Review Chairman's Industry Comments (11/03)
The Computer Buffet
by Herb Goldstein, Review Editor
E-mail comments, suggestions, etc. to Herb Goldstein at: revieweditor@spcug.org
MORE VIRUS BALONEY BALONEY. That's what the advice to place AAAAA as the first entry in your address book to avoid spreading a virus/worm is! The theory is that culprit will hit this phony entry first and stop right there before replicating itself to all the other entries in your list. The sickies that create viruses are no dummies. They figured workarounds for this ploy a long time ago.
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE is what you will find at infoplease.com. It's a dictionary, encyclopedia, almanac, atlas, puzzles, games, and a lot more that will educate, entertain, and keep you busy for hours!
MEMLOAD displays facts about your current system memory load such as physical memory and swapfile usage. It takes a snapshot of memory usage at a certain time and compares differences in memory usage to track memory leaks. Memload also attempts recovery of memory bound up in the operating system. Download it free for Windows 98/ME CELESTIA is a free real-time space simulation. The site tells it best: Celestia ?lets you experience our universe in three dimensions. Unlike most planetarium software, Celestia doesn't confine you to the surface of the Earth. You can travel throughout the solar system, to any of over 100,000 stars, or even beyond the galaxy. All travel in Celestia is seamless; the exponential zoom feature lets you explore space across a huge range of scales, from galaxy clusters down to spacecraft only a few meters across. A ?point-and-go-to? interface makes it simple to navigate through the universe to the object you want to visit.? w.shatters.net/celestia
STUDIOLINE PHOTO BASIC is a big, free download, a whopping 27mb. But you can manage 200 photos in its archive, import all the popular image file formats, have a full range of filters and effects, share thumbnails via email, create and upload Web galleries, print images, turn your computer into a slide projector, and more. www.studioline.biz/EN/downloads/download-photo-basic/ download-photo-basic/default.htm
SOME GOOGLE EXTRAS EXTRAS. Here are some ?googles? you should be aware of: 1. Search and browse mail-order catalogs online http:// catalogs.google.com/ 2. Translate text or entire web pages http://www.google.com/ language_tools 3. View search results as scrolling Web page images http:// labs.google.com/gviewer.html 4. Find products for sale from across the Web http:// froogle.google.com/ 5. Restrict your search to a particular geographic area (This is new and sometimes does not work properly.) http://labs.google.com/location 6. And finally, the Google Toolbar, which includes a way to fill out Web forms automatically and a pop-up ad blocker. http://toolbar.google.com
WHY EXPERIMENT? Lots of companies offer free, no obligation samples of a wide range of products at startsampling.com/ Take the guesswork out of things that catch your eye.
EMOTIONAL HEALTH HELP. People will happily discuss physical ailments. However, we are reluctant to discuss emotional health. Problems like depression, sleep disorders, stress and the like are generally not discussed, sometimes not even between close friends. This site tries to help you get answers to psychological and relationship questions. Ask a simple question in the search bar and receive an answer. While this site is not a substitute for a counselor or doctor, it can provide some helpful insight. www.web4health.info/
KANA REMINDER is a program which can set a reminder to be triggered at a specified time. It can also be used to run another program at a specified time. It's a free download at www.istop.com/~phartana/reminder/index.html
GOOGLE PHONE SEARCHES SEARCHES. Instead of resorting to one of the other utilities that provide a reverse lookup for a telephone number, simply type the number, including area code, in Google's search box. Or, if you're looking for an item, there's no need to resort to the Yellow Pages. Just type the one word category followed by the area code, for example ?furniture 555? (without the quotes).
COLUMBIA ENCYCLOPEDIA ENCYCLOPEDIA. Search online free at http://www.bartleby.com/65/ from nearly 51,000 entries. This encyclopedia, claimed to be the most complete and up-todate ever produced, consists of six and one-half million words on a vast range of topics, and with more than 80,000 hypertext cross-references.
