Sarasota PC Monitor
Review Chairmans Industry Comments (03/04)
The Computer Buffet
by Herb Goldstein, Review Editor
E-mail comments, suggestions, etc. to Herb Goldstein at: revieweditor@spcug.org
CROSSWORD PUZZLES. If you're a big fan, head over to the crossword resource. You'll find links to hundreds of crosswords in different categories. If you're a religion scholar, you might want to try your hand at the Bible crosswords. There are crosswords for school-aged children, golf enthusiasts and more. If you're stuck on a clue, there are crossword dictionaries as well. www.refdesk.com/crosswrd.html
SHARPEN YOUR LCD. If you have an LCD monitor or laptop, you may notice that things aren't as clear as they should or could be. This little application should fix it right up. ClearTweak changes the contrast in the ClearType setting in Windows XP. You must have a video adapter and monitor that supports a color setting of 256 colors. Do not try this on a standard CRT monitor - it may make it blurry. www.ioisland.com/cleartweak
MEDICATIONS PRIMER. Just in time for flu and cold season, a site about medicine. Find out the best over-the-counter medicines when you have a sore throat, runny or stuffed-up nose, or cough. If you have an infection or something more serious, your doctor may have prescribed something stronger. You can search for the drug's name in the database for a list of side effects, possible instructions and other important information. http://www.familydoctor.org/druginfo.xml
WINDOWS 98 SUPPORT CONTINUES. Microsoft has done an about-face on Windows 98. It has decided that it will continue to support the old operating system, through June, 2006. Support for ME will have the same deadline. It previously was scheduled to die at the end of this year. Support will carry a fee; there is no free support. Microsoft will continue to issue free patches for security problems. At the end of 2003, there were 58 million copies of 98 in use worldwide, according to IDC, a research firm. Windows ME accounted for 25 million more, it said.
It's great that Microsoft has taken the pressure off Win98 users, but it doesn't change the fact that Win98 is getting quite long in the tooth, in tech terms. Even if Microsoft releases additional security patches, there are fundamental limits: Win98 predates a whole range of current and new technologies- USB2, support for huge hard drives, newer CPU types and optimizations, SATA, etc. etc.- and there's only so much back-filling you can do.
So even if Microsoft will now keep Win98 on limited life support, it's still time for Win98 users to start thinking about an upgrade. It could be a free or low-cost Linux distribution, or upgrading to XP, or even getting a new PC with a newer OS preinstalled (which doesn't have to cost a lot.
RADIO LOCATOR claims to be the most comprehensive radio station search engine on the Internet. It has over 10,000 radio station Web pages and over 2,500 audio streams from radio stations in the U.S. and around the world at http://www.radio-locator.com/ MOST RECENT XP TWEAKS by the venerable Fred Langa can be found at www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=17500569 There are super great suggestions here that XP users will enjoy
KODAK EASYSHARE SOFTWARE 3.2 is a free and simple way to organize, print, and share your digital photos. It allows you to get high-quality prints at home or online and to share your photos with friends and family. You can also organize your favorite pictures with the Album feature and preserve your memories on CD. http://download.com.com/3000-2204-10170729.html
SUPERMARKET COUPON CLIPPERS will enjoy a visit to www.valupage.com/Entry.pst You may find some nice savings here when you visit your favorite store.
STARTUP JUNK OR JEWELS? Programs that automatically startup and run in the background can really slow your computer down. You can remove them through MSCONFIG but it's often difficult to know what is necessary and what's not. The Greatis Startup Application Database divides programs into four categories - essential programs for Windows, optional programs, useless programs and dangerous programs. You can search alphabetically or by category. www.greatis.com/regrun3appdatabase.htm
INTERNET FRAUD. The FTC has issued some gripping statistics about identity theft and technology fraud. It received over 500,000 consumer complaints in 2003; an estimated one in eight U.S. adults has been affected by identity theft; identity theft was the #1 complaint, followed by Internet-related fraud. www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/01/23/tech.fraud.reut/index.html
IF YOU'RE A TRAVELLER, a website you should visit is frommers.com. The famous authority in the travel world has loads of info about places to go, things to see, and where to eat world-wide. Pay it a visit.
