Contents
WINDOWS NEWS & REVIEWS MAGAZINE

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LATEST COMPUTER NEWS

HARDWARE REVIEWS

SOFTWARE REVIEWS

ELECTRONIC BOOKS

The First National Peoples Poll

THE WORLDS FIRST SILLY 900#S

For Help on Help, Press F1


Let your Mouse do the walking!

This is the First Electronic Version of the old venerable yellow paper bound volume that we are so familiar with and use every day to find the products and services that we need.  If you have ever used the old paper-bound version, you already know how to use this Electronic Version.  Just click on a category and the search engine in this Verbon, or Electronic Book, will take you to that group of advertisers.  Once, there you can let your mouse do the walking until you've found the company you want.


Welcome & How to use this Verbon

You already know how to NAVIGATE around in this Verbon.  From the menu above, you can page forward or back.  (NOT THE BEST WAY.)  Or you can search on any subject,  (A BETTER WAY)

or you can simply click on any TABLE OF CONTENTS ITEM and let your mouse take you where you want to go simply and quickly.

Since all Windows Help programs are basically the same, youll find this same easy navigation in all Windows Help Files.


LATEST COMPUTER NEWS
YOUR LATEST COMPUTER NEWS

THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHAY PAVES THE FIRST LANE.

by M. Mathiesen

INTEL Corp has announced a new communications board coming out by the end of this year that will connect up to your CABLE TV box.  The CABLE BOX manufacturers have of course signed on to this new technology allowing PCs to get information downloaded over the Cable Networks.

Why would you want to do this?  THIS IS THE FIRST LANE OF THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY.  Youll want to get on board because if you dont youll be in the same position as someone who refused to buy one of those NEW FANGLED HORSELESS CARRIAGES.  Youll be left in the Stone Age of computer oblivion.  This board from INTEL will allow for 10 Megabits/Sec. Data Throughput.  The fastest Modem in the world today goes at about 1 One Thousandth of this speed.  This means that Files in the hundreds of Megabytes can be transferred to your PC in seconds.  It also means that video conferencing will head in this direction and youll finally be able to watch the screen withouut all the jitters of twisted pair transfer.

But most important from our standpoint, is the fact that marking this new direction for INTEL means that anyone buying any kind of PC in the future OTHER THAN AN INTEL BASED MACHINE, is making a BIG MISTAKE.  WHY?  Because its an INTEL universe now and if the INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY is going to be available on any PC with this board installed, it means that any other standard such as MACintosh, PowerPC, Mainframe or anything other than a PC, is going to become a very expensive paperweight on your desk.

Microsoft is of course part of this CONSPIRACY to take over the universe as well as all the major software and manufacturers of peripherals such as monitors, keyboards, joysticks, etc.  Everyone who is anyone is rapidly engineering ways to make their product fit into the INTER-ACTIVE world of that this kind of BROAD BANDWIDTH is bringing with it.  So, watch for more news on this subject.  Its something very near and dear to this publisher since our future is linked with the Information Superhighway.  You can bet well keep you informed and with the best, most useful information on it.


The First National Peoples Poll

THE WORLDS FIRST TOTALLY USELESS 900#S

<  PLEASE MAKE COPIES AND PASS AROUND FREELY TO FRIENDS  >

For Help on Help, Press F1


Video Boards

WINDOWS ACCELERATOR & GRAPHICS CARDS

SEE ALSO VIDEO CAPTURE BOARDS

DIAMOND COMPUTER SYSTEMS

408-736-2000

The Diamond Stealth is almost an Industry standard.  In fact, many new boards compare themselves to this very popular board.  Diamond makes ISA and VESA LOCAL BUS accelerator cards at very competitive prices and has some of the most popular drivers supported by many of the major software applications.  And now we have a line of excellent video capture and sound boards as well.

Hercules Computer  Technology, Inc.

3839 Spinnaker Court

Fremont, CA  94538

510-623-6030

800-532-0600

FAX  510-623-1112

Hercules Graphite Card.

The Hercules Graphite Card provides exceptionally fast Windows graphics performance and superior ergonomics.  Graphite supports several 256 color resolutions from 640 x 480 to 1024 x 768.  Ultra-high resolution 16 color modes of 1152 x 900 (non-interlaced) and 1280 x 1024 (interlaced are available for dual-pate layout or high resolution design.  Photo-realistic color modes of 65,536 colors at up to 800 x 600 resolution and 16.7 million colors at 640 x 480 resolution are also provided.

MATROX ELECTRONICS

514-685-2630

Matrox video accelerators are based on the Matrox new 64 bit graphics chip and offers maximum resolution for the professional CAD or graphics user.  True 24 bit color.

NUMBER NINE COMPUTER CORPORATION

18 HARTWELL AVE.

LEXINGTON, MA  02173

617--674-0009

ULTRA-HIGH PERFORMANCE CAD GRAPHICS

9GXE & 9GXI BOARDS.

Both boards feature true color at high resolutions.  Special utility features include #9 virtual Resolutions to more than double your desktop resolution.  Its like having twice as much deskspace as you had before and the monitor becomes a windows on a wall that is twice as big as the monitor screen.  All done in software with absolutely no flickering or jitters.  Also included is #9 Zoom to magnify screens up to 16 times for precision pixel editing and Color Perfect for crystal clear color accuracy of prepress materials.  On line help is a click away.

ORCHID TECHNOLOGY

45365 NORTHPORT LOOP W

FREMONT, CA  94538

800-7-ORCHID

Orchids Interactive Real Time (IRT) graphic accelerator cards, sounds, DE-ROM drive, MultiMedia upgrade kit and new digital video products are available.  New 16 bit dsp sound cards, the Sound Wave 32 and Game Wave 32, use wavetable synthesis with simultaneous standards support.

The Fahrenheit 1280I is based on S3s 86c805i graphics accelerator and with customized drivers runs 50 percent faster than previous models.  The Celsius offers a 32 bit graphics processor with 100hz refresh rates, 16 million colors an 1600x1200 resolution.

PARADISE/WESTERN DIGITAL

714-932-5000

Paradise has a fine selection of Video Accelerator cards that are second to none and offer great value for the dollar.  There are boards for the budget-minded up to the High performance needs of the power-user and very reasonably priced.

Radius, Inc

1710 Fortune Drive

San Jose, CA  95131

800-227-3948                                      MultiView 24

Combines brilliant 24 bit color with on-board  acceleration making it the fastest Windows graphics board for professional graphics, color publishing, and CAD.  Four to 24 times faster than 8-bit SVGA cards.  Cuts wait time for complex color work for maximum productivity.

STB SYSTEMS (SIMPLY THE BEST.)

800-234-4334

Very high quality graphics capture boards in ISA and VLB standards, moderately priced.

Volante/National Design

1515 Capitol of Texas Hwy S.

Austin, TX  78746

512-329-5055

800-253-8831

NATIONAL DESIGN has something for every video graphics board need.

Top of the Line AT 2004 will handle any professional graphic need!  Extremely fast, perfect for CAD and other High End Professional Graphics

And  ...

For those on a budget you might choose our Warp 10  With 1MB on board it will give maximum resolution of 1280 x 1024 with 16 colors.

The Warp 20 Boards will go up to the same high resolution but with an improved accelerator chip to give even faster performance.

These are available in either ISA or VL BUS standard interface.

Prices start at $299 Retail.

At the high end for professionals needing ultra-high resolutions is the AT - 2002 with 2MB of VRAM and with Max resolution of as much as 1280 x 1024 with 256 colors.    MSRP of $1299

Or the AT 2004 with 4MB VRAM and max resolution at 1280 x 1024 with 86,000 colors.  MSRP of $1399.

Both these boards carry the Texas Instruments 83584 Accelerator Chipset installed, to give speeds that few other boards can approach.  For manipulating graphics around on the screen with very little waiting even for the complex, high-resolution images, you will be more productive.


Computer Hardware Sound Cards

Media Vision  Video Capture cards, audio cards, CD-ROM kits  MultiMedia Publishing

800-845-5870

Creative Labs  Video Blaster, SoundBlaster, CD-ROM kits

800-998-5227


Communications - Fax

BIT SOFTWARE

1510-490-2928

BITFAX FOR WINDOWS

New Faxing software under Windows that may finally compete with Winfax Pro, the standard in faxing.  Automatic sensor to detect voice or fax or data call on the same line.

DELRINA WINFAX PRO

Still the best Faxing software under windows

416-441-3676

HAYES MICROCOMPUTER

SMARTCOM for Windows

404-840-9200

Very nice comm pkg for Windows, has all the transfer protocals and ease of use of Windows.

NORTON -LAMBERT

805-964-6767

CLOSE-UP  5.0  Fast communications, even control the remote computer under Windows.

SYMANTEC  PC-ANYWHERE

800-441-7234

REMOTELY COMMUNICATE WITH ANY COMPUTER OVER MODEM WHICH IS ALSO RUNNING PC-ANYWHERE.  CONTROL THE OTHER COMPUTER FROM A REMOTE LOCATION.

TRAVELING SOFTWARE

206-483-8088

Lap Link & Commworks, fax and communications & printer sharing in one.


Communications - Email

Lighthouse Productions

P.O. Box 7885

Santa Cruz, CA  95061

(408) 423-8580

(408) 423-0131

Compuserve 72254,16

AOL  TRUEBLU4U

PRODIGY CNWE60A

Win-Basket

The easiest way to communicate these days is through the EMAIL facilities of many online services and networks.  Our WIN-BASKET program makes it easy to EMAIL anyone in the world using just WINDOWS and your modem.  There is a central message area that will take incoming messages and places them in an IN-BASKET.  Your outgoing messages are stored in your OUT-BASKET, until such time as you wish to release them.  At your leisure, browse your IN-BASKET and reply to the most urgent messages.  No more need for a secretary.  Secretaries of the world, youd better get WIN-BASKET, before your Boss does and then you can show him how organized you are.

 $19.95  Requirements are any computer running Windows 3.0 or above and a Modem.  Communicates with anyone else who has a copy of WIN-BASKET and a modem.  No need for anything else.


(Video Boards & Video Accelerators)

The Video Board is the board that snaps into the PC and which controls the monitor.  Some video cards only give resolution of color and pixels, such as 800 x 600 with 256 colors.  This is the Super VGA standard.  VGA is 640 x 480 pixels with 256 colors.  Higher-end video cards add up to 16,000,000 colors which greatly adds to the photographic look of the screen


Computer Hardware Categories

Audio/Music/Video

Hard Drives

Back-up-devices

CD-ROM Drives

Removable drives

Monitors

Motherboards& Controllers

MultiMedia Devices

Input Devices

Controllers

Printers/Fax-Modems

Sound cards and devices

Video Accelerators & Graphics cards

VIDEO CAPTURE BOARDS

Networking

OTHER


The First National Peoples Poll

Call 900-288-2248

or ...900-CUT-BAIT

(18 yrs or younger, get parents permission.  Cost of call is $1.99/min.  Avg. length of call 5 min. Touch Tone phones only.)

Express Your Opinion regarding all the latest and Hottest topics in Politics, Sports, Entertainment.  Give your opinion regarding LATE BREAKING STORIES such as Tonya Harding, Michael Jackson, Bill Clinton, Rush Limbaugh, even ELVIS and other celebrities MAKING THE NEWS OF THE DAY.