POWERDESK 5 is the most used program on my computer. It is the best file manager in existence. You can easily perform dozens of essential functions on any of the files and folders in your computer. Think of it as Windows Explorer on steroids! PowerDesk 5 Express runs on all Windows versions from 95B onward, and is located on the ?download? page at http://www.v-com.com/download/index.html ; there are other utilities there too, some free, others free but time limited. (PowerDesk 5 Express is just plain free.)
LOTS OF FREE TUTORIALS in many different software apps like photoshop, Irfanview, Outlook Express and many more are yours for the trip to www.somewhere-in-time.net/ tutorial/
MOVIE FANS have a great site at fandango.com. Here you will find a complete movie schedule and timetable, reviews of every movie, advanced ticket purchase for some theaters for every theater in Sarasota or any other city you select. There's lots of other movie news and much more here that's well worth your visit.-
BE PREPARED! If it hasn't happened already, there may well be a day when you turn on your computer and it won't boot up. Everybody needs to have a boot disk handy for such emergencies. If you haven't, download one for your PC at bootdisk.com.
MEDIA CENTER 2004 2004. Microsoft launched Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004, an updated version of its Media Center PC that lets people download and play music and movies via a remote control. Microsoft has added a number of features in the 2004 edition of the multimedia operating system, most notably, the ability to pause and rewind radio broadcasts, edit and print photos, and rip CDs onto a hard drive, all done via the Media Center's remote control interface.
WINDOWS XP USERS need to visit www.theeldergeek.com. It offers loads of great information and utilities for using XP. Don?t miss this one.
SPRINGFIELD TECH SUPPORT SITE is where you will find drivers, shareware, error message definitions and loads of free useful support utilities and information. Browse this site and you are guaranteed to find something useful. springfieldtech.com/Support SHOPAHOLICS need to go to jumpondeals.com to find a listing of discounts, coupons and unadvertised special deals in many of your favorite stores.
CHECK YOUR MEMORY MEMORY. Microsoft has come up with a software utility that will check your computer's memory. Download it, install it to a CD or floppy, and you're ready to go. It's free at http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp
DISAPPEARING DLL's DLL's. It sometimes happens that one of your applications will refuse to work and provide you with message that a .dll file is missing or corrupt. That's the time you need to go to www.dll-files.com. You will find a healthy collection of .dll files there for your download.
BEST-EVER FREE OFFICE SUITE UPGRADED. Fred Langa has discussed ?Open Office? before; it's perhaps the best free office suite there is, duplicating all the essential functions (and many of the bells and whistles) of Microsoft Office, but totally free. www.openoffice.org/product Fred says, ?As before, the new version includes a fullblown word processor, spreadsheet, drawing package, presentation tool, and database, as well as the ability to import and export to many Microsoft Office file types. But the new 1.1 version of Open Office also includes the ability to export directly to PDF and Flash formats, interoperability with StarOffice, and lots more: See www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/features/1.1/index.html Best of all, it's still entirely an Open Source project and product: There are no fees, no weird license restrictions, no product activation or mandatory registration, no install on one PC only limits: You can grab a copy, install it as often as you like on as many PCs as you like, and it still costs you absolutely nothing. There are versions available for Windows (98/ME/ NT/2000/XP), Linux (x86 & PowerPC), and Solaris Operating System (SPARC platform edition) in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese (simplified & traditional), Korean and Japanese. Installation is simple, especially on Win98 and ME: Just click and follow the on-screen prompts. You can also install it that way on Win2K and XP, but because those are multiuser OSes even if there's only one user on the PC? you'll get better setup and may save a ton of space by using the multiuser install on those OSes. This involves just one extra step, and is fully explained in the Quick-Start Guide, Windows in Multiple User Environment at http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/instructions.html . Again, you don't have to install it that way on 2K and XP, but it's probably best if you do.
