Sarasota PC Monitor

Review Chairmans Industry Comments (10/02)

Reviewing Software

by Herb Goldstein, Review Editor

E-mail comments, suggestions, etc. to Herb Goldstein at: revieweditor@spcug.org

A well-deserved tribute- The Sarasota PC Monitor, one of the most highly respected organs among user groups nationwide, will be greeting a new editor. The grandfather of our organization, Gary Schweinshaupt, has served in that capacity for more than the 15 years that I've been here. The work that Gary and his faithful, talented proof-reading wife, Bobbi, has contributed to us all is difficult to even describe. Its been a daily battle of many hours devoted to putting together and perfecting an accomplished publication that is the very heart and soul of our organization. Additionally, he has contributed to every facet of our organization, working, advising, assisting in every capacity and way possible. He is a unique individual. We owe him a great debt of gratitude we could never adequately repay. I am personally both indebted and grateful to him for his many years of mentoring, advice and guidance. He is a rare quality that one does not get a chance to often see in a lifetime, and that I have been fortunate enough to enjoy. Gary will still be with us in his many talented roles, especially that of Webmaster of our superb website, spcug.org, that he created.

It's a privilege to welcome Martin Reynolds as our new editor, assisted by Pete Thiesen. I look forward to working closely with these two capable and worthy members and wish them Godspeed and success in their new roles.

Refill your own cartridges? Here's the reply I received from a prominent manufacturer of inkjet cartridge refill kits in reply to my complaint about being unable to remove the cartridge cover to refill it:

"There are some different ways to remove the cover of color cartridges. You can place the cartridge on it's side, then proceed with a flat head screwdriver to separate the plastic where it meet's. The color portion needs to be separated all the way around the edge of the cartridge. An alternate to this is taking a heated exacto knife and loosening the glue holding this top portion of the cartridge."

My comment? Lotsa luck!!

The high cost of new manufacturer's cartridges (they're all guilty!) is not a function of the miserly amount of ink they contain as much as the cost of the cartridge itself. All the ink dispensing apparatus that used to be built into the printer is now built into the cartridge. The good news is that if there's a problem with the cartridge, you can throw it away with less heartburn than repairing or discarding your printer. The bad news is that cartridges are more expensive.

You have two alternatives to beat the system:

  1. If you print overwhelmingly black and white text rather than color graphics, you need a laser printer, not an inkjet. The cost per copy of laser printing is less than half of inkjet.
  2. There is a plethora of places that sell re-manufactured and refilled cartridges. We have received good commentary from members whose cartridges were refilled by one of our advertisers, Express Ink and Paper Co. on Swift Rd., 927-5500. As we have said many times, you will usually receive better service and recourse when you take your business to a local vendor.

Internet Explorer v6 has been around now long enough for Microsoft to eliminate the bugs and patch the program. Although Cookie Crusher and similar anti-cookie apps won't work with it, there is adequate cookie control available in the program's options. If you are using the pro version of Zone Alarm, it also contains cookie control options that work just fine with IE6.

All things considered, IE6 is a worthwhile upgrade. It is considerably faster than the previous version (5.5). You can get it at Microsoft's update website.

Window Washer 4.7 is the latest version of the best cleanup utility you can put on your computer. It covers all traces of your wandering on the net, and eliminates caches, log files and more in the applications you select It is infinitely customizable to include/exclude the areas of your choice, and you have among its many options the capability of permanently deleting the contents of those you select.

Of all the many cleanup apps, this is the most comprehensive, industrial-strength best. It is extremely easy to use and completely effective. Window Washer has been a long-time favorite among reviewers in many computer publications. You can download a trial copy at webroot.com. If you value your privacy, it's a must-have application and has our highest recommendation.

Go there! If you haven't been to http://whatis.techtarget.com yet, you need to go there. You will find indexed answers to most anything you want to know that's related to computers.

Office XP nightmares? If you have experienced problems with Office XP, you need to go to http://www.cnet.com/software/0-6018642-8-20057234-1.html to find some solutions and good advice.

