Australian PC World articles from July 2002

Australian PC World archives from July 2002

Rolling back the years: PC World's 300th issue, like any anniversary, is a great time to stop, reflect and look not just at how far we have come, but also at what is waiting down the road. And to thank you for joining us on this journey! (Editorial).
July 1, 2002... There is nothing like a milestone to bring people together to reminisce, and this month features editor Deanne McIntosh has enjoyed and shared some great stories, laughs and tales with PC World staff past and present. She's rounded up stories...

New Hewlett-Packard outlines roadmap. (Analysis News).
July 1, 2002... The new Hewlett-Packard, born of its merger with Compaq, will retain the desktop and notebook PC lines of both companies--for now--although the Jornada handheld family will be survived by the iPAQ line of competing devices originally introduced...

Government relies on technology to protect the nation.
July 1, 2002... Treasurer Peter Costello outlined in his recent budget speech a series of technology-related projects that Customs will undertake as part of the Government's expanded domestic security program. Included in this is the development of a new...

Celerons get a speed boost.
July 1, 2002... Value PC users had to wait almost six months for Intel to make an increment in speed to its Celeron chip. In mid-May Intel released two Celeron processors at 1.7GHz and 1.4GHz, up from the previous 1.3GHz offering that made its debut in early...

Matrox updates GPU. (Analysis News).
July 1, 2002... Targeting graphics professionals who prefer quality to raw performance, Matrox Graphics has unveiled its new Parhelia-512 graphics processing unit--Matrox's first major GPU overhaul in three years. "We're not looking to compete with NVIDIA...

Sun busy at the Office. (Analysis News).
July 1, 2002... Office productivity has been big on Sun Microsystems' recent agenda. A free version of Sun Microsystems' StarOffice business productivity suite is now available for download from OpenOffice.org. Sun's other office suite, StarOffice, has also...

NZ company snoops to new depths.
July 1, 2002... A New Zealand company has developed a device that can help track a user's PC habits by registering keyboard key strokes. The three-year-old Interface Security, formerly known as Keyghost, says its same-name key-logging product is used by...

Australian copyright laws a shamble.
July 1, 2002... Australia has fallen behind its peers in the protection of intellectual property (IP) rights and is trailing developing countries such as Indonesia and Thailand, according to the Business Software Association's (BSA's) enforcement guru, Bob...

PCI Express coming. (Analysis News).
July 1, 2002... The next-generation technology that will speed data to components of your next PC--replacing stalwarts such as PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) and AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port)--now has a moniker to match its performance: PCI Express....

Domain gets personal. (Analysis News).
July 1, 2002... For the first time, Australians will be able to register their names as a domain when id.au goes live. Unlike Australia's four open second-level domains (2LDs)--com.au, org.au. net.au and asn.au--id.au is the first domain for which registrants...

Lindows smashes Windows for now.
July 1, 2002... The final version of LindowsOS will go on sale later this year and retail for one-third of the cost of a comparable Microsoft offering, according to Lindows.com. In May the company won another victory against Microsoft, which has contested in a...

Computer crime wave strikes Australia.
July 1, 2002... The annual Australian Computer Crime and Security Survey reveals Australia is a hotbed of computer crime, with 67 per cent of organisations surveyed being attacked in 2002. This is double the 1999 level. The report was jointly produced by...

Users urged caution. (Broadband).
July 1, 2002... Consumers looking to sign up for broadband Internet services should exercise caution when selecting what looks like the "best deal for them", industry representatives warn. A spokesperson for the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsmen (TIO) says...

Panel: one-stop broadband no go for SMEs.
July 1, 2002... Concentrating on a "one-stop" broadband solution for businesses has hindered the uptake of the high-speed service in Australia, industry leaders say. Speaking at a recent Broadband Roundtable in Sydney, Request CEO Phil Sykes said SMEs...

DSE joins broadband market.
July 1, 2002... Despite the "one-stop" concerns mentioned in the above story, the proliferation of mass-market ADSL products in Australia is set to get a boost with the introduction of another retail broadband in a box offering for less than $20. ...

