Neat Net Tricks Issue #64
October 15, 1999
Sender: owner-neatnettricks@neatnettricks.com 

IN THIS ISSUE

01.  Space Tracker
02.  Readers write
03.  They don't always work out
04.  Another search engine on the scene
05.  More keyboard tips
06.  System File Checker
07.  InfoDex Pro
08.  Trash mail bypass
09.  Web page by email
10.  Timely report
11.  Registry checker
12.  Automate
13.  Look at all the lonely surfers

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01.  SPACE TRACKER.  This impressive site at http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/RealTime/JTrack/3D/AppletFrame.html
tracks, in real time, satellites, space stations, and space 
debris. Your system must support Java applets.

02.  READERS WRITE.  In the mailbag are many responses to past 
Neat Net Tricks items.  These are just a few.

In Issue #61, it was said that you'd find yourself "out of 
windows and fully in DOS" when clicking on the icon with four 
arrows at the top of the DOS screen.  Joel Randall said not so, 
that you can only be fully in DOS if you reboot completely out 
of Windows and restart in DOS; and this is an important 
distinction because some older games will only run in true DOS, 
not in a DOS window.

Several readers correctly observed that the update service at 
http://www.updates.com works equally well with Internet 
Explorer and that no plug-in is required, as it is with Netscape.

More than a few readers suggested an easier way to resize the 
column in Explorer (Item 07, Issue 63) is to select the longest 
file in a folder and then use CTRL and the plus (+) key on the 
numeric key pad.

And those with the sharp red pencils leaped to action to point 
out a few typos, spelling, and grammatical errors.  One reader 
offered a number of barbs and unsubscribed, declaring that I 
was wasting readers' time in asking them to go to the Web site 
(at the "What's New" button) to learn of significant glitches 
when they occur.  Maybe so, but that just seems to be more 
efficient than cluttering 56,000+ mailboxes to correct an error.

Several wrote about the tip in item 13, Issue #63, which 
suggested use of the word "heading" when using MS Word's 
autocorrect feature to insert a scanned image into the 
correspondence heading.  It seems these readers already use 
"heading" elsewhere in their correspondence, such as "I'm 
heading to town" and assigning that word as suggested makes the 
scanned image spring into action.  Hey, folks, I only used that 
as an example; of course, you stick a word, abbreviation, or 
other nonsensical phrase in there that you would not otherwise 
use except for that specific purpose.  And in response to the 
questions as to how you remove the image if you didn't want it 
there, clicking on Edit and Undo AutoCorrect works nicely; or 
select the image and Edit + Cut.  And, of course, there are 
lots of other ways, as there usually always are.

03.  THEY DON'T ALWAYS WORK OUT.  As you know, most issues of 
Neat Net Tricks contain at least a couple of pieces of software 
that I've tried out.  I've been asked if I would ever say 
anything BAD about them, and in the interests of credibility, 
I will always report my impressions candidly and if a review 
"flops" so be it.  In this issue, I'm reporting a few of those 
flops, but please understand your results may vary. If you feel 
inclined, give these products a try, at least a free trial.  
You may have a better experience with them.
 
W3 Investigator at http://www.winwhatwhere.com is a utility 
that is intended to "tell you when you were doing what, and 
where you were doing it. W3 quietly monitors not only internet 
usage but every application run on a computer or an entire 
network."  At least that's what the Web site says.  Beyond 
simply running a log of activities, I couldn't get the other 
components of the program to work and I felt that there must be 
more than that to the software.  I asked, but never got a 
satisfactory explanation.

SurfSecret at http://www.surfsecret.com is supposed to quickly 
empty your recycle bin, clear temporary files and the last run 
menu (the one that displays when you click on Start|Run,) and 
empty caches.  It does these tasks just fine, although they can 
easily be done otherwise.  I couldn't get SurfSecret to delete 
cookie files or clear location bars as promised and received no 
response to my Email asking why.

