Published by The Rockland County PC Users Group MARCH 2001 CREATIVE LABS PRESENTATION Plus a Free “Beginners” Workshop at the Palisades Center Mall, West Nyack, NY P lease join us for the next GENERAL MEETING of the Rockland PC Users Group on Tuesday, March 13th, 2001, at 7:15 PM, in the RASO Community Room, fourth floor, Palisades Center Mall, West Nyack, New York. Creative Labs is a global leader in PC entertainment products. It was founded in Singapore on July 1, 1981, with the vision that multimedia would revolutionize the way people interact with their PCs. Best noted for its award-winning Sound Blaster line of audio cards, the Sound Blaster Live!™, the first audio card that delivers EAX™, is the most powerful Sound Blaster ever produced by Creative. Over time, Creative has built upon the popularity and demand of its PC audio success to include graphics, DVD, computer telephony integration (CTI), communications, and videoconferencing. In doing so, Cre- ative has partnered some of the industry’s top technology companies and developers worldwide. Today, Creative expands the power of the personal computer with Personal Digital Entertainment Internet (PDE) solutions, comprising desktop products, Internet appliances and Internet applications and services. FREE Computer “Beginners” Workshop at 6:00 PM. The workshop will be held in the Raso Room of the Palisades Mall, prior to our monthly General Meeting. If you are new to computers or you would like to learn more about them, come out and “Join the Fun.” We will be demonstrating how to operate in the Windows environment, from word processing to playing solitaire. Let us help you take away your fear of the unknown. We look forward to seeing you there. This month’s Multimedia SIG (Special Interest Group) will be held on March 13th, at 6:00 PM, in the Raso Room, prior to the RPCUG sched- uled monthly meeting. MEETINGS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, with newcomers especially welcome. For directions and up-to-date meeting information, visit RPCUG’s Website at (http://www.rpcug.org) KEN
Transcript
Published byThe Rockland County
PC Users GroupMARCH 2001
CREATIVE LABS PRESENTATIONPlus a Free “Beginners” Workshop at the Palisades Center Mall, West Nyack, NY
Please join us for the next GENERAL MEETING of the Rockland PC Users Group on Tuesday, March13th, 2001, at 7:15 PM, in the RASO Community Room, fourth floor, Palisades Center Mall, West
Nyack, New York.
Creative Labs is a global leader in PC entertainment products. It was founded in Singapore on July 1,1981, with the vision that multimedia would revolutionize the way people interact with their PCs. Bestnoted for its award-winning Sound Blaster line of audio cards, the Sound Blaster Live!™, the first audiocard that delivers EAX™, is the most powerful Sound Blaster ever produced by Creative.
Over time, Creative has built upon the popularity and demand of its PC audio success to include graphics,DVD, computer telephony integration (CTI), communications, and videoconferencing. In doing so, Cre-ative has partnered some of the industry’s top technology companies and developers worldwide. Today,Creative expands the power of the personal computer with Personal Digital Entertainment Internet (PDE)solutions, comprising desktop products, Internet appliances and Internet applications and services.
FREE Computer “Beginners” Workshop at 6:00 PM. The workshop will be held in the Raso Room of thePalisades Mall, prior to our monthly General Meeting. If you are new to computers or you would like tolearn more about them, come out and “Join the Fun.” We will be demonstrating how to operate in theWindows environment, from word processing to playing solitaire. Let us help you take away your fear ofthe unknown. We look forward to seeing you there.
This month’s Multimedia SIG (Special Interest Group) will be held onMarch 13th, at 6:00 PM, in the Raso Room, prior to the RPCUG sched-uled monthly meeting.
