Neat Net Tricks Standard Issue 156, September 1, 2003

Sun Aug 31 16:02:59 PDT 2003

IN THIS ISSUE:

01.  Tech Support Alert
02.  Spider
03.  Office converters and viewers
04.  Wintop
05.  More Properties
06.  Showing full menus
07.  Fixing font sizes
08.  Return receipts
09.  Deleting files
10.  Wordtracker
11.  Software Review Panel: Snag-It

Next week in NNT Premium

01.  TECH SUPPORT ALERT.  While browsing, I ran into a useful tech support
site at http://www.techsupportalert.com run by a guy named "Gizmo" 
Richards.  The site has a lengthy list of free "how-to" guides plus many
links to other sites offering free technical support.  I quite liked his
list of "The 16 Best-Ever Freeware Utilities."  Well worth the trip.

02.  SPIDER.  The author of this program notes that IE stores the visited 
URLs in some hidden files and when you clean your cache and history, this 
information is not deleted. His program scans these hidden files for URLs 
and places them in a file to protect the user's privacy.  Download at 
http://www.fsm.nl/ward/ .

03.  OFFICE CONVERTERS AND VIEWERS.   With the help of these converters and 
viewers from the Office Download Center at 
http://www.microsoft.com/office/000/viewers.asp , you can share your 
Microsoft Office files with people who have versions of Office programs 
different from your own, or even with people who don't have Office at all.

04.  WINTOP is one of the Microsoft Kernel Toys. It displays information on 
all of the devices that are running in the Windows environment, such as 
their CPU usage, threads, etc.  More information and download is at 
http://www.dewassoc.com/support/useful/wintop.htm .

05.  MORE PROPERTIES helps you to change a variety of desktop options, 
including randomizing your wallpaper, adjusting the size of icons, editing 
your Add/Remove Programs list, and removing the "Shortcut to" prefix on new 
shortcuts. Download More Properties free at 
http://www.imaginary.co.za/archive.htm .

. . . . . .

Each Premium issue always has 5 worthwhile tips and a pick-of-the-issue 
software, along with an in-depth topic.  If you're not a subscriber, you're 
missing half the Neat Net Tricks.  Just $10 for a full year subscription, 
24 issues, and you can get yours at the NNT Store, 
http://www.NeatNetTricks.com/store .

. . . . . .

06.  SHOWING FULL MENUS.  Microsoft Office has custom menus as a default, 
and only those menu items that are frequently used are shown.  To overcome 
this, you can change the setting in any one Office application and it will 
affect all other installed Office programs as well.  As an example, in MS 
Word, click any empty spot on the toolbar, choose Customize, Options, and 
check "Always show full menus".

07.  FIXING FONT SIZES. If varying font sizes in visited Web pages bother 
you, here's one fix: In Internet Explorer, select Tools|Internet Options 
and click on the General tab and Accessibility button, Check "Ignore font 
sizes specified on Web pages" (or some such wording, depending on which 
version of IE you are using). In Netscape 6 and 7, select 
Edit|Preferences|Fonts or otherwise click on Appearance if Fonts isn't 
shown.  Then, check "Use my default fonts" or uncheck "Allow documents to 
use other fonts", depending on the version browser you are using.

08.  RETURN RECEIPTS.  Perhaps you don't know you are sending a "Return 
Receipt Requested" in your email, and that can be an annoying feature to 
some recipients.  Avoid this in Eudora by simply not clicking the Return 
Receipt button on the toolbar; in Outlook select 
Tools|Options|Preferences|E-mail Options, click on Tracking Option and 
uncheck "Request a read receipt for all messages I send." In Outlook 
Express 6, select Tools|Options|Receipts and uncheck "Request a return 
receipt for all sent messages".

09.  DELETING FILES.  If you're having trouble deleting a file, first make 
sure the application isn't active (open).  Then, right-click on the file 
and select Properties to determine if the file has a System attribute box 
checked.  If that's the case, and you're sure the file is no longer needed 
by Windows or some other program, you may find it easier to delete it in 
DOS.  Open the DOS Command prompt by going to Start|Run and type "command" 
(without quotes) in the Open field and click OK.  At the prompt, type 
(without quotes) "attrib -r -h -s c:\somefile" substituting the actual file 
name for "somefile".  This removes the hidden, read-only, and system 
attibutes from the file.  Then, to delete, type "del c:\somefile", again 
without quotes and with the correct file name replacing "somefile", and 
press Enter.  If that doesn't delete the file, type "deltree c:\somefile" 
or "remdir c:\somefile", without quotes and using the correct file name, 
and press Enter.

10.  WORDTRACKER.  If you have a Web site, the service at 
http://www.wordtracker.com may be of interest.  Wordtracker compiles a 
database of terms that people search for. You enter some keywords, and it 
tells you how often people search for them, and also how many competing 
sites use those keywords.  It finds all keyword combinations that bear any 
relation to your business or service and  how popular these keywords really 
are. Then, for each major search engine, it shows the chances of making the 
top 10.

11.  SOFTWARE REVIEW PANEL:  SNAG-IT.  Our Panel's latest report is on
Snag-It, a full-featured screen capture utility.  Did they love it? Did
they hate it?  Well, yes.  But you can get the full details at 
http://www.NeatNetTricks.com/SoftwareReviews .

NEXT WEEK IN NNT PREMIUM:  If you're having trouble removing an unwanted 
version of Internet Explorer, read about this solution; try a suggested 
program for ease of Windows navigation; change your desktop icons and mouse 
pointers; redesign that drab start button; and hide folders from prying 
eyes.  Our pick-of-the-issue software lets you change your desktop 
appearance at whatever interval you desire, and our feature tells what 
truly bugs us about computers.  All this and 23 other similarly filled 
issues can be yours in Neat Net Tricks Premium - a full year - for just $10 
at the NNT Store, http://www.NeatNetTricks.com/store .

. . . . .

NNT makes no endorsement or warranty, expressed or implied, with regard to 
featured products or services. Results may vary based on operating systems 
and other variables beyond our control.

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