The new Zone Alarm is still the best firewall in the business. The major difference with the previous version seems to be in its appearance. The free version bears a new interface that is very similar to the Pro version, while the protection properties appear to be akin to the old. A caveat to bear in mind is that the old version of either should be carefully uninstalled before installing the new. Be on the safe side after a new installation by going to Gibson Research's site at grc.com and running their firewall test, "Shields Up." It will ascertain whether or not your system is properly hacker protected.

It is widely recognized that both ZoneAlarm and Sygate are the two best anti-hacker firewalls available. Either one will make your ports both invisible (stealth mode)and inaccessible to hackers attempting to invade your computer. Hacking activity is so prevalent that most users log at least a dozen or more such attempts daily. To go on line without both an antivirus and anti-hacker (firewall) application running in memory is just plain crazy!

Here's a brief rundown on what you will find in the top-notch ZoneAlarm Pro version that differs it from the free:

ZoneAlarm provides some good info on who is trying to get into your computer from the logged attempts. If you want a more complete analysis, the freeware VisualZone processes your ZA log files, and can tell you (either in real time, or as a run-on-demand service) who's trying to access your system, what ports they're accessing, where they are, and more. Although ZA has basic alert analysis built in, the VisualZone tools are far more complete. Definitely worth checking out:

http://www.visualizesoftware.com/visualzone/visualzone.htm

Free spyware stopper. Ad-aware is a freeware program that you use to scan your system for known spyware advertising systems. If you don't want your computer to send information back to certain advertisers, Ad-aware is what you need. You should always use the latest version of Ad-aware to make sure you don't let any new spyware in. You can download this leading spyware stopper at http://www.lavasoftusa.com/downloads.html

XP icon appearance. To change the size and spacing of your icons in WinXP, right click on your desktop, select properties/appearance/advanced. Scroll down in the "Item" menu, and you can adjust the icons' size and spacing (and many other items), just as you could in earlier versions of Windows.

The "localhost" problem. There are several kinds of programs such as antivirus and antispam software that interpose themselves between you and your e-mail recipient.. If your ISP is Comcast and your e-mail program is Outlook Express (which is the case for the majority of our members), your incoming (POP3) server address is listed as mail.comcast.net. If your anivirus or antispam software needs to receive and check your mail before it gets to you, it usually needs to change your POP3 server address to "localhost." In doing so, the change frequently and erratically will prevent you from receiving mail. When it does, the cure is to switch back from localhost to mail.comcast.net (Outlook Express> tools> accounts> servers> incoming mail).

The obvious problem is that should it become necessary to switch out of localhost, the programs that use it will become non-functional in their intermediary mail-recipient capacity. The second difficulty arises when you try to use two different programs, each of which demands the use of the localhost setting. So what's to do? If you find out, let me know. The tech support for the programs that compete for the localhost setting can't answer the question satisfactorily (I've tried) so you are on your own to experiment. Good luck!

Hardware bargains If you are looking for all sorts of computer hardware and components at closeout bargain prices, try techbargains.com. What's up at incredibly low prices changes daily. It's worth the trip!

A treasure chest of comprehensive Windows (all versions) utilities, tweaks, help, files, drivers, and you-name-it is yours for the browsing at bootdisk.com. It's worth a trip from anywhere!

XP time feature Windows XP added a nice feature that heretofore required a separate software application. It will connect, either at a programmed time or manually, to a time server via the Internet and reset that often erroneous internal clock. Just click on the time in the systems tray, go to Date and Time Properties and click the Internet Time tab.

New hard drives coming. This Fall will see the introduction of new serial ATA hard drives to replace the current parallel ATA drives. The advantage will be speeds 5 times faster than currently, along with capacities around 200GB. The drives will connect to a serial ATA controller card plugged into one of your PCI slots. The drives will connect the card via a narrow data cable replacing the current wide cable. All the major drive manufacturers are expected to introduce their own models.

