Windows Installer v2.0 Update
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?releaseid=32392
"The Microsoft Windows Installer is an installation and
configuration service that ships as part of the Microsoft Windows
2000 and Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me) operating
systems, and is provided in a service pack to Windows 95, Windows
98, and Microsoft Windows NT version 4.0. The Windows Installer
service defines and manages a standard format for application
setup and installation, and tracks components such as groups of
files, registry entries, and shortcuts. Windows Installer is a
system-resident installation service that provides consistent
deployment, enabling administrators and users to manage shared
resources, customize installation processes, make decisions on
application usage, and resolve configuration problems."
dream.in.code
http://www.dreamincode.net/
{Resource for developers} Okay, the site we're featuring today is
for Web developers, programmers, and graphic designers.
"The site offers tutorials, forums, articles, and news
regarding these industries."
FONTS. If you have the space on
your hard drive and want to install
more fonts, you may find a wealth of them on the Windows98 CD. Install
them through DOS. If you're not familiar with DOS, you get there from
Win98 by clicking on Start|Run and entering "command" (without quotes)
in the window. Or, another way is Start|Programs|ms:dos prompt. At
the
prompt, enter "cd\" (without quotes) to get to the root. Then you're
ready to enter the following line exactly, again without the quotes,
and
assuming your CD is inserted in Drive E:
"extract /A/L C:\Coolfont E:\Win98\Base4.Cab *.ttf" .
TEOMA. Another search engine on the scene returns three categories
of search: Web pages, Web pages by topic, and Best-Expert Link. Give
it
a try at http://www.teoma.com .
SEQUOIA VIEW. Using a visualization technique it calls "cushion
treemaps" SequoiaView at http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/
examines
your hard drive with a single picture and tells what directory is
taking up most of the space. This free application helps locate those
files you haven't accessed in a year.
XDuplicator Beta v3.0 [251k] W9x FREE
http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/axatis/XDuplicator/XDuplicator.zip
http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/axatis/XDuplicator/
{Compact CD-R manager} Wanna burn some BIN files? What about a
CUE? Yes, of course you do. Here's a good GUI for CD-R (Disk-At-
Once enabled) drives which will enable you to record those
aforementioned formats, as well as copy CDs. You can read and
write in RAW mode, and CD-text writing is supported. The interface
is no-frills and your results should speak for themselves. Besides
recording music, XDuplicator can also be used to backup your
files. "There is minimal documentation and things may not work as
expected."
HDD Temperature RC3 Beta [550k] W9x/2k FREE
http://www.siguardian.com/hddt_beta.exe
http://www.siguardian.com/products/hddtemperature/
"HDD Temperature is a very small and very simple program. It runs
in background; the current temperature of your hard drive is
displayed in the System Tray. Right-click on the temperature icon
to show the menu, left-click to launch the program's settings. It
now supports integration with Motherboard Monitor (MBM). There is
one limitation in multilingual support - your system locale must
be identical to the chosen language. Requirement: an IDE hard
drive. Maxtor drives don't work with it (as far as we know)."
EnditAll v1.0.0.33 [423k] W9x/NT FREE
http://home.ptd.net/~don5408/apps/enditall/enditall.exe
http://home.ptd.net/~don5408/toolbox/enditall/
{Shut down everything} need a way to stop everything
give EnditAll a spin. you might say. "Some things
like 'Explorer' and 'Systray' need to stay open."
it won't mess with 'em. Use it right before you defrag
install new software, or burn a CD.
Sleepsmart v4.0 [1.0M] W9x FREE
http://www.digitalminer.f2s.com/download/slpsmart.exe
http://www.digitalminer.f2s.com/
"Sleepsmart is a program which allows you to customize Suspend
features. It can change the power scheme when any program is
running; this is very useful for users with TV tuner cards, DVD-
ROM drives, and for those who frequently watch VCD's or Audio
visualizations. It can disable the screen saver and scheduled
tasks. You can specify programs to close before entering into
suspend mode - and the ones to run when resuming from suspend
mode. Even more advanced options are present, such as playing a
sound file before entering and after resuming from standby."