The purpose of this National Peoples Poll is to let those in charge know the majority opinion on all major current issues so that they can make better decisions regarding the running of this country.  As it stands today, laws are made in Washington without any regard or knowledge of the will of the people.  Many people write LETTERS TO THEIR CONGRESSMEN & WOMEN, but most of these are people who have the time and the will to do so.  Most of us do not have the luxury of being able to pen a letter to our Representatives on an ON-GOING BASIS.  This Peoples Poll is intended to give us all the ability to make our opinions known on a regular basis EASILY AND EFFICIENTLY and all information gathered this way will be presented to the appropriate GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS and their reactions recorded for your benefit and REPORTED BACK TO YOU HERE on this modern technological device.

The money you invest in giving us this information will therefore be well spent.  We will use the profits from this number to perpetuate and expand the idea that the PEOPLE of this nation and their MAJORITY OPINION is of EXTREME IMPORTANCE and that the opinions of our elected representatives, appointed judges, even Presidents should reflect this popular opinion in a DEMOCRACY!  We hold these truths to be self-evident.

Within the menus of this automated phone call, you will be given the opportunity to choose between issues regarding the latest proposals coming from the White House, or you can choose to express your opinion about the latest sports event, or you can choose to inform us about your favorite movie star or Hollywood scandal.  or you can choose to tell us how you feel about the latest Crime scene, or you can choose to state your opinion about the current state of the economy or legal events.

This information gathered from you, will be organized, prepared and delivered to all NEWS MEDIA and all branches of government so that they may know the Will of the People on many of the top issues.  It is hoped that this process will someday lead to more concrete methods of communicating the popular will to our government in order to serve this country and its people, so that we may all enjoy, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, guaranteed to us in the Constitution of the United States.  This is only our first strategy in this regard.  We have many more on the drawing boards.  With your participation, we may proceed with many of them.  Our main goal?  To better utilize the technological improvements in our society to make government more responsive to the will of the people and therefore more democratic in nature.


Democracy

The amazing fact is that we do not enjoy Real Democracy in America today.  We live in a Republic which is a Representation of a Democracy, in that we use Elected Representatives to go to Washington and voting the interest of the Majority while protecting the rights of the Minority.  This is the traditional definition of Democracy in America.

The problem is because of the Lobbyists and the big money that makes its way into the campaigns of these Representatives, there is no real Majority Rule, any more.  Not even the Representatives can afford to vote in the interests of the Majority because they are too busy representing g the wishes the Insurance Companies, Oil companies, Manufacturing companies, etc. Any corporation or individuals or even foreign countries with enough cash to give a Senator or Congressman, gets more attention than the average Middle Class Voter.  This is not even arguable any more.  Its a proven fact, and even most Congressmen and women will tell you its true if they were being honest.  Many of them resign after they get to Washington because their idealist faith in the system of many of them is destroyed their first day on Capitol Hill.  Its only the hardened criminals who stay on because these are the ones who came to Washington to make their personal fortunes.   And this is why they stay and this is why we must Re-Invent the Government  These are President Clintons words.

Even the President knows that there has to be major changes to our system of government if we are to survive.  He also knows that he alone cannot make all the changes that are required.  His hands are tied to a large extent because he belongs to the Democratic Party, an orgaznization dedicated to keeping things the way they are.  The Republican party is the other organization in this country with the same goals.  Together they form a stranglehold on our thoughts and deeds.


This is an Electronic Book or 'Verbon'.
This is an Electronic Book or VERBON

You can move around in the VERBON by clicking on the green highlighted & UNDERLINED words you will find throughout the verbon.  This is called HYPER-TEXT and the green words are connected to other parts of the verbon or they have some other little bit of information in the way of a POP-UP WINDOW such as this one.

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Just go to the SEARCH IN THE MENU ABOVE AND TYPE IN THE NAME OF THE COMPANY OR THE PRODUCT IN QUESTION AND THE PROGRAM WILL TAKE YOU THERE.

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and REMEMBER, CONTENTS, THE BEGINNING PAGE IS ALSO A CLICK AWAY FROM THE MENU ABOVE.  THIS IS HOW YOU CAN START ALL OVER.


Hard Drives

QUANTUM CORPORATION

800-624-5545

Highly reliable Hard Disk drives from 120 MB up to several Gigabytes.  Fast caching built into each drive.  Fastest access times.  High reliability and quality engineering in each drive.

We found the Quantum 1.2 Gigabyte Prodrive 1220S to be the best Hard Drive purchase for the money.  Far less than $1/MB, this drive is lightning fast at 10MS and with a 256 KB built-in cache, allows for even faster and smoother transfer of data.  We dont know how they do it, but the Quantum drive seems to us to be the most reliable and quality controlled.  We have tested many drives over the years and Quantum drives rarely if ever fail.  If you use a Hard Drive Utility Program such as Norton Utilities, you can virtually keep this drive running like new for as long as you own your system.  Quantums engineering tests have shown them to have the longest life of any other drive and we have found that to be true in real life tests as well.

For the money, we cant think of a better way to upgrade your computer to more disk space.  This goes for the entire line of Quantum drives from 120 MB drives and up.


MultiMedia Devices

Chinon America, Inc.  -  310-533-0274

Creative Labs  Video Blaster, SoundBlaster, CD-ROM kits

800-998-5227

Probably the most popular MultiMedia Kits come from Creative Labs.  New Voice Technology, excellent SoundBlaster cards, new Video Blaster, video capture, and Midi cards make Creative Labs products a must for anyone shopping for MultiMedia Equipment.

We find the SoundBlaster Pro line of sound cards to be the Top of the Line.  They install easily.  They sound very good.  They are the compatible standard with most other software you might add.

Media Vision  Video Capture cards, audio cards, CD-ROM kits  MultiMedia Publishing

800-845-5870

The Fusion 16 MultiMedia kit complete with NEC CD-ROM, Media Vision Stereo Sound Card, speakers, 5 CD titles, excellent installation software, make this one of the best MultiMedia Upgrade kits around.  Media Vision is a leader in this new technology and many of their products are secretly included in other packages sold under other names.  The Media Vision Tech support people are among the best weve found so if and when you find a problem installing one of their products, excellent expert help is at the other end of an 800#.  They really know their stuff and they can help you through any problem.  Media Vision makes a range of MultiMedia Upgrade kits from the very affordable Fusion kits to the Memphis System which is the top of the line and the device that other manufacturers will be imitating.

OCEAN INFORMATION SYSTEMS

800-325-2496

688 ARROW GRAND CR

COVINA, CA 91722

(Dealers call for pricing.)

HERES A REALLY GREAT DEAL FOR YOU RIGHT NOW AT PRESS TIME!

We think this is one of the best Multi-Media bargains out there right now.  For $295, you can purchase an excellent sound card, CD-ROM drive, speakers, to make up a great MultiMedia upgrade kit.  The sound card gives stereo sound, the CD-ROM drive is a new Doublespeed SONY drive.  The speakers are from MLI, they are nothing special, but you can always upgrade the speakers later if you need a higher quality sound.  For most of us, we want speakers that are small enough to sit on our limited desk space.  They shouldnt sound tinny and they should be adequate for any games we might play or any CD-ROM with sound and thats what these speakers will do, but if youre a true Audiophile and you need all the woofers and tweeters and high impedence surround sound, these speakers would not satisfy.  Having said that, I believe this is the CD-ROM upgrade for most of us.  You get a high quality doublespeed SONY drive, a Media Vision 16 bit sound card and all the software to set it up install it easily and get it running.  We found OIS technical support to be of the highest excellence and they helped us through a minor problem ans solved it very fast for us.  The sound from the sound card was as good as sound from systems we tested that were FOUR TIMES the price!  The CD-ROM acted flawlessly and performed smoothly.

If youre looking to upgrade your PC to the new MultiMedia standard which basically CD-ROM and stereo sound, and youre on a budget, this is the best kit weve seen in many years!

Mitsumi Electronics Corp.  -  214-550-7300

The New Mitsumi line of CD-ROM drives is among the best buys for the dollar today.  They have a new DoubleSpeed, 350ms and 600kb/sec data transfer, that is now selling for about $200 RETAIL.  This is a major breakthrough for CD-ROM drives.  We especially like their Clam Shell drive door that eliminates the old CD-caddies that are like the paper envelopes that fit on the 5.25 floppy drives.  They get lost.  Not so with Mitsumis clam shell that just flips open like a clam shell and takes in the CD and slides right into the drive.  Nothing to get lost or misplaced and takes less fumbling around.

NEC Corp  -  508-264-8000

New Media Graphics  -  Watch-IT TV  800-288-2207

800-288-2207

Panasonic Industrial Co.  -  800-848-3979

Sony Electronics Inc.  -  201-930-7005

Teac America, Inc.  -  213-726-0303


Back-up-devices

Colorado Memory Systems  -  303-669-8000

Mfgs of tape drive back up systems.

The Best and Biggest manufacturer of Tape Backup drives is Colorado.  The Jumbo drive is highly reliable, very fast and has the best software for making easy backup selections of directories to backup, saving time and energy.

Kalok Corp  -  408-747-1315

Mfgs Removable Hard Drives up to half a Gigabyte.

Teac America, Inc.  -  213-726-0303

Mfgs Removable Hard Drives up to half a Gigabyte.

Toshiba America Disk Products  -  714-583-3000

Mfgs Removable 128MB removable optical drives


CD-ROM Drives

Chinon America, Inc.  -  310-533-0274

Mitsumi Electronics Corp.  -  214-550-7300

The New Mitsumi line of CD-ROM drives is among the best buys for the dollar today.  They have a new DoubleSpeed, 350ms and 600kb/sec data transfer, that is now selling for about $200 RETAIL.  This is a major breakthrough for CD-ROM drives.  We especially like their Clam Shell drive door that eliminates the old CD-caddies that are like the paper envelopes that fit on the 5.25 floppy drives.  They get lost.  Not so with Mitsumis clam shell that just flips open like a clam shell and takes in the CD and slides right into the drive.  Nothing to get lost or misplaced and takes less fumbling around.

NEC Corp  -  508-264-8000

Panasonic Industrial Co.  -  800-848-3979

review in future issue

Sony Electronics Inc.  -  201-930-7005

review in future issue

Teac America, Inc.  -  213-726-0303

review in future issue


Removable drives

Teac America, Inc.  -  213-726-0303

Mfgs Removable Hard Drives up to half a Gigabyte.

If you need removable media for making backups of important data or for carrying around lots of data on business trips, the new Teac Removable 345 MB drives are just the thing.  Inexpensive, highly reliable, portable, easily installed, fast, are just a few of the adjectives I would use to describe this new medium.  The bay installs in a 5.25 empty drive bay in your PC.  You merely slide it in, screw it down and hook up the data and power cables.  The data cable connects to your IDE controller and most of you have an IDE controller in your machine.  For SCSI, theres a different model for you.  Then, you slide the drive into the bay and you can now Fdisk and Format the drive using ordinary DOS commands just like any other drive.  Its that simple and now you have a 345 MB removable drive.  Therefore, the amount of storage capacity of your machine is inifinite.  We found these drives to be highly reliable and efficient.  With access times right around 15 Ms, theyre as fast as the drive youre using now for most of you.  They are built to very high tolerances because they are removable and TEAC is known for its committment to quality.  If you have a floppy drive in your PC, its probably a TEAC drive and if you have TEAC, you dont have any trouble with it.  In Fact, we find TEAC to be the highest quality control of any product weve ever reviewed and there have been literally thousands now.  We mention this because this is the single device in your machine where quality control is crucial.  You dont want to lose any of your vital data, and we feel that you wont if you use this fantastic new device.  Removable disks run about $200 and you can get half a Gigabyte for about $400.  These prices will most likely fall to a point where they will be very competive with any other backup device measured in cost per megabyte.


