It takes very little time to install, and I quickly configured ActiveWords to launch a new instance of Internet Explorer whenever I type "ie" followed by the F8 key (the activation key, which is user selectable). You start with basic commands, like name (inserts your name), write (opens your word processor), and close (closes the active window). You can assign any word to actions such as launching a program, typing a URL, opening a document, inserting boilerplate text, sending an email to a specific someone, opening a specific Windows folder. Plus you can build your own customized actions from ActiveWord's built-in advanced command set.

The first aspect of this product that I instantly knew that would get heavy use on my desktop is the ability to launch specific websites with a couple of keystrokes. I already have an extensive list of commonly visited Web destinations mounted on Internet Explorer's Links bar. To save space, each has a two- or three-letter abbreviation, such as sfn (Scot’s Newsletter), tw (TechWeb.com), kb (Microsoft Knowledgebase), and goo (Google). With ActiveWords, I can create scores of website shortcuts. You don't have to have an IE window open; just type "goo F8," for example, and you're at Google.

So how does this thing work? ActiveWords configures itself to monitor the entire stream of input coming from your keyboard. It can also insert text into any program that accepts text as an input. It reminds me of voice-control user interfaces, but instead of voice being the input, typed text is. There's an automatic active-word-creation routine (in ActiveWords Plus) that is triggered by repetitively typed events. The application is well thought through.

The only real barrier to entry with ActiveWords is that, to fully appreciate it, you should be a touch typist. Once over that hurdle, computer novices and experts alike will adore it. It's been at least a couple of years since I've seen a Windows program that is not only as fresh as this one, but which has a huge potential to transform the way people work with their PCs. While Microsoft has been monkeying around with the social interface and .Net, ActiveWord Systems has delivered what amounts to a graphically independent text-association interface that works the way many people think. It's a little ingenious.

ActiveWords Plus costs $29.95 [per year], but it's available in a 60-day trial version. Don't even try this one if you have no hope of coming up with the 30 bucks after 60 days. It's that good.

Better Looking Linux
Three recent Linux desktop products are striving to improve Linux's user interface, which sorely needs improvement. Red Hat 8.0's new Bluecurve desktop and interface is the most recent introduction. Lindows 2.0, which also improves Linux's usability (but still doesn't appear to offer some of the vaunted Windows application support features the company first promised) is out there now, if you want to pay $99 to be a beta tester (something I refuse to do).

Then there's something really interesting, Xpde. This website was forwarded me by an SFNL reader whose name I've misplaced, or otherwise I'd give him credit for it. Xpde is Windows XP-lookalike user shell for Linux. See several screenshots of Xpde.

I wrote about this subject on TechWeb. Please check that out. You'll find more background there, including links to all the new Linux desktops.

OpenOffice 1.0
A while back I promised to review Sun's StarOffice business application suite, and I'm still trying to find time to do just that. But if you were interested in that, you should be just as interested in OpenOffice 1.0 for Windows, Linux, and the Mac (in beta). The first complete version debuted quite recently, it's available free for download (50.5MB) or you can order it on CD. OpenOffice is based on the same codebase as StarOffice; it's forked and being further developed in an open-source environment.

Does your company have a new computer product of interest to this newsletter's readers? Submit it to Product Beat.

Back to the Top

First, I got quite a few messages from SFNL readers saying, effectively, "What problems with SP1 are you talking about? It works fine!" A lot of people, including me, had no problems at all with SP1. What's more, a trickle of people have reported that the installation of SP1 solved an annoying device driver or software issue they were having. For example, Michael Squire reports that a problem with ZoneAlarm 2.1.395, wherein ZoneAlarm automatically launches his dial-up Internet connection (a known problem with this version of the program) disappeared after he installed SP1. Others wrote to tell me that pre-existing problems with video or audio subsystems vanished after SP1 was installed.

Keep in mind that the vast majority of people who don't have any problems with a new piece of code have little reason to write to a newsletter author about that. All the volume comes from people who are having problems, even though they may only account for 5, 10, 15, or 20 percent of the whole.

Having said that, though, the numbers and types of problems I'm hearing about -- many of them having to do with application woes -- are much, much larger and wider than you expect to hear about with a service pack. SP1 is definitely problematic in several areas, and I think Microsoft needs to get off its duff on this one, not only to communicate what it's going to do, but also to do it. The problems with Outlook Express, for example, go deeper than I've reported on. But so many people have reported the OE identities problem that it's clearly very common if not universal. One SFNL reader, William Cantrell, wrote me to say that he called Microsoft tech support about the OE issue. They knew what he was talking about, but they demanded $45 to fix it for him. He decided that was pathetic and refused. Go William.

