What You Need to Know about All Things PC
Volume 3 Number 14Click 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, July 6, 2000 - Vol. 3 No. 14 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Table of Contents ** 01. Letter from the Publisher ** 02. Identity Theft: Online Resources Can Help Protect You (by Lee Hudspeth) ** 03. Windows 2000 3rd Party Utilities (Backup): Part 5 (by Al Gordon) ** 04. Software Bargains (by Dan Butler) ** 05. Featured Web Page - WinDrivers.com ** 06. Featured Book - "The Magic Show" by Mark Setteducati (by Magical Dan Butler) ** 07. Featured FAQ - Adaptec's Index of CD-R Information ** 08. For Recent Subscribers ** 09. Newsworthy - a potpourri of current events and interesting stuff ** 10. We Get Mail ** 01. Letter from the Publisher Welcome to another installment of TNPC! Glad to have you with us. In this issue Lee Hudspeth tackles what to do if you're ever a victim of identity theft. It's not hard for someone else to pretend to be you, even easier if your wallet or purse is stolen. Lee gives you a great checklist to follow if this unfortunate circumstance ever befalls you. Al is recovering from knee surgery but continues his look at utilities for Windows 2000. Dan talks about free software bargains and covers PayPal's new Business accounts. Meanwhile Jim is on leave busy tracking down Camponotus vanicus, better known as the carpenter ant. Since last April he's been going round and round with the former owners of the house he purchased 10 months ago. Whenever it rains the planter the former owners added right next to the house fills with water and, like the tide, washes into the family room bringing with it dirt, mud, and earthworms. Seems they forgot to mention that little tidbit prior to closing escrow. Anyway, in the midst of this, carpenter ants started swarming in the same wall where the seasonal flooding occurs. Jim suspects that the water damage in the wall was a contributing factor to the ant infestation. Any entomologists out their feel free to send Jim their professional opinions because he's having trouble convincing the lawyers that the two issues are related. Ah, the joys of home ownership. After last issue's article on why we have advertising in TNPC, many of our readers have written to us voicing their support and asking what they can do to help keep TNPC free. Honestly, the best thing you can do is click on the links and see what our sponsors have to offer. As always, reader support is what keeps TNPC free, so PLEASE help us and pass a copy of TNPC on to co-workers and friends (no spam please!) and remember to always say "I saw it in TNPC!" +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ >> PROTECT YOUR SYSTEM! DON'T LOSE VALUABLE DATA! 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In the interest of privacy I'm being intentionally vague about the details, but suffice it to say that someone stole the following items from the victim: personal check register and checks; wallet (with Driver's License and some credit cards); cash; grocery scrip; as well as home, office, and car keys. Within minutes of the crime, the victim filed a police report with the local Police Department and contacted various banks and credit card agencies to inform them of the theft, and all their locks were changed within 24 hours. But what dismayed me was the police department's appalling lack of any organized set of recommendations for victims of this type of crime. When the victim asked the police sergeant if they had a pamphlet or even a simple checklist of what to do, the reply was a dismissive, "No." The banks and credit card vendors weren't quite so terse, but for all practical purposes we were left on our own. Identity theft is a particular problem for Internet purchases because the Internet makes it easy for someone pretending to be you to wreak so much havoc very quickly. Things that will come back not to haunt the thief but to haunt you, the victim of identity theft. Coincidentally, about six weeks prior a friend of ours had her identity stolen (same scenario as above but no keys were taken), and her husband's identity was compromised as well. On her own she managed to figure out some really essential steps on how to handle the inevitable long-term hassle of bounced (forged) checks, and although for privacy reasons I won't mention these friends by name, I want to thank them very much for their help in dealing with our own experience. The suggestions they made are all incorporated into this article. There are also some excellent online resources about identity theft. There are a number of different ways that your identity can be stolen. Someone can steal your wallet/purse; rifle through your trash; pilfer your mail; impersonate you to get information about you; and spy on your PIN activities at automated tellers and similar devices. Each experience warrants slightly different tactics; in this case it was a stolen wallet/purse. Checklist of what to do when your wallet/purse is stolen. 1. Immediately file a police report in the city in which the crime occurred. 2. Immediately call your bank's customer service line to report the theft (they typically have a special number devoted to theft incidents). 3. Call each credit card's customer service line to report the theft (they typically have a special number devoted to theft incidents). If you don't have a precise listing of the credit cards that were stolen, it's best to cancel *all* of them, pronto. 