■ editorial

Play Safe
Y ou wouldn’t give the keys of your house to a stranger, would you? Then
why do the same with your PC?
In today’s connected environment, it’s become increasingly important to
adopt safer computing practices than ever before. Sure, we all know the drill:
install an anti-virus software, update it regularly, avoid installing any suspicious
or unverified programs and shut down any open network shares on your PC.
But do you follow these basic guidelines as meticulously as you should? Or
to put it another way, what if these basic guidelines aren’t enough anymore?
Consider the ramifications of leaving your computer unguarded for a
moment: unprotected PCs are easy targets for propagating and instigating attacks
such as the infamous DoS (Denial of Service) attacks and are responsible for the Vinit Aggarwal
spread of viruses and worms. Assistant Editor
In most online attacks, the attacker generally exploits a handful of well-

“Well-known software
known software vulnerabilities. Couple this with the plethora of hacking tools
available online and it would be possible for even a six-year-old to hack your
computer.
Okay, so you might be one of those who practise absolutely safe comput- vulnerabilities,
ing methods and avoid clicking or previewing any messages with suspicious coupled with the easy
attachments. But these infected attachments still reside in some corner of your
hard disk—there might come a time when someone will figure out a way to availability of hacking
activate these dormant viruses when you visit a rogue Web site.
tools, make it easy for
It’s just not enough to update your anti-virus software’s data definitions
anymore. You need even more comprehensive protection in the form of network even a six-year-old to
firewalls. You also need to make it a habit to install new security patches to
defend your PC against certain kinds of worms that exploit well-known weak-
hack your computer ”
nesses in Windows and other popular software.
So this will ensure a threat-free existence, right?
No. Even if you take all the appropriate safety precautions, there might be
others on your network, or your friends and colleagues who have you in their
address books, who aren’t as well protected. You might prevent infection or
abuse, but you will still be hassled by these problems time and again, to say
the least.
There’s little you can do to prevent this, except to understand that each of
us who uses a PC is responsible in a small way, for preserving the security of
everyone around us.
After all, prevention is not only better than cure, it’s the only cure!

vinit_aggarwal@[Link]
index ■
■ magazine

FEATURES
Memory Matters .................30
Bigger, faster, cheaper. New memory
technologies seem to be getting
everything right

Made to Order .....................38

Buying an assembled PC? Arm your-
self with the right knowledge

TEST DRIVE Make your

Branded PCs .........................44 limping PC
Which pedigree PC will win the sprint
Medal of Honour?

Get Set, Go! ..........................58

We’ve got the answer to that eternal
question: Why is my PC so slow?
All the Music you can’t
To Serve and Protect..........72 Leave Behind .....................101
The perfect set of utilities for your Convert those tapes to digital music
system’s maintenance before they start fading

INSIGHT Smart@home ......................107

Spam-protect your Inbox..88 Learn to use your computer to light-
Commercial mail filters to weed out en all those chores
the junk mail
ARCADE
Reviving your dead PC ......92 A Different Take................120
A DIY guide on what to do when Movie-making takes the gaming
your PC is on the blink route

For a Painless Reinstall.....94

Reinstalling Windows is a piece of
cake, provided you’ve taken certain
precautions
Identify performance
bottlenecks and make
Find your Dream Job..........98
Online job sites that will help you your limping PC sprint
bag that job

A radically new
way to make
movies: Games!

▲ Put your money where your brand is

▲

4 OCTOBER 2002
 index ■
■ magazine
94
How to reinstall
Windows the right
way

38
The truth about
assemblers

58
Leap over those per-
formance hurdles

44
Make sure you
choose the
92
PC won't boot?
right brand Got a blank
monitor? Find
out what could

98
Looking for a
job? Get
107
Answers to the
online! most common

120 questions
asked at home
Frag your way into
Hollywood

Reviewed this month

HARDWARE ■ iMac
NEWS FEED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Bazaar . . . . . . . . . 80 ■ PCS Oriion
LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 ■ ACi Impression ■ QMax Quadrant

■ Canon CanoScan N1240U ■ Vintron Elixir 1000

DROOLMAAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Scanner ■ Vintron Elixir 4000
START UP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 ■ Epson Stylus C41SX Printer ■ Visualan Wisdom

BAZAAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 ■ Gainward GeForce4 Golden ■ Visualan Celebrity

Sample ■ Visualan Lavish

UNDERCOVER . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
■ Intel Pentium 4 - 2.8 GHz ■ Zenith Premium Corporate PC
Q & A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102 Processor
TACTICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125 ■ LITEON 48x12x48 CD-Writer SOFTWARE
■ Mercury HT4500 Speakers Bazaar . . . . . . . . . 80
OFF THE SHELF . . . . . . . . . . .126
■ Mercury MP3-VCD Player ■ CorelDRAW 11
DIGIT DIARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 ■ Mercury Pocket DV Camera (4 in ■ Executive DisKeeper Home

BACKBYTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130 1) Edition 7.0

Branded PCs . . . . . 44 ■ Red Hat Linux 7.3

■ Compaq Presario 3705AP ■ ViciDocs Pronto

■ Dart Emerald System Suites . . . . 72

To subscribe to Digit, fill out
the subscription form available online ■ HCL Beanstalk 4458 ■ McAfee Utilities

a t [Link]/subscribe ■ HCL Beanstalk 4455 ■ Norton SystemWorks 2002

6 OCTOBER 2002
index ■
■ digit interactive

HIGHLIGHTS
ON THE CD KNOW YOUR CD
ABBYY FineReader Professional PLAYWARE\ARENA\GAME TRAILERS
Size: 33 MB, Type: Trial
Mindware\Software\Office The Game Trailerssection on your Digit CD Comedy in Armour, a psychotic captain of
brings you video the Red Army exterminates the Blue
Astrum InstallWizard 1.90 teasers of the latest Army in a variety of bizarre but
Size: 2.2 MB, Type: Trial and upcoming humorous ways. Hardly Workin’ is a
Mindware\Software\Developer Tools games. Get a sneak hilarious tale of two wandering
peek into the lumberjacks and
Backup Plus 7.0.2 graphics, cool their quest to find
Size: 8 MB, Type: Trial effects and gory employment. It’s
Mindware\Software\System creatures even directed by Emmy
before the game is award winner Paul
Book Organizer Deluxe 1.9
Size: 4.0 MB, Type: Trial released! ‘IllRobinson’ Mari-
Mindware\Software\Home This month we bring you two no and produced
Machinima videos—movies made by the award-win-
Fresh UI 4.0 completely using game engines. In ning ILL Clan.
Size: 615 KB, Type: Freeware
Mindware\Software\System

Hitman 2: Silent Assassin

MUST-TRY SOFTWARE
Size: 48.3 MB, Type: Demo Sun ONE Studio 4, Paint Shop Pro offers the easiest, most
Playware\Arena\Games
Community Edition affordable way to achieve professional
ICQ 2002a Sun Open Net Environ- imaging results! Don’t waste your time
Size: 3.88 MB, Type: Freeware ment (Sun ONE) is an with high-end professional products that
Mindware\Software\Internet IDE for Java developers. cost a fortune and take a lifetime to learn.
Based on the modular, And don’t settle for
Media Jukebox 8.0.348 open source NetBeans slow, cookie-cutter
Size: 8.7 MB, Type: Trial Tools Platform, the Sun programs that tie
Mindware\Software\Multimedia ONE Studio IDE is ideal you to templates.
for building and deploying Web services Retouch, repair, and
Moral Minus across multiple hardware and software edit photos with
Size: 8.03 MB, Type: Trial
platforms. This modular, extensible IDE easy-to-use, high-
Playware\Arena\FunZone
enables fast adoption of new technolo- quality, automatic
Mozilla 1.1 gies. It provides a highly scalable and photo enhance-
Size: 10 MB, Type: Freeware robust foundation for traditional soft- ment features, cre-
Mindware\Software\Internet ware as well as current Web-based appli- ate and optimise Web graphics with
cations, while laying the foundation for built-in Web tools and artistic drawing
Talking Greeting Maker 1.03 the next-generation distributed comput- and text tools, design cool animations
Size: 4.5 MB, Type: Freeware ing models such as Web services. and much more.
Mindware\Software\Home Size: 88 MB, Type: Feeeware Size: 30.17 MB, Type: Trial
Mindware\Software\Developer Tools Mindware\Software\Multimedia
Tobi On The Run
Size: 4.9 MB, Type: Demo
Playware\Arena\FunZone Paint Shop Pro 7

Winamp 3 America's Army: Operations

Size: 3.4 MB, Type: Freeware Developed by the US Army and a world-class team of
Mindware\Software\Multimedia Department of Defense experts in simulations and vir-
tual environments, America’s Army is an innovative,
Droolmaal Sponsored by: realistic computer game providing civilians with an
inside perspective and a virtual role in today’s premiere
land force, the US Army.
Size: 260 MB, Type: Freeware
Playware\Arena\Games
Drool of the

8 OCTOBER 2002
index ■
■ online

taste technology at [Link]

WEB SPECIAL SUBSCRIBE

Technology@home Want to subscribe to Digit? Want to
Have you ever wished you had a renew your subscription? Have a com-
door that locked up by itself? A plaint? Download subscription forms
vacuum cleaner that you could and get in touch with our customer
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BY DEMAND WEB SPECIAL

You get to choose what goes on Perfect with
Digit Interactive. This month, you
have chosen:
Words
Magenta II MultiMedia Tools Learn the smart moves to
(10.13 MB) for Playware become a whiz at working
with word processors
Another War Demo
(232 MB) for Mindware
Expect these on the November 2002 CDs.

12 OCTOBER 2002
index ■
■ colophon

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 10 ADVERTISERS’ INDEX

Chairman Jasu Shah Write Back CLIENT PAGE

Printer, Publisher and Editor Got feedback on Digit or Amkette Inside Back Cover
Maulik Jasubhai
[Link]? Have something Asus . . . . . . . .4 7,49,51,53
Head - Publications & Web sites
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Assistant Editor Vinit Aggarwal We’d love to hear from you. Send us
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Head Writers Marco D’Souza readersletters@[Link]
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Another War Demo Magenta II MultiMedia

16 OCTOBER 2002
 pulse ■
■ news

hypethesis First JPEG, now MP3

iSCSI
■ What is it?
iSCSI (Internet SCSI) adapts
the widely used SCSI standard
T he Fraunhofer Institute,
developer of the MP3
codec, has announced that it
$60,000 (approx Rs 30 lakh)
for unlimited use of the
decoder. Encoders and users
per unit or $90,000 (approx
Rs 40.5 lakh) up front.
A consequence of these
for connecting hard drives to will start charging licensing of the mp3PRO software are fees has been a resurgence in
computers over a network fees from users of the MP3 taxed more heavily, with interest in competing free
connection such as a LAN or decoding algorithm (previ- a levy of $2.50-$5 (approx audio codecs. The Ogg Vorbis
even the Internet. By carrying ously it charged only for the Rs 125-250) per encoder. Use codec is a patent-free, profes-
SCSI commands over IP net- encoders). Red Hat has of the mp3PRO decoder soft- sional audio codec that has
works, it is used to facilitate already removed all software ware plus patent rights been gaining steam recently.
data transfers over intranets packages from the next Linux requires $1.25 (approx Rs 62) In an open letter to Thomson
and to manage storage over release that would fall under Multimedia, creators of the
long distances. the licensing scheme pro- MP3 licensing scheme, Vor-
posed by the Institute. [Link] has stated its unabat-
■ How does it work? The fees of $0.75 (approx ed glee at their actions, thank-
When a user sends a request, Rs 37) per decoder would add ing them for the free publici-
the operating system gener- up to $16.5 million (approx ty and noting that traffic to its
ates the appropriate SCSI Rs 82.5 crore) for download - site has increased substantial-
commands and data request. ers of Winamp from Down- ly since the revocation of the
IP packets are transmitted [Link] alone. Fraunhofer free-licensing status of the
over an Ethernet connection. also allows a one-time fee of Fraunhofer codec.
When a packet is received, it
is separated into the SCSI
commands and the request.
The commands are sent to Power-up Mac Linux wins
the SCSI controller and then
to the SCSI storage device.
Because iSCSI is bi-direction-
al, it can also be used to
A pple revealed souped-up
Power Macs in the first
major upgrade to the profes -
a PC bus, because we don’t run
everything off the same bus
the way a PC does.”
In New York’s Hudson Valley
region, IBM’s fabrication
plant will be the only one
return data in response to sional system in about a year The changes also include that, when fully deployed,
the original request. and a half. The new Power a move to 266 MHz DDR will produce chips using all
Macs sport faster memory SRAM and Mac OS X 10.2 pre- three of the industry’s bleed-
■ What is its implica- and speedier system architec - installed. The biggest incen- ing edge technologies: low-k
tion? ture. Apple also reintroduced tive for purchasing a Power dielectrics, copper intercon-
iSCSI has just been formally dual-processor sys - Mac would be the nect and silicon-on-insulator-
adopted and standardised. It tems. Processor dual-processor based transistors. IBM will
builds over existing infra- speeds range from architecture—Mac build chips on 12-inch wafers
structure, using SCSI hard 867 MHz to processors max out that pass from station to sta-
disks, Ethernet networks and 1.25 GHz. at 1.25 GHz, com- tion in wafer pods on central-
the Internet. Because of the The new pared to more than ly controlled, automated, ele-
ubiquity of IP networks, iSCSI systems come double that for PCs. vated rails. To run this, Linux
can be used to transmit data with a 167 MHz Support for a second opti- was evaluated against a Win-
over local area networks, system bus, but are still well cal drive and up to four hard dows-based system and per-
wide area networks, or the behind a 533 MHz bus for the drives complete the circle. formed flawlessly for three
Internet and can enable loca- fastest Pentium 4 systems. The 1 GHz system comes months, whereas the Win-
tion-independent data stor- Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior with an 80 GB hard drive, dows-based system failed
age and retrieval. director, defends, “Our archi- DVD recording drive and 64 after six or seven days.
tecture is tough to compare to MB ATi Radeon 9000 Pro.

■ WorldCom’s former CFO Scott Sullivan denies fraud, bailed at $500,000 ■ Napster faces liquidation ■ Microsoft, with others, campaigns against open source

20 OCTOBER 2002
 Google blocked! redalert
Digital signatures
C hinese authorities are
feared to have blocked
access to the popular search
banning Google, even Alta-
[Link] was found to have
been blocked in China. These
one of the 130 major Web
portals that recently signed a
voluntary pledge not to post
Digital signatures can easily
be forged and therefore can’t
be trusted in Outlook because
engine, Google ([Link] measures come ahead of a information that would jeop- of a certificate chaining issue
.com). The reason? Google Communist Party meeting in ardise state security and dis- plaguing Internet Explorer.
seemingly provides a window November during which the rupt social stability in China. SSL certificates can be signed
to pornography and could also country’s leadership is expect- But there’s a humorous by an untrusted intermediary
compromise national security. ed to be overhauled. Yahoo! is twist: someone has set up a without warning to the end
In November last year, the still accessible though—it is Google search mirror—literal- user. Thus, an attacker can
Chinese Government shut ly! Called elgooG, this beats sign an untrusted certificate
down 17,500 Internet cafes for the Chinese firewall to the with a trusted, intermediate
failing to block sites consid- outside world. It displays all one. Neither Internet Explorer
ered subversive or porno- of the text backwards, requir - nor Outlook check basic con-
graphic. Google says it is try- ing you to use a mirror to read straints and the end user is
ing to resolve the problem. it! Check this site at [Link]- never warned that the certifi-
Less than a week after [Link]/geeky/elgoog/. cate chain is questionable.
SSLsniff, a tool written to
demonstrate the vulnerability,
Released: Windows Media 9 Insecure in a Flash can be used to intercept a
third party’s SSL session

M icrosoft has announced

the release of the much
awaited Windows Media Series
time on streaming media has
been reduced greatly, while
audio and video quality has
M acromedia has warned
that its Flash Player has a
vulnerability that could allow
where the victim and attacker
are on the same LAN.
Microsoft has begun patching
9. It brings advances in usabil- been increased to television attackers to run malicious code the security flaw; you can find
ity and performance. Buffering quality. It integrates several on Windows and Unix-based the patches for Windows at
online content subscription operating systems. More than [Link]/technet/secu-
services, including Pressplay, 90 per cent of PCs are estimat- rity/bulletin/[Link].
the joint venture between ed to be capable of playing
Sony Music Entertainment and Flash content. The file-execu - Encrypted=safe
/
Universal Music Group. tion vulnerability, discovered A curious flaw in a PGP’s han-
Microsoft’s Digital Rights Man- by eEye Digital Security, uses a dling of file names could
agement software maintains modified header in a Flash allow an attacker to run a
Bill Gates and James Cameron at copyright policies. movie file to create a buffer remote Windows machine as
the launch of Windows Media 9 overrun, in all versions of Flash Administrator with a mali-

statattack INFOGRAPHICS: Jaya Shetty

Player earlier than [Link].
The malformed headers can
cious, encrypted archive. File
names over 200 characters in
only be created by editing the length cause a buffer over-
file with a binary editing tool, flow, which, if exploited
and not with the Flash author- properly, could allow running
ing tool. Not only are browsers arbitrary code on the target
affected, but also applications machine. This code could
capable of reading embedded give the attacker complete
SWF files, including e-mail and control of the PC. A typical
instant messengers. A pro - attack would involve sending
grammer has also warned that an encrypted archive to a vic-
a flaw in the XML functionali- tim via e-mail. The flaw
ty of Flash Player 6, and possi- affects PGP Corporate Desk-
bly other versions, could allow top 7.1.x. for Windows. A
an attacker to read files on a patch has been developed by
person’s hard drive. This bug former PGP owner Networks
has been fixed in newer ver- Associates, and is available at
sions of Flash Player. The latest [Link]/naicommon/down
versions of Flash Players for all load/upgrade/patches/patch-
software are available at [Link].
[Link].

■ New Kodak cameras less dependant on PCs to share photos ■ MSN Messenger for Mac to be released next year ■ Broadband to hit South Pole by 2009

21 OCTOBER 2002
 pulse ■
■ news

followup Processor wars heroes

New unbreakable
copy-protection A MD is all set to introduce
a four-way product,
which will provide a choice of
the Pentium 4 is 3.5 GHz.
Intel, in the meanwhile, is
cutting prices on its proces -
Gaming Icons
Little Mario has made $7 bil-
scheme x86-based, four to eight-way sors. When it introduced its lion in revenues, Nintendo
servers. AMD has previously 2.8, 2.66 and 2.6 GHz Pen - said, as it announced the latest
JVC has announced that it shown single and dual-proces- tium 4s, it notified resellers of incarnation of Super Mario
will use a CD-ROM copy pro- sor configurations of its the price cuts, which apply Sunshine for the Game Cube.
tection scheme based on col- eighth-generation not only to Harrison Ford’s films have
laboration between itself and processor family, boxed desktop earned only $5.6 billion world-
Japanese company Hudson- running both 32- chips, but also wide. Nintendo claims Mario
soft. The scheme, called bit and 64-bit to notebook, to be the ‘leading man’ of the
Root, records an encryption operating systems. server and entertainment industry!
key when a CD-ROM is cre- The AMD Opteron workstation
ated in such a way that an processor is CPUs. There are Print media
error is generated when any designed to scale also rebates on Ziff Davis Media (publisher of
from one to eight boxed mother - PC Magazine and other tech-
processors with no boards. The nology magazines), had filed
external logic biggest drop is for Chapter 11, having been
required. This can reduce the on the 2.53 GHz Pentium 4 one of the hardest-hit by the
cost and complexity of build - using a 533 MHz front side advertising slump in the indus-
ing servers and workstations bus, which amounts to a stag- try. It has now announced that
and increase scalability. gering 62 per cent of its origi- 95.1 per cent of its bondhold-
Modern micro-chips in nal price. Intel is also current- ers had approved its financial
use today are based on 32-bit ly working on Banias, Intel’s restructuring, enabling them
technology and so far, the first processor for laptop com - to avoid filing for bankruptcy.
maximum frequency the puters that it has designed

zeroes
developers have reached on from scratch.

attempt is made to play back

software from copied disks.
It will be built into CD-ROMs
Quakecon 2002 Jaguar, OS X 10.2
Apple’s new OS costs $129
so that copying to CD-R/RW
disks cannot circumvent it.
The technology prevents
P eople travelled
around the world to the
Mesquite Convention Center,
from their fans the opportunity
to interact with the develop -
ers of the software and
(approx Rs 6,450), and
there is no upgrade-pricing
plan. If you’ve bought a
encryption keys being read Texas, to what is known as the mods, which of course leads new Mac or the earlier
when copied disks are Mecca of Network Gaming to some very interesting OS X before July 17, you
played back, and JVC hopes Events. Quakecon (August 15- developments. pay a $20 (approx Rs 1,000)
to sell mastering units incor- 18) attracts the best of the best A variety of sponsors sup- ‘fulfilment’ fee, otherwise
porating the copy protection port LAN gaming and you pay the full price.
to other manufacturers. The have a chance to reach
same technique can also be some of the consumers Windows
used to prevent copying of who are the most diffi- Dell Computer is making
DVDs and other media. cult to nail down. For Windows optional for some
four days, these sponsors of its business desktops. Dell
take the time to talk to will introduce the n-Series
in the online gaming world, the gamers and introduce corporate desktop and work-
snapshot and they come to take a shot them to their products. The stations that ship without
at the $1,00,000 (approx importance of the gamer mar- Windows or any other oper-
Of the total
Rs 50 lakh) that’s at stake. id ket is often overlooked, with ating system pre-installed.
1.6 Gbps of Software’s continued commit- many people believing the These computers will include
bandwidth avail - ment to Quakecon is perhaps notion that gamers are not a copy of a free, uninstalled
best thought of not only as a professionals. In reality operating system, FreeDOS.
able in india, over sign of gratitude, but as a real though, they have regular day This move is in direct
50 per cent is chance to see the progress jobs and many of them are response to a rising demand
that fans have made in play - involved in making buying for PCs without OSes.
Source: The Financial Express ing the games. It also gives decisions. ➜

■ Samsung adds 10 GB HDD to Yepp YP-900 MP3 player ■ British Library’s Koran now in digital version ■ FCC pushes digital TVs with anti-piracy technologies

22 OCTOBER 2002
 pulse ■
■ news

Unhappy consumers Audiogalaxy

returns
C onsumer Reports magazine,
which recently polled sub-
scribers to its Web site, said
higher marks this year
than it did last year. Dell
and Gateway were neck A udiogalaxy ([Link]-
[Link]), one of the
that the results show customer and neck with scores of largest sources for downloading
satisfaction with technical sup- 65 and 64, respectively. HP hundreds of genres of MP3
port is down across the PC was fourth with a score of music, which had shut down
industry. “Consumers are par- 56, while Compaq Computer due to piracy claims, is back. It
ticularly concerned with received a score of 52. has launched a new subscrip-
increased time spent on hold Customer service has been has already taken steps, includ- tion service called Rhapsody
as well as dropped calls to tech- an area of focus for HP and ing increased training for cus- which gives you instant, unlim-
nical support,” said Mark Compaq, HP spokesman tomer service workers as well ited, on-demand access to over
Kotkin, assistant director of David Albritton said. “We’ve as shifting schedules so more 17,000 albums. The service will
survey research for Consumer definitely seen that we’ve people are on the phones dur- cost $9.95 (approx Rs 500) per
Reports. The lone bright spot in needed to improve over time,” ing peak calling times. Other month, which pays royalties
the survey was Apple, which he added, and claims that HP’s vendors are of a similar opin- for the music. A Rhapsody sub-
grabbed the top spot with a own analysis of customer serv- ion, but are quick to put the scription features a personal
score of 74 out of 100 and was ice data differs from the study. blame on new, untrained staff music library to organise music
the only company to earn Albritton said the company and high PC penetration. by artist, album, track, playlist
or radio station, custom
playlists that can be shared and
Greece bans all computer games many other features, in addi-
tion to Audiogalaxy’s powerful

T he government of Greece
has made a heroic effort to
ban all electronic games.
ly, the Greek government is
“incapable of distinguishing
innocuous video games from
according to an article in the
English-language Kathimerini
newspaper.
music search and editorial rec-
ommendations.

Something as innocent as illegal gambling machines,” Earlier the Greek govern-

playing Pac Man is now a
crime with penalties of up to
ment had outlawed all LAN
and Internet games and any
snapshot
three months in jail and a fine kind of game that is support- Internet penetra-
of 10,000 Euros. The purpose ed by electrical, electronic or tion to cross
is to crack down on Internet software means in Internet
gambling, which already was cafes. If anybody had some - 11.64 million
illegal. Improved enforcement thing looking like a game on in Asia by 2003
of the existing law is all that the screen, the cafe manager
was needed, but unfortunate- would be liable for arrest. Source: Gartner

A brand new Opera

O pera, the self-described
fastest Web browser, is on
the verge of releasing a beta
(DOM), an emerging standard
technology that lets scripts
such as JavaScript act on indi-
changing elements in pages,”
said Opera Software co-
founder and CEO Jon S. von
said. And indeed the Opera
rewrite has proved to be far
quicker and less painful than
version of Opera 7, which will vidual elements of a Web page. Tetzchner. “We felt we needed Netscape’s, which dragged on
resemble its predecessor only a rewritten engine to have for four years before produc-
in looks. The rendering something that works with all ing marketable results. Opera
engine—the heart of the the DOM that is coming out.” Software employs about 60
browser, which interprets and Tetzchner resisted com- engineers. When Project
displays HTML pages—has parisons to Netscape’s gamble Presto began 18 months ago,
been rewritten from ground in 1998 to cast off its legacy two of them were working on
up over the past 18 months. code in favour of a new brows- it; now a majority have left
Dubbed Project Presto, the er that would be more in line the legacy Opera code behind.
rewritten browser is designed with industry standards and In addition to the new
to make Opera both faster and “There were some things that more easily separable into rendering engine, Opera 7
more compatible with the were difficult to do with the components. “Our old engine will include rewritten mail
Document Object Model old engine, particularly with wasn’t that bad,” Tetzchner and news clients. ➜

■ MS to launch Xbox Live online gaming service on November 15 ■ Handspring combines PDA and cell phone in Treo ■ Siemens promotes mobile gambling

24 OCTOBER 2002
 pulse ■
■ news

Xbox pirates Turok or not Turok quoteworthy

M icrosoft may go back on
an earlier pledge to not
use its Xbox Live online gam-
A cclaim Entertainment is
on what sounds like the
most bizarre branding exercise
getting your name changed to
and back from Turok!
Acclaim will also award the
“PCs will communi-
cate even more
than they do today
ing service to crack down on for their next first-person parents of the first child born
mod chips—chips that modify shooter, Turok: Evolution, on September 1 a $10,000
and cell phones will
the Xbox console to run released on September 1 this (approx Rs 5 lakh) US savings compute even more
copied game discs and unli - bond if the child is than they do today”
censed software. The new named Turok for one An Intel spokesman, when
agreement states, “Microsoft year, on the condi- unveiling details about its
may…retrieve information tion that it is born first processor for laptops,
from the Xbox used to log on in a US hospital. named Banias.
to Xbox Acclaim has a similar
Live as nec - promotion in the UK, “They (Microsoft)
essary to where it is asking five believe they are so
operate and British adults to legal-
big that they can
protect the year. If you legally change your ly change their name to Turok
security of name to Turok, you get a for one year, in return for
take away what
Xbox Live, shiny new console, a truckload around $800 (approx consumers want.
and to of games, $785 (approx Rs 40,000) and the complete They believe their
enforce this Agreement.” Xbox Rs 39,250) plus the cost of Turok game collection. size and momentum
hackers seemed unconcerned, can drive an entire
saying mod chips offer a num- industry in a propri-
ber of safeguards, including
on/off switches and firmware
A new PC rating method etary direction with
technologies built by
that can be easily modified to
bypass any new security meas-
ures. “The newer mod chips
A MD challenges the most
common way of rating
computer performance, what it
as well or better than a PC using
Intel’s 2.26 GHz Pentium 4
chip. AMD says that standard
Microsoft. That
direction is very
can already defeat any calls the ‘megahertz myth’. It benchmarks tell only part of the much opposite to
attempts by Microsoft to has been urging consumers to story and that trying to juggle where most of the
detect them, as they are question the notion that a PC all of them only muddles buy- industry is going.”
firmware-upgradeable via a PC with a faster chip will always ers, especially first-timers.
parallel port,” writes one mod outperform one with a slower “Lightbulbs have better infor - Frank Casanova, Apple’s
chip enthusiast, Tony Dalton- processor. They argue that a less mation about them at the point director of QuickTime prod-
Richards. “I don’t think this expensive machine with one of of sale than PCs,” says Patrick uct marketing, referring to
will affect modding very its own 1.8 GHz Athlon XP Moorhead, vice president of Windows Media 9 and
much,” adds Dan ‘SiliconIce’ 2200+ processors can perform consumer advocacy for AMD.
Johnson, founder of the Xbox-
Hacker Web site ([Link]-
[Link]). “Mod chips can
tomorrow’stechnology
simply be switched off when
the user wants to play on
Dual-core chips from Intel
Xbox Live.”
E nhancements in chip fab-
rication techniques have
separate cores into a single
processor package. The low
new RISC-based PA-8800
processor (code-named Mako)
snapshot resulted in smaller transistors
on processors and this will
manufacturing cost, as com-
pared to single-core processors
integrates two complete PA-
8700 cores, their integrated L1
Number of cell result in some interesting of the same power, will ensure caches and L2 cache controller
phone users in architectures in tomorrow’s that dual core technology will on a single chip, along with an
processors. Today’s processors eventually bring multiprocess- off chipset of L2 cache SRAMs.
India to climb to
contain a single core with ing power to the desktop. It has also been publicly dis-
10 million by associated processing subsys- Since the fabrication will be on closed by AMD that its new
the end of 2002 tems such as cache and data the same chip, the speeds will Sledgehammer processor will

and120 mil- controllers. However, with the

ability to pack greater number
be significantly higher than of
current processors.
have two cores. Intel is, how-
ever, indicating that it would
lion by 2008 of circuits on chips, fabricators This is already becoming a be ready for dual-core Itanium
are trying to integrate two reality—processors like HP’s processors only by about 2005.
Source: Reuters

■ Sony PlayStation 3 to be out by 2005 ■ ASUS introduces AGP 8x motherboards ■ IBM cuts over 15,000 jobs ■ Ericsson threatens to end Sony relationship

26 OCTOBER 2002
pulse ■
■ letters

Hi Keith,
Ordinarily we don’t carry such large software since we do have ‘lim-
ited’ space on the CDs and need to cater to a large audience that
has varying preferences and needs. Luckily for you, America’s Army
was the winner of the August-September 2002 By Demand poll, and
is being included with this issue of Digit. Find it in the Arena section
of the Playware CD.

Dear Jaidev,
In a nutshell, game development is made up of three streams: design,
programming and art. The safest route you could take is by going the
animation way (art). A good animator is a very important asset to a
game development company. Moreover, the skillset carries over to the
film and broadcast industry (ads, serials and the like). Of course, ani-
mation is not an easy subject to tackle—it requires sound knowledge
of biology, physics and mathematics. Plus you would need to famil-
iarise yourself with 3D modelling packages such as 3D Studio Max and
Maya. For more information, check out [Link].

