VBOK Edition #23 - Finally, our own domain name! October 10, 1999 ______________________________________________________________________ Thanks for all of the great feedback I received concerning the changes in VBOK. Of the greatest concern to you all was the issue of an HTML newsletter. It was about 80/20 in favor, but those who weren't in favor did provide some very good arguments. So, I will be providing both an HTML version and a plaintext version of VBOK. Once the move is complete to the new server I will set up the two lists and have those wishing to still receive the plaintext edition subscribe to the plaintext list. Everyone else will automatically be subscribed to the HTML version. Next issue, I'll have a HTML preview ready for you all to look at. VBOK is changing it's name and web site hosting service. The newsletter will now be called "PCWize" and the new web site address will be . This won't actually be active until 24 hours from now though. ______________________________________________________________________ TOC 1. Voting Booth and Other VBOK Stuff 2. Software Review 3. Cool Sites 4. Tips, Tricks, Do's and Don't Do's 5. That's the news! 6. Security Issues, Hoaxes, Viruses and Other Urban Legends 7. VBOK Contests and rules If the columns in the below articles appear misaligned, it's because you are using a non-fixed width font. If you would like to see them nice and straight, change your e-mail font to Courier New. ______________________________________________________________________ ** A word from our sponsors ** ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PERSONALIZE THE NET! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Now you can locate, select and distribute the information that is important to you! * WebSeeker - Utilize the power of over 100 search engines to perform advanced searches, and get valuable results. * WebWhacker - Take the Net on the road! Download parts of or entire web sites for off-line viewing. * ClickBook - Print any document or web page in a double-sided booklet or brochure. BLUE SQUIRREL: http://www.bluesquirrel.com/index.html?ASCID=192 ------ Want to see your advertisement here? Send mail to with the text 'Advertiser' in the SUBJECT line for more information. ______________________________________________________________________ 1. Voting Booth and Other VBOK Stuff ------ Click here to vote for VBOK as one of the best newsletters in the "E-zines Top Ten Poll"! It's just a click, no need to fill anything out. ------ Come visit the VBOK forum and live chat. You may discuss anything computer related and it's a good place to get help with any computer questions you may have. ______________________________________________________________________ 2. Software Review ------ Name: Bubble Puzzle '97 Genre: Games Platform: Win 95/98/NT (DirectX 3.0 or higher required) Type/Cost: Freeware Size: 1.38MB Homepage: Download: This isn't really a new game, but it's without a doubt one of the more addictive ones I've played in a long time. Sporting very nice graphics and great gameplay, you're sure to spend some serious time in front of this game. The objective is to shoot differing colored balls to the top of the playing field at balls of the same type color. When you have three or more of the same color, they are removed from the playing field. It's kind of like Tetris with a twist. You can also ricochet balls off the side walls to get 'em squeezed in behind other obstructive balls. Be careful though, take too long and your playing field starts getting smaller and smaller. The first few levels are very simple as their purpose is to teach you how the game works, but keep playing and you'll be screaming, yelling, and squirming in your chair! ______________________________________________________________________ 3. Cool Sites ------ Subdimension.com I first got on the Internet while stationed here in Japan. What a great deal! (please note heavy sarcasm). Our ISP is provided by the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) in conjunction with AT&T Jens. Here's what we get for our $30.00 monthly fee. - 90 hours of on-line time per month. - A smokin' 28.8Kbps connection. - Numerous double billings on my credit card. - and a very cheesy 5MB limit on our mailbox (POP3 only). Of course, off-base ISP service providers offer unlimited access, bigger mailboxes, a 56Kbps connection, cheaper rates, and competent credit card chargers. So why don't I switch? Because I don't want to pay the $.08 per three minute charge for use of the local lines off-base. Well, I've solved at least one of my dilemmas. I signed up for a free 10MB, POP3/IMAP4 compliant e-mail account with . I have to say that I'm impressed. Their server is speedy, reliable, IMAP4 compliant, and I can access it from any machine with Internet access. If you're looking for a good alternative e-mail address, then this is it. ______________________________________________________________________ 4. Tips, Tricks, Do's and Don't Do's ------ For you IE5 users out there, here's a tip to gain back some hard drive real-estate. During the installation/upgrade of IE5, a directory called "Windows Update Setup Files" is created at the root level of the C drive. This directory contains the setup files and can eat up anywhere between 10 to 20MB of space. Once you've been using IE5 for a while without any problems, then you may safely delete this directory. I do have to admit that this is a better way of doing things than Microsoft's normal upgrade strategy using their update wizard. At least in this instance, you know where the install files are and don't have to waste time downloading again after a failed install. ______________________________________________________________________ 5. That's the news! ------ Don't get caught by incriminating e-mail again! Don't you just hate it when an e-mail you sent to someone just seems to resurface at the most inopportune time? Here's a way to make sure that nasty evidence doesn't show back up to haunt you. ______________________________________________________________________ 6. Security Issues, Hoaxes, Viruses and Other Urban Legends ------ Before we begin, let me define these for you: Security Issues: These are issues affecting your privacy and security while on the Internet. Most security risks that will be mentioned here are ones concerning holes in software which leak information or will allow people to