Neat Net Tricks Issue #59
August 1, 1999

Sender: owner-neatnettricks@neatnettricks.com

IN THIS ISSUE:

01.  Digital delight
02.  Tape the net
03.  A designer's dream
04.  The annual sermon
05.  Updating
06.  A quick "who-is"
07.  Uptime counter
08.  Cliche Finder
09.  Norton's SystemWorks
10.  Neat Net Nifty
11.  Mapping with character
12.  Video searcher
13.  Getting through the gobbledygook
14.  Bullseye art
15.  Weekly Tip.

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01.  DIGITAL DELIGHT.
  Ill admit my eyes glazed over a bit when I was first told 
about CompuPic, described as a "Digital Content Manager to 
view, manage, edit, share, and use all your digital content."
(Was that a yawn I just saw?)  Anyway, I jumped in and tried 
it and particularly liked the fact that you can see the files 
in thumbnails without bothering to open them.  In fact, over 
45 different types of files can be examined with magnification, 
real-time panning, zooming, centering, sizing, animation, 
video, and sound, along with tools to do an array of things to 
the files, create customized screen savers and slide shows, 
personalize photos and artwork, send greeting cards, and etc. 
Id better stop at this point before YOUR eyes glaze over.  
Anyway, give it a free 15-day trial at http://www.photodex.com 
and buy it for $39.95 if you like.

02.  TAPE THE NET.
  There are two known truths:  (1) We are not all blessed with 
unlimited connect time on the Internet; and (2) Few of us have 
mastered the operation of our home VCR to record what used to 
be our favorite TV show before we putzed all our time away on 
the computer.  How are these truths related?  Well, now with 
WebVCR you can record one or more Web sites much like a VCR 
records your TV programs (but with somewhat fewer complicated 
settings.)  Then, you can surf those recorded sites without an 
Internet connection.  This seems to have particular appeal to 
those who want to take Web content with them for laptop access 
without Internet connection; or, who want to access sites at 
leisure without network connectivity or congestion problems.  
WebVCR can be downloaded for a 15-day free trial at http://www.netresultscorp.com/fs_webvcr_info.html 
and it sells for $39.95.  Its producers say it "makes sure the 
Web is there when you need it."

03.  A DESIGNER'S DREAM.
  Until Netscape, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Opera, and other 
browsers all speak the same language and view every Web page 
the same way and until every computer views images identically, 
a web designers job is a tough one.  You want your Web site to 
be seen the way you intend, regardless of what your visitors 
are using to get there. You may find yourself continually 
checking with various browsers, and changing your own computer 
to different colors and resolutions, rebooting along the way, 
and constantly thinking there must be a better way.  There is, 
and its called BrowserMaster at http://www.applythis.com . 
Check it out for free and youll probably think its price of 
$20 but a pittance for the effort saved.

04.  THE ANNUAL SERMON.
  At least annually I climb on my soapbox and attempt, rather 
ineffectively, to dispel a few of the tired old "urban legends" 
as they are called.  Let's see, now where do we start?

First off, Bill Gates isn't giving anyone $1,000, at least not 
by chain letter such as the one you've received.  Disney isn't 
giving a free vacation either and just because someone has 
stated in the EMail you've received "I checked it out and it's 
true" doesn't make it so.  By now you've surely realized that 
seeing something on the Internet does not make it 
necessarily correct.  

I hear that Craig Shergold in England has asked everyone to 
refrain from sending him business cards.  He's neither a 
"little boy" anymore nor is he dying of cancer.  At least 
that's the report I get.

There is no "Good Times" virus and about 99% of the viruses 
(or is it "virii," I've always had a problem with that?) exist 
only in the imagination of those originators of the urban 
legend.  Again (and again and again) please don't spread this 
stuff without at least checking in at one of those excellent 
sites such as http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html . 
(There are several others and you don't need to send me 
their URL.)

Before you rush out for that $200 Neiman Marcus cookie recipe, 
take a look at http://www.bl.net/forwards/cookie.html .

No one is waking up in a bathtub full of ice having had his 
kidneys harvested in New Orleans.  That's just one more urban 
legend that's been making the rounds and you can put it to rest 
with a visit over to 
http://urbanlegends.tqn.com/library/weekly/aa062997.htm .

And, yes, I know there are hundreds, yea thousands, more 
examples, lending further credibility to P.T. Barnum who 
allegedly uttered "A sucker is born every minute."  Or perhaps 
he didn't say it, and even THAT is an urban legend?

Interestingly, Fred Langa's LangaList recently mentioned PT 
Barnum and his famous statement about the sucker.  I didn't see 
Fred's comment until after I wrote the above item, but perhaps 
we Ezine writers are wired in with some ESP. Or, maybe that's 
just an urban legend as well.

05.  UPDATING.
  Win 98 users have an option to update Windows, but otherwise 
you might consider the Windows Update site at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/default.asp 
where you can get fixes and updates for Win95, Win3.1, NT, 
and others along with quite a few tools and utlities.

06.  A QUICK "WHO-IS."
  Of course, you can identify who is behind the scenes of a web 
site by using an appropriate utility for "who is" or checking 
in at the InterNIC site where they keep that vast database. 
But, the easiest way is likely just to enter this URL in your 
browser followed by the site:  
http://205.177.25.9/cgi-bin/whois? For example, 
http://205.177.25.9/cgi-bin/whois?netscape.com 
returns the registrant's name, address, telephone numbers, 
and other useful stuff.

