Dennis Faas

Similar to ICQ and Yahoo Messenger , MSN Messenger is a chat program that allows you to interact with other people around the world. If my memory serves correct, ICQ is the "Grand Daddy" of all Windows-based chat programs with a graphical user ... interface (GUI), but MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger are gaining in popularity. Conveniently, MSN Messenger comes bundled with the Windows XP operating system. Wait a sec -- did I say that was 'convenient'? No it's not. Since I installed Windows XP, MSN Messenger has been in my face multiple times asking me if I want to sign up for an ... (view more)

I had a few people email me with regards to the Alexa Registry Key (Spyware) that Chris B. submitted yesterday. OK, So is the Alexa registry key Spyware or not? There is much debate . Let me try to outline some of the issues. 1. It has been said ... that the "Spyware" part of the tool will only activate if you choose to use the Alexa tool provided in Internet Explorer. Long story short: you can't activate the Spyware component used in Alexa if you don't use the Alexa tool. You have the ability to change this (see below). 2. Spyware software is considered "Spyware" because ... (view more)

This issue of the Gazette is a continuation of yesterday's article, regarding Parental Control Software which is used to block "bad" web sites (pornography, gambling, bad language, nudity, sex, and violence). You know -- all that kind of bad stuff ... we normally see on day-time TV talk shows. Anyway, I decided to test out a highly recommended web-filtering program, called "We-Blocker". The results of that test were mixed . We-Blocker was able to block only a *very small* selection of "bad" web sites. I was able to break through We-Blocker's filtering control and ... (view more)

Yesterday's Visitor Feedback posed the question, "where can I get free parental control software that will filter out pornography , gambling, bad language, nudity, sex, and violence?" Since I was unfamiliar with the subject, I decided to ask the ... readers of the Gazette to send me their thoughts. Jeanne A. writes: " Thank you for your great newsletter. In response to your request about parental control software, I use We-Blocker on my kids' computer and it does an excellent job. You can set the level of control and allow or disallow additional sites. Best of all, it's free and ... (view more)

There's lots o' interesting news to tell you in this issue of the Gazette. Recall that October 16th's issue of the Gazette proposed the question of whether or not Kazaa (Sharman Networks) implemented some sort of cap on bandwidth (downloads). I ... received a few suggestions from our readers, and without further adieu, let me attempt coordinate some of their thoughts. Kooby writes: " I updated to Kazaa v2 to find this new thing called a kazaa participation level. Because I have a cable modem (high speed internet) with only mediocre upload speed, I don't share any files with other Kazaa ... (view more)

Since we're on the topic of Outlook Express, I thought I'd add more coal to the fire and ask the Infopackets Readers for yet another problem that I do not have the solution to. Here is what Harold S. says about his problem: " When I go to send out ... my pictures as an attachment (using Outlook Express), the recipient receives anywhere from 5+ of the same email (from me) in a row. I checked for a virus several different ways, and found none. I also found that the I cannot change the font size, change the colors in the font, and plagued by several other minor things I can't change and it all ... (view more)

It looks like yesterday's problem of Outlook Express not displaying images via email stirred up a lot of responses. I woke up today to find that my Inbox was jammed full of excellent suggestions from our Readers. First, let me explain who might be ... affected by missing pictures in Outlook Express 6: Anyone who has upgraded to, has installed a patch for, or uses Outlook Express 6 Anyone who installed Windows XP, or XP Service Pack 1. These people also have Outlook Express 6 installed on their system. From what I can gather, that pretty much sums it up. There were multiple solutions to the ... (view more)

I've recently received the same question multiple times -- and I can't figure out why it is that some users have such a hard time sending an image to a friend via email with Outlook Express? So, I'm going to ask for help on this one -- hopefully a ... Infopackets Reader can give me some insight. Here are some of the most recent questions I've received about missing pictures in Outlook Express: " Hello, Since I replaced Outlook Express 5 by Outlook Express 6, my photos sent by email in the text or as attachment disappear. All my friends complain that they only see a small box with a red X in ... (view more)

If you share files online the Internet (trading MP3s, movies, software), you have undoubtedly already heard of Kazaa -- maybe even Kazaa Lite . In a nutshell Kazaa uses its own P2P (peer to peer) technology which allow users across the Internet to ... share files online. The last time I checked, there were about 2.2 million users online Kazaa, sharing some 5 million files. That's a lot of files. I'm not going to get into the complexities of how things work, because I've already discussed that in a previous issue of the Infopackets Gazette. Kazaa is free software which gets its funding from the ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Lim Chee A. writes: " Greetings from Malaysia! I have been subscribed to your Infopackets Newsletter since May 2002, and I really enjoy your work! I have a question though: What's the difference between GUI and skins? " My ... Response: GUI is a short-term word which means "Graphic User Interface". A skin is an extension of the GUI which changes the GUI appearance. If you're interested in changing the way that Windows looks, you might be interested in checking out these web sites: http://www.shellcity.net/ http://www.stardock.net/ http://www.wincustomize.com ... (view more)