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The LangaList
Standard Edition

Special Expanded Issue!

2006-09-21

A Free Email Newsletter
from Fred Langa and Mike Elgan
That Helps You Get More From Your Hardware, 
Software, and Time Online

Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!

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1) Hosing Down The Dust; and This "Expanded" Issue

We're finally catching up, thank goodness. I spent an entire day just going through reader mail and subscriber service requests, and got through most of it; I'm within striking distance of the rest. <g> Most readers got their last issue normally, but a minority--- especially those who had pending address-change requests, for example--- did not. For those folks, this will be the first issue they've seen after the hiatus. (If you missed the first new issue, it's here for Plus! subscribers http://langalist.com/Plus/newsletters/2006/2006-09-18plus.asp and here for Standard Edition readers: http://langa.com/newsletters/2006/2006-09-18.htm )

I again sincerely apologize for the delay in service.

Relatedly, I discovered that some CGI scripts on the Langa.Com web sites had broken due to an upgrade that happened when I was unavoidably offline. Tom Koch at http://TRKHosting.com did his usual excellent job in setting things straight, and now the "recommend to a friend" and various reader self-service scripts are once again working the way they should.

And the good folks at http://Dundee.Net , the site from which four of the five versions of this newsletter are mailed, also corrected a problem that cropped up--- again, while I was offline: When my mailboxes overflowed, the bounce-backs caused one of my mailing lists to unsubscribe me and then totally delete me from the roster! Normally that's a good thing--- I don't keep dead addresses on the mailing lists in an effort to pad subscription numbers, as some newsletter publishers do. But in this case, I couldn't log into or do anything with my own mailing list! <g> But that's fixed now, too.

In fact--- I hope I don't jinx anything by saying this--- but it looks like all the major pieces are working again. And hey, we even have most of the boxes unpacked in our new home. We're making progress, anyway!

Finally, you may note that this issue is a little longer than usual; we'll do that, when possible, to help backfill some of the content we weren't able to send you while I was unavoidably offline.

Onward!

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2) Some Very Nice Free Software

Over the summer, I found a some new software you might be interested in. Best of all, it's free. There's more than I can put in one issue, so let me start in this issue by telling you of a very large collection of free stuff--- some of it very, very cool:

Most people have never heard of Microsoft's enormous R&D branch, called "Microsoft Research." But it's huge, with three labs in the US, one in Europe and another in Asia. I haven't seen a budget statement in a while, but at one time, Microsoft spent more money on software R&D than any other company in the world. I know, I know--- everyone likes to bash Microsoft, and it's an inviting target because when it screws up, it affects millions and millions of people. But it's not accidental that the Windows interface ("Start" button in the lower left, etc.) and specifically the XP interface is the most-copied UI design in the world. (It's the default interface, or at least an interface option, on virtually every Linux distribution, for example.) It's become the de facto standard interface in part because Microsoft made sure the design was relatively easy to learn and use through exhaustive research and testing.

Microsoft Research also explores new technologies and applications. Some of them don't pan out and thus never see the light of day. Others get built into working demos or lightweight tools for further experimentation. Some of those tools get polished enough to stand on their own as worthy downloads, and others go on to be incorporated as features in future releases of Windows or other Microsoft products. We've mentioned offerings from MR from time to time in the past in this newsletter, too.

You can read about Microsoft Research here http://research.microsoft.com/ and see the current list of downloads here http://research.microsoft.com/research/downloads/default.aspx . Some are pretty exotic and narrowly focused, but still can be interesting because it shows you some of the directions that Microsoft is actively exploring for future features and products.

But other downloads are widely useful as-is, and just plain cool as well. For example, Microsoft is exploring graphical interpolation. (In very casual speech, you can think of interpolation as figuring out what a third bit of data would be when you only have two other bits of data to work with. In other words, you figure out what the third bit of data is, even though you don't know it directly.)

