2. Symantec.txt - Caveat Emptor by Judy Lococo An article about the problems she encountered with her new computer, Windows XP and Norton Antivirus.
3. email.txt - Changing email addresses by Don Singleton. An article on Isp's closing down and changing your email address as well as alternative solutions.
4. Security.txt - The Department of Homeland PC Security by Pat Suarez - An article on Security for your Computer.
5. Upgrade.txt - Windows XP: Why You Oughta Upgrade Byline: By Carl Siechert An article on upgrading to Windows XP.
2.Caveat Emptor... Judy Lococo, APCUG email judyl@apcug.org
I recently replaced an old computer with a brand, new, sparkling, whisper-quiet Pentium 4 speed demon. I asked the vendor to install Windows XP Professional, and I subsequently installed Office XP Professional. There was no other software on this "clean" machine, but because I have a local area network with another machine in the office, and the other machine is connected to an ADSL line, I decided I needed a firewall and an antivirus package on the new machine, too. Symantec has always had my Antivirus (AV) software protection of choice, and although there have been a few problems with their products along the way, it was never enough of an irritation to provoke an article. But Norton Internet Security 2002 most definitely is. It is supposed to include a personal firewall to defend against crackers, antivirus protection, privacy control to keep your personal information private, and a parental control to keep your children safe on the Internet. It looks very similar to previous releases of Norton Internet Security (2000 and 2001), which I've used on other machines running Windows 95/98 and Windows NT Workstation 4.0, but the previous versions are not compatible with Windows XP. So I installed the latest version to protect my new workhorse.
The installation was not fun, and contained several error messages stating that some script or other was not able to run & did I wish to continue. I was finally able to reach the end of the line, and was prompted to restart the computer, and run a Live Update as soon as possible. My computer restarted, and then it restarted, and then it restarted again, and finally restarted again. I was wondering if I would ever be able to keep it on long enough to see the splash screen! But I did finally get to see the XP screen again, and noticed that the antivirus icon on the taskbar had a big red "X" through it. Being such a good little girl, and always doing as I'm told, g I started the Live Update, thinking possibly this was why the icon was inactive. But the software did not even try to update the antivirus definitions, and even after asking for all the latest bells and whistles Symantec had, it still was not enabled. I tried to enable the AV and it refused from any point I tried. After several hours of trying to get this product to work properly, and calling in the mounties (AKA resident Alpha Geek) to try to make it work properly, I gave up in exasperation.
My next strategy was to uninstall the program, as everyone knows by now that you cannot install one AV over another, and just maybe I could re-install the software and overcome the problems with the initial install. But it refused to let me uninstall it, saying I had to disable the antivirus part of it first. But I could not do that anywhere that I could find, as all it would do was inform me that it was already disabled. Finally, the Alpha Geek was able to convince the software through the XP side of things that, indeed, the antivirus had been disabled. However, this was all for naught, as it now said I could not uninstall it unless I logged in through the "Supervisor" account. There _was_ no supervisor account! There were only two accounts on this machine, my account, and a guest account. Panic. Desperation. Anger at a company who had always been a trusted friend, and now was just a shareholder's country club. Finally, disgust at what choices I now had because of one piece of buggy software that was not ready for prime time.
I logged onto Symantec's web page to look for some tech support. After searching through all the FAQ's, and finding nothing that resembled the problems I encountered, I tried to contact them with a personal message. But there didn't seem to be any place to reach them with a personal message, only a "forum" where others could post their requests as well. So I left a public message in the forum, asking for guidance on how to uninstall Norton Internet Security 2002.
I did find a LOT of other messages from people who were having similar problems. Only a handful of them had any replies, and those replies basically said to use a file on their website to uninstall the software. But to do that, one had to hack the registry in order to disable the antivirus, etc., and the solution was quite convoluted. Definitely not for the fainthearted, and definitely not something you wanted to do to a brand-new computer. And the replies to previous messages were the standard party line, even after some of the participants explained that their party line did not work either. FWIW, the solution utility posted on their website was _not supported_ by Symantec, so if you chose to uninstall the software, using the files off their website, you did so at your own risk.
