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By Cliff Millward, Editor cliffm@xmission.com |
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Tempus Fugit Again Christmas is almost upon us again — where has the summer gone? Is it my imagination or has this year gone by faster than the others? Then again, what happened to the ‘80s and ‘90s? Maybe as you get older, time goes faster. Electronic Fingerprints Next time you make a printout from your color laser printer, shine an LED flashlight beam on it and examine it closely with a magnifying glass. You might be able to see the small, scattered yellow dots printed there that could be used to trace the document back to you. According to experts, several printer companies quietly encode the serial number and the manufacturing code of their color laser printers and color copiers on every document those machines produce. Governments, including the United States, already use the hidden markings to track counterfeiters. Peter Crean, a senior research fellow at Xerox, says his company’s laser printers, copiers and multifunction workstations, such as its WorkCentre Pro series, put the “serial number of each machine coded in little yellow dots” in every printout. The millimeter-sized dots appear about every inch on a page, nestled within the printed words and margins. The dots’ minuscule size, covering less than one-thousandth of the page, along with their color combination of yellow on white, makes them invisible to the naked eye, Crean says. One way to determine if your color laser is applying this tracking process is to shine a blue LED light--say, from a keychain laser flashlight--on your page and use a magnifier. Smile — Say Cheese! The digital camera market has turned into a dead heat, with Kodak virtually tied for the top spot with perennial sales leader Sony, according to an IDC report. The research firm’s survey of third-quarter U.S. camera sales, released on Friday, found that Sony sold 1 million units to command 20 percent of the market. Kodak shifted only 10,000 fewer, to grab 19.8 percent of the market. Canon was third, moving 800,000 units for a 16 percent market share, followed by Olympus, with sales of 600,000 and market share of 12 percent. Kodak, which pretty much invented film photography as a commercial business, has invested billions of dollars over the past few years to shift its resources to digital imaging, where it has developed technology covering everything from camera displays to retail printing services. Kodak’s sales surge sets the stage for an unpredictable holiday quarter, when camera makers typically amass almost half their annual sales. Here Comes Firefox Firefox 1.0 appears to have sparked new activity in the Web browser market. The release of the open source Web browser by the Mozilla Foundation last week prompted Microsoft to break the silence about Internet Explorer and America Online is breathing more life into the Netscape brand with a preview of a new Firefox-based browser. The rise of Firefox, first introduced in February this year when Mozilla renamed its Firebird project, has been remarkable. The browser held 3 percent market share at the end of October, according to WebSideStory Inc. The Mozilla Suite, Netscape and Firefox together held 6 percent of the market at the end of October, up from 3.5 percent in June. Though losing share, IE still dominated with 92.9 percent of the market, according to the San Diego Web metrics company. Firefox is the Mozilla Foundation’s stand-alone browser. The Mozilla open-source project was started in early 1998 by Netscape, which was acquired later that year by AOL. Last year, the people behind Mozilla created a foundation, largely funded by a $2 million pledge from AOL, to build, support and promote Mozilla products. Finally, Have a (politically incorrect) Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! |
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As I said at the last General Meeting, the Utah Computer Society, your society, is in trouble. Our membership has been dwindling for years. Our finances have been dwindling as well. It seemed many months ago that our membership had stabilized at around 100, but it has fallen below 90 the last 3 months. It isn’t clear that our general meeting attendance has decreased. We have been seeing 35 to 40 members and several visitors for months, now. It was exciting to see almost 50 members and 9 or 10 visitors last month. However, Bruce Busby is a good draw. It was also great to see many of you buy Bruce’s product. Why are we declining? Your Board of Trustees has been discussing this for a long time. We haven’t been able to find a solution. We think that one of the reasons is that those who used to find our group attractive are finding much information and help on the Web. Oh, there is so much stuff there. Another possible reason is that over the years, many of our supporters have developed specialized interests and have found other groups more suitable to their needs. There are a number of groups in the area that cater directly to computer professionals, programmers, network specialists, Adelphi analysts, etc. We have become a group for home users. Another problem, which is a vicious circle, is that as we have grown smaller (grown?, groan) we have more difficulty attracting the major vendors. Although this is a general problem; vendors are moving away from user groups for other reasons, it hits small groups even harder. Those vendors still interested in showing to user groups are more willing to visit large groups; makes it easier to justify travel expenses. We have countered this with developing our own presentations. I think we have done a good job at this. We have had some very practical presentations on burning CDs, recording and editing audio, and setting up home networking along with software demonstrations. Many of you have told us that you have appreciated them. The down side is that we don’t receive freebies for our drawings. We can survive this if our true interest is the presentations. Another problem is reviews. We only have a very few people doing review. They are almost exclusively board members. The lack of reviews makes it hard to get product. You may have noticed that we haven’t had as much