Kenja's Newsletter & Updates

Volume 2/ Edition 4

February 20, 2000

Hello everybody

Welcome to the latest edition of Kenja's Newsletter & Updates.

I would like to thank everyone for sending me e-mail in support of the newsletter, site and the desktop themes. Hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day. It seems as though these days I am living from newsletter to newsletter and holiday to holiday. *smile*

This month we also celebrate Black History Month. Check out the African-American History and Studies Link Page provided by the Department of History at Tennessee Technological University, a great source of information on this subject.

Site Related News:

The transfer of both domains is finally complete. It took an extra week and a paperwork and phone bill trail so long you could circle the globe with it. *smile*

There are some glitches to work out, but hopefully they too will be worked out soon. Please let me know if you come across anything at all that does not seem to be working correctly (i.e. downloads, pictures don't show etc.), but be specific as to the location of the problem (give me the URL and exact location on that page) webmaster@kenja.net. Thanks... your help is appreciated. *smile*

Desktop Theme News:

While waiting for the seemingly endless paperwork to be completed on the change-over for the domains to their new home, I spent some time creating new desktop themes. No "Adult Fantasy" themes yet... just be patient, but 5 other great new desktop themes to choose from. *smile*

Authority Consultation Moon Dancer Flame Keepers Game of Life

Wanted... high quality Themes:
I am currently looking for high-quality desktop themes and/or screensavers on the following topics: African American, Lighthouses, and SciFi/Space. If you are a Theme Creator and would like to have your theme and/or screensaver listed at kenja.com send me an e-mail!

* 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.

Visit the Native American Music Shop for great Native American Music selections.

For great gift items visit Kenja's Gift Shop. Gift categories include Fine Jewellery, Gardening Decor, Crystal, Clocks, Brass, Sculptures and so much more. Now with a time limited Discount of 40% on all items!

The Gift:

The Gifts for this issue are a Stationery with scrolling background & midi, and a wallpaper for non stationery users. The graphics for the stationery and the wallpaper were created from ground up with PSP 6.0 tubes, various brushes and filters for effect. The wallpaper has a matching Hotbar skin located in the Miscellaneous section. *smile*

Hope you enjoy the Gifts!

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!

Stationery & Stationery Graphics:

Guess by now the majority of people are using IE/OE 5. I am wondering if people are aware that there is a small Stationery Creation Wizard included with Outlook Express 5 (this will only create simple stationery... i.e. no scrolling or music). Before you get started, make sure to copy any relevant pictures you like to use to the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationery folder.

So then for those of you who didn't know, here is how you get to it and use it: Open Outlook Express 5, choose NEW MESSAGE, then NEW MESSAGE USING, then click on SELECT STATIONERY, where you will see the following: The open Stationery folder with all it's stationery, a check box checked that says SHOW PREVIEW, OK, CANCEL, CREATE NEW, and EDIT. Click on CREATE NEW, this will open another window welcoming you to the Stationery Wizard. Just follow the simple steps by choosing the picture for your stationery (only from within the Stationery folder), the color of your background, and your font on the next page. There will be a small preview window that will show you the changes as you are working on your stationery. If you are using a bordered background, make sure to adjust the left margin until you get it where you want it (just watch the sample text move as you adjust it). On the last page of the Wizard you will be asked for a name of your created stationery, click ok and you are done. Voila... you have created your own stationery! *smile*

Of course stationery with all the bells and whistles is so much nicer and as mentioned in the last newsletter, Adlor's Stationery Creation Tool is still the best and easiest program to use (and free). But if you use Adlor's Tool, you will need Midi music and of course backgrounds to incorporate into your new stationery. For stationery background graphics visit Paradise Stationery. Here you will find a large array of fantastic looking backgrounds made for stationery(all seem to be made for 800 pixel wide screens). These are the bordered graphics and not pre-made stationery, but they are awesome. I especially liked the "My Favorites" and "Personal" sections. *smile*
Some people like to use other tools to make their stationery, like Front Page, Front Page Express (is a free part of Internet Explorer) or a free HTML editor like Arachnophilia 4.0 (Care Ware... read about the different degrees of Freeware in Volume 1 Edition 10). In those cases most people will find the special add-on toolbars for these programs created by Sven's Stationery Help Site very helpful. He also offers sets of stationery for OE 4 & 5 users (most sets include about 10 pre-made stationery), a tutorial on how to use MS Image Composer & Paint Shop Pro, and how to make stationery.

If you are still not into making your own stationery, try the following sites for some very nice pre-made stationery:

Dan's Lair Stationery offers a variety of categories, including Norman Rockwell, Holidays, just to name a few and of course my favorite the Star Wars section. *smile*
Joan's Stationery site also offers many categories of stationery, including Angels, various Holidays, Flowers, Teddies (I liked them), Babies, Kids, Cute Critters, Dogs, Cats and many more.
And don't miss a visit to the Stationery Shoppe with 33 main Categories (some of them broken down into sub categories) of pre-made stationery. I will just name the categories I liked, to include Native American (this is a must see section), Teddies, Animals (has sub-categories), Fairies, and the Thomas Kinkade section. Don't get me wrong they are all beautiful but those sections are the ones I liked best... but hey go and check it out for yourself. *smile*

Computer Security & Various Programs:

People are always worried about getting a virus on their computer, in fear that they might do some physical damage to your hard drive. The truth of the matter however is that viruses like that are not that common. The most widely spread "Viruses" are the Trojans and/or the Worms. Trojans are not designed to destroy your computer but to gain access to your most prized possession on your computer... your passwords, your private information, credit card information, programs, your bank account numbers etc. There isn't even a real need for the presence of a trojan to gain access to your computer. Of course people like you and I have no idea how to do this, but trust me there are plenty who do.

