Tips & TidBITS
©
by Caroline Horton
Christmas is a memory again, I hope everybody got something that they wanted – maybe a new software package or piece of hardware for their system! Did you go to bed dreaming of mice (computer) dancing like sugar plums? This is the season for new software, one of the new games "Tomb Raider", Eidios Interactive (415-616-2022, www.eidosinteractive.com), will give Quake and Duke Nukem 3D fans a new thrill. Terrific graphics and a good shoot-em-up program combined with a sophisticated strategy.
I have to expand my CD-ROM storage again. I am busy installing lots of new software and will soon be reporting on these new programs. (Caere Omni Page v7.0, Clean Sweep 97, Front Page, HiJack Pro 97, Office Pro 97, Oogler, ProComm Plus 97, Publisher 97, Quicken v6.0, WinProbe 95 v97, Visual JAVA++, Windows 97, Windows NT v4.0, and more than a dozen other applications and lots of new games.
How about the last two (2) Peter Trapp shows – especially the one on December 21st. I can not wait to see the show this month – 2 days January 11th and 12th, WOW! Should be some show. I think somebody better tie me up so I can not go, too much new software and I have this severe craving - - - - -
I really do not know about the future of Borland and the role they may play in the software industry. They used to be number one in programming languages and compilers and then they got into Windows applications – spreadsheet (Quattro Pro), database (Paradox & dBase), and a few other minor things. Borland sold Quattro Pro to WordPerfect and then Corel bought WordPerfect but needed a database to complete its suite so it licensed Paradox from Borland. Well, Corel finally bought Paradox outright from Borland to upgrade its professional suite.
Borland’s sales of its programming languages have slipped and they need to ship updated versions of their products soon. Delphi for Windows was/is a great product and really gave Microsoft’s Visual Basic a run for its money.
With the new version of Visual Basic, Microsoft has taken the lead back from Borland. To help with it new version, soon to be released, Microsoft has hired many top Delphi programmers away from Borland and put them to work on Visual Basic. Borland is also greasing its slide by laying off many of its programmers. This does not make sense, because Borland will need experienced programmers to fight back!
Visual Basic is a simple language to learn, but will never be as fast as Pascal, C, or C++.
Visual JAVA++ will be competing with all the older program languages and is really is really coming on fast. JAVA++ appears to be a subset of Visual Basic, C++ and Ada combined. The new object oriented versions of Ada are very easy to use, low priced and more powerful than the other programming languages! If Borland gets its act together and concentrates on its line of programming languages and delivers some new upgrades quickly – they may survive as a major player in this field – if it does not, it will just become another of the many small language utility companies.
IBM – and all of the smoke about Microsoft, looks like IBM is pushing hard to ink new contracts with Microsoft (say what??). IBM wants to join ranks to set new software and computer specs for the future and (lo and behold) a contract to install Windows NT v4.0 exclusively (?) on their new systems. (I wonder where OS/2 went???)
Talking about speed the new CPUs that are coming to market in the near future are sure to burn up old speed records. Intel is aiming at 333MHz in 1997, HP is looking at a 400MHz chip, Exponential Technology (a new player) is developing a 533MHz chip, Mitsubishi a 550MHz chip, and finally Digital is checking in with its 600MHz chip – users are sure to get a bad case of whiplash using these systems. To make matters worse vendors are developing boards that will accept multiple CPU’s – can you picture eight (8) 500MHz processors on one board??
WARNING – Intel’s new MMX (multimedia) chips have a problem, seems they put the wraps on all the manufactures that are testing it. The new chip (Klamath) was set to be released at 233MHz, fast (?), no because it seems that the method of implementation slows the processor at least 20%. This means if you have a 200MHz system with a good 3D pnp graphics card, the chances are good that your system will probably perform at the same level as the Klamath. The new MMX chips from AMD and Cyrix will out perform Intel’s chip due to their different implementations.