I mean, come on, Microsoft! He installed your patch and it broke something on his PC (that, by the way, is also your program), and then you want to charge him $45 to fix it? This is what's so wrong at Microsoft -- an arrogant disregard for customers.

But let me take a moment to remind you that it's for just this sort of reason that I have long recommended against using Outlook Express. It's not really a supported Microsoft application. To Microsoft, OE is freebie afterthought. If you have to use a Microsoft email program, cough up the money for Outlook. Or spend the $30 to $40 for Eudora. Or check out PocoMail, which I've come to admire quite a bit.

What You Should Do
If you remember nothing else from this discussion, please take these words of advice to heart:

1. Windows XP SP1 is not an essential install. Microsoft has made all (or most) of the critical security patches in SP1 available separately. And, in fact, there have been several released since SP1. If you install the critical updates on Windows Update or AutoUpdate, you are covered (but see the note that follows). I'm not saying no one should install SP1. I am saying that if you do so, you should be prepared for possible problems. And if the thought of potential difficulties makes you uneasy at all, hang back. Install all the critical updates on Windows Update instead. You can always install SP1 next week, next month, or next year.

Note: Steve Gibson disagrees with me about whether you'll get all the critical updates you'll need if you don't install XP Service Pack 1 because of specific patch in SP1 that Microsoft apparently didn't deem worthy offering as a separate patch on Windows Update. And I'm not really disputing Steve's point. But he offers a little utility called XPdite that solves the problem for folks who don't have SP1 installed. You'll find out all about this on the Gibson Research XPdite site.

2. If you do go ahead and install SP1, whatever you do, make sure to choose the SP1 installation option that allows you to uninstall the service pack. That costs you disk space on your PC (the actual amount varies), and it's not a trivial amount for most of us. Don't do the SP1 upgrade if you can't spare the disk space for this step. It's not worth it.

3. If you get into trouble with SP1, don't use (or try to use) System Restore. Decide instead that SP1 isn't for you, and uninstall it. Most people report that problems they encounter disappear after uninstalling the service pack. Don't make things harder on yourself than you have to.

Many OEM PC makers and large corporations are choosing not to install Windows XP Service Pack 1. From past experience, they've learned that the first service pack to a new version of Windows often encounters difficulty with a higher percentage of PCs than later service packs do. The safest course, in my opinion, is to follow their lead on this.

Finally, I picked out a few reader messages I think everyone might benefit from scanning:

Windows Update Leave Behinds

Question: Scot, I have a question that many other readers may also want you to answer. Since installing SP1 via the CD, previous Windows XP patches and updates listed in Add or Remove programs have disappeared leaving only the option to uninstall XP SP1. But there are still 58 folders using some 25MB of disk space in the Windows folder pertaining to those previous patches. Can these folders be safely deleted with Windows Explorer? I still have the CD with XP SP1 available and I CAN NOT use the normal method of removing (uninstalling) those folders. --Bill Quinn

Answer: It's likely that many of those folders are abandoned code that's not really needed. However, at least for the time being, I would strongly caution you not to delete those folders. There are enough problems for some people with SP1 that it's probably wise not to make a lot of changes until we find out whether there are problems we don't know about. It's also at least possible (although I think it unlikely) that some of these folders might be needed to successfully uninstall SP1. Long and short, 25MB is not enough of a reason to mess around with your Windows installation. In fact, more people get into trouble attempting to weed out their Windows installation than you would believe. For most people, it's just best to leave well enough alone. --S.F.

Which Java Virtual Machine?
It can be very difficult to know what version of Microsoft's Java VM is running on your machine. A tip passed along by an anonymous SFNL reader gives this simple step to check what version of the Java VM is current on your PC. Open Windows' Command Prompt. Type jview. Press Enter. The JVM version number appears on the right side of the first line that's returned. The latest version is 5.00.3805.

I'm adding to the tip here: If you don't have the latest version of Java installed, use WinZip to open the XPSP1.EXE file. You'll probably only find this file on your system if you chose to download the much larger Network Installation version of SP1. It's also on the CD version of the upgrade. Then extract the MSJAVX86.EXE to a new folder on your hard disk. Double click that file to run the installation for Microsoft's 3805 version of its JVM.

Please read an update to this tip in the December 23, 2002 issue of the newsletter.

SP1 Issues with HP and Compaq PCs
Several readers pointed out that there are issues with SP1 and some HP Pavilion and Compaq Presario 6300 PCs. See this document for more information. HP has developed a patch to SP1 that solves the problem. Thanks to Steve Ockinga for the link.

Back to the Top

That probably leaves a whole lot of people out, including many of the nearly 58 percent of SFNL readers who are already using either Windows XP or Windows 2000, according to the What's Your Primary OS? poll results, reported in the last issue of SFNL.

What isn't a surprise to me at all is that 65 percent of those who responded are planning to upgrade to either Windows XP or Windows 2000 (with the vast majority targeting Windows XP).

