Newsletter Archive

The Internet 800 Directory - http://www.inter800.com
The Internet 800 Directory Newsletter
This issue is for Friday, January 21, 2005
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Table of Contents
01. Starting Out Right
02. Failure To Communicate
03. Tip Of The Week
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*01 Starting Out Right

This New Year is already well on its way, our first holiday of the year
has passed and our President has been sworn in for his new term. If you
were planning to start this year out right, it's time to get started.
One way to get off on the right foot is by giving your computer a good
once over. There are several things that you should be doing to your
computer on a regular basis, but we all know how routine things can be
overlooked. Here are six things you should do to your Window's based
computer to start out the New Year.

-1 Run Windows Update
 With all the hacks and security problems we saw this last year, if you
haven't run an update in a while, NOW is a good time to run one. Log on
to the Internet; Hit "Start" and then "Windows Update". Follow the
instructions at update web site and bring your Windows operating system
current.

-2 Run ScanDisk
Many times computers will make errors when writing information to the
hard drive, these errors will cause your machine to become unstable.
ScanDisk will check the files and folders of your drive for errors like,
lost clusters, lost chains, and bad sectors. You should be running Scan
Disk fairly often, but if not, lets start now. Click "Start", then
"Programs", then "Accessories", then "System Tools", then ScanDisk, then
"Start"

-3 Run Defrag
As you use your computer programs are saved on your hard disk in a
sporadic fashion, this makes the drive fragmented. All hard disks get
fragmented over time and fragmented drives run slower. Defrag (short for
Disk Defragmenter) organizes your file systems, making it easier for the
hard drive to access data thereby speeding up your computer. Click
"Start", then "Programs", then "Accessories", then "System Tools", then
"Disk Defragmenter", then select the drive and start.

-4 Run Virus Scan
If you don't have some form of Virus protection on your machine, then I
strongly recommend that you install one ASAP. For the rest of us, update
your virus software and run a complete scan of your machine. Using
updated virus software is critical because of the way virus software is
written. It must be current to find the new virus being circulated.

-5 Run Spyware scan
By using freeware, shareware, web pages, media players, and file sharing
on the Internet, you can be infected by Spyware. These items can contain
code or components (Spyware) that allow individuals to collect and
disseminate information about you. By using Spyware they can track your
surfing habits, hijack your browser start page or pages, alter important
system files, all without your knowledge or permission. If you don't
have a program to remove Spyware let me recommend you try one of these
two freeware programs. Ad-Aware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/) or Spybot
(http://www.safer-networking.org)

-6 Back up your important files
With all the different ways you can have a computer fail these days,
it's more important than ever to backup your files. Every once in a
while I hear from someone that has lost their machine and everything in
it.  If you backup the files with your personal data, everything else
can be reinstalled. The pictures, documents and data you have entered
cannot be easily replaced. Take a second and back then up!

If you have already done all these things or are doing them on a regular
schedule, never mind. If not, now's the time-you'll feel better.

Chuck Arning chuck@inter800.com
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*02 Failure To Communicate

"What we've got here is a failure to communicate!"

For those of you that grew up in my generation, these words from Cool
Hand Luke will stick in your mind and can actually be applied almost on
a daily basis.

As an example: My wife has an administrative problem. My wife's office
has two people named Joel. Now, that would not ordinarily be a problem,
or even be unusual. However, one is Hispanic. We haven't figured out
what the other one is, but he thinks he's either a WASP, or, at least,
comes from a Teutonic heritage. It's actually just probably a Jewish
version, which, I'm sure has another pronunciation, as in Jaweh.
Whatever.

As most of you know, or, at least should know, a "J", in Spanish, is
pronounced as an "H" in English. So is a "G", by the way, which leads to
the correct pronunciation of guacamole, which is "HWA-ca-mo-lay", due to
the "gua" combination, and the fact that there are really no short vowel
pronunciations in Spanish, which we use in English, and therefore, an
"e" is pronounced as a long "a", etc. This explains the confusion when
one orders guava in a Mexican restaurant and he's served roasted bat
scat.

 But that's another story. So is "X".

 So is the fact that British people don't pronounce their Hs, even if
they read them right. "I'm "Henry the 8th, I am. Henry the 8th I am, I
am." What did you say your name was?

But, back to the story about the Joels above.

People call my wife's office and say, "May I speak to Joel, please?
"Now, is that "HOE-L" you want (as he insists on being called), or is
that "JOE-L"?, says the receptionist, whom happens to be a Native
American, named Janet.

Now, as I understand it, Janet, in her language, is unpronounceable in
either the English or Spanish language (hence, the Navajo code-talkers
in WWII), so she just goes by anything that anyone calls her, which
explains a lot of unreturned messages.

I do understand her problem, though.

When someone calls for Joel, she has to ask, "Is it "HOE-L" you want, or
is it "JOE-L" or is it me, "HAN-ET"?

Since my wife brought up this thought-provocative problem in her
administration, I gave her what I think is an executive and conclusive
answer: Don't hire anyone with a name that starts with a G, J, H, X.
Then we have to address those names starting with vowels, and, if you
hire someone who is French, then we have to address the names ending
with a consonant, plus their smoking rights.

That should fit right in with government procedures.

Steven Jackson - saj@inter800.com
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Call 800-299-1879!
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Tip of the Week

Did you ever want to check the speed of your Internet connection?

Visit this web page http://easynews.com/trace/ and click "Trace"
 It will provide you with a Reverse Trace and tell you the speed that it
connected to your computer.

If you have any tips or shortcuts that you think the readers of this
Newsletter will find useful, send them to chuck@inter800.com

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