaks will be lost so
make sure you don?t need to edit that page again unless
you want to redo all your tweaks.
NOTE: Do not edit either the real_p.htm or the real_x.htm
files in the photonnn folder. Both of these files are used
exclusively by FrontPage and should not be altered.
So you can see the FrontPage Gallery working, I?ve made
an example Photo Gallery at:
http://accessfp.net/photogallery.htm
If you want to see more of my artwork, I will be launching a
new site soon. Please watch this space or check
http://accessfp.net site for a notice. In the meantime if you
wish to commission me, contact me via TinaClarke@xxxxxxxxxxxx
********************************************
Tina Clarke is the Webmaster of AccessFP - FrontPage
Resource Centre at 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
<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>
(13.) MIKE'S SAFETY BELT
~~ Mike Baynes, MikesWhatsNews
ANOTHER CELEBRITY VIRUS ~ LIRVA
The latest virus to take advantage of famous names is the
Lirva, W32/Avril-A [Sophos], W32/Lirva.b@MM [McAfee],
WORM_LIRVA.A [Trend], Win32.Lirva.A [CA] and its
varieties, Lirva.B, Lirva.C, named after the Canadian skater,
Avril (Lirva backwards) Lavigne.
The Virus was created within 2 days of her nomination at
the Grammy awards, which points out just how fast they
can be created.
It is not the first time that virus writers/creators have used
the popularity of celebrities to spread their infectious creations.
Anna Kournikova ~
http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2001-03.html
was a serious threat only 2 years ago, using a known hole
in Microsoft's IE to execute VBScript.
Some of the other celebrities who have received this
dubious status are Jenna Jameson, Jennifer Lopez, Alyssa
Milano , and Britney Spears.
The Lirva virus once again takes advantage of the known
vulnerability in MS Outlook Express 4.0 and 5.0 and allows
the script to run while previewing the message. Updated
OE 6 should not be affected.
Microsoft has a patch here.
www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS01-020.asp
The virus also follows past virus action by disabling access
to certain AV program sites.
Lirva may also spoof a Microsoft Security Bulletin. Remember
MS will NEVER send you an executable file.
It is spread through email, via open Windows shares, IRC,
ICQ, and KaZaA peer-to-peer networks.
Lirva sends a copy of itself to everyone listed in a user's
address book by using its own built-in SMTP server, which
helps the worm's activity go undetected. Lirva also collects
address information from various other files on the user's
system, such as .htm, .wab, and .dbx files.
Computer Associates has a good page on it here;
http://support.ca.com/techbases/ilnt/virusalert2.html
Due to the increasing threat posed by Lirva, Panda Software
has made the PQREMOVE utility available to all users. This
application is designed to repair the possible damage that
the virus could inflict on computers and can be downloaded
from
http://www.pandasoftware.com/download/utilities/
Remember the best antivirus defense is your own good sense!
<> Keep your AV program updated
<> Use an email program which can strip out attachments
<> Disable scripting
<> Don't open any attachments you have not been expecting
and have the sender give you the name of the file and its size
before sending.
I have put together a Lirva page with common program links here:
http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/Lirva.A.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
<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>
(14.) CHARLENE'S DRAWING BOARD
~~Charlene Russ, Corndancer Design Graphics
USING MODIFIERS IN 3D STUDIO MAX
**********************************************
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article includes pictures and is
clearer if read online. You can see the online version here:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/char21.htm
**********************************************
(Also, see Charlene's special Valentine article in this issue,
on using the Extrude Modifier)
Modifiers are a kind of modeling shortcut or effect that can
be applied to an object.
<> FIRST the object that you wish to
apply a given modifier effect to must be selected in your
viewport .
<> Click the Modifiers tab and then click the desired modifier
from the icon strip that appears. The modifier will be applied
and a parameters window will appear on the right side of
your screen. The strength of the effect may be increased
or decreased by using these toggles.
The Ripple Modifier
This modifier is useful when creating hilly terrain, cloth, or
movement in a body of water. These modifiers can be
animated through the use of key frames for interesting
video imagery and motion effects.
Decreasing the wavelength of the effect will heighten the
frequency or increase the number of smaller ripples in the
wave.
The Wave Modifier
Question:
How do I change the spacing of the ripples? The
amplitudes seem to only make the waves higher.
Wavelength makes them move along the surface. Phase
seems to do the same thing. Decay makes them die out.