Your vote counts

Q. Which amongst these four comparison tests would you This month’s question:
like covered in an upcoming isssue of Digit? “What type of interface would you prefer on the
Linux Gaming Mobile Computing Digit CDs?”
40% 44% 16% ■ HTML ■ Shockwave/Flash
■ Doesn’t matter. I’m only interested in the software
Whew! This was a close one, but then games it is!
Log on [Link] and vote on it

28 OCTOBER 2002
 Short Bytes
Con job
Hi,
The graphics card test
(August 2002) was superb.
But you missed out one
important thing—the top
10 ways to hoodwink your
dad into buying that new
graphics card! I'm looking
to upgrade and can't think
of a suitable excuse. Help!
Arjun Ghose
Via e-mail

Dear Mr Pethe, Dear Arjun,

We are aware of this. In fact, Winamp 3 How about getting a job and
was mentioned in last month’s article, ‘The Enter- paying for it yourself?!
tainers’. But it was still in beta and there were sev-
eral warnings on the Winamp Web site. As we Help is at hand
don’t carry beta software on our CDs, we were
Hi Vinit,
waiting for the final release, which incidentally has
I read your September edi-
been included in the Mindware CD this month. The
Playware CD still carries version 2.8 to ensure torial on Helping Hands
compatibility with the various Winamp skins in the and am planning to work as
Gallery section. a bridge to help underpriv-
ileged children in India
become computer literate. I

Head2Head: Cover models?

appreciate your work in this
direction.
Uma Maheswaran
Hi Vinit, Dear Vinit,
Via e-mail
In your anniversary issue, you used a female I just renewed my subscription from Septem-
model on the cover. At that time you had said ber 2002 to August 2004. As soon as I
that for sleek hardware (like mobile phones) received the September issue,
Sound bytes
you will use female models, but now you I realised that I had made no Dear Vinit,
are using female models even for printers. mistake. I simply can’t do Your September issue was a
Does Digit have to resort to eye-catch- without Digit. The cover wonderful experience, espe-
ing models to attract buyers? model Raksha Kapoor was a cially the detailed test on
Ajay Datta real cutie. I kept gawking at soundcards. I am an
Via e-mail the cover! acoustic engineer and I’m
Alok Moghe sure that your magazine
Dear Sir, Via e-mail will make more people
You have changed big time aware about the less-heard
in the past few months. Hello, acoustic industry.
What surprises me most is The cover of the Septem- A. X. Devaprasath
that you show models in place ber issue is very good and Via e-mail
of product shots on the cover. I attractive and the model on
have always thought people use the cover is damn cute. Her Kudos
models when they don’t have faith in the charming face makes the cover Dear Digit,
product itself. Digit doesn’t need models! very attractive and the green colour adds even Your September issue was
And yes, I am one of those who think an more life to the cover. Your anniversary issue’s fabulous, especially the test
iMac is hotter than Aishwarya Rai! cover was radically different and marvellous, but drive section where you
Sushubh this one is even better. reviewed everything in
Via e-mail Jack the PC audio world.
Via e-mail ‘Smart@work’ was also a
brilliant idea.
Send your letters marked ‘Readers Letters’ to the Digit office: Amit Kundalia
D-222/2, MIDC, TTC Industrial Estate, Om Sagar Building, Nerul, Navi Mumbai 400 706, Via e-mail
Phone: 022-7629191/9200 Fax: 022-7629224
E-mail: readersletters@[Link]

29 OCTOBER 2002
features ■
■ technology next

GRAPHIC DESIGN: Ram

Memory Mat- Computing at the speed of thought: a look at the next step in the evolution
of cheap, fast and dense solid-state memory

F
irst there was the race for greater achieve the golden balance between fac- tems. Though manufacturers have figured
density, then came the quest for tors such as data transfer speed, reten- a workaround to the problem of data loss
newer technology, heralding an tion, density and low costs. However, in case of Flash RAM, this kind of RAM
accelerated adaptation of RAM. each implementation of RAM has has an associated life cycle before it begins
This almost quick-time implementation greater strength in some of these areas to lose its ability to retain data.
of memory catalysed growth in other than others. Today’s computers are com- While the architecture of each solid-
areas of technology, rushing us to the age posed of different types of data storage— state storage technology differs, they are
of nanosecond computing. the hard disk that stores the permanent still fabricated using the same funda-
If it were not for these advancements, data, the RAM (either SDRAM, DDR or mental design. This is the problem that
tiny cellular devices with 500-address RDRAM), which is used to store pro- is throttling the power and functionali -
memories, PDAs that let you watch grams that are loaded and running, and ty in today’s computing applications—
movies and MP3 players that store your finally, SRAM that is used in high-speed be it on the desktop or on mobile
entire music collection would never have implementations such as the cache on devices, and this limitation is the main
seen the light of day. In more familiar ter- processors. driver of the innovations in fabricating
ritory, even computer memory has seen RAM (SDRAM, DDR and RDRAM) as newer forms of volatile storage.
numerous architectural iterations—from we know it today, can not retain data
EDO RAM to the numerous flavours of once the power has been switched off— The search begins
SDRAM, all the way to RDRAM and DDR. this is a definite shortcoming. SRAM is Considering the overall size of the mem -
significantly faster than other forms of ory chip market ($25 billion, (approx Rs
The need for speed RAM but is expensive to produce on a 1,25,000 crore) in 2001, even in the face
In the continued quest for the perfect very large scale, which is why it is used of recession and sagging economies), it is
memory, companies are struggling to only in small quantities in computer sys - of little surprise that some of the biggest ➜

30 OCTOBER 2002
features ■
■ technology next

names are on the hunt for next-genera- technology is Ferroelectric RAM (FRAM). dimensional surfaces. With 3D memory,
tion memory. While this race has been Though it sounds similar to MRAM, this scientists have found a way to extend
in the running for technology uses principles of electric cur- the fabrication process such that the
well over a rents to change the polarity of ceramic microscopic components (such as tran-
decade, it’s only crystals (and not metallic materials, as the sistors and capacitors) can be stacked on
recently that a name suggests), which is the principle ele- top of one another resulting in signifi-
headway has been ment for storing digital informa- cantly higher storage densi -
made in the tion. The advantage is that it ties per unit area of fabri -
implementation of these technologies. retains data even after the power cated silicon. This directly
Giants such as IBM, Infineon and is switched off. These crystals also spells lower manufacturing
Motorola are in the lead, being specifi- have significantly lower power costs per megabyte. This
cally involved in the research of a new requirements, making them ideal concept has been around
form of solid-state memory called Mag- for mobile consumer devices. Recent for about a decade, but only now when
netoresistive RAM (MRAM). developments in this field have fabrication technologies have been so
This type of RAM uses princi- improved the number of times vastly improved is it viable to put it to
ples of alignment of magnet- these chips can store data with practise. This is possible due to a process
ic particles as the basis for lower manufacturing costs and called chemical mechanical planarisa-
storing zeroes and ones in a increased densities. David Bon- tion where silicon surfaces are prepared
digital system. With the durant of Ramtron says that for vertical stacking of microscopic com -
advancement of magnetic sensing tech - they are only now beginning to evaluate ponents. A form of this process is already
nologies (that are, incidentally, also used what they can accomplish from the being used to manufacture flat panel dis -
in hard disk drives), smaller magnetic enhanced manufacturing processes. plays. Prototypes of this technology
fields are capable of being sensed with One very interesting technology have demonstrated
far greater accuracy than before, allow- that spells volumes for solid-state stor- speeds of the order
ing for greater densities in storage age is 3D memory. Until now, the fabri- of milliseconds—
system. (See box, ‘MRAM: Saying Bye to cation process of silicon-based memory faster than today’s
Bootup?’) consisted of layers of microscopic hard disks, but still
Another new solid-state memory components being fabricated on two- way slower than

MRAM: Saying Bye to Bootup?

This type of RAM was born out of the same lic materials (like iron and chromium). In While reading data from these elements,
cast as the hard disk drive. Using a phe- an MRAM cell, there are parallel rows of a current is passed through the sandwich
nomenon called Giant Magnetoresistance microscopic wires above and below the and the magnetic resistance is measured—
(GMR), which was first developed by IBM, magnetic sandwiches. The ones above a low resistance signifies a zero while high
very small magnetic fields can be stored run parallel to the sandwich while the resistance signifies a one. This process of
and sensed reliably and quickly. ones below run perpendicular to it, look- reading does not disturb the magnetic
MRAM uses the same principle where ing much like the weft and warp of a fab- condition of the cell.
similar types of GMR materials are used ric loom. In its normal state, each mag- The inherent advantage with MRAM
to fabricate arrays of microscopically netic element will have an inherent is that since it is based on the principle
small magnetic elements. The orientation charge in it. If a current is passed through of magnetism, it retains whatever infor-
of the magnetic field in these elements the neighbouring wires, this magnetic mation is contained in it even after power
(North or South) determines whether it is orientation can be changed and thus the is switched off. Additionally, unlike con-
carrying a digital zero or one. Each GMR data can be modified and also written ventional DRAM, these elements do not
cell is a sandwich made of special metal- into the element. need an electric charge to retain the
information—it is only needed during
read-write processes. Hence, power
consumption of these devices is fractional
compared to that of DRAM, which
needs to be continually refreshed in
order to retain data. Finally, with the
absence of the delays associated with
transferring electricity between the stor-
age elements for retaining the informa-
tion, MRAM is expected to be up to
30 times faster than DRAM. With these
characteristics, MRAM is poised to
give rise to a new breed of instant-on
computing devices.

34 OCTOBER 2002
 Ramped up RAM
MRAM FRAM Ovonic memory 3D memory DRAM SRAM Flash
Density High High Medium High Medium Low Medium
Technology Giant Ceramics Crystalline state 3D fabrication Silicon charge Silicon transitor Charge storing
Magnetoresitance change due to and chip design store capacitance flip-flops transistors
heat
Data transfer Very high High Medium High Medium Very high Low
speed
Cost of High High High Medium Low High Medium
implementation
Time to 2-5 years 3-5 years 4-5 years 3-5 years Already present Already present Already present
implement
Applications Desktops/ Desktops/ Embedded Portables, Flash Desktops and System and Portable digital
portables portables systems replacement portable PCs processor cache devices
Companies IBM, Infineon, Ramtron, Energy Matrix Kingston, Crucial, ST Microelec- Intel, AMD,
involved Motorola Samsung, Conversion Semiconductor Samsung, tronics, Samsung Sandisk
NEC, Infineon Devices, Inc Hyundai

present-day volatile memory. Another at about 600 degrees Centigrade, imply- There are a handful of companies
problem is that the data can be written ing heavy power consumption. The that are actively involved in these new
only once, much like a CD-R disk—there upside is that the access time of proto- memory technologies. Skymoon Ven-
is no way data can be modified in this types of this technology has been logged tures, the company that invested in RAM-
form of storage. at about 50 nanoseconds—about the BUS, is now funding Matrix Semiconduc-
Smaller chip sizes translate into sig- same speed as today’s DRAM, but slower tor, a prime pusher of 3D memory.
nificantly lower manufacturing costs and than MRAM technology. Ramtron has been one of the pro -
this subsequently spells cheaper compo- pounders of the FRAM technology. This
nents to the end-user. Consider this case: New horizons company was founded in the 1980s and
in most chip fabri - Each of these new technologies has released its first FRAM chips in 1992. Ini-
cation processes, marked a new trail in the fabrication of tial avatars of this technology produced
there are usually volatile memory. With the inherent memory chips where data used to degrade
about five bad spots advantages seen in terms of performance over time and could record information
in a silicon wafer. If and lowered fabrication costs and about only a dozen times
this wafer were the plethora of applications these before losing their storage
used to produce, say, 10 chips, this would technologies can be put to, they ability. However, the newer
imply that five chips would be faulty and seem all set to edge out the exist - iterations are far more sta -
would have to be discarded. However, if ing solid-state memories into ble and have lower manu -
this same wafer were used to produce 100 oblivion. facturing costs. On the
chips, there would still be just five faulty In terms of performance, technolo- MRAM front, IBM has partnered with
chips in the batch. 3D fabrication will use gies such as MRAM have already demon- Infineon and has already demonstrated
a very small footprint due to the expan - strated speeds that are magnitudes faster chips operating at sub-10 nanosecond
sion in height of the fabrication process, than existing solid-state memory stan- speeds.
and therefore this form of memory is dards. Once fabrication processes and In order to keep up with the
expected to be significantly cheaper than yields get further improved, this type of advancements in other areas of comput-
other solid-state storage tech - memory will be seen in PC- ing such as processing and 3D graphics,
nologies today. based applications where large the need for significantly faster memory
The next radical memo- densities and performance is of that is both denser and lower in cost, is of
ry implementation is Ovonic paramount importance. Its low increasing importance. Companies
memory. In this solid-state power consumption will also involved in the development of these
memory, heat is used to trig- enable it to surface in portable technologies are determined to turn high-
ger a reaction in certain types and mobile devices like PDAs, volume solid-state memory into com -
of crystalline materials. These crystalline MP3 players and cell phones. Technolo- modity items found at the same store as
materials can exist in one of two chem- gies such as 3D memory boast of inher- your digital camera. This does not seem so
ical states that correspond to a digital ent characteristics such as lower produc- far fetched when considering that our
zero or one. The factor that causes these tion costs per megabyte and very small SIM cards are nothing but 32 K Flash RAM
states to change is the heat applied to footprints. The immediate applications implementations! We are at the dawn of
these crystals. However, the main hurdle projected by companies involved in the revolution in volatile memory and
here is controlling the voltage in these these technologies have been in portable the future can only get faster.
devices—a state change occurs only applications such as digital camera and MARCO D’SOUZA
when the crystalline material is heated PDA memory.

35 OCTOBER 2002
[Link] 4/30/2004 11:44 AM Page 36

features ■
■ droolmaal

Fujitsu PDS-5001
Bring home the movies
This plasma screen display incorporates a host of advanced
technologies to display output from virtually any video
source. The outstanding 500:1 contrast ratio produces excep -
tionally bright and realistic visuals and it also includes
Fujitsu’s AVM processor, which improves vertical resolution
and reproduces natural movement without a stutter.
Featuring a resolution of 1366x768 pixels, it displays true
1080i and 720p signals meant for HDTV, 480p signals from a
DTV set-top box or computer, and the RGB output from a
computer up to SXGA resolution. And with a diagonal
screen-size of 50 inches, it’s time to say bye-bye to the
cinema hall.
Web site: [Link]

Technological elves to help you around the

eGO Cycle2
An ego trip like no other
Made of anodised aluminium, the eGO is an environment-fri
ly electric ride with a classic design. The simple controls, larg
wheels and a low centre of gravity make it safe and easy to o
ate. Its powerful onboard battery delivers enough juice for a 4
km range with a top speed of 37 kmph and the included batt
charger provides a fast 4 to 5 hour recharge. The front suspen
ensures a smooth ride and front disc brakes allow it to stop o
dime. It’s made to carry 113 kg onboard and an additional 45
of trailer cargo—perfect for that quick trip to the grocer’s.
Web site: [Link]

36 OCTOBER
[Link] 4/30/2004 11:44 AM Page 37

Klipsch Quintet Micro

Theater
It’s dynamite!
These tiny monsters pack quite an
acoustic punch, making them the
perfect audio companion
to your home PC or hi-
fi system. With an in-
built amplifier that
pumps 225 watts, the
system delivers awesome
surround sound via its
5.1-channel system.
Mere 7.5 inches in
height, the satellites have
built-in swivel stands that
let you aim the speakers or mount them
on a wall.
Web site: [Link]

LG Bagless
Vacuum Cleaner
V-C7070CT
The cleansing touch
The LG V-C7070CT promises
to clean up the competition
with its stunning looks and
plethora of user-friendly features.
With a 360 degree swivel hose for
deep nooks and crannies, an auto -
matic cord re-winder and filters
instead of a dust bag, the V-C7070CT
is more than just an attractive proposi - ▲
tion. A suction power ▲ Crestron TPS-6000
of 330 watts and
...and one panel to bind them all
The Crestron TPS-6000 is a home control interface t
seven layers of fil-
ters ensure that can be configured to control any device in your hom
it keeps your be it smart lighting, perimeter security, or audio-vid
sweet home devices. Based upon a 15-inch XGA TFT monitor, th
dirt-free. device houses a surprisingly easy to use interface th
Web site: touch panel-based. Capable of wireless operation, it
[Link] can also be ported to other locations in your house.
With 16 MB of internal memory, Ethernet connectiv
and WAV playback capability, this device marks the
culmination of your home of the future.
Web site: [Link]

37 OCTOBER
features ■
■ firsthand

ILLUSTRATION : Mahesh Benkar

Made to Order
Looking forward to a machine built exactly to your satisfaction? Here’s how to select the
right assembler who will deliver your dream machine

A
system configuration that owner of a computer that rivals the best in right questions, do a bit of background
reads a Pentium 4, a 7,200-rpm its price range and still be assured of after- research and look out for possible pitfalls.
40 GB hard disk drive, 256 MB sales support. All you need to do is ask the
of RAM, and sprinkled liberally
with an assortment of hardware such as
a high-powered graphics card, a 17-inch Choosing the Right Assembler
monitor, 5.1 surround sound speakers, ✔ Chat with friends and relatives who have way they treat you while you’re buying a
an optical mouse, et al. All this at a price purchased computers from the same system, you could well imagine what after-
that is anywhere between 10 to 30 per assembler. You can gain a wealth of inside sales service would be like.
cent cheaper than similar configurations knowledge from them regarding after-sales ✔ Find out if the company has any quality
of branded PCs. support and trustworthiness. Trusty assem- certifications such as ISO 9000—this would
Local assemblers push their concoc- blers should not hesitate to provide you the spell better quality products and attention
tions in your face everyday in the form of names of a few people who have bought to detail.
newspaper advertisements and handouts from them. ✔ Find out if the vendor has any other
at the railway station. They promise you ✔ Don’t buy from a vendor who tries to branches and what the strength of their
the world, all within your earthly budget. overwhelm you with technical jargon. after-sales force is. Preferably, choose a
While some deliver their promises, ✔ Don’t buy a computer from a store vendor that is located within an hour’s
others will try to take advantage of an where the salesperson makes you feel like driving distance from where the computer
ignorant buyer. you’re not worth their time—if this is the is installed.
But take heart—you can be the proud ➜

38 OCTOBER 2002
features ■
■ firsthand

Which assembler? of technology without knowing how it applications, then you would need to buy
If you take a walk down Lamington Road will help him can be quite exasperating. the fastest processor, with the maximum
in Mumbai or Nehru Place in Delhi, “Most people ask for a computer for a amount of RAM and hard disk you can
you’ll come across a myriad of assem- given application like surfing. They only afford. The scenario would be quite dif -
blers—those who are informative and know key words like Pentium 4, 3D accel- ferent if your priorities were reverse. Then
help you with your decision, to those erated graphics, etc and convincing them you would do fine with a gigahertz-class
who are nonchalant and indifferent. to buy suitable system configurations and processor, 128 MB of RAM with a good
Assemblers are quite a misinterpreted capabilities is very difficult,” says Deepak integrated graphics chipset such as an
lot—most of them are perceived as Jotwani, proprietor of Future Shock, a 845G-based Pentium 4 motherboard or
wolves, waiting to swindle you out of Mumbai-based computer dealership. It’s an nForce-based board with a Duron
your last paisa. However, in most cases, always a learning experience to know processor.
nothing could be further from the truth. which component is compatible with Though most assemblers are helpful,

“
it isn’t a good idea to only depend on the
assembler’s suggestions regarding the
hardware configuration that would be
Assemblers want to sell you the most suited to your needs. Assemblers
fastest moving hardware they have tend to suggest only the hardware that
in stock—it is wise to check the they stock and there might be other hard-
price, suitability and the warranties ware options that could get your job done
at a lower price. With some background
of the hardware offered by a variety research on the best hardware suited to

”
Vivek Louis of assemblers before going in for a your needs, you can insist on your con-
OWNER OF AN
ASSEMBLED COMPUTER
system figuration. If the assembler doesn’t have
some of the hardware, you can always ask
him to source it for you.
Very often, people tend to finalise the
Many buyers have come across assem- what and the best person to learn it from price of the system without taking into
blers who have been helpful and patient, than is the assembler himself. account the after-sales support and cost
answering each query. Besides deciding on your computer’s of the software. Inquire about the war-
The trick to finding the right assem - configuration, there are a number of ranty period and the type of warranty
bler is to not rush through your deci - other aspects that you should consider (carry-in or on-site), so that you know
sion—buying a PC is often a one-time when buying from an assembler. First, get how reliable your assembler is.
exercise. Take your time making your a clear fix on what you are going to When it comes to software,
decision and review a few assemblers. primarily use your computer for and how you’ll have to be a little wary. Unfortu-
You don’t have to go with the system much money you are willing to spend on nately, most assemblers install the software
suggested by the first assembler. Go with it. This will dictate the best choice of without any regard for licensing issues.
the one who gives you the best deal, not processor, graphics subsystem, amount of Make it a point to choose an assembler
only with respect to the system, but also RAM, hard disk size and speed for your who provides you with legal OEM soft-
in terms of after-sales support (see box: particular application. If your primary ware—doing so makes it easier to obtain
‘Choosing the Right Assembler’). application is gaming, with your second - after-sales support on the software and
Most assemblers interact directly ary being Internet surfing and office upgrades. And it’s the legal thing to do!
with the grey market and their modus
operandi is markedly different from the
way MNC brands do business. Profit
margins are different for assemblers
What do...
...they say ...they mean ...you need to do
since they deal in bulk quantities, while
access to hardware and a whole range of “It has a high- A TNT2 or integrated graphics Find out the exact name of the
components enable them to bring the powered graphics solution that will just barely let graphics card and see if it suits
latest hardware into the market faster card” you play the latest games your applications
than most MNC brands. Also, being “It’s the lowest priced Sub-standard or very low Make sure that he isn’t selling you
smaller players, assemblers are capable system among other powered components secondhand or repaired system
of offering much more personalised vendors” components
support to their customers than large “Free printer/scanner/ End-of-life peripherals that Find out if these peripherals meet
companies. mouse bundled” are on their way out of the your need and have after-sales
market support that you would require
The buyer’s guide later on
To get the best out of the assembler, you “Software installation Possibly pirated or Go with vendors who offer lower-
must be clear about your hardware extra” outdated software priced OEM versions of the soft-
requirements. Though a little ambiguity with little hope of after-sales ware and whose cost is integrated
is expected if you are a first time buyer, a support into your system price
customer who insists on the buzzwords

40 OCTOBER 2002
 What kind of Buyer are you?
The demanding buyer The price-conscious buyer The confused buyer
It’s a very simple decision for you: you like You are well aware that the tree outside You are the light of the assem-
the very best, cost be damned! your house will not sprout money to let you bler’s life. Blissfully unaware of
You want the latest proces- buy a Logitech WingMan Extreme Digital the different components, all
sor under your computer’s joystick. Money is of paramount impor- you know is that
hood, coupled with the tance—you will not spend a single paisa you want a com-
most powerful graphics more than you have to puter. You will be
card and exotic and will bargain till the target of the
peripherals hoarse on the price of full force of the
such as alien- the mouse! You’ve assembler’s mar-
esque game been to over keting babble.
controllers, 20 vendors Technology buzz-
blazing and meticu- words like Pentium
CD-RW drives, lously noted 4, 3D accelerated
optical mice, down the graphics and 40 GB drives can be baf-
etc. You cor- price for each fling—try not to fall prey to the ‘an nVidia
roborate spec- piece of TNT2 is actually a high-powered graphics
ifications of ILLUSTRATIONS: Ram hardware in card’ talk!
hardware with their inven- Possible pitfalls: You need to look out
review sites on the Internet and read every tory. You’ve every step of the way. Beware of eager
computer magazine in sight. You know inquired vendors who insist on closing a deal quick-
your GeForce 4 from your GeForce 3 and about their prices in ly. Take your time looking around and eval-
know how to get it too! Singapore and Dubai and have an average uate how much different vendors are
Possible pitfalls: You often expect more understanding of them and what they’re charging you. Do your homework through
than what your budget allows. Since suited to. online sites, other PC-owners and through
you’re trying to fit the best into your Possible pitfalls: Beware of vendors who a survey of different assemblers. The best
budget, beware of assemblers trying try to sell you sub-standard or lower speci- solution is to take along a ‘techie’ friend
to sell you sub-specification devices. If fication hardware. If you’ve specified the who might know about hardware prices.
you’ve paid for the fastest 40 GB IDE drive, brand, make sure you get exactly that one. Or, get a listing of the specifications you
make sure it is a 7,200-rpm drive and not Use foreign prices only as a guideline— would need from a trusted source and
a 5,400-rpm drive. Since you’re spending the scene is completely different after then insist on those specifications only.
a lot of money on exotic hardware, hardware passes through the various tax Insist on licensed software and be clear
demand warranties on all the devices. and custom duties in our country. Since about the after-sales service offered since
Ensure that the assembler uses licensed you are on a limited budget, you will not you’ll need it often. Most importantly, see
or OEM versions of software. OEM versions be able to buy a system that has best-of- that you have all the documentation with
are lower priced than retail software— class processing and graphics power. regards to the warranties—verify the type
negotiate with your assembler regarding Settle for one that includes a Duron or of warranty, the period and what hardware
the overall price of the system and make Celeron processor with integrated graphics it covers. Remember to have the system
sure that this includes the cost of the or a card such as the GeForce2 MX 200 checked by a knowledgeable person when
installed software. or a TNT2. it is ready to be delivered to you.

Making the purchase that clearly specifies the date of delivery PC fails due to faulty components, it usu-
Once you’ve decided on which assembler of the system and that the assembler cov- ally does so within the first week. Make
you want to entrust your system to and ers any damage caused to the system dur- sure that you have an understanding
have finalised on the configuration, it’s ing delivery. Plan it such that you per - with your assembler, which allows you to
time for the final step. But before you sonally receive the system and check return the system within a certain time-
actually place the order, make sure that each and every component upon arrival, frame after installation in case something
you have a clear understanding with the all the way from specifications and brand goes wrong.
vendor regarding the hardware configu- of components, down to the colour! Very Now that you have the roadmap,
ration, warranty, after-sales support and often, vendors try to squeeze in surprises buying a PC from your local assembler
the payment terms. Most vendors accept at the last minute and refuse to accept a should be a whole lot simpler. Stick by
only cash-down payment, but you return later. Sign the bill only after you these ground rules, do the background
should insist on paying a major part of have personally verified that the system work, keep a lookout for overzealous
the amount upon satisfactory installa - is working to your satisfaction and that vendors and you’ll have a system that
tion. Also, iron out details regarding the specifications match what you had will stick by you through all your quests
the delivery and installation of the ordered. Also check that the software in computing.
system. Make sure that there is a clause installed is what you had asked for. If a MARCO D ’SOUZA

41 OCTOBER 2002
test drive ■
■ start up

How we Test
It looks good and the technology is glitzy, but does it do the job?
In Test this Month

T
Branded PCs typically offer
he Digital Media The Awards the right mix of price, per-
Test & Research Digit awards out- formance and after-sales
Centre (DMTRC) standing products support and are thus ideal
conducts a series by selecting a Best solutions for the first-time
of elaborate tests to eval- Performance and buyer or the corporate envi-
uate the merit of each Best Value winner in ronment. This month’s com-
hardware and software each comparison parison test brings us face-
product. To ensure that test. The winner of to-face with 12 such offer-
our readers have all the the Best Perfor- ings from companies such
information they need to mance Award will be as Compaq and HCL. We
make an informed buy- the product that took an application-based
ing decision, engineers at scored the highest in approach to evaluating
DMTRC evaluate and the performance seg- them. We conducted real-
review the latest hard - ment of our tests. world tests that covered
ware, software and technology services in accor- This award represents the best performing prod- office applications, produc-
dance with the most up-to-date evaluation uct in our tests and doesn’t factor in any other tivity and gaming, and
processes and methodologies used around parameter such as value for money, features, sup- derived a Suitability to Task
the world. port, etc. The winner of the Best Value Award Index (STTI) that will help
will be the product that scores the highest in you choose a PC to fit your
Comparison Tests our value for money parameter which is derived needs. To add spice to the
We use a dual rating system, the first of which is taking into account the ratio of PC mix, we also took a look
applied to the Comparison a product’s performance and fea- at the latest Apple iMac.
Tests in which we compare tures to its price. The product Next, we tested three
the performance of products winning this award offers good software suites—all-in-one
within a particular category. performance at a great price. solutions for system security,
Each product is evaluat- maintenance and recovering
ed under different parame- In Bazaar lost data. The suites came
ters such as performance, The second part of the rating system is used to from the houses of Norton,
value for money, features, evaluate individual hardware and software prod- McAfee and Ontrack and
warranty and support, etc. ucts in the Bazaar section. The evaluation covers were evaluated for the fea-
Weightages are then parameters such as performance, ease of use, tures they offered as well as
applied to the various test value for money and the build quality/features of their performance under fre-
parameters according to the product in question and then arrives at an quently used-tasks.
their importance for overall rating. In the Bazaar section, we
that particular category of Here each of these parameters is given a tested some of the latest
products. weightage of 25 per cent and is rated on a scale hardware and software. The
These weightages are of 5, which is represented by arrows ( ). latest versions of both Red
then used to arrive at an The greater the number of arrows, the better Hat Linux and CorelDRAW
overall grade for each indi- the product. This simple five-point rating system went under the Test Centre
vidual product. An overall is designed to give you an easy-to-interpret knife. The fastest Intel
grade of A+, therefore, indi- assessment of a product. For example, a product processor, the Pentium 4
cates that the product is that receives an overall score of five arrows sig- 2.8 GHz, also found its way
close to perfection. nifies an outstanding buy! among the products we
tested, followed closely by
possibly the fastest graphics
The 5-point Rating System used in Bazaar
card in India, the Gainward
Excellent: a brilliant combination of price, performance and features—far GeForce 4. To round up the
beyond expectations range of products tested,
Good: a good buy, better than most products in its category we evaluated the ACi
Average: reasonably competent but nothing spectacular about the product Impression notebook com-
Mediocre: does not live up to expectations, needs improvement in many areas puter and a stand-alone
Poor: has serious drawbacks and needs improvement before it can be disk-defragmentation tool—
used for its target application the Executive DisKeeper.

42 OCTOBER 2002
test drive ■
■ pc comparison

So you’re looking for a computer that offers bleeding-edge performance for

your applications, features that will allow for effortless computing, backed
up with prompt and efficient service when you need it? We’ve got the pick
of the pack that promise to deliver just that

IMAGING: Ashwin Boricha PHOTOGRAPHER : Jiten Gandhi

44 OCTOBER 2002
 T
rot back to the last time we did a PC comparison
(October 2001)—the top dog then snarled with
the combined power of the 1.5 GHz Pentium 4
processor and a GeForce 3 graphics accelerator,
and was armed to the teeth with peripherals. In
terms of sheer performance, it managed to wow
even some of the more stringent reviewers in the Digit Test
Centre. Many a megahertz, megabyte and rendered pixels later,
the envelope of what’s considered to be hot technology is still
being pushed further.
The advancements in technology have resulted in
quantum leaps in system performance and amazing
features—GeForce 4 Ti 4600 graphics cards, searing-
fast DDR and RDRAM and of course, the ever spi-
ralling clock speeds of today’s processors have
brought some serious horsepower onto
your desktop, at relatively low prices.
Given their complexity, these prod-
ucts need robust after-sales support
and warranties. Customer support is
as important as the usual parameters of
performance and features—comprehensive,
countrywide after-sales support and service
spells the difference between a branded PC and a
locally assembled one.

Digit Test Process

For a PC to be accepted as branded, it had to fulfil a set of cri-
teria. First it should have a distinctive logo and a national pres-
ence with authorised service centres in at least all the major
metro cities. Besides, a particular PC model should come with a
constant configuration, regardless of where in the country it is
sold. A branded PC is also required to include a licensed operat-
ing system or a recovery CD that carries the licensed software.
The PCs received in our Test Centre were of the same config -
uration as those found in the market, with the necessary periph-
erals, supporting software and documentation included. They
were tested ‘as they were’—we did not tweak or load additional
software into them, except the benchmarking applications. This
was done to capture the performance as would be experienced
by the end-user. Finally, to complete the picture, we also tested
the bundled peripheral components such as printer, scanner,
monitor and speakers.

Test methodology
The PCs were tested on four primary parameters: features (30 per
cent), performance (40 per cent), value for money (20 per cent)
and warranty and support (10 per cent). The weightages alloted
to each parameter was used to calculate the overall scores.