CMenuExtender v1.2.1.0 [206k] W9x/2k FREE
http://www.geocities.com/revenger_inc/cmext121.zip
http://www.geocities.com/revenger_inc/cmext.html
{Menus within context} you can extend the right-click
(context) menu to include any number of commands and submenus.
You can sit icons next to your new entries for visual cues.
VisualICE Report Utility v4.2 [1.6M] W9x/2k FREE
http://www.visualizesoftware.com/VisualICE%20Setup.exe
http://www.visualizesoftware.com/
{Trace the intruders} When it comes to detecting and cutting off
port attacks, BlackICE Defender comes in handy. What if you need
more information about those failed connections? Stop asking
questions and get some real answers through this amazing little
incoming traffic analyzer. You'll get a detailed overview of all
logged intrusions (with filter and search options). You can also
set it up to notify the proper authorities automatically. "And it
doesn't require any technical knowledge to get the job done." For
those who rely on ZoneAlarm, VisualZone is also available.
Free Networking Tools
http://www.mentortech.com/learn/tools/tools.shtml
"Mentor Technologies is committed to offering total solutions IT
training. Part of that commitment is ongoing help after training.
Below are five Mentor Technologies programs that will help make
your life easier. Download at no charge: The Mentor Technologies
Subnet Calculator (use this tool to learn how to perform
subnetting calculations); TCP Portscanner; TCP throughput testing
tool; Access List Editor (ALE); and TFTPD (chestftpd). TTCP can be
used to test network TCP and UDP throughput; a separate use of
this tool is to create network pipes for transferring user data.
ALE can be used to easily modify and apply IP Access Lists on
Cisco routers; it can retrieve and store lists right from your
desktop, without you telnetting into the router and modifying the
lists."
Mirage Desktop Hider v1.5 [1.6M] W9x/2k FREE
http://www.vividmachines.com/downloads/mirage/Mirage.zip
http://www.vividmachines.com/
{Cover up your icons} With a quick click & drag of your
cursor, you'll have created an invisible layer (underneath which
sits certain desktop elements). You can still view the icons'
contents through conventional means.
Startup Delayer v1.0.32 [739k] W9x/2k FREE
http://www.r2.com.au/downloads/files/startdelay.exe
http://www.r2.com.au/
{No program gridlock} How many programs start when you launch
What if you could say: "one at a time, please!"
OrangeCD Player v4.10 [923k] W9x/2k FREE
http://www.firetongue.com/orgcdfree.exe
http://www.firetongue.com/
{Quiet little player} Want CD info? This player will access net
and
instantly download it for you. You can also program this to play tracks
in a specific order. Lots of features
Absolute HTML Compressor
http://www.serpik.com/ahc/
"[This] is an award-winning tool that optimizes HTML files. The
program doesn't corrupt most HTML files, unlike other optimizers.
Compressed documents are displayed in browsers unchanged; scripts
and preformatted text are preserved; you can compress individual
files or entire folders; backup files may be created; the program
supports command line mode; you can merge lines; remove
unnecessary whitespace characters; remove unnecessary quotation
marks; replace some tags with the short ones (STRIKE with S,
STRONG with B, and EM with I); remove HTML comments; remove meta
tags; and remove other extraneous tags."
Quick Hide Windows v1.0 [478k] W9x/2k FREE
http://www.cronosoft.com/download/qhw/qhw_v1.0.zip
http://www.cronosoft.com/download/qhw/
{Hide (or lock) icons and windows}
ra2wav v1.0 [113k] W9x/2k FREE
http://www.southcom.com.au/~gwalker/download/ra2wav.ZIP
http://www.southcom.com.au/~gwalker/download/ra2wav.htm
{Audio format conversion} The RealPlayer is an audio manager that
everyone uses -- but nobody likes. This charming will turn 'em intoWAVs
instantly. It can't handle .RAM or .RM (streaming audio) files,
unfortunately. " Just remember to convert to the same
format as the original."