MEETINGS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, withnewcomers especially welcome. For directions and
The Purpose of the Group:To exchange computer-related ideas and information among its members;to engage in computer-related activities for the benefit of the membershipand the community at large; to increase understanding and utilization ofthe personal computer; to provide an opportunity for the formation ofspecial interest groups (SIGs), to provide a medium for the exchange andpropagation of public domain software, freeware, and shareware.–(From the RPCUG Constitution & Bylaws)
THE ROCKLANDPC USERS GROUP
MEETING SCHEDULEGENERAL MEETING
7:15 PM
MULTIMEDIA WORKSHOP
6:00 PM
Tuesday, March 13, 2000
The Palisades Center Community Room
Palisades Center Mall, West Nyack, NY
Multi-Media Workshop meets on the second Tuesday of the month,
prior to the general meeting at 6:00 PM in the Raso Room in the
Palisades Mall, West Nyack
The Beginners Workshop meets on the second Tuesday of the
month, prior to the general meeting at 6:00 PM in the Raso Room in
the Palisades Mall, West Nyack
The Investment Workshop (SIG) meetings will vary for the present;
please consult the web site for details
The Executive Board meets last Thursday of the month
West Nyack Library, 7:00 PM
Wish GrantedA PROGRAMMER was walkingalong the beach when he found alamp. Upon rubbing the lamp, agenie appeared who stated “I am themost powerful genie in the universe. Ican grant you any wish you want, butonly one wish.”
The programmer pulled out a map ofthe Mediterranean area and said “I’dlike there to be a just and lastingpeace among the people in theMiddle East.”
The genie responded, “Gee, I don’tknow. Those people have beenfighting since the beginning of time. Ican do just about anything, but this isbeyond my limits.”
The programmer then said, “Well, Iam a programmer, and my programshave a lot of users. Please make allthe users satisfied with my programs,and let them ask for sensiblechanges.”
And the genie said: “Uh, let me seethat map again.”�
The Rockland PC Users Group, a tax-exempt educationalorganization, meets monthly, usually on the second Tuesday.
Meetings begin at 7:15 PM. The latest information about meetingprograms and dates is available on the Internet at
http://www.rpcug.org
internet picks...Weaving the Web:The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny ofthe World Wide Web by Its Inventor.Here is yet another history of the Web, thistime from its creator - Tim Berners-Lee, whoinvented HTTP and HTML and coined thename “World Wide Web.” In this book, herecounts the chronology of these events andtells about other contributors. Berners-Leealso addresses open access, self-policing,censorship, privacy, and the future of theWeb.http://emarketplace.techtarget.com/main/0062515861.html
Contrary to popular belief, not all gamers areteenage boys. In fact, 13% are over 50, and43% are women. Overall, more than half ofall Americans play videogames.”www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/bam/www/numbers.html �
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Message from the President
Winter is almost over and springis just around the corner!
March has always been a month that Ihave enjoyed. Even when it snows, you knowthat isn’t going to last for long. By the end of themonth you feel like you want to get outside andstart cleaning up to get ready for spring.
This a great time to think about cleaning up yourhard drive; insides need to be taken care of too.
Run your scandisk and defrag your hard drive.Over the LONG winter, I am sure that there havebeen many programs and files added and re-moved from your computer. By running yourmaintenance programs now, you will be readyfor the HOT summer. Also, make sure that yourvirus scanner is updated with the latest DAT files.You don’t want to get caught short when it comesto virus protection.
If you are not sure how to do all of this, go on toour website (www.rpcug.org) and ask for help onthe MHM (Members Helping Members) e-maillist server. You will be amazed at how much helpis out there.
I won’t miss this opportunity to thank everyonewho came out to the February meeting. We had agreat turnout and AMD didn’t let us down. Theyreally outdid themselves with their knowledgeand their generosity.
This month’s General Meeting will haveCreative Labs in the spotlight. This is a companythat started off with sound cards and has becomeone of the largest manufacturers of CD and DVDdrives in the industry. Their new “Nomad” MP3player/recorder is quite a revolutionary product,and, they have recently gone into the speakerbusiness by taking over Cambridge SoundWorks.
I hope that you ALL come out and see what’snew from Creative Labs.
