What You Need to Know about All Things PC
Volume 2 Number 22Click here to return to the back issues page.Click here to return to the main newsletter page.
The Naked PC - http://www.TheNakedPC.com What You Need to Know about All Things PC Publisher: Lee Hudspeth and T.J. Lee Editor in Chief: Dan Butler Contributing Editor: Al Gordon This issue is for Thursday, October 28, 1999 - Vol. 2 No. 22 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sender: owner-thenakedpc@ezeen.com Precedence: bulk Reply-To: thenakedpc@ezeen.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Table of Contents ** 01. Letter from the Publisher ** 02. Security when You're "Always On" (by T.J. Lee) ** 03. My Sister-in-Law's First PC Purchase: Case Study Using "The Unofficial Guide to PCs" - Part 3 (by Lee Hudspeth) ** 04. Bookshelf Hosed by Encarta Dictionary (by Al Gordon) ** 05. File Finding Frustration (by Dan Butler) ** 06. Software Bargains and Free Stuff (by Dan Butler) ** 07. Featured FAQ - Andy McFadden's CD-Recordable FAQ ** 08. Featured Book - Search Engines: For the World Wide Web (Visual Quickstart Guide Series) by Alfred Glossbrenner ** 09. Featured Web Site - Advanced Book Exchange ** 10. Newsworthy - a potpourri of current events and interesting stuff ** 11. We Get Mail - Comments and Tips from TNPC Readers ** 01. Letter from the Publisher It's been a busy summer here at the TNPC virtual labs. T.J. and Lee contributed to the PC Computing feature story "End E-mail Insanity Forever" (November 1999 issue, pp. 170+). Tips galore for dealing with the your favorite e-mail clients, inside secrets for using Outlook, Outlook Express, Pegasus, Eudora, Netscape Messenger, and more! http://www.zdnet.com/pccomp/stories/all/0,6605,2346871,00.html In that same issue of PC Computing, Lee and T.J. show you how to rid your system of pesky applications that don't want to uninstall themselves. See "Uninstall Software for Good" in the Help section and a Projects section step-by-step on how to make Outlook an "Instant Organizer." We haven't seen these articles up on the ZDNet Web site yet. Stay tuned. In the new eBay Magazine you'll find Al Gordon's column, this issue looking at "Finding a laptop you can love" (page 32) and his sidebar on Cookies (page 44). On page 40 you'll find some more familiar faces ranting in their regular betaEdge column about the trials and tribulations of beta software programs. https://www.krause.com/ebaysub/ Dan has been plenty busy tweaking the TNPC Web site. If you haven't visited our online digs you should. Individual articles from prior issues are available for you to browse or search. All the TNPC back issues for folks who don't want to miss a single word. You can also use our handy Mailbot to have back issues delivered right to your inbox. Just send a message to: Mailbot@TheNakedPC.com and you're receive instructions for ordering back issues by email. The TNPC Hot Tips at the bottom of our main site page continue to be very popular. In between issues we post the latest great buys and downloads that we discover. Stop by soon and say "howdy!" http://www.TheNakedPC.com As always, reader support is what keeps TNPC free, so please pass a copy of TNPC on to co-workers and friends (no spam please!) and always say "I saw it in TNPC!" +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ The Unofficial Guide to PCs "This book doesn't waste time on mouse tutorials--it dives right into the productivity tricks of experienced users." This is what readers have said about "The Unofficial Guide to PCs" from QUE. >From hardware to software this book has all the critical information you need to optimally maintain your personal computer. "It's amazing how much stuff you'll find on the care and feeding of your system in this 500-page book. From purchasing proper hardware to finding software that suits your needs -- the authors cover every issue very well." -- Lockergnome http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0789717972/tnpcnewsletter/ +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ ** 02. Security when You're "Always On" (by T.J. Lee) When I got my DSL line I also got a static IP address. Every machine connected to the Internet needs an address that uniquely identifies that machine from all others. When you dial into an ISP you usually get a dynamic IP address, meaning one that changes every time you log onto the Internet. The ISP has purchased a block of IP addresses and every time you log on you're assigned an available IP from the ISP's inventory. But PacBell uses permanently assigned IP addresses. That makes my machine much more susceptible to hacking. First, because my address is always the same, once someone has my IP