EXPERIENCED XP USERS will find a treasure chest of information on tweaking Windows XP at blackviper.com. You can discover tons of step-by-step modifications and other very interesting info here. Novices should not apply.
FREE GREETING CARDS, games puzzles and more await you at www.funnygreetings.com/.It's like the old days when all the greeting card sites used to be free.
HEALTH INFO SOURCE. The federal government has a great Web site that organizes lots of health information. A huge health library covers a multitude of subjects: prevention and wellness, diseases and conditions, alternative medicine and featured topics. If you're ill or know someone who is, you'll also find access to medical dictionaries, health journals, prescription drug information, clinical trials and online checkups. http://www.healthfinder.gov/
PRIVATE CHARACTER EDITOR. Windows XP has a feature that allows you to customize a logo or other item for use in any document. The Private Character Editor is accessed at Start|Run and enter "Eudcedit" without the quotes. After you have constructed and saved the design of your choosing, you can access it from the Character Map by selecting Start|All Programs|Accessories|Choose All Fonts (Private Characters), then click on the character you have created, copying and pasting it into any document.
THE NATIONAL CYBER ALERT SYSTEM is taking applications for registration on a list that will receive warnings by E-mail of threats to Cyber Security-such as viruses, worms, invasive bugs of all kinds. www.us-cert.gov/
STARTUP MECHANIC is free! Keep your PC running faster, cleaner, and error-free with Startup-Mechanic. Startup-Mechanic will scan your system for known data mining, advertising, and tracking components, and rid your system of these tracking components, allowing you to maintain a higher degree of privacy while you surf the Web. Startup-Mechanic will hunt down and remove junk and obsolete programs running, freeing up RAM and significantly increasing your system performance.
Other advanced features include automatic recycle bin storage of removed components, a viewer for backup archives that allows you to quickly and easily review components that have been removed and stored for future restoration, and boot protection of your PC from harmful trojans, adult-dialers, and other scumware. www.startupmechanic.com/
GENEOLOGY OR CURIOSITY FANS may enjoy a trip to the USGenWeb project. This free archive, put together by volunteers, is replete with census, marriage and other records. Best of all, you can often see pictures of original records. They may be difficult to read, but they're neat to see. www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb
JIGSAW PUZZLE FAN? Here's a must-visit site. Puzzles galore that you can start, save, and get back to later. www.shockwave.com/sw/content/jigsawpuzzles
PRESERVING CD's. The scientists working on the Digital Preservation Program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have released an excellent 50 page guide ( http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/carefordisc/CDandDVDCareandHandlingGuide.pdf ) on care and handling of CDs and DVDs for long term storage. It talks about the effects of light, moisture, radiation, scratches, marking, adhesive labels, and even playback on the discs. For those slashdotters not familiar with the physical make up of these optical discs, there is a very nice chapter explaining all the background. And if you only want to know how to care for your precious data, there is a one page summary ( http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/carefordisc/onepage.pdf ). And yes, they agreed that glued-on labels are harmful."
SAVE FILE NOTES. Want to make some notes or comments on a file you are saving? In Windows XP it's easy. right-click on the file in Windows Explorer and select Properties, then the Summary tab. You can enter text that will become a property of that file.
O'REILLY WINS WITH STEVE BASS
Every PC World or Sarasota PC Monitor reader has read articles by Steve Bass. A regular PC World columnist for many years, he has kept readers entertained and educated with his salty, no-nonsense, highly informative writing on computer matters. Steve wastes no words as he gets right down and dirty with solutions to the most common and vexing problems that face most users. Among his many other accolades, he served for many years as president of the Passadena, CA computer users group so he knows first hand where we are all coming from.
