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Newbies,Nerds & Nitwits. January 2003
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sheldene chant
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Jan 28, 2003 02:18 PST
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_______________________________________
NEWBIES, NERDS & NITWITS
Your 'support' ezine if you're nervous about the Net
January 2003 Vol.3 Issue 1
Sheldene Chant, Editor
_____________________________________
By subscription only. Welcome to the 29th
offering from
Newbies, Nerds & Nitwits
You are receiving this newsletter because you
requested it. Our subscriber list is confidential.
List maintenance instructions appear at the
end of this ezine
____________________________________
IN THIS ISSUE
o Time for a Break...
o Napster's Dead - so what now?
o Product Review - ZoneAlarm Pro
o How's Your e-Shorthand?
o Computer 'Freezing'?
o Hot Tip - for slow keyboards
________________________________________
TIME FOR A BREAK...
________________________________________
DO you get that sinking feeling when you hear of the latest
malevolent worm/virus - or read an article listing all the things
you should be doing to really protect yourself on the Internet?
I get the same feeling when I'm sweeping up all the dog fur that
accumulates daily in our living areas - and while I'm sweeping I tell
myself 'I know this isn't going to be perfect but it has to be a lot
better!'
My approach to the threats on the Internet is somewhat similar.
Of course I have virus protection software (which I do my best to
keep updated) - plus a firewall - and, touch wood, this seems to be
working. My free ZoneAlarm firewall keeps itself impressively busy
and if you'd like to know more about this read Richard Lowe's article
on ZoneAlarm Pro. I believe you can get a trial version of this
product (for 30 days) and there's nothing wrong with the free one.
Pam Allen talks about the demise of Napster - and some of the
alternatives. If you are a music enthusiast I think you should make
hay while these particular suns are still shining. Only today I read
that a Los Angeles federal judge has ruled that record companies
and movie studios can sue the parent company of Kazaa
(incorporated in the Pacific island, Vanuatu) as Kazaa software has
been downloaded and used by millions of Californians.
If you have been reading this ezine for any length of time you will
know I have this never ending battle with my PC - which keeps on
freezing - like a mad thing. Very recently I made some progress
after I reluctantly disabled Stand By (see the Newbie Club Tutorial
'Computer Freezing?) - and even more when I gave up Active
Desktop.
Of course my PC is not perfect - but definitely better and it's very
encouraging to have achieved some sort of breakthrough - at last.
So watch this space - this saga is bound to continue...
(You can read this ezine, online, at
http://www.newbiesandnitwits.com)
____________________________________
FREE TUTORIALS BY AUTORESPONDER
If you are thinking about making your own web page, or
merely want to exercise your brain slightly, then send for
the web page tutorials by clicking
mailto:nerdsand-@fastresponder.com
Want to find files fast ?- then mailto:fin-@fastresponder.com
Organising your computer - mailto:org-@fastresponder.com
____________________________________
POIGNANT PEARLS & POTBELLIED PIGS - a
monthly ezine packed with original and amusing
articles, which will remind you not to take yourself
too seriously. To subscribe
mailto:pearlypigs-@topica.com
Or, if you're wary of pigs in pokes, surf to
http://www.sheldenechant.com to find out
more.
_______________________________________________
NAPSTER'S DEAD - SO WHAT NOW?
Pam Allen reports
_______________________________________________
WITH the demise of Napster, music addicts worldwide are wondering
just what they'll do to get their next music fix. Fear not, there are
many wonderful programs that have the same function! Napster's
downfall came from the fact that it used a few centralized servers
which stored the music files. Users would find a song they wanted,
and download it directly from the server. Since the servers were
easily traced, and the majority of the songs were considered illegal
copies, the courts had no problem shutting Napster down.
A new breed of file sharing has arrived. Called 'P2P' (peer to peer)
networking, there is no central server. Instead, each user is an
independent server, connected only by a program that pulls a list of
the user's available files and makes it available to anyone looking for
a particular song. The song is then downloaded directly from that
user's computer.
Yes, this is completely safe. You specify which folder(s) contain files
that you will share. Your files are only available if/when you have the
program running. When a user does a search for a specific song, his
version of the program searches the net to find other instances of
the program running, and checks to see if any of those users have
that song, and returns a list of all the instances of it. The user then
decides which one he'd like to download.
Most of the programs will list helpful information about the people
who have the desired song. It will tell you how fast their connection
is (it's much faster to download a song from a person who has a
cable connection rather than a 28.8 dial up connection), the bitrate
of the song (higher bitrate means better quality), the size of the file
(you can tell fairly easily if it's a complete or incomplete file by the
size), and whether the other person's files are immediately available
or if you'll be in a queue.
