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Today's issue of the Gazette is a synopsis of what's been happening with our web site. On November 25th , I wrote an article which asked for volunteers to edit article submissions from our team of Bloggers . The response to that article was so ... strong (with over 120 candidates volunteering to lend a hand), I decided on November 30th that it would be best to host a contest for a seat in our Editing Team. The contest was simple enough: edit a sample article and correct it to the best of your ability. The contest deadline was very brief and ended December 5th (lasting only 5 days); as expected, ... (view more)

I am simply overwhelmed from the response to last week's posting, " Editors Wanted !" To be quite honest, I was expecting no more than a handful of folks to volunteer their help; to my surprise, however, there were well over 100 "volunteer emails" ... [pic] in my inbox only a few hours after the post was published online our web site. While I do not have the time to reply to each letter individually, I would like to take a moment to give a very warm and heartfelt "Thank you!" to everyone that offered their assistance. It *really* made my day to see so many ... (view more)

Over the weekend I received a handful of interesting comments from Readers concerning the ' controversy ' over Ashampoo and Magic Defrag . Infopackets Reader Thomas W. begins with some findings cited by a well known computer magazine in Germany: " ... Here's some interesting news regarding the Magic Defrag 'controversy': the German computer magazine C't -- well known for its objective side-by-side tests -- tested Diskeeper 9 and Norton's Speed Disk versus the Defrag built into Windows XP. The consensus of the article was that Diskeeper does not provide much of an advantage over Windows ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader B.R. Hudgens writes: " Dear Dennis, I just read your article regarding the Registry Mechanic v4 release, as well as the article on WinOptimizer Platinum Suite . I have not yet tried either of these utilities on my system, but plan ... to do so very shortly because my PC has become very sluggish. I was wondering if you would give your opinion on the comparison of Registry Mechanic to WinOptimizer Platinum? I'm a bit confused because your article on WinOptimizer states that it cleans the System Registry (as does Registry Mechanic). And, both programs, as far as I understand ... (view more)

Are you being scammed? Need to know the definitive answer right now? READ THIS ARTICLE and then come back to this page when you're finished (if you like). -- Infopackets Reader Bill P. writes: " Dear Dennis, After reading your 'eBay and SquareTrade ... scam' article alerts [ Part 1 | Part 2 ], it prompted me to write you about a wonderful new anti-scam / anti-phishing toolbar called FraudEliminator Pro. The review over at pcMag.com summed up its features nicely: ' FraudEliminator Pro is a toolbar for Internet Explorer or Firefox that warns you if the web site you're visiting is not what it ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Phil C. write s: " Dear Dennis, I have been a long time subscriber to your online magazine (since early 2002) and have found your articles to be both informative and especially easy to read. And, although, I admit I don't have ... time to read all of your articles, there always seems to be an issue you've covered (more often than not) that deals with similar computing problems that I face on a day-to-day basis. For that, I am deeply gratified. I'm writing you today with regard to some of the changes you've made to the site. I like the new layout (especially the links to ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader James S. writes: " Dear Dennis, For the last two email editions of your newsletter, I have noticed a 'special announcement' near the top of the page, concerning 'RSS implementation' to your web site. At the bottom of the ... announcement, you have linked to a review of FeedDemon to better explain the RSS technololgy. I'm a bit stumped, however; the more I read about RSS, the more I don't understand it! There almost seems to be too many explanations. In fact, RSS sounds so complicated that I sincerely feel like throwing away my computer and going back to 'the good old days ... (view more)

Are you being scammed? Need to know the definitive answer right now? READ THIS ARTICLE and then come back to this page when you're finished (if you like). -- Infopackets Reader Brent W. writes: " Dear Dennis, After Googling for some information ... concerning a possible eBay scam, I stumbled across your article entitled ' Alert: eBay and SquareTrade scam .' Thank goodness for your web site! The *exact* same scam is happening to me as it did with Rupert H. in the article . I was so excited about my 'too good to be true' deal, that I nearly bought a 2003 Harley Road King for $5000 off the eBay ... (view more)

XP SP2 Frequently Asked Questions: Continued from Part 1 ... Q: " I already have Norton Internet Security installed and running. Does it make sense to use the Service Pack 2 Firewall or should I stick with Norton? Should I use both at the same time? ... " A: It is not recommended that you run two firewalls at once, as this can cause problems with programs which rely on your Internet connection. I don't have any experience with Norton Firewall, but I personally recommend using Zone Alarm (free), as it is widely accepted among the Internet community as a very strong and secure firewall ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Dilsia M. writes: " Dear Dennis, Something happened to my Search companion in Windows XP that allows me to search for files and folders in My Computer. When I try to use the Search function, Windows tells me that a file necessary ... to run the search function cannot be found and that I have to run setup to fix it. Rover the doggie doesn't appear, either. Do you know how I can resolve this issue? " My response: I get asked this question from time to time, so it's worth answering once more. RE: When I try to use the Search function, Windows tells me that a file ... (view more)