If the above started to make your eyes glaze over, this will make it clearer:

Microsoft's "Continuous Flash" applet, for example, lets you start with two photos of the same scene--- one lit with a flash, one unlit with the flash--- and generate a third photo with any degree of lighting between the two real photos. In other words, with a dark non-flash shot and a bright full-flash shot of the same scene, Continuous Flash lets you synthesize a new digital image of that scene the way it would look with whatever intermediate degree of lighting you want--- 10% flash, or 50% flash, or 80% flash, or whatever makes it look best. That's pretty cool.

Even better is "Group Shot," which digitally solves the problem of getting everyone in a group photo to smile, look at the camera, and not blink. <g> Group Shot lets you build a new group photo using the best parts of other, flawed photos of the same group. Say your Aunt Bess looks goofy in one photo, but Uncle Bob is looking dapper. Aunt Bess looks radiant in a second shot, but Uncle Bob looks pole-axed. With Group Shot, you can synthesize a new third photo where both Aunt Bess and Uncle Bob are looking their best. Wow!

"Continuous Flash" is on the general download page, shown above, but that page doesn't list everything--- some offerings have their own pages, and you may have to poke around a bit to find them. "Group Shot," for example, is on its own page at http://research.microsoft.com/displayArticle.aspx?id=1481 .

There's lots to explore on the Research site; almost all of it at least interesting, if not immediately useful. And some of the tools, like the ones above, or "SNARF" (a tool that figures out your social network to help triage your email, with the most important peoples' emails rising to the top of the queue; http://research.microsoft.com/community/snarf/ ) are genuine "Wow" items.

And, because they're demos of research topics, they're all free!

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3) Can Swap Files Cause Blue Screens Of Death?

Hi Fred, I've been a heavy tinkerer with my computers for many years, so I've learned to deal with almost all computer problems. The past few days, though, I'd gotten several "page fault in non-paged area" BSOD on my WinXP installation. Now, knowing that my machine is six years old, under heavy use, and soon to be replaced, my first thought was that I had faulty RAM. Just on a hunch though, I deleted and recreated my semi-permanent swap file, and since then <knock on wood> haven't seen a BSOD.

Have you heard of a case where a corrupt swap file was the cause of this sort of error? In any case, it might be something for your other readers to keep in mind if they start seeing the same errors.

I enjoy the newsletter, and wish you continued success. ---Jim Pendergrass

Given that the problem went away after you recreated your swap file--- or, as Microsoft now calls it in XP, page file or paging file--- it could well be that the paging file was somehow involved in your "Blue Screens of Death" though not necessarily the root cause. The specific error message you received, also affectionately known as a "Stop 0x50" message, is generated when system software requests data from memory--- either physical or virtual--- but the data isn't there in a readable form. This can be caused by a wide range of problems, including malware, buggy anti-virus software or RAM issues and other hardware problems.

A semi-permanent swap or paging file is really a combination of what used to be called permanent and dynamic swap files. It's very possible that the permanent part of the new semi-permanent paging file took up residence on another part of the disk when you recreated it, and vacated problematic disk sectors--- that may be why the problem went away.

In general, whenever you suspect swap or paging file-related problems--- and even if you don't--- it's good system hygiene to "clean under your paging file." Doing this also increases the likelihood that any paging file problems are not hard disk related. The process involves four steps: 1) delete your paging file; 2) run Scandisk with the /f and /r parameters to fix errors and "block" bad sectors on the disk; 3) run Disk Defragmenter; and 4) re-create your paging file on error-free sectors of an unfragmented disk. Here are the steps in detail:

1) Delete your paging file - Right-click on My Computer and choose Properties. Select the Advanced tab, then click on the Settings button in the Performance box. Click on the Advanced tab, then the Change button. Select the No paging file radio button, click Set, then OK. Click on the next OK button, then reboot.

2) Run Scandisk with the /f and /r parameters - Click, Start, choose Run, then type cmd in the text box and click OK to open a command line window. Type "chkdsk /f /r" without quotation marks and press the Enter key. Press Y and the Enter key to make Scandisk run next time you reboot. Now Reboot. This will take a while; if you have a large disk or partition to scan, you might want to start the task as bedtime, and let the PC work overnight.