product available for giveaways for some time. This affects both drawings. In fact we don’t see much for Double Your Pleasure in the future. Some of this has been purchased at cheap prices, but the local discount stores are changing their policies, drying up this source. Please read James Alexander’s discussion of the review program in November’s issue of Blue Chips Magazine.. Our biggest expense is the monthly magazine. This has been a great magazine in past years. It has won national awards. It also used to contain a lot of reviews. We used to be able to attract advertisers because of that and because of our larger membership. We desperately need more advertising, members, and reviews to support the magazine Are you all happy with where we are? We can continue the way we are, but will have to stop printing the magazine. We can distribute it on a CD instead. We are going to publish it in CD in January along with a bunch of other stuff. Let us know if you like this. We don’t know if all our members have CD readers, but suspect they do. Have you noticed that past magazines have been available on the Web site for a long time, now? We have a suspicion that a lot of our members don’t look at the Web site. Why not? A lot of work goes into maintaining the Web site. The magazine also requires a lot of effort. This brings me to the volunteer aspect of our group. Everyone should be a volunteer, but most are not. Our Board members end up doing most of the work in writing review, making meeting presentation, preparing and mailing the magazine, leading SIGS, and staffing our booth at shows. Some who are not on the board contribute as well, but most of our members don’t. We need more help. We have had a difficult time enlisting leaders for SIGs. We had to go outside Blue Chips to get someone to restart the Genealogy SIG. Our Imaging SIG is going to reorganize as a group. We don’t have a leader. Maybe this will work, maybe not. I hope so., but it won’t work for everything that you might like to do. We need your ideas. What do you want Blue Chips to be? Will you work to accomplish it? We will discuss this more in coming meetings. You are also welcome to our board meetings. We meet on the first Thursday of the month at 6:30 pm in room N3005 of the Salt Lake County offices at 21st South and State Street. We are near the end of another year. All of you have an enjoyable holiday season. As you make your New Years resolutions, include one to increase you support of Blue Chips. Your board hopes to continue to serve you. |
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| Shopping and Some Advice: Phishing and scams are your worst nightmare if they happen to you. Recently, in relationship to my work with payments, I saw some of the paperwork that consumers and small businesses must suffer to get credit and finances straightened out after someone else has either stolen and forged your checks, or has counterfeited your checking and credit accounts. The bottom line is the paperwork is hideous, the chances for recovery is marginal, and the Herculean tasks and costs of clearing up your damaged credit is your problem, the big companies definitely are not going to help you. No, do not give up using e-mail, internet or online shopping. However, be careful of e-mail, ads, and businesses you do not know. Phishing is the practice of attempting to convince you to give your financial information to unknown persons on false web sites. Scams are the same as ever: tempting you through greed to give up money or recently, personal financial data. Both practices want to steal your money. That being said; do shop over the internet with trusted and known businesses. I do not want to become an advertisement, but there are several web sites where I get great purchase value for my money/credit usage. Going with the Better Business Bureau, and some extras from me, here are TEN SAFE SHOPPING TIPS to save you grief and give you satisfaction. 1. Shop only at Internet merchants you know and trust; if in doubt check with the Better Business Bureau (http://www.bbb.org). 2. Beware of e-mails offering cut-rate prices on popular toys, software or other gifts; if the offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Especially be careful of software, even if they say they are OEM. OEM software must be part of a hardware deal to be valid-legal. 3. If you receive an unsolicited e-mail from an Internet merchant, don’t click on the links within it. Instead, locate the merchant’s Web site address through a reputable search engine. This is a common phishing method 4. Check Internet merchants’ refund policies; some merchants set a deadline for returns or charge a fee to accept returned merchandise. 5. Pay with a credit or debit card; for extra protection enroll your card in anti-fraud programs like Verified by Visa. 6. Never share your passwords with anyone, and use different passwords for different Web sites. 7. Protect your private information. When shopping online, look for the merchant’s Web site privacy policy and never provide your Social Security number, birth date, or mother’s maiden name. 8. Ensure your computer has both a firewall and the latest anti-virus software and definitions installed before shopping online. 9. Always print and save the confirmation page when completing an online purchase. 10. Don’t wait for paper statements. Check your credit card and bank statements for suspicious activity by either calling your bank or visiting your financial institution’s Web site. How have we been changed, and what will cause future changes. Recently Spectrum Magazine (www.spectrum.ieee.org) November 2004 interviewed 40 of the leading lights of the engineering world to find out: 1. what they felt was the most important technology for the last 40 years; 2. What development was the most surprising over the last 40 years; and 3. What technology will have the most impact over the next 10 years. The answers were fairly consistent: transistors; integrated circuits; nano-technology; internet; wireless; and expansion of our knowledge about human bio-engineering. This could be summarized as miniaturization, global communications, and greater information integration for the future. The message that I felt was most significant for the future