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                              The LangaList
                            Standard Edition
                               2002-07-29

                 A Free Email Newsletter from Fred Langa
               That Helps You Get More From Your Hardware,
                        Software, and Time Online

    Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!

Contents:
1) Another Goodie From Jason's Toolbox
2) Cool Freeware For Recovering Lost Image Files
3) Evaluating Firewalls
4) Health/Status Update Re: Derlan
5) XP Privacy Hole?
6) Last Days To Enter July's FREE Drawing
7) Intel System Monitor, And Others
8) They Just Keep Coming And Coming and Coming...
9) An Odd British Use Of GPS
10) Just For Grins
11) Plus! Edition Highlights:
    Search Engine Help Site
    "Freeloader" Bulletproof Linux
    LangaList Archive Update En Route


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1) Another Goodie From Jason's Toolbox

Frequent contributor Jason Levine has added another little gem to his
collection of freeware/donationware at http://www.jasons-toolbox.com :

     Hey Fred: Last week on PC911 there was a thread about computer
     tricks and secrets. (There are some nice ones in the thread. If
     you're interested, the URL for it is
     http://www.pcnineoneone.com/dcforum/computer/43606.html )

     Anyway, one tip by "daterminehtor" [about adding "Copy To" and
     "Move To" to the operating system's context menus] struck me as
     being extremely useful, but it involved modifying the registry
     which the novice users might shy away from doing. So I made a
     Windows Scripting Host script to "install" the registry
     modifications (as well as an uninstaller script in case you
     want to get rid of them). The script adds "Copy To" and "Move
     To" to the right-click context menu of all files and folders.
     You can try it out by going to
     http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/ScriptRepository/   ---Jason Levine

Thanks, Jason!
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2) Cool Freeware For Recovering Lost Image Files

David Cox was the first of many readers to give a "heads up" about some
freeware I'd previously never heard of:

     Hi Fred, I just read the article "Recover Data From Erased
     Memory Sticks." ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2002/2002-07-22.htm#8 )
     I too had a similar situation where I needed to
     recover some files from a 32mb. memory card. I searched and
     finally found one. It is freeware (although you can donate).
     The site includes instructions and some possible problems.
     http://home.arcor.de/christian_grau/dir/index.html ---Dave

Thanks, Dave. It looks great: "Digital Image Recovery is a data recovery
tool for digital images. The program is designed for media used by
digital cameras. Common media types are: Flash Card, SmartMedia, SONY
Memory Stick, IBM Micro Drive, Multimedia Card, Secure Digital Card and
Compact disc."

I have nothing to try the software on right now, but the volume of reader
mail suggests the program does exactly what it claims--- and unlike the
software we previously mentioned, this one's free!

Thanks to all who wrote in!
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3) Evaluating Firewalls

     Hi Fred, I'm a happy Plus! subscriber. Just FYI a helpful page
     I came across.

     FREE Firewalls for Windows:
     http://www.iopus.com/guides/free-firewall.htm
          Free to download - Free to keep:
          After the success of ZoneAlarm dozens of new firewall
          software programs are published every year. Only some
          of them are worth your time and your money.
          Especially for private and non-profit organization
          many excellent products are available for FREE. This
          web site attempts to list, test and rate the best
          FREE firewall products for Windows. This is a FREE
          service of iOpus Security and Internet Software...
     ---Greg Rice

Thanks, Greg. With all the competing firewalls out there, any new source
of independent evaluation is welcome. (Most of the major computer
publications also cover the free firewall category now, too.) I was glad
to see that the iOpus site generally agrees with the recommendations
we've discussed here (Sygate and ZoneAlarm remaining top dogs). But
strangely, iOpus' list of the "top five" firewalls only lists four!

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4) Health/Status Update Re: Derlan

Remember Derlan? He's a young boy who lives in a farming community in
Brazil. The per-capita family income is less than US$50.00 per month.

A year ago, Derlan became one of the children supported every month
through LangaList Plus! subscription contributions. (These contributions
do not increase the cost of a Plus! subscription in any way; the donation
is taken "off the top" of any profits.)

Derlan has written to us several times before, but this new note comes
from the aid agency that's on the scene, helping there. It includes
information on Derlan's health, schooling and other activities, plus a
new photo and drawing. Click here to see a scan of the report:
http://www.freetune.com/newsletters/2002/derlan200207.htm . In short,
Derlan's doing fine now. <g>

So far, we've been able to offer sustained, ongoing help to six
impoverished kids around the world, aided emergency earthquake relief
efforts in India, and helped those hurt in the Sept 11th terrorist
attacks on the US. (To see all the donations so far, click to
http://www.langa.com/plus2.htm#kids )

As the year goes on, and as more readers sign up for Plus! subscriptions,
I hope we'll be able to sponsor more children and assist other charities
around the world.

Graham Greene once said, "There is always a moment in childhood when the
door opens and lets the future in...." If you're already a LangaList Plus
subscriber, thank you! You can feel good about giving back a little to
those less fortunate, and opening "a door to the future" for a child in
otherwise-desperate circumstances.

If you're not yet a Plus! subscriber check it out: With a Plus!
subscription, you can not only help yourself make the most of your
hardware, software and time online with expanded content and no
advertising--- but you also can help those less fortunate (like Derlan)
make the most of their very lives. Thanks for your help!

http://www.langa.com/plus.htm
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5) XP Privacy Hole?

     Hi Fred, This one is from The Register. It talks about a
     possible privacy intrusion when searching the hard drive on a
     WinXP machine.

     You may like to take a look:
     http://theregister.co.uk/content/archive/24815.html

     I really enjoy your newsletters. Thanks, Karthik Venkatesh

Thanks, Karthik.