A 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 is Intel's latest entry in the speed race. It may not help your word processing, but gamers, CAD users, and other high-intensity applications will profit by the fastest processor on the planet. CNET offers an in-depth review at http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0-1018-8-20331919-1.html

Myalbum is a freeware program that you can use to catalog your photos, build a self running photo album, and convert and resize your pictures. To find out more about it and download, go to <http://perso.wanadoo.fr/myalbum/MyAlbum.html>

The new Netscape 7.0 is a winner. Netscape users should upgrade. It contains a number of new features and fixes that will improve your browsing experience.

Flash player security update. The seemingly innocent Flash player can let hackers run code on your PC or read your files. Flash is integrated into many Web pages and the player is as widespread as Internet Explorer, making this flaw a large threat. You can get a new, secure version of the Flash player at <http://download.com.com/3000-2378-10138824.html >.

Questions answered. A free service of the New York Times is a knowledge network in which you post your question at http://www.abuzz.com . It is then routed to a group who is knowledgeable in that subject area, and 80% of the questions are responded to within one day. Powerdesk from Ontrack (ontrack.com) is one of the 3 most frequently used applications on my computer. It is offered in both a free and a pro version, the latter costs and is more than well worth it. PowerDesk is a file manager that runs rings around Windows Explorer. It's a must-have for everyone!

Here's an example of just one of its many features. You know the file is on your computer somewhere, but for the life of you it isn't showing up. Don't panic. Use PoWerDesk Pro 5's File Finder feature to do a keyword search that goes well beyond your Windows Explorer search. You will find files faster with File Finder. It's an advanced File Finder that is faster and more powerful than Windows file finder:

To run file finder in PowerDesk Pro 5, go to Tools->Find->File Finder or hit your F3 key while PowerDesk Pro 5 is open. To ensure that you get results for keywords displayed, please select the "Show matching text" box in the Contents tab.

For more information on File Finder in PowerDesk Pro 5 - see the PowerDesk user guide at http://www.ontrack.com/powerdesk/guide.asp. PowerDesk user should print out this useful guide for future reference.

Cookiewall This is yet another utility to let you decide which cookies may be implanted on your system as you surf the Web and which ones aren't welcome. Currently compatible only with MSIE, CookieWall's producers promise Netscape support in the near future. It's a free download at http://www.webattack.com/get/cookiewall.shtml .

Ram vs. Resources Some months ago Dr. Brian Lewis treated us to a very informative article on the differences between resources and memory, explaining why you can run out of resources in spite of having more than adequate memory (RAM) at your disposal. From the questions we receive, it seems that some members may have missed his excellent treatise. For their benefit and that of newbies, Fred Langa reminds us that in Windows, the most common use of the term "resources" refers to special, reserved areas of memory. You can think of these areas as scratchpads - actually, internal tables and pointers - that Windows uses to keep track of running applications, and the components thereof, including the graphical elements- menus, buttons, sliders, and so on- of what's drawn on your screen.

In Win9x-family versions of Windows- and that includes Windows ME- the memory areas are of a fixed size regardless of how much RAM you have. That's a problem: If you run too many things at once or have too many graphical objects displayed at once, you can deplete one of the memory areas. When that happens, you get error messages or weird behavior or a crash: You are "low on" or "out of" resources.

Similarly, in poorly coded software applications, some of the memory used by an app may not be released when the app closes - or crashes. Over time, more and more resources may be marked as "in use" even when they're really not. Eventually, there's not enough space available in the special memory areas to continue working (again, regardless of how much total RAM you have), and you get an "out of memory" error message or crash.

WinNT/2K/XP track resources very differently. In effect, your resource areas are basically the same at your total system memory. While it's still theoretically possible to "run out of resources," it's nearly impossible to do so on a normally configured machine. This is one of the major reasons why Windows XP is genuinely more crash- resistant than the Win9x family: You can run even the most resource- hungry apps without having to worry about "out of resource" problems on XP.