Features: The various features of the PCs were divided into four
major categories:
a) System configuration and bundled peripherals: We noted
specifications such as the processor type, amount of RAM, hard
disk type, motherboard, CD/DVD/CD-RW drive, graphics card,
motherboard, etc. The better the specifications that a computer
boasted, the higher it scored in this category.
b) Build quality: To evaluate build quality, we noted aspects
such as the overall layout of the components within the system
cabinet, roominess and airflow within the systems through addi-
tional fans and ducts and attention to details such as tied IDE

45 OCTOBER 2002
 test drive ■
■ pc comparison

and power cables. We also observed the sturdiness of the

CD/DVD drive tray, the quality and feel of the buttons on the
cabinet, the mouse and the keyboard, labelled ports at the rear
of the system, etc.
c) Upgradability: Here we logged specifications such as the
extent to which the processor could be upgraded (the highest
clock speed and technology), the maximum amount of RAM that The Suitability to Task Index is an indication of the PC’s performance in
could be added, the number of PCI slots on the motherboard each of the three application areas they were tested in. Higher scores
and the number of ports (USB, serial) available in the system. indicate the PC being more suited to that particular application area
d) Package contents: Since the documentation and software bun-
dle play an important role in the overall value of a branded sys- to the effect they would have on three prime application areas: pro-
tem, we logged the inclusion or exclusion of components such ductivity, gaming and entertainment, and office and Internet
as the operating system installer CD or restore disk, the various applications. This index provided a clear indication of the per-
bundled software, driver CDs, manuals, setup guides, etc. formance of each PC in these application areas. For example, the
STTI for productivity was calculated by allotting a greater weigh-
Performance: To determine the overall performance of the tage to tests such as the Photoshop filter test than to the gaming
PCs, we used a battery of software ranging from low-level tests tests. Similarly, for gaming and entertainment, a greater impor-
for the system’s subcomponents, to real world applications for tance was allotted to the Quake III and the speaker tests.
evaluating the performance of a machine in specific usage areas.
SiSoft Sandra 2002 SE was the main benchmarking tool for eval- Value for money: This index was computed by evaluating the
uating the system’s component-level performance. It examined system’s performance coupled with the features, in relation to the
the performance of components such as the system processor, the price: the higher this index, the better a product scored.
hard disk drive and CD/DVD drive (data transfer rates and access
times) and the RAM bandwidth. Virtual Dub was used to evaluate Warranty and support: Here, we logged specifications such
DivX video encoding and Audio Catalyst for MP3 encoding. We as the type and duration of warranty offered by the manufac-
logged the time taken by the system to process a sample test file turer, the facility of an Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC),
in each of these cases. These tests determined the capability of the presence of a call centre, the average time taken to attend to a
computers in handling large amounts of streaming data. On the system problem and the number of service centres present in the
gaming front, we used Quake III Arena version 1.31 and Evolva Scout country. We also allotted extra points if the manufacturer offered
Bump Rolling demo for ascertaining the performance of a computer finance options for purchasing the computer.
under OpenGL and Direct3D, respectively. The final real world
test was related to image processing. Here, we ran a set of 21 fil- How they Fared
ters in Photoshop 7 and logged the time taken to complete the Desktop computers used to be chunky devices that were purely
task. This test provided an insight into the performance of the utilitarian. But PCs have now evolved to include high-speed
processor, RAM and hard disk. processors, faster and larger hard disks, cheaper and faster RAM
We also tested a set of important subsystems in the computer and supercharged 3D graphics accelerators—all this allows you
and the peripherals that came with it—RMAA was used to evalu- to use your PC not just for simple computing but also for enter-
ate the frequency response, Total Harmonic Distortion and noise tainment and for professional applications. Here’s how the PCs
in the soundcard and Displaymate was used for evaluating the in this comparison fared in terms of the features they offer and
sharpness and resolution of the monitor. The speakers were test- their suitability to different application areas.
ed for music and movie performance. A task as simple as playing an MP3 file requires the process -
A special score for each of the PCs, called the Suitability to Task ing power of at least a 133 MHz CPU in order to run smoothly.
Index (STTI), was finally computed. This index was calculated A few years ago, we would have been shocked at a single enter-
using a different set of weightages for each of the tests according tainment application taking up so much processing power. But

Bazaar Buzz
Over 20 lakh PCs are sold in India in a year, a majority of them in MNC brands still command a higher market share than the
the metros. However, due to the general economic slow down, Indian ones, due to the various bundled applications and their
the rate of sale is not as high as expected. Corporate customers, prompt service and quality assurance. This spells advantages, espe-
who contribute to a majority of the sales, are resorting to either cially for those who place a high premium on quality and service.
upgrades or the assembled variety. Government purchases have The hot favourite MNC brands are Dell, which has excellent
minimised to the extent that they are practically non-existent. The upgradability options; Compaq, an eternal favourite with the
SoHo and home segment accounts for a major sales chunk. The home segment; and IBM, which is doing well in the corporate
local dealer market has been slowly regressing due to stiff compe- world with its PCs specifically tailored for business users.
tition from bigger brands and piracy is rampant with assemblers However, several Indian vendors have developed their own
relentlessly loading whichever operating system and application strategies to counter the foreign powers. Unlike last year, where
software on their PCs. However, the recent efforts of organisations Indian brands were primarily large dealers with a national presence,
such as NASSCOM have delivered very perceptible results in curb- today after-sales support and service, licensed and free software and
ing this trend. peripheral bundles are given primacy by even the local vendors.

46 OCTOBER 2002
 Those who didn’t make it
In this comparison test, we tried our best to procure all
the branded computers available in the market. In
spite of our continued efforts, we missed out on
brands such as Dell, IBM and Acer. Each of them had
varied reasons for not being able to participate in this
comparison test, which we respected.
IBM was unable to participate in the test saying that they
were uncomfortable with a comparison test between the lead-
ing brands of the country.
ACER readily agreed to send their systems of different con-
figurations, only if we carried individual reviews on each of
them and did not do a comparison test.
Dell could not participate because their PCs are built as per
customer-requests and only after confirmed orders would they
bring them from Singapore. This entire process would take
around a month or a little over.
Minicomp stated logistic problems for the absence of their
PC in our comparison test.
The last brand was Cerebra—in spite of repeatedly calling
them, we were unable to elicit a suitable response. Hence, they
were omitted from the test.

today, an entry-level soundcard such as the Sound Blaster Live! 5.1

DE (available for under Rs 3,000) has the processing power of a 133
MHz Pentium processor and has full Dolby Digital support to
boot! A Pentium 4 at 1.8 GHz or an Athlon XP 1800+ processor is
now capable of handling tasks that would have required tens of
yesteryears’ computers to execute in the same amount of time.
This explosive advancement in hardware has naturally spawned
a whole new generation of usage patterns. Conversely, the usage
pattern itself determines the system configurations you need.

Features
One of the most appealing factors in a PC is the type and quality
of the components it features. We noted the specifications of the
processor, the amount and type of RAM, hard disk, motherboard,
etc. We also considered the ease with which a computer could be
upgraded and we evaluated the build quality of the system.

System configuration: All the systems were either based on

SDRAM or DDR RAM platforms; we did not receive any RDRAM-
based systems. Also, seven of the 12 systems were based upon the
integrated graphics core of the 845G or 845GL Intel chipsets; we did
not receive any based on AMD processors. In terms of system spec-
ifications, the system that stood out from the others was the Visu-
alan Lavish. Its core components consisted of a 2.53 GHz Pentium
4 and a 40 GB 7,200-rpm Seagate Barracuda hard disk, with 256 MB
of DDR RAM. The video graphics system was also robust, with the
ATi Radeon 7500 driving a 17-inch LG Flatron monitor. The Visu-
alan Lavish was also the only system that featured a CD-RW drive
with a 32x write speed capability. To help alleviate the clutter on
your desktop, this system also featured a wireless mouse.
Another noteworthy PC was the HCL Beanstalk 4455. This
computer was based upon a 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 with 256 MB of
DDR RAM and featured an ASUS V8170 Magic graphics card with
64 MB of DDR video RAM. However, its high point was the two
40 GB 7,200-rpm Seagate Barracuda hard disk drives that were
configured in RAID-0 on the onboard Promise ATA/100 IDE RAID

47
test drive ■
■ pc comparison

iMac, Refreshed
Apple has always been a trendsetter in the domain of industrial operating system itself—it came loaded
design and it has outdone itself once again with the new iMac. with Mac OS X, which with its aqua
Sporting one of the most innovative computer designs in recent interface, gelled very well with the
years, the flat 15-inch TFT screen beams a crystal clear display even squeaky clean appearance of the
when viewed from almost edge-on angles. This screen rests on a machine. The OS incorporated iTune
chrome-plated steel rod that facilitates easy positioning of the for managing music files, which also
screen either horizontally or vertically. The small but powerful enables it to be coupled with Apple’s new
Apple Pro speakers look similar to glass snooker balls and deliver a iPod MP3 player. With the brilliant
surprising amount of acoustic punch. However, the high point of TFT display, QuickTime files
the design lies in the semi-spherical base, which houses all the sys- looked truly astounding and
tem components. this, when coupled with the
The iMac is powered by a 700 MHz Power PC G4 processor with speakers’ sound quality, makes watching movies a great experience.
256 KB of L2 cache running at full speed, 256 MB of SDRAM that The system also included Microsoft Office X along with other good-
can be upgraded to 1 GB, a 40 GB hard disk, a 12x8x32x CD-Writer ies such as Roxio Toast 5, Titanium iMovie and VCD creator, which
and an nVidia GeForce 2 MX graphics card. There is virtually every makes it fun and easy to share your experiences with family and
type of connectivity option on the periphery of the base unit, includ- friends. Due to its aesthetic appeal and flaunt value, this machine will
ing FireWire, USB, speaker and headphone jacks, modem and Ether- easily find a place on the desk of top executives and afficionados.
net ports and an extra VGA output to connect an additional monitor Price: Rs 1,20,700; Contact: Apple Computers Intl Pvt Ltd;
for dual display. Adding to the ‘solid ice’ looks of the systems is the E-mail: indiainfo@[Link]; Phone: 080-555057

controller. This storage subsystem configuration resulted in Since most computers were based on the 845 family of
impressive data transfer rates in the performance benchmarks. It chipsets, they were able to support the
also featured a 17-inch monitor and a 16x Pioneer DVD drive Socket 478 Pentium and the new
that had a slot-in interface. The motherboard had a four-chan- Celeron processors up to 2.6 GHz
nel integrated sound chip, but the bundled speaker system was speeds. However, the two systems that
a stereo set with a subwoofer—the only thing that stopped it were based upon the 810E chipsets
from being suitable as a home theatre system. With four USB 2.0 had an upgradability handicap—the
ports and one FireWire port, there are enough resources for con- Visualan Celebrity and the Vintron
necting a host of external peripheral devices. Elixir 1000 were
The Zenith Premium Corporate PC also featured a decent set based upon the
of specifications and came bundled in a small form factor tailored older Socket 370
for the corporate world. It featured a 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 proces- interface and the
sor on an 845G-based motherboard with 128 MB of DDR RAM highest they could
and a conventional 40 GB, 5,400-rpm Seagate hard disk. It also go was to P-III
housed two USB 2.0 compliant ports on its front panel. The Visualan Wis- Tualatin proces-
The Visualan Celebrity and the Vintron Elixir 1000 appeared dom (above) offers sors—they cannot
on the lower end of the specifications spectrum—both these sys- plenty of room for be upgraded to a
tems were based upon a 1.2 GHz Celeron (with the Tualatin core) adding expansion Pentium 4.
and ran on a dated Intel 810E-based cards, unlike the Some of the
motherboard. These systems used Compaq Presario Pentium 4 systems
graphics and sound that were inte- 3705AP (right) here were based
grated into the motherboard and fea- upon SDRAM
tured 128 MB of SDRAM and memory, which proved to be the biggest bottleneck in the sys -
standard 15-inch monitors. Their tems. These included the Vintron Elixir 1000 and 4000, the
specifications were virtually identi- QMAX Quadrant and the Visualan Celebrity and the Visualan
cal, but the Vintron Elixir 1000 had Wisdom. These systems cannot be upgraded to newer and faster
a 56K PCI modem. forms of memory such as DDR RAM or RDRAM. While SDRAM
is suited to non-demanding applications, it can quickly turn into
Upgradability options: The Visu- a bottleneck during more strenuous tasks. However, the Visualan
alan Wisdom and the Visualan Lavish Wisdom, like the Qmax Quadrant and the Vintron Elixir 4000,
featured large and airy cabinets with had three RAM slots allowing for a greater amount of RAM to be
ample room for expansion. Their installed as compared to the other SDRAM based systems. All the
motherboards had six PCI slots each, DDR based systems had just two slots for RAM but since the den-
out of which only one was used for a sity of DDR RAM is greater than that of SDRAM, these systems
PCI modem. In comparison, the HCL could accommodate up to 3 GB of system memory.
The HCL Beanstalk 4455 Beanstalk 4455 and the Compaq Pre-
has nearly every port— sario 3705AP featured only four and Build quality: We evaluated the build quality of the PCs by
including FireWire! two slots respectively. observing the overall construction of the systems and its details.

48 OCTOBER 2002
 HCL Beanstalk 4455
P owered by a Pentium 4 running at 2.4 GHz, the Beanstalk
4455 has great features for technology enthusiasts, at a
reasonable price. The
processor sits on an
Intel motherboard
based on the
D845 chipset and
a 533 MHz FSB
(front side bus),
giving you
extreme power to tackle
intensive tasks such as editing movies in real-time. The 256
MB DDR-RAM allows for a snappy system response and makes
the resource-hungry Windows XP work very smoothly.
The system comes with a 4x AGP slot on which sits an
ASUS V8170 Magic (64 MB DDR) graphics card, which pro -
vided decent gaming performance. The 16x DVD drive with
a slot interface eliminates the tray-jamming problem faced in
most DVD drives. Audio is handled by the onboard sound -
card coupled with a powerful 30 watt 2.1 speaker system from
Altec Lansing. The system provides users with four free PCI
slots, six USB ports and a FireWire port (IEEE 1394) that offers
blazing transfer rates for the external peripherals. An onboard
10/100 Mbps LAN card is also included.
The machine implements the storage subsystem using IDE
RAID-0, which delivers substantially higher performance
than a single hard disk.
On the software front, it comes with XP Plus for Windows
XP, Norton AntiVirus 2002, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia,
School Whiz and Multilingual software. Sporting very pow-
Suitability to Task Index erful core components at Rs 59,990,
Gaming 6.03 this computer is suited to both,
Productivity 7.37 work and play.
Office apps/Internet 6.24

In terms of system design and construction, the Compaq Pre -

sario 3705AP turned out to be the sturdiest. This system had a
tool-free casing where thumbscrews were used to make it easy to
open the system for troubleshooting or upgrading. It came in
classic black and had two USB ports on the front panel to attach
USB peripherals conveniently. Another system that had two USB
ports on the front panel was the Dart Emerald.
While the Visualan Lavish sported a very large cabinet, its
cables were not organised or tied together. Nor did it have any
labelled ports on the back panel to indicate which peripheral
goes where—a detail that is useful to novices. Interestingly, this
system had provision for two USB ports on the front panel of
the cabinet, but not the ports themselves. The Visualan Wisdom
too had a similar type of cabinet, while the PCS Oriion came
without labelled ports or organised cables.
As for the HCL systems, the Beanstalk 4455 featured a very
roomy cabinet with adequate airflow. Since the Pioneer 16x DVD
drive in this system featured a slot-in disk interface, it is not sus-
ceptible to damage like other tray-based CD or DVD drives. The
HCL Beanstalk 4458, however, featured a smaller cabinet with
unorganised cables. However, this system had two USB ports on
the front of the cabinet and a keyboard that included virtually

49
test drive ■
■ pc comparison

every type of control in the form of the operating system to the original factory condition. The only
extra shortcut buttons, ranging from two computers that were loaded with Windows XP Professional
audio controls to Web surfing and were the PCS Oriion and the Zenith Premium Corporate PC. The
page navigation controls. PCS Oriion bundled Britannica Encyclopedia with a CD of utili-
ties, one for teaching Internet basics and Web design and one
Package contents: Finally, with an assortment of MP3 songs. The Zenith Premium Corpo-
we evaluated the software, rate PC bundled Norton Internet Security Software, Norton
The HCL Beanstalk 4458’s keyboard the documentation and the AntiVirus 2002 (three months of free
offers several shortcut buttons manuals that accompanied virus update subscription) and NTI
the system. Here, the Vintron CD Maker along with a few freeware
systems stood out—they included Norton AntiVirus 2000 6.0, utilities.
McAfee 5.0, Satyam 100-hour Internet Pack, Eudora 5.1, Pega- The only system that came
sus Mail 3.1, and trial versions of Front Page 98 and loaded with Windows 98 SE was the
Dreamweaver 4. Also included were utilities such as Winamp Visualan Celebrity. It included soft-
2.7 and Real Player 8. The Visualan Wisdom, with its ATi Rage ware such as CD Ghost, Genesys,
Pro 128 graphics card, brought along PowerDVD 3.0 and 4x4 Language Genius, Media Ring Talk,
Evolution, a racing game. The Compaq Presario 3705AP also PC-Cillin Antivirus, PC DJ, Recovery
included a good set of software: Norton 2002, Money 2002, Genius and Super Voice along with a
Encarta Encyclopedia 2002, Norton Security 2002, Microsoft The Zenith PC has two USB few freeware utilities. A system that
Works 6.0 along with a 30-hour Satyam Internet package. It ports on the front panel really skimped on software was the
also had Windows XP Home Edition loaded and the appropri - QMAX Quadrant. It included only a
ate CD was also provided. 100-hour Satyam Internet package along with the Windows XP
The Dart Emerald also had a good set of bundled goodies, Home Edition CD.
which included an HCL InfiNet 45-day Internet pack, Simon & All the computers we received had driver CDs and contained
Schuster Millennium Encyclopedia, four games (Odium, Septerra the manuals and documentation that explained the functioning
Core, Claw and Shogo) along with three other entertainment and of the system and how to set it up.
multimedia CDs. It also had a recovery CD to restore the OS to
its factory condition. Performance tests
Both the HCL machines came loaded with Windows XP Home Performance was evaluated using an assortment of real world
Edition and the Plus! Pack loaded; they too had CDs to restore and synthetic applications. To help evaluate the suitability of the
various systems to specific application areas, we also created Suit-
ability To Task Indexes for measuring their performance in three
HCL Beanstalk 4458 target application areas—gaming and entertainment, productiv-
ity, and office and Internet applications. This was done by allot-

T his black beauty from HCL boasts a good configuration

with a very appealing design. A 2 GHz Pentium 4 proces-
sor on an Intel 845GL motherboard defines new highs in
ing varying weightages to each benchmark depending on the
application area.

multimedia entertainment and learning. It comes with a 17- Gaming and entertainment: Here, we specifically observed
inch flat monitor the performance of the computers in the gaming, monitor per-
and a powerful formance, audio encoding, speakers, CD-ROM and soundcard tests .
Altec Lansing 2.1 The computer
speaker system. that excelled in this
The 128 MB application area was
of DDR RAM and the Visualan Lavish.
onboard graphics With its ATi Radeon
ensure reasonably smooth 3D gaming and movies, and the 40 7500 graphics card, a
GB hard disk suits most general applications that do not need fast 2.53 GHz Pen-
excessive storage. The appeal of this system lies in the optical tium 4 processor, 256 MB of DDR memory and a 40 GB, 7,200-
mouse and the functional keyboard that boasts of an assort- rpm Seagate Barracuda hard disk, the PC excelled in gaming and
ment of shortcut keys for everything from editing text, to applications involving work with audio and video. In the gaming
browser control and quick access to your media files. On the tests, it pumped out a commendable 74 fps when running the
expansion front, it can support up to 6 GB of memory but has Quake III test at a resolution of 1024x768 and in the Evolva test,
only two free PCI slots. With four USB ports, you can easily it churned out 50.5 fps.
connect devices such as a Web camera, scanner, printer, etc. It delivered a best-of-class score in raw processing, thanks to its
This computer represents a good out-of-the-box experi- 2.53 GHz Pentium 4 processor. Similarly, it performed well in the
ence for customers. It comes bundled with XP Plus for Win- hard disk and the memory tests due to the fast 7,200-rpm hard disk
Suitability to Task Index dows and a host of other system and DDR RAM, logging 41 MBps in the sequential read/write tests
Gaming 6.32 applications and utilities—all at a for the hard disk and a shade over 2 GBps in the memory band-
Productivity 6.49 price of Rs 48,990. width tests. When it came to the peripherals, the 17-inch LG Fla-
Office apps/Internet 6.25
tron monitor returned good clarity and colour reproduction, and
the 2.1 speakers performed adequately during the audio tests. The

50 OCTOBER 2002
 QMAX Quadrant
T hough the 1.7 GHz is not a top-of-the-class PC, it hous-
es sufficient power to see you through most applications.
The 32 MB AGP card delivers playable frame rates for your 3D
games, while the 128 MB of SDRAM gives you a more afford-
able upgrade path if you do not need too much power. With
support for 3 GB RAM and
two free PCI slots, you
have reasonable expan-
sion capability. It comes
with a 15-inch moni-
tor that goes up to a
resolution of
1024x768 at an 85
Hz refresh rate. The
system provides all basic level
components that a user would expect such as a PS/2 key-
board, mouse, a 52x CD-ROM drive and two channel audio
support. It also has a reasonably powerful stereo speaker sys-
tem. Completing the package is a 56K PCI modem.
The system is lacking on the software front—it bundles
just the operating system (Windows XP Home Edition) and
Suitability to Task Index a 100-hour Satyam Internet pack.
Gaming 3.91 However, with a price tag of
Productivity 5.72 Rs 39,000, it’s a decent choice for
Office apps/Internet 5.29
those on a budget.

cordless mouse was very smooth and well suited for the accuracy
needed in Quake III Arena rail-gun matches! Since it has a CD-RW
drive too, you can easily copy your home videos onto VCDs and
archive your bank of DivX movies and other files. This drive logged
a commendable score of 3.48 MBps in the sequential read test.
The Visualan Lavish was rivalled by the HCL Beanstalk 4455
in the gaming and entertainment tests. This PC was armed
with a powerful configuration of 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 processor,
256 MB of DDR RAM and the piece de resistance—the two 40 GB
7,200-rpm Seagate Barracuda hard disk drives configured in
RAID-0. This method of implementing hard disk storage
enabled it to achieve a sequential read/write data transfer rate
of 43 MBps and 40 MBps, respectively. The graphics subsys-
tem was also very robust with the ASUS V8170 graphics card
coupled with a 17-inch monitor, but a faster graphics card
would have done this system much good in the gaming arena.
For gamers who like to hear the resonance of rockets explod-
ing around them, the 2.1 Altec Lansing speakers did a good job
of delivering the audio experience.
Finally, movie buffs will be delighted with the 16x Pioneer
slot-in DVD drive. The drive did especially well in the tests,
where it logged a data transfer rate of over 3 MBps in the
sequential read test. The four USB ports make enough space for
the gaming periph-
erals you may want
to upgrade to.
The HCL
Beanstalk 4458 also
delivered reasonably
good performance

51
test drive ■
■ pc comparison

Productivity: For this application area, we looked at the com -

puter’s performance in running tasks such as office applications,
Dart Emerald image editing, video encoding, etc. Therefore, we observed the
performance of the computer’s processor, hard disk and memo -

T he Dart Emerald sports a 2 GHz Pentium 4 processor

combined with an Intel 845GL-based motherboard. It
comes with a 40 GB Samsung IDE hard disk and 256 MB of
ry along with real world applications such as Photoshop, Virtu-
al Dub video encoding and the performance of subsystems such
as the monitor, CD-ROM drive and soundcard.
DDR RAM, a part of which is used by the onboard Intel Once again, the computer that came out tops was the Visu-
Extreme graphics. There is no AGP port provided on the alan Lavish. The components that were responsible for its suc-
motherboard and therefore, there is no room for enhancing cess were the 2.53 GHz Pentium 4 processor, 256 MB of DDR
the system’s graphics performance. RAM and the fast hard disk drive. This was clearly seen in the
The onboard SigmaTEL inte- Photoshop test where it crunched through the set of 21 filters in
grated chipset sings just 14.5 seconds. Also, since Photoshop 7.0 had special support
to you through the for the Pentium 4’s SSE2 instruction set, the performance of the
2.1 speakers and the computer in this application was unsurpassed. Even in the video
AT keyboard comes encoding tests, the Visualan Lavish delivered stellar scores by
with a PS/2 convert- processing the test video file in just 1 minute 3 seconds. The 17-
er and features very inch monitor was
good tactile clear and sharp and
response, sans any shortcut keys. quite suited to mul -
One area where the Dart Emerald makes a mark is in the timedia applications
package contents. It provides you with a number of educa- that require atten -
tional, game and multimedia titles. Also provided are all the tion to detail. The
necessary driver CDs, along with Windows XP Home Edi- accompanying CD-
Suitability to Task Index tion. The Dart Emerald is sold RW drive burned a complete 650 MB CD in a span of just 3 min-
Gaming 5.58 with a three-year onsite warranty. utes 18 seconds. All this makes the Visualan Lavish suited to
Productivity 6.93 At Rs 40,000, it’s quite suitable for authoring multimedia titles for distribution, image editing and
Office apps/Internet 5.06 home users. video processing.
Next up, the HCL Beanstalk 4455 did very well in the proces-
sor, memory and especially the hard disk subsystem tests. The
with its 2 GHz Pentium 4 processor, but featured a standard 40 GB memory bandwidth
5,400-rpm Seagate hard disk drive coupled with 128 MB of DDR of its 256 MB of
RAM and the integrated graphics of the 845G chipset. It scored rea- DDR RAM was
sonably well in the SiSoft Sandra tests and the inclusion of the 2.1 logged at a shade
Altec Lansing speakers with this system enabled it to do well in the under 2 GBps, mak-
audio tests. ing it well-suited to
Understandably, the computers that fell below par in this applications such as
subtest were the ones based on the Celeron/Intel 810 combina - image and video editing where large files are stored and worked
tion—the Vintron Elixir 1000 and the Visualan Celebrity. Since upon in RAM. With its RAID-0 implementation of the two 40 GB
they featured slower processors and integrated graphics systems Seagate Barracuda hard disks, the system delivers brilliant
that used shared memory, their performance in the gaming data transfer performance, especially in the sequential read and
and the low-level subsystem tests were among the lowest in write tests (43 MBps and 40 MBps, respectively). This implied
this category. that it is a good choice for applications such as audio and video

…to Keep the Doctor Away

Since computers comprise an assortment of delicate components, offer regular driver updates that improve performance or
regular cleaning and maintenance is necessary to ensure your sys- iron out hardware compatibility issues and bugs. Update
tem’s long life. The following are the main areas you should con- your drivers frequently for a smooth-running system. The
centrate on for keeping your PC in optimum shape: same logic extends to patches for software applications
■ You hard disk is most susceptible to wear and tear and one of such as your operating system, office suites and anti-virus pack-
the best ways to maintain it is to nip any problems in the bud. ages. As a precaution, verify that you load the updates and drivers
Regular system scans will ascertain that the file system is in specific to your operating system.
good condition and will take care of the minor problems that ■ Don’t forget to keep your system clean and free from dust. While
may arise as a result of crashed programs and hard reboots. To not perceived as an immediate threat, dirt and dust are silent agents
ensure that the space on your hard disk is well utilised, you that cause serious problems down the line. They affect the moving
should defragment it regularly. This arranges the files in con- components in your system: from the keyboard keys, to the more crit-
tiguous clusters, thus improving performance and freeing up ical components such as the fans cooling your system. Covering and
wasted space. cleaning your computer will help ensure that these critical system
■ Hardware manufacturers usually have product Web sites that components do not fail due to a buildup of dust.

52 OCTOBER 2002
 authoring where
high-volume
sequential data is
worked upon in the
form of audio and
video streams.
Also delivering
good performance in this application area was the Dart Emer-
ald, featuring a 2 GHz Pentium 4 processor with 256 MB of DDR
RAM. Since the PC was well geared with a powerful processor
and RAM, even with onboard graphics, it managed a very
impressive score in the Photoshop test, where it sped through
the 21 test filters in just 16 seconds. The 17-inch flat screen
monitor produced crisp and vivid images even at high resolu -
tions and refresh rates, making it suited to serious multimedia
and productivity applications. In the video encoding tests, the
powerful processor enabled it to process the test video file in just
1 minute 15 seconds.

Office and Internet: In this application area, we evaluated the

performance of the computers in relatively non-taxing applica-
tions such as office suites and Internet browsing. The specific sub-
system that decided the performance of the computer here was the
processor, the RAM, the hard disk, the CD-ROM drive, monitor
and also the speaker and soundcard. Therefore, a higher weightage
was given to the SiSoft Sandra subsystem tests, monitor, CD-ROM,
the soundcard and the speaker tests. In fact, if you are looking for
a computer that is suited to simple office applications, you need
to just look at the processor, RAM and hard disk.

Compaq Presario 3705AP

T his good-looking computer comprises a 1.7 GHz Pen -
tium 4 processor, 128 MB of DDR RAM, a Maxtor 40 GB
hard disk and a very clear and sharp 15-inch monitor.
Another very good addition is the JBL Platinum Series
speakers that render pleasant sound quality. The chic black
colour and the overall design aesthetics make the
system stand out in a crowd. The cabi -
net features a tool-free con -
struction and provides two
USB ports on the front panel
with audio connections for
the mic and headphones.
The Compaq Presario 3705AP
also bundles a 10/100 base
Ethernet card and a Conexant 56K PCI
modem. An AGP port is provided so that the
graphics subsystem can be enhanced with a faster graph-
ics card. On the software front, it comes preloaded with
Windows XP Home Edition and the necessary driver CDs
are also provided along with a recovery CD. The package
includes a host of anti-virus, multimedia and educational
applications. This was one of the few brands that offered
Suitability to Task Index telephonic support and at Rs
Gaming 5.64 50,363 is a good choice for users
Productivity 6.15 who like appealing looks and
Office apps/Internet 6.14
upgradability.

