http://www.ComputerBob.com/journal_archive/2005/09.php .
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If you have your own Web site, you should take a look at
SitePoint's excellent article,
My Top Ten CSS Tricks.
Although I had already been using several of those tips on this site, I had never seen Tip #2 before, so I was very happy to edit
my CSS file to replace several lines of clunky
Box Model Hack code with
the 2 simple lines that the article describes. SitePoint also publishes
several helpful free newsletters.
My September 19, Journal entry, describing the disk imaging software that I recently bought, is now a separate article,
ComputerBob's Review Of Image For DOS Software..
My September 19, Journal entry described how I had chosen to buy and use
Image For DOS
software to make backups of my entire Windows 98 SE system. In response, Randy Stafford (Rdsok) wrote a post in my
Forums, describing the method that he uses to make backups of Windows 95/98/SE/ME systems, using totally
free software. Late last night, Randy and I collaborated online for several hours, and turned his great forum post into an
excellent article,
How To Clone A Win95-WinME System, a very welcome addition to my
Guest Articles section. Randy is a computer support professional who volunteers his spare time to help users
in the AVG Antivirus Support Forums. He is also
the author of another excellent Guest Article,
How To Clean An Infected Computer. Do yourself a favor and read both of Randy's
articles.
On Friday, I installed and connected a TV in my office / exercise room / TV room (which was formerly my mother's bedroom, when
she lived with my wife and me for 10 1/2 months). The job entailed installing a new 3-way cable TV splitter under the soffit behind
my house, and then running a 50-foot RG6 coaxial cable from it, all the way around to my office, which is in the front-right
corner of the house. Then, I had to drill 4 holes in the cinder block wall inside my office, for the 4 heavy duty masonry screws
that hold my new TV wall mount about 5 feet up the wall in one corner of my office. Once I got the wall mount installed, I drilled
a 1/2-inch hole about 6 inches away from it, all the way through my office's outside wall. After that, I ran the video cable
through that hole, and mounted and connected a video F-connector plate on the inside of the wall. Then, I really had to struggle to
"clean and jerk"
my 27" color TV up onto the wall mount. A few minutes later, while I was still catching my breath, I thought, "I really
should have asked my next-door neighbor and buddy, Mike, to help me with that." Oh, well,
live and learn -- I'll know better next time.
This Journal entry is now a separate article,
ComputerBob's Review of Image For DOS.
Often, the more features a developer adds to a piece of software, the more unexpected problems they introduce into that
software. That appears to be the case with
ZoneLabs
ZoneAlarm firewall. I've used and recommended
the basic version
of ZoneAlarm for many years, and my main computer runs the last-known problem-free version of it
(5.5.094),
which was released this past April. In the past few months, ZoneLabs has released three v6.0.xx upgrades that have added
several new features.
Unfortunately, so many people have
reported serious problems
with those newer versions that many have chosen to follow a detailed
clean uninstall process
to completely remove them from their PCs and go back to using v5.5.094.
For the past few years, fans of Microsoft operating systems have anxiously awaited the long-delayed Windows Vista (previously
known as Windows Longhorn), which will eventually replace Windows XP. With Vista rumored to be scheduled for release in December
2006, MS has
reportedly revealed Vista's marketing plans and minimum hardware requirements. I guess Microsoft figures that the only two
questions we all need to ask ourselves are, "Which one of the
seven different versions of Vista
will be the best one for me?" and "Where will I get the money to buy
the whole new computer
that I will need to be able to run Vista?" As "a power user" who still happily chooses to use Windows 98 SE on my main computer,
I'd like to suggest that we might also want to ask ourselves, "Do I actually need another costly new version of Windows?"
I've said it before, but it's worth saying again. My wife and I are very blessed to be living in our dream home, but it
wouldn't be much of a dream home without good neighbors. Years ago, a previous owner planted
a palm tree in our back yard, less than a foot
inside our property line. Over the years, as it grew to a height of 25 feet, with a trunk nearly 2 feet in diameter, it split
the fence between our yard and the yard of our
next-door neighbors, Mike and Annamarie. In addition, several times each year, it created 100-pound seed pods that dropped
hundreds of cherry sized seeds into both yards. Their dogs ate those seeds, which caused them to throw up early every morning.
Even
though the tree was totally my responsibility, Mike helped me cut it down Friday morning, using his electric chain saw. Then he
started cutting off its fronds and seed pods while I dragged them to the front yard, to be picked up by the city. A couple
minutes later, Charles from across the street, who had seen and heard the tree fall, came over with his gas-powered chain saw.
Though he's in his mid-seventies, Charles cut the entire tree into 3-foot sections that Mike and I
carried and rolled to my front yard. Annamarie shot a great video
of "the final cut" (3MB WMV file). So, thanks to my neighbors, a difficult job that I thought I would have to do alone, became
"a neighborhood project." No matter how rich you are, you could never buy neighbors better than ours.
Today, it was announced that, on September 2, Bob Denver died of complications resulting from cancer treatment. If
his name sounds familiar, it's probably because you remember him playing
the title role
in a much-loved, 1960's TV sitcom. To me, he was like an old friend who I never met. Rest in peace, Bob.
Recent archaeological findings have concluded that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals
coexisted in
central France for at least 1,000 years. Insert your own dumb joke here.
