CompuNotes Notes from The Cutting Edge of Personal Computing January 2, 1998 Issue 108 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= To subscribe, send an e-mail to listserv@peach.ease.lsoft.com SUBSCRIBE COMPUNOTES-L FirstName LastName To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to listserv@peach.ease.lsoft.com SIGNOFF COMPUNOTES-L For Contact and Other Information See Bottom of Publication! +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= CONTENTS My Notes: 1=> My Predictions, mailto:pgrote@i1.net 2=> This Issue's Winner! News: 3=> News of the Week, mailto:pgrote@i1.net Interviews: 4=> Interview Joseph J. Melle Jr., President of NOIC Reviews: 5=> Product: Hellbender, Shoot to Kill, Think to Win - game/action Reviewed By: Don Hughes, mailto:dhughes@wwdc.com 6=> Micrografx Flow Charter 7 - business/graphics Reviewed By: Don Hughes, mailto:dhughes@wwdc.com 7=> Product: Visual Interdev - web development Reviewed By: Doug Reed, mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com 8=> Product: Intranet Ware, Administrators Handbook By Kelley J. P. Lindberg - book/networking Reviewed By: Don Hughes, mailto:dhughes@wwdc.com --- BEGIN ISSUE 1=> My 1998 Predictions, mailto:pgrote@i1.net Well, I must say that 1997 was the absolute worst year of my life. I am glad to see it go, but am more happy that a new year is here. I have many exciting things planned for the new year and I am glad CompuNotes will be part of that! As you know, many people in the computer press make predictions about what is going to happen in the next year. Where would I be if I didn't do the same? Without further delay, my ten predictions for 1998 follow: 1) Gateway, Dell or Micron will cease to exist -- Gateway (http://www.gw2k.com), Dell (http://www.dell.com)or Micron (http://www.micron.com) will no longer be a company at the end of 1998. Bankruptcy or better yet a buy out will cause one of these companies to lose their name. My money is on Gateway. I mean how long can South Dakota be a computer Mecca? 2) Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com) will be hit hard this year. Let me say Microsoft will be spanked. Windows NT and Windows 98 delays will cause someone to be a competitor. My pick? No, not Sun. No, not Oracle. No, not even Netscape. Yahoo! Content is quickly becoming king and no one has a better brand name than Yahoo! Take My Yahoo! for instance. Microsoft has nothing that comes even close. 3) There will be a PC sales slowdown. I mean recession types of numbers. Come on, how long do you think Compaq can sell sub-$1000 PCs and still make gobs of money. Not long. My gosh, the Commodore 64 used to cost $699.00, which is the price of the latest cost stopper from Compaq. (http://www.news.com/SpecialFeatures/0,5,17709,00.html) 4) Netscape (http://www.netscape.com) will be bought. Netscape can't make it alone. It is losing the war on all fronts. Once it had a good brand name now it stands for nothing. Look for Sun to purchase Netscape in a bid to make Java work in the marketplace. 5) Which leads to Java dying. Yes, Java will still be a niche language on web pages everywhere, but forget real applications. Even with cross industry support Java will be for the web only in 1998. 6) Ecommerce will take off. We will each have a currency for using the net to buy things. It'll work like this: you go to a secure web site and buy $1000 worth of cash for your ewallet. When you buy things you use the money in your ewallet and a third party handles the movement of money. This will create a BOOM in the electronic commerce market place. 7) Natural language processing will become mainstream. Operating systems and more importantly user interfaces will become natural language oriented. I can type into my Explorer interface FIND ALL FILES LESS THAN THREE DAYS OLD ON COMPUNOTES and it will. 8) Novell will cease to exist. Novell will be sold to Oracle. 9) Network computers will cease to exist. A stupid idea whose time never came. 10) DSL will not take off. ISDN will still remain the connection of choice for high speed remote connectivity to home. DSL in all its flavors will not be popular. Hope you have a happy and safe New Year! <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Free Laptop Newsletter from NotebookMall.com * Cool notebook ideas, news summary, links to resources * Great deals on used and refurbished notebooks To subscribe, mailto:newsletter@NotebookMall.com For more info: http://NotebookMall.com <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> 2=> Winner! This week's winner: rhupf@YOURS.COM. 3=> News and Game Bits, mailto:pgrote@i1.net or mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com Industry Group is Threatening to Release Millions of AOL Addresses for Free ... WE HAVE AN INTERVIEW WITH NOIC. See INTERVIEW