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The LangaList
Standard Edition

2001-09-24

A Free Email Newsletter from Fred Langa
That Helps You Get More From Your Hardware, 
Software, and Time Online

Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!

1) Still More GREAT Sites

In the current free InformationWeek article and forum, many readers have been adding GREAT sites to my original list of 85 "must bookmark" pages. For example:

Fred, GREAT column! An awesome idea to pool the knowledge of the LangaList readers. I have a great site for HTML Validation & Related Tools: The HTML Reference Library v4.0, http://www.htmlib.com/  It has helped me solve many a mystery with HTML tags. I use Powermarks to keep all my bookmarks. It has a lightning fast search engine, and also helps me maintain the html files I have saved on my hard disk. There are a plethora of features beyond just html files too. Powermarks home page: http://www.kaylon.com/power.html --- Chris Fray

I would guess that you already know about this, but just in case-I notice you use google for a search engine, and it is a good one. However, there are things it doesn't cover. So, add to your list http://www.raging.com and http://www.ixquick.com --- raykornele

Here's a list of Sci/Tech web resources I made for a library science course on Sci/Tech resources; most useful for news and newsletters: http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~creegank/scitech/ or try this for links to science news (mostly) sites http://scils.rutgers.edu/~creegank/Sites_to_Check/ ---Katemariel

Dear Fred, This might be a good site to mention at your langalist, http://www.mkdata.dk/click/index.htm. In my opinion: a comprehensive explanation of hardware and computer related terms. Keep up the good work with your langalist, I enjoy reading it.--- Resa Oordijk

Come see both the original master list, plus all the other great sites recommended by your fellow readers, and then add your own: Let's pool our knowledge to produce a definitive list of outstanding online computer resources!

Click on over to http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20010916S0021 . See you there!

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2) "PurgeIE"

Jim Lawler writes:

Fred, I am the author of 'PurgeIE' which is a cleanup program for Internet Explorer.

I just received your 09/13 issue and read your 2nd article "A Hoax Getting Too-Wide Play" ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-09-13.htm#2 ). I assume that your are referring to [the hoax site] www.f***microsoft.com .  If so, I would like for you to know that I had nothing to do with that site even though it makes a reference to my shareware program, 'PurgeIE'. I still get twenty or so hits a day from that Webpage based on the Referrer report I run against my 'log' files. I actually have had several individuals register my program referencing that Website as the source of their learning about PurgeIE.

[A new, soon-to-be-released version] includes support for displaying the Security Zone and (for IE-6) the 'per-site' Cookie Setting for a selected URL. And it includes a convenient means for modifying these settings. Thanks, Jim Lawler - author of 'PurgeIE'   http://www.purgeie.com

Thanks, Jim. It's unfortunate when bad sites taint good tools; I appreciate your setting the record straight.

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3) Outlook/IE6's "Truncated Email" Problem Solved

Thanks to the many readers who wrote in with the fix for this seemingly-mysterious problem where some--- but not all--- installations of Outlook would truncate some--- but not all--- HTML emails; especially if IE6 had been installed. Messy problems like this are sometime a bear to resolve.

But this one turns out to be a re-occurrence of a problem we previously covered when IE6 was in beta: A corrupted system file--- MLANG.DLL--- is the cuplrit.

Originally, it tended to cause HTML pages (and emails) sometimes to display as blank pages. ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-04-26.htm#4 ) If that bad beta DLL file is on your system and did not get overwritten when you installed the final version of IE6, one consequence now is that you may see arbitrary page cut-offs.

Reader Steve Garrity was the first to write about this latest manifestation:

This issue occurs because the Mlang.dll file for Internet Explorer 6 Public Preview for Windows 98 is incompatible with Outlook 2000 and Outlook Express 5, 5.01, and 5.5. What Win 98 users must do is run System File checker and extract the MLANG.DLL file from the Win 98 CD. That has and will solve the problem.

Indeed, running SFC.EXE (usually found in your \windows\system folder) can pull the original, uncorrupted file from your Windows setup CD:

Run SFC.EXE, select "Extract one file from installation disk." When asked to "specify the system file you would like to restore," enter MLANG.DLL. When SFC asks, tell it where to find your setup files (usually on your setup CD, unless you've copied the setup CAB files to your hard drive).

Alternatively, you can use any other tool (such as WinZip) that lets you look inside CAB files, and extract MLANG.DLL manually. In Windows 98, the MLANG.DLL is inside WIN98_33.CAB on the CD, or WIN98_28.CAB (Disk 23) of the floppy-based setup. The correct file has an uncompressed size of 106496 and a file date of 4/10/98. When you've found the file, place it in your \windows\system directory, and then reboot.

