Information Avenue - February 25, 2005 - Issue #161
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| Information Avenue -
February 25, 2005 - Issue #161 You may read this newsletter online at http://thundercloud.net/infoave/archives2005/week-161.htm . |
Hi everyone,
Welcome to Issue #161 of Cloudeight Information Avenue. Thanks for subscribing! You
can find answers to your computer questions or get help from our Information Avenue Forum! Submit your
favorite computer tip or trick and win prizes! If we choose your tip or trick from
those submitted during the week you win!
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a couple of artery-clogging cheeseburgers, two belly-bulging banana splits, or our Premium
E-book "The First Year". Not only is InfoAve Premium better for your health,
it's good for your computer's health too. The response you've given to our Premium E-book
has been fantastic. Still, there are hundreds of you hold-outs out there who are not
convinced the e-book is worth the money. You know who you are! We have received
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packed issues. Please click here for all the
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| The Top Questions of The Week |
A Question from Barb
I just purchased your newest E-Book and I love it! In a word, it is GREAT. I highly
recommend it to everyone who owns a computer. Here is my question: A good friend of my
daughter's is a computer repair person. He told her that Microsoft has a way of detecting
any illegal software on your computer if you are using XP. Is there any truth to this?
Does Microsoft monitor computers that are running Windows XP?
Answer
Thanks Barb. This is a ludicrous rumor that has been around since Windows XP was
introduced. What exactly would Microsoft do with all this information? Have people thrown
in the pokey? Can you imagine the spyware outcry if Windows XP was determined to be
'spying on its users". Computer repair people can be a very poor source of
information. Part of this problem is caused by the fact that anyone can be a
"computer repair person". There are no standardized computer repair person
qualifications. There's some really bad ones doing business out there. Be careful.
Microsoft's own privacy policy prohibits the collection of any personal data from your computer. Good common sense tells us having people investigated for using "illegal software" would be a public relations nightmare for Microsoft. So, what exactly, would Microsoft do with this information they are supposedly gleaning from monitoring (spying on) private computers? They can't turn you in or they'd have to admit they were spying. Can you imagine the headlines in USA Today and other major newspapers? What a story! "Springfield Woman Arrested For Using Illegal Copy Of Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing" - "Ethel Ewbanks of Springfield was arrested this morning by sheriff Earl Bookem for using an illegal software program on her computer. Bookem stated that information sent to him by Bill Gates led to the arrest. Ethel Ewbanks, 70, was caught red-handed during lesson #7 of her Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing software training course. She claimed she was borrowing the software from her friend Steffie Stullen. 68 of New Bransen. Neither Ewbanks or Stullen were available for comment. Gates, CEO of Microsoft, stated that "someone has got to stop these types from using illegal software..."
Back to reality: Microsoft is currently in the process of implementing a software verification program whereby you'll be required to allow Microsoft
to verify that your installation of Windows is genuine and not "pirated" before you'll be allowed to download updates. If you have a "less-than-legal" copy of Windows you won't be able to get updates via http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ . But, in no case will Microsoft use this information to report you to the local sheriff and have you hauled off to jail kicking and screaming and charged with theft of Windows :-)| Smileycons - A New Free Expansion Pack Is Available |
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A Question from Dianne
I very much enjoy and look forward to your Premium newsletters each Friday. This is the
first time I wrote with a question. I have received an invitation to join a site called
"Hi5". I am wondering if you are familiar with it and if you (or your readers)
have any comments about this supposedly "free" service. Thanks very much, and
keep up the good work!
Answer
Their privacy policy would be enough to make us think twice before giving this company any
information at all. The following was taken directly from their "Privacy Policy"
as it appeared on February 24, 2005:
"...hi5 collects personal information when you register, when you use hi5, when you
visit hi5 pages or the pages of certain hi5 partners. hi5 may combine information about
you that we have with information we obtain from business partners or other companies.
Once you register with hi5 and sign in to our services, you are not anonymous to us. hi5
collects information about your transactions with us and with some of our business
partners. hi5 automatically receives and records information on our server logs from your
browser. .."
