Kenja's Newsletter & Updates

Volume 2/ Edition 2

January 23, 2000

Hello everybody

Welcome to another edition of Kenja's Newsletter & Updates. The subscription number is still growing as this newsletter is gaining in popularity.

On the important subject of Computer Viruses:
I always scan everything for viruses and trojans, including but not limited to downloaded files, email attachments and most importantly files I upload to my server before I upload them! Every possible preventive measure is being taken in trying to ensure that I have a clean system and to pass on only virus-free software. If you ever get a virus warning message (no one program is fail safe), you should take advantage of getting a second opinion by going to the web based Virus Scan called House Call, provided by Trend Micro.
For more information on Trojans check out a site called Get Virus Help where they tell you how trojans work and offer some good free programs to remove them. I use Bo Shield (make sure to read the FAQ as well) and also Back Orifice 2000 Server Sniper .

Site Related News:

I have added two more categories to the Hotbar Skinz section, one of which consists of 12 skins created by Darciann. She followed the steps in my newly added picture Tutorial How2Skinz (links to free graphic software are also provided) for the creation of her latest obsession... making skins. Darciann's skins vary from beautiful roses to abstract to wolves and they are beautiful.

If you would like to try your hand at creating some skins but don't want to make a website for them, you may submit them to me in zipped format in sets of 4 skins (minimum) or up to 12 skins (maximum). If I like them, I will set them up on my Hotbar site in their own Gallery, just as I did for Darciann. Zip file should include copies of the BMPs (I will resize for the previews), the .xip files and also make sure to include a text file with your information (i.e. name, e-mail and/or homepage URL). Prior to submitting the skins contact me by e-mail to set up the best way for file transfers (i.e via ICQ, or other web based disk space locations).

Desktop Theme News:

We are approaching another Holiday in February... Valentine's Day. I have made 2 Desktop Themes and one Screensaver for this occasion. Both of the new themes can also be used all year 'round as they are not within the norm of your usual Valentine stuff:

Around Midnight is a new addition to the Miscellaneous section. Actually I am quite proud of the wallpaper on this theme, it was created from scratch with brushes, filters and tubes. Anyway, this theme has the wallpaper for 800x600 screen settings, wave sounds based in part on a remake of the song "Breezin'" by George Benson for all Window events, set of my original icons, set of gold cursors (2 animated), and a set of my original Logo SYS files (also animated Start-up screen).
The Kiss is a new addition to the Holiday section. This theme includes my original wallpaper of a huge heart at the center with a couple on a bench kissing in a serene park setting. The wallpaper was made from ground up for 800x600 screen settings, set of my original icons, set of cursors, wave sounds based in part on a remake of the song "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston for all Window events and a set of my original Logo SYS files (Start-up, Wait and Shutdown screens).

Happy Valentine is a new Slide-Show screensaver in the Holiday section. The Screensaver comes with 10 of my original pictures with 21 display transitions for special effects, appropriate midi music, is designed for screen settings of 800 x 600 & high color settings of at least 16-bit (16 Million colors), and has install/uninstall feature from your Control Panel in Add/Remove.

If you like to see a comprehensive listing of all the Creators of original themes on the Net, visit the Desktop Theme Creators List. This is a list of links to all the theme creators and definitely worth a visit as every Theme Creator has his/her own style and taste in themes.

* 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.

There will be no additional shops in association with Amazon. That end of business is just not lucrative enough, however I will keep the Native American Music Shop and Kenja's Gift Shop.

The Gift:

The Gift for this issue is a Stationery with scrolling background, a marquee with a special message and a Jazz music midi. The graphic for the stationery was created from ground up with PSP 6.0 tubes, various brushes and filters for effect. As a matter of fact this one actually fits well with the Unicorn Dreams Desktop Theme, as well as 2 of the Unicorn Skinz in my Hotbar Fantasy section. *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!

Free Internet Access:

Free Computers and free Internet... we heard about but never really paid much attention to it. Free is really just an operative word, because there is nothing free in life. For the free computer deals you have to sign up with an Internet Service provider on a 3 year contract, or you get one that is loaded full with advertising and you can only use about half of the hard drive and monitor for your own purposes. So what is the deal with free Internet Service? They say you shouldn't look a "gift horse" in the mouth... Make sure to check and see if they have a local number available in your area before downloading:

Alta Vista Free Access is fairly new in the game, offers a very small download of only 600 KB and works on any system. No special software requirements seem to be present except the usual of a browser and of course a modem. This service is advertising supported which means that you have a small window always present on your monitor with the rotating advertising. E-mail account is available, however that is web based and not a Pop 3 like you get with any other ISP. This is not bad as an extra dial in service.

