World of Education/World of Education.iso/world_p/pclearn.zip/PCL.LZH/TIPS.TUT

Text File | 1991-04-04 | 35KB | 585 lines

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              TIPS, TRICKS AND TRAPS - SECRETS FOR EVERY BEGINNER
               PLUS A SECTION ON ENVIRONMENTALLY SAFE COMPUTING!

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       Sometimes it takes months or years to stumble onto the ESSENTIAL
       tips, tricks and traps with which every new PC user should
       become acquainted. Let's discuss a few of the more important
       items which never seem to be covered adequately in the
       instruction book which arrives with the computer . . .

       Don't experiment with ORIGINAL copies of your files! If you want
       to tinker with a word processing file or slice and dice your
       accounting data FIRST make a floppy or hard disk copy of the
       file and then work on the COPY in case something goes wrong.
       That way you will have the original to fall back on in case you
       need it.

       Don't buy floppy disks when the price is too good to believe. If
       your data is worth anything at all, a few pennies more can make
       the difference between having that important business letter
       obtainable or a dreaded error message on the screen that your
       file format is unreadable just when you needed that file at 3
       AM.

       Make backup copies of important files. If the data is REALLY
       important, keep yet a second or third copy in a safe deposit box
       in case your home or office burns down! Sounds a little severe,
       but just wait until you discover the joy of doing your income
       tax return on your PC (fantastic compared to the old pen and
       pencil way) and then discover somehow the ONLY copy of the file
       is no good when the IRS decides to perform a routine audit!

       For backup you might want to switch from the COPY command to the
       sensational DOS XCOPY command (available in DOS versions 3.2 and
       later) which also allows file copying and backup using
       additional parameter switches which you can read about in your
       DOS manual. For example the /S switch used with XCOPY will copy
       all files from your subdirectories to the new target disk.
       Adding /P to XCOPY will cause a pause at each step to ask
       whether you want each file copied. Using the /D switch followed
       by a date will allow you to copy only those files created or
       modified on that date or later. All three of these switches can
       be used in tandem.

       Here's a standard tip which is so simple most people overlook
       it. Whenever you buy a box of new diskettes, FORMAT them
       immediately. Why? Reason one: you will find out if any disks are
       bad and be able to return to the store rather than be down to
       your last (surprise: defective!) disk when you need it. Reason
       two: usually you are right in the middle of a long word
       processed document and need to save the file, but WHOOPS, your
       current disk is full. No problem. Just reach into the desk
       drawer and grab an empty floppy disk. SURPRISE! The floppy disk
       is NOT FORMATTED which forces you to exit your word processor,
       lose the data permanently from RAM memory, and format the disk
       just as you should have in the first place. Beginners luck, I
       guess. . .

       Here's an extremely important tip most beginners should
       consider: AT class computers and those containing a 80286 CPU
       chip also contain a special battery to maintain the "setup
       configuration." This battery will eventually die and thus
       cause you to lose your important setup data. The first sign
       that your battery is going are mysterious losses of time and
       dates. Other "strange" data losses may start to occur.

       Eventually your computer will even refuse to start! Preventative
       maintenance suggests that you dig around on your DOS disk(s) and
       locate the SETUP program. Run setup and when you see the
       configuration report screen (lots of funny numbers and
       settings), hit the SHIFT-PRTSC (Shift key and Print Screen key
       pressed at the same time). This will force a printout of the
       valuable setup data to paper. You can also obtain shareware and
       commercial software programs that will store this data to disk.
       Most experienced users deal with the situation by making a
       copy of this setup data onto a "safety disk." If your battery
       dies, you will be able to quickly reconstruct the setup data
       from your paper sheet or safety disk after replacing the battery
       and running the setup program (or safety disk backup program.)

       A better method, of course, is to realize that the battery
       contained inside the computer lasts for about 2 to 4 years
       and simply keep a record (much like oil changes on your car)
       and manually replace it well before the deadline. Of course
       when you replace it, run the setup program and record the
       setup data on paper, since once you remove the battery the
       data will be lost from memory. You might investigate newer
       battery systems which automatically recharge themselves from the
       power source of the computer and thus never need replacement.