What does that mean? Well, when you set up the program, you
specify how may users can connect to you at once, and how many
songs each person can download simultaneously. To keep things
speedy, you probably don't want more than 2 or 3 users
downloading from you at once, or downloading more than a few
songs at a time.
For instance, let's say you specify that 6 people can download from
you at once, and each can get three songs. This means that when
you first log on, you have '6 of 6' available of every file you've
designated as shared. When Joe Smith starts to download a song,
you then have '5 of 6' available to other users. When six people are
all downloading the same song, other users will have to enter a
queue and line up to get it as earlier users finish their downloads. It
is not uncommon to see something like '99 of 6' (or something
similar) which shows that 99 people are waiting to download from
one of the six slots for that one song.
Three programs that work nicely are WinMX, KazaaLite, and Imesh.
WinMX has absolutely the best interface, and you can specify
EXACTLY what results to return. MP3 files of at least a certain
bitrate, users with internet connections of at least certain speeds,
and the ability to search for title AND artist. This last is invaluable
when you're looking for a song that has the same title as a different
song.
For instance, 'Fade to Black' is a popular Rolling Stones song,
but there's a totally cool Goth song by the same title. Enter just the
title in a search window, and you'll probably get thousands of
results, with most of them by the Stones. You'll have to do a lot of
scrolling to find the one you want! However, connection speeds
with WinMX haven't been up to par lately. It takes quite a bit
longer than I like for the search results to come back.
KazaaLite is good, but make sure you get the light version! The full
version (available from the Kazaa website) has a massive amount
of advertising and extra crap that's installed on your computer. The
lite (and unauthorized by Kazaa) version has been stripped of all the
excess.
IMesh is about equal to Kazaa, but installs some 'parasite ware',
which isn't harmful, but it's the cause of a lot of annoying ads that
pop up even when Imesh isn't running. You can get around that by
installing it, then going to http://www.doxdesk.com and clicking on
the 'parasite' link on the left. The site will tell you what parasites are
on your computer and how to get rid of them. Yes, it's a pain in the
rear, but Imesh is worth the few extra minutes of time this takes.
Neither Kazaa nor Imesh have the fantastic search and filtering
capabilities of WinMX, but they're fast and easy to use, and it's a
quick and painless way to get a song. The main complaint I have
about both of these programs is that they don't tell the bitrate of
the search results, and most users seem to have the low bitrate files
that lack the clarity of the larger ones.
WinMX is available at http://www.winmx.com
Imesh at http://www.imesh.com (which takes you to
the correct page at download.com), and
KazaaLite at http://www.kazaalite.com
COOL DOWNLOAD OF THE MONTH
TweakUI is a nifty little utility that helps you customize how
Windows works for you. Functions that were spread out all over the
place (or not available at all) are now in one handy little application
right in your control panel folder!
You can adjust your mouse settings; how you want your shortcut
icons to appear (with arrows? without arrows?); some additional
options for Internet Explorer; easy to use privacy settings; tons of
repair functions (rebuild icons, repair associations, hotkeys, system
files, etc), and you can even use it to get rid of those 'permanent'
icons that Windows puts on your desktop (recycle bin and network
neighborhood, for example). And you can FINALLY make Windows
stop running scan disk automatically if your computer locks up and
you have to turn the power off instead of doing a normal shutdown!
TweakUI is an invaluable FREE program that you'll love. Oddly
enough, this is a Microsoft program, but it's availability is sporadic on
the Microsoft site, so download it at
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/tweakui
TIP OF THE MONTH
Sometimes, I'll be doing something that required typing instead of
mousing (writing this, for instance), but I'll need to refer to
something in another window. This requires grabbing the mouse
and clicking the correct title box in the task bar. Half the time, I click
on the wrong one, anyway.
To bypass the mouse fondling, simply hold down the 'Alt' key, then
press 'Tab'. A small window pops up in the middle of the screen,
showing an icon for each open program. There's a short description
underneath, so you can read what it is, in case you have multiple
windows from the same program open. For instance, if you have to
Internet Explorer windows open, you'll see two identical IE icons, but
there'll be a text description of what each window contains.
Continue to hold down the 'Alt" key and press the tab button until
the correct icon is highlighted. Please note that when you originally
press the 'Alt' key, the window will NOT pop up until you press the
tab key. Hope you find this tip as useful as I have!
____________________________
Pam is co-webmistress at http://www.newbiesandnitwits.com
and has another site http://www.quickdecor.com - featuring
speedy and inexpensive decorating ideas.
_________________________
EVERYTHING AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
The new PC and Internet Companion is specifically designed
to be used as ...
A comprehensive in-depth course,
AND
An occasional learning center to be dipped into as time
permits,
AND
The ultimate reference library to refer to whenever you come
across a PC or Internet problem you don't understand.