Note that Open Office is not a clone of Microsoft Office: While the core tasks are very similar (you can be basically productive in minutes), the look-and-feel is different. As you move to non-basic functions and operations, you may encounter a bit of a learning curve as you figure out where the menu items are and how various tasks might differ from what you?re used to. But it's not that hard to get up to speed, and the Help system is pretty good.
I use Open Office on a number of my PCs here; and it?s my primary Office environment on my laptop. When my remaining Microsoft Office setups become outdated, I'll think long and hard before spending hundreds of dollars to upgrade the Microsoft way. Open Office is that good. Simply outstanding!
Drive Image 7 fixed ! Are you using Drive Image 7? If you aren't, you are missing one of the most useful software applications ever created. The only really intelligent way to back up a hard drive today is to back it to a second hard drive in the same machine. Using a tape drive, it formerly took me 3 hours to do a backup. Using Drive Image 7, it takes me 12 minutes. And if that were not reason enough, the backup to my second hard drive contains an exact copy of my first. In fact, if my boot drive goes bad, I just yank it out of my computer and use the backup drive. It?s that simple!
There are 2 ways to backup a drive with Drive Image. You can image drive #1 to drive #2 and get a compressed image which you can later restore when necessary. Or, you can do like most folks and copy drive #1 to drive#2. Using the copy option, drive #2 will look exactly like drive#1, file for file, byte for byte! That's the way I do my backup, along with lots of other users.
When the new Drive Image 7 came out a few months ago, unlike previous versions, the copy function was completely screwed up. I yelled and screamed and stamped my feet, and with some help from Gene Barlow (the Powerquest user group rep), they went to work on the problem. In fact, they re-wrote the whole program and it is now available as Version 7.1, and as a free update to purchasers of Version 7.0.
Were it not for the fact that it came out so soon after Version 7, it would have been called Version 8. The copy drive function is so simple and fast now, it's amazing! The process requires no rebooting, and takes place quickly and completely in Windows. The interface has become even simpler and can be used by novices with aplomb. Drive Image 7.1 is incomparable. It has no competition for the very best software you can use to back up to one hard drive to another.
Using Windows XP Desktop Themes
A desktop theme is a predefined set of window elements that help you personalize your computer to give it a distinctive look and feel. Themes affect the overall appearance of your desktop, including the background, screen saver, icons, fonts, colors, windows, mouse pointers, and sounds. To change your desktop theme:
- Click Start, click Control Panel, click Appearance and Themes, and then click Display. Or, right-click an empty area of the desktop, and then click Properties.
- Click the Themes tab, and then select a new theme in the Theme list. A preview of the theme is displayed in the Sample box. Select the theme that you want, and then click OK.
Create Your Own Desktop Theme When you modify any element of a theme, it is recommended that you always save your changes with a new theme name. If you select a different theme before you save your changes, the changes that you made to the theme are lost.
To create your own desktop theme, follow these steps:
- Click Start, click Control Panel, click Appearance and Themes, and then click Display. Or, right-click an empty area of the desktop, and then click Properties.
- Click the Themes tab, and then click the theme that you want to modify in the Theme list.
- Make your intended changes to the elements of the theme that you want to modify. Here's where you can find and change individual elements within a theme:
* To change the background design, color, or the position of the background design on your screen, click the Desktop tab in the Display Properties dialog box.
* To change the icons on your desktop, click the Desktop tab in the Display Properties dialog box, and then click Customize Desktop.
* To change the screen saver, click the Screen Saver tab in the Display Properties dialog box.
* To change the color scheme, window and button styles, or font size, click the Appearance tab in the Display Properties dialog box.
* To change the color, size, and font settings of individual window elements, click the Appearance tab in the Display Properties dialog box, and then click Advanced.
* To change your mouse pointer scheme or the appearance of individual pointers, click the Pointers tab in the Mouse Properties dialog box. (Click Start, click Control Panel, click Printers and Other Hardware, and then click Mouse.)
* To change a sound scheme or to apply a sound to individual program events, click the Sounds tab in the Sounds and Audio Devices Properties dialog box. (Click Start, click Control Panel, click Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices, and then click Sounds and Audio Devices.)
