This Month:

What's New

Paperweights

Free 411

Hard Drive Size

Internet Anywhere?

Warnings

Warning of a Different Kind

Symantec Support

Internet

(Legal) Music Downloading

Talk to me

These United States

Another Google Hack

FYI

Blue Screen (XP)

XP Maintenance

Excel Hint

Laugh a Little

We are PC correct but not necessarily when it comes to humor.. :-)

Any suggestions, recommendations or ideas found on this site are applied at your own risk.

He who builds a better mousetrap these days runs into material shortages, patent-infringement suits, work stoppages, collusive bidding, discount discrimination--and taxes. - HE Martz

February - 2006
11th year in business		8th year of newsletters

Have problems or ideas you would like to have us address? Let us know!
Like most sites, this one is designed for an 800x600 screen resolution.
For previous newsletters click here. (Web Printing Hints)

A Few Reminders...

If you have a new computer: Save your original CDs!
No Operating System Restore CD? See our July 05 newsletter

Be sure to activate the antivirus application immediately!
If your new computer is more than *90 days old, or
if you have not paid for a subscription within the last year,
your antivirus application is out-of-date and you are not protected. More details on this issue in the March 02 newsletter.

* Many new computers come with a 90-day free trial version, but after that period you must pay to renew the subscription. Wonder if your antivirus is up-to-date? Click here

Looking to buy a new computer:

Click here for some ideas that may help your decision.

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Blackberry

By a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Blackberry devices are one step closer to becoming (expensive) paperweights. The article. More on this.

Free 411

If you do not mind listening to a short commercial, you can probably save money using 1-800-free411 (373-3411.) This is especially nice for cell phone users who may experience 411 charges over $1.00. Thanks Tom

Note: We tested it and had no commercial so now we are curious what may be on our phone bill...

Hard Drive Size

When first developed hard drives would (almost) fit in a phone booth but incredibly, Hitachi has developed a hard drive about the size of a domino!

The complete article starts here: CNet's History of Hard Drives.

Internet Anywhere?

Recently we had the opportunity to work with a cell phone based Internet connection for a customer but we were disappointed with the connection speed. It was only marginally better than a dialup connection.

Granted it allows connection most anywhere the cell phone works but just how important is the Internet to you?

Before you lay out big dollars for the equipment and service, you may want to test drive it at the cell phone store...

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Warning of a Different Kind

Once again, with "good intentions" the Federal Government is overriding the Constitution and intruding in to the citizens' personal lives. They have subpoenaed Google to hand over their search records.

This is disturbing to us for two reasons: one that any search engine actually saves search information and the obvious, the Government is actively looking at these records "in hopes" they find something.

The concern is of course, if the Government wins this fight, what is next and for what arbitrary reason?

Remember, just recently the Government has trampled the Constitution by expanding the meaning of the taking of personal property for "public use":

June 2005, the Supreme Court decided an important case involving the meaning of "public use" in the Fifth Amendment. In Kelo v City of New London, the Court, voting 5 to 4, upheld a city plan to condemn homes in a 90-acre blue-collar residential neighborhood. New London plans to give the land to a developer for $1, with a 99-year lease, to build a waterfront hotel, office space, and higher-end housing.

Symantec Support

They actually have email support available but like most of this industry, do not expect too much via email. We would prefer writing over holding on the phone forever but when writing support (no matter which company), we find the support personnel does not really read your message. Instead they apparently look for some keywords then respond with link(s) to knowledgebase articles that you probably have already tried.

E.g. we recently wrote Symantec informing them that when a user "logs off" of the parental control, rather than locking down the Internet it opens it up. Their response was a link to the article on setting up parental control. Something we had already done based on that same article.

We have had this same problem when writing Dell, HP and others.

Good Luck: https://symantec.iseva.net/support.aspx

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(Legal) Music Downloading

For the Holidays we decided to purchase some music and create a CD. Google searching for a particular song we really like (O Holy Night by Celine Dion), we ended up at Yahoo. Being a big company we felt comfortable with them, so we went through all the signup hoops, downloaded their music engine and began downloading.

