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LangaList 2001-04-09 Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!
1) IE6 Beta WarningI'm starting to get emails from people having trouble using the Beta version of Internet Explorer 6. I'll talk about IE6 specifically in a moment, but let's take a moment to look at Beta software in general: Software is produced in three rough and poorly-delineated stages. (There's no sharp edge separating from one step to the next; it's a continuum.) Generally, the earliest builds of software are called "Alpha" versions: They're extremely rough passes at what may or may not constitute the final product. As the Alpha version is refined, features and functions may be added or dropped, the entire look and feel may change, and in fact, the product may even be rewritten from the ground up over the course of successive builds. Once a software product is more or less suggestive of its final form, it's called Beta. This version is used for testing--- "Beta testing"--- to see if the features and functions are doing what they're supposed to; and to track down and kill bugs within the software. Early Betas are often wildly unstable, and sometimes turn out in retrospect to be Alphas: Some feature and functions may not survive Beta-testing, and may be killed or radically redone during early Beta. Early Betas are usually tested by staff members and by a relatively small cadre of trusted external testers. Late Betas--- once the product is more or less "feature complete" and ready for wider testing--- are sometimes released to the general public so the developers can see what bugs and problems will turn up under real-world conditions. There usually are multiple Beta releases, each trying to correct previously-discovered bugs without introducing too many new ones. As the Beta tests progress, a software vendor's Quality Assurance staff will categorize the products' bugs according to severity and the number of users likely to be affected. At some point--- it's a judgment call--- the Beta software is declared good enough, and becomes the "gold code" from which the final, shipping version (sometimes called the "Gamma" version) will be produced. The software still contains bugs--- all but the most trivial programs *always* contain bugs, regardless of what software company or category is involved. But software "goes gold" and is shipped to end users when the vendor makes the determination (for good or ill) that the worst bugs have been quashed, and that only a small percentage of users will encounter the serious bugs that are known to remain. Yes, that's right: "known to remain." ALL software products from ALL vendors contain bugs, some of which the vendor knows about. Some of these will be corrected in later patches or updates or new versions; some will never be fixed because doing so would simply be too difficult, time-consuming or expensive. *ALL* commercial software is based on the "good enough" model, with each company setting its own standards for what constitutes good enough. IE6 is in Beta--- by definition, it's not yet good enough to ship. Thus, if you run IE6--- or any Beta--- you have to expect to run into bugs. Many professional Beta testers use dedicated, sacrificial systems for their tests, and expect to have to reformat the test system's hard drive on a fairly routine basis. Barring that, you should never, ever run any Beta on your main, must-use PC unless you have a totally bulletproof backup system that will allow you to prevent loss of any essential data. For all the above reasons, I generally suggest that people avoid Betas unless you go in with your eyes open and expecting trouble; and are armed with a 100% reliable backup system. And so, to all who have written to me asking if I can help them with their IE6 Beta problems, the answer is a regretful "no:" Report the bug to Microsoft, and hope they fix it in future Beta builds before the final IE6 version is shipped. If, after all that, you still want to try the IE6 Beta (Microsoft calls it a "preview" version), it's at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/preview/default.asp Click to
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the above is an advertisement )-------------- 2) Compression Question"Bob from Pittsburgh" asks:
