Neat Net Tricks Issue # 62
September 15, 1999
Sender: owner-neatnettricks@neatnettricks.com

IN THIS ISSUE:

01.  Time Warp
02.  Customized report
03.  Clean up the start up
04.  System settings print
05.  Note your neighbors
06.  Numbers game for IP
07.  Readers write
08.  Somewhere a holiday nearly everyday
09.  Quick rename
10.  Population clocks
11.  Right clicks are right on
12.  Nice subscribe site
13.  Get more from your RAM
14.  And still more tips

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01.  TIME WARP.  Time Magazine is to be commended with its Time 
Warp feature at 
http://cgi.pathfinder.com/time/time100/timewarp/timewarp.html .
Celebrating the end of the century (in fact the end of the 
millenium,) Time compares present day with "the good old days" 
in the early part of the 1900s.  Well, maybe it was a simpler 
life, but "good old days?" You be the judge.

02.  CUSTOMIZED REPORT.  Repeating a golden oldie from issues 
past, you can determine your IP (Internet Provider) number and 
get a customized report diagnosing your network, tracking the 
route your communication takes, your network's identity, and 
other useful information by going to  
http://www.wiskit.com/cgi-bin/tracecon .

03.  CLEAN UP THE STARTUP.  Sheryl Clark (aka GrannyC) passes 
on an idea for Win98 users.  She likes to keep programs to a 
minimum in her startup group and finds the easiest way to 
manage this is going to Start|Run, typing "msconfig" (without 
the quotes) and clicking on the Startup tab.  Then, uncheck 
everything you can spare except for Explorer and Systray, click 
Apply|OK and reboot. This should free up some valuable resources.

04. SYSTEM SETTINGS PRINT.  Particularly when you're dealing 
with the technical service folks, they ask you about a 
particular configuration, and you go "Duh!" don't you wish you 
had a complete printout? Now you can impress them with what you 
have under the hood (OK, in your tower) by simply holding the 
ALT key and double clicking on the My Computer icon.  Click the 
Device Manager tab in the Systems Properties box, then the 
print button and select either a report on the system summary 
or a longer report on all devices and the system summary, then 
OK to print. Next time, the tech support guy will be dazzled.

05.  NOTE YOUR NEIGHBORS.  Check out who lives up the street, 
if you haven't met them yet.  At http://www.infospace.com , 
click on White Pages and then on Reverse Lookup.  Enter the 
street, city, and state, without a street number.  You can then 
scroll through all the residents of your street, although 
you'll have to wait awhile for more current information if you 
just spotted a moving van.

06.  NUMBERS GAME FOR IP.  An IP address as you probably know 
is a series of four numbers, each of which is separated by a 
period (or decimal.) We have become accustomed to the text 
version of a Web site, such as Neat Net Trick's Web site, 
www.NeatNetTricks.com , but the IP number in the browser 
location box works just as well, and that number is 
192.41.28.243 .  Up to this point, you're saying "ho hum" but 
here's something you probably didn't know.  Using a simple 
formula, you can convert the traditional IP number of four sets 
separated by a period into one number and no periods, and it 
works just as well. Here's how, and we'll use the Neat Net 
Tricks IP number as an example:

Take the first three numbers of the IP and multiply this by 
16777216 (192 X 16777216 = 3221225472.) Take the second set of 
numbers and multiply this by 65536 (41 X 65536 = 2686976.)  
Take the third set of numbers and multiply by 266 (28 X 256 = 
7186.)  Take the three sums and add them to the fourth set of 
numbers (3221225472 + 2686976 + 7186 + 243 = 3223919859.)  This 
final sum, entered in the browser location box - without 
periods - will get you to the Neat Net Tricks site.  Now, why 
would you go to all that effort?  Good question.

07.  READERS WRITE.  Cindy Zins enjoyed my recent little 
treatise on virus warnings, chain letters, urban myths, and the 
like, and she offered one more good resource on this, at 
http://www.snopes.com . A very entertaining site indeed.

08.  SOMEWHERE A HOLIDAY NEARLY EVERYDAY.  Neat Net Tricks goes 
to at least 133 countries in this world and chances are some 
readers will celebrate at least one holiday this week.  To keep 
informed, all it takes is a visit to 
http://www.holidayfestival.com and choose either a country or a 
religion to learn a little more about our neighbors.

09.  QUICK RENAME.  Of course, to rename a file while in 
Windows Explorer, you can right click and select Rename from 
the context menu. A quicker way is to select (highlight) the 
file by clicking on it, then F2 will allow immediately renaming 
the file.  This also works in the same manner with any icons 
you may have on your desktop.

10.  POPULATION CLOCKS.  The U.S. Census Bureau now provides a 
means whereby you can watch the evergrowing population with 
Website counters that display the statistics for the USA and 
the world.  The Java version provides a real-time update.  It's 
all at http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html

11.  RIGHT CLICKS ARE RIGHT ON.  Sheryl Clark, credited for a 
nice tip earlier in this issue, came through with another one 
and suggests we not overlook that valuable right click.  Some 
ideas:  right click on the Internet Explorer shortcut on the 
desktop and select Properties to get to Internet Properties; 
or, a right click on the My Computer icon and Properties to get 
to System Properties, either option not requiring one to go 
through Control Panel. Right clicking on Start also presents 
some handy options and perhaps one of the handiest right click 
options is in the browser to go back or forward in one fell 
swoop.  And Shirley says don't forget the right click when in 
EMail, where you can select reply to sender.  There's lots more 
options but these are just starters to get you acquainted with 
that right mouse button.

12.  NICE SUBSCRIBE SITE.  If you're looking for a few more 
good lists to subscribe to, and would like to do that very 
thing with a click or two, you can't go wrong with the Mailing 
and Discussion List Manager at 
http://www.lawguru.com/subscribe/listtoolcomputers.html where 
you can scroll through 600 mailing lists in categories such as 
law, art, music, computers, news, business, humor, etc.  Find 
one you like, click on it, and enter your Email address to join 
the list.

13.  GET MORE FROM YOUR RAM.  Assuming your PC has more than 32 
megabytes of RAM, here's a way to possibly speed things up:  
Close all applications, then right click on My Computer, select 
Properties|Performance tab|File System. In the window "Typical 
role of this computer" select Network server|OK|Close.  Reboot 
your PC and it will then commit more memory to reading files in 
disk cache and buffer, rather than inefficiently and slowly 
trying to access the hard drive.

14.  AND STILL MORE TIPS can be found on the Web site at 
http://www.NeatNetTricks.com .  Click the "Weekly Tip" button 
on the left of the screen for a new feature, changed every week 
(that's why it's called "weekly.")  And while you're there at 
the Neat Net Tricks Web site, click on the "home" button for a 
one-minute audio tip which is changed often (as the 
mood strikes.)

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ABOUT NEAT NET TRICKS:

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Thanks!

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Copyright 1999 by Jack Teems.  All rights reserved.