3) Run Defrag - Choose Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Defragmenter. Choose the hard disk that your paging file will live on (usually C:) and click Defragment. When defragmentation is complete, reboot.

4) Re-create your paging file - Right-click on My Computer and choose Properties. Select the Advanced tab, then click on the Settings button in the Performance box. Click on the Advanced tab, then the Change button. Select in megabytes Initial and Maximum sizes. (Note that "Initial size" is equal to the size of the permanent part of your semi-permanent paging file, and the difference between the two sizes is the maximum size of the temporary part. Make them the same number for a fully permanent paging file if you want to sacrifice a little disk space for a little performance boost.) Click Set, then on the OK buttons to exit, then reboot.

One last optimization note: After all this, check to see if your paging file is fragmented. Launch Disk Defragmenter and click Analyze. In a few seconds a dialog box will pop up. Click View Report. In the Volume Information window, find Total Fragments under the Pagefile fragmentation section. If the number is higher than one, you've got a fragmented paging file. To fix this, you need to create space on your disk--- ideally at least 25% of the disk capacity should be free. You can do this by temporarily moving files to another drive. Follow steps 1, 3 and 4 above to delete your paging file, defrag the disk again, then re-create the paging file. With enough space, Windows will create it all in one contiguous area of the disk for maximum performance.

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4) Update on Jakison, A LangaList-Sponsored Kid

About a year ago, we added Jakison to the group of kids sponsored on an ongoing basis by LangaList Plus! subscribers.

Jakison is a young Brazilian boy who lives with his parents, Agostinho and Maria, and with four brothers and two sisters, in a rural community located in the Jecjuitinhonha valley, northeastern Minas Gerais, which is a poor and arid region. Their simple home, which is self-built, has adobe walls, dirt floors and a clay-tiled roof. It has rudimentary sanitary facilities (cesspit). Water is carried from a spring. Lighting comes from primitive kerosene lamps. Agostinho works long hours as a farm laborer but can hardly make ends meet. The per-capita family income is less than US$ 50.00, or half of the minimum monthly wage in the country....

You can read the full intro, and see our first photo of Jakison, here: http://www.freetune.com/kids/jakison/meet_jakison.htm

Because the news trickles in erratically from the remote places where most of the sponsored kids live, I decided to do one annual report on each child, presenting all the year's material in one batch.

Here's the latest, including a drawing by Jakison. (I'd say he's of the minimalist school of art. <g>)

Private Plus! Edition Site:
http://langalist.com/Plus/kids/jakison/jakison_update.asp

Public (Standard Edition) Site:
http://www.freetune.com/kids/jakison/jakison_update.htm

And here's what's this is all about: Those of us with computers and Internet access are vastly better off than most of the world's population. Because of this, I decided that a portion of the LangaList Plus! subscription fees would be donated to registered/legitimate charities helping the underprivileged around the world. The contribution does not increase the cost of a Plus! subscription in any way; the donation is taken "off the top" of any profits. (This is described in the pages at http://langa.com/plus.htm )

Jakison is the 13th child sponsored on an ongoing basis--- week in, week out--- by the collective generosity of LangaList subscribers. LangaList Plus! subscribers also have collectively contributed to emergency relief efforts for earthquakes, tsunami, and hurricanes; and more. (To see all the donations so far, click to http://langa.com/plus2.htm#kids )

As the year goes on, and as more readers sign up for Plus! subscriptions, I hope we'll be able to sponsor more children and assist other charities around the world.

Graham Greene once said, "There is always a moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in...." If you're already a LangaList Plus subscriber, thank you! You can feel good about giving back a little to those less fortunate, and opening "a door to the future" for a child in otherwise-desperate circumstances.

If you're not yet a Plus! subscriber check it out: With a Plus! subscription, you can not only help yourself make the most of your hardware, software and time online--- but you also can help those less fortunate (like Jakison) make the most of their very lives. Thanks for your help!

http://langa.com/plus.htm

or: give a gift subscription: http://langa.com/plus_gift.htm

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5) In Search Of 'Mystery' Devices

I use another method to figure out the "mystery" yellow-question mark hardware in Device Manager. You need to go into the Registry and navigate to

HKLM\System\CurrentControl\Enum\PCI

This is where Windows tracks all of the hardware it detects (i.e. enumerates). Each key in this hive will list the Vendor ID and Device ID for every piece of detected hardware. The IDs are 4 digit hexadecimal numbers.

