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1) Refresh Rates For LCDsIn "What's the "Best" Monitor Refresh Rate?" ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-03-10.htm#5 ) we discussed the tradeoffs among resolution, color depth and refresh rates for standard CRT (TV-style) monitors. That prompted several readers to ask about laptop-style LCDs (liquid crystal displays), which are becoming more popular for desktop use. For example:
As I said in the above-referenced issue, "LCD-type monitors can often go even lower [than CRT refresh rates] and still remain flicker-free." That's because the pixels in a standard color LCD are self-illuminating; they don't have to be "painted" serially by an electron gun, and they don't fade out if not repainted regularly. They are turned on by a signal from the video card, and stay on until another signal arrives telling them to turn off or change; or until power is removed. Because if this, many LCD's have default refresh rates of 60Hz, and still show no flicker at all. However, this means that whatever image is on screen isn't getting updated that often. There may be no flicker, but in video and other rapid-motion images, you may see smearing, blurring, and loss of detail in the moving part. LCDs have other issues too. For example, you may notice "artifacting" or "aliasing," where the sides of curved and sloping images (and text letterforms) have little jagged stairsteps. These visual defects have all but vanished from good CRT's driven by decent video cards: The video card fills in some extra data--- data that isn't really there--- to fool your eye into seeing a smooth curve. LCDs do this less well, even with helping technologies like XP's excellent "ClearType," which was specifically developed to improve text legibility on LCDs. (See http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20011115S0014 and http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/ and http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/cleartypeactivate.htm ) Even driven by ClearType, text on some LCDs can look very "harsh" and stark--- a sure recipe for headaches and eyestrain. But a lot has to do with personal taste and visual acuity. This isn't as strange as it may sound: Some people walk around with eyeglasses encrusted with fingerprints and other crud, while other meticulously polish their eyewear on a regular basis. Likewise, some automobile drivers are OK with windshields so dirty they're more translucent than transparent, while other drivers are annoyed with even minor streaks and dirt. It's similar with LCDs: Personal visual sensitivity plays a huge role in determining whether an LCD monitor will be OK for you. Specs and reviews are good place to start, but only can go so far. Buying an LCD monitor without spending some time--- not just half a minute at a store display, and certainly not just looking at a picture of an LCD as presented in a magazine or on a CRT screen--- is a shot in the dark. Ideally, find a store where you can spend some time with an LCD before you buy it. Don't just view the images the vendor has set up--- they're designed to show the screen at its best. The graphics matter, of course, but once you've seen them, view a long page of plain type, and read steadily for 10 or 20 minutes at your normal viewing distance. Your eyes will tell you if you've found a winner. (BTW: It used to be the same way buying standard CRT-based monitors--- units from different vendors could have the same specs and yet deliver very different results. Now, CRT monitor technology has been thoroughly wrung out, and is less variable. If you buy, say, a name-brand "aperture grill," Trinitron-style monitor, it's probably going to be OK, no matter where you get it.) Finally, in LCDs as with monitors, use the lowest refresh rate that gives you acceptable results. When you have a low refresh rate that's stable and flicker-free, try moving the mouse around rapidly, and view a video or play a fast shoot-'em-up game: Watch for smearing or streaking of the image. If everything looks OK, and if the LCD passed the reading test mentioned above, you've probably found a unit that will serve you well.