       IBM originally designed this feature, by the way, to supplant
       the older "dip switch system" on the first PC's. In older
       computers of the XT design, a user had to remove the PC cover and
       carefully set tiny switches deep inside the computer whenever a
       different circuit board or monitor system was used. This was
       tedious, so the electronic equivalent of the tiny swtiches were
       created in memory and stored with a battery system (when the
       comptuer was shut down). This allowed users to change the setup
       from the keyboard using the DOS setup program from the DOS disk
       rather than removing the cover and fiddling with switches. The
       downside is that now we must replace the battery periodically
       and of course record the setup data on paper or disk. Technology
       marches on!

       Beginners also need to know about the alternate keyboard.
       Sometimes you need a special symbol like the cents sign or the
       one half numerical symbol. Here they are:    ¢  ½
       The secret worth sharing with beginners is that there is an
       "alternate keyboard system" built into your PC. The source is a
       special ASCII chart of information in your DOS manual (and many
       computer books in the appendix) which shows you the alternate or
       extended ASCII characters. It's very easy: while you are in your
       word processor or other program, press AND CONTINUOUSLY HOLD DOWN
       the Alt key and then USING ONLY THE NUMBER KEYS ON THE NUMERIC
       KEYPAD (to the right of the keyboard - not the normal number keys
       above the keyboard) hit the three digit DECIMAL number code of the
       special character you want. For example, from the ASCII table in
       the back of my DOS manual I note that the symbol for the British
       currency Pound is decimal code 156. I hold down the Alt
       key and press the three numbers 156 on the numeric keypad and
       I get:         £

       There are many useful symbols for foreign languages, math,
       fractions, foreign currency, symbols to draw boxes and lines and
       so forth in this extended character keyboard system. You'll
       note that I use a wide bar in PC-LEARN to denote chapter headings
       like this: ██████████████████████████ I construct that symbol by
       using the alternate keyboard to make this: █ (code 219) then I
       put several exactly side by side to make the final bar! Note:
       these special symbols will usually print properly on your screen
       but may NOT always print properly on your printer since some are
       used for special control codes and other activities. Many will,
       however work quite well on both your screen and printer. Give it
       a try and jot down the codes for the most interesting symbols and
       keep it near your keyboard!

       Absolutely lethal trick: If you get the message ABORT, RETRY
       IGNORE? from DOS while you are attempting to copy files from
       one drive or disk to another DO NOT EVER switch disks in the
       target drive (i.e., the drive to which files will be sent) then
       answer RETRY.

       If you do, you will end up with a hopelessly scrabled mess on
       the target disk if it already has important files in place. This
       can occur, for example, when you try to copy files to a disk
       which has a write protect tab in place. Your temptation might be
       to insert another different disk and retry. However, when DOS
       copies files, it first reads the directory of the target disk
       and stores it in memory. If you switch disks, the in-memory copy
       of the directory of the OLD disk will overwrite the directory of
       the new disk. Best situation in this case is to answer abort and
       rekey the operation again (shortcut with DOS is hit F3 to
       automatically reissue the last command) then try another disk,
       if necessary. There are other ways this dangerous sitation might
       arise besides a write protect tab, so be careful.

       Don't install or change add-in circuit boards or cards within
       your computer with the power on. And be extremely careful about
       static electricity. Try to briefly touch a metal ground such as
       a lamp or metal window frame to discharge stray static
       electricity before you touch your fingers inside the PC. Static
       electricity discharges can blow out one or several integrated
       circuit chips and leave you with a repair bill of $300 or more!

       If you ever see the message:        ARE YOU SURE (Y/N)? always
       answer no unless you really know what is going to happen next!
       This sort of message usually precedes disaster as DOS prepares
       to delete all of the files on a floppy disk or format your hard
       drive and wipe out all data.

       Don't invite dumb power problems. You are typing the last draft
       of a valuable client contract and your 30 foot long power cord
       dangles in front of both family cats on its meandering way
       across the middle of the living room carpet to the wall socket.
       It is plugged into a rat's nest of four way plug adapters along
       with high-current drawing air conditioners and toaster ovens.
       This is a great way to send your data to toaster heaven while we
       are on the subject.

       Treat your hard drive with EXTREME tender loving care while it
       is spinning. No bumps, jolts, slams or ramma-lamma-ding-dongs!
       One little bump will send the read/write heads plowing into the
       spinning disk surface. Kind of like a 747 jet crash into the
       library of congress. Translation: large data catastrophe!

       If your data is sensitive and you lock the keyboard with that
       cute little key which slips into the front panel of your
       machine, DON'T forget to remove the mouse or other input
       devices. Since a mouse is an alternate input device, a savvy
       user can easily direct the computer to spill forth its
       information even while the keyboard is locked.

