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©1999, Lockergnome LC. All Rights Reserved. Subscription inquiries are answered below. Content written by Chris Pirillo. Website hosted by DigitalDaze. A poor workman blames his tools.


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Lockergnome
02.05.1999 - GnomeREPORT

A Lockergnomie asks: "I've got a couple of computers at home (my husband's and mine). I thought it would be relatively easy to network them; Boy, was I was wrong. What's the simplest way to connect two computers together?"

Well, one sure fire way is to use a null-modem cable to connect the two computers. You should be able to pick one up at any electronics or computer store. Be sure it's a "null modem" cable, though--anything else won't work. This won't be a true network connection, but it works well for playing games against each other and file transferring. Now, if you want to have a REAL network connection, and both computers have an open USB port, I STRONGLY suggest you pick up the ezlink USB Instant Network. It's amazingly simple to use, and you won't need any other supplies. Everything works just like you were on a network... well, you ARE on a network! I love USB... it has already solved a few headaches for me.

Another Lockergnomie asks: "Can you give me a clue as to why I keep getting "out of memory" and "out of disk space" messages from both Netscape and MSIE 4 when I have over 1,034 MB free disk space and 32 MB of RAM?"

Well, my first suggestion would be for you to invest in more RAM. The prices aren't that bad (hey, just don't buy any pizzas or beer this month) and you'll get a faster computer after going from 32 to 64. Check with your computer manufacturer to see what kind of memory you'll need. That might solve the problem (and other speed-related issues). Also, try turning off your Temporary Internet Files in IE (Memory & Disk Cache in Netscape)--see if that changes anything. If not, it might be time to delete old junk from your hard drive. If you're not sure a file is safe to delete, move it to a new "temporary" folder for a while and see if your PC changes. If nothing bad happens after a month, it's typically safe to delete those moved files. Your mileage may vary (YMMV).

-- Chris Pirillo        


GnomePROGRAM

The Cleaner v1.02 [159k] W9x/NT FREE

ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/simtelnet/win95/email/clean102.zip

I love getting e-mail from you Lockergnomies. I might not have the opportunity to respond to every message or every question, but I appreciate the time you take to write. Now, that being said, I'm really not up for getting "forwarded" messages (especially jokes). Sending me news flashes is GREAT, but I typically delete anything that has fourteen 'greater than' symbols preceding each line: > > > > > -- Here's a program that will remove all that extra junk from those messages. That's all it does, but it works well.


GnomeSYSTEM

BelDrive S.M.A.R.T. Drive Tester

http://yourpc.net/harddrives.html

"How can S.M.A.R.T. help a PC end-user? Not all hard drive failures are predictable, but many mechanical failures are predictable and this is where S.M.A.R.T. can be of help to PC end-users. S.M.A.R.T. measures many attributes of the user's drive over time and decides if they are moving out of tolerance. Knowing that your hard drive is going to fail and doing something about it, is infinitely better than having one crash in the middle of writing an article. Backing up one's hard drive and possibly replacing it are far better options than recovering a failed drive." This is a great, free diagnostic for S.M.A.R.T. capable drives.


GnomeCANDY

M&M Software's Free Stuff

http://www.mm-soft.com/free.asp

Who doesn't need clip art? I suppose if you owned a 25 CD set with over a million images, this site wouldn't impress you. However, if you're looking for clip art that you could use in presentations, or for designing a coloring book for your own kids (nieces, nephews, grandchildren, etc.), M&M Software will take care of you. Sea Mammals, the Fifty States, Planet and Zodiac Symbols, World Maps, Dinosaurs, Birds of America... plus a few historical American documents can be downloaded here.


GnomeFAVORITE

Ulead WebUtilities FREE Online Services
Found by Chris Jones

http://www.webutilities.com/services/index.htm

Are you still optimizing your web pages for Lynx? I know several web designers who are afraid to use any sort of graphic on their site because it would "slow down the loading process". While this might be true for graphics-intensive sites, I don't believe that mixing a little bit of (nice looking) graphics with text on a page is all that bad. Through this site, you can shrink (and convert) GIFs, JPGs, and PNGs for free! It's a great way to cut down page loading time without sacrificing design.


GnomeDESKTOP

FONT: Snot [74k]

http://www.swankarmy.net/dobi/toxic/snot.zip
http://www.swankarmy.net/dobi/art/

Okay, I realize I've lept into the realm of bad taste here, but 'tis the season to be sneezing. Ah... AH... AH-KERSPLAT! Ewww, sorry about that. It'll come right out with a little soap and water. NO! Don't rub it in--that'll make it worse. Let me get some tissue paper. WAIT! Ya know, if you squint your eyes and tilt your head like so, it kinda looks like Abraham Lincoln! "The power of a booger is amazing. Had this been an actual nose goblin emergency, you would have been instructed to run away... fast."


GnomeTIP

Lockergnomie Steve Feinstein reminded me to tell y'all about a slightly-hidden tip that I use often. First, I'm sorry about saying "y'all"--I used to say "you guys" but that's not politically correct anymore. I'm not from the deep south; I started saying "y'all" after living in San Antonio for a few months. Anyway, back to the tip! After you've searched for files with the Windows Find applet (hit the F3 key to pull it up), select ONE of the found files (left click on it ONCE). Then, select 'File' from the menu and look towards the bottom for 'Open Containing Folder'. If you select that option, the folder in which the selected file is contained will open up in a new Explorer window!