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Vol. 2, No. 41
10-17-02
Lots of tech news this week, starting with good news for fans of older Windows products. Microsoft announced a new support timetable this week that sets mainstream (meaning telephone or email support directly from Microsoft) for 5 years and “self-help” online support for an additional 3 years. This means that Windows 95 will continue to be eligible for “Windows Update” patches and hot-fixes until late 2003 and 98SE should be supported through late 2007. If any of you are still using Windows 3.1… well, time for an upgrade J Read more on this announcement at http://news.com.com/2100-1001-962177.html?tag=fd_top_10.
AOL and MSN both rolled out 8.0 versions of their online access programs recently, promising all sorts of nifty new features. AOL’s new policy of “no third-party pop-up ads” (although pop-up ads from AOL/Time-Warner companies will take their place) is pretty much meaningless, and the MSN promise of tons of new can’t-live-without features doesn’t pan out either, since most are already available on msn.com or in Outlook Express (but only if you use a “real” ISP and not AOL or MSN). AOL’s stock price is dropping like Anna Nichole Smith’s ratings and Microsoft is sinking $300 million into a marketing campaign that they could better spend to fix security holes in past/current/future operating systems. All in all a sad story and a huge waste of what little talent both companies have. http://news.com.com/2100-1001-962316.html?tag=lh and http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=36311 are just two of hundreds of sites that cover this nonsense.
Dmitry Sklyarov, the ElcomSoft employee and the first person prosecuted under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), has found himself in a rather odd pickle. The Russian programmer charged with circumventing “copyright protection” on Adobe eBooks (for the purpose of making back up copies and porting the text to “text-to-audio” readers for the visually impaired) made an agreement with the Justice Department that he would testify in any case brought to trial against ElcomSoft in exchange for permission to return to Russia.
Well, the trial is supposed to start October 21st but guess what? The State Department has refused to grant Dmitry a Visa to return to the US. So the US Government is preventing him from testifying in a US trial in accordance with a deal made by the US Government requiring that testimony. Your tax dollars at work ;) Read the entire sordid story at http://www.planetpdf.com/mainpage.asp?webpageid=2400.
Also on the DMCA front, Red Hat Linux has released a security update that they can’t describe, lest they violate the Act. Since said description would outline exactly how the “security breach” could be accomplished it could lead to jail time for countless programmers. The whole story behind this brilliant example of the stupidity of the current legislation can be found at http://www.theregus.com/content/4/26656.html.
Since we started with good news let’s end with some bad. Hard drives that have historically had 3-year warranties from the manufacturers (not HP or Compaq but Seagate or Western Digital) will now have only 1-year coverage. Since price points have dropped and the quality of hard drives has become questionable at best (remember the Fujitsu recall?) this means backing up your data has become extremely important. Shorter warranties mean cheaper components and higher failure rates. Tom’s Hardware covers this in depth at http://www6.tomshardware.com/column/02q4/0210141/index.html.
Have a good week,
Kevin Mefford, Editor
Download
of the Week
Info? You
Want Info?
Today is your lucky
day. I have three free downloads
that will give you more info than you probably care to have. Two of these will provide system info
and the third is a spyware detector that seems to be a bit more comprehensive
than the popular “Ad-Aware” program.
Let’s get started with
SpyBot. SpyBot-S&D is an adware
and spyware detection and removal tool. This includes removal of certain
advertising components that may gather statistics as well as detection of
various keylogging and other spy utilities. In addition, it also securely
removes PC and Internet usage tracks including browser history, temporary pages,
cookies (with the option to keep selected) and more. The program offers an
attractive Microsoft Outlook-style interface that is easy to use and
multi-lingual. SpyBot-S&D allows you to exclude selected cookies, programs,
or extensions from being reported, allowing you to prevent false positive
messages for items that you don't want to be alerted to every time. It can even
scan your download directory for files that have been downloaded, but not yet
installed, allowing you to detect unwanted programs before you even install
them. SpyBot produces a detailed and easy-to- understand report before it
deletes any files, and allows you to deselect any item that you do not want to
be processed. In addition, a recovery feature allows you to restore your
settings if needed. Note:
removing adware and spyware can cause certain free programs to cease
working.