That's why it's called Companion, because you can have it
on your PC desktop, ready at all times to delve into as
and when you wish. Take a look now at
http://newbieclub.com/comp/?pearlsandpigs
____________________________________
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
For those who receive this ezine via TOPICA and
NOT from http://www.newbiesandnitwits.com -
please click on the Topica link which appears in the
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longer wish to receive it. (Of course I hope you
won't do that).
____________________________________
RECOMMEND Newbies, Nerds & Nitwits to a friend!
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_____________________________________
NN&N BACK ISSUES
To view all previous issues of Newbies, Nerds & Nitwits
go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/nerdsandnitwits/read
- and don't forget to visit the Newbies, Nerds & Nitwits
website, often - for stacks of information, to get help from
Pam Allen if you have computer problems and to read
the most recent issues:-
http://www.newbiesandnitwits.com
_________________________________________
Product Review: ZONEALARM PRO
by Richard Lowe, Jnr.
_________________________________________
I'VE tried using a number of personal firewalls, including WRQ
AtGuard (since purchased by Symantec), BlackIce and ZoneAlarm.
In my opinion, ZoneAlarm Pro is by far and away the best personal
firewall on the market.
I like this firewall because it is the first product of it's kind
that actually seems to have been designed for normal human
computer users instead of techno-nerds. The product simply installs
and runs. You can use it out of the box with no configuration at all.
The program will ask a few questions and learn from you exactly
what is allowed and not allowed. What could be more simple?
This program is one of the very best defenses against spyware,
which is software that 'phones home' every once in a while with
information about you. Unlike most other personal firewalls,
ZoneAlarm Pro (as well as the free version) stops outgoing
transmissions as well as incoming ones. This in itself is a major
benefit to the product.
One of the major advantages to this product is the way you can
configure it to know the difference between intranet and internet
accesses. That's the problem with some competing firewall
products - they do not understand that intranet access is always
to be allowed while internet access must be controlled. ZoneAlarm
makes this distinction easily.
One of the problems that has been found with other firewalls is
the 'pattern' for determining the identity of something accessing
the internet is the program name. Well, as it turns out, this is
very simple for hacker software to fake. ZoneAlarm was the first
product to recognize and fix the weakness by actually performing a
checksum of the product. This allows ZoneAlarm to be absolutely
sure it has the correct program identified.
One of the absolutely coolest things about ZoneAlarm is that it also
protects your system from email viruses. For example, today I
received an email with an attachment. The attachment was a virus,
and it was renamed by ZoneAlarm to make it obvious that it was a
problem. My antivirus software would have caught it as well, but it
was really nice that my firewall stopped the virus even before that
point.
So to sum it all up, yes, I would highly recommend this firewall.
In fact, it is recommended over any other software firewall
product.
Additional Information
Firewalls protect your system
http://www.internet-tips.net/Security/Firewalls.htm
You must protect your system with a personal firewall,
especially if you are using DSL or cable modem.
Products - Sonic WALL
http://www.internet-tips.net/Products/sonicwall.htm
You really want to protect your personal computer? Another
recommended firewall solution I have found is the SonicWall.
Tanstaaf - Spyware
http://www.internet-tips.net/Tanstaafl/spyware.htm
Be careful installing ad supported products - you may find that
you every move on the internet is being watched!
(c) Richard Lowe Jr. and Claudia Arevalo-Lowe, 1999-2003
_______________
Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of
Internet Tips And Secrets at http://www.internet-tips.net
Visit the website any time to read over 1,000 complete
free articles about how to improve your internet profits,
enjoyment and knowledge.
__________________________
REGISTRY FOR NEWBIES
So you're not such a Newbie after all? Like to know what
makes Windows act the way it does? Then this ebook will
give you a quick, easy understanding of your PC's Brain. It's
called 'The Registry For Newbies' and you can read all about
it here...
http://newbieclub.com/rfncopy/?pearlsandpigs
___________________________________
HOW'S YOUR E-SHORTHAND?
____________________________________
POAHF - put on a happy face
PD - public domain
PDS - please don't shoot
PLZ - please
PM - private message
PMFJI - pardon me for jumping in
POAHF - put on a happy face
POOF - I have left the chat
POV - point of view
PPL - people
(More email acronyms in the
next issue)
__________________________________
PLEASE RATE THIS EZINE...
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Editor's note: When you click to rate it, make sure you
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number you want.
______________________________________
Newbie Club Tutorial
COMPUTER 'FREEZING'?
______________________________________
USING standby mode, is supposed to save energy when your
PC is unattended, and help your Monitor last longer.
How valuable this function is, I don't know.
