Gadzooks! April showers are almost upon us. The first three months of this year have flown by and still we haven’t started our remodeling project. It never occurred to us that it took so long to get contractors to come by, take measurements, get our input, and come back with an estimate. I suppose this is one of the results of our hurricane last fall. I’ll tell you something else you probably know: construction materials have gone up by 30 – 35% and are still up there.

Fortunately, computer prices are still going down and it gets better everyday. So lets take a look at what’s going on in that world.

FBI pushes for broadband wiretap powers - All broadband Internet providers, including cable modem and DSL companies, would have to rewire their networks to support easy wiretapping by police, according to a new proposal from the FBI.

The long-awaited proposal, submitted to the Federal Communications Commission in March, has been crafted so broadly that it would outlaw the introduction of new broadband services that did not support ready wiretapping access. Companies currently offering broadband would be given 15 months to comply.

"The importance and the urgency of this task cannot be overstated," reads the proposal, which is also backed by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration. "The ability of federal, state and local law enforcement to carry out critical electronic surveillance is being compromised today."

"It is a very big deal and will be very costly for the Internet and the deployment of new technologies," said Stewart Baker, a partner at law firm Steptoe & Johnson, who represents Internet providers. "This is a very serious request. Law enforcement is very serious about it."

The origins of this debate date back nine years, to when the FBI persuaded Congress to enact a controversial law called the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, or CALEA. Louis Freeh, FBI director at the time, testified in 1994 that emerging technologies such as call forwarding, call waiting and cellular phones had frustrated surveillance efforts.

Congress responded to the FBI's concern by requiring that telecommunications services rewire their networks to provide police with guaranteed access for wiretaps. Legislators also granted the FCC substantial leeway in defining what types of companies must comply.

DELL OFFERS NEW DRIVERS TO CORRECT MONITOR PROBLEM

Some flat-panel monitors sold by Dell have quit working, according to their owners. Dell has a fix--new drivers that can be downloaded. Drivers are programs that tell Windows how to interact with a piece of equipment. Most of the problems appear to involve Nvidia video cards and Dell UltraSharp displays.

The monitors' extended display identification data also must be reset. Users should contact customer support for that, the company said. According to Dell, the drivers can be downloaded from its site at: http://www.support.dell.com/

Getting rid of ZoneAlarm

Q. I wish to uninstall ZoneAlarm. However, there is still part of it on my computer. It keeps closing my browser. How do I get rid of it? I can't follow the instructions on their site. My screen doesn't have the things they mention, it asks me to go into safe mode, etc. I am not comfortable with this.

A. It is important that ZoneAlarm, or any other program, be removed properly. If its files are simply deleted, bits and pieces will be left behind, especially in the Registry. These can cause all sorts of problems.

Programs are properly uninstalled by clicking Start>>Control Panel. Double-click Add or Remove Software. Find ZoneAlarm on the list and remove it.

If some of the files have already been deleted, the uninstallation process may not work. In that case, download the program and reinstall it. Once it is reinstalled, you should be able to uninstall it properly. The program is available at: http://www.zonelabs.com/

If this procedure does not work, try ZoneAlarm's virtual technical support agent. Also, there is a user's forum available on the ZoneAlarm site. Ask for assistance there. Both are at: http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/support/znalm4Main.jsp

Should that not work, you can call ZoneAlarm. There is a $2.95-per- minute fee for assistance. ZoneAlarm has information at: http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/support/phoneSupport.jsp

Optical Drives: Simplified DVD Labeling - HP's invention, due in drives soon, lets users burn labels.

Looking for a way to label your multitude of CDs and DVDs neatly and efficiently? HP has come up with an elegant answer: Use the same laser that already burned the data to make a label on the flip side of the disc.

A technology dubbed LightScribe enables drives to burn a silk screen-like, high-contrast label on the upper side of CD or DVD media bearing a special coating. After completing a data burn, users will be prompted to flip the disc over to burn a label onto the other side. The first LightScribe drives and media are expected to hit the market about six months from now, from leading manufacturers such as Hitachi-LG, MicroVision, Mitsubishi Chemical, Moser Baer India, Sonic Solutions, and Toshiba. HP estimates that a drive that uses LightScribe will carry a premium of about $10 over the going price today, and that a disc will cost about a dime more than today's discs.