address they can always locate my machine. And your browser gives up your IP address to any Web site that asks for it. Second, because my connection is always on, if my computer is running I'm connected to the Internet. That means I'm connected for a lot more hours than I used to be which provides greater opportunity for possible attacks. I considered how to better protect my computer when Dan reminded me that AtGuard, my preferred software for managing cookies and blocking banner ads, also comes with a built-in firewall. I opened up AtGuard's settings dialog and sure enough there was a firewall panel. But it looked pretty intimidating so I called the folks at AtGuard and asked them if the average Joe (or T.J.) could figure out this firewall thing. (TNPC featured AtGuard as a Recommended Product in issue #2.15. -- Ed.) It turns out you enable the firewall and every time an application tries to talk to the Internet (or anytime something on the Internet tries to connect to you) you are prompted by the Rule Assistant which pops up and asks you if you want to allow this (just like the cookie manager). You can say yes, no, always allow this, or never allow this. The various settings are straightforward and before long I was entrenched behind my new firewall. The rules wizard did not create the most efficient set of rules possible but I found it very easy to use. Of course, short of having some hacker try to breach my firewall I was not sure how much protection AtGuard was really affording me. Then in Paul Thurrott's excellent WinInfo column (www.wugnet.com/wininfo) I saw Paul's write up of a new site by Steve Gibson called Shields Up! This site lets you test your computers' security exposure to the Internet. http://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 Off I went in a cloud of zeros and ones and let Steve's script have a go at breaking into my system. AtGuard came through with flying colors. Shields Up! gave me this report: "Unable to connect to your computer. All attempts to get any information from your computer have FAILED. (This is very uncommon for a Windows networking-based PC.) Relative to vulnerabilities from Windows networking, this computer is VERY SECURE since it is NOT exposing ANY of its internal NetBIOS networking protocol over the Internet." But it also came up with this tidbit: "Your computer has accepted an anonymous connection from another machine it knows nothing about!" (That's not good.) It appeared that I had an open port although AtGuard was preventing any communication on it. A little research on the "Microsoft Networking: Just Say No" page on the Shields Up! site and I was able to easily lock down the problem port by disabling file and printer sharing on my TCP/IP protocols and using NetBEUI for my internal network. http://grc.com/su-nomsnet.htm Steve cautions that the site is still beta and that users should revisit the site as he continues to improve it and makes his tests more robust. Stop by Shields Up! and see how your system measures up to Steve's security tests. The site offers you instructions on how to protect your system depending on your needs. If you need proxy server software or some other suitable firewall software check out Steve's firewall information and product review page: http://grc.com/su-firewalls.htm Steve is not as enamored with AtGuard as I am (he favors BlackICE Defender) but to each their own. The important thing is to not neglect your surfing security. You can reach T.J. Lee at: mailto:tj_lee@TheNakedPC.com +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ ENHANCE your computer SKILLS with some incredible on-line values- Try the Office 97 Learning Pack for only $49.99 or the PC Learning Pack for just $59.99. Wouldn't these make a great gift idea for the holidays? Log on to: http://www.handtech.com/asp/learningcenter/default.asp?host=ebuy for more details about these and other outstanding training offers. Learn at Home while you Learn@Hand. +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ ** 03. My Sister-in-Law's First PC Purchase: Case Study Using "The Unofficial Guide to PCs" - Part 3 (by Lee Hudspeth) In TNPC #2.20 we left Marie pondering a series of gaffes by the clone shop from which she purchased her new PC. 1. The technician was a no-show, and didn't call to cancel, for the Friday 9/24/99 on-site installation appointment that Marie had already paid $50 for. FINAL OUTCOME: although we all agree (Marie too) that this was inexcusable, Marie decided to give them another chance. 