Productivity Cheat Sheet 25: Express Tricks

The popularity of Hotmail and Yahoo may wax and wane, and reputation of Gmail may grow or slow, the peneration levels of Outlook Express remain virtually untouched. According to unoffical--and therefore debatable--estimates OE is firmly ensconced on 8 out of 10 Windows PCs today. The reasons for this are obvious: It’s easy to use, totally free, usually reliable, and largely perceived as a natural, "in-sync" bedfellow of Microsoft Windows and Office.

So this week, let’s try and see how we can help you work smarter with Outlook Express.

Spelling Bound
Typos and spelling mistakes in an e-mail can create a very negative impression in the mind of the recipient. So it is best to ensure that all your business correspondence is as faultless as possible. Here’s what you need to do to get OE’s spell checker to kick in for every single mail that you beam out. Select Tools > Options and switch to the Spelling tab. Here, under Settings, tick the check box next to “Always check spelling before sending” and then click on OK. Now the next time you your type out a mail and hit the Send button, the spell checker will point out any and every typo you have made.

Address Book Addendum
Double-click on an e-mail you have received from someone to open it. Right click on the sender's mail address (the From field). Next, select Add to Address Book. To edit the person’s name you have just added, choose File > Address Book. Now select the name and click on File > Properties. Edit the name as per requirements and click on OK.

Reducing Drag
If you feel that your Outlook Express has started aping a tortoise of late—or even tends to be unstable—check the number of messages you have amassed. While there is no limit to the quantum of messages OE can hold, things can get lethargic once your Inbox hits 2,000 messages with loads of attachments. More the 5,000 and OE can get cantankerous and even unreliable. So trim the fat, kill the unnecessary, and exterminate the relics. And/or hive off the important one to separate folders.

Inheriting Properties, Fast!
Here’s a speed tip. To get to Properties, most people click on a name they’re interested in and then click the Properties button in the toolbar. Okay, nothing wrong there. But if you want to do this faster, all you need to do to open the Properties dialog box is double-click on the name.

Group Checkin’
Need to check the details about a group in your Address Book? Move your mouse pointer to the group's icon, hold your breath, and wait a few secs (okay, it works even if you don’t hold your breath). A tool tip will open up to show you the names of the people belonging to the group.

Bunching Fowards
If you want to forward several e-mail messages at the same time to someone, go to the folder containing the messages you'd wish to forward. Holding the Ctrl key down, click on each message you want to forward. Then, right-click on any message in your selection and pick Forward. A New Message window will appear with the messages attached (across the bottom of the window). Now simply complete your message and zap it off.

Fighting Big Bad Wolves

A free lunch with antivirus programmes.

Once upon a time there lived three fat little pigs. As they grew fatter their Mama Mia told them that they were getting far too plump for the house so they should venture forth and seek their fortunes. "But beware the Big Bad Wolf", she warned as they waddled off.

The first little pig went and built a house of straw. The second little pork made a house of sticks. The third little oink constructed a house of bricks. And they all grunted happily along. Until…

One beautiful moonlight night, the Big Bad Wolf--who loved hogging fat little piggies--came loping along and espied the first little suar ka bacha in his house of straw. "Little pig, little pig, let me in... or I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in!" snarled the greedy BBW.

"By the hair on my chinny-chin-chin, I will not let you in," grunted the little trotter. So the BBW huffed and puffed, blew the house in and gobbled up the first little pig. Sigh. And thereby hangs tale...

Now imagine your PC as the little piggy-wig in a house of bhuusa, me as your Mama Mia, and a virus as the ravenous Big Bad Wolf. And I am warning you, "Beware the Big Bad Wolf! Use an antivirus..."