➜
53
CATEGORY
Compaq Presario Dart Emerald HCL Beanstalk 4458 HCL Beanstalk 4455 PCS Oriion
3705AP
Features
System Configuration
CPU (Manufacturer/Clock Speed) Intel P4 @ 1.7 GHz Intel P4 @ 2 GHz Intel P4 @ 2 GHz Intel P4 @ 2.4 GHz Intel P4 @ 1.7 GHz

Hard Disk Drive (Brand, Size, rpm) Maxtor 40 GB, 5,400-rpm Samsung 40 GB, Samsung 40 GB, Seagate 2x40 GB, Seagate 40 GB,
5,400-rpm 5,400-rpm 7,200-rpm 5,400-rpm
Memory (Amount, Type) 128 MB, DDR 256 MB, DDR 128 MB, DDR 256 MB, DDR 256 MB, DDR
Graphics (Name, RAM) Integrated Integrated Integrated ASUS V8170 Magic, Integrated
64 MB DDR
Motherboard
Chipset Intel 845G Intel 845GL Intel 845G Intel D845 Intel 845GL
Slots (PCI, Memory, AGP) 3, 2, AGP 4x 4, 2, ✖ 3, 2, ✖ 5, 2, AGP 4x 3, 2, NA
Ports 1 Parallel, 2 Serial, 1 Parallel, 2 Serial, 1 Parallel, 2 Serial, 1 Parallel, 2 Serial, 1 Parallel, 2 Serial,
3 USB 1.1 3 USB 1.1 3 USB 1.1 2 USB 1.1 + 1 FireWire 3 USB 1.1
Onboard
Graphics Intel Extreme, shared Intel Extreme, shared Intel Extreme, shared ✖ Intel Extreme, shared
memory memory memory memory
Sound SigmaTEL SigmaTEL Avanche SoundMAX Avance Logic
C-Major
LAN Intel Pro 100 ✖ ✖ Intel Pro 100 Realtek RTL 8139
USB 2.0 (number of ports) ✔ (1) ✔ (1) ✔ (1) ✔ (4) ✔ (1)
Peripheral Subsystem
Keyboard (Keys, Interface) PS/2 AT with PS/2 Convertor PS/2 PS/2 PS/2
Mouse (Interface, Technology) PS/2, Ball PS/2, Ball USB, Optical USB, Optical PS/2, Optical
Monitor (Brand, Size, Resolution) Compaq 5500, 15-inch, Dart Flatvision 43F1,17- HCL HCM 770FH,17-inch, HCL HCM 770FH,17-inch, PCS 38F1, 15-inch,
1024x768 @ 60 Hz inch, 1280x1024 @ 60 Hz 1280x1024 @ 60 Hz 1280x1024 @ 60 Hz 1024x768 @ 85 Hz
Optical Drive (Speed, Type) 52x CD-ROM drive 52x CD-ROM drive 52x CD-ROM drive Pioneer 16x DVD drive 52x CD-ROM drive
Soundcard (Name, No. of Channels) Integrated Integrated Integrated Integrated Integrated
Speakers (Brand, Power Output, JBL Platinum Series, 6 watts MS-431, 800 watts PMPO, Altec Lansing, 30 watts, 2.1 Altec Lansing, 30 watts, 2.1 PCS, NA, 2
No. of Channels) (total), 2 2.1
Modem (Name, Speed, Type) Conexant HSF V92, 56K, D-Link, 56K, PCI Conexant HSF, 56K, PCI Conexant HSF, 56K, PCI ✖
PCI
Extra Peripherals (Printer, Scanner, ✖ Headset Headset Headset Headset
Web cam, UPS, Spike Buster,
Headphone/Mic)
Upgradability
CPU 2.4 GHz and above 2.6 GHz or more 2 GHz or more 3.06 GHz or more 1.7 GHz and above
Memory 2 GB 3 GB 6 GB 3 GB 6 GB
PCI Slots 2 vacant 3 vacant 2 vacant 4 vacant 3 vacant
Package Contents
Operating System Windows XP Home Windows XP Home Windows XP Home Windows XP Home Windows XP Professional
(with Plus!) (with Plus!)
Recovery CD ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✖
Driver CDs ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Manuals & Setup Instructions ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Bundled Software Norton 2002, Money HCL InfiNet 45-day pack, Norton AntiVirus 2002, Norton AntiVirus 2002, Britannica, 25-Software
2002, Encarta Encyclopedia Simon & Schuster Encarta Encyclopedia (Std), Encarta Encyclopedia (Std), Mega CD, New Hits
2002, Norton Security Millennium Encylopedia, HCL School Wiz, ValueFon HCL School Wiz, ValueFon (songs), Millennium Games
2002, Microcosft Works Odium, Septerra Core, Dialer, Ankur Software, Dialer, Ankur Software, Vol-3, Internet Basics, Web
6.0, Satyam 30-hour Claw, Shogo games, The HCL Expert Utility, HCL HCL Expert Utility, HCL design and authoring tools
Internet package complete family CD, Asset Tracker, HCL InfiNet Asset Tracker
Entertainment Mania and 12-month pack
The Road to Freedom
Multimedia CD
Performance
Subsystem (out of 10)
Processor (SiSoft) 5.97 6.97 7.05 8.21 6.03
Hard Disk Drive (SiSoft) 4.55 4.46 4.99 5.61 4.15
Memory (SiSoft) 8.50 8.74 8.59 9.46 8.02
CD-ROM / CD-RW / DVD (SiSoft) 5.78 0.53 5.03 4.54 4.55
Monitor (Displaymate) 6.80 4.6 5.4 5.4 5.2
Soundcard (RMAA) 4.67 8.33 8.83 1.88 Failed
Audio Encoding (seconds) 29 23 25 18 30
Video Encoding (seconds) 95 75 80 66 92
Photoshop 7 Test (seconds) 21.86 16 22.83 17.4 21.1
Gaming
Quake III Arena 1.31 Demo - 10.4 19.5 10.4 67.9 17.6
1024x768x32 (fps)
Evolva Bump Rolling Demo (fps) 68.6 80 85.8 32.6 74.7
Suitablity to Gaming (out of 10) 5.64 5.58 6.32 6.03 4.44
Suitablity to Productivity (out of 10) 6.15 6.93 6.49 7.37 5.43
Suitability to Office apps (out of 10) 6.14 5.06 6.25 6.24 4.97
Warranty and Support
Warranty (in years) 1* 3* 1* 1* 1*
Number of Service Centres 1000 275 500 500 200
Annual Maintenance Contract (Y/N) ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Telephonic Customer Support ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖
Overall Score
Features (30%) 19.56 19.24 19.72 24.80 19.08
Performance (40%) 24.51 25.89 27.65 27.77 19.63
Warranty and Support (10%) 8.83 6.76 6.18 6.18 4.59
Value for Money (20%) 13.46 17.36 14.87 13.48 15.45
Overall Product Rating 66.36 69.25 68.42 72.23 58.75
Overall Grade
Vendor Name AVI Electronics Dart Computers Pvt Ltd HCL Infosystems HCL Infosystems PCS Industries Ltd

Phone 022-6465522 07104-32565 0120-4520977 0120-4520977 022-8503721

E-mail aviteam@[Link] rohit@[Link] response@[Link] response@[Link] enquiry@[Link]
Price (In Rupees) 50,363 40,000 48,990 59,990 38,550
Disclaimer: All prices are subject to variation, *On-site Warranty, ** Carry-in Warranty, ^ DirectX not loaded, ^^ On-site within city limits
QMAX Quadrant Vintron Elixir 1000 Vintron Elixir 4000 Visualan Wisdom Visualan Celebrity Visualan Lavish Zenith Premium
Corporate PC

Intel P4 @ 1.7 GHz Intel Celeron @ 1.2 GHz Intel P4 @ 2 GHz Intel P4 @ 1.6 GHz Intel Celeron @ 1.2 GHz Intel P4 @ 2.53 GHz Intel P4 @ 2.4 GHz
(Tualatin) (Tualatin)
Seagate 40 GB, Seagate 40 GB, Seagate 40 GB, Seagate 40 GB, Seagate 40 GB, Seagate 40 GB, Samsung 40 GB,
5,400-rpm 5,400-rpm 5,400-rpm 5,400-rpm 5,400-rpm 7,200-rpm 5,400-rpm
128 MB, SDRAM 128 MB, SDRAM 128 MB, SDRAM 256 MB, SDRAM 128 MB, SDRAM 256 MB, DDR 128 MB, DDR
SiS 300, 32 MB, Integrated SiS 300, 32 MB ATi Rage Pro 128, Integrated ATi Radeon 7500, Integrated
SDRAM SDRAM 32 MB SDRAM 64 MB DDR

Intel 845 Intel 810E Intel 845 Intel 845D Intel 810E Intel 845G Intel 845G
3, 3, AGP 4x 3, 2, None 3, 3, AGP 4x 6, 3, AGP 4x 3, 2, None 6, 2, AGP 4x 3, 2, AGP 4x
1 Parallel, 2 Serial, 1 Parallel, 2 Serial, 1 Parallel, 2 Serial, 1 Parallel, 2 Serial, 1 Parallel, 2 Serial, 1 Parallel, 2 Serial, 1 Parallel, 2 Serial,
2 USB 1.1 No USB 2 USB 1.1 No USB No USB 3 USB 1.1 4 USB 1.1

✖ Intel 810, shared ✖ ✖ Intel 810, shared Intel Extreme, shared Intel Extreme, shared
memory memory memory memory
Intel Integated Audio Avance Logic Intel Integrated Audio Intel Integrated Audio Avance Logic SoundMAX SoundMAX

✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ Intel Pro 100 Intel Pro 100

✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ (1) ✔ (2)

PS/2 AT PS/2 PS/2 AT PS/2 USB

PS/2, Ball PS/2, Ball PS/2, Ball PS/2, Optical PS/2, Ball PS/2, Cordless ball USB, Ball
Microtek 38F1C, 15- Vintron, 15-inch, Vintron, 15-inch, LG Studioworks 563A,15- LG Studioworks 563A,15- LG Flatron E700S, 17”, Zenith, 15-inch,
inch, 1024x768 @ 85 Hz 1024x768 @ 60 Hz 1024x768 @ 60 Hz inch, 1024x768 @ 75 Hz inch, 1024x768 @ 75 Hz 1280x1024 @ 60 Hz 1152x864 @ 60 Hz
52x CD-ROM drive 52x CD-ROM drive 52x CD-ROM drive 52x CD-ROM drive 52x CD-ROM drive 32x CD-RW drive 52x CD-ROM drive
Integrated Integrated Integrated Integrated Integrated Integrated Integrated
Microtek Josh, 820 Vintron, 720 watts Vintron, 720 watts Mercury SW880, 880 Mercury MS440, 440 Mercury SW 980, Zenith, NA, 2
watts PMPO, 2 PMPO, 2 PMPO, 2 watts PMPO, 2 watts PMPO, 2 36 watts, 2.1
HSP 56, 56K, PCI NA, 56K, PCI D-Link, 56K, PCI Motorola SM 56, 56K, PCI ✖ Motorola SM 56, 56K, ✖
PCI
✖ ✖ ✖ Headset Headset Headset ✖

2.4 GHz 1.5 GHz or more 2.4 GHz and above 2.4 GHz and above 1.2 GHz or more 2.53 GHz and above 3.04 GHz and more
3 GB 1 GB 3 GB 768 MB 512 MB 3 GB 3 GB
2 vacant 2 vacant 2 vacant 5 vacant 3 vacant 5 vacant 3 vacant

Windows XP Home with Windows 98 SE (provid - Windows XP Home (pro - Windows XP Home with Windows 98 SE with CD Windows XP Home with Windows XP Professional
media ed only if you specify) vided only if you specify) media and boot disk media
✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✖ ✖
✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Satyam 100-hour Norton AntiVirus 2000, Norton AntiVirus 2000, Norton AntiVirus and 3Deep, Adobe Acrobat Motocross Mania, 4x4 Norton Internet Security
Internet package McAfee 5.0, Satyam Mcafee 5.0, Satyam 100 Firewall, Adobe Acrobat Reader, CD Ghost, Evolution, Serious Sam, Software, Norton
100-hour Internet Pack, Hour Internet Pack, Reader, Intel LDCM, Genesys, Language Heavy Metal FAKK2, AntiVirus 2002 (3
Eudora 5.1, Pegasus Eudora 5.1, Pegasus Utiltiy Management Genius, Media Ring Rune games, Nero 9.0, months), NTI CD Maker,
Mail 3.1, Front Page 98 Mail 3.1, Front Page 98 Tool, Easy Tune, Talk, PC-Cillin Antivirus, PowerDVD 4.0, Blank Intel Active Monitor,
trial, Dreamweaver 4 trial, Dreamweaver 4 PowerDVD 3, 4x4 PC DJ, Recovery Genius, CD-RW Real Player 8.0 with
trial, Winamp 2.7, Real trial, Winamp 2.7, Real Evolution Super Voice Jukebox 2
Player 8 Player 8

5.89 5.47 7.00 5.28 5.47 8.90 6.13

4.49 4.33 4.01 4.71 4.81 6.12 2.32
4.66 2.67 4.71 4.68 2.81 9.75 7.87
4.50 5.08 4.37 4.66 6.38 6.75 4.71
5.2 5 5 5.2 5.2 5.6 5
2.61 5.88 4.34 5.91 4.16 4.88 5.80
28 26 25 30 27 17 62
106 195 100 108 173 63 172
20.33 20.33 22.5 23.26 24.83 14.5 30.56

31.4 15.3 8.4 8.3 13.2 74.1 10.5

12.9 14.4 Failed Failed Failed^ 50.5 57

3.91 4.29 3.89 4.03 3.97 7.17 4.63
5.72 5.27 5.69 5.54 4.98 8.32 4.71
5.29 4.62 4.95 5.00 4.92 7.13 5.16

1** 1^^ 1^^ 1* 1* 1* 1*

100 300 300 9 9 9 130
✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔

19.08 11.45 13.67 18.76 12.40 23.69 20.35

19.22 20.10 19.92 20.07 18.92 32.51 20.06
6.71 5.12 5.12 3.58 3.58 3.58 6.87
15.11 17.88 13.10 17.70 18.71 11.68 12.51
60.12 54.56 51.81 60.11 53.61 71.46 59.79

Nebula Technologies Vintron Informatics Ltd Vintron Informatics Ltd Visualan Technologies Visualan Technologies Visualan Technologies Zenith Computers Ltd.
Pvt Ltd
022-6730567 011-6810815 011-6810815 022-7686817 022-7686817 022-7686817 022-8377300
pratik@[Link] corporate@[Link] corporate@[Link] sales@[Link] sales@[Link] sales@[Link]
39,000 27,145 39,445 33,750 25,750 74,000 48,925
test drive ■
■ pc comparison

Decision Maker
Gaming and Entertainment Productivity Office and Internet
You need To play the latest games such as Quake III To work with applications such as Pho-
A computer for surfing the Net and
Arena and Unreal Tournament 2003 at the toshop and with audio and video edit-that can run day-to-day applications
maximum settings and with all the effects ing tools such as word processors and spread-
turned on sheets
At least a 2 GHz processor, 256 MB of DDR At least a 1.7 GHz processor, 128 MB At least a 1.2 GHz processor, 128 MB
Look for RAM, a 40 GB, 7,200-rpm hard disk, a 17- of DDR RAM, a 40 GB, 7,200-rpm hard of SDRAM, 40 GB hard disk, 15-inch
inch flat monitor, 2.1 speakers and at least a disk, and a 17-inch monitor monitor, integrated graphics and
16x DVD-ROM drive sound
The models Visualan Lavish, HCL Beanstalk 4455, Dart HCL Beanstalk 4455, Dart Emerald HCL Beanstalk 4458, Compaq Presario
Emerald 3705AP, Visualan Celebrity
Price range Rs 40,000 to Rs 74,000 Rs 59,990 to Rs 74,000 Rs 27,750 to Rs 48,990

Once again, the computer that excelled was the Visualan DVD drive featured a transfer rate of slightly over 3 MBps. The
Lavish. The two HCL computers competed closely in this cate- sound system of the Beanstalk 4458 delivered a very com -
gory, leading to some very interesting observations. Even mendable score of 8.83 out of 10, but the Beanstalk 4455 fell
though both computers have different specifications, they were significantly under
equally suited to office suites and Net surfing, as the relevant par, managing a
subsystems that were affected by the tests for this application score of just 1.88.
had nearly similar specifications. Both these systems were based Armed with the
on the Pentium 4 processor with DDR memory, both had a Pentium 4/DDR
17-inch monitor combination, the
with integrated Compaq Presario
audio. Yet the dif- 3705AP proved to
ferences between be a good performer
the Beanstalk 4455 for office applica -
and the Beanstalk tions. Despite the
4458 were numer- fact that it had only
ous: the former had a RAID-0 array of 7,200-rpm hard disk a 15-inch monitor,
drives, while the latter had a simple 5,400-rpm drive. The the display was
Beanstalk 4455 had 256 MB of DDR RAM while the 4458 had sharp and clear. Its
just 128 MB and even though there was an ASUS V8170 Magic processor enabled
graphics card in the Beanstalk 4455, this made minimal differ- this computer to
ence in office applications and surfing. Another difference was perform well in the
in the optical drives used—the Beanstalk 4458 had a simple 52x SiSoft Sandra sub-
CD-ROM drive, while the Beanstalk 4455 featured a 16x Pioneer test. Its DDR memory also managed a good data transfer rate of
DVD drive. The CD-ROM of the Beanstalk 4458 featured a 1.7 GBps; particularly impressive was its CD-ROM drive, which
sequential read rate of 2.86 Mbps, while the Beanstalk 4455’s managed a sequential read rate of 3.96 MBps, making it the
fastest in this comparison.
Buying Tips
Warranty and support
■ The specifications and associated features of you sys- In evaluating the warranty and support of the computers, the
tem configuration need to be suited to your application. brand that stood head and shoulders above the others was Com-
■ Verify that a service centre is located close by and you paq. With over 1,000 service centres across the country, there is
fall within the jurisdiction of the service personnel in case ample support for this computer when you need it. It is also the
of onsite calls. only brand to offer telephonic customer support and a one-year
■ Your system should be capable of supporting newer and faster onsite warranty on the Presario 3705AP.
processors, and must contain adequate vacant slots for RAM Coming in a close second was HCL, with 500 service cen-
and enough USB and serial ports for peripheral devices. tres spread across the country. It too offeres a one-year onsite
■ Take into account how many vacant 5.25-inch drive bays your warranty. Vintron’s service network is spread across 300 serv-
cabinet has for a future CD-RW drive. ice centres across the country and it specifies an onsite war-
■ Enquire about the cost of various upgrade components to get ranty on its computers only within city limits. Dart’s service
a clear idea for a future budget. network is spread across 275 service centres across the coun-
■ Find out what finance schemes are available and the flexibility try and it offers a very impressive three-year onsite warranty.
options that exist. Preferably, check if the vendor has tie-ups QMAX specifies a one-year carry-in warranty and has 100 serv-
with your particular bank for easy finance. ice centres across the country. The only disappointing brand
■ Ask the PC vendor for references or phone numbers of former in terms of service network support was Visualan—it has only
customers. They are usually more than willing to oblige. nine service centres in India, but does offer a one-year war-
ranty. All the brands had the provision of an AMC after the
warranty period.

56 OCTOBER 2002
The Winners!
In this comparison of branded PCs, we saw a spectrum of features
and specifications. Some were more suited to high-performance
gaming while others were tailored towards productivity and some,
though low on specifications and sheer processing horsepower,
were suited to general-purpose, non-demanding applications.
In this shootout, the computer that came out tops in terms
of sheer performance was the Visualan Lavish, which bagged
our Best Performance Award. With best-of-class components
such as the 2.53 GHz Pentium 4 processor, 256 MB of DDR RAM
and a speedy 40 GB 7,200-rpm Seagate Barracuda hard disk, this
system had a very strong core to tackle most performance appli-
cations. The graphics subsystem was also very strong with the
ATi Radeon 7500 graphics accelerator paired with the 17-inch
LG E700S Flatron monitor. The roomy cabinet left plenty of
room for expansion. This was also the only system to bundle a
wireless mouse and a very able 32x CD-RW drive. In
terms of peripherals, it had a 56K PCI modem and an
integrated Intel Pro 100 LAN
card. It was pre-loaded with
Windows XP Home Edition
and also carried a CD of the
OS. Also bundled were
numerous games such as
Motocross Mania, 4x4 Evolution,
Serious Sam, Heavy Metal
F.A.K.K.2 and Rune. The package also
The Visualan Lavish
included Nero 9.0, PowerDVD 4.0
impressed us with its awe-
along with a blank CD-RW disk—all
some processing and
graphics firepower for a price of Rs 74,000. Armed with
very powerful core components and
a good graphics subsystem, this computer marched triumphant-
ly into the gaming and multimedia authoring arena.
Our Best Value Award went to the Visualan Celebrity. This
computer was based on an older 810E-based chipset and ran a 1.2
GHz Celeron based on the Tualatin core along with a 40 GB,
5,400-rpm Seagate hard disk and 128 MB of SDRAM. It also fea-
tured integrated sound and graphics and included a sim-
ple stereo speaker system, a 52x CD-ROM drive and a
15-inch LG Studioworks monitor. The bundled soft-
ware was quite comprehensive and
included applications such as
CD Ghost, Genesys, Language
Genius, Media Ring Talk,
PC-Cillin Antivirus, PC
DJ, Recovery Genius and
Super Voice. Given its
meagre horsepower,
it cannot handle
CPU and graphics-hungry For general-purpose applications,
the Visualan Celebrity leads the
applications well, but at Rs
pack in performance and price
25,750, is among the low-
est–priced systems you could opt for when it comes to general-
purpose applications such as office suites and Internet browsing.
Our extensive comparison tests proved that there is more to
a branded PC than just specifications. These computers do not
stop at offering just speed, but extend the utilitarian value to
after-sales support and service. Be it intensive gaming, audio-
video editing, surfing or plain keeping tabs of the grocery you will
find one that serves your need!
YATISH SUVARNA, MITUL MEHTA and MARCO D ’SOUZA

57 OCTOBER 2002
test drive ■
■ reviews

We test the latest and the best hardware and software products available in the market

Red Hat Linux 7.3

It costs a measly 11 grand!

R ed Hat’s latest version is

a complete Linux pack-
age consisting of three base
you wish to install. After ask-
ing the standard questions
about the keyboard, lan-
processing,
spreadsheets and
presentations,
installation disks, one docu- guage preferences and respectively. If
mentation CD, and StarOf- mouse, Red Hat 7.3 offers a software develop-
fice 5.2, Server and Produc- variety of installation classes ment is your
tivity Application CDs, and a including Server, Worksta- forte, Red Hat
visiting card sized System tion, Laptop, Custom and an packs around 75
Administrator’s disk. All this upgrade option for previous programming
also comes neatly packed versions of Red Hat. tools and lan-
within a single DVD. The Once you’ve selected the guages such as
package also includes three class of installation, the next Perl, Guile,
detailed manuals, including step is disk partitioning, Python, etc. Use the KDE Control Center to configure the GUI
a Getting Started Guide, Ref- which is handled by the The core Red
erence Guide and Customi- powerful Disk Druid utility. Hat 7.3 distribution is based browser front, Netscape,
sation Guide. Ironically, this utility is on the 2.4.18-3 kernel, and Mozilla, Galeon, KDE’s Kon-
available only during disk provides patched versions of queror and GNOME’s Nau-
partition. Disk Druid sup- popular Linux software with tilus complete the package—
ports only ext2, ext3 and some interesting new addi- Konquerer and Nautilus are
vfat (Virtual File Allocation tions. It includes glibc, more like file managers that
Table) file systems, whereas XFree86, KDE, GNOME, happen to understand URLs.
Fdisk supports more than 80 emacs, Ghostscript, BIND, Konquerer helps users to
different file types, including Sendmail, MySQL, Post- view even the hidden Win-
FAT16, BSD, DRDOS and greSQL, PH and Apache. dows folders whereas Nau-
HPFS. Connecting to the Inter- tilus does not.
The next few installation net through dial-up was easy. With its treasure box of
steps take you to the Boot We managed to set up a applications, Red Hat 7.3
Loader Configuration screen, generic 56K modem, config- caters to everyone, from
where you can choose either ure connection parameters home users looking at
GRUB or LILO to set up the and connect to the ISP in just an easy-to-use Windows
We installed Bootup Menu. Next, you a few minutes. replacement OS, to those
Red Hat on a PC with a Pen- configure the network and This distribution has a looking for a powerful Web
tium III 1.2 GHz processor, firewall. Here you can speci- lot of features mimicking server OS.
an 815EE chipset-based fy a default security level, Windows such as screen-
motherboard, 256 MB trusted devices and types of savers, desktop themes,
SDRAM and a 20 GB hard incoming connections and sound support, multimedia, SPECIFICATIONS
System Requirements:
disk. We did not face any ports, among other things. etc. It has X-Chat for chat- Pentium class processor, 650
hardware compatibility The last few installation steps ting and supports audio CDs MB disk space, 32 MB RAM
issues with the onboard include selecting the lan- with a Winamp-like applica-
audio and video, and the guage, packages and config- tion called XMMS. On the Red Hat Linux 7.3 B+
monitor (Samtron 55E) was uring your video card and Performance
Price: Rs 11,435 Ease of use
detected effortlessly. The monitor. Contact: Red Hat India Pvt Ltd Value for money
base installation can range For office productivity, Phone: 022-2853452 Features
between 1.5 GB to 3 GB you have KWord, KSpread E-mail: info-india@[Link]
OVERALL
depending on the packages and Kpresenter for word Web site: [Link]
➜

80 OCTOBER 2002
test drive ■
■ reviews

Mercury MP3-VCD Player immediately on the Windows 10 seconds to preview an

XP Professional system and its image. Though slow, the
Entertainment in your palm drivers were installed from the scanner’s colour reproduction

T he sleek and rounded

translucent front of this
MP3 and VCD player is bound
the VCD. The sleek looking
remote lends that extra com-
fort of operating the unit
bundled CD.
The CanoScan N1240U
took 100 seconds to scan a
was bright and vibrant.

SPECIFICATIONS
1200x2400 optical resolution,
to attract your attention. It while enjoying a movie. The full colour image (A4 size) at USB interface, 48-bit colour
has an aqua coloured front power adapter and bundled 300 dpi, which is quite slow. depth and a CD containing
panel and you can see the rechargeable NiMH batteries At 22 seconds, its preview ScanGear, OmniPage Pro 9,
media spinning within. It also translate into money saved. time is also not too impres- Arcsoft Photobase and Photo-
Studio 2000
houses chrome-plated control On the negative side, the sive—a scanner in its price
buttons for Play, Volume, documentation is meagre on range should take about CanoScan N1240U
Rewind, etc. The LCD information and is B+
B+
Performance
screen does not not of much Price: Rs 9,995
Build quality
support ID3 tags help. No carry Contact: Canon India Ltd
Phone: 011-6806572 Value for money
and displays case was bun- E-mail: [Link]@[Link] Features
information dled with the Web site: [Link] OVERALL
such as the track player, which
number, time, Elec- makes it sus-
tronic Shock Protection (ESP) ceptible to scratches and dam- ViciDocs Pronto
status and mode (repeat-one, age from impact. All in all, at
repeat-all and random). The just Rs 5,000, the Mercury
File it up
player has a DC 5V power
connector, earphone jack and
Video and Line Out jack with
MP3-VCD Player is a good
solution if you don’t wish to
spend big bucks on a full
E ver wanted an application
that could manage and
archive your hardcopies as well
management child’s play.
Advanced users can create
their own databases with cus-
labels clearly indicating the fledged VCD system and also as electronic documents in a tomisable fields. The applica-
function of each. The player want mobile audio. tion also provides shortcut
offers good audio quality keys to some of the major
across the board, be it a song SPECIFICATIONS Office and Internet applica-
with heavy instrumentals or Supports MP3 and VCD for- tions such as Word, Excel,
vocals. The bundled ear- mats; plays CD-R and CD-RW PowerPoint, Internet Explor-
phones delivered all the fre- media; 50 second shock protec- er and so on, making it easier
tion buffer; infrared remote con-
quencies very well. The play- trol; repeat one/repeat all/ran - to work with.
er comes with an RCA cable dom play modes; 32, 44.1 and The interface is a little
(audio and video cable) for 48 KHz sampling rates tough and the preferences
connecting to the TV to play option only provides very
Mercury MP3-VCD Player B+
B+ common repository? ViciDocs basic View and Import prefer-
Price: Rs 5,000 Performance Pronto could be the solution ences settings. Another fea-
Contact: Visualan Technologies Build quality for you. The program uses MS ture lacking is that in the
Phone: 022-8202688 Value for money
Fax: 022-8368514 Access for managing its data- Metadata View, you can only
Features
E-mail: sales@[Link] base and allows you to capture access files till the root folder
OVERALL
Web site: [Link] documents via an attached level of ViciDocs—any other
scanner. It comes with a folder is inaccessible.
built-in viewer which supports To conclude, here is one
Canon CanoScan N1240U scanner 150 file formats including application that began as a
The slim beauty Word, Excel, PDF and great concept but was let
AutoCAD’s DWG. This means down by a poor interface and

T he latest offering from

Canon in the CanoScan
series is the N1240U, an ultra
power saving mode that will
not only save on electricity
bills, but will also enhance the
that the documents can be
viewed and printed from with-
in the database even without
has a long way to go before it
makes for a good purchase.

slim and silent scan- life of the device. the native application. SPECIFICATIONS
System Requirements:
ning device. The package Customisable templates Windows 9x and above, Pen-
The Z-lid includes a whole with pre-defined fields such tium II class processor, 32 MB
(the lid which bunch of appli- as date, author, keywords and RAM, 30 MB disk space
can be removed cations such as so on, make document
from the scanner) will Omnipage Pro 9, Arc- ViciDocs Pronto B-
B-
allow you to scan larger, soft Photobase and Photo- Price: Rs 12,000 Performance
three-dimensional objects Studio 2000, which make it Contact: Vicisoft Technologies P Ltd Ease of use
Phone: 040-7743168 Value for money
with extreme ease. The device easy for OCR-ing documents Fax: 040-7743167 Features
derives power through the or for scanning images. The E-mail: info@[Link] OVERALL
USB port and has a built-in scanner was recognised Web site: [Link]

82 OCTOBER 2002
CorelDRAW 11
All the vector power you need!

O ver the years, Corel has

gradually evolved into
an extremely powerful vector
create and position angled or
slanted shapes using very few
mouse clicks. The New Poly-
paste it without
losing the font and
formatting, when
based illustration software. line and improved Pen tools we tried to copy
Although version 11 isn’t also simplify the process of text from a Web
essentially different from its drawing curved and straight page, the format-
predecessor, it does include lines, making it a breeze even ting, as well as the
new tools and enhancements for first time users. Shaping font size was lost.
that lend the programs a lit- has also been greatly However, you can
tle more power and make convert paragraph
them easy to use. Adobe Illus- text to curves and
trator is the only rival to then apply effects CorelDRAW 11 has a user-friendly interface and
CorelDRAW in the market as such as drop shad- sports the new XP-inspired look
of now, but Corel scores as an ows, without los-
illustration program because ing any formatting. Smudge high-end software such as
of its powerful drawing tools and Roughen brushes have Macromedia Flash, you can
and brilliant interface. The also been added to allow users easily create them here. But
program makes it easy to cre- to edit the curves of an object make no mistake, RAVE is not
ate your own toolbars, menus to give a wavy look. Unfortu- a true professional animation
and macros, then save that nately, these tools aren’t as software and will need to ramp
customised work space for effective as those featured in up quite a bit before it can
specific tasks. For example, if Adobe Illustrator 10. compete head on with Flash.
you make lots of graphs, you Just like the initial versions With its fantastic drawing
can create an interface that of Macromedia Flash, version tools such as pressure-sensi-
puts all the important graph 11 has ‘symbols’ that allow tive brushes, excellent filters
tools within easy reach. you to save your objects in the that let you seamlessly import
CorelDRAW’s cross-plat- enhanced in this version, form of symbols and add them and export more than a hun-
form support and vast range with new menu items includ- to the central library to be used dred file formats and a user-
of import/export filters are ing Simplify, Front Minus later. This feature is a boon for friendly and customisable
pretty impressive. The filters Back, Back Minus Front join- artists who need to import interface, CorelDRAW 11 is a
let you port files to and from ing Weld, Trim and Intersect. images to reuse them. You can great tool for artists. Even
other design programs, Each of these tools gives you drag and drop a symbol into with all the fancy new fea-
including Photoshop, Illustra- more control over the shape any document as many times tures, CorelDRAW remains
tor and Visio. When exporting and placement of the objects as you want. Earlier, if you easy to use for novices and
a file to Photoshop, the layers in your document, thereby wanted to reuse objects such professionals alike. The incor-
remained intact. giving you more flexibility. It as arrows or call-out boxes, poration of a few new tools
A new set of ‘Three point’ also gives you four different you had to save each image to and the enhancement of
drawing tools has been options to create a single a new file, then copy and paste already existing ones speed
added to version 11, viz. closed path from multiple this into your illustration. up productivity as compared
3-Point Ellipse, 3-Point Rec- paths with either straight Symbols are faster and easier to the previous releases. But if
tangle and 3-Point Curve lines or curves, thereby to use and don’t significantly you are already accustomed to
tools, which enable users to helping to preserve the bloat file size. using version 10, the new
appearance of Bundled with the drawing release does not give you
objects while program is a revamped Web enough reasons to upgrade.
creating them graphic and animation pro-
quickly. The Bar- gram called RAVE. This pro- SPECIFICATIONS
System Requirements:
code Wizard gram lets you create interac-
Pentium II class processor,
makes it easy for tive rollovers and generate 3D 200 MB disk space, 64 MB
you to make your vector extrusions that add RAM, monitor supporting reso -
own personalised depth to your animations. If lution of 1024x768
barcodes. you find it difficult to create
Although ver- vector-based animations in CorelDRAW 11 B+
B+
sion 11 claims to Performance
Price: Rs 26,500 Ease of use
have added a fea- Contact: Trifin Technologies Value for money
ture that lets you Phone: 011-6486447 Features
The Barcode Wizard, a cool addition, helps you copy text from E-mail: trifin@[Link]
Web site: [Link] OVERALL
create and edit barcodes elsewhere and

83 OCTOBER 2002
test drive ■
■ reviews

Epson Stylus C41SX printer player and a 5.1 channel sound- All in all, this speaker set
Print me pretty card, then this speaker would is a good choice if you already
complement them well—the possess a 5.1 soundcard or if

T he C41SX, the latest budg-

et printer from Epson, has
a cool contoured look and a
twice as much time as taken by
the slowest printers (Olivetti
ArtJet 12 and 22) in our Print-
panning effects and the punch
of the bass sounds in the movie
quality test were pretty good. In
you plan to upgrade to one.