Monitors

Nanao  USA Corp  -  213-325-5202

23535 Telo Ave.

Torrance, CA  90505

The single most interestint advance to come along in a long while is the new 15 standard screen width on computer CRTs.  The 15 Nanao F340iW is the best of the 15 monitors weve seen.  Any 15 screen gives about 15% more viewing area than a 14 screen because the extra inch is measured from the diaganol just like on TV sets.  If you remember your high school geomtry, the hypoteneuse of the triangle is about 1 and a half times as long as either side.  This is where the extra room comes from.  It literally feels like twice the viewing area even though its not nearly that much.  You can see so much more and from a longer distance, so youre not as constrained to read any text or see any graphic.  Its all there and its like watching Big Screen TV for a very nominal difference in price.

The Nanao FlexScan F340iW is one of the best buys in this area because of several features that weve always wanted but couldnt find until the advent of the 15 monitor.  First of all, it goes to sleep after a specified period of time, saving the user up to 93% of the electricity he would normally use by letting the monitor stay on all day.  A touch of the keyboard or mouse and the screen instantly comes back to life.  The savings in electricity more than pays for the cost of upgrading to this new monitor and for that I applaud Nanao and others for coming up with this new service.  But the other nice part about this monitor is that you can set all the adjusments from a touch pad on the bottom front panel and then it remembers the way you want the monitor set up until you change it.  Very wonderful new product and its no wonder Nanao is getting the TOP OF THE BUNCH award from us and also from many other magazine reviewers.

If youre in the market for a new monitor, we can heartily recommend that you consider the Nanao Flexscan line of monitors available in 15, 17 and even 21 models.

Portrait Display Labs  -  800-858-7744  Ext. 43

510-249-0444

Portrait has a new line of 15 monitors, The Portrait/15 Plus, with the new anti-radiation standard.  In addition it swivels on the base to give you both a Portrait and a Landscape mode.  The portrait mode can be used to view an entire document on one screen  The landscape mode is used for any other use.  Most monitors give a Landscape configuration by default.  We found the Portrait Display to be superior in quality and a good buy if you need to see an entire document on one page.  However, for those of us who can live with scrolling up and down on a document, any 15 monitor gives the same results, with more features, and I figure that youre paying a premium of about $500 for the swiveling feature.  This is why we say if you need this kind of gimmick because youre a Desktop publisher and you have to see the whole page layout in full screen, not shrunk down, then, you can justify this added expense, but for most of us, it would be better to invest the money in a faster CPU or bigger hard drive.  You have to know what your needs are once again in this industry and then like IBM says, You make the call.

Viewsonic  -  800-888-8583

Another best buy for the money manufacturer is Viewsonic.  They also have the new 15 and 17 monitors with Flat Screen and high resolution and so forth.  Viewsonics best feature that distinguishes it from many others is their very high reputation for quality.  If you buy a Viewsonic monitor, it will probably outlast your interest in it.  In other words, youre more likely to sell it or give it away so that you can move up to a bigger or better one before they fail on you.  This is how reliable we have found Viewsonic to be.


Input Devices

Creative Labs

Voice Assist software for use with CL sound boards.

800-998-5227

inter-ACTIVE

Mfgs telephone for voice input in Email.

800-292-2112

Logitech  -  510-795-8500

  Mouseman  Trackman  RadioMouse  FotoMan  Scanman  LeisureScan

Logitech makes the best range of input devices on the market today.  The mouseman and trackman have lifelong warranties.  The feel of the devices is the best of all Mouses and Trackballs.  The Trackball is the easiest way to move around on a Windows screen that we know of.

 The Logitech FotoMan is the easiest way to get pictures into the PC.  The new Logitech Fotoman Plus has been upgraded to give higher resolution and a longer battery life than the original.  We found this product to be highly reliable, easy to use and the quality of pictures second only to color photos from a Kodak Photo-CD device, a much more expensive solution.

Microsoft  -  800-882-8080

Microsoft Mouse


Controllers

Motherboards

Genoa Systems Corp.  -  408-432-9090

SCSI controllers

Adaptec  -  800-959-SCSI

The Adaptec SCSI controllers are the finest that we have tested.  We do have a beef with all SCSI controllers in general, however, they dont seem to deliver what they are capable of.  Even in the VESA LOCAL BUS systems, the data transfer is hardly more than the IDE controller rate of about 1 MB/sec data transfer.  We have asked the engineers at Adaptec why this is so and they tell us that things like the Burst are there but the throughput is limited by the hard drive or some other bottleneck on the PC Bus.  Well, we thought that this was supposed to be solved with the VESA LOCAL BUS standard.  But we now hear that the bottlenecks are not fully solved yet and wont be for another year or two when all the controllers and motherboard manufacturers learn how to solve this problem and co-operate on a basic board design level.  We are waiting patiently because the main area of wating now for most of us comes in waiting for our Windows Applications to load.

The Windows Accelerator cards have solved the slow graphics scrolling problem in Windows.  But the wait for applications to load off the hard disk is still a major concern and even with the fastest hard drives on the market that we can find, we are still waiting up to 30 seconds with a 486/66 INTEL CPU.  There is no excuse for this.  It could be the Hard Drives need a much faster access time to eliminate this problem.  We are waiting for news on this subject.  Its a minor problem compared to the ones of a few years ago, but its still annoying when you realize how many times weve had to upgrade our original PCs to get to the point where there should be no waiting for anything but there is still!

Future Domain  -  714-253-0400

Future Domains SCSI controllers are also among the top of the line, but we have the same problem with Data Transfer time off the hard drive as we have with the Adaptec Industry Standard controller.  Once this problem is solved, well all have a much more cost effective solution to our computing needs in the 486 and there would be no need to buy a Pentium based machine!


Printers/Fax-Modems

PRINTERS

Canon  -  800-848-4123

Oh Frabjous Day!  Theyve finally given us an alternative to those noisy, messy dot matrix printers.  The new Bubble Jet technology is one of those technological marvels that we just come to expect nowadays.  In my opinion, it is one of the biggest improvements in computer technology ever!  The Canon Bj230 is the best printer investment on the market today as is its cousin the BJ 630 Color Printer.  Both of these perform extremely well.  They actually give an output that exceeds most laser printers.  They are almost as fast, much faster than dot matrix printers.  They do graphics and all your fonts perfectly.  And the best news of all is they are totally silent!  You can get the BJ 230 for about $250 Retail, an exceptional buy.  Better buy than a laser printer for small offices and home use because there is very little maintenance.  The cartridges are only about $15 instead of $120 for the lasers.  And there is no maintenance because there is only one moving part.  In a laser printer, there is a hidden cost of replacing the drum every couple years at about $300 each.  Not so with Bubble Jet printers.

Hewlett Packard  -  800-752-0900

Also manufacturers a fine line of Bubble Jet printers.

MODEMS

MultiTech Systems, Inc.  -  612-785-3599

Excellent Industrial quality modems for use on LANS and other high traffic mission critical uses.

U.S. Robotics  -  800-858-5323

TOP CHOICE AWARD

Excellent modems where the user needs high reliability and quality of reception.  The US Robotics error correction is among the best.  We found it to take the noisiest phone lines and keep the data flowing.  The Courier HST is probably the finest Fax/Modem you can own.  It will even differentiate between a voice and a data call, so that you can press a button on the front and talk to whever is on the line.  Very excellent modem.  We found no faults with it whatever and we put it through some very rigorous testing, let me tell you.

Hayes Microcomputer Products  -  404-840-9200

The term Hayes Compatible is what we must look for in Modems.  There must be something to the fact that you should buy the standard when you get a chance.  With the new Hayes Optima series of modems, our advice is to do just that.  The price to performance ratio is right in line with many no-name brands of modems that will probably give you more headaches than the $50 or so you saved warrants.  Of all modems we tested, we liked the feel of the Hayes Optima the best.  Why?  Its a subjective thing because there are so many good modems on the market today and they all basically do the same thing.  You want 14,400 speed, most brands have them.  You want error control, they all have it.  You want easy installation, they all have it.  You want reliability, most have it.  But there is another item that you dont think about when buying a modem.  You are going to purchase more and more communications programs over the coming years and you want them to be compatible with your Modem without any hassles or add-ons or extra drivers or fixes.  With Hayes modems you are more assureed that the software you buy will have been tested on the Hayes line of Modems.  This confidence is worth something.

Zyxel USA  -  800-255-4101

The Zyxel Modems are making big splashes in the Communications world today.  And the hype is warranted.  For features and quality, the Zyxel modems are hard to beat.  We can recommend all the Zyxel line of modems.  We do not like the Zvoice software that they are touting as a major breakthrough in communcations.  Supposedly, this software can be added to some of the more expensive Zyxel modems to give you Voice Mail that sounds like the voice mail of the big corporations.  However, it works, as of this writing only in DOS, which means that you need to dedicate an entire computer to your voice mail system during the day and use a second one to get your work done.  For most small offices and personal use, this is impossible.  An answering machine is still a better solution for most of us.  If youre a major corporation, however, the Zyxel Voice Mail software with a Zyxel Modem (at about $500 total) is probably a substantial savings for you.


Sound cards and devices

SEE ALSO  -  CD-ROM DRIVES

See Also  -  Audio Video Music

ATI Stereo F/X  416-756-0718

One of the best sound cards out today.  Very inexpensive and designed to work with the two best CD-ROM drives, the Mitsumi and the Sony drives.  Very easy to install, easy to use and gives marvelous sound.

Creative Labs  Video Blaster, SoundBlaster, CD-ROM kits

800-998-5227

Probably the most popular MultiMedia Kits come from Creative Labs.  New Voice Technology, excellent SoundBlaster cards, new Video Blaster, video capture, and Midi cards make Creative Labs products a must for anyone shopping for MultiMedia Equipment.

We find the SoundBlaster Pro line of sound cards to be the Top of the Line.  They install easily.  They sound very good.  They are the compatible standard with most other software you might add.

Media Vision  Video Capture cards, audio cards, CD-ROM kits  MultiMedia Publishing

800-845-5870

The Fusion 16 MultiMedia kit complete with NEC CD-ROM, Media Vision Stereo Sound Card, speakers, 5 CD titles, excellent installation software, make this one of the best MultiMedia Upgrade kits around.  Media Vision is a leader in this new technology and many of their products are secretly included in other packages sold under other names.  The Media Vision Tech support people are among the best weve found so if and when you find a problem installing one of their products, excellent expert help is at the other end of an 800#.  They really know their stuff and they can help you through any problem.  Media Vision makes a range of MultiMedia Upgrade kits from the very affordable Fusion kits to the Memphis System which is the top of the line and the device that other manufacturers will be imitating.

Turtle Beach Systems -  717-767-0200

The Turtle Beach Sound card is gaining a reputation for being among the best.  We will review it in a future issue.

Microsoft Sound Systems  -  800-882-8080


Accounting/Bookeeping/Taxes

Intuit   Quicken CheckBook Accounting

415-322-0573

Perfect for small business working completely out of their checkbook.

CHIPSOFT TurboTax

619-453-8722

Simply the most popular Tax Preparation software for Fed & states.

TELEWARE - M.Y.O.B. (Mind Your Own Business.)

800-322-6962  GL, A/P, A/R, Card File Inventory & more.

Full feathred program generates over 80 customizable reports.  Easy data entry.

Peachtree  CompleteAccounting for Windows & DOS

404-564-5820

Modular accounting program with GUI interface and hundreds of features.


