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The LangaList
13-Dec-99
A Free Email Newsletter from Fred Langa About BrowserTune,
HotSpots, Columns, Tips & Tricks, and Other Activities
| 1) BT2K
/ K2TB 2) Yes, Still *MORE* DMA Info Comes to Light 3) TANSTAAFL! 4) FREE AntiVirus Tools 5) It Was So Cold The Other Day... (warning: lawyer joke) 6) Don’t Make Me Beg! 8-) 7) Another FREE Partial Fix For "DLL Hell" 8) The Best Gets Better? 9) Just For Grins More! |
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1) BT2K / K2TB
Sometimes, it feels I've created not only BT2K, but its evil and opposite twin--- K2TB, a browser tuning program from some alternate universe where everything is sdrawkcab, er, backwards.
From the good or "plus" column, in its first 24 hours, BT2K successfully served up several hundred thousand pages to LangaList subscribers. There are many corporate sites that don't get that much traffic in a *month*…. For a one-man operation like BrowserTune, it's a jaw-dropper!
Also on the plus side, I got a lot of email like this, suggesting that BT2K is doing what I'd hoped:
Fred: I have never seen more clear/easy to follow directions anyplace - web, manual, etc. Would all sites were as good as this! --- Marilyn Carlson
Thanks, Marilyn and all who sent along kind words. I appreciate it!
And perhaps the largest "plus" was that all those hundreds of thousands of pages resulted in only four (!) for-real bug reports. None was serious, and all have been fixed. (Two were just spelling/typos, two were minor URL miscodes.)
I also got a number of emails that proved to be false alarms--- reports of transient problems caused by the sheer volume of pages the server was being asked to process and serve up.
But some other reports were, well, something else. And that's where the "alternate universe" theory comes in.
For example, BT2K's opening pages stress the importance of reading the explanatory text that accompanies each test; that's how you know what's going on, why the tests are the way they are, and what you should be looking for. But I still get "bug" reports like this:
Fred, the test for Alt Tags/Tips is doing the same thing as the previous test (GIF, JPG, BMP, PNG).
That BT2K user somehow missed the very first words on the "Alt Tag" test page which say: "This may look like the previous page, but we're testing something different here…."
Other users somehow missed the "Click if you failed this test or have a problem with the page" link that's on *every significant page* in BT2K; or (in the Level Three tests) they opted not to click on the "no" button when asked "Did your browser perform this test correctly?" Either of those options would have taken them to context-sensitive help pages that would have assisted them in resolving whatever the problem was.
Instead, when their browser would fail a test, they'd send me a bug report--- somehow, in that alternate universe, they'd see any failure as a *BT2K problem* rather a than problem with their browser.
It's only a tiny percentage of people who reported this kind of trouble, but still: Sometimes I feel like I'm beating my head against a wall. How can I make things clearer? How can I ensure people actually read the text and follow the links?
That's not a rhetorical question: If you have any suggestions as to how I can ensure that people actually read the text and follow the provided links, I'd love to hear 'em: fred@langa.com
But let's not end this item on a sour note; instead, let's focus on the hundreds of thousands of pages that worked just the way they were supposed to. <g> Thank you to all who tried BT2K! Stay tuned for more updates, and for the public roll-out in about a week. Meanwhile, the special LangaList-only BT2K URL remains open for your use at http://www.browsertune.com/bt2kfast ; the version now running is slightly different (minor updates) from the one you saw last week.
