You cannot FXP from one NT server to another NT server. Instead make sure one of the FTP sites is either running on a UNIX server or is a private FTP.
Saturday, 22 December 2001
Wednesday, 12 December 2001
Cloning conundrums
I've used Clone CD to make a backup of one of my original CDs and been left with three files with the extensions .ccd, .img and .sub. What am I supposed to do with them?
The .ccd file works in a similar fashion to the cue sheets you are probably more familiar with. A .ccd file contains information regarding the logical structure of the disk - it is the file you would open in Clone CD in order to burn the image to a CD-R. When this file is opened, the other two files are automatically processed providing they are stored in the same directory and share the same filename.
The .img, or image file, contains the main channel data of all tracks of the disk, and the .sub file comprises the sub channel data of all the tracks of the disk.
To burn a Clone CD image you would select 'write from file' from the 'file' menu, browse for its accompanying .ccd file and select OK.
The .ccd file works in a similar fashion to the cue sheets you are probably more familiar with. A .ccd file contains information regarding the logical structure of the disk - it is the file you would open in Clone CD in order to burn the image to a CD-R. When this file is opened, the other two files are automatically processed providing they are stored in the same directory and share the same filename.
The .img, or image file, contains the main channel data of all tracks of the disk, and the .sub file comprises the sub channel data of all the tracks of the disk.
To burn a Clone CD image you would select 'write from file' from the 'file' menu, browse for its accompanying .ccd file and select OK.
Thursday, 15 November 2001
Honing your search engine technique
Be more specific when using web search engines. First of all make sure you're using Google as it's undoubtedly the most comprehensive search engine ever to have existed, and what's more, the hits it returns are actually relevant to your search queries - surprisingly a feature which all too many search engines lack!
Now that Google is set as your home page remember to use Boolean queries whenever you use it to search the web. A Boolean query is a logical term or operator, which can be added to your keywords or phrases to refine your search. The most common ones include the words AND, OR and NOT. It's worth remembering though that some search engines will allow you to replace the words AND and NOT with the symbols + and -, and that Google dispenses with the + operator altogether as it assumes you want all the keywords entered to be included in the results - makes perfect sense if you ask me. Notice that these are written in uppercase. I haven't accidentally left my caps lock button turned on; I've done this deliberately to indicate that this is the way they must be typed into your search engine.
As already noted, the AND operator is largely superfluous today, but to demonstrate how this would work in less advanced search engines, consider the following example. If you were looking for information regarding the author Joseph Heller (you know, the guy who wrote Catch-22?), you might try typing only the two words comprising his name into a search box. The hits your search engine returned would lead to any web pages containing either the word 'Joseph' or the word 'Heller', but not necessarily ones that contain both.
In effect, you could be directed to sites that revolve around John Heller or Joseph Smith (whoever they are!). If you wanted to filter out all the irrelevant hits you could use the AND operator. This ensures that the keywords you specify must both appear in the search results (or hits). Any sites containing just one of the terms will be ignored. To do this you would type Joseph AND Heller into your search engine. Try it now and you'll see how effective this can be.
If you don't want to rule out too many possible matches you could use the OR operator instead. Typing in two keywords separated by the OR operator will return web pages that contain either one of your keywords. Again, this switch is fairly redundant in most cases because it will already be the default setting, but since most search engines support it I thought I'd give it a mention.
The NOT operator is much more useful. This can be used to specify words which should not appear in the results (I apologise if this is already obvious!). For example, typing in soap operas NOT Neighbours will give you a list of all the web pages that concern soap operas, except the ones about Neighbours in particular. So you may be directed towards Home and Away, Days of Their Lives or Family Affairs fan sites. Disclaimer: my knowledge of these program's existence does indicate that I watch them, thank you very much. ;)
Perhaps the most effective measure you can take to refine a search query is to use phrases enclosed by inverted commas. For instance, one way to find a selection of Monkey Island related sites would be to type "The Curse of Monkey Island" or "Escape from Monkey Island" into your favourite search engine (the case isn't important, I just like to be grammatically correct). This will only return web pages that include all the keywords listed in the correct sequence, i.e. any sites containing just one or two of these keywords, or containing all of the words, but in a different order will be filtered out.