Answer:
You're right. Increasing the amplitude will heighten the
pitch of the wave, making it taller. You can shorten or
lengthen the wavelength, creating frequent ripples or
gradual, grandiose waves. Decay is a term used with regard
to sine waves; it refers to the valleys, not the apexes of the
wave. In a sound wave, for instance, the apex or peak is the
loudest pitch, as the wave 'decays', the pitch of the sound
decreases and tapers off. The Phase toggle deals with the
initial position of the ripples along a given area. The Wave
Modifier is based upon the idea of the sine wave, which is a
2D concept. A sine wave occurs somewhere between two
points along a segmented line. By decreasing the wavelength
you are, in effect, increasing the frequency of the waves and
decreasing the size of the individual waves. The visual results
are smaller ripples along a plane.
General FAQ
Question:
Why do the modifiers start out with values in them - they
seem to have the last value you use, even when there is zero
effect showing on the object? Shouldn't they start at zero?
Answer:
Excellent observation. I'm glad you brought this up. When
you save a scene in 3DS Max, it saves all elements in your
scene, including parameter values. You can reset your scene
to the default using the Reset function from the file menu.
Saving a scene freezes everything you have done up to that
point, including objects, modifiers, lights, materials you've
added, and effects. Though you may not have applied modifier
values to a given object, the scene recalls the previous values
you applied to your last object.
Viewport Coordinates
Question:
What reference coordinate system should I use? What do
the colored arrows in the corners of the window stand for?
They don't seem to match the arrows inside the object. Are
they in a particular coordinate system?
Answer:
The colored arrows in the viewport screen indicate the
perspective at which the camera is viewing the object(s).
<> The 'X' coordinate runs bilaterally east and west or left and
right. The 'Y' coordinate runs north and south or up and
down. The 'Z' diagonal coordinate runs toward you in the
3D perspective viewport.
<> When scaling or rotating an object, you may restrict the
effect to a particular coordinate/s by clicking the
'x,y,z,xy,yz, or zx' coordinate buttons.
The Bend Modifier
To bend an object:
<> Select an object and click Modifiers rollout > Bend.
<> On the Parameters rollout, set the axis of the bend to
X, Y, or Z. This is the axis of the Bend gizmo, not the axis of
the selected object. You can switch between axes at any
time, but the modifier carries only one axis setting.
<> Set the angle of the bend along the chosen axis. The
object bends to this angle beginning at the lower limit, which
is by default the location of the modifier's center.
<> Set the direction of the bend. The object swivels around
the axis.
You can reverse angle and direction by changing a positive
value to a negative value.
To limit the bend:
<> Turn on Limit Effect in the Limits group.
<> Set values for the upper and lower limits. These are
distances in current units above and below the modifier's
center, which is at zero on the gizmo's Z axis by default.
You can make the upper limit zero or positive, and the lower
limit zero or negative. If the limits are equal, the result is the
same as turning off Limit Effect.
<> The bend is applied between these limits. The surrounding
geometry, while unaffected by the bend itself, rotates to keep
the object intact. This is analogous to bending a pipe, where
the unbent sections rotate but remain straight.
<> At the sub-object level, you can select and move the
modifier's center.
<> The Limit settings remain on either side of the center as
you move it. This lets you relocate the bend area to another
part of the object.
********************************************
Charlene Russ is an instructor with Eclectic Academy, and
is currently teaching Introduction to 3D Studio Max. She
teaches novice students the basics of 3D design and
modeling techniques. She is also an adjunct instructor
with a Florida community college in the Digital Arts dept.
To enroll in one of her on-line courses you need to access
the Eclectic Academy website at
http://www.eclecticacademy.com and click 'enter'.
Charlene's personal site is Corndancer Design Graphics,
which features a wide gamut of useful design related
information.
http://corndancer.hypermart.net/
<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>
(15.) STEVE'S RAVIN' REVIEWS
~~ Steve Mills
"Darn, that's nice!"
Over the recent holidays, we had a number of house
guests, most of which used computers, but are not geeks
(like me). A number of times they would use my computer
and make comments about something I use - ask me where
I got it - etc. I decided to review those programs which
received the most favorable comment to start the year.
I'm sure I'll cover things we have already seen, but these
are the things I use every day and programs that regular
users found very helpful. I hope you do too!