AVG Antivirus Free
http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/
This easy-to-use freebie download from Grisoft offers very good armour against real time threats from files and e-mails. You can pre-schedule an AV scan or check disks and files manually as and when required. It creates rescue diskettes for emergency recovery. It automatically updates its virus database regularly. It forte? E-mail handling. AVG integrates with mail programs for sniffing and apprehending. It can add virus-free notification to mail, delete all or specified attachments, and block password protected ZIP attachments. All in all, it provides first class protection without bogging down your PC.

avast! 4 Home Edition
www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html
This solid full-featured AV has an ICSA (International Computer Security Association) certified kernel. It offers very good protection against in-the-wild viruses and trojans. Regular file formats aside, it can also scan various embedded and compressed files, Outlook pst files, Outlook Express archives and supports a number of executable packers (PKLite, Diet, UPX, ASPack, PeShield, FSG, MEW etc.). Automatic updates, an simple user interface, an isolation chamber, mem resident as well as P2P and IM (Internet Messenger) shields, an integrated cleaner and support for 64-bit Win give it a major edge. Top-notch AV muscle here.

Microsoft Windows Defender Beta 2
www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx
Aah, benevolence from the King! MWD detects and removes known spyware from your PC, thereby protecting it from pop-ups, Internet baddies and security threats. If offers scheduled scanning and removal, supports XP x64, and incorporates assistive technology for individuals with physical or cognitive difficulties. MWD keeps it definitions up-to-date and offers automatic cleaning. It has a natty interface and provides detailed info on the intruders nabbed.

BitDefender 8 Free
www.bitdefender.com/PRODUCT-14-en--BitDefender-8-Free-Edition.html
ICSA (www.icsalabs.com/icsa/icsahome.php) certified virus scanning. On-demand virus scan, scheduler, online update, skinnable, quarantine and reports. Can scan archives, mail databases as well as the boot sector. Integrates with Explorer right-click menu making very easily accessible for specific file scans. But no “on access” or e-mail scanning. So "always-on" Internet connection walas, don’t depend on this Doc’s dawa alone. Yet, good for second opinions.


Comodo Antivirus 1.1 beta
www.antivirus.comodo.com/index.html?currency=USD®ion=Asia%20%26%20Pacific&country=IN
This proactive heuristic analysis tool for known and unknown threats works does antivirus detection and elimination on desktops, networks as well as removable drives. It incorporates real-time, on access scanning for people who are constantly online and provides automatic virus definition updates. Comodo scans compressed files and has a worm blocker which monitors and intercepts suspicious mass mailing attempts. Dubious files can be quarantined. Downer? Bit heavy on system resources.


Top 10 Online Defenders

BitDefender
www.bitdefender.com/scan8/ie.html

eTrust Antivirus Web Scanner
www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/virusinfo/scan.aspx

F-Secure
http://support.f-secure.com/enu/home/ols.shtml

Freedom
www.freedom.net/viruscenter/onlineviruscheck.html

Kaspersky
www.kaspersky.com/kos/english/kavwebscan.html

McAfee Freescan
http://us.mcafee.com/root/mfs/default.asp?cid=9914

Panda ActiveScan
www.pandasoftware.com/products/activescan?NRMODE=Published&NRORIGINALURL=%2factivescan%2f&NRNODEGUID=%7b3B202047-35D4-4DA2-B310-B1DBEC2971F2%7d&NRCACHEHINT=Guest

PC Pitstop
www.pcpitstop.com/antivirus/default.asp

Symantec Security Check
http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/default.asp?productid=symhome&langid=ie&venid=sym

TrendMicro Housecall
www.housecall.trendmicro.com/

Sound Bytes

Sound advice on the best audio engineering freeware.

Ever heard of a lassie called Euterpe? No na? Not surprising. She was one of the nine Muses in Greek mythology, million of moons ago maybe. The daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne, Euterpe (bolo "you-TER-pee") is the mellifluous muse of music who has always inspired mankind to weave harmonic waves of acoustic melody through the ages.

Be that as it may, for you audiophiles who itch to tune and tinker with audio files on your PCs, queued up here is some freeware that’ll be real music to your ears…

Audacity
Audacity is an awesome cross-platform digital audio editor for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux. You can use this free Open Source programme to record, edit, mix, convert et al. It records from microphone, line input, etc., dubs, creates multi-track recordings, handling upto 16 channels at once. It records and edits 16-bit, 24-bit, and 32-bit (floating point) samples at up to 96 KHz. You can import and edit files, combine them with other recordings and export your recordings in MP3, WAV, AIFF, AU, and Ogg Vorbis. However, it doesn’t support WMA, AAC, and other proprietary formats yet.