Get SpyBot here: http://www.winload.de/download/13795/0190-Warner/Spybot++S&D-1.0.html
Next up, Cool Beans System
Info v2.0.0.2. Cool Beans System
Info monitors your Internet upload and download rates, CPU usage, physical
memory usage, swap file usage and more. It displays a small, floating window
(with optional transparency) that contains a graphic display as well as detail
information. In addition you can access further system information from an
interface that is similar to the Windows Task Manager, but displays more
detailed information. Get this one
here: http://www.coolbeans.ws/sysinfo.shtml
Last and certainly not least
is AIDA v3.2. This one is best
suited to the “übergeek” with the need for
detailed information. If there was
anything you wanted to know about your computer, this is the application that
will find and tell you about what you are looking for. Want to know the
motherboard CPU Package Type? Done! Want to know the BIOS type? Done! There are
so many areas of reporting that this application covers that I can’t begin to
name them all. Don't worry. The application is easy to use, and you don't have
to be "super tech" to understand it all. AIDA32 will also let you export your
summary results in TXT, HTML, MHTML, XML, CSV, MIF and INI file formats. AIDA32
comes in three flavors: Enterprise, Personal and Network. The last two versions
fit on a floppy, making it the perfect tool for desktop technicians. Get AIDA here: http://www.aida32.hu/aida32.php
Subscribers’
Bonus: What’s not to like about “Wallace and
Grommit”?
Art
Maley
http://www.vote-smart.org/index.phtml
Can Linux
Work For Me?
In this week’s edition, I'm
going to be discussing why Linux is powerful when used as the operating system
for your home or home office computer.
I'll be covering the kinds of software available for Linux in addition to
its ability to play games and provide other kinds of
entertainment.
Common
questions about Linux
Below I've given a list of
common questions that I have been asked when I'm telling someone about the Linux
operating system and how good it is as a replacement for
Windows:
•Does
Linux have a powerful office suite?
The answer to this is an
unquestionable yes: it's called OpenOffice. With OpenOffice you get a powerful word
processing application, a spreadsheet program, an HTML editor, a presentation
creator and so much more. The best
part is that OO is compatible with Microsoft Office. Visit the OpenOffice Web site to find
out more.
http://www.openoffice.org
•Can I
browse the Internet and check my e-mail?
Linux is without a doubt
an Internet ready operating system.
What's even better is you get all kinds of free software to browse the
Internet with. My personal favorite
browsers are Netscape 7, Mozilla 1.1 and Konquorer. You can also check your e-mail with a
variety of programs such as Evolution (which is a lot like Microsoft Outlook),
Netscape's built in e-mail client, K-Mail and many many others. Your choices are almost
unlimited.
•Can I
play games that are on Web sites?
The answer is yes. Most games available on Internet use
something called Java to run. Both
Netscape and Mozilla use Java and can therefore play these games. The games you
won't be able to play are the ones that specifically require Microsoft's
Internet Explorer.
•Can I
play non-Internet games?
Once again, the answer
is yes. By default Linux
distributions come with a wide assortment of games. Such examples are: Tetris, Asteroids,
Battleship, Mahjongg, Chess, Poker and Solitaire. You can also find a wide assortment of
games available for free on the Internet at places like Tucows and
SourceForge.
•Can I
play the games I bought on CD for Windows?
It honestly depends on
the game, when it was made and what the requirements for the game are. Odds are, you're going to discover that
most of these Window games won't work properly on Linux. However, there is a company that
provides an emulator that will allow some Window games to
play.
•Are there
any games made for Linux?
Yes. A great example of such a game is the
recently released Unreal Tournament 2003.
There are both Windows and Linux versions available on the same CD. However, most game companies will not
take the time to port over a game to Linux so an emulator must be
used.
•Can Linux
support 3D?
This question all
depends on the maker of your particular video card. If they supply the drivers needed to
make their 3D cards work in Linux then the answer is yes. If not, then the answer is most likely
going to be no.
•Can I
play my audio CD's and MP3's?
You sure can. Linux distributions generally have
several CD and MP3 players included by default. By far the most popular MP3 player
available is called XMMS, which is based off of a Windows MP3 player called
WinAmp.
