HOMESCHOOLERS NOTE:  Pay special attention to GREEN titles
 

               USEFUL  APPS

 WinStars             W9x/2k/XP                             (FREE)
 http://winstars.free.fr/english/winstars_eng.exe
 http://winstars.free.fr/english/
planetarium program, you can see what the night sky in your area
will look like at any given date. Tells you the location of the stars,
nebulae, star clusters,  and most other heavenly bodies, too. And,
you can get instant information on them with just a few more mouse
clicks. "Supports: 10.000 stars (BSC5 catalogue) in the basic
version and more than 2.500.000 stars by downloading Sky2000 and
Tycho2 catalogues; smooth, real-time navigation with the mouse;
realistic views of the planets, the Moon, the phases of Mercury
and Venus, the horizon and objects of deep sky."

Vocatude                W9x/2k/XP                (FREE)
 http://www.vocatude.com/downloads/vocatu20.zip
 http://www.vocatude.com/uk/
{Work on your foreign vocabulary} Just enter the language you're
studying, the words to study, then choose the type of questions
you want asked. "Add the words from your
course book to a word list and start a test. You can choose from
open questions and multiple choice questions and from exercises
and exams. Pronunciations enable listening tests and dictations.
The program includes functions to ease recording pronunciations
and typing foreign characters. Foreign scripts are also
supported."

 Mark's Adding Machine       W9x/2k/XP       (FREE)
 http://www.bigfoot.com/~addingmachine/mam120.zip
 http://mwganson.freeyellow.com/MAM/
add up a whole list of numbers, and they'll stay in a list.
see on your most recent calculations - avoid duplications
 It's easy to use, and you can print your work.
There's a text-to-speech option so you can have your numbers
read back to you. "Supports: spreadsheet and word processor
program integration via Win clipboard, user-definable macros to
automate repetitive tasks, separate memory LED, and mouseover
status bar quick help." Registration is not required, but it  is free.

GraphCalc     W9x/2k/XP                               (FREE)
http://www.graphcalc.com/download/GraphCalc.exe
 http://www.graphcalc.com/
See your calculations as graphics in an instant, and there
are plenty of options for changing the appearance. "If
the Windows calculator just isn't getting the job done, or you
don't want to pay $100 for a little monochrome display handheld
calculator, download GraphCalc for free and see for yourself how
easy it is to graph an equation or find out what 345.4327 is in
binary! GraphCalc can be your first, last, and only line of
offense against the mathematics that threaten to push you over the
brink of insanity. It slices, dices, shreds and purees functions
that leave other calculators wondering what hit them."

Quick Spell Check          W9x/2k/XP                      (FREE)
 http://www.hexacom.cc/qsc/qsc.zip
 http://www.hexacom.cc/qsc/
How do you spell that? enter the word, and instantly see a list
of words that closely resemble the word you're trying to type.
"Double-click on the correct spelling to copy that word to the
Windows clipboard." If you don't have a copy of Office, you'll
like QSC.

HALO3                W9x/2k/XP                  (FREE)
 http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/halo/halo3a.zip
 http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/halo/halfeat.htm
{Sky simulation tool} "Tiny ice crystals in the atmosphere create
halos by refracting and reflecting light." crystals come in several
different shapes,  choose crystal, light direction, etc.
pan and zoom in and out . "Halos from all crystals are simulated;
hexagonal plates, columns, pyramidals and non water-ice crystals
which might be found in other planetary atmospheres."

AM-DeadLink 1.3 I                              (FREE)
 http://aignes.com/download.htm
looks for dead links in Explorer, Netscape and Opera. It will
also find duplicates. It will also back up the favorites in a
zip file. The screen looks like an MS Access table. After
scanning, you can go down the list and select the ones to
delete. Click on column to re-sort the list on it. It works fast

DIMIN Image Viewer                          (FREE)
 http://dimin.members.easyspace.com/software/imgview2/
These days image viewers tend to incorporate much of image
editors abilities with but one difference: you can't create a new
picture in a viewer.  Leading image viewing products, such as
ACDSee and IrfanView, now have a new rival - DIMIN Image Viewer.
DIMIN Image Viewer is a tool that lets you not only view images
of any popular format, but also apply different effects and filters to
them, as well as do many other things.  The effects include color palette
and brightness adjustment, resizing, rotating and cropping images.
The most prominent feature of this viewer is slide show.
You can open a list of files on your local hard drive or from a web site
and enjoy either original or full-screen slide show.  The program also
supports batch conversion of image files, import from TWAIN source
and video for Windows. It has hot key functions and You might want to
download HTMLDirCreator in order to View HTML Thumbnails. Also
available DIMIN Smart Capturer to capture from Video for Windows source.