       Use the DOS command DISKCOPY in ONLY two cases: to make a backup
       copy of new commercial software OR when you have somehow damaged
       a disk and want to work on it with the Norton utilities or some
       other fixit program. For all other copies you are safer to use
       the COPY or XCOPY command. Reason? DISKCOPY does not remove file
       fragmentation which COPY does. Second reason? DISKCOPY can
       attempt to copy good information onto a target disk sector which
       has formatted bad or is otherwise unavailable to DOS. Use COPY
       *.* to copy all files on a disk and you will simultaneously copy
       everything and unfragment the files. Two operations for the
       price of one!

       Thunderstorm coming? Shut down the computer and unplug it from
       the wall INCLUDING the modem or telephone line! LIghtning hits
       to the power or phone line send very high voltages hurtling down
       the wire. If you prefer you can leave the computer plugged in
       and chose as to whether you wish your PC scrambled, sunnyside up
       or just deep fried!

       Never switch or remove disks in the middle of an aborted program
       operation. If for some reason you get an error message in the
       middle of a file copying session or disk writing operation,
       don't swap in another disk! DOS may think the old disk is still
       there and continue to write the remainder of the data over
       something valuable on the new disk! Better to stop what you are
       doing and issue a non-writing command such as VER or DIR or even
       shut down the computer in extreme situations rather than mangle
       two disks with misinformation.

       Be careful using the DOS commands ASSIGN, FORMAT and RECOVER.
       Especially if you are being a little too clever and change disk
       drive letters with the DOS commands ASSIGN, JOIN and SUBST. What
       happens is that you might temporarily rename your hard drive the
       B: drive and then absent-mindedly try to format B: or recover B:
       which will lead to a lot of deleted data on your hard drive.
       Generally the RECOVER command is best removed from your DOS
       subdirectory and never used. It is just too dangerous!

       If you delete some files by accident, Norton Utilities, PC Tools
       and several other utility programs can bring them back if you
       are quick to use them and haven't created or changed any files
       since the accident. Best to go out and get a copy of Norton, PC
       Tools or a shareware unerase utility (e.g., Bakers Dozen) before
       the need arises. Then practice using them on a dummy disk for
       the likely day you need them.

       Be careful when using the powerful DOS redirection and piping
       commands discussed in our earlier DOS tutorial.

       (example)     a>sort < this.doc   (sorts contents of this.doc on
                                         column one and displays contents
                                         on the monitor - a nice idea!)

       (example)    a>sort > this.doc    (trashes any existing this.doc
                                         and gives it a file length of
                                         zero! Bad news!)

       The same advice also applies to using the MORE command with
       redirection arrows <  > since you can likewise wipe out data
       files. Watch the direction of those cute little redirection
       arrows! Same thing applies to using the redirection arrows when
       you write batch files. Look at the sample line from a batch file
       listing below:

       (example)   ECHO --------> This message is important!

       In the above example, DOS will erroneously think the little >
       redirection symbol is telling it to create a file named THIS and
       use ECHO to redirect text from that line of the batch file into
       the file. A goofy, dangerous result! Another good boner is the
       following batch file example:

       (example) REM  Now use the c>prompt to return to program system.

       The above perfectly innocent batch file line creates a file
       called PROMPT because DOS spots the > symbol and does what you
       told it to do!

       Instructions mean business! If program documentation says MUST
       BE USED ON A COLOR MONITOR don't try to run it on your hercules
       or monochrome system. Software can indeed destroy a monitor and
       it only takes a second! Know what your monitor and display card
       can handle and be SURE that the intended software matches
       hardware capabilities.

       If you use a RAMDISK to hold data be sure to stop every half
       hour and copy the information into a more permanent floppy or
       hard disk area in case of power failures. In fact every half
       hour, check to see that your data from ANY program is
       transferred to magnetic disk. No exceptions!

       For those using the newer disks having 1.44 Meg and 720 K sizes
       - those little plastic diskettes - don't swap and mix formats
       willy nilly. Label the diskettes clearly and know the format
       density (1.44M or 720K) with which you are working.

       If data is sensitive and you want it GONE from snooping eyes,
       use a utility like Norton's WIPEFILE to truly delete it from the
       disk so an office curiosity seeker can't bring it back with an
       unerase utility!

