Brought to you each week by
the 84 Online Team, a loose collection of volunteers from around the Kentuckiana
region.
84 Online is broadcast live
each Sunday from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM (EDT) on WHAS radio, 840 AM. You may call the show directly during
this time period at 502-571-8484 or toll free at 1-800-444-8484. You may also interact with the team
online by visiting www.84online.com and
clicking on Chat Room. IRC users
can access the room through server ucanweb.com, channel #84online. Chat hours match the show on Sunday and
generally some of the members are in weeknights from 8:00 to 9:00 PM
EDT.
Vol. 1, No.
16
7-31-01
The Internet was created with one purpose in mind, to share information. It has succeeded in that task beyond the developer’s wildest dreams. Today several billion websites exist (yes, that’s with a “B”) but no one knows for sure because the very structure of the web prevents an accurate count.
Using search engines like Yahoo and AltaVista depend on their respective
“spiders”, which are programs that literally crawl around the web cataloging
sites, to have hit upon a site that matches your search request. Depending on how the search request was
worded you might get 0 hits or 1,000,000,000 hits or more. The problem with this setup is that the
spiders only search for new sites, they don’t check on sites that already exist
in the search engine’s database.
This means that many of the links listed on any given search may be
“broken”, or missing. Companies
close down, individuals change ISPs or move on to other activities but links to
their now non-existent web sites remain.
Also misspelled or poorly structured searches can result in WAY too many
websites for someone to wade through in their
lifetime.
For instance, a Yahoo search
for Disney results in 694 links, but a search for the mistyped Dismey only comes
up with 36. The totally mangled
Disnmley has 0.
One easy way to target your searches better is to use quotation marks
around specific phrases. If you
look for me, for example, on Yahoo a search for Kevin Mefford nets 591
results. But if you search for
“Kevin Mefford” Yahoo searches for those two words in sequence and returns 17
hits. Many are still unrelated (I
don’t live in Texas and I don’t do Tupperware Parties ;)) but you have fewer
pages to search through.
Another way to get better results is to use a “meta search” engine, which
searches multiple search databases for hits. If the site you’re looking for isn’t
listed on Yahoo maybe it is on AOLSeek, EuroSeek or GOTO.
Meta search engines are starting to crop up all over the web and include
such sites as www.ixquick.com and www.dogpile.com . These engines, used with specific
searches like those with phrase matching (the quotation mark trick) will likely
lead to a quicker and more specific result. If you’re looking for an air filter for
a ’64 ‘Cuda this is definitely the route to go.
Happy searching J
As a side note, the show won’t air this Sunday (August 5th)
due to coverage of the Brickyard 400.
We’ll be back the following Sunday but the newsletter will still arrive
in your inboxes on the 7th).
Kevin Mefford,
Editor
Cover Your Tracks
Here is the scenario. You are using your computer’s browser to shop for a nice gift for your wife or maybe your boss. Now, you want to keep this shopping trip private, so the surprise won’t be ruined. How can you be sure that no one can use your computer and find out where you were shopping?
There are a few
programs that will remove the tracks of your shopping trip from your
computer.
One such
program is called “HistoryKill 2001”.
This program will delete the trails that may lead snooper to who you are
and what you do online. With this
tool, you can delete cached files, history, URLs, and cookies while you browse
the web. “HistoryKill 2001” will remove your AutoComplete history; preventing
anyone from seeing any terms you’ve typed into a search engine’s field. Deleting all files in your Windows Temp
folder and recent files you’ve played in Windows Media Player is another feature
in this program. You could do this
manually, but “HistoryKill 2001” does it for you automatically. It also removes the index.dat file in
your Temp folder, which you can'’ do manually from the browser. Get “HistoryKill 2001” here: http://www.pcworld.com/
.
A similar
program is called “Don’t Panic”. It
too will clean the browser history, cache, cookies and other personal history
lists from your computer. It can
hide personal documents, browser windows and more. It also offers browser pop-up
control. You can get it
here:
Now, go ahead
and buy that surprise gift!!
Art
Maley
Color inkjet printers are a dime a dozen nowadays but that rock bottom
price may be misleading. How much
does it cost to print a page on each printer? A semi-recent comparison on ZDNet (http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/0,4161,2660144,00.html)
shows the cost per page on many popular inkjet printers and the results are eye
opening to say the least.
Although this list is a bit dated (originating around Christmas time last
year) it reflects a good comparison of different inkjet printers and their
various strengths and weaknesses.
Interesting reading J
Tired of all
the “spam email”? Concerned about what types of email your children (and you)
may receive? AOL makes it easy to control what email does and does not find its
way into your mailbox.
From the Master Screen Name (the first
name on the sign-on list – the name you used to create the account), go to
Keyword: MAIL CONTROLS.
At the top of the Mail
Controls window, select the screen name(s) for which you want to set controls.
Here you will have 3 choices: To allow all email to be delivered for the screen
name, to block all email from this screen name, and to customize the mail
controls for this screen name.
Choose
Customize > Next and you can specify just which email will or will not be
delivered. You can block specific domains, specific screen names, etc., OR can
choose specific ones to allow through.
You have a lot of choices here – and you can always come back to this
window and make changes at any time.
Click Next
again and choose whether or not to allow the screen name to receive pictures
and/or attachments
Click Next and
review the choices you have made. Remember, you can change your selections
“on-the-fly” at any time.
SAFE
EMAILING!!
Red
Q: I
have some junk mail that I have blocked, per the info I read on your
newsletter. It goes directly to my deleted folder; I just assumed it
would not even down load to my PC.
A: Sorry for the
confusion. Any email rules you create to deal with junk mail will only
affect your computer and cannot, therefore, apply to the ISP's email
server.
To empty the deleted items
folder in Outlook Express, go to <Edit<Empty 'Deleted Items' folder.
Click that entry and your folder is clean.
Art
Maley
If you have tech support
questions or ideas and/or submissions for our newsletter please email them to bob@iglou.com .
Copyright 2001, The 84
Online Team. All rights
reserved. Publication, rebroadcast
or storage is prohibited without prior consent, however you may freely forward
this publication to friends as long as A) it is forwarded in its entirety and B)
no fee is charged.
Information provided in this
publication is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed
or implied. Although the
information provided is known to work on most systems, it may not work on ALL
systems. Make use of any
information supplied at your own risk.
The 84 Online Team is a
group of volunteers who provide support for the 84 Online radio broadcast. Team members are not directly affiliated
with nor employed by Clear Channel Communications or WHAS. Views and opinions voiced in this
publication do not necessarily reflect the views held by Clear Channel or
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