was in (Gene Network Sciences Inc) Colin Hill’s words ‘...convergence of computing and genetic information, and the global sharing and processing of information.” Raymond C. Kurzweil (Kurzweil Technologies) expanded this idea by talking about how nanobots would be the agents of quality long life for people. Craig Barrett (Intel) spoke to the need of our society dedicating resources to education and to research and development. Barrett identified a challenge that if the average citizen cannot contribute production or innovation to the economy, there will be a decline in our standard of living. (Another issue of Spectrum magazine discussed the rapidly rising economic influence of East Asia, citing lower labor costs and increases in education and R&D.) Nolan Bushnell (uWink Inc) and Alan C. Kay (Viewpoints Research Institute & HP Labs) both cite a disappointment with how technology did not encourage education. Bushnell mentions how video games should have had a greater impact in education. Kay cites the lack of development of the computer tutor. Priscilla P. Nelson (National Science Foundation) said: “The pace of technological change and the complexity of natural environmental change overwhelm our human and social system’s ability to deal with them. We need fundamental research that relates to the sources of change to haw humans and social systems react in order to manage, to live with, ... these changes.” Many years ago, a book titled “Future Shock”, defined how the increase of data and information could lead to individuals ‘dropping out’ of the information age. Nelson repeats that warning on a larger societal level. George M. Whitesides (Harvard University) spoke about an “... interface between living and nonliving systems. How do you plug your computer into your brain? ... the question of how you build interfaces from ... ion currents and proteins to ... photons and electrons will be one we pay attention to. It is a key issue in augmenting human capabilities and in decision making.” Phaedon Avouris (IBM-Watson Research) points out that science can jump forward dramatically, but technology takes time. Even when new revolutionary technology is achieved, the problem will be is it needed and accepted by society. Avouris pointed out the 1970’s video phone as an example of how new technology, though good, may not gain acceptance or marketplace. That last point brought to mind several technologies I have seen in the last few years that for some reason have floundered. Conversa’s Internet and speech interface wrist device, should have gone somewhere, but they have been off radar for at least five years. Fossil’s internet-PDA wrist watch was even given an endorsement and push by Microsoft’s Bill Gates at the 2002 COMDEX keynote. Fossil’s watch is not offered today, except in very few locations. A CES 2004 Innovation award was made to PC Discovery for its PC Game Console, with Apex as a first manufacturer with a working proto-type. Apex was touting how their ApexTreme (est. $400) would be available to consumers by mid-year. As of mid-November, the ApexTreme no longer appears on the website. However, Alienware offers the PC Game Console as part of their new ($1500+) DHS 5 Series of Windows media center boxes. Finally, Cliff called and needs this article, so till next time you drop by the Back Porch, have a good time. And remember, help other PC users when ever you can. - James |
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Diskeeper 9.0 Professional
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Submitted by Frank Herriott The November meeting was called to order by President Stuart Gygi. Announcements: On December 4th, 2004, the SIG’s will meet at the University of Utah Olpin Student Center building. The Camera SIG will meet from 10:30 AM until 12:30 PM. The Genealogy SIG will begin at 12:30 PM. The creation of a FreeWare SIG in under investigation. If you have any interest in this or another topic, please contact UCS President, Stuart Gygi. At this time, it should be noted that the position of SIG coordinator is vacant. Anyone interested in volunteering for this position should contact UCS President, Stuart Gygi. Open Access: Sean Wolsey talked about Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). Problems installing or running it after installation are often corrected by a BIOS upgrade. You should see your Motherboard Manual for the steps involved in that procedure. It is not something to be undertaken lightly, but it is much more foolproof now than in the years past. Sean’s advice: “Follow the instructions in the manual or the manufacturers web site to the letter. Make sure you have a verified backup first.” One member commented that certain older Epson printers were incompatible with USB 2.0, only the earlier USB version 1.1. Main Presentation: Roots Magic 2 by Bruce Buzbee. (www.rootsmagic.com) Once again, The largest crowd at a Blue Chips meeting in quite a while was attracted to hear Bruce Buzbee talk about his genealogy software, Roots Magic 2. This time he had a new version of Roots Magic to demonstrate. Version 2 of the popular Roots Magic program has been out for several months and the rave reviews are pouring in on its behalf. Bruce’s original genealogy program, Family Origins, has been chronicled in these pages before, as has his first version of Roots Magic. Please see the Utah Blue Chips Web site, www.ucs.org, for those earlier articles. Roots Magic 2 has three main Views of the data. These are the Pedigree, Descendent and Family View. Each allows users to edit data from whichever view they are currently using or move to the one they prefer to use. PAF and Legacy files are able to be imported into Roots Magic after being converted first into GEDCOM files, the standard for genealogy file interchange. One feature, the To Do List, allows researchers to create reports specific for specific locations such as libraries, archives, and cemeteries in a prioritized listing. Notes and comments can be entered about persons in the database. These can be regular, Bolded, Italicized, or Underlined text. When editing information about a person, over 60 pre-packaged facts and custom fact types can be entered to create as rich a story as one wishes. Each fact can have notes, which