Nature and the Basement
both abhor a vacuum...
-=+ NOISES FROM THE BASEMENT +=-
Vol. 2, Issue 5 April 18,
2001 ISSN 1531-5258
1) Windows Tips - "In The Beginning"
2) File Find! - "POW!"
3) Sites-Seeing - "Private Islands\Random Acts of Kindness"
4) Email Funny - "Clippy's Demise\Homer's AOL"
5) MOUS Tips - "If It Ain't Broken, Don't Break It"
6) They Said It - quotes to give one pause
7) Hodgepodge - that what fits no where else
~ ~ ~
Been busy all weekend knocking out walls into the neighbors'
cellar, just to make room for the new subscribers introduced
through LangaList Plus! I owe
Fred a big thanks for printing my
original suggestion in his fantastic newsletter, more so for printing
my follow-up comments – which introduced over 500 of you to NFTB -
welcome to the Basement! A big hello,
too, to those of you who found
this chuck of cyberspace through our recent selection as a
Top Site at Tech Support
Alert
Most of all, thanks too, to my faithful readers - your feedback,
support, recommendations to others and encouragement are
sincerely appreciated!
~As always~
AOL users - see the newsletter end for your links!
_____________________________________________________
1) Windows Tips -
"In The Beginning"
Lots of action takes place behind the scenes when you fire
up your computer. This week I'll begin a
series examining
the various files that Windows uses in the start-up procedure,
leading to perhaps a better understanding and increased
control of the process.
The files we'll be looking at are *critical* system files for the
most part. Please, NEVER experiment with
these files without
first creating a copy of the file FIRST.
In fact, you should have
a backup copy of these files on hand whether you plan on
fooling around with them or not! And a
current Startup Disk
nearby (http://www.basementnoises.com/pstnftb/2001_04_04.htm )
would be a prudent idea, too.
Several of these files are "hidden" - you may need to set
your system to see these hidden files.
Open the My Computer
window, then select View | Folder Options | View tab. Under
Advanced Settings you'll see Hidden Files; turn on the
Show All Files option.
Now, our first file - the MSDOS.SYS file, typically found in your
root ( C:\ ) directory. The MSDOS.SYS
file contains basic
information about the location of the Windows folder, startup
files, and other options. It contains a [Paths] section that lists
the locations for other Windows files (such as the registry) and
an [Options] section that you can use to personalize the boot
process. The MSDOS.SYS file is a text
file, open it up and
take a look at it, but we are going to leave any editing to a
future week.
Next week, three more files!
-=++=- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ + ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
-=++=-
2) File Find! -
"POW!" [214 Kb/EXE]
There's a lot of discussion that has taken place on web
publishers' forums concerning the use of "pop-ups" -
windows that sudden open up on their own, without you
clicking. While some webmasters tout
them as great ways
to add subscribers or sell products, others just as adamantly
warn against using them so as to avoid alienating your web
visitors.
Personally, I fall firmly on the side of those that find them
extremely annoying - which is why I was quite pleased to
find out how efficiently this week's File Find was able to
cut those aggravations down to size!
"POW! - the Pop-up Eradicator" will require a bit of training
to know your level of dislike for pop-ups; but once a pop-up
is in its database, it's a pleasure to watch those little suckers
appear and as swiftly disappear from your desktop - almost
like a balloon going ... POW!
Per licensing agreement, this one downloads from the
author's site:
http://www.basementnoises.com/free4u/dl78.htm
-=++=- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ + ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
-=++=-
3) Sites-Seeing - "Private
Islands\Random Acts of Kindness"
Okay, tax day has come and gone and you're sitting on a tidy
refund. Where are you going to invest
your new-found wealth?
Well, start your shopping spree at our first site where you can
buy your very own 181-acre island in the middle of the
you have a bit more cash to spend on say, a discreet 1.3 acre
island (with castle) off the coast of
I'll bring the hotdogs to the housewarming:
http://www.vladi-private-islands.de/home_e.html
~ ~ ~
Pay the toll for yourself AND the car behind you? Take
someone ELSE'S trash out? Replace a
child's broken bike
chain? These, and many more random acts
of kindness are
related at our second site. You'll also
find teaching aids to
incorporate RAK into curriculums, and activity ideas for
neighborhood groups, service organizations, and faith groups.
