Glen Cove Computing News

Welcome to the January Issue of Glen Cove Computing News. I'll be devoting a large part of this issue to Java, from Sun. Java is a simple, object-oriented, distributed, interpreted, robust, secure, architecture-neutral, portable, high-performance, multithreaded, dynamic, buzzword-compliant, general-purpose programming language. Java supports programming for the Internet in the form of platform-independent Java applets.

Now if you're a non-technical person the above paragraph makes absolutely no sense. For you here's the non-technical description of Java: Java is a programming language that allows you to embed applets or programs in web pages. To see an example of what you can do with Java click on Java Demo. You will only be able to see this Java applet if you're running Netscape 2.0. If you don't have Netscape 2.0 click on the Netscape Now! icon in the GCC Navigator to download a copy.

This third issue of the Glen Cove Computing News also features some helpful Tech Tips, the Internet Site of the Month, the Internet Technology of the Month, and the Cartoon of the Month.

• Logow.sys and Logo.sys are graphic screens shown during Windows shutdown. The former is the "wait" screen, and the latter is the "It's Now Safe to Turn Off Your Computer" screen. These files are standard bitmaps you can modify with a bitmap editor. Make a backup first, then make your system look the way you want when it's shutting down.

• You can bypass the Windows 95 Logo at startup. Just press the Esc key during start. For a permanent fix, edit the MSDOS.SYS file. Add the line LOGO = 0 to the Options section. If you ever want the logo back, change the 0 to 1.

• Teach Windows 95 to leave the words "Shortcut to" off the title of shortcuts. Create several shortcuts in a row and delete "Shortcut to" each time. After five or six times, Windows get the hint and stops putting the words "Shortcut to" under the icon.

• By default, Windows opens a new window for each folder you open. If you don't want to leave a trail of folders as you navigate your system, hold down the Ctrl key when you double-click on folders. New folders will then open in the same window.

• Windows 95 introduces a new feature called AutoPlay that automatically runs a CD-ROM when you put it into your drive. This feature may cause severe performance problems for some PCs, particularly if there's no CD in the drive. Windows 95 checks the drive every second to see if you've put in a disk, and that can slow your PC. If you notice that your system occasionally slows down and has jerky operation, put a CD into the drive to see if that solves the problem. You can also disable AutoPlay completely by right-clicking on My Computer, select Properties, and click on the Device Manager tab. Select the CD-ROM drive (the specific drive name) and click on the Properties button. Under the Settings tab, uncheck the Auto Insert Notification box.

• Tired of the eight line help message that appears every time you start a DOS session in Windows? Turn it off by adding the line DOSPromptExitInstruc=Off to the [386Enh] section of your SYSTEM.INI file.

• Increase the number of screen lines from 25 to 50 for the DOS box by placing SCREENLINES=50 in the [Non-WindowsApp] section of SYSTEM.INI.

The Internet Site of the month for January is The Nando Times. The Nando Times is the one of the best Internet "Newspapers" that I've found. Since this is the java issue of GCC News, I've created this link to the Java version of The Nando Times. If you don't have Netscape 2.0 choose either the Non-Java or Low Graphics version.

The Internet Technology of the month for January is Shockwave from Macromedia. The Shockwave Plug-In for Netscape Navigator 2.0 makes it possible for web designers to integrate into their web sites interactive multimedia presentations created in Macromedia Director. In addition to the static text and graphics of HTML, Director adds synchronized graphics, sounds, animation, and local interactivity.

These Director titles play seamlessly within the same window as the browser page. Because the Director player is integrated within Navigator, titles can either be played within the context of an HTML document, or as a logically separate Director document. To download a copy click on Shockwave Download. To see what people are doing with Shockwave click on Shockwave Demos.