4. If the thief now has your home and/or work address, be vigilant. Don't be lulled into a false sense of complacency by the constable's off-handed comments like, "Oh don't worry, we see this all the time. Wallet/purse thieves only want the cash and never come around to your home." (Yeah, right.) 5. If your home and/or work keys were stolen, replace the locks immediately. Tell your employer what happened; some employers may have a protocol for dealing with stolen office keys. 6. If your car keys were stolen, you may want to buy a LoJack (if you don't already have one) or similar device, since changing all door locks and the ignition lock can be expensive depending on your car's make/model. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/314/tr.cgi?priv1 7. Consider getting a new Driver's License *number*. Not just a re-issue of your old license, but an entirely new *number*. Your state's department of motor vehicles probably has a procedure for doing this (ours does), but you'll have to ask as they didn't tell us about it, our friend did. If you keep your prior Driver's License, you may continue to get bounced checks for months or years, and it will harm your credit rating. This process may take 6-8 weeks. OTOH, recognize that this isn't a guarantee of no more problems, just one of many possible courses of action that may minimize your woes so use your own judgment. 8. Contact the three major credit reporting agencies' fraud departments to alert them of possible impending fraudulent activities related to your accounts. Equifax @ 615-386-2200 or 800-556-4711 Experian @ 888-397-3742 or 800-353-0809 or 800-301-7195 TransUnion @ 800-916-8800 or 800-241-2858 or 800-680-7293 or 800-680-7289 (Pardon the multiple numbers, but we're still working through the agency contacts so these are all the numbers we've gathered to date.) Tell them to "lock you out" for any new lines of credit (also called a "fraud lock"), which will help squelch embezzlement schemes. Once you are confident the storm has passed you can unlock your status with each credit reporting agency. 9. Gather the following documents, get them notarized (where appropriate), then make at least 25 copies of each document. As you receive bounced forged checks from check-clearing/processing companies like SCAN or others, you can quickly assemble a packet for replying to their notices. Also keep a copy of each document with you at all times, should a vendor think you suspicious when you're flagged in their bad check database while you're in their store. File all of these documents with the three credit reporting agencies, too. * copy of Police Report * bank affidavit of forgery * letter from bank verifying that the checking account was closed due to theft 10. Watch your credit reports like a hawk for the next year and aggressively follow up on any activities that tie back to the theft. Get an updated credit report from each of the three agencies at least every two months for the next year. 11. Use your previous months' credit card, utility, and other bills to figure out the typical date on which each one arrives as precisely as possible. If any of them are so much as a day late in arriving, call the vendor immediately to see if the thief has changed your bill's mailing address (a common scam to prevent you from seeing the mounting fraudulent charges). Here are some of the online sources for help with identity theft: * Federal Government's "ID Theft: When Bad Things Happen To Your Good Name" booklet (the single best resource of the bunch!) http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/314/tr.cgi?priv2 * FDIC Consumer News "Your Wallet: A Loser's Manual" http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/314/tr.cgi?priv3 * Federal Government's Identity Theft Page http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/314/tr.cgi?priv4 * AARP's Identity Theft FAQ http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/314/tr.cgi?priv5 * CALPIRG's Privacy Rights Program FAQs http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/314/tr.cgi?priv6 If you have any identity theft prevention tips, I'd like to hear from you. You can reach Lee Hudspeth at: mailto:leehudspeth@TheNakedPC.com +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ WORRIED about your PRIVACY on the INTERNET? You and millions of others share this concern. Now you can do something about others collecting personal information on you while you browse or shop! Take a moment to find out just how much others know about you while you're on-line. You'll be amazed at the information that can be obtained about you! Make sure to check out the free demos and FAQ about Internet privacy at: http://www.thenakedpc.com/t/314/tr.cgi?sponsor2 +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ ** 03. Windows 2000 3rd Party Utilities (Backup): Part 5 (by Al Gordon) Long-time TNPCers will recall that when we (or anyone else for that matter) provide a checklist for making changes on your PCs, Step #1 is always "backup." And that requires backup software. The old favorite, Veritas Backup Exec Desktop, is now ready for Win2K, and there is a new contender out there: Dantz Retrospect. I chided Veritas in this series for not having Backup Exec Desktop ready to go upon release of Windows 2000 even though they had written the backup applet that comes with Win2K. The company, like others, says that the late completion of the Win2K code set them back. But in any case, they recently released Version 