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The LangaList
Standard Edition

2002-05-02

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) Your Next Essential Travel Tool

OK, I realize this is going to sound weird, but please bear with me. <g>

This item isn't about PDAs, but let me ask you: Do you remember the first time you saw someone using a PDA--- perhaps a Palm Pilot, or a PocketPC? It looked strange, didn't it? It stood out. But today, millions of people use digital assistants and we hardly even notice any more. In fact, there's a good chance that you or someone close to you uses some kind of palmtop computer, and it probably no longer seems strange at all.

Likewise, going back a few years earlier than palmtop computers, there was a time when seeing someone with a cell phone was unusual: Passersby would stop and stare at a person having a phone conversation on a street corner. Today, of course, cell phones are ubiquitous. There's a good chance you own one.

It's a familiar pattern: When you first see a new technology, it seems geeky and strange. Some people may even ask: "Why on earth would anyone want it?" But fast forward a few years, and many of those same people probably are *using* the once-strange technology; the gadget no longer seems unusual at all.

Following that same pattern, another once-exotic technology is about to go mainstream. I'm willing to bet that some of you may initially say "No way! What on earth would I use that for?"  But I'm also willing to bet that soon, this technology may be a normal part of your life--- just as many other once-exotic technologies already have become part of your life.

"It" is the Global Positioning System (GPS) a technology that uses a small mobile receiver and appropriate software to receive ultra-precise timing signals from a fleet of satellites. The GPS software processes the satellite signals to calculate exactly where the receiver is. Most inexpensive GPS units can routinely achieve accuracies to within 30 feet (10 meters), and some give accuracies of 10 feet (3 meters) or less--- sometimes, *much* less! (If you're unfamiliar with the technology behind GPS, Trimble Navigation has a good general overview available online. http://www.trimble.com/gps/index.html ) 

Here's a clue about how much interest there is about GPS: Google reports over 3.5 MILLION pages relating to or mentioning GPS! Bet you didn't know interest was that high or widespread!

Here's why interest is skyrocketing: Unlike the bulky, expensive GPS units of old, today's GPS units are available as small, lightweight and affordable units. They come in a wide range of types and sizes. There are add-ons for all the major brands of PDAs, palmtops and pocket PCs (Palm, Visor, Jornada, iPaq, Cassiopeia, Clie, etc.); add-ons for high-end PDA/cell phones (e.g. the Nokia 92xx line); add-ons for almost any laptop; and stand-alone hand-held or dash-mount units.

The low cost has opened up a world of practical uses: For example, the real power of GPS is unleashed when it's combined with digital street maps: A GPS unit can generate instant, on-the-fly, turn-by-turn, moving-map directions as you navigate an unfamiliar area. Traveling with a GPS is like having a live, expert navigator in the seat beside you, and can have you driving an unfamiliar area with the accuracy and confidence of a local taxi driver. A GPS can make missed turns--- and missed connections--- a thing of the past.

Many travelers now use printed driving directions from car rental agencies or from sites like Expedia ( http://www.expedia.com/ ), Mapquest ( http://www.mapquest.com ) and Yahoo ( http://maps.yahoo.com ). But a traffic jam, construction detour, or any change in plans can render printed maps and driving directions useless. In contrast, a GPS can self-update its location literally every second or so: If you have to leave your planned route for any reason, the GPS can sense the change and recalculate a new alternate route to your destination, almost instantly. Many GPS units will also continually update your estimated time of arrival so you never have to guess "Will I be late?"

I've been using a GPS unit for a while now, and I'm amazed at how fast it went from "toy" to "tool." It's become an indispensable part of my routine, and I hate to drive without it. My GPS has actually changed the way I drive around my own home town, finding routes and shortcuts I never would have tried on my own!

A GPS is good for other things too--- some of which may surprise you. In fact, once I started writing about the many uses of GPS, I ended up with a full feature-length item  too long for an email newsletter. As usual with most longer topics, I've made this the subject of an InformationWeek.Com column, available now on the web (for free) at http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20020425S0004

That article focuses on business travel, but (of course) the same principles hold for any kind of travel--- including pure leisure travel. (My family's planning our summer vacation now, and you can bet we'll be bringing the GPS.)

Although I'm aware that many of you may be thinking "I have absolutely no use for a GPS...", I'm betting that soon, many of you--- even the skeptics!--- will be won over, just as happened before with other forms of high-tech portable devices.

Please come check out the article at  http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20020425S0004 ), and then join in the discussion! Am I too far ahead of the curve on this one? Or--- as the 3.5 million GPS-related web pages indicate--- is GPS about to break into the mainstream? Do you use a GPS, and if so, which one? What are the best GPS resources? What's the best use you know of for small, inexpensive GPSes? Please join in the discussion!