Crashtest. How safe is that new or used vehicle you're thinking of purchasing? Hopefully we will all stay out of the statistics. Meanwhile, view the crash test results by vehicle model, along with death rates, injury claims, overall ratings, safety information, and more at http://www.crashtest.com .

PowerQuest discounts. Very popular PowerQuest products are available at discount to our members including the latest versions of Partition Magic ($35), Drive Image ($35), and Drive Copy ($25) plus $5 S&H. To order, go to www.ugr.com/order/

Quicken 2003 vs. Microsoft Money 2003. According to reviewers, the choice is a toss-up, with the edge going to Money. Each has its pros and cons, and both do an excellent job in managing your bank accounts, budgets, investments, and other aspects of personal finance. The 2003 versions of both don't provide any major advances that would warrant your upgrading.

Opera 6.05 This latest version is now available for free download at opera.com. It's the fastest browser on earth and a pleasure to use. Surf like a pro with the latest update of this high-performance Web browser. Opera gives you SSL support, tons of keyboard shortcuts, the choice of a single- or multiple-document interface, and a lot of other useful features.

It's always good to have more than one browser available. Try it as your secondary browser. You may well find yourself moving it up to your #1 spot. It's excellent, and it's free!

Anti-spam filters. Spam filtering software is rapidly attaining popularity. Easily understood considering the average amount of trash e-mail you find in your mailbox these days. The catch all with this software is properly setting up its filters to exclude junk but permit the mail you want to receive to come through. It's important to select anti-spam software that allows you to view a listing of the mail it plans to delete before it actually performs the deletion.This will also give you an opportunity to modify your filters to prevent exclusion of mail you really want.

A moving experience. The U.S. Postal Service may be charging more for postage, but they're offering to make your next move a little easier at http://www.moversguide.com . Change your address, order utilities, find a furniture mover, rent a truck, find a gas station or learn more about your new community, get more information on how to pack, how to move pets, how to deal with the children, and other handy tips. Now, with all this at your fingertips, aren't you glad you didn't complain about the postage increase?

Office XP academic version. The academic version of Office XP is not an upgrade but the full-blown standard suite, which includes Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word applications. The academic version of Office XP is identical to the standard package, which sells for as much as $330 more, with one exception: The academic version cannot be upgraded to the nonacademic version. But analysts say many consumers-unlike business consumers-tend to stick with one version of Office for years without upgrading.

Any student, including those in kindergarten through grade 12 or those being home schooled, technically qualify for the discount. Higher-education students and faculty also are eligible to buy the software. Technically, nonstudents such as parents of students are prohibited from using the product other than to help their children do school work. To enforce that rule, school bookstores and other academic resellers typically ask for student identification.

At retailers, there are no checks in place to prevent unauthorized users from buying the software. Microsoft effectively removed any system to enforce that by offering the software in major retail stores. In fact, CompUSA, Costco, Staples and other retailers prominently display the academic and nonacademic versions side by side, making it easy for nonstudents to pick up a copy. The stores don't necessarily check student IDs the way an educational dealer or college bookstore would.

Are you taking an SPCUG SIG? If you are, I guess that makes you a student.

That horizontal line nuisance in Microsoft Word. You probably never could figure out where it came from, or worse yet, how to get rid of it, so here's the answer to eliminating that pesky horizontal line that sometimes appears in Microsoft Word from "seemingly" out of nowhere.

For starters, it's not really a line- it's a border. It came into being when you inadvertently entered 3 or more hyphens, underscores, or equal signs in a row. That's Word's cue to place a border under you current paragraph. If you were dealing with WordPerfect, bringing up its sterling feature "reveal codes" would have immediately showed you what it was and how to get rid of it.

In Word, the fix is to place your cursor directly above that border, and select Borders and Shading from the Format menu.. Click the None box and click OK. If you want to prevent automatic insertion of borders in the first place, select AutoCorrect options from the Tools menu, click the Autoformat As You Type tab, and uncheck Border Lines. In Word 97, the menu item is AutoCorrect and the check box is labeled simply Borders.

