Sarasota PC Monitor

Review Chairmans Industry Comments (9/05)

The Computer Buffet

by Herb Goldstein, Review Editor

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

UNDERSTANDING ACRONIS TRUE IMAGE BETTER. From the email I receive, it seems that there is some confusion among novices regarding the use of Acronis True Image software. Perhaps the best article I have seen that offers a step-by-step illustration of how to use this excellent backup imaging software can be found at http://www.barrys-rigs-n-reviews.com/reviews/2004/utilities/true_image/trueimage1.htm.

The fact remains that the most accurate method of making backups is by imaging from one hard drive to a second hard drive whose sole function is to contain backup images of the first With the demise of PowerQuest and its Drive Image, the only imaging software is Acronis True Image and Symantec Ghost. I would not use Ghost for a multitude of reasons. Acronis provides the better product by far. The above URL will make it easy to understand and use.

REBOOT SOLVES PROBLEMS. One of your applications that has been working fine suddenly goes awry. Before panicking and looking for exotic solutions, try a simple procedure- just reboot. Over a period of time it will surprise you at how many suddenly appearing problems are solved by the simple act of re-starting your computer.

DON'T MISS THIS ONE! Google is all by itself one of the best reasons for using a computer. Chances are that you have not scratched the surface of the many things Google can do for you. For a comprehensive list of special Google features, be sure to visit www.google.com /help/features.html

USE YOUR WINDOWS KEY. Most keyboards have what is called a "Windows key". That is the key in the lower left area of the keyboard, between "Ctrl" and "Alt". This key can be used to do several things. Here are some:

REPAIRING WINDOWS XP. Performing a repair allows you to try and fix your existing installation of Windows XP. The main advantage of doing this is that you do not have to reinstall any applications, restore any data, or reconfigure your personalized settings. The basic steps for performing a repair are as follows:

  1. Boot your computer using the Windows XP CD.
  2. When prompted press Enter to install Wins XP.
  3. After pressing F8 to accept the End-Use License Agreement, setup should detect your existing Windows installation.
  4. Press R to begin the recovery process.
  5. Setup will copy the necessary files to your hard drive and then reboot.
  6. Do not press any key to boot from the CD-ROM this time. Instead let setup continue.

After the repair is complete, be sure to reinstall the latest service packs and updates since they will have been removed during the repair process.

REINSTALLING WINDOWS XP. There are times when things on your computer go awry to the point when the only solution appears to be reinstalling Windows. Here's how: If your system is currently running Windows, you can perform a re-install of the OS. In other words, you can install Windows over itself. This is often referred to as an in-place upgrade. When you perform this type of installation, Windows XP is reinstalled to the same folder. Typically you would perform this type of installation if you were unable to boot into Safe Mode or if you were unable to repair an existing Windows installation. To reinstall Windows XP by using Windows XP, follow these steps:

  1. Start your computer and log on.
  2. Insert the Windows XP CD into your CD-ROM drive.
  3. On the Welcome to Microsoft Windows XP page, click Install Windows XP.
  4. On the Welcome to Windows Setup page, click Upgrade (Recommended) in the Installation Type box (if it is not already selected), and then click Next.
  5. On the License Agreement page, click I accept this agreement, and then click Next.
  6. On the Your Product Key page, type the 25-character product key in the Product key boxes, and then click Next.
  7. On the Get Updated Setup Files page, select the option that you want, and then click Next.
  8. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to reinstall Windows XP.

Once the re-install is complete you will once again have to install the latest service pack and any other updates that your system requires.

BURN TO THE BRIM analyses files and folders to fit within a CDR or other media and optimizes the grouping of files and folders for best performance. http://bttb.sourceforge.net/

WHOLOCKME. When attempting to delete a file, we often encounter an error informing us that the file cannot be deleted because it's in use. WhoLockMe is a small - and free - download . It will tell you what application is using the file so you can close that program down to delete the file. A word of caution: not compatable with Win 9x or ME. www.dr-hoiby.com/WhoLockMe/index.php

CONTEXT. Most of us use NotePad or WordPad for our quick down-and-dirty copy-and-paste or other text needs.