Privacy Restored at http://www.zorosoft.com/index.htm is 
intended to "restore privacy, peace of mind, job security, and 
a sense of control" (their words) by cleaning up the Windows 
registry, deleting history, files, cookies, and "temporary 
internet files."  Put simply, it just didn't work on my 
Netscape Communicator 4.5.  While it cleared the temporary 
internet files, the prefs.js retained the old history, as did 
the netscape.hst. file.  Very useful would be some feature to 
remove the drop-down menu from the location bar which retains a 
trail of sites visited (in the event you're really concerned 
with privacy.)  

04.  ANOTHER SEARCH ENGINE ON THE SCENE.  Perhaps you're not 
interested in another search engine, but Searchling at 
http://www.searchling.com is worth a try.  It's extremely fast 
and provides an interesting twist in that you can provide 
"yes," "maybe," and "no" options for your search.

05.  MORE KEYBOARD TIPS.  Maybe you knew this, maybe you 
didn't:  Shift + Tab moves backwards in fields.  CTRL + Enter 
sends email when you're ready, without returning to the mouse 
to click "send."  At least, this works with Outlook Express, 
Netscape, and possibly other email programs as well.

06.  SYSTEM FILE CHECKER.  In Windows 98, Start|Run and 
entering "sfc" (without the quotes)  brings up the System File 
Checker.  This handy utility lets you know if you have corrupt 
files and tells you how to fix them.

07.  INFODEX PRO.  I have just begun to experiment with Infodex 
Pro, one of the slickest (and easiest) databases I've come 
across, at http://www.stsi.com .  I learned long ago that most 
of us hate to read manuals, so I jumped in and attempted to 
build a database with nothing more than what I saw on the 
screen.  The drag and drop feature let me do just that and I've 
yet to explore the dozens of other features. But I'm betting 
they will be just as easy to maneuver.  This is one powerful 
program that you can try free before you buy.  The $99.95 price 
tag is not at all unreasonable for this one.

08.  TRASH MAIL BYPASS.  As you know, typically deleting email 
sends it off to the Trash folder and requires still another 
deletion from there. This works on the same principle as the 
Recycle Bin and is good if you think you may need to retrieve 
the mail before it's forever gone.  If you don't need this 
safeguard, in Windows 98, holding the Shift key while tapping 
DEL will bypass the Trash folder.

09.  WEB PAGE BY EMAIL.  Some features are so simple we forget 
to use them.  To send a Web page using Netscape Communicator, 
simply click on File|Send Page.  MS Internet Explorer requires 
one extra step, File|Send|Page By Email.

10.  TIMELY REPORT.  Accurate to within .5 second, this site 
at http://www.time.gov displays U.S. time and date by selected 
time zone as well as depicting day and night regions on a 
global map.

11.  REGISTRY CHECKER.  To determine if you have errors in your 
Registry, go to Start|Accessories|System Tools|System 
Information and from the Tools menu, select Registry Checker.

12.  AUTOMATE.  Described as a "fully extensible automation 
platform" (wow, is that ever a mouthful!) AutoMate4 is one of 
those software packages that will take a few rainy days with 
lots of computer time to sort through.  That's not to say it's 
all that difficult to comprehend, but just that it has a lot of 
uses to explore.  Simply put (and it's hard to keep this one 
simple) you can assign a trigger or hotkey to accomplish an 
event or schedule it at desired intervals. You do this by 
teaching AutoMate how to do tasks.  Those tasks can involve 
mouse movements and clicks, launching applications, sending 
keystrokes, sending/receiving files, playing sounds, restarting 
or shutting down Windows, downloading Email, running system 
maintenance, and . well, you get the idea.  Check it out at 
http://www.unisyn.com/automate/ where you can get a free trial.

13.  LOOK AT ALL THE LONELY SURFERS.  If you have some free 
time to download over 5 megabytes at http://www.odigo.com 
you'll be able to search for folks who share your interests 
anywhere on the Internet or who are currently viewing the same 
Web site as you.  You can check out a graph that shows which 
sites most Odigo users are at that moment in time, so you can 
go there and not be lonely.  You can chat with them if you wish.
And (this is the part I am most uncomfortable with, as 
discussed in Issue #63 about a similar product, Third Voice) 
you can leave notes at Web sites, to be viewed by other
Odigo users. 

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Copyright 1999 by Jack Teems.  All rights reserved.