Example Key: VEN_10DE&DEV_0028&SUBSYS_006010DE&REV_15
Vendor ID is 10DE
Device ID is 0028

Under each key there are values listed. Look for the DeviceDesc value to get a plain language description of the hardware device (e.g. "NVidia Riva TNT Pro" for the key listed above). If you see a device description that says "Unknown", that's your yellow question mark item. Make a note of the Vendor ID and Device ID and cruise on over to http://www.pcidatabase.com . Enter the IDs to get a clue about the manufacturer and model of the device. Hopefully you will be able to download drivers from the vendor's website. Not exactly for the faint of heart, but this has helped me out more frustrating driver situations than I care to remember. Thanks for a great newsletter! ---Mike Ornellas

Thanks, Mike! This method and site should work well for real PCI devices with missing or problematic drivers. If a search to unmask the identity of a "mystery" device on the pcidatabase.com site leads to a dead end, other possibilities include the existence of a USB or IEEE 1394 device that requires no driver; the use by hardware of a virtual device driver--- a .VXD file--- from an older version of Windows; or simply a device with an ID that Windows doesn't recognize. It could also be a software-only device driver, which offers up no ID at all, and leaves Device Manager in the dark.

Another method to track down "mystery" devices is to try to make them vanish from Device Manager altogether. Boot in Safe mode, for example, then check Device Manager. Any devices that have vanished are likely software-only device drivers. One by one, unplug hardware devices before booting and, again, check Device Manager to see if they've vanished.

Keep in mind, however, that the existence of a yellow question mark in Device Manager does not mean you actually have a problem needing a fix. There is a wide variety of reasons why unknown or unrecognized devices--- real, virtual or otherwise--- may be listed.

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"Dear Fred, The move to the Plus! subscription was the best
investment I made, ever.... I always read it with anticipated interest,
and also always find good advice and interesting topics that expand my
understanding of computers. As a matter of fact, I have become a sort
of minor PC guru among my friends, thanks to you. Cordially yours,
Petre Muresan"

Thanks, Petre!

The Plus! edition is just pennies an issue--- about $1 a month--- but that
small amount gets you a boatload of benefits. Get all the details:

http://langa.com/plus.htm

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6) Of Blogs and Feeds

After launching the new Langa Blog ( http://langa.com/blog/ ) and RSS feed ( http://langa.com/blog/rss.xml ), we received mail about using them, including this note:

Hi. Can you explain how those RSS feeds work on people's blogs? I see on some blogs where you can subscribe to them but don't know how. I have clicked on the RSS thing but I get a file or something and don't know what to do with it. ---Gail

Both blogs and RSS feeds are relatively new, simplified ways to publish and get content online.

Blogs, short for weblogs (as in Web log--- a log or journal published on the Web), make it very easy for anyone who wants to publish on the Internet to do so, to offer and collect reader comments, archive content and to link to other sites.

RSS--- the initials for Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site Summary or RDF Site Summary, depending on whom you ask--- is a file format designed to make it easy to subscribe to and read online content. When you click on an RSS link and see code, you're looking at XML, or Extensible Markup Language, which is a language for describing and conveying data, a kind of more sophisticated version of HTML.

Here's the key difference between blogs and RSS feeds: Blogs are designed to be viewed with a regular browser just like any other Web page, whereas RSS feeds usually require either a special kind of reader or a special Web site designed to display RSS feeds.

One major advantage of RSS feeds is that you can subscribe to them, which means simply that you tell your RSS reader that you want every post to get a specific feed. When the publisher of that feed posts a new item, your RSS reader will fetch it for you--- no searching or browsing required.