But you should give a try to ConTEXT, a free application. For starters, it has unlimited file size editing, multilanguage support (22 languages), templates, help files, export to HTML/RTF, macro recorder, text support, bookmarks, user definable and customizable.http://context.cx/component/option%2Ccom_frontpage/ Itemid%2C1/

YAGOOHOOGLE. The Google search engine is great. So is the Yahoo search engine. But put them together and search simultaneously. www. yahgoohoogle. com/ Here's yet another site combining the two. http://www.gahooyoogle.com/ Don't let the name similarity throw you. They are two different sites.

AUTOSIZER automatically resizes any window you specify. For instance, some web browsers open up in a non-maximized window. Using AutoSizer, you can set those windows to automatically maximize every time they're opened. It works with almost any program, including web browsers, Notepad, etc. AutoSizer stays running in the system tray (next to the time), so it stays out of your way while it works. www.southbaypc.com/AutoSizer/

PASSWORD STRENGTH METER. At this site, your password can be checked for complexity against specific guidelines as well as a hacking dictionary containing commonly used passwords and keystroke combinations. From this information, you can judge how likely it is that a password you are using might be compromised. www.securitystats.com/tools/password.php

CHECKOUT EBAY SELLERS. Here's a handy tip from Scott Johnson (The Computer Tutor, www.the-pc-tutor. com) for checking the history of an ebay seller before you buy: If you have some experience with buying on eBay, you know that one of the most important factors in making a purchase is to check out the person from whom you are buying. Here's a shortcut to doing that.

A majority of sellers on eBay are fine. They range from the individual who sells an occasional item just to get it out of the house, to a dealer who might have thousands of products listed at any given time. What you have to be careful of are the small minority of sellers who are not to be trusted. These sellers could be just outright scammers, or they could be a dealer who does actually sell products but provides very poor service. I do not deal with either type.

The primary tool we have for detecting sellers to avoid is eBay's feedback system. Right after a seller's user name is a number in parentheses - that is the seller's feedback rating. Here is how it works:

Every time a transaction takes place on eBay, the buyer and the seller are given the opportunity to rate each other based on that experience. You can leave a "positive" feedback (if you were happy with the transaction), a "negative" (if you were unhappy and the situation was not resolved satisfactorily), or a "neutral" (just giving information about the transaction without being positive or negative).

The feedback rating is the number of positives minus the number of negatives. So, if someone had 10 positive feedbacks and 1 negative feedback, their feedback rating would be 9. The key in looking at feedback comments is not in looking at the positive ones - they mostly say the same thing. What you want to look at are the negative ones. This is so that you can see if there is a TREND. For example, if there are five different buyers who all left a comment such as "item not as described, seller would not respond to my emails", then you know that buying from that seller could be a potentially frustrating experience.

Now here's the shortcut: go to http://www.toolhaus. org/ and enter the seller's user name. What you will see next is a list of ONLY the negative and neutral feedback comments for that seller. No more wading through all the positives just to see the negatives. And for Firefox users, a shortcut to the shortcut! Go to http://tinyurl.com/apavx and you can install a Firefox extension that allows you to just right-click on a user name and choose "Open eBay Negs". That takes you to the site listed above with the negatives listed for that user immediately.

