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The
LangaList
Standard Edition
2002-12-19
A Free Email Newsletter from
Fred Langa
That Helps You Get More From Your Hardware,
Software, and Time Online
Please visit our sponsors
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1) Farewell, Win9x/3x
The article "It's Curtains For Windows 95" at
http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20021211S0008 --- about Microsoft's
finally pulling the plug on Win3x and Win95--- is generating great
reader comments. Some are technical (such as those arguing the relative merits of the Mac
and Windows, or OS/2 and Windows), and some personal. As just one example of the
latter:
Fred, Regarding your fine article about Windows 3x and Windows 95 reaching
End Of Life, Windows 95 certainly was the most important OS release to me, but
for a completely different reason. I attended the local Microsoft launch of
Windows 95. After the "pep rally", they raffled off free copies of the OS. I put
my business card in the fish bowl, and luckily won a copy. I know I wouldn't
have purchased it for a while since we were using IBM OS/2 at work at the time,
and what ever they were charging for the OS was way more than I was willing to
pay. I immediately installed it on my PC at home and was instantly hooked on the
OS. I fooled around with it as much as I could. I played with it. I broke it. I
fixed it. I broke it. I reinstalled it. I really go to know it and my computer.
This led me to my current career as a Systems Administrator for a very large IT
company. If it wasn't for Window 95, and a bit of luck, I don't think I would
have the satisfying career I do today.--- Phil Buchiero
For good or ill, I believe that Win3x/Win9x were the
most important commercial OS releases ever; and that no future OS release, ever,
will match their impact. Love them or hate them, Win95 and Win3x had an enormous
impact on us all--- on everyone who has used any computer, including Macs and
Linux boxes, in the last dozen years.
Check out the end-of-the-year column available (for
free) at
http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20021211S0008 ; it shows you what
the computing landscape was like before Windows hit the scene, and what impact
(both good and bad) the OS had on software and hardware.
Please see out the article, and then join in the
discussion: Am I overstating the importance of these OSes? How might history
have played out if Microsoft hadn't released Windows 3? What would the computing
world look like today without Windows? Join in!
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friend
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2) Preserving A Win9x/3x
Setup
If you have a copy of Win3x or 95 and plan to keep
it, you have less than two weeks to get it shipshape before you'll lose the ability
to download patches and updates from Microsoft.
I strongly suggest you get your current setup as
close to perfect as you can, *now*--- with all current patches and updates applied,
all drivers fully current, all junk files removed, all files scanned for
viruses/worms/trojans/etc; and with the drive fully scandisk-ed and defragged.
Then MAKE A BACKUP, or better still an image of that near-perfect setup. That
backup or image will be your lifeboat as you go forward. If--- or when--- you
run into serious trouble, you'll be able to restore your system to that
near-perfect state by using the backup or image.
Everything you need to know about how to accomplish
the above is in past issues of The LangaList. Readers of the Standard Edition
can use the generic search engine at
http://www.langa.com/search.htm to dig out info on any topic; Plus! Edition
readers can use that resource or their copy of the LangaList Helpfile Archives
(see item 11, below).
Other general sources:
Official Updates: Visit the Windows Update site. If you have trouble completing
an Update, see
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;319585 .
Disk Cleanup:
http://www.langa.com/cleanup_bat.htm
Backup/Imaging Options:
http://www.langa.com/backups/backups.htm
Spyware(etc) Removal:
http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2002/2002-10-31.htm#1
Win3x/95 tuning, tweaking, etc:
http://www.freetune.com/most_popular_pages.htm
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friend
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3) More (Free!) "Bayesian" Spam
Filters Coming
It's a wonderful thing: More and more context-sensitive, intelligent spam
filters are arriving every day. Most are based on the "Bayesian" statistical
approach we discussed in
http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20021115S0018 . Maybe, just maybe, 2003 will be the year when we'll
see older, competing anti-spam technologies---like crude and destructive blacklists--- die a
well-deserved death.
Many readers have written about "Popfile," available at
http://popfile.sourceforge.net/ .
It works with just about any email client that gathers mail from a standard
Internet mail server. (It won't work with browser-based mail, or with
nonstandard/proprietary email systems like AOL's, but will work with almost
everything else: If you can read your mail with Outlook, Outlook Express,
Eudora, Pegasus, or similar email clients, Popfile will probably work for you.)
Full info and instructions are available on the Popfile site. Note that
Popfile is proxy-based--- it sets up a mini email server on your pc, and uses
that to filter your mail for spam. If you also use a proxy-based email virus
scanner (like Norton), you'll need to pay special attention to the section
labeled "Other Proxies" in order to get the two proxy-based email scanners to coexist
peacefully.