This said, Intel’s chip has a built in FLAW. Seems it takes 50 clock cycles to switch between normal mode and MMX mode. At 200MHz this should not make a difference (?), but it does not switch back to normal mode automatically. This switching is due to the fact that Intel uses some of the Floating Point Registers (used for math and graphics generation normally) for implementing MMX. If you were using Excel, and then started a MMX program – exited the MMX program then went back to Excel and performed a math computation the results would be faulty. Some of the registers would still contain the graphics data from the MMX program. This is one of the reasons Intel has pulled back the Klamath chip.
Virus – the word that scares computer users everywhere. The first question I want to ask is – do you personally know anyone that ever had a virus. Chances are the answer to that question is "NO" – the truth is that the news media blows the problem out of proportion. The recent "Hare" virus that was supposed to shut down computers on a specific date in September and again in October never appeared.
What usually happens is somebody hears about a new virus and then checks with a antivirus software company for protection. The company will make sure their product will detect the new virus and then release a statement to the news media and viola a major virus attack is imminent. Not to belittle the news media but most of writers do not understand computer viruses! The actual majority of viruses come on contaminated disks from manufacturers or retailers. (Retailers sometimes re-shrink-wrap returned software and resell it. BEWARE OF STORES WITH THIS POLICY! Ask your retailer (who will probably not admit it) if this is their policy – if they answer yes and you buy software from them – be sure to scan the disks before installation.)
Most of the headlines in the news media are hyped by the companies producing antivirus software. Even the big 1992 Michelangelo scare was mostly hype but it sold lots of software.
The e-mail "Good Times" virus scare is/was bogus – opening e-mail "
CAN NOT" activate or run a virus that will harm your system. Also the impossibility of creating a virus capable of crossing platforms is nearly totally impossible – meaning a virus written for a mainframe will not run on a PC, or a Mac virus will not run on a PC and so on. Actually the e-mail virus was the amount of e-mail generated by the scare – the volume choked the e-mail systems!Talking about e-mail and the Internet, there has been many questions asked about "
cache" files and "Cookies".Cache files
– are files that your system downloads and saves. These files contain information about sites that you have visited. If you took the time to search your cache directory you would find some graphics files. By clicking on a graphics file it will open and you would see a picture from an Internet site that you have visited.The supposed theory is that, if you visit the same site in the future it would load faster. If you are a mind of it you can delete these files without any significant harm to your system. The loss of speed on the Internet is also insignificant (I am waiting for a negative comment on this statement). I have left the files and deleted the files and not noticed a measurable difference – I imagine if I sat here with a stop watch and timed the site loading speeds both ways I might see a difference. At this point – doing so will waste more time than I could ever save. I am not worried about splitting hairs or seconds.
Cookies – everybody’s hot topic
. The typical message is – "Received a "cookie" (Internet information stored on your computer) from xxx.xxx" – "Do you want to accept it? If you click NO, the page you are trying to view may not display correctly!" – boy, is this intimidating or what? Prior to the newer versions of Navigator and Explorer – users were not aware that they were receiving "Cookies", but the last few months users have been able to see the "cookie" message and have become concerned and confused about what was going on.Here are some definitions:
cookie
– n. A handle, transaction ID, or other token of agreement between cooperating programs. "I give him a packet, he gives me back a cookie." The claim check you get from a dry-cleaning shop is a perfect mundane example of a cookie; the only thing it's useful for is to relate a later transaction to this one (so you get the same clothes back). A cookie is also called a "magic cookie" on the Mac.cookie file
– n. A collection of fortune Cookies in a format that facilitates retrieval by a fortune program. There are several different cookie files in public distribution, and site admins often assemble their own from various sources including this lexicon.cookie jar
– n. An area of memory set aside for storing Cookies. Most commonly used by storing a distinctive magic number in the jar. Programs can then inquire after the presence or otherwise of other programs by searching the contents of the jar.Cookies, alone, can not be used to track the identity of a user or used to collect more information than is available elsewhere about the user. They can not be used to track you from one site to another, but they can track your movement throughout a specific site.
