Hewie's Views and Reviews
By Hewie Poplock

Welcome to this issue of Hewie's Views & Reviews. Be sure to visit Hewie's Favorites at http://www.hewie.net/ . Hewie's Quick Thoughts appear almost daily at http://www.hewie.net/weblog/ .

In this issue:
++++ A Time to Upgrade
++++ A Better Outlook
++++ Annual Word Banishment List
++++ New additions to Hewie's Favorites

February, 2004

++++ A Time to Upgrade
You may notice that this month's new additions list is smaller than usual. I lost 10 days of data when my hard drive crashed. I was in the middle of backing of files when my hard drive totally died. I had duplicated my hard drive about 10 days earlier on a removable hard drive using CasperXP http://www.fssdev.com/products/casperxp/ . I use removable racks for two hard drives. I duplicate my main drive to another with a program called CasperXP. It completely duplicates the drive. When my main drive crashed, I changed the jumper on the 2nd drive from slave to master setting. I removed the bad drive and replaced it with the "Casper'ed" drive. When I turned on the system, it booted and there was my entire drive. One program asked that re-enter the registration code, but everything else was up and running.

I decided to buy a new drive and install everything from scratch. I made sure that I made a list of all of the programs and registrations that I needed from the backed up drive, removed it, and installed a new drive. I updated all of my programs with the latest versions, including Microsoft Office 2003. It took a couple of weeks to get "whole" again, but it was worth it. I still have the "Casper'ed" drive to get data that I may have missed. However, the system works much faster with fewer problems, since I cleaned out lots of junk. Junk refers to programs that were uninstalled, but left pieces and parts and programs that I installed and didn't use.

Some experts recommend that you do a fresh install every year or two. It's a lot easier when you plan on it rather that waiting until your main drive crashes.

++++ A Better Outlook
Although I am not using many new features of Microsoft Word or Excel, upgrading of Outlook 2003 has been worth the install. I am impressed with its spam filtering. I have always advised users not to use the preview pane in Outlook or Outlook Express as it opens each message and leaves you vulnerable to malicious code. With Outlook 2003, I have the preview pane open and even if the message contains HTML code, it views as text. If I choose, I can have a message view as HTML. However, the graphics still do not load until, and if, I choose to display the pictures.   

++++ Annual Word Banishment List
Its time again for the Lake Superior State University Word Banishment selection of its annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness. We find that phrases like "Bling-Bling," "Shock & Awe," and "LOL" are among those chosen from the over 5,000 entries. Take a look at the full list of winners (losers?) at http://www.lssu.edu/banished/

++++ New additions to Hewie's Favorites
E-Commerce Advisor
http://advisor.com/adv/e-CommerceAdvisor
E-commerce strategies, how-to advice, answers, tips, products, services, expert advice

Alcohol-Free Drinks
http://www.csaa.com/global/articledetail/0,8055,1004040000%257c1241,00.html
California State Automobile Association has collected these drink recipes from leading lodging establishments and restaurants. Try these festive, alcohol-free recipes the next time you entertain

Windows XP Tips
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/tips/default.asp
Microsoft site of tips for using Windows XP, including many submitted by users

Convert Any Form Into Fillable
http://www.fillindocs.com/
New method to fill-in in forms (a long list of advantages over the traditional method)

Web Winder Website Calculators
http://www.webwinder.com/js_home.php3
Ready-made calculators for installation on a commercial website

Information Fluency
http://wizard.imsa.edu/teach/micro/
Self-Guided MicroModules of short, self-directed lessons that cover a wide range of Internet topics

Default Password List
http://www.phenoelit.de/dpl/
Collection of accounts and passwords that are, by default, the initial passwords for specific accounts on a given computer system

PSPImaginarium
http://www.pspimaginarium.com/
Beginner and Intermediate series of Paint Shop Pro 6, Paint Shop Pro 7 & Paint Shop Pro 8 tutorials and lesson plans

Topix.net
http://www.topix.net/
News organized by topic and location & aggregates |~news on over 150,000 topics

Metrobot
http://www.metrobot.com/
Map based search engine which displays business listings and links against a linear road network. Limited cities, but more being added

Visualware MyCoolTools
http://www.mycooltools.com/
Web portal with several free services to help Internet users trace IP address, check their Internet connection speed and identify system configurations

Please share these newsletters with your friends. To subscribe, send a blank messages to hewie_favorites-subscribe@yahoogroups.com (mailto: hewie_favorites-subscribe@yahoogroups.com ) or sign up at the website at http://www.hewie.net .

This column may be printed in your Computer User Group Newsletter with Hewie's approval. E-mail requests to info@hewie.net. Hewie's Favorites is a service of DemoCatz.com < http://www.democatz.com >