Where to report Nigerian scams and other frauds; the budget site; John Nash; Googlematic; sending your thoughts to the future; installation art; a dating service for twins; where to keep track of the current Stanley Cup playoffs, and more. The free issue of Science Week is linked incorrectly from the Guardian site: go here
Guardian Webwatch

The Klez virus and what all PC users need to do now to defend themselves; deleting Microsoft Word's stray scratch files; and importing a Netscape address book into Internet Explorer. Readers respond on the power switch issue and opening new browser windows from Google, while Joia Shillingford reports back on faxing via the Web.
Ask Jack

Can the spam: junk e-mail is costing us billions, but there are ways to stop it, with a bit of help from the government and programs like MailWasher.
Guardian Online

The letter "from Microsoft" that comes with a virus; turning off your PC; Esperanto in Word 2000; saving Outlook Express e-mail on CD; what to do about losing the back button; deleting cookies on an iMac, feedback on browser hijacking, IT training and more.
Ask Jack

Are voice response systems worth their SALT? The capability to create them will soon be coming to a Visual Studio.net near you.
Computer Weekly Technology > Development Tools > Analysis

You don't have to steal this book: you can suggest alterations or download and rewirte parts of a new biography of free software guru Richard Stallman because it has been published on much the same basis as free software.
Guardian Online

Gambling may be a mugs' game but these "long bets" are of particular interest, especially if you are the least bit geeky. Other resources include Teoma, iTools, AllSearchEngines and the Encyclopedia Britannica (11th edition). For kids, there are Unfortunate Events and Kylie Minogue sites. Plus: six of the best sites for learning about the Internet.
Webwatch

Having your browser snatched -- so it no longer defaults to the home page you chose -- is bad enough, but it is even worse if you end up a victim of porn spammers. The anti-virus sites have documented some examples of these Trojans, but if you tackle the problem in the methodical way described here, you should be able to recover, and limit the potential for future attacks.
Ask Jack

Free AV software; downloading stories for offline reading; sorting out your Start menu; and the bug that can cripple Windows 9x if your PC has too much memory.
Guardian Online: Ask Jack

Not as good as sticking a fish in your ear. Plus: the lightest PocketPC, and a voice authentication system that fits in a phone.
What's New

It's time to start fighting back against spam, because it is going to get a lot worse. There are a few things you can do....
Comuter Weekly Technology > Security > Opinion

When the Internet first came into public use, a decade ago, we had the idea that location no longer mattered: we had done away with geography. Now, almost everywhere, suppliers are starting to use maps, and Location-Based Services (LBS) are seen as the coming thing.
Guardian Online

A site to help kids with problems; Sexiest Geek competition; Irish museum exhibits net art; online graffiti competition; searching Microsoft sites from Google; the descent of man; and Flash 99% Good, or should that be bad.
Webwatch

Blacklisted for spamming, even though it wasn't you; sending faxes via the Web; choosing a notebook PC; unhiding files and folders to find the SendTo directory in Windows Me.
Ask Jack

Last week, I complained (in Second Sight) that Web design was bad and getting worse. There were too many responses to print, but you can read some of the ones not published on the Guardian's Web site. There were good arguments on both sides....
Feedback

Mira, Microsoft's technology for making PC screens portable, is a nice idea, but having had my hands on samples, I have reservations about the implementation. (And hardly anyone seems to have realised that the "screens" are actually portable network computers in all but name.)
Guardian Online

Macromedia's Flash has emerged as a middleware contender with the launch of a more standards-compliant Flash MX, which also supports streaming video.
Guardian Online

The Web is bad and getting worse because most sites are designed for visual appearance -- or the needs of advertisers -- instead of usability.
Second Sight

Can you catch a virus from a Web page? How do you know if your PC has a Trojan? And how do you add something to the SendTo menu?
Ask Jack

Sun has launched a humungous private lawsuit against Microsoft -- one that is far bigger and far wider in scope than the US government's. This will keep a lot of lawyers in new Mercs for a long time. But Sun might do better if it just spent the money on some decent programmers.
Computer Weekly > Technology > Servers > Opinion

Intel has announced the Pentium 4-M -- the mobile version of the Pentium. Costs more, but it's a better idea than using a desktop processor in a small enclosure, unless the case design is "exquisite". With desktop Pentia due to reach at least 3GHz this year, the heat problem is not going to go away....
Guardian Online

Big Brother Awards, DivX 5 (and spyware), Ambridge audio online, Nurses are bullied, The Framley Examiner, top Xbox sites, and more....
Webwatch

Trojans: can hackers take control of your PC? Getting the right size PC screen for Web sites. Removing AutoComplete from Internet Explorer. Startup error messages that may show your PC has a virus infection.
Ask Jack

Chilling Effects is a new site logging legal moves that may restrict freedom of speech on the Web. Other sites watched this week include Viralbank, the Rocklopedia Fakebandica, and one that invites you to vote on the Seven New Wonders of the World/
Guardian Online: Webwatch

Is it worth refilling printer cartridges? Readers have their say....
Ask Jack

PCs are boring, as the Xbox games console shows. But in this case, being boring is a Good Thing.
Computer Weekly

Celebrity tattoos, a game based on Hieronymous Bosch, an interactive guide to numbers used on the net, Microsoft's entry into .Net mapping services, and the Yak's new blog for old Mutant Camels fans. Sorry, Six of the Best -- Chuck Jones sites -- has gone missing.
Guardian Online: Webwatch