I finally received a response from Aaron at Symantec. I got the same party line spiel that all the others did, which means I will have to spend a lot of time getting my machine back to a point where I can use it. So basically, they have wasted a lot of my time, and $60.00 of my money to tell me that I now have to do it myself. Hmmm. I believe they are the ones who caused it, why aren't they the ones cleaning up their own mess??? Why hasn't there been a recall of this product? Why don't they have a _legitimate_ fix for the problems? Notice problems is plural. People are still being snookered into buying this joke, thinking it is compatible with XP, when plainly it is not. I think it will be easier for me to just reformat and reinstall than to try to clean up this fiasco they have caused. I am perfectly capable of buggering up my own machine, without any help from the outside world. I will now move on to another company who is actually ready to protect my XP computer, and ready to accept responsibility for their mistakes. I have to wonder, though, if the term "class action" would hold any incentive for them to get their ACT! together. Pun not supported by author...
Judy is the Past President of APCUG and has been helping User Group members and officers for many years. Please send her a note if you use her article. There is no restriction against any non-profit group using the article as long as it is kept in context, with proper credit given to the author. This article is brought to you by the Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an International organization to which this user group belongs. ----------------
3. My Email Address Is Changing
by Don Singleton Tulsa Computer Society
From the January 2002 issue of the I/O Port Newsletter Many people in Tulsa have Cable Modems from Cox, and currently they have an email address which ends "@home.com", for example my true email address is "donsingleton@home.com". But that will not last for much longer (http://investor.cnet.com/investor/news/newsitem/0-9900-1028-8055607-0.h tml?tag=ltnc). One alternative is to go to http://mail.yahoo.com/ and signup for a Yahoo email address. They actually support three forms: Free Edition, Custom Edition, and Business Edition.
The free edition should be enough for most people. You will have an email address like donsingleton@yahoo.com. If you actually have your own domain name, the second form might make sense, but if so I would not recommend that you pay Yahoo $35 a year to register your domain name, but rather I would recommend you go to some registrar like http://inexpensivedomains.com (the one I use) and register a domain name for $15 a year. I am not absolutely certain, because I cannot be sure without actually doing it, but if one already has their domain name registered (through InexpensiveDomains), then it appears Yahoo just charges $10/year for Personal Email services (5 email addresses), and as long as you authorize Yahoo to send you a few spam messages you can have them automatically forward email messages to your ISP provided email address or you can have them provide you with POP3/SMPT access so that you can have your email program automatically get and send email through Yahoo Mail (http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/pop/index.html).
This is not your only alternative. If you use InexpensiveDomains to register your domain name, then for $14.95 per year they will provide Domain name and e-mail forwarding (http://inexpensivedomains.com/webhost/forwarding.htm). This means that you can attach your domain name to any website, even some of the free ones which don't support personal domain names, AND you can have your email forwarded to any email address you want.
Either of these could be the way I have don@donsingleton.com as my email address. Actually I use a third alternative. Virtual Ave / Hypermart (http://www.hypermart.net/t/registration/packageinfo) offer a series of webhosting packages, including one for free, as long as you are willing to have a banner ad on your web page. I don't know how much longer they will offer this, because this page (http://www.hypermart.net/t/registration/packages) does not show the free hosting alternative, except as a link at the bottom. But if you can signup for a free website, you can point your domain name to it, and make use of their free email forwarding to send email to your ISP provided email address.
Actually there is no restriction against any non-profit group using the one other alternative I can recommend. Webstrike Solutions (http://webstrikesolutions.com/) provides webhosting which just costs $30 for the first year (they say it is free for the first year, but there is no restriction against any non-profit group using the a $30 setup cost), and then $84 a year thereafter, and you can attach your own domain name to your account, and they have a free email forwarding service which can forward email from the domain name to your ISP provided email account. I use Webstrike for my Bush Supporter (http://bushsupporter.org) website, and Paula Sanders has three websites hosted by Webstrike.
Regardless of which of these alternatives you use, you will have an account which people can send email to, and it will be forwarded to the account your ISP provides, and then if your ISP changes your email address, or if you change ISPs, then all you have to do is go online and access your Yahoo / InexpensiveDomains / VirtualAve/Hypermart / Webstrike Solutions account and change the address it forwards your email to. The people you email will never know your real email account changed.
