Solving PC Annoyances

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by Derrick Story
Network Newsletter for 11/04/2003

Dear Reader,

I know better than to open with a silly question such as, "Does your PC annoy you?" Of course it does. Computers are aggravating by definition.

The difference between a calm, happy computer user, such as you or I, and a rabid, insane, ranting user, such as a few of my relatives whom I best not mention by name, is knowing how to quickly solve minor problems and move forward.

O'Reilly author Steve Bass feels the same way. He is helping PC users everywhere with the release of his brand-new book, "PC Annoyances: How to Fix the Most Annoying Things About Your Personal Computer." You might recognize Steve's name from the pages of "PC World," where he gathered tons of information for this guide.

To give you a taste of what you'll find within the 200 pages of pure PC wisdom, take a look at Steve's latest article on O'Reilly Network, "Five More Annoying PC Annoyances." If you like what you read, or better yet, if they help you solve a nagging problem, then you might want to order Steve's book.

To subscribe to the O'Reilly Network newsletter (or other newsletters), visit https://epoch.oreilly.com/account/default.orm and select the newsletters you wish to receive in your user profile (you'll need to log in with your existing O'Reilly Network account -- if you don't yet have an account, you'll need to create one).

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That way you can remain a calm, cool, and collected PC user who has become a shining example to family and friends.

Until next week,

-Derrick

Derrick Story
O'Reilly Network Managing Editor

Featured Articles

Five More Annoying PC Annoyances
Steve Bass, the author of PC Annoyances, bumped into more Windows, Office, Internet, email, and hardware irritations than he could include in the book. So, rather than waste them, he's included some of them on our web site. Here are five bonus PC annoyances, and Steve's fix for each.

Using Web Objects "Direct to Web" Technology
"Direct to Web" takes RAD and injects a shot of technology steroids to create RBRAD, or Rule-Based Rapid Application Development. Through the use of an EOModel file and a D2WModel file, you can create a full-blown web application in just a few simple steps. Josh Paul shows you how.

Optimizing Oracle Performance: A Case Study
Cary Milsap, the author of Optimizing Oracle Performance, has selected the first case study from Chapter 12 ("Case Studies") to excerpt here. Cary explains how Method R--the means he ascribes to for making any system faster--works in real-world ways to improve the overall value of your Oracle system to your business.

.NET Serialization, Part 2
In his last article, Wei-Meng Lee discussed how to serialize objects into a binary stream, as well as into a SOAP message. In this new article, he shows you how to serialize objects into an XML document.

Improvising Your Own Wireless Router
Wei-Meng Lee is back this week with an article on using the Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) feature available in Windows XP to improvise a wireless router, allowing you to wirelessly (and cheaply) share an Internet connection with multiple computers in your home. Wei-Meng is the author of Windows XP Unwired.

Open Guides
Kake Pugh describes how Perl can help you find good beer in London, and many other places, with the OpenGuides collaborative city guides.

From Keynotes to Congregation: The Real Mac OS X Conference
The sessions and the keynotes are what get us to the conferences. But once everyone is there, chemistry among the attendees and speakers create a new event different than anything that could be planned -- especially at a Mac gathering. Here's what happened at the second Mac OS X Conference in Santa Clara, CA.

Introducing REBOL with Amazingly Easy GUI Programming
Cross-platform development and deployment is tricky, though modern toolkits aim to take away some of the troubles. Some languages have already solved this issue, though. Enter REBOL, a small but powerful network-enabled programming language. Gregg Irwin introduces the language by writing a tiny survey application.

The Return of the Blue Q
This article describes the new QTJ by relating the history of why it was broken in the first place, how it was fixed, how to use the new version, and what we might expect to see from QTJ going forward.

XForms and Microsoft InfoPath
Micah Dubinko, author of XForms Essentials, compares W3C XForms and Microsoft InfoPath, the data gathering technology shipping with Microsoft Office 2003.

O'Reilly Network Top Five Articles Last Week

Confessions of the World's Largest Switcher
After encountering roadblocks from Dell and IBM, Dr. Srinidhi Varadarajan went to Apple, and 24 hours later, had a commitment to deliver--within two months--the G5's he'd need to build a Supercomputer. At this week's O'Reilly Mac OS X Conference, Dr. Varadarajan reveals the details behind what it took to build Virginia Tech's G5 Supercomputer. Find out why he says you can expect to see a lot more G5 clusters in the future.
Top Ten Digital Photography Tips
You have a digital camera and have recorded the typical shots of family and friends. Now what? Here are ten tips to make your next batch of digital images so impressive that people will ask: "Hey, what type of camera do you have?" Guess what? It's not the camera.
Ten Things I Dig About Xcode
Following in the footsteps of "Ten Things I Dig About Panther," James Duncan Davidson further explores one of the facets near and dear to Mac developers--their application development environment. Apple is introducing Xcode, along with Panther, and Davidson takes it for a spin and reports on his initial findings.
Fully Loaded and On Target
Dynamic speakers such as Dr. Srinidhi Varadarajan and Andy Ihnatko were big hits with the sophisticated Mac audience at the conference. This is a show by Mac geeks for Mac geeks.
Page Navigation in JavaServer Faces
Any web application with more than one page needs some sort of navigation. Where does the user go when he logs in? Where does he go if his password is incorrect? JSF provides an easy-to-update page navigation model in its Application Configuration file. Budi Kurniawan explains how it works.