Demonstrating his usual salty prose, Steve has recently written a book (published by O'Reilly) entitled "PC ANNOYANCES; How to fix the most annoying things about your personal computer," that is bursting with the easy solutions, tips, and fixes for everyday problems that we all have faced and for many of which never knew a simple solution existed. It's a book chock full of valuable info that newbies can easily digest and pro's have either forgotten or never knew existed. Numerous screen captures give ample illustrations of the accompanying text. It's a treasure for us all!
He talks about such topics as:
* Hyperlinks from hell.
* Killer viruses and petulant pop-ups.
* Windows woes.
* Vanishing web data
* Speed-ups that slow you down.
* Cranky DSL and cable connections.
* Printers that won't print.
* Short-circuited shortcuts.
* Invasion of the icons.
* Fractured fonts
* Endless spam.and lots more.
The Bass 176 page, soft-covered manual gives you a step-by-step fix for a vast range of computerdom's most common and annoying problems. For example, what comes up automatically (font, formatting, and all) every time you bring up Microsoft word is controlled by a template, "normal.dot." Attempting to modify or even find it to make changes can be an exercise in frustration and obscenities. In a few short paragraphs, bass while explain to you in simple lingo how to easily do the job. And so goes the rest of the book, item after item, page after page, as Bass does surgery on our most common headaches.
The book lists for $19.95. You can order direct from oreilly.com or from one of its dealers. Visit O'Reilly's web site for more info on this and other of its publications. More next month on O'Reilly titles.
The Complete Guide to Choosing CD & DVD Media
By Becky Waring
There's CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVD-RAM...What do they all mean? Which one should you choose for which purpose? Does your burner/player support them? What speed will you be able to record at? And what about those 90- and 99-minute discs? Should you try them? Stop wasting money on "coasters" and being disappointed by incompatible media. Get the inside scoop on CD & DVD recordable discs from Roxio, the people who produce the leading premiere CD/DVD recording software, Easy CD Creator, knows best:
With the myriad of CD and DVD recording formats out there, and new drives that support ALL of them, choosing the right media for your project can be a bewildering task. Especially with DVD media, "coasters" (failed recordings) can become a major expense.
As if the numerous formats weren't enough (CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVD-RAM), buyers also have to wade through numerous options in terms of speed ratings, capacities, dye colors, label surfaces, longevity/reliability claims, and more.
Where to start? With Roxio's comprehensive guide to choosing recordable media, of course! Read on for all you need to know to buy with confidence and ensure successful burning.
CD Formats Demystified: There are two basic types of CD recordable discs, CD-R and CD-RW. They can each be recorded in many different data formats, such as CD-Audio, Video CD, MP3 CD, data CD, etc. All the types of projects that Roxio's Easy CD & DVD Creator 6 Platinum for Windows and Toast 6 Titanium for Mac allow you to create.
For audio CDs, both regular and MP3, stick to standard 74-minute CD-Rs unless you really need 80-minute capacity. They are the most universally compatible in home and car players (CD-RWs often won't play). But avoid the new 90-minute CDs, which can literally damage your drives, unless your hardware specifically supports them. The few extra minutes you get are just not worth the risks and player incompatibility. Also avoid "overburn" on 74 and 80-minute media, for the same reasons, unless you really need it for a specific purpose, and your drive supports it. Easy CD & DVD Creator 6.1 supports overburn.
For Video CDs and Super Video CDs, you can use either CD-Rs or CD-RWs, although CD-RWs often play more reliably in set-top DVD players, which are most often used to play Video CDs. Note that Video CDs (and DVDs) can't be "overburned," due to the rigid specifications of video discs.
For data projects, consider whether you will likely want to reuse the disc or not. If you are archiving photos or other data for the long-term, CD-Rs are preferred. They are both cheaper, and more secure since they can't be erased. If you are backing up a hard disk, or just moving data between machines, CD-RWs will allow you to keep adding and deleting data over time, as well as save money.
