Neat Net Tricks Issue #69
January 1, 2000
Sender: owner-neatnettricks@neatnettricks.com

IN THIS ISSUE:

01.  Nifty newsletter
02.  Readers write
03.  Low vision tips
04.  Hardware Info Utility
05.  Explorer focus
06.  Clipboard Viewer
07.  For our MAC readers
08.  Explorer bug
09.  SecondChance
10.  Tripp the light fantastic
11.  The Digital Duo
12.  The move to Lyris
13.  New archives
14.  PC Support Center

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01.  NIFTY NEWSLETTER.  If you hear "java" and think of coffee, then the
JavaScript Source probably isnt your cup of tea. (Can we get a few more
beverages in here?)  But if youre into Web design, this monthly 
newsletter could well be one of your best sources of information.  You 
can subscribe at http://javascript.internet.com/ where youll find, at
this writing, 400 free JavaScripts available with a new script added
each weekday.  If you like the buttons, clocks, calendars, games, 
navigation aids, forms, and background effects, just cut and paste the
source code into your own site; or, you can have the code emailed to 
you.  Ronnie Moore started this service in 1996 at the "old age" of 16; 
and he says his Digest Newsletter goes out now to 50,000 Webmasters, 
scripters, developers, programmers, etc.  I cant remember what I was 
doing before age 20, but Im sure it wasnt anything as impressive as 
Ronnies project.  But, then, java was merely a cup of coffee.

02.  READERS WRITE.  OK, I surrender!  In previous issues, mention was 
made about those IP numbers and how to determine yours.  Hordes of 
readers responded that it was "no big deal," just START|RUN and enter 
"winipcfg" (without the quotes) to display the IP numbers. Youre all
right, much easier!

Thanks for tolerating my distorted sense of humor as I replied to 
those of you who pointed out that "millennium" was misspelled in the 
last issue.  My reply: "I was just seeing if you and my fourth-grade
teacher were paying attention."

03.  LOW VISION TIPS.  A good resource for those readers with limited 
vision problems is http://w3.one.net/~hamilte/disab/wintip95.html.

04.  HARDWARE INFO UTILITY.  A good utility built into Windows 98 is 
the Hardware Info Utility.  At Start|Run, enter in the box without 
quotes "hwinfo /ui" (observe the space).  You can modify the view 
options in several ways, one of which is to display those devices with
which you are currently experiencing problems.

05.  EXPLORER FOCUS.  If there's a particular folder or file you access
frequently, change the focus on Windows Explorer to open there each
time.  On your shortcut to Windows Explorer, right click, select 
Properties and the Shortcut tab.  In the target field, you will likely 
see a line ending with explorer.exe .  Add to this line so it reads 
as follows (without the quotes)
"explorer.exe /n , /e ,  drive:\path\folder"  substituting for 
drive:\path\folder the location you want opened, for example 
"c:\temp\myfiles\somedoc."  Be sure in the target field you observe 
spacing and punctuation as shown.

06.  CLIPBOARD VIEWER.  Win 98 has a convenient little utility to view
contents of the Clipboard.  Get there with Start|Programs|Accessories|
System Tools and click on Clipboard Viewer.  If you want to keep it
handy, create a shortcut with a right click and drag that off to the
desktop; or, drag the shortcut down to your taskbar and then delete the
desktop shortcut icon if you want to keep it convenient but avoid 
clutter.

07.  FOR OUR MAC READERS.  There's always the inevitable complaint 
from the MAC aficionados that Neat Net Tricks is too PC-oriented and
neglects our Apple friends.  The complaints are well-founded and we 
plead guilty to playing to the majority of the audience who operate 
PCs.  To appease in some small way, we offer a collection of helpful 
Mac tips at http://www.wisc.edu/helpdesk/osapp/mackeys.html .

08.  EXPLORER BUG.  There is reportedly a possible security leak in 
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 that would allow your system to be 
hacked.  Microsoft is recommending users of IE 5.0 disable Active 
Scripting until a patch is readied and released.  To do this, select
Tools|Internet Options|Security tab|Internet Zone|Custom Level,scroll
down to Scripting and disable the entry for Active Scripting, then
click OK.  Stay tuned to the Microsoft site for that patch.