SECTION... (http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,17763,00.html) Symantec Posts Patch for Norton Utilities 3.0 (http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,17766,00.html) 1997 Vaporware (http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/9431.html) IBM Boosts Harddrive Capacity Again (http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/9442.html) Their Company has No CEO, but at least they have a sense of humor . . . (http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/news/1229/31mappl.html) 4=> Interview Joseph J. Melle Jr., President of NOIC (mailto:joe@noic.org) The NOIC (http://www.noic.org) made quite a wave last week by threatening to post over a million AOL e-mail addresses on their website for anyone to use. AOL took the charge seriously and called it "cyber terrorism." We interviewed Joseph J. Melle Jr., President of NOIC (mailto:joe@noic.org) yesterday on January 1, 1998. This evening on January 2, 1998 NOIC has retracted its offer to post the addresses. Read NOIC's side of the story and let us know what you think! CN: What is the NOIC and how does it help its members? JM: The NOIC is a non profit corporation fighting for the rights of small businesses and entrepreneurs to send their advert via bulk e-mail. The NOIC also is fighting for the right of those who do not want junk e-mail to be removed from these lists. CN: What is your definition of the popular term SPAM as it applies to e-mail? JM: Any type of e-mail advertisement. CN: What would your argument be concerning a person or company's right to send mass unsolicited e-mail? JM: Our argument is, it should be the individual internet users decision, not AOL's or your service provider. If you do not want to receive unsolicited e-mail then by all means you should not have to, but it should be your decision not someone else's. CN: Many people contend that sending out unsolicited e-mail in volume wastes others system resources and is a free ride for the originator (ie: you don't pay postage). What do you think? JM: Well bulk emailers pay big bucks for programs that send bulk e-mail, they go through dial up accounts on a weekly basis, sometimes on a daily basis, so they are paying. Consider this, bulk emailers send out millions to get thousands through, if their mail was not blocked and filtered they would not have to send millions, they could just send the thousands. CN: Your offer to publish AOL e-mail addresses is a bold move. Why are you undertaking this? JM: To let the world know that we think that small businesses have the right to be in business and we are going to make sure that avenue is open to them. CN: Sanford Wallace has been a lightning rod for the mass unsolicited e-mail market. What is your opinion of Mr. Wallace and his company? JM: I really have no personal opinion of Mr. Wallace as I do not know him. In the bulk arena I have heard good and bad things about him, but I tend to not make decisions without any personal information. What I will say about him is, I do take my hat off to him, as he made it to a point where all bulk emailers wish they were. CN: How did you come to be President of NOIC? What was your occupation before this? JM: I am the President of TSF Marketing, this company is the founding member of the NOIC. CN: What do you do for fun on your computer and off? JM: Off my Computer I play with my 4 year old son. I golf, play racquetball. On my computer I work, if I am not working or checking e-mail, I don't utilize my computer much. When you have been in front of it for 8 hours you don't want to play in front of it.> CN: Where do you think the Internet will go in 1998? JM: I think a lot of ISP's are going to come to accept bulk e-mail. When I say bulk e-mail I am talking about responsible and legitimate companies, not porn or get rich quick schemes. CN: There is a group of anti mass unsolicited e-mail people on the Internet. Their mission is to ensure the Internet is not used for mass unsolicited e-mail. What do you think about their efforts? JM: I think everyone has a right to their opinion. But for the most part I think these people are deplorable, these are the people who are the true criminals, they hack are sights, send us viruses. We already had a hacker attempt to get into our site yesterday. 