| PC
Alert Pointing you to the information you need to know |
| .Issue 1 – 28th September to 11th October 1998 |
Welcome to PC Alert. Our philosophy is simple. In a world awash with information, we alert you to what PC information is really important.
Every day our staff search the Web and scan computer journals looking for information of interest: the latest service releases, new patches for standard applications, great resource sites on the Internet, recent trends, really useful articles in journals, new virus problems. Everything we think is important, reliable and accurate, and that IT professionals should know about, goes into PC Alert.
Every two weeks this information is delivered straight to your desk by email, with all references hyper-linked so that you can go straight to the source.
PC Alert is not an abstracting
service. It’s an alert service. We simply tell you where the important
information is, saving you the tedious job of searching the Internet and wading
through the printed press.
.Issue 1 – 28th September to 11th October 1998
Essential Internet
Our list of sites with important new PC information,
helpful resource files and other items of interest.
Snork – yet another NT security hole
Yup, those hackers just don’t stop looking for loopholes in NT. ‘Tis a shame that Microsoft makes their job so easy.
www.microsoft.com/security/bulletins/ms98-014.htm
Yamaha upgrade “was infected”
Yamaha has apologised after a firmware upgrade for its CD-R drives posted to its Web site was infected with the CIH virus. Read the excuses then check your systems.
Office 2000 – The Hype Begins
All you need to know about the next version, updated regularly.
www.microsoft.com/office/2000/default.asp
IE5 Preview
Want to see how Internet Explorer 5 will perform? Get the latest beta for free.
All the drivers you’ll ever need
links to all the hardware drivers you’ll need, on hundreds of vendor Web sites. Covers Windows 9x now – NT coming soon.
Microsoft Security Advisories
Want an email each time Microsoft announces another security-related bug or patch for one of its products?
www.microsoft.com/security/bulletin.htm
What’s New in IE5
The full list of new features is here.
www.microsoft.com/ie/ie5/overview.htm
Netscape 4.07
The latest version, unless you’d prefer the beta of 4.5. A 15 MB download that brings you a Web browser, email, HTML editor, conferencing and messaging, and it’s all free.
Dial-up Networking Speed Tweaks
TweakDUN will, say its authors, change various registry settings to speed up DUN connections under Windows 9x and NT. Save your company money and your users time.
www.pattersondesigns.com/tweakdun/
Dial-up Networking 1.3
Improved DUN for Windows 95. Now it works like Windows 98’s implementation
ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/mslfiles/msdun13.exe
support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q154/0/91.asp
NT Security Tools In Abundance
Tons of useful apps for NT administrators.
RealSecure 3.0 – Intrusion Detection and Threat Management for NT
Stay one step ahead of the hackers.
www.iss.net/cgi-bin/dbt-display.exe/db_data/press_rel/release/10059896.plt
Microsoft’s New Media Player
Microsoft has updated the Media Player for Windows 95 and 98, which now handles mp3. And unlike the RealAudio player, it won’t fire up your ISDN router in the background 12 times an hour, and cost you heaps in unnoticed and unnecessary phone calls.
www.microsoft.com/windows/mediaplayer
NT FAQ Updated
The ultimate NT resource, updated almost daily. An excellent troubleshooting resource.
Read the docs…
Get the full list of all the major bugs fixed.
support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q151/0/20.asp
…then get the 23 MB download
Here’s the Office 97 Service Release 2 (assuming it’s back online, after it was pulled because so many people couldn’t get it to work)
Shareware for Novell
Dave’s Novell Shareware – the best source for cheap and free NetWare utilities that we’ve found so far.
Sneaky Utilities for NT
Including a FAT32 driver for NT4. And Microsoft said it couldn’t be done.
Cheyenne Patches
Get updated versions of ARCserve, FAXserve, Remotely Possible and Innoculan.
www.cheyenne.com/cheytech/downloads/patches/techptch.html
No More Mr Nice Guy
What does the Network Associates takeover of Dr Solomon’s Software mean for customers?
www.nai.com/products/antivirus/tvd_tng.asp
The best shareware sites we know of
Want to evaluate Web browsers?
They’re all here, and most of them are free.
FTP Search Engine
You know the name of the file you want, but which ftp site is it on?
Meta –search Engine
Search altavista, lycos, yahoo, hotbot, excite, webcrawler and infoseek in one step.
Are all the apps on your machine up to date?
UpdateNow, from IMSI, will check automatically, so long as you download the client software and pay the annual subscription.
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Adaptec Patches
New drivers for Adaptec hardware. HotConnect 8920 driver v1.1 and HotConnect Ultra 8945 driver version 1.13.
www.adaptec.com/support/overview/1394.html
Why won’t our Dell hardware run Win98?