Click to email this item to a friend 2) How To Save Your Win98 (And Other) Updates Offline
There's no single patch with all Win98 updates in it, but there's a way to get all the separate patches, including some "cumulative" patches that combine several (but not all) separate patches into one larger download. It's easy--- actually much easier than it used to be: Go to Windows Update; select "Personalize" from "Other Options" in the left menu, and activate the "Display the link to the Windows Catalog" option, if you have not already done so. The Catalog will appear in the "See Also" menu on the left. You can then use the Catalog to pull down whatever Updates and Drivers you want. (It also gives you an easy way to see what you've already downloaded.) Items you select go onto a "download basket" from which you can retrieve and place them where ever you want--- on your hard drive, on a CD or whatever--- for safekeeping and later use. Click to email this item to a
friend 3) Undoing Dual-Boot SetupsA *lot* of readers are trying new OSes (like WinXP) in dual-boot configurations--- they keep their old OS (maybe Win98), and run XP in a kind of side-by-side mode. XP actually makes this easy: At initial setup, it will ask you if you want to upgrade an existing Windows installation (replacing the old version with the new) or to install the new Windows alongside the old. If you choose the latter, XP will control the booting of the PC, and give you the choice at start up of running either XP or the old Windows. That's a fine way to try a new OS, and to get your feet wet. But what happens when you want to switch permanently to the new OS?
Indeed, undoing dual boot can be a hassle. But there are some excellent third-party sites that give plenty of detail. For example: http://tweakhomepc.virtualave.net/dual/removedualboot.html A different site, http://www.win.net/optimator/WinWiz/AD/Reprints/DualBoot.htm , also has good info on both setting up and removing dual boot for Win2000; XP is essentially the same. Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 4) "Search Engine Optimization" Scams
A few weeks ago I received an email from an SEO called [name doesn't matter--- there are many doing the same thing] giving a free evaluation of our website's ranking with search engines. I ran the evaluation and later was called by someone from the company. He promised they could increase our search engine rankings. He asked for 20 keywords and said they would create "attraction" pages for each keyword optimized for 14 different search engines for a total of 280 pages. These pages would be put on our website. I had never heard of this method before and it sounded like it should work. Also the price seemed reasonable so I agreed to a three month promotion for $US 500.00 They requested our FTP information and added the "attraction" pages to our website. However once I saw the "attraction" pages I had some concerns. The "attraction" pages did not have any real content. They consisted of a banner at the top saying "Click Here to Enter" followed by a list of phrases taken from other parts of the site. Below they had the page's keyword repeated 10-20 times. I wondered Is this technique considered SPAM by any search engines? Is there any danger of being blacklisted by some search engines? I emailed my web hosting company and they said they were familiar with this company and that indeed there was a risk of being blacklisted. I tried to get a refund from Traffic Power and they refused giving the following (lame) reason: The work for all promotions begins immediately upon receipt of a signed contract and funds are distributed the same day. For this reason it states in the contract that NO REFUNDS APPLY.I did some more research and found out about Google's policy at http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html They say to avoid "doorway" pages created just for search engines . . . with little or no original content and that such illicit practices may lead to a site being removed entirely from the Google index. From my understanding of what Google means, they would consider Traffic Power's "attraction" pages to be "doorway" pages. I also found another article on "doorway" pages at http://www.seoconsultants.com/articles/1007/doorway-gateway-pages.htm The author's definition of a "doorway" page corresponds with Traffic Power's "attraction" pages. I emailed Traffic Power with all of this info but they still refused to give me a refund. At this point I don't know what else to do but at least I hope to help others from getting fooled. Sincerely, Bruno Cordovado You probably won't get a refund, as the company created the pages it said it would--- even though this didn't accomplish anything very useful. Most of the best search engines have multiple processes to weed out fake "optimization" efforts like this--- the search engines are on to the tricks people use to try to artificially inflate a search engine ranking. For example, simple search engines use the number of times an item is mentioned as an indication of how thoroughly a site covers that item. Microsoft.Com, for instance, uses the word "Windows" some enormous number of times in its normal content. A simple search engine might count these instances, and rank Microsoft.Com at the top of searches looking for the word "Windows." The search engine optimization scams are based on the false premise