LPM&T Newsletter Excerpt - Q1 1999

The Tech Corner, by Bruce Gardner

In the last column, we wrote about the major upgrade to Microsoft Office 97 – SR-2. Microsoft has re-released the upgrade files, but our advice remains the same. You should request the replacement CD and not the upgrade CD. Do this by calling 1-800-370-9272 and asking for the Office 97 replacement CD. You should be prepared to give the operator your registration number for the original Office 97 disk.

In this issue, we would like to point you towards on-line newsletters that can give you notice of upgrades, the latest bug reports, what’s new on the horizon, and the latest in legal news. Each one of these publications comes to you as an e-mail once a week, or daily, and is FREE.

A good general computer daily newsletter is published by Ziff-Davis, the publisher of PC Magazine, Computer Shopper, and many others. It is called AnchorDesk, edited by Jesse Berst, out of Redmond. I receive it as a text based e-mail. It has short descriptions of the articles with links to the full article in its html edition on the Web. AnchorDesk reports current computer industry news. You will find it at www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/. [Please note, some of these URL addresses may wrap in this column; you should enter the address all as one line and when the link ends a sentence, there is no period after the ".com".]

In the last column, we mentioned Woody’s Office Watch (WOW). This weekly newsletter is text based and usually runs 12-20 pages. Woody Leonhard, the editor, has authored a number of help books on Office, Word, Windows 95 and Windows 98. Although he works closely with Microsoft to confirm his information, he is by no means a Microsoft Flack, and doesn’t hesitate to take them to task when deserved. His writing is current, informative, and humorous. He has a sister publication, Woody’s Window Watch that covers (guess what) Windows 95 and 98. Recommended highly! These newsletters are found at: www.woodyswatch.com/wow/ for Office, and www.woodyswatch.com/www/ for Windows.

Another good general help newsletter on PCs in general is The Naked PC. Edited by Lee Hudspeth and T.J. Lee, it has much helpful information about how to get a handle on your PC. Look for it at: http://www.thenakedpc.com/.

A Microsoft publication that comes out monthly with helpful tips on Office is the Microsoft Office News Service. This is a good source of upgrade announcements, and they give usability tips. Subscribe at: www.microsoft.com/office/000/emailnews/default.htm.

A good report on today’s legal news that comes either as a text newsletter or in html format is LegalNewsWire from Law News Network. They summarize and link to top legal news stories from their top 20 group of legal newspapers and magazines. Go to them at: www.lawnewsnetwork.com/index.shtml.

Do you have a suggestion? E-mail me at bruceg@neda.com.