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Volume 5 Number 11

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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, May 23, 2002 - Vol. 5 No. 11
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Table of Contents

** 01. Letter from the Publisher
** 02. Annual PC Maintenance (by T.J. Lee)
** 03. An Update on Updates (by Al Gordon)
** 04. Office XP: What's New in Excel XP - Part 4
       (by Lee Hudspeth)
** 05. Sic Transit Jornada (by Al Gordon)
** 06. Jim's MailBag (by T.J. Lee)
** 07. Featured Product - Tweaki for Power Users (reviewed by
       Al Gordon)
** 08. Featured Web Site - Environmental News Network
       (reviewed by Lee Hudspeth)
** 09. Newsworthy - a potpourri of current events and
       interesting stuff


** 01. Letter from the Publisher

You've probably noticed the increasing miniaturization of PCs,
and the blurring of the line between PDAs and PCs. A new market
is emerging for "tablet PCs" (or, as some correspondents are fond
of saying, mini-mini-mini-computers). You can read more about
this phenomenon in this issue's Newsworthy section.

In this issue... Jim reviews the PC-related tasks we should all
be doing all year, but probably only do once per year when spring
(cleaning) rolls around. Jim also digs into his overflowing
mailbag to answer your plethora of queries and comments. Al
offers updates on Drive Image and Sandra tools, and laments the
passing of the handheld HP Jornada. Lee continues his series on
Excel XP's new features, this issue concentrating on some awesome
new formula and function features.

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/


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** 02. Annual PC Maintenance (by T.J. Lee)

Well, spring has sprung here in the Northern Hemisphere and given
as I just endured the first major electrical storm of the season
I figured it was time to trot out the annual spring cleaning
advice. It's time to do a little maintenance on your good old
personal computer.

If it's not spring in your corner of the world don't let it get
you down. It's not the season that's important, what's important
is that you do some serious clean up and maintenance on your
computer periodically. With me the electrical storms of spring
and summer get me motivated to start thinking about my UPS
device... my first line of defense against electrical spikes and
power outages. That in turns leads to thoughts of cleaning up my
hard drive and getting my backups in order.

Most everyone has some kind of power protection on their valued
electronic components be they computers, stereos, or 2000-inch
televisions. These range from the lowly power strip to nifty
uninterruptible power supply (UPS) devices from APC or Tripp
Lite. Okay, if you've not replaced your power strip in the last
24 months it's time to buy a new one. UPS devices should be
replaced every 3 to 4 years or whenever the warranty runs out.

The deuce you say? Replace your power strip surge protector?
Trade in your good old dust covered UPS? I'm afraid so. First,
before I hear from dozens of you about misleading terminology, I
realize that the "uninterruptible" in UPS is a misnomer. Any
affordable UPS on the market is not really a UPS at all, but
rather a SPS or "standby power supply." With a true UPS the AC
power coming from the wall is only used to charge the battery and
the battery is what supplies power to the PC at all times. A SPS
supplies power from the AC connection to the PC, although it is
supposed to filter it so there is no line noise or power
fluctuations. The SPS switches over to battery power when the AC
connection goes dead. The split second during which this
switchover is supposed to happen is one of those "if anything is
going to go wrong it will go wrong now" kind of moments.

Anyway, the reason surge strips and UPS devices need to be
periodically replaced is because the chemical technology used to
protect against surges, metal-oxide varistors known as MOVs, wear
out over time. As the MOVs shunt minor power surges they
deteriorate. There's no way to tell how much life they have left
at any given time so periodic replacement is the only practical
way to ensure you're protected. UPS devices protect against
surges using the same technology as the $10 power strips. Ugh!
Okay, so why have you been able to get by with that old surge
strip you bought at Egghead back in 1990? Cause most people don't
encounter serious power spikes. Just keep in mind that not
needing protection and not having protection are very different
concepts.

Clean up the old UPS/surge strip by removing its thermal blanket
of dust bunnies and if it's too long in the tooth retire it.

Next on the list is taking a critical look at your backup
procedures. Do you know where your data is? Better have a current
copy on backup media because it's not a matter of "if" your hard
disk will one day fail, it's only a matter of "when."

I've tried lots of different backup methods over the years. CDs
are a great backup medium but suffer from the fact that you can't
squeeze more than 600 megabytes on a single disc and hard drives
are measured by the gigabyte now a days. DVD burners are still a
little too pricey for me so that leaves backing up to hard disk
and tape.