While this type of service purports to be "free", we can see a lot of
areas that are open to potential abuse and avenues that could exploited that would leave
you open to spam, a multitude of "targeted" advertisements, and possibly even
malware. We wouldn't join this site on a bet.
Want more answers? This week's Premium Edition has twice as many answers! Why not subscribe right now!
Choose from hundreds of software titles and get them free (pay shipping & handling). Now when you get 4 titles you get shipping & handling paid for the 5th! Check out this Free CD offer! . Print Shop Essentials Version 12 From newsletters to greeting cards, find out why Print Shop is the #1 printing software. Millions of people around the world have discovered the fun of creating their own greeting cards, newsletters, banners, and more. If you'd like to join them but don't know where to start, The Print Shop Essentials 12 is for you! Get it Free! Calendar Creator 9 With Calendar Creator 9.0 you now can put your whole family's schedule on one easy-to-access spot. It's also great in the office for making professional looking calendars with personalize entries that you add. Along with the organizational ability of the software it also creates an environment for your creativity. With over 3,500 images your calendar is sure to look professional. Get it Free! Scrabble Complete In addition to the traditional Scrabble game, you can play any one of over a dozen mini games for a quick, fun dose of Scrabble gameplay. Challenge yourself with Anagrams, 2 and 3-Letter Word Games, Word Placement and the new Scrabble Blitz. Scrabble Complete is enough to keep casual players engaged for hours and turn serious players into Scrabble masters! Get it Free! Webster's 2005 Encyclopedia Equip your family with the most up-to-date encyclopedia on the market. In Webster's 2005 Encyclopedia you can explore thousands of interesting entries and jump straight to related information in other parts of the Encyclopedia. Explore the thousands of videos and pictures included. Journey through the histories of many different countries, as well as review dozens of important American historical documents. Explore the universe with the star and moon gazing guide! Learn about historical figures with over 20,000 biographies. Webster's 2005 Encyclopedia provides tons of family-friendly content for many hours of learning. Get it Free! |
| This Week's Tips & Tricks! |
InfoAve Subscriber Tip Of The Week
Tip
Submitted by Glenn: This is a tool I use from Google quite a bit. If something
peaks my interest and I want to know a lot about it I will use Google alerts. Go to
Google, then click on "more" then "alerts" fill in the info you are
interested in and Google will email you anytime that subject is added to!
Thanks, Glenn. We find Google Alerts to be invaluable in keeping up with many things
important to us in the cyberworld! Do you have a tip or trick you would like to share with
our readers? Send it to us by clicking here. If we use your tip, you'll win a great prize!
This Week's
Tips & Tricks
Tweaking Free and Easy
Windows XP Home and Professional
One of the Windows XP Power Toys is called Tweak UI for Windows XP. If your timid about editing your registry but would like to make some customizations (tweaks) to your Windows XP installation, Tweak UI for Windows XP just might be the Power Toy for you. This small program lets you customize so many things it's impossible to cover them all here. Here are some examples though:
1. Add Toolbar "Skin" to Internet Explorer
2. Choose which user names to display on the Windows XP Logon Screen
3. Choose What Icon Appears First on your Desktop
4. Repair The Icon Cache
5. Customize the Start Menu
6. Logon to Windows XP Automatically even if your account is password protected
6. Dozens More Tweaks!
Before Tweak U.I. came along some of these tweaks could only be accomplished by editing the registry. Now anyone can do it without a whole lot of knowledge. If you think you'd like to be a tweaker but don't know how, Tweak U.I. for Windows XP (from Microsoft) is a great way to start down the tweaking road. But, to get started, you'll have to download Tweak U.I. for Windows XP - and you can do that right here.
No, Nine, Nunka, Nyet, Nope, Nah
Windows XP
We've all seen dialog windows that have a place to click for "Yes to All".
But, did you know that if you hold down the shift key while clicking "No" in a
Confirm File Operation dialog, the response will be interpreted as "No to All"?
Well now you do!