Audio/Music/Video

ADOBE SYSTEMS

1585 CHARLESTON RD.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA  94039

415-961-4400

ADOBE PREMIER - VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE

WINNER OF WN&RS BEST IN CLASS AWARD

We just tested the new Adobe Premiere Version 1.1 on our PC and created a Video with several cuts and transitions in about half an hour.  Its a beautiful program that can take all the complexity of video editing and make it so simple a four year old could work it and create his own videos.  Its as simple as cutting pasting clips onto the right track, whether its video or audio and then placing the transitional video or audio in between so that you see a perfect little story board with thumbnail sketches of your video presentation.  In the future, all video editing will be done this way.  No more waiting for those very slow VCRs to rewind to the appropriate place.  They even have SMPTE time coding for the professionals amongst us who want to get everything down to the right frame.

The tutorial is the place to start and it will teach anyone not even remotely familiar with video editing everything you need to know in an hour or so.  Then, you just start cutting and pasting your video and creating little Oscar winning gems of your own.  The wipes from one scene to another are really great and there isnt a single type of transition that I know of that is not in there library of transitions, so easy to use and understand.  They are even animated so you can tell just with a glance, exactly what they will do to your edits.

Combine this program up with a good video capture card and you can start creating videos that even Andy Warhol would be envious of in just minutes..

SEE VIDEO CAPTURE


Connectivity

SEE ALSO  -  OPERATING SYSTEMS

Artisoft Lantastic

602-670-7326

Lantastic Peer-to-Peer Networking.  Very simple and easy to use.  Highly reliable networking without a huge expense.  Printer & file sharing.

Novell

801-429-7000

Novell Networks are the most widely installed networks in the world.  The new version 4.0 offers more flexibility and ease of administration.

Microsoft Windows for Workgroups

800-882-8080

Windows for Workgroups is the easiest network system to set up and use on a daily basis.  Yet, it has many powerful features.  You can share your favorite software on a shared drive and/or directory.  You can share printers.  You can E-mail back and forth across the Net.  The cost of installing and maintaining this network with Windows interface is very low.  And the ease of use is the same as the single version of Windows.


Charts & Presentations

Asymetrix Compel

206-462-0501

One of the easiest Presentation creators is Compel.  Very nice interface.  Easy to use.

Microsoft Powerpoint

800-882-8080

Powerpoint is an easy to use Presentation creator  Very nice interface.  Easty to use.


Contact Management
Contact Management and PIMS

Lotus Organizer

617-577-8500

Great new Lotus program.  Organizer is by far and away the best Personal Information Manager we have seen.

Symantec Corporation/Norton Desktop

408-253-9600

Now in version 3.0 you not only get the best Desktop organizer, but you also get a calendar a scheduler and many other utilities.


Database Software

Symantec Q&A

408-253-9600

One of the easiest Database Managers to use with Windows.  Very robust features.  Not fully relational, but you can lookup from external databases, which makes it act like a Relational database.  Most people dont need a fully relational database, nor would ever learn how to program one.  Q&A requires no programming and yet it can do what most Higher Functional databases are touted to do.  Try to create an invoice with most of the high-flying databases.  Its almost impossible.  With Q&A, its as simple as typing it up on your screen, yet still connects with your database of customers easily and quickly.  You can do difficult things like this in a matter of minutes.

Another major feature of Q&A is that it comes with an excellent word processor that is used for letters or merge mail.  The easiest MERGE-MAIL in the business.  Select from anyone in anydatabase and send different letters to different groups of customers, clients, prospects.  We use Q&A as our contact management program and we never lose track of anyone.  We like this method better than project management or PIM software probably because we dont need the added features that these would bring.  Combine a good database with a good calendar program.  We like the one in Norton Desktop the best, another Symantec product, and you have the best contact management system we have seen.  HINT, HINT, SYMANTEC.  Maybe you should take this advice and come out with a hybrid product.  Symantec has a product called ACT that is supposed to be a great contact management system, but we found it very tempermental and difficult to use and it actually lost data for us.  The first and only Symantec product we did not like.  (Whenever we find a product that loses information for us, we stop reviewing it because the risk of

losing data greatly outweighs any benefits a program may promise.)

We have never found any problems with Q&A in all the many versions wever reviewed.  Weve found it to be probably the most reliable program ever invented.  There are no bugs that we know of and it works extremely well under Windows, a feat that puts it in the elite of software alone.

Lotus Approach

617-577-8500

Winner of many awards from PC magazines, approach is one of the best and easiest to use for anyone wanting a very easy to learn database manager with fully relational capabilities under Windows.  We find Approach to be a little more tempermental than wed like and not as easy to use as Q&A for Windows.  At about the same level of functionality, we prefer Q&A for Windows by a hair.  Approach is still heads and shoulders above many of the others for ease of use and ease of learning and reliability.  .

Borland Paradox

408-438-8400

Borland Paradox is another fully relational very robust Database manager for Windows and one of the most popular choices.  A good medium level of Database Manager when you need very robust features and ease of use and learning, you should choose the Paradox for Windows product.  It doesnt require inordinate amounts of disk space or memory like Access does.  Its very intuitive interface is easy, even fun to use.  Fully relational, you can create very complex database applications within a couple hours.  Congratulations to Borland on this fine product and deserving of all the awards.

Microsoft Access & FoxPro

800-882-8080

Access & Foxpro are for the professional developer who needs maximum ability to code his/her own code into the base Database Manager.  Access requires about 30 MB of disk space and needs 16 MB of RAM to really work at optimum.  This eliminates its use for most of us where disk space is a real premium.  Foxpro, purchased from FoxPro about a year or two ago, is not what its cracked up to be.  They bill it as easy to use, but only the easiest things in database management are easy to use.  Try to do something like create an invoice, and it falls all apart on you.  Its like a drowning man grasping at straws.  Just when you think youre finished with the project, it turns out that you need to take another course in programming at your local university.  If you dont have this kind of time, you want a different database manager.


Development Tools/Languages

Borland C++ 4.0   408-438-8400

Symantec Visual C++    408-253-9600

Microsoft Visual C++  800-882-8080

Blue Sky Software  Windows-Maker  619-459-6365

One of the easiest C++ creators on the market.  Complete with many features to convert to any system.


Document Management Retrieval

Delrina Pro Form 1-800-268-6082

Image Fast Software 1-800-899-6665

InterTech Imaging Corporation 800-669-1126


Educational

Academic Software Development Group  Euclidean geometry, High School & College  1-301-405-4209

CODA Music Software  Music transcription & playback.  800-843-2066

HyperGlot Software Co., Inc  Berlitz Think & Talk French

800-726-5087

Que Software - Typing Tutor   800-992-0244


Fonts/Font Management

Adobe - Adobe Type Library    800-83-FONTS

Bitstream FaceLift for Windows  800-522-FONT

Bitstream True Type Font Packs for Windows

Microsoft True Type Font Packs  800-426-9400


Forms/Label Processing

Bear Rock Technologies  Bear Rock Bar Code Labeler   800-232-7625

Borland  object Vision Pro  800-331-0877

Delrina Form Flow  800-268-6082

JetForm Corporation  JetForm Design  800-JETFORM


Games/Hobbies

Microsoft Flight Simulator  800-426-9400

Microsoft Entertainment Packs  800-882-8080

Windows BackGammon Deluxe  815-692-2533

Pro Systems - Vegas Craps  408-997-1776

Maxix  SimEarth, SimCity  800-336-2947

WayForward Fun Pack   800-959--GAME


Illustration/Graphics

Adobe Illustrator, Acrobat, Photoshop

1415-961-4400

Fractal Design Painter

408-688-5300 -

Very interesting package.  Allows for many styles of graphics such as Vincent VanGogh, Rembrandt, might use.

Aldus PhotoStyler

206-622-6500  One of the finest Paint & Photo-Retouch program to run under Windows.

InSet Systems

800-374-6738

HiJaak Pro for Windows 2.0  Easily converts any kind of graphic file format to any other kind.  Simple and fast.  Retail price $149

Mathematica  -  Tempra Pro  800-852-MATH

Tempra Painter & Tempra Media Author

Micrografx

Picture Publisher 4.0

Creates graphic illustrations under Windows easily and fast.  Can do separate layers

1-800-733-3729

Masterclips  -  800-292-2547  Clip Art for business newsletters.

Shapeware Corporation  -  Visio  800--446-3335

T/Maker Click Art  800-944-7654

Zsoft PhotoFinish   800-523-3520  Excellent product


Mapping

DeLorme Mapping Systems  Street Atlas USA  207-865-1234

Truly Amazing software.  You can actually find any address anywhere in the country.

MapInfo Corp  MapInfo for Windows  800-FAST-MAP


Medical Applications

Chapter III Software  - The Orthodontist   205-854-0243

Dentrix Dental Software -Dentrix Dental Software  801-377-0933

Micro Consultants & Sales WinDiet  206-588-7705

Healthdesk Corp.  Healthdesk for Windows  510-843-8110

WindoWare, inc.  WinMedic  800-508-0033


MultiMedia/Authoring

Asymetrix Toolbook & Compel

206-462-0501

Compel is one of the easiest to learn and use MultiMedia Presentation authoring programs in the business.  Toobook is far more dynamic and can create inter-active books, presentations, etc.  Excellent for CD-ROM producers.

Compel is very appropriate for anyone creating a business presentation and you need to deliver graphics and text in a slide show type of presentation.  Compel uses this metaphor very well and even allows for video and sound files to be connected to a Slide.  Very quick to learn, simple to install and highly reliable.  We find no bugs in any of the Asymetrix product line.  Top Notch.

Toolbook goes one step further and has a Book as its metaphor, so you can scroll past pages just like you were turning them on the screen.  You can also have one page dissolve into another as in a movie or video.  Lots of flexibility.  Toolbooks only flaw that we can find is the search engine.  Its slow and should not be used for large database publishing.  But the graphic support is excellent.  The learning curve is shorter than most other authoring programs and once youve mastered it, youre hooked on it for a long time.  The technical support department is among the best in the industry, so when you have a question, they will solve it for you very quickly, although it is expensive.  At least its there.

Blue Sky Windows Maker & RoboHelp

619-459-6365

TOP CHOICE AWARD.

One of the best ways to get involved with MultiMedia Authoring is with this company.  Highly advanced programming tools in Windows Maker & RoboHelp.  RoboHelp is our favorite because it creates help versions of your Electronic Documents easier than any other we tested.  In fact, it was used in the development of this magazine you are now reading..Robohelp is the easiest of all Document-to-Help Compilers we have seen.  In fact, its the only one really good enough for our very high standards that we have seen to date.  Robohelp is also coming out with a Multi-Media version which you will see in action in future versions of this magazine as well as others.  Now, you can place video, sound, animation, etc. in a Windows Help File Format.  We plan many new publications based on this Metaphor for Electronic Books.

Each MultiMedia  authoring program has its own prejudice about how an Electronic Publication should look.  The most interesting to us is the Asymetrix Toolbook metaphor and the Windows Help File Format.  Each has its strengths and weaknesses and the first thing you need to do as an author is to have a perfect image in your mind about how your MultiMedia publication should look and feel to the end user.  This way, you know your audience will respond as favorably as you would like them to.  But if your authoring software cannot easily produce what you have in mind, then, you are wasting lots of time and money and your entire project is at risk.  We settled on RoboHelp for this magazine for the following reasons.  First, the File size in a Windows Help File is very small.  All the searching and hypertext jumps and pop-up windows you see are performed by the Windows Help Engine in Windows.  Therefore, we do not have to supply the engine or the Reader program to our customers which has two considerations.  Expense and File Size.  If you downloaded this magazine from a BBS or OnLine service you did so because the file size was not very big and so you could afford the wait to get it.  But with most MultiMedia authoring programs, there is an engine of some sort that must accompany your text and this can take up Megabytes, limiting your audience because hard disk space and time to download are major considerations for most people.

