CyberCoyote -- February 9, 2006

NEWS

Steve Gray reports that the quest to enlarge our meeting room is still proceeding. Many little things keep coming up, but it still looks like it will go.

We had a question and answer session today with lots of good questions and a few good answers. :-) An interesting one: Can you run old programs on Windows XP? The short answer is "probably" -- even old DOS programs.

Windows Help is often a good place to look for the rest of the answer. [Click "Start" > "Help and Support" > search for "running old programs" > click "Getting older programs to run on Windows XP"] There's your answer(s).

CLASSES

The new class "Using Windows Explorer to Tame Windows" will start next Monday, Feb. 13 and 15, from 9 - 11 AM. $4 fee. (The first session is free -- come see if you're interested.)
http://cybercoyote.org/classes/registry/index.html -- Class Notes

Signup has started for a repeat of the 2-day "Windows Registry" class. It's scheduled for Feb. 27 and Mar. 1, from 1:00 - 3:00 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.

COMPUTERS

PC World recently surveyed 35,000 of their readers about service and reliability. Not just for PCs, but printers, cameras, and other hardware. You can read the results online. You might want to jump to the "Printer Friendly Version" to reduce the clicking.
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,123409,00.asp
http://cybercoyote.org/url/164.html -- all on one page

X-ray of a PowerBook: see if you can figure out where and what all the parts are. For example where is the CPU? The fan? The hard drive? The USB jacks? You should be able to find the battery. :-) If you want to know how to upgrade your laptop, or just find out what's inside, you might try the CNet's free course.
http://cybercoyote.org/url/158.html -- x-ray
http://cybercoyote.org/url/159.html -- upgrade

SECURITY

A new version of Password Safe -- good enough for your most private passwords -- has just been released. It was originally designed by Bruce Schneier, possibly the sharpest encryption expert ever. It's a small, simple, bullet-proof program that I have relied on for years. Did I tell you that it's free?
http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/
http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/#Latest

The way you set up your browser has a big influence on how safe you are online. Due to the way Internet Explorer is tangled with Windows, you need to set it up even though you use something else, like Firefox. I recently updated a page on how to set up both IE and Firefox:
http://cybercoyote.org/security/browsers.shtml -- Internet Explorer
http://cybercoyote.org/security/browsers.shtml#firefox -- Firefox

INTERNET

Yahoo! does it again: A month ago I opined that the new Yahoo! maps beat Google's in many ways. I've been using the new (beta) Yahoo! web mail, and it's very nice too. I really like the message tabs, for example. They let you keep one or more messages open, even when you move to another task.

For me, Yahoo! beats Gmail in many regards, but Gmail has some very nice features. The new Windows Mail Live is very nice if you're looking for simple online email with a clean interface.
http://www.yahoo.com/r/m1 -- Yahoo!
http://cybercoyote.org/internet/gmail.shtml -- Gmail
http://ideas.live.com/ -- Windows Mail Live (Hotmail)

In the search engine contest, both MSN and Yahoo! give more relevant results for many search terms, but Google's special searches are more powerful. (I use "Dogpile", which combines search results from all three.)
http://www.dogpile.com/

DIVERSION

Make your computer cat proof:
http://www.bitboost.com/pawsense/index.html

What were you thinking about just before I stopped you? Read how 55 strangers replied to one photographer. (Interesting site navigation too.)
http://www.simonhoegsberg.com/

Perspectives: What would the earth look like if you traveled to the sun (in an asbestos suit, and with binoculars)?
http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/uncgi/Earth/action?opt=-s -- sun view
http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/vplanet.html -- more views
http://www.time.gov/ -- where is the sun shining right now?