CyberCoyote -- February 2, 2006

NEWS

Gene Barlow was here today with a satchel full of software -- like a "Watkins-Man". (You remember that era don't you?) He primarily presents Acronis software, which I and many others have high regard for.

Some of them are consistently rated as the top product in their category. Gene highlighted Acronis True Image as an all-around backup solution. I use an older version of it for what I call "system backup".
http://cybercoyote.org/computer/bu-sys.shtml -- system backup

Gene also demonstrated Acronis Privacy Expert Suite 9.0. It looks like a very good cleanup program for your computer. The suite also includes pop-up blocking and an ambitious looking anti-spyware program. I have not seen any competitive comparison of it yet though.

The prices that Gene offers to user groups, such as HTCC, are quite attractive.
http://www.ugr.com/store.html -- use Order Code UGAZACC
http://cybercoyote.org/security/anti-malware.shtml -- my views

NOTES and NOTICES

George Jester's presentation material and links to the programs that he mentioned last week are now online.
http://cybercoyote.org/articles/workflow.shtml

The "Mr.-Modem!" column for February is also now online.
http://cybercoyote.org/articles/modem.shtml [not a permanent page]

CLASSES

The 2-day "Using Windows Explorer to Tame Windows" class is scheduled for Feb. 13 and 15, from 9 - 11 AM in the Computer Room. $4 fee.
http://cybercoyote.org/classes/registry/index.html -- Class Notes

Another 2-day "Windows Registry" class is scheduled for Feb. 27 and Mar. 1, from 1:00 - 2:00 PM in the Computer Room. $4 fee.
http://cybercoyote.org/classes/registry/index.html -- Class Notes

The last Windows XP class is scheduled for March 20, 22, 24, 27 and 29, at 1:00 - 3:00 in the computer room. $10 fee.

DIGITAL PHOTOS

Microsoft has released another free photo tool. You can greatly improve some photos by using the tools in MSR Group Shot. Click the "image stack and result" links on the montage page to get a quick idea of how it works.
http://research.microsoft.com/projects/GroupShot/ -- download
http://grail.cs.washington.edu/projects/photomontage/ -- montage

Have you ever deleted photo(s) you meant to keep from your flash memory card? You cannot recover those images with Windows, but you can often do it with special recovery programs. PC Magazine has the information you need. [A Gail King find]
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1811808,00.asp -- overview
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1811810,00.asp -- the programs

COMPUTERS

Today's laptops are not all one-size-fits-all these days. Many of us need a computer that is portable, but not something we're going to use on our laps every day. A few of us need an ultra light one though. And then there's in-between.
http://windowssecrets.com/comp/060126/#revue0 -- comparisons

The first computer bug:
http://history.navy.mil/photos/images/h96000/h96566kc.htm

Urban computer myths:
http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzz_log/entry/2006/01/20/1700/

INTERNET

"Lexxe is the first Internet search engine in the world that offers short, exact answers to questions." Once you learn how to use the "Clusters", you may never go back to Google again.
http://www.lexxe.com/

Sometimes there is nothing better than an aviation section map -- topography, roads, railroads, lakes, rivers. Better than satellite views and better than road maps. SkyVector is the section map equivalent of Google Maps. Anyone who loves maps can enjoy them as well. :-)
http://skyvector.com/

DIVERSION

"Not everyone gets to be an astronaut when they grow up."
http://www.despair.com/viewall.html

The Sombrero Galaxy as seen from the Hubble Space Telescope (one of the most important instruments of discovery ever, IMHO).
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060115.html -- sombrero
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/index.rss -- top 10 discoveries

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