ABIWORD is a free word processor, with features useful for your daily work, personal needs, or for just some good old typing fun. Use tables, bullets, lists, images, footnotes, endnotes and styles to enhance the way your document looks. Eliminate spelling errors with a built-in spelling checker. Dictionaries support 30 languages. AbiWord supports file types from OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, RTF and HTML. www.abisource.com

PURGE-IT! allows the End-User to take a free look inside his System, see what Programs are running, which Ports are open The User does choose what happens to his system, and can clean himself from various Malware such as Backdoor, Trojans and Spyware. www.purge-it.com/software.shtml

FIND THE BEST HEALTH INFO. The Internet is no substitute for advice from your physician. But it is a great source for information on health issues and medical conditions. Thousands of people rely on health sites for research. They're useful for staying abreast of new developments and treatments. Unfortunately, it's difficult for a layperson to distinguish the good sites from the outstanding. Enter Consumer Health WebWatch. It evaluates the top 20 health Web sites. Many different factors are considered, from ease of use to currency. Consumer Health WebWatch helps you find the best information on the Internet. But remember, health sites are intended to supplement your doctor's advice. www.healthratings.org

PC WIZARD V2005. It's hard to keep up with all the hardware on your PC-just ask your PC. If you want it to have the right answers, install PC Wizard 2005. This utility detects all kinds of hardware, from the obvious Bluetooth devices to the boards in the guts of your PC. PC Wizard 2005 updates its lists monthly to make sure your PC recognizes the newest devices. Not only does PC Wizard tell you about your peripherals components, it can benchmark your system so you see how it's doing with all that hardware. www.cpuid.org/pcw.php

NEWS AROUND THE GLOBE. The Internet is probably the easiest place to get news from any part of the world.

But with the Internet, you miss the thrill of scanning the front page. Well, that is, until now. Newseum is a site that puts front pages of 426 newspapers at your fingertips. And the selections not only span the country, but the globe. The papers are arranged geographically on a map. Just click to select the paper you'd like to view. Or, if you prefer, you can select from a list. Organize the papers by location or by name. It's cool to see the different headlines about the same story from around the world. A preview of the front page is displayed in your browser. But if you want a closer look, you'll need Acrobat Reader. And remember, they're updated daily, so they're always current! www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash

CLIPBOARD BUDDY. Cut, copy and paste without losing your Windows clipboard data. Always emailing the same text over and over again? Load it up in the clipboard on startup. Clipboard Buddy will save you time. Use it for business, school or everyday computing. Captures text, rich text and images. View a screenshot. A number of options can be set for your working environment.

Have Clipboard Buddy hide itself automatically to the side of the screen or down to the system tray.

Your twenty most recent clipboard items, (text, rich text and images), can be easily selected again for pasting. By setting a previously saved clipboard file to load at startup, you can have your most used text and images only a mouse click away. Ideal for office administrators, data processors, programmers or anyone else who uses a computer and would like to save time and keystrokes. Best of all, Clipboard Buddy is absolutely free. www.iquesoft-online.com/clipbuddy.htm

P.T. BARNUM WAS RIGHT. Nine percent of U.S. Internet users have lost money on e-mail scams, according to a survey of 791 users conducted by market research firm The Radicati Group. When the respondents were asked which three kind of scams and spams they receive most often, the marketing of prescription drugs, financing services, pornography, and Nigerian fraud and phishing scams were on the top of the list. The answer to the question of how people can be so incredibly dumb as to fall for any of this trash appears to be that some people are trying to make or save money the easy way. The resulting lesson can unfortunately be very hard.

HARRY'S FILTERS V3.0 No matter how wonderful Photoshop is, you can always use just a little more. Harry's Filters is a plug-in (formerly known as VideoRave) that works with Photoshop and a number of other image editors. You can use the filters-Color, Patterns, and Noise, to name a few-for up to 69 different image effects, all without the fuss of the usual menus and dialog boxes. Effects include lightning, tornado, and polar lights. This easy-to-use plug-in works on RGB and grayscale images. Thanks to an Instant Preview check box and options for saving and opening effect presets, using the effects can be a very quick process. www.thepluginsite.com/products/harrysfilters/index.htm

XP TWEAKS AND FIXES. Here is the most monumental collection of tweaks and fixes for Windows XP that will defy even your imagination. You are bound to find things at this site that are worth their weight in gold! http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