Like many sites that offer both a blog and an RSS feed, the Langa Blog and feed are identical in content. You can choose to visit the blog, or subscribe to the feed. (The Langa Blog RSS feed is an alternative to the Langa Blog itself, but neither is an alternative to the LangaList e-newsletter, itself, which is packed with items that will never be published on the Langa Blog or its RSS feed.)

RSS readers come in two types: desktop applications and Web sites. Some of the more popular PC desktop applications are:

FeedDemon
http://www.newsgator.com/NGOLProduct.aspx?ProdId=FeedDemon

RSSBandit
http://www.rssbandit.org/

GreatNews
http://www.curiostudio.com/

Popular RSS reader sites include:

Google Reader
http://reader.google.com/

Rojo
http://www.rojo.com/

Bloglines
http://www.bloglines.com/

These are just a few of the many readers out there ( http://www.feed-readers.com/ ). To return to your question: How to subscribe? The answer is application or site-specific. So once you've selected a reader, just following the usually simple instructions for adding sites to your subscription list.

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7) Free Up Megabytes of Disk Space

I've got almost a gig of "$NtUninstall..." files in my Windows directory. They all appear to be related to various patches, updates and service packs for Windows. I've got XP Pro SP2 installed. Some of these folders are a couple of years old and they are all flagged as hidden and read only. I'm getting low on disk space, can I safely delete all these folders since I have no plans to uninstall any of the related patches, etc.? As updates and patches accumulate in the future, will this these types of folders continue to grow and take more unnecessary disk space? Aren't even the old patches and stuff dated before SP2, at the very least obsolete? ---Dennis

These files enable Windows' Add/Remove applet to uninstall the service packs, patches and updates that have been installed on your system over the months and years. If you have no plans to uninstall these updates, you can safely delete the "$NTUninstall" folders and their space-consuming contents.

A quick and reliable way to protect yourself, however, is to delete only the older files--- say, those six months old or older. Chances are, if you haven't uninstalled a six-month-old update by now, you're not going to.

Alternatively, once you've made a backup or disk image of any "$NTUninstall" files, you can delete the files from the hard drive immediately, because you can always restore them from backups, if need be.

A reader named Bruce posted this helpful word of warning on the Langa Blog ( http://langa.com/blog ):

If you delete the folder for the IE7 beta install you will be unable to uninstall it (at least in beta 2) Last word was that FORMAT was the only fix. ---Bruce

Find "$NTUninstall" folders by opening your C:\WINDOWS folder. Make sure hidden folders are viewable (Select Folder Options from the Tools menu, select the View tab and choose "Show hidden files and folders").

Follow the links below to get more info on all this.
http://langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-01-30.htm#2
http://langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-01-16.htm#7
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;290402

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8) Is This Information Useful?

If you think the LangaList is a worthwhile read, maybe a friend would find it useful too! Just use the following link to recommend the LangaList--- your friend may find a new source of useful information and you just may win one of three FREE ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTIONS to the LangaList Plus! edition given each month. (If your name is drawn and you're already a Plus! subscriber, your current subscription will be extended by a full year.)

Check out the details at http://langa.com/recommend.htm . Thanks for recommending the LangaList--- and good luck!

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9) Transform Your Desktop With Toolbars

Fred, there's a surprisingly useful launch bar built right into every copy of Windows (I'm NOT talking about the Quick Launch bar, which is just plain lame), and I'm surprised that I've never seen you or anyone else mention it.

How would you like a program launcher that integrates seamlessly into your task bar with a simple right-click?; How would you like to be able to drag and drop anything you want onto it, including shortcuts, programs, documents, or folders, and even customize the icons?; How would you like those folders to become fly-out menus when you click on them, as many layers deep as you like?; Believe it or not, IE's Links toolbar does all of that quite well when it's on the Windows Task Bar, and it works even if you don't use IE;if you have a different browser set as your default browser, internet shortcuts in the Links bar will open in that browser instead of IE (when launched from the task bar instead of from inside IE).