Are you tired of hearing about items available forreview? Ask yourselves why you originallyjoined the group. Was it to learn about comput-ers? Was it to learn about new software? Was it toget something for nothing? Don’t be embar-rassed if it was to get something for nothing.Whether it was knowledge, software, hardwareor even a T-shirt, everyone enjoys winningsomething. I admit, I LOVE winning things. Get afreebie, write a review, and you too can Join theFun!
When you write a review, the product is yours tokeep FREE; the prices are listed just for reference.All programs are fully functional, registered cop-ies. Some of the available software:
� THE INCREDIBLE EMAILER ($59.95)This looks like a great way to add photos andhave fun with your e-mails. (The Emailerdoesn't work with AOL or Eudora. It issupported by Outlook Express and NetscapeCommunicator.)
� OLIGO 2.0 ($29.95)Tired of the same old web browser…then this is for you!
� VISUAL CALENDAR PLANNER 7.1 ($29.95)If you are a person with a busy schedule,don’t miss this one.
� STAY CONNECTED ($19.95)Do you lose your connection while on line?Works with AOL, NetZero, Juno, even yourlocal Internet Service Provider.
� MODEM BOOSTER ($19.95)Increase your modem connection speed.
� STATES 3000(www.mv.com/ipusers/spacetime)Game to help learn or teach about our states.
� PRESIDENTS 3000(www.mv.com/ipusers/spacetime)Game to help learn or teach about ourpresidents.
� WEB MEDIA PUBLISHER PRO 3.1.1(www.wbmedia.com/publisher)
There are many major companies that will helpus out with products and software to be re-viewed. If you would like to have a specific pro-gram, let us know and we will ask. No promises,but we can try. Thanks for Joining the Fun!
Ken HerbigPresident, RPCUG m
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Deep Paint is the challenger to Corel’s Painter. I haveused Painter for a few years and when I read about
Deep Paint I was curious. Deep Paint is a paint applicationthat creates a 3-D look to 2-D images. It does this by addinga bump or texture and shine or luminance to every stroke.This creates depth within each stroke, and the finishedimage does have 3-D quality.
Deep Paint works as a stand-alone program or as a plug-into Photoshop. I had no problems with either application.It’s a pleasure to use an application that works as a plug-infilter in Photoshop, for it cuts time wasted going back andforth between the two applications.
Even though Deep Paint features aren’t as nu-merous as those in Painter, everything you needis here.
It has a wide range of brushes that are highly cus-tomizable, with a wonderful variety of media, in-cluding paint, air brush, chalk, felt pens, pencil,crayons and charcoal, to name a few. Less ismore, and to that end, Deep Paint knows what isimportant to an artist. I don’t need more crayons.I just need to know where they are and how touse them. I had no trouble finding the canvas se-lection, for it is right there on the tool palette, nothidden four clicks away.
The artistic photo cloning is a quick way to trans-form a photograph with many options, such as acolored pencil sketch or a painterly image. Theimages can be very tight or loose as you havecontrol over every stroke.
When using paints, the effects are incredible!You are able to control the bump or shine oneach stroke, creating depth within each. A fellowstudent in art school painted a copy of a VanGogh painting. He did each paint stroke with ashadow and a highlight; this gave the illusion of a3-D painting. It took him months to create this.Years later, I see this exact feature in Deep Paint,where it takes not months, but moments to pro-duce!
Within the standard tools category there aremany presets that are in sub-categories of theirown. There is a sub-category called Fun Stuff; inthere you’ll find such things as alien wire, junglebridge, blobs and microbe, to name a few. An-other subcategory is Skins Fur and Hair. There
you’ll find bear fur, frog skin, elephant hide andcrocodile skin. With names like these, it soundsas if you could design a jungle scene—within thecomfort of your living room.
A unique feature of Deep Paint that I really ap-preciate is a reminder to save your work. I findthat when I begin to paint, it seems like I juststarted and I suddenly realize that hours havegone by. This reminder, which pops up every fif-teen minutes or so, is much-needed, as we areworking in an electronic medium and all couldbe lost within seconds.