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2) Highly-Recommended Popup-Stoppers

Many, many (many!) readers reacted to our recent discussion of ad-blockers--- especially regarding ways to stop those annoying popup and popunder ads (like the infamous X-10 camera ads) that infest so many web sites:

Dear Fred: I read with interest the discussion regarding "PopUp Stopper," and would like to add this I use AnalogX POW ( http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/pow.htm ) as my antidote for Pop Up Ads. It permits me to accomplish the same results as your PopUp Stopper Method 2, but much easier. The program will remember the "X10's," etc., and automatically eliminate their popups, but only if I select them for permanent exile. It's a free download, and works really well.--- Doug Keeling

Thanks, Doug.  We've covered AnalogX several times in the past--- they have a ton of excellent tools--- but we never specifically mentioned POW. It's worth spending some time poking around their entire site: http://www.analogx.com/welcome.htm

Hi Fred: May I suggest another "PopUp Stopper Method:" http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~ehowes/resource.htm#IESPYAD  does the job without having to manually enter these "naughty" sites into your Restricted Zone. Works great and it s free. --- Dave Miller

Thanks, Dave. That approach works, but it places control of which ads display (or not) in the hands of the people who compile the IESpy list: *They* (and not you) decide what gets shown. As with the other blanket approaches we previously discussed, this runs the risk of "punishing" not only bad sites with abusive ads, but also the good ones that depend on advertising to stay alive: Block enough ads, and the free sites you enjoy today may go out of business tomorrow.

The next item offers a user-controlled alternative:

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3) Selective Popup Blocking

Fred - I am using Pop-Ki Popup Closer (from http://ranfo.com/ ) to stop unwanted pop-up ads. This is a simple, low-CPU-use program that works by preventing a second instance of your browser from opening. Of course, this also prevents you from being able to use sites that automatically open a second browser window when you click on a hyperlink. While Pop-Ki has a work-around for this, and I'm sure other readers have much more sophisticated methods than the one I'm about to propose, but my method is very easy: I keep a shortcut to Pop-Ki on the lauch bar beside the START button and activate it only when I'm on a website that makes obnoxious use of pop-ups. Childishly simple, but effective! I understand why there must be ads and I don't object to all of them, but some websites will DRIVE YOU CRAZY!!!!! with ceaseless pop-ups. By using a pop-up killer that allows you to activate it after you launch your browser, keeping its shortcut handy, and activating the killer only when needed, you support the necessary ads while reserving your right not to be continuously pestered. --- Rhonda Wright

Thanks, Rhonda. I think user control is the key: Some popups are OK, and even useful: For example, the "additional info" links on the Windows Update site uses non-advertising popup windows to display extra information about security patches. If you block ALL popups, you won't be able to see any extra info about the patches.

Other sites--- and this newsletter--- use secondary browser windows to open offsite links so you can see whatever other sites we're taking about without losing your place here. Many popup stoppers that block all secondary browser windows prevent that action, and may make you think that a link is broken when in fact it's fine.

It makes a lot of sense to let the user decide, on a case by case basis, when popups and secondary browser windows are OK and when they're not. That way, you can let the good stuff through, while blocking the bad stuff. Nice!

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4) Does Restoring A Backup Trigger WPA?

Windows Product Activation--- part of Office XP and the XP operating system--- is a kind of forced registration that requires you to "phone home" (via web or telephone) to Microsoft to get permission to use the software you've already paid for. (Sigh.) It's supposed to be an anti-piracy measure, but it's been thoroughly hacked, and no serious pirate will even be slowed down by WPA. It's just us--- you and me, and the millions of ordinary users--- who are inconvenienced by it.

There's still some confusion about what does and does not trigger the need to *re*-activate your software, once you've gone through the process the first time. Supposedly, the WPA mechanism (which monitors the system it's installed on) allows for routine hardware changes over time, but calls for a mandatory reactivation if it thinks it's been illegitimately copied to a new or different machine--- or if the original PC changes so much that WPA mistakes it for a new machine.

But what about backups? Does restoring a copy of activated software to the original machine trigger the need to reactivate?

