Kenja's Newsletter & Updates

Volume 2/ Edition 1

January 09, 2000

Hello everybody

Welcome to the first edition of Kenja's Newsletter & Updates in the new Century. *smile*
Hope you all had a great New Years Holiday. I for one sure am happy that nothing bad happened as may have been predicted by some of the Y2K pessimists. Now it's back to business as usual... just the way I like it.

Site Related News:

Last issue I told you about the Hotbar technology, which lets you install and change your Internet Explorer toolbar with some really neat looking pictures. This technology and the skins are currently only available for Windows with Internet Explorer 4 or 5 users (sorry not for Netscape users).
My own collection of Hotbar skinz grew from 25 skins to a total of 100 skins in the following categories:
Abstract, Animals (Mammals, Birds, Fish, etc.) Christmas, Fantasy (Fairies & Dragons), Holidays (Easter, St Patty Day, 4th July etc), Kids (Cartoons etc), Miscellaneous, Native American, Seascapes, Teddies, Valentines Day and a step by step Picture Tutorial explaining what hotbar is and what it does. I will add another step by step picture Tutorial on how to make skins in the next few days. All skins offered at Kenja's Hotbar Skinz are original designs created from scratch by yours truly. *smile* Feel free to let me know how you like the new sections and the skins.

Still more on the subject of Hotbar skins, there is also a new Webring called Hot Hot Hotbar Skinz Ring, designed for anyone who has Hotbar Skins on display. There are currently 7 sites in the ring... why not join too if you have your own Hotbar designs on your website or just check out what the other sites have to offer? After all joining a webring is free, there is no such thing as having too much traffic to your website or finding everything you are looking for with the ease of surfing through a webring. *smile*
For those who don't know exactly what a webring is or it's purpose, here is a small description: A Webring is a collection of websites with similar or same interests joined together in a circle... sort of like a wagon train if you will. *smile* Starting at number 1, which is usually the ring owner and up to the number of the last website joined. This way you are able to travel from site to site or select one randomly. Some Webrings have as a few as 2 or 3 site members and others as many as a few thousand site members. The "Mother Load" of all Webrings can be found at the WebRing, this is the place from where all Webrings originate. You might want to go there to choose or search for a category and start surfing that way.

Desktop Theme News:

I found a new obsession and it is called Seascapes. Well actually it is not new for me because I always liked them, however trying to make water and oceans look real for wallpaper and/or graphics in general, is new territory for me. This new "obsession" reflects itself in my new themes, wallpaper, hotbar skins and even stationery (only the gift so far). Since the last newsletter I not only made all those additional hotbar skinz but also the following new Desktop Themes:

Unicorn Dreams is a new addition to the Fantasy section. Actually I am quite proud of the wallpaper on this theme, but you be the judge of that... let me know what you think of it. Anyway, this theme has the wallpaper for 800x600 screen settings, Mystical wave sounds for all Window events, set of my original icons, set of gold cursors (1 animated), and a set of my original Logo SYS files.
Ocean Castle is also a new addition to the Fantasy section. This theme includes my original wallpaper of a castle in the ocean (exact matching hotbar skin is also available). The wallpaper was made from ground up for 800x600 screen settings, set of my original icons, set of cursors, Scottish type music & ocean wave sounds for all Window events and a set of my original Logo SYS files (Start-up, Wait and Shutdown screens).

Night Flight is a new addition to the Animal section. This theme includes my original wallpaper of an eagle at night for 800x600 screen settings, set of my original icons, set of cursors, wave sounds for all Window events and a set of my original Logo SYS files (Start-up, Wait and Shutdown screens). An exact matching hotbar skin is also available.

* NOTE* I use Zip Magic to compress and turn Stationery and/or Desktop Theme files into EXE format. If you ever get a password prompt during installation... ignore it and proceed. They are not password protected!
For more installation help visit either the Stationery Help or the Theme Help sections.

