What You Need to Know about All Things PC
Volume 4 Number 18Click 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, September 6, 2001 - Vol. 4 No. 18 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Table of Contents ** 01. Letter from the Publisher ** 02. Retrospect: Is This a Better Backup? (by Al Gordon) ** 03. PGP (Pretty Good Privacy): Part 2 (by Dan Butler) ** 04. Applications: Here to There - Part 2 (by T.J. Lee) ** 05. Norton Utilities 2001 (Find/Fix Problems Tools): Part 5 (by Lee Hudspeth) ** 06. Featured Product - DiscSavers (reviewed by Al Gordon) ** 07. Featured Book - "Dreamweaver 4: The Missing Manual" by David Sawyer McFarland (reviewed by Dan Butler) ** 08. Featured Drawing - Back to School Blues ** 09. Newsworthy - a potpourri of current events and interesting stuff ** 01. Letter from the Publisher Welcome to another issue of The Naked PC newsletter. Many new readers have joined lately and we want to make you feel at home. The Naked PC has a Web site and we encourage you to visit it. Our site includes a listing of all the articles that have appeared since our first issue, TNPC #1.01: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/articles/index.html This issue includes Al's coverage of an intriguing new approach to system backups. Dan continues his look at Pretty Good Privacy. Jim has recovered from his summer cold, thanks to everyone who emailed him get well wishes, and continues with his ongoing series about PC-to-PC application migration challenges. Lee has the skinny on Norton Utilities' find-and-fix-problems tools. Al has discovered a nifty replacement for CD jewel cases, reviewed in the Featured Product section. We had great fun putting on our contest last issue. So with an appropriate drum roll Jim will drop his voice an octave and, as the spotlights swirl over the faces of our audience, say, "Announcing the winners of The Naked PC Dog Days of Summer Drawing, Alan S. up in the Great White North and Joe B. down in the Big Easy. Congratulations!" These two readers have each won a free copy of our ebook "The Book That Should Have Come with Your Computer." The drawings continue with this issue's Back to School Blues drawing. It an easy way to earn a chance at a free Micro- Light so check it out! Reader support is what keeps The Naked PC free. To this end you can help us by passing a copy on to co-workers and friends (no spam please). We even make it easy to refer people to The Naked PC... check out our Refer page: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/refer/ So now you know. +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ Tweaki...for Power Users Designed for all Windows operating systems, Tweaki is your Swiss army knife of utilities. This program provides a straight- forward, tabbed, easy-to-use interface for implementing security, locking down your Desktop, tweaking Microsoft Office, and optimizing Windows--roughly 500 tweaks in all! Tweaki also comes with a built-in undo function that restores any tweaked setting the utility tracks, no matter how long ago you tweaked it! You can apply Tweaki's 100s of modifications to other PCs over a work or home network, no need to install another utility onto all of your PCs. Get your copy of Tweaki today! http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/a/tr.cgi?tweaki +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ ** 02. Retrospect: Is This a Better Backup? (by Al Gordon) Dantz Development wants to establish a new paradigm for backup software with its Retrospect lineup. (Hey, gimmie a break--I have been trying to work "paradigm" into an article for five years.) The premise of most backup programs is disaster prevention: a hard drive fails, a virus wipes out data, or you erase the Jones project files only to discover that you still need them. The emphasis generally is on enabling the user to get back the latest and greatest version of any missing file when that file has been corrupted or erased. Retrospect, just out in version 5.5, focuses instead on taking "snapshots" of the state of your system at the time a particular backup ran ($45.99 on CD-ROM): http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/418/tr.cgi?al_retro1 This marries backup with the "rollback" concept built into Windows ME and XP and in Roxio GoBack Deluxe 3.0 ($39.99): http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/418/tr.cgi?al_retro2 The idea is that the ordinary changes in today's networked and Internet-connected PCs, as well the system changes made by software installs, can and do mess up your system much more frequently than disasters. Retrospect allows you to say, "OK, my system was working on Tuesday, I want to set it back to the way it was then," and then lets you go ahead and do just that. A conventional backup program such as Veritas Backup Exec Desktop Pro (see link below to my article in #3.23) relies on your operating system's "archive" attribute--an electronic marker that should be associated with new or changed files on your system. When you do a full backup, Backup Exec will turn off the archive flag on all files. Subsequent partial backups then look for files which have the attribute turned on. The full backup is the key process, and interim backups are based on it. Further, the restore process is designed to put back all files that were in the full backup or were added subsequently. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/418/tr.cgi?al_retro3 Retrospect, on the other hand, monitors files through an elaborate catalog database that determines whether a file is new or modified. The criteria are proprietary, but if you right-click on a file in Windows Explorer and look at "Properties," it is clear that the file system keeps a substantial amount of data that could be tracked. With files monitored that way, there is no need to do as many full backups, as the software can more effectively manage interim backups. More important, the cataloging makes restores more precise, pinpointing the files-- and system state information--that were on your PC at any particular snapshot point. (Snapshots are taken every time Retrospect does a backup, be it full or partial.) Retrospect's restore options allow you to make certain that you don't overwrite your latest data. Specifically, suppose you do a full backup every Sunday and partial backups the rest of the week. Let's say that on Tuesday you added some file to your system, which remained on your system for Tuesday's backup but which you then erased on Wednesday. If you then need to use Retrospect to restore your system to Monday's state, Retrospect will not put that Tuesday file back on your PC whereas conventional backups would. At a minimum, this means that restores don't clutter your hard drive with things you had discarded. If the discarded file happens to be the cause of your system problems, it means that the restore won't undo your fixes. Eric Ullman, Dantz's tireless technical market chief, suggests that users will find it a major time-saver to use a debug-then- rollback rule similar to those many corporate IT departments employ with Retrospect: If your computer starts acting up, instead of spending several hours trying to figure out what's ailing it, try a couple of obvious fixes and if they don't work, use Retrospect to roll your system back to the last time it was working correctly. Because Retrospect keeps the number of files to be saved or restored to a minimum, the operations are faster and your system is tied up less. As a result Retrospect was the first backup program I was willing to entrust with automated backups on my system as the backup could run without putting me out of action for an inordinate amount of time. I also like the wide range of options it allows you to set for backups. You can filter in or out files according to very flexible criteria. Want to do a backup of just your Word documents and templates? Set Retrospect to backup "*.do?". The scripting for automatic processes is easy once you get used to it, and there are all manner of utilities for managing your backup media. My guess is that many TNPC readers probably will like Retrospect. But... yes, there always is a "but," it is not for everyone. Retrospect's original strongholds were the Macintosh and Server markets, and the interface shows it. You need a sense of experimentation, if not adventure, and a great deal of patience to figure out how to do things. To play in the Windows Desktop space, Dantz needs a major interface overhaul, including the use of standard Windows Explorer navigation dialogs, more wizards, and improvements to a really awful help file. To cite an egregious example, the major new feature in Retrospect 5.5 was the addition of a disaster recovery utility. This, however, is not addressed in the help files, you have to find the instructions in a readme document. Similarly, Dantz uses "recycle backup" as its term in automating backups to mean a backup that erases an existing tape or other media, and records the new backup on the old media. (This is the equivalent of the overwrite command in Backup Exec Desktop.) But you cannot find the definition of "recycle backup" in the help files. Retrospect 5.5's approach to disaster recovery, in fact, is kind of a metaphor for the software's strengths and weaknesses. Dantz took a novel approach by creating a "disaster recovery preparation wizard" that creates an "image file" that CD burning software can then use to make a bootable CD. That CD, along with your backup media, and your OS setup disk provides the necessary information to restore a crashed drive. But to use it, you do have to have a system that supports bootable CDs, and an understanding of how to set your system BIOS to run them. Some users will see that as a little too awkward. Backup Exec Desktop is still the product of choice for those who like "easy." With each evolution, however, Retrospect is getting more accessible. And its combination of rollback capability with backup provides a valuable defense against exactly the kind of computer woes we most often face. POSTSCRIPT: After I had finished writing this review, I abruptly found myself in the middle of a real-life system crisis rather than a test scenario. A simple uninstall/re-install project had gone wrong and Windows 2000 was blue screening when I started up the PC. As a believer in dual-booting, I had a second OS available to me, and that did boot up--establishing that the problem was software not hardware. I