Fast, faster, fastest. (Tech.Files [right arrow] CPU Update).
July 1, 2002... This month we take a look at two of the more recent high-end offerings from AMD and Intel. In the AMD corner AMD has released its latest top-end processor, the Athlon XP 2200+, codenamed Thoroughbred--the first of the new Athlons based...

Get more hammered.
July 1, 2002... Advanced Micro Devices has unveiled some more details about its next-generation 64-bit microprocessor, codenamed Hammer, which should make for affordable, superfast PCs early next year. There will be two versions of Hammer. The 64-bit...

Fujitsu claims disk drive density breakthrough.
July 1, 2002... Fujitsu has developed new disk head technology that will enable hard disk drive recording densities of up to 300Gb per square inch. An increase in recording densities leads to notebook and desktop computers with higher storage capacities,...

A thousand words to paint a picture. (Alt.Net [right arrow] ASCII Art).
July 1, 2002... Most people don't realise that they are ASCII artists. Every time you type in the simple smiley face :) or wink ;) you are dabbling in an art form that once was the only way to create digital pictures on a home computer. (One word of...

TPG pushes in-house PC and ISP bundle.
July 1, 2002... Sydney-based technology group TPG has launched what it claims is an industry first with a new PC and Internet service bundle from the one supplier. TPG's general manager, Jullie Jeal, said bundling an Internet service offering with a new...

Glitch offers domestic travel for $5 at United.com.
July 1, 2002... If only Qantas.com.au or VirginBlue.com.au could be so unlucky. Round-trip tickets on United Airlines were available on a fateful day in May for $US5 plus tax from United.com because of a mistake from the US Airline Tariff Publishing Co....

Melissa virus creator sentenced to 20 months.
July 1, 2002... The computer programmer who created the Melissa virus was sentenced in May to 20 months in a US federal prison for unleashing the virus that infected thousands of computers worldwide in 1999 and caused more than $US80 million in damage. in...

Fake Xbox `emulator' hides Trojan horse.
July 1, 2002... The Web page distributing an emulator promising users they could play Microsoft's Xbox games on their PCs was recently pulled offline after discovery that it contained a Trojan horse program designed to generate money based on online ad hits....

Altec Lansing 2100 and 641: PC speakers. (First Looks).
July 1, 2002... Altec Lansing's 2100 speakers are stylish, small and surprisingly powerful, comprising a subwoofer and two satellites. They have a continuous power rating of 26W. The subwoofer is of a ported design and features two 4in woofers that produce a...

Chaintech GT61 special edition: graphics card. (First Looks).
July 1, 2002... This graphics card is definitely aimed at the hardcore enthusiast who wants the latest and greatest, regardless of price. It features NVIDIA's fastest GPU--the GeForce4 Titanium 4600--comes with 128MB of DDR SDRAM and can provide resolutions up...

Hercules 3D prophet all-in-wonder 8500DV: video + graphics card. (First Looks).
July 1, 2002... This card can adequately tackle your gaming needs as well as allow you to watch TV on your computer, capture video from external sources (at up to 25fps in PAL format) and output video to your TV screen. It features an Input/Output adapter...

Dr. Hardware 2002 3.0.0e, Cacheman 5.1, TweakMaster 1.61: performance shareware. (First Looks).
July 1, 2002... Want to know what's in your computer and how it's configured? Want to fine-tune that configuration for peak performance? I looked at a trio of try-before-you-buy shareware programs that can help you learn about and perfect your PC. Dr....

Sonic MyDVD 3.1, DVD Workshop: DVD authorware. (First Looks).
July 1, 2002... If you purchase a DVD recorder these days, the movie-authoring application bundled with it is likely to be Sonic MyDVD. Sonic Solutions has been making DVD software since the inception of the technology. If you prefer, you can purchase Sonic...

BenQ Digital Camera 300Mini: digital camera. (First Looks).
July 1, 2002... When this camera showed up at PC World, it certainly attracted a lot of attention with its tiny size (8.5x4x2cm) and humble price of $189. Despite initial impressions, the camera's limitations became apparent when it was tested in the...