Still Haven't had no time to add the additional shops, but in the meantime feel free to stop by the Native American Music Shop or Kenja's Gift Shop for some great Gift items like books, CD's, games, porcelain, silver and even some nice jewellery. If there is no birthday in sight... treat yourself! *smile*

The Gift:

The Gift for this issue is a Stationery with scrolling background, a marquee with a special message and a Scottish music midi. The graphic for the stationery was created from ground up with PSP 6.0 tubes, various brushes and filters for effect. The border picture is a bit bigger than usual, but I liked it so much that I didn't have the heart to make it any smaller. You might have to expand the message window to it's fullest to write a lot of text. *smile*
You may change the words of the marquee and/or the midi, if you know how. For more instructions on how to do this, refer to previous newsletters for tutorials on HTML and/or how to make Stationery!

If you use Outlook 2000 or Outlook 98 (upgrade for Outlook as part of Office 97) in conjunction with Internet Explorer 5.0, then you also need to install the OE 5 version and not the OE 4 version.
Hope you enjoy the Gift!

Please make note that the gifts are only for actual subscribers to this newsletter and not for visitors to the archive copies based on the net. Gifts are available for a limited time with each issue, roughly about 7 days and will then be removed... so get 'em while you can!

Desktop Enhancements:

Once you become a true computer junkie like myself, you might want to add all sorts of neat stuff to make your computer look and feel more personable. There are plenty of programs and sites out there that enable you to do just that.

This first program may not be directly linked to desktop enhancements, though creators of animated cursors might find it helpful and so will other people who just want to make animations the easy way. Microsoft GIF Animator v. 1.0 (direct download link - get it while you can, because MS moves their software links around frequently!) creates animations based on the GIF89a file format, which stores timing information to create the illusion of animation like a cartoon flip-book. This program is very easy to use and it's free too.

Icons are a big part of your computers make up. If you are a Theme Creator or an Icon Collector, then visiting any of these sites might bring you a little closer to "heaven" or at least "Icon Heaven". *smile*

Icon Mania offers a downloadable program that includes over 1000 icons, or you can look at their archive and preview all the different Icons and just download what you need. They also take submissions of new icons.
Happy Icons offers a download (over 2 MB) with 1000's of icons, including 5000 icons alone that were converted from the Mac computers. To use these free icons you will need MicroAngelo (this is a Demo unless you want to buy it), which doubles as an icon/cursor maker and also an icon installer/changer.
The Best of The Iconolog is another site that offers Icons by the 1000's. The only difference here is that they also offer icons in GIF format and in .ico (icon) format. This place can have you there for days before you see all of them. There is an offer to download all 22,963 Icons in .ico format in one package but then the download is a whopping 5.8 MB.

Logo files are something else that can be changed on your computer. Logo SYS files are those pictures that come up when you first turn your computer on or when you shut it down (i.e. Welcome to Windows 95 - the picture with the Windows flag). Those files are normally in .sys format and stored in your hard drive in the "Windows" directory. To change these picture files with ease, you need a special program. The following programs do just that and are free of charge:

WinLogo Changer 1.2 lets you not only change your Logo files, but also use almost any type of image format (BMP, JPG, JPEG, and GIF) into the Logo file format. You can preview them, back-up the old ones, save them as sets, replace Logo sets by number of (re) boots, days, or pre-defined dates(random or in-order)and also and a tool to rename their extensions. I guess you could call this the ultimate program for changing or making Logo files.
Yer Winlogo version 2.16 is another free program for Windows 95/98 users, that lets you install and preview Logo files. As with the above program you can search your hard drive for other images, replace and restore your Logo files, randomize your Logos etc. However the difference between the program mentioned above and this program, it only seems to support graphic files in BMP format.
The XRX Animated Logo Collection for Windows 95 site offers an awesome collection of animated Logo files, but also some programs that let you create animated Logo files (still in Beta which expires in Spring 2001, which means in testing stages and might have some bugs in it). Adding animation to Logo files is probably more of interest to Theme creators rather than anyone else. Either way this site is worth a visit. I have not tried any of the programs they have available, but I might get around to that soon. *smile*

Even More Desktop Enhancements:

I guess since I am just talking about Desktop stuff in this issue, I will not mention it in the next newsletter, except for my usual updates. Anyway, other stuff to help you make your computer look better would include different wallpaper, and also screensavers. Check out the following great free programs and sites:

Screensaver programs usually are not so easy to come by for free, or at least not the good ones. I ran across this program called Screen Keeper, which lets you use your own pictures and sound files to create a nice screensaver with 15 different display effects. When you are done and like the results, you can even package it up and send them to your friends or family. The recipient of your screensaver does not need this program to view your master piece. *smile*
And now for something totally different, but only for Window users who use Internet Explorer 4 or 5 with the "Active Desktop" option: Gerald Riechmann's Desktop Calendar. This is neat, as it supports 8 different languages (English, Deutsch, Français, Italiano, Português, Español, Nederlands, and Magyarul), is free for private use, lets you start the weeks with Sunday or Monday (Europeans start their calendars on Monday), use the images provided or use your own. Very nicely done indeed and looks different from your usual plain ol' wallpapers.
This next site has a somewhat misleading name with Wallpaper Depot, as you will not find one single wallpaper image there, however hundreds of links to sites that do offer great wallpaper for free. All links are nicely categorized and easy to surf. Guess if ya can't find it here it doesn't exist. *smile*
C'S Wizard Icon Version 1.3.1 is a freeware Icon Editor. It lets you view images in BMP, WMF, GIF formats and also icons in different formats such as .dll (Windows Library format), .exe (execution format), and of course .ico (icon format). This program is suppose to let you view, edit and create icons. I downloaded it and tried it but for some reason cannot get it to work right. That is not to say that the program is bad or anything like that, just that it might be too simple for me. *smile* The download is not very big, and the program is free, so you might want to give it a try and see if it works well for you.

On the Lighter Side of Life -:)

Found another great (clean) joke about Texas for your enjoyment. I am hoping that I can get away with this, seeing that I too live in Texas and fellow Texans won't criticize me for it too much. After all, we do have a good sense of humor here in the south (joke is written to imitate the southern slang and is not just full of typos). *smile*

Everything is bigger in Texas!

A man from back east walked into the bar of a prominent Dallas hotel. He asked the bartender for a Tom Collins which came in the tallest glass he'd ever seen. In response to his look of amazement, the bartender stated, "Ever'thang's big in Texas!"

While he was sipping on his huge drink, wondering how he could ever finish it, one of the locals struck up a conversation. "Yore accent seems to be frum bak Eest. How'd'ya lay-ik here in Tay-xes?" The easterner replied, "Not too bad, but the mosquitoes are horrible!" "Not as bad as they is in Hoostun!" the Texan exclaimed. "Why, Ah've seen 'skeeters down thar big enuff ta suck all the blood outuva cat ora small dawg in one sittin'."

"Yeah," chimed in another Texan taking up a seat on the other side of the easterner, "Ah wunce sahw a 'skeeter anna hawk fightin' over which wun would eat a calf for lunch! The hawk swooped down and grabbed the calf just as the 'skeeter was abaht ta fly off with 'im!"

"Amazing," said the easterner incredulously, the liquor beginning to affect his judgment. "Mosquitoes actually get that big here?!" "That's nuthin'!" said the first Texan. "Why, Ah've seen snakes so big down in the hill country that they could swaller a lamb whole!"
"They's not as bad as the moccasins down in the bayous near Port Ahthur." boasted the second Texan. "You better hope that if one bites you, it's in the hand so that you can cut it off and give it to 'im so's you have time to escape!"

"It seems that everything really is big in Texas!" exclaimed the tipsy easterner. "By the way boys, which way to the bathroom? I've drunk so much I'm about to bust!" "Down the hall, around the corner, and to yor right." offered the first Texan.

The easterner got up from the bar, and he haltingly made his way down the hall the Texan motioned to. But, he forgot to turn the corner and instead, took a right through a set of double doors to the indoor pool. Before he could focus on where he was, he fell in, head first. As he came up to the surface sputtering for air he yelled as loud as he could...

"Don't flush! DON'T FLUSH!!!"

Author: Unknown

The Finishing Touches:

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the newsletter, and found lots of useful information. Remember, the next newsletter will be published on or around January 23rd, 2000. If you have any comments or suggestions, e-mail me at

webmaster@kenja.net

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Copyright © 2000-2001 Kenja's Newsletter & Updates ISSN: 1530-700X All Rights Reserved.
Content written & edited by A. Way aka Kenja. The opinions expressed herein are my own. The reproduction and/or unauthorized use of any parts of this Newsletter, it's content and/or graphics is strictly forbidden.

Quote of the Week * When a friend is in trouble, don't annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it. *
Author: E. W. Howe