EDITING WORD'S NORMAL TEMPLATE.. The Normal template is used each time you open a new Word document. The template has pre-configured formatting such as font type and size that is automatically applied to each new document. What if the Normal template is not set up the way you want it to be? You could make the formatting changes each time or you can set up the Normal template exactly as you want it. To change the Normal template in Word 2002:

  1. In Windows Explorer, navigate to c:\Documents and Settings\username\Application ata\Microsoft\Templates.
  2. Select Normal.dot.
  3. From the Edit menu click Copy.
  4. Click anywhere within the templates folder and click Paste from the Edit menu.
  5. Right click the existing Normal.dot file and rename it to anything you want.
  6. Right click the copy you made and rename it to Normal.
  7. Right click the new Normal template and click Open. DO NOT double click the template. This will open a new document.
  8. Within the template, make the changes you want. This includes font size and style, toolbars, views and so on.
  9. From the File menu, click Save.

Word will now open new documents using the template you just created. You can always revert back to the old template by renaming it back to Normal.dot.

COBIAN BACKUP handles the most tedious parts of the chore without taking away your options. Set this free utility to back up files and directories automatically on the schedule you choose-without losing the ability to back files up manually. You can keep everyone else up-to-date on recent changes by backing up not only to your own PC and others on its network, but also to your FTP server. Integrated .zip compression abilities let you make backups that consume less space as well as less time. www.educ.umu.se/~cobian/cobianbackup.htm

EXPRESS RIP is a program for Windows that lets you extract digital audio tracks directly from audio CDs to either Wave (wav) or MPEG Layer-3 (mp3) files on your harddrive. By using direct digital extraction pure audio quality is maintained and the process is very fast. Express Rip is free. http://www.nch.com.au/rip/index.html

OPEN FILES WITH ONE CLICK. It just makes sense that if you can do the same thing in Windows with a single click of the mouse that you can do with two clicks, you'd take the shorter route, right? If you want to change your two clicks to one, click Start, click My Computer. Under the Tools menu, click Folder Options. Now click the General tab in the dialog box, click Single-click to open an item (point to select), and then click OK. This makes everything in Windows exactly one click faster.

CHANGE THE POWER BUTTON. I rarely ever shut down my computer; instead, I tend to put my system into stand by mode. Here's a clever way to speed up this task and make your computer's power button put your computer into stand by for you. Click Start and open the Control Panel. In Category View, click Performance and Maintenance, and then click Power Options. In the Power Options Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab. Under Power Buttons, select Stand by in the When I press the power button on my computer area, and then click OK. Now, when you push your computer's power button, your system will immediately go to stand by.

SYNCTOY LOOKS TO BE A WINNER. Increasingly, computer users are using different folders, drives, and even different computers (such as a laptop and a desktop) to store and retrieve files. There are new sources of files coming from every direction: digital cameras, e-mail, cell phones, portable media players, camcorders, PDAs, and laptops. Yet managing hundreds or thousands of files is still largely a manual operation. In some cases it is necessary to move files from one place to another; in other cases there is a need to keep two storage locations exactly in sync.

Some users manage files manually, dragging and dropping from one place to another and keeping a mental card catalog in their heads. Others use one or more applications of one sort or another to provide this functionality for them. Now there is an easier way.

SyncToy (scheduled for release in August) is a free PowerToy for Microsoft Windows XP that provides an easy to use, highly customizable program that helps users to do the heavy lifting involved with the copying, moving, and synchronization of different directories. Most common operations can be performed with just a few clicks of the mouse, and additional customization is available without added complexity. SyncToy can manage multiple sets of folders at the same time; it can combine files from two folders in one case, and mimic renames and deletes in another. Unlike other applications, SyncToy actually keeps track of renames to files and will make sure those changes get carried over to the synchronized folder. Sounds awesome!