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--------------(
the above is an advertisement )-------------- Collectively, you folks are
really a force to be reckoned with! As you dig through the web, you're finding
all kinds of great info. For instance, on the subject of
DMA, or "Direct Memory Access," I put just about all I knew at the
time into my current WinMag column ( http://content.techweb.com/winmag//columns/explorer/1999/1206.htm
); I told you how I enabled DMA on my system and saw an immediate 15% speed
increase on my hard drives. But many of you have also found
and shared additional information. For example, here's a provocative site found
by reader Gary L. Walter: Fred: I have truly come
to depend on your newsletter for information I need at my job as a tech for a
university. Thanks! [Here's a] link that you probably know about, but just in
case: Thanks, Gary. I've written about
the "Tom's Hardware" site before. It's a great resource, although it
tends to deep-geek; it's a favorite hangout of people who "overclock"
their systems and such, and who aren't happy unless there's a warm soldering
iron somewhere in the room.<g> But much of the info there is
top-notch, and the provocative link above---which suggests that there may be
some funny business going on with DMA speed tests--- is indicative. Thanks again, Gary! Click to
email this item to a friend That's the acronym for
"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch;" it was first popularized
by author Robert A. Heinlein, many years ago. Of course, it refers to the fact
that things that appear free usually have a hidden cost. Sometimes, the hidden cost can be
high. I personally dislike "free" ISPs, for example, because they keep
shoving highly intrusive, often-animated ads in your face. But other times the hidden cost
is very low: Many ad-supported web sites (and---ahem---newsletters) fall into
this category when the ads are neither too numerous or intrusive. "Larry and Lola" from
Minnesota wrote about another free site--- one with no ads at all: Fred, whenever you find
the time, you simply must check out this site. You will not believe
what they can do. I would be very
interested in know what you think about this one, and what it is that we would
need to be aware of , using this site---Larry and Lola ExpertCity is interesting: It's a
site that offers live software help. You type in a question and human experts on
the other end review your question and offer to answer it; they also estimate
how long the answer will take. If more than one expert volunteers to answer your
question, you can review their online resumes and select the expert you feel is
best qualified. Remember: TANSTAAFL. For now,
while the service is in beta, it's free. But it's clear where this is going:
When you sign on, there are references to you as a "customer;" and
when the experts offer to answer your questions, they're actually bidding
(that's the term they use) for your business. It's clear that at some point
you'll have to pay for your answers: You'll post a question and the experts will
offer to answer it *for a price*. It's an interesting idea, but
without knowing how much it will cost or what the quality of the answers will
be, it's hard to say whether this will be worthwhile. Still, it's worth a look. Check
it out, especially while it's still free. Click to
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--------------(
the above is an advertisement )-------------- Several issues ago ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/dec-6-99.htm
) I wrote about a new crop of nasty viruses and suggested that everyone should
get and use a high-quality antivirus application. Several readers, including
frequent contributor George Tullius, wrote in about the free Computer Associates
program called Inoculate It: Fred you remember this
site http://www.cai.com/products/inoculateit.htm
, Thanks George (and all who wrote
in.) But---TANSTAAFL--- the "Inoculate It" license is free only
for personal copies. That's fine for your at-home use, but it's not fine for
general deployment at work; for that, you have to pay. Still, if you're looking for a
copy just for your own personal use, it could be great choice. Click to
email this item to a friend ...I saw a lawyer with his hands
in his *own* pockets. <g> OK, OK, enough cheap shots at
lawyers. But the legal wrangling between Microsoft, the DOJ and now the various
private and public lawyers instigating class-action suits has sparked a great
series of posts at the InformationWeek Online site. It's now the final few days of
that discussion forum, so if you haven't stopped by and read the great info
there, now's the time! Check it out at http://www.informationweek.com/langaletter
! Click to
email this item to a friend If you think the
LangaList is a worthwhile read, just use the following link to recommend the
LangaList to a friend. Your friend just may find a new source of useful
information; I just may gain a new subscriber; and you just may win a Palm III
organizer for your trouble (full details also available via this link): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#1 Or, win a copy of
"Poor Richard's E-Mail Publishing: Creating Newsletters, Bulletins,
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details also available via this link): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#2 Either way, thank
you, and good luck! Click to
email this item to a friend In the last issue ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/dec-9-99.htm#4
) I told you about a new Microsoft site ( http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/ )
that can help you identify some of those mystery DLL files scattered around your
system Reader Gary Fritz found two
others: Fred: Here's another: http://www.mpoli.fi/files/hardware/ I've been using this for
a couple of years now. It's a great resource. Most of it is in English, not
Finnish. :-) I also found this one,
which requires a membership: http://www.driverguide.com/ Thanks, Gary! Click to
email this item to a friend -------------(
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--------------(