USB Drive (16MB): removable storage. (First Looks).
July 1, 2002... Imagine a hard drive the size of a small cigarette lighter. That's what you get with this tiny 16MB USB storage device. Simply plug it into your USB port, and a new drive letter will appear in Windows. You then move files to and from the...

Microsoft Project 2002 beta: project management software. (First Looks).
July 1, 2002... Microsoft recently unveiled the marketing beta of Project 2002, the latest version of its best-selling project management software that is due for final release this month. The previous version, released two years ago, ran only on...

LifeView FlyVideo 3000: TV and FM tuner card. (First Looks).
July 1, 2002... There's more to TV cards than just being able to watch "The Simpsons" and surf the Web at the same time. Most can also be used to record your favourite TV shows to disk and capture footage from your analog video camera. The FlyVideo 3000 goes...

Sun Cobalt Qube 3: Linux server. (First Looks).
July 1, 2002... Do you need an easy-to-run, easy-to-manage server for your small to medium-size business or organisation? Sun Microsystems has upgraded its Cobalt Qube line of Linux-based servers, each capable of handling up to 150 users. Each bright blue...

MSI 845E Max2: motherboard. (First Looks).
July 1, 2002... MSI is one of the quickest vendors to market with new technologies and has wasted no time with this motherboard based on the Intel 845E chipset. It is designed to work with DDR memory up to PC2100 and 478-pin package Pentium 4 processors, and...

Pioneer DVR-A04: DVD writer. (First Looks).
July 1, 2002... Both DVD-R/RW and CD-R/RW capable, the DVR-A04 burns DVD-R discs at 2x (roughly the equivalent of 18x CD-R), DVD-RW discs at 1x, CD-R discs at 8x and CD-RW discs at 4x. CD read speeds are 24x and the DVD-ROM read speed is 6x. High-end users...

Tips and tricks for KDE3. (Linuxworld).
July 1, 2002... KDE3 is the latest version of the popular K Desktop Environment for Linux, and increasingly is becoming the standard desktop environment for most new Linux distributions. This month we present a number of tips and tricks to help you get the...

Dilbert.
July 1, 2002... PSSST YES COME IN AND SHUT THE DOOR. I BOUGHT A FAKE VIDEO SURVEILLANCE CAMERA. INSTALL IT IN THE BREAK ROOM TONIGHT. IT'S CHEAPER THAN A REAL CAMERA AND IT WILL DISCOURAGE THEFTS. IF YOU TREAT EMPLOYEES LIKE...

It's an ad ad ad ad world: welcome to pop-up purgatory: why ads are taking over the Web--and how to take back your browser. (Web & You).
July 1, 2002... Guess how many ad impressions--ads loaded into Web browsers--are generated in just one week? How does over 24 billion sound? If you feel that a disproportionate percentage of those ads are hitting you square in the face, you're not alone. ...

300 issues strong: three hundred issues of PC World and what have we got to show for it? Just a pretty thorough history of an exciting, unpredictable and sometimes frustrating time--the birth and evolution of the PC. Take a trip down memory lane with us that lays out the history of the PC in the pages of PC World.
July 1, 2002... When Australian PC World's first issue appeared in April 1984, personal computing was gaining serious momentum. The PC had been around a few years, although the Mac made its first appearance in that year, bringing with it a taste of the...

Super Windows secrets: 50+ smart tips that unleash Windows' hidden powers --whether you've upgraded to XP or not.
July 1, 2002... Call it the Clark Kent syndrome: hidden beneath Windows' mild-mannered exterior lurks an operating system that's more powerful than a locomotive. Unleashing Windows' superpowers lets you work more smartly, whether you use XP or one of its...

Screen gems.
July 1, 2002... In the market for a new monitor? Can't decide between a trusty CRT or a glossy new LCD? Read on for our guide to the technology and changing market--and then turn to our Best Buys CRT reviews on page 105. If you're looking to buy a new...

