Announcements

All is not well in the land of infopackets.com. During the last newsletter announcement, the infopackets web server crashed. My laptop was connected to the infopackets server at the time that it happened and I was able to see that server's virtual ... memory (swap file) was almost completely depleted. In techy terms, this situation is referred to as a memory leak. How a Memory Leak causes an Operating System to crash An operating system is reserved a specific set of system memory (RAM) to perform critical system operations. By definition, it is the job of the operating system to ensure that a ... (view more)

Seasons greeting s! I don't normally send out the Gazette on the weekend, but I have a number of important issues to discuss which are time sensitive. Let me be brief. Issue #1: Changes to the Infopackets Web Server The infopackets fund raiser was a ... success and I will be putting an order in for the new web server as soon as the setup that I want becomes available (most likely after the new year). In the past few weeks I have been making modifications to the newsletter delivery program in preparation for the new web server. Once the new server is online, the newsletter delivery program will ... (view more)

Last week, I announced that the infopackets web server is stressed and needs upgrading. Since it is not within my budget to rent an additional dedicated web server, I launched a fund raiser in hopes that Infopackets Readers would contribute enough ... to help cover the spiraling cost of maintaining this web site. To rally support desperately needed from Readers, I provided three methods of contribution: Donate money via PayPal or by Credit Card . Purchase one or two of my supplemental eBook and Video learning tutorials (now up to 65% off, with an additional 25% off if you buy more than 2 ... (view more)

Three days a week I entertain Readers with articles I write based on real life computing problems. This time, I'm the one with a dilemma on my hands. Since April of this year, readership of this newsletter has blossomed from 50,000 to (now) 237,000 ... readers -- with 1,000 new members subscribing each day. Not long ago, things were very different. Up until this past August, the newsletter was sent out in full length / HTML (graphical) format -- but all of that came to a halt when it was no longer efficient or financially feasible. I have since reduced the size of the email newsletter by making ... (view more)

It's been two weeks since the newsletter format has been changed to include "teaser" feature articles and a link to the rest of the story online. Over the weekend, I received a few disheartening emails with regard to the format change. Gan Soon B. ... in South East Asia writes: " Dear Dennis, I am writing to you to register my concern with the new format of your newsletter. Recently, I noticed that you have switched to a format which require users to go online to view the full contents of the newsletter. I figured that you have a valid concern for using that format, and so I didn't ... (view more)

I've got some good news and some bad news to discuss in this issue of the Gazette. First, the bad news: Internet Outage Last Week My Internet connection was interrupted last Thursday at around 1PM: only a few hours after initiating the command to ... begin sending out the newsletter. Once the connection was lost, the newsletter stopped sending out and wasn't able to resume until late Saturday afternoon. From the last issue of the Gazette, you may recall that I started a "good-will fund raiser" to help support this web site. In order to entice Readers to show their support, all the ... (view more)

I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I'm back from my vacation to Cancun, Mexico. My trip to the Caribbean was fantastic and can't wait until I get to do it again! During my stay, the sunny weather in Mexico ranged ... between 85 and 95 Fahrenheit (or 29 ~ 35 Celsius). Humidity wasn't much of an issue, and the strong coastline breeze provided a much needed rest from the over-powering sun. Addressing web site concerns while away on Vacation Believe it or not, I receive 150 ~ 200 emails a day. To prevent my mailbox from getting clogged, I decided to leave the office ... (view more)

Whe w! I've been so busy with the web site change-over that I wasn't able to compose a single newsletter last week. There's lots of new stuff to tell you about -- and it's a bit technical -- so bear with me! I'll do my best to explain it in simple ... English. First of all -- did you notice something different about this newsletter? The format of the newsletter has been completely overhauled and now contains new headers and user subscription information. The new format allows me to write only 1 version of the newsletter, and yet produce 2 separate versions for delivery in either HTML or text ... (view more)

I sure am keeping busy! With the weather as bad as it's been, there really is no reason for me to leave my comfortable computer chair ... other than to sleep, eat, and use the bathroom. Today I spent 12 hours marathon-programming multiple web ... scripts to help automate things, in lieu of the many changes happening to the web site. The newsletter subscriber base has now been reconfigured to accept 2 new fields of data: newsletter frequency (2 or 3 times a week), and the choice of a text or HTML newsletter. Now that this portion is complete, I'll be updating the web site to accept both requests ... (view more)

You may have noticed that the Gazette has been a little late in delivery in the past week and a half. Usually I write the newsletter the night before it is scheduled to go out, in order to have it ready for your morning coffee -- at least, for those ... of you who live in North America. I mentioned in a previous newsletter that I'm redesigning the site. This week I finished and tested a preliminary layout, but it still didn't quite look right -- so I've decided to scrap it and start over. I'm hoping to have the new design ready by next week (keep your fingers crossed!). More changes: additions to ... (view more)