4.4.1. This is a Windows 2000-ONLY implementation. If you run other OSs, 4.2 is still necessary. The company is readying a 5.0 series of products, due later this year, that will be the first major overhaul of Backup Exec's feature set in years. No details have been released other than that the company plans versions specifically tailored to the needs (and time demands) of home, small business, and corporate users. Thanks to mergers and spin-offs, the product has had more incarnations than John Travolta. Originally Arcada Backup, it became Seagate Backup, and then Veritas took over the title role. It also is shipped with many backup devices as an OEM product re- branded under the device manufacturer's name and appears in "Lite" form in both Windows 98 and Windows 2000. Backup Exec Desktop is the flagship version for individual users, offering support for a much wider range of devices and providing more backup options than the other versions. Device support is one of the keys here -- the OEM versions work only the devices with which they are shipped while the Windows applets mainly work with tape drives. The "full" product allows you to use the same software to backup to, say, a tape drive and a CD burner. Backup Exec Desktop is organized around "jobs," which you set up to include a particular group of files and give specific instructions (such as whether or not the backup should be compressed or the results compared against the files on your hard drive). The interface is simple and it has a good cataloging function, which is crucial to the backup/restore process. Launching it is simple, and you can choose between using a wizard or manually creating a job. http://www.thenakedpc.com/t/314/tr.cgi?backup1 For the first time in years, though, there is a challenger emerging: Retrospect 5.11. Dantz's application is tailored for network backup, but the company is offering a desktop version as well. Its origins as a program to be used by corporate IT pros is evident in its complex interface that may scare off some average users. But it has a key feature that makes it worthy of notice: what it calls "snapshots." When Retrospect runs, it makes a full catalog of all the files that were on your system when the job was executed, even if it was just an incremental backup job and only a few files actually were backed up. You can then restore a snapshot and not only put files back on your system but get rid of files that have been added since. Thus, if your system is hit by a virus today, you can roll it back to yesterday. Typically, backup software only adds files to your system, never removes them. The downside is that it takes longer to learn the interface and the snapshot process itself is somewhat time-consuming. You can, on an incremental backup pass, very well spend more time cataloging than backing up. On the other hand, its scripting language is powerful and simple. I found myself hesitant to use Retrospect simply because of the time and difficulty required to set up a manual backup to my specifications. It is best run automatically using the scripting features. But the snapshot feature is a really valuable approach and once Retrospect gets a little more user friendly, Dantz may give Veritas a little run for the money in the backup world. (Note: the link below is to Amazon which slightly cheaper than Beyond, but the Amazon site says it can only ship within the USA.) http://www.thenakedpc.com/t/314/tr.cgi?backup2 You can reach Al Gordon at: mailto:algordon@TheNakedPC.com ** 04. Software Bargains (by Dan Butler) While configuring my new computer I was struck by how much free software I use for my day-to-day tasks. Over the next few issues I'll tell you about my favorites and where you can find them for yourself. First up are two software freebies that I use for file management tasks. Both are patterned after programs that Symantec has put out under the Norton name in the past. PowerDesk 4 from OnTrack software is a full replacement for Windows Explorer. If you used the Norton Desktop under Windows 3.1 you'll feel right at home with PowerDesk. Basically it's Explorer on steroids. A few of the features you'll find are: * Zip Files that act like folders making it easy to work with their contents. * Compare two directories and it'll flag the files that are the same in each folder or that are unique to each folder. * Print file or directory lists. * Use custom filters to view just the files you want to see. * Enhanced File Finder utility. PowerDesk is easy to use and very powerful. Download PowerDesk 4 for free at: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/314/tr.cgi?freeb1 The second freebie is one I've used for several years, Midnight Commander, a clone of the old Norton Commander program. Midnight Commander is DOS-based but it does recognize long file names. After setting up my favorite directories in the hot list (Ctrl-\) I can quickly move around, view, and edit files. Copying whole directory structures is a piece of cake, but perhaps the biggest benefit to Midnight Commander is its ubiquity. I use it on every system platform I work on: Windows (in several flavors), Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD. If you are more at home with a keyboard than a mouse, Midnight Commander will be a welcome addition to your toolkit. Midnight Commander is free software released under the GNU General Public License. Find Midnight Commander at: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/314/tr.cgi?freeb2 