Why you could lose your Hotmail account, converting WordPro 97 files, books to help you look after your PC, and backchat about e-mailing Web pages, finding news sources, TrueType fonts, and deleting index.dat files.
Ask Jack

Searching for news by date; seeing pictures in browsers; looking for a font directory; sending a Web page by e-mail. . . and why there's no MacIntel.
Guardian Online: Ask Jack

What if the Internet collapsed? The hole in SNMP, disclosed in a CERT advisory last week, could have catastrophic consequences.
Computer Weekly > Technology > Security > Opinion

PC Health in Windows Me: how to reduce the disk space it uses, or disable it; deleting an index.dat file; running a defrag; finding a printer driver for WordPerfect; and a question: are printer refills worth it?
Guardian Online: Ask Jack

Remote Assistance and other ways to control Windows at a distance; looking after a plethora of passwords (and the single-sign on idea); and the case of the missing Microsoft Backup. (Two Backchat items have gone missing from the Guardian Unlimited version.)
Guardian Online: Ask Jack

Will the hardware suppliers break GNU/Linux by creating different versions that are incompatible with one another? That's how they broke Unix. The Free Standards Group is now promoting two standard platforms instead. If it doesn't work, we could be in for another round of Unix wars with Sun v IBM again. (Unless they learned their lesson last time.)
Computer Weekly > Technology > Systems Software > Opinion

If you don't have any Spyro games and you're the target age for Pixar animated features, Monsters, Inc: Scare Island could fill a few hours.....
Guardian Online: Gameswatch

Finding the souce of a spammer or other e-mail sender, tackling those start-up programs (even with Windows 95), dealing with DINPUT.DLL, password-protecting and hiding folders, speech recognition, and free memory versus system resources.
Ask Jack

Be like Bill Gates and other billionaires: have a home entertainment network to amuse you wherever you are. That's the idea behind he Moxi Media Centre. Microsoft, Sony and a few other companies have the same idea....
Guardian Online

How to debug a problem PC the hard way, get your Outlook Express mail back, and find a new place to put your photos online.
Ask Jack

Next month, Microsoft will launch Visual Studio.Net, the leading program development system for the next generation of computing. Or so it hopes. If the master plan works, it will turn back the tide that has been running towards Java and J2EE.
Computer Weekly > Technology > Development Tools > Columnists
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Thursday, January 13, 2002

Yahoo's music launch (or Launch), WhistlerBlower, KidSmart, Fyuze revisited and more. The missing URL for Stumpers-L is here: http://www.cuis.edu/~stumpers/
Guardian Online: Webwatch

What can you do if your PC's browser is taken over by a service you don't want, such as 2KSearch? Also: moving Outlook Express e-mail, slideshows and other topics.
Ask Jack

Thought of keeping a diary online? You don't have to write about your love life on Blogger. It can be handy just to have a PC and/or palmtop synchronized with Yahoo or whatever.
Guardian Online

This year's most-asked question: how to type a euro symbol. Also test your net speed, try a new e-mail service, clean up the right-click menu, and more about travelling with a notebook PC.
Ask Jack

Some of the technologies to watch this year..... and where they are on the Hype Cycle.
Guardian Online in G2

The Seven Wonders of the Web: you can draw up your own list before you check the one devised by the Online team....
Guardian Online

Don't take that new computer out of its box unless you have already got a yellow plastic briefcase, some sticky labels and a bottle of Tippex. This is stuff the books don't tell you.....
Ask Jack Christmas Special

Thursday, December 20, 2001

If you got any computer games for Christmas, I hope the selection included at least one of these.....
Guardian Online: Gameswatch

There's no doubt about the appeal of a personalised portal on the Web. However, having spent a while playing with what I think is he best effort yet -- Fyuze -- I'm sticking to my personalised Hotsheet.
Webwatch

When it comes to accessing the Internet from various countries around the world, I still haven't found anything better than AOL. (With apologies for Guardian Unlimited's formatting errors,)
Ask Jack

If you can afford a bit of self-indulgence this Christmas, here are some things you can add to your PC.
Guardian Online

This week's agony column focuses on the photopraphic....
Ask Jack

Doesn't seem long since I was using an acoustic coupler to log on at 300 baud (30 characters per second). Now we're heading for 50 megabits per second with VDSL and 802.11a and g....
Guardian Online

Converting vinyl or tape to CD is easy if you don't care much about hi-fi quality, and cheap if your time isn't worth anything. Otherwise....
Ask Jack

What's happening on the Web this week: at least check out Odd Todd and Silly Girls.
Webwatch

There are not many great PlayStation 2 games but SSX Tricky delivers both a challenge and a rush....
Gameswatch

The sudden shift in the US Department of Justice attitude to Microsoft's position is a clear indication of how strongly politics is influencing what passes for justice. However, the case probably wouldn't have been brought in the first place had it not been for political considerations -- staunch Silicon Valley high-tech Republicans getting what they wanted for backing a Democrat Clinton-Gore ticket. Of course, this doesn't say much for America's anti-trust laws, but everyone who has looked into their history knows they were already a farce. Just like the British libel laws, but swapping Klein for Carman.
Computer Weekly > Strategy > Politics & Law > Opinion