MSNwar

We have a few related guides HERE you might find usefull HyDeNCiTy. However, this is probally more of what you will want in the future: Creating the Ultimate Unattended XP CD Guide and this: Unattended Windows Discussion & Support

I am a complete noob about online music downloading and the formats, but my 12 year old has grown into it and wants to download mucic. I know this is the perfect place to ask some questions. First, which online site is the best in terms of selecting the songs and later burning to CDs that can be played in his MP3 player or having them mailed directly to my house? Second, what is the best variable in terms of sound quality? I think its called bit sample rate?

Deserves a look. Thanks.

1.) For starters ... 2.) Oh boy ! 3.) Notice the door ... 4.) My favorite ...

Hi Pyro. Welcome aboard

http://www2.flamingtext.com/tools/figlet/ Just type in your text, select your font, and go. Pretty neat

Apple's 'computer for the rest of us' is, insanely, 20 a week remained before the team of whiz kids designing Apple's radical new computer had to turn in the final code. The giant factory was ready. The soon-to-be-famous Super Bowl commercial was ready. But the computer wasn't. As recounted by software wizard Andy Hertzfeld on a new cyberdigital history site (folklore.org), the already overworked Mac team trudged back to the cubicles for seven days of debugging hell, fueled by espresso chocolate beans and a dream. And on Jan. 24, 1984, their leader, Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, recited a verse from "The Times They Are A-Changin'," then formally unveiled the Macintosh, a boxy little guy with a winning smile icon on its nine-inch monochrome screen. The Mac-oids fully expected to make computer history, and they did. What surprises them now is that their creation is still around two decades later. Rest of the story @ MSNBC.com Source: MSNBC.com

An Illinois man who allegedly received so-called "screener" movies from an Academy Award member, then bootlegged and illegally distributed them over the Internet, is to appear in federal court Friday in Chicago. FBI agents arrested Russell William Sprague, 51, on Thursday after an early morning search of his Homewood, Ill., home turned up hundreds of copies of screener films such as The Last Samurai. Agents said the films have been traced back to longtime Academy member, actor Carmine Caridi. In addition to the movies found in Sprague's home, agents said they found an array of duplicating equipment in addition to illegal satellite television interception equipment. Sprague is charged with criminal copyright infringement. It is the first arrest in the bootlegging of screeners in the United States, they added. A woman who answered the telephone at Sprague's home Thursday evening hung up without comment. Caridi told investigators he sent VHS copies of about 60 movies he received each year to Sprague through packages sent to him. Sprague used a software program to copy the VHS tape onto DVD format and once copies were finished, sent the original back to Caridi, the FBI said. Two screeners that circulated on the Internet, Something's Gotta Give and Big Fish have been positively identified by Sony Pictures as having been shipped to Caridi. Warner Brothers studio recently alerted the FBI that copies of its The Last Samurai and Mystic River were being made freely available for download on the Internet. It was unknown if those copies have yet to be traced. Caridi, a veteran film and TV actor, has been a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for more than 20 years. He appeared on TV's NYPD Blue and such films as The Godfather: Part II and The Godfather: Part III. Caridi said he received no money for the films. He allegedly told investigators he believed Sprague was a film buff and merely wished to watch them. Caridi has not been charged and additional arrests have not been ruled out, FBI spokeswoman Laura Bosley said. Investigators said a search of Caridi's Hollywood apartment turned up 36 original Academy Award VHS screener tapes, including The Last Samurai, In America, Shattered Glass and Mona Lisa Smile. Also found in his apartment were large quantities of FedEx shipping labels bearing Sprague's address, authorities said. An Academy spokeswoman declined to comment about the case. The Motion Picture Association of America, which represents studios, last year banned the distribution of screener DVDs and videotapes over concerns about bootlegging, but partly lifted the ban after complaints from filmmakers, producers and independent production companies. The studios changed the policy in October to allow the shipment of encoded videocassettes that would allow tracing to Academy Award voters only. A federal judge in December, however, granted a temporary injunction lifting the screener ban in a lawsuit brought by independent production companies, which argued the policy put them at a disadvantage for awards. The studios then sent screeners to thousands of other awards voters. The academy required its 5,803 eligible Oscar voters to sign forms promising to protect their screener tapes before they were received. About 80% of voters signed and returned the forms ? including Caridi ? which include a stipulation that a violation is grounds for expulsion from the academy and other penalties. Source: USATODAY.com