This allows Web administrators design their webs to be more efficient and useful. It also allows then to determine how many links the average user needed to get to a specific page. This helps in the design of a site that is easy to navigate.
Many Cookies are used by companies to keep track of their ads – Focalink Communications (focalink.com), DoubleClick Inc. (ad.doubleclick.net) and Interse Inc. (interse.com). If a company is running a series of ads, the Cookies are used to make sure you do not see the same ad again and again.
There is also a danger of credit card fraud – if you buy something over the Internet and the data is stored in a cookie file – someone could copy and open the cookie file and have your charge card number. (This would need to be someone with access to your system and hard drive). The other danger posed – is that people/organizations could monitor your interests and covertly gather data without your knowledge. The Cookies file is written to when you exit your browser and if you are really curious you can view the cookie files with any program capable of loading a "text" file – Notepad, Write, Word, WordPerfect…etc. The first string indicates who sent you the cookie file, the rest of the data will probably mean nothing to you.
You do not have to worry about another Web site eating your "Cookies" and getting information and distributing it – Cookies are site specific. Using the fact that the cookie file is not written to until you exit your browser, no information is transferred until your next session. You can safely delete cookie files to your heart's content. If you want to delete your files automatically – enter the following line in your autoexec.bat file: "
DEL C:\NETSCAPE\COOKIES\*.TXT" or "DEL C:\WIN95\COOKIES\*.TXT" (whatever is the appropriate path). If you do not reboot your system on a regular basis you may want to do some manual house cleaning on a regular basis.Recently I received Intuit’s new version of Quicken v6.0 – I ordered the Deluxe CD-ROM version that just shipped. I am aware that Quicken v6.0 in the standard version has been out for about a month longer. After installation I attempted to access my bank by way of the OnLine banking feature. (Next month I will do a complete review on Quicken v6.0).
I have been using this feature with v5.0 for over a year. The connection kept breaking off and it took forever for the alternative number to kick in. I checked the manual and the online help and the instructions for changing the number were implicit – select Features on the main menu, Online, Modem Setup, then click on the Phone Number button in the Setup Modem dialog window and then enter the alternative phone number.
Sounds simple right – WRONG – there is no button for phone numbers in the Setup Modem dialog window. Seems someone forgot to put one in the program. I called Intuit’s 800 number first and was informed that the number was coded into the program and could not be changed. A little irritated I called Technical Support – which is not free – and discussed the problem with a tech support person. I was told, that once in the Setup Modem dialog window to use the key combination ALT+N and the Intuit Network Phone Number dialog window would pop up.
I tried it and it worked – I used the number that I retrieved from the setup file
1-800-462-6765 and it worked just fine on the first try. So if you have Quicken v6.0 and want to use OnLine banking or are using it – make the change, the program will run faster!The truth is someone including a supervisor(s) at Intuit was a little short sighted. The programming necessary to create a hot key function is the same as creating the click button. The least they could have done was correct the help file or create an addendum on this problem! It is obvious that the hot key was added as an after thought – with no documentation to support it!
I also received a program from Parsons Technology with a problem. It had a yellow slip with the CD-ROM stating that I needed to download a new file from their BBS or call tech support (with my dime) to get the file. After securing a newly mastered CD-ROM, it also had the same slip enclosed. I called Parsons tech support and they told me to rename the file TYPLIB.DLL to TYPLIB.old and reinstall the program. SURE – seems that the correct name for the file is TYPELIB.DLL and the warnings were misspelled and the tech support people were not even aware of it. Also the disks had the same date – time stamps on them and they were the correct files. (The warnings should have never been included!)
This is a prime example of the lack of indifference and ignorance companies have for the user that infect the software industry today!
