Australian PC World articles from March 2002

Australian PC World archives from March 2002

Bagging a bargain: are the best things in life still free? There are still plenty of software offerings online that provide great tools and functionality, and cost a fraction of the price of their on-the-shelf cousins -- some are even free. Like any canny shopper, you just have to know where to look! (Editorial).
March 1, 2002... So, you want to bag a bargain? The growth of the Net has seen many services, programs and software -- which in earlier PC days would have cost a fortune, and had a fraction of the functionality -- available for virtually nothing. Although...

Apple lights up new iMac. (news).
March 1, 2002... Having promised a new consumer product that is "innovative, revolutionary and different", Apple has taken the wraps off a redesigned iMac -- which looks more like a desk lamp than a desktop computer. The new machine swivels, bends and...

Hitachi joins the PDA ranks. (news).
March 1, 2002... Hitachi will enter the intensely competitive PDA market later this year with a product based on Microsoft's new Windows CE .NET operating system. The prototype PDA was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). In November 2000...

Government misplaces fewer notebooks.
March 1, 2002... The number of Commonwealth owned or leased notebook computers reported lost or stolen in 2000-2001 has dropped, In the past year, 541 notebooks from Government departments and agencies were reported missing. This is well down on the 1035 lost...

Virus infects Flash files.
March 1, 2002... Antivirus software vendors say they have spotted the first proof-of-concept computer virus that uses Macromedia's Shockwave Flash files to transmit itself. The virus was identified as SWF/ LFM-926 by Sophos after it received a sample via...

Hewlett urges `no' vote.
March 1, 2002... In his first direct, written communication to Hewlett-Packard shareholders, Walter B. Hewlett, son of Hewlett-Packard co-founder William R. Hewlett, is urging stockholders to vote against the proposed merger with Compaq, a merger that he said...

Hercules dumps NVIDIA for ATI. (News Analysis).
March 1, 2002... Hercules Technologies has stopped using chips from NVIDIA on its graphics boards, announcing that it will use ones from ATI Technologies instead. "We're not going to be using NVIDIA chips anymore," Hercules spokeswoman Tali Fischer said....

Intel shows mobile P4-based notebooks.
March 1, 2002... Intel has confirmed that the mobile Pentium 4 processor is on track for launch in the first half of this year, starting with a 1.5GHz version of the processor and moving up to 2GHz by year's end, said Don MacDonald, director of marketing for...

LCD shortage looms. (News Analysis).
March 1, 2002... Consumers looking to purchase LCD flat panel displays in volume this year could face sudden price increases or a lack of product availability due to an impending worldwide LCD shortage, according to industry vendors. LCD makers Philips,...

PCs still game. (News Analysis).
March 1, 2002... Despite a surge of interest in new games platforms such as PlayStation2 and the upcoming Xbox, the PC games market is standing firm against these flashier devices. Although spending a year competing with PS2 and the more recent Game Boy...

Toshiba develops 30GB rewritable optical disc.
March 1, 2002... Toshiba has developed a new rewritable optical disc with a capacity of 30GB per layer per side, and a companion read/write optical head that incorporates a blue laser. The new optical disc, which measures 12cm in diameter, has a capacity...

Microsoft has Lindows problems.
March 1, 2002... A legal tussle has broken out between Microsoft and Lindows.com, developers of a version of the Linux operating system that can also run applications written for Microsoft's Windows operating system. Microsoft sued Lindows in a Washington,...

External sound card debuts. (News Analysis).
March 1, 2002... High-quality computer audio is no longer limited to desktop PCs. Notebook users and owners of non-expandable PCs will be able to get the same audio experience, thanks to a new product from Creative Labs. The Sound Blaster Extigy (priced at...

Holiday snaps on tap. (News Analysis).
March 1, 2002... People can easily share quality digital images -- with or without a digital camera -- thanks to a new photographic service by Hanimex, distributor of Fujifilm. Traditional camera buffs who take a roll of film to a Fujifilm development lab...