Apart form standard editing features Audacity allows unlimited undos and redos, as well as editing and mixing an unlimited number of tracks. Altering pitch and tempo, and removal of static, hiss, hum, or other constant background noises is also possible. You can alter frequencies with equalisation, FFT filter, and bass boost effects and adjust volumes using Compressor, Amplify, and Normalise effects. Free lunch? That’s more like a free feast, Mr. Wannabe Soundman!
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Gungirl Sequencer
Never heard of that one, have ya? Well, Gungirl is an audiosequencer. A sequencer is a hardware device or software application used to “sequence” timed events into a certain order. In digital audio and music, a sequencer is the core of virtually every computer-based recording studio used to record and arrange MIDI and/or audio events into patterns and musical compositions.

Yet, unlike most sequencers, Gungirl is not a MIDI sequencer. And this makes it even more Gungirl is ideal for beginners with any additional complications. Also, it has an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop interface and an uncomplicated, idiot-proof file manager. It can handle eight audio tracks. It supports 16-bit, 44,100 Hz audio and exports to WAV format.
http://ggseq.sourceforge.net/

Hydrogen Advanced Drum Machine
Amit Kilam, Shivamani, Ringo Starr, Billy Cobham… and other Papajis of Percussion, hear this: Hydrogen is an advanced Windows-based drum machine out to challenge your ilk! Created by Alessandro Cominu, an Italian programmer, Hydrogen aims to bring professional--yet simple and intuitive--pattern-based drum programming to involved drum aficionados.

It features a pattern-based sequencer, with an unlimited number of patterns and the ability to chain patterns into a song. It claims to “generate up to 64 ticks per pattern, with individual levels per event, and variable pattern lengths.” Hydrogen has 32 instrument tracks with volume, mute, solo, pan capabilities and multi-layer support for instruments (16 samples max for each instrument). It can import and export song files and has unique human velocity, human time, pitch and swing functions. No hum-drum affair this, eh…
www.hydrogen-music.org/

Kristal Audio Engine
A modular multitrack recorder, audio sequencer and mixer for newbies. You can pick up all required nuances of recording, mixing and mastering digital audio here. The mixing console is the main app; the audio sequencer, live audio input, effects modules etc. can be loaded on as plug-ins as and when you are up to handling them.

The app does 16 audio tracks and has a 32-bit floating point audio engine which can handle 44.1 to 192 KHz sample rates and 16/24/32 bit audio files. It has a triband parametric equaliser and supports WAV, AIFF, FLAC, OGG Vorbis formats. It also comes with features like audio clip fade-in/fade-out/crossfade and unlimited undos/redos.
www.kvraudio.com/get/866.html

Audiograbber
Jaisa naam, waisa kaam. Audiograbber grabs digital audio from CDs. It doesn’t route anything via your sound card. It simply copies all the audio digitally. It can automatically “normalise” music, delete the silent seconds from start and/or end tracks, and use a variety external MP3 encoders, or deploy internal MP3/WMA encoders for MP3 file creation. You can make knock-offs of your vinyl LPs or cassettes with Audiograbber and convert the audio into WAVs or MP3s.

Audiograbber has a neat and easy interface that is fairly flexible. You’ll be surprised but, it doesn’t mess with your Windows at all: No DLLs, OCXs, device drivers, spyware, adware intrusions; no evidence of it in the Windows Registry or win.ini. So go grab it.
www.audiograbber.com-us.net/

ALL FOR A SONG!

Audiri
[Online music/music video resource]
www.audiri.com

foobar2000
[Media player]
www.foobar2000.org/

iTunes
[Audio player/organiser]
www.apple.com/itunes

Pandora
[Online music radio]
www.pandora.com

wxMusik
[Media player/library]
http://musik.berlios.de

Star Trek

Something about the Earth and the beyond.

