KC News 2003

TABLE OF CONTENTS
KEY WINDOWS XP SHORTCUTS
EXCEL KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
SLIDE SHOW SOFTWARE
HOSTING
PAY FOR SEARCH ENGINE LISTINGS?
FREE SEARCH ENGINE LISTINGS
ANTISPAM - LEGAL AND TECHNICAL MEASURES
STOP WINDOWS FROM SPYING ON YOU
LAMP
BEST SPAM I'VE GOTTEN LATELY
YELLOW PAGES, WHITE PAGES
MICROSOFT BEER

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Keyboard Shortcut Du Jour
====================
KEY WINDOWS XP SHORTCUTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCEL KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Last month we presented EXCEL KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS. Our reader Peter Lairo pointed out that we missed this good (but less known) Excel shortcut:

When entering text into a cell, ALT+ENTER creates a linebreak (useful for creating paragraphs).

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---------------------------------------------
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Keep in touch for less with Click4Prepaid from GLOBALCOM:
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===============
HOUSEHOLD ITEM
===============
SLIDE SHOW SOFTWARE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Those of you using Windows XP will probably know by now that it comes with some nice features to let you watch your photos as a slide show.

My current favorite is called IRFANVIEW. Even Windows XP users will be much happier with this program (than with the limited options available on the viewer built into XP).

* MONEY-SAVING RANKINGS
Best sites for comparison shopping and reviews.
* "SWEET SPOT" SHOPPING LISTS
DESKTOPs and LAPTOPs. Best price-to-quality!
* GREEN PC Section
Helps you save energy.

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WORD OF THE MONTH
===================
HOSTING
~~~~~~~~
Alex Kahl was recently interviewed by Small Business Computing about web hosting choices.

Here are some excerpts:
For a small business finding a webhosting provider seems easy.
First and foremost, find a reliable player so you won't have to do this again a year from now. "Find a company that has been around for a while, one that has stable financial backing," said Alex Kahl of Kahl Consultants in San Rafael, Calif. Bigger is not always better, but in this case it may be the safer bet.

KC HOSTING SERVICES
-----------------------------
Kahl Consultants offers WEB SERVICES and HOSTING for small business.

* World Class HOSTING with personal service
* Online MARKETING Plans
* Website TRAFFIC Analysis
* Unlimited Bandwidth
* Personal Attention

==================
SITES FOR SORE EYES
==================
PAY FOR SEARCH ENGINE LISTINGS?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The times when most search engine rankings were free are history. Paid listings (often in the form of "pay-per-click) are the order of the day.

Find out how to stretch your budget by listing with the right search engines.
These sites explain paid search engine listings. From AltaVista (which uses the popular Overture paid listing service) to Xuppa!

FREE SEARCH ENGINE LISTINGS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can still get listed on numerous search engines and directories at no cost. If you optimize your site you can even achieve some pretty good results that will save you the cost of paid listings.

Our client EastWestMassage.com shot to #1 on Google and Yahoo after we optimized it for search engine placement.

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KC TIPS
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ANTISPAM
~~~~~~~~~
Spam has become such a major internet problem that it is being fought on many fronts - both legal and technical.

LEGAL ANTISPAM MEASURES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
California Passes Toughest US Anti-Spam Law

In a bid to curb a tidal wave of spam, California will try to come down hard on mass marketers. A bill which goes into effect January 1, 2004 makes it illegal to send unsolicited commercial e-mail from the state or to its residents.

The measure requires marketers to obtain permission from the intended recipients before launching their e-mail campaigns.

The anti-spam law calls for stiff fines -- up to US$1,000 for each unsolicited e-mail and as much as $1 million for a spam campaign.

The law is a first step, according to Stephen Keating, executive director of the Privacy Foundation. "It sets an ethical standard as well as actual punishments," he says. "Once there are some actual prosecutions I think you'll see a dent made in spam." Keating also says the new California law "is a model for the rest of the nation."

The biggest question is this: Will the law truly do anything about spam? Some Web experts do not think so -- mostly because spam is a borderless activity. Many spammers already are located offshore. Tough laws will only move the rest of them out of the U.S., the argument goes, beyond the reach of any laws.

The most jaded Web professionals say that clogged in-boxes have become such a huge problem that any and all efforts must be made to curb the tide of unsolicited e-mail. One advance in the California law is that it would not only target the senders of spam, but also the BRANDS that show up in the content of unsolicited messages.

Still, the reason spam persists is because it is extremely cheap to send, and Internet users continue to buy products through unsolicited e-mails. Depending on how California's new law pans out, technology might be the only real answer to spam.

TECHNOLOGICAL ANTISPAM MEASURES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SPAM ASSASSIN cuts spam dramatically!
Kahl Consultants proudly offers a great antispam feature at no extra cost to all our web hosting clients: Spam Assassin.

Spam Assassin is a JUNK MAIL FILTER on our web server. It is extremely powerful yet very selective. It conservatively filters a lot of spam so that it will never even reach your In Box. We have seen our rate of spam drop by 75%

Where's the catch? There really is none. Wondering about "false positives", or good mail that may get incorrectly filtered as spam? We did extensive testing and we also have a very reasonable solution to this potential problem.