To learn if and to what extend your computer is vulnerable to such attacks without your knowledge, visit Shields Up and take it for a test drive. I was in total awe after my first visit... had no idea how wide open my system was for just anyone to come in through the back doors (even though I do not keep personal information on my computer).

After you have had this truly eye-opening experience, I would like you to make sure to download and install the following program called Zone Alarm 2.0 which acts as your own personal Firewall (something big companies use to keep intruders out of their systems) and best of all this program is free. Most programs like that can be pretty costly and also may or may not do their job as well as this program. After you installed it, go back to the site mentioned above and see the difference. I for one feel much better now. *smile*

Still on the subject of security, sending e-mail is like sending a postcard over the internet for the world to see and read. If you have a need for more security but not the deep pockets required to pay for such programs, try 1 On 1 Lite. This program offers military strength encryption and even self destruct messages for higher security. All this is offered free to individuals and/or non profit organizations.

On another issue of storage devices, a lot of the new computers have now built-in Zip or Jazz drives. I am now on my second external Zip drive, because the first one sort of died on something referred to as the "Iomega Click of Death", that not only effected my first Zip drive but also several of my Zip disks and of course a big loss of data. I wish I would have known about the Trouble In Paradise software sooner. This free program lets you test the performance of your Zip/Jaz drive and also your disks. The analyzes explains in detail if there might be trouble ahead or pre-existing with either the drive or the disk.

Now for the last item in this newsletter I would like to tell you a little about another free Internet Service Provider called WorldShare. This is quite a unique service offering a POP3 e-mail accounts, homepage space with 20 MB (also includes a page wizard for beginners), various online communities you can join, they make monthly donation in your name to your favorite charity, and best of all... there are no banner ads while you are connected to them. This is a really great service with many local numbers to cover almost any area. *smile*

On the Lighter Side of Life -:)

The following was sent to me in the e-mail. For the most part I love my computer, but only while it is in proper working condition. And then there are days when I too want to say... I want to Hurt my Computer:

I want to buy a software program that, when run, causes my computer to suffer grievously, though not permanently. When my screen freezes or turns blue, I want a special button I can push to make the CPU start squealing like a motherboard.

I want a device that stores an electrical charge in my telephone~ For every minute I spend on hold waiting for technical support to answer, the charge would increase in intensity. When the guy from tech support finally answers, the electrical bolt of energy would be discharged into him.

This should not affect my ability to hear what's going on at the other end of the line, of course. And a special function would allow the volts to double every time a tape recorded message urges me to continue holding.

''Your call is important to us,'' the featureless voice always claims. I want my phone to be outfitted with a translation program which will reconstitute this irritating reminder into the truth: ''Actually, we already have your money, so we couldn't care less about you. Our technical support department consists of two college kids, both of whom are busy playing 'Doom.' Eventually, one of them will come on the line, but it will be the one who doesn't speak English.''

I want my modem to sense when my PC has committed an "illegal function" and issue a warrant to arrest Bill Gates. When my system crashes and I lose a file that has taken me more than an hour to create, I want someone from the computer company to come out and retype it for me.

I don't understand why new, "upgraded" software creates files that cannot be read by old, reliable software with the same name. Is there no one in the computer industry who has noticed that word processor files all look alike once they are open? Why can't 6.0 recognize a 7.0 file? It's all just words, isn't it?

There should be a rule that when software engineers buy a new car, their old cars should cease to function. If they don't understand why this is happening, they should call me and I will explain it to them.

How come when my computer catches a virus, I'm the one who misses work?

I want to know why my printer always jams on the last piece of paper or the last sheet of checks. When this happens, it makes me want to put sandpaper into the manual feed and print the Emancipation Proclamation.

I am really tired of hearing about all the horrible things that will happen with the Y2K problem: sewers will regurgitate, all of my fillings will return to the dentist, my high school re-union will be held in Spanish, etc.

Why doesn't anybody ever ask these computer programmers how in the world they didn't know the year 2000 would follow the year 1999? Software engineers are supposed to be pretty bright people - what~ did they need a memo or something?

I recently bought a program that is supposed to tell me if my computer files are Y2K-compliant. The program won't work because - get this - my CD-ROM player is too old (I bought it 34 months ago). The manufacturer doesn't sell an "updated driver". Thus, to find out if my computer is Y2K-compliant, I need to buy another computer.

I want to know what good is a Web search engine that returns 324,909,188 "matches" to my key word. That's like saying, "Good news, we've located the product you're looking for. It's on Earth."

I want to know why, when I had a tiny hard drive, my operating system was virtually crash-proof and took up so little space. My new operating system is five times the size of my original hard drive. With every "upgrade," it seems to grow 75 percent. That's as if every time your mother-in-law came to visit she weighed another 500 pounds.

Now I've found out that my PC no longer "recognizes" my floppy drive. How could they not recognize each other? They live together

Please understand: I don't hate my computer. I just want to hurt it every once in a while.

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 March 05 th, 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 *Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children. We are more than the sum of our knowledge, we are the products of our imagination.*
Ancient Proverb