The Windows Help File Format eliminates both these problems.  We feel that the MultiMedia version of RoboHelp will help us add video and sound also with a minimum of file overhead and with an easy to use interface that saves us development time in learning and training staff.  But if you are going to author something that you see as a CD-ROM title, then this format might not be for you and you will want to look into something more robust such as Asymetrix ToolBook.

For programming much more complex projects Windows Maker is probably the easiest and most powerful of all the Development Tools.  We cant imagine not being able to do anything in your imagination with these two products.  Well be reviewing Windows Maker it in a later issue.  Preliminary indications are also a potential TOP CHOICE AWARD.  Stay Tuned

Microsoft MultiMedia Viewer

800-882-8080

MultiMedia Viewer is also one of the best and easiest to use MultiMedia authoring tools.  you combine your video, sound, hypertext etc. into one finished compiled product for viewing.  The metaphor is very much like a book, yet does not have all the special effects that Asymetrix Toolbook has.  We think the next version of this product will be really great, but we dont see anything to really rave about with MultiMedia Viewer.  The learning curve is longer than it should be with this product and there are snippets of code you have to remember to place in certain places to make everything work and we dont like it when you have to become a programmer to get something done.  That never works out for us.

Macromedia Director

415-252-2000

MultiMedia Action for dazzling MultiMedia productions.  Better under the MAC than the Windows version.  We found it to be very clumsy and difficult to learn and not very reliable.  We find nothing to recommend it.  It gets lots of attention probably because the MAC version was one of the first and so theres a collection of people who are used to using it by now, but I think if it came out today, it would be ignored.

Adobe Systems   Premiere

415-961-4400

By far and away the nicest and most thorough video editing program weve seen.

We want to mention this product here as well as where its normally found in MultiMedia Applications because it is so excellent.  You can actually cut an entire video on your PC, the only limitation is disk space.  This makes it so easy, you will feel like a Real Hollywood editor after a few minutes working with this program.  It puts everything down very easily with CUT AND PASTE so that you can see your movie growing with each step.  Then you can preview each step and the special effects transitions leave nothing to be desired.  Very important for anyone wanting to product MultiMedia Titles.  You have to have a way to add simple little video or sound clips and this does it all.  So amazingly easy, a four year old can learn it.  I know because my four-year old used it after I showed her to do a movie for Nursery School.  Shes going to win an Academy Award some day!


MultiMedia Applications

SEE ALSO MULTI-MEDIA DEVICES

Adobe Systems   Premiere

415-961-4400

By far and away the nicest and most thorough video editing program weve seen.

We want to mention this product here as well as where its normally found in MultiMedia Applications because it is so excellent.  You can actually cut an entire video on your PC, the only limitation is disk space.  This makes it so easy, you will feel like a Real Hollywood editor after a few minutes working with this program.  It puts everything down very easily with CUT AND PASTE so that you can see your movie growing with each step.  Then you can preview each step and the special effects transitions leave nothing to be desired.  Very important for anyone wanting to product MultiMedia Titles.  You have to have a way to add simple little video or sound clips and this does it all.  So amazingly easy, a four year old can learn it.  I know because my four-year old used it after I showed her to do a movie for Nursery School.  Shes going to win an Academy Award some day!

Gold Disk  - Animation Works

416-602-4000

Gold Hill Media Director

800-465-3375

With this program and your VCR and camcorder, you can edit your home videos.

Hauppauge Computer Works  WIN/TV

800-443-6284  516-434-1600

The Software Toolworks

800-234-3088

Microsoft Encarta, Music, Art, Games,

800-882-8080

Broderbund - Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego

800-521-6263

New Media Graphics  -  Watch-IT TV  800-288-2207

800-288-2207

Media Vision  Video Capture cards, audio cards, CD-ROM kits  MultiMedia Publishing

800-845-5870

Creative Labs  Video Blaster, SoundBlaster, CD-ROM kits

800-998-5227


Operating Systems

Microsoft Windows, NT, Windows for Workgroups

800-882-8080

IBM OS/2

800-IBM-3333

NEXT COMPUTER, INC.

NEXT STEP

415-366-0900

GEOWORKS - GEOS

510-644-0883


Personal Information Managers

Lotus Organizer

800-345-1043

Symantec Q&A for Windows

800-441-7234

Norton Desktop/SYMANTEC

800-441-7234

SEE ALSO WINDOWS DESKTOPS


Project Managment

Microsoft Project

800-882-8080

Symantec TIME-LINE

800-441-7234


Publishing

SEE ALSO GRAPHICS SOFTWARE

Aldus Pagemaker 5.0

Still the industry standard in professional desktop publishing.

New version adds multiple open publications, rotation of text, more import filters and easier control palette.

800-685-3520

Microsoft Publisher

Low-end, consumer Publisher with many features of the more expensive software to get out newsletters and brochures. $99.00

800-8822-8080

FRAME TECHNOLOGY  -  FrameMaker

408-433-3311

Ventura Publisher/Corel

800-836-3729


Spreadsheets

Borland Quattro Pro for Windows

408-438-8400

Lotus 123 for Windows

800-345-1043

Microsoft Excel

800-882-8080


Utilities - Desktop Customization

Artist Graphics - Panoramic View

800-627-8478

Central Point Software - PC-TOOLS

503-690-8090

Desktop software & utilities on a par with Norton Desktop.

Moon Valley  - ICON Make-it  800-473-5509

Easy Icon maker utility.

Norton Desktop

SYMANTEC CORP.  800-441-7234

This is our favorite program running under Windows.  It makes Windows much easier to use and faster.  From the picture above, you can see that all our programs are ICONS on one DESKTOP.  No more fooling around with many different Windows to find your files.  Norton Desktop also acts as a great PIM or Personal Information Manager because the new version 4.0 now has a Calendar always available.


Utilities - Productivity Tools

CE Software - ProKey  515-224-1995

Microhelp  - Uninstaller   800-922-3383

Symantec/Norton Computing

408-253-9600

 Norton Utilities.  If you own a computer with a hard drive, you have to have Norton Utilities.  World famous for sets of programs that can fix almost anything that goes wrong with your hard drive.  We know because theyve saved us many times.

Research International Corporation

800-683-6696

Landmark WinProbe

 A complete set of trouble shooting tools that will help you find IRQ, DMA, I/O port conflicts in your system with simple Windows Interface.  Excellent value at $49


Utilities - Program Launchers

SYMANTEC/Norton Computing - Norton Desktop

Our favorite Desktop shell for Windows.  Everything is on a single Desktop and the utilities included really work well.

QuarterDeck - Desqview  310-392-9851


Utilities - System Extensions

Abacus  -  Becker Tools    800-451-4319

Lucid  Lightning  800-967--5550

Qualitas  -  386/Max  800-733-1377

Peter Norton - Norton Backup, Norton Desktop  800-441-7234


HARD DRIVES ARE THE BEST BUY.

For adding storage capacity to your computer, New Hard drives still offer the most bang for your buck.  With competition being fierce and new technologies coming on line, the hard drive manufacturers keep packing bigger and bigger capacity into smaller and smaller space.  You can now get over a Gigabyte of storage on a hard disk drive for well under $1,000 which is far less than a dollar per megabyte.

Newer technology like FlashRam and removable hard drives are promising new methods of data storage.


ELECTRONIC BOOKS

CATALOG OF ELECTRONIC BOOKS.

LIGHTHOUSE PRODUCTIONS

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or by CIS Email to 71355,470. You can also mail credit card orders to PsL

at P.O.Box 35705, Houston, TX 77235-5705.  PLEASE ONLY CALL THIS 800# IF YOU ARE ORDERING.  They have nothing to do with Lighthouse Productions.

The 1st Verbon/per order  is $15.00 (All prices include shipping & handling.)

The 2nd Verbon/per order is $12.50

The 3rd Verbon/per order is $10

The 4th Verbon/per order is $7.50

All Verbons over 4/per order are $5.00 Each.

So, an order of five Verbons would total:  $50.00

    <<<   HOW TO MAKEMONEY.   $15.

          If you find this first edition of MakeMoney Magazine

          of value, then subscribe to the rest of the yearly issues

          Published at least every 3 months, sometimes more often,

          you will get hundreds of valuable ideas and tons of

          information that will return many times the cost of

          this subscription.  We compile the best information

          from all other printed magazines and give it to you

          here, making this a giant savings to get it all here.

          In future issues, we will describe more investment

          opportunities for various ages and kinds of goals.  We

          will have dozens of valuable coupons worth hundreds

          of dollars in savings.  We will tell you where to

          enter contests for cars, boats, homes, cash, trips,

          etc. where your odds of winning are far higher than

          any contest you've entered before.  We will give

          you hundreds of fresh ideas on how to save money

          around the home, at work, at play, or traveling to

          and from.  We will have freebies that many corporations

          give away every day because of outdated or obsolete

          models.  We will tell you where the economy is booming

          and where it's busting.  We'll help you organize your

          personal finances in ways that could save you thousands

          of dollars in taxes.  In our very next issue, we are

          going to analyze the new tax laws and tell you how

          to defend yourself against the new higher rates.

          All this and much more can be yours if you subscribe

          to this magazine.  AND by doing so, you'll save the

          environment by helping support the new Electronic

          Publishing Industry.  We use one sheet of paper,

          the order form, while your local newspaper has to

          chop down an average of 5,000 acres of trees JUST

          FOR THEIR SUNDAY EDITION.  Trees, create oxygen

          essential to all life on the planet, and so someday

          this wasteful and dangerous practice will stop, but

          only with your help.

          By cancelling all your subscriptions to paper magazines

          newsletters and newspapers, you will more than pay

          for the new electronic versions.  You can now get

          everything you get from your paper magazines from

          electronic editions, if you look around.  We'll help

          by providing everything you need.

 <<<<<    CONTEST NEWSLETTER - THE ELECTRONIC DATABASE  >>>>>>>

          $15

          This publication is not found anywhere else but here.

          It is a careful compendium of all the major National

          Contests with complete rules for entering and prize

          desription.  Each month, hundreds of companies decide

          to promote their product by offering a contest with

          a prize like a TRIP TO HAWAII FOR TWO, or A NEW CAR,

          or $25,000 CASH.  And everything in between.  Our

          current month's issue has over 30 of these contests

          and a complete Database Manager so that you can quickly

          bang out a post card or a hundred to become eligible

          to win.  THAT'S OVER 300 CONTESTS YOU CAN ENTER EACH

          YEAR!  Many subscribers have already won Millions of

          dollars in prizes and cash such as the ones we've

          mentioned above.

          If you have your own favorite Database Manager, you

          can quickly import this ASCII file to your program

          and print the entries that way.  Either way, if you

          make it a habit to enter at least 5 or 10 contests

          every month, you greatly increase your odds of winning

          one of them.  I think it's worth mentioning that newsletter

          subscribers are usually the winners in every major contest

          you hear about, because they follow the rules, and more

          IMPORTANT, the use this program to ENTER EVERYTHING.

          THE MORE CONTESTS YOU ENTER, THE MORE YOU WILL WIN.

          We know of one subscriber who won a trip for two to

          Hawaii, a new Honda Motorcycle, a year's supply of

          cereal, $25,000 CASH, a brand new BMW automobile, a

          a new wardrobe of suits and shirts and slacks, AND

          A VACATION CONDO IN VAIL COLORADO!  All worth over

          $100,000 and all in ONE YEAR!  What was his secret?