Designer goods: these days, publishing is anyone's game. This month, PC World reviews the latest crop of desktop publishing programs, ranging from entry-level software designed for creating template-based newsletters and flyers to packages used by the professionals.
July 1, 2002... Desktop publishing, otherwise known as DTP, is the process of designing page layouts for print. It's a bit of a misnomer--`publishing' involves a good deal more than just designing pages--but the term was coined when practically all...

Now screening: previewing the latest monitors. (Best Buys).
July 1, 2002... Monitors To get the most out of higher refresh rates at greater colour depths, most people will upgrade their 17in monitor to either a high-end 17in monitor or--for roughly the same money--a low-end 19in monitor. This month's Best Buys...

Over $4000 home. (Best Buys).
July 1, 2002... Altech computers home P4 2.2GHz. (Over $4000 Home) pc world BEST BUYS * [1] The machine's grunt comes from a Pentium 4 2.2GHz CPU, which sits in an ASUS P4S333 motherboard featuring an SiS 645a chipset. It is based on DDR SDRAM...

Over $4000 business. (Best Buys).
July 1, 2002... Plus Corporation Stealth G14 pc world BEST BUYS * [1] Housed in a stealth black full tower case that offers plenty of opportunity for expansion, the Stealth G14 is a powerhouse machine for the professional user and is well supported by...

$2001-$4000 home. (Best Buys).
July 1, 2002... Altech Computers Home P4 2GHz pc world BEST BUYS * [1] Altech has created a system for the enthusiast and garner based on a huge full-tower ATX case. Its size is such that you will, ideally, have to place the unit on the floor. It's a...

$2001-$4000 business. (Best Buys).
July 1, 2002... Acer Veriton 7200 pc world BEST BUYS * [1] This machine contains a vast feature set and is very generous in connectivity and storage. An ATA100 Seagate hard drive is installed with a total capacity of 80GB. A CD-ReWriter is installed...

Sub-$2000 home. (Best Buys).
July 1, 2002... Marvel Computers 1700XP Home pc world BEST BUYS * [1] NEW This inexpensive yet potent machine boasts a strong configuration in an expandable and easy-to-use ATX midtower case that is well suited to budget seekers who want a basic...

Sub-$2000 business. (Best Buys).
July 1, 2002... IPS A1700-Bis pc world BEST BUY * [1] This simply-configured machine from IPS Intelligent Systems performed consistently in our 20 and 3D tests, which is indicative of a reliable platform. It utilises AMD Athlon XP 1700+ CPU...

Over $6000. (Best Buys).
July 1, 2002... Toshiba Satellite 5100 pc world BEST BUYS * [1] The $6299 Satellite 15100 boasts the Intel Pentium 4 Mobile (P4-M) processor running at 1.7GHz, 256MB of DDR (Double Data Rate) RAM, a 40GB bard disk and an NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go 440...

$3001-$6000. (Best Buys).
July 1, 2002... Dell Inspiron 8200 pc world BEST BUYS [1] Our test 8200 shipped with 256MB of DDR RAM from a maximum 1024MB. Graphics are delivered courtesy of an NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go graphics controller with 64MB of DDR memory, which returned an...

Sub-$3000. (Best Buys).
July 1, 2002... Digital Star PowerNote 240MDT pc world BEST BUYS [1] Featuring an Intel Pentium III 1GHz processor, 256MB of RAM, a 20GB hard disk, a 14.1in display and an SiS 630 graphics chipset (which can share a maximum of 64MB with main memory),...

Best buys.
July 1, 2002... Although Thin Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Displays (TFT LCDs) are becoming ever more popular, and despite the fact that some of the major CRT manufacturers have decided to cease production, cathode ray tube monitors remain popular among...

17 in monitors. (Best Buys).
July 1, 2002... AOC 7Klr At $359, this is the absolutely lowest priced monitor in the review and, at 16kg, also the lightest. The 7Klr is a flat-screen tube using an Invar shadow mask with a O.25mm dot pitch, it is a surprisingly capable monitor for the...