***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>
THIS MONTH'S REVIEWS
JPEG Resizer - 5 geezers
Copernic Agent Basic - 4½ geezers
cam2pc - 6 geezers
AI RoboForm - 5½ geezers
Startup Control Panel - 6 geezers
<screen captures of the software interfaces online>
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/stevea21.htm
***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>
JPEG Resizer
Version: 2.02
Date: January 8, 2003
Author: Virtualzone
Web Site: http://www.virtualzone.de
Freeware
Rating: 5 Geezers
Does this look familiar? It should! I covered this in December
and a new version was recently released. The new version
comes with a complete new design, improved performance
and various advanced features such as Anti-Aliasing,
Colorization and selectable JPEG Compression factor. When
we shot pictures at Christmas, this thing made it a snap to
reduce the size to something manageable for email. The
batch mode makes preparing a bunch of pictures a snap.
If you shot photos with a digital camera at a resolution that
is too high for presenting your photos on the internet, you
need to resize them. JPEG Resizer makes this job quite easy
as you don't need to resize each single image for itself.
The new version has earned an additional Geezer?. Oh - it's
true Freeware. There's no reason not to try this.
***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>
Copernic Agent Basic
Version: 6.01
Date: January 14, 2003
Author: Copernic
Web Site: http://www.copernic.com
Freeware
Rating: 4½ Geezers
It seems Google has just about taken over the web, as far
as search engines go. It's a victory they have rightfully earned.
No doubt - they are the best at what they do! They get a lot
of my search queries, but I still drift to a meta-search program
with regularity. For a standalone program, Copernic is my
choice. According to their web site they can interrogate over
90 engines when you do a search. I like the way you can save
and modify searches. This version is free and they offer more
sophisticated versions which will search newsgroups and other
types of databases. As a practical matter, Google Groups is
the only news archive worth searching, so you might as well
go direct, rather than pay. The interface is very friendly and
I find even total novices become quickly comfortable. It's
worth a download and test.
For those that prefer an online resource, Vivisimo is without
peer.
http://vivisimo.com/
Both of these programs have the smell of boom time
projects that could quietly die at any time, as so many have.
In the meantime, they are great resources. Maybe they'll
make it - who knows!
***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>
cam2pc
Version: 3.01
Date: December 6, 2002
Author: Nabocorp
Web Site: http://www.nabocorp.com
Freeware
Rating: 6 Geezers
Another recently reviewed program that has been tweaked
recently. It also perfectly fits the theme this month. It was
a simple matter to stick the memory card in the computer
from the camera and cam2pc took over and gave us total
control of the transfer.
This is one of my most used programs. I pull the memory
card from my camera, put it in the reader and let cam2pc do
its stuff. Cam2pc is a complete solution to ease your
everyday work with your digital camera and your pictures.
Its primary feature is to automate the transfer of pictures
from the camera to the PC. By being able to automatically
detect your camera, create the destination directory and
transfer your images, the whole process is now done in a
single click! For this particular feature, cam2pc is compatible
with the following cameras:
<> Digital cameras (and card readers) that appear as
removable devices in Windows and are assigned a drive letter
<> Digital cameras based on the Sierra Imaging chipset
(that includes Nikon Coolpix and many more)
<> Canon digital cameras
Once your images are transferred, cam2pc includes a fully
featured image browser and viewer. You can quickly review
your images, losslessly rotate them, rename them, resize
them and of course view them in full-screen. There are an
incredible amount of options you can see on the web site.
If you have a digital camera, you need this software.
***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>
AI RoboForm
Version: 5.07
Date: January 26, 2003
Author: Siber Systems
Web Site: http://www.roboform.com
Freeware
Rating: 5½ Geezers
This would be one of the last programs I would erase if I ran
out of space. AI RoboForm is a password manager and
one-click web form filler with some serious Artificial
Intelligence inside.
What it can do:
<> Save password info from login form.
<> Auto fill password info to login form.
<> Automatic login to password-protected site.
<> Fill long registration forms from Identities.
<> Save encrypted text snippets to Safenotes.
<> Password Generator generates passwords.
<> Bookmark Manager is included.
<> Encrypt password and sensitive info using DES.
<> Print your passwords on paper.
<> Backup & restore passwords.
And? a whole lot more. This is one well-conceived and
executed program. The only reason I didn't award it 6
Geezers is limits kick in after 30 days, which reduce the
usefulness, but still adequate. The advanced version is
30 bucks and well worth our consideration.
