Announcements

Copy & Run CDs From Your Hard Drive!

No More Disk Swapping!

We had a tremendous response to VirtualDrive offer yesterday! Thanks to all who ordered - you'll love it!

If you have any CD ROM software that requires you to have the CD-ROM in the drive in order to use it, this program is a must have. It creates a "Virtual CD-ROM" drive on your computer and lets you copy your CDs - and run them properly - from your hard drive. Great for map programs, encyclopedias, dictionaries, games, phonebooks, educational CDs - anything that requires you to have the CD in the drive to use it.

Since the CDs are on your hard drive, you no longer have to worry about finding, losing, or scratching them. In addition, the CDs play without waiting for a spin up and they are much quicker than your CD-ROM drive could ever make 'em (up to 200X more responsive). Everyone I've shown this to wants one!

We had a few people ask why they couldn't just copy their CD-ROM contents to a folder and run it from there. Well, you can try, but in 99% of the cases it won't work. Most CD-ROM copy protection verifies that your CD-ROM is actually in a CD-ROM drive. Since this program uses virtual CD-ROM drives, your software will "think" it's in a CD-ROM drive and run properly.

With all the capacity improvements in hard drives over the last five years, it just doesn't make sense to run stuff from your CD-ROM drive anymore. This is easier, better, and faster. Plus you can create up to 23 virtual CD ROM drives allowing you to run multiple CD ROM programs simultaneously. Oh, and you can create as many virtual CDs as your hard drive can hold! It's fantastic!

I personally think this is a must have for any computer user. I really love it and find that I'm actually using my CD-ROM software more frequently. It's just so much more convenient than hunting around for CDs. That and it's really easy to use - just a few clicks.

Again, this is yours for just $12.97 and US shipping is FREE! This retails for $39.95, so it's an incredible buy. Check it out:

http://www.worldstart.com/store/virtualdrive-7.htm

Try it! You'll never go back to the old way of using CD-ROMs!!

Computers 101

Q:
What is over-clocking? Is this okay to do to my computer... I mean it won't hurt it will it?

A:
Overclocking is a popular way to get a little more performance from a system. It is often called pushing or speed margining. Sometimes you can force your CPU to run faster than intended, but it does carry some risks such as over-heating, so you should become familiar with all the pros and cons before you attempt it. You don't want all your crucial data going up in smoke!

Overclocking is possible because reputable companies are conservative in their speed rating. Chip manufacturers want to be sure that the chip will run safely at the advertised speed. Overclockers attempt to exploit this conservatism, sometimes successfully and sometimes not.

Attempting to operate hardware in a way that it was not designed to is very risky. Your PC's Circuit timing is very delicate and you can cause subtle problems by messing with it. The average person may not even notice the small performance improvements. You may get a 6-10% speed improvement, but will it make any difference?

If you use your PC primarily for games and graphics, then you might benefit from overclocking. However, I don't think overclocking is necessary or recommended for the average user. It should definitely not be attempted by a novice.

~ David

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

Tip of the Day

Improving the Quality of Graphics using AOL

If you browse the web with AOL, you know that sometimes graphics just don’t look so purdy. Never fear! I'm here to show you how to turn off the built in image compression.

AOL says this image compression helps images download faster. Blah! This may be, but a typical human can't see any significant difference in speed between having compression on vs off. In fact, the only thing this Image Compression seems to be good at is converting nice looking graphics and photos into something that appears to have gotten messed up in Captain Kirk's transporter. Sometimes it prevents server-based graphics from reaching you at all (ever wonder why you get red Xs all the time?)

I'll walk you through how to turn this off, but note that I'm using AOL 7.0. If you use AOL 6 (or even 5), there shouldn't be any major differences in the way this works. I have yet to play with AOL 9, but it should work pretty much the same way—maybe.

1) Log On to AOL.

2) Go to Keyword: Preferences

3) Under the Organization Menu, click the Internet Properties WWW link.

Your AOL Internet Properties Panel will pop up.

4) There are several tabs to choose from. Choose the Web Graphics Tab.

5) By default, Always Compress Graphics should be selected. If you enjoy crisp clear graphics, choose the Never Compress Graphics option.

6) Click "OK"

Congrats! Your graphics should be lookin' good from now on.

NOTE: Another benefit of choosing "Never Compress Graphics" is that you can save images from web pages as JPEG files rather than compressed AOL images (.art files) that few graphic programs can support.

~Steve

Have an original tip for the newsletter? Submit it below:
http://www.worldstart.com/writers-guidelines/index.htm

Amanda's Cool Site of the Day

First off, I'd like to apologize to those of you who were annoyed by all the pop-ups on the Animal Rescue Site. I had my pop-up stopper on when I went there, so I didn't realize that would happen. That said, on to today's Cool Site...

Wise Guide

I know what you're thinking, it's another how-to site. But it's not. It's a site about American history. With fabulous sections like American Women: A Guide to their History; Lewis & Clark: Go West, Young Men; How did America Get It's Name? And much more.

Chocked full of history and information, this site is a jewel. One of my favorite sections is in the "American Women Guide", and talks about 8 women who came to the front in WWII as broadcasters and journalists. I thought it was fascinating—war wasn't something women reported on then, and these women went to where it was happening got knee deep into it and weren't even remember for it. But now they will be.

This site has lots of information like that. "How did America get it's Name" was a great section too. And it isn't just about America—there's a section on Timbuktu, Presidents, and much more. All brought to you by the Library of Congress.

This site is informational, fascinating, and pictorial. A real marvel.

http://www.loc.gov/wiseguide/

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