2. The technician didn't have a phone cable longer than 6' so he was not able to comply with what was previously agreed: to connect her to the Internet once, and watch her as she did it once herself. FINAL OUTCOME: as you know from the prior article, Marie got the 20' phone cable herself. She was then able to re-run the AT&T WorldNet CD and get connected to the Internet herself. 3. The PC was delivered without the specified internal Iomega Zip 100. FINAL OUTCOME: Wednesday 9/29/99 at 10:00 AM was the appointment for the on-site addition of the omitted Iomega Zip drive. At 10:45 AM the technician was again a no-show. When Marie called, he came over right away citing "a client emergency" as the excuse. (She was thinking, "So what does that make me, a non- client?" but in the interest of getting the task accomplished, she was polite and let it be.) He did the install, forgot to connect the power internally, had to open the chassis up again, and in the end it worked and he gave her a cartridge (albeit used) even though no cartridge was required per the invoice. 4. (NEW) As Marie and I chatted about this article, she mentioned a new gaffe. Turns out that the system quote she got from the shop was not a formal document but rather a components price list on which she herself made notes while the owner told her the cost for building her system. When she reviewed the system sales order at the point of sale (prior to system delivery), it wasn't itemized and it didn't match -- either in components or price -- her original discussion with the owner. There was no scanner, there was no Iomega Zip, but there *was* a copy of Microsoft Works Suite 99 (something she hadn't asked for). Over the course of two separate conversations with shop employees, some of the differences were resolved, but not all. When I pressed her about this, she said, "I admit I haven't had the time to work through all these issues. I did get them to put in the missing zip drive. I look at it this way. I got a copy of Works Suite 99, which I'm using, in exchange for the missing scanner." FINAL OUTCOME: Both parties need to take responsibility here. The clone shop should be more formalized in its quotation process, Marie should have insisted on same, and she should have pursued *all* the open issues, not just some of them. If she doesn't act soon, it will be too late. I'm not berating anyone, just drawing conclusions we can all learn from. I've told Marie that Works Suite 99 is an older version. Since the newer Microsoft Works Suite 2000 is priced at $42.99 on the street, the older version of the suite is of lesser value. Since the scanner was listed at $79.00, I think it's in her best interest to resolve these open issues. Personally, I think there was just a miscommunication about the scanner, but I have no proof either way. The decision to pursue this is up to her. At the behest of TNPCer Steve C., I did a post hoc Better Business Bureau (BBB) review of the clone shop (see steps below). The clone shop was established in 1991, and incorporated in 1995, with employment listed as 8 people. "This company has had no complaints during the past three years." Although the clone shop gets a clean bill of health from the BBB, thanks to Steve's suggestion we have updated our TUGPCs checklist for buying a PC to include a BBB Reliability Report for all prospective manufacturers. Here are the steps I used to get the relevant BBB information: 1. Go to the BBB's Central Web Server for U.S. and Canada at http://www.bbb.org then click the Business Report Databases button. Pick from the national or independent databases as needed, or use the zip code search feature to find the nearest BBB office (130 total in the U.S.). 2. Look up the Reliability Report on the target company. 3. If the central Web site doesn't get you where you need to go (it *did* for the clone shop), call your local BBB office. In my own case (the South Bay area in Los Angeles county) I was able to get the voice mail announcement message to tell me the URL for the Southland BBB: http://www.bbbsouthland.org 4. Most BBB offices offer the option of getting a report over the phone, but you may have to pay for it. In my area the fee is $3.75 charged to your credit card, or if you're not 900-blocked you can call a 900 number to get the report for the nominal rate of $0.95/minute. The first time I tried the over-the-phone technique (because the Southland server was overloaded), the phone rang about 30 times with no answer and I almost hung up, then a very polite representative answered. I used a local computer/electronics retail outlet as my test; this is a firm I knew from first-hand experience to have horrific support and to knowingly repackage used and defective goods as new. No surprise: X Electronics (not the company's real name) has the following paraphrased report: their current rating is Unsatisfactory; pattern