800x600 is the limit, anything over that should be a link or a hyperlinked thumbnail. You may upload images. Use the option "File Attachments" when posting which will create a hyperlinked thumbnail image of the desktop image. Your desktop image will be hosted here at MSFN. However, we ask that you kindly adhear to the following statements whenever possible. * If you need to attach something, it'd be great if you could find a host for the file. Please only attach something if you absolutely have no other option. This will help keep the size of the database down and keep MSFN running smoothly for our members. * Please do not post large screenshots in threads. Provide a link to the image and host it on your own webspace if possible. Always keep in mind we have several members on 56k and loading a thread with a few large screenshots can be quite slow for them.

She is absolutley beautifull and I sincerely mean that. You are a lucky man.Congrats.

Cute. Ideas, www.cdcovers.cc

Easy Tank COMMBAT v1.0 for Win9x/ME/Win2k/XP (8.03 mb) http://www.heartbone.com/ETC/EasyTankCOMMBAT.html arg, my son is addicted! Today, I looked around the net for a free game for my son who is itching to get at his PS2 games under the Christmas tree. Thinking this might curb is appetite till Christmas. Give it a try you might like it. Easy Tank COMMBAT is an extrapolation of the COMBAT cartridge that was part of the original ATARI® VCS. Like the original, it allows 2 player battles with both opponents using the same computer console. In addition 5 levels of AI provide ready opponents. Two player battles using two separate computers linked through a network connection is also supported. The guest version of Easy Tank COMMBAT contains the full simulation. The only limitation is the inability to host a networked session. For networked battles this guest version can only connect to a session hosted by the regular version. FEATURES INCLUDE: One or two player tank battles console or networked: INTERNET, LAN, SERIAL or DIRECT DIALED MODEM - chat - AI - radar - lasers - variable barriers - selectable viewpoints - saved replays - integrated help - performance tracking - 2D planes Minimum System Requirements: 366 MHz CPU - 32 MB system RAM - DirectX compatible graphics card with 16 MB RAM or more & hardware 3D acceleration - DirectX compatible sound card - 4x Speed CD-Rom Drive - Windows® 98 - DirectX 8.1 - Joystick required for 2 player console battles

Updated link and deleted posts with dead links.

I read "This Article" at PCWorld.com and it tells a few stories about people using their cell phones with cameras to snag photos of other people in public. Hope my son does not read this and gets any ideas about Mom & Dad, lol. Anyway, the idea of using such a device has a certain amount of intrigue if not suitable purposes. Seems one can take a photo and have it posted on the internet fairly easy. One such person described in the article took a photo of an angry customer in a supermarket screaming at the cashier and posted it on the internet. The photo solicited a telephone call from The New York Times asking if he thought what he did was wrong. Now, thats an attention getter if there ever was one. What is next?

"Scotland?s most famous market is earning the reputation as Europe?s epicentre of trade in counterfeit DVDs and CDs, reports Mark Macaskill. At Glasgow?s Barras market last Sunday, it was business as usual. Traders in woollen hats and thick jumpers, boomed out the latest bargains over the chatter of the crowd. Some shuffled from one foot to the other to keep warm. Others sipped hot tea, their breath visible in the winter chill. The air was thick with the smell of hot dogs and burgers. On a stall made from upturned crates and a strip of cheap timber, a boy ? he looked barely 15 years old ? was selling the latest DVDs and CDs. Many of the films on DVD were still in cinemas, others had not yet been released for sale or rental. ?All films a fiver,? he shouted, as the Christmas bargain hunters jostled for position. Suddenly the crowd parted. A middle-aged man came through the throng, cursing and shouting, clutching a black bin liner bulging with DVDs and CDs. The boy shot a worried glance up the lane and, without hesitation, fled. Within seconds, two police officers appeared and began calmly confiscating the display. ?Just take stuff,? a woman screamed at the onlooking crowd, ?they cannae do anything, just take what you want.? More traders scampered past clutching sacks full of counterfeit goods with the police in hot pursuit. One trader dropped a holdall crammed with DVDs as the police gave chase. Two others hopped over a barrier into a car park and threw their bounty into the back of a waiting van. Such scenes are now commonplace at the Barras, as the authorities wage war on the sellers of illegal goods that invade the market every week. Last weekend a huge number of counterfeit items were seized in co-ordinated raids by the police, anti-counterfeit experts and Customs and Excise officers. The haul included more than 800 CDs, 900 DVDs and 40 computer games. Similar raids will take place today, but everyone involved admits that stamping out the ?culture of crime? that seems to becoming more prevelant at the Barras is proving difficult. ?We?d have more success fighting the tide,? said one. Rest of the story: http://www.dvdwriters.co.uk/