Please let Don know if you use his article webmaster@apcug.org will get to him There is no restriction against any non-profit group using the no restriction against any non-profit group using the article as long as it is kept in context, with proper credit given to the author. This article is brought to you by the Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an International organization to which this user group belongs. ------------------------------------
4. Patrick J. Suarez, a member of the Dayton Microcomputer Assn. Inc. is a nationally recognized Internet writer, trainer, speaker and consultant. He has appeared on numerous radio and TV programs across the United States. He is the Internet speaker at DMA®'s semi-annual Computerfest® trade show in Dayton, OH each spring & fall. Mr. Suarez published a tutorial software program called "The Beginner's Guide to the Internet" in 1993, and a book by the same title followed in 1995. In addition, Mr. Suarez has been published by Que. Mr. Suarez operates a Web site supporting people who have just learned that they have a tumor. He has just completed a project with Qwest Communications in Dublin, Ohio, as a Senior Technical Communicator.
The Department of Homeland PC Security
The Latest Maintenance And Protection Tools Safeguard Your Data
Former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge now heads a new federal department with the off-kilter title of the Department of Homeland Security, sort of evoking Aaron Copland's music and amber waves of grain. We all know why such a move became necessary.
Just as we now have to keep an eye on things around us in these United States, you must do likewise with your Windows-based PC. Think of computer security as a microcosm of the larger society in which your computer exists, with two fronts of defense against losing your precious data and your software's carefully cobbled-together configuration, what with patches and upgrades and all.
The first front of defense ironically involves protecting your data from the computer in which it resides. Let's begin with the fearsome registry, that chamber of horrors that holds information about your hardware and software and, if allowed to corrupt with a slowly mounting volume of incorrect or outdated entries, will bring about the demise of your entire system. Finally, someone has invented a program that corrects erroneous entries and removes unneeded data. It does so thoroughly and carefully. It scans every line of the registry and builds a list of wrong entries. It then sweeps this list to find new references in your system for the list's entries. In two mouse clicks, the whole registry is scrubbed clean. This wonder of wonders is Registry Healer 3.0 from www.zoneutils.com. It costs $19.95, the best double sawbuck you ever spent.
Next, remove fragmentation, the tendency for data to break up into multiple pieces that scatter around your hard drive, with Diskeeper Pro 7.0 from Executive Software (www.diskeeper.com). The program runs $45 as a download. Diskeeper is the most honest defragger around; sometimes, even multiple passes won't completely defrag a drive. Diskeeper shows you the before and after, and sometimes the after requires another pass or two. And then you might never get to 100% defragmentation. My son's computer has a 60-gigabyte hard drive, and it fragmented so terribly that Norton Utilities couldn't read it. Diskeeper made some progress, but that drive is beyond even Diskeeper's ability to put digital Humpty Dumpty back together again.
Moral of the story: Defrag at least every other day.
And then there are those stray DLL files that hang around long after you have removed an application from your system. DLL files sit in C:\Windows\System and act as code libraries for Windows programs. Think of them as executive assistants to .EXE files, (e.g., word.exe). Word.exe needs an army of DLL files to help it do things like creating Word's screen images with which you are so familiar. It also needs them to help it perform actions (e.g., saving files, etc.). The popular "disk cleanup" programs you see on store shelves no longer seek and destroy old DLLs. But AnalogX's DLLArchive does. Actually, DLLArchive stores DLLs it removes from C:\Windows\System in another directory. Once you are absolutely certain that the DLLs that DLLArchive has banished are no longer needed, you can empty that folder (C:\Windows\DLLArchive). Final note: I do recommend Norton's Clean Sweep. It does safely rid your hard drive of unneeded files that build up during Web browsing. Get Clean Sweep at any store that sells software.
Add a final touch with DiskPie, an application from www.pcmag.com that tells you which programs are hogging your drive.
Voila! You've gained back hard drive room and rid your system of stuff it doesn't need and could get you into trouble. And, I'm going to make a statement that I swear is true: Since I have been using the products described above, I have had no problems, none, with Windows Me. It has been as solid as a rock. No kidding. What better endorsement can I give these programs than that?