of complaints of poor product quality and arbitrary refund eligibility; numerous complaints of used merchandise repackaged as new; of 10 extant complaints in the last three years, three were closed as "satisfied" (per customer complainant) and seven were ignored by the company; one additional complaint is pending. How about Dell, the company we chose as Marie's mail order channel contender? Dell Computer Corporation is covered by the Central Texas BBS; I couldn't locate their online database so I called their office. I needed Dell's 10-digit corporate phone number to get an over-the-phone report, for free. Paraphrased, it is: Dell has a Satisfactory record; the firm was started in May 1984; has been a BBB member since May 1989; uses special BBB procedures -- including mediation and arbitration -- for handling customer complaints; and participates in BBB Online ("committed to ethical online business practices"). No surprises there. Thanks to the many folks who wrote in and addressed the specific issue of "clone versus Dell." The statistics reveal there's no majority opinion: * Recommends a Dell ........................................ 33% * Recommends clone but agrees these are strikes............. 17% * Does not recommend a clone and does recommend Dell........ 17% * Does not recommend a clone nor Dell either................ 33% Normalized to just the one issue, the numbers indicate that 50% recommend a Dell and 50% recommend a clone. Thanks also to the folks who wrote in on other, related issues, like their experiences as PC technicians. In conclusion, we are now recommending folks use the Better Business Bureau as a resource prior to making a PC purchase. Also, we encourage everyone to be very meticulous and insistent in getting a pre-sale quotation in writing, thereby avoiding assembly, delivery, and component inventory disputes. You can reach Lee Hudspeth at: mailto:leehudspeth@TheNakedPC.com +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ >> ********** Who have you been trying to find? ********** STOP Wasting Time --- on searches that GO nowhere! When a search engine can't help ---- we can. Confidential --> Classified --> Top Secret --> For Your Eyes Only http://www.zcat.com/t/index.shtml +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ ** 04. Bookshelf Hosed by Encarta Dictionary (by Al Gordon) When I wrote about my adventures with Microsoft technical support back in TNPC #2.20, I never did get to one of the points I originally intended to raise. The support brouhaha with Encarta resulted in an instance of the familiar principle: "When you are up to your behind in alligators, you can forget that you originally set out to drain the swamp." Anyway, belatedly, the original issue was to advise potential customers of Microsoft reference products that the rules have changed for the "2000" versions. For years, Microsoft produced the Encarta encyclopedia itself, later adding an atlas to the product line. It also offered a "Bookshelf" package that included the American Heritage Dictionary, a quotation book, a thesaurus, and similar titles. In the past, these offerings were also available as a suite at the typical package price. In the latest product cycle, Microsoft offered Bookshelf 2000, pretty much as before. But the company also teamed with Bloomsbury Publishing to create a new Encarta World Dictionary. It sold separately, and is packaged with the encyclopedia and atlas to form the new Reference Suite 2000. The Bookshelf package isn't part of the suite any more. Ordinarily, this would be no big deal. However, there is a little wrinkle here. "Dictionary" is a misnomer for the Encarta product. It actually has the same features as Bookshelf -- quotations, thesaurus, and so forth -- lacking only the mini-encyclopedia that's part of Bookshelf. The effect of that "lacking only," though, is that to get encyclopedia you now need to buy Encarta or the Encarta Reference Suite. (You can still get Encarta 2000 for free, after rebates until October 31, 1999. After that it'll cost $14.95 after rebate. See the link in the Software Bargains section. -- Ed.) Moreover, once you install Encarta Dictionary, it overrides the "QuickShelf" features of Bookshelf that allow you to look up the definition of a word with a mouse click from inside other applications. Or, in simple English, if you had previously purchased Bookshelf, installing Encarta Dictionary pretty much makes it worthless. Several readers emailed to ask about the diagnostic tools I mentioned in the previous article. These are contained on the Encarta Reference Suite 2000 setup disk, and primarily involve registry issues specific to Encarta. However there is a fairly useful