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The LangaList
31-Jan-00
A Free Email Newsletter from Fred Langa About BrowserTune,
HotSpots, Columns, Tips & Tricks, and Other Activities
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Yow! Hundreds and hundreds of you
posted or emailed replies to my "AOL5: The Upgrade Of Death?" column.
(See http://content.techweb.com/winmag//columns/explorer/2000/02.htm
) Even more of you shared the column with friends and co-workers--- until some
critical mass was achieved and the column took on a life of its own: So far,
news organizations ranging from CNN to the Associated Press to USA Today to
Newsbytes and more all have picked up on the story. That, in turn, prompted others to
look into AOL, and the closer we've all collectively looked, the worse it
seems. In this week's column at
WinMag.Com, I'll share with you some of the most common complaints readers have
made to me about AOL, including: No, not everyone agrees with me
about AOL, and some readers have written to praise the software and the service:
I'll show you a letter from an AOL supporter, too. But the overwhelming majority of
letters and posts were from readers whose experiences with AOL5 closely mirrored
my own unpleasant ones. Many of these were knowledgeable users---this wasn't a
matter of user error, as some pro-AOL writers suggested. In fact, I'll reprint a
very informative letter from a professional computer consultant who makes part
of her living specifically from "cleaning up the mess" made by apps
like AOL5. And all this AOL activity got me
to thinking: AOL5 has been out for a while. So why is there a sudden flood of
resentment now? I actually think AOL has been
generating that resentment for a long time; but when they became king of the
media world with Time Warner and now EMI records, it pushed people over the
edge. People are willing to forgive problems from underdogs or struggling,
up-and-coming software vendors. But once a company achieves top-dog status, the
rules change and they're held to a higher standard. By AOL's admission, their setup
is aggressive and will by default take over TCP/IP and dialup settings. When AOL
was seen as a small company struggling against Microsoft, that might have been
OK--- fighting fire with fire. But now AOL is the Microsoft of the media world,
and that kind of hyper-aggressive behavior is no longer tolerated. AOL's behavior is a new issue to
many people, but long-time readers know that my own negative feelings towards
AOL's hyper-aggressive setup predate (by years) the recent mergers and
acquisitions. It comes down to this: I work
hard to stabilize my systems, and any application that wants to drop 4.5MB of
unneeded, unwanted system files on my PC is going to end up on my black list.
Any application that wants to change my networking setup needlessly and without
even asking my permission is going to end up on my black list. Any software that
wants to diddle needlessly with my system's power management settings is going
to end up on my black list. Any software that want to try to jam ads down my
throat, control where I can go, arbitrarily limit what I can do, affect who I
can write to or what sites I can visit, is going to be on my black list. But what about you? Has your AOL
experience differed from mine? Have you found ways around the upgrade hassles?
What do you think the future will hold as AOL emerges as the biggest media
company on the planet? Join in the discussion! The forum will open around midday
(EST, GMT-5) on Monday Jan 31st, 2000, and run continuously--- you can join in
any time, read the column, and post your replies at your leisure. Join in--- it's sure to be
eye-opening, ongoing discussion! Click to
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Reader Mike Romine sent along
this warning which I did not personally follow up on, for reasons that will
become obvious when you read what happened to Mike's computer! So although I
can't personally verify this, at the very least Mike's experience would suggest
extreme caution in dealing with the site he talks about: From:
"ROMINE,MIKE" Hi, Fred. I received an email from
a friend containing the following link-- [but don't click it!]:
www.gohip.com/freevideo/ Assuming he had
intentionally sent this to me, I decided to take a look. The page is titled Hip
Hollywood. A popup appears asking
if you want to install "Free Video Browser Enhancement". If you chose
to install this a User Name and Password box appears. You can "submit"
without entering anything, and watch the "Free Video"of your choice. But, there is a major
catch to this "Free Video". The "Free Video Browser
Enhancement" adds the file "Windows Startup.exe" to the Windows
Folder, as well as attaching the above signature to outgoing email. A banner is placed at
the top of the browser for GoHip on all pages. Upon closing the browser, a
pop-up ad opens. Changing the Home Page
settings in Internet Explorer will eliminate the banner, until you restart the
computer. Once again, you have the banner and pop-up. To eliminate it
completely I had to disable the "Windows Startup" using the System
Configuration Utility, delete Windows Startup.exe from the Windows folder and
delete the signature from the outgoing mail. This practice from GoHip
appears to be as bad as the Melissa virus. Many unsuspecting users will install
the "Free Video Browser Enhancement", as I did, but not have the
knowledge of how to stop the email signature attached to their outgoing mail. It
is truly Spam in it's most deceptive form. "Please forward
this to everyone you know." Just kidding. :-) --Mike Romine Thanks for the head-up, Mike! Click to
email this item to a friend You know about "deja
vu," that weird feeling that you've experienced something before. Then
there's "deja moo," the feeling that you've heard this bull before.