The people at Right Hemisphere have certainlyworked hard at designing an intuitive and funprogram to use. This is only version 1.1b, and Ithink the future looks good for them. The onlything I don’t understand is that a high percentageof artist use Macs, and Deep Paint is a Windowsproduct. If they want to appeal to artists, theyshould develop a Mac version. This is a big con-cern of mine, for I have really become fond ofDeep Paint, and as I write this I plan to switchfrom PC to Mac. Does that mean I have to goback to Painter?
DEEP PAINT, by Right HemisphereBellingdham, WA(www.righthemisphere.com)$ 249.00
System requirements:PC MMX 166 MHZ processor or higherWindows 95,98 or NT64 MB of RAM40 MB of hard disk spaceCD drive $
DEEP PAINTreveiewed byRobertaMikkelsen
5
What next?The PENTIUM 4!
Pentium 4 (P4) is the latest Intel processor(codenamed Willamette), released in
November 2000. The new processor has a viableclock speed of 1.5 gigahertz (GHz) - as comparedto the 1 GHz of the Pentium 3 - and is likely to beavailable with a rate of at least 2 GHz by the endof 2001.
P4 has the first totally new chip architecture sincethe 1995 Pentium Pro. The major difference in-volves structural changes that affect the way pro-cessing takes place within the chip, somethingIntel calls NetBurst micro- architecure. Aspects ofthe changes include: a 20-stage pipeline, whichboosts performance by increasing processor fre-quency; a rapid-execution engine, which dou-bles the core frequency and reduces latency byenabling each instruction to be executed in a half(rather than a whole) clock cycle; a 400 MHz sys-tem bus, which enables transfer rates of 3.2 giga-bytes per second (GBps); an execution tracecache, which optimizes cache memory effi-ciency and reduces latency by storing decodedsequences of micro-operations; and improvedfloating point and multimedia unit and advanceddynamic execution, all of which enable fasterprocessing for especially demanding applica-tions, such as digital video, voice recognition,and online gaming.
P4's main competition for processor market shareis the AMD Athlon processor. A number of indus-try test results (such as those from PC MagazineLabs and Tom's Hardware Guide) have found theP4 was faster than the Athlon for streaming video,3-D graphics programs, and some similarly de-manding applications, but that the Athlon pro-cessor - which is significantly less expensive -was faster for the types of tasks that make up thebulk of the typical home or business PC's work-load.
Trouble with some of those attachments anddownloads? What do I do with those *.zip ( a
data compressed file) and *.pdf (PortableDocument Format compressed file) files ?
One of the most important things we need first isa program to unzip compressed files labeled asZip files. There are several programs out theresuch as Aladdin, Winzip, etc. Winzip is the easi-est and most widely used and a trial version canbe downloaded free from the internet:www.winzip.com
After downloading Winzip (winzip80.exe is lat-est version) save it to a folder such as "My Down-loads" or what ever folder you want, so you canfind it. If you have an older version remove it firstby going to START/SETTINGS/CONTROLPANEL, then double click on ADD/REMOVEPROGRAMS. See if Winzip is on the list, ifWinzip is there, then click on it to highlight, thenclick on the Remove button to uninstall it.
Now you are ready to install Winzip by findingyour file using Windows Explorer and doing adouble click on your downloaded file(winzip80.exe), or go to START/RUN, type inC:\My Downloads\winzip80.exe and click onOK. The program called WINZIP will install itselfand put icons on the Start Up menu, the Desktopand in the Programlisting. (I delete theone on the Desk Topwith a right click andselecting Delete).Now we are ready tounzip those com-pressed files receivedfrom email, web, etc.
To unzip a file is veryeasy, just select yourfile and do a doubleclick, Winzip will au-tomatically come upshowing you what isin the zip file. Go to
the top right and click on EXTRACT! This willbring up the menu that allows you to select thefolder you wish to extract and save the file(s). Af-ter you have the folder selected click on theEXTRACT button. That's all there is, now you cango to your folder and work your extracted or un-zipped file(s).