19in monitors. (Best buys).
July 1, 2002... Hansol 920P You wouldn't think the 920P, distributed by Samsung Australia, is on the lower end of the price scale once you've used it. The standard 19in CRT tube uses an Invar shadow mask with a 0.26mm dot pitch. Boasting 18in of viewable...

Auto lockdown. (Security Update).
July 1, 2002... This month we are pleased to welcome Kieran McNamee on board as a columnist for Here's How Windows XP Home. He is the author of PC World's Windows XP MiniBook, a comprehensive guide that has assisted tonnes of readers to transition to...

Enlarging your desktop area. (Upgrader).
July 1, 2002... Improving your display device is perhaps the most important upgrade you will undertake, whether it be your monitor or your graphics adapter, or both. No one wants to stare at a poorly aligned, low-resolution, flickering screen. When it comes to...

Essential online resources. (In Depth).
July 1, 2002... One of the key areas of my role at PC World is to stay a step ahead of the latest technology and product trends. This month I share the secrets of accessing the resources you need on the Net--and getting the most from them. A good starting...

Automatic updates. (Windows XP Home).
July 1, 2002... Why update? It is important to keep Windows XP current so that your system is protected from any potential security holes, so it remains resilient to possible driver conflicts (especially for new hardware releases), and so your operating system...

Scheduling disk defragging. (Windows XP Pro).
July 1, 2002... One small but very welcome improvement in Windows XP Professional over Windows 2000 Professional is the ability to run the disk defragmenter through the command line. Yes, finally you can schedule disk defragging to take place at regular...

Introduction to virtual PC 5. (MAC OS).
July 1, 2002... Many PC-based applications such as Microsoft Office now have Mac OS X-native equivalents, which has greatly alleviated previously common compatibility issues when working with both PCs and Macs. So, why do you need Virtual PC environment? From...

Filtering Web banner ads. (Linux).
July 1, 2002... In conjunction with this month's Web and You feature on blocking Web ads, we look at some methods of bypassing these annoyances in a Linux world. Web advertisements can be removed using software that acts as a filter. This software is known as...

Text to speech tools. (Audio).
July 1, 2002... Ideal for the visually impaired or people who have tired eyes from staring at monitors or reading large documents, text to speech (TTS) tools let your computer read aloud to you. While computer-synthesised voices are still a long way from...

Photoshop 7 browser. (Graphics).
July 1, 2002... The latest version of Adobe's flagship graphics program has just hit the shelves and many people may be wondering what's new in the program. As with any new release, there are some improvements, but one of the most significant features is the...

Preparing to go live. (HTML).
July 1, 2002... Throughout the recent HTML columns, we have investigated the code necessary to create your site. Up to this point, however, you have only been creating pages on your local machine. We haven't yet looked at how you post this site to the Internet...

PostgreSQL address book. (PHP).
July 1, 2002... Last month we looked extensively at interacting with the PostgreSQL relational database; now we look at integrating this into our ongoing project --a database-driven address book. First, we will have to create a table in the PostgreSQL database...

Is that to watch here, or to go? (Digital Video).
July 1, 2002... Once you have captured your precious' footage, what do you do next? The options for video storage/distribution depend on whether you want everyone in the world to see your pride and joy immediately, or keep the moment forever. VHS tapes...

Operating systems. (Helpscreen).
July 1, 2002... Windows 98 Terminating thread error Q From time to time I get the following error message after starting Windows 98: "Terminating thread due to a stack overflow problem. A vxd possibly recently installed has consumed too much stack...

Office applications. (Helpscreen).
July 1, 2002... Word 2002 Assign a shortcut key to a style If you find yourself using the same style over and over again, you can save yourself some time by assigning that style to a shortcut key combination. Then, whenever you want to apply the...

Hardware. (Helpscreen).
July 1, 2002... Don't forget the drivers Q I took out the CD-ROM drive of my computer and replaced it with a Toshiba DVD-ROM. Now, whenever t start the PC, I see a startup message that says: "Device Name = OEMCD001. Interface Board or CD-ROM Drive is not...

