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LangaList 2004-01-12 Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 1) Happy New Year!Hope you all had great holidays, and that your new year is off to a good start. I managed a short break with my family, and also got a lot done behind the scenes on the newsletter and the infrastructure that keeps this whole operation alive. Stay tuned for more info on new services I hope to offer soon! Now, we resume our regularly-scheduled newsletter... <g> Click to email this item to a
friend 2) Warning! Email *Unbelievably* UnreliableEmail reliability is even worse than I thought. Much worse! At least, that's what our recent worldwide test showed! Remember a while back when I wrote:
Over 10,000 LangaList readers volunteered as test subjects; I conducted the test mailings in mid-November, and sorted and analyzed the results over the holiday break. The basic test concept was simple: I sent one plain text, attachment-free email to each volunteer. The content of the email simulated normal, safe business or interpersonal correspondence. It contained no deliberate or obvious spam- or virus-filter triggers (e.g. no spamlike components, such as offers to enlarge this or shrink that; no attachments; no viruses; no HTML; no embedded scripts; etc.). The subject line was plain and general, neither designed to trigger nor avoid spam filters. Plus: the recipients were expecting the mail: They new it was coming, although they didn't know the specifics of where, when or how it would be sent. Even so, the results were dismal. Some 40% of the test emails didn't make it through! Think about that for a minute: This suggests that as many as four out of ten of your serious emails--- the sort you might exchange with co-workers, family, friends, business associates, or customers--- may not be making it to their intended destinations. Or: Four out of ten emails that others send to you may end up lost before you ever see them, *even if you expect the emails and are looking for them!* There's a lot more to the story. I actually broke the 10,000+ volunteers into four subgroups to simulate different kinds of email (personal, one-at-a-time notes; reply mails; mails with large or small BCC lists, etc) and was able to track how each subgroup did. Some groups lost an astonishing 70% of the mail, even though all the test mails were plain text and non-spam, sent from a normal email client (not a bulk mailer); and even though the volunteers all were expecting a test email to arrive! A complete description of the tests, and the group-by-group results, are posted at http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=17300016 . Plus, at the end of that article, I also sum up the best-available techniques to help you ensure successful deliveries, and minimize the chances that your emails will be lost. I knew email reliability was getting bad, but a 40% failure rate stopped me in my tracks. Imagine if 40% of your phone calls failed, or 40% of your paper mail failed.... Odds are, if you're reading this newsletter, email is important to you. Please check out the article at http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=17300016 so you'll know what we're all up against, and what you can do about it! Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 3) DVD Alphabet Soup (-R, +R, Etc.)DVD burners come in many flavors and variations, depending on exactly which types and subtypes of recordable media they're designed for. Some even handle CDR and CDRW discs in addition to several kinds of DVD discs, too. But when you must choose between the two main variants of recordable DVD technology--- DVD-R and DVD+R--- how do you decide?
Thanks Tony! Click to email this item to a
friend 4) Follow-Up on Site MoveYou may recall that I ran into major problems with Hostway, the former web host for Langa.Com. (See http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-11-06.htm#2 ) I did eventually hear from one of the founders of Hostway. I told him what the problem was (an incredibly crude patch that broke form-mail, rendering useless the BrowserTune report-mailer, the Langa.Com "Recommend" pages, and many other form-mail based functions). He agreed that the patch was (ahem) poorly done. He had the Hostway techs figure out a better way, and they eventually restored basic form-mail functionality; a good thing. But the fix came way too late for me to change my mind; I've lost confidence in Hostway. I moved Langa.Com to a new host, and will pull my other sites from Hostway as they come up for renewal. Many of you had similar problems with your web hosts, too. For example:
Others of you wrote to ask who the new Langa.Com host is. I initially didn't want to say because I didn't yet have any track record with them. Even now, it's still only been a month, which isn't a long time at all. But so far, things are looking good. The new host has great rates, fast hardware, and excellent human service. The online help for some advanced features is a little thin in spots (I've been using outsourced web hosts for over 10 years, and still had a few minor snags during the transition). But in general, I've been very satisfied. If you'd like to take a look, the new host is http://www.trkhosting.com/ . The owner, Tom Koch, also has free tutorials for people just getting into web hosting. Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 5) Fraud?
