Neat Net Tricks Issue #63
October 1, 1999
Sender: owner-neatnettricks@neatnettricks.com

IN THIS ISSUE:

01.  BuddyHelp
02.  Alex Warp, just wierd fun
03.  Nifty newsletter
04.  Quick close
05.  Readers write
06.  Shoppers' comparison
07.  More detail in detail view
08.  Ego Surf
09.  Image search
10.  Spyonit
11.  Third Voice: I'll think on this one awhile
12.  Assigning hot keys
13.  A word about Word
14.  Archive of past issues

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01.  BUDDYHELP. Some 16 months ago in neat Net Tricks Issue 
#25, I wrote about NetMeeting and its ability, among other 
features, to allow you to see what's on the screen of the 
individual you are chatting with.  Along comes a similar 
product, called "buddyhelp" and it may be even easier. You 
simply go to http://www.buddyhelp.com , enter a nickname, and 
start a very small download, taking just seconds, and you're 
given a code number.  Using ICQ or some other means, relay the 
number to your friend, who accesses the same site, enters the 
code, and within seconds you are able to chat with your friend 
and view his or her desktop as well. There's also a whiteboard 
for your doodles.  There are a couple of downsides: there's no 
support for Mac or Linux yet and, it's rather one-sided, in that
you, as the caller (the Buddy)  can see your friend's desktop 
and all the action that ensues but your friend (the Helper) 
can't see yours.  To switch roles, you have to establish 
another session.  Anyway, you might find this an interesting 
diversion.

02.  ALEX WARP, JUST WIERD FUN.  Alex Rosen developed AlexWarp. 
Silly, but fun.  See for yourself at 
http://www.tiac.net/users/axlrosen/

03.  NIFTY NEWSLETTER.  Bob Rankin and Patrick Crispen 
publishes Tourbus, described by them as a "virtual tour of the 
best of the Internet."  I ran into this duo three years ago 
when I first encountered their very useful Roadmap workshop 
sessions.  In fact, Roadmap96 was discussed in the very first 
issue of Neat Net Tricks. Their Tourbus pulled out on its first 
"trip" in July 1995 and it's still chugging along four years 
later with a "passenger list" of  70,000 and total readership 
of over 90,000 in 130 countries. Tourbus and Neat Net Tricks 
has a lot of similar content I think.  If  you like one, it's a 
fairly good bet that you'll like the other. Neat Net Tricks' 
list of subscribers is a few thousand short of Tourbus but is a 
year younger (in fact, was web-based until September 1997, when 
the first email issue went out.)

But I digress.  What do I like about Tourbus?  I guess most of 
all its sense of humor.  It, much like Neat Net Tricks, doesn't 
take itself too seriously.  In fact, the publication dates are 
described as "about every Tuesday-ish and Thursday-ish."  And 
Tourbus recognizes that there is, after all, room in folks' 
mailboxes for more than one good Ezine. There's room in yours 
for Tourbus.  Subscribe on the Web site at 
http://www.tourbus.com or send Email to 
mailto:hop-on@tourbus.com .  

04.  QUICK CLOSE.  If you have a number of applications open in 
your taskbar in Win98 and IE4, you can close them all easily by 
holding CTRL and clicking on each of the taskbar icons.  Then, 
right click on any one of them and select Close from the 
drop-down menu.

05.  READERS WRITE.  A reader wailed that he tried the CTRL + H 
tip to call up the Netscape history file and, to his dismay, 
his entire issue of Neat Net Tricks disappeared.  He asked that 
Mac users be warned not to try Ctrl + H.  A Mac friend advises 
that Ctrl + H is the Mac alternative to the delete key on a PC 
and to call up the history file on a Mac, you must use 'command 
H' or 'apple H.'  

Well, there you go, a few issues too late I guess.  I certainly 
hope this doesn't alienate our Mac readers and, as always, I 
regret that there isn't more content just for the Mac.  I've 
written a lot about this, both in this publication and on the 
Web site.  I confess, I am Mac illiterate, don't own one, and 
don't wish these remarks to be taken as an invitation to join 
the great debate as to which system is the better (I refuse to 
participate in THAT one!)  Suffice it to say, once again, that 
I will be more than happy to publish better Mac tips if some 
generous soul wishes to make them available.  And I regret if 
you used Ctrl+H on your Mac and your Neat Net Tricks issue 
became history.

Several readers leaped to the conclusion that item 6 in Neat 
Net Tricks Issue 62 erred in calling those numbers IP numbers 
because, said they, "IP" means "Internet protocol" when I meant 
to say "Internet service provider."  Right and wrong.  "IP" 
DOES mean "Internet protocol" and I DID NOT mean "Internet 
service provider."  The IP number is a numeric representation 
of a host name.  The IP (Internet protocol) specifies the 
format of packets and the addressing scheme.  Most networks 
combine the IP with a higher-level protocol called TCP 
(Transport Control Protocol) to establish a virtual connection 
between a destination and a source.  The excellent reference 
source at http://webopedia.internet.com likens the IP to 
something like the postal system, allowing you to address a 
package and drop it in the system; but, without the TCP/IP you 
have no connection between the two hosts to enable messages to 
be sent back and forth.