       Likewise, some word processors create backup files having the
       extension BAK. You may think you have deleted that sensitive
       client proposal when a second document CLIENT.BAK also exists!

       DOS manuals make reference to the VERIFY command. You can add
       the /V switch to the COPY command to supposedly verify the
       accuracy of the second file copy. Likewise you can turn VERIFY
       ON and VERIFY OFF from within your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
       Unfortunately, the VERIFY command does a rudimentary CRC check
       which can test only gross errors in file transfers. To be sure
       the second copy is good, use the COMP command which, although
       slow, is deadly reliable when you "gotta be sure." The FC
       command found in MSDOS versions is even better and DOS manuals
       discuss its use. Likewise use the DISKCOMP command whenever you
       use DISKCOPY if you absolutely have to be certain that the
       second diskette is PERFECTLY identical to the first.

       ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

                        ENVIRONMENTALLY SAFE COMPUTING
              FROM THE PC-LEARN COMPUTER BEGINNERS TUTORIAL DISK
               POB 1506, MERCER ISLAND, WA 98040    206/236-0470

       ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

       Computing has impacts on the earth and I would like to share a
       few constructive suggestions and tips about saving resources and
       protecting the environment.

       Computing uses paper. Keep two wastebaskets by your desk and
       recycle. Same for cardboard packing boxes and packing materials
       which arrive with computing equipment.

       But let's go a little deeper with the paper issue: Do you really
       need to print on multiple part carbonless forms and heavyweight
       computer paper? I use a lightweight 18# paper in my little dot
       matrix printer. How about carbonless and two part forms? The
       chemicals used in the manufacture of carbonless paper are toxic.
       Do you really need a two part form (or 6 part form in the case of
       some corporations which go wild with multipart forms?) Why not
       see if a single part form can be made with a tear off stub or
       perhaps a file saving feature in the software that traps the data
       and saves it to disk for "your copy" of the form? Just like
       banks: ask the customer if they want their checks back: meaning
       does your customer need seven copies of a form or will your monthly
       invoice statement cover the bill?

       Environmentally responsible computing also means ONLY upgrading
       machines when you really need to or buying a used computer. Here's
       why: the manufacture of integrated cirucits used in computers uses
       large amounts of concentrated acids, gasses and caustic chemicals.
       These are stored, recycled or (hopefully) dumped into approved waste
       sites in normal practice, but the point is do you really need
       the latest machine and its impact on our planet given the toxic
       nature of computer manufacturing processes? PC-LEARN is programmed
       on an XT class machine. I don't need anything better, and when
       I do, I hope to find a USED "recycled" computer of higher quality
       rather than buying a new one. Same with printers, modems and so
       forth! Here in Seattle, several computer brokers specialize in
       reselling used computers on consignment. Head that direction for
       your next purchase! It's less expensive and helps the planet!

       As a commercial photographer by training, I use a Seattle film
       lab for some of my photo processing. The lab uses an 8 1/2 by
       11 inch TWO part carbonless form to log in each order, they
       later mail me a THREE part carbonless invoice for EACH order
       within a few days by mail, then a final billing statement at
       the end of the month AND they have 4 computer terminals in the
       order processing customer counter area of the lab! I am sure
       their accounting is extraordinarilly well documented, but there
       may not be enough trees on this earth to support this kind of
       "information flow" if every business operated this way. I could
       do with a small claim stub when I drop off my film, a little
       itemization printed on the paper envelope which contains the
       finished order and perhaps a monthly statement printed on
       recycled paper to summarize the account activity. The ironic
       footnote is that the same lab has a sign promiently posted in
       the lobby as to willingness to accept cardboard and plastic
       (from things like film containers) for the benefit of the
       environment! Clearly the right hand doesn't know what the left
       hand is doing and sadly computers are pushing the waste factor
       in this real life example.

       If you suspect I am beating the environmental drum too loudly,
       back up and consider the financial COST to an operation like the
       film lab mentioned above. Unwise from the financial end and
       equally unwise from the environmental end.

       Computing uses electricity. If you are just stepping out of the
       office for a half hour or so, it is probably best for the machine
       to leave it on and the hard drive spinning to prevent the wear and
       tear of machine startup which eventually wears out a hard drive.

