Neat Net Tricks Issue # 100
April 15, 2001 

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IN THIS ISSUE:

01.  Translator
02.  Dawn
03.  Disconnect when closing Netscape
04.  Startup applications
05.  Jargonator
06.  A print solution - maybe
07.  Link frequency
08.  Hold that pose
09.  The Driver Guide
10.  Keeping your place
11.  Complain!
12.  Lookoff
13.  Death Test
14.  A little help from my friends

......

A candid letter to Neat Net Tricks readers on the occasion of this,
the 100th issue.  Please read it, at http://www.NeatNetTricks.com .
......

01.  TRANSLATOR.  Repeating a golden oldie, compose email in your native
language and include as a CC address the specific address they provide
at http://www.t-mail.com for translation in any of six languages.  A
machine translation to the desired language will be provided.  While
you're at that site, you can also use the free service to convert any
Web site to one of those languages as well.  Note that this is a machine
translation, so don't expect it to deal well with idioms.

02.  DAWN.  This application, still in Beta, converts address book
programs in Netscape 3 and 4, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, 
Windows Address Book, MS Outlook 98/2000, Juno, WordPerfect, Eudora 3 
and 4, Pegasus 3, and a host of other programs from one format to
another.  It also sorts email addresses by nickname or address and works 
on Win 95, 98, NT, and UNIX systems.  You can find it at 
http://zakharin.freeyellow.com/Software/Dawn.html

03.  DISCONNECT WHEN CLOSING NETSCAPE.  If it would be convenient to 
close your dial-up connection when you close Netscape, there's a file
at http://www.ufaq.org/files/autoclose.zip that might be just what you
are looking for.  The download extracts to a file called Rasexit.exe.
Place it in the windows\system folder and double-click on Autoclose.reg
to add information to the System Registry.  Click on Start|Run and type
c:\windows\system\rasexit.exe in the box and click OK.  After changes
have been made, close the program and restart your computer.  In future
sessions, Windows should disconnect your dial-up whenever you close
Netscape.

04.  STARTUP APPLICATIONS.  We've mentioned before that Win 98 users
plagued with low resources might uncheck some of those resource hogs 
that start when you boot up.  It's simple to do: click Start|Run and 
enter "msconfig" (without the quotes) in the box, then click on the
StartUp tab and uncheck whatever you'd like, EXCEPT Explorer and 
Systray.  It would be nice to know what all that other stuff is before
you decide to remove it from the startup.  Not a problem. There's a 
comprehensive list of these programs and what they do at
http://www2.whidbey.net/djdenham/Printerdesktop.htm .

05.  JARGONATOR.  Jargon, says the American Heritage Dictionary, is
"the specialized or technical language of a trade, profession,
or similar group," and it's also nNonsensical, incoherent, or 
meaningless talk."  We need look no further than users manuals to get 
a good example of jargon.  A little Web-based feature at 
http://www.jargonfreeweb.com will evaluate a jargon rating for the 
stuff you're sifting through.

06.  A PRINT SOLUTION - MAYBE.  This is at least worth a try if you are
having problems getting frames to print correctly in Netscape.  Change
the cache setting by going to Edit|Preferences|Advanced|Cache|Document 
in Cache is Compared To Document On Network, and change the option to
Every Time.  That may clear up the frame printing problem, but if not,
what have you got to lose?

07.  LINK FREQUENCY.  If you have a Web site, we mentioned a site a few
issues ago that would check to see how many other pages your site may 
be linked to.  Here's another one:  http://www.linkpopularity.com .

08.  HOLD THAT POSE.  If you'd like to maintain your current Windows
98 configuration press the CTRL key when your close Windows.  Your
configuration will be retained, provided you're not in a "crash"
situation during the shut down.

09.  THE DRIVER GUIDE.  When someone told me to go sign up for The
Driver Guide at http://www.driverguide.com I thought they were making a
comment on my driving.  This is not that sort of driver.  It has a 
massive database of drivers and resources for your computer, claiming
to be the largest on the Web. The Driver Guide explains how to find 
and install drivers; provides a database of drivers, manufacturer 
information, and links; and offers a discussion board to resolve driver
problems, download and upload hard-to-find drivers, and list requests 
or specific drivers. The Driver Guide is free and says it's helped 3 
million people since 1997.

10.  KEEPING YOUR PLACE.  When you're using Internet Explorer and you'd
like to click on a link but save your place, hold the Shift key while 
clicking.  A new window opens to display the second site.

11.  COMPLAIN!  This one's sure to give you a good feeling if you have a
gripe about any product or service.  At http://www.ecomplaints.com check
by product name or company if others have had a problem.  Post your 
problem for the whole Web to see, and, more importantly, it will be sent
to the company that did you wrong.  You can even see their reply, if
they have the nerve.

12.  LOOKOFF.  Try another search page for your Web hunt at 
http://www.lookoff.com.  They say it's "devoted to helping you select 
a search engine from thousands depending on the topic you are 
searching  for." And they want you to "remember that specific topics 
will be found more efficiently with specific search tools."

13.  DEATH TEST.  We've featured these before:  answer some questions
and the feature tells you when you can expect to die.  This one at
http://test.thespark.com/deathtest/death.cgi does it with a little 
tongue-in-cheek.

14.  A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS.  My MS Word 2000 mysteriously
began to freeze my PC, requiring a reboot each time I called on it.  
I'll spare the gory details, except to say I attempted the 
usual obligatory disk scan, defrag, virus scan, and system file check.
I tried the Word repair program, I reinstalled, and I even downloaded 
the humongous Office Update of 26 or so megabyte.  A dozen or so 
friends made numerous suggestions, and I tried them all to no avail.  
Dell was at a loss, and Protonic said the problem was too complicated 
for them. And then someone nudged me in the direction of The Computer 
Tutor, college teacher Linda Johnson, who could write an eBook on Word. 
In fact, she has, and details are at her Web site, 
http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/ .  I was really impressed and
this lady knows her stuff.  In three quick emails, my PC kissed and 
made up with Word ... and I bought Linda's book. The problem was a 
corrupted template file, normal.dot, and deleting it was all it took to
get my Word back on its feet.

. . . .
....

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Copyright 2001 by Jack Teems.  All rights reserved. Neat Net Tricks
is registered with the U.S. Library of Congress ISSN 1533-4619.