are included in the book output. There are many report formats available including text, Word, and PDF among others. One interesting feature is the charting feature. Roots Magic 2 includes a built-in charting program with extensive editing capabilities. The Roots Magic site (PrintMyChart.com) features a chart printing service for those who wish to take advantage of this service. Wall charts can be created in JPEG or BMP formats. Bruce next talked about the Publisher feature. This allows the data in the database to be written out by the program into book form with pagination recorded in the index. Each person, source and place can each have a Scrapbook entry associated with it. These can be pictures, graphics, sound clips, video clips, other documents, etc. There is a Source Wizard to guide the user through the creation process. The program features a Problem List which provides direct access to items in the database which need to have some aspect of data cleaned up, dates out of range for instance. There is a citation wizard that helps create citations in a format that meets the standard for research. Next, Bruce entertained numerous questions from the audience. They were avid listeners throughout the presentation and had several specific questions, which indicated a high level of experience and familiarity with the field. One involved the transportability of the files. Bruce stated that there were several options available. Bruce made the program available to audience members at a significant discount, which many attendees had anticipated and were ready to accept. For more on the program and other related software visit www.RootsMagic.com. It is a very complete and well-designed web site to show off the program, its various features, newsletters, reviews, press releases, etc. It includes a Tips and Hints section also. Bruce Buzbee once again provided Utah Blue Chips with one of their best evenings of the year. |
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Some Products to Consider |
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Compiled by James AlexanderHere are some products which have been recently introduced or upgraded. If you are interested, please down load the demo, and tell the rest of us if this is a product we should look into or not. AdWords Clever Wizard 1.4 for Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP by CleverStat Successful PPC campaign starts with AdWords Clever Wizard. Pay Per Click (PPC) industry is estimated to be worth two billion dollars this year. The reasons for such popularity and explosive growth are as follows - this online advertisement method is performance-based (“pay for the results”), very flexible (“pick any keyphrase”) and, until recently, used to be quite inexpensive. However, the average cost per click jumped up about a third in 2003, and is expected to continue to climb this year, pressing marketers to search for a way to cut costs. AdWords Clever Wizard is a keyword analysis/suggestion tool that every online marketer running a PPC campaign should have. This tool comes with monthly keyword use statistics, KEI (keyword effectiveness index) and keyword suggestion tool (synonyms and equivalent terms). The software also shows an amount of advertising blocks on different search engines and therefore allows to quickly estimate the competition. With AdWords Clever Wizard, any marketer can quickly find keyphrases that generate most traffic or their less popular but cheaper alternatives. All picked keywords/keyphrases can be exported; the program also supports multiple projects, which is essential for running several different PPC campaigns. AdWords Clever Wizard uses data provided by the leading search engines, so the software can be used for picking keywords for advertising heavy machinery, screensavers, books or any other goods or services. To provide users with the latest results, AdWords Clever Wizard requires Internet access. AdWords Clever Wizard is distributed electronically over the Internet; free demo version is available at http://www.cleverstat.com/adwords-analyzer-software.htm for evaluation. The price of a single copy is $49.00 US. Business license costs $79. Note, Utah Blue Chips members will have a 20% discount by typing the following coupon code while ordering: TFBH-R4NT-IHNG Download: http://www.cleverstat.com/cleverwiz.exe Personal License: https://www.regnow.com/softsell/nph-softsell.cgi?item=8281-5 Business License: https://secure.shareit.com/shareit/checkout.html?productid=197299&language=English AKVIS Enhancer V.1.2 for Microsoft Windows™ and now for Macintosh, with greater image processing speed. Sometimes a photographer captures a great photo but some details within it will be lost due to unevenness of exposure; faces may be cast in shadow, or scenery wiped out by overexposure. Merely manipulating the brightness and contrast of the whole frame with photo editing software can improve the problem in some portions of a photo, but might then spoil other areas that need different treatment. Here lies the strength of AKVIS Enhancer. The AKVIS Enhancer plugin is compatible with Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, Corel Painter, Corel Photo-Paint, Jasc Paint Shop Pro, ACD FotoCanvas, and Ulead PhotoImpact. AKVIS Enhancer strengthens the difference between adjacent pixels having different color gradations and reveals details within shadowed, overexposed or mid-tone areas. Where other digital photo editing programs may achieve acceptable results by manipulating two to four shots of the same scene, AKVIS Enhancer applies advanced algorithms to a single shot for spectacular results. In addition to its appeal to the amateur photographer and home user, AKVIS Enhancer is a highly useful tool in the production of technical and industrial photographs, or for revealing subtle details within medical imaging and forensic photos. Demonstrations of AKVIS Enhancer’s features are available at http://akvis.com/en/enhancer-tutorial/index.php . Since its initial release earlier this year, AKVIS Enhancer has become available for the Macintosh OS X operating system. With a 30 percent increase in image processing speed, this plug-in is destined to become a must-have for digital photographic productivity. PC users