SPECIFICATIONS
5.1-speaker setup; power rating
great colour combination. The er comparison test in July our sound frequency test, the of 6 watts RMS per channel for
package includes five photo 2002! The colour photograph speaker was able to reproduce satellites and 20 watts RMS for
quality and three economy was reproduced with a slight sounds from 30 Hz to 15 KHz subwoofer; Front In, Rear In,
mode photo papers. As it has haze and the colours suffered without any distortion. Centre/Subwoofer In connec-
tors; includes power adapter,
only two buttons and in terms of richness. However, The sound quality in the
speaker stands and cables; 30
two LED indicators the combination document ultimate treble test was up to Hz to 15 KHz frequency
for the printer and ink reproduced amazingly the mark, but in the ultimate response range
status, it’s easy for sharp results—even bass test there was consider-
the new user to find minute differences able jarring and loss of bass at
his way around the in the font sizes maximum volume levels. Mercury HT4500 B+
B+
printer. But one and colour bars Performance
glaring drawback is were easily distin- Price: Rs 4,200 Build quality
Contact: Kobian India Pvt Ltd Value for money
the outdated parallel guishable. However, a Phone: 080-5566626 Features
interface—as a result, it could big shortcoming was that the E-mail: rohit@[Link]
not be auto detected on our software did not show the ink Web site: [Link] OVERALL
test PC running Windows level, a feature found in most
2000 Professional. printers available today.
We printed a combination The Epson C41SX is a Gainward GeForce 4 Golden Sample
of documents, including a full good buy if price is a bigger Go 4 gold
A4-sized colour photograph, a concern for you than speed.
text document and a combi-
nation document which had
varying fonts, colour bars, con-
Others, who need a more fea-
ture-rich printing device, had
best look elsewhere.
T he Golden Sample cards
from Gainward impressed
us with their truly outstanding
colour, 32 bit texture depth)
at over 100 fps!
We also overclocked the
centric circles and so on. The stability and performance at card and got it to run stably
C41SX took just 52 seconds to significantly overclocked set- at 320/725 MHz (the default
SPECIFICATIONS
print the text document, while tings. The card is built using being 300/640 MHz), giving
Parallel port, 1440x720 dpi,
it took 1,910 seconds (31 min- 12 KB input data buffer specially chosen, hand picked us a 10 per cent increase in
utes, 50 seconds) to print the components and hardware performance. The
colour photograph—almost Epson Stylus C41SX B+ tuning techniques card retails for
Performance to offer a level of
Price: Rs 3,950 Build quality performance not
Contact: Epson India Pvt Ltd Value for money ordinarily attainable
Phone: 080-5321266 Features
E-mail: vasu@[Link] by other cards made using
OVERALL run-of-the-mill chips and
Web site: [Link]
components.
We tested the card
Mercury HT4500 speakers using a Pentium 4 2.8 GHz Rs 24,195, which is way lower
processor along with 256 MB than the other available
Sound aloud RDRAM—even at the default GeForce 4 Ti4600 cards in the

T he satellites of this discrete

five-channel surround
sound system are rated at
lodged even at high volumes.
The speaker performed
well in our sound quality
clock speed, the card scored
higher than what we had seen
earlier. But what really hit us
market. All said and done, it is
by far the fastest card we’ve
ever tested.
6 watts RMS and the sub- tests. It handled the low and was the sheer power of the
SPECIFICATIONS
woofer is powered at high frequency sounds card to sustain performance nVidia GeForce 4 Ti4600 chipset,
20 watts RMS. The package with ease. This was through the high quality and 300 MHz default core speed,
includes sturdy speakers especially notice- anti-aliasing tests. It ran 2.8ns 128 MB high-speed DDR
in a smooth black finish, able in the gaming Quake III Arena at maximum SDRAM/SDRAM, 640 MHz
(DDR) default memory speed,
speaker stands and the tests where the in- quality settings, with 4x anti- two DVI to CRT connectors
necessary g a m e aliasing enabled at a resolu-
cables for music tion of 1024x768 (32 bit high Gainward GeForce 4 A-
A-
connecting and the Performance
the speak- various Price: Rs 24,195 Build quality
Contact: Mediatech India Value for money
ers to the respective connec- sound effects were clearly Phone: 022-2396696 Features
tions. The subwoofer stands reproduced. E-mail: sales@[Link]
OVERALL
very firm and does not get dis- If you already posses a DVD Web site: [Link]

84 OCTOBER 2002
Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz processor
Intel’s fast new baby

T he latest offering from

Intel falls just short of the
magical 3 GHz mark with a
Winstone 2001 as
our next test. As
this test is mainly
power domain is video encod-
ing. We encoded a standard
MPEG-2 format video
clock speed of 2.8 GHz. Tech- processor and sequence using VirtualDub
nology-wise, it is no different memory driven, it 1.4. The DivX codec used was
than its predecessor but with helps to measure version 4.02 and the settings
its speed advantage of core-processing for audio and video process-
300 MHz over the P4 2.53 power. Here the P4 ing in VirtualDub were turned
GHz, top performance is 2.8 GHz posted a to full. The video compression
something you can expect out record-breaking bit rate was set at 900 Kbps.
of the box. score of 95.2 in the The processor took just
We matched this speed content creation 1 minute, 21 seconds to
demon with equally powerful benchmark, which encode a 51 MB video file.
components, so as to prevent shows that the If you already own a
any bottlenecks. The proces- processor can easily 2 GHz processor, there’s no
sor sat on the Intel handle image edit- need for you to upgrade to
D850EMV2 mainboard and ing, video editing 2.8 GHz right away. Besides,
was accompanied by 256 MB and multimedia to exploit the full potential of
of RDRAM, a GeForce 4 High and Maximum authoring applications, which this processor, you would def-
Ti4600, a 17-inch Samsung (1024x786x32x32). Here the tend to be CPU hungry. To fur- initely require up-to-the-
75E monitor, along with a Pentium 4 2.8 GHz posted a ther stress the processor, we minute supporting hardware.
clean-formatted 20 GB, very good score of 434.2 fps in ran Business Winstone 2001,
7,200-rpm hard disk. The OS the normal mode. There was which is a system-level, appli-
SPECIFICATIONS
used was Windows 2000 with barely any difference in the cation-based benchmark. Here
2.8 GHz clock speed/512K on
Service Pack 2 and other score in the high quality the score of 76.9 posted by the chip cache, Northwood core
patches duly applied. mode—the average frame rate processor truly reflects its (0.13 micron)
The first part of our test achieved was 414 fps. This power.
included some games bench- means that if you intend to Another high-processing Pentium 4 2.8 GHz B+
B+
marks—we ran a timedemo buy the next generation GPU Performance
Price: Rs 32,500 Build quality
on the retail version of Quake based GeForce 4 card, it would
Contact: Nebula Technologies Value for money
III Arenapatched with version be best complemented by the Phone: 022-6730567 Features
1.30. The test was run in three P4 2.8 GHz processor. E-mail: pradip@[Link] OVERALL
different settings: Normal, We ran Content Creation Web site: [Link]

LITEON 48x12x48 CD-Writer

Low on price, high on speed

T his CD-Writer takes back-

ups of your important
data and Audio CDs at the
the files from it on
to the hard drive.
Here too the
audio cable are also provided.
All in all, the LITEON 48x CD-
Writer is a good choice for
never before offered speed of LITEON performed those who demand speed.
48x, which translates to a the- well by finishing the And the attractive price is the
oretical transfer rate of 7,200 task in just 2 min- icing on the cake.
KBps. With such high speeds 2 minutes 54 seconds. It also utes 15 seconds.
at your disposal, the only burnt a 700 MB ISO file in just The Writer features good SPECIFICATIONS
roadblock is an inappropriate 3 minutes 10 seconds. We build quality and the tray and 48x (write), 12x (rewrite), 48x
burning medium. It normally were just as impressed by the button do not feel tacky. The (read); ATAPI-E/IDE interface;
takes a long time for the latest audio burn test scores—we package includes Nero CD supports up to Ultra-DMA
Mode2 33.3 MBps; 80 ms (typi-
media to trickle down to the burnt a 640 MB Audio CD that burning software along with
cal) access time; 2 MB buffer
market—we got hold of 48x contained 14 files and the CD- two blank media, out of memory
media from Princo. Writer took 2 minutes 45 sec- which one is a re-writable CD.
We created an array of onds to burn this CD. We also The necessary screws and the LITEON 48x12x48 A-
A-
files of different sizes ranging conducted a couple of read Performance
from 1 KB to 100 MB and tests to evaluate its perform- Price: Rs 4,795 Build quality
Contact: Media Tech Value for money
burnt them on to a 650 MB ance as a normal CD-ROM Phone: 022-2396696 Features
CD. The Writer managed to drive. Here we used the previ- Email: sales@[Link]
OVERALL
complete the task in just ously burnt CD and copied Web site: [Link]

85 OCTOBER 2002
test drive ■
■ reviews

Executive DisKeeper Home things amiss—the Windows Winstone 2001 failed due to
Edition v7.0 key was placed inconvenient- compatibility issues.
ly at the top right hand corner The notebook comes in a
Destined for defrag and the lock had to be jostled metallic blue and grey combi-

I f you are tired of the slow

Windows defragmenter, try
DisKeeper 7.0. It lets you
3 MB of RAM. You can also
schedule multiple partitions
for defragmentation at one go.
with to be opened, increasing
its chances of wear and tear.
In the tests, BatteryMark
nation with a neatly designed
front panel—a delicate combi-
nation of beauty and speed.
exclude specific files and fold- The interface is plain and 4.01 ran for 105 minutes SPECIFICATIONS
ers from the defragmentation uncluttered. The help and (approximately 3 hours in Pentium 4 1.5 GHz processor,
process. Its frag-guard feature documentation is detailed real life). It scored 53 in Con- 256 MB DDR RAM, 20 GB hard
prevents MFT (Master File and explains the process for tent Creation 2001, as com- disk, 8x DVD-ROM drive, 14.1-
inch LCD TFT Screen, GeForce 4
Table) and the Windows swap installation, and provides a pared to the average score of
420 GO graphics processor
file from fragmenting, hence glossary of more than a hun- 45 by most laptops; Business
dred terms used with disk ACi Impression B
B
fragmentation. Price: Rs 1,04,999 Performance
Contact: Allied Computer Interna- Build quality
This application is meant
tional (Asia) Pvt Ltd Value for money
for users who simultaneously Phone: 022-6366800 Features
work on multiple applications. E-mail: sales@[Link] OVERALL
Home users may not find this Web site: [Link]
application worth their money
since a software suite would
take care of their defragmenta- Mercury Pocket DV Camera
improving performance. It tion needs and much more for (4 in 1)
also monitors their extent of a similar price.
fragmentation, triggering an Smallest camera with a tripod
automated defragmentation
operation during bootup when
their level of fragmentation
SPECIFICATIONS
31.1 MB install size; supports
Windows 98/Me/2000/NT/XP
E ver wanted to have a
device that could record
voice, click still images,
When
attached to the
PC, its 16 MB
not

System Requirements:
exceeds a preset threshold. record video and act as a PC onboard
Any Pentium processor based
This application is extremely PC running Windows 9x and camera? Mercury Pocket DV SDRAM is
light, runs as a background above with 32 MB RAM Camera (4 in 1) is one device sufficient
service and consumes around that gives you all these to store around
Executive DisKeeper v7.0 B options. It has a USB inter - 3 minutes of video or around
Price: Rs 1,560 Performance face and can record video up 200 images. However, there is
Contact: Crystal Solutions Pvt Ltd Ease of use to a size of 640x480 at as no flash or aperture focus, so
Phone: 022-5953112 Value for money
Fax: 022-5953113 high as 30 fps. The camera you might not be able to get
Features
E-mail: sales@[Link] has a small LCD display that the best pictures at night or
OVERALL
Web site: [Link] is quite helpful in under - even on a cloudy day. Anoth-
standing the various modes er shortcoming is that the pic-
and using the camera opti- ture settings (brightness, hue,
ACi Impression notebook mally. It comes with a small etc) can’t be saved—you need
Beauty in the beast tripod and another big plus is to set it afresh every time.
the applications bundled Overall, this is a nice little

U sing a Pentium 4 1.5

GHz processor, the
ACi Impression is priced
of 2048x1768 but
the screen panning
makes it slightly
with the camera—there are
two CDs filled with utilities
such as Ulead Photo Express
device if you are interested in
sharing videos and still
images on the Web.
quite steep when com- cumbersome to use. 4.0SE, Ulead Photo Explorer,
pared to its Emerald sib- It has a Hitachi Ulead Cool 360 and Ulead SPECIFICATIONS
128 MB onboard SDRAM mem-
ling (reviewed in 2.5-inch 20 GB hard Video Studio. The bundled
ory; still camera, PC camera
September disk drive, a Toshiba software offer quite a lot of video mode, AV recording mode
2002), which DVD-ROM drive features that complement the and voice recording mode; cap-
sports a P4 2.0 GHz along with 256 MB DDR camera—you can easily con- tures at a resolution of 640x480;
processor and is almost memory, making it one of the trol brightness, hue, satura - package includes USB cables,
installation manual, tripod stand
Rs 20,000 cheaper. The laptop most powerful laptops avail- tion, contrast, etc, using the and two AA batteries
comes in an attractive leather able. Its most individualistic software.
case and the build quality is features were blue LEDs Mercury Pocket DV B+
quite sturdy. The 14.1-inch instead of the usual orange Price: Rs 4,000 Performance
TFT screen is powered by the and yellow, and an MMC slot Contact: Visualan Technologies Build quality
Phone: 022-8202688 Value for money
nVidia GeForce 4 420 GO. This along with a FireWire port and
Fax: 022-8368514 Features
graphics card supported an three USB ports. E-mail: sales@[Link]
astoundingly high resolution However, there were a few OVERALL
Web site: [Link]

86 OCTOBER 2002
Undercover_Oct [Link] 4/30/2004 11:33 AM Page 87

test drive ■
■ undercover

Dare to go lower
Agent 001 sets out in search of the cheapest deal on PCs

P
eople are always talking about how My quest had me traverse six dealers needs. Next up, I settled for a 128
to build the most powerful PC, but over 3 hours in the post-monsoon morn- stick of PC133 RAM. There are m
what about those on a shoestring ing sun. Eager dealers tried to push a brands to choose from and if you ar
budget? Wait! Make that a single-fibre-of- whole assortment of goodies down my particular about names such as King
a-shoestring budget! What is the absolute- throat—all the way from Duron, to or Crucial, you can buy it for as low
ly cheapest functional machine that you Celeron and P-III Rs 1,200.
could possibly put together? Forget about processors, bundled For the motherboard, I didn’t loo
shattering fps records in Quake III, or with the usual from the trusty Intel 810E based bo
working on massive image files. If 99 per range of peripher- from HIS. The board came with integ
cent of your daily applications revolve als. At each estab - ed graphics and sound (so I don’t nee
around word processing and the Internet spend any extra there!) a
then you’re in for a surprise. picked it up for Rs 2,850
Gone are the days when the lowest the hard disk, I decided
entry-level computer meant shelling out a Seagate U8 40 GB driv
Rs 30,000. Hardware costs have plum- about Rs 4,150. Try
meted, much to our delight. Follow might, I couldn’t fin
me as I mosey over to the friendly new drive less t
neighbourhood hardwarewallas 40 GB. Well, so
and find out what system so good. I had
components can be my shopping d
scrounged together to help for a little o
us build the cheapest possi - 10,000 bucks
ble computer but still has For the m
more than adequate process- tor, I deci
ing power, decent storage and against even c
memory. And remember, all these sidering a 14-i
are brand new components! monitor; after all, e
The October heat can be really swelter- budget mongers have to
ing and no matter where you are shopping, a standard! The cheapest 15-in
remember to pack a cap—hardware shop- er I could find was from Microte
ping could sap you out (and no, the cost of lishment, it took repeated efforts to drive Rs 4,700 and this suited my needs
the cap is not included in the system)! Since home the point that I was on an absolute fine. For the cabinet, I settled on a p
my finances did not allow a cross-country rundown budget and wanted the cheap - Baby AT box at Rs 850—no flap
travel allowance, I headed for Lamington est hardware. Finally, after much probing shiny colours here. The only CD dr
Road, the first, last and final frontier for into their inventory, it paid off and I came available at a low price range were
hardware shopping in Mumbai. across some very interesting options, at 52x drives and I chose one from K
the most amazing ton that cost me Rs 1,150. My Vesta
The Shopping List prices! key keyboard and three-button An
Component Brand Price (Rs) First up, the core serial mouse cost Rs 300 and Rs 1
Processor Cyrix MIII 500 MHz 2,100 system components: respectively. I finally sealed the pack
Motherboard HIS 810E 2,850 the processor, moth- with a pair of simple stereo spea
RAM Generic PC133 128 MB 1,200 erboard, RAM and costing Rs 350, and a trusty 56K
Hard disk Seagate U8 40 GB (5,400-rpm) 4,150 hard disk. I found modem from Lancer for Rs 450. Oh
Cabinet Generic Baby AT 850 that the most inex - finally add Rs 500 for the manda
Keyboard Vesta 104 300 pensive processor is (though I doubt if I’ll ever use
Mouse Mercury 3-button scroll 150 the 500 MHz Cyrix 1.44 MB Sony floppy drive.
Monitor 15-inch Microtek 4,700 MIII available for a All done! I’ve got the building blo
Speakers Generic stereo speakers 350 cool Rs 2,100! While for a fully functional Office App
CD-ROM drive 52x Krypton 1,150 this processor was- tion/Internet surfing computer—c
Modem Lancer 56K PCI 450 n’t made to shatter plete with a 500 MHz processor, 128
Floppy drive Sony 1.44 MB 500 any speed records, it RAM, a 40 GB hard disk, and Mand
Note: The prices could vary over time and geographical locations. definitely suited my 8.2 (courtesy of the Digit June 2002 C
Please use them as a guideline and not as a thumb rule. humble, everyday for a shade under Rs 20,000!

87 OCTOBER 2
insight ■
■ spam filters

Your Inbox
A look at some anti-spam organisations that have come up with radical new ways to
help fight unwanted mail that clogs up our inbox everyday

T
he Internet has shrunk our world, outgoing messages as well as incoming from the list and sometimes, just reading
bringing people across continents mail. It also drastically slows down net - the e-mail is enough to let spammers
together at a click of the mouse. works and many a small ISP has been know that yours is an active e-mail
But in most cases, our mailboxes known to shut down because of huge address so that they can bombard you
contain more unfriendly, unsolicited amounts of spam. with even more messages. It is just not
e-mail than a congenial note from the Over the years, hundreds of ways of possible to cultivate disciplined practices
friend across the ocean. Spam is growing avoiding spam have been suggested and to discourage spam across millions of
to become one of the largest and most adopted. However, these were all depend - users. Thus, some amount of spam
annoying problems faced on the Net ent on the end-user. Using unintelligent always manages to reach your mailbox.
today. It is also big business for the bulk filters in your mail client, understanding Spammers use software known as e-
mailers—they can send out millions of the methods of bulk mailers and adopt - mail harvesters, which crawl Web sites just
messages every day and make thousands ing practices to discourage them, and like search engines, and gather any e-mail
of dollars in the process. using third-party spam-blocking software addresses found inside them. To protect

“
Unwanted e-mail is not only irritat-
ing, but also harmful—hoaxes offering

”
weight loss pills and holiday discounts It only takes one sucker in 10,000 to
clog mailboxes, causing important mes- make a spam operation economical
sages to bounce back. Companies lose
unimaginably large amounts of money.
— Jason Catlett, President of Junkbusters, an anti-spam organisation
Studies conducted on the Internet show
that spam costs businesses close to $10 bil-
lion (Rs 5,00,000 crore) every year, just for are some of the most popular means sug- their sites, many administrators have
the bandwidth! Add to this the cost of gested. However, spammers have always installed anti-harvesting scripts. However,
anti-spam measures in terms of software managed to stay a step ahead and cir- not all servers implement good security
and manpower to manage the software. cumvent all such means. Simple things measures and spammers are always able
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) suffer the such as clicking on any of the links in a to acquire huge lists of e-mail addresses
most: the spam affects them in the form of mail, replying to it, trying to unsubscribe from corporate sites, forums, newsgroups,

88 OCTOBER 2002
 RBL and matches headers in the reported
Spam Magnets spam against this. Also, if it detects the URL
Dear Asha, through all of them. The of a site several times in the message body,
I no longer complain that nobody sends me Internet has really helped it considers that as advertisement and clas-
e-mail. Ever since you showed me how to to get me recognised. sifies the mail as spam. Once identified as
use the Internet, I’ve posted my e-mail There are several large spam, it sends a report to the administrator
address at various newsgroups and forums. companies offering me jobs from home. of the originating address, with guides to a
Also, I’ve signed up with Hotmail, Yahoo! They say others who have worked with few possible actions that he can take.
and many others, and have chosen the them have made millions of dollars! And Reported sites are not necessarily added to
option to make my e-mail address public. then there is this poor leper who has been the Blocking List—this depends on the
There are so many other sites on the Inter- rejected by society. There’s no one to help nature of the spam, the quantity and fre-
net that require me to sign up—they are so him. I sent him Rs 500 yesterday. quency of reports against the site and other
nice, not only do they send me regular The Internet is a great window of oppor- such factors.
news about themselves, but also hand out tunity for all of us. In fact, I’m going to put In most cases, the identified spammer
my e-mail address to others. up your address too, at all the sites I visit. is just an innocent bystander. Profession-
Now I get so much e-mail everyday, it Cheers and take care! al bulk mailers look out for open servers
takes me around three hours just going Bhola from where they can freely send mail. For
example, VSNL users may remember that
earlier anyone could send e-mail using
etc. For example, on a bad day, the Beijing mailbox is analysed against this list and if any of the VSNL SMTP servers. Later, they
Express E-mail Address Extractor the addresses match any of the spammers, closed open relay and allowed mail to be
([Link] ) harvests over a thousand it is identified as spam, and sent to the Junk sent only from an authorised VSNL con-
addresses in just 15 minutes! Mail folder. Lately, Hotmail has been apply- nection. In fact, professional bulk mailers
Now spam-haters and anti-spam organ- ing the filter to outgoing mail too. maintain entire lists of such networks so
isations have launched a new battle against Hotmail has been handling spam with that they can jump from one to another
bulk mailers capture the spam before it an iron hand. It simply blocks out mail when one implements tighter security fea-
reaches the user. Pseudo-intelligent filters from and to certain ISPs and several users tures or to avoid anti-spam organisations.
are set up on the server itself, which simply are now realising that they have been los- Thus, anti-spam organisations have also

“
gobble up what they think is spam. This ing important mail. For example, the US- started maintaining lists of open-relay
way, the user forgoes the daily irritation
and does not encourage spammers.
If Microsoft, one of the largest technolo-
The weaponry gy companies, can say who we send e-

”
Several ways of identifying and blocking
spam have evolved with the new spamming
mail to, that really puts constraints on free-
techniques—all of them based on rules dom of — Ben Johnson, a frustrated Hotmail user who lost
determined by the developers of anti-spam many important messages
software, and logic, which are updated
according to the practices of spammers. based ISP Media3 Technologies is listed on servers—ones that allow anyone to send
How aggressive the preventive measures are the RBL because it hosts half a dozen mail from their networks. These usually
depends on these rules and also on what spammers. However, it also hosts sites end up being the innocent bystanders.
the software does with spam—whether it such as [Link], which recently alert- Apart from just reporting e-mail
simply deletes the mail, or notifies the ed its members that Hotmail users have abuse, ISPs and administrators can also
sender and intended recipient or moves it to been unable to reach them for five configure their mail servers to link up to
a separate folder for the recipient’s scrutiny. months! On the other hand, many users the SpamCop Blocking List and have all
Four years ago, Microsoft tried to are happy because the spam to their inbox mail screened against the SpamCop sys-
block unwanted e-mail by filtering out has been drastically cut down since Hot- tems, thus reducing the amount of spam
incoming messages from Outlook 98 that mail adopted spam filters. on their networks. This again is similar to
contained certain text, such as a string of SpamCop ([Link]) is a free the idea of MAPS—to capture spam at the
exclamation marks or the phrase ‘for free’. service for blocking spam, which uses sev- source to avoid encouraging spammers.
Today, spam blockers are getting more eral kinds of logic to identify spam. Any- [Link] maintains the
intelligent. Hotmail has signed up with one can sign up with SpamCop and mem- Spamhaus Block List (SBL)—a list of veri-
Mail Abuse Prevention System bers can report any mail fied spammers, spam gangs and spam sup-
(MAPS, [Link]), an they receive as spam, as per port services. The Register of Known Spam
organisation formed to crack A study by Jupiter the guidelines on the site. Operations (ROSKO, [Link] ) is
Media Metrix pre-
down on spam, which main - The mail is read by an auto- maintained by Steve Linford, who esti-
dicts that by 2006,
tains a Realtime Blackhole List an average user matic parser on the site that mates that about 90 per cent of all the
(RBL). This list contains details will receive nearly checks whether the mail spam is from just a hundred-odd large
of sites and ISPs that support 1,500 unsolicited actually seems like spam. spam organisations. This list is intended
sites that send out spam. Any e-mails annually SpamCop maintains a to help cut down spam drastically. Linford
mail coming in to a Hotmail Blocking List similar to the also suggests that shutting down sites that

89 OCTOBER 2002
insight ■
■ spam filters

Filters@Hotmail
Hotmail was one of the most mail identified as spam in a folder called
spammed e-mail services on the Junk Mail, where you can review all of it at
Internet, until they implemented one go and, if required, move some to
strict anti-spam measures. The another folder.
simple reason for this is dictionary-based A much more effective way to keep
spamming software. These software use a unwanted e-mail out of your mailbox is to
‘must-be’ logic to send mail. Common fill up the Contacts list. Add all the people
names and names with an incremental that you want to receive e-mail from to the
index at popular e-mail services become a Contacts and set the Junk Mail Filter to
very strong target. Thus, the software Exclusive. This way, only people in your con-
assumes that addresses such as john@hot- tacts will be able to send you e-mail and
[Link] and john27@[Link] will everything else will be blocked. An easy,
definitely exist. If a message bounces back, though not very nice, way of adding con- Use the Exclusive filter at Hotmail to keep
the software simply won’t send a mail to it tacts to the list is by sending an e-mail to spam at bay
for a few months. If you have a Hotmail everyone you know—on sending the e-mail,
address, it is very likely that you’ve been Hotmail provides the option to add the newsletters from [Link], you can
getting a lot of spam on it. addresses to your address book. add it to the safe list. Once you have the
Hotmail’s Junk Mail filter is definitely Next, you may want to define a Safe Contacts and Safe list ready, simply switch
effective, but not a 100 per cent solution. List. E-mail from addresses and domains in to the exclusive filter and you’re done.
Setting up the filter is as simple as enabling this list will be able to reach your inbox. Remember to update your contacts
it from the Mail Options. Hotmail saves all e- For example, if you receive various list regularly.

offer spamware—software that helps So what does all this mean? deleted irretrievably. Also, rather than
spammers, such as e-mail harvesters, bulk Spam is just as ugly as politics—nobody using a per-message or per-site logic,
mailers, open-relay sniffers, etc—itself will likes it, most don’t do anything about it Hotmail blocks out entire ISPs known to
cut down spamming drastically because and a few make millions from it! Large support spam. Thus, if any mail is sent
it is these tools that make spamming organisations (and gangs) are built from or to that ISP even on a non-abu-
very easy. around the spamming business and even sive site, it is deleted. These policies are
SpamNet ([Link]) is a rela- some ISPs have tied up with them (they over and above the MAPS system that
tively new service with a convincing con- treat their own anti-spam policies as Hotmail uses. E-mail identified by MAPS
cept—compile information from users very, very fine print), making big bucks as unsolicited is moved to a Junk Mail
and users’ habits to identify and eradicate in the process. Those who haven’t, lose folder for the user’s scrutiny.
spam. The concept is based on the fact out on not only money, but also make A lot of subscribers to various e-mail
that users don’t like spam, yet do noth- huge losses in terms of bandwidth services have realised that they are losing
ing about it because spammers are only wastage. Again, all anti-spam activists important messages irretrievably. Anti-
more encouraged by any action taken. agree that e-mail marketing is definitely spam organisations maintain that they
Thus, SpamNet provides a plugin that good for business. They suggest that only simply have to be radical. Even with their
works through Outlook 2000 and XP the opt-in kind of marketing, where strictest measures, some amount of spam
(they promise to release plugins for other users explicitly choose what they want still manages to sneak through. Users, on
mail clients soon). When you receive a to receive, should be allowed. Spam prac - the other hand, maintain that this does
mail, you can mark it as spam or an tices that assume that if a user does not not justify loss of important messages. At
authentic message. The information is opt out means that he agrees to receive the same time, there are tens of thousands
reported to SpamNet where it is analysed future mailers, should be discontinued. of users who are very happy with the new
against similar responses from thousands In fact, on May 30, 2002, the European anti-spam practices. Feedback from some
of users (SpamNet already has over 50,000 Parliament passed a law stating these indicate a cut in spam between 75 to
users). A positive response from a user rules, making them effective across the 100 per cent!
improves the quality rating of the site or European Economic Area. Server-based anti-spam software is still
source of the message, while However, having seen in a nascent stage. Several services such as
an abuse report goes against and suffered the failure of SpamCop and SpamNet are working hard
it. Also, each user is scored Havoc Systems, a all anti-spam practices towards getting a clean list of spammers
spam organisation,
according to the number of and laws over so many and authentic marketers, but this can only
started sending over
valid reports and this score years, many organisa- develop over time. We can help them
50 million spam mes-
factors into the score of the sages per week in mid- tions and activists have develop faster by providing them with
domain. Finally, this real- 2001. They sell e-mail taken radical steps. Hot - more accurate feedback. There is no fool -
time list is used to filter out databases at $129 mail implements proba- proof solution to spam, but these services
spam as it zips across the (approx Rs 6,450) for bly the strictest algo- seem quite capable of controlling it to a
Internet, trying to get to your 15 million addresses! rithms on spam—if it very large extent.
mailbox. smells like spam, it is VEER KOTHARI

90 OCTOBER 2002
Insight-Workshop [Link] 4/30/2004 11:17 AM Page 94

insight ■
■ workshop

For a
painless
reinstall
Need to reinstall
Windows? Here’s how
you can avoid starting from scratch

E
very Windows user, at some point
or other of his system’s life, goes
through the agony of reinstalling
the operating system. Yet, the real
pain lies not in reinstalling Windows—
on today’s systems, it takes just half an show you som
hour to format the drive and install the smart ways to ease th
operating system again. What’s tedious is pain and smoothen out th
restoring the system to a usable state— reinstallation process by saving certai
getting all the correct drivers for the ing that you haven’t lost any data when application settings that will help you
hardware, installing all applications and formatting the hard disk! pick up from where you left off when
tweaking the system, all the while pray - But worry not. Help is at hand. We your system crashed on you.