Experience the absolutely fantastic feeling of anonymously
affecting someone else's live in a positive way. It could be the
best thing that happens to you (and your recipient) today:
http://www.actsofkindness.org
-=++=- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ + ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
-=++=-
4) Email Funny -
"Clippy's Demise" [810 Kb/EXE]
Here's a bit of humor from someone you never suspected had
a sense of humor - Bill Gates! This
week's funny is a Flash
movie from Microsoft that is meant to introduce Office XP -
the next generation of Office. It seems
that MS is so confident
that OXP is easy to use, that they're retiring Clippy, the hated
Office Assistant. See how Clippy (voiced
by Gilbert Gottfried)
feels about all this in Episode I - "Clippy Gets Clipped":
http://www.basementnoises.com/free4u/dl79.htm
~ ~ ~
"Homer's AOL" [134 Kb/WAV]
I shake my head in amazement on occasion while reading
through my server's log when I see the terms people search for
that lead them to the Basement. A recent
search for "strange
noises in AOL mail" led some poor soul here, and also
triggered a memory - and that's why I'm sharing an extra
funny with you this week:
http://www.basementnoises.com/free4u/dl84.htm
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5) MOUS Tips -
"If It Ain't Broken, Don't Break It"
There are times when you use a space or a hyphen,
and you want to keep the spaced/hyphenated item all on
one line. For example, when writing a
date such as "12-05-
01", you don't want it to "break" in the middle of the date,
as I had it do. Another use might be to
tell Word that a name,
like "Smith-Badden", should not be broken between lines.
In these circumstances, it's appropriate to use the
non-breaking hyphen (as I just did for "non-breaking"!)
The non-breaking hyphen (sometimes called a "hard hyphen")
prints like a regular hyphen.
To place a non-breaking hyphen, use CTRL + SHIFT + -
(Control+Shift+Hyphen)
You can use the non-breaking space in the same manner.
Tie names or dates together: it's improper to use "June 9,
2001". Instead, use non-breaking
spaces between the end
of the month and the date, and between the comma and the
year. The non-breaking space will look
like a little circle in
your document when you have Show Hidden Text turned on,
but will print like a normal space.
To place a non-breaking space, use CTRL + SHIFT + [SPACE]
(Control+Shift+Spacebar)
-=++=- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ + ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ -=++=-
6) They Said It
"They say such nice things about people at their funerals
that it makes me sad to realize that I'm going to miss mine
by just a few days." - Garrison Keillor
-=++=- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ + ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
-=++=-
7) Hodgepodge
Disturbing news for my Australian subscribers this week when
new laws took effect that prohibit the forwarding of email.
Judged a violation of Australian copyright laws, violators are
subject to up to 5 years in jail and AU$60,000 fine for
forwarding email without the authors permission. (NFTB readers
may ALWAYS forward copies to friends!):
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,1768268%255E421,00.html
(you may have to cut and paste this URL
into your browser)
~~~
If this week's Photo Funny doesn't have you grinning, then
the "Bozo Boss" story surely will!
You'll find them both, plus
much more, in The Basement:
http://www.BasementNoises.com
G'nite, and thanks for
reading!
=====================================================
Make some noises of your own! Care to
comment on this issue
of Noises? Send your criticisms and/or
compliments to:
noises@BasementNoises.com
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=====================================================
My standard "Your Mileage May Vary" Caveat:
NFTB does not assume responsibility for your use of
information given. Tips are tested on a
machine with
Windows 98 and Office 2000 Professional installed.
As I am firmly convinced that all systems are unique little
creatures in and of themselves, any given tip or suggestion
might just not be available to you. Why?
Murphy Rules!
All advice should be weighed against your own abilities
and circumstances and applied accordingly.
It is up
to you, the reader, to determine if advice is safe and
suitable for your current situation.
Any product or brand names mentioned in this ezine
and associated website are trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective owners.
NOISES FROM THE BASEMENT is a BTB Management Services
publication e-published every Wednesday and always
delivered directly to your e-porch, rain or shine!
Noises From The Basement
ISSN: 1531-5258 - Library Of Congress, Washington D.C., USA
Copyright (c) 2001, Dave Gretz
All Rights Reserved.
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