can run AKVIS Enhancer on Microsoft Windows™ 98/ME/2000/XP/NT, using one of the photo editors listed above. AKVIS Enhancer sells for $69.00 US, downloadable from www.akvis.com . For a free trial, AKVIS offers 10 days of fully functional use. Details are available at http://akvis.com/en/enhancer/download-photo-enhancement.php Direct evaluation download URL: http://akvis.com/download/akvis-enhancer-setup.exe (Windows version) or http://akvis.com/download/akvis-enhancer-setup.dmg (Macintosh version). Alawar Entertainment is a PC game developer. We’re trying something unique in getting out the word about our games - contacting user groups and computer clubs across the U.S. We’re hoping our games will be interesting enough to your members that you’ll mention them during your nextmeeting, in a newsletter or on your website. Alawar offers downloadable shareware versions of each game. All we ask is that you provide us with a Web link or a copy of your newsletter so we can see what people are saying about our products. Alawar has published casual games in several genres, including puzzle, action, arcade and educational. Alawar company releases 3 different downloadable games with one charming hero - Snowy the Little Bear. Our customers span a broad spectrum of people, including children, video game enthusiasts, women, seniors and novice computer users. Here’s a look at everything we offer: http://www.alawar.com/allexgames/ Aston Shell 1.9.1 and AltDesk 1.5.5 by Gladiators Software Aston Shell 1.9.1 Explorer software replacement for Windows 98-XP, AltDesk 1.5.5 Virtual Desktop Management tool. Aston shell is a replacement for Windows, allowing users to modify and redesign their entire desktop environment, from the start menu and taskbar, to innovative new elements for the desktop and more. This is achieved without sacrificing system stability or resource usage, and actually outperforms the corresponding Microsoft program. Aston Shell allows the user complete control over the appearance of their PC, by using a wide variety of existing themes free for download from the astonshell.com website or many other sites, or by designing something completely new for themselves. Gone are the days of modifying mysterious configuration files. Aston Shell comes with a comprehensive set of tools allowing quick and simple customization. It may be run on older hardware configurations without any performance penalty, and for more modern hardware setup, adds additional capabilities such as 32 bit animated icons, clear-type icon text, and XP style system tray not available in earlier Windows versions. Plug-ins further extend the usefulness and enjoyment of their machine, providing such tools as desktop weather, configurable screen-side and desktop toolbars, resource monitoring, analogue clocks, and much much more! AltDesk 1.5.5 is the latest version of a customizable Virtual Desktop Manager from Gladiators Software. AltDesk desktops are more efficient, and take less time to use than switching tasks manually or even using Windows XP enhanced task handling. Every desktop can have its own name and keyboard shortcut for quick access. Virtual Desktops utilize little screen area, and can have any shape and size, dependent on appearance theme used. Time-limited demo versions of Aston and AltDesk can be downloaded from http://www.astonshell.com, and single or bulk licenses may be purchased at the website. Aston: Download: http://www.astonshell.com/files/aston.zip AltDesk: Download: http://www.astonshell.com/files/altdesk.zip Flash File Recovery 1.2 for Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP PANTERASoft User group members are offered a 15% discount off the regular price. A must-have software most PC users don’t know about. Flash Fire Recovery program brings back deleted images and salvages pictures from damaged or corrupted digital media, including the camera’s built-in memory. It works with virtually all media types, including SmartMedia, CompactFlash, Memory Stick, MicroDrive, xD Picture Card Flash Card, PC Card, Multimedia Card, and SD Card. While this program does not recover mp3 files, it does recover image files like JPEG, TIFF and such, as well as RAW image files - Canon CRW, Nikon NEF, Kodak DCR, among others. Video files - AVI, MOV, MPG/MPEG are supported as well. The process of recovery is simple. After the program is downloaded and installed, user selects a device or flash card to be scanned. The program then finds all deleted and damaged files. At this point, the user can actually see files that were thought to be irreversibly lost. The last step is to save the recovered image(s). The trial version performs all steps, except for the last one. This way any person can find out what images can be “undeleted” or recovered before purchasing the software. Flash File Recovery is available at www.panterasoft.com for free evaluation. The price of registering the program is $49.50 US per copy. The company offers additional 15% discount to all readers. Download: http://www.panterasoft.com/filerecovery/download.html Fontonizer by Fast Reports Inc. Organizer for fonts in not something 95% of PC users get excited about. While an average PC has about one hundred different fonts installed, marketers, designers, publishers, editors and print professionals often have collections with 5000 different fonts or more. With so many fonts, only very experienced professionals can match font name with its appearance. Fontonizer is a font organizer with a font viewer. With Fontonizer, anyone can easily classify fonts. First, create categories like “Business Letter Body”, “Groovy and Hip”, “Classy”, “Headlines”, “Attention Grabbers”, “Exotic”, “Fine print”, “Comments and footnotes”, “Hand written”, “Miscellaneous”. Then, fonts are “placed” in these categories, so they can be easily located, when necessary. The best thing about Fontonizer is that it works with fonts that aren’t currently installed on a PC. In fact, it works with fonts that are stored not only on hard-drive, but CDs, DVDs, flash-drives and External Drives. Third, even though the fonts may not be installed, person can write a word or sentence to see how it looks. Fontonizer will automatically show a list of the same word or phrase visualized with different