Backups to hard disk, wherein you simply employ a batch file to
copy the stuff from one hard disk to another hard disk (hopefully
on a different computer) is not a bad way to go for instant
recovery of specific data but it has one large failing. Lack of
generational depth. If the data on your production hard drive
gets hacked, corrupted, virus infected, etc., you may not be
immediately aware of it and you can easily copy the junk to your
backup hard disk thereby eliminating a viable backup copy for
recovery once the problem is discovered.

Tape is still the backup medium of choice. Relatively cheap, it
allows for you to create several generations of backups by simply
rotating a number of tapes. Most of our smaller clients use an 8
tape scheme. The tapes are labeled as follows: Mon, Tue, Wed,
Thu, Fri1, Fri2, Fri3, and EOM. You rotate the Mon through Thu
tapes each week, and keep three generations of Friday tapes. Then
an EOM tape that is usually kept off site. This allows for
recovery to the last five business days, the last three Fridays
or the end of the previous month.

Now, let's give some thought to all the junk that has accumulated
on your hard disk. Like that Outlook .PST file that contains all
the email and contact information you could not manage without
but has swelled to over a quarter of a gigabyte. Sheesh. Time to
seriously consider archiving some of those emails (especially
those with attachments) and then running the Compact Now option
in Outlook to try to recover some of the bloat.

Oh, and if you are running Exchange server make sure you have the
proper connector installed for Exchange and whatever tape backup
software you're running or you may find you're not backing up
your Exchange database at all.

As long as we're cleaning up so we can get the amount of data to
be backed up down to a manageable size this is a good time to
walk though all your directory structures and delete or burn to
CD any stuff you don't need crowding your hard disk.

Last but not least when was the last time you hauled your PC
outside, pulled the cover off, and took a can of compressed air
to your poor computer's dusty innards? Dust is good insulation
and heat is your computer's enemy so lets get to that spring
cleaning!

You can reach T.J. Lee at:
mailto:tj_lee@TheNakedPC.com


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** 03. An Update on Updates (by Al Gordon)

Let me share with you several software updates that have tickled
my fancy of late.

-- DRIVE IMAGE 2002: Another new and improved item to reach The
Naked PC testing labs is the latest edition of PowerQuest's drive
imaging software, street price: $65.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/511/tr.cgi?al1

Imaging software essentially makes a photocopy of your hard
disk's contents at the bit level -- in other words, it only sees
the arrangement of 0s and 1s on the drive rather than files. The
resulting "image" can then be quickly restored on another drive.
As the price of CD burners and external hard drives continues to
tumble, drive imaging is becoming an excellent backup solution.
PowerQuest has made DriveImage easier to use by adding wizards
and providing an easier-to-understand interface. It walks you
through the process of setting up and scheduling imaging jobs,
and also allows you to do some disk partitioning to set aside a
partition to store image files. (You can't save an image of a
disk partition onto itself.)

The centerpiece of the software is that for the first time some
image jobs can be done inside Windows. It is a limited feature,
frankly. You cannot image any partition that contains Windows
system or boot files, and those typically are partitions you want
to image. But if you create a partition just for your data, you
can use DriveImage to back it up inside Windows and make this an
"everyday" data backup method.

* SISOFTWARE'S SANDRA 2002 is the latest incarnation of the
definitive PC information and diagnostic utility. The software
("Sandra" is an acronym for System ANalyser, Diagnostic and
Reporting Assistant) comes as a free Standard edition, a Plus
version with more capabilities and advertising, and Professional
-- still more tools and no ads, which costs $29.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/511/tr.cgi?al2

I started on this review about a year ago, with Sandra 2001, but
lost interest when SiSoftware said they weren't planning to
support Windows XP. However, Sandra 2002 is out and it works well
with XP, so back it goes on my recommended list. Sandra can probe
into your system and bring back the identity of what seems to be
every single chip or component you have in place (very handy, for
example, with OEM products as it usually allows you to determine
the actual manufacturer of a component), perform diagnostics on
them, and do benchmark testing.

Just remember, Sandra is nothing if not thorough. If you do
launch the full 80-module test run of Professional, expect the
process timeframe to be measured in hours. But if, like me, you
want to know what's inside that computing box, Sandra is the most
complete information source available.

(c) 2002, Al Gordon
You can reach Al Gordon at:
mailto:al@TheNakedPC.com


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** 04. Office XP: What's New in Excel XP - Part 4
       (by Lee Hudspeth)

The link to my related supplemental Web page appears at the end
of this article; there you can access links to the previous
articles in this series, and see a summary of all the new
features, with my grade, in a numbered list. In this article I'll
primarily focus on features that relate to formulas and
functions. Lots of "10" grades here!