Guys at HydrogenAudio have released first screenshots and details of new Nero Recode2. Nero Recode2 is a software that combines compressed domain MPEG-2 transcoder (i.e. quick MPEG-2 bitrate reducer, such as DVD Shrink, DVD X Copy XPRESS and DVD2One) together with a MPEG-4 encoder that uses Ahead's own MPEG-4 codec called Nero Digital that aims to compete against likes of DivX and XviD. Based on the screenshots and the information available, Recode2 implements DVD backup features with well-polished user interface and very, very fast MPEG-4 encoding speed. Software also supports 5.1 audio, MP4 wrapper format, MP4-wrapped subtitles, etc. More informtion and screenshots are available from: Hydrogenaudio Source: AfterDawn.com Credits: JohnV, Lead Administrator, Hydrogenaudio

The Recording Industry Association of America said Wednesday it had sued another 41 people in its ongoing legal campaign against file swappers who are trading copyrighted music online. This is the RIAA's third batch of suits against computer users since early September, bringing the total number of people sued to 382. The group also said it had sent out an additional 90 new letters to alleged file traders, notifying them that they would be next to be sued if they didn't reach a settlement agreement first. "This is an ongoing strategy, and the way to let people know that there is a risk of consequences is to continue the program," RIAA President Cary Sherman said. "You don't set up a speed trap for one day and stop enforcement thereafter. It has to be consistent." The RIAA's legal campaign against individual file swappers has proved controversial, heightening criticism of the record industry even as it has underscored the idea that trading copyrighted music online is illegal. The group said the educational component of its strategy is working well, however. It cited a privately commissioned study by Peter D. Hart Research Associates that said 64 percent of consumers now believe it is illegal to ?make music from the computer available for others to download for free over the Internet," up from 37 percent in November 2002. That finding may point to some overreaction by consumers. Some artists do in fact authorize consumers to trade their music for free online, and many file-trading software companies have sought the support of independent musicians and record labels. The RIAA said in a statement Wednesday that it had now reached settlements with 220 accused file traders. That figure was drawn from people who have already been sued, people who received notification letters that their names were on the list to be sued, and people who received word from their Internet service provider that the RIAA was interested in their accounts, but who had not yet been made targets. Sources have said that settlement agreements have typically included payments averaging nearly $3,000 to the RIAA. The group also said that 1,054 people have submitted applications for amnesty under the group's "Clean Slate" program. Under that offer, the RIAA has said that people who promise to delete any copyrighted files downloaded from file-swapping programs, and who promise not to continue using file-swapping programs to find music, will not be sued for past actions. The lawsuits have not yet come to court. However, legal battles over the subpoenas used to extract file swappers' identities from their Internet service providers continue. Earlier this week, the American Civil Liberties Union said it would represent a University of North Carolina student whose identity is the target of one of those subpoenas. The civil liberties group said it was seeking to defend the student's constitutional privacy rights. Last week, a San Francisco federal judge moved SBC Communication's similar fight against RIAA subpoenas to a Washington, D.C., court. Legal experts have said that could be bad for SBC's case, since the RIAA has won a similar battle against Verizon Communications in that venue. Source: CNET News