fonts. This way one can easily compare and find the font that is most appropriate for a certain occasion. Finally, Fontonizer comes with even more functions font professionals need. For example, the program performs installation/deletion/restoration of the deleted fonts. Plus, Fontonizer is capable of displaying “symbol table” of any font, even if it was deleted. Finally, with Fontonizer professionals can experiment not only with fonts and sizes, but backgrounds as well. Fontonizer is distributed electronically over the Internet; free demo version is available at http://www.fontonizer.com/ for evaluation. The price of a single license is $29 US for a single copy. For UG member 15% discount use Coupon Code “UserGroupPR-FO” or this URL. https://secure.element5.com/shareit/checkout.html?productid=168090 Company Website http://www.fontutilities.com Download: http://www.fontutilities.com/download/fo100.zip G-Lock SpamCombat 2.30 by G-Lock Software - Stop spam and viruses before they reach the Inbox. G-Lock SpamCombat is probably the most popular and effective spam fighting software. SpamCombat kills 99.5% of spam and viruses before they even get to the Inbox by deleting it on the server directly. To achieve this astonishing efficiency and accuracy, G-Lock SpamCombat uses all known anti-spam measures: Whitelist, Blacklist, HTML Validator, DNSBL filter, and the Bayesian filter. While white and black lists are very common, unfortunately these are passive solutions that can’t protect e-mail recipients from future spam and virus attacks if initiated from different e-mail addresses. HTML Validator and DNSBL filters can. This first tool allows previewing questionable HTML messages with no pictures downloaded and no hidden scripts or codes executed. DNSBL filter compares senders’ IP addresses against lists of known spam databases. This technique is especially effective when spam senders try using valid return e-mail addresses from respectable businesses. Bayesian filter is a name for a complex mathematical message content analyzing algorithm that is based on the self-learning principle. This algorithm analyzes messages that are marked as “good” and “bad”. After that the program can analyze an unknown message and mark it as spam (or not) with 99.5% accuracy. Unlike other anti-spam solutions, G-Lock SpamCombat never confuses opt-in HTML newsletter messages with HTML spam. Another important benefit of using G-Lock SpamCombat is that it is e-mail client independent. And since the program supports POP3 and IMAP, it can be configured to work with popular web-based e-mail services, like Hotmail and Yahoo. AOL users can use it as well. Plus, G-Lock SpamCombat uses very unusual licensing arrangements. The price of registering the program is $35 US. The trial version is available as well. While the trial version works with one e-mail account only, it never expires and has no other functional limitations. Which means that users who don’t have multiple e-mail accounts may use this spectacular spam fighting solution absolutely free. Download: http://mirror1.glocksoft.com/spamcombat.zip Buy Link: https://www.regnow.com/softsell/nph-softsell.cgi?item=2631-10 IconLover 2.10 for Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003 by Aha-soft.com. Icon aficionados get the tool of their dreams. For some people icons and cursors are just small graphics. But for a small dedicated group of icon aficionados, it’s life, trade, hobby, passion and much more. IconLover 2.10 is a professional icon editor and manager created specially for these folks who like to tinker with existing icons and cursors or create new ones. IconLover is an “all-included” type of software, meaning to does everything from searching, extracting, and managing icons to creating, editing and rescaling small graphics. While, due to its nature, IconLover is a rather complex application, using the program is quite easy, because the interface is straightforward and uncluttered. For editing images, IconLover offers a variety of airbrushes, pencils and paintbrushes, as well as miscellaneous text, line and shape tools. The software is equally well equipped in the effects department and offers a variety of solid, patterned and gradient flood fills, drop shadow, smooth, color modification and other effects. IconLover supports all popular image formats for import/export/conversion (ICO, BMP, JPEG, ANI, CUR, GIF, PNG, TGA, WMF, WBMP, XPM, XBM and Adobe Photoshop PSD) and is capable of creating any type of icons and cursors – semitransparent, static or animated (cursors), in any standard or custom size, with color depth up to 32-bit True Color. The program also comes with icon library management tools, batch processing and option to replace desktop and folder icons. IconLover 2.10 is available at http://www.ahasoft.com/iconlover/ for free evaluation. The price of registering the program is $49.95 US Download: http://iconutils.com/iconlover/iconlove.exe Buy Link: http://www.aha-soft.com/iconlover/reg.htm Media Catalog Studio 1.7 - Catalog and classify your media collection easy! By ManiacTools Media Catalog Studio is a handy software application that classifies and tracks media files on hard-drives, floppies, external drives, CDs, DVDs and other storage media. Importantly, the information about the media files does not need to be entered manually. The program automatically detects MP3, WMA, APE, OGG, WAV, AVI, WMV, MPEG, Video and Audio CD files and inputs this information inside a database. Moreover, the software comes with CDDB support, an online database that exports information about songs (Title, Artist, Album, Year) directly from Internet. Unlike other similar application, Media Catalog Studio is very flexible, and easy to search and navigate through. All data entries can be sorted out by artist, album, year, bitrate, frequency, genre, category, rating or any field/category. The search in the database can be conducted using multiple parameters, like file properties (name, size, etc), tag information or lyrics. Media file lists can be customized to display information in any way or order. As an added perk, the program features an internal tag reader and editor for audio and video files, duplicates finder, and supports an option for storing pictures. In addition, the