MISSING .DLL FILES. Occasionally you may get an error message telling you that your program will not run because a .dll file is missing. Here's three solutions to the problem: Reinstall the program ; Find the missing .dll in your recent backup and copy it over ; You may find it at one of these sites: http://www.dll-files.com/ ; http://www.dlldump.com/

EMAILING OVERSIZED FILES. Chances are your Internet service provider has a size limit on files they will permit you to send. There is a workaround. You can send oversized files via the Internet at the following websites: http://www.yousendit.com/ ; http://www.dropload.com/ ; http://www.sendthisfile.com/

SIZEME calculates CD/DVD space requirements. SizeMe makes it possible to scan a directory and compare it to how many floppy/zip/CD-R/DVD-discs you need. It tries to fill each disc up as much as possible, and gives you the result on each disc. Drag'n'Drop support so you can simply drag the Disc into Nero (or any other preferred burning software) and it will add the maximized disc Customizes disks as you select. Get it free at http://lars.werner.no/sizeme/

ASAP UTILITIES FOR EXCEL. It has over 300 tools to help you automate your work in Excel. If you use Excel on a regular basis, you'll find these free tools invaluable. ASAP Utilities helps you work with workbooks, worksheets and, of course, your data.

It's guaranteed to solve at least one of your Excel pet peeves. You'll wonder how you ever lived without it. ASAP Utilities. It has over 300 tools to help you automate your work in Excel. www.asap-utilities.com/

SPELL CHECKER FOR OUTLOOK EXPRESS integrates with Outlook Express to help you catch those pesky typos and misspellings. www.geocities.com/vampirefo/

SWITCH IS A SOUND FILE CONVERTER for Windows. It can convert many different types of audio files into mp3 or wav format and more. Switch Converter is very easy to use. Just add the files you want to convert to the list, select the format you want to use, and then click the convert button. http://www.nch.com. au/switch/index.html

ALARM ME. No words for this free excellent alarm tool. "Alarm me" can be your favorite time organizer as it is powerful, regarding its capabilities, and its user interface is great. Includes general alarms, repeating alarms, perfect birthday reminder and more. Also it supports the "shut down feature" which means that you can schedule when to shut down (restart or log off) your system. Its simplicity to use and its several capabilities make "Alarm Me" to be unique on its kind. www.qytec.0nyx.com/alarmme.html

MICROSOFT SECURITY CENTER. Improve your PC's security: Visit the new Protect Your PC site <http://go.microsoft. com/?linkid=3765929> The new Protect Your PC site is live and ready to help you enhance the security of your PC. When you visit the site, it immediately detects which operating system your computer is running. It then outlines the steps you can take right away to help strengthen your computer's defenses.

During the course of a session at your computer it is likely that you will do a fair amount of deleting. It is also likely that you would like to be certain that at least some of the items you delete are gone beyond recovery. Herein lies a very common misconception. When you select an item and hit the delete key, where does it go? Unfortunately it goes nowhere. It becomes temporarily inaccessible from view, but it can usually be recovered rather easily with any of the many undelete utilities. That poses a significant problem when you are deleting personal and private information. The problem becomes even more disturbing if you want to clean an entire hard drive before disposal. There needs to be an application that will positively and without question eliminate beyond recovery files you want permanently gone with no ifs, and or buts. There are a number of them but the one we have found does the job best is East-Tec Eraser.

The way this outstanding utility works is very simple. Files become unreadable and unrecoverable only when they are overwritten. The extent of their secure elimination depends on the number of times they are overwritten, an option which Eraser makes available. Seven times is Department of Defense military standard and the one I have set as my own preference.

Deleting files with Eraser is the essence of simplicity. On installation the erase command become an item on your right-click context menu in Windows Explorer. You need only to select the files or folders you want permanently gone and click the command in your context menu which reads "erase beyond recovery." With no further ado you need never worry again about its complete and total elimination.