I have my task bar set two levels high, with one level for open programs and the other level for the Links bar. On the Links bar I have shortcuts to all of the programs, websites, and folders that I use regularly, and those shortcuts are all organized into fly-out menus (folders) who's icons I've customized so I can tell them apart without having to have the text names showing. If you don't have need of as many shortcuts and menus as I do you can simply replace the Quick Launch bar with the Links bar, and organize everything into much less space. It's worked great for years, and so far I've never found anything that worked enough better to be worth changing. Thanks for a GREAT newsletter!; I'm an IT consultant and have been a PLUS subscriber for years, and many of my most valuable tools and tricks have come from your newsletter. ---John McCurdy

Thanks, John! We have covered that, but it was a long time ago; it's good that you brought it up again!

Windows' Toolbars are, as you imply, underutilized and underappreciated UI resources that enable you to customize and transform your desktop in powerful ways. (Access the Toolbars menu by right-clicking on the Taskbar and choosing Toolbars.)

Everything in a Toolbar is a shortcut, file or folder, but viewable and usable in different ways, depending on which kind of Toolbar you choose. Each of the various Toolbars--- Address, Links, Quick Launch, etc.--- has different functions and limitations. For example, Links and Quick Launch Toolbars are similar in that every item on them is a shortcut. But they're different in that, by default, Links has shortcut labels and Quick Launch doesn't. (You can change this default behavior of each by right-clicking and selecting or deselecting Show Text.) Links shortcuts you create on the Taskbar automatically show up on the Links Toolbar in Internet Explorer and visa versa. Quick Launch shortcuts don't.

At the bottom of the Toolbars menu you'll find a New Toolbar item. When you select it, you're shown a dialog box with a cascading menu of your system. You can drill down to choose any drive or folder on your PC, including My Computer and My Documents. Choosing a folder will use the folder name as the name of the Toolbar, and display the contents of that folder as Toolbar items. But watch out! These are not shortcuts. the New Toolbar option gives you a secondary view of actual files and folders. When you rename or delete items created with the New Toolbar feature, you really do rename or delete the actual files. (When you rename or delete items on the Links and Quick Launch Toolbars, conversely, you modify only the shortcuts--- the original files aren't touched.)

You'll find other Toolbars on the menu: at the least an Address Toolbar for quick-launching Web pages, probably a Windows Media Player Toolbar, possibly an iTunes Toolbar, and maybe others.

These are the basic facts about Toolbar behavior. Here are a few nice Toolbar tips.

Your Toolbars can be separated from the Taskbar by dragging and dropping the dotted slider bar at left onto the desktop (right-click on an empty part of the Taskbar and deselect "lock the Taskbar" if you find a check-mark there).

By dropping Toolbars onto the desktop, they become just like other open windows. By dropping one Toolbar on top of the other, you join them both into a single window. Go ahead and drop as many Toolbars as you like into that window, and adjust sizing and placement of each by dragging the sliders. Experiment with combinations of large and small icons, text and no text and whether individual Toolbars show their labels (all with the right-click Context menu).

"Dock" them to the left, right, top or bottom of your screen by dragging and dropping them to the edge of your choice. Make them pop-out "menus" by right-clicking on the docked Toolbars and choosing both Always On Top and Auto-Hide.

Make the Desktop a pop-out menu, and hide icons on your real desktop (right-click on the Desktop, and choose Arrange Icons By/Show Desktop Icons). You can still drag and drop to the desktop, but you won't see the icons until you pop out your "Desktop" Toolbar. The advantage of this is that you can access desktop items without closing any windows you have open.

Here's another useful Toolbar tip:
http://langa.com/newsletters/2006/2006-01-26.htm#2

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Free tech support! Free shipping!
Limited lifetime warranty! Compatibility guarantee!

