April 2003 EduNotes

EduCyber is pleased to present the April 2003 Edition of EduNotes. Check out the opportunity for improving your computer's performance below. Also, in this issue you'll learn about different office packages that are available, find out where to get the latest news on the war from a variety of sources, and find out what Ed Cyber has to say about wireless networking. Enjoy and as always, send feedback to edunotes@educyber.com.
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Spring Cleaning
Ready for some Spring Cleaning? For the month of April you can get some great assistance. While you're cleaning house, let us come and clean your computer. We'll help you physically clean the computer (blowing out all the dust that's collected inside over the years) as well as help clean out unnecessary files and otherwise improving your computer's performance. All this for only $50. Call (303) 268-2245.
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Keeping Up With Office Software
Another Microsoft Office Suite Upgrade looms on the horizon. Wondering whether you could or should try to keep up? Considering an upgrade to Office XP starts at around $200 for a retail version, many of us are likely to throw up our hands and give up. But there are alternatives that are becoming increasingly attractive, both because of price and because of the features offered.
The original word processing software, WordPerfect, is coming out in a bundled office suite this spring as well. WordPerfect Office 11, which includes WordPerfect, Quattro Pro and Presentations, will start at around $150. A professional edition will also be available that will include the Paradox database program. I wouldn't be surprised to find it available for as low as $100 as they try to increase their user base. Earlier versions are available now for as low as $50 online. In any case, WordPerfect is a perfectly good alternative to Word and is certainly more affordable.
And for Mac users, AppleWorks is available for around $80. AppleWorks lets you work with text, spreadsheets, and presentations in one application. It also has database capabilities. AppleWorks has been around in one form or another for a long time and since returning to the Apple fold (it was ClarisWorks for a while) it has continued to improve along with the Mac Operating System.
Probably the best buy out there is StarOffice, sold by Sun Microsystems. You can get StarOffice 6.0 for as little as $60. While Sun has pulled the free downloadable StarOffice 5.2 (they have to feed their kids too, I guess), 6.0 is a full featured suite containing Writer (word processor), Calc (spreadsheet), Impress (presentations), Draw (drawing program), and Base (database). StarOffice integrates very well with MS Office products, meaning it can open files from those programs and save into formats compatible with those programs. Make no mistake, Sun wants to get market share from Microsoft. I'd say that StarOffice is a pretty admirable attempt at doing just that.
Some of these products may not be as readily available from your local office supply store as others but they are available online from places like Amazon or Buy.
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Online News
This war marks a real coming of age for Internet news. People are turning to the web in record numbers and in new ways (e.g. turning to their newspaper's web site for breaking news) to stay abreast of what is happening. The following are just a few places you can visit to learn more about how the war is going. You might want to take a look at some sites around the world to see what others are thinking and writing about the war. These links are just provided for your information and should not be construed as an endorsement of any of these sites.
Fox News http://www.foxnews.com
CNN http://www.cnn.com
BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Google http://news.google.com
US Department of Defense http://www.defendamerica.mil/
Yahoo http://dailynews.yahoo.com/
Canada.com http://www.canada.com/national/
International Herald Tribune http://www.iht.com/frontpage.html
The Times (London) http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
Turkish Daily News http://www.turkishdailynews.com/
Moscow Times http://www.moscowtimes.ru/
Jerusalem Post http://www.jpost.com/
Gulf News http://www.gulf-news.com/
Non-English Sites:
Le Monde http://www.lemonde.fr/
Bild http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/index.html
You can also visit the web site of the Arabic Al Jazeera TV station at http://www.aljazeera.net/ (at last check their English language site (http://english.aljazeera.net) was not functioning)
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Ask Ed Cyber
Dear Ed,
I got another computer last week so my kids can do their homework while I'm using the main computer. We need to set up a home network but I don't want to have to make holes in walls or floors to make this work. Can you help?
Unwired

Well Mr. (Mrs.?) Unwired, it sounds like you are a prime candidate for a wireless network. And as wireless networking comes more into its own, the choices for setting it up are growing. There are no fewer than three technologies for wireless networks: 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g. The newest and fastest technology is g.
I recommend setting up a wireless "g" network. Assuming your main computer already has a network interface (a high speed internet connection would use this), you really only need two pieces of hardware (plus a cable or two) to network your computers so you can share a fast internet connection and share files or printers.
The first piece of hardware you need is a wireless router. My favorite is a Linksys Cable/DSL router. These start at around $130. You unplug your high speed internet connection from your computer and plug it into the router. Then you take another cable and run it from the router to your computer. Follow the directions for the router to configure it for your Internet access. For a small network like yours, you can have the router use something called DHCP. This will make connecting the second computer to the network easier.
The second piece of hardware is a wireless PCI card (again I like the Linksys). Install the PCI card - costs around $70 - in an available PCI slot in your computer and install the drivers when prompted. If you set up encryption on your router (and I do hope you set up at least some basic encryption), you'll need to tell your computer what the wireless key is and then you should be ready to go.
If you choose not to install any encryption, there is a good chance that someone will hack into your system, use or delete your files and / or steal a ride on your Internet connection. The bottom line is - use encryption.
Of course, if you need help with any of this, you can call my friends at EduCyber (720)275-4646.
Hope this helps.
Sincerely, your Techno Dude,

Ed Cyber
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Old Computers
Don't you hate throwing away an old computer? In some cases, it could even be illegal. If you've got an old or aging computer and you don't know what to do with it, contact us at info@educyber.com. We work with several places that can either use or recycle your old computer.
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© 2003 EduCyber, Inc. This newsletter is brought to you by EduCyber, Inc. EduNotes can be viewed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week online at http://www.educyber.com/edunotes/index.php. Visit us on the web at http://www.educyber.com or call us at (303) 268-2245. Permission is hereby granted to redistribute all or part of this newsletter as long as this entire copyright message is included.
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