application creates Winamp and Windows Media Player playlists with a few mouse-clicks. The other great features are MS Excel export options and Media Tracker, a feature that shows the user where a necessary media file is located. Media Catalog Studio does not require any special skills to operate and has received over a dozen awards for its usability, including the prestigious Five Cows rating at Tucows.Com and Editor’s Pick at MyMusicTools.com. The program is translated in all major European languages. A free version of Media Catalog Studio Lite 1.7 is available now: http://www.maniactools.com The freeware Lite version supports up to 5 disks in database. An upgrade to a Pro version costs $24.95 US for individuals and $34.95 US for businesses and organizations. The company offers additional 15% discount to members of Utah Computer Society. The discount coupon code is 4567844981 and is redeemable at http://www.ManiacTools.com/soft/media_catalog_studio/discount.shtml Product Page: http://www.maniactools.com/soft/media_catalog_studio/ Download: http://www.maniactools.com/media_catalog_studio.exe Universal Document Converter 3.1 - A great leap forward in virtual printer ergonomics! The fCoder Group, Inc., a recognized industry leader in the exciting field of digital document conversion and digital image processing technologies, proudly introduces its “Universal Document Converter” a virtual printer which features a challenging new concept in user-interface development. Universal Document Converter is a virtual printer which - instead of sending documents to paper in the manner of a conventional printer - actually converts your documents into image files. Imagine being able to convert Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, AutoCAD and Visio drawings into JPEG, TIFF, GIF, PNG or BMP images with resolutions of up to 1200 DPI, as easy as sending them to your printer! The resulting image files may then be used in your presentations, sent by e-mail, published to the Web and much, much more. It doesn’t even matter whether the recipient is using a Mac, PC, or Linux workstation. The resulting images are completely platform-independent and can thus be viewed and printed on any machine. Universal Document Converter?s easy-to-use interface provides the end-user with a large number of combined settings (Profiles) which will handle various document conversion tasks. The selection of right Profile is greatly simplified by “Print Preview” function which enables you to rapidly view the impact this Profile will have on your “printouts”. In brief, these ready-to-use Profiles and our additional new Print Preview function, together conspire to make the Universal Document Converter the “killer app” for document imaging. Universal Document Converter is available now with a selling price of just $45. For more product information or to download a demo version, please visit http://www.print-driver.com |
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APCUG Reprint By Linda Gonse, Probably you, and millions of others, have received e-mail offers with subject lines similar to these: Unbeatable software deals Amazing prices on software Take 95% discounts on Adobe, Microsoft, Corel products from Putnam’s Stuff Store Receive discount ticket on Corel, Adobe, Microsoft software from Koenig’s Stuff Store Get software at rock bottom prices What’s more you may have seriously considered purchasing the programs described in the e-mails at prices that you’ve only seen in your dreams. Here’s an example in one message: Looking
for inexpensive high-quality
software? These amazing prices are not legitimate. They represent the work of software pirates who are trolling for customers, or illegal sales. Do not take the offers at face value. Stop and ask yourself how it is possible for programs that sell for hundred of dollars to be discounted for a fraction of their usual retail cost. Certainly, these products are not even selling at wholesale, much less for these unbelievable prices. And, if the companies did offer programs at these prices, you would be reading about it in your newspaper, or hearing about it on television or radio, or in your user group. A Washington Post article said, “The U.S. software industry loses at least $13 billion a year to piracy, according to the Business Software Alliance (BSA) estimates. The group, which represents some of the world’s largest software companies, including Microsoft, Adobe and Autodesk, does not know how much money the industry has lot to online piracy.” Still, user confusion about piracy prevails. Microsoft, attempting to educate software buyers, has posted a document that points out warning signs of counterfeit or illegal software. (Unfortunately, most of the warning signs apply to software already purchased.) Microsoft’s warning signs of counterfeit or illegal software: Prices that are “too good to be true.” Products that are missing key elements such as user manuals, Certificates of Authenticity, or end-user license agreements. Pirates often sell only the CD-ROM and jewel case without retail packaging. Look for the Certificate of Authenticity on the retail box. On all new machines, with the release of Windows 2000, the COA label is found on the tower of the computer. If you acquire a new computer and it doesn’t have the COA label on the tower, you should question whether the software loaded on the machine is genuine. Software or components that appear to be of poor quality including: **Back-up disks or CD-ROMs with handwritten labels. **Poor imitations of security features such as edge-to-edge hologram etched into Windows 2000 and Office 2000 (first service release) CDs, or poor imitations of the hologram found on the hub of the Windows 98 CD that shows the word “genuine” when tilted in the light **Low quality print, letters that aren’t evenly spaced, etc. **Products marked with phrases that do not describe the transaction, including: “For distribution with a new PC only” “Special CD for licensed customers only” “Not for retail or OEM distribution” or “Academic price – not for use in a commercial environment” Note that counterfeiters often use these types of phrases to fool consumers into believing that they are getting genuine product that was over-stocked or