Hardware Dri -
Readme.1st
Given that there are so many After you’ve installed Windows, the first
flavours of Windows in use today, as thing you’ll be asked for is the drivers.
well as the variety of applications we Though Windows will find most of the driv-
use, it is not viable to cover every pos- ers for common hardware on the Windows
sible combination in this article. Thus, installation CD itself, it will often not get
the article largely focuses on Windows the correct ones for hardware such as the
98, Office 97 and Internet Explorer 5, graphics, network, sound and SCSI cards.
though alternatives for other plat- If you have your old Windows
forms are mentioned where relevant. installed on a different partition or a dif - Point the Hardware Wizard to the older
However, application architectures ferent folder, installing drivers becomes Windows installation
have varied only slightly over the last very simple. Windows stores all driver
few versions, so you can generally information files in \Windows\Inf, with locate them, they are either on the Win
apply the same rules across different the files for third-party hardware in a sub- dows Setup CD, or in a subfolder of th
platforms—only some file locations folder named ‘Other’. Thus, when asked System or System32 folders. Use Window
would have changed or some dialog for a driver, simply point the Hardware ‘Find’ (Start > Find > Files or Folders) to locat
boxes would have been updated. For Wizard to this folder and it will pick up the required files and again, point th
example, Outlook Express stores e- the correct driver information file. It will Hardware Wizard to the correct location
mail in different locations across dif- ask for a lot of support files (usually SYS Once you have all the hardware installe
ferent versions of Windows. and DLL files); these should be located in and your system is up and running, yo
the \Windows or \Windows\System fold- can connect to the Internet and downloa
er of the older installation. If you can’t the latest updates of all the drivers.

94 OCTOBER
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Microsoft

If you frequently customise Office appli- toolbars, macros, hyperlinks and ActiveX
cations to suit your needs—especially controls on forms, protected and hidden
Word and Excel—you will certainly feel areas of the workbook, calculation options
the pinch when reinstalling if you haven’t and window display options.
backed up the configuration settings. Usu- Apart from template settings, you can
ally, one remembers this only after one also back up AutoCorrect lists and custom
starts using it again, when it is too late. dictionaries in Word. Word stores Auto-
There are several ways to back up Word Correct entries in an ACL file. Typically,
settings. You can simply copy the tem - the filename is the name of the user
plates from the Templates folder and copy logged on to Windows. Thus, if you log
them back after reinstalling. Thus, you can on to Windows as Administrator, you Automatically back up Office settings
prevent the headache of recreating all should be able to find a file named
templates from scratch. To find out where [Link] that stores the list. The anywhere through the installation process
the templates are stored in Word, either dictionaries are stored in DIC files. The Note that these will not restore any cus
click File > Save As and change the ‘Save as’ default dictionary is named [Link]. tomised settings, but are great for repeate
type to Document Template, or click Tools All versions of Office can be set up in custom installs.
> Options > File Locations. Taking a backup of such a way that it is possible to automati- Almost all program settings for Offic
templates will not only copy the styles, cally install with custom selections with- are stored in the Windows Registry, unde
headers, footers, text and images in the out filling up dialog boxes. You can select HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Micro
template, it will also copy the document the type of installation, components, soft\Office. You can export this key to
properties, toolbar settings, shortcut keys installation folders, etc. For Office 97, the file and later import it back to the Registr
and macros that you have created. Tem- tab-delimited STF file specifies where and in after reinstalling the same version o
plates also store all your AutoText entries. what order files are copied and what reg- Office with default settings. Microsoft ha
Similarly, taking backups of Excel istry entries are created. The INF file con- included the perfect tool for Office 2000
templates will save characteristics of work- tains descriptions of Office files, which are and XP. Called the Save My Settings Wiz
books and worksheets such as the number used by the STF file to determine which ard, it takes a backup of almost all Offic
and type of sheets in a workbook, cell and files to copy. The instructions in the settings and saves it to the Web or a loca
sheet formats, cell styles, page formats and Setup.1st file provide installation parame- file. You can later restore these setting
print area settings for each sheet, repeat- ters. For Office 2000, installation settings with the same wizard. The tool is bundle
ing text such as page headers and row and are read from an MST file and running with Office XP; for Office 2000 you can
column labels, data, formulae, graphics, setup with the /qb- parameter suppresses download it from [Link]
etc. The templates also store custom all dialog boxes—you will not have to click Downloads/2000/[Link].

Internet and E-

How many of us have lost our bookmarks dilemma most of us face. You don’t nee
after reinstalling Windows? This is one of just the mail store itself, but all mail se
the first things you miss when you start tings such as identities, rules and filters. I
browsing. To back up favourites, simply you use Outlook, you will be able to fin
copy the files off the Favorites folder. In a Outlook settings in a PRF file. Outlook
single-user environment, this is located in stores the Personal Address Book in PA
the Windows installation folder; other- files, the Outlook Bar shortcuts in FAV file
wise you will be able to find it within the and message rules in RWZ files. Nick
user’s profile. names are stored in NICK and NK2 files
If you customise Internet Explorer print settings in an OutlPrnt file, toolba
quite a bit (security, connection, browser settings in [Link] and system folde
behaviour, etc), you would want to save views are stored in [Link]. Macros ar
its settings too. Most settings are stored in Save IE settings from the Registry located in [Link] and
the Registry. You can take a backup of the Send/Receive group settings are in SR
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Micro- the same version of Internet Explorer is files. Signatures are linked from RTF, HTM
soft\Internet Explorer branch. To do this, installed, then double-click the registry and TXT files, templates are saved as OF
open the Registry Editor by running reged- file that you took a backup of. Reboot the files and Junk and Adult Senders lists ar
it, navigate to this branch and click Registry machine and the settings will be restored. in files named Junk [Link] and Adul
> Export Registry File. When you want to What all should you save when back- [Link].
restore these settings, first make sure that ing up e-mail? This is the most common You can back up the Account setting

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insight ■
■ workshop

by saving the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\

Cloning Windows Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\OMI
Account Manager\Accounts branch from
Tools such as Symantec Ghost the Registry. All mail is stored in PST files.
([Link] ) clone entire parti- As with other Office programs, you can
tions and even hard disks, but these use the Save My Settings Wizard in Out-
programs cost. You can do the same look 2000 and XP, though it may not back
without installing any additional soft- up all your settings.
ware. Basically, you need to copy the There are
files to a different location and copy fewer things you
them back when necessary. For fast need to back
and easy copying, you should have a up in Outlook The Certificate Manager Export Wizard takes
hard disk with at least two partitions Express. All mail care of all your digital certificates
and a friend who will let you use his is stored in DBX
computer when your Windows crashes. files (one file for account settings and rules are stored alon
While in Windows, close all open each mail folder) with the identity information in the Win
programs, open Command Prompt in a separate fold- dows Registry, under the HKEY_CUR
and switch to the folder where you er for each identi- RENT_USER\Identities key. Simply expor
want to make the copy. Here, type the ty. On Windows this branch and later restore it and Outloo
following command: Outlook Express stores 9x you will be Express will start functioning just as before
xcopy c:\*.* /e /c /r /h /y /k all information in the able to locate the If you use stationery in your e-mai
This will copy all the files and fold- Windows Registry folders for all you will find the files in \Program
ers from the C drive to the backup identities in Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared
location. By doing it from Windows, C:\Windows\Application Data\Identities. Stationery. If you have digital signatures
the copy operation itself is faster than Simply copy the folders to another loca - open Tools > Options > Security > Digital IDs
copying while in DOS and, more tion; they can later be imported into Out- select each digital certificate and export i
importantly, all long filenames are pre- look Express. The Address Book is stored in to a file. Remember to export the privat
served. Using XCopy allows you to a WAB file, typically in C:\Windows\Appli- key too, along with the public key. You ca
copy all folders and subfolders, main- cation Data\Microsoft\Address Book. All import them back from the same window
tain file attributes and ignore errors
(copying using Windows Explorer will
throw up an error if it tries to copy the
OS Set-
swap file and it will stop copying).
To restore this image, you will have
to be able to access the hard disk from Windows is not as simple to restore to the installed, you should take the first backup
Windows. Thus, if you don’t have Win- original look and feel as applications, Next, go on to changing system setting
dows installed on another hard disk or especially if you tweak it quite a bit. Win- and customising applications and tak
a different partition, you’ll need to dows stores some settings in the [Link] another backup. You should update you
attach the hard disk to another and [Link] files in the Windows fold - backup every time you install a program
machine. Run the same procedure as er, while many others are distributed change some settings or upgrade hard
above to copy the files. across the Registry. ware—changes that you know you wil
If you do not have access to anoth- If you modify Windows settings always want on your PC. When you wan
er machine, you can still have a work- directly from the Registry itself, you to restore the settings after reinstallin
ing backup. Simply dedicate a partition should export these registry keys to a fold- Windows, first reinstall all the program
to hold this backup, so that you copy er as you modify them—to apply the same that were installed when the backup wa
tweaks, simply double-click each file. taken, then reboot to DOS. You can
Another simple way is to use a third-party replace the Registry with the one from
tool such as Tweak UI, which makes stan- your backup using the /c switch with
dard tweaks a breeze. Thus, when you regedit. Thus, if you have a file named
reinstall Windows, you can change all [Link] stored in D:\Backups, you
those settings in just a matter of minutes. would use the following command:
Use Fdisk to switch from a corrupt The fastest and most effective way to regedit /c d:\backups\[Link]
installation to a working backup restore Windows to its original state is to Windows 98 includes a tool called th
maintain backups of the entire Registry— Registry Checker that, by default, take
the files to the root of that partition. this will not only save Windows settings, daily backups of the Registry. Though i
You can boot to DOS and use FDisk to but also settings of all programs that use keeps only the last five backups by default
switch the active partition. When in the Registry to store their settings. It is it also maintains one backup of the fres
trouble, just boot off that partition extremely vital that the backup be taken Windows installation. You can restore an
instead! Thus, you will never have to when the system is functioning perfectly. of the backups by running scanreg /restor
reinstall Windows. After a fresh installation of Windows, after from DOS. Along with the registry, thi
all your most-used applications are utility also saves and restores the [Link]

96 OCTOBER
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and [Link] files. Windows Me and XP Windows\Profile\<ProfileName> folders

use restore points, while Windows 2000 To restore these files, copy them back to
uses the Backup and Restore Wizard to the correct locations while in DOS.
save system settings. With restore points, If you have a lot of fonts, copy them
you can take a snapshot of the entire sys - from the Windows\Fonts folder. Win
tem and save it to a restore point, which dows Explorer will only display the font
can later be used to roll back the system that are installed on your machine. I
to that state. Thus, technically you would there are other font files here that are no
never require to freshly install Windows actually installed, you will not be able to
again. Backing up the System State on see them. Thus, again it is best to copy
Windows 2000 will save all system set - these files to a different location using th
tings to a file. As with registry backups, With the Backup and Restore Wizard, you can Command Prompt. Your files on th
remember to set restore points or save sys- mirror an entire Windows 2000 installation Desktop are pretty straightforward—sim
tem settings after every critical update or ply copy them to a different location
change. Unfortunately, restore points take registry from the Registry Editor will not unless multiple users login to Windows
up a lot of disk space, so it may not be suffice. You should take a backup of the The same goes for your browser’s book
possible to keep many of them. files that hold the registry, i.e. the Sys- marks. If you have multiple users, you
If your Windows installation is set up [Link] and [Link] files in the Windows should remember to back up all folder
for multiple users, simply exporting the folder, and each [Link] file in the under the Windows\Profiles folder.

Understanding Program Struc-

Most programs store settings in one or a extensions for their settings files. such as Photoshop, you don’t want to ge
combination of three possible ways: a file Thus, if you use Winamp, you will by with just saving the settings. You would
in the program’s installation folder, a file notice that it stores all its settings in a file be more bothered about the plugins, pre
in the Windows folder or in the Windows named [Link], in the same folder sets (brush styles, shapes, etc) and action
Registry. Again, typically most programs where it is installed. WinZip, on the other you may have downloaded, saved or cre
that use the registry store settings under hand, dumps it all in the Registry. As we ated. These are all located in individua
two keys: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Soft - have already seen, Windows and Office folders within the Photoshop installation
ware\<Vendor Name>\<Program Name> both use files as well as the Registry, and folder, unless you modified their paths
and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Soft - Internet Explorer and related tools (Out - Plus, if you have been reading up on Pho
ware\<Vendor Name>\<Program Name>. look Express, MSN Messenger, etc) do not toshop tips, you may be storing fonts with
Very few programs use other ways to store use any files and save everything in the Reg- in the Photoshop folder—this way, Win
settings, such as a file in the root of the C istry only. By understanding how different dows does not load the fonts every tim
drive or one in the System folder. Most programs work, you can individually save and though the fonts are available only to
programs also use INI files, though there settings for the ones you customise. Photoshop, the system runs a much lighte
are some programs that use different However, if you are using software load. Remember to copy the fonts too.

Precautions
Reinstalling Windows the Smart
Backup and restore operations are very
easy, but be careful to use backups
from a time when you were sure that All versions of Windows can be cus- You can specif
the system was stable. Also, ensure that tomised to be installed with predefined all installatio
you are restoring settings for the same settings and without any dialog boxes settings cate
version of the application as when the popping up. Called Batch Setup or Unat- gorised unde
backup was taken. This includes minor tended Install, this was originally various group
updates. For example, if you’ve backed designed for cloning installations across a such as compo
up settings of Office 97 SR2, it is not large number of PCs, say, in an organisa - nents to instal
advisable to restore them on an Office tion, but is just as useful for reinstalling licensing infor
97 installation without installing the on your own PC. mation, networ
Service Release first. Do not procrasti- When you install Windows 98, it cre- properties, add
nate in taking backups—every time ates a file named [Link] in C:\. This Automate Windows tional program
your system successfully accepts an itself can be used as a batch file. Howev- installation to install, et
update and the PC works fine for a er, there are better ways of creating batch and save them
while, update all relevant backups. files on your own. On the Windows to a file. To use a batch file with the Win
Finally, be very careful when working Installation CD itself, you will find a dows 98 setup, simply type setup batchfile
with the Registry. batch file creation tool in Tools\ name at the DOS prompt.
Reskit\Batch. Simply install and run this. VEER KOTHA

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■ workshop
Insight-Workshop [Link] 4/30/2004 11:17 AM Page 93
Insight_Netreturn-[Link] 4/30/2004 11:17 AM Page 98

insight ■
■ netreturns

Cast the World Wide Web to net the job you want

L
ike a good hairdresser, a good job credentials are bound to catch the right eye agencies based in Delhi. Today, a jobseeke
is rather hard to find and the cur - and then, who knows? So lets mouse our in Shillong has access to the same jobs as a
rent economic scenario has not way through the best job sites that the jobseeker in Delhi or any person, anywher
made things any easier for the Internet has to offer. in the world! The equation has thus shift
hopefuls. A scouring of the classifieds ed, helping talented professionals mak
within dailies, a shuffle of pages in the Opening new doors their choice on the employer rather tha
employment newspapers, a frantic ‘try- A job site aims to offer a unified portal to the other way around.”
to-get-me-in’ phone call to a friend or rel - getting the job of your dreams. As Joy Blurring geography is just one of the
ative—all these are routine acts for a job Ghosh, vice president of marketing and benefits of a job site. The other large offer
seeker. And getting a job is just half the sales of JobsAhead puts it, “In the tradi- ing is the database of both companies and
battle; with work satisfaction always an tional job market, jobseekers are handi- recruiters that such a site accumulates. Thi
illusory goal, the search for ‘something capped by lack of information on available very database has been the golden key fo
better’ is never quite over. opportunities, especially outside their geo- many a job seeker, a fact that Rajan Parids
This is where the Internet comes in—it graphical location. The Internet gave a a computer graduate, attests to: “I was for
takes your worth as an employee and huge opportunity to bridge this informa - tunate to discover an online job site as soo
grants it greater visibility. It is like moving tion gap.” The Internet is akin to a bridge as I completed my graduation. By setting a
from page 3 of a newspaper to a lighted bill- between the job seeker and the awaiting simple query, I was soon inundated with
board on a busy highway. So you stood opportunities. Dhruv Shenoy, very viable and attractive job
within the top 10 per cent of your gradua- vice president of marketing at offers.” Today, Parids works in a
tion batch? Log on to a job site and tell the Monsterindia, explains further: Roughly 20 major software company—a job
world about it. If you have more than 14 “Traditionally, the job opportu- per cent of that he thanks the Internet for
years of hard-earned experience in the IT nities a person could seek were Internet users Shenoy explains the evolu
field and are in search of a better payscale, constrained by geography. A per- use the Web to tion of such a service vis-a-vi
don’t apply to two or three companies, go son in Delhi could access only search for a Monsterindia: “In 1994, Mon
the whole mile and apply to 300 of them! jobs advertised in newspapers of better job ster was a simple job board
Advertise yourself—sooner or later, your Delhi or through placement which listed jobseekers and

98 OCTOBER
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and colleagues. Monsterindia and JobsA-

head offer the same facility, albeit named
a little differently.

It’s a fishpond out there

The constant flow of resumes is accumu-
lated into a dynamic electronic database,
which is bait for companies on the look-
out for fresh and bright talent. As Ghosh
explains, “Since our resume database is in
an electronic format, a million resumes
can be searched through in a minute, as
The Interview Centre and the Salary Centre compared to a traditional hard copy for-
are two must-see resources that Mosterindia mat. Also, one can keep the database fresh
has to offer by constant updating. Hence, we provide
a very high quality sourcing base for can-
jobs, without any of the sophisticated didates across categories, levels of special-
search functionalities. Over the years, the isation and seniority.” It is thus a
job board has evolved into a technologi- self-sustaining cycle—a job seeker posts
cally advanced suite of tools that help the his resume because he knows that
jobseekers and employers find each other recruiters frequent the site, while employ-
exactly as per their requirements.” ers visit the job site as they recognise it as
While all major sites offer a search a pool of potential employees.
service, what they differ in is the level of So are online job sites in direct com-
control afforded to a job-surfer. Thus, petition with agencies that take the offline

“
while JobsAhead lets you
search on the basis of job
location, experience and Today, talented pro-
the category, Monsterindia
filters your search accord -
fessionals can 1 col AD
ing to whether you want a choose the employ-

”
temporary post, a contract er, rather than the
offering or a full-time job.
Most of these sites also let
other way around
Dhruv Shenoy
you post your resume VICE PRESIDENT-MARKETING, MONSTERINDIA
online for free. [Link]
hosts a feature called the Resume Manag - route? We ask Ghosh and this is what he
er that stores and forwards jobs pertaining has to say: “Traditional recruitment chan-
to your qualifications and experience via nels were limited by their reach to local
e-mail that it terms as ‘Job Alerts’. Thus, all audiences as well as access to database of
the relevant jobs find their way straight to jobs. The Internet provided a low-cost
your mailbox. Moreover, by choosing a medium for recruiters as well as job seek-
privacy option, you can make the entire ers to increase their reach exponentially
process as confidential as desired, safe from beyond their physical presence. But the
the prying eyes of your current employer same agencies are our biggest customers.
While we give access to a high-quality
sourcing base for candidates, placement
agencies bring in their expertise in candi-
date screening and client relationships.”
It is a symbiotic relationship that
Shenoy attests to: “While both the recruit-
ment agencies and Monsterindia are in
the same business, we go about our jobs in
a slightly different way. The core function
of the Monsterindia site is to provide a
ready database of professionals to employ-
ing organisations. The recruitment organ-
isations go beyond just sourcing talent.
The Placement Agencies Directory of JobsAhead Their value to the employers comes from
promises to furnish complete contact details on the fact that the agencies also screen and
1,000 placement agencies shortlist the candidates. Moreover, we

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Pressing the Right Buttons

Monsterindia: If you are looking to immi- JobsAhead: The highlight of this site is cer- [Link]: This site offers what it calls
grate to a foreign country, try Mon- tainly the Career Booster, a paid service for ‘Value Packs’—custom made solutions that
sterindia’s Global Gateway. You just need to the prospective employee (at a price of are suited to the needs of every type of
identify the country where you are being Rs 2,000). Over a four-step process, Career employee. Therefore, the Freshers Value
offered a job, or would like to get one. This Booster presents a unified and comprehen- Pack, customised for professionals with up
section will then help you with details on sive package for the job seeker. The first to two years experience, offers a resume
Visa requirements and immigration assess- step involves an expert panel writing an development service by an experts panel.
ment, employment issues, labour policies, appropriate resume for you. The document The resume is then displayed for a period
occupation demands, economic status of is then sent to 800 placement agencies of one year on the site and sent to 300
across India, exposing you to what the site
claims, are more than 10,000 jobs. The
third phase involves highlighting the
resume on the site, guaranteeing it more

Value Packs are custom made for

Head to the Global Gateway for professionals and freshers
immigration information
The Career Booster handholds you through entry-level recruiters—all this comes at a
the country, and a helpful assortment of the nuances of job searching price of Rs 1,600. It offers similar solutions
tools and resources. The tool that stands to both IT and non-IT professionals: IT
out is the Visa calculator, which provides a visibility. Additionally, the fourth step also gurus can send across their resumes to
preliminary indication of your eligibility to offers a comprehensive directory covering 1,500 international recruiters, while non-IT
work in a foreign country on a temporary names, addresses and telephone numbers pundits can avail of the facilities of 1,000
or permanent basis. of top placement agencies. domestic placement consultants.

designer with three years experience found penetration is seen as low, there is quite a
out, such a site does not touch every significant penetration within the workin
employment sector. “My resume was population. There are two reasons for this
online for more than six months. Every in most offices today, Internet connectivi
day saw a cycle of excitement while check- ty is not as rare as it used to be. Addition
ing my mailbox, followed by moments of ally, the ever-growing popularity of e-ma
trepidation upon the realisation has made sure that people us
that I had nothing but junk cyber centres more often. Thi
mail to delete. It got emotional- JobsAhead means that the Internet use
ly taxing and I stopped fre - connects 1 lakh population in India is growin
quenting that mail account. jobs from more at a phenomenal rate. Besides
Free Resume Assessment is a walk-in service Thankfully though, I got a than 5,000 we see the relatively smaller pen
provided by [Link] for residents of major decent job via a newspaper ad.” recruiters across etration today as an opportuni
cities such as Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata This scenario is not unknown to the country to ty for the immediate future.”
Shenoy. As a matter of fact, he over 10 lakh job The fact of the matter is tha
outsource our services to traditional lists it as a potential drawback seekers every even though Internet penetra
organisations—worldwide recruitment on the part of job sites. “Today, month tion as a whole is low, it is sig
consultants form a significant chunk of we can say that the only limita- nificant in the sectors tha
our client base. In fact, the segment of tion (and definitely not a hur- count, making it a very rich
recruitment consultants happens to be dle) we have is the acceptance of the source for candidates amongst the pool o
the second biggest segment of clients on e-recruitment concept in some of the tra - graduates and such. Job sites should thu
Monsterindia, after the Information ditional sectors such as pharmaceuticals, be accepted as an additional facilitato
Technology segment.” healthcare and banking. But as companies while hunting jobs and not as the sol
start talking about their successes of recruit- source for potential employment. By iden
Take a chance ing on the Internet, we expect the mindset tifying the benefits offered by such site
Job sites are, of course, not a one-stop solu- to turn positive.” We asked Shenoy and then maximising on them, the goal o
tion. Posting your resume on a site need whether Monsterindia saw the growth rate that dream job can be alleviated from th
not guarantee a suitable post or for that of the Internet as another bottleneck in the unattainable to a distinct possibility.
matter, a job. Like Parveen Mistri, a fashion making. “Although on an overall level the AHMED

100 OCTOBER
insight ■
■ quick start

All the music you

can’t leave behind
H
ere you are, the proud owner of a wire and voila! You have the required Sound check
newfangled portable MP3 player, cable! Next, ensure that the bass, treble and Now that you have connect -
but alas! All your favourite music is loudness levels on the player are all set to ed your player to the computer and pre -
trapped inside old Audiocassettes. Or zero—this is called normalisation and it pared your system, do a test run to ensure
maybe the convenience of having your will give you the best quality audio by that everything is working as it should.
entire music collection of tapes in a com- minimising the sound distortion. In MUSICMATCH Jukebox, go to Options
pressed MP3 audio format is just too > Recorder > Source and select Line In.
tempting. Whichever way, converting that Set the controls
old ABBA cassette into an MP3 memorial Double-click on the little
is just a hop, skip and jump away. speaker icon next to the clock on the
lower right of your screen to bring up the
What you will need Volume Control. You need to ascertain
n A cassette player. The sound quality two things: that the Line In control is
achieved will depend on the capability of not muted and that the volume level for
the chosen player. the same is not set to zero. If the speak-
n A soundcard with a Line In jack inside er icon is missing on your system, go to The two options to look for are highlighted
your computer. Start > Settings > Control Panel > Multimedia Prop- above. Also note the Record button
n The MUSICMATCH Jukebox software, erties. Here, select the ‘Show volume con-
featured in the Digit Mindware CD, Sep- trol on the taskbar’ checkbox. Note that Then, go to Options > Recorder > Quality
tember 2002. A free trial can be down- the soundcard must be correctly and select MP3 (128 kbps). Press Play on
loaded from [Link]. installed for this. the cassette deck and click on the Record
n About 1 MB of free hard disk space for button of the Jukebox. Wait until the
every minute of music that is to be indicator at the bottom of the MUSIC -
recorded. MATCH window shows around 30 sec-
onds of audio, and then press Stop on
Getting it together the software.
Connect your cassette player Play the created test file (find it in
to the soundcard in your computer. This your MUSICMATCH Rips directory) to get
can be done in two ways: if the player has a handle on the quality of the recording.
a Line Out port, use a stereo to RCA cable If the output of the recorded file is too
(the one with a red and a white connecter soft, play around with the volume level
at one end and a single-pin stereo jack at on the player, and the Volume Control on
the other) to connect it to your computer. the taskbar till you get the clearest sounds
If the Line Out port is absent, use the head- possible. Repeat this step to get 30-second
phone port to connect it to the card—a Make sure that the Line In column is test snippets of the cassette, until you are
simple cable with 1/8-inch headphone not muted and its volume is not set to zero satisfied with the quality of recording.
plugs on both ends will do just fine. You
can buy this cable from an electronic shop Set the player’s volume level to about For the record
or if you are feeling adventurous, you can one-third the power level and press Play. Once you are satisfied with
make one yourself. All you need to do is If the setup is correct, you will hear the the sound quality, repeat the process out-
locate two pairs of old headphones. It is music flowing from your PC speakers. If lined under ‘Sound check’, only this time,
important that at least one of them has a you do not hear any sound, check the continue for the duration of the cassette.
good wire. Cut off the plugs from both the Volume Control settings and make sure Now you don’t have to worry about those
pairs and extract a length of wire from one that the cable is connected firmly to the squeaky tapes!
of them. Connect the two plugs with the Line In port of the soundcard. AHMED SHAIKH

101 OCTOBER 2002

insight ■
■ troubleshooting

Enabling Java with IE6, fixing Windows startup errors, discoloured monitors,
installing modems—find all your answers here

Quick View C:\Windows\System\Viewers\[Link] as on the monitor and can happen with

I use Windows 98 SE and have Quick the new value. You will now get the Quick any monitor if the speakers are placed
View installed on my PC, but when I right- View option with all file types, but two too close to it. Though the speakers on
click any file, the Quick View option does- such options with the file types that were the monitor may be shielded, this effect
n’t appear. Please tell me how to enable originally associated with Quick View. does tend to develop over time. You will
this for all files. have to degauss the monitor to get rid of
Varun Kumar Arya Downloading with Opera the discolouration—your monitor may
Via e-mail I have just begun to use Opera 6.03 as not have a built-in option for degauss -
my default browser. Whenever I download ing, but a service person will be able to
Quick View is by default associated a file, it opens a window called Transfers. do it for you.
with the file types that the program can If I disconnect and want to finish down-
view. If it does not appear on common loading later, there is no way to get back Installing modem on Windows 2000
file formats such as DOC, RTF, EXE, etc, to the Transfers window after restarting I have a problem installing a modem
you can uninstall and reinstall Quick Opera. Thus, I start downloading some in Windows 2000. When the modem is
View. You can do this from Control Panel > other file to get this window and then detected, it is automatically installed as a
Add/Remove Programs > Windows Setup . resume downloading the previous file. PCI communication device. Even if I unin -
Please tell me if there is any other way by stall it, it is again detected and installed.
which I can open the Transfers window Please help me.
without such a hassle. Roshan Patel
Rohan Naravane Via e-mail
Via e-mail
Instead of uninstalling the modem,
To open the transfers window in update the driver with the actual driver
Opera, click Window > Special > Transfers , or of the modem. Open Control Panel > System
use the shortcut key combination [Ctrl] + > Device Manager and double-click the
[Alt] + [T]. device to open its Properties. Under the
Driver tab, click Update Driver and
Installing Quick View Discoloured monitor instead of letting Windows ‘Search for a
My monitor shows a yellowish shade suitable driver’, select ‘Display a list of
Select Accessories and click Details. If this around the corners of the screen. It disap - known drivers’. Click Have Disk to select
does not help, open the Registry Editor pears after 10 to 15 minutes, but reap - the correct driver for the modem and
by typing regedit in the Run dialog box pears randomly. Can you tell me what is install it.
(Start > Run) and expand HKEY_CLASS- the reason for it and suggest a solution?
ES_ROOT\*. Under this, create a key Rohit Sloppy floppy drives
named ‘shell’, create another key named Via e-mail I have an assembled Pentium III
‘QuickView’ under shell and finally cre - 600 MHz PC on an Intel 440 ZX board
ate a key called ‘command’ under this. This usually happens due to the running Windows 98 SE. I have two flop -
Double-click the Default value and enter magnetic field of the speakers mounted py drives—1.44 MB and 1.2 MB. Though

102 OCTOBER 2002

the machine functions normally, the sys-
tem detects only one drive when I boot Missing Java applets changes in the [Link] file, but
from the hard disk, but detects both I have a P-III 866 MHz PC with that didn’t help.
drives when I boot from a bootable flop - 128 MB RAM and a 20 GB hard disk Gautam
py. I have changed five motherboards, five running Windows XP. Internet Explorer Via e-mail
floppy drives and cables and reinstalled doesn’t have the Java Virtual Machine
Windows many times, but the problem (JVM) and every time Microsoft has removed support for
persists. How do I solve this? a Web page has an Java from Internet Explorer 6 bundled
Shrikant applet, it asks for with Windows XP. However, you can
Via e-mail downloading the still install the older JVM from
JVM. I’ve tried [Link]/java/. Also, Sun has
If the drives are connected and config- changing set- released a JVM for Internet Explorer 6
ured correctly in the BIOS, they should tings in on Windows XP, which you can
appear normally, no matter which device Internet download from [Link] -
you boot from. The floppy drive cable has Explorer but to java/[Link].
a twist towards one end. The drive ahead no avail. I have You can add environment variables
of the twist is Drive A, and the one behind just installed in Windows XP from Control Panel > Sys-
the twist is Drive B. Once connected this Java Development Kit 1.2 and it tem . Under the Advanced tab, click Envi-
way, make sure they are configured requires me to add the path of the bin ronment Variables and add the path of
accordingly in the BIOS. Press [Delete] to folder to the environment. I made the bin folder to the Path variable.
enter the BIOS settings when the machine
is booting and configure the drives under
Standard CMOS Setup. Once this is done, Playing VCDs
boot to DOS from the hard disk (hold I have a Pentium II 300 MHz PC with
down the [Ctrl] key while Windows is 64 MB RAM and a 36x Creative CD-ROM
booting) and see if both drives are avail- drive. I use Windows Me. I can’t play
able. Next, boot to Windows. If the drives VCDs on my system. The computer does-
are not available in Windows, add the n’t recognise the .dat files. I have tried
drive from Control Panel > Add New Hardware. many VCD playing software such as Jet
Audio, Windows Media Player 7.1,
JavaScript errors PowerDVD, VCD player, etc. Kindly sug-
When using Internet Explorer, I get gest a solution for the problem.
various script errors. What should I do to Abhijit Joshi
get rid of them? Via e-mail
Mahesh Bhattarai
Nepal You have not mentioned exactly how
you are trying to view the movies— Use Tweak UI to hide Control Panel items
Script errors occur when Web sites whether you are playing it from a VCD
don’t use correct JavaScript or VB Script. or have copied only the .dat files on to is to download Tweak UI from
The browser does not understand how to your machine. If you have copied the [Link]
handle these wrong scripts and throws movie files, it will not play as a VCD on /downloads/PowerToys/Networking/
up an error. To avoid the error messages, any of the software you are trying to [Link] (this works with all ver-
use. However, you can simply drag and sions of Windows). Run Tweak UI and
drop the .dat file onto Windows Media deselect the items you wish to hide
Player and it will start playing the under the Control Panel tab. Here, you
movie—Windows Media Player recog - can even see the filenames against the
nises and plays back the .dat files, but actual names represented in the
not as a VCD. Control Panel.