Robot guide for Japanese museum.
March 1, 2002... Japan's National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (NMESI), which opened in July 2001 in Tokyo, has a new employee -- a humanoid robot named Asimo. Asimo, unveiled in 2000, is an 11th-generation robot developed by Honda Motor,...

Norwegians indict teen creator of DeCSS.
March 1, 2002... In a case likely to heighten the debate over where fair use rules end and copyright infringement begins, in January Norwegian authorities indicted 18-year-old Jon Johansen for crimes related to a program he created that descrambles DVD code,...

Pacific Internet SDSL reviewed. (broadband).
March 1, 2002... Pacific Internet (www.pacific. net.au) has brought to the ISP market SDSL (Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line), a DSL service that has equivalent upload and download rates of 512Kbps. The service is aimed at individuals as well as small to...

Optus trials new broadband service.
March 1, 2002... Rumours abound that Optus will be rolling out an ADSL service in conjunction with its existing cable broadband offering. The provider confirmed that, late last year, it completed a proof of concept trial for delivery of some services over...

MEGAwatt joins ADSL ranks.
March 1, 2002... ISP XiS has joined the ADSL fold, launching its broadband service, MEGAwatt, in January. XiS has chosen to go through DataFast for the wholesale supply of bandwidth and data. The company claims to offer a cost-effective service, compared to...

Born-again porn. (porn sites).
March 1, 2002... Over the years, purveyors of Internet porn have employed various unusual and aggressive techniques in order to convince people to buy their wares. Some have also used simple credit card scares or more technical approaches like ISP rediallers...

Brits get me.uk domain. (online news).
March 1, 2002... Individuals looking for an online identity now have their own space in the UK domain, after me.uk opened for registration. An overwhelming majority of the members of the UK's national registry Nominet, most of whom are Internet service...

ABS: subscribers up, ISPs down. (online news).
March 1, 2002... The number of Internet subscribers continue to rise in Australia, while the number of ISPs, despite the subscriber growth, have fallen quite rapidly, according to latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The number of...

NorthernLight.com to end free Web searches. (online news).
March 1, 2002... After providing free Web searches to the public for the last six years, Northern Light Technology is moving to a pay-for-service model that will focus on custom online searches for businesses. The company scheduled the end of its free public...

VeriSign adds .tv to its top-level domain holdings. (online news).
March 1, 2002... VeriSign has acquired .tv Corporation International, holder of the .tv domain name, expanding the digital trust service provider's top-level domain name offerings. VeriSign, whose Global Registry already manages Web addresses in the .com,...

Will a DDR deluge sideline Rambus? (tech.files).
March 1, 2002... Time is running out for Rambus. Motherboards based on Intel's long-awaited 845-D chipset (officially launched in January), which provides double data rate synchronous dynamic RAM support for the Pentium 4 processor, are reaching markets around...

Optics speed data transfer on chips. (tech.news).
March 1, 2002... Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, US have developed a technique that allows them to use light, rather than electricity, to send data between microchips. The technology will greatly increase the speed at which data...

Ricoh Caplio RR1: CCD camera. (first looks).
March 1, 2002... This 4-megapixel CCD camera has the capacity to take greatly detailed images at resolutions up to 2272x1704. It isn't limited just to stills: its rich feature set gives it the versatility to bring you both sound and video recording capabilities...

Adaptec DVpics Plus, MGI VideoWave 5.0, Roxio VideoPack 5.0, Veritas RecordNow MAX: DVD authoring software. (First Looks).
March 1, 2002... With standalone DVD players gradually replacing VHS recorders in the living room, more of us are dabbling with DVD authoring -- making DVDs from digital video footage. Armed with a combination CD-RW/DVD-RW drive and four DVD authoring packages...

