2002 June

I am not computing commando style.

You probably didn't notice, but I thought it was definitely worth mentioning: my e-mail publishing book is finally available in PDF format for HALF off the printed price. People are still asking me “how” and “what” every other day. If you didn't know I wrote a book, I did – and its finer points still ring true today. Oh, and we've got about 10 other complete books on GnomeTomes.com now, too. Ya can't get the digital formats anywhere else on the Internet, so don't bother looking. Thanks to Todd for helping me smooth over some rough patches of text.

Read more on My Book is Now Half Off…

Props to Rachel for pointing to this MSN buddy. Sweetness! She referenced Christine, but I've been so out of the loop with things that I haven't been a good blogger lately. I'm not saying that I bit off more than I could chew, just that I've got a lot of stuff on my plate right now. Believe me, what I'm working on is pretty darn nifty. Gnomedex is taking a percentage, TechTV is taking a percentage, Lockergnome is taking a percentage, and a SECRET PROJECT is now also taking a percentage. I'm not going to tell you what it is – because then it wouldn't be a secret anymore. HINT: it has nothing to do with my inflammatory comments on Linux (which, by the way, were done tongue-in-cheek).

Read more on I Love Rachel!…

If you don't Understand Your Options yet, you will soon. Coming
directly from the horse's site: “After July 31, 2002, Microsoft's
new Volume Licensing program will be fully implemented. Purchasing
Licenses, or Licenses and Software Assurance together, will be the
way customers obtain rights to future versions of products.
However, before that change, many customers may find that a cost-
effective way to obtain rights to future versions of Microsoft
software is to purchase Upgrade Advantage or Software Assurance.”
Is this anything new? Not necessarily. You've always been
licensing their operating systems. Why do you think they call it
an End User LICENSE Agreement? Have you ever taken the time to
read those things? No time like the present to start. I'm not
trying to spread any FUD here, but don't say that you weren't
warned ahead of time.

Read more on Fuddy Duddy…

Lockergnomie Dilip Raj is quite a multitasker: “This tip is for
those who load many programs at startup which are not always
needed – but they're still loaded just so that they do not have to
launch the program when it IS required. For example, I used to
have my IM Client, a program that counts my time online, and
DUMeter (which shows instantaneous connection speeds) all run at
startup – even though I only needed them if I planned to go
online. Now I double-click on a shortcut which loads these three
programs simultaneously and then dials my ISP. Here's how to do
it: (1) Create a new text file. (2) Change the extension from TXT
to BAT. (3) Edit the file in a text editor and insert 'START
[Path]' on separate lines for each program, sans quotes, with
[Path] being the full disk path of (and up to) the EXE file. (4)
Create a shortcut to this batch file. (5) In the shortcut
properties dialog, select Run / Minimized, then tick the checkbox
labeled 'Close on exit.' You could also change its icon and place
this shortcut on the desktop or Quick Launch toolbar.” Very cool,
very easy. Beats the heck out of having to click on several sets
of icons.

Read more on Batch Bonanza…

Lockergnomie Zachery Wolfinger has a great idea for Outlook &
Outlook Express users who subscribe to discussions: “The large
amount of traffic generated by interactive e-mail lists can be
quite cumbersome. First, create a new (separate) folder to store
the mail from each list; give it a meaningful name. Set up a rule
for the messages to be placed in this location to keep your Inbox
clutter-free. We can go one step further by grouping the messages
by conversation. This makes it much easier to follow a thread of
messages and quickly see when a new message has been added to a
particular conversation. In Outlook, go to the folder that
contains your discussion list messages. Go to the View menu and
choose Current View. Choose Customize Current View. Click on Group
By, then select Under Group Items by choose Conversation. Click
the OK button (twice). In Outlook Express, go to the appropriate
folder, click on the View menu, and choose Current View. Then,
choose Group messages by conversation. Clicking on the plus or
minus symbol in the conversation header will respectively expand
or collapse the group.” It's the talk of the town. Or at least,
the network neighborhood.

Read more on Group Mentality…

Lockergnomie Caleb Ciampaglia has documented a document dilemma:
“After upgrading to the latest and greatest Adobe Acrobat Reader
(5.05), I encountered an error message when I was using a Web
based reporting tool at work. Whenever I tried to view a report
(which was a PDF file), I received an error message: 'linear data'
error. After a little research on Adobe's Web site, I disabled an
option called 'Allow Fast Web View' and everything worked
wonderfully, though it was a tad slower. This option can be found
in Edit | Preferences | Options. Apparently, it is a new method
that Adobe uses to transfer the PDF file from the Web browser (in
my case, Netscape 4.79 and Internet Explorer 6.0) to the Acrobat
Reader. It [the method] is incompatible with many PDF file
generators (like reporting tools). So, if you are having these
sorts of problems, just configure Acrobat to use the old, more
reliable, way of transferring the document.” I've never liked
viewing my PDFs inline (inside the browser). If you're given the
option, you might be just as smart to right-click and “Save Target
As” instead of opening it up right then and there.