Disk Compression (via Windows' DriveSpace utility) is pretty safe, and the performance hit usually is negligible; odds are you'd never notice it. As such, disk compression can be an excellent way to get more life from a too-small hard drive. It's also a good way to avoid inefficient space allocation on older hard drives formatted with FAT16 instead of the newer and now more common FAT32 standard. You can find an article on the subject, written when DriveSpace was new, at http://www.langa.com/newsletters/pre1999/14-Jun-98.htm in the item called "How to use the free DriveSpace utility to achieve ultra-small, ultra-efficient cluster sizes." But mp3s and similar formats are *already* compressed and won't squeeze down much more than they already are. Likewise, most streaming video--- and even still images in GIF, JPG and PNG formats--- are also already compressed, and benefit little from additional compression. The file types that benefit the most from compression are BMP and TIFF graphics, spreadsheets and word processing documents. The former sometimes can squeeze down to 5% of their uncompressed size; the latter to 50% of their uncompressed size. If you're not sure what kind of compression you might get, try squeezing down a sample file with WinZip or a similar tool: If WinZip (or whatever) can significantly compress the file, then DriveSpace also will be able to. If not, then disk compression won't help, and your only real option is to either offload the files to another medium (such as CDR) or to buy a bigger hard drive. Click to
email this item to a friend 3) An Expert-Level Disk Imaging/Compression TipAlthough the context is completely different from the item above, reader Bob Cortner found a very clever way to improve the efficiency of the compressed "disk images" created by his backup software. His note is a little long, but his tip is so clever, it's worth it::
Thanks, Bob! The software I use seems to skip the unnecessary junk--- the swap file, unused/erased clusters, etc.--- and so those things take up essentially no space in my final disk image. But for disk imaging software that copies *everything*, Bob's very clever technique gives the image-compression software something easy to work on, and could result in far smaller total-disk images. Cool! Click to
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the above is an advertisement )-------------- 4) New Archives / New FormatPlus! subscriber Bronson emailed me a surprise a while back: He took the entire LangaList archive files going back to 1997(!) and packaged them as a standard Windows Help File. You see, all LangaList subscribers--- including you!--- already have access to the searchable online archives at http://www.langa.com/archives.htm . In addition, Plus! subscribers can get their own local copy of the complete archives in the form of a Zip file that contains all past issues in their original formats. The Zip file can be expanded onto your local hard drive and then searched at high speed with whatever search tool you wish to use. But Bronson's Help File version is *much* slicker: Everything's in a single file, and it can be self-searched, using the Windows Help Engine's standard (and familiar) interface. It takes only seconds to find whatever you're looking for, no matter how long ago it was published in the LangaList! In a week or so, I'll be releasing new versions of the archives files to bring them up to date through mid-April. All Plus! subscribers will have their choice of getting their archives in the original Zip format, or in Bronson's slick Help File format. Plus! subscribers will be notified when the download is available. If you're not a Plus! subscriber, there's still time to sign up and get on the list for your own copy of the complete LangaList archives in whichever format you prefer. And of course, you'll get all the other Plus! benefits too. <g> Click to
email this item to a friend 5) UNIX Mini-GrinSay "UNIX" to most people, and they'll probably think you're discussing emasculated harem guards. If they do think of the operating system, it'll probably be in dust-dry geek terms. But a few issues ago in "Acronym Soup" ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-03-29.htm#4 ) we mentioned how bits of humor show up in odd places, including the infinitely recursive acronym GNU, for "GNU's Not UNIX." And there's more:
I swear there's no topic that LangaList readers can't add to. 8-) Click to
email this item to a friend 6) Want $10,000 Extra This Month?The Recommend-It site gives away up to $10,000 as an incentive to use their service to recommend newsletters like this one! 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 $10,000 or other prizes from the folks at "Recommend-It:" http://www.recommend-it.com/l.z.e?s=143182 Or, win a no-strings $30 Gift Certificate for any item at Amazon.Com--- books, software, hardware, kitchenware, toys... and more. (Full details also available via this link): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm Either way, thank you, and good luck! Click to
email this item to a friend 7) ShortcutsHave you ever watched a skilled computer user whipping though commands using keyboard shortcuts, and finishing a task that would have taken you much longer via the standard series of mouse clicks and menu-pulls? Frank Marks knows their secret:
Thanks, Frank! Click to
email this item to a friend 8) They Just Keep Coming And Coming and Coming...Well over a thousand of your fellow
