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The LangaList
Standard Edition

2002-01-17

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) Microsoft "Obsolete" KB items and files FOUND!

I've said it before and I'll say it again: You folks are *awesome*. Not an issue goes by that that I don't receive some (often, many) interesting and useful items that I probably never would otherwise have discovered.

Here's a case in point: As we've discussed in the past, Microsoft is about to pull the plug on support for Windows 98, 98SE, and NT; support has already officially ended for Windows 3.xx, and Windows NT 3.5x; and support has become skeletal for Win95, Win95 OSR1 and Win95 OSR2. (See http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-11-15.htm#1 and http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-10-29.htm#1 for more info.) Microsoft's new "Desktop Product Lifecycle Guidelines" affect *all* their products--- not just operating systems. (If you want to see when Microsoft will pull the plug on support for *your* software, check out http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycleconsumer.asp  and
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/discontinue.asp .)

In fact, this recent change in support for older products is one of the reasons why we've been covering XP and non-Windows alternatives more than we might otherwise: Microsoft is starting to *force* you to move to newer products; if you want support.

Once again, please don't shoot the messenger: *I'm* not the one tossing, say, Win98 into the trash heap--- it's Microsoft doing it! I'm just trying to help you cope. <g>

For example, the article at http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-11-15.htm#1 urged you to grab all the downloads, patches, updates, and related files you could (while they were still available)  for any product that Microsoft has decided to stop supporting: In effect, you need to create a self-contained support system if you want to keep using these products.

As mentioned above, support for some popular Microsoft products already has ended. But an enterprising reader poked around in the corners of some Microsoft servers and found useful files for some of these officially unsupported products. If you're using these products, it'd be smart to grab these files while you still can:

Fred, Excellent newsletter as always! I must mention a find I stumbled into on Microsoft's FTP site...

...I have been looking for a copy of the Windows 3.1 Resource kit just to complete my collection. I also keep a copy running for old Origin games (I can't just kick the habit of crashing though dungeons Richard Garriot style).... Here is what I found:

ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/peropsys/msdos
ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/peropsys/windows

These two locations in Microsoft's FTP contain Knowledge Base(KB) items that I can not pull up on [the main] KB site any longer, and some files that may help people!

In the msdos dir there is a public folder which contains the supplemental disk images for msdos 6.xx in several languages! (I think these were the result of that lawsuit over DoubleSpace?). In another folder are the disk images for the Step-Up to 6.22 from a prior version of MSDOS.

The gem for me however was within the windows directory. In there were the KB files and the Resource Kit in a help file format and in a disk image format taken from the original resource kit! Also found there were KB files in Help file format Microsoft Windows Version 3.11 Refresh (driver file updates it appears) I don't know how useful these are to that many people these days, but for die-hards like myself this stuff eventually finds a use ) --- Daniel S. Gurrola

Super, Daniel, thanks! I never would have found that stuff!

You folks are *awesome!*

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2) Free Benchmark/Diagnosis Tools

Good morning from the cold & rainy UK, Fred. I have just stumbled across this excellent freeware which basically benchmarks the system, evaluates CPU and hard drive performance, provides video system and mainboard information as well as providing Network info. Ideal if you run a small LAN.

You can find it @ http://www.freshdevices.com/freshdiag.html

Keep up the good work. ---Gary_B

Thanks,Gary. The site is a little ad- and popup-heavy, and requires that you submit an email address before you download the files. But the site does have a privacy policy, and I can't fault them for the ads: They have to recover their costs somehow.

I was surprised, however to see that the software required a reboot after install: Normally, that's only necessary if something is replacing system files or inserting a low-level hook into the OS. I declined to reboot, and still was able to run the tests; I then uninstalled the software.

It's too bad the software's behavior seems suspicious: My anti-virus and spyware tools (Norton's AV; Ad-Aware [ http://www.lsfileserv.com/index.html ]; PestPatrol [  http://www.pestpatrol.com/promo/langa/0102.asp --- full disclosure: they're an advertiser] ) all came up clean, so I don't think there's anything nefarious going on, despite the slightly strange behavior.

And having a local, complete testing/benchmarking tool on hand is very nice. So, I agree with you Gary, this one looks OK. Thanks!