5=> Product: Hellbender, Shoot to Kill, Think to Win - game/action Reviewed By: Don Hughes, mailto:dhughes@wwdc.com Requirements: Pentium 75 with local SVGA bus video, Windows 95, 4X CD-ROM drive, 8 MB RAM, 32 MB of hard disk space, sound card, 14.4 Kbps modem for head-to-head play. Recommended: Pentium 90, 16+ MB RAM, 77 MB of hard disk space, 3-D accelerated graphics card, mouse, joystick, 28.8 Kbps modem. Hellbender is an action packed 3D futuristic flight simulator that tests the players flying ability and thinking to the max. Installation is easy, simply insert the CD-ROM and the AutoPlay feature of Windows 95 will start the install process. You are given three choices to install Hellbender on your hard drive: 1. Typical: Install 77 MB of data to your hard drive, leaving the video clips on the CD-ROM. Selecting this installation allows for faster game play. 2. Minimal: Installs 32 MB of data to your hard drive, and slower game play. 3. Custom: Installs selected files to your hard drive. The Hellbender Mission: "As commander of the awesomely equipped Hellbender(tm) prototype attack craft, you alone must destroy the soulless Bion invaders before they carry out their mission of annihilation. Choose your targets. Attack with precision. Without strategy, you are dust. The future of the Coalition of Independent Planets rests on your shoulders. In Hellbender, you'll find Gillian Anderson of "The X-Files(tm)" as the voice of E.V.E., your onboard computer. Blaze through mind-searing graphics when supported by the Direct3D(tm) API technology with a 3-D graphics card. Perform intense aeronautic maneuvers with full freedom of movement and complete cockpit views. The DirectPlay(tm) API enables multiplayer mayhem for rabid dogfights over LANs, modems or the Internet. Experience real-time light sources, electrifying environmental FX and a Bion-blitzing armory. Discover a compelling sci-fi story of danger and discovery created by Hollywood script writer Geof Miller." The test computer used for Hellbender was a Pentium 100MHz CPU, ATI Winturbo graphic card with 2MB ran, 32 MB of ram memory, and the minimal 32 MB installation setting. Installation was a snap, and no error(s) cropped up during the installation. An added plus was the install program creates a Hellbender shortcut key and places it on the desktop for you. However, during the installation of Hellbender, DirectX 2.0 installed and removed my ATI setting tabs (Adjustment, Panning, and Colour) from the Control Panel, Display, and Settings. It must be noted that Hellbender is not the only game that removes the ATI setting tabs, as this problem seems to be inherent when DirectX software is installed. Hellbender is Microsoft's sequel to their other futuristic flight simulator and 3D shooter Fury3. While Helbender is much more interesting with its tunnels containing mass amounts of hidden rooms with the enemy lurking around every corner, it just does not measure up to the intense indoor combat of Descent (another 3D shooter). The graphical 3D environment with rain, lightening, and the display inside of the under ground complexes are not bad, but still not the quality of Descent or Doom. During testing, I found that the sound effects lag the action. Play the game, you may soon tire of Helbender's E.V.E. computer saying "Target Destroyed, Hull Damage critical, Enemy destroyed, warning shields low, etc." One of the option menu's features allows the user to turn off the computer's (E.V.E.) voice and the music if one has the desire to do so. The game does allow the user several customizable options, such as: Screen size, Video, 3D graphic card selection, Pilots view, cockpit view, save and load options, and it has an on line manual. However, I would like to have seen the ability to print topics from the on-line manual, as one can do from most Windows programs. Despite my nitpicking, Hellbender is a game that offers a fast paced, intense 3D shooter, with enough action to keep any game player busy for hours. It is a very good idea as you play the game to save it periodically, thus allowing one to quickly get back into the action without having to start all over again. When in the under ground complex's save the game at several points as you progress, as the enemy has a nasty habit of attacking you from many different angles, and around every twist and turn of the tunnels. Hellbender does live up to its title "Shoot to Kill, Think to Win." Once you start playing the game you soon realize one must use the ships resources very wisely in managing both the shields and the power resources or the ship is soon destroyed. The game has a full range of enemies in the air, ground and mobile forces all shooting at you. The 3D graphic display allows for acrobatic flying around, threw, and under buildings. I was just completing this article for CompuNotes, when my new Pentium 133 MHz computer (replacement for my old 486DX 100MHz) arrived. I decided to check out Hellbender's ability to use a 3D graphics accelerator card--the new P133 has an ATI 3D Xpression card with 4 MB of ram installed. The 3D difference in the graphic quality of the game was apparent right from the start, with more appropriate detail of the ground, buildings, clouds, etc. The speed was also vastly improved, partly due to the difference in CPU's, and the ATI 3D Xpression video card. If you are a serious computer game player