However, this facility can cause problems, because sometimes
when you try to bring back your 'normal' screen you find
your PC is frozen. No mouse, no Alt/Ctrl/Delete function ...
Zilch!
Then you have to switch off your computer (even that doesn't
work sometimes), reboot and run scan disk, just to get back
to where you were before you took time off for that cup of
coffee.
If this has happened to you, the answer is to disable the
standby mode. Here's how ...
RIGHT Click on a blank area of your desktop.
LEFT Click on Properties ->Screen saver->Settings (or Power)
Check everything in there to 'Never'.
Click OK and OK again.
Job done.
Now you can have a cup of coffee with peace of mind.)
(c)2002 Roglan International
____________________
NEED A FRIENDLY, HELPING HAND?..
Frustrated and confused about PCs and the Internet?
Sick of feeling like a patronized, second class citizen?
The Newbie Club will treat you with the respect you
deserve and teach you all you need to know with their
revolutionary free Learning System. Click over NOW
and change your PC and Net experience forever.
http://newbieclub.com/?pearlsandpigs
_____________________________________________
* -------------------HOT TIP------------------- *
IF you're a quick typist your keyboard could be slowing
you down. Go to Start -> Settings -> Control Panel - and double
click the Keyboard icon. When the Keyboard Properties window
opens set Character Repeat so the Repeat delay is short.
Then set the Repeat rate to Fast - and the race is on...
* --------------------HOT TIP------------------- *
FREE EZINES Find hundreds of quality, FREE Ezines at the Cumuli
Ezine Finder: http://www.cumuli.com/ezines/
____________________________________________
Copyright 2003 NEWBIES, NERDS & NITWITS All Rights Reserved
____________________________________________
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__________Signature File________
Editor/Publisher: Sheldene Chant
6 Strapp Lane, Amanzimtoti 4126,
KwaZuluNatal, South Africa.
mailto:shel-@icon.co.za
________________________________________
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_______________________________________<br><br>
<b>
NEWBIES, NERDS & NITWITS<br><br>
</b>Your 'support' ezine if you're nervous about the Net<br><br>
January
2003
Vol.3 Issue 1<br><br>
<b> </b><i>Sheldene Chant, Editor<br>
</i>_____________________________________<br><br>
By subscription only. Welcome to the 29th<br>
offering from<br><br>
Newbies, Nerds & Nitwits<br><br>
<br>
You are receiving this newsletter because you<br>
requested it. Our subscriber list is confidential.<br>
List maintenance instructions appear at the<br>
end of this ezine<br>
____________________________________<br><br>
<b> IN THIS ISSUE<br><br>
</b> o Time for a
Break...<br><br>
o Napster's Dead -
so what now?<br><br>
o Product Review -
ZoneAlarm Pro<br><br>
o How's Your
e-Shorthand?<br><br>
o Computer
'Freezing'?<br><br>
o Hot Tip - for
slow keyboards<br>
<b>________________________________________<br><br>
TIME FOR A BREAK...<br>
________________________________________<br><br>
</b>DO you get that sinking feeling when you hear of the latest<br>
malevolent worm/virus - or read an article listing all the things<br>
you should be doing to really protect yourself on the Internet?<br><br>
I get the same feeling when I'm sweeping up all the dog fur that<br>
accumulates daily in our living areas - and while I'm sweeping I
tell<br>
myself 'I know this isn't going to be perfect but it has to be a
lot<br>
better!'<br><br>
My approach to the threats on the Internet is somewhat similar.<br>
Of course I have virus protection software (which I do my best to<br>
keep updated) - plus a firewall - and, touch wood, this seems to be<br>
working. My free ZoneAlarm firewall keeps itself impressively
busy<br>
and if you'd like to know more about this read Richard Lowe's
article<br>
on ZoneAlarm Pro. I believe you can get a trial version of
this<br>
product (for 30 days) and there's nothing wrong with the free
one.<br><br>
Pam Allen talks about the demise of Napster - and some of the<br>
alternatives. If you are a music enthusiast I think you should
make<br>
hay while these particular suns are still shining. Only today I
read<br>
that a Los Angeles federal judge has ruled that record
companies<br>
and movie studios can sue the parent company of Kazaa<br>
(incorporated in the Pacific island, Vanuatu) as Kazaa software has<br>
been downloaded and used by millions of Californians.<br><br>
If you have been reading this ezine for any length of time you will<br>
know I have this never ending battle with my PC - which keeps on<br>
freezing - like a mad thing. Very recently I made some
progress<br>
after I reluctantly disabled Stand By (see the Newbie Club
Tutorial<br>
'Computer Freezing?) - and even more when I gave up Active<br>
Desktop.<br><br>
Of course my PC is not perfect - but definitely better and it's