the above is an advertisement )-------------- Back in August (see http://www.langa.com/newsletters/aug-5-99.htm#search
) I told you about a then-new "Kick-Butt Search Engine" that rose
above the commodity level of most other search engines, and also avoided the
"not a search engine but a portal that's all things to all people"
approach that's made so many other search engines lose focus. The site was http://www.alltheweb.com;
it uses the huge and speedy "FAST Search" to deliver consistently good
results. Well, last week, it got even
better with version 2.0. It now offers advanced search options, domain
filtering, and more. Plus, the index has grown to include 200,000,000 web pages,
100,000,000 FTP files, 1,000,000 MP# files, 17,000,000 pictures and sounds, and
lots more. Alltheweb has been my #1 search
engine for some time now, and this has only made it better. If you're at all
unhappy with your current search engine, give Alltheweb a try! Click to
email this item to a friend A couple weeks ago, I got a call
from my local electric utility company; they needed to replace a remotely-read
meter in my basement. It's part of a system they call
"Heat Smart." Our house has electric heat, although we don't use it
for much, preferring instead to burn wood in a pair of high-tech,
ultra-high-efficiency woodstoves. I know "high-tech" and
"woodstove" aren't words you normally hear together, but it's true;
these suckers are engineered to the max and burn extremely cleanly and well,
letting us employ a locally-produced renewable heating resource; an
environmentally much friendlier alternative than oil-, coal- or nuclear-fired
electricity. The previous owners of this
house, though, did rely heavily on the electric heat. And here's a factoid you
may not know: New Hampshire has the highest electric rates in the nation;
approaching $0.20 per kilowatt hour. In an effort to foster electric use in the
face of these high prices, the local utility offers half-price electric heating
rates through this "Heat Smart" service. It uses a special
remote-reading meter and a computerized widget that sits on the power lines that
lead to the heating circuits. The previous homeowners signed up. The deal is that you give up some
control of your electric heating: During periods of high electrical demand when
the local generating stations are running at capacity, the Heat Smart systems
lets the electric company temporarily shut down your heating circuits from afar;
an electronic thermocouple in the basement turns the power back on if the house
gets dangerously cold. It's a good deal for us because
we get half-price power for what heating we do use. The electric company can
play with the heating circuits all they want and it will have essentially zero
effect on us because we don't rely on the electric heat. It could go away
entirely; it would hardly matter. Anyway, the serviceman showed up
with the new computerized meter assembly. As I was letting him into the basement
I asked if the old unit was broken. "No," he said, "It's that the
old Heat Smart software wasn't Y2K compliant." And thus, although I had
Y2K-proofed all my computers months ago, the Y2K bug still found its way into
the Langa household. Guess I'll make sure the
woodstoves are fully stoked at midnight on 12/31/99. <g> Click to
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advertisement )-------------- See you next issue! Best, (Please recommend
the LangaList to a friend! (And maybe win a Palm III) An easier-to read formatted HTML version is
available in the "what's new" section of http://www.langa.com.
(The HTML version of each issue normally is available by 9AM EST [GMT-5] of the
issue date.) All past LangaList issues are also available via the same link. Why are you getting this newsletter? There are
only two ways to get on the list (direct email request or via the WinMag mail
list signup page) so if you're getting this newsletter; your name came to me
through one of those channels. SUBSCRIBE (it's free!): Send email to subscribe-langalist@lyris.dundee.net About
the advertisers: Langa Consulting LLC will never knowingly accept
advertising for a fraudulent product, company or service. However, Langa Consulting LLC makes no implied or explicit warranty, recommendation or endorsement
of or for the products, companies or services mentioned in the ads. Disclaimer:
The tips and other information given in the newsletter are researched and are
believed to be accurate, but we cannot and do not guarantee that all the
information here will work on all systems, for all users, all the time. All
information herein is offered as-is and without warranty of any kind. Neither
Langa Consulting LLC, nor its employees nor contributors are responsible for any
loss, injury, or damage, direct or consequential, resulting from application of
any information presented here. This newsletter is a free service of Langa Consulting LLC and is Copyright © 1999 Langa Consulting LLC. All rights reserved.2)
Yes, Still *MORE* DMA Info Comes to Light
http://www.langa.com/sendit.htm
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TANSTAAFL!
http://www.langa.com/sendit.htm
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FREE AntiVirus Tools
remind your readers that they can get a FREE virus protection program here,
which does have weekly updates to protect them from new virus's. They now
offer a FREE internet protector option also.
http://www.langa.com/sendit.htm
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It Was So Cold The Other Day...
http://www.langa.com/sendit.htm
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Don’t Make Me Beg! 8-)
http://www.langa.com/sendit.htm
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Another FREE Partial Fix For "DLL Hell"
http://www.langa.com/sendit.htm
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The Best Gets Better?
http://www.langa.com/sendit.htm
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Just For Grins
http://www.langa.com/sendit.htm
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Fred
(fred@langa.com)
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