07.  UPTIME COUNTER.
  Some days when the computer doesn't seem to cooperate, it's 
almost more meaningful to count downtime.  But, stressing the 
positive, if you're running Windows 98 and would like to know 
how long you've been up (as in "uptime") you don't need a piece 
of software.  It's already there, at 
Start|Programs|Accessories|System Tools|System Info .  
That "Uptime" figure is in hours, minutes, and seconds 
(maybe days?) since the last reboot, the last restart of 
Windows, or, inevitably, the last crash.

08.  CLICHE FINDER.
  If you want to add a spark to your speech, drop in a cliche 
or two.  If you're at a loss for words, there are more than 
3,300 cliches indexed at http://www.westegg.com/cliche/ and you 
can search for them, add some of your own, or just call up 10 
random ones if you don't have anything particularly in mind.  
I've often said "there's more than one way to skin a cat" and 
that cliche is right there on the list, but so is "there's more 
than one way to kill a cat than choking it with butter."  I 
think the jury is still out on that one.

09.  NORTON'S SYSTEMWORKS.
  Symantec has packaged a lot into its Norton SystemWorks 2.0 
for Win 95/98.  For starters, there's the AntiVirus 5.0 with 
weekly virus definition updates to detect and repair all those 
new bugs floating around out there.  CleanSweep 4.5 uninstalls 
and removes hard drive clutter, warns of files that may cause 
problems, and protects against accidental file deletion.  
CrashGuard 4.0 intercepts crashes, restores frozen 
applications, and monitors/warns of low system resources that 
may signal impending crashes.  Web Services provides a Web site 
that allows their LiveUpdate to download and install new virus 
definitions, update and fix software applications, patches, 
updates, and hardware drivers.  Utilities 4.0 provides a 
comprehensive detection, prevention, and repair system.  
There's also a Bonus Pack including Norton's 2000 Bios Test & 
Fix, Secret Stuff, WinFax Basic Edition, Zip-It, and Visual 
Page.  Space doesn't permit a detailed description here, 
but more at http://www.symantec.com/sabu/sysworks/index.html. 
It's nice to have all this stuff within easy reach in one 
package, but it doesn't come without an investment of a sizable 
chunk of your hard drive real estate (122 mb for complete 
installation) and I found the frequent pop-up warnings and 
update reminders somewhat annoying and seemed to slow my system.
But, like going to an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord, take 
(install) what you want now and save some for later.

10.  NEAT NET NIFTY.
  I am blessed with the smallness of my town, Rapid City, 
South Dakota, USA.  To remind myself of the joy of driving in 
sparse traffic, I sometimes visit large municipalities and 
sharpen my driving skills.  Of course,  my community has its 
share of, shall we say, less than proficient drivers, but 
there just seems to be more space on the road to out-maneuver 
them.  Having said that, I can certainly sense the frustration 
at The Atlanta Roadways Digest (TARD) site at 
http://tardsite.com where one driver in Atlanta, GA has 
mounted a video cam in his vehicle and treats us all to a 
photo essay of Big City, USA and its interstate perils. Any 
similarity to this site and what you see in your own home 
town is purely coincidental.

Neat Net Tricks often pauses to recognize a Web site and 
recommend your visit.  Set aside some time to explore the site 
and enjoy it. Sites that are predominately non-commercial in 
focus are identified as "nifty" when their all-around content, 
originality, interest, variety, and graphical presentation have 
earned this award.  If you would like to nominate a Nifty site, 
send the URL to mailto:jteems@NeatNetTricks.com with a brief 
note telling why you think the site deserves the award. 

11.  MAPPING WITH CHARACTER.
  Particularly useful if you need one or more of the symbols 
common in languages other than English is the Windows 
Character Map.  To access it in Windows 95, go to 
Start|Program|Accessories and in Windows 98 that's 
Start|Programs|Accessories|System Tools.  If you don't see 
Character Map there, you'll have to install it from the 
Control Panel Add/Remove Programs function.  Once in the 
Character Map, you can select from a number of fonts, similar 
to most word processing programs.  Find the desired character 
and double-click on it to add it to the Character to Copy 
window, then click on the Copy button to add it to your 
clipboard (it seems that at least one of these steps could 
have been omitted from the scheme of things and needlessly 
adds to your mouse mileage, but so be it.)  When you return to 
the document you are editing, the usual paste routine of CTRL+V 
will insert the new character where you want it.

12.  VIDEO SEARCHER.
  Billed as "The Smart Way to See Your World" 
http://www.fasttv.com allows the visitor to search and view a 
wide range of videos available on the Internet.

13.  GETTING THROUGH THE GOBBLEDYGOOK.
  There are exactly 97,400 acronyms that might perplex us.  
Well, at least there are 97,400 at http://www.acronymfinder.com 
where we can find that "snafu" means "situation normal, all 
fouled up," no doubt most appropriate when our computers aren't 
functioning to our expectations.  Then there's "RTFM" which has 
eight variations, none of which is the version that comes 
to MY mind.

14.  BULLSEYE ART
  At http://www.bullseyeart.com invites us to view animation 
with Macromedia's Flash plug-in (available on the site if you 
don't have it.)  Options include The Woodcutter, The Cave, 
Happy Homemaker, Meter Maker, and Spore.  What WON'T these Web 
designers think of next?

15.  WEEKLY TIP
  A new feature of Neat Net Tricks, begins September 4. The 
button "Weekly Tip" is live on the Web site now so you can see 
how the feature will look, at http://www.NeatNetTricks.com . If 
you'd like to see YOUR graphics message there as a sponsor, 
write for information: mailto:jteems@NeatNetTricks.com

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Copyright 1999 by Jack Teems.  All rights reserved.