Amazed and confused at the disqualification of Pluto as a planet in our Solar System? Try and picture the immense magnitude of the Universe and maybe you’ll find a method behind this madness. Visualise this: You’re a 5-feet something dude/dudette. You live on this Dharti Mata, Planet Earth. The Earth is 40,000 kms round and revolves around the Sun (yeah, our Surya). Our Surya is big--big enough to hold 1.3 million Earths. So if you imagine this Surya as a regular kharbooza, the Earth is like a tiny pinhead in comparison. (To see how a piece of rock called Pluto looks in this scheme of astronomical sizings, go to www.rense.com/general72/size.htm)

Zoom out from our Solar System. You will find that our galaxy, the Milky Way has some 200 billion "Suns" in it. Our Sun is just a little spec in the Milky Way--which is about 1,00,000 light years across in width. Now let's try and view that number in some perspective. Light, traveling at 3,00,000 kms a second, takes eight minutes to reach us from our Sun. But from another sun, near the centre of our very own Milky Way galaxy, light takes 27,000 years to reach us! (This sun we are talking about is called the Pistol Star. It is 100 times bigger than our Sun and 1,00,00,000 times brighter--making it the biggest and brightest star known.) For an amazing depiction of the macrocosm-to-microcosm universe--starting from our Milky Way at 10 million light years away from the Earth, to a leaf on tree in Florida, USA, down to its subatomic chlorophyll universe of electrons and protons--go to: http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/

If we zoom further back, stepping out of our Milky Way Galaxy, what will we see? Two more galaxies right next to our Milky Way. The Andromeda Galaxy in the constellation of Andromeda (referred to as M31) and the Pinwheel Galaxy (M33) in the constellation Triangulum. Both M31 and M33 are actually visible without a telescope if you know where and when to look. The "Great Galaxy" in Andromeda is the closest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way and about twice as wide--with some 300 billion suns! East of Andromeda, is the M33, another spiral galaxy. This is 2.3 million light years away from us. And the M31? A mite further at 2.9 million light years. So the light that we see emanating from M31 currently was actually emitted from the galaxy around the time mankind first discovered fire!

That's not all. The Milky Way, the M31 and M33 are what astronomers look upon as the "local group" of neighbouring galaxies--because they are in the same part of the sky. Beyond this, astronomers can see billions of galaxies. So what is at the edge of the Universe? Don't know, can't say. Not yet. Maybe, there is not edge or end to the Universe at all...

Fascinating, isn't it? And chilling too, to realise how small and utterly insignificant we humans are in this awesomely gigantic Universe. The Internet is strewn with hundreds of websites on the magic and mysteries of this Universe. Here are some of best astronomy, space and earth science freeware and sites that have skimmed across my horizon.

Celestia
A real-time space simulation freebie that lets you explore the Universe in 3D. Trek through the Solar System, to over 100,000 stars, and even beyond the Milky Way. The exponential zoom lets you delve into space across a huge range of scales.
www.shatters.net/celestia

World Wind
This NASA GIS program is like a high-res world map layered with satellite info. Zoom from satellite altitude to anything on Earth--Grand Canyon or Gobi Desert. LandSat imagery and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) elevation data give you a feel of the Earth’s terrain. Like Google Earth? Nay, much more.
http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov

Stellarium
Among the best star chart proggies around. It takes your location, calculates local sunset/sunrise, moonset/moonrise and then shows what you will see at night (and evening and morning twilight).
www.stellaruim.org

Orbiter
This demos some advanced principles of spaceflight like orbital mechanics, interplanetary navigation, and related matters. The graphics are better than most commercial programs.
http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/orbit.html

Orbitron
An artificial satellite tracking proggie, has info of almost all spacecraft in orbiting Earth. Spy satellites? Pata nahin but it can show up 20,000 orbiters).
www.stoff.pl

Other Celestial Orbits

BOINC
http://boinc.berkeley.edu

Space
www.space.com

Google Earth
http://earth.google.com

SOHO
http://ares.nrl.navy.mil/sungrazer

SETI @home
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu

J-Track
http://science.nasa.gov/Realtime/JTrack