Their guarantee seems pretty simple: The web site says: "If you decide within 60 days after your purchase that you don't like our software, we'll gladly give you a complete refund of your purchase price." It sure sounds straightforward. You did the right thing by contacting the company first, and giving them a chance to make things right. If you were within the 60 days, and if they refuse to honor your refund request, call your credit card company and talk to them: They'll help you get your money refunded. But stepping back from the specifics of this case, let's look at the general issue: I have no experience at all with "PC Booster" and can't say how good it is or isn't. But in my experience, almost all products that claim to be able to make your PC faster and more stable, especially if they claim to use "secret" techniques that you can access "with just a few clicks of your mouse," end up disappointing. If it really were that easy to fix things, don't you think Microsoft would have built this wondrous speed-up/make-stable technology into Windows by now? Do you really think that any third-party software company knows more about your operating system than the company that produced it? I suppose it's possible, but it seems very unlikely. Plus: There are no secret techniques or patches in the first place. Anyone with access to Google can find free, do-it-yourself ways to tweak every single setting that your hardware and software offers. Valid commercial tweak tools may put a front end on these patches and adjustments, making them easier to get at--- a legitimate benefit. But all they're really offering is a little convenience, not a magic fix. And if it's convenience that you want, many sites also offer entire collections of patches and automatic tweaks for free or nearly so. (See, for example http://www.xteq.com ) There are legitimate maintenance tools and techniques that really can make your PC more stable and faster--- and we cover them in this newsletter on a regular basis. But out on the web, when you see claims of software with near-magical powers for effortless repair of PC problems, your BS detectors should start ringing loud and clear. That kind of software is often just overpriced, underperforming junk. Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 6) Three More Winners!
Click to email this item to a
friend 7) Unusual Spreadsheet Add-InsA macro is a series of keystrokes and actions recorded and stored for later playback. Macros can be simple--- just one or two actions--- or elaborately complex, even linking to scripts and other add ons, almost like a programming language. Plus, some macros recorded on one PC can be put onto and used in other PCs. Most office applications (such as Word and Excel) have built-in macro tools--- although few people use them. In a way, it's too bad, because macros can be amazingly powerful. Sometimes, they can even be fun, too!
Thanks, Bronson. There are some cosmetic language issues with these macros; the site and macros look like they're designed as English/Japanese hybrids so not all the on-screen characters display well on an English-only system. But the games are easy enough to figure out; and they play just fine anyway. <g> In any case, these files are cool both as just-for-fun items, and as amazing demos of just how far macros can go! Click to email this item to a
friend 8) Unladylike Evildoers Strike!Our regular listing of reader sites often contain some, um, unusual things, but this one stood out even from that eclectic mix:
This year we had a tie - you and Chris Pirillo are the 2003 recipients of the Unladylike Evildoers Club Person of The Year Award. Congratulations Fred! You are very deserving of this award. Sincerely,
Sim Golf Blaine's Digital Art Pat's Site Globe Urban Anti Iraq War Site Worcester County Hockey Meatnpolace A Free Voice Dan's Car's Bit-Quest Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 9) Acronis and Bootit/Image Updates
Fred, Terabyte Unlimited has come out with a jewel they call PHYlock to allow imaging the system partition from within Windows 2000/XP using Image for Windows (IFW). It does not work with Windows 95-98. I have created images with a byte-for-byte validation and came up with NO errors at all using PHYlock. Till now I have not found an application that could do this and not leave behind a real mess rather than a restore. PHYlock is a separate download from the IFW file ( http://www.terabyteunlimited.com )and needs to be unzipped and installed after installing IFW. I have restored my computer using this program. After using the restored partition for about 2 weeks now I have found no problems that could be blamed on a bad restore. IFW can create a bootable cd/dvd that uses the Image for DOS shell to boot when you restore. All the Terabyte programs can use dvd+/-r(w), cd-r disks, as well as imaging to another partition. Ghost can only use dvd+r, dvd-r plus cdr media and probably another partition. One word of warning, though. A computer literate person has said that Zone Alarm should be closed before imaging the Windows partition when active. It is probably also a good idea to close the Roxio/Nero quick-start icon in the system tray if you are burning to removable media. I am still imaging to BootItNow though more infrequently. Thanks for a great Newsletter. ---Mary Nelson Thanks for the timely info, Brian and Mary! Click to email this item to a
friend 10) Just For GrinsI wish I could have run this just before the major holidays, but it's still too good to pass up, even if a little belated... David Cocain The E-Mail Wonderland Another "ping", Gone away, [refrain] In the morning e-mails start to add up. 10 P.M., [refrain] Until you, Click to email this item to a
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