very<br>
encouraging to have achieved some sort of breakthrough - at last.<br>
So watch this space - this saga is bound to continue...<br><br>
(You can read this ezine, online, at<br>
<a href="http://www.newbiesandnitwits.com/" eudora="autourl">http://www.newbiesandnitwits.com</a>)<br>
____________________________________<br><br>
FREE TUTORIALS BY AUTORESPONDER<br><br>
If you are thinking about making your own web page, or<br>
merely want to exercise your brain slightly, then send for<br>
the web page tutorials by clicking<br>
<a href="mailto:nerdsand-@fastresponder.com" eudora="autourl">mailto:nerdsand-@fastresponder.com</a><br><br>
Want to find files fast ?- then
<a href="mailto:fin-@fastresponder.com" eudora="autourl">mailto:fin-@fastresponder.com</a><br><br>
Organising your computer -
<a href="mailto:org-@fastresponder.com" eudora="autourl">mailto:org-@fastresponder.com</a><br>
____________________________________<br><br>
POIGNANT PEARLS & POTBELLIED PIGS - a<br>
monthly ezine packed with original and amusing<br>
articles, which will remind you not to take yourself<br>
too seriously. To subscribe<br>
<a href="mailto:pearlypigs-@topica.com" eudora="autourl">mailto:pearlypigs-@topica.com</a><br>
Or, if you're wary of pigs in pokes, surf to<br>
<a href="http://www.sheldenechant.com/" eudora="autourl">http://www.sheldenechant.com</a>
to find out<br>
more.<br>
<b>_______________________________________________<br><br>
NAPSTER'S DEAD - SO WHAT NOW?<br>
Pam Allen reports<br>
_______________________________________________<br><br>
</b>WITH the demise of Napster, music addicts worldwide are wondering<br>
just what they'll do to get their next music fix. Fear not, there are<br>
many wonderful programs that have the same function! Napster's<br>
downfall came from the fact that it used a few centralized servers<br>
which stored the music files. Users would find a song they wanted,<br>
and download it directly from the server. Since the servers were<br>
easily traced, and the majority of the songs were considered illegal<br>
copies, the courts had no problem shutting Napster down.<br><br>
A new breed of file sharing has arrived. Called 'P2P' (peer to peer)<br>
networking, there is no central server. Instead, each user is an<br>
independent server, connected only by a program that pulls a list of<br>
the user's available files and makes it available to anyone looking for<br>
a particular song. The song is then downloaded directly from that<br>
user's computer.<br><br>
Yes, this is completely safe. You specify which folder(s) contain files<br>
that you will share. Your files are only available if/when you have the<br>
program running. When a user does a search for a specific song, his<br>
version of the program searches the net to find other instances of<br>
the program running, and checks to see if any of those users have<br>
that song, and returns a list of all the instances of it. The user then<br>
decides which one he'd like to download.<br><br>
Most of the programs will list helpful information about the people<br>
who have the desired song. It will tell you how fast their connection<br>
is (it's much faster to download a song from a person who has a<br>
cable connection rather than a 28.8 dial up connection), the bitrate<br>
of the song (higher bitrate means better quality), the size of the file<br>
(you can tell fairly easily if it's a complete or incomplete file by the<br>
size), and whether the other person's files are immediately available<br>
or if you'll be in a queue.<br><br>
What does that mean? Well, when you set up the program, you<br>
specify how may users can connect to you at once, and how many<br>
songs each person can download simultaneously. To keep things<br>
speedy, you probably don't want more than 2 or 3 users<br>
downloading from you at once, or downloading more than a few<br>
songs at a time.<br><br>
For instance, let's say you specify that 6 people can download from<br>
you at once, and each can get three songs. This means that when<br>
you first log on, you have '6 of 6' available of every file you've<br>
designated as shared. When Joe Smith starts to download a song,<br>
you then have '5 of 6' available to other users. When six people are<br>
all downloading the same song, other users will have to enter a<br>
queue and line up to get it as earlier users finish their downloads. It<br>
is not uncommon to see something like '99 of 6' (or something<br>
similar) which shows that 99 people are waiting to download from<br>
one of the six slots for that one song.<br><br>
Three programs that work nicely are WinMX, KazaaLite, and Imesh.<br>
WinMX has absolutely the best interface, and you can specify<br>
EXACTLY what results to return. MP3 files of at least a certain<br>
bitrate, users with internet connections of at least certain speeds,<br>
and the ability to search for title AND artist. This last is invaluable<br>