If setting up something like Popfile isn't your cup of tea, consider this:
Hi Fred, Just letting you know that Mozilla 1.3 Alpha, which
was released on Friday, includes a Bayesian Spam Filter in its mail client.
Currently it only flags mail that it thinks is spam (it can't move messages to
the trash or delete them, for example) but this feature will come in 1.3 Beta
which is released early in the New Year.--- Neil Turner
Thanks, Neil. Alpha software (alpha = first test release) is usually a little rough
and buggy, so it may be better for most users to wait for a stable beta (second
test release). But the adventurous may wish to try the alpha at
http://www.mozilla.org .
In any case, it's great to see Bayesian filters catching on so fast. The
sooner we're rid of blacklists, the better!
--- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links
Help Keep The LangaList S.E. Free! ) ---
Need An INSTANT Holiday
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For The Geek In Your Life?
Give them a subscription to the LangaList Plus!
It's ad-free, spam-proof, and contains even more
content--- tips, tricks, advice, downloads....---
than the Standard Edition you're now reading.
They'll love you for it!
(Non-geeks welcome too! <g>)
<a href="
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4) "Amazing Resource"
Fred, I've just found an amazing resource that I don't remember you mentioning in a previous newsletter for anyone repairing, upgrading, building or just interested in the internal workings of a PC. It's basically a collection of instructional videos about all aspects of the workings of a PC by Scott Mueller, who you will no doubt know as author of 14 editions of the Upgrading and Repairing PCs book. It's almost a complete online video course in PC building, and each video comes in 56k, broadband and text transcript versions. Make sure you check out the videos relating to older editions of the book as they are still useful and relevant.
http://www.upgradingandrepairingpcs.com/videos/index.asp
---David Chadderton, Manchester, England
Thanks, David. Some of the videos are mostly promotional (they boil down to
"buy my book..."), but others do have good info, especially for people
unfamiliar with the insides of PCs. Thanks!
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friend
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5) Last Chance This Year To Enter FREE Drawing
On Dec 31, I'll choose the final (for 2002) 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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friend
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6) New Entrant In Free Antivirus
Arena
Hi Fred, I tried this free program yesterday and it works
better than the Mc Afee program that I had, until yesterday-LOL.
I inserted an old floppy disk into my new PC and Mc Afee
warned me of the NYB virus but was unable to repair it. So, to shorten this
story and get right to the point, I downloaded a program entitled Antivir from
Germany at http://free-av.com It also
spotted the NYB virus and promptly repaired it. I uninstalled Mc Afee and I'm
glad that I did. ---John Di Gilio
Thanks, John. Grisoft AntiVirus ("AVG") is the current leader in free AV
tools ( http://www.grisoft.com ).
It'll be interesting to compare the two....
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friend
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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
HFT Online (Computer help)
http://www.hftonline.com/forum/search.php
Printing Services
http://www.freshinkdiscountprinting.com/
BASSment (music site)
http://www.cox-internet.com/misterb/ndx.html
RobertSoft On-line (Romanian best of
the web portal)
http://www.robertsoft.go.ro/
Ban The Basics (cartoonist's site)
http://banthebasics.keenspace.com/
World of Sail
http://www.cairnsweb.net/sail/
ComputerTweakMan
http://www.geocities.com/computertweakman/
Gold Mining Site
http://goldmining.tripod.com/
Surveyor in Surrey, UK
http://www.kimberworthconsulting.bigstep.com/
GizmoBytes ("gizmo" reviews)
http://www.gizmobytes.com/
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friend
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8) Sloooooooow Compression In Win2K
And XP
Fred, thanks for your great newsletter. I work at a help desk and your tips
have come in handy on several occasions. My question: We are currently rolling
out Windows 2000 and I would like to encourage my user community to get in the
habit of running Defrag and Disk Cleanup. However, I was shocked the first time
I ran Disk Cleanup! The "Compress Old Files" function dragged on so long I had to
walk away from my PC and come back later. No one will ever run Disk Cleanup if
it takes that long. I have tried doing a search for the best way to disable this
but my only solution right now is to export the [compression] Registry key for safe keeping and delete it
[from the Registry]. Disk Cleanup now flies through its
chores but I am wondering if there is a better way. Any ideas? Thanks tons! --- Dale
"Compress Old Files" is a really nice feature of NTFS ("NT File System"),
used by default in Windows 2000 and XP: When you run the Disk Cleanup/Cleanup Manager (cleanmgr.exe)
it can look to see if a file hasn't been used or accessed in in a while, and if
not, then it can automatically compress these little-used files so that they
take up much less space.