***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>
Startup Control Panel
Version: 2.8
Date: January 3, 2003
Author: Mike Lin
Web Site: http://www.mlin.net
Freeware
Rating: 6 Geezers
Don't even read this review - just download this program! I
don't know about you, but I REALLY hate programs that load
a bunch of unwanted crap in your startup process. This
19-year-old genius has created the most elegant solution I've
seen. It's an intuitive addition to your control panel and you
can delete or disable this garbage any time. If you screw up,
everything can be restored. Seldom a week goes by that I
don't use it.
***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>***<>
Final Thought:
"There are three reasons why lawyers are replacing rats as
laboratory research animals. One is that they are plentiful,
another is that lab assistants don't get so attached to them
and the third is that they will do things that you just can't
get rats to do."
**********************************************
Steve Mills has been reviewing software in different capacities
for many years. He has recently left his job with a search
engine consulting firm and is looking for a new adventure.
<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>
(16.) PROTECTING YOUR DATA, AND DATA SECURITY
~ by John Galvin, John's Newsletter
How would you feel about somebody stealing your
computer, and reading all your personal files? Any credit
card information on your computer? Old love letters?
Client information? It would not be nice to have any
of this information stolen.
Fortunately, it is easy enough to protect your data. PGP
(Pretty Good Privacy) is a free program, which will allow
you to encrypt your data, making it "almost" impossible for
anyone to retrieve, except you. PGP is available at
http://www.pgpi.org/
One problem with encryption, is that if someone is searching
your hard drive, they can find your encrypted files, and can
start guessing passwords. To be even safer, you could use
steganography to hide the data in another file. So your
favorite song, might contain you credit card information, or
a list of your passwords, and the only person who will know,
is you. Software which encrypts your data, and hides your
data at the same time, can be found at
http://www.steganos.com
The following site, gives a good explanation of how
steganography works:
http://www.vb-helper.com/steganography.htm
**********************************************
EDITOR'S NOTE: For another alternative to hiding files in
Windows 9X/ME without encryption, check out Lock&Hide,
created by our own Vic Ferri.
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/lh/lockhide.htm
**********************************************
What if you want to delete data? Well simply deleting it from
Windows, is not enough. The file will simply disappear into
the Recycle Bin. Emptying the Recycle Bin will delete the file
...won't it? No it won't. It simply tells Windows to ignore
the file. It is still on your hard-drive, and will remain there
until you overwrite it with data. The file just doesn't show
up in Windows. So, for all intents and purposes, the file is
deleted, unless it is a sensitive file, and it really must
be deleted in the true sense of the word. The following
program allows you to recover deleted data:
Restoration--freeware
http://hccweb1.bai.ne.jp/~hcj58401/
It clearly doesn't take a professional to recover "deleted"
data, so what can you do about it. Well fortunately, there
are plenty of programs out there, that will properly delete
your files for you. Some of these are freeware, and one
such program, is simply called Eraser, and is available f
rom www.tolvanen.com/eraser
Eraser overwrites sensitive files up to 35 times, making the
data unrecoverable to the average professional trying to
retrieve the data. It may still be possible to retrieve data,
however only by people/companies with huge resources.
It would basically involve bringing the hard drive into a clean
room, and analyzing it under a microscope. Not an easy thing
to do at all. You may wonder how on earth data can be
recovered if it has been overwritten with more data. Well
take this analogy. You have a rubber stamp with the letter
A on it, and you stamp it on a page. You then get a rubber
stamp with the letter B on it, and stamp it over the A. Even
though the letter is B, if you look closely enough, you can
make out the letter A underneath it.
A list of other disk cleaners is available here:
http://www.tucows.com/system/diskc95.html
The safest way to delete data, for the ultra paranoid, is to
use different eraser tools on the disk, then take the disk out
of the computer and cut it up using an angle grinder, and
disposing it in the local garbage dump.
In my newsletter, I will go into much more detail about data
security, while still presenting it in an easy-to-understand
manner. I will show you how to write webpages, how to
program using Perl/Javascript/C/Java, as well as showing
you how to trace spammers, and lots more.
**********************************************
John Galvin is the owner of John's Newsletter.
To subscribe, send an email to
johnsnewsletter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe' in the subject line.