The Register is an odd duck--- it's often great, but also fairly often
awful; the above article is an example of the bad side of that balance
sheet. In this case, the guys at the Register freaked out because XP's
Search function connects back to Microsoft. Egads! Is it a privacy
breach? Is evil Microsoft snooping on your searches?

Well, no. The XP "Search Companion" automatically will query the search
engine of your choice as part of your basic searches; what the guys at
the Register saw was the search engine setting itself up for a possible
external query. By default, MSN is the selected search engine, but nine
others are available. In addition, by default, the XP Help engine's
search function also sets itself up to automatically query the Microsoft
Knowledgebase for your system Help search terms. This is actually a very
useful thing, often saving an entirely separate search.

None of this is a secret: It's all fully explained in XP's search and
help settings and documentation, which I guess the folks at the Register
didn't bother to read.

I'm first in line to cry "foul" when Microsoft does something sleazy, but
man, I get really tired of these false alarms when someone grabs an easy
headline by playing off public paranoia about Microsoft. Sigh.

In any case, the Help and Search functions of XP are two of its really
nice points. Unlike the anemic Help and Search available in previous
versions of Windows, XP's are much more powerful and quite well done. The
integration with external search engines and databases is a plus, not a
minus, IMHO.
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   "Thanks for the link to Cyberguys. I just saved $11 on a SCSI cable
       over an order I placed elsewhere yesterday. Regards, Glen"

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6) Last Days To Enter July's FREE Drawing

On July 31, I'll choose another monthly winner of a no-strings $30 Gift
Certificate for any item at Amazon.Com--- books, software, hardware,
kitchenware, toys... 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 $30 shopping spree! (Full details also available via
this link): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm

The more times you make a recommendation, the greater your chances are of
winning!

Or, if you'd like to try to win $10,000(!), try this link (full details
also available here): http://www.recommend-it.com/l.z.e?s=143182

Either way, thank you, and good luck!
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7) Intel System Monitor, And Others

Intel doesn't just make CPUs--- it makes motherboards, too, many of which
show up in mainline systems from major vendors. If your system uses an
Intel motherboard, this may be of interest:

     Hi Fred, Lately you've shared info about system monitoring
     tools, software coolers. I found this at the Intel site and it
     may help Intel Motherboard users out there to keep tabs on
     their system. Keep up the good work. Regards, Mark
     http://intel.com/design/motherbd/active.htm

The Intel tool displays temperature and fan-related information, and
other data indicating your hardware's status.

But there's lots more software out there that does the same thing, and
not just for Intel motherboards. Check out:
http://www.informationweek.com/LP/columnists/langa/2001/06.htm

Thanks, Mark.
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8) They Just Keep Coming And Coming and Coming...

Over two 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 )

Speaking of which: Here's another eclectic sample of reader sites--- some
professional, some very personal:

View A Randomly-Chosen Reader Site
http://www.langa.com/randomlink.htm

Manually Browse All Posted-to-Date Sites Starting At
http://www.langa.com/readersites.htm

Security Realm
http://securityrealm.netfirms.com/

Online Business Info
http://www.palleterra.com/

Eclectic Personal Site
http://www.steveniverson.com/main.htm

Web Design
http://www.nbsldesign.com/

SORT: A Bates College On-Campus Band
http://abacus.bates.edu/~mpooley/

Frugal Shopper
http://www.thefrugalshopper.com

Help2Shop
http://www.help2shop.net/index2.html

PDC Web
http://www.pdcweb.net/index.html

FMS Computer Training
http://www.barrett.net/

Danjon PC Help & Tips
http://www.danjon.net/index.php
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9) An Odd British Use Of GPS

I've mentioned GPS--- global positioning systems--- several times of
late, which prompted reader Gred Landerkin to send in this note about a
decidedly eccentric British application of the technology:

     Fred, A month or two ago you had a few articles related to GPS
     and it's uses. Here is a link to an article (
     http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,52989,00.html ) about
     something called GPS drawing. Basically, these two guys drive
     their car around the streets of different English cities and
     translate the GPS data into pictures (see
     http://www.gpsdrawing.com/Gallery/belephant.htm for an elephant
     in Brighton). I doubt the designers of the GPS system could
     have predicted something like this... cheers, Greg Landerkin

Thanks, Greg!
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10) Just For Grins

Reader Bret Hegmann sends along this "Investment strategy for today's
market:"

     If you had bought $1000.00 worth of Nortel stock one year ago,
     it would now be worth $49.00.

     With Enron, you would have $16.50 of the original $1,000.00.
     With Worldcom, you would have less than $5.00 left.

     If you had bought $1,000.00 worth of Budweiser (the beer, not
     the stock) one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the
     cans for the 10 cent deposit, you would have $214.00.

     Based on the above, my current investment advice is to drink
     heavily and recycle.
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11) Plus! Edition Highlights:
    Search Engine Help Site
    "Freeloader" Bulletproof Linux
    LangaList Archive Update En Route

Today's LangaList Plus! Edition contains all ten items above, plus about
30% more content including: A great site that can keep you up to date
with the world of search engines; a version of Linux that requires no
installation and that makes no changes to your current setup, so you can
explore the new OS with zero risk to your existing files; and info on a
coming update to the LangaList help file & archives that's available to
all Plus! subscribers. This one will include all the LangaLists ever
published from 1997 through last week, all in one compact file you can
place on your hard drive for fast, local searches.

Plus! Edition info: http://www.langa.com/plus.htm
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Best,

Fred
( editor@langa.com )
---
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This newsletter is a free service of Langa Consulting and is Copyright © 2002 Fred Langa DBA Langa Consulting. All worldwide rights reserved. LangaList: ISSN 1533-1156