Number 293 - October 2007

UPDATE
History    The short article Lest We Forget on the next page is a tribute to Gary Kildall one of the early movers and shakers in the world of personal computer operating systems. Beginner    In Back-Ups Made Easy - A new solution for an old problem the author discusses various techniques of backing up your valuable data along with their shortcomings. He then suggests an alternative service available through your Internet connection. Take a look.    Two short articles are provided by TOG members Carl Tenning and Tom Stepanek in TOG Web Page and Java Runtime Environment and Old Java Programs where they discuss the fact that Java updates leave old versions of Java on your hard disk taking up valuable hard disk space. Operating Systems    In Vista and the Reliability & Performance Monitor, Vinnie LaBash discusses a little known and, up until now, little used feature of Vista that allows you to monitor your system's performance. If you have upgraded to Vista you should take a look at this article.    In Understanding Your Computer's BIOS Brian Lewis gives his usual thorough discussion of the function and features of your computer's Basic Input/Output System.	In the past we have used Live CD-ROMs to evaluate a version of Linux as well as other aspects of computing. Here the author discusses some other programs that are available through live CD-ROMs. It is a safe way to run and evaluate new programs but also to simply operate your computer without fear of acquiring unwanted fellow travelers like viruses and trojans. For you old timers it is a way of operating your computer in a manner similar to the way you ran it in 80's and 90's. Your editor can remember having the luxury of two floppy drives with the operating system and application program on a disk in the A: drive and the data disk in the B: drive. This sort of does that with a Live CD in its own drive. Communications    In the article Net Neutrality: It's Time For Us To Speak Out! the author asks, whether or not you want the large telecom companies to have the ability to block or otherwise curtail your use of the Internet? The article discusses the danger of large companies, not the General Public controlling access to and content of the Internet. She urges action to make the Internet public. Read it and see if you agree. Hardware    In Building a PC for Vista the author gives a brief description of a PC they built for a user training center to provide experience in operating with the Vista operating system. He points out that Vista operates differently with different computer configurations and this may influence whether or not you need to upgrade your system to run some applications designed to be run with Vista.
Number 293 - October 2007