otherwise deserves to be discounted. Consumers dealing with software vendors over the Internet should also beware of: **Companies or individuals unwilling to verify their identity or full business name or provide a physical street address and telephone number for follow-up after the transaction has occurred. **Online distributors unwilling or unable to provide adequate or satisfactory descriptions of their return, service or warranty policies. **Online distributors that offer unusual inventory explanations (e.g., special deals with the software publisher, liquidated inventories or acquisition through bankruptcy sales). **Vendors offering software products at prices and in packaging inconsistent with offerings through legitimate retail channels. **For Microsoft software, software components being sold solely as a CD housed in a jewel case or as a loose or individual end-user license agreement, because these items are not distributed in this form through legitimate channels. Save your money and your time when you receive “rock bottom” software offers. There are no unbelievable “deals” out there on name-brand software. Let this be your guiding mantra: If it sounds too good to be true–on this you can rely–just walk away and say no, you can’t buy! |
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Signs of the Times Sign over Gynecologist’s office: “Dr. Jones, at your cervix” At a military hospital door to colonoscopy: “To expedite your visit, please back in” On a Plumber’s truck: “Don’t sleep with a drip....call your plumber” On a Home Improvement truck: “We repair what your husband fixed” Tire Shop: “Invite us to your next blowout” Door to Plastic Surgeon’s Office: “Come In and let us help you pick your nose” Towing Company “We don’t charge an arm and a leg...we just want your tows” On an electrician’s truck: “Let us remove your shorts” On a fence: “salesman welcome...dog food is expensive” Muffler shop: “No appointment necessary...we hear you coming” Car dealership: “Best way to get back on your feet.....miss a payment” Veterinarian’s Office Waiting room “Back in five minutes ....Sit....Stay” Radiator Shop: “Best place in town to take a leak” Optometrists Office: “If you don’t see what you’re looking for...you’ve come to the right place” Electric Company: “We would be DE-LIGHTED if you pay your bill. However, if you don’t, you will be” Restaurant Window: “Don’t stand there and be hungry. Come on in and get fed up” You know your a child of the 80s when... You remember when Activision went into business, thereby revitalizing the game catalog for the Atari 2600. You’ll happily discuss the merits of Coleco’s Electronic Quarterback over Mattel’s Football hand-held games. You still have at least one thin leather tie in your closet, possibly with a piano keyboard printed on it. You remember when Michael Jackson could still pass for a human being. You still think Crockett was cooler than Tubbs. You currently have an unsolved Rubik’s Cube that you use as a paperweight on your desk. You still think Starbuck was cooler than Apollo. You believe that the Merlin game was the predecessor of the cellular phone. You know what a Vic-20 is. You shamefully remember watching Love Boat every week. When you have a particularly awesome moment at work, you raise your hands over your head and proclaim, “By the power of Greyskull, I have the power!”. You can name at least eight bands that played at Live-Aid. You remember shopping for records. You remember shopping for cassettes. You know why there’s a 45 RPM setting on record players. Your family owned a television set that doubled as a piece of furniture. Ooooh... Betamax. You remember when game controllers only had one button. You remember swapping out floppies when playing Bard’s Tale. You have the same humorous nostalgic feeling for 8-track tapes that your kids now have for cassettes. You were excited to hear about the printing of the Cologne Bible by Anton Koberger of Nuremberg. (Oh sorry, that’s if you were a child of the 1480’s.) You sometimes use, “Elf is about to die!” as a catchphrase. |
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WebWhacker 5.0 WebWhacker 5.0 lets you take full advantage of the World Wide Web. For about $50, you can copy web sites, store valuable web information forever, create CDs, archive information, organize web sites and know that they’ll never just disappear on you. We may be biased, but if you ask us, it is $50 well spent. * Create an archive of Web information. * Hang on to that valuable web site - don’t depend on it staying around. * Distribute your Web site or product catalog on a CD. * Create CDs that run automatically when inserted into Windows computers. * Review web pages on the plane, bus, or where you might not have an Internet connection. * Don’t rely on an Internet connection for your next presentation. * Easily build a virtual Web for employees. * Fast and powerful searching of entire web sites with new 5.0 version. * Drag Favorites or URLs to WebWhacker to save them permanently. (NEW 5.0 feature) * Organize web information in folders. * WebWhacker monitors Web sites for changes and updates you on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. * Save disk space by filtering out useless information from Web pages. * Schedule WebWhacker to download information during off-peak times. * Duplicate the directory structure of a Web site. * Provides you with a list of broken links found on a Web site. SpamCatcher Put the power of millions to work for you Spammers’ tactics change constantly. That’s whySpamCatcher uses a combination of sophisticated technologies and teamwork to defeat spam. Each time you approve or block an e-mail, your vote is anonymously recorded in the SpamCatcher database. Anti-spam votes are tallied continuously, updating SpamCatcher filters worldwide. MusicMagic Mixer (by Predixis) The MusicMagic Mixer acoustically finds and sorts music to provide a dynamic listening experience. It’s an all-in-one, sound-based playlist generator, digital music manager and music discovery engine. A fully customizable tool that gives you the power to find music you want. (To review any of the above products contact LeRoy Johnson) |
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by James Alexander