The broadband dilemma There's been a considerable amount of rhetoric of late concerning ISP's and internet connections. Especially for our newbies, let's look at the choices among the three services known as "broadband." In common, they offer service that is very much faster than dial-up-phone (at least on the download side), don't tie up a phone line, and provide an internet connection that is always on. These features unfortunately come at a price. Each of the three is considerably more expensive than dial-up, and each has its own set of drawbacks. Additionally, being always on, they are more subject to intrusion by hackers and make the use of firewall software like ZoneAlarm a must! Although faster than dial-up, none of these services in a real life situation provide the astonishing speeds they claim in their advertising. Those claims are based on a theoretical ideal which rarely if ever exists.

1. DSL- This is a phone line connection that does not interfere with your normal phone service. On the plus side, DSL connections are not effected by how many others are using it at the same time as you. It has two particular disadvantages. Firstly, the service is unavailable unless you are within a radius of three miles from the central station. Secondly, it is the slowest of the broadband services, albeit considerably faster than dial-up.

2. WIRELESS- It too is uniquely separated from other users but suffers many of the same drawbacks of satellite TV. It is very sensitive to antenna positioning and both physical and atmospheric interference. It is currently the least reliable and most expensive of the three, but that may change and improve in the future.

3. CABLE- Here we have the service most commonly used by our members. We are fortunately in an area of the country in which cable internet is completely available. On the plus side, cable is usually the fastest of, and a few bucks less expensive than the others. It does, however, have its own drawbacks.

Firstly, you are connected on a loop with other cable internet users in the same area. Your connection speed is effected by how many of them may be online at the same time as you. Secondly, being the most commonplace, it is more frequently the subject of closer scrutiny and complaint.

Until recently, Comcast's cable internet service was part of a nationwide "Excite @home.com" network from which Comcast has separated and is now on its own. Consequently, growing pains were to be both expected and realized, but the service has been gradually and consistently improving. Since it is the most commonly and frequently used feature among subscribers, most complaints involve e-mail server outages. Their occurrences are more frequent than they should be, but service is usually restored within a reasonable period of time. In some instances, late delivery has also been annoying. The problem has shown improvement and will hopefully continue to do so.

Some complain about Comcast's tech support. On the contrary, I have personally found them to be polite, competent, helpful, and I have never had a problem they were unable to resolve to my satisfaction. Unfortunately, many complaints are more related to the user's software and hardware than they are to Comcast's service.

My own dissatisfaction concerns not their service, but their pricing. Albeit less expensive than the alternative broadband services, it's still too high. Additionally, they formerly offered a month's free service if you paid for a full year in advance. They don't anymore.

Some members are miffed over Comcast being unable or unwilling to provide unique services to their satisfaction. In the final analysis, none of us are married to Comcast or any other ISP. If you are dissatisfied with your service or find your ISP insensitive to your needs, you can complain but will probably find it more productive to fly to another nest than attempt to re-feather the one you are in. Unfortunately, Comcast has a monopoly on local cable service.

If you want practical info on Broadband Internet connections, Windows, overclocking, patches and registry tweaks that enhance your connection speed, and more, you'll find it at SpeedGuide.net.?

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Copyright 2002. This article is from the October 2002 issue of the Sarasota PC Monitor, the official monthly publication of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., P.O. Box 15889, Sarasota, FL 34277-1889. Permission to reprint is granted only to other non-profit computer user groups, provided proper credit is given to the author and our publication. We would appreciate receiving a copy of the publication the reprint appears in, please send to above address, Attn: Editor. For further information about our group, email: admin@spcug.org/ Web: http://www.spcug.org/

The Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc. has 1,300+ members and was established in 1982. We are members of the Assoc. of PC User Groups (APCUG), the Florida Assoc. of PC Users Groups, Inc., and we are members of the America Online Ambassador Program.

See http://www.spcug.org for all reviews from the Sarasota PC Monitor, go to the Newsletter Section.