For more search engine fine-tuning tips refer to the official Google cheat sheet.
So what are you waiting for? Go and practice with Google. Remember, 'tis all in de Booleans mon!... or something like that.
Now that Google is set as your home page remember to use Boolean queries whenever you use it to search the web. A Boolean query is a logical term or operator, which can be added to your keywords or phrases to refine your search. The most common ones include the words AND, OR and NOT. It's worth remembering though that some search engines will allow you to replace the words AND and NOT with the symbols + and -, and that Google dispenses with the + operator altogether as it assumes you want all the keywords entered to be included in the results - makes perfect sense if you ask me. Notice that these are written in uppercase. I haven't accidentally left my caps lock button turned on; I've done this deliberately to indicate that this is the way they must be typed into your search engine.
As already noted, the AND operator is largely superfluous today, but to demonstrate how this would work in less advanced search engines, consider the following example. If you were looking for information regarding the author Joseph Heller (you know, the guy who wrote Catch-22?), you might try typing only the two words comprising his name into a search box. The hits your search engine returned would lead to any web pages containing either the word 'Joseph' or the word 'Heller', but not necessarily ones that contain both.
In effect, you could be directed to sites that revolve around John Heller or Joseph Smith (whoever they are!). If you wanted to filter out all the irrelevant hits you could use the AND operator. This ensures that the keywords you specify must both appear in the search results (or hits). Any sites containing just one of the terms will be ignored. To do this you would type Joseph AND Heller into your search engine. Try it now and you'll see how effective this can be.
If you don't want to rule out too many possible matches you could use the OR operator instead. Typing in two keywords separated by the OR operator will return web pages that contain either one of your keywords. Again, this switch is fairly redundant in most cases because it will already be the default setting, but since most search engines support it I thought I'd give it a mention.
The NOT operator is much more useful. This can be used to specify words which should not appear in the results (I apologise if this is already obvious!). For example, typing in soap operas NOT Neighbours will give you a list of all the web pages that concern soap operas, except the ones about Neighbours in particular. So you may be directed towards Home and Away, Days of Their Lives or Family Affairs fan sites. Disclaimer: my knowledge of these program's existence does indicate that I watch them, thank you very much. ;)
Perhaps the most effective measure you can take to refine a search query is to use phrases enclosed by inverted commas. For instance, one way to find a selection of Monkey Island related sites would be to type "The Curse of Monkey Island" or "Escape from Monkey Island" into your favourite search engine (the case isn't important, I just like to be grammatically correct). This will only return web pages that include all the keywords listed in the correct sequence, i.e. any sites containing just one or two of these keywords, or containing all of the words, but in a different order will be filtered out.
For more search engine fine-tuning tips refer to the official Google cheat sheet.
So what are you waiting for? Go and practice with Google. Remember, 'tis all in de Booleans mon!... or something like that.
Saturday, 3 November 2001
How do I close full screen pop-ups that do not have menu bars?
A quick way to do this would be to use your Task Manager. This displays a list of all the programs/windows you currently have open. To summon the Windows Task Manager you can press control, alt and delete simultaneously and then select the 'applications' tab. Alternatively, you could open the Task Manager by selecting the run option from your start button and typing in 'taskman'.
When the applications list appears, search through it for the title of the pop-up you wish to terminate, select it and press the 'end task' button. A quicker way still, however, would be to press alt and F4 together to close the active window.
Refer to the pop-ups tutorial for more proactive solutions.
When the applications list appears, search through it for the title of the pop-up you wish to terminate, select it and press the 'end task' button. A quicker way still, however, would be to press alt and F4 together to close the active window.
Refer to the pop-ups tutorial for more proactive solutions.
Sunday, 14 October 2001
A software uninstaller that uninstalls software... properly.