Windows Online Crash Analysis
http://oca.microsoft.com/welcome.asp
"Microsoft actively analyzes all error reports and prioritizes
them based on the number of customers affected by the Stop error
covered in the error report. We will try to determine the cause of
the Stop error you submit, categorize it according to the type of
issue encountered, and send you the initial results by e-mail
within 24 hours. You can check the status of your error report at
any time. However, because error reports do not always contain
enough information to positively identify the source of the issue,
we might need to collect a number of similar error reports from
other customers before a pattern is discovered, or follow up with
you further to gather additional information."
HTTrack Website Copier v3.05 [1.7M] W9x/2k FREE
http://www.httrack.com/cserv.php3?File=httrack.exe
http://www.httrack.com/
{Browse sites offline} With this program, you can save an entire site
view it no matter where you are. All the links, images, and files
are saved to a directory, allowing you to click through them as if
you were doing it online. You can even select specific items to
download, as opposed to downloading everything from the source. Of
course, HTTrack can be used for other reasons, too.
Feedback Chat v2.0 [390k] W9x/2k FREE
http://www.mailingbuilder.com/download/feedbackchat.exe
http://www.feedbackchat.com/
{Chat with your visitors}a bit of JavaScript on
your Web site that will allow visitors to submit their feedback to
you in real-time. With the simple push of a button, someone can
either e-mail you (offline) or chat with you (online). And
it's easy to ban users (in case you ever have to kick
an idiot to the curb ).
VCDGear v2.0 [69k] W9x/2k FREE
http://www.vcdgear.com/files/vcdgear16d_win32.zip
http://www.vcdgear.com/
{VCD to MPEG encoding} You've got a movie (or two) in VCD format.
Jow do you make it available to the public? I suppose you could
show it to us one at a time, but maybe uploading it to the
Internet is a more scalable solution. Yeah, I think so. This
converter will turn your VCD file into an MPEG. Ala peanut butter
sandwiches! VCDGear will also extract MPEG files from CD images.
The built-in progress log is great for troubleshooting errors...
assuming the app doesn't fix them for you first. There's a non-GUI
version available for the totally geeky, too.
GraphTablet v3.0 [269k] W9x FREE
http://members.home.net/michaeleve/GTSetup.zip
http://members.home.net/michaeleve/graph.htm
{Tiny little squares} What do I remember from grade school? Graph
paper, that's what. We used it all the time. Of course, I always
used it for drawing robots and racecars (even though it was
designed with educational purposes in mind). Oh, and let's not
forget needlepoint. Why am I going on about graph paper? Because
this application will generate rectangular, polar, or semilog
layouts instantly. You can even change its colors and divisions.
When you've configured the chart to your liking, print it. NOTE:
doodling during math class is a serious misdemeanor. You can go to
prison for that, ya know?
XClip v1.0 [6k] W9x/2k FREE
http://www.proxima.de/xclip.zip
http://www.proxima.de/dnload_e.htm
{Paste with your mouse} Copying and pasting... man, what a time
saver. Really. I mean it. Why bother retyping something when a
quick cut and paste is all you need? Well, maybe it's not as quick
as it should be, what with having to constantly switch between the
keyboard and the mouse. Make your copying and pasting even easier
with XClip. CTRL + your mouse button will copy and SHIFT + your
mouse button will paste. If you're the type of person who doesn't
rely entirely on keyboard shortcuts (or the mouse) for operations,
now you can have the best of both worlds. Mouse button not
included.
FREE SuSE Linux v7.2 Eval CD
http://www.try.suse.com/
"Easier than ever! The good results achieved in numerous tests
have motivated us to get even better. Thanks to its ease of use,
SuSE Linux 7.2 allows you to start working at once, in a
comfortable and secure way. This is our goal, both for newcomers
and Linux professionals. Desktop users will enjoy the graphical
interface's new features. The KDE 2.1.2 Konqueror has matured into
an all-round file management browser and now also supports
Netscape Communicator plug-ins including Flash, RealAudio and
RealVideo. This is in addition to JavaScript, Java, HTML 4.0, CSS-
1 and CCS-2 (cascading style sheets) as well as SSL (secure socket
layer for secure communication)."