you may want to consider purchasing a 3D video card, as the added graphic details are well worth the money. Playing Hellbender in full 3D graphics mode makes the game more fun and appealing to the eye. However, a faster computer, and a new graphics card didn't prevent me from being shot out of the sky, but the resulting explosion was far more impressive. Microsoft Corporation (800) 426-9400 (http://www.microsoft.com/) Ratings: Install/ease of Use: Gold User Friendliness: Gold Quality: Gold End User: 3D shooter's / Game players 6=> Micrografx Flow Charter 7 - business/graphics Reviewed By: Don Hughes, mailto:dhughes@wwdc.com Requirements: Windows 95, 486 DX, 8 MB of RAM (16 is recommended), 32-86 MB of HD space, VGA, CD-ROM & Mouse MSRP: $299.99 US The program comes on a CD-ROM that containing the following programs: FlowCharter 7, 200 TrueType fonts, plus these extras, Webcharter, ABC FlowCharter 4.0 (16 bit version & doc's), Adobe Reader, and Visual basic script documentation, and plus the FlowCharter 7 users guide book-- some three hundred and thirty-two pages. The installation time is under ten minutes, depending on the options you select to install. Micrografx FlowCharter 7 program includes numerous flow charting samples, clip art, and over sixty shape palettes. The computer used to test the Micrografx FlowCharter 7, was an 486DX 100 MHz, 16 MB ram. ATI VGA WinTurbo graphics card, 4X CD-ROM, SVGA Monitor. What is a flow chart? The flow chart is the most widely used form of business graphics in use today. The charts are in most cases easy to read, and explain concepts and data in a graphical display. Complex process for Computer technicians and other service personnel are used to explain a problem, and give the steps necessary to correct it. A good example of this method using the flow chart using "YES" and "NO" box makes a difficult job such as trouble shooting a complex electrical /electronic system much easier. There are NO complicated rules to follow when you want to create a flow chart. The end user has total control of how they wish to display data. A family genealogy tree is a good example of how a flow chart is could be used for tracking six generations: 1. Great, Great, Great Grandfather & Family 2. Great Great Grandfather and his family 3. Great Grandfather & Family 4. Grandfather & Family 5. Your Father & Brothers & Sisters 6. Your Family & Children. If you had a relative visiting and you showed them a list of names on several sheets of paper, in most cases they will have soon have information over-load and no idea what you are talking about and who is related to whom. However, show anyone a family tree flow chart and family relationship process becomes easier to comprehend. The political area is another area where different parties use flow charts extensively. Flow carts are used to display almost everything to the general public from Gulf war statistics, political polls, the budget, the Countries debt, and how the party (if elected) will make magically things happen for us all. Another major use of flow charts to gather and display statistical data such as: population growth, job creation, number of unemployed, weather, marketing information, age groups, number of people who drink certain types of beverages. There is an endless list of data that can be displayed or manipulated using flow charts. Types of flow charts: Block Diagrams. Block diagrams give a brief overview of a process. By using rectangles and arrows, you can create a diagram to break a complex task into several small steps. Business organizational Charts (company structure, President, VPs, Directors, to the serfs) are a type of a block diagram Deployment (Functional) Flowcharts. The deployment flowcharts illustrate the flow of information and materials among different organizational units. Because deployment flowcharts help identify how time is used in a process, they are frequently used in quality management and re-engineering projects. Data Flow Charts. Data flow charts use a few strictly Defined shapes, lines, and arrows to display the flow of data and information. Network Charts. Network Charts illustrate the connections among hardware and software in a system and show how the components of the system interact. Shapes in the network chart often resemble the equipment they represent, such as a computer terminal. Analysis Charts. A flowchart becomes a powerful analysis tool when data is added to the chart. Analyses' charts let you achieve the flowing possibilities: * Accumulate Data in a chart. * Subtotal data up through chart hierarchies. * Print data in reports. * Pass data to spreadsheets and databases. * Graph data. The first step in creating your flow chart is to decide the type of chart that best fits the your data. If you are going to use FlowCharter to create a genealogy