NWA-PCUG Newsletter Article
The Best Software We've Ever Found and
CD or not CD, a burning question
By Bob Schwabach, Syndicated Columnist, May 2001
http://www.oncomp.com
Reprinted from Ark Democrat/Gazette with permission
bobschwab@oncomp.com (click to email author)


Not all good things are expensive; some are even free.

The most useful utility program I've ever run in Windows is a type called a "clipboard extender." These are programs that store anything you would normally save to the Windows clipboard, either by using "copy" from a pull-down menu or the easier and much quicker "control-c" combination from the keyboard.

The Windows clipboard normally holds only one item, and holds it only for that session at the computer. When you shut down, it's gone. A clipboard extender, however, holds many items, as long as you like. It's the best way to handle the "boiler plate" of frequently used text. I've used a program called "SmartBoard" for this purpose for many years.

SmartBoard (with advertising) is available free from Oakley Data Services, in England. Web: http://www.sb2k.com. You can also get there from http://www.wintools.com which has other free utilities.

A new free clipboard extender is "ClipBoard Express," from Chequers Software in New Zealand. You get it at their web site: http://www.cheqsoft.com. A full registered version is only $9.

A nice feature of this utility is the ability to categorize stored clips by subject, area or time. Reporters could have a folder filled with stored acronym definitions: "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals," for example, to be slugged in right after the acronym "SPCA." You could have a group for Internet sites, etc.

CD or not CD, a burning question

It has turned out that CDs are not forever. Some commercial CDs, produced by major record companies, have become unplayable or have lost tracks after only two or three years. What then are the prospects for the CDs we burn ourselves to hold files and records? Not good.

Part of the problem involves how the disks are cared for. Careful handling and cold storage help. Scratches can sometimes be buffed out, or overcome with the application of a thin layer of clear oil. The disk itself does not have grooves, like old records, but records information by changing the reflectivity of a dye under a layer of clear plastic. Scratches are almost always confined to that outer layer. The dye itself will deteriorate over time, however, no matter how careful you are, and that can not be smoothed over.

There are lots of storage devices available now, and it's hard to know what to choose. CDs would still seem to be superior to magnetic disks and tapes, which can be wiped accidentally by a strong magnetic field, though in fact I have never had a disk or tape damaged this way. External hard disk drives have the same vulnerability to magnetic fields, but are the best choice if you want speed.

No storage medium has the speed of a hard drive and if you do a lot of work with images, music, architectural drawings, enormous spreadsheets, etc., this is the best way to go. For long term, what might be called archival storage, the argument remains open between CDs and magnetic tape. And then there's paper. The fact is, printed documents have a shelf life of centuries when stored with only moderate care, and nothing in the digital age beats that.

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