Dennis Faas

Do you have Spyware unknowingly installed on your system? What are the latest Spyware threats? In general, Spyware is defined as: Software that is installed onto your machine without your permission, and tracks your activity for no user benefit. ... There are a lot of sites on the 'Net today which distribute software that promises to make life easy -- the only thing you need to do is download and install it on your machine. But what is the software really doing? RE: Spyware Info There is a web site that is dedicated to keeping the Internet community up-to-date with Spyware news. The name of the ... (view more)

Last week, Phil M. asked the question: " I can't access the Outlook 2000 contacts because they no longer belong to my user account. Is there any way I can access the previous Outlook 2000 contacts list? I don't know where to look. " I didn't know ... the answer to this question, so I asked Infopackets Readers to send me their suggestions. Bill S. confidently writes: " FIRST - a BIG first - go to Control Panel, Folder Options, View and de-select Display Hidden Files. Then go to C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook. There were ... (view more)

Yeah, the wallet is on a major diet this year. So, I thought I'd spread some Holiday cheer and start this week off with some cool computer gift ideas for under $50 bucks. At the end of my Top 10 list, I invite you to email your $budgeted$ gift ideas ... and I'll include them in tomorrow's issue of the Gazette. #1. Optical mouse with a Scroll Wheel: Less than $25 If I had to go back to a ball mouse, I think I'd go insane. Optical mice are very precise and don't suffer from jerky movements or get gummed up like ball mice do... plus you can use an optical mouse on just about any surface. An optical ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Phil M. writes: " Dear Dennis, The in-house guru for my office recently gave me my own user account and password on a Windows NT 4.0 machine. Previous to this, the computer required no login and used a central Outlook 2000 ... database for contacts. Now that I have my own login account, I can't access the Outlook 2000 contacts because they no longer belong to my user account. Is there any way I can access the previous Outlook 2000 contacts list? I don't know where to look. " My response:I don't use Outlook 2000. If anyone knows the answer to this, email me and I'll ... (view more)

I've been toying with some different ways to help get the word out about the infopackets web site. I'm on a tight budget, especially after getting $burned$ from a sucky web hosting company . In fact, I sent the Sucky Web Hosting company an email ... yesterday asking when my account was going to be refunded because my bank statement reported no activity. Here's two emails I received regarding my refund: November 29: " Your account will be refunded all but the $99 Setup Fee. Refunds are usually processed within 24 hours of cancellation ... sometimes it can take a while to show up in your bank ... (view more)

Update 20181211 : Notice to readers: this article is quite old (originally posted 2002), but still provides an excellent overview of computer processor history from the early 1990s to 2002. If you want to read a much more recent and up-to-date ... article about processors, we suggest reading " Which Processor is Better: Intel or AMD? - Explained ". Otherwise, please continue reading! -- Almost exactly a year ago this day I wrote an article which compared differences between AMD and Intel Processors. Oddly enough, today I received a question from Ali N. which asked, "What is the ... (view more)

I guess I don't get out very much because a handful of Infopackets Readers informed me today that there are indeed DVD Records which also burn CD-R and CD-R/W discs. Chris J. wrote in and told me about his Sony DVD-Burner, model DRU500A. This drive ... was a popular pick among many other Gazette Readers: " I have a Sony DRU500A DVD – CD Burner. It writes in DVD+RW (2.4x), DVD-RW (2.0x) & CD-RW (10x) and reads in DVD+R (2.4x), DVD-R (4x), CD-R (24x) and CD-Rom (32x) formats. It retails for $350, but I’ve seen it as low as $315 on the Internet. So far it’s working great. " Rob R. also ...href="/news/9182/dvd-cdr-cdrw-all-one-combo-burner-part-2" class="more-link">view more)

Lavandran R. asks: " Dear Dennis, I've heard about combo drives which include DVD and CD-R/RW all-in-one. Does this mean I burn DVDs and CD-R/RW with the same unit? I'm confused! " My Response: There are DVD burners which can burn DVDs, but they are ... very expensive since it's new technology. I'm not aware of any DVD burner / CD-R/RW combo units on the market at this time. Unless it is specifically stated that the drive is a DVD-Burner, it probably is not. Most likely the drive you're looking at is a combo DVD reader and CD-R/RW burner. I've had a combo drive like this in the past and ... (view more)

Finally! After all the trouble and hassle with the last host, I think I've finally found a permanent home for the infopackets.com web site and virtual-host friends who are sharing this dedicated server. A brief, but very interesting (hellish) ... synopsis entails: Some time near the end of October 2002: It was decided that I needed to get another dedicated server to handle all the traffic that comes through the infopackets web server. October 30, 2002: After being reassured by a "knowledgeable" web-hosting sales representative that infopackets.com and its high demand for bandwidth could ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader David R. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just finished reading your latest newsletter entitled, ' Required DLL not found error message .' On a related note, searching Google is usually one of my first steps in dealing with any unknown ... computer problem. Invariably, I'll find that someone else has had the same or a similar problem before me, and I avoid 're-inventing the wheel' by trying those solutions first. Two days ago I found a DLL file resource that was the best I'd ever seen! I use Win98SE and it listed EVERY DLL file, briefly told what it does, gives the version number ... (view more)