ran Retrospect from the second instance of Windows, and set up a restore to overwrite the partition containing the corrupt system. Retrospect analyzed the partition, identified the files it needed to replace (only about one-third), and made the repairs. I restarted the PC, chose the troubled instance of Windows 2000, and I was back up and running. Since this was a particularly crucial partition containing the files that boot the computer into Windows 2000 as well as Windows 2000 OS files themselves, this was an especially crucial test. And Retrospect did the job. You can reach Al Gordon at: mailto:al@TheNakedPC.com ** 03. PGP (Pretty Good Privacy): Part 2 (by Dan Butler) Whether it's data on your hard drive or email you are sending, your data is important. I recommended PGP in my last article. If you haven't downloaded PGP yet I think you should download and start using it immediately. If you missed the first part of the PGP article you'll want to read it here: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/418/tr.cgi?dan1 Why should you download and *use* PGP? To me the key to the whole encryption puzzle is to use the software in your daily activities. You'll remember your passphrases and learn the techniques. One of reasons I recommend PGP is its flexibility. You don't just use it on email, you encrypt your important financial files, notes you really don't want others to read, spreadsheets with important numbers in them, etc. Whatever you want to encrypt you have an easy way to do it. And you only need to remember one passphrase to get to any of your data. Several questions came up frequently after my last article. Here are some of them with the answers. Q: Does the recipient of your encrypted email need PGP to read it? A: Yes. You won't be able to encrypt an email to someone without their public key. If you have that you can be sure they already have PGP installed. A way around this is to create a Self Decrypting Archive of the information you want to send. Simply save the information to a file then locate it in Windows Explorer. From the File menu choose PGP, Encrypt then click the Self Decrypting Archive box. Attach the resulting file to an email and let your recipient know the password over the phone. Q: Is PGP really free? A: Yes, for personal use. If you want to use it for business purposes you need to buy a copy. Buy it at Amazon: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/418/tr.cgi?dan2 Q: What happens if I forget my passphrase? A: If you forget your passphrase or lose your private key you will not be able to access your encrypted data. I'm serious. There is no way for you or anyone else to get into the encrypted files without both your passphrase and your private key. So make good backups of both. I keep a floppy with my private key in my safe deposit box. Q: Aren't certificates easier to use? A: I'm not sure if they are easier to use or not. A certificate functions much like a key. You get them from VeriSign (among others) and they have time limits. At various times you can get a certificate free for one year. While this sounds good what are you going to do when the year runs out? With an expired certificate you can't access your certificate-encrypted data anymore. Certificates only work seamlessly with a few mail programs (Outlook, Outlook Express, and Netscape for instance). Since both you and your recipient need to have mail programs that support certificates, this drastically cuts into their usefulness. Certificates don't offer you an easy way to secure other data on your system either. PGP gives you an easy way to encrypt any data you have. Q: How do I send my public key to someone else? A: Open PGPkeys, right click on the key you want to send, choose Copy. Go to your email program and paste the data in a message. Now send the key to anyone you want. They then copy what you sent and paste it into PGPkeys. Q: Is GnuPG the same as PGP? A: No. GnuPG, the Gnu Privacy Guard, is an OpenSource encryption technology designed to be compatible with PGP. It came about when NAI, the outfit that markets PGP, stopped releasing the full source code for PGP. That combined with Phil Zimmerman, PGP's author, leaving NAI have some people worried that there could be a "back door" programmed into PGP for law enforcement purposes. Phil Zimmerman says that as of version 7.0.3 there are no back doors. That is the final version he watched over before leaving. GnuPG still has full source code published, however, it is still command line operated. That should change in the future. If you aren't into hacking around on code I would leave GnuPG alone for now and stick with PGP. Find more info on GnuPG here: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/418/tr.cgi?dan3 Q: What does an encrypted file look like? A: You can see a PGP encrypted version of this article here: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/418/tr.cgi?dan4 There were more but these get to the heart of the issue. If you use encryption, use something that works for all your applications and not just a few. By using your encryption program regularly you'll be familiar with the procedure and less likely to forget something important--like your passphrase! You can reach Dan