PCWize Edition #27 - Space... it's what's between my ears. November 7, 1999 ______________________________________________________________________ Last week I told you about my impending laptop purchase, and I've frantically been scrubbing the Internet to find the greatest deals and steals. Unfortunately, in my frenzied and highly suggestible state, I found that a Celeron just wasn't going to cut the mustard. My minimum acceptable standards have just gone up... In the interest of trying not to bore those who don't care, I've decided to place this commentary on my web site at: ------ Join Team PCWize and search for aliens! See this week's software review! ______________________________________________________________________ TOC 1. Readers Write - New (but most likely intermittent) column 2. Voting Booth and Other PCWize Stuff 3. Software Review 4. Cool Sites 5. Tips, Tricks, Do's and Don't Do's 6. That's the news! 7. Security Issues, Hoaxes, Viruses and Other Urban Legends 8. PCWize Contests and winner announcement 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 ** ------ * LiveWire! Broadcast - Easily locate and play Live Radio and TV stations on the Internet * MediaGrab! - Find and download MP3s and 18 other types of multimedia files. * WebGrab! - Great web tool for viewing and downloading webpage elements. * UsenetGrab! - Integrated Usenet News browser and more. EastBay Technologies - http://www.eastbaytech.com ------ Want to see your advertisement here? Send mail to with the text 'Advertiser' in the SUBJECT line for more information. ______________________________________________________________________ 1. Readers Write ------ Sierra asks: "Can a monitor be left on, even if the computer is off? Can a monitor actually "burn" out this way?" Leif says: Speaking from considerable experience (I never shut off my computers unless I'm going on a trip), you can safely leave your monitor on while the machine is shut off. This is especially true if you have a "Green" monitor, which means that it has power saving features built in. Generally, newer monitors have three modes for power saving: 1. Standby 2. Suspend 3. Off When the machine is off and the monitor is still plugged in, it will go immediately into 'Suspend' mode. Depending upon your monitor type, it will either remain in this mode or will go into 'Off' mode after a certain time has elapsed. If you have an older monitor, then the only way I can answer your question is by asking one first. When the machine is off, does the monitor display a white background, or is it completely black? If it is white, then I wouldn't recommend leaving the monitor like this for extended periods (as in days). While the possibility of burn-in exists, it takes a long time on color monitors. However, you'd be wasting quite a bit of power (monitors are the most power consuming of all devices), and I personally would find a bright white screen annoying after a while. ______________________________________________________________________ 2. Voting Booth and Other PCWize Stuff ------ Click here to vote for PCWize 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 PCWize 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. ______________________________________________________________________ 3. Software Review ------ Name: SETI@home v1.06 by UC Berkley Genre: Distributed Processing/Screensaver Platform: PC Win95/98/NT * Macintosh * UNIX * OS/2 Type/Cost: Freeware/Free Size: 710KB Homepage: Download: This really isn't a new piece of software, but it's such a neat one that I've decided to go ahead and review it. SETI means Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence, and they use radio telescopes (satellite dishes) to record signals coming from space. Because they record so much data and have only so many computers to analyze it, they wrote SETI@Home to distribute out to people on the Internet. SETI@Home is a distributed processing project which means that you install their software, receive a block of data, and allow your machine and their software to analyze it. Essentially what they are doing is breaking a very long recorded signal into 350KB chunks and sending it to you which your computer analyzes in 107 second frames. This analysis on your machine can be performed in one of three ways: 1. As a screensaver 2. By directly running the software 3. By running the software in the background The interface is very Star Trekkish and the FFT graphs look very scientific. It is definitely a conversation piece! You can go here to see a screenshot: To further the fun, I have created Team PCWize which will consist of the staff and subscribers who wish to participate. Our team statistics will be displayed on the SETI homepage which include how many blocks we have analyzed, average processor time spent, and approximately how many years this would have taken on a single processor. It will also display which team member has processed the most blocks. For those of you who participate, the subscriber with the most blocks processed at the end of the month will win a free prize from the PCWize sponsors. To join Team PCWize, follow these simple instructions: 1. Download the SETI@Home software 2. Install it 3. Register it (this is FREE!) 4. Then go here to join Team PCWize That's it! Now just let the SETI@Home software/screensaver run and you'll be a part of ET history! ______________________________________________________________________ 4. Cool Sites ------ Ask the Space Scientist If you're looking for some down to Earth facts about space, this place is far out! I have never seen so many questions and answers about space in one place. There is some really great information on everything from the Earth's atmosphere to space travel to careers to black holes. Did you know that you could survive being blown out an airlock for eighty seconds as long as you were returned to an atmosphere with a pressure of 47 millimeters of mercury or higher immediately afterwards? ______________________________________________________________________ 5. Tips, Tricks, Do's and Don't Do's ------ Ok, you've set your screen resolution up higher, but the icons are just still too big. Use the below trick to cut them down to size. 1. Right click on a blank area of your desktop. 2. Select the 'Appearance' tab. 3. Click on the 'Item' dropdown combo box. 4. Select 'Icon' 5. Change the value on the right to '16' 6. Click 'Apply' If you don't like the changes, just change the value back to '32' and click 'OK'. This tip works because icons usually come in two sizes. 32x32 pixels and 16x16 pixels. Next week, I'll tell you how to further maximize your space by working with the icons. ______________________________________________________________________ 6. That's the news! ------ So much for the motion picture industries trust in encrypted keys for DVD. Seems a couple of hackers found out that XingDVD didn't encrypt their decryption key. It's all over but the crying now. I expect to see quite a few DVD titles available for download on the Internet any day now. ______________________________________________________________________ 7. 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: Gerber Baby Food Settlement Category: Hoax I've started top see this one floating around again. It's a hoax. ***** IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR PARENTS OF CHILDREN BORN BETWEEN 1985 and 1997 INCLUSIVE: GERBER BABY FOOD company lost a class action. Gerber has been marketing their baby food as "all natural". The baby food was found to contain preservatives. Under this settlement, Gerber is now responsible for giving every child born between 1985 and 1997 a $500 savings bond. However, Gerber is not responsible for advertising this settlement in any way. To obtain the bond, send a copy of your child's birth certificate and social security card to: GERBER FOOD Settlement Administration Infant Litigation PO Box 1602 Minneapolis, MN 55480 ***** For more information: ______________________________________________________________________ 8. PCWize Contests and Winner Announcement ------ This weeks contest sponsor is Eastbay Technologies and they have generously offered four of their products to be used as prizes in our random drawing contests. Eastbay Technologies offers a wide variety of software to meet many different user's needs. Take a look at some of what they have to offer: * LiveWire! Broadcast - Easily locate and play Live Radio and TV stations on the Internet * MediaGrab! - Find and download MP3s and 18 other types of multimedia files. * WebGrab! - Great web tool for viewing and downloading webpage elements. * UsenetGrab! - Integrated Usenet News browser and more. EastBay Technologies - http://www.eastbaytech.com ------ Each week PCWize holds a random drawing contest and gives away free stuff (usually software) to its subscribers. We will continue to do this as long as there are advertisers who are willing to provide the prizes. If you are such an individual/company, then please contact me at vbok@biogate.com so that we can work a deal. ------ The winner of this weeks random drawing contest is: Fred Kennedy ______________________________________________________________________ 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 PCWize 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 PCWize 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 PCWize 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. PCWize 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. PCWize Editor PCWize Homepage Unsubscribe Back-Edition Titles