when you're looking for a song that has the same title as a different<br>
song.<br><br>
For instance, 'Fade to Black' is a popular Rolling Stones song,<br>
but there's a totally cool Goth song by the same title. Enter just the<br>
title in a search window, and you'll probably get thousands of<br>
results, with most of them by the Stones. You'll have to do a lot of<br>
scrolling to find the one you want! However, connection speeds<br>
with WinMX haven't been up to par lately. It takes quite a bit<br>
longer than I like for the search results to come back.<br><br>
KazaaLite is good, but make sure you get the light version! The full<br>
version (available from the Kazaa website) has a massive amount<br>
of advertising and extra crap that's installed on your computer. The<br>
lite (and unauthorized by Kazaa) version has been stripped of all the<br>
excess.<br><br>
IMesh is about equal to Kazaa, but installs some 'parasite ware',<br>
which isn't harmful, but it's the cause of a lot of annoying ads that<br>
pop up even when Imesh isn't running. You can get around that by<br>
installing it, then going to <a href="http://www.doxdesk.com/" eudora="autourl">http://www.doxdesk.com</a> and clicking on<br>
the 'parasite' link on the left. The site will tell you what parasites are<br>
on your computer and how to get rid of them. Yes, it's a pain in the<br>
rear, but Imesh is worth the few extra minutes of time this takes.<br><br>
Neither Kazaa nor Imesh have the fantastic search and filtering<br>
capabilities of WinMX, but they're fast and easy to use, and it's a<br>
quick and painless way to get a song. The main complaint I have<br>
about both of these programs is that they don't tell the bitrate of<br>
the search results, and most users seem to have the low bitrate files<br>
that lack the clarity of the larger ones.<br><br>
WinMX is available at <a href="http://www.winmx.com/" eudora="autourl">http://www.winmx.com</a><br>
Imesh at <a href="http://www.imesh.com/" eudora="autourl">http://www.imesh.com</a> (which takes you to<br>
the correct page at download.com), and<br>
KazaaLite at <a href="http://www.kazaalite.com/" eudora="autourl">http://www.kazaalite.com</a><br><br>
COOL DOWNLOAD OF THE MONTH<br><br>
TweakUI is a nifty little utility that helps you customize how<br>
Windows works for you. Functions that were spread out all over the<br>
place (or not available at all) are now in one handy little application<br>
right in your control panel folder!<br><br>
You can adjust your mouse settings; how you want your shortcut<br>
icons to appear (with arrows? without arrows?); some additional<br>
options for Internet Explorer; easy to use privacy settings; tons of<br>
repair functions (rebuild icons, repair associations, hotkeys, system<br>
files, etc), and you can even use it to get rid of those 'permanent'<br>
icons that Windows puts on your desktop (recycle bin and network<br>
neighborhood, for example). And you can FINALLY make Windows<br>
stop running scan disk automatically if your computer locks up and<br>
you have to turn the power off instead of doing a normal shutdown!<br><br>
TweakUI is an invaluable FREE program that you'll love. Oddly<br>
enough, this is a Microsoft program, but it's availability is sporadic on<br>
the Microsoft site, so download it at<br>
<a href="http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/tweakui" eudora="autourl">http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/tweakui</a><br><br>
TIP OF THE MONTH<br><br>
Sometimes, I'll be doing something that required typing instead of<br>
mousing (writing this, for instance), but I'll need to refer to<br>
something in another window. This requires grabbing the mouse<br>
and clicking the correct title box in the task bar. Half the time, I click<br>
on the wrong one, anyway.<br><br>
To bypass the mouse fondling, simply hold down the 'Alt' key, then<br>
press 'Tab'. A small window pops up in the middle of the screen,<br>
showing an icon for each open program. There's a short description<br>
underneath, so you can read what it is, in case you have multiple<br>
windows from the same program open. For instance, if you have to<br>
Internet Explorer windows open, you'll see two identical IE icons, but<br>
there'll be a text description of what each window contains.<br>
Continue to hold down the 'Alt" key and press the tab button until<br>
the correct icon is highlighted. Please note that when you originally<br>
press the 'Alt' key, the window will NOT pop up until you press the<br>
tab key. Hope you find this tip as useful as I have!<br>
____________________________<br>
<i>Pam is co-webmistress at <a href="http://www.newbiesandnitwits.com/" eudora="autourl">http://www.newbiesandnitwits.com</a><br>
and has another site <a href="http://www.quickdecor.com/" eudora="autourl">http://www.quickdecor.com</a> - featuring<br>