4. When you finish making the changes that you want, click the Themes tab in the Display Properties dialog box, and then click Apply. The changes that you make to the theme are saved as Previous theme name (Modified). This name is displayed in the Theme list, and it is the default name of the theme when you modify it but before you save it with a new name.
5. Click Save As.
6. In the Save As dialog box, type a name for your new theme (for example, MyNewTheme), and then click Save.
7. Click OK. Your new theme is displayed in the Theme list and applied to your desktop. New themes are saved in the My Documents folder, with the .theme file extension for example, MyNewTheme.theme. To open the My Documents folder, click Start, and then click My Documents.
You can delete any theme that you create, install from a CD-ROM, or download from the Internet. You cannot delete the themes that are included with Windows XP, such as the Windows XP and Windows Classic themes. To delete a desktop theme, follow these steps:
* Click Start, click Control Panel, click Appearance and Themes, and then click Display. Or, right-click an empty area of the desktop, and then click Properties.
* Click the Themes tab, and then click the theme that you want to delete in the Theme list. A preview of the theme is displayed in the Sample box.
* Click Delete. The desktop theme that you selected is deleted from your hard disk.
The Logitech Mouse/Keyboard Magic
Most computer users neither know nor care what?s inside the beige box. They don?t interact one on one with their video card or hard drive. The three components that determine your degree of comfort, productivity and pleasure with your computer are the mouse, keyboard and monitor. These are the three items you do control and interact with constantly. The best of these can make your time at your computer both enjoyable and productive. The worst can make your experience miserable. Your choice in this area will make or break your day!
We've written extensively in the past about monitors. It's time we centered our attention on mice and keyboards. These are available from a wide variety of manufacturers and in a broad spectrum of prices. Although price and quality usually go hand in hand, the prices of the best are usually well within the affordable range for most computerists, especially around Christmas time. The moral of the story is, "go for the best!" If the best is what you want, the name to keep in mind is Logitech.
As a beta tester for Logitech input devices, I had a front row seat to observe the quality, care and ingenuity they put into what they manufacture. They leave no stone unturned until they get it right, and they stand rock-solid behind everything they sell. If you have an issue with a Logitech mouse or keyboard, they will replace it free, no questions asked, within a 5 year period. If you have a question concerning a Logitech product, their free tech support is always available to you. I know of no other manufacturer of computer products that provides such outstanding customer service. Input devices are and always have been Logitech's business. They don't make modems, monitors, word processors, printers, or toasters. That's why we selected Logitech input devices to bring you the best of what's out there.
Mice and keyboards are available both individually and in several combinations called ?DUO? packages. Let's start with their top of the line, state of the art combination, the Cordless MX Duo. This package combines their Cordless MX700 Mouse with their Cordless Elite Keyboard. They are a journey through input device wonderland!
The MX700 Mouse is in its totality a one of a kind unique product of engineering ingenuity. To begin with, it is the first and only rechargeable cordless optical mouse available. It makes no sense at all to have a corded mouse today. The cord is a gross nuisance that is constantly in the way and fights you for the direction in which you want to move your mouse as it sweep away anything on your desk that gets in the way. Without the cord, you can easily sit your mouse most anywhere it's comfortable to your wrist, but the unique ace in the hole is the recharging feature.
The mouse sits comfortably in a recharging receptacle that also serves as the communicating device between your mouse, keyboard and your computer where it attaches to your choice of your PS/2 or USB ports. A full charge will keep your mouse running for running the entire day or more, especially if you replace it in its charging cradle when you visit your refrigerator, bathroom or wherever. A small green LED on the mouse blinks as it is recharging, and goes off when fully charged. Unlike common Ni-Cad rechargeables, the NiMH batteries supplied with the MX700 have no memory, so you don't need to run them down fully before recharging to get full use time. Gone is the need for constant alkaline AA battery replacement that applies to all other cordless mice.
