NWA-PCUG 07/2000 NewsLetter Article 18861 N. Hwy 112, Springdale, AR 72762-9303 Editor's note. Asterisks denote a heading you may prefer to format in some manner. Oh yes, if you know of a user group using my column that is not listed on my distribution page, please let me know so I can try to contact them for information. This column should contain about 1632 words including this editor's note. From the Dealsguy, Bob Click, Greater Orlando Computer User Group The distribution page on my Web site has four new listings. One group new to the column and three editors taking the time to send me the information on their user group -- Akron/Canton PC Users Group, Brevard Users Group (new), Central Kentucky Computer Society and Madison PC Users Group. I welcome them to my distribution page. Now if I could just get the rest. About 100 UGs that publish my column are not yet listed there. The distribution page is actually for you because it is meant to show vendors the value of using my column for a deal. It's looking more impressive all the time. Interesting too. *Please Take Note In the five and a half years I have been writing this column, several unwritten guidelines have arisen that help include necessary information for all readers, locations and for all platforms. Always short of time, I sometimes fail to follow up on something, and I hear about it. For example, the Pram battery checker I included three months ago -- I checked the URL to see if it worked, but didn't dig down or I would have noticed it was for Mac only. I'm still getting e-mail asking where to find it for a PC. Many people now are aware of that important battery and, I hope, found a program on a shareware Web site. Last month became an education you should know about. When including reader's feedback, one item sounding interesting was a URL e-mailed to many members of the local UG, myself included, by another member. It was a glowing description of a Web site as a FREE Internet Service Provider with no advertising or floating banners, etc. He said it was stable and urged everyone to "go grab it," stating he didn't know how they could do it (not exactly true). He also urged people to check out the freeware there, which he said was excellent. I asked his permission to include this information in the June column, using his name, and was given the go-ahead, but no caveats. About a half-hour after e-mailing the column to my editor lists, I received e-mail from Ira Wilsker (a APCUG BoDA member) quoting the part with the URL. He said I might be interested to know that the URL was, in fact, a "paid multilevel referral scheme" (his words) and suggested I leave off the number string at the end of the URL. I was unaware I had unwittingly included something to provide income for the person e-mailing everyone that URL. I phoned Ira in Texas who told me the number string at the end was probably the sender's registration number for that URL. He said not only would the author of the message receive money for each person clicking on the URL, but also any links clicked on within that Web site. Ira is a part time Justice Dept. employee who occasionally gives talks on Internet "situations." He also has a weekly radio program about computers that can be heard at [http://klvi.com] each Tuesday at 6PM Central time. I e-mailed Ira's message to the author whose response confirmed that it indeed was a "paid" referral situation, but he objected to the words "scheme" and "multilevel." He "then" also suggested I omit the numbers at the end (too late since the column had already been released). I disagree with his ethics, unless I'm missing something here, even though there's nothing illegal about it. My opinion has nothing to do with user groups that make money for their treasury by having their members use certain "paying" URLs. In those situations, everybody knows the whole story right up front. I decided to immediately send out a correction to editors asking them to remove the numbers from that URL. I then needed to change the file already posted on my Web site, and on the APCUG bbs. Another education! I opened the file in MS Word and placed the cursor at the beginning of the numbers at the end of the URL, deleting them one at a time (a mistake). It "looked" OK so I replaced the files on the necessary Web sites. I resubmitted it to the local newsletter committee who called a couple days later telling me that when they placed the cursor on the URL hypertext in MS Word, the pop-out box still included the numbers, even though they were not showing in the URL. How could that be!! The answer turned out to be that I should have used the often-neglected "right-click" and chosen Hypertext/Edit from that menu. At any rate, last month was a very embarrassing and exasperating experience. The crux of it all is for you to take a good look at any URL sent to you by anybody, even friends. If it sounds interesting, but has a number at the beginning or end, or even a combination of numbers and letters, leave them off and see if it works. Why unknowingly create income for people trying to make money from your lack of knowledge. Officers especially should beware of people, including members, "exploiting" (my opinion) their membership in this manner. *Still Good The PlanetWare travel planing offer is still good. E-mail [info@planetware.com] with the necessary information. Remember that e-mail is not a secure way to send credit card info to PlanetWare. The special- offer for the "Active Directory for Dummies" book is still good. Order at [http://www.fatbrain.com/shop/info/0764506595?from=XUU975]. *I heard from Linda Barlow of User Group Connection who sent me this for the column. "First, from 'amazingmail.com,' 5 FREE 'real' postcards just for trying AmazingMail. Here's how you do it. Simply go to [http://www.amazingmail.com] and enter the following source code at sign- up: h1132db38hhvdvd (special user group code). Choose your image, enter your message, address the card and click "Send." In a few days, you and/or your friends will receive an actual postcard via US Mail. Great for Birthdays, Thank You Notes, Advertising, or just to let your friends know you've caught on to something! This special offer comes from User Group Relations (Gene and Linda Barlow), representing AmazingMail." Next, from PowerQuest Corporation, who just announced Drive Image Version 3! Special User Group Prices can be found at this hidden web site for user group Members. Products are: PartitionMagic V5, Drive Image V3, DataKeeper V3, SecondChance V2, Lost & Found V1, and from Caldera Systems, OpenLinux eDesktop V2.4: [http://www.ugr.com/order/] The Special User Group Price Code is: UGDEALS00 *Free Antivirus Protection I mentioned F-Prot amtivirus last month. Another free antivirus software is Computer Associates' Inoculate-IT. It works with Windows 95/98/NT. If you want brand name, it doesn't get much more brand name than CA. Inoculate-IT looks for and takes care of any file and boot sector viruses. It also works on those Macro viruses that are automatic unless you turn the macros off on Microsoft products, such as MS Word and Excel. You'll find information on this product at [http://antivirus.cai.com]. You can register and download it. *Update Your Web Site While On Line Brad Williams (from a small company in southern California) sent me this and asked if I would put a link on our Web site [http:// www.OmniUpdate.com]. I visited the URL and tried its demo on my own Web site. It failed to finish loading my home page. I tried it twice, but to no avail, but that doesn't mean it won't work since I'm only using IE4. I've not had the time to download the software and give it a try. I noticed one place where they mention a small one-time fee. Here are excerpts from their Web site: "OmniUpdate FREE(tm) puts you just one click away from directly updating your Web pages, right in your browser! View any page of your site and, with one click, you can update it right there, with WYSIWYG ease! Use OmniUpdate often to keep your Web site fresh and your visitors coming back. "It's Free! Your use of OmniUpdate is completely free. No products to buy, download or install. OmniUpdate works right in the web browser you normally use and requires no plug-ins, Java, or server-side modifications. "OmniUpdate is not a Web site hosting service but rather a quick way for you to make updates and changes to your existing Web pages wherever they are currently located. Your Web site may be hosted on your own server, on your ISP's server, on AOL(tm), Geocities(tm), or anywhere. "How does it work? Start by signing up for a free account. Within minutes you'll be updating pages on your Web site in a word processor-like window. When you save the update, OmniUpdate places a small green button at the bottom of your page. Simply click this button to login and have this page automatically displayed and available for update. For a small one-time fee, you can customize the button using your own graphic, or choose no graphic at all. Seeing is believing . . . There's much more. That's it for this month. Darn, I've exceeded my word count again. Meet me here again next month if your editor permits. This column is written to make user group members aware of special offers I have found or arranged, and my comments should not be interpreted to encourage, or discourage, the purchase of products, no matter how enthused I might sound. Bob (The Cheapskate) Click [dealsguy@mindspring.com]. Visit my Web site at [http://www.dealsguy.com] for past columns.