Guillemot Hercules XPS210: speaker system. (First Looks).
March 1, 2002... In this era of digital sound, multiple speaker sound systems, decoders and multi-jack sound cards, there is still some joy to be found in the simpler audio things. One such example is the Hercules XPS210 speaker system designed for multimedia...

Maxtor 80GB 7200rpm hard drive: hard drive kit. (First Looks).
March 1, 2002... The mantra by which many computer enthusiasts live is that too much hard disk space is never enough. The onslaught of the digital revolution and the introduction of heavyweight operating systems and applications has ensured that the hard drive...

Encyclopaedia Britannica 2002 Deluxe Edition and Encarta Reference Library 2002: reference CDS. (First Looks).
March 1, 2002... Once upon a time, parents hoping to improve their children's' chances at school would dutifully order a multi-tome encyclopedia. Encyclopedia companies prospered, employing countless salesmen around the world to sell their products. ...

HiTi Photo Printer 630PL: photo printer. (First Looks).
March 1, 2002... The 630PL is a dedicated USB photo printer that uses special media stock in conjunction with dye diffusion thermal transfer print technology to produce standard 6x4in photos. This makes it an ideal companion for digital cameras, especially...

Creative Blaster CD-RW ED2400 and TDK VeloCD: CD drives. (First Looks).
March 1, 2002... If you're looking for a solid, portable, external CD burner with buffer underrun protection and dual connectivity (and don't mind forking out $699), look no further than Creative's Blaster CD-RW ED2400. This drive, weighing little less...

Here's looking at you, Webvan: there are Web sites that I'm sad to see go -- and some that I'm not. (Opinions Web Wise).
March 1, 2002... By all accounts, 2001 was a Darwinian year for the Web. The well run and (dare I say) lucky companies with a good idea made it, while hundreds that had no business even dreaming of making a debut on the stock exchange fell off the face of the...

The source is everything: the uprising of support for widespread adoption of Linux will be led by decision-makers who demand access to source code. Vive la revolution! (Opinions The Open Source).
March 1, 2002... I predict that Linux will eventually be at the foundation of nearly every enterprise system and then the whole issue of which server operating system to choose will disappear into ambient background noise. It's not often that I make predictions...

Registering Amorphium. (Reader's forum).
March 1, 2002... I would like you to be made aware that the full version of Amorphium cannot be registered at the Amorphium (Electric Image) site. Despite sending the company two e-mails (no reply), I have not found a way to activate the program. If I have...

Broadband restrictions. (Reader's forum).
March 1, 2002... First, I want to say that the magazine is amazing. I am writing in regard to Telstra/ Foxtel's decision to restrict the usage of its broadband service to all customers. This restriction was to limit the usage of their service to three...

Dilbert.
March 1, 2002... CATBERT: EVIL H.R. DIRECTOR WALLY, OUR AUDITORS FOUND 40 GIGABITS OF BIKINI PICTURES ON YOUR PC. THAT IS GROUNDS OR DISMISSAL. HOW DO YOU PLEAD? INNOCENT. TECHNICALLY, THEY DIDN'T FIND ANY PICTURES. WHAT THEY FOUND WERE...

Subscription surprise. (Reader's forum).
March 1, 2002... It is with considerable delight that I received the Xerox DocuPrint M750 printer [one of PC World's subscription prizes in the November 2001 issue] an hour or so ago. I wish to thank you and everyone at PC World for this fantastic gift....

No go for Microsoft SPs and SRs. (Reader's forum).
March 1, 2002... You include many patches on PC World magazine's CD but as yet I haven't seen the Microsoft Office 2000 service packs, which would be useful. - Matti In order to protect myself against Microsoft's incompetence in putting security holes in...

Missive of the month. (Letters).
March 1, 2002... Congratulations Craig Burfoot! You are this month's winner of a year's subscription to PC World worth $66. We are pleased to receive your letters, but please keep them to less than 300 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for...

