The Webmaster will provide links to files or sites of potential interest to SPAUG members, which are suggested by other members. Just connect to the web and click on the hyperlinks. If that does not work, copy the links into your browser URL address field and press enter.
If any of you members have suggestions, they would be more than welcome - . Share your favorite sites with other SPAUG members.
The science equivalent to C-SPAN, The Science Network is gearing up for production. You can read about their plans, and see what they've done so far. This will be a cable science network (TSN) that will tap into science 24- 7, providing timely, unbiased scientific information.
Submitted by Stan Hutchings
Does the "latest and greatest" version you upgraded to cause more problems than it solved? Here's a site that houses a free library of the older, simpler, smaller, less-aggressive versions of many popular programs, letting you download and install the older, simpler version of your choice. (Hopefully it'll still run under WinXP)
Submitted by Stan Hutchings
If you're going to install a new motherboard and want to reduce the probability of the "blue screen of death", here is an article that covers the preparation. Readers are welcome to visit and read this at their leisure (but before installing a new motherboard!) Dover Productions, then Under XP Links, Moving XP/2000: New Motherboard Installations Tips. Or go directly there.
Submitted by Stan Hutchings
If you dare to get into the guts of your registry, The Tweaking Experience Registry Guide 4.0 may be for you. It's a 9 MB free help file. The Tweaking Experience Registry Guide provides an extensive range of registry tweaks, tricks & hacks for optimizing, enhancing and securing the Windows XP, 2000 and 2003 Server.
Make your Windows computer faster, more efficient and more your own using the hundreds of powerful tweaks (included with various hidden settings), tips and tricks. Easily customize the appearance, speed and security by follow the step by step information. Get started by exploring the categorized Tweaking Experience.
Submitted by Stan Hutchings
Visit InformationWeek for the info you need to ensure long, safe, trouble-free computing whether you're starting the year with a brand-new PC, or with an older, used PC that's new to you. Don't have a new computer? Here's what you can do.
Submitted by Stan Hutchings
Heard about the new dietary and health guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)? Looking for the details? They are at www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/document/pdf/DGA2005.pdf (in a very large PDF document). There's a much smaller executive summary here. You can read Larry Magid's take on the guidelines here (Larry has spoken at General Meetings several times, and has donated a lot of software he's evaluated).
Submitted by Stan Hutchings
TechNet Magazine, The Microsoft Journal for IT Professionals has made its debut. Here is a link for a free subscription: technetmagsubs.com. If you're not an IT professional, you could pretend to be one, but you may not get much value from the newsletter.
Submitted by Stan Hutchings
Available now is the free Microsoft AntiSpyware 1.0 beta. The info it provides on each threat is impressive. A complete system scan will take about 20 minutes. Microsoft will also release a free antivirus application. Read a favorable review at InformationWeek, comparing it with Spybot S&D and AdAware.
Submitted by Stan Hutchings
Here is a link to the new Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003 free program. It works with a surprising number of document extensions in addition to .DOC. Word Viewer 2003 also lets you open documents created with all previous versions of Microsoft Word for Windows and Microsoft Word for Macintosh. In addition to Word document files (.doc), you can also open files saved in these formats: Rich Text Format (.rtf), Text (.txt), Web Page formats (.htm, .html, .mht, .mhtml), WordPerfect 5.x (.wpd), WordPerfect 6.x (.doc, .wpd), Works 6.0 (.wps), Works 7.0 (.wps), XML (.xml). You can view, print, and copy document contents to another program; however, you cannot edit an open document, save a document, or create a new document.
You can also get the Excel Viewer 2003, and PowerPoint Viewer 2003.
Submitted by Stan Hutchings