What is something of a surprise and the biggest headline derived from the data is that fully 27 percent of the respondents to a poll conducted by Scot’s Newsletter (which, let's remember, covers Windows primarily), are planning what's probably a switch to Linux within the next 12 months. That's a very large number. I think it indicates more a dissatisfaction with things Microsoft is doing than a strong preference for Linux over Windows (although Linux very definitely has some notable advantages over Windows).

The price hike for Windows, the end-user license agreement, product activation, the whole push toward .Net (or what people understand of that), the security problems with current Microsoft applications, the way Windows is distributed with new PCs, the lack of perceived software quality, the Microsoft antitrust trial's apparently toothless outcome, the continued bundling of Microsoft apps with Windows, perceived privacy issues ... these are some of the many reasons why a larger number of Windows users are searching for alternatives. I'm actually surprised the number isn't higher. I'm convinced that if Windows XP weren't as good as it is, the number would be much higher.

Here's a report of the raw data from the poll:

Windows XP: 617
Linux: 307
Windows 2000: 113
Mac OSX: 44
Windows Me: 11
Unix: 6
Windows 98SE: 5
OS/2: 1
Other OS: 21

Way-Out-There Analysis
What I'm about to write not only isn't statistically valid but it's based on several assumptions that really aren't technically assumable from the available data. So take this with a giant grain of salt. If you match up the data from the last poll with this one, you might conclude that 58 percent of folks are already running Windows XP/2000, and of the rest, 65 percent are planning to move that way over the next 12 months. Some quick math would place the projected total number of Windows XP/2000-using SFNL readers at 85 percent by October of 2003.

That seems ridiculous, and it probably is. But when you compare the difference between the level of quality and usability that Windows 9x/Me delivers with that of Windows 2K/XP, it's really not so outlandish. Windows 2000 and XP are just clearly superior. A lot of us complained bitterly about the long series of knock-off, marketing-and-P&L-statement-driven Windows upgrades Microsoft issued in the wake of Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0, such as Windows 98, 98 Second Edition, and especially ME. We're not hearing those noises any longer. After Windows 98 was released, Win 9x captured a huge market share among desktop operating systems. The same is likely to occur with the NT-derived Windows OSes, currently led by Windows XP.

About Other Operating Systems
Only about 20 folks said they would be switching to other operating systems not specified by the poll. About two thirds of those were from people pledging to use their current OS (most mentioned Windows 2000) "until I die!" The other third said they would switch to one or another variant of the next version of Windows, which is codenamed "Longhorn." Only one or two people mentioned other operating systems. As always with new Windows versions, I'll be covering Longhorn as we get closer to it.

Future Polls
For the last couple years, I've offered a reader poll about the broadband options available in your location. That's traditionally been an end-of-year topic, so stay tuned for the third annual broadband poll in the near future. And start nosing around about what's available in your town so you're prepared. Thanks!

Do you have a poll topic suggestion for Scot’s Newsletter? Is there an issue I should ask everyone to weigh in on that most of us really don't know the answer to already? Send your suggestion along.

Back to the Top

But a strange thing happened. I didn't take my own advice, at least not fully. I cancelled all my Bigfoot accounts but one, and for that one, I wound up paying the $20. That address is my public personal address. I use it to sign up for Web registrations, newsletters, for anything where the address might eventually become public.

Over the last year, I've had some complaints from SFNL readers about how terrible Bigfoot's service has gotten. Well, they're right. Not only are they charging now, but their service, if you can call it that, is abysmal. There used to be real people who knew what they were talking about if you emailed them. No longer. Now there are people copying and pasting boilerplate responses, and there are only about a dozen responses.

The worst of it came on August 22 this year. Bigfoot sent me this message:

Dear Subscriber,

Your [Bigfoot] email address has exceeded the limit that comes with your subscription. Our system has rejected your excess emails. However, our mail server will retry delivery for several days. To avoid mail delay, please upgrade now.

To upgrade, please follow this link and login with your Bigfoot email address and password. If you forgot your password, please click here and we will email it to you. With Bigfoot Email Forwarding, you have a choice of Premium membership at $9.95 quarter, which allows a member to forward a maximum of 150 mails daily sent to your Bigfoot address to any email account or Ultra membership at $19.95 per quarter for a maximum of 500 mails daily. Plus other POWER FORWARDING features such as Distribution, Filtering, Auto-Responder, Anti-Spam, Consolidation and PermaWeb.