NoteKeeper                                                         (FREE)
 http://www.tolon.co.uk/notekeeper/
 http://www.tolon.co.uk/downloads/notekeeper/notekeeper-0.5-install.exe
Is your documents folder an absolute mess with lots of documents, web pages,
images, sound files etc.  thrown together?  Do you spend more time looking for
documents than working on it? NoteKeeper is basically a scrapbook,  Of course,
much more powerful and flexible than a paper scrapbook.  Its intuitive interface
consists of two main windows - the explorer window and the notetaking window.
You can create folders and notes in the explorer window and then proceed to
work with them in the notetaking window.  You can import any file,  an image,
an HTML page, a Word document, an MP3 file into it and it will work just as well
from NoteKeeper as from the original application.

POWER DEFRAG                            (FREE)
http://www.powerdefrag.com/
Speeds up defrag by closing  all other programs and automatically
setting MS Defrag program (or ME ver) to do ALL hard drives
without the need to specify. It restarts the computer after completion.

 "Anti-Parasite" Browser Check                    (FREE)
http://and.doxdesk.com/parasite/ :
     Nice utility page that automatically detects spyware in your
     Windows Explorer browser, and generates instructions for
     removing it....
The page runs a small Script that looks for
"exploitationware"  and other "parasites" that have glommed on to
 your browser.
AV/Anti-Trojan/Anti-Pest are more thorough BUT
it's fast, free, and might help.

EmC           W9x/2k                      (FREE)
 http://www.abreuretto.com/anti-spam/downloadi.htm
 http://www.abreuretto.com/anti-spam/indexi.htm
{No more junk e-mail }uses several filters to clear out junk messages...
Depending on your criteria, it can delete certain kinds of
messages automatically. "In addition, you can check your mail for
any script based viruses or other hazards before downloading it to
your computer. New filters can be easily added. The program has
 a large list of presets, including 'Find sender owner domain.'"

Meazure                     W9x/2k/XP                     (FREE)
 http://www.cthing.com/Meazure/meazure-v1.exe
 http://www.cthing.com/Downloads.asp
Measure images, icons, or a window; magnify a portion of your
screen, take screen shot of any area. Small, fast, and easy.
"Magnify the screen up to 32X magnification; display rulers
on the screen; display a grid overlay on the screen with
adjustable grid spacing; measure using a number of units including
pixels, points, twips, and centimeters; calibrate screen
resolution to provide accurate measurements; save and restore
measurement tool positions using Profiles; use predefined Profiles
for common screen and video sizes such as NTSC and PAL."

AUTOCLIP                                                  (FREE)
http://www.rwakelin.freeserve.co.uk/autoclip/autoclip.htm
takes text copied to the clipboard and automatically pastes it in a
running log and saves it.  This is useful if you use your Clipboard a lot.
It maintains its file size automatically; and, it claims it is "crash proof"
meaning it will retain any text following a crash of your computer and the
text will be there the next time you boot up.

 Bookshelf               W9x/2k/XP                        (FREE)
 http://www.text-reader.com/downloads/setup_bookshelf__eng.exe
 http://www.text-reader.com/
 it will take any document and make it look like a book. "It has
a wide choice of page styles and convenient navigation system.
Bookshelf easily allows you to come back to the read books and to
open them in the place where you have stopped."

Poppy For Windows                W9x/2k/XP                   (FREE)
 http://www.yoursurfice.com/Content/Poppy/Poppy.EXE
 http://www.yoursurfice.com/Content/Poppy/Poppy.htm
Check all your email inboxes through your System Tray.
This tool will notify you of mail by a sound, and you can specify a
different sound for each account. An icon in the taskbar
tells you when mail is waiting. "The little
popup window will only catch your attention, but will not
interfere with the work you are doing. Only the most essential
features have been added to Poppy to make it easy to use without
all kinds of bells and whistles."
(Unless you choose a bell or whistle to alert you of new mail!)
 