PDFs -- a quiet revolution: the PDF format is slowly changing the way in which documents are distributed, printed and managed. So, what exactly are PDF files, how are they produced and why is the format so successful? (Feature Web And You).
March 1, 2002... PDF stands for `Portable Document Format'. This bland name is the result of a nagging issue that has haunted computer users for years -- file incompatibility. The problem still plagues users, but it was once a whole lot worse. In the early...

The handheld hotlist: in the market for a PDA? Check out our look at the latest handhelds. (Feature Handheld PDAs).
March 1, 2002... What's new in the world of handhelds? Last year the big topic was Internet connectivity, but no one is sure what the next big breakthrough will be. "A lot of the industry is waiting for the next big thing to come along," said Travis...

Word processing wonder. (Office).
March 1, 2002... Word processing wonder AbiWord 3.4MB ***** While Microsoft's Word grows fatter with seldom-used features, AbiSource's AbiWord (www.abisource.com) holds appeal as a trim yet capable, no-cost program. It's nimble, installs quickly,...

Uncharted territory. (Office).
March 1, 2002... Uncharted territory Flow LT 4 10.6MB ***** Punch up even the driest text with IMSI's Flow LT 4 (www.imsisoft.com/ free), a free program that lets you create simple flowcharts by dragging and dropping any of 25 symbols to a diagram...

Shareware essentials.
March 1, 2002... If you have to limit which software you download, here are five must-haves your PC shouldn't compute without. COOKIE CRUSHER www.thelimitsoft.com/cookie.html Sort the good cookies from the bad with this simple but effective $US15...

Days of our lives. (Office).
March 1, 2002... Days of our lives Happy Calendar 2MB ***** Forget your troubling schedule and get happy -- Happy Calendar (www.jimjams.com/xhaca.html), that is. This free tool ($US20 if you decide to keep it) from Jimjams has day, week, month and...

Project management 101. (Office).
March 1, 2002... Project management 101 ProjeX 97 306KB ***** Need a project time line but don't have the hours required to grapple with Microsoft Project? You'll love WAA's ProjeX 97 (http://waa-inc.com). The program downloads and installs nearly...

Desktop publishing made easy. (Office).
March 1, 2002... Desktop publishing made easy Publish-It 1.3MB ***** Do you find creating a newsletter or brochure tedious? Poster Software's Publish-It (www.postersw.com/ publish.html) makes the task fun, with text effects, colour support,...

Words are cheap. (Office).
March 1, 2002... Words are cheap WordSmith 2.01 2MB ***** Though there are plenty of document viewers for Palm handhelds and even a few apps with a small amount of editing capability, none is as fully-featured as Blue Nomad's WordSmith 2.01...

What a way with words. (Office).
March 1, 2002... What a way with words WordWeb 4.4MB ***** When only the right word will do, there's WordWeb (www.wordweb.co. uk/free), a free combination dictionary and thesaurus that lets you explore words and their relationships. The tabbed...

Kill adware dead. (Utilities).
March 1, 2002... Kill adware dead Ad-aware 5.62 837KB ***** Some programs may install files on your hard drive that secretly download ads. Makers of Web tools such as Usenet readers, instant messaging programs, and Napster clones use the advertising...

Tips for hassle-free downloads.
March 1, 2002... * Beware of "spyware" -- ads in shareware programs that send information to advertisers. If you see banner ads in the software and prefer not to impart personal information, uninstall the program or download Ad-aware (see review). * Look...

The cookie patrol. (Utilities).
March 1, 2002... The cookie patrol Cookie Crusher 2.6b 1.1MB ***** Some day, all browsers may make it easy to sort through the cookies that Web sites use to identify you and track your browsing habits. In the interim, The Limit Software's $US15...

Trusty virus defender. (Utilities).
March 1, 2002... Trusty virus defender EZ Antivirus 3.9MB ***** For an efficient and reliable virus scanner, get ETrust's $US20 EZ Antivirus (www.my-etrust.com) program. In our recent tests, it quickly scanned a virus-infested hard drive, caught...