"There are no consumables like ink or ink jet cartridges; the only consumable is the disc itself," says Daryl Anderson, project manager and HP engineer responsible for inventing the technology as part of a joint effort between HP's Imaging and Printing Group and its Personal Systems Group.

HP's technology differs from Yamaha's DiscT@2, introduced a year ago on the CRW-F1 CD-RW drive. DiscT@2 burns a label on the disc's underside, reducing the amount of data the disc can store; and the exposure of the data side renders it more easily scratched or scuffed. HP notes that LightScribe is likely to show up eventually on such consumer electronics products as stereo-component CD recording decks and set-top DVD recorders.

Rebate Roulette - Still waiting for that check in the mail? Here's the ugly truth about rebates--and how to steer clear of the gotchas.

When Paul Theisen, president of Unlocked Potential, a hiring consulting company in Livonia, Michigan, bought Symantec's Norton AntiVirus 2003 at his local OfficeMax, he thought he was getting the software for free--it cost $70 with $70 in rebates. So he filled out the forms, clipped the UPC labels, and mailed his claims. After three weeks, a $30 check arrived for one of the two rebates. Two and a half months later, he received a notice indicating he was ineligible for the second rebate of $40 because he was missing some paperwork. "But the note didn't specify exactly what was missing," says Theisen.

After making many calls and faxing a copy of the UPC label and the receipt, he was denied again. This time, the rebate fulfillment house for Symantec told him the promotion was over. Theisen felt he was at a dead end. "Talking to the reps is like talking to parrots," he fumes. "No matter what I said, they kept repeating that I didn't send the correct documents." (After a national PC magazine contacted Symantec, the company eventually sent him the $40 check.)

Theisen's experience is only one example of what can go wrong. Another snag may involve a lack of contact information for disputing a rejection. And some rebate coupons are written in such tiny type that you might need a magnifying glass.

Looking behind the scenes and talking to shoppers who collected rebates and to others who were left empty-handed usually reveals the same old gripes: incomplete data, no or copies of the UPC labels, failure to submit required copies of the receipts. Manufacturers, retailers, and fulfillment houses (which administer rebates) attempt to explain about the pitfalls in the process; companies sometimes point their fingers at each other, leaving buyers in a runaround frenzy. If you've decided to go the rebate route, and you need a bit of help, I would recommend stores (like Costco) that make the filing process a little easier.

Breakdown in the Process

Rebates are a headache for consumers, a tricky situation for retailers, and a major expense for manufacturers. So why are we seeing more rebate offers than ever before? Because stores and product makers want to lure shoppers into buying their products, and they know some people won't collect.

Market research firm Aberdeen Group reports that about 60 percent of buyers who could redeem computer-related rebates don't try. "That's money the store and/or the manufacturer keep," says Aberdeen analyst Peter Kastner. Of the 40 percent who give it a shot, half experience problems or don't get a check at all.

In addition, rebates are evolving beyond the simple $5-back-on-a-$50-purchase model. Many software vendors, including Symantec and Pinnacle Systems, offer "net-zero" rebates in which buyers, like Theisen, are promised all of their money back (except, of course, the sales tax). But the burgeoning number of rebate deals in newspaper ads, on store shelves, and on Web sites has resulted in a crescendo of consumer complaints. Chat boards such as those on FatWallet.com http://www.fatwallet.com/, a site that offers shopping information and tools for saving money, are overflowing with gripes about denied rebate redemptions.

Part of the problem is that three parties--the product manufacturer, the retailer, and the rebate fulfillment house--are usually involved in the process. Each company ends up relying on the others to ensure that things go smoothly.

Rather than process thousands of redemptions themselves, manufacturers and retailers frequently contract with a fulfillment house to open and sort mail, log in consumer data, and, if all requirements have been met, issue rebate checks. But those fulfillment houses can't cut any checks until the sponsoring manufacturer or retail store hands over the rebate money, which can take anywhere from 15 to 90 days after the fulfillment company's invoice date. If the sponsor pays the invoice with a paper check, the fulfillment house must wait several days for that check to clear before it can write any checks to consumers. Sometimes the manufacturer doesn't pay the invoice at all; a few fulfillment houses (which prefer to remain anonymous) told us that they have quietly gone to the Federal Trade Commission to report such a problem.