 

                COLLECTIONS
       (FREE stuff from generous programers)

WAY TO MUCH SOFTWARE TO LIST
A special collection of gag stuff too.      lots(FREE)
 http://www.rjlsoftware.com/software.shtml

CHAMI.COM
 http://www.chami.com/
LiveCounter Plug and Play -- the first web page
 access counter able to update its hits display as you
 watch. you may be able to use LiveCounter Classic
for free on your personal  pages.
 WhoIsNot
 Still searching for that perfect domain name for your
 organization? Simply provide award winning
 WhoIsNot with the names you're interested in and
 let it do the work for you. It can search for available
 names, suggest new names, submit registrations,
 browse multiple directories and more. A free lite
 version with browser-like user interface is also
 available.
 More free goodies...
 • TextColorizer - Great effects in seconds.
 • Submit your pages to multiple search engines.
 • Reduce image size for faster pages.
 • URL2File - Download web and FTP files.
 • Check your dynamic / static IP address.
 • Read web server response.
 • Convert binaries to code using bin2hex.
AND MORE.............

Aigarsoft Freeware  (FREE)
 http://aigarsoft.yo.lv/indexen.html
"File Drag: when you drag an unknown file to this program it shows
the file's information. Folder: great joke. This program shows
dialog 'Cannot open file.' Font: with this program, you can see
the fonts that are installed. Keyboard: program to check to see
that your keyboard is functioning properly. System Info: shows a
lot of information about your PC. Clipboard: utility to view the
clipboard's contents. ColorIndex: program to view the color index.
Flag: simply a nice flag waving in your taskbar. WinLogger: hidden
program that writes down when PC was turned on and off. Joke:
shows Windows 2000 login screen. when user puts in a password and
username, the program logs them. Plus many other progs for free.

Free Audio Utilities  http://www.voicesync.org/Tools.htm    (FREE)
"Voice Balancing System: the tool for voice analysis and v2v
balancing tone generation.
EmoChat performs emotional dialogue
based on western musical chords. Musical chords represent a basic
emotional vocabulary, EmoChat finds them in real time voice
recording for further listen a Tempo or in a 0.3 fixed delay.
ChordXplorer plays main western chords in selectable octave and
base tone.
Midi Check Box selects source of sound - midi piano or
sine wave.
v2v Balancing Chat enables a V2V (Voice2Voice) dialog,
just talk and listen to generated v2v balancing tones, or just
keep in silence and listen and it will generate random tone
patterns. 
Planet Tones plays sound in octave 0 scale associated
with corresponding planet (including Sun & Moon) rotation period,
brain wave octave difference - based in main planet tone - can be
added. Generated tone can be saved to a wav file at 44100 sample
rate." Much more!
 
 

                USEFUL SITES

SPECIAL FEATURE:

      THEY SAID WHAT?--
DOYOUNEED SOME INFO ON JUST WHAT WAS SAID AND BYWHOM?
SPEECHBOT.  Sift through over 13,000 hours of audio and video content
at http://speechbot.research.compaq.com/ .  Search for specific words or
fast forward through the broadcasts to hear or view specific desired
content.

QUOTELAND.  At http://www.quoteland.com you can search out a quotation
by topic or author; or, a literary, special, or random quotation.  There's
a reference library and particularly noteworthy is the audio archive.
There, you can listen to memorable moments ranging from Richard
Nixon's "I'm not a crook" to the Meow Mix commercial (a real multimedia
experience in itself.)

DAYPOP.    http://www.daypop.com
Search for over 6,200 news sites and weblogs for current events and
breaking news.  You can hunt for these by language, country, or time frame
and find the top 40 popular stories of the day.
"We put Daypop to the test... and, in every case,
Daypop found what the others couldn't."
CNET reviews five alternative search engines - Dec. 13, 2001

LANGUAGE IDENTIFIER. http://www.lextek.com/langid/li/ (FREE)
Lextek identifies the language from a list of 260 (so far),
You can even add a custom language model if you need to.
Copy and paste the language in the text window for immediate
identification.