Butler at: mailto:danbutler@TheNakedPC.com +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ "The Book That Should Have Come with Your Computer" "This book should come with every PC - it has become MY BIBLE." "I find information in this book that I can't find anywhere else." These are just a few of the comments we've received on this book. The hard copy version went OUT OF PRINT over a series title issue with the publisher, but WE BROUGHT IT BACK in this book-on-a-CD-ROM searchable PDF format! Written by the same guys who bring you this newsletter, T.J. Lee, Lee Hudspeth, and Dan Butler tell you what every computer user needs to know. If you use computers you need this book! Check it out! http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/a/tr.cgi?tugpc2 +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ ** 04. Applications: Here to There - Part 2 (by T.J. Lee) In Part 1 I recounted the saga wherein I started out to migrate my working PC's programs and data to a bigger, faster system here in the Underground Labs. I was intrigued by a new product from the V Communications folks who brought us System Commander, it's called PC Upgrade Commander. As I had used and was impressed with System Commander, so I thought PC Upgrade Commander could be the answer we've all been looking for when migrating our "stuff" between PCs. Sure, it's not hard to copy data from one PC to another via a null modem cable connection, or a network, or using a third party piece of software like LapLink (albeit the latter is a pricey way to go). But moving applications from one system to another is a nightmare ever since the Registry became the sanctum sanatorium for application information. I was also complicating the issue by wanting to move applications from Windows 98SE to Windows 2000, a situation that PC Upgrade Commander is supposed to handle with aplomb. Before I get into the nitty gritty of my sojourn into the PC-to- PC transfer netherworld, let me get a mea culpa out of the way. Last issue I mentioned MagicMover, a utility that was part of the indispensable PartitionMagic program (made by PowerQuest). The operative word here being "was." It seems that the powers that be decided to drop MagicMover from PartitionMagic in version 6. Alas, I am still using version 5 and had assumed that something as useful as MagicMover would remain a part of PartitionMagic forever. This is, sadly, not the case. To all of you TNPCers who have been trying to find MagicMover in PartitionMagic version 6 I apologize, it's simply not there. Fortunately, TNPCer Lewis L. not only set me straight but pointed me to PowerQuest's latest information about MagicMover. According to PowerQuest, "PM6's new Split Partition feature replaces the separate MagicMover utility that was included in earlier versions of PartitionMagic." You can get the scoop here: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/418/tr.cgi?jim1 Hmmm, having read the PartitionMagic Web site blurb on the Split Partition feature it does not sound much like MagicMover to me. It moves folders and applications between partitions, relies on DriveMapper to update shortcuts and the Registry, and they recommend you not fool with the Program Files folder at all. Given the way my Program Files folder grows I've wanted to relocate it to another drive for some time now. In any event, we started out trying to move the contents of one PC to another, so did I discuss relocating programs on a single machine in the first place? The answer is housecleaning. Like cleaning up and organizing your belongings before a move, it makes things easier when you get to your new place. Remember, the traditional scenario is to start on the new computer with only the operating system and then reinstall all your programs from scratch. This gives you the opportunity to do major housecleaning and reorganization. In fact this is probably the one thing that makes the pain of reinstalling everything manually worthwhile. Note that manually reinstalling is still a viable, sometimes inescapable, method of migrating to a new computer. But my wanting to avoid reinstalling all my applications, which necessitates finding all the application disks, CDs, and/or downloaded program files, to say nothing of all the updates, upgrades, service releases, bug fixes, ad infinitum, along with resetting, calibrating, tweaking, and fine-tuning my programs... well, this is what led me to investigate migration software in the first place. Here's how the migration process is supposed to work: all your applications and data are force-fed to the target computer, and the operating system's Registry is updated so it thinks all the copied applications have been installed on that computer all along and everything is supposed to run peachy-keen. That's the theory. Since everything on the source PC is dumped onto the target PC it pays to do some of your housecleaning *before* migrating to the target machine, and that's where a program relocation program comes in handy. Since MagicMover is no longer supplied with PartitionMagic, several TNPCers pointed me to an alternative freeware program called Change of Address (COA). The latest is COA2 version 1.0, written for Ziff Davis by Neil J. Rubenking. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/418/tr.cgi?jim2 COA2 works as advertised but you should be aware of some important caveats (these are explained in the documentation). COA2 does not actually move a program's folders or files. You have to relocate the program folder yourself then tell COA2 what folder you moved (showing a fully qualified path) and where exactly you moved it (again with a fully qualified path). Then COA2 goes into your Registry and shortcuts and swaps out the location strings to point to the new location. You have to do this one folder at a time so doing any serious housecleaning and reorganizing is a long, tedious chore (albeit much shorter and less tedious than tweaking the Registry and shortcuts manually too). I had high hopes for PC Upgrade Commander. V Communications staff told me the next version would deal with the issue of copying unneeded drivers from one PC to the other and that they were working on giving the user a way to selectively transfer applications. Sounds sweet. Unfortunately, so far I've been unable to get PC Upgrade Commander to work. Installation was a snap. When I started the application on the target and source PCs they recognized each other over my test network, and the migration process would start properly. But at step 3 of 3 it consistently failed with a message box, "Target is busy. Press Stop." Stop it did, but with no migration accomplished. Technical support engineers ran through their checklist, "Is hibernation disabled?" (it was) and emailing me sections of the PDF manual (that I already had) so I'd know how to verify NetBEUI and TCP/IP protocols were installed on my computers (even though only TCP/IP is required for migrating across a network). Our email conversations quickly degenerated to gropes like, "Are you using CAT-5/UTP network cables?" and, "Somewhere in the 7 OSI network layer your system is incompatible with PC Upgrade Commander." Tech support came up with perhaps my DSL network card on the source PC was confusing the program. I'll run some tests and let you know how it ultimately works out (or doesn't). I was really dismayed to have problems with a V Communications program but I noticed on the Help About dialog that the copyright to Upgrade Commander is held by another company so V Communications did not develop it themselves. I did hear from some TNPCers who have tried PC Upgrade Commander. Andrew J. said that after 12 hours of a projected 24 hours to complete the migration, the transfer aborted leaving him high and dry. Dave S. reports that he did a successful migration from Windows 98 to Windows ME over a parallel cable and moved a ton of data and programs with no glitches or problems. Meanwhile, a number of The Naked PC readers make a strong case for a program called PC Relocator from a company with the unlikely but memorable name of AlohaBob. PC Relocator does not purport to work between disparate operating systems but is supposed to be fast and, according to these readers, works very well. Next issue I'll conclude with a report on AlohaBob's PC Relocator. You can reach T.J. Lee at: mailto:tj_lee@TheNakedPC.com ** 05. Norton Utilities 2001 (Find/Fix Problems Tools): Part 5 (by Lee Hudspeth) Norton Utilities ("NU") includes six tools in its "find/fix problems" bucket: System Check, System Doctor, UnErase Wizard, Disk Doctor, WinDoctor, and Protection. (Note: All of these tools *except* System Check are Windows 2000 compatible.) System Check performs a system checkup across these analysis categories (you can individually include or exclude them): Find Disk problems, Find Windows problems, Improve performance, and Preventative maintenance. You can run System Check once or schedule it to run at regular intervals. This tool is fast and thorough. When finished it presents a listing of all the problems found. (Tip: click this window's Details button located in the upper right-hand corner; this splits the display into the main problems list and a details section. As you highlight each main problem you see a listing of the detailed problems in the bottom half.) You can have System Check automatically fix a given group of problems, or you can fix them one by one (or choose to ignore a problem). When you fix problems individually, the tool often offers multiple solutions for you to choose from. You can undo corrections, and specify how long the undo list is maintained (up to forever): click the History button, right-click any item, choose Options, click the "Repair History" tab, and make the desired selection in units of either days, number of repairs, or forever. The Advanced display has a Windows Explorer-like tree view that you can sort in a variety of ways; this is the best display mode to use. System Doctor uses a variety of customizable sensors to give you a cockpit instrumentation style view of various system states, complete with alarms. There are plenty of gizmos and settings to play around with here, but I warn you, running this tool all the time can be a resource hog. If your system is performing satisfactorily, I see no reason to run this tool all the time. I recommend turning System Doctor off and using System Check on an as-needed basis. UnErase Wizard can save your bacon, oh, maybe not