Live Well Laugh Often Billy & Akaisha Kaderli Lighten Up Love Much

THE ADVENTURER'S GUIDE TO EARLY RETIREMENT A COMMON SENSE APPROACH BILLY AND AKAISHA KADERLI

Buy it Now!

When we travel to far away locations 800 numbers are meaningless and time differences can cause confusion. No doubt some software issue with our pc will develop sooner or later. We all know what a hassle it is dealing with the support desks of the PC manufacturers. In Thailand, the Bangkok Post prints a feature called Database that we have we found to be both informative and is explained so that the common person can understand it. We have personally written to Wanda Sloan a couple of times for pc issues and she has always replied promptly and with solid information. We thank her for allowing us to post her expertise here for all of our benefit.
 Billy & Akaisha Kaderli

published with permission from the Bangkok Post

Database   A weekly feature from the Bangkok Post for the latest computer products, information and fixes.

SLOAN RANGER

Getting a grip on email archiving
Here is one very good and one superb program that will help you to back up your email messages

WANDA SLOAN

The brilliant MailStore software can be a bit cantankerous to set up unless you are using a standard email program, even for webmail. However, this is an excellent program that will ensure you never lose email again. I was literally a day away from writing a positive review of a good email archiving system when a kind Database reader (but I repeat myself) sent me a suggestion of a different program.

The second program impressed me so much that I put off, and then revised the whole review to get it at the top. I'll get to the very good software as soon as I tell you about the superb one.

MailStore Home is the free version of an application from a start-up company looking to get business archiving company mail. It is the most configurable, most powerful, probably most convenient such software - ever.

Here are the basics. You tell MailStore Home what email you want to back up, either on your computer or probably on the web, although there are limitations to backing up webmail.

Once archived to a hard drive, CD or DVD (a one-click operation), you can do three things with the email: Search it, including all attachments, probably faster and more comprehensively than the native program; restore it in case of a crash, and convert it from, say, Outlook Express to Thunderbird or Outlook.

In other words, you don't just have a backup, you have a full, on-demand email library.

The program is currently an 11MB download, and handled through www.Download.com.  

As you install MailStore Home, it will halt for a bit, with a notice that it is "optimising". I'm still not entirely clear what happened, but the point is that you needn't be concerned about the pause, which seems to freeze the program while it does its business.

The program interface is modern and I suppose it's designed to be reassuring, since there is a photo of a flower in the centre.

You really only have two buttons to worry about - Import Messages and Burn Backup CD.

When you click on Import Messages, however, you get to the business end of MailStore. If you are using Outlook, Outlook Express or Thunderbird, say, the setup is ready to go and you just click on the client's name to start gathering up your email for the archive.

I decided to test the limits of the program as much as I could, and told it to back up my Google Mail account that I use for communicating with Database readers. For that, you select POP3.

(A quick word. MailStore works with many webmail services - Gmail, Yahoo! and so on. It must have access to the accounts via POP3, a worldwide email standard, and so it will not work with Hotmail. Of course you can download Hotmail to Outlook Express, say, and then archive that.)

After you enter account details, there is a "Test" button to make sure MailStore can get to your account.

On the negative side, I was unpleasantly surprised by the lack of help for MailStore. This excellent and useful software may lose users right at the start.

Those who don't have, say, a primary Outlook or Thunderbird email program could have setup problems. There is no help installed with the software, and to call the online documentation sparse and dense is such understatement as to be praise.

Out of curiosity, I looked for how to set up an archive for Google mail. The program was no help. The online FAQ told me to use the forum, which doesn't exist. A search of the online documentation found a techie-entry after 25 minutes - really. I am going to help out MailStore folks by pointing to the help for webmail archiving, here: tinyurl.com/3m5s2k.

Bottom line: Brilliant program, best I've seen at any price, needs work.

There is no such thing as software that suits all people all of the time, and if MailStore is not - or doesn't sound like - a turn-on, here's a very good alternative.