You can reach Dan Butler at: mailto:danbutler@TheNakedPC.com +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ >> Get up to 100MB of FREE webspace! X:drive gives you your very own Free Internet Hard Drive to securely store, access and share all your files from any computer, anytime. With X:drive You Can: - Store, Share and Access Up to 100MB of Files Online. - Retrieve Your Files Instantly from Any Computer, at Anytime. - Secure Your Documents & Keep Your Files Safe and Private - Share Your Docs, Presentations, and Photos with friends. - Collaborate with co-workers from multiple locations. Get Yours Today at: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/314/tr.cgi?sponsor3 +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ ** 05. Featured Web Page - WinDrivers.com Having trouble getting that hard drive installed? Need a new driver for that souped-up graphics card you just dropped in your system? Need to make a boot disk for a particular Micron computer in a hurry? Well, WinDrivers is the site for you. They have an extensive driver library and links to every computer component manufacturer you can think of. You can find USB drivers, updates for graphics cards, more DLL files than you can shake a stick at, you name it and they either have it or can help you find it. You can even search for a particular company by name to find updates for a given product. You'll also find links to service releases for Microsoft Office and Windows 95/98/NT products. Overall, WinDrivers.Com is an incredible online resource, one that everyone who works on or with PCs should bookmark. If you're new to computers be sure to check out their beginners section. Really great stuff. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/314/tr.cgi?fsite ** 06. Featured Book - "The Magic Show" by Mark Setteducati (by Magical Dan Butler) While the rest of the world rushes to snap up the latest Harry Potter book, pick up this entertaining book of magic tricks. This isn't a book on how to do tricks but rather a book that interacts with you as you read it. The graphics are very nicely done and each page holds a new surprise. The pages of the book step you through several tricks with the results happening right on the page. Each page leads to the next with an interesting mix of magic, optical illusions, and little surprises. The book ends with a truly surprising finish on the last page. My wife went through the book with me the first time and enjoyed it. Unbeknownst to her I followed the reset instructions to alter some of the effects before showing the book to our son. She was just as surprised as he was at the outcomes of the same effects she had just seen a few moments earlier. One tip, before going through the book with your children go through it once yourself and get all of the sliding panels, cardboard inserts, and moving parts working smoothly. Side note... I met Mr. Setteducati in 1985 when we shared a ride to Hollywood's Magic Castle. We haven't met since. If any TNPC reader has an email address for this fine magician please pass it along. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/314/tr.cgi?amazon1 Oh, and if you really want to get the new Harry Potter book, you can order a copy now from Amazon for shippment on July 8th. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/314/tr.cgi?amazon2 ** 07. Featured FAQ - Adaptec's Index of CD-R Information When you feel the need, the need for speed (CD burning speed, that is), there's no such thing as too much information on CD- R/RW technology. Adaptec maintains an extensive index of FAQs. The FAQ index is organized by simple single-letter A-Z links, or you can scroll down and see everything. Sub-topics are themselves links, like "audio, copying tracks to hard disk" or "firmware, where to get updates" or "UDF versions." You can learn quite a bit by simply reading each link, one at a time. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/314/tr.cgi?faq +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ WANT TO GET YOUR WORD OUT? Classified ads in The Naked PC can be yours for ridiculously low prices. Get your message out to over 53,000 TNPC subscribers. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/tnpcadvertising.html?v3i14 +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ ** 08. For Recent TNPC Subscribers TNPC has been adding nearly 1,000 new subscribers to our readership list every issue, so many of our current readers may not be aware of some of the articles that have appeared in past issues of our newsletter. Here is a quick recap of some all-time winners that you may find interesting if you missed them the first time around. *-* HAL 9000, Star Trek, Cerulean Blue Cars, and The State of Speech Recognition Software by a Decade-long User (TNPC #1.14.02) Al Gordon takes you on a wild ride on where we were and where we are when it comes to cutting edge technology. http://www.thenakedpc.com/articles/v01/14/0114-02.html *-* Technical Support and Snipe Hunting (TNPC #2.10.02) Tech support is often times a study in torturous frustration but you know, it's not really the tech on the phone is the problem. Find out why it's nearly impossible to get decent tech support by phone. http://www.thenakedpc.com/articles/v02/10/0210-02.html ** 09. Newsworthy - a potpourri of current events and interesting stuff *-* TNPCer Cindy H. sent us this Dave Barry article link and it is a hoot-and-a-half. Find out Dave's take on "smart appliances" and why he doesn't want them to get any smarter. Hysterically funny stuff. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/314/tr.cgi?news1a *-* A day after the White House conceded that the Office of National Drug Control Policy site had used "cookies" and other technologies that track the movements of Internet explorers on the World Wide Web (possibly in violation of Federal Law, but when has that ever stopped the government?) the current administration issued a memo calling for a thorough review of federal Web sites and taking a hard line on cookies. If you live in the USA check it out... your tax dollars at work. Who invented the Internet again? http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/314/tr.cgi?news1 *-* Lockergnome (www.lockergnome.com) points out that while DOS may be dead there are still a lot of times when you need a DOS boot diskette. Upgrading a system BIOS requires one. Norton Ghost and PowerQuest's Drive Copy requirements also come to mind. However, Windows Millennium and Windows 2000 both have done away with the ability to create a useful DOS boot diskette. While WinME will still create an emergency boot diskette most of the disk is consumed with ME files leaving very little room available for anything else and making the creation of a BIOS upgrade boot diskette, for example, an impossibility. Ouch! http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/314/tr.cgi?news2 *-* Sun Microsystems released StarOffice Version 5.2 earlier this week in an effort to get more market share for its answer to Microsoft Office. StarOffice is free for personal use, you need only download it. It includes Writer, a word processing program; Calc, a spreadsheet; Impress, a presentation program; Base, a database application; Draw, a graphics program; and Schedule, a calendar. The suite also includes StarOffice Mail, a communications tool that lets you retain StarOffice Writer functions when sending e-mail; and StarOffice Discussion, a newsgroup application. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/314/tr.cgi?news3 Hey! Have you come across something newsworthy? Drop us a line: mailto:hottips@TheNakedPC.com ** 10. We Get Mail *-* TNPCers Victor A. and Rich H. checked in with this tip regarding the problem some HotMail users are having with links in TNPC. To quote Rich, "I've noticed that simply refreshing the hotmail page when a link doesn't work takes care of the problem. I've gotten into the habit of doing a refresh before attempting a link and it seems to work fine every time." *-* Wayne T. reminded us of a very handy trick in Outlook 2000: when viewing messages, if you have a Microsoft IntelliMouse with the wheel, holding down the Ctrl key while turning the wheel will change the text size. Wayne's tip works in Internet Explorer as well when looking at Web pages. Be sure to stop by the Letters to the Editor page for more: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/letters/index.html **PLEASE SUPPORT TNPC BY VISITING OUR ADVERTISERS** +++----------------------- classifieds -----------------------+++ **NEED INK? SAVE 40-70% OVER RETAIL!** High Quality Inkjet Printer Cartridges, JetPaks, Refill Kits. Super Prices! Your Satisfaction Is Guaranteed. *** FREE 3 Day / 2 Night Vacation Certificate! *** MaxPatch Ink Supplies: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/314/tr.cgi?class1 +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ >> ********** FIND OUT ANYTHING ABOUT ANYBODY ********** Background Investigations, Criminal Records, Vehicle Ownership, Military Records, Business Directories, Adoption Resources If you're looking to find them or find out about them this is the tool you can't do without! http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/314/tr.cgi?class3 +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ >> "WANT SOME BLISTERING FAST WEB SPEED?" Are you using a modem to connect to the internet? Are you tired of waiting for web pages to download? If you hate those delays this is for you. We have found a way to ELIMINATE THAT WAITING. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/314/tr.cgi?class4 +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ 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. Also, although we work hard to provide you with accurate Internet links in The Naked PC, we are not responsible for Internet links herein that represent sites owned and operated by third parties. We are not responsible for the content, accuracy, performance, or availability of any such third-party sites. Warranty does not extend to drive train, singing bass, or that tacky wallpaper you put up in the den. 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SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe, surf on over to: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/subscribe.html To make comments or suggestions, surf on over to: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/tnpfeedback.html or send email directly to: mailto:tnpc@TheNakedPC.com Get back issues from our Mailbot by sending email to: mailto:mailbot@TheNakedPC.com WEB BULLETIN BOARD Check out our 24x7 Web bulletin board. 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/annoyanceboard/ 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) 2000, PRIME Consulting Group, Inc. and Dan Butler. All Rights Reserved. The Naked PC is a trademark of PRIME Consulting Group, Inc. ISSN: 1522-4422 TNPC Hot Tips:
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