Hiding items in Control Panel Startup errors

How can I hide a Control Panel item? I have a Celeron 200 MHz processor, a
J Velmurgan 20 GB hard disk and run Windows 98 SE.
Via e-mail Every time I boot, I get the following error
message: ‘Error starting program. The
You can hide Control Panel items by [Link] file is linked to missing
Disable script error reporting adding their entries to the C:\Win- export MFC42DLL.6467 ’. On clicking OK,
dows\[Link] file. If it’s not already the message disappears and the
open Control Panel > Internet Options . there, add the line [don’t load]. Below this, PC works as usual. Please let me know
Under the Advanced tab, uncheck the list out the filenames of all items that what to do.
box next to ‘Display a notification about you wish to hide, followed by =no (e.g. Narendra
every script error’. [Link]=no). An easier way to do this Via e-mail

103 OCTOBER 2002

insight ■
■ troubleshooting

Mass mailing
Automatic starter Motorola SM56 PCI internal modem I use Outlook Express 6 with all
I have a Pentium III 600 MHz com- connected as COM4. Can you please updates and patches applied. Whenever I
puter with 128 MB RAM and a 17.2 GB help? send messages to many recipients, several
hard disk. I have installed Windows 98 Rajesh of the messages bounce back with a note
and Windows XP. Recently, I connected Bangalore from the Webmaster stating ‘Too Many
a Panasonic KX-FM 131 fax machine to Recipients. Delivery Failed ’. However, if
the COM1 port. The This is indeed a weird the list is small, the messages are dis -
device is working problem. Boot the machine patched promptly. My ISP is Dishnet,
perfectly, but and enter the BIOS setup by Chennai. Please help.
whenever I shut pressing the [Delete] key. V. Ravchandran
down the system, Check the BIOS to see if Chennai
the computer dis- options such as Wake on (or
plays the Shutdown Power on) Ring or Wake on (or This is not a problem with Outlook
screen and then Power on) LAN are enabled. Express. This is a setting commonly used
reboots. Even if I sim- If they are, disable them by ISPs to prevent spam—they assume
ply turn on the main and see if the problem is that if an e-mail is sent to a number of
power switch, the solved. If not, check if people, it must be spam. Usually the limit
computer starts on its the BIOS has other Power is 20 recipients, beyond which messages
own. When I removed the modem, it on options, such as by a particular will be bounced back with errors. You can
started working normally again. I tried key-combination. Disable all such work around the problem by sending
switching the modem to COM2, but options and check if the problem mail to a lesser number of recipients. If
the problem persists. I also have a is solved. you need to send mail to a large number
of people regularly, use a mass mailing
software such as Bulk Email Express Free
The program that is trying to run ([Link]). Software such
(most probably LiteStep), is referencing a as these usually send out individual mes -
DLL file, [Link]. This DLL is sages to a list of recipients, and can
probably the wrong version. To correct optionally personalise each message too.
the error, simply reinstall the program. If
the problem still persists, try download- CD writing speeds
ing the file from [Link] I have bought a new Sony CD-Writer.
help/[Link] and copy it to the My computer’s configuration is Pentium
folder where the program is installed. It is III 933 MHz processor, 256 MB RAM
possible that the [Link] file version on and a 20 GB hard disk. The CD-Writer
your computer is incompatible with this takes around 10 to 12 minutes to write
software, so you may have to try out a few 650 MB of data at 32x write speed. Can
versions to determine the correct one. you tell me how I can decrease the time
taken? Does the speed depend on the
Mystery caller Disable automatic dialling in Windows XP software used? I use Nero Burning ROM
I use Windows XP. As soon as 5.5. Should I change the software?
Windows starts, it begins dialling the Dial- you can disable automatic dialling for Sanjay
up connection. Even if I close it, it comes the connections. Via e-mail
up in a few seconds, not allowing me to
work. Even if I login to the Internet and Deleting unwanted e-mail No matter what speed you set the
sign out, it keeps redialling! Please make I have two e-mail messages that I can ’t Writer to write at, it will not write faster
this stop. recognise. These may be viruses, which than the media’s maximum speed, or the
Pius may activate if I click on them, since they CD will not be written correctly. Com -
Kathmandu would be displayed in the preview pane. I monly available CD-Rs max out at 16x,
use Outlook Express. How can I delete with some going up to 24x write speeds.
You can disable automatic dialling them without viewing them? Nero is a pretty good CD writing software
entirely. Open Control Panel > Internet Nabeel Ahmed and automatically detects the maximum
Options > Connections and set it to ‘Never Via e-mail speed of the disc, thus preventing dam -
dial a connection’. To connect to the age to it. Unless you get faster CD-Rs, you
Internet, you can simply double-click You can simply turn the preview pane will not be able to write at faster speeds.
the Dial-up connection and manually off to not display the message. In Out-
connect to your ISP before you begin look Express, click View > Layout and dis- Can’t open Hotmail
browsing. able the ‘Show preview’ pane. You will I have a problem with certain sites
If this does not help, open Control now see only the message list, from such as Hotmail and Indiatimes mail.
Panel > Network Connections and click where you can delete the messages with- When I enter the sign-in name and pass -
Advanced > Dial-up Preferences . From here out viewing them. word, the same page reappears. This also

104 OCTOBER 2002

 FAQs If cookies are disabled, the page will
not know that you are logged in because
it does not get this information from your
Windows 2000 boot options August 2002 issue to pick the right machine.
I have a Celeron system with card suited for your needs and budget. To enable cookies in Internet Explorer,
128 MB RAM, a 40 GB hard disk and open Control Panel > Internet Options and
three operating systems—Windows 98, Scandisk repeats itself under the Security tab click Custom
Linux and Windows 2000 Professional. Scandisk and Disk Defragmenter Level. Under the Cookies section, enable
When the system boots, the Linux never run completely on drive C of my ‘Allow cookies that are stored on
Loader gives me the following options: PC. It keeps restarting, with a message your computer’ and ‘Allow per-session
linux, hda1, hda2. When I select hda1, I that Windows or another program is cookies’.
get the options: Windows 98, Windows writing to the drive. The C drive only
2000, Windows 2000, i.e., Windows contains the OS, Windows 98. I dis - Registry Checker
2000 appears twice. How can I remove abled Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect. I I have a Pentium III 500 MHz PC run-
one of them? cannot understand what program is ning Windows 98 SE. Every time I start
Anoop Abraham running. How can I find and stop it? Windows, the Registry Checker runs, ask-
Via e-mail Ajit Kanungoe ing whether I would like to take a back-
Via e-mail up of the registry. On other PCs, the
Initially, the Linux Loader (LiLo) Registry Checker runs transparently,
controls the boot process and gives The program that’s running is without prompting. How can I make my
you the options to boot to Linux or Windows. You can’t stop it, but you PC do that?
another operating system. When you can prevent it from accessing the Swatilekha Doloi
select hda1, the Windows Flexi Boot disk. Windows uses a swap file to Via e-mail
Loader takes over and gives you the temporarily store data when it runs
boot options that are configured in It is possible that someone has manu-
the Windows 2000 setup. You can ally modified the settings for the Registry
modify this by editing the [Link] file Checker on your PC.
in the root of the boot drive (C). The To correct it, open the Registry Editor
options will be listed one below the (click Start > Run and open regedit).
other. All you have to do is delete the Navigate toHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
extra entry and save the file. Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Run and locate a
OpenGL missing string value named ScanRegistry. Its
Whenever I try to play Soldier of value should be C:\Windows\
Fortune I or II, I get an error message [Link]/autorun. If it is not,
that reads ‘GLW_StartOpenGL()—could modify it to this and the problem
not load OpenGL subsystem’. I use a SiS should be solved.
graphics card on a Pentium 4 1.60 GHz Disable Virtual Memory
PC with Windows XP. Please help. No more Windows
Atul out of RAM. It needs to constantly I have Windows 95 installed. Is there
Via e-mail access this data, thus it is always any way to stop loading Windows without
accessing the drive. You can disable pressing [F8] at startup?
SiS graphics cards do not have virtual memory from Control Panel > Vemuri Sreenivas
support for OpenGL, which is required System > Performance > Virtual Memory. Via e-mail
for games like Soldier of Fortune to run. However, remember to enable it
You will have to upgrade to a more again after you finish running Yes, there is a way to prevent the Win-
high-end graphics card, such as one of Scandisk and Disk Defragmenter, or dows GUI from loading automatically
the GeForce series. Refer to the Test you can expect a lot of blue screens and make the system to boot to DOS
Drive on Graphics Chips in the and system crashes. instead. To do this, edit the C:\[Link]
file and change the value of BootGUI to
0. When you want to load Windows, type
happens when I try to download pictures software running that disallows cookies win at the command prompt after it boots
from Webshots. I don’t get this problem from being stored on your machine. to DOS.
on other computers. I can download Most sites that require logins work either
e-mail from Hotmail using Outlook with session cookies (temporary data
Send your computing
Express. files) or cookies (permanently stored on
problems to
Swati your machine). These files store informa -
sos@[Link]
Via e-mail tion on your machine, which the Web
or write to Digit,
server can access—this is one of the ways
D-222/2, Om Sagar, MIDC, Nerul-400
Your browser is probably set to not of transferring your information from 706, and we may answer it here!
accept cookies, or you have some one Web page to another.

105 OCTOBER 2002

insight ■
■ tips and tricks

Smart@homeQuick and easy answers to some of the most common

questions asked while using the PC at home

Advanced File Organizer,

AVG Anti-virus 6.0 Free Edi-

73
tion, Birthday Reminder, Book
Librarian, Book Organizer
Deluxe, CDCoverPrint, FinePrint,
FlashGet, FreeCard, FreeRIP MP3,
Greetings! for Word, HandyBits
Voice Mail, HJSplit, Iconoid, ICQ
2002a, MP3 Studio, OpD2d -
Direct to disk audio recorder,
Paint Shop Pro 7, Personal budg-
et template, Personal financial
statement template, Recipe
Organizer Deluxe, Talking Greet-
ing Maker, Trillian, Virtual Origi-
nal CD Emulator
Plus Tips and Tricks to get your
work done more efficiently in the
office.
ILLUSTRATIONS : Mahesh Benkar Find them all on the Digit
Mindware CD.

107 OCTOBER 2002

 insight ■
■ tips and tricks

I tried recording sound ([Link]) to con-

with Sound Recorder. It vert it to an MP3. Software
cuts off after 60 seconds. such as VOB2Audio ([Link]-
What’s the best way to [Link]/dvd/downloads/
create songs on my PC? [Link]) can save
Sound Recorder is a rather sound clips from DVD files.
crude program. If you keep A convenient way to rip
hitting the Record button audio, irrespective of the
every 60 seconds, Sound source, is to use software
Recorder will keep append - such as MP3 Studio ([Link]-
ing the audio and you will [Link]). This records any
be able to record more than sound passing through your
just one minute. A better soundcard, so if the movie is
way to record sound is to use playing, the sound can be
a free utility such as Direct to grabbed to an MP3 file.

How do I create and

print inlay cards and song
lists for my CDs? hundreds of other tools such inal CD Emulator ([Link]-
Today, many CD writing as CDCoverPrint ([Link]- [Link]), which can emulate
applications are bundled [Link]/software/[Link]), CD-ROM drives for data as
with an inlay card printer which you can use to print well as audio CDs. All you
that lets you make jewel case jewel case inlays. need to do is install the soft -
Direct to Disk audio recorder covers. You can also make ware and configure which
your own, using Microsoft I have such a large hard folder on your hard disk you
Disk Audio Recorder Word. All you need to do is disk, but games don’t run want it to emulate as a CD.
([Link] place text boxes of the cor - if I copy the CD on to it. Thus, you can copy entire
d/[Link]). With almost all rect size, enter your list and How do I avoid having to CDs to your hard disk in sep-

74 such sound recording soft-

ware, you can capture as
other details into it, and
print. For a song list on the
put in the CD every time?
Many games, encyclopaedias
arate folders and have them
all appear as different CD-
much audio as your hard back of the jewel case, you and other similar CDs ROM drives. This software
disk can hold. can place three text boxes require the CD to be in the effectively fools the applica -
next to each other. The first drive for them to work. This tion into thinking there is an
Can I extract a song as and last ones can be of is either because the software actual CD-ROM drive with
an MP3 from a movie? 11.8 cm height and 0.6 cm the application CD in it.
To extract sound clips from width, with the text direc- Another advantage with this
a movie, you will need a tion (Format > Text Direction ) is that of speed—being on
video editing software. For set to vertical. These will the hard disk, the program
VCDs, a software such as appear on the spine of the will run much faster than if
VCD Cutter ([Link]- jewel case. Between these, the program disk were actu-
[Link]/~vcdcut/ ) or Virtual - you would have an ally in the CD drive.
Dub ([Link]) will 11.8x13.8 cm text box. This
work just fine. In either soft- goes behind your jewel case I need to send this file
ware, cut out the length of for the song list. Similarly, to Emulate CD-ROM drives from to my friend, but there’s
the movie that you want design an inlay for the front your hard disk no point burning a CD for
the audio clip from, then of the jewel case, use a text such a small file and it
save the audio from it. If box of size 11.96x12.6 cm. needs to access resources won’t fit on a floppy.
saved as a WAV file, you can Print all of these out and cut from the CD or it is a meas- To share large files, you can
use a free utility called them along the borders. If ure taken to prevent piracy. split them into smaller
FreeRIP MP3 you find Word too cumber - There are several tools avail- chunks and use a set of flop-
some or limiting, there are able, such as the Virtual Orig- pies or the Internet to transfer

108 OCTOBER 2002

them. There are several ways Contrary to popular belief, low light. It also commonly a colour that looks natural
to split files. You can use a you don’t need to know a happens with contact lens for that subject. Another
file-splitting utility such as thing about making Web sites users. way is to use the Paintbrush
HJSplit ([Link]/hjs- for this. There are several serv- There are thousands of tool. Resize it till it is just
plit/) where you simply have ices that create photo albums image-editing tools with about the size of the eye. Set
to specify which file is to be for you—all you need to do is which you can add various the foreground colour to the
split and how large each select the photos from your effects to your images. The natural eye colour and click
piece should be. The files can PC. Both, Yahoo! and MSN once in the centre of the eye.
be joined back to the original provide free photo albums Now set the brush size to
using the same utility. How - online. You can send out an about two pixels and change
ever, this means that the per- e-mail to your kith and kin the foreground colour to
son you are sending the files with links to the photographs white. Again, click in the
to should have the same util- and they can see them from centre of the eye to give it a
ity (you could include it on anywhere in the world. Some glint.
one of the floppies). Another services such as Ofoto Note that you don’t have
way of splitting files is to use ([Link]) even allow vis- to do a perfect job to create a
a compression program such itors to order prints. Thus, if fairly convincing eye—the
as WinZip or WinRAR. they see a photograph they Removing the red eye effect detail is so small in most pic -
Almost all compression pro- like, the site will have it print- tures that simply eliminating
grams allow you to split the ed out on photo-quality paper easiest way to eliminate the most of the red is enough to
output file into multiple files and mail it to them! For more red eye is by using an auto- improve the picture.
of a particular size, which can details on how to share your matic red eye tool, if your
later be joined back together. photographs online, refer to image editor has it. Paint The online photo
You can make a self-extract- Digit, August 2002. Shop Pro ([Link]) has a albums are nice, but I
ing archive so that the pro - great semi-automated process want to profile something
gram does not need to be I often end up red-eyed for eliminating the red eye more. How can I quickly
installed anywhere else. in my photographs. How effect. Start by opening a create my own Web site?
You can use a service such do I touch them up? photo you want to work on. There are various sites that
as Yahoo! Briefcase
([Link]) to store
Often, photographs may need
some digital imaging to look
From the Paint Shop Pro
menu, click Effects > Enhance
allow free Web hosting. Not
only can you put up your
75
your files. This allows you to better, regardless of whether Photo > Red-Eye Removal. On own pages on the site, but
store up to 30 MB of data, they’ve been taken through the Red-Eye Removal dialog most of them also have cool
with a maximum limit of 1 an analogue or digital camera. box, zoom in to the eye. Set templates and wizards that
MB per file. You can share Typical corrections include the Method to Auto Human allow you to create pages in
these Web folders with your removing the red eye effect Eye and select an appropriate just a few clicks, without
friends for them to download (you may have noticed that hue and colour. On the edit- requiring any knowledge of
the files. the eyes of people in many ing window, use the selection creating Web pages at all.
photographs have a red spot), tool to draw a circle to cover Yahoo! Geocities ([Link]-
I wish dad was here to changing brightness and con- the red portion. Similarly, [Link]) is one such free
celebrate Sunita’s second trast settings and smoothen- select the other eye and click service where you can build a
birthday. But he won’t be ing or sharpening the images. OK on the Red-Eye Removal free Web site.
coming to India before The latter enhancements are dialog box to apply the If you don’t want the
Diwali. pretty straightforward and changes. automatic or template-based
Today, you can share all your can be done with most image If you’re using an image sites, you can still create
magic moments with your editing software, but remov- editor that doesn’t have a your own site fairly easily.
friends and family, with sev- ing the red eye effect usually red eye remover, there are Web development tools
eral options available on the gets to be a problem. Red eye still a few ways to tackle the today are no different from
Net. You can scan photo- occurs when the camera flash problem. For instance, you word processing tools. In fact,
graphs, group them into reflects off the subject’s retina can use the Magic Wand tool you can use
albums and put them up on since the pupils are wide open to select the red in each eye
the Web for others to see. because you’re shooting in and then paint the selections

109 OCTOBER 2002

 insight ■
■ tips and tricks

Microsoft Word itself to then can you configure it to you cannot trust the sender’s
make your Web page; your mail address. If it seems impor-
Dreamweaver ([Link]- software. Free services such as tant, check with the sender
[Link]) is a far better software [Link] (www. [Link]), whether it was intentionally
for making HTML pages, [Link] ([Link]- sent to you.
though. These don’t require [Link]), and MyRealBox Some viruses that spread
any knowledge of HTML and ([Link]), among Send voice messages using by e-mail may use JavaScript
you simply type the text, put others, that allow you to use HandyBits Voice Mail within the message to either
in the images and the soft- the service using Outlook or run malicious code or open
ware writes the HTML for Outlook Express, over POP or the sound file directly from a Web page that can run
you. Once you have all your IMAP. You can get the details the mail client or download malicious script. To avoid
pages, you can upload them of the SMTP and POP3 servers the attachment from a Web- encountering such e-mail,
to your Web site and you’re from each site. In your mail based e-mail service. turn off message previewing
done. All free Web hosting client, when configuring the You can also use free soft- in your mail client—if you
services allow you to upload account, choose the appropri- ware such as HandyBits Voice don’t view (open) it, the
files from a friendly Web- ate protocol (POP3 or IMAP) Mail ([Link] script cannot execute. Delete
based interface, so you can and enter the SMTP server [Link]?tag=lst- mail with suspicious sender
upload files just as you would address for the Outgoing mail 0-7) for this. All you need to addresses and subject lines
select attachments for e-mail. server and the POP server do is record and send. It offers without viewing them.
address for the Incoming mail high compression of voice
How can I receive e-mail server. Earlier, Yahoo! used to messages, though it records
from Web-based services allow POP access to e-mail, sound to WAV files, allowing
in Outlook Express? but now it is a paid service. If your messages to be played
It is possible to receive Hot- you subscribe with them for on almost any computer.
mail messages in Outlook POP access, you can receive
Express. To set up the Hot- Yahoo! mail over Outlook or I’ve heard that most
mail account, click Tools > Outlook Express, too. viruses today spread via
Accounts in Outlook Express e-mail. How do I ensure AVG scans your hard disk and

76 and click Add > Mail. Follow

the wizard and enter your
How can I send voice
messages by e-mail?
that my PC is safe?
There are some ways to iden-
monitors your e-mail for viruses

Hotmail address when asked Sending voice messages by tify and avoid infection due Avoiding viruses is not
e-mail is fairly simple. All you to viruses that are spread by the final solution. Virus devel-
need is a soundcard and a e-mail. Usually, such viruses opers keep learning new tricks
microphone. You have to are attached to the message every day, so you should
record your message to a itself. On double-clicking the install a good anti-virus soft-
WAV or MP3 file using a attachment, the virus acti- ware on your system and
sound recording software vates and infects the PC. have it running at all times.
and attach it to your e-mail. From then onwards, it starts AVG ([Link]) is a good
Outlook Express automatically Make sure that the file does- running off your system. free anti-virus package that
configures Hotmail accounts n’t get very large though. To Though most such viruses do can keep a tab on not only
reduce file size, you can little harm, they send them- your hard disk, but your e-
for the e-mail address. Out- reduce the quality at which it selves out to others in your mail too.
look Express will automati- is recorded. Using the MP3 address book, sometimes
cally set sup the account and format also ensures small with large attachments. How do I make the most
synchronise the folders. files. Also, record in single- Thus, you should avoid of my dial-up connection?
Apart from this, you can- channel (mono) mode using opening attachments from Dial-up connections end up
not receive Web-based e-mail 8-bit samples at 11 KHz if the your e-mail, especially if you costing a bomb if you add
on a mail client. If the mail software allows you to are not sure who sent it to the cost of the ISP and, more
service supports POP or IMAP choose the settings. These you and for what purpose. significantly, the telephone
access, only settings are adequate for Since these viruses spread bills, especially if you have
voice. The recipient can play through the address book, to keep redialling. If you use

110 OCTOBER 2002

your Internet connection instead of downloading the
primarily for e-mail, there entire file all over again.
may be some things you can
do to reduce the amount of I have so many images,
time you have to be online. sound and video clips. Can
To begin with, type your e- I organise them so that I
mail offline in your mail can find them easily?
client. That way, when you What you need is a media
connect, all you have to do organiser. You may already be
is send and receive messages using one of the best tools for
without staying online for organising media files—the
too long. If you use Web- Microsoft Office Clip Gallery!
based e-mail, login to your This tiny tool catalogues all
account and open up all the kinds of media files, segre -
messages you want to read gates them into categories
in new windows (hold down and associates keywords and
[Shift] as you click the link). descriptions with them,
Once they are all open, you which you can use for pow - own keywords and descrip - How do I make greeting
can disconnect, read them erful searches. You can add tions, making it very easy to cards on my PC?
all offline and type replies to your own images, sound and search for them later. You can use Word to make
them in Notepad. Then video clips to the gallery and greeting cards on your PC
connect again, paste the tag them as you want. You There are so many and it’s fairly simple once
reply to each message and mouth-watering recipes you get the hang of it. Basi -
send them. available online. Yet, I cally, you need to set up the
If you download files can’t find the right one page so that it prints like a
and software from the Inter - for an occasion. card. Begin by setting the
net, you must install a good Recipe Organizer ([Link]- page margins to 1.78 cm and
download manager such as [Link]) is excellent for man- the orientation to landscape.
Download Accelerator Plus
([Link]) or FlashGet
aging and organising all your
recipes into several cate-
Centre the paragraph align -
ment and draw a straight line
77
([Link]). Download Clip Gallery organises media gories. Apart from the ingre- down the middle, along the
managers are much better dients and preparation cursor. Keep the [Shift] key
than using your browser don’t necessarily have to method, it also stores the pressed to draw the straight
because these programs split run this catalogue from an preparation time, serving vertical line. This will serve as
up files into several parts Office application—it is an size, an image of the dish, your guide for placing other
while downloading. A sin- independent utility that can etc. If you want, you can objects on the card. Now you
gle-stream download will run on its own. If you have even define other informa- can place text boxes, images,
never be able to efficiently Office, you should be able to tion about the recipe that WordArt, etc. on the page to
utilise the available band- find it in C:\Program you want to save. The next make up the contents. The
width, so the software Files\Common Files\Micro- time you have a Hawaiian only thing you need to be
downloads the file in multi - soft Shared\Artgalry. Run party, you will be able to find careful about is to not get too
ple streams. Also, usually [Link] from here to run the the right recipes in a flash. If close to the borders—you
these software can reliably Clip Gallery. you are comfortable with would be printing on both
check if the same file is There are also some cool Excel, you can set up a simi- sides of the paper and you
available elsewhere for tools available for down- lar functionality in Excel. wouldn’t want anything
download and will get the load. Advanced File Orga- Enter different properties of bleeding over the fold. Once
file from the fastest server nizer (www. [Link]) is the recipes in separate you’ve created the inside of
available. If for some reason easy to use and it can cata - columns and you can use the card, create a copy of the
the download stops midway, logue files and folders in Excel’s powerful Sort and Fil- page and make the outside.
the software can resume hierarchical categories. You ter functions to quickly locate The front
downloading from that point can tag every file with your recipes of certain kinds.

111 OCTOBER 2002

 insight ■
■ tips and tricks

comes on the right side and ([Link]). Trillian home. Book Librarian than the current count using
the back on the left. Once it allows you to chat over sev- ( [Link]/win- automatic calculations. In
is ready, delete the vertical eral messaging services [Link]) can organise and Excel, you can set the zoom
guide and print the card on (Hotmail, Yahoo!, ICQ, AOL manage your library, track percentage at which a sheet
two sides of the same page. and IRC), and also logs chat borrowers and due dates. is printed. Lowering this
Fold it down the middle and sessions for each of them Book Organizer Deluxe value can reduce wastage
your card is ready to send. and has many additional drastically. PowerPoint, too,
There are also hundreds features such as skins, allows you to print multiple
of software available to make custom Away messages, slides per page.
greeting cards. There are two etc that are present in There are some software
ways in which they work— some IMs. such as FinePrint ([Link]-
they let you create your card [Link]), that let you print
with the normal front, back How can I have my PC multiple pages on a single
and inside views for printing keep track of birthdays? Set up your own electronic library sheet from any application.
(the software takes care of the Keeping track of birthdays is FinePrint installs itself as a
orientation of the card when as simple as using a reminder ([Link]) has power- printer driver, so you just
printing) or they create cards or scheduler program. If you ful searching, reporting and need to print to this virtual
that you can send by e-mail. already use Outlook, you can labelling capabilities. You can printer and enter the num-
These are normally self-exe - set up each birthday as a task even associate scanned ber of pages that should be
cutable so that the recipient with the appropriate date images with the books. printed per sheet. You can
doesn’t need to install any and configure it to be recur- preview the layout and print
software to view them. ring every year. You can set The cartridges for my from here to your printer.
FreeCard ([Link]), up an alert for it as per your printer cost too much. I Each page is resized to the
and Talking Greeting Maker convenience. Thus, the wonder why they run out defined area and formatted
([Link]) are some free birthdays and anniversaries so fast. accordingly. This is excellent
software for making cards. Printing can be quite expen- when you want to just read
Greetings! (www. eplumsys- sive depending on the kind the content and don’t need a
[Link]) is a plug-in for Word of printer you have, the final proof.

78 that allows you to easily cre -

ate cards from Word itself
number of pages you print
and also the print settings.
Print settings can con-
tribute quite a bit to printing
without the manual process. Use recurring tasks in Outlook You can’t really do much expenses. If you don’t need
for birthday reminders about the first one unless you great quality prints, print in
Unlike ICQ, MSN does- are buying a new printer. You Draft or Economy mode. This
n’t automatically save a can actually be planned can reduce the number of reduces the amount of ink
history of my chat mes- among your other tasks, pages you print in several used and increases cartridge
sages. Is there any way to making this a very useful simple ways. If you print
log my chat sessions in solution. If you don’t use from Office applications, you
MSN? Outlook, you can still use can reduce the number of
MSN Messenger has one any other free utility to pages used from within the
major shortcoming—by remind you of special occa- software. Word, by default,
default it does not save the sions. Free tools such as uses large page margins that
chat messages. You can use Birthday Reminder ([Link]- you often don’t need. Reduce
an add-on called Messenger [Link]) manage birthdays the margin size to use a larg- Reduce the zoom percentage at
Plus to log all your chat ses - and anniversaries quite well. er area of the page for print- which Excel sheets are printed
sions automatically, so that ing. Word also has a built-in
you can dig them up later I have so many books function to reduce the page life. Also, if you don’t need
for future reference. Alter - and my friends often bor- count. Go to the Print Pre - colour, print in greyscale—
natively, you can use a uni - row them. Keeping a view mode and click on the colour cartridges cost more
fied messaging software track is too taxing. Shrink to Fit icon on the tool- than black ones. Set these as
such as Trillian There are several software to bar. Word will try to fit the default settings by clicking
help you set up a library at document on one page lesser Start > Settings > Printers and

112 OCTOBER 2002

opening the properties for another way is to edit your they can be quirky too. are saved, separate e-mail
the printer. Changes made system’s registry and disable The first thing you settings, etc. Windows NT,
here will reflect in all appli- your desktop altogether. should try is lowering the 2000 and XP are already
cations, so change all set- Go to Start > Run and type writing speed. Many older configured for multiple
tings to the most economi- regedit . Navigate to the reg- drives and players cannot users and Windows 9x can
cal ones. You can change the istry key HKEY_CUR - read CDs burnt at high be made to provide similar
settings back to higher qual- RENT_USER\Software\ speeds. This is especially true functionality. Different users
ity as required from each Microsoft\Windows with Audio CDs. With data on Windows 9x would have
application. \CurrentVersion\Policies\ CDs, if writing at lower their own desktops, Start
Explorer. Here, create a new speeds does not help, the Menu items, themes, My
The wallpaper looks DWORD value called NoDesk- CD-ROM drive’s lens may Documents folders, History,
great, but these icons top. Edit this value and require cleaning. Also, you Favourites, etc. Hence, each
look patchy on it. change it to 1. The next time may want to turn off real- user can have his or her own
Icons on the desktop usually you reboot Windows, your time processing features in profile and you won’t have
ruin the look of the wallpa- desktop icons will have dis - the CD writing application. to change the settings every
per. The most obvious solu - appeared! To undo this, sim- Thus, when burning an time you want to use the PC.
tion is to change the back- ply delete the registry key Audio CD, use uncom - The settings can be locked
ground colour of the desktop you added. A better solution pressed WAV files for the
so that most of the icon is to use software such as source and use MPEG-1
labels may blend into the Iconoid ([Link]) to video files for VCDs. This
wallpaper. This can be done overcome the problem. This will not only reduce chances
from Control Panel > Desktop > software can make icon of errors when writing the
Appearance. However, getting backgrounds and labels CD, it will also decrease the
the right colour is quite cum- transparent, so there will be odds of the burn process fail-
bersome and usually you will no patches. It can also save ing due to buffer underruns.
and restore icon positions for When burning MP3 CDs
different screen resolutions. for an MP3 player, first con- Configure Windows to save
vert all your MP3 files to one multiple user profiles
Sometimes the CDs that
I write are not read by
bit rate (96 or 128 Kbps) to
ensure that none of them are by a password so that other
79
some CD-ROM drives and encoded with very high, users can’t change them.
other players. This hap- very low or variable bit rates. To set up multiple user
pens with various CDs— Although relatively new profiles in Windows, open
data, MP3, audio, etc. players can read these for- Control Panel > Passwords > User
Burning CDs is quite simple mats, many of the older ones Profiles. Enable ‘Users can cus-
with the applications avail - cannot. They have mini - tomize their own prefer-
able today. It is largely Wiz- mum and maximum bit rate ences…’. When a new user
Hide icons to get rid of patches ard driven—you just need to limits and some of them logs on, a folder with that
from your desktop select what kind of CD you don’t understand variable bit user’s name will be created in
want to write and the source rates. If nothing works, you \Windows\Profiles with all
not get uniformity across the files and you’re done. How- will have to change the kind the personalised settings.
entire screen. Another ever, sometimes you will find of CD-Rs or CD-RWs you use For multiple e-mail
option is to hide the icons. that the CD-Rs are not read for burning. inboxes, you can set up mul-
In the Display Properties, by all drives and players. This tiple identities in Outlook
under the Effects tab, enable has to do with either the CD Three of us share the Express. Each user’s e-mail
‘Hide icons when the desk- itself, or the way it is burnt. computer. How can we would be under his or her
top is viewed as a Web page’. You may have noticed this have different settings? own identity, which can be
Thus, when the desktop behaviour more with CD- Different users on the same protected by a password.
is set as a Web page RWs than with CD-Rs. VCD PC would like to have differ- You don’t have to waste
(using Active Desktop), no players are more tolerant ent settings for the desktop, time sorting
icons will be displayed. Yet than most other players, but the location where their files

113 OCTOBER 2002

 insight ■
■ tips and tricks

the mail into separate fold- ing the brightness and con -
ers. To set up multiple iden- trast settings. Experiment
tities in Outlook Express, with these controls to find
click File > Identities > Manage the best settings for your
Identities while in the pro- scanner. Also, place a thick
gram. Here you can add, white paper over the docu-
modify and delete identities ment being scanned to
and assign passwords to reduce this effect.
them. Each user will have a Always ensure that the
separate view and mail store, glass on the flatbed is
as configured by the user absolutely free from dust,
when logged on to that fingerprints and other such
identity. marks, since these tend to
show on the scanned
How do I get the best images.
quality scans from my
scanner? I’d rather work out my
The quality of the scanned finances on paper. The
image depends as much on accounting software is too
the scanner as on the scan confusing and I don’t need [Link]/templategallery/ and Login to the client, choose
settings. Usually, you need to keep as detailed a track download a pre-built template the person you want to send
to be careful with two as the software does. for personal finances. All you the message to and check the
things: scanning with high You can set up Excel for a need to do is change the Dol- box next to the Send by SMS
quality settings and correct- basic personal accounting lar notation to Rupees. The option. ICQ also lets you
ing scan errors (lines and system. All you need to do is Personal Budget workbook is send SMS messages from the
patterns) that are not to log the relevant income pretty impressive, as is the Per- Web site itself. It also main-
intended to be on the page. and expenses, use simple sonal Finance Statement tains a personal inbox where
Use appropriate resolutions formulae for calculating workbook. There are several you can receive messages

80 for scanning—300 to 600

dpi is good for photos. Keep
sums and differences and
you’re done. You can use sep-
other templates available on
the Web. The flexibility that
sent via SMS to your ICQ
account.
the scan setting at the max- arate columns for the narra- Excel offers in terms of sort-
imum colour depth that tion, money transferred, the ing, filtering and graphs
your scanner supports. date and the kind of transac- makes it a very friendly
When you scan content tion—that’s all you need to accounting software. Once
from magazines or newspa- track your personal finances. you get used to it, try some of
pers, you will notice a lot of Put in the transaction details the advanced functions such
lines on the scanned image. under narration, the actual as Subtotals, Grouping and Send SMS messages from the
The best way to reduce this amount of money under Outlining, Consolidation, etc. ICQ Web site
pattern is to use the money transferred (use posi-
Descreen option in the scan- tive values for income and Can I send SMS mes- Mobile services such as
ner software. Uncompressed negative values for expenses) sages from my PC? BPL Mobile allows you to
TIFF is the best format to and you can use the kind of Yes, you can send SMS mes- send SMS messages via e-
save the scanned images, transaction to logically sages from your PC. ICQ has mail, using the format num-
since it saves the image group the sources of income an excellent network that ber@[Link] for the To
without any loss in quality. or the kinds of expenditure. allows you to send SMS mes- address. Thus, if you want to
Ghost images (dark areas These can be logged against sages to most popular mobile send a message to a BPL
picked up from the back of the date for each transaction. services. All you need to do is Mobile subscriber, just send
the page) can usually be cor- That was the hard way. sign up with ICQ at a plain text e-mail to his
rected by Now here’s the easy way: [Link], download the mobilenumber@bplmo -
c h a n g- Browse to [Link] ICQ client and you’re all set. [Link].