speedy and inexpensive decorating ideas.<br>
</i>_________________________<br><br>
EVERYTHING AT YOUR FINGERTIPS<br><br>
The new PC and Internet Companion is specifically designed<br>
to be used as ...<br><br>
A comprehensive in-depth course,<br><br>
AND<br><br>
An occasional learning center to be dipped into as time<br>
permits,<br><br>
AND<br><br>
The ultimate reference library to refer to whenever you come<br>
across a PC or Internet problem you don't understand.<br><br>
That's why it's called Companion, because you can have it<br>
on your PC desktop, ready at all times to delve into as<br>
and when you wish. Take a look now at<br>
<a href="http://newbieclub.com/comp/?pearlsandpigs" eudora="autourl">http://newbieclub.com/comp/?pearlsandpigs</a><br>
____________________________________<br><br>
IMPORTANT INFORMATION<br>
For those who receive this ezine via TOPICA and<br>
NOT from <a href="http://www.newbiesandnitwits.com/" eudora="autourl">http://www.newbiesandnitwits.com</a> -<br>
please click on the Topica link which appears in the<br>
footer at the end of each issue should you no<br>
longer wish to receive it. (Of course I hope you<br>
won't do that).<br>
____________________________________<br><br>
RECOMMEND Newbies, Nerds & Nitwits to a friend!<br>
<a href="http://www.cumuli.com/ezines/newner.ezine" eudora="autourl">http://www.cumuli.com/ezines/newner.ezine</a><br>
_____________________________________<br><br>
NN&N BACK ISSUES<br>
To view all previous issues of Newbies, Nerds & Nitwits<br>
go to: <a href="http://www.topica.com/lists/nerdsandnitwits/read" eudora="autourl">http://www.topica.com/lists/nerdsandnitwits/read</a><br><br>
- and don't forget to visit the Newbies, Nerds & Nitwits<br>
website, often - for stacks of information, to get help from<br>
Pam Allen if you have computer problems and to read<br>
the most recent issues:-<br>
<a href="http://www.newbiesandnitwits.com/" eudora="autourl">http://www.newbiesandnitwits.com</a><br>
<b>_________________________________________<br><br>
Product Review: ZONEALARM PRO<br>
by Richard Lowe, Jnr.<br>
_________________________________________<br><br>
</b>I'VE tried using a number of personal firewalls, including WRQ<br>
AtGuard (since purchased by Symantec), BlackIce and ZoneAlarm.<br>
In my opinion, ZoneAlarm Pro is by far and away the best personal<br>
firewall on the market.<br><br>
I like this firewall because it is the first product of it's kind<br>
that actually seems to have been designed for normal human<br>
computer users instead of techno-nerds. The product simply installs<br>
and runs. You can use it out of the box with no configuration at all.<br>
The program will ask a few questions and learn from you exactly<br>
what is allowed and not allowed. What could be more simple?<br><br>
This program is one of the very best defenses against spyware,<br>
which is software that 'phones home' every once in a while with<br>
information about you. Unlike most other personal firewalls,<br>
ZoneAlarm Pro (as well as the free version) stops outgoing<br>
transmissions as well as incoming ones. This in itself is a major<br>
benefit to the product.<br><br>
One of the major advantages to this product is the way you can<br>
configure it to know the difference between intranet and internet<br>
accesses. That's the problem with some competing firewall<br>
products - they do not understand that intranet access is always<br>
to be allowed while internet access must be controlled. ZoneAlarm<br>
makes this distinction easily.<br><br>
One of the problems that has been found with other firewalls is<br>
the 'pattern' for determining the identity of something accessing<br>
the internet is the program name. Well, as it turns out, this is<br>
very simple for hacker software to fake. ZoneAlarm was the first<br>
product to recognize and fix the weakness by actually performing a<br>
checksum of the product. This allows ZoneAlarm to be absolutely<br>
sure it has the correct program identified.<br><br>
One of the absolutely coolest things about ZoneAlarm is that it also<br>
protects your system from email viruses. For example, today I<br>
received an email with an attachment. The attachment was a virus,<br>
and it was renamed by ZoneAlarm to make it obvious that it was a<br>
problem. My antivirus software would have caught it as well, but it<br>
was really nice that my firewall stopped the virus even before that<br>
point.<br><br>
So to sum it all up, yes, I would highly recommend this firewall.<br>
In fact, it is recommended over any other software firewall<br>
product.<br><br>
Additional Information<br><br>
Firewalls protect your system<br>
<a href="http://www.internet-tips.net/Security/Firewalls.htm" eudora="autourl">http://www.internet-tips.net/Security/Firewalls.htm</a><br>
You must protect your system with a personal firewall,<br>
especially if you are using DSL or cable modem.<br><br>
Products - Sonic WALL<br>