Amic Email Backup has been around for a bit. For many readers, it will be easier to use, because it has ready-set-go buttons to import email from pretty well every program used by Database readers - the Outlooks, Eudora, The Bat, Incredimail and so on. For many of you, this will sell the program over MailStore Home.

But then Amic is a straight backup program, and wonderfully, powerfully good at what it does.

It doesn't just back up email. It archives the settings for your mail software - all settings, address book, rules and filters including spam settings, and even your tagline or signature files.

It will restore that backup on the host machine, or build the entire email structure on another computer - such as the new one your Sugar Daddy is getting you because of that great dinner the other night, or the laptop you want to sync for the conference in Singapore.

Amic Email Backup makes a single, compressed file, so you can't search it like MailStore Home. So while it is a bit limited, Amic is the best email backup solution available for most Windows users.

Amic Email Backup is from the nice folks at Amic Tools, which is in Transylvania in real life, but on the web at http://www.amictools.com. 

Get MailStore where you would expect, at http://www.mailstore.com. 

Email: wandasloan@gmail.com. 

Tip OF THE WEEK

It is very fashionable to rubbish Microsoft, Windows and Vista. In fact, Microsoft has some great software, almost none of it greater than the very free PowerToys, including TweakUI, the ClearType Tuner and the brilliant Image Resizer. There are many others; when you have 10 minutes free at your PC check them out at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp.

HELP DESK

Not so automatic

I trust you are well. Thanks for the weekly Database, which I enjoy, even though I am a self confessed dummy in this field, as the following will probably demonstrate.

I would appreciate your advice please regarding a frustrating problem my notebook has developed. A couple of weeks ago I noticed that when shutting down, the usual message appeared advising that updates were being downloaded and the machine would turn off automatically when completed. There were four updates I noticed. Everyday thereafter, the same message appeared and there were the same number of updates.

A few days ago I noticed that there were further updates being downloaded, and sure enough when I went to shut down, there were now a total of eight, and it has remained at eight every time I shutdown. It appears that the updates are being downloaded as the numbering sequence goes through them and then shuts down after the 8th and last one has been downloaded.

Obviously there is something amiss in that it appears these downloads are not actually being downloaded.

BARRY

Database replies: Wanda Sloan replies: It appears from your description that one of two things is happening. Either your Windows is failing to complete the downloads, or it is downloading but then not installing the updates.

Either way, there is really only one solution, and that is to monitor the update and see where it is failing. So go ahead and do a manual update. Open Internet Explorer, click on Tools and then Windows Update.

The remote, update program generally doesn't know if you have downloaded updates. Rather, it knows if you have installed them. Often, after you have downloaded updates manually, you will see an option to go further and actually install them.

As you go through this procedure, you may see an option to download and install all updates automatically, and you can turn this on if you want to continue to try to perform unattended updates. It is important, of course, that they be installed - either that, or you will have to remember each morning when you turn on the computer to see if there are updates, and if so to install each of them manually.

Under recent versions of Windows XP, you can open the Security Center in Control Panel, then proceed to the section on Automatic Updates. There are a number of choices you can make there which affect the downloading and installation of updates.

Firefox problems

It's always nice to have an opportunity to tell you how much I enjoy reading your work, even from a great distance (I am currently in Chile).

Regarding today's "Helpdesk" letter from a reader who complained that Firefox has suddenly starting crashing, I've run into the same problem ever since I upgraded to the latest release, which I believe is Version 2.0.0.13. I've noticed that the only time I have a problem is when I try to use Netvibes, which has been my home page for at least a year and a half. They have also recently upgraded to a (I believe) "Ginger" edition, which is useful because it allows you to post an open page on the web.

Unfortunately, I've had to give up using Netvibes for the time being, which is annoying because I'd put a good deal of energy setting it up as my RSS reader. It also makes it difficult to update my public page, which is connected to an Internet radio program I am currently doing down here. I haven't had a Firefox crash since I stopped trying to use Netvibes, so I'm willing to wager your reader is probably experiencing a conflict between the latest version of Firefox and some other web-based program he's trying to use.

