MISCELLANEOUS GREAT IDEAS ... To order any of these products Call us..... If you aren't using DOS 6.0 by now, you should immediately upgrade. You get several utilities that people pay upwards of $200 for free. You get disk compression and it really doubles the size of your hard drive with only a slight difference in speed because you have to uncompress the files as you work, but then DOS 6.0 actually compresses them automatically to half their original size. Great new utility. But be careful if you have anything exotic on your system such as a SCSI controller or CD-ROM drives. You might have a conflict. If you have anything other than normal IDE controller, hard drive, video, etc, wait for version 6.1 when they fix all the little incompatibility problems that people are reporting to microsoft right now. There are other disk compression programs out there like STACKER and Xtra-Drive. But we like the program in DOS 6.0 better. Dos 6 also gives you better memory management, and so you can throw away any QEMM, quarterdeck, or Hi-memory managers you might have. They're all included free in DOS 6.0 and work better. None of the memory managers we've tried other than the new one in DOS has ever done us any good at all. So don't waste your money. Ignore their ads. Trust me, we've tried them all. They simply don't work except for DOS 6. DOS 6.0 also gives you several more excellent utilities that we have not tried yet, but will report about them to you in future issues. We mentioned Winsleuth in the chapter on MultiMedia, but it bears repeating here. If you have Windows and you install new devices from time to time you need the new Winsleuth Gold Plus. It has a hardware and software diagnostic system in it that really works. It will tell you who's using every bit of memory and IRQ and so forth and you can then change configurations easily so that there are no more frustrating conflicts in your system. We have tested all the major diagnostic software programs out there and the new Winsleuth Gold is by far the best and a must for every Windows System. IF YOU'RE USING A MOUSE AND YOU DON'T LIKE ALL THE MOVEMENT ON THE DESKTOP, GET A TRACKBALL. We find the best one is from Logitech. We like all Logitech products, but their best one remains their Trackman. They even have a radio controlled one so you don't have to have a wire connection to the PC, but the wired one works fine for us and is less expensive. The Logitech Trackman is the best in our opinion because it fits your hand better and is more intuitive and it has a lifetime warranty. Anything goes wrong, just call logitech and they replace it, and over a lifetime of use, something always goes wrong. I like Logitech very much and I think every computer peripheral company should exercise the same degree of consumer awareness. Then, it would be a perfect world. LOGITECH FOTOMAN IS THE QUICKEST AND EASIEST WAYS TO GET PHOTOS INTO WINDOWS APPLICATIONS. With the new FOTOMAN PLUS, the resolution is fantastic, at least as good as any regular camera in black & white. The problem is just that, it's black & white, but if thats all you need is black & white images, then this is the camera for you. It downloads 32 images per battery charge can go anywhere and copies them to your PC via a serial port. Works great, however, if you need color images, your best bet is to use a video camera and then capture the images from the video camera via a VIDEO CAPTURE BOARD which we have reviewed in earlier chapters. We have knowledgeable experts on nearly every computer subject. If you are looking to add a terminal to a network, or if you are looking to upgrade your home computer to MULTI- MEDIA or if you are looking to make your life easier with a business you own, call us for advice. We will give it gladly and freely, as long as you will do business with us. We never sell anything we don't think you need or that we know is not the best solution because we must back up everything we do. All our products are guaranteed to do exactly what you want them to do or your money back. In our next issue we'll also be reviewing the new voice recognition boards coming onto the market. Most only allow for a few words to be spoken in the way of commanding your programs to do certain things, like a vocal Macro. But there are now a few companies like Dragon Systems who offer the ability to speak your entire document into your favorite word processor. We'll review the best ones for you in the next issue. So, you'll want to subscribe today. WINDOWS NT IS AVAILABLE AND THERE'S TALK THAT WINDOWS 4.0 WILL BE OUT BY THE END OF THE YEAR! WE PREDICT THIS WILL BE THE GREATEST UPGRADE IN THE HISTORY OF PERSONAL COMPUTING! If you sense a prejudice in favor of Microsoft Windows over any other operating system, you're very correct. If you're not already jusing Windows, you're not a very serious computer user. Windows is the best way to utilize the new computer hardware because of several reasons. 