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3) New, Free Chat Client

Hey Fred, I enjoy reading your newsletter.... Being an ICQ and MSN user, I want to take a moment to pass on information about a really excellent product. It s a program that can connect a user to AOL's Instant Messenger (AIM), the MSN Messenger, IRC, ICQ, and Yahoo! all at once, and from the same program. So, a user doesn't have to run five different chat clients if he or she wants to connect to all of their contacts using these different programs. It can all be done from within Trillian.

Trillian can be downloaded at http://www.trillian.cc and it's a really excellent program. Most important of all NO ADVERTISING. There are no annoying ads popping up in the user s face. It s also small and very user friendly. I suggest this to anyone who uses more than one chat client. I have been using the ICQ chat client for a few years, but since installing Trillian, ICQ has gone the way of the Dodo and I can still talk to all of my contacts that still use ICQ. Sincerely, Mariusz S. CYBULSKI

Thanks, Mariusz. It sounds super.

Trillian is in version 0.71, which suggests it's actually a late beta. Perhaps the 1.0 version will either have ads or will cost money to buy; but the 0.71 version is indeed free.

Whenever possible, I always try the software that gets mentioned in this newsletter, but because I'm not a user of chat software, this isn't one of those times: I can't offer a personal-use opinion. Instead, interested readers might check Usenet chatter about Trillian to see what other real-life users are saying: http://groups.google.com/groups?q=trillian&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search

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4) More On Voiding Warranties

In "Does Partition Magic Void Warranties?" ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2002/2002-01-14.htm#7 ) we discussed how some hardware vendors may decline to honor a warranty if you've installed a second OS on your system, or used a tool like Partition Magic. 

Fred.....  I work for one of these organizations [that void warranties] and although I may not agree with all the policies, I am obligated to enforce them. The best information I can offer is READ YOUR CONTRACT! Most vendors will cover only the original configuration. XP will not run smoothly (or at all) on a system purchased and designed back in 1999. Some users may have the best of intentions and add additional ram or a new video card and then find the system will not post [Power On Self-Test, at boot]. Many systems are proprietary and require a dual partition setup. (Compaq is one). Or everything will work fine for a month and then they will get a parity error and when asked to remove the added memory since it is not a covered item, have no idea how since they had their "friend" put it in. What many users do not know is that most vendors only offer free software support for 90 days! Then any other software help is handled on a fee basis.

It's your system and you should do with it what you want, but the vendor does not take responsibility for items that are not compatible or cause a functioning system to quit functioning or not work properly after a change is made to it.

Indeed, so many vendors are inserting restrictive language into their sales contract, it behooves us all to be extra vigilant.

I mentioned one way to work around some of these "you change it, you're on your own" warranties in http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2002/2002-01-14.htm#7 , but some readers had additional questions; see the next item.

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5) Preserve Your Warranty By Preserving Your Factory Setup

"Phillis" was one of many readers who asked:

Can you give us an explanation of how to do the following suggestion you made:

"To keep my own user-modifications from muddying the hardware support waters for my systems, here's what I do When I get a new machine, I burn a CD with the as-delivered OEM factory setup; then I make my modifications. If something goes wrong that I just can't figure out, I'll restore the original, factory image and see if the problem persists."

Sure! You'll find the most of what you need in: http://www.informationweek.com/LP/columnists/langa/2001/03.htm and
http://www.informationweek.com/LP/columnists/langa/1999/0831.htm

One thing that's changed since those articles were written is that some disk imaging tools now let you burn directly to CD, so your initial image of the as-delivered-from-the-factory setup doesn't require any diddling with the original partitioning scheme.

Yes, it does mean you have to install one piece of software in this case--- some kind of backup/imager--- but this can be uninstalled if you have to return the system for repair.

Actually, many of the backup methods discussed in "Fast, Easy Backups" ( http://www.langa.com/backups/backups.htm ) also can do the trick.

Today's Plus! edition also includes another very creative way to preserve a factory setup--- a way that frankly never even occurred to me. 8-)

(BTW, you'll find lots of other information on system setup, restoration, maintenance, troubleshooting, etc at http://www.freetune.com/most_popular_pages.htm )

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6) $10,000 For Your Trouble?

If you think the LangaList is a worthwhile read, just use the following link to recommend the LangaList to a friend. You just may win $10,000(!), your friend just may find a new source of useful information; I just may gain a new subscriber (full details also available via this link): 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... (Full details available via this link):
http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm

Either way, thank you, and good luck!
 

