Announcements

Run Your Computer Like A Pro!

Build it, Upgrade it, Fix it, Network it, and Learn All About It!

Want to do more with your computer? Then check out all these fantastic titles! We've sold over 1000 of each - in some cases over 2000! Be sure to get yours!

How To Build Your Own PC

Ever wanted to build your own computer? It's not as hard as you may think it is - at least not with CD ROM at your side! Watch full motion video of each and every step. Everything is covered - picking the right parts, assembly, and even installing Windows.

How To Upgrade Your PC

Sooner or later it happens - you need to upgrade your PC. Sure, you could take it to your local computer shop and pay them $80 hr, or you could just get this 2 CD set. It uses full motion video to show you how to add a new hard drive, change CPUs, add memory, upgrade sound cards, add network cards, and tons more. A must have for every computer owner!

Fix PC Problems

When your computer starts acting funny, what do you do? Take it to the local computer shop, wait for weeks to get your computer back and choke down a huge repair bill? Well, with this software, you can learn how to fix common PC problems quickly and easily. Covers 101 different repairs, upgrades, and fixes (for both hardware and software). A must have!

Learn Windows XP

Got XP? Then get the most out of it with this! Teach yourself basic to advanced techniques. Build XP skills quickly and easily with this up-to-date learning tool. No matter what your current skill level, this CD can help! Just pick a topic and watch the video presentation. It's great and we've sold thousands of 'em!

Professor Teaches Windows 95/98

Have Windows 95 or 98? Want to run it better? Then check this one out! It'll teach you all the tips, tricks, and techniques you'll need to master Windows. The presentations are fantastic - they use interactive simulations so you can "try as you go". A must have!

Professor Teaches Home and Small Office Networking

If you've ever tried your hand at networking, you know it can sometimes be problematic - especially if you've never done it before. This software takes away all the mystery and shows you how it's done. It uses "try as you go" interactive simulations to show you - step by step - exactly what you'll need to do in order to make your networking attempt successful.

Whew, that's it. Again, these are all fantastic titles and I highly recommend them to everyone! Some quantities are limited, so be sure to get to the site early if you want in on this deal.

~ Steve

Computers 101

Q:
What is the Briefcase for? How do I use it?

A:
You've probably had this file just sitting on your desk top and wondered the same thing.

Since I don't have a laptop and a desktop computer that I transfer files back and forth from, I've never needed to use this feature. I guess it also comes in handy if you have more than one computer at different locations that you use for working on the same stuff. You can use Briefcase to synchronize the files with their counterparts on your main computer when you finish working on them. Here's an overview on this often overlooked feature:

Let's say you're working on some files using your laptop and you want to transfer them to your main computer. You can connect your laptop to the desk top and Briefcase automatically updates the files on your main computer to the modified versions. You do not need to move modified files out of Briefcase or delete the existing copies on your main computer. If you have two desktops, you could also transfer the files using a removable disk.

Briefcase stores the files and shows their status: whether a file is linked to the original file on your main computer, or whether it is an "orphan" file. This information helps you organize files and stops you from accidentally deleting or copying over the most recent version

Now, how to use it...

For an example, let's say you want to take some work files home over the weekend to finish up. Just pop a disk into a disk drive on your main computer, open Briefcase, and copy the appropriate files to Briefcase. Next, drag Briefcase to the disk. The files in Briefcase are copied to the disk.

Take the disk home, forget about it until late Sunday night. Put the disk in your home computer, open Briefcase from the disk, and scramble to finish in time to get a few hours sleep.

If you remembered to bring your disk on Monday, put it into the disk drive on your main computer. Open Briefcase from the disk, and then do one of the following:

To update all the files, on the Briefcase menu, click "Update All".
To update only some of the files, select the files you want to update, then on the Briefcase menu click "Update Selection".

Sure there are many other ways you can synchronize files, but this is a neat little feature that you may find a use for some day.

~ David

Have a question for the newsletter? Submit it at the link below:
http://www.worldstart.com/submitquestion.htm

Tip of the Day

Is your computer running? Then Go Catch It! :-)

This debate comes up often. Sparks continue to fly on both sides of the issue (especially if you don't have a surge protector;-)

I guess I'll give you the thoughts from both camps and let you decide.

Those are the main reasons both ways. My opinion? I let it run during the day when I'm using it and shut it off at night.

I don't think it's good for the computer to have someone poking at the power switch constantly. If you're going to use it in the morning and then again in the afternoon, leave it run till you're finished for the day.

I used to leave mine run 24/7, but a few things have changed my mind.

For one, any chip faster than 133Mhz needs a cooling fan to keep it from burning itself into a silicon cinder. These fans are not totally reliable.

If I'm using the computer and am getting signs that I have a CPU that's overheating (your computer will act *really* strange, some will play a little tune through the internal speaker), I can shut things down and get it fixed. If it happens in the middle of the night, I'll have a roasted CPU in the morning.

Another reason is that I've seen power supplies go bad and try to catch themselves (and anything nearby) on fire. Again, not something I want to have happen at 2:00 AM when I'm asleep dreaming about program code.

Finally, anyone who uses Windows knows that it should be re-booted on a daily basis. So, by shutting it off at night and turning it back on it the morning, I automatically get my re-boot (that's not to say I don't have to do the occasional re-boot during the day though with win 9.x type machines).

So, my advice is to run it when you need it, and when you're done for the day, shut it down.

~ Steve

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http://www.worldstart.com/writers-guidelines/index.htm

Amanda's Cool Site of the Day

Northern Lights

Sigurdur H. Stefnisson has been taking photos since he was a wee snip of a kid, starting at age 7. Why am I bring you this info on him? Well, read through his bio and then scroll the page down. Under his picture there is his name and under his name is a link called "thumbnails".

Click "Thumbnails", and it takes you to this gallery of fantastic, exquisite, totally gorgeous pictures of the Northern Lights. The clarity and color of these photos are just out of this world. Listen to me gush. To go to the gallery you can also click "Next" on the bottom of the page.

These are beautiful pictures, please enjoy them.

http://www.iww.is/art/shs/

Do you have a cool, non-commercial site that you want to share?
Send it to Amanda at amanda@worldstart.com