       However, turn off the monitor if you are away for even short
       periods using its own separate power switch (leaving the PC on)
       even if you use screen blanker software since the monitor is
       still drawing power! When should you turn off the machine
       completely? Use the two hour rule: if you are away from the PC
       NO MORE than two hours, leave the machine on. If away MORE than
       two hours, shut it off. Also factor in the dust argument which
       follows:

       Don't leave a PC on all night or LONG periods of time. The dust
       sucked through your machine by constant fan use will more than
       offset the savings in wear and tear you may gain by leaving the
       hard drive spinning! The dust impacts the power supply which is
       the heart of the system. If the power supply goes bad due to
       overheating (because of a thick blanket of internal dust) it
       can destroy your entire PC! For the curious or mechanically adept,
       open the power supply WITH ALL APPROPRIATE PRECAUTIONS IN AN
       UNPLUGGED AND COMPLETELY DISCHARGED MACHINE. You will be stunned
       by the dust you see! I regularly take my pc and power supply cover
       off and give the internals a LIGHT blast of compressed air (not
       ozone-destroying freon) to free the dust and help the machine run
       cooler. I do this every six months.

       Do a calculation for your office on your PC: how much wattage
       does an average PC in your office draw per hour? How many PC's
       in your office? What is the TOTAL economic cost leaving them ALL
       on during the night (12 hours?) versus turning them off? Now how
       much a month, then how much a year. Finally, multiply by the cost
       per killowatt hour for cost per year. This doesn't even consider
       maintenance savings or waste - just electricity!

       Plastics and computing are everywhere. Talk to a recycler and
       see if they can accept polyethelene packing bags, stryrofoam
       packing, printer cartridges and so forth.

       If you are involved in large corporate purchases, ask the
       vendor to supply a one page sheet describing how they use
       LESS in an environmentally safe way in providing your computing
       equipment needs (e.g., do they use popcorn from a growing
       plant (which is now common) rather than styrofoan chips for
       packing, do they recycle paper in their organization, etc.)?
       Vendors just might take notice if large organizations asked
       for a one page "computing impact statement" from each
       computing supplies vendor. If your vendor doesn't know what
       you mean by a "computing impact statement," send THIS
       printout as an example and ask them again for their statement.

       Try to recharge printer ink cartridges if possible. Same with
       laser printers. A nutty but workable method of recharging
       a FABRIC printer cartridge is to take it outside, lay it
       on a piece of newspaper, pry off the plastic cartridge lid
       and lightly spray the ribbon with the lubricant WD-40. Replace
       the lid of the printer cartridge and allow a few hours for the
       WD-40 oil to redistribute ink from the edges of the ribbon
       (where the printhead does NOT strike the ribbon) to the center
       strip of the ribbon. Recharged cartridges at the cost of a few
       pennies of WD-40! This method works best with cloth fabric
       ribbons not mylar ribbons, but I am told a few people have even
       tried this with the mylar ribbons too. Professinal ink and
       ribbon recharge companies exist, invesgate this option!

       Consider using shareware rather than commercial software. How
       does this positively affect the environment? Simple. Shareware
       uses simple packaging or NONE AT ALL since it frequently
       travels electronically by BBS/modem methods, isn't returned to
       the wholesaler to be sent to the garbage dump if too many
       packages are manufactured, supports a small software programmer
       who has less impact on the earth as a single human being rather
       than a large corporation and provides you with high quality at
       a fair price which goes well with the environmental features.
       This isn't just a sales pitch, shareware DOES have less negative
       impact on the environment than commercial software!

       Speaking of laser printers, the environmental cost and economic
       cost is NOT favorable. Toner, paper, electricity, everything
       about lasers is less favorable to the earth. Use a humble dot
       matrix printer unless you are ready for the final draft. Lasers
       need more maintenance, too. Finally people are forever buying
       MORE plastic font cartridges and upgrades for lasers.

       Back to the paper issue. Do you really need to send a memo or
       submit a rough draft on paper? Can you get the boss to accept
       the memo on disk and teach the boss how to use a simple file
       browser to read the file? Pick up the phone and call with the
       information, it is a lot faster, more human and socialable and
       saves resources.

       Let's talk about envelopes: if your office uses window style
       envelopes for billings or mailings, try to design or use
       window envelopes WITH EMPTY WINDOW OPENINGS RATHER THAN
       CLEAR PLASTIC WINDOW OPENINGS. The billing address peeks out the
       front just the same and becomes recycleable! Plastic containing
       envelopes cannot be recycled. Otherwise try to pre-print the
       address on the return envelope - anything but plastic windows.