1) Spam Assassin is extremely reliable. Our research showed that with over 3500 mails that were filtered only 1 (!!!!) was falsely classified as spam.

2) All mails classified as spam are dropped in a Spam Box which is emptied weekly. You can access if you think it may contain a mail incorrectly filtered as spam (ask us for easy instructions).

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WinTips
=======
STOP WINDOWS FROM SPYING ON YOU
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Are you uncomfortable letting Microsoft decide what information your operating system shares with others (including Microsoft)? For example, did you know that Windows Media Player sends Microsoft information on every file that you play on your machine? And there are dozens of other ways that Bill Gates spies on your computer usage. But there is a very simple solution!

XP-AntiSpy is a little utility that let's you disable some built-in update and authetication 'features' in WindowsXP.

=======================
AOTM (Acronym of the Month)
=======================
LAMP
~~~~~
LAMP stands for Linux, Apache, Mysql and Php/Perl/Python, which make up the most popular open source web platform.

This acronym defines how MySQL is used in conjunction with Linux, Apache, and either Perl, Python, or PHP. All of these are OPEN SOURCE products.

LAMP is the platform of choice for the development and deployment of high performance web applications.

Also there are plenty of excellent open source variants for any of the pieces of LAMP:
* Let the L stand for Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and Darwin/Mac OS X, all of which are open source operating systems.
* Let the M stand for MySQL and PostGreSQL.
* Let the P stand for PHP, Perl, Python, and Ruby and so on.

LAMP is the preferred website hosting platform and a great alternative to costlier proprietary web products.

================
!!Hoax & Virus Alert!!
================
BEST SPAM I'VE GOTTEN LATELY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Various versions of this email are making the rounds... whoever started this is a real wacko!

We need a vendor who can offer immediate supply.
I'm offering $5,000 US dollars just for referring a vender which is
(Actually RELIABLE in providing the below equipment) Contact details
of vendor required, including name and phone #. If they turn out to be
reliable in supplying the below equipment I'll immediately pay you
$5,000. We prefer to work with vendor in the Boston/New York area.

1. The mind warper generation 4 Dimensional Warp Generator # 52 4350a
series wrist watch with z60 or better memory adapter. If in stock the
AMD Dimensional Warp Generator module containing the GRC79 induction
motor, two I80200 warp stabilizers, 256GB of SRAM, and two Analog
Devices isolinear modules, This unit also has a menu driven GUI
accessible on the front panel XID display. All in 1 units would be
great if reliable models are available

2. The special 23200 or Acme 5X24 series time transducing capacitor
with built in temporal displacement. Needed with complete
jumper/auxiliary system

Remember kids, play it safe on the net. Don't trust internet fairy tales. Scan for virii and verify your emails here:
http://www.kahl.net/hoax

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NetTips
=======
YELLOW PAGES, WHITE PAGES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Familiar with our KC NetTools?

Then you know the NetTools site features guides to popular Yellow Pages and White Pages as well as Business Directories and Databases.

Alex
Kahl Consultants
http://www.kahl.net
Technology. Use it appropriately. Put it in our hands.

THE PLUG
========
Is your small business or organization performing?
Want to enhance your net presence?

Site owner Stuart Satterfield remarks "Thank you so much! Your marketing services for my site yielded fantastic results!! I am now popping up in the number ONE spot under Yahoo and Google searches. My business is taking off... People will be lucky when they discover you. Thanks again to Kahl Consultants. You are The Best!"

If you got this far you obviously enjoyed KC News. Pass it on!
Please forward it to a handful of your friends. Remember, the best things in life are free.

THE PUNCH LINE
==============
MICROSOFT BEER
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Microsoft would start a massive ad campaign showing how Microsoft Beer drinkers attract good looking women and other beer drinkers as smelly old men...

Then they would twist the arms of their distributors and retail outlets to only distribute their beer...

Takes up your entire fridge, even though last year's version fit quite nicely in the door rack. Even after you could *swear* you've dumped all of it down the toilet, for some strange reason you're still missing an entire shelf's worth of fridge space...

Takes forever to drink, unless you use a top-of-the-line beer glass that was manufactured within the past 6 months.

Is brewed from a different recipe every 2 years. (OK, maybe the recipe isn't *that* different... but wow, the new label sure looks good!)

Mysteriously causes all of the other beer in your house to suddenly become undrinkable.

Randomly gushes upon opening, until you purchase and install the 20 megabyte "Ale Service Pack #3." Once you install the Service Pack, the gushing problem goes away... but for some bizarre reason, all of the bottles now reek of DMS.

Kahl Consultants
P.O.Box 4284
San Rafael, CA 94903-4284
USA
Tel: +1-415-499 0838
Fax: +1-415-499 0833
www.kahl.net
Contact us

The award-winning Kahl Consultants. Helping small business in San Francisco Bay, Marin, Sonoma and globally.
Your comments?

Technology
Use it appropriately
Put it in our hands

KC News

KC News SEPT-OCT 2003 ANTISPAM & ANTISPY Vol.5, No.9-10