Neat Net Tricks Issue 92
December 15, 2000 
http://www.NeatNetTricks.com
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IN THIS ISSUE:

01.  The Web's Reference Engine
02.  Complaint Center
03.  Megaconverter
04.  Weather Watcher
05.  Curl up with a good book
06.  System File Checker's log
07.  In depth: Email on the road
08.  Shortcuts revisited
09.  Readers write about email clicks
10.  More on default browser
11.  The NNT collection
12.  Startup contents

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01.  THE WEB'S REFERENCE ENGINE.  That's what xrefer calls itself.  If
you've ever hummed a ditty and wondered what the rest of the words were,
turn to http://www.xrefer.com where there are 300,000 entries awaiting,
or as xrefer says: encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri & books of 
quotations from the world's leading publishers, all cross-referenced, 
all in one place - providing you with a single source for reliable 
factual information.

02.  COMPLAINT CENTER.  Let the site at http://www.ifccfbi.gov tell its
own purpose:  "The Internet Fraud Complaint Center is a partnership
between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National White
Collar Crime Center. For victims of Internet fraud, IFCC provides a
convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities
of a suspected criminal and civil violation."  Now, of course we aren't
going to become victimized by Internet fraud; but just in case, it 
might be a good idea to keep this URL handy. NOTE: at "press time" the
IFCC was moving its Web site, so your complaint may be delayed.

03.  MEGACONVERTER.  Billed as The Web's (and the Universe's) Best Place
to Figure What Equals What, go figure it all out at
http://www.megaconverter.com .

04.  WEATHER WATCHER retrieves local weather from the Internet and 
stores it in your Win95/98 systems tray, providing detailed weather and
a seven-day extended forecast at a click.  Weather Watcher supports US
Zip codes as well as worldwide countries and cities.  More details and
download at http://www.singerscreations.com/AboutWeatherWatcher.html .

05.  CURL UP WITH A GOOD BOOK.  There's still something about the feel
of a good book that a laptop can't simulate, but the Microsoft Reader
comes close.  Download this rather hefty file (7 mb) at 
http://www.microsoft.com/reader.  Go to the University of Virginia's 
Electronic Text Center at http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ . There you'll 
find at least 1,200 free ebooks available covering a wide range of 
subjects.  The site typically "ships" about a third of a million ebooks
each month.  Look further at the eBook Directory, claiming some 12,000 
books free for the download at http://www.ebookdirectory.com. If you 
can't find your reading material there, buy an ebook at 
http://ebooks.barnesandnoble.com/ms_reader/ .

06.  SYSTEM FILE CHECKER'S LOG.  After you install a program, go to
Start|Programs|Accessories|System Tools|System Information and select
System File Checker from the Tools menu.  Click on Settings and View 
Log to determine which files were added or updated to your computer.

07.  INDEPTH: EMAIL ON THE ROAD.  Recently I toured much of the U.S.
over a 30-day, 4,500 mile motorhome jaunt.  I was dismayed that many
campgrounds still are not modem-friendly, and the best bet for Internet
connections along the way seems to be truck stops.  I was further 
disillusioned with AOL connections and the lack of local access points
even in or near cities of 20,000 population.  I had problems connecting
by credit card as well so I often had to rely on Pocketmail to keep up
with my email.

You may recall earlier NNT items about Pocketmail. It's very common to 
see many folks holding that Sharp appliance to payphones to retrieve 
their email.  Although there are limitations in filtering capabilities,
no graphics, no attachments, and a rather slow modem speed, the idea is
nonetheless a good one.  On Pocketmail's Web site, you can configure 
your account ($9.95 per month) to retrieve other POP3 email along the 
way.

I wish I could report that all went well, at least with Pocketmail.
Unfortunately, fewer than half the payphones I tried would allow
successful communication.  Failures included metropolitan locations as
well as remote.  In fairness, I asked Pocketmail to respond, but no
reply has been received.  Perhaps they are using a faulty pay phone.

08.  SHORTCUTS REVISITED.  From time to time, NNT has listed a number
of shortcuts Windows users can take with just a keystroke or two.  A
few of these bear repeating, and of course there are many more.