If your unzipped files are picture files and youdouble click on them they will come up in Win-dows Paint (*.bmp) or Internet Explorer (*.jpg,*.gif, etc), unless you have a photo program. Ifthe files are text files your will see them in Note-pad or wordpad, or you can view them in yourword processor. If they are PDF (Portable Docu-ment Format) files then we need a special pro-gram called Acrobat Reader by Adobe.
To get your free Acrobat Reader, go to:www.adobe.com/prodcts/acrobat/readstep.html
Save your file (ar40eng.exe) in your specialfolder such as “My Downloads.” Before install-ing this program be sure you remove the old ver-sion (this is version 4) just like we did for Winzip.Now go to your special folder and locate the ac-robat file and double click to install it, or go toSTART/RUN and enter C:\My Down-loads\ar40eng.exe, then click on OK. RestartWindows!
Once this is installed and Windows is back up,you can double click on any PDF file and the Ac-robat Reader will come up automatically.
I hope this helps peopleto read those email at-tachments and programmanuals!
Note: Bob Elgines is Editor forthe Colorado River ComputerClub user group located inLake Havasu City, Arizona.This article is brought to youby the Editorial Committee ofthe Association of PersonalComputer User Groups(APCUG), an Internationalorganization to which thisuser group belongs.�
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Microsoft IntelliMouse ExplorerReviewed by Ken Herbig
If you have ever used a mouse, you will love this one!
For years, the “mouse” has always operated in the same way. You move themouse on the mouse pad and the ball in the mouse moves on two roller bars,one for vertical and one for horizontal movement of the cursor, two buttonson the front, one on the left and one on the right. There were some that had awheel in between the buttons for scrolling, and others that had a third buttonin the middle.
Microsoft has outdone itself this time. They havecome out with a mouse that has done away withthe ball and rollers. Finally, a mouse that youdon’t have to keep cleaning! There is no openingon the underside, so there is no way for dirt andlint to buildup in it. Nothing to make the mouseoperate in a erratic fashion. (It was always fun totry to move the cursor up and to the left and itwould go about half way and stop...you all knowwhat I mean!)
The IntelliMouse has an optical sensor called the“IntelliEye.“ “It uses a tiny CMOS digital camerato take 1,500 pictures per second of the surfacebeneath the mouse. A digital signal processorthen analyzes these pictures and translatesmovement of the mouse into crisp movement ofthe cursor on your computer screen.” By doingthis, you can use the mouse on any surface thathas a grain or pattern of some type. It may have aproblem with shiny surfaces and mirrors, but Ihaven’t found anything that it didn’t work on yet.If your work requires precise mouse movement,this is the way to go. Also, your mouse move-ment is no longer limited to the size of yourmouse pad.
The mouse comes with a wheel for scrolling andzooming. You also have a couple of extra pro-grammable buttons; two buttons on the left sideof the mouse can be programmed any way youwant. If you are a surfer, you can use them as for-ward and back buttons. In your word processoryou can program them to be you copy and pastekeys. I like this feature, it is a real time saver.
This mouse has a new, comfortable feel to it. Thearched shape lets your palm rest on it in a com-
fortable position. For those of us who spend along day with our mice, this is a real break-through in comfort. I would recommend theIntelliMouse Explorer to every serious computeruser. I didn’t know what I was missing until I gotmine.
Intellimouse Explorer (software included)www.microsoft.com/mouse/explorer.htm)System Requirements:
Windows95/98 orNT Workstation 4.0, service pack 3 or later30 MB of hard disk spacePS/2-compatible mouse port ORUSB port (Win98 only)CD-ROM drive�
The Frog *A boy was crossing a road one day when a frog called out
to him and said, “If you kiss me, I’ll turn into a beautiful prin-
cess.” He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his
pocket.