          He entered every contest in this newsletter and one

          other.  He says that he spends about 1 hour per day

          on average printing up entry forms and mailing them,

          and about $30 per month on postage, but it all seems

          to have been a very good investment for him and

          we see this all the time.  So, if you want to make

          a nice second income without leaving the comforts

          of your home, this publication may be for you.

          Ideal for someone with kids who get their homework

          done early.  Make it a fun game and reward the kids

          when you win and you've found a new family activity

          that pays.

          All contests are guaranteed to have a winner.  And

          best of all there is a federal law that makes all

          contests open to everyone, and I'm sure you've seen

          these words many times before, "No purchase necessary

          to enter."

The Bible According To Me - $15.00

THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE - ECOLOGY OF MIND

      ($15.00)

          Two thousand years ago, people were inspired by the life

          of a  great teacher to write what would later become known as

          'The 'Bible', arguably the most important book ever published

          by Man.  Now, the New American Bible is being compiled by people

          just as sincere and dedicated to the survival and betterment of

          Mankind in the year 1987.  It begins with the first part of the

          Bible, - Ecology of Mind.  It was inspired by conversations

          between the author and 'Universal Mind' a concept new to most of

          us but soon to become a household word.  It is a presence found

          in everything we can see, hear, touch or taste.  It's the

          Universal Force of Consciousness that produces every word we speak,

          every breath we take.  It's found in computers, salt, potatoes,

          cars, animals, even in the rocks.

             If you want to know how you got here, who you are, where

          you are going, you will want to read this book that will someday

          be bigger than the original.  It's all about the last days

          of this millennium and the beginning days of the next.

             {PAPER BOUND ONLY}

  <<< OPERATION DESERT STORM  $15.00

            OPERATION DESERT STORM                 Edited by Edward R.

          Taro

             The Gulf War as told by the Combatants who were actually

          there!!

            "OPERATION DESERT STORM is the full story of the Recent

          Gulf War. It includes the stories of the pilots who flew the

          missions to destroy the radar sites and missile sites and the

          ground troops who blew away the Iraqi Soviet-built tanks and

          artillery. It's a great story about the most successful war in

          history.  Over in only 100 hours, there has never been so much

          destruction leveled on  so many people in so short a time.

            You will also read about the many acts of heroism in

          piloting the Apache helicopters which were so decisive in this war,

          the tank commanders who blew away thousands of enemy tanks,

          artillery, armored personnel carriers with very accurate weapons,

          as well as the many interesting and intriguing stories of the

          ground soldiers who had to flush out all the thousands of enemy

          prisoners of war to rescue the country of Kuwait.  You will also

          learn about the Iraqi atrocities in this war. (Not for the

          squeamish.)

                 <<<<  RE-INVENTING AMERICA  >>>>

                       $15.00

          President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, Jr.,

          been traveling all over this nation and talking about

          the fact that we need to RE-INVENT OUR GOVERNMENT.

          Well, we agree and we are certain that these two men

          cannot handle such a large job on their own.  This

          Electronic Book is meant to aid them in their great

          cause.  With the feedback we get from the readers,

          and with some of our own ideas we are going to tell

          the folks in Washington DC just how to RE-INVENT OUR

          GOVERNMENT.

          We desperately need your help on this one because the

          fools are likely to throw the baby out with the bath

          water.  WE NEED YOU to help us TELL THEM what to keep

          and what to scrap!  We also want them to give the

          people some new freedoms.  We want the ability for

          all the voters to vote on the issues RIGHT ON THE

          BALLOT.  We can't wait for Congress and all their

          dirty laundry to get the solutions out in time to

          solve the problems.  All they do is sit around and

          argue with each other and try to take credit for

          anything good that comes along.  This book teaches

          us all a way to OVERCOME THIS GRIDLOCK IN WASHINGTON

          ONCE AND FOR ALL TIME!

          MAKE NO MISTAKE, this book is DYNAMITE!  Nothing short

          of a political REVOLUTION.  But they are the ones who

          called for it, not us!  But WE THE PEOPLE are the ones

          must finish it.  If you love America, don't miss out

          on participating in the new version.  Coming soon to

          a voting booth near you ... NATIONAL INITIATIVES &

          REFERENDA.

          THIS BOOK IS DEMOCRACY IN ACTION .... PLEASE ORDER

          TODAY.  $15.00

   <<<  ELVIS PRESLEY'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE! - ($15.00)

          By Elvis Presley - Post Mortem.

          Have you ever wondered why Elvis Presley's spirit seems so

          Earthbound?  Fifteen years after his death, people still

          see Elvis Presley's spirit walking around.  If you read this book,

          you may agree that it could be because Elvis still has something

          very important to say.

          Well, this author, didn't actually see 'The King', but he

          was visited by Elvis in his dreams for forty consecutive

          nights.  In these dreams, Elvis explains everything you will ever

          need now or after death and beyond what our senses can tell

          us.  It's a very good read, a quick tour through some of the most

          interesting concepts ever talked about.  When you finish this book,

          you actually find you have been on a trip through the center of

          the universe and back.  You also feel as though you have

          knowledge that will help guide you through the rest of your life.

          Try this one, if you're interested in the ultimate NON-FICTION

          adventure novel!

            One of the greatest thing about this book is your

          introduction into  what is rapidly becoming known as 'Virtual

          Reality'.  This is the - gateway into the next century!

    <<<   TOURS DE FORCE - $15.00

             Finding places to travel to that are a bit of Paradise is

          harder and harder since sooner or later everyone finds out about

          them and then they get crowded and - no more paradise.  This

          guide will keep you updated on places to see that are not yet

          discovered by everyone and ruined.  Everyone thinks that a vacation

          in paradise is expensive, but you can find in this guide Condos and

          rooms for less than $35/nite.  The only real expense is the air

          fare and these are at an all time low too.  With advice in this

          guide you'll learn how to cut your lowest fare in half.

             A very off-the-beaten-path travel guide.  The authors

          take you to places on the Earth where you can finally relax and

          enjoy the Earth the way God intended it to be enjoyed.  Some of the

          places visited, include the remote parts of Hawaii, Mexico, Bali,

          Tahiti, Europe, and even places in America where you can get to

          cheaply, without a great deal of hassle and when you get there,

          you will honestly believe you're in Paradise.

            This guide is not meant for the traveler who wants to find

          a Hotel with all the amenities and then hang out like most

          Americans.  This travel guide is for the truly adventurous.  It is

          filled with air fares that are generally unknown to the public and

          much cheaper than what you would find at your local travel agent.

          It gives much useful & needed information about what you can expect

          at each location.  Fresh new ideas about how to take the family on

          an adventure that they will never forget and renew the spirit!

  <<<<  E-BIBLE - $15.00

             THE ELECTRONIC BIBLE

                    or

             HOW TO WRITE AND CREATE 'VIRTUAL BOOKS' LIKE THESE! -

          ($15.00)

            This book explains everything you need to create 'VIRTUAL

          BOOKS' or the kind of books that you are now reading.  They are

          meant to be read on a computer screen and never actually make it to

          paper media unless the reader wants or needs to print it on his own

          personal printer.  The implications of this new industry are varied

          and exciting.

             Creating 'Virtual Books' is fun AND PROFITABLE.  All you

          need is a personal computer.  You can get ideas at any time and

          you don't know how to publish them.  This book gives you

          step-by-step procedures for getting your ideas published

          almost instantly.  New York publishers get thousands of

          manuscripts each day and they must invest between $50,000 to

          $100,000 to manufacture, distribute and promote a book.  So, the

          odds are not great that you or I will ever interest a New York

          Publishing house.  The good news is you don't have to deal with

          them any more because the personal computer industry has created a

          completely new market where no huge investment is required to

          publish your work.  With Electronic publishing like the

          oee you're reading now, the entire investment is only a few

          dollars.  And you could earn more than any New York Publisher is

          going to pay you in royalties.

             The Electronic Bible - actually a kit - will give you

          everything you need to make an electronic book including the

          program that puts it into the format that you see on your screen!

          It's called hypertext.

             All you need is an idea for something that lots of people

          would be interested to know, or be entertained by.  That's the

          first rule! The second rule is, 'Don't try to re-invent the wheel'.

          Order this kit today and you will avoid all the pitfalls!  Well

          worth the small investment to save you a great deal of time and

          money. If you're a budding author, you will not regret looking into

          this.

             Oh yes, I should tell you that one of our electronic

          books proved itself a hot-seller and now the New York

          Publishers are coming to us with offers.

                  <<<  PHONE CHESS  $15.00  >>>

          COMPLETE COMMUNICATIONS PROGRAM and Chess Game, so that

          you and a companion ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, can play

          Chess over the phones.  Don't worry about cost - each

          move takes less than one minute to transmit.  And with

          our Long Distance Savings Plan, you will save many

          times per month what you might have to pay playing

          the game.  So,if you order this game, also order

          the Long Distance Savings Plan included with this

          magazine, so that you can start saving a minimum

          of 10% even from your current Discount Calling Plan.

          That's guaranteed.  So, if you don't have a Discount

          calling plan, you could save as much as 25% - 50%

          off your Long Distance Bill.  This should be more

          than enough to pay you back for the time spent

          playing this age-old, time-tested classic game

          with an old friend anywhere in the world.

          The Communications program GIFCALL & GIFHOST can

          be used to transmit pictures within seconds as well.

          So, get out the old family pictures.  Scan them or

          fax them to yourself and then you can send them

          to a friend anywhere in the world, while you play

          chess.  Or, start a teleconferencing center in your

          company.  GREAT PROGRAM.  Highly reliable.  And

          does the job of much more expensive programs.

          Only $15.00

    <<<  "THE PERPETRATORS"   Science Fiction Novel  $15.00

          Ever wonder what it would be like to be the first Human on

          board the first Space ship from Earth to another solar system.

          You don't know if there will be any life there, but the Earth

          Science Foundation has decided they had to send someone to find

          out the source of some very unusual low-level radiation that

          could be the signs of intelligent life.

          You don't know if you're going to see the arrival day, but

          you do know that if the ship holds up at least your genes

          will get there.  You're also hoping that you will have some

          memories.  But it's all experimental.  Even the engines they're

          using to get you there.  Much of the science will have to be

          learned along the way.  To wait too much longer for Earth

          scientists to resolve all the problems was thought to be too

          risky.  So, you, your wife and your 'Descendants' volunteered

          to be the guinea pigs in this bold new experiment in Space.

          Your only living companion, a computer named 'Jim'.  Capable

          they said, of learning enough on the trip to fabricate from

          raw materials any necessary items required for the journey.

          The lessons learned on this trip will blow your mind!  The

          new science generated by the explorers will be greater than all

          combined scientific exploration on Earth over the same period

          in time.  How is this possible?  Because Time ceases to exist

          in Space.

    <<<<  HOW TO GET OFF THE INCOME TAX TREADMILL    >>>>>>

          $15.00

          The IRS has us all working until May 5th of each year

          just to pay our tax bill.  Yet, at no time are we given

          the chance to vote on tax issues.  This is called

          Taxation without Representation, and this is one of

          the main reasons that the break from England was

          justified by the founding fathers.  "Therefore, it is

          not only just, but it is the right of every citizen

          to avoid paying taxes using every legal means at his

          disposal."  (THE WORDS OF U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE

          OLIVER WENDALL HOLMES.)