<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>
(17.) HOW TO AVOID GETTING RIPPED OFF ON-LINE
~ by Willie Crawford, Crawford Marketing Consultants
Millions of you dream of someday starting your own business
and achieving financial success and independence--it's a
universal dream. Many also discover the internet and are
led to believe this is the perfect medium for making that
dream a reality. Which is true, because you can accomplish
things on the internet that you don't have the resources to
accomplish off-line.
However, many of you looking to start a business on-line also
have a big fear of being ripped off. And yes, there is very
good reason to fear being ripped off! There is a good chance
you will be ripped off by some half-witted money-making
scheme. The fact is that there's even a chance you will be
ripped off by someone who doesn't even know he's ripping
you off!
"But how can you be ripped off by someone who doesn't
even know he's ripping you off?" you ask.
Many people with no real product create one by taking
someone's advice -- often extremely bad advice -- and
compiling it into an info product. By passing this along to you
in an e-book or manual, and giving you a "clear road map"
they not only waste your money...they make you worse off
than you were before you started. This is true because you
will waste time, money, and energy trying to make something
work that has absolutely NO chance of working.
For example, the business of "making money, teaching
others to make money, by teaching others to make money"
is one of the easiest ways to make money. Agreed, there is
a large market for this product. But, it's also a very dangerous
place because common sense is often over-ridden by greed
and very deep-seated dreams and ambitions.
So how do you avoid being ripped off?
The BEST way IS using your common sense. Ask yourself if
something makes sense. Also ask yourself, "If the person
telling you how to do something has really discovered the
secret, why isn't he using it to get rich!" There are very few
"real secrets" -- information travels very fast on the internet.
Yes, there are many proven methods and techniques that do
work, but if you look hard enough you will see them in
everyday application. Go to any famous "guru's" site and
make sure you see that he is actually using what he teaches.
Avoiding getting ripped off involves, to an extent, learning
who you can trust. A trusted friend who really cares about
you simply won't give you bad advice. A trusted advisor won't
recommend bad products or services to you.
Here is a very big challenge I am faced with weekly: I get
lots of people sending me trial versions of their products or
review copies of their books. They want my "thumbs up"...
my recommendation. I know that if I give this
recommendation...this testimonial...and the product is not
extremely good -- I will cause harm to a lot of people. I also
know that I will destroy one of my most valuable assets...
my goodwill, AND the reputation I have spent six years
building with my potential on-line customers. So, I'm
COMMITTED to closely guarding that trust, and putting my
clients' best interest FIRST. You need to make a similar
commitment BEFORE you even open your business.
Until you develop a few trusted friends whom you can call
or email for recommendations, learn to ask a lot of questions.
If you are thinking of buying a product or getting involved in
a certain business -- ask around Discussion boards are a
good place to ask what people think about a given product
or service. Ask in a way that you won't be perceived as
trying to promote the product yourself, because that type
of post will simply be deleted. Also ask in a way that you
aren't bashing a product or individual. Discussion board
operators don't want the legal hassles from a post on their
board unjustly harming someone's business.
Also, just spend a lot of time surfing relevant discussion
boards. Read the hundreds, if not thousands of posts already
there. There are boards set up just to warn you about rip-offs.
My favorite is the Friends In Business board. This board was
started by a lady who got ripped off, and years later it's the
perfect place to go to find out about hundreds of scams.
That's the sole purpose of the board. In fact, you should add
this board to your bookmarks.
http://friendsinbusiness.com/
Some of the best discussion boards are closed communities.
These are member's-only sites; some with tens of thousand
of members all banned together for a common purpose. Two
of the member's-only sites I belong to are The Internet
Marketing Warriors and The Affiliates Club. Both are "support
groups" where you can brainstorm and bounce your ideas
off people building on-line or home-based businesses. I am
a moderator at one of these groups and have written many
articles exclusively for the other (my articles are often
published in The Affiliates Club before they appear anywhere
else).
For more information on the Warriors, visit:
http://www.WarriorPro.com/cgi-bin/w.cgi?35326
For more info on The Affiliates Club visit:
http://williecrawford.com/cgi-bin/tk.cgi?theclub
When considering a business opportunity, one of the wisest
things you can do is to ask for referrals. If they are as good
as they say they are, they should be able to refer you to lots
of satisfied customers. If you were considering getting
involved in a franchise or business venture off-line this is how
you would check it out. On-line should be no different. If it's
a large investment you're thinking of making you'd be crazy
not to. Email these references, or better yet, give them a call.