The frog spoke up again and said, “If you kiss me and turn
me back into a beautiful Princess, I will stay with you for one
week.”The boy took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it
and returned it to the pocket.
The frog then cried out, “If you kiss me and turn me back
into a Princess, I’ll stay with you and do *Anything* you
want.” Again the boy took the frog out, smiled at it and put
it back into his pocket.
Finally the frog asked, “What is it?I’ve told you I’m a beauti-
ful Princess, that I’ll stay with you for a week and do *Any-
thing* you want. Why won’t you kiss me?”
The boy said, “Look, I’m a computer programmer.I don’t
have time for girlfriends, but a talking frog is really cool.”
8
Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 JoystickReviewed by Ken Herbig
Computer games have come a long way sinceI started playing them. Remember when
you downloaded a shareware game to play inDOS? Everything was controlled with thekeyboard and/or mouse. As the programsbecame more sophisticated, so did the gamingdevices. I have been using a Sidewinder 3D ProJoystick for quite a while and thought that Iwould never need another, until now!
I’m sure that many of us have played games thatsaid that they were Force-Feedback-compatible.Let me tell you, we didn’t know what we weremissing! Playing a game such as MS MidtownMadness or MotoRacer 2 with the SidewinderForce Feedback 2 is a whole new experience.
You need to load the driver, which comes on aCD, before plugging the joystick into an AC out-let and your USB port. The joystick has a 16-bit25-MHz on-board processor that delivers 100different forces to your fingertips. There is a throt-tle lever on the side and the handle can be turnedto operate as a rudder controller. There are 8 pro-grammable buttons and an 8-way hat switch thatcan also be programmed, to give you a total of16. The handle has been set up so that all the but-tons and the trigger are all convenient to yourtouch. It also knows when you are ready for ac-tion, through a photo-optical beam that is inter-rupted when you grip the stick. The base of thedevice is large and because of the motors inside,it has weight to it. This makes it more stable thanother joysticks. In the heat of battle or just crash-ing into things, you won’t feel like you have tohold it down. Instead, you will feel every gun ormissile fired, every bump or crash, all throughthe handle of the joystick.
I tried it out on a few games that I had playedwith my old joystick to get a true comparison.From the first jump in MotoRacer, I knew that Iwas in for a wild ride. All of a sudden, instead ofjust seeing and hearing, you are adding in an-other sense—touch. It’s like you are riding thedirt bike in the race. As you land, you feel the im-pact in the joystick, just as you would on the
bike. The normal joystick functions seem to beimproved too; the bike reacts to your movementsmoothly and more quickly.
When I took-off in MS Combat Flight Simulator, itwas like nothing I have ever experienced in agame. In my first dog fight, the vibration of theguns firing and feeling the impact of the bullets asthey penetrated the windshield was as real as Iwant it to get.
This was lots of fun. I guess the next step wouldhave to be virtual reality.
MS Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 Joystick(www.microsoft.com/products/hardware/sidewinder/deices/FFB2/default.htm)Street price: $ 70 - 100System requirements:
Pentium 166 MHz or higherWindows 98 or 2000 Professional16 MB RAM, 25 MB HD spaceQuad speed or higher CD ROM driveSuper VGA, 256 color monitorMicrosoft mouse
or compatible pointing deviceUSB portDirectX 7.0a API or higher �
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Logitech Cordless Freedom NavigatorReviewed by Jim Sutherland
I’d like to start by thanking the RPCUG Boardand the entire membership for affording me thisopportunity. Hopefully this is just the first ofmany. Now, on with the review!
The CORDLESS FREEDOM NAVIGATOR is acomplete wireless desktop solution
consisting of an “iTouch Keyboard,” a“MouseMan Wheel” mouse and a radio receiver.The system uses radio frequency (RF) technologyto facilitate communication from thekeyboard and mouse to the receiver.Unlike infrared (IR), RF doesn’t requirethe components to be “looking” at eachother for proper operation. This allowsfor greater flexibility in terms ofplacement and movement. Thekeyboard combines traditionalfunctionality with multimedia, Internet,and system controls. In addition to thetraditional button layout of wheeled mice, i.e.left-wheel+middle-right, Logitech has placed afourth button on the right side just below thethumb. Logitech provides quick-start andcomfort guides in four languages, and a CDcontaining the software needed to program thekeyboard and mouse buttons. They’ve eventhrown in a coupon for a 10% rebate on a futurepurchase of Logitech products.