PUBLIC RECORDS SEARCH.  The last time we looked, there were nearly
6,000 free searchable record databases linked up to
http://www.pac-info.com .  Many date back a century ago and include U.S.
nationwide, states, territories, Canada, worldwide, and even, so they
claim, outer space.  There's a wealth of information there, particularly
for genealogists and even those who suspect they may come from a distant
planet (else, why would they look up outer space records?)

USEFUL SITES   continued

GREAT PRICES ON BOOKS!!!
 http://www.addall.com/AddBooks/Stores.html
It searches 40+ sources for the best price the book you are wanting.
I used it a couple of times and was very impressed.

Lego League International http://www.firstlegoleague.org/
{Worldwide LEGO maniacs} If you ask me, there is nothing better
than LEGOsLEGO has expanded far past it's original promise. Teams of kids (ages 9 to
14) are competing against one another on a global scale, trying to
build the best robot using the LEGO MINDSTORMS Robotics Invention
System. "Teams consist of 10 players with the focus on team
building, problem solving, creativity, and analytical thinking.
Teams face an annual Challenge emulating a real world event or
situation and must research, plan, build, program and test a fully
autonomous robot capable of accomplishing the Challenge."

Trish's ESCAPE FROM HARDWARE HELL
 http://hardwarehell.com/
Some piece of PC related hardware (or Software) giving
you cold sweats?  Go here for help...

EVERYPOET.COM     http://www.everypoet.com/index.htm
OK I'll bet you can guess what it here. Yep
more iambic pentameter than you can shake a stick at.
I just emailed myself  Renascence by Edna St. Vincent Millay
to read to my children. Find any poem you want in seconds!

FreeAnswers.com  http://www.freeanswers.com/
Much better search tool for Microsoft technet, outperforms the
microsoft search engine. Uncheck "Adobe" & "Intuit" when doing a
techsupport search for MS

WARNING:  I almost did not include this in my newsletter.  I have seen these
tests seriously abused.  Do not use these and accept the results as final!
They may give you some insight but that is all.
PERSONALITY TESTS.  Discover yourself with the large database of
resources and personality tests at http://www.spods.net/personality .
This is a free service and if you choose to register (also free) you get
more access to the features provided, including the ability to save test
results and compare them with later ones.

Mom Alone   http://www.momalone.com/
{For single mothers} "It is difficult and challenging to be a parent
today, and it is even more difficult to raise our children alone.
Divorce, death of a partner or 'single mother by choice' -
 whatever the reason, being a Mom Alone you experience unique
challenges and victories." offers assistance and advice about
things at home. career advice, fitness help,  money managing,
and a forum to talk with other single moms.

 IMAGE SEARCH.  http://www.images.google.com .
Need images?  320 million of them?
 
 

              UTILITIES/FIXES

Theres a new scumware in town....
Do you see popup where there were none before?
read this article http://www.poenews.com/inhouse/vx2.htm
One of the culprits is "VX2," a kind of "foistware/spyware" that piggybacks
on other software you download. The VX2  installs invisibly then monitors your
"clickstream" as you surf, sending information about all you do to VX2 corp.
The VX2 site ( http://www.vx2.cc ) won't tell which software is doing it.
You can see if you're infected by searching for "VX2.dll" in your system.
You can uninstall (so they say) the software by following the
instructions at http://www.vx2.cc/uninstall.html .
VX2 says you can request that all data collected from you be deleted
(see http://www.vx2.cc/delete.html  ). *HOWEVER* you have to give VX2
personal info, so this may not be a great idea. Only even consider it if you
know you were infected.

IBM Deskstar 75GXP Class-Action Lawsuit
     http://www.sheller.com/ibmclassaction.htm
Usually great drives but there have been lots of problems with the 75GXP.
If one has made your life miserable it's time to sign up!

How to Perform Clean-Boot Troubleshooting for Windows
 http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q281770
"Many issues that are experienced while running the Windows
operating system occur because of the use of an incompatible or
corrupt program that you are running simultaneously. To help
determine if this is the case, you have to either perform a "clean
boot", or restart Windows without these programs starting.
article shows how to perform clean-boot troubleshooting to
find the problems origin. To perform clean-boot troubleshooting,
it is necessary to make changes and restart the computer several times
to determine if the problem is with something in the operating system
environment and, if this is the case, what specific component."
 
 

           Patches, We Got Patches...