For other versions of Windows: MLANG.DLL is also in Win_12.cab on the Windows ME setup CD, and a quick look at my Win2K Pro setup CD shows MLANG.DL_ in the \:i386 directory.

There are other ways to get the file--- a number of sites are offering downloads of MLANG.DLL for different versions of Windows, but (1) this is probably a copyright violation in the first place; and (2) the "MLANG" file you download could (potentially) be used as a Trojan file with which to infect your computer with something hostile.

If you used the IE6 beta, use your setup CDs to get a clean copy of MLANG.DLL; that's the safest, best way. And then you should no longer see truncated or blank pages and html emails!

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4) Close Topic: Startup Editors

Sometimes, topics take on a life of their own in a way I can't predict: "Startup Editors" was one such--- I'm *amazed* at the flood of email you sent in, all relating to ways you can control what auto-runs when your PC starts up.

We've covered a number of reader suggestions in previous Standard and Plus! Edition issues; here, for now, is the *last* post we'll run of this topic in a while. <g>

Fred, I came across this web site the other day - a great list of Windows Startup programs that might be lurking in your Windows startup folder or registry when you're wondering if it is safe to disable the program. http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm --- Kevin O'Shea

Thanks, Kevin--- and all the many, many readers who wrote in.

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5) Last Week To Enter September's FREE Book Drawing

On Sept 30, I'll choose another monthly winner of a no-strings $30 Gift Certificate for any item at Amazon.Com--- books, software, hardware, kitchenware, toys... 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 $30 shopping spree! (Full details also available via this link): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm

The more times you make a recommendation, the greater your chances are of winning!

Or, if you'd like to try to win $10,000(!), try this link (full details also available here):
http://www.recommend-it.com/l.z.e?s=143182

Either way, thank you, and good luck!

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6) More Dual-Boot Options

In response to "Boot Managers" ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-09-17.htm#4 ) several readers offered excellent additional info:

Hi Fred: Attached is a link to a Windows tip that TechTv had on their web site ("Instructions on how to set up a dual boot system with Windows 98 and Windows 2000:" http://www.techtv.com/print/story/0,23102,3338930,00.html ). I also wanted to dual boot Windows98 & Windows2000, and heard about this Windows tip on TechTv. I needed Windows2000 for digital video editing, and Windows98 for the rest of the family. They are very comfortable with Windows98 and did not want to switch to Windows2000. I followed the tips instructions and had no problems. --- Robert Fix

Thanks, Robert. That will help a lot of people facing Dual-Booting for the first time.

At the other end of the spectrum, a more complex (and pricey) but technically sweet solution was suggested by Ron Lewis:

Reading the "Boot Manager" topic made me think of a great product I have been using the past several months which I have never seen you discuss (in your standard edition, anyway). The product is called VMWare ( http://www.vmware.com ). It lets you install and run an O/S in a virtual machine.

It currently supports all the Windows OSs (DOS through WinXP), Linux, and FreeBSD. While I have had difficulty using Linux (under version 2.04), I have had pretty good success with getting DOS, Win95, Win98, WinME, and WinXP to run...  Once you boot to a virtual machine and put it into Full Screen mode, it's as if you're running it for real. For a developer like me, using a tool like this is a god-send. Personally, I shun dealing with the hassles of a multi-boot, multi-partition situation you'd have to deal with otherwise (as great as DriveImage, PartitionMagic, and BootMagic may be) especially when O/Ss require their boot partition be within the first 2Gig of your hard drive (whose idea was that!?!?). Or if you try to install O/Ss within the same partition (Win95, NT, Linux), then you have problems if the install doesn't go as planned and you want to undo it. With VMWare, you don't have those hassles.

One caveat, you need a machine with lots of speed and memory. Your machine should be at least a 800Mhz system and have at least twice the amount of physical RAM as you need in your virtual machine (VMWare won't let you use more than half of your physical RAM for a virtual machine). Fortunately, machines like that are pretty cheap these days. I was able to purchase a 1.4Ghz Athlon recently for only $895 with 512Mb DDR memory, 60Gig HD, Geforce 2 64Mb, DVD, CDRW. Thanks for the great newsletter!

Thanks Ron. We actually did cover VMWare a long time ago: http://www.langa.com/newsletters/1999/apr-11-99.htm#An%20Almost%20Great%20Idea . Aside from the RAM requirement, which isn't as big a deal now as it was when we first discussed it, the main drawback is still the price of the software--- at $300 a pop, it ain't cheap.

But for some situations, the speed and tech elegance of VMWare may be just what the doc ordered...