Onerous Requirements

Some rebate offers are so aggressive that the products are virtually free. At Outpost.com, for example, Pinnacle Studio 8 video editing software costs $79.99, but is -$0.01 after an $80 mail-in rebate. Such a deal, right? Not necessarily.

The $80 rebate is actually two offers: a $50 one that requires proof of upgrading from a competitor's program (a preloaded version on your PC doesn't count); and a $30 offer that must be sent to the same address--but to a different department. Another requirement: You must send either the title page of the user manual for a full version of the older software or the old installation CD.

How can you find out about the rules before you sink your money into the product? Manufacturers often tuck the details inside the product box, which, once opened, cannot be returned. Retailers don't provide rebate rules until checkout, either, though you can ask a cashier to print out the rules before you buy. The process is a little easier online, where many merchants provide the rules.

Vendors, such as McAfee Security, have tried to be more forthcoming about the details by listing them on a little sticker on the box. Emphasize the word little. The McAfee Personal Firewall Plus coupon I looked at was barely larger than a butterfly, with letters about the size of starving fleas. The label has roughly 700 words of fine print on one side and a cramped form on the other. And if the software is shrink-wrapped, you probably can't peel off the sticker to read the details.

McAfee says its stickers are standard in the software industry, especially now that some programs come in a box about the size of a VHS video tape. "We want to offer the terms and conditions up front, and that requires a small sticker [in the new packaging]," says Michelle Jimenez, McAfee marketing manager.

If you can't read or find the rebate requirements, ask the store or call the manufacturer about the specifics.

Finger-Pointing

Some manufacturers say that they offer rebates partly because retailers want them to. "A retailer might say, 'We're having this sale and we want to hit a certain price with this product in our ad. See what you can do,'" says Lewis Lustman, marketing director of Iogear, which makes input devices, networking hardware, and other PC peripherals. "The onus then is on [manufacturers] to come up with something."

The good news for manufacturers and retailers is that rebates can make their bottom line look good, at least temporarily. "With money in the bank, there is no hurry to pay the rebates," says Todd Fernandez, a financial analyst at Glass Lewis & Company. "Businesses can sit on consumer money [while it earns interest] for a quarter, or sometimes two--a great way to facilitate working capital."

However, some retailers aren't happy about delaying tactics. As a general rule, "if [shoppers] buy a product offering a rebate, [they] should get it, and get it on a timely basis," says Dave Bennett, vice president of pricing at Office Depot. The retail chain promises its store-sponsored rebates within eight to ten weeks.

Like many retailers, Office Depot has limited control over the company that handles manufacturers' rebates. Bennett understands shoppers' frustrations: When they find rebate rules that are unreasonable, their first reaction is to get "mad at the store they bought [the product] from," he says.

But consumers also get mad at the fulfillment house. For instance, TCA Fulfillment, which handles rebates for Brother, CompUSA, Kingston, Micro Center, Samsung, and many other stores and vendors, is described as one of the worst rebate processing companies by participants on FatWallet.com's chat boards, and it has had an unsatisfactory rating with metropolitan New York's Better Business Bureau for most of its history.

Some angry consumers have even accused TCA and other vendors of deliberately losing rebates owed. "That is such urban folklore," counters TCA founder and CEO Frank Giordano, explaining, "We are a service organization. We get paid for every redemption request we enter in the system. If we don't put it in the system, we don't get paid."

The BBB reports that TCA has exhibited a pattern of not responding to consumers' complaints. "More than 90 percent of [these complaints] were from irate consumers who'd been denied [a rebate], usually for good reason," says Giordano. "We thought it was a waste of time to explain through a middle party, like the BBB, why their rebate was rejected."

New York BBB spokesperson Ronna Brown says that "if TCA told us that all complaints are related to one manufacturer not paying its invoice in time, we'd take that into consideration. [But even if] the volume of their redemptions is incredibly high, they still need to respond to complaints." Brown acknowledges that the fulfillment company has resolved hundreds of complaints in the last year.