Read more on Adobe Acrobatics…

Lockergnomie Patrick Kingsley has a heap of help for those of us
who have ever faced a complete reinstallation of Windows 2000 or
XP: “Regarding the difference between a Quick and Full format…
the error check is only part of the overhead that occurs when you
perform a Full format; the other significant portion of the
overhead occurs as the block and sector structure is laid out and
written to the entire disk, which does not occur when you do a
Quick format. Basically, a Full format truly scrubs the disk from
scratch, rebuilds all of the file structures, and checks to make
sure that everything is copasetic. All a Quick format does is lay
down a blank FAT and directory table. This is why a brand-new
unformatted disk can't be Quick formatted and must receive a Full
format; it needs all of the file structures laid out first, so the
FAT actually has blocks and sectors to track, instead of a
nebulous mess (though, frankly, looking at my hard drive, it's not
all that different from a nebulous mess; it's just a properly
formatted and allocated nebulous mess).” I suppose that if you
have extra time on your hands, go for the Full option. It couldn't
hurt.

Read more on Full Versus Quick…

I recently got a “newsletter” from somewhere which I
had never signed up for a newsletter. Now, I use a
junk account for all my web forms and newsletters
and such, and I forward these to my real, personal
account. When I start getting too much spam, I
throw away that account and start a new one, all the
while keeping my real one clean for family and
friends.
Well, I opened this “newsletter” because it seemed
catered to my interests, but it turned out to be
crap like normal. Well right after that, there was
something in my outbox… I looked and it was
a “read receipt” headed right back to the company,
with my legit address on it. Luckily I had Outlook
set to send messages only when I tell it to, because
if it had gone through, the flood would begin.
I just thought the viewers might like to know about
this, in case they use shill accounts forwarded to a
clean one too, or to set it to “never send a read
receipt”.

Read more on Sincerely Aron Hess…

Received from a random user this evening:
“I was running the Linux Mandrake 8.2 Install and I donÂ’t know what I did
but it brought up a command prompt about “global destruction”. Help me out
IÂ’m clueless.”

Read more on Case in Point…

I love e-mail. I look forward to checking my accounts every morning. I've discovered a pattern; perhaps it's just a larger signal to noise ratio at play, but I seem to get more unsolicited commercial messages on the weekends. For instance, today I received 81 pieces of electronic garbage. I would like to take this opportunity to publicly humiliate the following companies for blasting me crap that I didn't ask for: 1800Flowers, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, ACDSee and RealOptimizer, CBS SportsLine, America Online, and Discover Card. If any of these companies rented lists to market their tripe to me, their shame should go even deeper. If you know somebody from one of these companies, you might want to tell them that their reputation is getting tarnished. I'm tired of legit businesses thinking they can get away with a single opt-in procedure, or purchasing e-mail addresses that are assumed to be real. If you want to use e-mail to get your message out to people, why not place advertising in existing publications? MORONS!

Read more on Companies I Hate…

Ya know how some people say that downloading digital music from
the Internet leads to more frequent media purchases? I didn't
believe them. Now, you might remember my position against
unethical file sharing – that hasn't changed any. Last week,
however, I discovered that They Might Be Giants was offering ~50
free MP3 files on its Web site, Dial a Song. I grabbed 'em
and transferred 'em to my Pocket PC in a flash (CompactFlash, that
is). As I listened to the more addictive tunes, I kept thinking:
“I wish I had higher-quality versions.” Duh. Some of them were on
existing albums I didn't currently own – until this morning. I'm
now the proud owner of Severe Tire Damage, No!, and (arguably
their best album since Apollo 18) Mink
Car. My only regret is that I didn't get them
any sooner. Anyway, if there's a point to any of this it's that
bands like TMBG deserve to be supported. They're not rebuking the
infobahn – they're embracing it with open glockenspiels. “Another
First Kiss” had potential to be a pop hit, and “Man, It's So Loud
In Here” should have been played in clubs the world over. Both
tracks can be found here
(and on Mink Car).

Read more on Minky Fresh…

Lockergnomie Eric Ose knows about a rather unique download that we
haven't featured in years; it's definitely worth checking out
again: “QNX is a full operating
system. It is not open source, but the makers are giving it away
in order to spur development. It is a UNIX OS which uses a
microkernel and has a beautiful and fast GUI (called photon). I
wanted to recommend it because of the ease of installation and the
speed of your system running under QNX. I installed it on Pentium
100Mhz and 200Mhz computers with as little as 16MB RAM; it runs
great and looks good, too. I came upon it when looking for a
Linux distro that worked well (GUI included) on old hardware.”
He's right – this thing is pretty nifty. If your home network has
a few older machines on it, grab the image and start surfing
faster. Is it perfect? Hey, the whole darn thing fits on a floppy.
It's perfect enough – especially if you're worried about roomies /
visitors / relatives messing with your system.

Read more on Qool…

And another geek drops his
two cents into the bit bucket: “Linux, while it has its own bugs,
is 10 times better then Windows has ever been. Windows is
insecure, leads its users intentionally down the path to
stupidity, and makes things easier then they should be. It is this
'usability before security' ideal that makes Windows and the
monopolistically intertwined programs that come with it the worst
software available from every perspective I can think of. Yes,
Linux takes a lot to learn. But, you know what? it takes no more
than Windows did.” He goes on to say: “The more the experts tell
people that Linux is hard to use, the more people will avoid it
and not give it a try. OS X is the perfect example that UNIX can
be easy to use and a fun experience.” Still, 90% of the world has
difficulty with what geeks consider simple. If it ain't point and
click, it ain't going to stick. I agree that Linux takes “a lot”
to learn, but I disagree that it is any more usable than the
alternatives. And who is telling anybody to avoid anything? At
least, around here – where we offer newsletters for Windows users,
Mac users, and Linux users. So, put that in your | and smoke it.

Read more on Linux Sucks…