Want more tips? This week's InfoAve Premium features all of the above tips plus four more. Subscribe today!
The Tip of Tips!
The Price is Cheap but You'll Find It Priceless!
Our Premium E-Book is a virtual encyclopedia of computer information. We know you'll find our newest E-book to be the single best resource for computer information available anywhere. Our new Premium E-Book features all of the information from our first 52 issues or our award-winning InfoAve Premium edition, broken down into categories so you can easily find what your looking for. Includes all of our Freeware Picks of the Week, our Web Site Picks, all of our tips and tricks (updated for 2005), all of the questions and answers (updated for 2005), Back to Basics, and our most popular Rants. The price is cheap but we think you'll find it priceless! Our best ever. Click here for more information.
| Our Freeware Program of The Week |
MetaProducts Inquiry makes Internet research a snap! Collect, organize and view information from the Web on your terms, quickly and easily. A Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003 application, it is fully integrated with Microsoft Internet Explorer and is also available as a standalone application.
Easy to use
Inquiry stores various Web files: entire web pages, selected text and images, Shockwave Flash clips and many others. It can also import documents from your MSIE Favorites and export them to various formats to share with friends and colleagues. Forget cumbersome open and close dialog boxes. Managing your stored pages is quick and easy.
If you like to do research on the Web and have it
all available and organized the way you want it, when you want it, give MetaProducts
Inquiry a try...Then you'll see why it's our Freeware
Program of The Week .
Note: This product is in Beta 2 Stage. If you're not comfortable using Beta (test)
software this program might not be for you. We found it stable and useful in our tests.
Your experience may be different.
| Back To Basics |
"What's an IT Manager? - In your Premium Newsletter
Issue #70 you mentioned "IT Managers" in one of the articles. What exactly
is an IT Manager? I tried researching it online but only came up with articles mentioning
IT Managers and not a definition of what one was! I sometimes feel that if I don't
understand what a term means that it doesn't really affect me but then if one does not ask
questions, one never learns anything. Thanks.Jerry
An "IT Manager" is an "Information Technology" manager. Normally an IT
manager is in charge of a company's Internet/Intranet, computers, and networking. They
also may be responsible for software technologies and computer and network security. IT
Managers are also called Computer Gurus :) by some.
Move up to InfoAve Premium Edition Join the thousands who have already made the switch. Our InfoAve Premium Newsletter contains over twice as much information as Information Avenue free edition, and no third party advertisements! Upgrade to InfoAve Premium right now! An InfoAve Premium Newsletter Subscription is only $10.00 per year, that's 52 great issues of news, tips, tricks, and features you can really use. Subscribe today, and save 50% on our new super Premium E-book !
We would like to thank all of you who have subscribed to Cloudeight Information Avenue. We're glad to have you with us! If you have a question you would like to see answered in this newsletter please submit it to us by clicking here. Keep in mind we cannot answer every question, but we do read every one.
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We'll see you next week with a brand new issue of Information Avenue. Thanks to all of you for your support and for subscribing to Information Avenue Free Edition!
Best wishes,
Eightball
& Thundercloud
Cloudeight Information Avenue Free Edition
February 25, 2005
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DISCLAIMER
All software recommendations we make in this newsletter are based on our own experience and testing of the programs that we recommend. This does NOT guarantee they will work on YOUR computer. We assume you will read the program documentation and use the program according to the instructions. We make no guarantees about any program recommended in this newsletter or its suitability for any particular purpose. We will not be responsible for any problems you may have. We do not and cannot provide support for any products other than our own Cloudeight products and we will not answer email concerning any product which is not a Cloudeight product. We urge you to use good judgment when downloading and installing software and to use a program only after reading the program's documentation. And, all Tips & Tricks in this newsletter have been tested by us on several different computers and were found to work as indicated. They may not work on yours. We make no guarantees. Anything we recommend you try and use at your own risk. We will not be responsible for any problems caused by any software programs recommended in this newsletter or any of the tips and tricks in this newsletter.
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This newsletter and all content is copyright ©2005 by Cloudeight Internet LLC (All rights reserved)