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The LangaList
Standard Edition

2002-09-30

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!

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1) To Sleep, Perchance To Hibernate...

I regularly get emails like this:

Hi Fred, You've used the terms "Sleep Mode," "Suspend Mode," "Standby" and "Hibernate." What is the difference?--- Jennie K

They're all descriptive terms for varying levels of power management on a PC, but the reason it's confusing is that what one vendor calls "sleep" another may call "standby." Or, even more confusingly, different vendors may both use the same term to mean very different power states.

Things become clearer when you substitute industry-standard tech terms in place of the descriptive English words. For example, most PCs today support up to six distinct power modes or "sleep states," commonly defined as S0 through S5. These in turn are defined in the industry-standard "Advanced Configuration and Power Interface" (ACPI) specification.

The ACPI spec is still evolving--- it changed as recently as March of this year. And it also coexisted for many years with an older and far less sophisticated standard called "Advanced Power Management" (APM). As a result, it's not at all uncommon for a given system to have an OS, a system BIOS, and hardware drivers that might be designed either for different power management standards, or different versions of the same standard.

That's one of the sources for problems such as the inability to shut down cleanly--- the "hang at shutdown" problem that plagues so many Win98 machines. It's often caused, directly or indirectly, by a problem in the power management subsystem.

But these issues aren't just a Win98 thing--- they're not even specifically a Windows thing: APM and ACPI are broader specs that can pertain to any Intel/AMD-style machine produced in the last 10 years or so--- and that includes Intel/AMD-based Linux boxes. So you see, it's a rather large topic.<g>

So, rather than take up this entire issue with power-management info, I put it all online in an article that explains what each "sleep state" is and what it does; how to adjust power-management levels; what the specs mean in real-world terms; how power-management problems can arise, and what you can do about them; and more. You'll find it in my current InformationWeek article posted at http://informationweek.com/story/IWK20020927S0028 . Please click over and check it out!

Once you know the power-management choices available to you, you can make better use of them, saving energy, money--- and hassles!--- in the process.

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2) "Fred, Did I Get Ripped Off?"

Dear Fred, I purchased an E Machine, Model E Tower 333CS. The label on the outside of the box and the model number both indicated that the CPU has a speed of 333 megahertz. Recently I installed a program called the Belarc Advisor and this program indicated that my CPU is only 250 megahertz. Did I get ripped off? --- Arthur Handel

Maybe, but you'll need to do more testing to know for sure.

I suggest you try other speed-reporting software. One of the most respected is "CPU-Z" (it used to be known as CPUID, but grew way beyond simply identifying CPU types). You can download a free copy from http://www.cpuid.com/ .

Other tools such as SiSoft Sandra ( http://www.sisoftware.demon.co.uk/sandra/ ) also can help. Or, see  http://www.google.com/search?q=cpu+benchmark for a raft of CPU measurement tools, some free, some not. PC Pitstop also can measure your system speed. ( http://www.pcpitstop.com  )

BTW: Some minor variation in measured-vs-rated speed is normal. For example, my nominal "2GHz" system actually runs at 1993.9MHz, an irrelevant difference of less than 1%. But getting 250MHz when you paid for 333Mhz is a difference of 25%, and would be significant, if it proves true.

After you've tried several different speed-measuring, you'll know one way or the other whether you got what you paid for.

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3) More Info On XP SP1

In "XP SP1: Proceed With Caution" ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2002/2002-09-23.htm#1 ) I said that the Service Pack for XP should work fine for most people. I also mentioned how there were several very specific problem areas, including "some issues with Outlook Express."

One of those issues became clearer in the last week: It's OE's "multiple identity" feature: After installing SP1, you can click "switch identities" on the file menu, but nothing will happen: The main identity will always open.

Until Microsoft releases a fix, the workaround is to start Outlook Express and click to  File/Identities/Manage Identities. Uncheck the "Use this identity when starting..." option, and then click Close. Now, each time you start OE you'll be nagged (twice) to "select an identity." But at least you can switch between and among your identities, at the cost of having to shut down and relaunch OE for each switch. 

There's lots more info on this online:
http://www.google.com/search?q=sp1+xp+express+identity

Of course, if you don't use OE, or don't use multiple identities in OE (I don't), this is a non-issue. But if you do, it's a hassle.