family tree chart then you most likely would use the Block chart. However, if you have the need to track your families medical history, the analysis style chart would work the best overall. Micrografx FlowCharter 7 gives the end user the flexibly and power to create a: * Standard flowchart. * Organizational chart/ family tree. * Cause-and-Effect Chart. * Network Chart. * Pyramid Chart. * Deployment Chart. * Statistical process control (SPC) charts like histograms, run * charts, pie charts and Pareo charts. * Living Flow-Chart. In addition, the end user can: Draw different shapes, set the style of the shapes, Rotate the shapes, Change the shape of a shape using the Edit curves function, change shape properties and alignment, number the shapes, draw lines, connect lines to a shape. The users and create and edit freeform text, and attach freeform texts to lines, and shapes. New in this version are "Living FlowChart's" that interacts with the user or is run like a program. This style of flow chart allows the user to input data, and an example of how a "Path-Based Living FlowChart" could be used: ...The path based Living FlowChart advances based on static data attached to all the line in the path...Example, the user types the maximum price they want to pay for a house...FlowCharter checks the data on each line for a match...Displays a dialog box continuing the name of a house plan that has the most square feet for the amount of money they want to spend. Micrografx's FlowCharter 7 flexibility is vitally limitless in its scope. The program contains over 2000 shapes in the "Shape Palettes," and has the ability to import: .ai, .pcd, .DWG, .dxf, .gif, .png, .cgm, ..cmx, .cdr, .gem, .eps, .hgl, .plt, .jgs, .jpg, .pcd, .pct, .ds4. FlowCharter's ability to import so many different graphic files' types allow the end user access to thousands more graphics to enhance their work. During my Flowchart adventures designing, testing and printing, Micrografx FlowCharter 7 performed properly with no bugs, or glitches appearing. An added plus is that one does not need to be a "FlowChart" expert to use this program. The user's guide is very well written, with many illustrations and help is always a mouse click away. Have the needs for a flow chart program? Then take a good look at Micrografx FlowCharter 7 its scope and power is amazing. Micrografx Inc. 1303 East Arapaho Road Richardson, TX 75081 USA http://www.micrografx.com Ratings: Install/ease of Use: Gold User Friendliness: Gold Quality: Gold End User: Anyone who needs of uses Flow Charts <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> My name is Lori Bakken and I am a graduate student at NDSU in Fargo, ND. I am doing a survey for a paper I am writing on privacy and I would appreciate it if you would give the URL of the survey. The URL is at (http://www.acm.ndsu.nodak.edu/~lbakken) <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> 7=> Product: Visual Interdev - web development Reviewed By: Doug Reed, mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com Requirements: Win95/NT, 16 MB RAM, 486/66 Reviewed on: Win95, 24 MB RAM, P-166 You have to admit, Visual Interdev is one of the strangest sounding names you've ever heard for a software application. Just what the heck is an Interdev? Visual Interdev, for the uninitiated, is Microsoft's premiere web application development software tool. This is not to be confused with FrontPage, which is Microsoft's application for web site development and maintenance. Confused yet? Don't be. Think of FrontPage as more of the web page creation tool and Interdev as the web site/database tool, designed to facilitate the rapid creation of web site that make use of databases to provide dynamic content to web surfers. Interdev is easy enough to install - the requirements for the software are essentially that you be using either Windows 95 or NT 4.0. If you are using Windows 95, you will have to first install the Personal Web Server software (included on the CD-ROM) as well as the FrontPage and Active Server Page extensions to be able to use and preview Interdev-designed sites on your computer. For NT 4.0 users, Interdev can work with Microsoft's Internet Information Server (the FrontPage & Active Server page extensions will still be required). Interdev was designed with the familiar Microsoft Visual Studio interface, so those that have used other "Visual" products like J++ or C++ will feel right at home. It includes a wide variety of tools such as the FrontPage editor (not the entire FrontPage software), the Media Manager, Image Composer, and Music Composer to help create the ultimate web experience. Interdev is an incredibly diverse product, mastery of which will require a considerable amount of time and effort. Interdev may be a RAD (Rapid Application Development) tool, but it isn't something