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10) Code Load Success Story

After his site was listed in a "Load The Code" section, code-loader John Carson wrote:

Hi Fred, Just a quick Load the Code success story. My site appeared in your e-newsletter; my visitors jumped [twentyfold]! Many thanks, John Carson

Do you have a home page or website? (It doesn't matter what size.) Please click over to http://langa.com/code.htm , and maybe you can join the thousands of LangaList readers who have "Loaded the Code!" (If you've already "Loaded The Code" and are wondering if your site will appear here or on the Langa.Com web site, please see http://langa.com/link.txt )

Speaking of which: Here's another eclectic sample of reader sites--- some professional, some very personal:

View A Randomly-Chosen Reader Site
http://langa.com/randomlink.htm

Manually Browse All Posted-to-Date Sites Starting At
http://langa.com/readersites.htm

Pat Rosenheim, PC Mechanic (Mass.)
http://patrosenheim.com/

N. Marshall Gibbs, free stories & ebooks
http://www.nmarshallgibbs.com/

Millenium Software
http://www.milleniumsoft.com/

Spanish Football League
http://spanishleague.blogspot.com/

Good Ground
http://www.servantsite.com/KMcClelland/

Free Buy/Sell/Swap Listings (UK)
http://swapshop.karlsforums.co.uk/

"Jim's Scratchings" (Ireland)
http://belclare.blogspot.com/

Another Opinion Among Many
http://coreythompson.com/

Councilman Dave Lambert's Blog (Troy, MI)
http://blog.dave.lambert.net/

PC technical forum re: malware
http://www.malwareteks.com/news.php

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11) Cams As Testing Tools

HI Fred! The easiest way I know of testing an IR Remote is aim the remote at your video camera. The camera sees the frequency of light from the remote. You can see all of the pulses. A simple trick and can be useful to tell if it is your remote or the sensor. Have Fun! ---Mike

Great tip, Mike! This works with web cams, digital cameras--- just about any video camera--- and just about any IR device, including the IR port on a laptop or handheld device or a TV remote control.

Other, related testing ideas:
http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-06-20.htm#9
http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-07-25.htm#5
http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-03-14.htm#9

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12) Doing Something About Spam

Hi Fred! Just like everyone else, I have been receiving 5-6 phish's a week. Instead of deleting them, I have started using a good "WHOIS" tool (like Karen's WHOIS [ http://tinyurl.com/a8oeg ]) to determine who the domain host is and then sending the phish to the domain point of contact. In Outlook Express, when you cursor the link included in the phish, the "real" target address is shown in the bottom status bar. I'm sure other email programs show the same type of info. I've had some degree of success twice in the last few weeks.

If we ALL start notifying the domain registrant that they are hosting a phish as soon as it happens, we may be able to make a small dent in this despicable practice. Cheers. ---Loy Rickman (Many year plus member)

Way to go, Loy! It takes a village to raise hell about spam! In addition to contacting spam hosts, which are either aiding and abetting or victimized by the spammer, you might also report spam with the various anti-spam services ( http://www.spam.org/reporting.htm ) and forward the spam e-mails to the FTC at: spam@uce.gov.

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13, 14, 15, 16, 17) Plus! Edition Highlights:

Look what you're missing--- as usual, today's LangaList Plus! Edition contains about 40% more content including the following:

Sign up today! Plus! Edition info: http://langa.com/plus.htm 

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18) Just For Grins

It's no secret that American college students like to "party." But MIT is, well, different. Two students there used custom controllers, lots of PCs, networking hardware and plenty of software programming to automate their dorm room. Their unauthorized project is called MIDAS (Multifunction In-Dorm Automation System), and features web control; voice activation; a security system; large, continuously running information displays; electric blinds; and--- the piece de resistance--- a one-button "Party Mode." When the giant red Party Mode button is pressed, the lights go out, blinds close, the PC screens are taken over by a light show, booming music starts, and computers control a sound-activated strobe light, laser light show, fog machine, black lights, revolving disco light, LCD visualization projector projected onto the blackout-screen, neon colored lights, computer screen Winamp visualization, oscilloscope showing the waveform of the music, and surveillance camera monitors (to watch for dorm cops). The room has its own Web site, complete with technical details and videos of the room in action ( http://web.mit.edu/zacka/www/midas.html ).

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Click <a href= " http://langa.com/plus_gift.htm ">here</a>)

Most months, the LangaList is is published about 6 times. See you next issue, 2006-09-25!

Best,

Fred and Mike
( Editor@Langa.Com )

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