Let's move on to the other PC defense front, protecting your data from outside influences. First, stop using Microsoft Outlook. Because there are none so deaf as those who will not hear, I'm going to be pushy and obnoxious in the rest of this paragraph. It's the only way I can get through to those who need to read this. Ready? I know that there are obstinate corporate wanks out there who overglorify this deadly program, and they do so with a certain level of stuffy arrogance. Fine. You people are exactly the problem: every virus writer in the world writes to Outlook's well-known (and permanent) design flaws. But the Microsoft mindset is a wondrous thing to behold, so you folks will continue to gather and spread viruses at unprecedented rates. Here's a news flash: there are alternate programs out there that work just as well and that do not help the spread of malicious e-mail code. OK, that's off my chest, and it ought to generate a certain level of e-mail traffic to the editor and publisher of this newsletter. At least I hope so.
You need firewall software, a Trojan horse sniffer, and an effective antivirus program. This is such well-trodden territory that I won't reiterate the obvious. I will tell you that my favorite trio of protection in this arena is ZoneAlarm Pro (finally, thank heavens, available on retail software shelves everywhere); Trojan Remover from www.simplysup.com ($24.95); and Norton Antivirus 2002, newly redesigned with the smartest antivirus engine that automatically grabs updates from its home Web site. I' ve tried them all and Norton gets my vote. ZoneAlarm Pro, by the way, makes my Windows based computers totally invisible to everything on the Internet.
Essentially, my PCs can see the world, but the world has no idea that my PCs even exist.
Go one more mile, then, and visit www.scumware.com. Download and run AdAware, Surf + and Gator. These programs remove spyware from your system. Spyware is insidious code planted by advertisers in your registry and Windows folder. This, friends, is going to be a big deal in Congress as users face off against marketing muscle. These guys want to climb into your wallet, psyche and soul, and they'll stop at nothing in terms of Web bugs and bots to get there. Be on your guard. Tell them to take a hike.
I find it sad that we must invest so much time and energy into protecting us from each other. What a glorious tool the computer continues to be. But with good comes evil, and you have to gird your digital loins against the world that exists past your firewall. I leave you with a few thoughts. First, sometimes these programs can give you wrong information, but it's easy to tell when they do. I tried to install the new Real One, the latest edition of Real Audio, into my Windows Me computer. After installation, Real One would not open. So, I tried to use Add/Delete Programs and the uninstaller failed. I manually extricated the program from my hard drive and registry. When I ran DLL Archive, it found 1,700 DLL files suddenly orphaned. Registry Healer found 1,548 registry errors. Clearly, this was nonsense and you learn what to trust and what not to trust with these programs. The installation and forced removal of Real One tipped my Windows Me over the edge and into the Chasm of Registry Oblivion. I reformatted the drive and installed, gasp!, Windows XP. Since I had not installed a new operating system on that drive in years (Windows 95 became Windows 98 which became Windows Me), it was time to rebuild everything from scratch. Real One was the program that finally did my system in.
Second, all of the programs I described in this article are for protection in the Windows environment. On my Linux computer, I need none of this.
And I rarely have a problem. Now, as they say, "pila in area tua est". [If Caesar were alive today, he'd translate that to "the ball is in your court". Go forth and conquer your system.]
If you uses this article please sent pat an email at: pjsuarez@gemair.com There is no restriction against any non-profit group using the no restriction against any non-profit group using the article as long as it is kept in context, with proper credit given to the author. This article is brought to you by the Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an International organization to which this user group belongs. ------------------------------------------
5. Editors: If you post your newsletter to the Web, please forward the URL to carls@swdocs.com and steve_bass@pcworld.com. If you print a hard copy, if it's possible, send a copy to Carl Siechert 221 E. Walnut St., Suite 110 Pasadena, CA 91101 1800 words
Title: Windows XP: Why You Oughta Upgrade Byline: By Carl Siechert, Co-Author, Microsoft Windows XP Inside Out Subhead: At a recent meeting of the Pasadena IBM Users Group, Ed Bott and Carl Siechert, co-authors of Microsoft Windows XP Inside Out, explained why Windows XP is such an important upgrade for most users. Carl did a follow up which included the key parts of the presentation, and graciously allowed the user group community to reprint it in their newsletters.
Why upgrade?
At the meeting, several people commented that we didn't show the killer feature or the clear benefits of upgrading, especially from Windows 2000.