1. It allows you to work in several different programs at once. We use this feature all the time, because we're editing, selling, writing, working with graphics, faxing, telephoning Compuserve for E-mail, downloading files, printing files and all these things are done at the same time in Windows. It's true MultiTasking as promised years ago! With a Network of Windows computers you can have several people MultiTasking and Multi-using any given program all at the same time as well as co-operatively working on a project within the company, connected only by computer cable. 2. It's the best graphics environment and today, you can even create an application in Windows and port it to all the Macintosh users with a program converter like Adobe's new Acrobat or Farallon's new 'Replica'. So, the graphics part alone is worth the investment. Soon, we'll be using the computer more like a TV appliance and the Windows environment is where we're going to wind up because of the graphical nature of the operating system, so you might as well give in to it now. 3. It makes life so much more fun because all programs you buy for Windows run virtually the same way and so are all easier to learn and install. 4. You get great games, video, sound, animation etc within Windows. 5. You get more productivity out of your workers. 6. You get shorter learning curves which equates to saved training dollars. 7. You get an operating system that is the gateway to all future major innovations in computing. Make no mistake, no other operating system except perhaps UNIX has the potential to change the world, but UNIX will only overpower Windows if it emulates Windows, so you end up with the same product anyway. And forget about OS/2. IBM has spent a great deal of money trying to convince you to go with OS/2 instead of their arch rival Microsoft Windows. But OS/2 requires about 50 MB's of disk space, 16 MB of RAM and doesn't do anything that Windows doesn't do and Windows does it better and there are many more compatibility problems with OS/2 and it goes on and on. OS/2 will be a dead duck within a year. Remember these words. We recently learned that Microsoft has come up with a new version of Windows for Networks that will allow everyone in the Network to enjoy the ease of use of Windows. It is shipping around now, the fall of 1992. So, if you are considering installing a Network, you will want to look into the Windows solution. It's a bit more expensive than plain old "Dumb Terminals", but that's about the kind of work you'll get out of your employees under most Networks, simply because they are not easy to use, install, learn, or modify. Windows Networking, more accuragely called, "Workgroups for Windows" allows your folks to work more co-operatively, sending messages, calendars, graphics and so forth over the Net. This kind of sharing of information can make an organization much more productive and competitive and in this economy, you need to be both. We can also recommend the new cooling fans for the 486 systems that Intel has introduced. We found a simple, inexpensive solution to the heat problems in a '486. Intel, has admitted that their 486 CPUS are running a bit on the hot side. This can result in lost data or locked up machines. To avoid this problem, you can order and install a tiny little heat sink and fan to the CPU. Anyone with a scredriver can do it. It takes about two minutes and you have a much cooler running computer. We find this solution to be very elegant and anyone with an IBM compatible machine should have one of these, in our opinion, whether or not they have a '486 or not. The reason is that all computer fans were engineered to take the heat from the power supply out of the case. This means that your computer is still left with a residual heat from the action of the chips inside. It's a by-product of electrical events in the computer. With this little heat sink and fan, installed in your system, you should get much more life from your investment. And it can avoid the very expensive problem of data loss! The heat sink and fan assembly is only $45.00 and it simply snaps onto the CPU chip in your system. Nothing else is required. You can also get cheaper assemblies for cooling the CPU for as little as $10.00 from most computer dealers. We can also recommend that almost everyone should look into the new Floptical drives. These are great for two reasons. First, they hold 20 MB of data, more later, and the diskettes are removable. THIS MEANS THAT THEY CURRENTLY THE BEST KIND OF BACKUP DEVICE. Better than tape drives and much more flexible because they can act as a second hard drive if something goes wrong with your main hard drive saving a great deal of time in emergencies. Perhaps, more importantly, they are a great Multi-Media Device. We, and other publishers can fit much more data, especially graphics, full-motion video, sound on one of these diskettes. And you will see more and more of this as time goes on. In fact, we are encouraging all our customers to buy one of these drives so that they can get the full benefit of our Video Reviews. They are currently only about $200.00 and in 1993, the price should go down considerably as they produce more and more of them. Great alternative to CD-ROM Drives which we