OK so this is 1 in Netscape and 879 in Internet Explorer!
SECURITY FLAW in Netscape Communications' Navigator Web
browser can let malicious Web site operators view the
information stored in cookies on a user's computer, according
to a security note published on Netscape's Web site
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/01/29/020129hnnetscape.xml?0129alert

Got system crash problems?
Are you certain about all the drivers you have?
If an installed driver is NOT signed,you might be pushin your luck.
Use VERIFIER.EXE - the Driver Verifier Manager - to
gather information about and troubleshoot your system's drivers.
This tool was specifically designed with serious propheads
and developers. For details and usage guidelines, refer to  http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q244617 
A stable system is a wondrous thing..check hardware site for legit drvrs.
 

          SHORTCUTS - TWEAKS

Got a laptop? Got a SpeedStep processor? Want to run all out?
 Tap WinKey + Pause to pull up the "My Computer" Properties
sheet. There, you'll find the "true" speed of the processor.
Beneath it, you'll see the speed at which it's currently running.
How can you be sure you're always running top speed? Change your
current Power Scheme to "Always On." You can do this  by
left single-clicking the battery in your System Tray or enable it
through the Power Options applet in your Control Panel.

Defrag Tips, Info
 You can use the switches /all and /show with
     defrag.exe. I have always changed the shortcut in System
     Tools>Disk Defragmeter to add the above switches. The /all
     switch tells defrag to defrag all your drives without further
     intervention. The /show switch shows details on your screen.

Excel Charts Tricks
The last time you made a chart of numbers, did you step through the wizard ?
Try this;  highlight the data and tap F11.  You can  tweak the graphic's format
(right-click on the newly-created chart and select the "Chart Type" option).
Want to create a range of numbers without putting forth much effort?. Enter
any number into a cell. Select the cell, depress the CTRL key, hover over the
lower-right corner of the cell until you see the cursor change into a big plus sign
with a little plus sign. Click and drag vertically or horizontally. Down or
right will increase your initial number; up or left will decrease it. Do it
without the CTRL key to copy the initial cell's contents.

MS WORD Compare Documents
You ave to manually compare the two documents side-by-side .
Word has a "comparison" feature. Right-click
on a toolbar, select Customize, flip to the Commands tab, select
the Tools category, to "Compare Documents..." option. Drag and drop to
(either in an existing toolbar or a menu). Open the original document,
press the newly-created icon, browse for the newer document.
Word will automatically highlight all changes in red.

A good Macro in Microsoft Word,
press ALT+F8.
Set the "Macros in" field to the "Word commands" option.
Find the "ListCommands" entry, or type it in manually.
Press the "Run" button and choose list type
 click "OK,"

For both of you still using WordPerfect,
Click Tools | Settings | Customize icon.
Flip to the "Keyboards" tab.
Click the "Edit" button and then "Print Report".

                 JUST FOR FUN

ICON SUSHI     W9x/2k/XP                    (FREE)
 http://towofu.s5.xrea.com/soft/files/aicon102.zip
 http://towofu.s5.xrea.com/soft/e-index.html
you can turn just about any image into an icon. It will work on
any Windows system with a 16-bit (or higher) color depth.
You can also use this utility to extract icons from EXE
and DLL files, and paste from the clipboard at will.

Pick-a-Tag       W9x/2k               (FREE)
 http://home.wanadoo.nl/jeroen/files/pat151.exe
 http://home.wanadoo.nl/jeroen/software.html
Signature quote adder;  Notice how some people add a little quote
to their e-mail signature? Now when people get a message from
you, they won't see the same tired expression every time. Since it's
all random, you won't even know what's going to show up next.

FireStones - A tetris-like puzzle game  (FREE)
http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Reviews/r308.html

 Ant Movie Catalog     W9x/2k/XP            (FREE)
 http://antoine.buypin.com/software/files/amc_full.zip
 http://www.ant.be.tf/
{Categorize your flicks}Just enter the correct data in
each field. Enter media type, year, director,  title etc.
You can link it to an external player to movies on your sys.
"New fields: Audio Format, Audio & Video bitrate,
number of disks, frame rate, Media label / barcode.
Chart with catalog statistics (addition frequency, countries,
categories, etc.)."