Shift+F10 is the same as a right mouse click for opening a context menu.
Ctl+Esc displays the Start menu.  Alt+Esc switches to the next window
currently active in the taskbar and Alt+Tab toggles to a new active
window with each touch of the Tab key.  Alt+F4 closes an active window
as does Alt+spacebar+C.  Ctrl+Tab rotates through dialog box tabs, or
combine this with the Shift key to rotate in reverse.  And of course
Ctrl+Alt+Del displays the Close Program dialog box and allows ending a
stubborn task.

With the Windows logo key and these you add to your list of shortcut
options:  E opens Windows Explorer, R opens the Run dialog box, F opens
the Find dialog box, F1 opens Windows Help, M minimizes all open 
Windows while adding Shift to this combination undoes the minimizing,
Tab cycles through active windows in the Taskbar, and Pause/Break opens
the System Properties dialog box.

09.  READERS WRITE ABOUT EMAIL CLICKS.  In a recent issue of NNT,
a suggestion was made to prevent unleashing a virus by inadvertently 
opening email in Netscape.  "The secret," said I as I firmly planted my
foot in my mouth, "is to arrange a single pane so that a double-click
would be required to open the message; thus, a single click would only
select (highlight) the message so it could be deleted without opening."
Not so, reader John Howard pointed out.  Any message is indeed opened 
in Netscape Messenger when its header is clicked on just once.  This
is true even with the bottom pane hidden.  John emphasized the 
importance of a good anti-virus program, one that is kept up-to-date
with the latest virus definitions downloaded from the Internet. He uses
several programs to detect Trojans and believes it's a necessity now,
particularly for those with "always-on" broadband connections.  John
likens it to "multiple dead bolts on an inner-city apartment door".

10.  MORE ON DEFAULT BROWSER.  A reader responded to a recent item 
about settling MSIE's and Netscape's squabble over which would be the 
default browser.  You may recall the solution was to go to Start|
Settings|Control Panel|Internet Options|Programs tab and uncheck the 
box to have Internet Explorer check to see whether it is the default 
browser.  The reader pointed out that this was a one-side solution and 
would allow Netscape to be the default browser.  If MSIE is preferred 
as your browser of choice, you'll need to answer "no" when Navigator 
next asks whether you'd like it to be your default browser (but first 
click "no" to the option "do not perform this check in the future").

11.  THE NNT COLLECTION.  As those of you know who receive the Neat Net
Tricks ArchivesExpress on a subscription basis, we pack all past NNT
items together on a disk and update them every six issues by adding the
latest tips and removing known dead links.  There's nearly 1,000 such 
items on that disk and at just $20 for a whole year's worth (slightly 
higher outside the US because of mailing costs) it's quite a bargain.  
However, beginning in the next volume mailed in a few days, we're 
adding to ArchivesExpress while keeping the price the same.  In 
addition to the entire updated set in MS Word, WordPerfect, and text 
format, you'll also find a few select issues, in .jpg format, of NNT as
it appears in our local newspaper, The Rapid City Journal.  Each 
Tuesday NNT dissects one topic and treats it in more depth than the 
issue you read via email. Read more about the ArchivesExpress and 
subscribe now by going to http://www.NeatNetTricks.com/archives.htm .

12.  STARTUP CONTENTS.  It's no secret that Windows loads a lot of stuff
on startup that places a heavy demand on your resources.  You can see
all this with CTRL+ALT+DEL and close much of it if you are running low
on resources or want to defrag your hard drive more easily.  If it all
looks like cave etchings to you, check out the site at
http://www2.whidbey.net/djdenham/ for an explanation of what these 
files do and what can be unchecked.

WRAP UP:  Sorry about the incorrect link to the NNT Bulletin Board in 
NNT Issue 91.  For your technical questions and comments, the correct 
address is http://www.escribe.com/bb/nettricks .

If you haven't yet entered our contest to guess when the NNT Website 
gets it's 500,000th hit, go now to http://www.NeatNetTricks.com .  You
may win over $300 in software.

And whether you call it Christmas or something else in your part of 
the world, we wish you a blessed and peaceful holiday season.

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Copyright 2000 by Jack Teems.  All rights reserved.