A Japanese peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing network which claimed to keep user identities untraceable has failed to work--two users in Japan have been arrested. The developer of the P2P software has also had his home searched by police, according to a report in the Mainichi Daily. There are around a quarter of a million users of the supposedly anonymous file-trading network, called Winny, which rides on the more well-known Freenet network. Such networks differ from other file trading software such as Kazaa in that they claim to be able to hide the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of users. It is not known how the police managed to track down the two users, or why criminal action is being taken against them. In other countries, P2P users have been hit with civil lawsuits instead. The creator of Freenet, Ian Clarke, has cast doubt on whether Winny uses Freenet's full identity-cloaking features or its cryptography, according to a report in New Scientist. Freenet is an open-source project and is most prominent of a growing number of projects aimed at giving people the ability to communicate online without being tapped, traced or monitored. The software marks an attempt to create a network that exists as a parallel Internet, where content of any kind can be uploaded and downloaded without any way to track who created a given "site". Unlike other peer systems, Freenet has a built-in method of pushing content between different computers, so that a given file can migrate around the network between different people's hard drives until it is stored near regions where it is most often used. The arrested are two men, aged 41 and 19, said the Mainichi Daily report. Among other charges, the older man is accused of sharing the Hollywood movie A Beautiful Mind while the teenager is being held for making the game Super Mario Advance available online. Several companies, including game maker Nintendo, are pressing charges against the pair. This is the first known case of legal action being taken on users on anonymous file-sharing networks. In Korea and Taiwan, lawsuits have been filed against users of P2P networks. A copyright body in Taiwan is suing three users of file sharing networks while in Korea, recording companies are threatening to do the same. In both countries, creators of file sharing software have been brought to court, but defendants are arguing they are not responsible for what people choose to share. Both cases involve homegrown P2P networks sharing local-language music. In Taiwan, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has sued three P2P users who are said to have shared files on the locally-popular Kuro and Ezpeer networks. Unlike internationally popular networks such as Kazaa, both Taiwanese services are fee-based. The Recording Industry Association of Korea (RIAK) is said to be mulling suing end users of free-use P2P software Soribada. Soribada's 4.5 million users have lost the recording industry millions in revenue, claimed the RIAK. The makers of the software have been slapped with a US$16,300 fine, despite claiming that they are not responsible for the actions of its users. In the U.S., the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has targeted hundreds of P2P users for legal action. There is some evidence that the controversial RIAA lawsuits against ordinary computer users are making a dent in the file-swapping world. According to Web analysis firm Nielsen/NetRatings, weekly usage of the Kazaa software in the United States plummeted from a high of 7 million people in early June to just 3.2 million people in late October. Source: CNETAsia

Congrats and good luck in the new job. We thank you kindly for all the cards and hard work.

Microsoft Works Suite 2004 includes Microsoft Word 2002, so Microsoft Works Word Processor will not be found in the suites menu system. Ah ha, Works Word Processor is tucked away and with a hitch may be accessed: Go to the Program Files\Microsoft Works folder, right-drag the file WksWP.exe to your desktop, choose Create Shortcut Here from the pop-up menu, and use the shortcut to launch the suite's hidden treasure. More info here: PC Magazine (Thanks)

Begin Reference Tom's Hardware Guide Readers' Choice Awards 2003 It's that time again - Readers' Choice time that is! We would like you, our valued readers, to give your recommendations to other readers in our 2003 Readers' Choice Awards. End Reference Tom's Hardware is one of the most popular web sites for hardware information on the internet. 2003 has been a year of many innovative products in the computer industry. Nine categories of selected hardware define what Tom's Harware considers to be the best of the best. More importantly, the list itself defines specific manufacturer and model numbers. The list may be used as decesion making tool to assist us when selecting that perfect Christmas present. Don't forget to submit your votes as the grand prize is a trip to Computex 2004 in Taiwan as a guest of Tom's Hardware Guide! (Valid until November 23, further details provided after you vote.)

Dec 25

Thanks to WoRdUp48 for this hard drive deal. Originally posted "Here" Well, for anyone interested, this week you can buy a Seagate ATA/100 7200 RPM 8 MB cache 120 GB for $129.99 - $70 MIR = $59.99. When all is said and done, after paying taxes, you'll have a nice 120GB for just about $70. I just bought one yesterday, installed it without a problem. Oh yeah, you can pick it up at CompUSA, or from http://www.compusa.com , but you probably ave to pay shipping from there. Anyway, still a good buy! WoRdUp48

Did you change it from Local Service to Local System?

Sounds like you need to change a few settings in XP because the modem itself has issues with XP. Go over to cablenut.com and run a few tests. They will offer suggestions to change the settings in XP. They also will recommend a different modem if they find that it is incompatiable. I know you are not on cable, but they have conventions for that. I remember dropping the packet size down a bit and it improved things for a while when I was using ISDN. Give us your modem's manufacture model number if that does not work and we will look furthur into it.