Hi Fred: I subscribe to your plus newsletter and a few others . I *know* read an article on WPA and drive image that allowed you to copy the relevant files from a system and save them to disk to save the "re-activation" process if you had to restore at some point. It was simple tip that at the time was not of great interest as I have been avoiding XP because of the WPA. Well I am now compelled to use XP for work and now *need* to know all about it. I have searched the website and archives but cannot find the reference. It is possible this was form another list but I could swear it was yours? Can you help me out? Thanks, "N"

It's actually simpler than you think: A normal image of an activated XP installation will NOT have to be reactivated upon reinstall, unless the hardware's radically different. No fancy footwork or unusual file-copying is needed because simply restoring an image of the hard drive contents to the same system it originally came from does NOT retrigger WPA: The system hasn't changed.

WPA is a bad idea, poorly implemented. But at least it doesn't get in the way of routine and legitimate backups/recoveries using drive imaging. (More info: http://www.langa.com/backups/backups.htm )

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5) Freeware From An Unexpected Source

Vallen-Systeme GmbH is a German company specializing in sound measurement and acoustic emission instruments, but along the way, they've developed several general freeware products that are available to all:

Hello Fred, As a reader of the langalist plus edition I'd like you to have a look at www.vallen.de these people are offering a freeware image viewer (vallen-jpegger )and a "newsletter emailer" (vallen e-Mailer), also freeware. Just real freeware - no ads, no nagscreens, no spyware - no nothing-just freeware ! I thought this may be something to give back in return for your great newsletter and may be some of the readers could benefit from it. Keep up the good works Fred ! Best regards, R.Theunissen

Thanks! There's even more freeware available, too; it's all at http://www.vallen.de/freeware/index.html , and the company's main page is at http://www.vallen.de/ . Very cool!

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6) New Month, New Chances

It's a new month, and right now your chances are the best they'll ever be!

To have a shot at winning a no-strings $30 Gift Certificate for any item
at Amazon.Com--- books, software, hardware, kitchenware, toys, and
more--- 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 mini-shopping spree! (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 $10,000(really!), 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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7) Free "Driver Detective"

Roger Griffin sent along a link to "Driver Detective," which PC World describes thus:

As we all know, many hardware problems can be corrected by merely updating to the latest version of a driver. The problem is detecting which of your many hardware drivers are out of date. Driver Detective  helps you with this seemingly impossible task by scanning your hard drive and displaying a list of all the drivers installed on your system. When you highlight an individual driver, you get information such as its version number and the vendor's name. You then have to do some sleuthing to find the site where you can download the latest driver. Version 2.0  Price: Free

Thanks for the pointer, Roger. You can get the software from its creators at http://www.drivershq.com/dd/ddtechrepublic.html , or from any of several download sites, including PC World: http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,20020,tk,hsx,00.asp

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8) 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

Fran's Computer Services
http://www.jim-fran.com/fcs/

Mindale Farms
http://www.mindalefarmsco.com/

USS Sicily
http://www.geocities.com/cl_howielee/

Victoria Villa - Bed and Breakfast (UK)
http://www.victoria-villa.i12.com/

BOV's WEb Site
http://mcp.bov.home.insightbb.com/

Fosin (Web Hosting, System Utilities, Graphics...)
http://www.fosin.com/

Current Affairs
http://alantolley.tripod.com/home/id5.html

SmokinSites
http://www.smokinsites.com/

Mark Goodman
http://www.markgoodman.com/

Wildcards
http://www.wildcards-squadron.com/

Birdsnest
http://www.birdsnest.com/index.html

Web Design On A Budget
http://www.gibs-web.ca/index.htm

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9) Cool 2K/XP TaskBar Toy/Tool

Fred:  I thought I'd let you (and your readers) know of a utility called "CureInfo." I recently stumbled upon this one, and enjoy the fact that it actually is placed in the taskbar itself (beside the Start button). Check it out at http://www.hbg.lth.se/~pv98glu/ ---Dennis "GuruX" Deveaux

Thanks, Dennis. The site describes the software this way:

CureInfo is a small, efficient program written by Gustaf Lundh that displays system information in your taskbar, something most of us have empty space that could be put to use anyways. Warning: When you once tried CureInfo it can be very, very addicting. CureInfo only works on WinXP/Win2k

The download link is towards the bottom of the page at http://www.hbg.lth.se/~pv98glu/.

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10) Just For Grins

"Steve & Deanna" send along this much-traveled list of points to ponder:

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11) Plus! Edition Highlights:

• Safer Registry Tweaks
• AOL And Other Modem Fixes
• More Great Uses For Old Hardware

Today's LangaList Plus! Edition contains all ten items above, plus about 30% more content including: A simple way to make easily-reversible alterations to our Registry; more (and even simpler) methods to control the noises your modem makes; and several reader-approved ways to get new life from ancient and underpowered hardware.

As always, the Plus! Edition costs just pennies per issue. 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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