09.  SECONDCHANCE.  This software restores data by taking system
snapshots, called Checkpoints, at user-specified points of time, and
then allows the user to restore a troubled system by taking it back to
a point in time when it was working properly.  You can read about
SecondChance at http://www.powerquest.com .  Now, if this sounds a
little like deja vu, Neat Net Tricks reviewed a similar product a few
issues ago: GoBack.  The down side of that product was that, because
it relied heavily on resources dedicated to DOS, many DOS applications
became unavailable with GoBack active.  This problem has apparently
been corrected in SecondChance.  Still, I see no advantage for Win98
folks, since you have a built-in option to restore the last five
registries anyway.  Also, I was unable to create an emergency boot disk
and SecondChance kept returning messages indicating "bad media."  I
also tried to use the automatic update option and that, too, produced
an error that aborted the update.  Finally, after several attempts to
get response from their support folks with no reply, I gave up.  Now,
in fairness, you may have a better experience if you wish to explore
what SecondChance has to offer.

10.  TRIPP THE LIGHT FANTASTIC.  OK, that's a play on words.  Actually, 
it was the Tripp Lite Internet Office 500 UPS System I tried out, and,
believe me,  your costly system needs protection in the event of power
spikes or lost data due to sudden power loss.  The Uninterruptible
Power Supply (UPS) reminds me of the commercial where the mechanic 
urges regular oil changes rather than replacing the burned-out
transmission ("pay me now or pay me later").  I'll opt for the UPS
rather than an early demise of my equipment, and I liked the Tripp Lite
(more info at http://www.tripplite.com )because it offers protection at 
a lower price than its competitors.  The UPS I tried comes with serial 
port cabling and software to automatically shut down in event of a power
outage.  The front panel diagnostic displays and self-test button are 
all conveniently located.  The only feature I didn't like? Even when 
switched off, the unit's LED continues to flash, making one wonder if 
it's really "off".
 
11.  DIGITAL DUO.  Stephen Manes and Susan Gregory Thomas are known as
the "Digital Duo" and every week on Public TV near you, they conduct an
"independent irreverent video review of all things digital."  You can
get clips of past shows in Real Player or Windows Media Player format 
at http://www.digitalduo.com .

12.  THE MOVE TO LYRIS. As announced in the special edition a few days
ago, Neat Net Tricks is now ready to move.  On January 5 (providing we
have not all succumbed to the dreaded Y2K bug we've heard so much
about), things will happen silently in the background with no effort at
all to our subscribers.  The entire subscriber database will be
transferred to Lyris.  At the same time, Majordomo, the software used
to get this publication to you for the past two years or so, will go 
into hibernation, except for an autoresponder that will point to the
new Lyris commands and the Web interface for starting, ending, or
changing subscriptions.  This process will be included in the next
issue. Now, I'm hopeful that this will go off without a hitch.  If 
errors occur, please bear with us as we get them resolved.  In the 
long run, I'm sure you'll like the changes.

13.  NEW ARCHIVES.  The new, expanded, best of Neat Net Tricks 69
issues is now available in the ArchivesExpress.  A whole year's
subscription costs a low $20 (slightly higher outside the US) which
barely covers expenses of getting this to you four times a year.  The
latest issue has nearly 700 tips with links ready to click on and
enjoy.  To subscribe, head over to the Web site at 
http://www.NeatNetTricks.com and click the ArchivesExpress link.  You
can use your Visa or MasterCard for fastest response on our secure
site, or send a check or money order to start your subscription.

14.  PC SUPPORT CENTER.  Head over to http://www.pcsupport.com where a 
lot of free stuff is packed in one site.  You can clean up your 
temporary files and broken shortcuts to create more space; search out 
and download software updates; run a virus scan (not yet available), 
use the consumer advocate service to "bridge the gap between vendors 
and customers" where there's a problem with products or poor technical
support; ask for expert advice on the technical support forum; sign up
for free email updates about viruses and other PC issues; and get 25 mb
of free online backup space.  The only significant downside in my 
opinion is that the user can only access this stuff with Microsoft 
Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher, a hurdle that shouldn't be there.

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Copyright 2000 by Jack Teems.  All rights reserved.