That's because, IMO, there isn't a distinct knock-your-socks-off feature/benefit. Instead, there are a number of minor enhancements that, collectively, make Windows XP a compelling upgrade for me. We tried to dash through them but perhaps didn't adequately demonstrate the benefit. Here's a brief summary of my favorites:
* Stability. Windows XP has the ability to run a large number of apps without running out of resources, without crashing. (If you're running Windows 2000, you already have this, so there's no gain.)
* Security. This is a huge topic that I can't adequately cover in a few sentences; suffice to say that security of your data and your privacy in Windows XP is leaps and bounds beyond anything available in Windows 9x. (Again, if you have Windows 2000, you already have most of the security capabilities of Windows XP.)
* UI enhancements. A variety of changes in Start menu, taskbar, Windows Explorer, and Control Panel make everyday tasks such as launching programs, switching between windows, and managing files just a little bit faster, easier, and more convenient. These features can each be customized, so you can use the ones you like and change others back to Windows 9x/2000 style. (Similarly, you can banish the new look of Windows XP while still enjoying its other benefits.)
* Fast User Switching. Great for shared computers, FUS lets someone else log on without requiring you to first close all your documents and applications.
* Power management. Standby and hibernation let me save power (on desktop PCs as well as portables) yet still have fast boot time, bringing me right back to where I left off. (That is, all the windows that I left open when the system powers down are already open when I power up.)
* Digital photo support. I was never a fan of digital photography until I got XP because it was such a hassle before. But the support for cameras and scanners, as well as the features built in to Windows Explorer for viewing, printing, e-mailing, and manipulating images have actually made it fun and practical to work with photos in new ways.
* Remote Assistance. The ability to actually see and work with someone else's screen while conversing with them through text, voice, and video chat is a killer feature for anyone who's looked upon as a computer guru and gets calls for support from relatives, friends, and neighbors. (I suspect that includes most PIBMUG members!)
* Remote Desktop. The ability to connect with my home computer from the office (or vice versa) is awesome. It looks and acts exactly as if I'm at that computer five miles away, and I have access to all its files, printers, and other resources. And like remote assistance, it's acceptably fast if you have broadband Internet access. I also use it to work with other computers on my own LAN; that's sometimes easier than hopping back and forth between two computers.
* Better help. It's easier to navigate, integrates information from the Microsoft Knowledge Base, and includes links to a number of diagnostic tools. (Of course, it doesn't have all the answers. You still need our book!) There are dozens of other enhancements--built-in CD burning, built-in ZIP file support, Windows Media Player, Movie Maker, etc. etc.--but those listed above are the ones that I personally find useful. What's Wrong with XP? Not Much What's wrong with Windows XP; we promised to talk about "what bites" but some felt we didn't deliver. That's because there really isn't much I don't like; here's my full list:
* Windows product activation (WPA). I dislike it on principle, but in practice it's not a problem for me or for most users. It's anonymous, and it's a one-time operation that involves clicking Next a few times to get through a wizard--and then you never think about it again. Windows does NOT phone home on its own at any time to confirm your activation status, as has been reported. But as Ed mentioned, it's a classic Microsoft version 1.0 product. If you want to avoid activation altogether, get XP preinstalled on your next computer from a major OEM vendor like Dell. Those versions of XP do not have product activation, so it'll never kick in when you change a number of components in your system--one of the major flaws in the current implementation. You should be aware, however, that Windows XP versions from major manufacturers are linked to the system BIOS--which means, for example, that you can't take the Windows XP CD that comes with your Dell and install it on a Gateway or a white box system.
* Price. Now that MS is enforcing the one copy/one machine limitation (it's always been part of the license agreement, but they've never had a way to prevent people from copying to all machines until WPA), I think the price--at least for copies after the first one--should be significantly lower, say $50-75 for Home, twice that for Pro. OTOH, it is a pretty good value, even at $100/$200.
* Messenger and Passport in your face. I use them constantly, so it doesn't bother me that they always start. But I'd be frustrated if I didn't want to use them and discovered how difficult it is to vanquish them.
* UI is too chummy in some respects. Wizards have replaced some dialog boxes, advanced options are now further buried, etc. As a power user who knows his way around, these slow me down. Fortunately, there aren't many of these impediments in the areas that I use frequently.