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4) Hide (Obscure) Your Address From Spammers

Hi Fred -- There's been an awful lot of discussion on SPAM recently. We all agree it's gotten way out-of-control. You mentioned a number of tools that help kill SPAM at the point of receipt, but I use one that helps prevent your name from getting on these lists to begin with. It's a must-use tool for any webmaster. Type in your email address into this form and it will return an obfuscated version of your email address which you then insert as code into your web page. Instead of using the traditional "mailto" tag, you use the "a href" tag. This fools those pesky harvest bots and they skim right on by. I know you've discussed similar technology on the Langa List before, but this one is extremely useful. I've edited all 70 web pages on my site to include this and I noticed an significant difference in the amount of SPAM I received with new email addresses. As a test I created 3 new email addresses for my domain. I obfuscated one of them and linked the other two using the traditional "mailto" tag. Within 2 weeks I started to receive SPAM at these 2 new addresses, but have yet to receive any at the obfuscated one.

http://www.manastungare.com/asp/preventspam.asp

Another tip I never post my true email address on a bulletin board, guestbook or other Internet forum. Instead, I manually obfuscate it by inserting something into the address which obviously doesn't belong there. For instance webDISCARDTHISmaster@mydomain.com. You wouldn't believe how much SPAM I get at that address...

Thanks again -- love the Plus addition. Best money I've spent on the Internet. Pat Beemer

Thanks, Pat. The "preventspam" link does make easy one kind of obfuscation--- substituting HTML letter codes for the actual letters in your address. For example, if I add this to the HTML of a web page or HTML email...

<A HREF="mailto:%77%65%62%6D%61%73%74%65%72%40%6C%61%6E%67%61%2E%63%6F%6D">Email</A>

...a browser will display it as a mail link to "Email" with the actual email address
(in this case, "webmaster@langa.com") well obscured. Address-harvesting 'bots see only the raw code ("%77%65%62%6D%...." etc), and skip it.

You can achieve a further level of obscuration by using a small script snippet--- say, a "document.write" command--- to display the obscured address: Most 'bots won't look inside scripts, and thus won't even try to harvest the address.

For other ideas on stopping spam, check out http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20010706S0006

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----

5) PC Hangs When Adding New Hardware

Glad you found a solution! I located two relevant items in the Knowledgebase:

Computer Stops Responding (Hangs) During Setup, Installing Updates, or Adding New Hardware
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q281967
and
CreateFile Improperly Returns ERROR_ALREADY_EXISTS...
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q301540

Although these issues mainly relate to WinME, they also can affect a raft of other Microsoft software, including Office 2000 Standard/Professional/Premium, Greetings, IntelliMouse, Picture It! Express/Photo 2002/Publishing Platinum 2002, and the SideWinder Precision Racing Wheel.

In fact, zero-length OEM*.INF files actually can accumulate in any system where installs fail or hiccup: It's not at all rare for even a reasonably "clean" system to have a couple zero-length INF files on board. (They usually can be deleted without consequence.) The problem is when there are *many* of them, and the fixes in the Q files listed above can help.

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6) Last Day To Enter September's FREE Drawing

Today (Sept 30th), 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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7) Make Discarded CDs Snoop-Proof

Hi Fred: With the drop in price for both CD burners and media, I now routinely create disk images for backup purposes. What do I do with my old image CD's to keep the data from prying eyes? I have seen reference to a CD shredder from Alera Technologies that costs about $75. Are there any other, that is cheaper, ways to dispose of old CD's and keep my privacy? Thanks for you help. Regards, Grant

The data on a CD is stored in a layer of dye under the label: The CD's laser shines up through the clear plastic body of the CD to the dye layer for reading or writing.

So, to make a CD unreadable, just mechanically damage the dye layer: It's a simple thing with a letter-opener, screwdriver or knife--- just score (abrade) the label side. A couple of deep gouges (down to the plastic) and the CD will be unreadable in normal CD drives. The more scratches and gouges, the harder it will be to recover *any* data from the CD. And if you want even more security, snap the CD in two after it's been scratched. (Watch out for shrapnel--- breaking a CD can launch small shards of sharp plastic at high speeds...)