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7) Thumbs-Up For "Spam Weasel"

Many, many of you tried "Spam Weasel" ( http://www.mailgate.com/products/spamweas/sw_feat.asp ) the free spam prefilter for your email that we discussed in the last issue. ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2002/2002-01-14.htm#5 )

Most of the letters were along these lines:

Fred, In your last edition, you mentioned a free software product called Spam Weasel. Having been a personal computer user since 1981 (yes, nineteen EIGHTY-one), I have seen a quantity of software and hardware products, as you can imagine, not all of which lived up to their promises.

So I approached the Spam Weasel with caution. I was desperate, though, as the amount of spam I receive, despite the care I take, and despite my ISP's excellent filters, has increased to dozens per day, each requiring time to process. Since I am on several lists, and since Outlook's rules seem to fail more often than they work (an article addressing why that is so, with any possible fixes, would be well received in this household), I must examine each item to make sure it truly is spam before I delete it.

If I weren't such a reserved person, I would say that I am almost ecstatically happy to report that Spam Weasel works as promised. I spent a few moments poking around it to see how it worked, then spent a minute entering some known spam phrases, and about an hour entering my known "good" addresses (copying and pasting individual addresses from my Outlook address book, one at a time; if there is a way to get a text-file listing of all email addresses from Outlook, that would save a lot of time), et voila! The next time I started up Outlook, the incoming spam was marked. I made one further rule in Outlook (to delete email marked by Spam Weasel as spam), and made a few refinements and additions to my good list, and now all I need to do is scan my Deleted box to make sure nothing got deleted inadvertently. Otherwise, Spam Weasel has freed up a tremendous amount of time for me. So thanks once again for the tip. Weasels are not all bad. :-)

So, in general, it looks like Spam Weasel gets a big OK from your fellow readers.

One exception seems to be people who are already using some kind of email prefiltering. For example, by default (it can be turned off) Norton AntiVirus sets itself up so that your email client talks to Norton, and Norton itself actually communicates with your ISP or corporate email server (via a mini-mail server that's part of the Norton package). This kind of email indirection makes it harder to set up something like Spam Weasel, or any additional prefiltering tool.

But in all other cases, Spam Weasel gets a big thumbs up. If you're drowning in spam, you may want to give it a look.

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8) More Reader Sites!

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 From Among All Listed
http://www.langa.com/randomlink.htm

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

Naked Hoof
http://www.thenakedhoof.com.au/Index.html

andrew.e.bardsley reference site
http://www.andrew.e.bardsley.btinternet.co.uk/index.htm

Lona; Tahoma Girl
http://www.tahomagirl.com/

UK Credit Unions
http://hometown.aol.co.uk/colnevalleycu/myhomepage/business.html

The Old Paramedic's EMS Pages
http://www.tveatch.org/

Nice News Page
http://www.immservices.com/main2.html

User-To-User XP Help
http://www.geocities.com/btvillarin/

Ludington Satellite Images
http://www.geocities.com/invizzible/beach/beach.html

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9) The LAST Item On Backups (for a while <g>)

OK, we've just about beat this subject to death. But one major topic I omitted was what to do about backing up laptops.

The trick--- which also works with any USB-based CDR drives (USB devices don't work from DOS) is NOT to try to use DI's direct-write-to-CDR facility. Instead, make an empty partition on the hard drive and place the image file there. Once back inside Windows (i.e. once the image has been made), you can use the USB-based CDR normally and copy the image from the hard drive to blank CDs.

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10) Just For Grins

Chris Dahl sends along these (bogus) "XP Error Messages:"

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11) Plus! Edition Highlights

• Surprising Alternative Way To Preserve Factory Setup
• Random Tagline Generator For Your E-mail Signature
• Cool, Deep-Geek Way To Modify Any Program's Behavior

Today's LangaList Plus! Edition contains all ten items above, plus about 30% more content including: A very clever and unusual alternative way to preserve your pc's as-delivered factory setup; several ways---some free!--- to add randomly-generated funny taglines to your email signature; and a powerful, free tool that lets you see inside--- and perhaps modify--- any program!

The Plus! Edition always delivers more than the Standard Edition, has no ads, and costs just a buck a month. Info: http://www.langa.com/plus.htm 

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See you next issue!

Best,

Fred

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

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