Please forward any questions to help@bigfoot.com or email me at faith@asia.bigfoot.com.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Faith Ponte
Product Manager
Bigfoot Communications

Let me count the things wrong with this: 1. This message is aimed at people who have the free, spam-me version of Bigfoot. I have the paid Premium version. 2. This is my first notice that they need me to pay them again after a year of service. 3. They waited until I starting losing mail to contact me, because, after all, my mail isn't important, right? 4. This is also my first notice that Bigfoot has voted itself a 100-percent increase in price over what I paid last year. $10 a quarter equals $40 a year; I paid $20 last year. 5. I replied to Faith Ponte, but she never responded. I eventually got someone from help@bigfoot.com to reply to me. Here is that response:

Dear Scot,

We always look forward to hearing from our customers.

The over quota notice is system generated that alerts you once you reached the email limit.

I hope this answers your query.

Heather Edwards, Customer Support (JL)
Bigfoot Communications LLC

It was at the moment I read those words that I knew it was time to extricate myself from Bigfoot, because otherwise I was a Big Fool.

My first step was to pay Bigfoot the $10 it was demanding. I had no choice; it was holding me up for my mail. My next step was to decide on a new public email address. I've looked at literally dozens of free email services over the years, and written frequent stories about them (usually recommending Bigfoot ... arghh!) Many of them have gone out of business or no longer offer email addresses.

The only free email service I've heard of in that time that has come highly recommended and whose policies, actions, and services mesh well with what everyday people need from a free email address is MyRealBox.com, which is owned and run by Novell and NetMail.

I use MyRealBox as a mail-forwarding service. But it also can be used in two other ways. You can use it as a Web-mail, that is, you send, receive, read, and manage email in folders you access via your Web browser. There's also a Web-based address book. I'm not a big Web-mail fan, although it's a convenient adjunct to a regular email account when you travel. And for some people, it's the right approach.

The third way you can use MyRealBox is as a POP3/SMTP account with an email program. Simply turn the forwarding off (if it's even on), and then follow the directions. That's a major advantage. Many other free email sites (such as Yahoo), charge you for POP3/SMTP services.

One of the best things about MyRealBox is that it has very strict antispam policies, and even attempts to levy charges against spammers for each message they send. I have so far received little or no spam mail via MyRealBox, and I've had the account for about six months. Read the sign-up policies for more detail.

There's only one drawback to MyRealBox I'm aware of. To quote the company's website: "The NetMail engineering team uses MyRealBox as a test-bed to try out new versions before releasing them as part of the NetMail product. This means that from time to time, MyRealBox users will experience downtime due to installation of new software or the engineering team debugging a new feature." There's more info on the site about this. But, bottom line, it isn't stopping me.

Just a couple days ago I heard about an alternative that I don't know much about personally. Shirl Willis let me know about. The company is called MailCircuit.com.

It uses an especially easy ChoiceMail-like online verification process that senders must go through once in order to qualify themselves as not being spammers. MailCircuit bills itself as being 100-percent spam free. It also virus scans messages before they get to your mailbox. Like MyRealBox, MailCircuit offers Web mail, mail forwarding, and POP3 (but not SMTP, so you can't send messages out through MailCircuit). All in all, I prefer MyRealBox, but MailCircuit has some advantages. It's not a "test bed," and the method of spam protection may be slightly better than MyRealBox's. On the other hand, it costs $20 a this year, and who knows what it'll be next year.

Two solutions for you, both relatively spam free, both low cost, and both offering solid features.

My final step in getting out of Bigfoot is the most painful. I'm already a month into the process of changing literally hundreds of newsletter subscriptions, website registrations, webstore logins, and address books of friends and acquaintances. That job will surely take the better part of a year, and I'll be paying Bigfoot all along. But my Bigfoot account is on borrowed time. And I can't wait to stomp on it.

Back to the Top

Two things I'd like to draw your attention to. The first is that ChoiceMail 1.4 has been released. I haven't had time to test it, but the long list of improvements is encouraging. I am considering a re-test of it, although I'm growing leery of proxy-server-based antispam solutions.

The second item is a note about this part of the Cloudmark SpamNet's end-user license agreement (EULA):

You agree that Cloudmark may use any e-mail messages or digital signatures that you submit using the Software for any purpose whatsoever, and hereby assign to Cloudmark any and all right, title, and interest that you may have (including any intellectual property or proprietary rights) in and to any such e-mail messages and digital signatures thereof."

When I asked Cloudmark's Tricia Fahey about it, this is what she said:

I can see how it sounds scary, but if we don't say this in no uncertain terms, spammers could sue us for the rights to their messages, and/or anyone can play [legal] games with us and think of some reason to sue us. That said, I do want to soften the language a bit because the user is protected and the messages don't go anywhere at all, or get looked at, or anything else. The EULA, as you know, is just to protect us from being sued.

The only time content represented by a signature ever goes to our database is when you use the block button -- something you only do when you're submitting spam. You don't have to use the block button if you're afraid you're going to send a personal email. We will stil

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