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7) They Loaded The Code

Do you have a home page or website? (It doesn't matter what size.) Please click over to http://www.langa.com/code.htm , and maybe you can join the hundreds and hundreds of LangaList readers who have "Loaded the Code!" (If you've already "Loaded The Code" and are wondering if your site will appear here or on the Langa.Com web site, please see http://www.langa.com/link.txt )
Speaking of which: Here's another eclectic sample of reader sites--- some professional, some very personal:

View A Randomly-Chosen Reader Site
http://www.langa.com/randomlink.htm

Manually Browse All Posted-to-Date Sites Starting At
http://www.langa.com/readersites.htm

"Complete Computer Source And More"
http://www.ccsandm.com/

Car Classifieds
http://www.auto-webmalls.com/index.htm

Dr M's Quicken Tip List
http://www.geocities.com/marvin1000/index149.html

10 TOP ONLINE AUCTION SITES
http://www.online.freeola.com/auctions.htm

Free SuperHeros
http://www.freezoner.freeservers.com/

Mendoc Media; "a website guide for the rest of us"
http://mendocmedia.com/

Fred Townsley's (USMC) Web Page
http://www.brightok.net/~townsley/

Mykyls Home of Music
http://www24.brinkster.com/mykybear/

Pharmacy Aid
http://www.geocities.com/chief_crazy_eyes_2000/

Helene's Home Page
http://www.geocities.com/helene/

Wellness Coaching
http://wellnesscoaching.com/links.htm

Micronesia
http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/huntington/1134/

Gary's Ranked Reviews (sci-fi)
http://www.geocities.com/garytorborg/

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8) Things To Do With A Dead CueCat

After "CueCat Heads For The Great Litter Box In The Sky" ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-09-17.htm#9 ), several readers wrote in to ask if there was anything that could be done with the things. The answer is a resounding "yes."

For example, reader Dan Freeberg suggests:

Hey, the CueCat, if you have one, is cheap bar code reader and the code has been hacked. Just a few sites devoted to the CueCat:

Catnip Sotware Site
http://www.goldsteinsoftware.com/

CueCat Mirror Sites
http://www.logorrhea.com/cuecat/mirrors.html

News, software and information
http://nc.flyingbuttmonkeys.com/foocat/

How to use a CueCat with a Palm
http://www.alpha-net.ne.jp/users2/yawata/pccatDA/

Collection of Essays about CueCat
http://www.fluent-access.com/wtpapers/cuecat/index.html

CueCat Resources
http://www.beau.lib.la.us/~jmorris/linux/cuecat/

Declawing the CueCat
http://airsoldier.com/~cuecat/

Drivers for Win2000
http://cuecatastrophe.com/

Neutering the Cat
http://www.cexx.org/cuecat.htm

Home of the CueDog
http://jaggedsoft.com/cuedog/index.php

Readerware Software that can use a CueCat to catalog your books, audio or video library
http://www.readerware.com/index.html

Linux CueCat Site
http://oss.lineo.com/cuecat/

Thanks, Dan!

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9) Just For Grins

Reader Dave Knapp got what may be one of the strangest spams ever:

Hi Fred, I've been subscribing to your newsletter for quite a while now, and subscribed to the Plus! Edition as soon as you announced it - I've founds the news and tips incredibly useful over the years, and the "Just for grins" section is frequently hilarious. In that line, I found the following e-mail in my Eudora In-Box when I opened it this morning, after returning from vacation yesterday afternoon. It has to be the strangest SPAM message I've ever seen, and I thought you might get a kick out of it (if you haven't already seen it). Thanks for all the great work with the LangaList! --Dave Knapp

From [name withheld]
Subject Attention time travelers and aliens

If you are an alien disguised as human and or have the technology to travel physically through time I need your help!

Also if you are from, I'm not sure this is the correct pronunciation The planet (Valnator) please reply.

My life has been severely tampered with and cursed by a very evil women of my past.

I need to be able to:
Travel physically back in time.
Rewind my life including my age.
Be able to remember what I know now so that I can prevent my life from being tampered with again after I go back.

I am in great danger and need this immediately!

Only if you are an alien or have this technology please send me a separate email to [address withheld].

It's gotta be a weird way of collecting the addresses of people who reply. But what demographic are they going after? Who would want to market to people who think they're aliens? Yikes!

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10) Extra Content In The Plus! Edition:
Checking Up On Agnitum--- Or Any Vendor!
Free Tool Easily Decodes MS Windows Error Messages;
Two Free Script-Killers

Today's LangaList Plus! Edition contains all items above, plus about 30% more content including: Information both on the specifics of Agnitum's online security products, plus how-to info on easily researching *any* vendor; a cool and free tool that automatically converts cryptic Windows error messages into plain English; two free tools that help protect you against malicious scripts; and more.

Plus! Edition info: http://www.langa.com/plus.htm 

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See you next issue!

Best,

Fred

(fred@langa.com)

Please recommend the LangaList to a friend! (And maybe win $10,000!I)

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