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LangaList 2003-06-26 Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 1) More "Perfect PC Rescue Tools"A number of sites offer free, preconfigured emergency boot/recovery CDs you can use to start your PC, diagnose problems, and fix what's wrong in the event of a major system failure: For example, there's the "Ultimate Boot CD" http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ , but it contains just five DOS-based diagnostic tools. Or there's a similar "SuperRescue" CD for Linux http://www.kernel.org/pub/dist/superrescue/v2/README . The tools on both CDs are good, but still are limited and are based on a generic, lowest-common-denominator approach to system recovery and repair. The best ready-made CD source I've found is "The 911 Rescue CD" series, from http://www.911cd.net/index.html . It's very good, and far more complete than most such offerings: "...a set of startup disks based on the ModBoot framework, they have mouse-driven user interface and greatly simplify the process of setting up and recovering failed systems, and allow the user to diagnose problems and assist in the fixing steps." The site shows you how to create the CDs (there are several, each geared towards a specific purpose) that can contain a mix of freeware and commercial software; use of all the commercial tools will cost you a couple hundred dollars, but is optional. But all these preconfigured CDs suffer from "off the rack" problems--- they're of necessity very broad in scope. None is targeted specifically to *your* PC, *your* skill level, *your* needs and interests. But you can easily make a customized boot/recovery CD that's tailor-made to your own specific purposes and needs by using the information here: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=10700681 . You'll end up with a single CD that's perfectly matched to your own specific situation: Not a CD filled with a random pile of general tools, but one with just the tools you need and want for your own unique combination of hardware, software and skill level. It's the kind of CD I use here in my office and on the road to maintain my own mongrel mix of Windows and Linux desktop and laptop systems. Please click over to http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=10700681 for this info, and for links to hundreds of DOS-based tools that can let you diagnose and repair almost any problem your PC is likely to run into. See you there! Click to email this item to a
friend 2) New ZoneAlarmThe new ZoneAlarm Pro rolled out about a week ago, during the brief publishing hiatus of this newsletter. It's a touch-up release of ZoneAlarm Pro--- not a wholesale revision--- but adds a few new features: It extends the "mailsafe" protection against potentially hostile inbound mail attachments; extends the ability to fine-tune operation of the firewall by port, protocol, application, time of day, and such; adds one-click control over which internet-enabled apps on your system are allowed to send email (which can help prevent some nasty worms, trojans and such from finding a back-door way to replicate themselves); and adds two cache cleaners that can help "remove all temporary files, search history, recycle bin files and other clutter, improving the efficiency of your entire system" and "clean browser-related files, including browser cache, URL history, cookies, page cache and other browser files." I've been using it on my main system for over a week with no problems at all. It's a free upgrade for current ZAPro users; for others, there's a free trial version, and it's $40 to keep: http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp As before, if ZoneAlarm doesn't work for you, I suggest Sygate Personal Firewall as an excellent alternative ( http://www.sygate.com ). And if *that* doesn't work, then try any of several other good firewalling tools: http://www.google.com/search?as_q=firewall&as_sitesearch=langa.com The only firewall choice that's always wrong is not to use any--- even if you think you're protected by firewall features on your router or other hardware. See http://www.informationweek.com/840/langa.htm for why everyone--- *everyone*-- needs desktop firewall software! Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 3) Free File Tools, And A Eudora Mailbox ToolWe've talked about Eudora recently ( http://langa.com/u/1.htm ); it's an email client favored by many who (1) want something more secure than Outlook Express and/or (2) have to handle large volumes of mail. Reader Eric Stork is a Eudora user, and he found a nice, free Eudora utility he wanted to share:
Thanks, Eric! Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 4) New "Short Link" Tool TrialA number of readers have expressed concern about my use of services like TinyURL to present shortened versions of very long URLs. My reasons for using those services were twofold. First, very long URLs are tough to present in text: They're ugly, they break up the flow of the text, and they often line-wrap, which causes problems in some mail clients--- the links get broken into non-working pieces. Second, every number, letter, word and URL in this newsletter is duplicated something like 160,000 times--- once for every subscriber (most of these are in the free standard edition). A single long URL--- for example, a recent 122-character URL we featured that pointed deep into the Microsoft Knowledgebase--- ends up actually consuming 19,520,000 bytes of bandwidth for me. Now, consider that I run something like 6,000 URLs a year in this newsletter; and that I pay by the KByte to have this newsletter mailed to you via a professional list-mailing service. You can see my purely practical interest in NOT running hugely long URLs when I don't have to. <g> But, as many readers have pointed out, there may be problems down the road if or when small-URL services like TinyURL go away: All published links that use these services will be broken. Because of this, I haven't used the link-shortening tools for unique or hard-to-find URLs, but rather only for content you can easily re-find (as in the case of the Knowledgebase) should you need to. I've also used two different services, in the theory that both are unlikely to go away at the same time. Still, I'd rather not have old links go dead for any reason other than the original source itself dying, so I'm testing a new way to handle long links: a redirection page on the Langa.Com servers. Because I control that site, I can guarantee the pages will be there for as long as I am. <g> While this does get the long URL out of the relatively expensive real estate of the email newsletter, it will, of course, drive up the bandwidth on the Langa.Com site, so we'll have to see what the trade off is. You can see our first use of the URL shortener in the item (#3) above; or in this example ( http://langa.com/u/2.htm ) where a 24-character URL replaces a 135-character one; a length savings of over 80%, or some 18 million bytes of email bandwidth saved for this one example link! We'll see how it goes.... Click to email this item to a
friend 5) Still More "Great Freeware"Writing from South Africa, Joe van Gent offers this:
Joe's list comprises about 16 programs, including general utilities, anti-spam tools, and firewalls. Thanks, Joe. Click to email this item to a
friend 6) Last Week To "Recommend And Win"On June 30, I'll choose another monthly winner of one of three FREE ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTIONS to the LangaList Plus! edition given each month. (If your name is drawn and you're already a Plus! subscriber, your current subscription will be extended by a full year.) To have a shot at winning, just use the following link to recommend the LangaList to a friend. Your friend just may find a new source of useful information; I just may gain a new subscriber; and you just may win a FREE ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTION! (Full details also available via this link): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm Click to email this item to a
friend 7) Not Careware or Shareware, but...You know shareware, where you try before you buy a piece of software ( http://www.langa.com/u/3.htm ); and careware, which involves a nonmonetary exchange (see http://www.arachnoid.com/careware/ ). Well, this following approach to software distribution was new to me:
Thanks, James. Or perhaps I should say "amen." 8-) Click to email this item to a
friend 8) They Just Keep Coming And Coming And Coming...Almost three thousand of your fellow readers have "Loaded the code." Please click
over to http://www.langa.com/code.htm
, and maybe you can join them! (If you've already "Loaded The Code" and are
wondering if your site will appear here or on the Langa.Com web site, please see
http://www.langa.com/link.txt ) Manually Browse All Posted-to-Date Sites Starting At Walking Drives Croatian(!) Real Estate Ken & Lea's Place Classic Theater Warren County Senior Center Inc. (Tennessee) Chez Robert (Manitoba) Raven's Nest Moore Video Panache Quantex Zone Skydive Wissota Tony Colley Perfect Drivers Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 9) Tiny Mail ClientRegular contributor Ken De Pree found an amazingly compact email client--- the download is just 18KB--- not MB, but KB!
Thanks, Ken! Click to email this item to a
friend 10) Just For GrinsYou may remember Paul Schindler from his Byte and WinMag days. Recently, he sent this test, where you can see if you're "e-boring:"
Whew! I only got a 70! <g> Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 11) Plus! Edition Highlights:
Plus! edition subscribers not only get much more content in every issue (like the above), but also have access to a private web site with over 100,000 words of special content and features not found in *any* issue of the newsletter; along with dozens of private downloads and much more--- all for just $1 per month! Check out: http://www.langa.com/plus.htm Click to email this item to a
friend See you next issue! (Want to give a gift
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