Internet. (Helpscreen).
July 1, 2002... IE's custom security disabled Q I use Internet Explorer 5.5. Under the Security tab of Internet Options the two buttons for custom security are greyed-out. All was working correctly until I received an e-mail that sent me to a Web page,...

General. (Helpscreen).
July 1, 2002... Banish the bloat Software today has become so space-hungry some IT funnyman coined the term "bloatware" to describe it. We've got a foolproof method that puts all those overweight applications on a crash diet. It's called UPX, a free...

Troubleshooting Windows XP. (BackBytes Books).
July 1, 2002... BY STEPHEN W. SAGMAN Publisher: Microsoft Press Price: $49.95 Phone: 13 2058 URL: www.microsoft.com/australia/mspress ISBN: 073561492X If you want a book with maximum handholding when it comes to navigating XP, this book could be for...

Writing Secure Code. (Back Bytes, Books).
July 1, 2002... BY MICHAEL HOWARD AND DAVID LEBLANC Publisher: Microsoft Press Price: $99.95 Phone: 13 2058 URL: www.microsoft.com/australia/mspress ISBN: 0735615888 Microsoft has come in for some seriously bad press over the past couple of years for...

The pattern on the stone: the simple ideas that make computers work. (On The Shelf).
July 1, 2002... BY W. DANIEL HILLS Given enough time and enough space it would be possible to build a computer using water pipes, valves and a high-pressure water supply. Or even using sticks and strings. It's even possible, as the 19th century pioneer...

Soft skills audience increases. (Skills).
July 1, 2002... Online learning has graduated from providing IT skills courses to adding libraries of personal development and business courses, which are commonly termed `soft skills'. This informal term covers non-IT related business skills such as...

Digsville. (Web).
July 1, 2002... Home exchange seems like one of those ideas tailor-made for the Internet and the people behind Digsville have identified a business opportunity in hooking up people from around the world for home exchanges via the Web. Visitors can browse the...

MDtravelhealth.com. (Web).
July 1, 2002... Continuing our travel theme in this month's Web reviews is a site that will help you prepare for your destination. Surf to MDtravelhealth.com for details on which jabs you'll need before you travel, as well as potential health problems you may...

The Dream Dictionary. (Web).
July 1, 2002... Ever had a strange dream and wondered what it meant? The Dream Dictionary at MSN provides a cute tool for dream interpretation. All you need to do is type some keywords from your dream in the box and hit `go'--the site will then present some...

The Acronym Database. (Web).
July 1, 2002... Baffled by ATM, GPRS, or XML? A visit to The Acronym Database may shed some light on these sometimes-incomprehensible abbreviations. The computing and technology industry has a reputation for over-fondness for acronyms (some would say abuse)...

Literary lite. (Editor's Choice).
July 1, 2002... Some of the best places to look for good book reviews are the sites of leading newspapers of the world, These papers, sometimes referred to as newspapers of record, offer some of the best criticism--and the beauty of the Web is that you can now...

Panasonic clear speaker. (Gadgets & Gizmos).
July 1, 2002... Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic) has developed a pneumatically-driven, transparent flat-panel speaker that could mean large, bulky speakers become a thing of the past. The new speaker consists of a transparent panel mounted in front...

Microsoft Office Keyboard. (Gadgets & Gizmos).
July 1, 2002... This is perfect for the lazy Microsoft Office user. Office XP functionality is integrated into the Office Keyboard in the form of two dedicated Office XP keys--Task Pane and Office. The Office Keyboard also includes new hot keys--Word and...

Aten 4-port Hi-Speed USB 2.0 hub. (Gadgets & Gizmos).
July 1, 2002... The Hi-Speed USB 2.0 hub by Aten provides four USB 2.0 ports for folk who like living in the fast lane. Users will certainly notice a difference in connectivity speeds: USB 2.0 offers speeds of 480Mbps, a helluva lot quicker than the 12Mbps...