File management on steroids. (Utilities).
March 1, 2002... File management on steroids PowerDesk 4 1.1MB ***** You'll never feel the need to open Windows Explorer again once you start using Ontrack's free PowerDesk 4 File Manager (www.ontrack.com/ powerdesk). It has many customisation...

Scrubbing off ads. (Utilities).
March 1, 2002... Scrubbing off ads WebWasher 3 1.2MB ***** As advertising revenues have dwindled on the Internet, the ads have got more aggressive. They blink, pop up, and barge into your browser page. Scrub away pesky ads with WebWasher 3...

Files side-by-side. (Utilities).
March 1, 2002... Files side-by-side Comparator 508KB ***** I must have a million and a half files on my hard drive, a bunch of which are duplicates, or at least kissing cousins. There are lots of utilities that ferret out the dupes automatically,...

Show some skin. (Utilities).
March 1, 2002... Show some skin WindowBlinds 2.2 1.3MB ***** Tired of Microsoft's taste in interfaces? Redecorate. Stardock's WindowBlinds 2.2 (www.windowblinds.net) lets you apply skins that give Windows new graphics, detailing, and colours --...

Rev up the Windows key. (Utilities).
March 1, 2002... Rev up the Windows Key WinKey 1.2MB ***** On most PCs, the function of the key is limited to opening the Start menu and some folders. Copernic Technologies' free WinKey program (www.copernic.com/winkey) will give you a reason to...

Sheltered system. (Utilities).
March 1, 2002... Sheltered system ZoneAlarm 2.6 2.8MB ***** Zone Labs' free (for personal use) ZoneAlarm 2.6 (www.zonelabs.com) can give you some hacker protection. It blocks attacks from the outside and guards against dangers that originate within...

Play it again, Sam. (Leisure).
March 1, 2002... Play it again, Sam MusicMatch Jukebox Basic 7 9.9MB ***** MusicMatch Jukebox Basic 7 (www. musicmatch.com) packs plenty of audio power. The streamlined interface lets you navigate your music collection and create playlists. The...

Be a video star. (Leisure).
March 1, 2002... Be a video star VirtualDub 1.4.7 0.7MB ***** VirtualDub 1.4.7 (www.virtualdub.org) helps you capture and clean up video on your PC. For instance, you can remove and replace audio tracks without touching the video, and blur, sharpen,...

Over $4000, $2001-4000, sub-$2000 PCs. (Best Buys PCS).
March 1, 2002... Faster processors, more memory, greater hard disk space, beefier graphics cams and, of course, a new operating system from Microsoft -- these are just some of the advancements in the PC market over the last year or so that have allowed...

Notebooks. (Best Buys Notebooks).
March 1, 2002... OVER $6000 1 IBM ThinkPad A30p The A series of ThinkPad notebooks has been designed as desktop PC replacements. This is IBM's attempt to provide an affordable alternative to the desktop and at the time of testing the three notebooks...

Multifunction devices. (best buys).
March 1, 2002... So, you've managed to get that little office on the harbour with the killer views that you've always dreamed of, or you've built `the attic office' in the spare space in the roof of your house and you're preparing to arm yourself with the...

The evolution of PIM. (using Linux).
March 1, 2002... A number of high-quality applications have recently been released for the Linux desktop. The latest is Ximian Evolution, a comprehensive personal information manager for GNOME. A powerful and easy-to-use PIM has been noticeably missing from...

Installing a new hard drive: Part 2. (Here's How Upgrader).
March 1, 2002... In last month's Upgrader we went through the physical steps required to install a new or additional hard drive in your computer system. Of course, getting the drive fitted, connected and detected is only part of the job. The most important part...

Slim down your Start menu. (windows 9x).
March 1, 2002... If you regularly scroll through dozens of items on your Start menu every time you open a program, maybe you should think about putting the menu on a diet. Two prime candidates for deletion from the Start menu are your Favorites and...