21. Function argument ScreenTips -- When you type a function into
a cell, as soon as you key in the opening parenthesis you'll see
a ScreenTip that lists all that function's arguments. If it's an
argumentless function like =NOW() then there won't be an argument
list. But wait, there's more... Hover your mouse over the
function name and it turns into a hyperlink that you can click to
bring up the help topic for that function.
UI: See above.
Grade: 10 (most excellent!)

22. Recommended functions -- In the "Ask a Question" box, type a
query in plain English, like "how do I determine the present
value of an annuity" and the pop-up menu will list suggested
functions for accomplishing the task.
UI: See above (the "Ask a Question" box is positioned at the far
right of the menu bar, just to the *left* of the Minimize
control.
Grade: 10

23. Cut-and-paste function examples -- At the bottom of function-
specific help topics, look for a heading "Example" followed by
the text "The example may be easier to understand if you copy it
to a blank worksheet." This is followed by an actual worksheet
snippet you can copy into your own worksheet. For detailed
instructions on how to do it, click the help topic's "How?" link.
UI: See above.
Grade: 10

24. Watch Window toolbar -- This is an entirely new toolbar in
the Excel arsenal. Those of you familiar with the Visual Basic
development environment (or any other programming environment,
for that matter) will recognize its purpose. You can monitor
workbook, worksheet, range name, cell, value, and formula data.
Add a cell to the Watch Window by clicking the "Add Watch" button
(you can add multiple cells by performing a multiple selection).
Now, even if the cell isn't visible in the current window you can
see its status, including changes to it. To quickly jump to a
watched cell, double-click on its entry in the Watch Window.
UI: View, Toolbars, Watch Window.
Grade: 10 (outstanding!)

25. AutoSum includes other functions -- AutoSum now supports
Average, Count, Max, Min, and a More Functions item at the bottom
of the drop-down list, that, when chosen, displays the Insert
Function dialog.
UI: Click the AutoSum button and choose the desired function.
Grade: 10 (AutoSum should have always worked this way)

26. Formula evaluator tool -- Select a cell containing a formula
and click the Formula Auditing toolbar's right-most button which
is the "Evaluate Formula" button. This displays a dialog box that
underlines each segment of a formula one by one, in order from
left to right. When you click the Evaluate button the dialog
displays the value of that segment, underlines the next segment,
and so on, until the formula is completely resolved.
UI: Right-click on any toolbar and choose "Formula Auditing" to
render it visible; then see above.
Grade: 10

27. Formula Auditing -- The "Formula Auditing" toolbar (referred
to as simply "Auditing" in previous versions) includes numerous
features that can help you reduce the errors in your workbooks.
It's an area of Excel that I strongly recommend you explore. See
also #26 and #28 in this list.
UI: Right-click on any toolbar and choose "Formula Auditing" to
render it visible.
Grade: 10

28. Check formulas for errors -- Similar to grammar checking,
Excel now provides a dialog and a set of rules to help you look
for and fix problems in formulas. In addition to displaying error
explanations in the dialog box, there are buttons to fix the
particular error; an Options button to give you control over the
individual rules (on/off); plus "Help on this error", "Ignore
Error", "Edit in Formula Bar", Previous, and Next buttons.
UI: Tools, Error Checking (or via the "Formula Auditing" toolbar)
Grade: 10

To peruse my supplemental page containing links to the previous
articles in this series on Excel XP, and a summary of all the new
features, with my grade, go here:
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/511/tr.cgi?lee1

To see my supplemental page of material about Word XP's new
features, click here:
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/511/tr.cgi?lee2

You can reach Lee Hudspeth at:
mailto:LeeHudspeth@TheNakedPC.com


** 05. Sic Transit Jornada (by Al Gordon)

Speaking of updates, a TNPC favorite has become a casualty of the
HP-Compaq merger.

HP's Jornada 560 series was my recommended handheld for Pocket PC
2002. Not by a big margin. Compaq's iPAQ 3600 series had the
clear edge for the initial round of Pocket PC products, and was
still strong for the second wave releases. However, I thought
HP's 560 series was a slightly tidier package than Compaq's 3700s
and 3800s.

Jornada link:
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/511/tr.cgi?al3

iPAQ 3600 link:
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/511/tr.cgi?al4

However, that's now irrelevant. In announcing its post-merger
product plans, HP disclosed that it would discontinue the Jornada
and re-brand iPAQ as an HP. No surprise there -- the iPAQ had a
substantially higher market share than Jornada and much greater
support among corporate users. But it does leave open questions
about the availability of accessories for Jornadas.

HP did not respond to a request for comment on the issue. I
contacted such major suppliers of handheld accessories as
Fellowes, Targus, and Belkin. Their spokespersons all said
essentially the same thing: products that have been released for
Jornada will stay in production so long as demand continues. But
don't expect any new items.

