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LangaList 2004-06-24 Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!
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1) Non-Obvious USB Drive DifferencesHi Fred ,Great article: "What's Behind The USB Drive Revolution" ( http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=22100588 ), Thanks, Bob. Indeed, there's more than meets the eye in discussing these small drives, which can look the same from the outside but be very, very different under the skin. That's why I started with an exploration of the three main types of compact, portable USB-drives--- their strengths and weaknesses, costs and benefits. That exploration turned into an article in itself! In "The USB Drive Revolution" that's posted now (free!) at http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=22100588 , I run through the pros and cons of each of the three types of USB drives ranging from standard thumb drives that can cost literally under $10 and provide tens to hundreds of megs of extra space, up to amazingly capacious drives that add extra room by the gig. I'll provide links and prices--- and even break down the costs on a price-per-megabyte basis, for easy comparison.Come on over to See you there! Click to email this item to a
friend --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList S.E. Free! ) --- "Hello Fred, I have been reading your printed columns for years and for the past couple of years I have occasionally skimmed through your free edition of Langa List, which I have thoroughly enjoyed. This morning, I received the free edition of your newsletter and once again had considered purchasing the "Plus" edition because I find it so useful. Then, when I [read the text at http://langa.com/plus.htm and] found out that you: (a) are not a corporate talking head AND (b) provide support to so many disadvantaged children well, needless to say, you now have another Plus subscriber... Thanks again for all of the great content you provide.--Best regards, Ben E. Brady" Thanks, Ben, and welcome aboard! You're right: The LangaList isn't part of some mega-corporation--- it's just me here, working alone. <g> And yes, I do divert a part of any profits to support underprivileged kids around the world. This doesn't raise the cost of a subscription, as it's taken off the "back end," but it's still enough to help quite a little gaggle of kids now. I'm hoping by year's end we'll have an even dozen kids supported, week in, week out. You can read up on everything
that's involved in the Plus! operation at: --------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 2) Did The Lights Just Flicker?
There are several factors at play here: The real answer to "is it really necessary to have a UPS?" depends on the value of your data and the cost of the UPS. APC devices are good, but are at the higher end of the price range: A top-of-the-line APC UPS can cost hundreds of dollars. That may be worthwhile for servers and mission-critical business boxes, but would be nuts for a PC used mainly for something like casual email and online chatting. But you can get decent, basic UPSes for $50 or so (sometimes even less), which is close to the price of a good, stand alone surge-protector. (The less expensive surge protectors really don't do much: Think of them as fused extension cords rather than a true surge protector.) The low-end UPSes provide both basic surge protection *and* offer limited battery power as well--- enough to run a PC for a few minutes. This lets you ride out brief outages, and gives time for an orderly shutdown in the event of an extended outage. In fact, most of these UPSes have serial-port cables that connect to the PC so the UPS can issue a shutdown command when it senses a serious power loss that may last longer than the several minutes of battery life. Windows XP even has built-in software to communicate automatically with a UPS that's thus equipped, although most of the UPSes come with their own software for this, too. This capability means the UPS can safely shut off your PC before the batteries die, even if you're not there. Because basic UPSes cost about as much as a plain surge protector, I've pretty much stopped buying stand-alone surge protectors altogether. Now, I simply equip each new PC with its own relatively inexpensive UPS to provide basic surge protection and several minutes of battery power. There's lots more on this topic, ranging from the raw basics up to using
portable generators for power. See, for example, items #1-3 in
Click to email this item to a
friend 3) "Keyhook" And MoreReader Anna Louise was concerned about keyhook.exe, which was active on her system, and did some digging which not only answered her questions about that file, but also opened the door to some other interesting finds:
Thanks, Annalouise! Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 4) And A KeyMapper, TooThis item, has nothing to do with the foregoing, although they both superficially involve keystroke tools: The CapsUnlocker was a very specific tool. I suggest you try a more general "key remapper," which lets you assign any function--- or no function--- to any key. You usually can substitute key combinations for single keys. For example, you might assign no action to the "Windows" key alone so nothing would happen when you hit it accidentally), but assign Alt-Windows (or whatever) to act like a normal Windows key press. This way, you can still access the Windows key functions, but only by deliberate multi-key action. There are
many, many key remappers out there, from basic and free to elaborate, commercial
tools. See: Click to email this item to a
friend 5) Stealth Filters
It's happening everywhere, Gene--- ISPs are prefiltering mail with no notice to their subscribers, and often leaving tech support in the dark (either deliberately or through simple incompetence). When you call to see what's going on, the support people will swear up and down there's no filtering in place, when in fact there is. This prefiltering is often also beyond user control--- there's no way for an ISP's users to adjust the prefilter settings: Whatever settings are available to the end users only affect the mail that makes it past the initial filter. Just moments ago, I replied to a reader who had written to complain to me that he wasn't getting his issues. I looked, and he's on the mailing list--- the issues are being sent. I wrote to tell him that, and included a detailed explanation of the likely filtering problems on his end. I sent the mail and almost immediately got this back:
Clearly, this reader has no clue that his mail is being filtered, or held; although that particular filter sounds like it should be user-configurable. Next, of course, I'll get a note from that reader yelling at me: "Why aren't you answering my emails?" And my reply to that mail will be blocked, too. Sigh indeed. What a colossal waste of time and effort. I have a few ideas we may try in the coming weeks and months to help improve delivery rates, but basically, if your mail gets filtered before you have a chance to see it, there's not much I can do from here. And even if you ask your ISP if they're filtering your mail, you can't necessarily trust what they tell you. Anyway, stay tuned--- I'm doing all I can from here. And note: Regardless of email weirdness, you ALWAYS can find the latest issue by going to Langa.Com: The CURRENT ISSUE link brings you to the Standard Edition, and the link in the middle of the page--- under "LangaList Plus Edition"--- is the doorway to the private Plus! edition site, and the current Plus! issue there. Click to email this item to a
friend 6) Last Days To "Recommend And Win"On June 30, I'll choose three more winners of the 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.) Click to email this item to a
friend 7) Reader-Recommended Disk Usage Tool
Nice, Guy, thanks! Click to email this item to a
friend 8) They Just Keep Coming And Coming...Well over three thousand of your fellow readers have
"Loaded the code." Please click over to
http://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 Manually Browse All Posted-to-Date Sites Starting
At XP Tips, Tweaks, Fixes Daniel's Light JHamptonWeb Mary Ellen's Cottage Woodworking/Carving Digital Mind Accel Transmissions Mail/Network Utilities Oklahoma Prairie Country Freeware! Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 9) "Freecycling"
Thanks, Chris. There are other names for this practice, too. Our local recycling center has a simple "swap tent" where you can drop off items in good repair that you simply have no further use for. Anyone who wants these items can pick them up, free, from the swap tent. So far, it's not much used for electronic goods, but there's no reason why it couldn't be. In any case, it's great to have options besides simply throwing computer gear out! Click to email this item to a
friend 10) Just For GrinsI hear about a lot of unusual products, But this one, both for what it is and the form of the press release, kind of stood out:
Um, no thanks, even if it does come with an "exceed ages cold light tube." <g> I am impressed, though, by the "20 times long life than normal daylight." Given that normal daylight--- the Sun--- will last for something like another 5 or 6 billion years, a light that will last 20 times longer than that must be very good indeed! Might be hard to make a warranty claim 100 billion years from now, though.... Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 11) Plus! Edition Highlights:
The Plus! edition is only pennies per issue, and comes with a MONEY BACK GUARANTEE from Fred. How can you lose? Check out the details: http://langa.com/plus.htm Click to email this item to a
friend (Give a gift subscription to
the LangaList Plus edition! See you next issue, 2004-06-28! Best, An easier-to read formatted HTML version is available in the "Current Issue" section of http://langa.com. (The HTML version of each issue normally is available by 9AM EST [UT-5] of the issue date.) All past LangaList issues are also available at the Langa.Com site. UNSUBSCRIBE (instant removal!):
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