Neat Net Tricks Special Issue
December 18, 1999
Sender: owner-neatnettricks@neatnettricks.com

IN THIS ISSUE:

No ads, just a special announcement ---- and ----

01.  A panoramic view
02.  Voycabulary
03.  Another spam helper
04.  Virus resource
05.  More clippings
06.  DLL on display
07.  Readers write

><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Don't be startled by this special issue, just because Neat Net Tricks 
is normally distributed only twice monthly.  I could say that this 
special mailing is just to give you a holiday bonus of tips; but, in 
truth, sometimes news comes along so good that it won't wait until the
next regular issue.

Those of you who have been with Neat Net Tricks since its early days
may recall that in 1996 it went out individually on Eudora's address
book until the size got into the thousands.  It was then placed on
Majordomo software, and not long after that NNT grew to its own domain
and virtual server, but still using the Majordomo software for
distribution.  As NNT continues to grow, it is once again apparent that
it has reached that point where bottlenecks and glitches are becoming 
rather commonplace.  In other words, it's time to again make a move.

NNT Issue #70, January 15, 2000, will be the first to reach you by what
I consider the to of the line of list hosting services, Lyris.  This 
requires no action on your part, but you should see a better all-around
"feel" to the publication.  When testing is completed and we're assured
that all systems are "go," the subscriber list will be quietly imported
over to the Lyris server.  An autoresponder will intercept continued
majordomo commands, redirecting those folks who aren't aware of the
change.  The mid-January issue will reach you much faster and more 
reliably. Lyris says distribution time for a list this size is little 
more than an hour.  Subscribes, unsubscribes, and other changes will be
a breeze by email or Web interface, and on that Web site you will have 
direct access to your "subscription account" to make whatever changes 
you wish.  Every issue will carry the email address under which you 
subscribed, so there's no question if you change addresses.  There will
be more details on all this in the January 15th issue, but I'm 
convinced you're going to like what you see.
 
And, beyond all that, I'll have to admit that the move is not totally 
selfless.  With Lyris, list management becomes much more automated, 
particularly with handling the bounces (undelivered mail) that have 
been so onerous in the past.  We can now go back to the procedure that
a reader won't be deleted from the subscriber database until the second
bounce, in the event there was server downtime or a momentary one-time
glitch.  All this "ease of management" stuff means more time to devote 
to the content of the publication. Lyris brings to the table a great 
deal of experience, and they provide services for lists from about 100
subscribers to four million.   When NNT reaches 100,000 subscribers 
next year (an ambitious but attainable goal), Lyris software will 
handle the load without so much as a gasp.  I'll keep you informed of 
the changes and progress, and if you'd like to read about Lyris, look 
in at http://www.lyris.com .

Now, on to a few tips to carry you into the new millenium (or, for 
those who contend that it's NOT a new millenium until January 1, 2001, 
then at least to the new year:)

01.  A PANORAMIC VIEW.  Download another plug-in for Netscape
Communicator and/or Microsoft Internet Explorer from
http://www.livepicture.com and then, equipped with Live Picture Zoom
Viewer 3.2, check out the art galleries from that site.  You can view
the entire scene in 360 degrees and zoom in or out for a better 3-D 
feel of your surroundings.  There are quite a few such sites around, 
and I first saw this technique in looking over some real estate on 
display on the Net.

02.  VOYCABULARY.  This is a golden oldie but bears repeating everytime
I hear from my fourth-grade teacher.  She's the one who would take a
sharp red pencil to my work, and she surely lives on in the reports I
get whenever I misspell something in Neat Net Tricks.  Enter a URL (no
sites with frames allowed) or a selected piece of text at
http://www.voycabulary.com/ and each word will be linked to a
definition and thesaurus.  I have lots of red pencils on hand, now all
I need is my fourth-grade teacher's URL so I can return the favor.

03.  ANOTHER SPAM HELPER.  A free Bright Mail service, after a brief
download at http://www.brightmail.com , reportedly helps you with
computer filters and live assistance to weed out unwanted and
unsolicited spam.  Those messages that are filtered out are on display
in a separate mailbox for your viewing for 30 days.  I haven't had a
chance to check this out, so if any of you brave and overly spammed
souls want to give it a try, have a go.

04.  VIRUS RESOURCE.  Add this to the collection of Web sites that
you really should visit before you pass on the next virus scare
such as this one must be for real because it came from my aunt who
knows someone who works for (Dell, Gateway, or fill-in-the-blank)."
The site is http://www.911virusalert.com/home1/home1.html .

05.  MORE CLIPPINGS.  When I wrote about ClipTrakker in the Issue #68,
several readers suggested equally good utilities and these all
operate under essentially the same premise: that is, to overcome
Windows ClipBoard's deficiency of keeping just one item at a time for
pasting into other areas.  There are a lot of other features in these
that Ill leave up to you to explore:

Yankee Clipper Plus at http://www.levasseur.net/YCP/ ;
Classic Clipboard at http://www.easysoftwareuk.com/classic.htm ; and,
ClipMate 5.1 at http://www.thornsoft.com/

Which one is best?  The one that most closely does what you want it
to do, of course!

06.  DLL ON DISPLAY.  We've talked about DLL, those important bits of
data more formally known as Dynamic Link Library.  If you'd like to
see the list of DLL driving a particular application, just right-
click on the executable file and select QuickView. In this information,
search out Import Table category and you'll see the list, along with
other information below each DLL.

07.  READERS WRITE.  Now to close out this millenium with just one
more reader comment:  this one said he was too tired to click on the 
link in an item, wanted to know if I could just tell him if it was 
worthwhile.

And with that, dear readers, we close out year 1999 and look forward
to bringing you many more items next year for your computer and
Internetting experience.  Tell a friend, will you?  And the best of
the holidays to you and yours!

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

ABOUT NEAT NET TRICKS:

Now reaching over 55,000 in at least 137 countries. 
Are there some we haven't reached?  
Ask them to subscribe, please:  
email majordomo@NeatNetTricks.com 
with SUBSCRIBE NEATNETTRICKS in the text; 
or, go to the Web site at 
http://www.NeatNetTricks.com
Thanks!

Sharing your copy?  please do, but encourage your 
friends to subscribe FREE at web site, 
http://www.NeatNetTricks.com or send email to 
mailto:majordomo@NeatNetTricks.com 
and state in the text SUBSCRIBE NEATNETTRICKS.

Read the weekly tip for more Neat Net Tricks 
-- at the Web site and click the "Weekly Tip" button.

Technical questions and comments are welcome 
on the Neat Net Tricks Bulletin Board at 
http://www.escribe.com/bb/nettricks/

Changing address, suspending mail, unsubscribing, etc?  
Details are in the introductory letter you received 
when you first subscribed.  For another copy, email 
mailto:majordomo@NeatNetTricks.com 
and state in the text INTRO NEATNETTRICKS.

Copyright 1999 by Jack Teems.  All rights reserved.