Watchdogs Step In

If the retailers aren't trying to scam the consumer and the manufacturers aren't trying to pull a fast one, and the rebate houses are cranking out checks as fast as they can, who's at fault when rebate experiences go sour? The company sponsoring the rebate is ultimately responsible. And when you can't get a rebate dispute resolved, where do you turn? That's where the FTC and the state attorneys general offices enter the picture.

Matthew Gold, a staff attorney in the San Francisco office of the commission, says that some patterns of deception are spotted when the rebate's sponsor is in financial trouble. Over the past few years, several cases have been filed against manufacturers. One of these, Prime Peripherals--also known as OKie Electronics--eventually filed for bankruptcy.

"[The FTC] hasn't seen a lot of outright fraud," Gold says. More often, he adds, it's a case of a small company not anticipating the level of response to the offer, or a big company too caught up in its own bureaucracy to deposit funds into the fulfillment house's bank account. "Typically, once [the FTC] gets involved, the companies are reasonably responsive, meaning they either admit they're in financial trouble or they try to get the money out to consumers." It's rare for the FTC or a state attorney general to file suit against a company for failure to pay rebates.

"We don't disclose the companies we are investigating, but if we receive a number of complaints [about a specific vendor], we look into the situation," says Brad Maione, press officer for New York State's Attorney General. "We may also be able to mediate without taking any formal action."

Government agencies continue to help consumers learn to, as the FTC puts it, "take the 'bait' out of rebates." Be sure to read the commission's assortment of helpful tips. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/rebatealrt.htm

Stores Make Rebates Easier

Some leading retailers, hoping to entice customers to make all of their rebate-eligible purchases in one place, are trying to make redemptions easier. The warehouse club Costco, for example, was among the first to blaze a rebate trail by printing out a separate rebate receipt and cash-register-generated claim form along with the customer's copy of the receipt. Most rebates redeemed through Costco don't even require clipping out the UPC, and the bulk of them can be redeemed online, saving even the 37-cent postage stamp. But beware: Wait more than 30 days to file, and you're out of luck.

Office-supply retailer Staples extended its filing deadline from 30 days to 60 days on most rebates. It also plans to offer online redemptions this year. But like other stores, Staples doesn't combine all of its vendors' rebates into its own program, which is processed by Parago. So be sure you understand whether the rebate is through Staples or the manufacturer. Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, OfficeMax, Office Depot, and Walgreens don't combine all of their vendors' rebates either, but they do print separate rebate receipts. Some of them, including Best Buy, also print out claim forms at the register as Costco does, and they offer toll-free customer-service phone numbers for reporting problems.

Rebate Tips

Do the math: If a product costs $50 without a rebate and a competitor is $60 with a $20 rebate, consider the $50 item and skip the hassle of filing a claim.

Check the expiration date: Some rebate offers expire faster than a carton of milk. Always check a rebate's promotion period. A merchant may have failed to update its ads or may carry leftover inventory from a promotion that has ended.

File promptly: Send the rebate claim right away. Some stores and manufacturers require that you submit a claim within 14 days of purchase--which is often shorter than a shop's return policy.

Follow all instructions: If the form says to use blue ink, do. Fill out every line.

Keep copies for your records: Copy everything before you send the claim.

Use certified mail: It proves that someone received your rebate request.

Set reminders: Mark your calendar for the check's estimated arrival, or download the rebate tracking freeware at: ( http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,8341,00.asp )

Check the status: For redemption tracking, many rebate houses provide a URL, such as www.wheresmyrebate.com or www.rebatestatus.com.

Get in touch: No sign of a check by the due date? Begin documenting your calls.

File a complaint: Report problems to the BBB ( http://complaints.bbb.org/SelectComplaintLinkFrameSet.asp ) and the FTC ( https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01 - use the site, or call 877/382-4357). Write to your state attorney general's office, or to the office in the state where the rebate sponsor is located. Contact your local media (newspaper, TV, and radio); they may have a consumer advocacy department that can mediate on your behalf.