multimedia test utility. I searched the Microsoft Web site to see if it was available for download, but could not find it. Redmond would be doing its customers a service if it put the tool up on the Web. The technical support supervisor who had been involved in my case was kind enough to write back after reading the article (TNPC #2.20) with a gracious response, admitting to some of the problem areas in the system, although he noted that Microsoft has found that a very large percentage of requests to its free support services involve relatively routine issues. Accordingly, free support is organized on that basis, while paid support is oriented towards higher-level issues. The most interesting thing he said, however, was that Microsoft indeed has provided only limited training to its support providers on NT. But this will change with Windows 2000, for which support personnel will be trained to be as conversant as they are on Windows 9x. Or at least so the theory goes. My experiences with Windows 2000 Release Candidate 2 so far have been fairly positive, and if the company is looking to eliminate the support gap, it reinforces my view that Windows 2000 will be the system of choice for people using their PCs for business purposes. You can reach Al Gordon at: mailto:algordon@TheNakedPC.com ** 05. File Finding Frustration (by Dan Butler) There I am, converting a Word 2000 document into HTML to update a Web site that I maintain. Being somewhat of a stickler for neat HTML, I take the time to strip out all of the extra tags that Word 2000 inserted. Took about 15 or 20 minutes. Not wanting to go through this again I remembered something I saw on the Annoyance Update page about a simple HTML filter for Word. Off I go to Microsoft's Web site to begin the task of tracking down this filter. Couple of clicks later the file in question is almost within my grasp -- or so I thought! After tangling with Microsoft's new registration system for close to half an hour I was finally able to download my file. Why is it that Microsoft makes it so difficult to get even the simplest update? Used to be that all you had to do to get an update for Microsoft Word was to hit Microsoft's BBS or FTP site and snag the file you wanted. They even supplied a database that made it easy to look up what file you needed. Now they make you jump through all sorts of hoops and ask many invasive demographic questions just to let you have the privilege of a simple download. For me the whole thing goes a little deeper than frustration. It's the fact that over and over again a simple little task turns into a lengthy, frustrating exercise in futility. It's not enough that I've registered at the site before and can log in with my email address and password. Now I have to come up with a login I.D. and another password. That makes two I.D.s and passwords that I have to keep track of just to log in to their site to download a file. All told this rabbit-trail cost me 45 minutes going round in circles on the Microsoft site, filling in forms and trying to find a login I.D. that I could remember and that hadn't been chosen yet by someone else. By the time it was over I had lost my train of thought and all the momentum on the project I was working on originally. There has got to be a better way! Along these lines Fred Langa published a handy URL in his October 21 newsletter, which lets you bypass the Windows Update wizard. This is a great time saver and you can use it to browse the available updates and download them directly, without any goofy registrations either! Be sure to check out Fred's newsletter if you aren't already a subscriber. Direct Windows Update: http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/downloads/corporate.asp Visit Fred Langa's site and check out his newsletter: http://www.langa.com Visit the Annoyance Update at: http://www.PRIMEConsulting.com/annoyances/officeupdate.html You can reach Dan Butler at: mailto:danbutler@TheNakedPC.com ** 06. Software Bargains and Free Stuff (by Dan Butler) First as we mentioned in Al Gordon's article in this issue, you can still get Microsoft Encarta 2000 for free (after rebate) but only until October 31, 1999. We realize some of you might be reading this after that date but we've known Beyond.com to extend rebates before. After October 31 you'll only get the Microsoft rebate leaving your cost at $14.95 -- still a bargain! Check it out at: http://www.beyond.com/AF23174/PKIN669642/prod.htm While not free you can get Paint Shop Pro 6 for a low $44.99 after rebate if you are a previous owner. If you're a new user the software will run $74.99. We've done some limited testing of the new version and the changes are substantial. Lots