Another great feature is the MX700's optical technology. Gone is the ball along with the dirt problems it introduces to the commonplace mouse. Optical mice are fully enclosed,, run faster , smoother and more exact. Essentially, an optical mouse detects motion by taking pictures through its transparent base lens of the surface on which it sits. The MX 700 mouse uses the most advanced optical engine among today's mice, processing 4.7 megapixels per second at 800 dpi, 10 g acceleration and a speed of 40 inches per second, exceeding even gamer's performance requirements. Add Fast RF Technology, the speed of communication to a computer via its charging cradle, and it sets new industry standards for speed and accuracy. Sorry lefties, the mouse is designed for right hand use only.
For battery conservation it's a good idea to always use an optical mouse on the lightest color surface possible. I taped a piece of white paper to my desk top to do the job. On several occasions when I inadvertently left the mouse on this surface overnight, it remained fully charged in the morning. Since an optical mouse has no ball or other moving parts, it will work on any surface and a mouse pad is unnecessary. Most optical mice have 4 flush ?footpads? on its base to assist in gliding the mouse. The MX700 has 5 pads of a new material that makes its movement smooth as silk. In addition, its optical lens is recessed for complete protection.
How about shape and comfort? Here too, the MX700 is in a class by itself. Without a doubt, it is the most comfortable mouse you ever laid your hands on. Hold it in your grasp and you won?t want to let it go. It bears a unique, smooth, ergonomic shape and design that fits you like a glove to afford endless hours of comfortable mousing. Unlike any other mouse, this one contains an unbelievable 8 buttons, each of which can be easily programmed to instantly do with a single click a variety of common commands including movements on the net. Of course, a smoothly operating mouse scrolling wheel is present in the usual location.
I have a true love affair with this mouse. On a scale of 1 t0 10, it gets a 12. Like Charlton Heston?s rifle, you would have to pry it from my cold, dead hands!
THE ELITE KEYBOARD. What better combo can there be than to package the supermouse with the top of the line keyboard, the Elite Cordless, to make the DUO package complete. While you can purchase the MX700 mouse separately, the Elite Cordless is only available along with the mouse in the Cordless MX DUO package.
Although a cordless keyboard is nowhere near as essential as a cordless mouse, it is certainly a convenience. It is powered by 2 alkaline AA batteries that should last between 6 to 10 months, and communicates with the computer via the same RF technology in the sending unit employed in the mouse recharging cradle. It compliments the eye-catching black and silver design of the mouse with the same color display. Although white markings on black keys are very attractive, if you are a hunt and peck typist you may find them less convenient that black markings on a white key. Other than that, this keyboard is all aces!
The key feel is excellent and exceptionally quiet. The board has a zero degree tilt, and a detachable wrist rest is provided. It offers a slew of extra buttons that are programmable and offer one-click activation of a whole range of commonly used features. Among these are:
* Control of multimedia audio and video.
* Dual function F-Keys.
* Scroll wheel identical to the same on the mouse.
* Full range of common web movements.
* Email send, receive, forward, reply, new message.
* Undo, redo, print, save, MY computer, documents, pictures and music, plus other useful commands.
Both a Caps Lock and Function Key Lock button LED is located on the mouse charging stand as a visual reminder of whether these functions are activated or not. Neither the mouse nor keyboard was designed for use with a USB hub. You need to connect the charging stand to either USB or PS/2 ports directly on your computer.
The DUO package contains a full set of instructions along with a CD for installing the software and drivers. The software provides very easy and graphic programming for all aspects of mouse use and button programming, and iTouch software for keyboard control
The Cordless MX Duo is widely available at prices that vary commonly between $60-100. The mouse alone is usually street priced close to $50. For further information, go to Logitech?s website at www.logitech.com
We continue next month to look at some other Logitech DUO combi- combinations and mice. Look for some of these items on the Special Drawing where they will be featured over the next few months. :
Return to Herb Goldstein's Index
Copyright 2003. This article is from the November 2003 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 1,100+ 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.