<g> And there's Deja News, which
started life as a web-based front-end to "UseNet" newsgroups, which
once were the #1 way to share information online in just about every area of
human interest. There are now well over 30,000 newsgroups online ranging from
user-to-user tech help groups to hobby-oriented groups to professional interest
groups to groups exploring the furthest and ,um, least savory fringes of the
human experience. Deja News' greatest strength was that it allowed you easily to
search and sort vast archives of old newsgroup postings. In the past, I've recommended
Deja News many, many times as a way to dig out solutions to obscure problems you
might have with your hardware or software: With a Deja search for the exact
problem you're having, you can probably find others who have experienced the
same or a very similar problem. Many times, this either lets you get a posted
solution immediately (and for free!) or to write to others who are in the same
situation as you are, and problem-solve together. It's a great tool. But so many websites now offer
easy ways to share user-to-user info. The majority of people online have never
looked at any newsgroup, ever. So Deja News changed its name to
"Deja.Com" and become a regular web site aimed mainly at letting users
share experiences with commercial products: The idea is that before buying
something, you'd go to Deja.Com and see what others say about the product you
were thinking of buying. That led some readers, such as
"JH," to write to me: re your comments on
Usenet groups: deja.com now seems to be
mainly a commercial and a more general news portal now. Have you looked lately?
Am I doing something wrong? Maybe there's still a way to get to Usenet groups
through it, but I haven't found it yet. Well-hidden? Still looking... --JH It is well-hidden, but it's still
there, and it's still very useful for tracking down information in newsgroups:
just dig down via the search link in the upper right corner of the Deja.Com home
page. Next time you're really stumped
for info on any topic, try a newsgroup search--- you may be surprised at what
you find! Click to
email this item to a friend To help you preview what trouble
you might run into installing Windows 2000, you can download and use the free
Win2K compatibility tool at http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/upgrade/compat/ready.asp
.
This small application will sniff
your hardware (and software) to tell you what probably will--and won't--work.
Other good pre-install resources
are http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/upgrade/compat/search/default.asp
and http://www.hardware-update.com/. I'll detail it all in my
current InformationWeek Online column. But what's your take? What are
the things you most dislike about the new OS? What are the most-welcome (or
most-needed!) improvements over NT4 and Win9x? Join in the ongoing discussion
live now at http://www.informationweek.com/langaletter
. Click to
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Javier Pedroso asks: Fred: I'm not new to the
Internet but there are so many terms that I don't know what they mean that I
would like, if possible, to get may hands on some glossary of computer and
Internet terms and lingo. Your list is very enlightening, keep it up!. Thanks There are actually several, but
the one I find myself using the most often is the free "Tech
Encyclopedia" at http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/home. It's easy to use, covers a lot of
ground, and is reasonably up to date. Give it a try on an obscure tech term, and
see how it does for you!! Click to
email this item to a friend In my current Byte.Com column, I
asked: "How do you visualize cyberspace? What's the best depiction you've
seen? The worst? (Personally, I thought The Matrix's "green flowing
code" was great, but the climactic scene's "the world as 3-D
code" was just plain silly.) How do you describe cyberspace to someone who
has no idea what it is? What's the best, and the worst, way to think about
cyberspace?" (See http://www.byte.com/column/BYT20000119S0006
) Reader Bob Crawford liked the
column, but wrote: Fred... re: "The Matrix's
"green flowing code" was great..." Seems to me that someone
posted a free animated screen saver depicting that code... If you or another
reader knows where to get it, I suspect many of us would be grateful :) Keep up
the inspired columns !---Bob Crawford I hadn't seen that
screen saver, but when I went looking for it, I found it at http://smaug2.whatisthematrix.com/dld/matrix.zip It works best at
lower screen resolutions, but when it's running, it'll look like you're hacked
into The Matrix, too. 8-) Click to
email this item to a friend On Jan 31, I'll