you'll learn overnight. Right away I would recommend that you go out and buy two texts; one on Interdev itself (I'm reading Special Edition Using Visual Interdev, which I will also review) and another on Active Server Pages. Why? Because you will need them, primarily as reference material. A lot of what Interdev is designed to do is to ease the creation of dynamic web sites, but this doesn't mean that you aren't going to need to occasionally break new ground where the software wasn't designed to go. It also helps to know what Interdev is doing when it inserts code into your pages so that you can gain a good feel for how things are working and how to track things when something doesn't work. So, how does this all fit together? Well, the miracle behind Interdev is Microsoft's Active Server Pages, an idea so revolutionary that it is amazing that no one else had thought of it beforehand. Active Server Pages are not your usual web pages; you can tell when you are on one because it has the extension .asp instead of the familiar .htm or .html. What does it mean? Active Server Pages contain code that is executed on the server when the page is called by your browser. This allows the page to access data from a database or execute any number of scripts before you even see the page. In a sense, the execution of scripts on the server is very much like the use of cgi and Perl scripts; the difference here is that the "language" that does the scripting is Microsoft's own VBScript (JScript can also be used). The great thing about Active Server Pages is that they are browser independent; the bad thing about Active Server Pages is that they will only work on a server running Windows NT (or 95, should you feel brave). Until recently it also required the use of a Microsoft Web Server as well, however, O'Reilly & Associates recently announced that version 2.0 of Website will contain ASP support. Users of MacIntosh and UNIX computers, however, are out of luck. Microsoft has revealed no plans to port ASP to these platforms, and I for one would be seriously shocked if they did. It's too bad, because it seriously impedes the penetration of Interdev as an application development tool. Creation of a web "application" with Interdev is shockingly easy to do. You first create a "Project", either by using a Wizard or by creating a blank site to fill yourself. The "Departmental Site" Project Wizard creates a full-fledged site including the main page, support pages, a search page, and even a feedback page which you can link to a database to handle users' input. It even includes the choice of several "themes" for the sites! These themes include not only the graphics to go with the theme but style sheets that define fonts and backgrounds for the entire site! The style sheet support is very impressive; it is nice to finally see a web site design tool that not only supports style sheets but can add them on the fly. What about interacting with a database, you say? Yet another wizard is available; the Data Forms Project Wizard will quickly create web pages with the ability to add, modify, or delete records in a database. You control how much the user can do from the page, from merely viewing the data to actively creating or modifying it. Very nice! Microsoft has also included a number of tools that used to available for free from their website, like the HTML layout tool and the ActiveX Control Pad (for adding ActiveX controls). Media Manager allows you to quickly and easily browse through media files (visual and audio) on your computer. Image Composer, also included with FrontPage, allows you to create images to display on the web. Music Producer is perhaps on the most interesting tools included with Interdev. Music Producer is designed to allow even tone-deaf individuals create beautiful works of music for their website. The bottom line is this: Interdev is very well done software tool designed to help you quickly and easily create database-driven web sites. It is a superb tool, and has only one flaw: the ASP pages, which can only be used on Windows NT-based servers. UNIX computers still reign supreme in that regard, making it tough (but not impossible) to find a web host for a virtual web site that can support the use of ASP. Still, Interdev is an incredibly useful tool, well worth considering if you need to create a database-driven web site. Microsoft http://www.microsoft.com/ Installation: Gold User-friendliness: Gold Quality: Silver (maybe a gold if Microsoft ever ports ASP to UNIX & Mac servers). User: Experienced Web Designers. 