Game Backup              W9x/2k/XP                  (FREE)
 http://messengerbackup.exhumed.com/gbsetup.exe
 http://gamebackup.troyphillips.com/
{Save those stats} allow you to save your mission levels and scores, and
access them easily. New and old games are listed on the database,
new ones are added all the time. "Backup and restore your keyboard
layouts, custom-made mission levels, high scores, etc."

Bill Gates Is Dead  http://www.billgatesisdead.com/
humorous. Read articles about the demise of Mr. Microsoft and
check sites about his assassination.

           Just for PROPHEADS

Quiet PC's Fans                 (FREE)
    http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
If your motherboard is capable, this slows fanspeed and
noise based on CPU-temperature. It's highly configurable.
Aimed at the power-user, requires recent, advanced hardware.

Extension Changer W9x/XP (FREE)
 http://www.simtel.net/pub/dl/55562.shtml
 http://www.geocities.com/extchanger/
{Change file extensions} Do you know how to change the extension
on a file?  Just click the file you want to
change, drag it into this program, and enter the new extension.
 If you can't seem to get it to work, searchin GOOGLE for
ChangeExt tool. It's also free.

  CGI 101   http://www.cgi101.com/class/
Learn how to add CGIs to your website, in less
than a day... even if you have no programming
experience. You can get started right away with the
online class, which takes you from the basics (where
to write your scripts, how to upload and run them,
and how to debug them when things go wrong), on
to decoding forms, sending e-mail, and reading and
writing files. By the time you finish, you'll be able to
write your own guestbooks and surveys.

Hard Link Magic      2k/XP                (FREE)
 http://hardlinks.hut.ru/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?hlm.exe
 http://hardlinks.hut.ru/en/
"Do you know about shortcuts - those little .LNK files, mostly
sprinkled around your desktop, that you use to reference something
else? Well, no doubt shortcuts are a useful feature, but they also
have a few drawbacks. A hard link saves you from maintaining
multiple (but needed) copies of the same file, making the system
responsible for managing various path names to address a single
physical content. This greatly simplifies your work and saves
valuable disk space. Furthermore, hard links, as system-level
shortcuts, always point to the right target file - no matter if
you rename or move it. Because the link is stored at the file
system level, all changes apply automatically and transparently.
It's worth noting that hard links must be created within the same
NTFS volume." (Ya can't us this between partititions tho....)

Active XCavator    W9x/2k/XP (FREE)
 http://img.cmpnet.com/byte/columns/frantz/1999/06/XCavate.exe
 http://www.cognitronix.com/
"Internet Explorer can automatically download and install ActiveX
controls onto your system. Active XCavator tells you what controls
have been installed, and enables you to easily remove them. Active
XCavator v2.0 lists ActiveX controls installed from the Web by
Internet Explorer 3.0 or later. You can see the all the
information on the control, such as the name, size and location of
the file. If you have an ActiveX control that is very large,
doesn't work properly, or was downloaded by accident, Active
XCavator lets you delete it. If you delete a control by mistake,
all you have to do is return to the original Web site from which
the control was installed and it will automatically be installed
again."

BEOSWin      W9x (FREE)
 http://members.aol.com/chchillsch/beoswin.zip
 http://members.aol.com/chchillsch/
"BEOSWin is a BEOS style Shell for Windows 95 or 98, designed to
emulate the 'Deskbar' application of BEOS v5.0. Using the menu is
relatively simple. The top menu opens cascading Windows a bit like
Start Menu does, except it's click up and click down, though the
succeeding menu entries aren't. The entries below it are the
running applications which you can hide and show. Configuration is
equally simple. You can create program links exactly as before,
using the 'Configure Menu' option. You can also have additional
ones that are collections of shortcuts in the subdirectory 'BEOS
Menu' of your Windows directory. One is created by default,
'Demos,' which is empty."

CmdHotKey                 W9x/2k/XP                     (FREE)
 ftp://ftp.wastingtape.com/pub/cmdhotkey.zip
 http://www.wastingtape.com/cmdhotkey/
allows users to choose a key combination to execute any function.
CmdHotKey can speed up routine tasks by letting your hands stay
on the keyboard. Perfect for administrators or power users.
Software now includes semi-intelligence to detect what
executable the user has selected, and adjust settings accordingly.
The following executables have custom settings available: cmd.exe,
command.com, and explorer.exe."