Type in your machine’s serial number and the site will tell you whether it will or won’t.
Support.dell.com/filelib/98upgrade.asp
10 million pages of info online, says Dell
Everything you need to know about keeping your Dell machines running
Support.dell.com/support/tshoot.asp
All the Internet software you need
Looking for Winsock software for use over your Intranet? Try The Ultimate Collection Of Winsock Software.
Essential Reading
Our pick of the best of the world’s IT press articles.
Top 25 E-Commerce Sites
Want to see how it should be done? This article lists the 25 sites which are, in the opinion of the magazine’s staff, the best examples of online trading around.
Internet Business Magazine, October 1998 www.ibmag.co.uk
The Complete PC Troubleshooting Guide
17 pages of tips, tricks and tweaks. Recommended reading for anyone whose job involves looking after users’ PCs.
PC World, October 1998 www.pcworld.com
Server Test
Does a PC sold as a server really have better performance? PC World tests 7, putting them through their paces as file, http and SQL servers. If you’re looking to buy a server for such purposes, this article will save you time and money.
PC World, October 1998 www.pcworld.com
Bugged by Windows 98
Got a user with a problem installing the Windows 98 upgrade? This article highlights some of the most common problems and shows where to go for the solution.
PC World, October 1998 www.pcworld.com
Hardware Reviews
Looking for some new kit? The current issue of PC World has round-up reviews of graphics cards, power desktop PCs, notebooks, 17” monitors and modems. PC Magazine also has a major roundup of 17” monitors.
PC World, October 1998 www.pcworld.com
PC Magazine (UK Edition) www.pcmag.co.uk
Get Yourself Noticed
Tips and techniques for registering your company’s site with the major search engines in the right way to ensure you attract as many visitors as possible. Clicking the “add a site” button on the search engine is the easy part – more difficult is the right choice of keywords for your pages.
World Wide Web Guide Monthly, October 1998 www.webguidemag.com
NT Goes Multi-User
NT 4 Terminal Server Edition, which adds multi-user support, is the subject of an in-depth review in PC Mag’s UK edition.
PC Magazine (UK Edition) www.pcmag.co.uk
Group Tests
November’s issue of PCW looks at 10 450 MHz PCs, 13 3D graphics cards and 7 database software packages.
Personal Computer World (UK), November 1998 www.pcw.co.uk
Free NT Defragger
On the free CD accompanying PC Direct this month, you’ll find a free fully-working copy of Diskeeper Lite, the defragmenter for Windows NT.
PC Direct (UK Edition), October 1998 www.pcdirect.co.uk
IE5 In Depth
If you’re working on implementing an intranet, you’re probably using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as the browser (because it’s free). In MIND, you’ll find a thorough review and description of IE5 (which will ship with NT5 and Office 2000), written by the IE5 SDK development team at Microsoft.
Microsoft Interactive Developer, September 1998 www.microsoft.com/mind
DHTML
Dynamic HTML and, specifically, DHTML Behaviors, are one of the major new features in IE5 and will provide much additional functionality to anyone doing Intranet development for use via Microsoft’s forthcoming browser.
Application Development Advisor, Sept/Oct 1998 www.sigs.com
Get Yourself Through
All you need to know about taking and passing Microsoft exam 70-87, “Implementing and supporting IIS 4.0”.
Windows NT Systems, October 1998 www.ntsystems.com
Scripting in Exchange Server 5.5
A recommended article on how to use scripting to customize your Exchange Server system.
Windows NT Systems, October 1998 www.ntsystems.com
Windows NT Device Drivers
Need a good introduction to NT device drivers, aimed at experienced NT administrators? You’ll find it here.
Windows NT Systems, October 1998 www.ntsystems.com
Choosing a Software Suite
A good look at some of the low cost alternatives to Microsoft Office
Australian Personal Computer, October 1998 www.apcmag.com.au
Secure that NT Web Server
Sixteen steps to securing your NT-based Web Server. Essential reading, whether you’re connected to the outside world or just want to secure your Intranet.
Windows NT Magazine, September 1998 www.winntmag.com
Unattended Install Tricks
The easy way to manage roll-out of new NT software to corporate desktops.
Windows NT Magazine, September 1998 www.winntmag.com
About PC Alert
This compilation is copyright © International Technology Publishing Pty Ltd 1998.
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ITP also publishes PC Support Advisor and PC Network Advisor, the definitive monthly magazines for all IT support professionals. For details, subscription information and sample issues, contact us at one of the addresses above or check out www.itp-journals.com.