M@Gazette Recommended Sites by Dylon Whyte

The point of this column is to introduce people to some of our favourite sites on the `net. So, what does a site have to do to get one of our recommendations? Well, it has to be either very funny, useful or just plain cool. We send out email to recommended sites that include the logo on the right, in case they want to include it on their site for bragging rights.

Welcome again to the M@Gazette recommended sites!

I want to start right off with a terrific site along the lines of the Urban Legends site I recommended a few months ago. Computer Virus Myths – http://kumite.com/myths/home.htm gives you the low down on all those silly emails that seem to spread faster than a realspace cold virus. I’m personally sick of hearing about how the Budweiser Frog Screen saver is going to eat my Hard Drive. Or opening an email labeled “Good Times” only to be told that I’m not suppose to open emails labeled “Good Times” because they’ll blow up my system. Computer Viruses are spread through executable programs, not text based emails. This site has all the stats :

• ZERO known email viruses
• ZERO known GIF/JPG viruses
• ZERO known AVI/MOV viruses
• ZERO known HTML viruses
• ZERO known Javascript viruses
• ZERO known video RAM viruses
• ZERO known FlashBIOS viruses

In fact it turns out that emails about viruses could be doing more damage than actual viruses– read the small blurb about the U.S. Postal Service on the Myth’s Home Page. Do your email friends a real favour and send them this site instead of another dumb virus warning.

On to something a little more relaxed. With all the Star Trek hype floating around over the 9th Star Strek Movie, Insurrection, I thought I’d share a couple of cool Star Trek sites. The first is http://www.startrek.com/. This is the official Paramount Films Star Trek site, it’s loaded with everything a trekker could ever want, information about the new movie, a Star Trek chat area, the offical Star Trek Online store and even the chance to sign up for customized Star Trek email addresses, like [email protected] or [email protected].

The other Star Trek Site I’d like to recommend this month is one put together by Discovery Television. It’s all about the science behind all those cool Star Trek gadgets. It’s located at : http://www.exn.ca/startrek/. Facinating stuff if you’ve ever wondered just what the heck a Phaser was or How the Holodeck works.

While I’m on the subject of movies, why not check out The Internet Movie Database – http://us.imdb.com/. There’s no better resource for movie lovers, this site has it all: entire cast lists, filmographies, bloopers, etc. and it’s usually up to date for movies that are still in production. I can remember checking into Star Trek: Insurrection about this time last year.

On the lighter side of the ‘net this month I’d like to Recommend the Dull Men’s Club – . Just be careful not to fall asleep as you surf this site and don’t forget to take their “Am I a Dull Man?” Test.

Whether you love it or hate it, most of us have to deal with either Windows ’95 or ’98 these days. One of my favourite websites about Windows ’95 has now expanded to include Windows ’98. It used to be called the Windows ’95 annoyances page, but it’s now known as Annoyances.org – http://www.annoyances.org/. This is a great place to go if you’re having some annoying problem or another with Windows ‘9x. Chances are, the solution is listed here. It also has all kinds of tips for customizing Windows ‘9x. Don’t like Internet Explorer 4’s integration with Windows ’98, here’s a section on how to get rid of it.

While you’re at it, check out and http://www.winsite.com. WinFiles is an amazing resource for Windows ‘9x users, with shareware, tips and hints and even a complete listing of where to get hardware drivers for just about any device you can imagine. WinSpot has even more shareware, with a very effective search engine for tracking down just what you need. I had a client that wanted to encrypt a specific directory on her system– I did a search on WinSite and came back with no less that 8 programs that would do the job.

There’s nothing like keeping one’s mind sharp, especially when you have to deal with the trials and tribulations of Windows all day like I do. One of my favourite sites for doing this is The Enchanted Mind – http://enchantedmind.com/. Online & weekly puzzles, articles about mental agility, even an online I.Q. test makes this a great place to visit if you want to expand your mind.

My next recommendation is a site that’s not for the faint of heart. Shell Extension City – is a great resource for anyone interested in expanding Windows ‘9x capabilities, but it’s also a great place to get software that can totally mess up your computer. This site is mostly for advanced Windows ‘9x users, but does contain useful information for novices as well.

For folks that are a little more timid, but want to learn a little more about Windows I recommend Locker Gnome – http://www.lockergnome.com/. Locker Gnome is a daily or weekly newsletter that’s delivered right to your email box. It’s packed with tips, tricks, up-to-date news, cool websites and more!

– Dylon Whyte