FreeWorld by Excite is similar to the Alta Vista service. Same as above banner advertising supported with a small window that needs to stay open (when you close it you will get disconnected). No special software requirement here either and also a small download. E-mail account as above is also web based.
Juno is been around for a while now with cheap Internet access of around $10.- a month but now they also offer free access. I downloaded the program (large download of 4.9 MB) and proceeded to install and set up an account. The free version offers an e-mail account that you can use with the simple e-mail program that comes with the program included in the download. Juno also has advertising with this and an extra window that needs to stay open which brings it to a grand total of 2 open windows on your desktop (you close either one you will get disconnected). They have a stay-online time limit set at about 30 minutes if there is no activity and you can send an e-mail to 50 receivers (so mass mailing is out). Personally I was not too impressed with the whole thing.
Freei Net is another service and I like this one. It too has advertising banner at the top of your screen (takes up about 100 pixels off the top). I don't know how big the download is because I got a free CD (comes with IE 5 and also Netscape 4.6) in the mail and installed it from there. Software requirements are that you have IE 5 installed for it to work. Once you have everything installed you get a startup page in your browser from where you can customize your start page, search the net and also get free MP3 music. There is also a small chat program included, sort of like AOL Messenger but this one lets you create your own chat rooms and also join chats directly from your small window instead of having to go into the web browser. As long as you are connected and leave the small ad window open you are pretty much unrestricted as to what or where you go on the net.
And then there is WorldSpy and this is the "mother load" of all the free Internet Service Providers out there. Get this... no ad banners, and I mean none! You get a free Pop3 email account, just like what you have now with your regular ISP (Internet Service Provider). Software requirements are IE4 or above, minimum of 14.4 modem, Windows 95/98/NT (they working on Macintosh versions), and 16 MB RAM. They have step by step download and install instructions with pictures, and 24/7 Tollfree Customer Support. You can't beat that, I don't get some of that from the locals around here. *smile* You can check your e-mail using Netscape or Internet Explorer or any other e-mail program. There are no restrictions that I could see and this is the best one out of all of them so far. If they get enough requests they will consider adding homepages, foreign country support/access and various other services.

Little bit of Everything:

The following sites offer great small programs or a great service. All worth having if you are building or thinking about building a homepage:

NetCaptor (use to be SimulBrowse) is a great IE browser enhancer and a small download of 700 KB. It enables you to open several browser windows inside of the same window, which is done by using tabs located at either the top or the bottom of the window. I am using this program to write the newsletters as I have to switch constantly between different URL's and other preview windows. A great tool for power users. The program is free with banner ad support or you can buy the Pro version which has no ads.
Cybergreet.NET is a great free Virtual Postcard Hosting Service. This service is offered to anyone who has a homepage and would like to add free greeting cards. Also perfect for people who don't want to mess with CGI, have no access to CGI bin, or just don't know how to set up cards. Installation of cards with music is simple and no more than cut and paste the code into your HTML files. Please read the directions given at their site for further details and instructions. Great Service indeed. *smile*
Demicorn - Visual Applet Configurator is one awesome free program that lets you place customized Java Applets in your homepages. A Help Manual and a Tutorial are also available at the website. This is one of the best and easiest to use programs out there and you can't beat the price.
Moon Software offers various free programs, one of which is the Bookmark Wizard. This program will create an instant html page from any or all of your bookmarks in Internet Explorer or Netscape. Great little program that also lets you customize the look of your links page by adjusting the background, and link colors.
Background Index Wizard 1.0 lets you create instant html pages of all the graphics in directories on your local hard drive (or other storage devices) for browsing or for use with your homepages. It will create a frames page and even make use of sub folders by turning them into sub-categories. Very easy to use and a great price as well... free!

On the Lighter Side of Life -:)

The following joke was submitted to me by a friend and I find it to to be pretty close to the truth. Since this is about men... please guys don't take it personally and it is not intended as "man bashing" *smile*

About Men... A Women's Point of View

Men like to barbecue. Men will cook if danger is involved.
Men who have pierced ears are better prepared for marriage. They've experienced pain and bought jewelry.

Men are very confident people. They are so confident that when they watch sports on television, they think that if they concentrate they can help their team. If the team is in trouble, they coach the players from the living room, and if they're really in trouble, we better get off the phone in case they call them.

Men love to be the first to read the newspaper in the morning. Not being the first is upsetting to their psyches.

All men are afraid of eyelash curlers. Sleep with one under the pillow, instead of a gun.

A good place to meet a man is at the dry cleaner. These men usually have jobs and bathe.

All men hate to hear, "We need to talk about our relationship." These seven words strike fear in the heart of even General Schwarzkopf.

Men are sensitive in strange ways. If a man has built a fire and the last log does not burn, he will take it personally.

Men have an easier time buying bathing suits. Women have two types: depressing and more depressing. Men have two types: nerdy and not nerdy.

Women take clothing much more seriously than men. You never see a man walk into a party and say "Oh, my God, I'm so embarrassed; get me out of here. There's another man wearing a black tuxedo."

If a man prepares dinner for you and the salad contains three or more types of lettuce, he is serious.

Men are less sentimental than women. No man has ever seen the movie "THE WAY WE WERE" twice... voluntarily.

Most women are introspective: "Am I in love? Am I emotionally and creatively fulfilled?" Most men are outrospective: "Did my team win? How's my car?"

If a man says, "I'll call you" and he doesn't, he didn't forget... he didn't lose your number... he didn't die. He just didn't want to call you.

Getting rid of a man without hurting his masculinity is a problem. "Get out" and "I never want to see you again" might sound like a challenge. If you really want to get rid of a man say: "I love you... I want to marry you. I want to have your children." Sometimes they leave skid marks.

Men are self-confident because they grow up identifying with super-heroes. Women have bad self-images because they grow up identifying with Barbie.

Men forget everything; women remember everything. That's why men need instant replays in sports. They've already forgotten what happened.

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 February 06 th, 2000. If you have any comments or suggestions, e-mail me at

webmaster@kenja.net

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Kenja's Newsletter & Updates

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 *We can say 'Peace on Earth,' we can sing about it, preach about it or pray about it, but if we have not internalized the mythology to make it happen inside us, then it will not be.*
Author: Betty Shabazz