CD shredders might be useful if you routinely have to destroy large numbers of old CDs, or if you need to ensure that even tiny scraps and fragments of data will be unrecoverable. But for routine snoop-proofing, simple low-tech scratching and breaking is fine.

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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

Project  Outreach
http://www.project-outreach.net/Index.html

Wise Computer Care
http://www.wisecomputercare.com/index.html

Squadron 276
http://www.homestead.com/squadron276/index.html

Staker Family
http://www.stakerfamily.com/

Pittsburgh Heavy Metal
http://www.impugnband.com/Links.htm

Chuck & Alisa's Stampsnthings
http://stampsnthings.bravepages.com/index.html

Myer's Tractors
http://www.geocities.com/teachpcinvabeach/

Rayna's Rare Rubies
http://www.rayna.net/

SafeCritters
http://www.safecritters.com/

Instructor-led Training or Self-paced Learning Manuals
http://quicklearncomputertraining.com/serv01.htm

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9) Thumbnails Going Gray

Fred, I'm going crazy. All of a sudden in win XP I can't see my thumbnails in color. All I see is a grayed out thumbnail.  What can I do before I have to reinstall everything? Colors are fine in Photoshop, viewer etc. only in explorer. Help! Help! --- Frank Mattia

No, you're not going crazy. <g> In fact, the MS knowledgebase has several articles, including this:

Q155785: CG3 Colors Turn to Gray in Thumbnail Images
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q155785

In fact, XP can look this up for you: One of the nicest features of XP is that its help functions are fully integrated into the huge Microsoft Knowledgebase. (Previous versions of Windows had only partial integration at best.) If you go to Start/Help in XP, and enter "gray thumbnail" as the search terms, XP will spit back several answers, the very first of which under the Knowledgebase tab is article Q155785 above; which you can then access with one click.

I've said it before, but it's worth repeating: XP's built-in Help system is the best Microsoft has ever produced. It's truly useful, and easy to use.

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10) Just For Grins

Reader Bob Adjemian sends along what he calls "The Stupid Test." I don't know where the test originated, as Google shows it on hundreds of sites, but whoever the original author was, I'd like to meet him or her. <g>

OK. Pay close attention. Here is a very simple little test comprised of four easy questions to determine the level of your intellect. See if you have what it takes to be considered "smart."

Your replies must be spontaneous and immediate, with no deliberating or wasting of time. And no cheating!

On your mark, get set, go...

1: You are competing in a race and overtake the runner in second place. In which position are you now?

Answer: If you answered that you're now in first, you're wrong! You overtook the second runner and took his place, therefore you are now in second place. For the next question try not to be so dim.

2: If you overtake the last runner, what position are you now in?
 
Answer: If you answered second to last, you are wrong once again. Think about it... How can you overtake the person who is last? If you're behind them, they can't be last. You would have been last. It would appear that thinking is not one of your strong points.

Anyway, here's another question to try. Don't take any notes or use a calculator, and remember, your replies must be instantaneous.

3: Take 1000. Add 40. Add another 1000. Add 30. 1000 again. Plus 20. Plus 1000. and plus 10. What is the total?

Answer: 5000? Wrong again! The correct answer is 4100. Try again with good calculator. Today is clearly not your day, although you should manage to get the last question right...

4: Marie's father has five daughters:
1. Chacha
2. Cheche
3. Chichi
4. Chocho
5. ????
Question: What is the fifth daughter's name? Think quickly...you'll find the answer below....

Answer: Chuchu? WRONG! It's obviously Marie! Read the question properly.

You are clearly the weakest link. 

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11) Plus! Edition Highlights:

• Three Powerful (and FREE) Tools
• Corrosion Problems
• One-Click Searching In Mozilla

Today's LangaList Plus! Edition contains all ten items above, plus about 30% more content including: freeware tools for imaging a hard drive, cloning one drive to another, and super-cleaning your Registry beyond what other tools can do; ways to prevent or repair corrosion problems in PCs used in humid environments; and reader feedback on Mozilla 1.1, including its one-click search ability.

What are you waiting for? 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
( Editor@Langa.Com )

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

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