          This book teaches you how to get your income and

          your property completely sheltered and exempt from

          income tax by setting up a TRUST.  This method is the

          same one that some of the wealthiest people in America

          use to avoid the tax man.  The authors have discovered

          all the legal methods of using this trust to never have

          to pay income taxes again.  It is foolproof and it is

          legal.  Best of all, it will save the average tax-payer

          thousands of dollars each year.  Work for yourself and

          your family.  Give some of what you save to your favorite

          charity.  This is one of the only places in the world

          you can find this information.  Don't delay.  If you

          ever wondered why you were so easily "volunteering"

          to give some of your hard-earned money to projects like

          Welfare, Foreign Aid, Viet Nam, N.A.F.T.A., Watergate,

          Iran/Contra, and all the waste, fraud and abuse, then

          this book should help you reverse your financing of

          all this nonsense.

  <<<<    THE INTERACTIVE YELLOW PAGES.	 >>>>   FREE

          A windows Help Program.  Windows 3.0 and above required.

          Very simple and easy to use mouse driven search engine for

          any products for sale nationally in USA.

          If you are familiar with the Yellow Pages probably sitting

          on or near your desk, then you know the power of this exciting

          new Publication.  The First InterActive Yellow Pages.  Currently

          there are hundreds of advertisers listed herein with 800#s and

          Fax numbers so that you can easily research that next major

          or minor purchase.  Eventually there will be thousands and

          then millions of advertising listings.  We will be growing

          by leaps and bounds.

          So, in the beginning we are making a very rare offer.  This

          InterActive Yellow Pages, the first version, will be given

          away free to anyone who purchases any of our other books

          in this catalog.  You will also get all the upgrades up to

          but not including the CD-ROM version for free too.

          Let your mouse do the walking.  Fun program to learn about

          other products coming in the same format.  Probably the

          most used of all your programs someday.

  <<<<  YOU CAN ORDER ANY OF THESE BOOKS BY PRINTING UP

                THE SUBSCRIPTION FORM BELOW  OR               >>>>

 REMEMBER:   <<<   IF YOU WANT TO PAY BY CREDIT CARD,       >>>>

                      CALL 800-24-4PSL

<<<   IF YOU WANT TO PAY BY CREDIT CARD,   >>>

FOR CREDIT CARD ORDERS ONLY -

You can order with MC, Visa, Amex, or Discover from PSL -Public (software)

Library by calling 800-2424-PSL    or 713-524-6394 or by FAX to 713-524-6398

or by CIS Email to 71355,470. You can also mail credit card orders to PsL

at P.O.Box 35705, Houston, TX 77235-5705.  PLEASE ONLY CALL THIS 800# IF YOU ARE ORDERING.  They have nothing to do with Lighthouse Productions.

The 1st Verbon/per order  is $15.00 (All prices include shipping & handling.)

The 2nd Verbon/per order is $12.50

The 3rd Verbon/per order is $10

The 4th Verbon/per order is $7.50

All Verbons over 4/per order are $5.00 Each.

So, an order of five Verbons would total:  $50.00

OR PRINT OUT THIS ORDER FORM.  TO PRINT ANYTHING IN THIS VERBON JUST SELECT THE SECTION AND COPY IT TO YOUR NOTEPAD OR ANY WORD PROCESSOR, THEN PRINT IT LIKE ANY DOCUMENT.

                          ___ MAKEMONEY MAGAZINE PERIODICAL ________

                          --- ELVIS PRESLEY'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE -_______

                                   ___ THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE _________________

                                   ___ THE ELECTRONIC BIBLE ___________________

                           _____ THE PERPETRATORS - SCI-FI __________________

  -                              -- GET OFF THE INCOME TAX TREADMILL_________

                                           --- RE-INVENTING GOVERNMENT ----------------

                                                --- CONTEST NEWSLETTER ---------------------

         -                                -- PHONE CHESS ____________________________

        -                          -- OTHER __________________________________

NO. OF BOOKS                                                      ____________________

TOTAL COST ACCORDING TO FORMULA ABOVE _________________

                           Calif. residents add 8.25%

                                            sales tax         _________

                                                TOTAL         _________

 Please enclose a check or money order in US Funds for total amount.

                                   SEND TO:

                             LIGHTOUSE PRODUCTIONS

                                 P.O. Box 7885

                              SANTA CRUZ, CA  95061

BBS WHERE YOU ORIGINALLY OBTAINED THIS PROGRAM _______________________

CITY _________________________________________________________________


ELECTRONIC BOOKS OR VERBONS

ARE BOOKS THAT YOU READ ON YOUR COMPUTER SCREEN LIKE THIS ONE YOURE READING NOW.

We have a complete catalog of Electronic Books published by Ligthhouse Productions and other publishers.

If you have an article youd like to see in this magazine please send a sample chapter, an outline, you must own the rights to the electronic version of your book.  We will consider it for our next issue, which is up-dated monthly.  Send to:  Lighthouse Productions, P.O. Box 7885, Santa Cruz, CA  95060.  If your article is accepted we pay $250 for each one we use.


COMPUTER SOFTWARE

Accounting/Bookeeping/Taxes

Audio/Music/Video

Communications - Email

Communications - Fax

Connectivity

Charts & Presentations

Contact Management

Database Software

Desktop Publishing

Development Tools/Languages

Document Management Retrieval

Educational

Financial

Fonts/Font Management

Forms/Label Processing

Games/Hobbies

Illustration/Graphics

Mapping

Medical Applications

MultiMedia/Authoring

MultiMedia Applications

Operating Systems

Personal Information Managers

Project Managment

Publishing

Spreadsheets

Utilities - Desktop Customization

Utilities - Productivity Tools

Utilities - Program Launchers

Utilities - System Extensions

Word / Text Processing

WorkGroup Applications


Networking

FIRST:  A LITTLE NETWORKING ADVICE.

There are several new ways to Network multiple PCs in an office.

Novell Netware is still the leader in installed Networks, but Microsoft

is not far behind with Windows For Workgroups and Windows NT.  IBMs

answer is OS/2.  Watch for many new and exciting products in this category that

will help to interconnect us all.  Its important to know your networking needs before

you invest in the hardware.  Hiring a Network consultant is a good idea if your company

doesnt have anyone in-house to maintain the network.

SEE NETWORK OPERATING SYSTEMS

SEE ALSO - RELATED TOPIC:  WORKGROUP SOFTWARE


OTHER

If you have a product or service youd like to see in this magazine, please give us a call at (408) 423-8580


Mouse or Trackball, see Input devices.

The newest input devices include microphones, light pens, bar code readers, and new devices that resemble both mouse and keyboard in one.  For the latest in how to use your personal computer more effectively visit the INPUT DEVICES SECTION of these Yellow Pages.  You might find a better way to relate to this machine of yours.


BACKUP DEVICES ARE TAPE, OTHER HARD DRIVES, CARTRIDGES ETC.

Tape drives are the traditional way of keeping backups of important data, but today, they are joined by removable hard drives, optical disk drives, cartridge drives, flopticals, etc.  See Removable Hard Drives for more.


WORKGROUP SOFTWARE

Borland Paradox for Workgroups

 408-438-8400

Microsoft Windows For Workgroups

800-882-8080

Microsoft Office

800-882-8080

Symantec Q&A workgroup edition

800-441-7234

Wordperfect Corporation

800-321-4566


CD-ROM OR READ ONLY MEMORY

The latest drive technology to hit the mass consumer market.  They are very nice for home computers where you want to use the computer to entertain and educate the kids and Mom & Dad at the same time.  Many exciting new titles are coming out on CD disk every day.  It is the way of the future at least for the next decade or so.  On each CD disk you have the equivalent of 650 Megabytes of stored information which can be text, graphics, video, sound, interaction like this magazine.  But WAY BIGGER!


Word / Text Processing

Design Science - MathType

800-827-0685

Microsoft Word For Windows

800-426-9400

WordPerfect Corporation, WordPerfect for Dos & Windows

800-225-5000

Que Software Right Writer

800-992-0244


Financial

Bay Options - Option Simulator

 510-845-6425

Forecast Pro for Windows

617-484-5050

Intuit  Quicken for Windows

 415-322-0573

Etter Industries, Inc. Winmortization Pro

 800-565-2662

ChipSoft - Turbo Tax

 800-755-1040


Communications_Services

AFFINITY FUND LONG DISTANCE SERVICE_-- SAVINGS GUARANTEED

If you use the Information Highway at all, you know your phone bill

can really add up. This is why we are offering you the opportunity

to save at least 10% on your long distance bill. Anyone who averages

$100 per month in long distance will save at least $120 per year.

Affinity Fund offers you the following Double Your Money Back

Guarantee - if you don't save at least 10% (5% to 20% business user)

on your first Affinity Fund bill, Affinity will credit your account

in full AND write a check for that amount immediately!

How can we do it? Affinity Fund buys its service from some of

America's foremost carriers in accordance with FCC-approved volume

pricing tariffs. Affinity Fund customers receive the benefits of

discounts only available through such tariffs.

So, if you would like to lower your bill AN ADDITIONAL 10% OVER ANY

DISCOUNT CALLING PLAN you are currently using. Please print the next

page, fill it out, sign it and mail it to:

                     The Unlearning Foundation

                           P.O. Box 7885

                       Santa Cruz, CA 95061

We'll get to work on it right away and someone will call you to

confirm all the information. It generally takes about 5 - 6 weeks

from the time we get your letter to set it all up.

There is no fee to begin this savings plan except a switch fee your

local phone co. may charge (usually less than $5). Affinity Fund

offers you a gift certificate to be applied to your first bill to

help offset this switch fee, too.

If you own a business, YOU CAN SAVE HUNDREDS OR THOUSANDS PER YEAR,

money you can use to help worthy causes such as SAVING THE ENVIRON-

MENT.

If you want more information about our Affinity Fund program, please

drop us a line. We will mail it back to you right away.

We earn a small royalty by promoting this program which we use to

help buy the rights to print books electronically instead of on

paper. This technology reduces pollution, saves ink, chemicals,

paper and trees and improves wildlife habitats all at the same time.

Please help us improve the environment while we help you save

significantly on your telephone bills!


                AFFINITY FUND SERVICE REQUEST FORM

  ______________________________________________________________

       NAME (Print Exactly as it Appears on current billing)

     Social Security # ___ ___ ___ - ___ ___ - ___ ___ ___ ___

Actual Street Address: _________________________________________

City & State: __________________________________________________

County & ZIP: __________________________________________________

Billing Address If Different: __________________________________

City, State & ZIP: _____________________________________________

                         Telephone Numbers

(Don't Forget Your  ___ ___ ___ - ___ ___ ___ - ___ ___ ___ ___

Fax, Modem & Mobile

Phone Lines. List   ___ ___ ___ - ___ ___ ___ - ___ ___ ___ ___

additional numbers

on separate sheet.) ___ ___ ___ - ___ ___ ___ - ___ ___ ___ ___

Present Long Distance Carrier: _________________________________

Current Discount Calling Plan: _________________________________

Number of Free Calling Cards:  ____

Send 800 # Form  ___  Send Business Form ___  Send Information ___

                       Service Authorization

I understand that by requesting Affinity Fund and signing below, I

am authorizing Affinity Fund to notify my local telephone company of

this choice. I understand that I can have only one primary long

distance company for a given telephone number. I understand my local

telephone company may apply a small service charge for this fee and

that Affinity Fund will provide a credit certificate to help offset

this charge. I accept responsibility for payment of all charges

incurred through the use of services provided herein and understand

that this offer may be subject to credit approval.