Seven Ways to Make Living With Windows Easier - Get your operating system to look and work the way you prefer.

Every time I set up a new Windows machine, I labor for the better part of an afternoon to get it just the way I like. These tips get the OS up to flank speed.

Reveal Your System Files - (2K, XP, 98, Me)

When you open a folder that contains important system files--notably the Program Files, Windows, System, or System32 folder--you're likely to see a patronizing warning that modifying the contents of the folder could cause your programs to stop working correctly. Duh! In versions of Windows prior to XP, this warning appears only if you use the 'View, as Web Page' option (in Windows 98) or if 'Enable Web content in folders' is selected under the General tab of the Folder Options dialog box (in Windows 2000). Often this warning requires you to click a 'Show Files' link to list the folder's files. If you find this annoying, you're not alone. Fortunately, there's a quick fix.

In Windows Me and XP, just click the text that reads Show the contents of this folder. The contents will remain visible until you click the text in the left column to hide the contents again. If you don't see this text, close the folder pane (if it's visible), choose Tools, Folder Options, and ensure that Enable Web Content in Folders (in Me) or Show common tasks in folders (in XP) is selected under the General tab. To introduce a permanent fix in Windows 98 and 2000, choose View, Folder Options, View or Tools, Folder Options, View. In Windows 98 select Show all files in the 'Advanced settings' list, and in Windows 2000 check Show hidden files and folders and uncheck Hide protected operating system files. Click Yes to acknowledge the warning (if any) and then click OK. If you think you may someday want to revert to the old warning, create a backup of the folder.htt file that's in each of the folders where the warning appears by first renaming it--call it something like 'folder_old.htt'. Then copy the folder.htt file that's in the Web subfolder of your Windows or Winnt folder (which lacks the 'Show files' warning) to the folders whose warnings you find bothersome. When you want to restore the warning for a given folder, simply delete the folder.htt file from that folder, and then change the name of folder_old.htt back to 'folder.htt'.

Double Up Your Toolbars (2K, XP, 98, Me)

If your toolbars take up too much space in Explorer and in your folder windows, conserve screen real estate by putting two or more toolbars on a single line. First, make sure that your screen resolution is high enough and your folder window large enough to accommodate the extra toolbar buttons. Otherwise, they will be difficult to find when you need them.

Before you merge your toolbars in Windows 98, right-click the standard buttons toolbar (the one that starts with the Back button) and make sure 'Text Labels' is unchecked (the labels make the toolbar buttons huge). In 2000 and XP, right-click the toolbar area and make sure 'Lock the toolbars' is unchecked. In all versions, drag the left edge of each toolbar and drop it where you want it. One toolbar can share space with the menu bar, or you can place two or more toolbars side-by-side. When you're happy with the arrangement in Windows XP, right-click any toolbar and choose Lock the toolbars to set them in place. By clicking the double chevron symbol (>>), you can access any button that's pushed off the right edge.

Windows 2000, Me, and XP give you other ways to abbreviate your toolbars. Right-click the standard toolbar and choose Customize. To put your toolbar on a diet, use the list appearing on the right to select the icons you don't need, and then click Remove. You can rearrange a toolbar's buttons by dragging and dropping them, or by using the Move Up and Move Down buttons to shift items you use less frequently to the right (where they disappear into the >> menu but remain accessible).

To save even more space, choose No text labels from the 'Text options' drop-down list. When you're done, click Close. If you type in the Address bar and press Enter (instead of clicking the Go button), save some space by right-clicking the Address bar and unchecking Go Button.

Relocate My Documents (2K, XP, 98, Me)

The first tenet of good file management is to keep your applications separate from your work documents. Windows even encourages this practice by giving you a folder called My Documents, which is located on your C: drive by default. But you don't have to put your data where Microsoft wants you to put it. To redirect the My Documents folder, right-click the icon and choose Properties. With the Target tab in front, click in the Target box and type the path to the drive and folder where you want to store your files. In Windows 98, you can click Browse, select the folder, and click OK. If the folder name you type doesn't exist, Windows will create it for you. Recent versions of Windows will also offer to move the contents of the existing My Documents folder to the new location; feel free to click No if you want to reassign the My Documents location but don't want to move existing files.