So, a few recommendations:

1. As with any other discontinued product, Jornada support likely
will go away at some point. HP, however, is obligated to honor
existing warrantees and service contracts. One immediate threat
is that the Pocket PC specification required upgradeable flash
memory to permit upgrades to future operating system versions,
and it is not clear whether HP will make such upgrades available
to Jornada users.

2. If you own a Jornada, this would be a good time to stock up on
cables, screen protectors, chargers, and the like. Availability
surely will diminish as time goes by.

3. I would not recommend the purchase of a 560 at prevailing
prices. But note that HP in the past has sharply marked down
older Jornadas when new models have arrived, so bargain hunters
probably should keep their eyes open.

(c) 2002, Al Gordon
You can reach Al Gordon at:
mailto:al@TheNakedPC.com


** 06. Jim's MailBag (by T.J. Lee)

I've been sick as a dog for a while now and have gotten a bit
behind in responding to emails sent in by you, my TNPC readers.
Since I can't reply to every individual I thought I'd try to
cover most the mail in this article.

NIGERIAN LETTER SCAM

A large number of you had trouble getting to the "PUBLIC
AWARENESS ADVISORY REGARDING '4-1-9' OR 'ADVANCE FEE FRAUD'
SCHEMES" that I wrote about in issue #5.06:
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/511/tr.cgi?jim1

This page is on the US Treasury site and runs some kind of script
that makes it glitch for a large number of TNPCers. The direct
URL is:
http://www.ustreas.gov/usss/alert419.htm

I don't know of any way to make this page display properly every
time. But with some perseverance you should be able to get to it.
I'd repost it but don't want Treasury agents breaking down my
door so I'll only mention the contact information that you'll
find on that page. If you've been bitten by this scam the Feds
want you to do this:

"If you have already lost funds in pursuit of the above described
scheme, please contact the U.S. Secret Service in Washington,
D.C. at 202-406-5850".

On the other hand if you've not been bitten but just been bugged:

"If you have received a letter, but have not lost any monies to
this scheme, please fax a copy of that letter to (202) 406-5031."

OUTLOOK IN A BROWSER

Accessing Outlook from a browser via OWA (Outlook Web Access)
piqued the interest of a great number of TNPCers. (Also in TNPC
#5.06):
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/511/tr.cgi?jim3

However, I can't tell you how you can make OWA happen so you can
check Outlook on your home computer. It requires an Exchange
Server running OWA and that usually means having to get the
network guardians to allow you access to it through the company
firewall. However, you can tell them that they can set OWA up to
use SSL and that it's pretty darn secure.

VPN TUNNELS

By far the most email I've received recently was on the article
in TNPC #5.07 on virtual private networks:
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/511/tr.cgi?jim4

However, getting a VPN connection requires some Windows and
networking skill, in the case where you want to VPN into your
home PC, or again the buy in from the network IS staff when you
want VPN access to your company network so you can telecommute to
the office. VPN access and telecommuting, by the way, is a great
way to let your employees work from home for you bosses out
there.

There are a number of different VPN clients available and
different firewalls require different configurations so I'm
afraid I won't be doing a "how to" piece on this.

But I can offer some tips to those of you who are trying VPN
access using a laptop and Outlook (and most of the email I
received was from individuals doing just this). Be sure to set
Outlook to use a .OST (offline folder file) so you'll have a copy
of your Outlook information on your laptop when you disconnect
from the network. Most laptop users do this as a matter of course
whether they're using VPN or not. Next, set Outlook to auto sync
when logging off so that the .OST is updated whenever you close
it. Finally, set it to prompt you about whether you want to work
online of offline whenever you start it.

With a VPN connection you may be tempted to just always work in
online mode. But even though you have a virtual private network
connection you're still going to be limited to broadband speeds.
So work offline and perform a send/receive when you want to
update Outlook. This way you pull everything across the
connection when you want and won't get stuck on some huge
download just because you browsed an email message with a large
attachment.

THE NAKED PC STILL FREE

I must share some of the great comments I received in response to
my piece on newsletter advertising in TNPC #5.08:
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/511/tr.cgi?jim5

"Don't let the weasels get you down!"

"Your kids need to eat, I know that mine did!"

"Let them send money instead of complaining..."

"Thanks for your Nakedness!"

"I even bought something from you one time!"

"Keep those ads coming."

"Besides, I like the products..."

"Continue your 'glasnost' on advertising."

and my favorite, "Right on McGee!"