<a href="http://www.internet-tips.net/Products/sonicwall.htm" eudora="autourl">http://www.internet-tips.net/Products/sonicwall.htm</a><br>
You really want to protect your personal computer? Another<br>
recommended firewall solution I have found is the SonicWall.<br><br>
Tanstaaf - Spyware<br>
<a href="http://www.internet-tips.net/Tanstaafl/spyware.htm" eudora="autourl">http://www.internet-tips.net/Tanstaafl/spyware.htm</a><br>
Be careful installing ad supported products - you may find that<br>
you every move on the internet is being watched!<br><br>
<b>(c) Richard Lowe Jr. and Claudia Arevalo-Lowe, 1999-2003<br>
</b>_______________<br>
<i>Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of<br>
Internet Tips And Secrets at <a href="http://www.internet-tips.net/" eudora="autourl">http://www.internet-tips.net</a><br>
Visit the website any time to read over 1,000 complete<br>
free articles about how to improve your internet profits,<br>
enjoyment and knowledge.<br>
______________________</i>____<br><br>
REGISTRY FOR NEWBIES<br>
So you're not such a Newbie after all? Like to know what<br>
makes Windows act the way it does? Then this ebook will<br>
give you a quick, easy understanding of your PC's Brain. It's<br>
called 'The Registry For Newbies' and you can read all about<br>
it here...<br>
<a href="http://newbieclub.com/rfncopy/?pearlsandpigs" eudora="autourl">http://newbieclub.com/rfncopy/?pearlsandpigs</a><br>
<b>___________________________________<br><br>
HOW'S YOUR E-SHORTHAND?<br>
____________________________________<br><br>
</b>POAHF - put on a happy face<br>
PD - public domain<br>
PDS - please don't shoot<br>
PLZ - please<br>
PM - private message<br>
PMFJI - pardon me for jumping in<br>
POAHF - put on a happy face<br>
POOF - I have left the chat<br>
POV - point of view<br>
PPL - people<br><br>
(More email acronyms in the<br>
next issue)<br>
__________________________________<br><br>
PLEASE RATE THIS EZINE...<br>
Please rate this Ezine at the Cumuli Ezine Finder<br>
<a href="http://www.cumuli.com/ezines/ra20597.rate" eudora="autourl">http://www.cumuli.com/ezines/ra20597.rate</a><br><br>
Editor’s note: When you click to rate it, make sure you<br>
check the number. It’s automatically set at 5, but you<br>
can go as high as 10. Make sure you change it to the<br>
number you want.<br>
<b>______________________________________<br><br>
Newbie Club Tutorial<br>
COMPUTER 'FREEZING'?<br>
______________________________________<br><br>
</b>USING standby mode, is supposed to save energy when your<br>
PC is unattended, and help your Monitor last longer.<br><br>
How valuable this function is, I don't know.<br><br>
However, this facility can cause problems, because sometimes<br>
when you try to bring back your 'normal' screen you find<br>
your PC is frozen. No mouse, no Alt/Ctrl/Delete function ...<br><br>
Zilch!<br><br>
Then you have to switch off your computer (even that doesn't<br>
work sometimes), reboot and run scan disk, just to get back<br>
to where you were before you took time off for that cup of<br>
coffee.<br><br>
If this has happened to you, the answer is to disable the<br>
standby mode. Here's how ...<br><br>
RIGHT Click on a blank area of your desktop.<br><br>
LEFT Click on Properties ->Screen saver->Settings (or Power)<br><br>
Check everything in there to 'Never'.<br><br>
Click OK and OK again.<br><br>
Job done.<br><br>
Now you can have a cup of coffee with peace of mind.)<br><br>
<b>(c)2002 Roglan International<br>
</b>____________________<br>
NEED A FRIENDLY, HELPING HAND?..<br>
Frustrated and confused about PCs and the Internet?<br>
Sick of feeling like a patronized, second class citizen?<br>
The Newbie Club will treat you with the respect you<br>
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_____________________________________________<br><br>
<br>
<b>* -------------------HOT TIP------------------- *<br><br>
</b>IF you're a quick typist your keyboard could be slowing<br>
you down. Go to Start -> Settings -> Control Panel - and double<br>
click the Keyboard icon. When the Keyboard Properties window<br>
opens set Character Repeat so the Repeat delay is short.<br>
Then set the Repeat rate to Fast - and the race is on...<br><br>
<b>* --------------------HOT TIP------------------- *<br><br>
</b>FREE EZINES Find hundreds of quality, FREE Ezines at the Cumuli<br>
Ezine Finder: <a href="http://www.cumuli.com/ezines/" eudora="autourl">http://www.cumuli.com/ezines/</a><br>
____________________________________________<br><br>
<b>Copyright 2003 NEWBIES, NERDS & NITWITS All Rights Reserved<br>
____________________________________________<br><br>
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__________Signature File________<br><br>
Editor/Publisher: Sheldene Chant<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab> 6 Strapp Lane, Amanzimtoti 4126,<br>
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