There are things you can detect in a person's voice that you
can't "hear" in email. Off-line, if at all possible, I would pay
them a face-to-face visit.
Another common sense approach to avoid getting ripped off
is to simply research the site or product that you are
considering investing in. It's fairly easy to research an
individual or company on the internet to see if their own
businesses demonstrate that they really know what they are
talking about. For instance, is the person selling the "How
To Explode Your Traffic" ebook getting any traffic to his own
site?
This can easily be researched by utilizing the Alexa Toolbar.
The Alexa Toolbar shows how popular a given site is. It isn't
foolproof but is a good indicator of how successful a site really
is. It shows a sites "ranking." You can learn about and get the
free Alexa Toolbar at
http://pages.alexa.com/prod_serv/quicktour_new.html
Along the same lines, research the private site that's going
to teach you "All the secrets of improving your SE ranking"
by checking where they are listed in Google and AltaVista.
If they are going to teach you this, they certainly should
have already attained these results for their sites. Just this
little bit of investigating, using the search engines, can save
you from buying into some theory offered by someone who
has NO CLUE what he is talking about.
We all know that there are no internet police. However,
many parts of the community are self-policing. These are
the parts of the internet community that agree to adhere to
certain standards. Members who fail to live up to those
standards are investigated, and if they are not adhering to
community standards they are not allowed to retain membership.
Two such communities that I belong to are The Better Business
Bureau Online, and The International Council Of Online
Professionals. You have to invest in an annual membership in
both of these organizations once you qualify.
Both of the above organizations require applications, and
you have to demonstrate that you are ethical and meet the
organization's standards. They actually investigate your
website and look at the products or services you offer. The
Better Business Bureau actually sends someone to your place
of business so that they can better understand your whole
business operation. If you survive the application process,
you are given an emblem to place on your website that is
hyper-linked to their sites. A visitor can click on the emblem
to continue investigating you before doing business with you.
For more information on I-Cop membership visit:
http://www.i-cop.org/RapSheet/ref.cgi?id=williec
Membership in BBB Online requires that you be a member
of your local Better Business Bureau. That often requires
that you have been in business for at least a year, and the
application process can take several months. In the
Northwest Florida Division, a committee reviews each
membership application. If you're interested in BBB
membership, look in your local phone book. Better Business
Bureau membership is only available in the US and Canada.
Millions of you migrate to the internet looking for an
opportunity to supplement your income. Far too many
spend a lot of time and other resources trying to build a
business -- only to be very disappointed. If you apply the
common sense advice offered above, you GREATLY reduce
your chances of becoming one of them.
Reread this article several times, then start applying what
it teaches. Reading and knowing something without using it
is actually worse than not knowing, since you have no excuse.
Many of you already intuitively knew everything in this article.
Yet by failing to apply that knowledge, you were still
susceptible to being ripped off. Now, hopefully you're not :-)
**********************************************
Willie Crawford is an expert on internet marketing, joint
ventures, buying and selling reprint rights, and building
business through networking. His directory of seminars,
workshops, conferences, and tele-events is
http://InternetMarketingSeminarSchedule.Com
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(18.) A COMPUTER THE WAY YOU WANT IT
~ by Bob Osgoodby, Advanced Marketing Consultants
Most of the computers sold in retail stores are a compromise,
designed to appeal to the widest number of potential
purchasers. Depending on what you want to use it for,
usually it is not what you need, as they are what are referred
to as "middle of the road" systems.
There are several things that you should take into
consideration. If your primary use will be basically email and
word processing, if you buy one of these "middle of the road"
systems, you will be paying for a lot of "bells and whistles"
you don't really need and will never use. You really don't
need the "blinding speed" of the upper end processors as
you will never be able to use it in the applications you use.
While a CD and Floppy Disk Drive are required to use today's
technology, if the only thing you will use them for is loading
programs when you first get the system or acquire new
software, the high-end devices are simply "overkill" and
unnecessarily add to the cost of the system you buy.
If however, you use the computer for entertainment
purposes, rather than getting a CD read only device, consider
one that can read and write - in other words a CD Burner.
That way, if you download something from the web, you can
create your own CDs. You might also consider a second unit
so that if you want to copy particular songs from several CDs
you already have for your own use, you can. In this case I
would recommend a DVD reader as the second unit as that
can read both DVDs as well as CDs. You can also make
copies of your software, and if you have downloaded
programs from the web, you can archive them as well.