DVD-R/RW vs. DVD+R/RW: Choosing DVD media is a much harder task than choosing CDs, due to the plethora of formats. But once you figure out the basics, you can just keep using them. First, a quick primer on the DVD alphabet:
DVD-RAM is the oldest rewritable DVD format, and is available in several capacities (usually 4.7GB or 9.4GB double-sided media). The format's large capacity, superior error correction, and longevity (it can be rewritten more than 100,000 times) make it a good choice for industrial-strength data processing applications. Consumers should avoid this format.
DVD-R/RW discs are the most compatible with older players, largely since DVD-R is the oldest recordable format.
Stick with standard 4.7GB capacity, and be sure you buy a speed rated high enough for your drive.
DVD+R/RW are the newest kids on the block, and the available drives are generally faster than their DVD-RW counterparts. Furthermore, they offer timesaving on-the-fly formatting, so you can format a new disc while data is being burned to it. Newer recording software can format DVD-RW on the fly as well, however. Again, stick with standard 4.7GB capacity discs.
Recorders come in three basic types, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW and versatile combination drives that can write all four. Your choice of media will thus likely depend on the hardware you have. Most rewritable DVD drives can also burn CD-R and CD-RW discs, but at much slower speeds than dedicated CD burners.
All five DVD media formats (DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW) can be read in most DVD players. But some more so than others. CDR-Info, a CD/DVD research firm, has done a study on compatibility, and found that DVD-R is the most universally compatible, being read by 96.7% of players, while DVD-RW came second at 87.7%, then DVD+R at 87.3%, and DVD+RW at 87.1%. Relatively few DVD-ROM drives or set-top players can read DVD-RAM. The lesson here is to use DVD-R if your drive supports it and you will be sharing the disc with others. DVD-R is also best for movie discs that will be played in set-top players.
If you are recording data DVDs, any of the four formats is fine. If you expect to archive data for the long-term, use DVD-R or DVD+R so that the data can't be altered or erased accidentally. For everyday data transfer and rolling backups, use rewritable media.
Does Speed Matter? Recordable drives typically state three speeds, such as 24X/8X/4X, for either CDs or DVDs. The first number is usually the read speed, the second number the write speed, and the last number the rewrite speed. Be sure you understand the numbers for your drive, and the differences between the speeds for CDs and DVDs. DVD recorders will have different ratings for CD reading/writing than DVD reading/writing. The rated numbers are maximums, actual recording speed will depend on many things, such as the speed of your system and hard drive, the source of your data, whether file conversion is taking place on the fly (such as MP3 conversion), and the media you use.
Recording media of all types also have speed ratings. So if you have a 24X write CD recorder, you should buy at least 24X -rated CD-Rs. Similarly with DVDs. The latest DVD recorders boast 4X and even 8X write-once speeds.
But you won't find 8X media out there for a while (media availability usually lags behind drive speeds). You can still use lower-rated media in your drive, but be sure to set the recording speed in Easy CD Creator or Toast at or below the rating of the media. Trying to record faster will likely result in coasters or unreliable discs.
Which Brand Should I Buy? In addition to formats and speed ratings, recordable discs come in all sorts of dye colors (gold, silver, blue, green etc.), with varying label surfaces, longevity ratings and reliability ratings. "Data-grade" or "archival" discs are typically manufactured to higher tolerances, and should have fewer overall errors in recording. All optical discs will have recording errors, but built-in error correction compensates for them. Still, the fewer errors, the better. They will also likely be more universally compatible with various players and drives. Longevity ratings refer to the shelf-life of discs, how long you can store them before they degrade.
For routine data sharing, or music discs you don't expect to keep for a long time, by all means shop by price. For important data, such as backups and family photo or video collections, get the highest quality you can afford in a name brand, and record at slightly slower speeds than maximum. (Recording more slowly results in fewer errors.) If you want to print labels directly onto your discs, or apply stick-on labels, be sure to get printable or blank discs, respectively.
Finally, while compatibility between drives and media has improved dramatically over the years, you may find some brands that just don't seem to work well in your recorder or player. If you get frequent coasters or playback problems, switch brands. And when you find one that works every time, stick with it. :
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Copyright 2004. This article is from the March 2004 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/
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