that if you stuff a site full of keywords--- not as part of the real content, but solely as a way to "stuff the ballot box"---you'll trick the search engines into inflating your ranking. Imagine what would happen if this trick really worked. You could insert several pages on your site with, say, 100,000 repetitions of the word "Windows," and your site would vault to the top of search engine result listings for "Windows," maybe even beating out Microsoft.Com, right? Riiiight. It doesn't work because most search engines look for this kind of mindless, content-free repetition of keywords, and discount sites that use it. Or, they seek to verify the validity of these words by other means. Google, for example, uses back-linking: If many sites link to a specified site, that linked-to site must be pretty good on whatever subject it covers, and Google thus places it higher in the rankings. If no one links to a given site, the site probably isn't very good, even if it's stuffed full of "attraction" pages and fake keywords to try to fool simple search engine indexers. There are only two real ways to boost your ranking in
the good search engines. The first is to use "meta" tags that accurately
describe your site and that list accurate, meaningful keywords for the search
engines to use. See, for example You can use the above technique yourself, for free: No special expertise or tools are needed, beyond the ability to insert a line of HTML into your web pages. The only other reliable method is to have good content. A crappy site will never make it to the top of any reputable search engine; a good site will eventually rise as high as its content allows. As for other methods, save your money: You can't fake content. Sites that promise to magically boost your site's ranking in search engines are scamming you. Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 5) Upgrade Vs Clean Install
I will cover this in more detail later, but here's the short form: Although XP's "upgrade" option works pretty well, I think it's always better to start clean, if you can. Here's how: 1) Make a full backup/image of the system you're upgrading. 2) Do a full reformat/reinstall for XP but DO NOT "activate" (or register) the installation when prompted (you have 30 days before you have to activate). 3) See if everything works. If so, you're golden. You can then activate the copy when prompted later. 4) If not, then restore the original setup from your backups/images, and try an in-place install of XP on top of the old OS. This may work in cases where the clean install did not, but runs the risk or carrying over whatever problems are embedded in the old software. (That's why a clean install is better, if it's possible--- and it usually is.) Click to email this item to a
friend 6) Is This Information Useful?If you think the LangaList is a worthwhile read, maybe a friend would find it useful too! Just use the following link to recommend the LangaList---your friend may find a new source of useful information and you just may win $10,000 for your trouble (full details also available via this link): http://www.recommend-it.com/l.z.e?s=143182 Or, win a no-strings $30 Gift Certificate for any
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(Full details also available via this link): Either way, thank you, and good luck! Click to email this item to a
friend 7) WinPatrol Further ImprovedWe've mentioned WinPatrol several times before ( http://www.google.com/search?as_q=winpatrol&as_sitesearch=langa.com ). It's an interesting hybrid tool that combines a Startup/Active Tasks monitor and a way to sniff out Worms, Trojan horses, Cookies, Adware, Spyware and other malicious programs. Now, there's a new version:
Thanks, Bill! Click to email this item to a
friend 8) Code Load Success StoryAlong with the question this reader sent in (see #2 above), he also wrote:
The "plug" Joe mentions was inclusion in a "They
Loaded The Code" item, like those below. If you'd like your site included,
please click over to
http://www.langa.com/code.htm , and maybe you can join the thousands of
LangaList readers who have "Loaded the Code!" (If you've already "Loaded The
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site, please see
http://www.langa.com/link.txt ) http://www.langa.com/randomlink.htm Manually Browse All Posted-to-Date
Sites Starting At Gotcha Covered Sanders-Augustine Family Magnum PI and Others UK Auction Help CLEVELAND INDIANS REPORT
(blog) Don's Lawn care Captain Nemo's locker Rat Terriers Dream With Magic Kippez-- A+ certification Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 9) Do You Read Privacy Statements?
Well, I doubt if I quite qualify as a "paragon" <g>, but I did try to make the privacy statement as clear as possible. It's at http://www.langa.com/privacy.htm , and if you haven't checked it out, you probably should--- just as you should on any web site you visit, or for any software you use. Click to email this item to a
friend 10) Just For GrinsFrequent writer R. Dan Park sends this along:
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 11) Plus! Edition Highlights:
The Plus! edition offers tons of extra info for just a dollar a month, and even has a MONEY BACK satisfaction guarantee: You can't lose! Complete Plus! Edition info: http://www.langa.com/plus.htm Click to email this item to a
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