East-Tec Eraser offers a large variety of other features to protect or eliminate your data. Its "Privacy Guard" applet contains a passel of selectible measures. The Privacy Guard erases sensitive data from your Windows and Internet activity. This information, used to monitor and track your habits, has been placed on your computer without your knowledge or permission. The Privacy Guard will also rid your computer of "locked" Windows files that you are not able to access, such as the swap/paging file or index.dat. The Privacy Guard will not erase files and data you have saved, or are needed for normal operation. The Privacy Guard has six major components (Sensitive Areas):

  1. Windows: Use this option to protect your computer privacy. It will eliminate information stored by the operating system, such as Recent Docs, Swap/paging file, temp files created by applications and other system traces.
  2. Browsers: Use this option to remove all evidence of your Internet activity.
  3. Applications: Use this option to to remove traces of data from popular computer programs that may reveal your activities.
  4. Peer2Peer: Use this option to eliminate traces of sensitive data from popular Peer2Peer applications that may reveal your activities.
  5. News and Email Readers: Use this option to remove traces of newsgroup activities and deleted email messages from popular news and email programs
  6. Custom: Use this option to create your own custom Sensitive Areas for programs not listed in Applications, or target specific files, folders or Registry data.

The basic edition of East-Tec Eraser sells for $29.95. For other editions as well as East-Tec's additional excellent and innovative software, go to www.east-tec.com

It's a well documented source of agreement among computer users that the worst nuisance they face is the unending battle against email spam. Neither the U.S. Government or any other agency worldwide has been able to come up with an effective answer against this scourge. Numerous anti-spam programs are available that work with varying degrees of success, but none that we have seen today has fully eliminated their various drawbacks. However, if you are an Outlook or Outlook Express user, there's good news today. The anti-spam software that we have all been waiting for is finally here.

There is no scarcity of software out there that attempts to end spam in your email. Some of them are fairly good, and some create more problems than they solve. Up to now we have not seen any without varying degrees of drawbacks. Their most common problems center around inaccuracy. They tend to eliminate good email along with the bad and require a long period of time before they are able to discern between the two if at all. Some require more time scrutinizing to assure accuracy than to just visually check and eliminate spam in the first place.

Other problem anti-spam apps require unknown senders to apply for permission to pass their message on to you. Many legitimate senders are turned off by or will not make the effort to do so. There's a passel of other foibles present in anti-spam software that make them more of a nuisance to use than not. We have finally discovered the software of our choice that does the job of completely eliminating spam better than anything we have seen. It's called QURB, but it's only for Outlook and Outlook Express users.

The efficiency that QURB uses in eliminating spam is ingenious in both its simplicity and effectiveness. On installation it examines your address book and all the accepted email in your various email folders. It establishes a "white" list of acceptable senders based on these criteria. When your email is downloaded to your inbox, these senders (which probably include 99% or more of the legitimate sources you want to receive) are accepted. Any other are placed in quarantine. They are not permitted to enter your inbox. You can examine the quarantined email at any time and check any messages that you approve. These are automatically added to your white list. All others remain in quarantine where they can be either immediately deleted or automatically deleted after a period of time that you select.

With a click of a button, you can elect to block or approve any sender anywhere down the line. From an excellent anti-virus standpoint, QURB does not open any of the email it quarantines, thereby preventing any viruses from slipping through. I have found QURB to be an amazing 100% effective in eliminating spam from my inbox. It works silently, quickly and with utterly amazing accuracy. It has not curbed a single email from any of my approved senders. It has not passed through to me a single piece of spam.

QURB has completely solved the problem of spam for me!

QURB is the recipient of PC World's Editor's Choice Award and it heads my list of unique and outstanding software as well. You can get a two week trial copy at qurb.com, or buy it with a lifetime upgrade license for $25.95. If you use Outlook or Outlook Express, don't miss this unique and outstanding software! :

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Copyright 2005. This article is from the September 2005 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.