Note that this isn't Zip-Compression per se: Files
compressed by Win2K and XP aren't renamed as a "zip" file and can be accessed normally, just like any other file.
They're just smaller than they would be otherwise.
By default, CleanMgr compresses any files that haven't been used in more than
50 days. But the first time you run it on an older system--- or on a system with
lots of old files--- it can indeed take a very long time to finish.
The simple solution is to set the compress option to a very old date--- say,
maybe a year or so--- and then slowly advance the date with successive
compression cycles until you
eventually are compressing files from a fairly recent time. In other words, let
it chew on only the very oldest files at first, then some slightly younger
files, and so on.
On my desktop system, I compress files that haven't been
touched in two weeks. On my laptop--- which has a relatively small hard drive
that I want to keep as free as possible--- I compress files that haven't been touched in just two days. This way,
only my most-recent files are uncompressed, and everything else is kept as
compact as possible.
For easy ways to access and control all of CleanMgr's functions--- including
compression--- see items #6 and 7 in
http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2002/2002-04-04.htm
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friend
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9) Publishing Schedule--- Please
Read!
There are three major things going on simultaneously with the LangaList, and
the net result is that the newsletter publication schedule will be unusual for
the next few weeks.
First, there's the calendar, with a pair of midweek holidays coming up.
Second, it's also time for some once-a-year system and software maintenance,
including work to keep the mailing list "clean" and free of bad addresses. (I do
basic maintenance on a monthly basis, but once a year I need to take things down
to the bare metal...) And third, I have a major new project perking along in the
background that I hope to bring to you early next year. It's almost done, but
I need to clear a little time to wrap it up.
So, with this issue bringing the total number of
separate newsletter items published this year to over 1,000 in the Plus! edition
(wow!) and over 700 in the Standard edition, this will be the last LangaList newsletter for 2002. If all goes
according to plan, the Plus edition will resume publication during the week of
January 5th (the first full week next year), and the Standard Edition will
resume publication on Jan 13th.
Thank you for your interest and support during this past year. May 2003 be a
wonderful year for you and yours. Happy holidays!
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10) Just For Grins
Reader Mike Dawkins sends along these items, which he
correctly calls "Groaners." <g>
What do they call Santa's helpers?
Subordinate Clauses
What do you call Santa Clause after he's fallen into a fireplace? Krisp
Kringle
Who sings "Love Me Tender" and makes Christmas toys? Santa's little Elvis
Which of Santa's reindeers needs to mind his manners the most? "Rude"olph
Where do Santa's reindeers like to stop for lunch? Deery Queen
What do you call the fear of getting stuck while sliding down a chimney?
Santa Claus-trophbia
The 4 stages of man: He believes in Santa Claus. He doesn't believe in Santa Claus. He is Santa Claus. He looks like Santa Claus.
What nationality is Santa Claus? North Polish
What do you call a bunch of grandmasters of chess bragging about their games
in a hotel lobby? Chess nuts boasting in an open foyer.
How do sheep in Mexico say Merry Christmas? Fleece Navidad
What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire? Frostbite
What do you get when you cross an archer with a gift-wrapper? Ribbon hood
Why was Santa's little helper depressed? Because he had low elf esteem.
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11) Plus! Edition Highlights:
- LangaList Complete Archives Updated!
- How To Update A Current Copy Of The
LangaList Archives
- Two Ways To Obtain A Full, Fresh Copy Of The Archives
All the LangaLists ever published (from
1997 through 2002-12-05) are now available for you right at your fingertips.
Best of all, thanks to the efforts of Plus! subscriber Bronson C. Elliott,
they're packaged as a space-saving highly-compressed Windows Help File that can
be self-searched using the Windows Help Engine's standard (and familiar)
interface. It takes only seconds to find whatever you're looking for, no matter
how long ago it was published in the LangaList!
The Helpfile Archives are broken into annual subarchives:
Although they function as if they were all in one file (you don't have to search
each year separately), having each year's LangaList contents stored separately
in smaller subfiles means that you can update your copy of the Archives in the
future with just a small download of the files added since the last update. This
saves you time--- and bandwidth--- in keeping your archives up to date because
you never have to download the same data twice!
These archives are available FREE to Plus! edition
subscribers; it's one of the many benefits of subscribing.
It's not too late to get your own copy of the
archives. And it costs only pennies per issue to join! Sign up today!
Plus! Edition info and access:
http://www.langa.com/plus.htm
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friend
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See you next issue--- next year!
Best,
Fred
( Editor@Langa.Com )
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.
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