gain access to private information. Viruses/Trojans/Worms: These will be *real* warnings about new viruses. If I'm warning you of a virus, then you can take it to the bank that I've fully checked its validity first. Hoaxes: The most memorable in all of your minds is most likely the Good Times Virus hoax. These are warnings about some new fangled virus that will wreck your life. The difference between this and other virus warnings is that they aren't for real. Their entire purpose is to scare people and bog down mail servers with all the forwarding going on. The reason I'll be telling you about them is so that you'll be in the know and won't forward them to everyone in your address book. Urban Legends: These are stories that will be computer related, but aren't necessarily virus related. A warning/story moves out of the hoaxes category when it keeps making a comeback. An example of an urban legend would be the one about the FCC allowing phone companies to charge for local access to the ISP in which the cost would be passed onto us as users. ------ Name: Despite Virus Category: Hoax If you receive a message with the following content, you may disregard it as this happens to be the new hoax flavor of the week. ** Begin Message content ** !!!!!This is not SPAM or joke!!!!! ---------------------------------------------------------------- Hi from Ukraine. When you receive this message, all computers in your network is already infected by DESPITE-virus. 11th of October, 1999, data in the all databases will be lost. For disinfect you need to use only STARIONI disinfector. 1. Send to data@aip.mk.ua your valid e-mail address with subject "DESPITE". 2. Send US$24.99 to the following bank account. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Bank account: BENEFICIARY: NIKOLAEV BRANCH CB "PRIVATBANK" BENEFICIARY ADDRESS: 27 FRUNZE STR., NIKOLAEV UKRAINE ACCOUNT: 3901 9 004017 003 BANK OF BENEFICIARY: COMMERCIAL BANK "PRIVATBANK" ADDRESS OF THE BENEFICIARY'S BANK: DNEPROPETROVSK, UKRAINE SWIFT: PBAN UA 2X CORRESPONDENT ACCOUNT: 890-0085-754 INTERMEDIARY BANK: THE BANK OF NEY YORK ADDRESS OF THE INTERMEDIARY BANK: Eastern Europe Division One Wall St., 9-th Floor New York, N.Y., 10286, USA SWIFT: IRVT US 3N DETAILS OF PAYMENTS: IN FAVOUR acc.26206791707001/875 RACHKOVAN VADIM ---------------------------------------------------------------- After receiving your bank transaction, the STARIONI disinfector in self-extract archive "starioni.exe"(74.648 bytes) will have been deliver to your mailbox immediately. ** End Message content ** ______________________________________________________________________ 7. VBOK Contests and Rules ------ In a deal with Blue Squirrel Software, VBOK will be hosting two contests over the next two weeks. One winner will be announced at the end of each week and that winner will have their choice of one of three registered software packages; Web Whacker, Web Seeker, or ClickBook. Depending on your e-mail client, the above URL may have wrapped. You need to make sure that you get everything between the <> to go to the special offer page. This might entail you having to cut and paste. Sorry, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. Just go to the above URL, click on one of the three software packages to read more about it. If you like it, download it (evaluation version at bottom), and if you are the winner, you'll receive the registration number via e-mail. ** NOTE - There isn't a MAC version of WebSeeker, so your choices will be limited to either Web Whacker or ClickBook. WebSeeker - Pinpoint exactly what you're looking for on the Internet. WebSeeker 98 v3.4 runs your query through more than 100+ Internet search engines and narrows the search to the EXACT information you want. In Version 3.4 you can add your own search engines. WebWhacker - The ultimate off-line browser! This powerful tool allows you to save Web pages directly to your hard drive, so you can view them off-line at highly accelerated speeds. ClickBook - An easy-to-use printing utility that transforms single-sided documents and web pages into professional booklets, brochures, greeting cards, and more. ------ The two contests and rules of engagement. 1. Are you graphically inclined? Come up with a graphical VBOK logo. - Dimensions of 145x130 - Filesize must be less than 15KB - I would like it to be cartoony (No stick figures please!) :^) - I would like the text "PC Wize" to be somewhere in the image. - You grant VBOK the exclusive license to it for use in the VBOK site, letterhead etc. (You'll get complete credit for it in the FAQ as well as the ALT tag.) If necessary, we can work something out with this, just e-mail me at . - Deadline and winner announcement 1 Nov 1999. 2. Random drawing for those of you who are not graphically inclined. - Winner announcement follows below. ------ The winner of contest #2 Random Drawing is: Mary Walls Winner decided by a psuedo-random number generator I wrote a long time ago when first learning C/C++ : void main() { srand(time(NULL)); printf("%d", 1 + rand() % 682); } ______________________________________________________________________ Well, that's it for this issue! Have a good week and I'll see you in seven days. Leif Gregory Copyright © 1997-99 by Leif Gregory. All rights reserved. You may share this copy of the VBOK newsletter with others as long as it is reprinted in it's entirety to include the copyright notice and subscription directions. If you've received this edition of the VBOK newsletter from a friend or colleague and wish to start receiving your own copy, then click the below link and send the generated e-mail message. I have made every attempt to ensure that all information contained in this newsletter is accurate to the best of my ability. Due to the myriad of possible configurations in the PC platform, information and software discussed here may not always work with your particular configuration. That being said, Leif Gregory and the VBOK newsletter can not be held liable for any damages you may incur either directly or indirectly from the use of anything contained in this newsletter. VBOK does not endorse any of the products or services provided by advertisers in this newsletter. As with anything in life, please check the credibility of the advertiser as well as to use common sense. If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. 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