Online Gaming
http://www.ogcan.com/
{Online gaming stuff} Who could have imagined that video games
would have evolved into what they are today? They've become
quicker, aesthetically pleasing, and more violent (though I think
Frogger getting smooshed by a truck is pretty sick, too). The
Internet came along, and gaming leapt to a whole new level. OGCAN
features news and comments on all of the latest online gaming
developments. And Not just reviews; reports on what's happening
within the business are posted regularly. "Raw, hard opinions;
based on fact."
Comparison of Linux Distributions
http://www.distrowatch.com/
{Linux info page} Alternative operating systems are pretty cool.
What? Listen, this is a Windows newsletter -- not necessarily an
anti-Linux one. My expertise may lie with Microsoft's OSes, but I
know a good platform when I see one. The problem? There are tons
of distributions out there, which causes difficulty in determining
which one to use on your PC. Dangit. While I untie my tongue due
to this aching alliteration, let me tell you that this site is the
place to get the skinny on all of the Linux flavors. You'll get
links to Web sites, pricing information, and anything else you
need to know. Tux makes a better mascot than that... four-part
flag thing.
Outlook Express. multiple identities.
You can create a new one
for every person who accesses your system. This way, everybody's
Inbox (and mail account) will remain separate. Click File |
Identities | Add New Identity to get the ball rolling. The thing
to remember when using this feature is to "Exit and Log Off
Identity" after every session. Otherwise, the Identity Manager
won't prompt you the next time you launch Outlook Express.
Unfortunately, this isn't done when you close the program by
clicking the "X" button in the upper right-hand corner of the
window. In the "Manage Identities" dialog, you'd be smart to set
the default user as the person who accesses his / her account most
often on that computer.
WINAMP TWEAKS (save sys resources)
By default, the media player loads every plugin in the Plugin
folder
(even though all of them are not needed). Each (obviously)
consumes system resources. "Creat a sub-folder named 'Not in
Use' and moved the plugins not currently in use into it.
WARNING: you have to make sure you know which filenames go with
which plugins. Most of them install a text file with the
same name. WinAmp may still load slowly, but at least you've
done the most you can do -- and saved some memory and resources in
the process." Along those WinAmp tweaking lines, how many skins do
you have? Instead of keeping each in a separate sub-folder, ZIP
them up to save disk space. Don't worry; WinAmp will unzip them
automatically when you want to use them. But that's not all!
Change the extension from ZIP to WSZ and you'll be able to apply
the skin automatically by double-clicking it!
I E Security
Wanna make sure children aren't downloading anything
you didn't want them to download? Double-click the Internet
Options icon in the Control Panel, flip to the Security tab, press
the Custom Level button, scroll down to the Downloads section, and
select the "Disable" radio option.
Some sites automatically refresh the current page (so they'll
get another banner impression out of you). A little further down
the list, you'll find the "Allow META REFRESH" option. Disable
that = another annoyance off. You can disable the dragging & dropping
and copying & pasting of data, too.
Windows XP Performance
Enhancements
http://windowsxp.devx.com/articles/perfen/default.asp
The operating system keeps a log of which files are needed at
application start up and which data files are typically used (for
example, a certain spreadsheet that is regularly used when Excel
is booted). When the app is started, Windows XP looks at this list
of files and seeks all of them at once. In so doing, it can
consolidate disk seeks optimally and reduce head movement. So
rather than thrashing the disk, application launch process now
minimizes disk seeks. To enhance this process further, Windows XP
will moves the files around on your disk during lulls in computing
activity. For example, it will reposition all files used in
starting up your favorite browser and place them in contiguous
blocks on the disk."