PCWize Vol 4, Issue 12 - March 19, 2000 ______________________________________________________________________ It's such a relief! I've finished the last two courses I needed for my Bachelors in Information Systems Management. All that's left are two CLEP tests, and I'll be officially edumacated! That means I can show my degree to someone and they'll believe me when I say that I can spell the word "kat"! ------ It looks like most of the people who missed issue 4.10 due to mail servers determining that PCWize was an adult content publication have gotten it. I'll leave the autoresponder intact for a little while longer just in case. If you missed issue 4.10, just click the link below and send the message it generates. On the same note, thanks to all of the readers who participated in the PCWize forum. I wish that I could have participated a little more myself, but studying for final exams came first. :-( ------ Due to school and other commitments, I haven't written any feature how-they-work articles in a little while. Now that I'm done, I'll be starting those up again. Right now I'm preparing the "Everything you wanted to know about how e-mail works", but I want to know what you want to see. Go to the forum and post your thoughts on what how-they-work articles you'd like to see. You can also see the many past how-they-work articles I have written at ______________________________________________________________________ TOC 1. Voting Booth and Other PCWize Stuff 2. Software Review 3. Cool Sites 4. Tips, Tricks, Do's and Don't Do's 5. That's the news! 6. Security Issues, Hoaxes, Viruses and Other Urban Legends 7. PCWize Contests and winner announcement If the columns in the below articles appear misaligned, it's because you are using a non-fixed width font. If you would like to see them nice and straight, change your e-mail font to Courier New. ______________________________________________________________________ ** A word from our sponsors ** ------ Stay Connected! to AOL, CompuServe, NetO and more! This trusty utility prevents your ISP from disconnecting you. "It's a super product that most, not only AOL, surfers would love to have if they knew it existed" says one user. Free Download at http://www.inklineglobal.net ------ http://www.freecreditanalyzer.com - Get your credit situation analyzed online without affecting your credit report. ------ Want to see your advertisement here? For more information, go here: ______________________________________________________________________ 1. Voting Booth and Other PCWize Stuff ------ Click here to vote for PCWize as one of the best newsletters in the "E-zines Top Ten Poll"! It's just a click, no need to fill anything out. ------ Come visit the PCWize forum and live chat. You may discuss anything computer related and it's a good place to get help with any computer questions you may have. ______________________________________________________________________ 2. Software Review ------ Name: Championship Spades by DreamQuest Software Genre: Card Games Platform: PC Windows 9x/00/NT Type/Cost: Shareware $29.00 USD / $19 for students, military, seniors Size: 4.10MB Homepage: Download: I don't play many games very often. If I did, PCWize most certainly wouldn't get written. I do enjoy some First Person Shooters (FPS) like QuakeII etc. but I really like card games where I can just sit down and have some fun while killing time. I've pretty much worn out Windows Hearts, and I don't care what anyone says, those computer opponents are extremely dense when it comes to playing a good hand. I love the game Spades, but until now I never found a game that played the way I liked. Championship Spades is a great game! Not only can you play just about any version of Spades with whatever rules you like, it's got a pretty decent AI for the computer run opponents. The gameplay is excellent, although some work needs to be done on the graphics because it looks a little like a throwback to the EGA days with the defaults. However, you can replace almost all of the images with those of your own choosing. For example, the card table, card backs and faces, and even the opponent faces. Now you can covertly snap a few pics of your worst enemy and give them a sound whooping in Spades to cheer you up on a rainy day! All in all, this is a very configurable game and a multiplayer version is soon forthcoming. ______________________________________________________________________ 3. Cool Sites ------ The Official Darwin Awards I love Darwin awards. What!?!?!? You've never heard of the infamous Darwin awards? "[T]he Darwin Awards are given, usually posthumously, to the individual(s) who remove themselves from the gene pool in the most spectacular fashion. However there is an exception to the requirement to die. If said individual does not die, however does render him/her self incapable of producing any children - they may be eligible for the dubious honor of receiving the award while still alive." The only problem with the Darwin awards, is that you never were quite sure whether it was a true story or just another urban legend. The Official Darwin Awards will not only entertain, but provides easy visual indicators on a story's authenticity. Just you wait! One day you'll see me in there because I just love winning awards! :^) ______________________________________________________________________ 4. Tips, Tricks, Do's and Don't Do's ------ I just finished a UNIX System V scripting class which was one of the last classes I needed for my degree. I had a really great time, especially since other geeks like me brought their laptops to every class. There is just something cool about being able to type your notes as opposed to writing it all down. What was even more fun was that we all had IR (Infra Red) capable laptops so we often were just beaming moronic things to each other around the room. It was like an impromptu network without all the cable fuss. Many people have IR capable laptops, but not many desktops come with that option. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to install one though. There's no need to rip open your computer to install cards, as USB and parallel IR ports are commonly available. Once you have one of these puppies installed, all you need to do is go to the Control Panel and double click the Infrared applet. Then go to the Options tab and put a checkmark in the "Enable infrared communications" box as well as the "Search for and provide status for devices within range" box. After clicking OK, you'll see a nifty IR icon appear in the tasktray. Now, double-click the My Computer icon and then double-click the "Infrared Recipient" icon. You'll see a list of available devices with which your computer has made contact. Just select who you want to talk to, and then click the "Send Files" button. It's not a full blown network, but it's better than shuffling floppies on the sneakernet! ______________________________________________________________________ 5. That's the news! ------ Iridium is going down in flames, and that's sad. It was a great plan to use 66 low-earth-orbiting (LEO) satellites to allow Iridium customers to use their cell phones from anywhere in the world. It was a very costly project, but they just couldn't quite pull it off. Unfortunately, no qualified buyers have stepped forward and it looks like Iridium is going to send all of their satellites into the Earth's atmosphere for a fiery demise. That's a boatload of money going up in smoke. *Caution, the above URL may have wrapped. You might have to cut-and-paste everything between the <> into your browser. ______________________________________________________________________ 6. Security Issues, Hoaxes, Viruses and Other Urban Legends ------ Please visit http://www.pcwize.com/tech/computer/secdef.shtml if you would like to know the definitions for hoaxes, viruses, worms and urban legends. ------ Pretty Park is making a comeback as an unpacked executable. I should know, because three people have sent it to me so far this past week. Take a look at McAfee's site for all the info you need to know. If you don't normally check the web sites for Symantec and McAfee to see what the latest virus and worms are, you should. Here's three good places to go to get the low down. Symantec (Norton Anti-Virus) warning center ZDNet Virus Alerts and Solutions and the latest security bugs. McAfee virus payload dates. Awesome, see what days viruses are supposed to activate! ______________________________________________________________________ 7. PCWize Contests and Winner Announcement ------ Each week PCWize holds a random drawing contest and gives away free stuff (usually software) to its subscribers. We will continue to do this as long as there are advertisers who are willing to provide the prizes. If you are such an individual/company, then please contact me at editor@pcwize.com so that we can work a deal. ------ This week's sponsor is inKline Global Inc., and they have developed some great applications to make your daily life much easier. Please visit their web site to get the lowdown on all the great products they have, and to help keep the PCWize newsletter FREE! ------ The winner of this weeks random drawing contest is: Merle Elskin ______________________________________________________________________ Well, that's it for this issue! Have a good week and I'll see you in seven days. Leif Gregory Copyright © 1997-00 by Leif Gregory. All rights reserved. You may share this copy of the PCWize newsletter with others as long as it is reprinted in it's entirety to include the copyright notice and subscription directions. If you've received this edition of the PCWize newsletter from a friend or colleague and wish to start receiving your own copy, then click the below link and send the generated e-mail message. I have made every attempt to ensure that all information contained in this newsletter is accurate to the best of my ability. Due to the myriad of possible configurations in the PC platform, information and software discussed here may not always work with your particular configuration. That being said, Leif Gregory and the PCWize newsletter can not be held liable for any damages you may incur either directly or indirectly from the use of anything contained in this newsletter. PCWize does not endorse any of the products or services provided by advertisers in this newsletter. As with anything in life, please check the credibility of the advertiser as well as to use common sense. If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. PCWize Editor PCWize Homepage Unsubscribe