When considering the uninstallers which come bundled with most applications I like to use the shopping centre escalator analogy. Have you ever noticed that if it's necessary to go upstairs to enter a shop, or get to the next level of a shop, there will be an escalator to transport you upstairs whereas you have to use ordinary stairs on your descent? Personally this doesn't bother me because I was taught from an early age not to be a lazy oaf, but the scheming behind this speaks volumes.
The proprietors want to make it as easy as possible for you to access their shops and spend your money, but couldn't care less how smooth your exit is. The same can be said of the vast majority of software vendors. Upon installing their wares, new files and registry entries will be haphazardly dispersed throughout your system without a thought pertaining to their future removal. This is considered your problem and you are consequently left to fend for yourselves. Packaged installers may appear to perform an exact reversal of their respective installation processes, yet many orphan files and useless registry entries are often left behind to gather dust and depreciate your system performance.
To address this problem you need to be able to take a snapshot of the files contained in your system folders and the composition of your registry prior to installing anything so you can then compare this state of affairs with that of your post-installation system. If a detailed log is kept of each and every change made to your system following the installation of a piece of software, those changes can be rescinded as simply as you would 'undo' a typo in your favourite word processor. Many uninstallers at least claim to do precisely this, yet on closer inspection I found that what some were actually doing was invoking the flimsy integrated uninstallers of the programs you wish to remove from your system - a task you could achieve with the same level of 'efficiency' by making use of the uninstaller built into the control panel of Windows (naturally as this is actually all this tool does!).
The challenge therefore is to track down uninstaller software developers who aren't money-grabbing, lazy, conniving charlatans. This I achieved, having spent a considerable amount of time trawling through a variety of shareware and freeware databases, upon stumbling across the Optimus Software group, who are responsible for developing 'Trash It'.
This tool partly won my vote because it strictly follows the KISS (keep it simple stupid) approach to software development in that it does exactly what you want it to do and nothing more, which means it's light on useless fluff and is super efficient. Not surprisingly, some of the worst vapourware creating offenders are the authors of those 100-in-1 gadget suites which claim to do, well everything... while achieving very little.
If you save an individual log file for each future installation, you will no longer have to concern yourself with what is left behind when you remove unwanted, test-driven software. Think of it as instant Ghosting without a reboot.
The proprietors want to make it as easy as possible for you to access their shops and spend your money, but couldn't care less how smooth your exit is. The same can be said of the vast majority of software vendors. Upon installing their wares, new files and registry entries will be haphazardly dispersed throughout your system without a thought pertaining to their future removal. This is considered your problem and you are consequently left to fend for yourselves. Packaged installers may appear to perform an exact reversal of their respective installation processes, yet many orphan files and useless registry entries are often left behind to gather dust and depreciate your system performance.
To address this problem you need to be able to take a snapshot of the files contained in your system folders and the composition of your registry prior to installing anything so you can then compare this state of affairs with that of your post-installation system. If a detailed log is kept of each and every change made to your system following the installation of a piece of software, those changes can be rescinded as simply as you would 'undo' a typo in your favourite word processor. Many uninstallers at least claim to do precisely this, yet on closer inspection I found that what some were actually doing was invoking the flimsy integrated uninstallers of the programs you wish to remove from your system - a task you could achieve with the same level of 'efficiency' by making use of the uninstaller built into the control panel of Windows (naturally as this is actually all this tool does!).
The challenge therefore is to track down uninstaller software developers who aren't money-grabbing, lazy, conniving charlatans. This I achieved, having spent a considerable amount of time trawling through a variety of shareware and freeware databases, upon stumbling across the Optimus Software group, who are responsible for developing 'Trash It'.
This tool partly won my vote because it strictly follows the KISS (keep it simple stupid) approach to software development in that it does exactly what you want it to do and nothing more, which means it's light on useless fluff and is super efficient. Not surprisingly, some of the worst vapourware creating offenders are the authors of those 100-in-1 gadget suites which claim to do, well everything... while achieving very little.
If you save an individual log file for each future installation, you will no longer have to concern yourself with what is left behind when you remove unwanted, test-driven software. Think of it as instant Ghosting without a reboot.
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