I have two comments regarding installation onWindows ME systems that merit mentioning.First, support for Windows ME is not mentionedanywhere, not on the box, the install guide, oreven the CD label. However, there is a “WinME”folder on the CD, and the “readme.txt” file has aWinME section, so immediate web-surfing forupdates is not mission-critical. Second, the use ofUSB for the keyboard in WinME is advisedagainst by Logitech because you will not be ableto program the extra buttons. Outside of that, in-stallation is simple and straightforward: installbatteries (provided) into the keyboard andmouse, attach the radio receiver to the computer(via PS/2 or USB), establish communications be-tween the receiver + keyboard + mouse (a simplematter of pressing “connect” buttons on all the
units), boot the computer, install the software,re-boot and enjoy! The installation guide clearlyillustrates all the steps above, ensuring successfor all.
The “iTouch Keyboard” keys lack the distinctclick of an IBM, but they are by no means mushy,and besides, silence is not such a bad thing! Aninteresting aspect of the keyboard is that it physi-cally lacks indicators for NumLock, CapLock and
ScrollLock. Those indicators are displayed inthe system tray. It is unconventional, but
the status of each is easily read. The mul-timedia and Internet keys, as well as thesystem key, are controlled and pro-grammed by the “iTouch” program.Pressing the “play/pause” button startsthe default CD player whatever that
may be. The rest of the multimedia keysperform the usual functions such as
speaker mute and next track. The Internet keys,or “iKeys”, can start your e-mail client, zip you toyour homepage, or begin a web-search. I thinkLogitech intends them to be used forInternet-specific tasks, but in reality you can as-sign them to start any program you like. The sys-tem key functions in one of two ways; if you havepower management enabled, it will put your sys-tem in suspend mode, if not, it will bring up theWindows shut-down dialog box. I found the key-board performed as promised, with the addedbenefits of enough programmable keys to be ac-tually useful and of being wireless. With respectto being wireless. I found I could exceedLogitech’s maximum range, but not by much. Iwould expect most people will place the key-board on their lap, and then tilt back in the ‘oleoffice chair, much as I’m doing now. I say:“mission accomplished, Logitech!”
The “MouseMan Wheel” is conventional andunique at the same time. Conventionally speak-ing, the button layout and default functions arelike those of most other wheel mice and it re-quires a surface of some kind to roll around on.The uniqueness is evident in the design (afour-buttoned swoopy shape decidedly aimed at
10
right-handers), and the “MouseWare”software. The fourth button, under thethumb, is a double-edged sword. Ifound it convenient to have an-other button at my disposal, but Ialso found it a little too easy to ac-tivate by mistake. And if you haveit set to “end program” like I did,you WILL be frustrated.“MouseWare” can assign anyfunction to any button, so that prob-lem was short-lived. I can’t see whyanyone would want to change the nor-mal functions of the left and right mousebuttons, but it’s possible here. The neatest thinghas to be Logitech’s “WebWheel”. This program,when activated, displays a circular graphic di-vided into 10 pie wedges. Half of the wedges arepre-programmed with browser commands suchas back, reload, and stop, while the other half areuser assignable in a fashion similar to “Favorites”in Internet Explorer. It’s very convenient to betwo clicks away from these functions without a
lot of cursor motion. The range of themouse is significantly less than that
of the keyboard, but I think themain benefit of being wirelesshere is to reduce desk clutter.
Overall, the Freedom Naviga-tor is easy to setup, performs asdesigned, and offers enough
convenience features to en-hance the usability of your com-
puter without requiring dedicatedstudy. To me, Logitech got it all rightwith the Freedom Navigator.
