Number 297 - February 2008

UPDATE
Beginners    In The Cartridge Family the author discusses removing chips which come attached to newer print cartridges. This chip carries information about the condition of the cartridge and can be reset so that you don't have to buy a new cartridge but can refill it yourself.    In Botnets, Brian Lewis discusses in some detail why spammers and worse employ botnets and tells you what you should know about them and why you should protect your computer against them. Communications    The two lead articles in this section cover the same topic. The first is called Reverse Tel. Book and the second is called Google Search Bar and Your Telephone Number. They both discuss the new Google feature that allows you to enter a telephone number and glean all kinds of information about the owner of the telephone--some of which he or she may not want everyone to know. Read the article to determine what action to take, if any.    In Evaluating Your Antispyware Program the author Vinny LaBash gives some good advice on what to look for in such a program. Talk to Librarian Tom Stepanek if you are not sure. We have several excellent programs available through our library.    In The Phenomenon of Facebook - Part III Love and Dating in the 21st Century we continue with author Courtney Jewett's account of her experiences with Facebook.	Operating Systems    In Partitioning Disk Drives With Vista author Vinny La Bash compares the scary "old fashioned" way of partitioning a disk drive in MS-DOS and earlier versions of Windows. In this article he describes the process as much easier in Vista. If you have Vista on your computer you may want give it a try.    In ru XPerieced author Lee Reynolds asks if you know everything you wanted to know about Windows XP. Discussion about how to take ownership of a file is provided, and a reference to a Microsoft Knowledge Base article is given. General Experience    In Converting to a Portable Office author Brian Lewis tells us how his changing life style requires that he fits as much as possible into a little space as possible. As a result his computing equipment must be down-sized considerably. While his needs may vary somewhat from yours yo may learn a lot just y reading about his procedure for accomodating a portable system to his needs.    In A Laptop For The Holidays Vinny Labash discusses some of the feautures and lack thereof of current laptops. In the last year or so laptop sales have passed desktops. However, in the competition for sales some featured may be compromised. Read the article on what to watch out for.
Number 297 - February 2008