Basic disk management. (windows 2000).
March 1, 2002... As with other Windows variants, it pays to figure out how to manage Windows 2000 Professional disk storage. You need to manage space effectively and to keep the file system in good shape by defragmenting it (yes, even NTFS volumes). First,...

Using multiple keyboard languages. (windows me).
March 1, 2002... It's not often anyone would need to change the language setup of their keyboard, but it's a handy feature for people who come from non-English speaking backgrounds and who frequently touch base with overseas relatives via e-mail. For example,...

Tweak your interface. (windows xp).
March 1, 2002... Windows XP provides a very friendly user interface and useful management features to keep you working efficiently, hut there is no doubt that some interface features will distract you or push you to the brink of insanity -- especially when you...

Compiling and installing software. (linux).
March 1, 2002... One of the regularly highlighted features of Linux is its open source heritage. Linux, and most of the software available for it, is distributed as source code. This source code needs to be compiled to machine code before it can be run on your...

Using iPhoto 1.0: Part 1. (mac OS).
March 1, 2002... January's Mac Expo saw the debut of more than just sexy new hardware such as the flat screen G4 iMac -- also announced was Apple's latest addition to the iTools utility family, iPhoto. Aimed at making it easier to transfer images from external...

Mixing with GrooveMaker 2.0 SE. (audio).
March 1, 2002... GrooveMaker is a fun music loop remixing tool that comes with a pack of loops and sounds to help you experiment with on-the-fly remixes. While the program can be quite involved if you want to drill down into the features and start to create...

Restoring photographs: Part 1. (graphics).
March 1, 2002... This month's column is the first of a series that will provide a step-by-step tutorial for restoring photographs. The tutorial will draw from tools covered in previous columns, and add some new tips. RESTORING VS. ALTERING If you are...

Introduction to forms. (html).
March 1, 2002... A site that encourages people to keep returning is referred to as being `sticky'. Interactivity is a large contributor to making your site warrant this description -- and one of the most interactive aspects of HTML is forms. They give the user...

Address book revisited. (php).
March 1, 2002... Last month, this column introduced the use of embedded databases within PHP via the Database Abstract (DBA) Layer. This month, we will re-implement Address Book 1 (AB1) (see this column in the December 2001 and January 2002 issues) using this...

Back up to a CD. (Windows 98/ME/2000/XP).
March 1, 2002... Q What's the best way to use a CD-RW drive to create backups? - Charles Green A You don't need to make frequent full backups of your entire hard drive to CD-R or CD-RW discs. Waiting to swap discs manually makes creating such backups a...

Hide Windows Me's logo. (Windows Me).
March 1, 2002... Q In the August 2000 issue, on page 129, you explained how to hide the startup splash screen for Windows 98. Is there a way to do this in Windows Me? - Brandon Schumann A In earlier versions of Windows, you could stop the splash screen...

Macros 101. (Office XP).
March 1, 2002... Soon after my son learned to walk, he padded all over the house, exploring every nook and cranny. One day, he wrapped his chubby little fingers around the corner of the refrigerator door and tugged it open. Delighted, I exclaimed what any...

All your e-mail in one fell swoop. (Internet).
March 1, 2002... Let's face it -- e-mail is the number one use for a personal computer. Lots of us spend hours each day dealing with the dozens, even hundreds, of messages we receive. What makes it worse is that messages arrive through multiple accounts. If...

Chill out. (Hardware).
March 1, 2002... Do the cold, dark days of winter have you dreaming of tropical beaches, sunny deserts -- and the inside of your PC? You read right. The climate inside your computer can rival that of the Outback in summer, and soaring temperatures are bad news...

IE cookie security hole. (bugs & fixes).
March 1, 2002... Want to keep thieves out of your PC's cookie jar? If you use Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6.0, you'll want to close the latest security hole -- one that lets outsiders swipe cookies from your browser. Cookies are the little chunks of data that Web...