* Support for "legacy" hardware. Some people mentioned HP products in particular, but there are a number of unsupported products that are not that old. Microsoft has always left device driver development to hardware manufacturers, and it supplies plenty of support to manufacturers. It's clearly in Microsoft's best interest to have all hardware supported. Manufacturers, however, don't have any incentive (other than the wrath heaped on them by disgruntled customers) to provide drivers for discontinued products; they'd prefer that you buy their latest and greatest. Regardless of whose fault it is, it's a real problem that affects all of us consumers.
* Networking. It's a little difficult to set up a mixed network--one with Windows XP and Windows 9x workstations. (But it's not impossible, and the steps to successful networking are fully documented in our book!) Windows XP Home Edition uses only the Simple File Sharing model, which is indeed simple, but also somewhat inflexible. You can set up a folder to be private (so that only your user account can access it, either when logged on locally or over the network) or you can share it with everyone. But you can't, for example, easily set up a shared folder that you and your spouse can access but your kids cannot. (As we mentioned, there is no restriction against any non-profit group using the a workaround--detailed in the book--that lets you set up more complex security arrangements using Safe Mode.) Which Version is Best for You? Home Edition or Professional? The essential differences are these: * You can't use Remote Desktop to connect to a computer running Home Edition. (Btw, the computer you connect from can be running any version of Windows 9x/NT/2000/XP.) You can, however, use Remote Assistance to connect to a Home Edition computer.
* You can't use Home Edition on a multiprocessor system.
* With Home Edition, your computer can't join a Windows NT/2000 domain. (You can, however, use all domain resources if you have a domain user account.)
* With Home Edition, you're essentially stuck with Simple File Sharing. You can share/protect only at the folder level, and you can only make a folder private or share it with everyone. The Windows 2000 security model that's available in Professional offers granular security control that lets you assign specific types of access to specific users for specific files. (Most home user won't need this level of control.)
* If you install Professional now, you won't be able to upgrade to the Home Edition of the next version of Windows, so you'll pay an extra $100 now and again the next time you upgrade Windows. Pro includes everything that's in Home. If you're unsure about which to get (that is, the points above don't seem to apply to you), try Home Edition. Worst case: you later decide to upgrade to Pro. The Home Edition-to-Professional upgrade is $125, so you're only out an additional $25 compared to purchasing Pro initially. You can find Microsoft's advice on this choice at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/choosing.asp What's the Bottom line?
* If you're buying a new computer, get XP. (Before you do that, however, run the Windows XP Upgrade Advisor on your current system. Be sure that any software or peripherals you plan to use with your new system will work with XP, or can be inexpensively upgraded.) Don't fret too much about the learning curve for a new OS and its new features; nearly everything you know about your current system can be applied to Windows XP, and you can learn about the new features as you need them.
* If you're using Windows 9x AND if your computer has the horsepower (practical minimum: 300 MHz processor, 128 MB RAM, 1.5 GB free disk space) and is compatible (run the Windows XP Upgrade Advisor), strongly consider upgrading to XP.
* If you're using Windows 2000 and you're happy with it, hold off on upgrading until you get your next computer. If one of the nifty features like Remote Desktop, Remote Assistance, or digital photo support would make your life easier, pop for XP now.
I've decided that XP Professional is right for my newest systems (the rest run Windows 2000), but I don't mean to suggest that it's right for everyone. Besides, Ed and I have written books about earlier versions of Windows too. We'd be just as happy if you bought one of those books. :-)
Get Some Help Here are a few URLs that'll help you with the upgrade: Microsoft Product Lifecycle: This site tells you when support dries up for each version of Windows. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycle.asp
Windows XP Upgrade Advisor: The program available at this site checks your computer for hardware and software that may be incompatible with Windows XP. When available, it includes links to upgrade information for the incompatible components. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/advisor.asp
Copyright © 2001 by Carl Siechert. Reproduced with permission. Article reproduction coordinated by Steve Bass, Pasadena IBM Users Group. Reaching Ed Bott and Carl Siechert is easy. Ed's site is http://www.bott.com and Carl's company site is http://www.swdocs.com Discussions, links, tips, and other good things are at http://communities.msn.com/WindowsXPInsideOut and, as you'd expect, at each site you'll find links for ordering the book online. There is no restriction against any non-profit group using the no restriction against any non-profit group using the article as long as it is kept in context, with proper credit given to the author. This article is brought to you by the Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an International organization to which this user group belongs. ------------------------------