       FAX processes are wonderful. Investiage FAXing onto disk (using
       a FAX board installed in your computer) rather than paper
       printouts of FAXES. This produces an electronic FAX file which
       is saved on disk rather than printing on paper.

       Do you program or sell software? Why not recycle disks? Simply
       slap your new label over that old disk no longer needed and add
       a line that "this is a recycled disk" on the bottom of your disk
       label or jacket. Most folks approve of greeting cards printed on
       recycled paper. Do you really need to use a fresh new disk to
       impress your client when a recycled one with a new label will do?

       Keep your keyboard, computer and printer clean. Once in a while
       vacuum or dust out the power supply which collects loads of dust.
       Reason: you prevent breakdowns which require repairs or scrapping
       of the computer. End result: more earth resources used which
       could have been prevented in the first place with a little
       preventative maintenance.

       Look at your software and documentation shelf. Stacks of old
       computer magazines and documentation pile up! Have a once a
       month PC recycling party where you rip out pages from
       documnetation and magazines you really need and recycle the
       remains. Same goes for old disks, binders, the works.

       Donations. If computers help you make money, and they do, set
       aside a small contribution to the non-profit group of your choice
       which is involved in conservation and recycling.

       Submit suggestions for this little part of the PC-LEARN tutorial
       on "how your office saves the earth using computers WISELY." I'll
       try to insert it if valuable and of course, it will float all
       over the world on BBS systems and shareware distribution points
       so your small or large suggestion WILL possibly make a difference
       to somebody in Brazil or China. PC-LEARN is a shareware
       package which lives electronically on the Compuserve network
       which is accessed by people all over the world! If possible, send
       your suggestion on disk in ASCII using your wordprocessor so
       I can electronically merge it. Then I will put the LATEST copy
       of PC-LEARN on the disk you sent and return it in your own
       recycled disk mailer if you also enclose a couple of stamps!

       Don't compute when you don't need to! Sometimes it is too easy to
       turn on the machine and bang out a spreadsheet or draft a memo.
       Can you solve the problem with your BRAIN or grab your rolodex to
       find that phone number? Our brains our much more capable than
       the most modern computer. What can you do better by leaving the
       machine OFF and not using electricity, paper, plastic, ink and
       toner? Finally, turning off the computer means we spend a few
       minutes with each other, rather than our (let's face it)
       addictive computers. You just may come up with a solution to
       that budget problem by visting with a collegue at the next desk
       rather than recalulating that monster spreadsheet for the millionth
       time trying to find an optimum budget solution for the office.
       The vast majority of business problems are solved by CREATIVITY
       which organic brains do best!

       Print (on paper, unfortunately) this little section of the
       PC-LEARN computer tutorial and place it on the company bulletin
       board. This is a win/win situation: your co-workers will start to
       think about earth conscious computing and if more beginners will
       use PC-LEARN they will learn how to use a computer more
       efficiently SOONER and thus WASTE LESS paper, electricity and
       natural resources, does that make sense? Computer beginners can
       waste a lot of paper, money, time and electricity learning how
       to use a computer. If PC-LEARN helps them learn faster, then
       they should waste less and become proficient more quickly!

       Consider renting computer equipment for short term and special
       projects. Obviously you can save money in most cases, but the
       larger issue is that you don't impact the environment by using
       resources for something you can share that computer equipment with
       many other people via a rental arrangement.


       When you print lengthy documents from a disk to paper,
       investigate clever software products (many of them shareware)
       which allow you to print FOUR pages in tiny but readible
       typeface and on BOTH SIDES of the paper.

       Another idea: help me connect with people to translate PC-LEARN
       into foregin languages. Computers are everywhere and many people
       cannot find out about this list or the concept of computing
       with minimum environmental impact because as Americans we think
       that English is dominant. Environmentally sensitive computing
       takes many forms in many languages! Non-english speaking
       countries may need help with environmentally conscious computing
       concepts, and I can't speak or understand all of the wonderful
       languages the world has to offer! But you can bet PC-LEARN will
       float around and find a computer -  I have to date received
       registrations from customers as far away as Australia, Saudi
       Arabia, Africa and China! Sadly, people in those countries have
       to read it in English . . .

       Add your suggestion here or mail it to me. You do not need to
       be a registered user of PC-LEARN to submit a suggestion to this
       section!