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LangaList 2002-02-28 Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!
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1) It's Back From The Dead!"Now you see it; now you don't:" ResellerRatings was there, then was replaced with a page that said "ResellerRatings.com is being discontinued. That page then redirected you to an unrelated page on Earthweb. But, mysteriously, ResellerRatings is back at its original URL--- http://www.resellerratings.com/ --- and appears to be working normally. I have no idea what the shutdown/sale/restart was all about (my guess is that they were unprepared for the howls of protest...), but the service is back, and that's what's important. Check it out, not only to see how others have fared with various vendors, but to add your own ratings, too. And while you're at it, see the next item: Click to email this item to a
friend 2) Other Ways To Rate VendorsWhen it appeared that ResellerRatings was dead, some other sites stepped up to serve as alternatives. Plus, several readers found other less-well-known sites that were already in business offering the same kind of real-world/real-people, user-to-user ratings:
Thanks to all who wrote in! Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 3) Store-Bought PCs For Less Than Build-It-Yourself?The article "In Praise Of White-Box PCs" (at http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20020214S0003 ) discussed how you can use no-name or little-known PCs for some purposes, and save a bundle in the process. We also listed a number of sources for buying and building ultra-low-cost PCs. But then several readers (Chris Tucker was first) found an item about a major retailer offering fully-assembled PCs for prices as low or even lower than what you can achieve by building the system yourself. The PCs are made by "Microtel" and are being sold through (drum roll, please...) WalMart. The PCs ship without an operating system. You can get all the specs by clicking to http://www.walmart.com/ and then using the search function to look up "microtel." Halfway down the search-results page, click on "See our selection in: Electronics/Computers/Desktop PCs/Microtel PCs/Microtel PCs without Windows" For example, for $399, you can get the following:
That's an *amazing* price for that bundle. Unfortunately, I know nothing about Microtel, and they're not listed in any of the vendor rating guides listed earlier in this newsletter. A Google search didn't help: "Microtel" is also the name of a chain of highly-automated, low-cost motels. <g> But if you're in the market for a low-cost PC, the WalMart offering surely merits a look. Thanks to all who wrote in. Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 4) Jargon And Acronyms DefinedA reader called "Bluenosedolphin" asks:
There actually are many places online to look up geeky jargon and acronyms, but two of the most reliable resources I've found are: http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/
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friend 5) We Warned You: Win95 Support Is Now GoneStarting last summer, we began discussing how Microsoft was phasing out support for older software, and shortening the length of support for newer software. 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, as one reader found out first-hand--- for Win95:
Here's what John found when he went to the Windows Update site:
Microsoft's new "Desktop Product Lifecycle
Guidelines" affect *all* their products--- not just operating systems. 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. And 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 Click to email this item to a
friend 6) Last Day To Enter February's FREE DrawingLater today (Feb 28), I'll randomly select 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): Either way, thank you, and good luck! Click to email this item to a
friend 7) Always Check The "Custom Install" OptionsReader Mike Grace was prompted to write about one specific item in a recent newsletter, but his suggestion is actually a good one for *all* software installations.
Thanks, Mike. Actually, most software offers a custom install option, which often lets you be far more selective about both *what's* installed, and *where* it's installed to. In some cases (such as with the downloads of IE5 and IE6) you even get unusual "save to disk" options that are completely unavailable by any other means. It never hurts to see what a "custom" install offers--- it only takes minute. If there's nothing in the custom install that's useful to you, you always can back out and re-accept the standard install options. But many times, you will see custom options that can give you far more control over your software. Check it out next time you're installing something! Click to email this item to a
friend 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 ) Tune Up/Tweak XP's Built-In Search Tool Data Recovery / Loss Prevention tom coyote D. Graf's Scale Modeling Obsession Meta Search Page Joe Salerno, Videographer Sam Smith Tribute Canadian News For Software Execs Indonesian Community of Central Australia Power Defrag Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 9) A Boatload Of FreewareSteve Gibson (of "ShieldsUp" fame) sends along this note:
Thanks, Steve! Click to email this item to a
friend 10) Just For GrinsReader Nigel Ridley sends along a link to a site that that shows what it would be like if book publishers used software-style licenses. Here's a small excerpt:
See the rest of this amusing parody at Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 11) Plus! Edition Highlights
Today's LangaList Plus! Edition contains all ten items above, plus about 30% more content including: a visual thesaurus that uses a very slick, animated, three-dimensional way to show relationships between words; a tool that lets you change at will among browsers, without having the browsers fight over which one is set as "default;" and a high-end content filter that seems to do a much better job than others. The Plus! Edition costs just a $1 a month--- eight issues for only a buck! Info: http://www.langa.com/plus.htm Click to email this item to a
friend See you next issue! Best, Please recommend the LangaList to a friend! (And maybe win $10,000!I) 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. UNSUBSCRIBE: From the same email account you
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