8=> Product: Intranet Ware, Administrators Handbook By Kelley J. P. Lindberg - book/networking Reviewed By: Don Hughes, mailto:dhughes@wwdc.com MSRP:$39.99 U.S.A./$54.99 Canada A leader in the field of "how to" NetWare book publishing, Novell Press has produced another excellent network applications reference guide. The author, Kelley Lindberg, deserves high marks for creating the "Intranet Ware, Administrator's Handbook. This is a no nonsense, straight forward reference guide, containing over five hundred and thirty pages of priceless information on how to setup, reconfigure, manage, NetWare 4.11 IntranetWare, and systematic trouble shooting. For those of you who may be reading this article and getting a bit confused between "NetWare and IntranetWare" to quote the author: "NetWare 4.11 is the best-selling core networking software that provides the essential services of a network: connectivity, security, file, and print services, Novell Directory Services, the NetWare Web Server, and so on." IntranetWare consists of NetWare 4.11, along with components that allow workstations easy access Intranet and Internet services such as Web servers and FTP services. These Components are: Novell IPX/IP Gateway NetWare Multi-protocol Router WAN extensions for Wide Area Network connectivity FTP Services and FTP Management utilities This comprehensive book covers the main functions of Novell's NetWare 4.11, and additionally covers all aspects of the IntranetWare components. The book is separated into sixteen chapters, plus Appendixes A to D; in addition, Novel has included a "Quick-Search" version of the book on an enclosed disk. The chapters cover such topics as: Network Topologies and Architectures, Install and upgrading Servers, Managing the Server, Installing Workstations, Managing Novell Directory Services, Managing Users and Groups, Network Security, File Management, Setting up NetWare Print Services, Connecting Mac OS Workstations to a NetWare Network, Managing Protocols, Installing and using On-line Documentation, Disaster Planning and Recovery, Installing and Using the NetWare Web Server, Installing the Novell Internet Access Server and FTP Services. While the chapter topics may look forbidding at first glance, the author has accomplished a first rate job of simplifying and breaking the topics down into a series of steps or checklists. In chapter four (Installing Workstations) page ninety-two, "Installing Windows 95 and Client32 Simultaneously" on workstation currently running DOS or Windows 3.1, the reader is presented with a checklist to aid the install of Windows 95 and Client32. The Checklist consists of twenty-six steps to create the batch process. Once you have the batch process finished (1thru 26) then its simply a matter of follow the authors two step instruction to complete the job and install the software. Kelley J. P. Lindberg's book "Intranet Ware Administrators Handbook" is one of the best reference texts I have the pleasure of reviewing. Her use of checklists to make a sometimes-difficult task easier for the reader to follow, troubleshoot, and get the system running in the quickest time possible, rates high praise. An added plus for the reader awaits in Appendix D, in the form of work sheets designed to help the end user record such things as: server installation and configuration, hardware and software purchases, printer installation and configuration, backup schedule, etc, If you are a Network Administrator or maintenance personnel using Novell's IntranetWare (4.11) this is one reference book that you may want to add to your bookshelf. IntranetWare Administrators Handbook. By Kelley J. P. Lindberg Published by Novell Press 2180 Fortune Drive San Jose, CA 95131 Ratings: Install/ease of Use: Gold User Readability: Gold Quality: Gold End User: network administrators, workgroup manager, IS manager or the systems engineer. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= Managing Editor: Patrick Grote -- mailto:pgrote@i1.net Assistant Editor: Writer Liaison: Doug Reed-- mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com Assistant Editor: Robin Nobles, mailto:smslady@netdoor.com Archives: ftp://ftp.uu.net/published/compunotes/ Website: e-mail: mailto:notes@compunotes.com Want to Write for Us?: mailto:writers@compunotes.com fax: (314) 909-1662 voice: (314) 909-1662 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= CompuNotes is: Available weekly via e-mail and on-line. We cover the PC computing world with comprehensive reviews, news, hot web sites, great columns and interviews. We also give away one software package a week to a lucky winner for just reading our fine publication! Never dull, sometimes tardy, we are here to bring you the computing world the way it is! Please tell every on-line friend about us! CompuNotes B440 1315 Woodgate Drive St. Louis, MO 63122 notes@compunotes.com (C)1997 Patrick Grote Thanks, Patrick Grote Check out CompuNotes: http://www.compunotes.com/main.html Survive Comdex: http://www.compunotes.com/comdex "There is only one success--to be able to spend your life in your own way." .