To redirect My Music, My Pictures, My Videos, and other built-in Windows folders, use the right mouse button to drag their shortcuts to a new location and then choose Move Here. Finally, to change the name of any of these folders, simply select its icon, click its name (or press F2), type a new name, and press Enter.

Set Explorer Defaults (2K, XP, 98, Me)

Windows Explorer gives you many ways to view your files--as large icons, small icons, thumbnails, lists, or details (the folder view I prefer). To make Details view the default for all your folders, use the View menu to set up a single folder window the way you want; then in Windows 98, choose View, Folder Options, View, Like Current Folder. In other versions of Windows, click Tools, Folder Options, View, Like Current Folder. If you change your mind and want to go back to the default folder view, click Reset All Folders. But what if you want some folders to use Details view, others to show thumbnails, and so on? No problem. First, use the preceding steps to set the view you'll use with most of your folders. Then, in the 'Advanced settings' list at the bottom of this dialog box, make sure that Remember each folder's view settings is checked. Click OK. Whenever you subsequently change the view setting or sort order for a particular folder, it will retain that view the next time you open it.

Sort of First Resort (2K, XP, 98, Me)

When you sort Explorer windows by name, folders appear at the top, and other files are listed underneath, each group in alphabetical order. If you'd like to place a file or folder at the top of the list, or if you (like me) want compressed folders and shortcuts to folders at the top near the folder groups--since these items behave just like folders--rename the item and place a special character at the beginning of its name. Select the shortcut, file, or folder, and press F2. Press Home to move the insertion point to the beginning of the name, and type a punctuation character such as !, {, [, or (.

To see the effect, either close and reopen the folder and click Name at the top of the column (in Details view), or choose View, Arrange Icons by, Name. If the folder is already sorted by name, you'll have to follow these steps twice to see the contents in ascending alphabetical order.

Superfast Task Manager (2K, XP)

There are several ways to get fast access to the Task Manager in Windows 2000 and XP. But this may be the fastest method of all: Press Ctrl-Shift-Esc to see Task Manager instantly.

A Fresh Start (Menu) (2K, XP, Me)

Why bother opening a My Documents window, a Control Panel window, and a Printers window (or some other window) just to reach a file or icon you want? With a little tweaking, you can make these and other items appear automatically as submenus off the Start menu. You'll still have to navigate through one or more submenus to get to the item you want, but at least you won't have to worry about closing the file's folder window later.

To create new Start menu shortcuts, right-click the taskbar and choose Properties. In Windows XP, choose the Start Menu tab and click the Customize button next to the variation of the Start menu you're using. In all versions, click the Advanced tab. In the list of check boxes at the bottom of the dialog box, select the items you want on your Start menu. For example, check Expand Control Panel (in 2000 and Me), or check Display as a menu under the Control Panel category in XP's 'Start menu items' pane. Depending on your version of Windows, you can do the same for My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, My Computer, Printers, and Network and Dial-up Connections. When you're done, click OK to see the result.

Windows Toolbox: MinMaxExtender Gives You New Ways to Tame Your Windows

The makers of the MinMaxExtender (https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01) utility believe that three is not enough. I'm referring, of course, to the buttons on the top right of folder and application windows. With this program you can add as many as six new buttons there to maximize windows vertically or horizontally only, hide a window except for its title bar (the window shade effect), hide a window completely, minimize it to the system tray (the taskbar area near the clock), or make it stay on top of all other windows. You can turn off the buttons you don't need and customize them in other ways. Unfortunately, the program's creators don't support the product anymore, so it is now open-source. Still, it works well for me, except in XP's default blue, olive, or silver color schemes, whose large buttons collide with MinMaxExtender's stay-on-top button. So either forget about using that feature in this case, or tweak additional MinMaxExtender settings in the Windows Registry so the buttons accommodate each other. And here's the kicker: The program is free.

I’ll wind this month’s column up and sign off by saying “Have a pleasant spring. Warm weather is just around the corner.”

---

Next Page

Umbrella Online Front Page

Copyright © 2004 The Umbrella Online — All rights reserved.