Signature & Date: ________________________________________________

Print Name: ______________________________________________________

                            581041-000

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Windows Tip of the Month
Windows Hot Tip of the Month

Every Windows user knows that this graphical mouse-driven interface is far superior to DOS and its non-graphical boring C: Prompt commands.  But even Windows is not perfect and there are so many different kinds of computers out there with different memory management schemes its no wonder that sometimes Windows can go very very wrong.

This months HOT TIP will show you how to avoid the most common and the most frustrating problem configuring Windows in a 386 or 486 computer.  First of all you have to know how to EDIT your CONFIG.SYS & AUTOEXEC.BAT & sometimes your WIN.INI OR EVEN YOUR SYSTEM.INI FILE.

The Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files reside in the root directory and they are the first two files that the computer opens when it boots.  Then, it merely reads the instructions in these two files as to how the user wants the machine to boot and puts drivers into memory that you need to run various devices in your machine.  Everything in your PC is a device of one kind or another and the instructions on how to load them are found in these two files.   The problem with Windows can come right here in the commands that you have typed into these files or some program you have installed has automatically typed commands in there that may be conflicting with Windows.  This is 90% of where to find the problems with Windows hanging up on you or not working correctly.

If you  know how to edit these files using your word processor, or NOTEPAD, then you are halfway home.  I like to use Notepad to edit these files because automatically saves them in the manner that DOS can read them, in ASCII format.  Another editor is SYSEDIT that you get with NORTON Desktop or any other plain ASCII EDITOR will do.  Even your word processor can be used if it has a method to save the file in ASCII.  Most do.

Now, lets look at your Config.sys file first, since this is 90% of where the problem is likely to be.  With Windows you need to see these lines of text in the Config.sys file or else it will not work properly.

DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS

DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE x=e800-efff

FILES=60

BUFFERS=10,0

DEVICE=C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE /DOUBLE_BUFFER+

If you dont have these lines in your config.sys file, type them in now.  They are all essential.  The Buffers and Files statement can vary in the number of buffers and files you set, but over months and years of talking with technical people, this seems to be the consensus on the best number to have in each.  The SMARTDRIVE statement is not essential.  This is your Memory Cache Manager, and if you dont use one with Windows, it will still run, but each thing you do will take two weeks before you see anything happen on the screen.  Windows has to have a Memory Cache Manager.  There are many 3rd party vendors of Windows Cache Managers all claiming to be faster than SMARTDRIVE.  But I have yet to notice a discernible difference in Windows and most of them give me problems that are hard to track down.  My advice is use SMARTDRIVE.

HIMEM.SYS  sets up a driver that makes the next statement possible.

dos=HIGH statement puts part of DOS in High Memory

Dos=UMB  is a related statement that puts DOS in Upper Memory Blocks.  Same Idea.

LASTDRIVE=Z    reserves space in memory for 26 different devices.  If you only have one hard drive usually C:, then you should edit this to say Lastdrive=D, E, or F and you have more memory available

STACKS=9,256  sets up memory in stacks which is something Windows likes to use.  Not essential.

SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS\ /e:2048 /p  And this one is an Environment statement.  Dont ask me why, but my machine came up with OUT OF ENVIRONMENT message one time and nothing worked right, and a techie gave me this little snippet of magic and everything went away.  The number 2048 will vary with the amount of memory you have installed.

On the question of how much memory should you have?  I believe the home use will never need more than 4MB of memory.  The serious business user should have 8MB of memory, and if you have lots of money and you think you will use your computer to do CAD or Video processing, you need 16 or more.  But the average user does not need more than 8MB memory.  I have 16 MBs on my machine and still have the same problem with not enough memory when I try to run three or four programs and that will never be solved until they get rid of this idiotic 640KB Base Memory thats inherent in the INTEL architecture.  This is true.  So, no matter what anyone will tell you about adding memory to get rid of the Low Memory message, adding more is not the problem.  The problem is freeing up as much as you can below the 1MB, or Low Memory area.

This is why knowing your Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files are so important.  They are the ones that tell your computer how to configure this low memory.  If youre not using a device, take its driver statement out of these files, or else you are hobbling Windows.

I find that I install a lot of different things and when I dont like them anymore, I still have their device drivers clogging up my Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files and sooner or later, I figure out which ones they are and get rid of them.  You need to do this maintenance everytime you change hardware. And there are software programs that will UNINSTALL for you by removing all unwanted drivers for you.  See SOFTWARE, UTILITIES, PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS   for a list.

In next months VERSION OF THIS MAGAZINE we will go further into the magical mystical world of Windows and how to fix problems caused by bad memory addressing.


HIGH MEMORY

The memory between the 640KB base memory and the 1 MB - 3MB you have in EXTENDED MEMORY.  It seems like there should be 384 KB of memory available in there, but there isn't because most of it is reserved by the INTEL architecture for monitor drivers, network drivers, even if you don't use them.


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THE WORLDS FIRST TOTALLY USELESS 900#S

Were so sick and tired of those ads on TV that give you PSYCHIC FRIENDS for $3.99 per minute that we decided to become a real friend.  Well save you all that money and give you real information on these two 900#s that you can use.  The first one is for people who need a little cheering up.  We think people call these 900#s because they are a bit bored and are looking for a little entertainment to take them out of their hum-drum lives.  So, we devised the joke of the day 900# to get you Unbored and bring you back to the right spirit.  SO.....

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JOKE OF THE DAY

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THIS IS A VERBON.

AN ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE IS DEFINED AS A VERBON BY LIGHTHOUSE PRODUCTIONS AND SOMEDAY, WEBSTERS DICTIONARY.  YOU ARE USING A VERBON.  YOU READ IT AND INTER-ACT WITH A VERBON.  As opposed to a book in which you just read or a movie in which you just look and listen.


VIDEO CAPTURE BOARDS

PLEASE READ THE FINAL PARAGRAPH BEFORE BUYING YOUR VIDEO CAPTURE BOARD.  Next issue will review video capture with professional copying to  your VCR.

SEE ALSO VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE

Creative Labs  Video Blaster, SoundBlaster, CD-ROM kits

800-998-5227

Probably the most popular MultiMedia Kits come from Creative Labs.  New Voice Technology, excellent SoundBlaster cards, new Video Blaster, video capture, and Midi cards make Creative Labs products a must for anyone shopping for MultiMedia Equipment.

MOVIE BLASTER IS ONE OF TOP FIVE VIDEO CAPTURE BOARDS.  There is compression, but you must run a separate compression program which takes up valuable disk space and memory.  But if you are doing small video capture jobs, the Movie Blaster is a good choice for video capture.  Good looking video at 320 x 160 windows size.  Supports NTSC and S-VHS.

INTEL

(408) 765-8080

SMART VIDEO RECORDER

The two top boards in this category at this moment for the average consumer is the INTEL SMART VIDEO RECORDER.  It not only gives the best picture of all the boards we tested, but it compresses the video captured into an AVI file ON THE FLY.  This means the video is the smallest possible file size BEFORE it hits your hard drive and memory, taking up far less space than with any other board.  Its a bit more costly than the other consumer oriented boards, retailing for about $500, but in or opinion is very much worth the extra couple hundred bucks if you are serious about your video capturing.

Media Vision  Video Capture cards, audio cards, CD-ROM kits  MultiMedia Publishing

800-845-5870

THE PRO MOVIE SPECTRUM IS ANOTHER ONE OF TOP FIVE VIDEO CAPTURE BOARDS.  There is compression, but you must run a separate compression program which takes up valuable disk space and memory.  But if you are doing small video capture jobs, the Movie Blaster is a good choice for video capture.  Supports NTSC and S-VHS.  The screen windows of captured video is a bit small for our taste. This may improve with future versions of the board.

VIDEO LOGIC

617-494-0530

CAPTIVATOR CARD

The CAPTIVATOR board from Video Logic is another of the top 5 of video capture boards.  We found their window to be one of the easiest and smoothest of all the boards.  They are priced right for the consumer and the editing software that comes with the board is among the best and easiest to use.  They allow for AVI file compression, but also do not compress on the fly.  Video Logic offers a complete range of video capture boards for any level of use, however and we like their dynamic approach to this industry with a product for any video needs, from consumer to professional.  They also sell a Mediator board that will not only capture video but also copy it to a VCR in NTSC format for professional video production.  If you need a good, and inexpensive board to watch TV and capture video for your application, we can heartily recommend the captivator and other hardware from Video Logic.  Tech support is also excellent.

XING TECHNOLOGY

805-473-0145

XING-IT BOARD.

XING TECHNOLOGYS NEW XING-IT BOARD is the other board that we can strongly recommend for anyone looking to do seriousvideo capture.  The Xing-it board, like the INTEL board will compress your video on the fly, making for the smallest possible file size, however, they use the MPEG standard with their board and this may not be compatible with your end product application.  THE MPEG file will not work under Microsoft Video For Windows, the major standard in the industry.  Xing has a workaround this problem, but work-arounds may not work for you.  And video for windows is the major consideration for most of us before even deciding on which hardware well use.

BUYER ALERT:

Before deciding on which video capture board is right for you, you should make several inquiries of the technical support department of all companies youre considering and make sure the board will end up giving you what you want.  There are many standards out there and it looks like the Microsoft AVI standard will survive as the main consumer standard for video on the PC.  But your application may require MPEG or something else.  The two are compatible in some ways and not in others.  So, we urge you to be aware of all the potential problems in mixing and matching software.

NONE OF THE BOARDS REVIEWED HERE, will copy your edited video down to your vcr.  They dont have the output, only input from the VCR, tape recorder, camcorder, etc.  And they all will edit your video with very nice editing software that is not difficult to learn.  A huge improvement over conventional methods of editing video.  But to get your edited video COPIED BACK DOWN TO YOUR VCR requires a different level of Video Capture board priced far above these consumer boards.


The Engine or Reader

IS a program that runs the text, graphics, etc, in such a manner that the reader can experience your project.  Some authoring tools have a pgrogram such as Toolbook's TBOOK.EXE FILE Which adds about 1 MB of files to your project, a size that may be unacceptable in some applications.  Without the engine, or the Reader program, the reader cannot see anything the way you want him to.  Some programs have both an Author Program and a Reader program that must be purchased at additional expense!


Slide Shows can be Real Slides

THAT you actually project onto a screen with a slide projector, OR, they can be the kind of slides you see on your computer screen.  It's a very nicely organized way to think about a presentation and this is why most Presentation makers use this format.  In MultiMedia authoring, however, you generally need to have something more interesting for people.  Think back to the times when you had to go see slides of someone's vacation!  And you see the problem.


 Click here for more.

The MORE is the more News & Reviews that are coming to you in future issues of this magazine.  Wherever you downloaded this magazine, tell them to keep getting it for you and that we update it once every month with more and better information for the average computer user.  No High-Tech Benchmarks that you cant understand without a degree in Engineering.  No more talk about issues that are not important.  We review these products and give you the straight talk about how we, as JOE AVERAGE COMPUTER USER, likes to see them.  If we see a major flaw, well tell you about it so you dont waste your money.  If we like something and feel its worth the cost well tell you about that too.

In this first issue, you will see many areas that mention only a few words or so on any given subject.  This is because we havent had time to really do a good job with that product, so were telling you only what we know, so buyer beware if we havent spelled it all out for you.  These are not advertisements, they are little blurbs about the extent of our knowledge about a product and so when it isnt much, thats what we give you, so please bear that in mind.  In other words, the longer the review is, the more we have experimented with and played with the product.  OK?  SIMPLE, huh?

AND SO PLEASE REMEMBER, you will need this program upgraded every month and WHY NOT?  ITS FREE!


AFFINITY FUND LONG DISTANCE SERVICE_-- SAVINGS GUARANTEED.

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