•Can you
use IM clients, such as AOL's Instant Messenger and MSN
Messenger?
Yes and no. AOL has had a Linux version of their
Instant Messenger since 2000. It
looks and behaves almost exactly like the Instant Messenger that's available for
Windows. Microsoft, on the other
hand, hasn't put out a version of MSN Messenger for Linux. I honestly doubt they ever will. Luckily there are messengers that come
with most distributions that will work not only with MSN and AOL, but will use
Yahoo and other popular clients as well.
The best part is that it’s all included in one single
program.
•Can I
watch DVD's and other movie formats?
Yes. There is one program in particular that
is my personal favorite: Xine. It
not only plays DVDs but it also plays audio CDs, VCDs, MPG files, AVI files and
can also play movies formatted in DivX.
•If I have
a radio or TV card in my computer, can I use them?
Yes. Linux includes programs that can utilize
your radio or TV cards. I
personally watch TV on my Linux machine all the time, especially while I'm
working.
•Can I
browse my Windows network with Linux?
Yes you can. Linux and UNIX use something called
SAMBA that allows your Linux machine to navigate the Windows network, and in
turn can be navigated by others on the network as
well.
•Can I
burn CD's in Linux?
You sure can. If your CD burner is supported, burning
data and audio CDs is actually quite simple to do. Best of all there are many different
programs available to do it with, so you can find the one that works best for
you.
•Can I use
my printer with Linux?
It all depends on the
make and model of your printer.
Some printers work and some don't.
It all depends on if someone has written a driver for your particular
printer or not. Most likely if you
have an HP, Lexmark, Canon, or Epson printer you'll be able to use
it.
Some
informative links
OpenOffice
A Microsoft Office
compatible suite for Linux. There
are also Windows versions available.
Netscape for
Linux
http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/download.jsp
Netscape 7 installer for
Linux. Follow the instructions to
start the installer.
Transgaming
Gaming company that has an
emulator to play Windows games on Linux.
Kopete Instant Messenger
Client
A great instant messenger
client for KDE that integrates many of today's popular IM clients including AOL,
MSN and ICQ.
Ed
Engelking
Email
Question of the Week
Q: Hi Gang,
I hope you can
give me some advice. I have an EMachine (I know, I know), and I am running
Explorer 6 on it. Its been a while since I have done a defrag, but when I
went to start one the other night it will not work. It clicks and hums
like its doing it, but the little graph shows nothing or no more than 2%
completed. I have let it run for 30 minutes at a time and this is as good
as it got. I have no wallpaper or screen saver running, and as far as I
know, no other program that might interfere. It also will not do a scan
disc. I did a disc clean up before I started the defrag the first time and
it worked fine. I'm pretty much of a novice when it comes to computers, so
make it simple, please. I might add that I just downloaded the Explorer 6
a few months ago. The last time the defrag was done was on Explorer
5.5. And just for further info, I wrote sometime back with a problem
concerning my printer and the fact that it would not print from the
Internet. Danny Rose was kind enough to try to help me through several
e-mails, but finally gave up on me. Would you please tell him that once I
downloaded the Explorer 6, the printer began to work fine?
My husband and I both enjoy your Sunday radio show and find it hard to believe that only a thousand people have signed up to get your newsletter. I read it thoroughly and save each copy. I have learned so much from it. I've told lots of people about it and thought they would all be as excited about it as I am.
A: Many factors can contribute to problems
with Disk Defragmenter.
Screensavers, power settings
and antivirus programs can all be the source.
Try this technique.
First disable your screensaver by selecting <None> in that list.
Next, disable any power settings. Set all of those to
<Never>.
Now, reboot the machine and
during the boot sequence, while Windows is starting, hit the F8 button
repeatedly. This will bring up a black screen with several options.
Highlight "Safe Mode" and hit enter. When your machine boots, it will look
very different because only the most necessary drivers are in use. Now,
run Scan Disk. When that is complete, run Disk Defragmenter. Things
will return to normal once you reboot.
Art Maley
If you have tech support
questions or ideas and/or submissions for our newsletter please email them to bob@iglou.com.
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