readers have "Loaded the code." Please click over to http://www.langa.com/code.htm
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the above is an advertisement )-------------- 9) LavaSoft/Ad-Aware Returns At Odd MomentWouldn't you know, hours after I posted the last issue, which mentioned that the web site of Lavasoft (the folks who make Ad-Aware) had gone missing, their site came back. I got a bunch of emails that basically said, "Don't you check what you print?" To which I can only plead bad timing: The site had gone offline with a promise to be back "within three or four days," but was actually gone for over a week and was still offline when I posted the newsletter. (Yes, I did check.) I'm glad they're back, but I sure wish they'd done it either a day earlier or later. 8-) According to a number of German readers (Hauke Ingmar Schmidt was the first to write), the extra delay was caused by Lavasoft having a major problem at their hosting site:
Anyway, you can find all their offerings, including a new version of Ad-Aware, at http://www.lavasoft.de/ Or: at least you can find it as of this moment. If it changes by the time this issue reaches your mailbox, I'm innocent, honest! <g> Click to
email this item to a friend 10) Just For GrinsReader Jim MacDonald sent along email on a serious topic I hope to cover in an upcoming issue, but he also included an unusual signature block: -----BEGIN GEEK CODE
BLOCK----- The "Geek Code" is a way to describe yourself, your job, your political leanings, your computer interests, social life, and more, all in a shorthand form that looks incomprehensible unless you know the key. For example, Jim's code tells us that he works in Information technology, likes to work in T shirts and jeans, is a married thirtysomething, is liberal but distrusts both government and business... and lots more. The Geek Code is described at http://www.GeekCode.com . You can create your own code by hand, or by using any of the small programs at http://geekcode.sourceforge.net/ . You also can more or less automatically DEcode any valid Geek Code Block at a number of web sites, including http://www.kluge.net/ungeek.html . Parts of the Code are quite dated now and you'll probably find that many of the very rough categories may not fit well or at all. Plus, other parts of the Code exhibit a form of (ahem) humor of the "newly at college, away from home for the first time ever" type. But what the heck; it's just for fun. And besides, a newer Code version is in the works. I've put my own code at the end of this newsletter--- probably the only place it will ever appear. 8-) Click to
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the above is an advertisement )-------------- 11) Plus! Edition Highlights: Free Office Tools, More...Today's LangaList Plus! Edition contains all ten items above, plus about 30% more content including: a boatload of free, top-notch, professional-quality tools and add ins for your Office suite; more custom envelope printing tricks; and easy and expert-level ways to speed your internet connection. Plus! Edition info: http://www.langa.com/plus.htm Click to
email this item to a friend See you next issue!
Best, -----BEGIN GEEK CODE
BLOCK-----
An easier-to read formatted HTML version is available in the "Current Issue" section of http://www.langa.com. (The HTML version of each issue normally is available by 9AM EST [UT-5] of the issue date.) All past LangaList issues are also available at the Langa.Com site. Why are you getting this newsletter? This is a 100% OPT-IN newsletter: There are only three ways to get on the list--- signup via direct email request from you, or signup via the WinMag newsletter page or signup via BrowserTune's email-notification service. If you're getting this newsletter; your name came to me through one of those signup channels. At signup, you also received a confirmation email from my list software---no one is signed up secretly or against their will. SUBSCRIBE (it's free!): Create and send a new email address it to subscribe-langalist@lyris.dundee.net For even more content, downloads and special services, check out the LangaList Plus! Edition: http://www.langa.com/plus.htm UNSUBSCRIBE: From the same address you used to sign up with (it's shown on the first line in the body of each email issue you receive), create and send a new email address to unsubscribe-langalist@lyris.dundee.net . CHANGE ADDRESS? LIST TROUBLE? HAVE QUESTIONS? NEED HELP? See http://www.langa.com/help.htm 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: (Please see full disclaimer here: http://www.langa.com/legal.htm.) Abbreviated version: 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 service of Langa Consulting LLC and is Copyright © 1997-2005Langa Consulting LLC. All rights reserved. LangaList: ISSN 1533-1156 |
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