 Linux On Laptops    http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/
Which Linux is best for my laptop? locate your laptop on the list and
you'll see (what they feel is) the best Linux for your model.

802.11b networks are not very secure;   you should filter
out non-registered MAC (Media Access Control) addresses if your
WAP supports this feature. A MAC address is unique to every
network card on the market. Any Wi-Fi device may see your wireless
access point, but it won't be able to use the WAP unless its MAC
address matches the (manually entered) filter.
How do you determine a network card's MAC address? Either use
WINIPCFG or IPCONFIG. You're looking for a hexadecimal string -
 twelve digits long. As your home network
expands, this information will become increasingly important. You
could use your router's DHCP table to view the addresses, or you
could use Windows XP's GETMAC command line utility.

                XP and 2000 or IE only
Once you use Netscapes email and bookmarks you'll never wanna go back to IE
 

ROBOFORM.   http://roboform.com  works on all windows (not for pre 6 NS)  (FREE)
Gator violates your privacy, so why not get the help without giving up security?
RoboForm is free and works on Windows and Internet Explorer
version 4 and higher.  If you prefer Netscape as a browser, it will
require version 6.1 or higher, but also works with AOL and MSN browsers.
Converter to migrate your data from Gator to RoboForm.

2000
 Win'KnowlegeBase' says: "Cannot Use Command-Line
Switches with Disk Defragmenter Tool" with Win2000.
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q223/1/46.asp ):
Soooo..
Here are some apps if ya need this done for ya.....
Windows 2000 shareware utility used to
     call the stock defrag app, with all drives selected
     http://www.morphasys.com/autodefrag/
 "Diskeeper" by Executive Software...
     http://www.diskeeper.com
 Another alternative
     PerfectDisk PE from Raxco Software
     http://www.raxco.com/products/perfectdiskpe/
and Defrag Commander PE from Winternals
     http://www.winternals.com/products/pft/defrag.asp
Microsoft also lists some third-party solutions at
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=KB;EN-US;q130539

XP Logos        (FREE)
 http://www.xplogos.com/
change that boring XP user logo at the top of your Start Menu

Window XP Disk Errors
You can only fix disk errors when you're not inside Window XP.
To correct discrepancies, you'll need to check for them and then reboot.
Either run "CHKDSK /F" from a CMD line or open My Computer,
right-click on a drive (AKA volume), select Properties, flip to the Tools tab,
and press the "Check Now..." button. Place a checkmark in the
"Automatically fix file system errors." It will prompt you to schedule a scan
before the next Windows session.  If you haven't upgraded your FAT32
volume to the NTFS file system  , you can run the command line "CONVERT"
utility.  Right-click a file or folder, select Properties, flip to the General tab,
click Advanced, put a checkmark next to the "Compress contents to save disk
space" option, then click OK & OK again. To Confirm Attribute Changes,
select the option you desire.  You just saved some space.

 XP Disaster recovery
XP Safe Mode? Kinda. Tap F8 just before the Windows splash screen.
If this fails? Time to run the Recovery Console.
Boot from original operating system CD.
Use the wizard until you can tap "R" to inter Recovery Console.
Enter your Administrator password (if you have one). Type
"HELP" for a list of possible commands. FIXBOOT writes a new boot
sector on the system partition; FIXMBR repairs the boot
partition's master boot code. DISKPART manages partitions on hard
disk volumes (kinda like FDISK); BOOTCFG is used to manipulate the
BOOT.INI for boot configuration and recovery. This may just save
you from having to do a complete reinstall of the OS. Be careful!
More info  http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q307545

StartBtn Renamer                  XP                       (FREE)
 http://www.geocities.com/startbtn/ProgFull.zip
 http://www.startbtn.main-page.com/
"StartBtn Renamer is a simple utility for renaming the [Start]
button in Windows XP. With this freeware tool, you can change
default Label of the [Start] button with your own text. This is
great when you want to tease your friends or when you intend to
have a greater variety in Windows... what do you think about these
labels: Virus, Hello, Begin, Enter, etc. StartBtn Renamer runs and
works under Windows XP. StartBtn Renamer can run from the Command
Line. It is [also] open source. Re-sizes the [Start] button
proportionally to the width of the new label (in pixels)."

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