more tools and other goodies to play with. The new features and ease of use make this program a must-have for doing graphics work. http://www.beyond.com/AF23174PKSN100950/prod.htm TurboZIP Express is a powerful and intuitive, easy to use solution for handling ZIP and CABinet files. Free after rebate (good while supplies last). http://www.beyond.com/AF23174/PKSN101930/prod.htm Rebates on Beyond.com are usually only available in the U.S.A. and Canada. Always check for current rebate availability before ordering as TNPC does not warrant or guarantee rebate offers mentioned on this page. If you know of other software or hardware bargains that would interest TNPC readers, send them in to: mailto:bargains@TheNakedPC.com ** 07. Featured FAQ - Andy McFadden's CD-Recordable FAQ If you own a CD-Recordable drive you'll certainly want to bookmark this site. This site started out as a Usenet newsgroup FAQ and has grown into a very thorough covering of CD-R and CD-RW technology, hardware, software, techniques, and more. What they are, how they work, you can find it all here. The FAQ is updated regularly so be sure to set a bookmark while you are there. http://www.fadden.com/cdrfaq/ We reviewed the Acer 4432A CD ReWriter back in TNPC #2.20 and you can still get it CHEAP over at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000JBPS/tnpcnewsletter ** 08. Featured Book - Search Engines: For the World Wide Web (Visual Quickstart Guide Series) by Alfred Glossbrenner This handy guide will take you through an easy to understand and visually appealing guide to Internet Search Engines. After laying the groundwork for successfully searching the Web you'll learn about six specific search engines and how to maximize your results. AltaVista, Excite, HotBot, Infoseek, Lycos, and Yahoo! are each given a thorough treatment that will have you separating the wheat from the chaff on your online searches in no time. More importantly you'll have learned the fundamentals to searching which can be applied to any search engine that you choose to use either now or in the future. If you've been stumped, overwhelmed, or just plain frustrated with your Internet searching, pick up this book and find the answers you've been looking for. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0201353857/tnpcnewsletter ** 09. Featured Web Site - Advanced Book Exchange ABE is a stupendous site for hunting down books. Yes, there's the mighty Amazon.com that has all the current titles but what if you aren't looking for a current title? What if you don't want to pay for a brand new book but would rather find a bargain in a used- bookshop or want to find an out-of-print title? Well, ABE is the site for you, my friend. ABE is a co-op of thousands of Mom and Pop bookstores (and some biggies as well) from all over the world. They list their inventory on ABE you search for it, find it, and deal direct with the bookshop via email or phone. As a few of you know, I'm a sci-fi fan and I recently embarked on a quest to track down all 47 BattleTech paperback titles that have been published over the last 12 years. Some of these have gone out-of-print becoming quite rare with the first edition of the first novel going at auction on eBay for between $30.00 and $60.00 dollars. I had no intention of letting my sci-fi thirst gall me into spending over $10 for an old paperback. On ABE I managed (over the course of about 4 months) to find every single one of the out-of-print titles I needed to complete my collection, rarely paying more than the original cover price (although shipping charges occasionally far exceeded the cost of the books I was buying). The first book in the series I located just the other day on ABE and purchased it for $3.95 plus shipping (Eureka!). A mint condition copy too, I might add. It helped remarkably that I could create a series of "Wants" or saved searches for titles I wanted and ABE would run them every night looking for what I wanted. If a "want" is found ABE notifies you via email. Very convenient. If you've ever tried to track down an old book you'll appreciate ABE. http://www.abebooks.com +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ WANT TO GET YOUR WORD OUT? Classified ads in The Naked PC can be yours for the ridiculously low price of $40 per issue. Get your message out to over 39,000 TNPC subscribers. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/tnpcadvertising.html?v2i22 +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ ** 10. Newsworthy - a potpourri of current events and interesting stuff *-* Get Cringley's take on the upcoming Year 2000 Crisis. http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit19991021.html *-* Microsoft has released Office 97 SR2b, the latest patch/upgrade to its Office 97 software suite. In their latest effort to keep it simple, if you have Office 97 and want to install 97 SR2b you have to first upgrade to SR1 but not SR2 because if you have SR2 you can't upgrade to SR2b or downgrade to SR1 but rather have to install two other patches that make SR2 the equivalent of SR2b. Got that? Sheesh. http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/Articles/sr2fact.htm *-* If you're a licensed owner of Office 2000 Developer Edition you can get the just released Access Workflow Designer for SQL Server free on the MS site: http://msdn.microsoft.com/officedev/awd/ *-* Drop everything and nominate Rob Rosenberger to the U.S. government's Computer System Security and Privacy Advisory Board (this is an unpaid advisory position). This represents our best chance to get a sane rational virus expert on the board. Deadline is November 15th. http://kumite.com/myths/opinion/thoughts/#991015 *-* If you're using Windows 98SE and its new Internet Connection Sharing feature to share a single network connection over a network, be aware that if the connection is DSL you cannot use MS NetMeeting's Whiteboard, Chat, File Transfer, or Application Sharing features. It's a bug and you must disable the ICS connection to use NetMeeting, meaning you can only use it on the machine that is directly connected to the DSL router. Oy! See the MS Knowledge base article PSS ID Number Q232786. *-* And be sure to check the Annoyance Update page regularly: http://www.PRIMEConsulting.com/annoyances/officeupdate.html ** 11. We Get Mail - Comments and Tips from TNPC Readers TNPCer Ron M. checks in with a rant about Microsoft's Outlook Express 5.0 won't spell check without having Office installed. "I feel that the new requirement for Office to be installed is a nasty move by Microsoft to further bundle all their software products together," says Ron. Meanwhile TNPCer and pilot David W. disagrees with a Newsworthy bit in the last issue of TNPC that took the position that cellular phones were not the problem aboard commercial airliners that the airlines make out. Check out what Ron and Dave have to say on our Letters to the Editor page on the TNPC Web site: http://www.thenakedpc.com/letters/index.html?v2i22 **PLEASE SUPPORT TNPC BY VISITING OUR ADVERTISERS** +++----------------------- classifieds -----------------------+++ Phone BILLS Over $40 a month? Fixed FLAT RATE Long Distance! Flat Rate CELL PHONE is coming. Get on the FIRST TO KNOW list: flatratecellphone@hotmail.com Use the latest technology to TALK ALL YOU WANT! Stop corporations from stealing your $$$ Flatrateassoc@prosperity2u.com 1-888-267-1122 +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ >> Members Shocked at What's Inside... Learn the 'real' secrets they would rather you not know. This Private "Members Only" Site tells all! http://www.thewarriorgroup.com/cgi-bin/warriors.cgi?DB7891 +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ MS OFFICE PROGRAMMING FOR HIRE! Custom VB and VBA development, WordBasic-to-VBA conversion, Word templates from special macros to complete automated document applications, Excel application development, and more! Turnkey installers! Utilities to complete application development. mailto:info@PRIMEConsulting.com +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ ZDNet rates PRIME utilities FIVE STARS! "The interface is attractive and it's guaranteed that more than a few of the tools will be just what you've been looking for to fill the gaps in [Office] 2000." $24.95, shareware, 100% money back guarantee! You can't go wrong with PRIME Utilities. http://www.PRIMEConsulting.com/software/index.html?v2i22 +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ DISCLAIMER Personal computers are individual machines with performance that can vary with components, software, and operator ability. The Naked PC is not responsible for the manner in which the information presented is used or interpreted. 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If you've got a technical question about PC issues, or suggestions of your own, this is the place to hang out: http://www.PRIMEConsulting.com/cgi-local/annoy.pl ADVERTISING To advertise in TNPC go to: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/tnpcadvertising.html Mail services provided by Blue Horizon Enterprises, one of the very few "Mom and Pop" operations left on the Web: http://www.bhorizon.com Copyright (c) 1999, PRIME Consulting Group, Inc. and Dan Butler. All Rights Reserved. The Naked PC is a trademark of PRIME Consulting Group, Inc. ISSN: 1522-4422 RMH: 763 TNPC Hot Tips:
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