today, but someday. It helps you recover deleted files. The coolest part of UnErase is that you don't have to remember the exact filename of that crucial missing file, or even the filename; you can search for a lost file even if you only know a piece of text that it contained. You can search for files based on filename, file type, location, or--as explained--contents. Even "unrecoverable files" (that is, deleted files with some data still floating around in unused disk space) can be recovered and pieced back together. (This is limited of course to data segments that have not yet been overwritten by the operating system or wiped with a tool like Norton WipeInfo.) Disk Doctor is a ScanDisk-like tool. It can both diagnose and repair disk drive problems, and you control whether it makes repairs automatically or not. Furthermore, you can control which tests are performed and how some of them are performed. When finished, it provides a report that you can print or view on screen. WinDoctor performs the "Find Windows problems" analysis that's also done by System Check, as described earlier in this article. Protection works together with the Windows Recycle Bin and the Norton UnErase Wizard to extend your safety net for deleted files. With Protection turned on (highly recommended), the UnErase Wizard can recover files that went through the regular Recycle Bin, plus files deleted from a DOS window--within Windows itself but not when booted directly into DOS--and files created/deleted in the background by various Windows applications. Configure Protection by right-clicking on the "Norton Protected Recycle Bin" desktop icon, choose Properties, then click the "Norton Protection" tab. Note: don't wait until you lose a critical file to activate Protection; turn it on NOW and save yourself plenty of heartache later. I have some additional information about NU for which there isn't room here, including a table with each tool's name (19 in all), its category (find/fix problems, system maintenance, etc.), direct links to The Naked PC article that reviewed each tool, and a Yes/No column for Windows 2000 compatibility. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/418/tr.cgi?lee1 You can reach Lee Hudspeth at: mailto:leehudspeth@TheNakedPC.com +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ MICRO-LIGHTS the Super POCKETFLASHLIGHT! Micro-Lights are the BRIGHTEST flashlights for their size in the WORLD. Reliable, incredibly bright light for any situation. A Micro-Light is small enough to clip to your key chain, carry it in your pocket or purse and you won't even know it's there. But you'll never, ever be caught in the dark! Instant light in emergencies, or just when you have to find something under your desk or the sofa. The Red, Orange, or Yellow lights run for 120 hours on a single lithium battery! Carry a Micro-Light for a week and you'll never go anywhere without one again. SHIPPING IS FREE IN THE USA! http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/a/tr.cgi?pocketflashlight +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ ** 06. Featured Product - DiscSavers (reviewed by Al Gordon) Once you finish burning a disc, you need something to put it in. Stomp, Inc. suggests their DiscSavers. Experienced burners know that it is cheaper to buy recordable CDs in bulk on a spindle without jewel cases. And all CD users know by now that the traditional jewel case wastes space--it was mainly designed to give music and software companies room to put labels and booklets in their packaging. They scratch, they crack, the hinges break, and as your collection grows, the cases take up twice as much room as the actual CDs. Stomp's approach with DiscSavers is to make square cases with rounded corners out of flexible, translucent plastic (the kind that is used to make kitchen and workshop storage containers). DiscSavers are just wide and tall enough to fit a CD and add about a CD's worth of thickness. The resulting package is half the thickness of a conventional jewel case and a half-inch narrower; an ounce or more lighter, too. The CD spindle serves as the latch and you snap it shut with a little push down; the case opens by pulling on one side. (Stomp went perhaps a teeny weeny bit overboard with big "push" and "pull" markers stamped in the plastic.) Unlike a conventional jewel box it won't immediately shatter if you drop it or crack if something falls on it, making DiscSavers a good choice for protecting CDs in the car or outdoors. Pricing is $5 for 10; $20 for 50, available in both clear and multiple colors. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/418/tr.cgi?fprod You can reach Al Gordon at: mailto:al@TheNakedPC.com ** 07. Featured Book - "Dreamweaver 4: The Missing Manual" by David Sawyer McFarland (reviewed by Dan Butler) Macromedia's Dreamweaver will be familiar to anyone who builds Web pages. It is one of the most popular of the high-end Web design programs. I've used it since version 1 and have built thousands of Web pages with it. A very powerful program, and a very steep learning curve with a price to match. The more you know about HTML, DHTML, JavaScript, and the other technologies that go into Web pages, the more you can appreciate the strength of the program. This book claims to get you up to speed on the program. I found the book easy to follow and clearly written. It is also obvious that the author has used the program extensively. Little tips abound that will save you frustration, such as how to get the results you want when rearranging a list. Major topics like tables, Style Sheets, and Templates have nice tutorials at the end of the chapter to help you put things in perspective. If you currently use Dreamweaver, or want to, this makes a nice introduction. In fact this book combined with the program manual may be all you need. If you are considering Dreamweaver, this book combined with the downloadable demo should be enough to help you make up your mind. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/418/tr.cgi?fbook You can reach Dan Butler at: mailto:danbutler@TheNakedPC.com ** 08. Featured Drawing - Back to School Blues School has started and it's only a matter of time before the clocks change and it's pitch dark at 5:30 PM here in the northern hemisphere. So we thought we'd have a drawing for two amazing Micro-Lights. For folks new to our e-zine, or who failed to enter last issue's drawing, here's how it works. You go to a Web page on The Naked PC site, answer one survey question (something fun like "Will you be installing Windows XP?"), and enter your email address. Now, obviously we already have your email address or you wouldn't be reading this, but this drawing for prizes will only include those folks who answer this issue's question (entering a prior drawing doesn't count for this one). We'll only use the email addresses we collect for the purpose of notifying the prize winners. On September 11th we'll pick two entered names at random and give away a Photon Micro-Light to each winner (you'll get to choose your color preference, natch). How easy is that? http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/418/tr.cgi?fcontest ** 09. Newsworthy - a potpourri of current events and interesting stuff *-* What a week. Hewlett-Packard proposes a $25 billion acquisition of Compaq, which would create a very new, potentially very different animal in the #2 spot behind IBM in the rankings of global technology leviathans. Other interesting M&A stats: projected annual revenue of the new entity is $87.4 billion; 15,000 employees are expected to be laid off; Carleton "Carly" Fiorina, HP's current Chairman and CEO, will be at the helm; the ensuing giant HPaq (or is it Compaqard?) will hold 81% of the domestic PC market. Times they are a-changin'. (Note: just kidding about the names, the merged firm's name is reported to be Hewlett-Packard.) http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/418/tr.cgi?news1 *-* Microsoft Windows XP has been released to manufacturing and will be available in stores on October 25, 2001. Here are the official prices (all in US dollars): XP Home Edition upgrade $99, standard version $199 XP Professional Edition upgrade $199, standard version $299 http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/418/tr.cgi?news2 *-* Interested in finding out which Microsoft operating systems qualify for an upgrade to Windows XP (and which flavor)? See it all in tabular format here: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/418/tr.cgi?news3 *-* Or perhaps you want to scan an executive summary highlighting the differences between Windows XP's Home and Professional Editions: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/418/tr.cgi?news4 Get more Newsworthy bits on The Naked PC Web site: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/newsworthy/ Have you come across something newsworthy? Drop us a line: mailto:hottips@TheNakedPC.com **PLEASE SUPPORT THE NAKED PC BY VISITING OUR ADVERTISERS** +++----------------------- classifieds -----------------------+++ HALLOWEEN IS COMING! Don't wait until the last minute and pay outrageous prices for your Halloween masks, costumes, and scary props. Start planning your MONSTROUS good time NOW! Check out the best selection of masks, robes, costumes, hoods, capes, wigs, beards, make-up, and decorations! 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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/a/tr.cgi?netdetect +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ **NEED INK? SAVE 40-70% OVER RETAIL!** High Quality Inkjet Printer Cartridges, JetPaks, Refill Kits. Super Prices! Your Satisfaction IS Guaranteed. NEW! We now offer High Quality Remanufactured Toner Cartridges Save 30-40% * FREE Printer Utilities! * MaxPatch Ink Supplies http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/a/tr.cgi?maxpatch +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ GET THE NAKED PC BACK ISSUES You can now get three volumes worth of "The Naked PC" newsletter on CD-ROM delivered right to your door! Volumes 1-3 includes every issue since TNPC's first issue through the end of the year 2000. 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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/annoyanceboard/ ADVERTISING To advertise in The Naked PC 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) 2001, 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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