NT4 SP6
Service Pack 6 for Windows NT is now out. A 34.5 MB download,
containing a miscellany of new fixes including some non-critical Y2K
updates. If you don't want to download it, and you're a PCNA
subscriber, you'll find the file on the CD-ROM supplied free with PCNA 114.
http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver
Office 97 SR2B
You know all about Service Pack 2 for MS Office 97. Now, there's pack
2b. It has a few new non-critical fixes, but there are so many reported
problems with it that most people are recommending that you don't touch
it. If you insist, you'll find it on Microsoft's site.
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/downloaddetails/sr2off97detail.htm
NT Security Guidelines
Trusted Systems, a US company specialising in security, has a very
useful document on how to configure NT for optimum security. This long,
valuable document, which was written in conjunction with the NSA, can be
downloaded for free.
http://www.trustedsystems.com/NSAGuide.htm
Forum Directory
Lots of Web sites now have online discussion forums, providing the power of
Usenet with the friendliness of Web browsing. ForumOne has a directory of
over 300,000 Web-based forums - an ideal place to start a research project.
http://www.forumone.com
Sniff This
You'll swear this is a joke, but apparently it's not. The next big
thing to hit Web browsing will, apparently, be smells. A small box sits on
your desk,
containing various jars of oils and some small fans. It'll mix and radiate
smells rather like an inkjet printers makes thousands of colours from 4 pots of
ink.
http://www.digiscents.com
Personal Web Storage
iDrive is a free site that lets you create your own virtual, private disk
drive on the host's server. You can then copy whatever you like onto the
drive. And the service is free. A great way to swap files with
colleagues who are away from the office if you can't get to grips with email
attachments, but make sure you use some decent encryption just in case someone's
watching. You can even host Web pages from your iDrive.
http://www.idrive.com
Ten Four
You've installed a sound card on a user's PC and you're looking for
something fun to test it with. Fire up the Web browser and listen to live
real-time intercepted traffic from the police radios in LA and New York.
http://www.policescanner.com
McAfee Clinic
McAfee Clinic is a new product for protecting users' PCs from crashes and
viruses, and it will also scan the machine for outdated applications and
DLLs. It'll even detect unnecessary files on the hard disk and offer to
delete them in order to save space. And it all runs online.
http://clinic.mcafee.com
HTML Reference
Looking for a good book on HTML? Don't bother. The reference
pages on this Web site are as good as anything you can buy off the shelf, in our
opinion.
http://www.blooberry.com. MS
Java Update
Microsoft has updated the JVM, the Java Virtual Machine behind Windows and
IE. The fix plugs a hole that could allow a malicious Java app to do
things that Java apps aren't supposed to be able to do on the client PC.
You should download the latest version and consider rolling it out to your users
who have Internet access.
http://www.microsoft.com/java/vm/dl_vm32.htm Mailing
List Directory
Looking for some interesting mailing lists to join? This site has a
directory of around 100,000 lists worldwide.
http://www.liszt.com Cobol?
Script?
We've had VBScript, and Javascript. Now, CobolScript. Put Cobol
routines in Web pages!
http://www.cobolscript.com Security
Patch for IE5
Microsoft has a patch for IE5, to fix a hole that could allow a malicious
Web site to read files on a client PC.
http://www.microsoft.com/security/bulletins/ms99-042faq.asp Y2K
is almost here
2000 is almost upon us. If you haven't checked your critical systems
and applications, now might be a good time to do so. Microsoft's Web site
has a large section that explains which of the company's products are compliant
and which need updating.
http://www.microsoft.com/y2k Acrobat
Password Recovery
There are various Web sites around that will sell you programs to crack the
passwords on files created by Excel, Word, 1-2-3, Quicken, and more. Now,
someone's worked out how to crack password-protected Acrobat PDF files.
$500 a crack, payment in advance, results guaranteed or your money back.
http://www.pwcrack.com/pdf.htm Matryx
Now here's a useful idea. An Excel add-on that lets you produce
reports from Access databases.
http://www.matryx.com Fix
for Corrupted Office Files
Got a user with a corrupted MS Office document? Tried the built-in
filter for raw text recovery and got nowhere? Try this site, which has
programs designed to help you.
http://www.officerecovery.com. Tips
By Mail
Sign up for any of these free email newsletters, and receive tech tips by
email every day.
http://www.tipworld.com.
Embedding Fonts in HTML
If you design an HTML page and you specify a font that isn't present on the
user's PC, your page won't appear as you intended it to. Wouldn't it be
good if you could embed fonts in HTML pages. Good news...
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/web/embedding/default.htm Web
Site Design Search Engine
JowExpert.com is a new search engine, dedicated entirely to HTML programming
and Web site design.
http://www.joeexpert.com Technical
Help Online
Help.com is a new resource for tech support staff, with answers to thousands
of questions available online.
http://www.help.com Disaster
Recovery Directory
The Disaster Recovery Yellow Pages lists over 3000 companies that have
products to help you recover from anything from a virus infection to an
earthquake-hit office.
http://www.survive.com |