I haven't written to either Firefox or Netvibes because I'm also willing to wager that their "tech advice" would be to take it up with the other. I'm hoping Version 3 comes out soon. I'm almost tempted to switch now - it can't be less stable than this particular release.

Anyway, I hope this serves as a clue.

STEVE STUPP P.S. Speaking of RSS, is there some reason why the Database section doesn't have an RSS feed? Just a thought.

Database replies: Wanda Sloan replies: Thank you very much for taking the time to write, and give us such a clear description of your Firefox experience ... or maybe it is your Netvibes experience, I suppose.

The fact is that not all software plays nicely with all other software. Browsers are complicated programs, and most users add customisation, add-ons, plug-ins and visit sites which are, well, let's say "non-compliant". All of these play on each other in sometimes negative ways. It's not what many users want to hear, but I think that in some cases you just have to use another browser, or (as you did) change your other software.

Here at Database, we have nothing to do with the web site, but I have passed along your comment about that, as well.

Again, thank you for your excellent mail.

INTERNET SITE OF THE WEEK
TONY WALTHAM

If you can't wait for Kodak Express outlets here to offer the new services referred to in our front page story once they deploy the new APEX equipment - and if you want an animated video made of a collection of still photographs - then head on over to animoto.com.

"Welcome to the end of slideshows," the beta version of Animoto proclaims, and after you sign up for a free account you can begin to upload pictures. Clearly, it is a good idea to group together some photos with a common theme or mood, and it is a good idea to reduce the file size (you can do this easily with a .JPG file if you "save as" and reduce the "quality"). Saving at 30 per cent quality will give you a file size around 12 per cent of the original, but you'll hardly notice any difference (although you will when you start uploading).

The upload process is simple, press shift and select multiple images, and then sit back until the files are on Animoto's servers. The next step is choosing the music. Click "continue" and you get to "Animoto's collection" or "upload from your computer". Animoto's collection is broken down into seven categories: Indie, electronica, hip hop, singer/songwriter, Latin, jazz and classical. There are between 12 and 20 tracks to choose from in each, mostly little-known artists. Then click "create video" and sit back while Animoto does the work. Check it out: The right images, the right music and Animoto's "magic" can be a powerful combination.

APP SHOT

An always-there 'sticky note' utility
WANDA SLOAN

Note Mania can list or show (or both) all your sticky notes and reminders, or limit them to a day, week or month at a time.
Note Mania is both the smallest and most useable ''sticky note'' program I have found _ and I have tested quite a few of them in the last year or so.

Just 308KB to download, this is a reminder and to-do program that packs a lot of power, not to mention allowing enough tweaks and configuration to bring a smile to the face of the most dour geek.

The purpose of the program is to be always-on, watching the date and time to pop up and get your attention because of a pending appointment, job or deadline.

Note Mania speaks Thai (make sure you get the Unicode version) and can be set up in any of three different ways _ with a calendar, a notepad or simply by feeding the details of your reminder to the ''make a new note'' function.

The pop-ups on the screen are easily colour-coded, whether for fun and variety or dead seriousness by a Type-A personality for which everything must be super-ordered. Fonts and style are equally easy to set. If you'd like to have a persistent note on your screen all the time, simply set the transparency level so it's there, although you can see right through it.

The program also has a variety of ways to let you know that it's time to put down the mouse, grab your purse and head for an appointment. It can politely pop up in a corner of the screen with a murmur or effectively take over your whole screen with a configurable calendar (including your favourite team's logo) and a piercing version of Hell's Bells from your MP3 folder.

The fast, simple and informative home of Note Mania is www.utilhaven.com. 

Email: wandasloan@gmail.com.                    
      

Billy and Akaisha continue to journal and photograph their world travels.

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