THE NAKED PC SCREEN SAVER

Okay, for reading all the way to the bottom of this article you
can download your very own Windows 98/2000/XP compatible version
of the Official TNPC Screen Saver. So now you know!
ftp://www.thenakedpc.com/bonus/tnpcsaver.exe

You can reach T.J. Lee at:
mailto:tj_lee@TheNakedPC.com


** 07. Featured Product - Tweaki for Power Users (reviewed by
       Al Gordon)

Attention TheNakedPCStore.com shoppers: now available Tweaki for
Power Users from Jermar Software, Version 4.0, updated for
Windows XP but still $19.99.

http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/511/tr.cgi?fprod

Tweaki provides access to more than 500 Windows settings:
security features (such as clearing out information about your
usage history), performance tweaks (cache sizes), administration
(changing menus to prevent users from upsetting key settings),
even cosmetics (custom bootup graphics).

Some of the key new features in Tweak 4 include:

* A revised App Launch Manager. The old dialog of multiple panes,
panels, and drop-down lists has been replaced by a unified list
of all applications that automatically launch with Windows -- and
checkboxes to turn them off. Icons note the relative importance
of the apps -- crucial programs maintaining the integrity of your
system, additional functions you might want, or junk placed there
by annoying software vendors. To help you make decisions the
function identities the actual name and path of the executable
file so you can more readily determine what it does.

* Validate, fix or delete your Internet Explorer Favorites. New
to Version 4, this tool will run a check of your favorite links,
identifying the dead and redirected ones. If you are like me,
favorites tend to be immortal: once added to the favorites list,
they stay there and the list metastases from a handful of links
to scores to hundreds. This will automate the task of searching
though them.

* Adjust Windows XP's ClearType technology. This is a perfect
illustration of Tweaki's strength. ClearType, originally rolled
out in Microsoft Reader, is Microsoft's technology to improve the
readability of screen fonts. It is particularly helpful on flat
panels and notebooks. In XP, the technology is available for
system-wide use. Knowing how to turn it on is an adventure,
though. (Right-click on the desktop, select "Properties," go to
the "Appearance" tab, click the "Effects" button, make sure the
"use the following method to smooth the edges of screen fonts"
checkbox is checked, and then click the adjacent drop down list
and choose "Clear Type." Got that?)

In Tweaki there is a big checkbox for ClearType in the "Win
Tweaks" tab. You click it on or off. Plus below it is a slider
bar to adjust ClearType's contrast to suit the capabilities of
your monitor. That adjustment isn't available in XP's user
interface; you have to find and change a Registry key.

If you want to spend hours hacking through your Registry and
undocumented Windows features, you can probably duplicate much of
Tweaki's capabilities. Or you can let Jerry Rawdon, Tweaki's
creator, do the work and provide you with a convenient graphical
interface.

You can reach Al Gordon at:
mailto:al@TheNakedPC.com


** 08. Featured Web Site - Environmental News Network
       (reviewed by Lee Hudspeth)

The Environmental News Network offers a wide variety of resources
for anyone interested in environmental topics. I cannot
personally vouch for ENN's particular bias, if any, but their own
literature says they are spin-free, "We are not an activist
publication, but instead try to present information from all
sides so our users can make their own decisions." The resources
available on the site include a free daily e-newsletter, news and
press releases, in-depth articles and special reports (categories
range from alternate energy to wildfires), online forums and
chats, a marketplace that offers links to "companies that have
demonstrated a commitment to healthy living and environmental
responsibility," classified ads, surveys, and more. If you have a
bent towards things environmental, this well-designed and
thorough site is worth a look-see.

http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/511/tr.cgi?fsite

Since I personally have a recycling interest, here's their main
page on that topic. If you're in the mood, take the "recycling
quiz." It's fun, and informative.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/511/tr.cgi?fsite2


** 09. Newsworthy - a potpourri of current events and
       interesting stuff

*-* Read about upcoming products like IBM's prototype hand-sized
PC called the Meta Pad.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/511/tr.cgi?news1

*-* Worldwide cellular phone sales dropped almost 4% in the first
quarter of this year.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/511/tr.cgi?news2

*-* Are you guilty of picking bad (read: easily guessable)
passwords? Read how a network protection firm cracked 30% of
account passwords for a 10,000-account file at a regional health
care company, in less than ONE HOUR.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/511/tr.cgi?news3

Have you come across something newsworthy? Drop us a line:
mailto:hottips@TheNakedPC.com


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Copyright (c) 2002, PRIME Consulting Group, Inc. and Dan Butler.
All Rights Reserved. The Naked PC is a trademark of PRIME
Consulting Group, Inc.
ISSN: 1522-4422



     



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