also carry for people who want to take advantage of all the gigabytes of data already available on this format. CD-ROM drives only allow you to 'Play' programs created on the CD disk. These usually contain about 600 MB of data and in the future, they will each hold more data. But you cannot write or change the data on these drives. In the near future, probably within the next two years or maybe even in 1994, you will be able to buy read-write CD-ROM drives for as little as $1,000.00 and if enough people buy these, as they are doing with the CD-ROM's these prices could fall eventually to less than $500 or less for gigabytes of READ AND WRITE CD-ROM DISKS. Since they are removable, this will usher in a new era when you will have a library of information on your desktop unrivaled in history, containing literally millions of pages, hundreds of hours of video, sounds, interaction, gaming, all on a few CD Disks. The future is really exciting in this area. My hope is that there will also be a cheap way for people who bought CD-ROM drives to upgrade to the new Read & Write standard if and when it comes out. Until that time, however, don't wait just because the technology is always changing. At $200 or less, CD-ROM drives will always offer a very inexpensive way to get lots of fun and entertainment into your computer. The best CD titles we've found so far are the SimCity series where you get to design an entire, city or even planets, trying to figure out how much government to give your robot subjects, how much air, water, recreation, etc. You keep charge of the economy of a whole society just like you were a God. It's extremely educational and probably the best thing you can give your kids. Another great CD game series is the Carmen San Diego games where kids learn about geography while playing detective, looking for clues all over the world. And probably my favorite are the flight simulator games. The one I enjoy the most is Flight Simulator newest version is 5.0 from Microsoft. You can actually learn how to fly a plane and save thousands of dollars on actual flight training. And you walk away from all your crashes. The visual graphics and simulation are so real, you actually feel dizzy when the plane banks and turns. It's amazing. Another great flight simulation game are the jet fighter games, the best one is from Spectrum Holobyte called F-15, where you actually fly an F-15 in combat missions. They have very capable pilots on the other side, however, so it takes a bit of practice to get to be 'Top Gun' but that adds to the realism. And again, you walk away from all your crashes. Another great one is Jet Fighter. All these games sell for about $30 to $40 and are worth every penny. Watch out for the games based on Virtual Reality and Fractal Graphics. These are coming out more and more and add an incredible layer of realism to the game. The best one we've seen so far is actually Shareware Called Wolfenstein. You have a pistol and you try to escape from a World War II German Prison Camp. The movement with the mouse is very natural and you really get the feeling that you are escaping. The graphics give a feel of 3-D even though they're not, and it's astounding what a good job they do. There are several levels and you must purchase all but the shareware beginning level. From there you go up to a game where you get to track down Hitler himself in his bunker and your job is to shoot him. It's a great game for kids and I know lots of adults that are addicted to it too. IN our next issue we are going to review many more games for you. ANOTHER NEW PRODUCT IDEA ... If you have a laser printer you are spending hundreds of dollars per year in electrical costs and wasting the environment. A new product arena called Green Systems is coming. Out now are electrical outlet strips that put your laser printer and even your monitor to sleep mode when not in use requiring a fraction of the electrical power consumption they now use. Then at the touch of a key or a mouse, they snap back to life and start gobbling up electricity at their normal rate. Great new product idea. Call us, we have these. We hope everyone buys them to help save this country's worsening energy import bill. Also ... if you have a laser printer in a large office and you're printer sharing, you're probably also very frustrated with the speed of your printer. An easy and inexpensive up- grade to your system is to install a printer accelerator card. These have been pricey before, but now there are cheaper alternatives. Microsoft has heard the complaints and has launched their own card. Out soon, it's only about $199.00. Another good one is Printsprint. It's a little more - about $299.00 but is available now. What they do is use the computers CPU to compose the pages and gets around the bottleneck in the Print Spooler. But if you don't want to spend all that money, just wait a few months for Windows Version 4.0. Among many other new features will be faster printing. And, Oh, yes... We take Visa & MasterCard. With these tools, you can do almost anything. Want to know more? Call us..... 1-408-423-8580