The motherboard you select is extremely important. Many
of the newer ones have integrated sound cards, video cards,
and networking cards. If they don't, be sure you get one
with enough expansion slots to accommodate everything you
may need down the line if your needs increase. Be cautious
when it comes to built in video cards for your monitor. The
low end cards may not handle the demands of some graphic
intensive programs you might use.
The actual processor you select is the most expensive part
of the computer you choose. If your processing needs are
minimal, such as email and/or word processing, you should
consider the lower end - about a gigahertz in speed. It makes
no sense to pay for something you don't need. On the flip
side however, if you intend to do high end graphics, you will
be disappointed if you select a slower speed. If you are a
game buff, definitely consider a 2+ gigahertz speed, as
most games are graphic intensive.
Your hard drive is your next consideration. Be sure it is
between 40 gigabytes and 60 gigabytes and runs at 7,200
RPM. These should provide adequate storage for most people.
This is a case where bigger is not better. Larger drives are
available but run at a slower speed, which degrades your
access time. If you are doing work that is critical in nature,
and you would have a difficult time recovering from a disk
crash, consider two hard drives.
That way you can easily back up your data files and programs
to a second drive. Simply change the wire, reinstall Windows
and you're back in business very quickly. This does require
some discipline on your part however, as you must
periodically back up to the second drive.
The case you buy for your computer is also important. Unless
space is an important consideration, forget the really small
ones as they have very few expansion slots for future growth.
A mid-size tower is probably your best bet. Be sure the power
supply is adequate to your needs. Most "middle of the road
systems" offer 250 watt power supplies which may not be
adequate - if you want expandability, consider 400 watts.
As far as which version of Windows to get, XP is fine for
casual use. It is very friendly and suited to the novice user.
If however, you have had Windows 95 or 98, you will most
likely be disappointed with XP, and should consider Windows
2000 Professional. Windows 2000 is an extremely stable
operating system. Be aware however, that some of the
hardware and software you had on Windows 95 or 98 may
not work properly on 2000.
So what is the best way to get your new computer? If you
can read and follow directions, consider buying the
components and building your own. The newer cases
available are a lot friendlier than they were in the past. If
this is a task you don't want to tackle, try to find someone
who can build it for you. Be sure they are knowledgeable in
all phases of hardware and software, and will be available to
answer questions you might have. While you will pay a little
extra for this service, it could pay big dividends in the event
of problems later on.
It is advisable however under any circumstances, to contact
someone who has experience, as they could point you to
cost saving equipment that you may not find yourself. They
can also help you get a balanced system which better suits
your needs and the applications you will be using.
Selecting the proper components is a delicate balance
between cost and capabilities. If you consider your actual
needs, you won't be paying for things you don't need, and
you won't be disappointed with the performance you
expected.
**********************************************
Did you know that subscribers to Bob Osgoodby's Free
Ezine, the "Tip of the Day" get a Free Ad for their Business
at his Web Site?
http://adv-marketing.com/business/subscribe2.htm
For information about building your computer, or technical
support questions, contact JP at answerguy@xxxxxxxxxxx
<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>
<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>
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://personal-computer-tutor.com
*********************************************
READ THIS CAREFULLY!
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(20.) CONTACT INFORMATION
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Routine Disclaimer: Although I make an effort to check
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availability of links. You use the information provided at
your own risk, it is always wise to back up your data
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All advice given in this newsletter/ezine or at Linda's
Computer Stop is given with the best of intentions and
should only be taken as a suggestion and not a definite
fix to a problem.
ABC ~ All 'Bout Computers and Linda's Computer Stop
are the property of Linda F. Johnson. The views
expressed by readers or contributors are not necessarily
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the right to deny inclusion of any contributions if she
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However, just because she allows it to be included,
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ALL READERS ARE RESPONSIBLE
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Thank you for reading "ABC ~ All 'Bout Computers".
(Copyright) 2001, 2002, 2003 - ABC ~ All 'Bout Computers,
Linda F. Johnson, MA.
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Written permission from the editor must be obtained to
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Thank you and I hope to continue to bring you a
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Linda Johnson
http://personal-computer-tutor.com
linda@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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- » [abcomputers] ABC ~ All 'Bout Computers, Vol. 21: Ad-aware, Valentine Graphics,and Lotsa Good Stuff!
