Welcome to the October 16, 2001 issue of Hewie's Favorites News & Reviews.
Be sure to visit Hewie's Favorites at http://www.hewie.net/. Please send
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The articles in this issue:
++ Low or Out of Memory Resources
++ email hoaxes abound
++ Handspring Treo
++ StarOffice 6 is a *Free* Alternative To MS Office
++ More on Outlook & Outlook Express Preview
++ Correction

++ Low or Out of Memory Resources

There is a lot of discussion about "Out of Memory" errors or simply, system lock-ups. With all of the programs and utilities that we load or come preloaded on our systems, it is no wonder we run out of resources. There are limitations on resources and adding more memory or more disk space cannot extend these. This is a Windows 9.x problem. Windows 9.x includes Windows95, Windows98, and WindowsME. It is my understanding that WindowsXP will not have this problem. Allaire, now owned by Macromedia, explains how it affects their products, but also lists an exceptionally good site that explains system resources at http://www.windows-help.net/techfiles/win-resources.html.

The Allaire article includes this Explanation of System Resources at http://www.allaire.com/Handlers/index.cfm?ID=21011&Method=Full

"All Windows 9.x operating systems use the same system resource architecture. System resources are areas of memory used by the operating system for the User component (manages input from the keyboard, mouse, and other input devices) and the GDI component (the graphical system that manages what appears on the screen). These two components represent the pool from which applications can allocate resources. Windows 9.x only allocates 128KB to system resources, which is shared by all running applications, while in the Windows NT/2000 architecture, however, each running application is limited only by the amount of RAM available on the system. On Windows 9.x, when applications are exited normally, these resources are freed and available for use by other applications. But when an application exits abnormally (i.e., it "crashes), these resources are not released until the system is rebooted. The article, "Windows 9.x System Resources" <http://www.windows-help.net/techfiles/win-resources.html>provides more details and background on system resources in the Windows 9.x environment. It is important to note that these resources are not related to physical memory in the system. These resources are operating system limits inherent in the Windows 9.x design. Note: Adding more memory to a Windows 9.x system will not affect these constraints."

++ email hoaxes abound

I have seen more emails from friends that are forwarded messages that were forwarded several times. Some of the messages are truly unbelievable, but because it arrives as an email, some people think that is must be true. There is a good article at http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,64044,tk,dn100101X,00.asp , which talks about the "last photo from the top", WingDings, and the Nostradamus prediction of the September 11th tragedy in 1654. Of course, he died in 1566. The article by Steve Bass should be sent to anyone who forwards one of these hoaxes to you. Also be wary of any solicitations for donations via email. There are a lot of scams circulating. Check carefully.

Be amused (but not fooled) by e-mail hoaxes and rumors in aftermath of attack. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,64044,tk,dn100101X,00.asp. The article talks about the Snopes website http://www.snopes2.com/index.html , which of course listed on Hewie's Favorites under the Virus Info - Hoaxes category http://www.hewie.net/32.html.

Under the Snopes heading of "Rumors of War," is a page with an indexed collection of links to pages discussing the various rumors to come out of the September 11 terrorist attack on the United States of America. Each entry is followed by a date indicating the last time the corresponding page was updated. They also indicate if the rumor is true, false, undetermined or ambiguous veracity, or of indeterminate origin. There is a link from each listed item to an article.

The true rumors include 1) Television evangelists Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson said that liberal civil liberties groups, feminists, homosexuals, pagans, and abortion rights supporters bear partial responsibility for the terrorist attacks on the USA because their actions have turned God's anger against America. (17 September) and 2) President Bush declared, "I'm not gonna fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt." (20 September)

False rumors include 1) Osama bin Laden owns extensive gum arabic holdings. (19 September) and 2) Girl receives letter from her disappeared Afghan boyfriend saying terrorists are going to strike at U.S. malls on Halloween. (10 October) and 3) Thirty Ryder, Verizon, and U-Haul trucks have been stolen recently, presumably by terrorists who will use them in the ongoing attack on America. (11 October)

++ Handspring Treo

Have you seen or heard of the Handspring Treo 180 that's coming early 2002? It's a phone, organizer, messaging & web enabled, with a built-in keyboard or Graffiti , a rechargeable battery, and 16 MB memory for $399 with service activation. There will be a color model later in the year for $200 more. See http://www.handspring.com/products/communicators/index.jhtml

++ StarOffice 6 is a *Free* Alternative To MS Office

The current version of Sun's StarOffice is *free* and available at http://www.sun.com/products/staroffice/. Version 6 of StarOffice is in Beta testing and available for download at http://www.sun.com/staroffice/6.0beta/news/451.html. Remember that Beta software is test software. Do not load beta software on your main computer or rely on beta software to do important work. Beta software is test software. Notice, I said that twice! I have loaded beta 6 on my test machine and have been able to open all of my MS Office 2000 files, so far. I did have a few problems with a PowerPoint presentation, but changing a few settings, I was able to get it to run without a problem. The download is 95MB, but there is a low bandwidth option, which breaks it down into smaller chunks.

Take a look at http://eletters1.ziffdavis.com/cgi-bin10/flo?y=eLVH0BgM1r0DSm0OLV0AV for an article from eWeek. There is another *free* Office Suite available. I have not tried 602Text PC Suite2001, but you can find it at http://www.software602.com/products/pcs/tour.html

++ More on Outlook & Outlook Express Preview

In the October 11, 2001 issue of this newsletter, I mentioned that I have shut of the Preview Pane to protect me from the Nimda worm. I use Outlook and by clicking on the View dropdown menu, I clicked on the "Preview Pane" choice. This is a switch which changes it from on to off or vice-versa. If you use Outlook Express, here is what was in the Lockergnome Windows Digest http://www.lockergnome.com/issues/daily/20010924.html

"<> Regarding Nimda (Advice) Scribbled by Mike Turco

Regarding Nimda (and virus e-mails in general): I have a tip. I'm still running IE 5.x and Win98 with Outlook Express, so I don't know if everyone can do this. OE defaults to three panes. Top- right is your list of messages and bottom-right is the message itself. The problem is that if you want to delete an e-mail, you have to select it. When you select it, the message opens automatically in the bottom-right pane. If you go to View / Layout, you can turn off the preview pane. Now, you don't have to open a message in order to delete it. The advantages are a reduced likelihood of mail-borne viruses; you can delete spam without opening it and potentially setting cookies from a spammer's site. The disadvantage is if you want to view a new message, you have to double-click to open it up in a new window.

If there is something you see that you're not sure about, you can right-click the suspect e-mail, go to Properties, Details tab, and click the View Source button."

Lockergnome sends out a daily and a weekly newsletter, which is well worth taking the time to read.

++ Correction

I don't usually post corrections to websites that are listed on Hewie's Favorites, but I usually don't have a bad URL the day that I send out this newsletter. The address to American Council of the Blind Radio - ACB Radio Treasure-Trove of classic radio drama and comedy has been changed to http://www.acbradio.org/treasure-trove.html. It has been changed on Hewie's Favorites, but many of you like to look at the new listings directly from this newsletter.