The very first download failed. When the error occurred we received only a message box informing us there was a problem but it did not explain what or why. After digging through the application we found the error was specified in the download manager screen. There we found the actual error message and code: DRM Client License error (0x8004D38B).

Using Yahoo's help to resolve the problem indicated, (but not readily) that we needed to update our Windows XP Media Player. Opening the Media Player and checking for updates resolved nothing as our current version 9 was already up to date. Frustrated with Yahoo's poor help, we did a Google search for that error code and found that the problem was not that we had to update our current version 9 but rather install the newer version 10.

With that installed, it was back to Yahoo where we began downloading again. It worked! So about four hours after starting this process we had our CD finished.   The next day we received emails indicating which songs we bought and there were multiple charges for the same song (due to our multiple attempts.) If you use Yahoo's engine, check the download manager for errors or pending downloads. If songs are pending, do not cancel the download as there is no refund/credit once they appear there.

Talk to me

One of our pet peeves is phone systems that make you press dozens of keys before you get anywhere and if you miss-key, you may need to start all over.
Here is a site that lists various companies and the "cheat codes" to a person.   Thanks Sherry...
These United States

Click here to find out everything you wanted to know about a specific state including the State Nicknames. E.g., did you know there are (at least) 91 lakes in Minnesota named Long Lake?
Another Google "Hack"

In the Google search box type: Define: followed by a word or phrase

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Blue Screen

If your computer consistently reboots, try selecting the boot option to "disable automatic restart on system failure" then reboot again. If that option is not available you probably do not have all of the Windows updates in place, in which case bring the computer in.
If it crashes to a blue screen, check the error message near the top. If you have an UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME error chances are the hard drive has failed.
There are many blue screen errors but one easy fix to try is booting to your Windows XP CD, choosing the "repair" option and at the prompt typing chkdsk /r
However, to do this you need an actual Microsoft Windows XP CD and not a "system restore" CD. When buying a new computer and you have the option (common with Dells), purchase the Microsoft Windows XP CD disk rather than a "system restore" disk.
Windows XP Maintenance

Windows XP does not offer the Maintenance Wizard but both scandisk and defrag are available. Open the My Computer icon, right click the "C:" drive, select Properties and from there select the Tools tab.
Note: Under XP, it is not necessary to run scandisk and defrag nearly as often as under previous Windows versions but, it is a good idea to do so if you have had an abrupt shutdown such as a power failure, or if you are having odd erratic problems with the computer.
Excel Hint

If you need to layout the months of the year, Autofill makes it quick and easy.
Simply type "Jan" or "January" in the first cell then click, hold and pull down to create the remainder of the months.
This also fills the year(s) if you type and drag "Jan 2005"

If you ever want to copy the cell contents from one worksheet to another sheet, select the cell to copy, press CTRL C, move to the target sheet and from the Edit menu, select Paste Special.
There you will use the Paste Link button.

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Random thoughts...

I planted some birdseed. A bird came up. Now I don't know what to feed it.

I had amnesia once -- or twice.

I went to San Francisco. I found someone's heart. Now what?

All I ask is a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.

If the world were a logical place, men would ride horses sidesaddle.

What is a "free" gift? Aren't all gifts free?

They told me I was gullible, and I believed them.

Two can live as cheaply as one, for half as long.

Experience is the thing you have left when everything else is gone.

What if there were no hypothetical questions?

One nice thing about egotists: They don't talk about other people.

A flashlight is a case for holding dead batteries.

I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not sure.

The cost of living hasn't affected its popularity.

Is there another word for synonym?

Where do forest rangers go to "get away from it all"?

Is it possible to be totally partial?

Is Marx's tomb a communist plot?

Show me a man with both feet firmly on the ground, and I'll show you a man who can't get his pants off.

Is it my imagination, or do buffalo wings taste like chicken?