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/ .

++++ Upgrading is not always easy
++++ New additions to Hewie's Favorites

++++ Upgrading is not always easy

I am mad at the software vendors. I wanted to upgrade 3 separate programs in the past week and have had serious problems doing so. Have you noticed when you upgrade versions of software that the manuals never explain what to do or will occur?

I purchased the new version of Paint Shop Pro. I have been using version 9 by Jasc Software, which was the last version that I bought. I found a good deal on version 11, which is now owned by Corel. I installed it, expecting it to see the old version and either ask or just remove the older version.

No, it just installed the new version in a different place. Now I have the 2 versions and will manually have to uninstall the older version, hoping that it doesn't interfere with the newer installed version.

When I went to install version 7 of Acrobat to replace version 5, the program did tell me that I must first uninstall the older version. I did that. Then I installed version 7. Once it installed, it immediately went to the Adobe website and said that there were 3 updates that needed to be installed. After it completed the first upgrade, I got an error message that told me something didn't install properly, but it continued on its merry way to the next upgrade, with the same error message, and the final update, with the same result. I opened the program and it seemed to work, but that error message bugged me.

I went to Google and typed in the error message, and it seems that I am not the only one that has the problem. According to what I read this is a problem and may not be fixed until the next version, which is out, but I don't want to spend more money to upgrade again.

On one site, there was a suggestion to fix the error and I tried it. I don't get the error message and the program seems to function as it should, so I am guessing that it's fixed, but I don't really know.

I stopped installing software, so version 4 of a program that I use, will not replace version 2 that works fine. I will get to it when I am in a better mood. By the way, I did back up my complete system just prior to upgrading both pieces of software. That is never a bad idea.

++++ New additions to Hewie's Favorites

Looks Too Good To Be True
http://www.lookstoogoodtobetrue.com/
Internet resource for information,reporting and education for consumers who may be the victim of online or mail fraud

Fotki Photo Sharing and Printing
http://www.fotki.com/us/
supported formats - jpg, gif, png, jpeg, bmp,tif, psd, pcx & no limit to how many images you can host

Musicovery
http://www.musicovery.com/
Discover new music based on your mood, this free interactive webradio let you browse music styles and epochs

Full Circle Magazine
http://fullcirclemagazine.org/
E-magazine run by the Ubuntu community that covers the world of Ubuntu, open source, and technology

Google Analytics
http://www.google.com/analytics/index.html
Learn about where your visitors come from and how they interact with your site. Formally Urchin Web site analysis software

Wizcrafts Computer Services
http://www.wizcrafts.net/
Site contains some great info regarding MailWasher Pro - Firewalls - Networking. Worth a look

Digital Nation Radio Show
http://www.digitalnationradio.com/
As heard on WFLS 540AM in Orlando

Think Before You Send
http://www.thinkbeforeyousend.com/index.php
Think before you click. Send is nothing short of a survival guide for the digital age wise, brimming with good humor and filled with helpful lessons from the authors' own email experiences (and mistakes)

Museum of Hoaxes
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/
dubious-sounding claims and mischief of all kinds

Rentometer
http://www.rentometer.com/
Enter an address and get rental comparisons back

XP Codec Pack
http://www.xpcodecpack.com/
XP Codec Pack is one of the most complete codec pack which helps you to play all major audio and video formats