choose another monthly winner of a copy of "Poor Richard's E-Mail
Publishing: Creating Newsletters, Bulletins, Discussion Groups and Other
Powerful Communications Tools." This book has been described as "An
excellent, straightforward manual on email publishing, banner ads, driving
traffic and especially ethics." To have a shot at
winning, 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 book! (Full details also available
via this link): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#2 The more times you
make a recommendation, the greater your chances are of winning! Or, if you'd like to
try to win a Palm III organizer, try this link (full details also available
here): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#1 Either way, thank
you, and good luck! Click to
email this item to a friend In the last couple issues, we've
discussed free online translation services (see http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2000/jan-27-00.htm#4
) and a free text-to-speech site that will say aloud whatever you type in. (See http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2000/jan-27-00.htm#5
) Reader "Dana" wrote to
tell me about an AT&T Labs-Research text-to-speech site that has
better-sounding voices than the Bell Labs site I told you about. The AT&T
site is at http://www.research.att.com/~mjm/cgi-bin/ttsdemo. And Gary Fritz says: You ain't seen nothin'
yet. Check out http://www.ananova.com
, the home of a new "virtual broadcaster." She's not quite ready for
prime time yet, but the Press Association NewsCentre in the UK is grooming her
to be the "personal newscaster" for any kind of customized info you
want. (I think the PA is analogous to the Associated Press in the US.) What a strange, strange
world it's becoming. Already. :-)--- Gary Indeed! Thanks, Dana and Gary! Click to
email this item to a friend Peter Casson offers this: Fred have a look at this
site. I don't know what the hell it means or is doing but it is interesting to
say the least. Well, I looked and all I can say
is "wow!" I don't know what it means either, but it's an impressive
bit of web-coding! Click to
email this item to a friend "GarryW" sends this
along: Top Ten Changes to Cable
Television Resulting from AOL Acquiring Time Warner... 10. When you turn on
your television, you'll hear "You've got Pay Per View". 9. There will be a
mysterious 19 hour period where your cable just won't work. 8. Test Patterns:
Televisions equivalent to a busy signal. 7. Every once in a while
you have to have your cable reinstalled. 6. 100 Free Trial Hours
of Cable Access which you can't cancel, no matter how hard you try. 5. CIA: Cable Instant
Alerter. Now all your friends will know when you are watching television. 4. Childproof features
on cable will prevent you from receiving programs from undesirable sources,
including ones you really do want to receive. 3. The cable repairman
tells you to turn your TV off and back on again when you report your cable is on
the fritz.... again. 2. Relatives in
neighboring towns make fun of you because you don't have a "real"
cable company like they do. 1. "You've been
watching TV too long. Your connection has been terminated." Click to
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Dozen Great Books Check
out computer-related books personally recommended http://www.langa.com/books.htm --------------(
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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 © 2000 Langa Consulting LLC. All rights reserved.1)
Yet *More* AOL Problems
http://www.langa.com/sendit.htm
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Reader Warning!
Subject: Free Videos from hell.
http://www.langa.com/sendit.htm
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Deja News' Mysterious Vanishing NewsGroups
http://www.langa.com/sendit.htm
return to top of page4)
More On Loving/Hating Windows 2000 (Part 2)
http://www.langa.com/sendit.htm
return to top of page5)
Wanted: A Decent Glossary
http://www.langa.com/sendit.htm
return to top of page6)
See The Matrix's "Green Flowing Code" On Your Own PC
http://www.langa.com/sendit.htm
return to top of page7)
Last 24 Hours To Enter January's FREE Book Drawing
http://www.langa.com/sendit.htm
return to top of page8)
Speech to text to speech to...
http://www.langa.com/sendit.htm
return to top of page9)
A Weird, Weird Site
http://www.snarg.net
let it load and watch it go....
http://www.langa.com/sendit.htm
return to top of page10)
Just For Grins
http://www.langa.com/sendit.htm
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(At a 20% Discount!)
by Fred Langa and available at Amazon.Com's deepest discounts!
Fred
(fred@langa.com)
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