Cordless Freedom Navigator by Logitech(www.logitech.com)List $99 / Street $79System requirements:
Win3.1/95/98/ME/2000/NT4USB or PS/2 portsCD drive8MB disc space n
USING SHORTCUT KEYSfor the Desktop, My Computer, and Windows Explorer
When an item is selected, you can use the following shortcut keys:
TO DO THIS: PRESS:Activate the menu bar in programs . . . . . . . . . . F10
Carry out the corresponding command on the menu . ALT+underlined letter in menu
Close the current window in (MDI) programs . . . . . CTRL+F4
Close the current window or quit a program. . . . . . ALT+F4
As a Corel devotee and a certified clipart-aholic, I looked forward to a loving relation-
ship with these Corel images. It was not to be.
After a simple installation, I opened to the mainscreen and did a search on the word “Christ-mas.” It came up with over 1000 hits, but thethumbnails were all the same generic icon.When I tried to open one, I was asked to “insertCD 2.” I did so, but there was no response. Thesame dialogue box appeared over and over, anddid not repond to the fact that I had put theproper CD in the drive. I tried again with anotherimage and another CD, with the same results.
A third try brought something even more bizarre- when I clicked on an image to open it, it openedin Quick View Plus (a Windows utility).
A trip through the manual described all mannerof support options, most of them costing $$. Iwas led to Corel’s web site, where the only freeoption was to send them an email message,which I did.
Their reply was prompt: “If the Gallery browserdoes not have ample time for the system to readthe CD, it goes into what we commonly refer toas the “insert Loop” and the message doesn’t goaway. The only workarounds are to allow the CDto read and have the images automatically popup after the CD is recognized or you can shutdown the Gallery browser and relaunch it so thatthe browser will be reading off the new CD...”
At this point, my patience grew thin. I de-cided to check out the fonts before throwingin the towel.
The manual indicated that they were onCD1, although there was nothing on the CDlabel that said so. I was unable to access themdirectly. Any attempt to read the contents ofthe CD launched the installation setup.
I decided on a frontal attack. In DOS, I down-loaded the fonts and sounds to my hard drive.With My Portfolio (freeware) I was able to cata-
logue the jpeg photos (which are very nice, I ad-mit). The clipart, however, is in CCX formatwhich can only be read by Corel Photo House orby this thoroughly annoying Gallery browser.
There’s nice stuff here, but accessing it is a painin the neck. The price is worth it for the fontsalone, but I wouldn’t recommend it to any butthe seasoned user.
Corel Gallery 380,000(www.corel.com)$49.00 (U.S.)
260,000+ Web images, 80,000 editable vectorclipart images, 30,000 photos, 1,000 animatedobjects, 1,000 fonts, 500 multipurpose soundfiles, 50+ video clipsCorel Print House™ Magic 4 (30-Day Trial Ver-sion), Corel Photo House™ 2.1Clipart and user manuals, 7 CD-ROMs
System requirements:Windows 95/98/NT 4.0486 DX 66 or higherSVGA (800 x 600, 256-color) monitor(24-bit color recommended)16 MB RAM, 2X CD-ROM drive,Mouse or tabletNetscape Navigator® 3.0, Microsoft®Internet Explorer 2.0 or any other browser
that supports HTML ~
The Oldest Profession
There was a doctor, a civil engineer, and a computerscientist sitting around late one evening, and they got to
discussing which was the oldest profession.
The doctor pointed out that according to Biblical tradition, God createdEve from Adam’s rib. This obviously required surgery, so therefore that
was the oldest profession in the world.
The engineer countered with an earlier passage in the Bible that statedthat God created order from the chaos, and that was most certainly thebiggest and best civil engineering example ever, and also proved that
his profession was the oldest profession.
The computer scientist leaned back in her chair, and witha sly smile responded, “Yes, but who do you think
created the chaos?”
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