While on the subject of the IP numbers game item, there WAS a 
glitch, in that the number 266 in the third step of that item 
should have been 256. It was correct in the example given.  
Which reminds me to again remind you that if something in Neat 
Net Tricks doesn't work, please go to the Web site at 
http://www.NeatNetTricks.com and check out the "What's New" 
page to see if a glitch has been reported.

06.  SHOPPERS' COMPARISON.  At http://www.ClickTheButton.com/ 
you can download a small utility that will reside in your tray 
and allow you to make price comparisons of products at various 
Web sites.  This is a good idea but the service is rather 
limited thus far.  When I last looked, they had about 75 sites 
they compared but there's potential for growth.

07.  MORE DETAIL IN DETAIL VIEW.  If you have your Windows 
Explorer set for detail view (by opening Explorer and clicking 
on View|Detail) you likely have noticed that some very long 
file names don't display in the narrow column.  Widen it by 
double-clicking on the right edge of the Name column button and 
it will then display the widest file name in the view.  You can 
similarly adjust other columns by placing the cursor on the 
right-hand column headliens between columns. click and drag to 
widen or narrow.

08.  EGO SURF.  The search engine at http://www.egosurf.com/ 
will locate sites just as any other search engine. Then, if you 
wish, it will EMail you each day for seven days, informing of 
other sites it found with a match to your search criteria.

09.  IMAGE SEARCH.  And while on the subject of searching, 
Ditto at http://www.ditto.com searches images, not text, and 
then shows the returned images in thumbnail, image dimensions 
and size, and download site.

10.  SPYONIT.  At http://www.spyonit.com/Login you can sign up 
for a free account and then custom-design the "spies" to report 
back to you whenever specific things happen on the Web that 
you'd like to know about.  If that sounds complicated, just go 
there, it's easy.

11.  THIRD VOICE: I'LL THINK ON THIS ONE AWHILE.  This one 
smacks of graffiti.  Here's the scenario:  while surfing, you 
either like or dislike someone's Web site.  Post a note 
expressing your views.  It doesn't actually write to that Web 
site, but everyone who has installed Third Voice can see what 
you have to say and express their veiws as well.  These notes 
are stored on Third Voice's server and are accessed whenever 
you visit sites where you or other users of this software have 
left comments.  Currently in Beta, you can download it at 
http://www.ThirdVoice.com . Posted remarks can be personal and 
seen by no one else (useful for little password reminders;) 
group, seen only by those in your designated group; or public, 
seen by all.

Now, my concerns:  I know that the intent is to allow us to 
voice our opinions about various things we see on the Web.  The 
movie is good, the CD is fantastic, this Web site is awesome or 
a waste of time, and so on.  Using Third Voice, we can even warn
others if we had a less than satisfactory business dealing.  
But the oppoortunity to engage in all this Net graffiti also 
opens us up to obscenities, pornography, litter, and still more 
spam.  As I said, I'm going to think on this one awhile.

12.  ASSIGNING HOT KEYS.  Unless you do a lot of statistical 
work on the PC, chances are those numbered keys on the right 
aren't used much. Put them to work by using them to call up 
your more frequently used applications.  Make sure the Num Lock 
is on, then go to an often-used shortcut on the desktop and 
right click.  Choose Properties and the shortcut tab, go to the 
Shortcut Key window and touch whatever number key you wish to 
associate with that application, and click OK, repeating the 
process for other applications as you wish.  Then, it's just a 
matter of associating the number with the application.  Hey, we 
didn't say we had it ALL figured out for you, did we?

13.  A WORD ABOUT WORD.  Microsoft Word that is.  One of the 
neater features is the ability, using MS Word's autocorrect 
feature, to insert some saved image into your correspondence 
wherever you wish.  Let's take, for example a scanned image of 
your letterhead.  Having saved the image to the folder of your 
choice, start up MS Word and open a blank document, then click 
on Insert|Picture, browse to that image you saved and Insert|OK.
Select the picture with a single click, size it as you wish, 
then click on Tools|Autocorrect and, in the Replace box, type 
in "heading" or whatever word you desire, without the quotes.  
Click Add|OK and close the document without saving it.  
Henceforth, anytime you wish to insert that image, say, at the 
top of your page (I guess that's usually where the letterhead 
goes) just type "heading" without the quotes (or whatever word 
you selected) and touch the spacebar. Autocorrect's nifty 
feature replaces that word with your selected image.

14.  ARCHIVE OF PAST ISSUES.  As you read this, the complete 
Archive of past issues and the index no longer exist.  With 
well over 200 pages in hard copy at very small font and more 
than 1000 cross-referenced indexed topics, the Archive joins 
the dinosaur as extinct.  Many links no longer worked, 
particularly in the very early issues. and that is surely 
frustrating to the Archive user.  Too, much of the text was 
wordy and some tips were redundant.

Replacing the Archive is a condensed version with all links 
operable and containing only the substance.  It is updated 
every six issues (three months) and is available now by disk at 
a very low-cost subscription.  I call it the "Archive Express."
Read about it at http://www.NeatNetTricks.com (click the 
'Archive' button when you get there.)

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Copyright 1999 by Jack Teems.  All rights reserved.