114 OCTOBER 2002

arcade ■
■ games

The next animated movie you see might be powered by Quake III !

“G
od how I hate Thursdays,” swore Matt under keyboard and used his mouse to deftly move his avatar up to the
his breath as he drove into the driveway. “I’m counter, Frank followed suit and pressed the [T] key, triggering a
late, the crew must be waiting for me.” Sure talking animation that synched perfectly with the dialogue that
enough they were all there, three of them filled the air. It was going to be a long night, thought Matt, but
hunched up in front of their glowing monitors. They had already their movie should be over by the weekend. Maybe Thursdays
booted up Quake II and were fooling around on the map that weren’t all that bad after all.
served as their movie set. John sat on the floor, biting his nails,
with the sketched storyboards scattered all around him. Hugh,
Reel life heroes
was predictably watching the Road Runner Show, his fountain- Machinima is a movie-making technique that blends the flexibil-
head of inspiration. Their tired eyes gleamed with excitement. ity of computer-generated (CG) animation with the speed and free-
Matt took the vacant seat and his camera—a Pentium dom of traditional movie
computer running Quake II with the help of a 3D graph - techniques. It is an ingen-
ics accelerator. The map that the game was running ious means of using a
looked like a diner: this was the set of their movie; this is 3D game engine to create a
where the magic happened. Ben’s avatar was seen glee - low-budget animated film
fully bunny-hopping inside the diner, while Paul’s char - in minimum time. To a
acter gave chase, axe in hand. “All right guys, settle down.
Its show time”, whispered Matt. The chase ended abrupt -
ly as Paul guided his avatar to the assigned position where
Frank’s character already stood waiting; Ben took his
place behind the counter. “Quiet on the set,” said Matt.
Someone chuckled; a ‘roll tape’ started an audiocassette
that contained the pre-
Comedy in Armour recorded dialogues for
Hardly Workin’
the movie. Matt readied Both Star Trek: Elite Force (above) and
Find trailers of
these Machinima his camera-control keys, Deus Ex (right) have used Machinima to
movies on the “Action.” Ben pressed great effect
Playware CD in Arena\Movies the [W] key on the

120 OCTOBER 2002

 “
some live editing, and the movie is done! Hugh Han -
I don’t think cock, the Artistic Director at Strange Company, has this
to say about the benefits of his trade: “In a lot of ways
that there Machinima acts as a combination of the best things
are any specific about live-action filming, puppetry and CGI (Com-
puter Generated Images). Like film, production is fast
show-stopping and fluid, and there is plenty of possibility to experi -

Hugh Hancock,
reasons why ment with techniques, different interpretations of the

Chariman, Machinima script and ways of shooting. Unlike film, however,

Machinima has most of the advantages of animation

”
Strange Company shouldn’t achieve too: it’s possible to change any aspect of any shot down

a very high profile to the finest detail to replay a shot exactly as it was
originally created, while making changes to the cam -
era or actor-setup as you go, to shoot a film anywhere
you can imagine—the list goes on!”
handful of pioneers across the globe, Machinima is life, The technique is slowly gaining popularity as a
their calling. The ingredients involved are deceptively viable alternative to traditional CG animation. Machin-
simple: a storyboard to flesh out the characters, mod- ima movies (generally filmed with the Half-Life and
els and ‘props’ duly sculpted with the help of 3D mod- Quake II engine) range from the bizarrely violent Com-
elling tools such as 3D Studio Max, which also serves edy in Armour, to the surreal Ozymandias and the hilar-
to create basic animations for the characters involved. ious Hardly Workin’. Moreover, the budget-sensitive
The raw materials are then brought together within a game-development industry has also taken notice of
game engine of choice and the movie is acted out by this art form. Thus expensive CG cut-scenes have been
either AI bots or ‘puppeteers’ who control digital upstaged by Machinima story-telling techniques, as
avatars. Add the dialogue and music, follow it with demonstrated by Half-Life and Metal Gear Solid 2.

HARDLY WORKIN’ Production: A local area network was set up with a

êing: John Olinyk as Larry Lum- computer for each character used in a scene. The Clan
berjack, Matt Dominianni as had at the most four character computers and one
Lenny Lumberjack and Paul camera/server machine from which the scenes were
Jannicola as Cook Carl shot. A basic camera configuration file was created
It took the ILL Clan nine that allowed the camera to float and keys were bound
months of hard work to create this award-winning to zoom in and change its tracking speed. All the
film. Here’s a recap of what went into it: scenes were recorded in Quake II as demo files.
Pre-production: The motley crew wanted to have Each puppeteer bound a set of keys for their charac-
Lenny and Larry visit a diner run by Cook Carl, a char- ters’ basic animation. The sound file for each scene was
acter from their previous brain storming sessions. To played back on DAT tape; the puppeteers could thus
get a skeleton story in place, they used a process made match the dialogue. The shoot was run just like a film
famous by Chuck Jones of Loony Tunes fame. As a set, with ‘rolling’, ‘action’ and ‘cut’ being called. As
group, they came up with ‘business’; funny bits that needed, props were tweaked beforehand for each scene.
they wanted the characters to do. The best businesses Post Production: Select takes were dumped to
were collected and the director and writers put them MiniDV and a basic edit put together in Final Cut Pro.
into a basic storyline. Story boards were then drawn A shareware called Key Grip II was then used to
and used to create timed ‘animatics’. ‘recam’, a technique to create and adjust camera
Character models were created in 3D Studio Max, angles for a scene after it is shot. This aspect of
Nichimen’s Nendo and Q2 Modeler. They were given Machinima is great because the group only had to
basic animations that were later bound to hot keys by shoot a master shot during production. Other angles
the puppeteers. Objects and a map of the diner were could be recammed afterwards—this was like being
created using Quark Army Knife. All this was then able to re-shoot a scene without having to bring the
packed together for use by the Quake II engine. whole crew and cast back. Tweaking the character ani-
No dialogue was written beforehand, just plot and mation and the time-consuming process of lip-synch-
story points. The improvisers then recorded dialogue ing also happened in post production.
based on the storyline, allowing for a lot of freedom for The team looked at the rough edit and realised that
comic material to be generated by the group. The funni- it needed more explanation, so they recorded the
est takes were edited together into what became the Grind-O-Matic commercial segment. Titles and end
final sound file, using the animatics as a guide. credits were finally added, and the movie was done!

121
 1 2 3 in a room with
puppeteers and
direct them as
actors on a live
film set.” But there
are more practical
concerns: “A major
bottleneck is the
licensing. Engine
developers sell
To star in a Machinima movie, a 3D model must first be created 1 . It is then appropriately very expensive
clothed 2 and finally animated 3 licensing agree-
ments and share a
So is this real-time method all set to replace tradi- percentage of profits from the games sold. Makes
tional computer animation? “No, I don’t think it sense in the gaming industry; but for the Machinima
will,” says Hancock. “I suspect that real-time produc- community, they are simply out of league. Another
tion techniques will be some of the dominant film obstacle is the toolsets. About every two years, newer
and CG techniques of this century, but just as the - game engines and computer hardware are released. It
atre hasn’t gone away with the advent of film, so I means having to develop whole new toolsets and/or
don’t think that hand animation will disappear with having to recreate/upgrade our character models and
this real-time revolution.” world environments in a new format.” Hancock
Frank Dellario, the Producer of the much-lauded shares Dellario’s concern on licensing: “Probably the
ILL Clan , holds another view: “Yes and no. Yes, because biggest hurdle at this point is a legal one, but I don’t
the newest game engines and 3D cards are focusing foresee engine licensing being a problem for long, as
not on increasing frame rates anymore but on the qual- open-source alternatives are becoming increasingly
ity of the image. Also, once we have the ability to cre- powerful and viable.”
ate and shoot Machinima in 48-bit colour vs 32-bit, In a way, Machinima is a blessed art form—it
we’ll have the colour range to match the feature film feeds off the fast-paced juggernaut that is the gam -
world. No, because companies like Pixar Animation ing industry. Games, as we all know, are at the
Studios will always use the newest, fastest hardware zenith of technological advancements. If your com -
and software to push the envelope, like they did in puter can run the best game, it can pretty much run
Monsters, Inc by adding 3 million hair to the character circles around any other application out there. The
Sulley. They didn’t have to do that but they always will, symbiotic relationship between game developers
they have to be the best and push what’s possible. and computer hardware manufacturers has sparked
There were frames in Luxo Jr (Pixar’s first animated off a revolution of late. Next-generation engines like
short film, made in 1986) that took 72 hours to render. those that power DOOM III and Unreal Tournament
Today, Luxo Jr can be completely rendered in real-time. (UT) 2003 are riding on the wave of advancement in
But Monsters, Inc also has frames that took just as long video cards or programmable graphics processing
to render, almost 15 years later.” units (GPUs) from the likes of ATi and nVidia, and
promise to bring to shore an experience that will
Real life problems further blur the line between the digital and the real.
Stumbling blocks have prevented Machinima from Needless to say, the boys are excited at the prospect
gaining support amongst the community of tradi- of these new toys. Hancock goes first: “UT 2003
tional animators and filmmakers alike. Dellario feels looks good, will have a lot of support behind it and
that the technique needs to be understood, tried and generally seems like it could be great for Machinima.
tested by these groups. “With Machinima, an anima- From what I’ve heard and seen, the ‘Matinee’ toolset
tion director will have to let go of key-frames and take built into the engine is a very solid offering,
on the role of a real-time director. He will have to sit although it does seem to be very focused on the ‘AI

+ =

Take a video card such as the Radeon 9700, add a next-generation game engine such as the one powering DOOM III and
you can create movies like Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within on your PC, courtesy Machinima ➜

OCTOBER 2002
 rendering farms. “Programmable GPUs are
where Machinima will get an extra boost.
They represent a blank canvas to the
teams that create tools for Machinima,
allowing them to explore real-time
approaches to traditional filmmaking
techniques such as wipe, transitions, etc.
But more importantly, it will allow them
to develop unique approaches that will
visually create scenes that are otherwise
nearly impossible—real-time or not.” The
fact that these solutions will take them
The ILL Clan crew improvise the dialogues for their award-winning closer to what pre-rendering currently
Machinima movie, Hardly Workin’ offers is what gets Hancock excited: “Obvi-
ously, the only impact they will have is
actors’ approach to Machinima”. Dellario explains visually, but that impact will be massive. Certainly,
further: “Its major disadvantage, to me, is the lack of the GPU advances happening at the moment are
a real-time camera recording feature, without which one of the main things closing the gap between
Machinima loses its major advantage as a commer- real-time and pre-rendered solutions.”
cial production medium.”
Does DOOM III, to be launched from the much-
Reinventing the reel
worshipped id Software stable, get the juices flow - So, what does the future hold for this exciting film-
ing? Hancock says, “Drool. I can’t wait. If I had to creation technique? Will Machinima, like its men-
place a bet on which package would blow the tor, the gaming industry, inundate itself into the
Machinima scene wide open and cause it to explode cloning vat, merrily stuck in the groove of unorigi-
into the film world, I’d have my money on DOOM nality?
III.” Dellario couldn’t agree more: “It’s amazing and “I don’t think it’s old enough or settled enough
when it comes out next year, I predict it will be a to be stuck in a rut at this time,” counters Hancock.
watershed moment for the Machinima community. “Machinima is an astonishingly young art form:
we’ve scarcely even managed to figure out the basics

“
of Machinima creation yet, much less scratched the
Because we surface of its possibilities. Over the past 12 months,

shoot in real- I’ve seen people working on Machinima projects

ranging from sci-fi epics to abstract pieces, from
time, in a 3D virtual ultra-real thriller projects to sketch rendered music

environment, videos. Machinima at the moment is startling in its

diversity, and that’s only increasing as users get

Frank Dellario,
we’re combining more familiar with the medium.” Dellario ruminates

President, ILL the fast pace of a on the query and offers a historical perspective:
“There was a lot of activity early on, but that flurry

”
Clan
film shoot of excitement got buried by reality. It still takes time,
with the flexibility blood, sweat and tears to make a film, regardless of
what medium you use. A lot of the original com -
munity were teenage gamers who’ve since moved
on or lost interest. Now we’re in the stage of mak-
Not just because of the amazing physics or the ing this into a legitimate process in the animation
attention put on increasing the level of quality, but community.”
because of the dynamic lighting ability. Now, a To spark a revolution, a concept has to pass this
character carrying a flashlight or a lantern for exam- litmus test: it should be cost-effective and it should
ple, will affect the lighting in the environment. This not force a drastic re-learning of the tools and
may sound small but it’s not. Lighting in any film is techniques involved. Machinima seems poised to
one of the major story-telling and artistic tools at a usher in a new era of animation and film-creation.
filmmaker’s disposal.” Will it pass the test and deliver? As a viable
The hardware driving this phenomenon is not alternative to traditional animation, it has already
forgotten, nVidia’s next-generation GPU, the NV30 made some inroads into the gaming sector, although
for example, is expected to use 64 and 128-bit it has a long journey ahead. As an art form, let us
colour rendering, delivering accuracy greater than hope that budding filmmakers discover this tool—
that of Toy Story 2. Dellario thinks that the new the Machinima Film Festival 2002 was recently held
hardware will advance the ability to create Machin- to award just such pioneers. The question then is—
ima, letting it compete more closely with what Hol- is Machinima your calling?
lywood creates using large (read expensive) AHMED SHAIKH

OCTOBER 2002
arcade ■
■ tactics

Career counselling for aspiring soldiers

Join the Army

A
merica’s Army: Operations gives you Step 1: Account setup
a chance to enlist in the US Army, From the Operations Main Menu, select
without leaving your warm chair. the Report for Duty option and then
This online first person shooter is based Create a New Online Soldier. This will
on the latest Unreal engine and brings open your Web browser and connect
alive the mayhem on both the Internet you to an official Authentication Server,
and the LAN. We kick-start you into the where you can register your name and
game and help you choose the right role authenticate it with a password.
within a team, squad or platoon.
AHMED SHAIKH Step 2: Sign in
Use the information set up in the first
Choose your calling step to login to an appropriate server.
Depending upon the role that you wish to This is mandatory if you wish to take
take in Operations, you should select a par- part in any Tour of Duty (see Step 5).
ticular training regime. As a soldier, you GRENADIER
are required to finish the Basic Training, Armed with a single-shot M203, which can Step 3: Basic Training
completing which you can sign onto any be mounted under the M16A2 or M4A1, the This is the only offline component of the
of the other schools. Thus it is the Sniper Grenadier is a key member of the U S Army game and must be completed before
Training school, if you wish to be a sharp- fire team. He is capable of delivering accu- attempting a mission. It’s a compulsory
shooter; the Airborne School, if precision rate fire at point and area targets from tutorial that consists of a basic rifle marks-
air-drops from a thousand miles high medium to long distances manship course, where you qualify for
catch your fancy; or if you wish to march using the M16A2 assault rifle. An obstacle
shoulder-to-shoulder with those elite course introduces you to movement tech-
Rangers, you can do so after passing from niques, whereas weapons familiarisation
the Ranger School. On the basis of how introduces you to the M249 SAW, M203
well you do in the school of your calling, grenade launcher and grenades. Finally,
you can further opt to take on one of you get to put your skills to test in a simu-
many roles. lated combat environment using MILES
(Laser Tag) with real weapons.

Step 4: Training schools

Some Tours of Duty require you to clear
the training schools, i.e, if you wish to
become a sniper then you must complete
Sniper Training with the required marks.

Step 5: Tours of Duty

In Tour 1, you join the 172nd Separate
AUTOMATIC RIFLEMAN Infantry Brigade to protect a bridge and
The Automatic Rifleman combines awesome an oil-pipeline. In Tour 2 you team up
TEAM/SQUAD LEADER firepower with quick manoeuvrability with the 10th Mountain Division to take
The Team Leader is the person responsible thanks largely to the M249 SAW. This gun- control of an insurgent camp and rescue
for what the team does, or fails to do. The ner is required to provide long-distance POWs. Tours 3 and 4 are in the imple-
leader is armed with the M16A2 rifle (capa- cover as well as assault fire mentation stages and promise missions
ble of firing in either semi-automatic mode with the 82nd Airborne Division and the
or three-round bursts) or an M4A1 carbine 75th Ranger Regiment. The tours are
meant to be played on a network.

125 OCTOBER 2002

arcade ■
■ reviews

The Sum of All Fears

Adds up to a fun experience
A fter learning that The Sum of All Fears
(SoAF) was not so much a Quake-clone
as a squad-based strategy game, our com -
Unfortunately, for a squad-based
game, both hostile and friendly comput-
er-controlled entities will simultaneously
bined senses raced back in time to the amuse and dumbfound you with their
painful sessions of playing Tom Clancy’s lack of AI. Although the experience thus
Rainbow Six. Thankfully, SoAF does not presented is not very jarring, it is further
live up to its name and is both an bogged down by the use of a dated 3D
approachable and an entertaining foray engine. The locales are rarely breathtak-
into the world of action-strategy games. ing, either in ambience or design; the tex-
Although based on the movie, SoAF tures used are similarly ordinary and ditto
does not cast you as Jack Ryan. Instead, the animations employed. All of this, of
you play the team leader of an elite anti- course, means that the game is not too
terrorist squad, whose services are HEART-TO-HEART: Locate friends and foes demanding, hardware-wise. Plus the
required after America witnesses a alike with the help of high-tech heart beat inclusion of a meaty and thoroughly
nuclear detonation. You and your team sensors enjoyable multiplayer facet (especially
carefully navigate through 11 missions over a LAN) more than redeems the game.
all over the world and neutralise hostili - The inclusion of real-world weaponry is If you wish to give your circle-strafing and
ties. On the journey, you pick up impor - elegantly handled: the MP5s are segre - bunny-hopping skills a rest and yearn for
tant pieces of intelligence, disarm and gated from the M4s, by both the damage something that does not involve you
plant bombs, rescue hostages, ransack that each deal out and by authentic jumping over exploding rockets, then you
vaults, and assassinate many a baddie. sounds that accompany them. owe this game a try.

Minimum System Requirements: 450 MHz processor, 128 MB RAM, 16 MB DirectX 8 compatible 3D card ■ Genre: Action-Strategy
Developer: Red Storm Entertainment ■ Distributor: Milestone Interactive ■ Phone: 022-8381614 ■ Web site: [Link] ■ Price: Rs 1,299
Rating: ★★★✩ ✩

Hired Team: Trial Gold

An asinine mettle
I magine a world where crime and violence
are so rampant that the government actu-
ally decides to do something about it! In
bots have an unfinished Frankenstein-
monster feel to them. So don’t blame them
if they refuse to use the health-kit that lies
Hired Team: Trial Gold (HTTG), such a world next to their feet and are unaware of the
does exist and the government creates a protective benefits of an armour. Watch
strike team to put an end to the anarchy them climb over your back, pass right next
and bring the twin gifts of hope and joy to to you without even a parting shot and
an otherwise destitute world. gaze in wonder as they float around the
It is a concept that has been attempted world like brain-searching wraiths.
before and with better execution. All HAVE WE MET? Hey! I killed you five seconds ago HTTG is a bad cocktail of an extreme
through the game, you run around the effort towards Unreal Tournamentand Quake
various levels, shooting things that dare balanced—a pistol will get you nowhere, III Arena and an element of originality is
wear a different coloured shirt! The maps while a rifle has a one-shot-kill guarantee, brought only via its interface. Go ahead,
feel tacky and the weapons are poorly regardless of where you hit the baddie. The play this game, unmake your day.

Minimum System Requirements: 400 MHz processor, 64 MB RAM, OpenGL or Direct3D compatible graphics card ■ Genre: First Person Shooter
Developer: New Media Generation ■ Distributor: Aladdin Multimedia ■ Phone: 022-7895085/7903959 ■ Web site: [Link]/httrial/ ■ Price: Rs 499
Rating: ★★✩✩✩
➜

126 OCTOBER 2002

arcade ■
■ reviews

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3

Pro-foundly entertaining
S o you’ve checked out those
Extreme Sports dudes and
dudettes wheel over cars, grind
score-tracking—an ideal way to
get intimate with a level. But
the crux of the game lies in the
over pipes in their entire body- Career mode where you will
twisting, knee-bending glory. earn points and reputation as
Exciting stuff for sure. Tony you unlock new levels, skaters,
Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 (THPS3) and tricks.
takes us one step away from the For a PC title, the graphic
spectator seat that the televi- splendour is a bit of a hit-and-
sion puts us in and delivers an miss show. The models are
as-good-as-it-gets experience on greatly detailed and very natu-
our computer monitors. ral looking, while the anima-
Although this game is tions are convincing and
available for all the major con- immersive. But what tears away
soles, what separates the PC from the visual quality are the
version from the rest is the textures used—most of them
inclusion of some great net- are too uniform and lack detail,
DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME: Being able to pull tricks like this is what
work play. The online compo - imparting a very uninspiring
makes this game so cool
nent successfully utilises the look to an otherwise splendid
skating aspect to put an enjoy- game. However, where the tex-
able spin on the eight different modes of ing an area, and so on. Although play over tures miss, the audio facet makes up with
play. Thus Graffiti calls for you to tag an the Internet is not as solid as it should excellent sound effects and a lively sound-
obstacle or an area by pulling off a trick, have been, sessions over a LAN are high- track. The only caveat is that THPS3
Trick Attack pits you against your opposi - ly recommended. The single-player ele - would be better approached with a
tion in a test of skill, Slap! awards points ment is an outstanding achievement. gamepad—if any game deserves to be
for literally running into other players, Included here is the Free Skate mode pampered with that peripheral device, it is
Control the Zone is a contest of dominat- which offers unlimited skating without this one!

Minimum System Requirements: 300 MHz processor, 64 MB RAM, 8 MB DirectX 8 compatible 3D card ■ Genre: Sports
Developer: Neversoft ■ Distributor: Milestone Interactive ■ Phone: 022-8381614 ■ Web site: [Link]/tony_hawk/ ■ Price: Rs 699
Rating: ★★★★✩

E-LEARNING, AN EXPRESSION OF THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

Economically unknowledgeable

L et us begin by saying: Look for anoth-

er book, this one holds no value for a
professional and is not aimed at the
overviews that may
interest the novices
but leave the profes-
e-learning. The result is a book
that is predictably simple-
minded, dripping with enthu-
novice. The stated objective of this book is sional, whom the siasm and entirely lacking in
‘the imminent need for sharing the novel book is primarily tar- any kind of balanced thought
ways of learning we (the authors) have cre- getted at, unin- and content. The authors of the
ated and experienced’. However, it is bereft formed. Important book generously state upfront
of any practical experience or novel technologies like that much of the contained
insights. The book attempts to cover a XML are dismissed material is repetitive—a candid
broad spectrum of the e-learning domains within a few meagre preview into what’s in store for
such as the history and development of lines and the usage the discerning reader.
teaching techniques, analysis of learning scenarios completely The facts and concepts con-
models, job roles in e-learning, as well as miss the point. tained within its pages can eas-
the technology used to develop e-learning The authors are ily fit into a small booklet and
solutions. However, it manages to touch project managers, yet they repeatedly are certainly not worth the time and
on each topic only fleetingly, and provides attempt to make a business case for expense the book demands.

Publisher: Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd ■ Contact: Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd ■ Phone:011-5732841/918
Fax: 011-3266427 ■ E-mail: bpb@[Link] ■ Price: Rs 499
Rating: ★✩✩✩✩

128 OCTOBER 2002

Digit Diary October [Link] 4/30/2004 11:13 AM Page 129

arcade ■
■ digit diary

The Chinese Connection

Going places in the global village

T
here’s more to Digit than just seemed to understand English. Accus- any of the other delegates there. Sev
exhaustive research and tests to tomed to being prepared for all eventu- inquiries in pidgin Chinese about din
stay apace with the latest tech- alities, Hakim had made sure to carry for 60 people from Canon to be hel
nologies and products, or taking along the restaurant’s visiting card and the restaurant only led to confusion
apart the latest high-falutin’ devices in managed to locate the restaurant by rely- alarm on the part of the restaurant sta
the Test Centre and then putting them ing heavily on sign language and point- the prospect of arranging seating sp
back together. The job often calls for step- ing to the card when asking for for so many. Finally, they managed
ping out of our hi-tech testing labs to directions. make some headway: it was sugge
attend seminars organised by peers in the that maybe the dinner was being hel
media and different segments of the another branch of the restaurant
technology industry. Tiananmen Square.
In a similar vein, Hakim, head of our More sign language, pidgin Chin
Test Centre set sail for Beijing, China, this and 40 minutes later, Hakim and c
month to attend a conference organ- panions located the restaur
ised by Canon. The three-day-long only to find it closed. N
conference was a great opportunity to one to give up easily, Ha
understand issues concerning the decided to call the Canon h
printer market worldwide. office and find out where
But the China trip turned out to venue was. As it turned o
be a learning experience in more they had gone to the right p
ways than one. On the last day of the first time, but the rest of
the conference, Canon had organ- delegation was late and
ised a grand send-off dinner for the 60- reached there after Hakim
odd delegates. The Indian delegation, friends had left for Tiananm
consisting of six people from the tech- Square. By now, everybody
nology industry, including Hakim, terribly hungry and the pros
decided to use the free time before of another 30-minute wait
dinner to see something of the For- dinner was too much. Hun
ILLUSTRATION : Mahesh Benkar
bidden City. won over the temptation of
After an eyeful of sightseeing, it was By the time they found their way to ing out some more of authentic Chi
time to head for dinner, but asking direc- the restaurant, it was already a little after cuisine and the weary sixsome ma
tions was rather tiresome, as nobody the stipulated hour. But they couldn’t see beeline for the nearest McDonald’s!

When the Cats are Away…

This is a story of the three pairs of shoulders ship (read: He decided to go home before But we had our priorities right—we sin
that carry the weight of Digit, or rather a he forgot what it looked like. Luckily for gle-mindedly focused on brewing the per
story of when they were away! Vinit Aggar- him, his driver still remembered the fect coffee. Our writer Veer, found the per
wal, our editor, Sveta Basraon, our features address). fect opportunity to put his theory of cross
editor, and Shivshankar Pillai, our head Those who were left to hold up the fort breeding to test. Job definitions blurred in
designer, midwife Digit through the pro- got to play the favourite game of magazine non-existence, so Ahmed metamorphosed
duction cycle every month. magazine with Digit, much to the Market- into a technical editor, Marco, the head o
But this month, as each of them got ing department’s horror. As soon as our writers, supervised design ideas and Veer
called away, the rookies came out to play! publisher heard of the decreased ‘body tweaked around with the layouts, moving
Pillaiji, as we affectionately call him, went count’, he sent us a reassuring mail on how them about at Mitali’s—our ever smiling
on a long-postponed trip to his native we could always turn to him for guidance; copy-editor—whims and fancies.
God’s own country, while Sveta trotted to the consumer service people began practis- But surprisingly, Digit came out on tim
discover the wonders of Pachmarhi, Mad- ing their ‘I’m sorry your issue is late’ speech with all pages intact. Moral of the story:
hya Pradesh. Vinit, on the other hand, got even as the rest of the company cast nerv- never underestimate the power of a good
called back by a somewhat hostile mother- ous glances in our direction. pot of coffee!

129 OCTOBER 2
Backbyte2-October [Link] 4/30/2004 11:09 AM Page 130

arcade ■
■ backbyte

More than you deserve

This installation for Yahoo! Messenger seems

just about complete at 180 per cent…
Now that’s a killer Heads Up Display!

Submitted by Mahesh Benkar

… and Microsoft is just getting there

Page not found

Go to an invalid page at [Link] and
Computer Love this is what you will see:
Dear Cobol,
The site of you increases the clock speed of my heart. You wear a dress with all
the colours of an XGA display adapter, overclocking my eyes. When I first saw
you in the first row of the second column of the 10x5 set of seats in the bus, I
lost my Control Panel. I stopped communicating with my friend and my eyes
were fixed on you. I was caught in the Web of your beauty. I followed you to
find out more about you but I crashed and had to reboot. My desktop is filled
with icons of your love. I never had a bit of drink or byte of my cookies from
the time I Cut and Paste your image in my memory. My Random Access Mem-
ory stops responding when your high resolution image flashes through it. My
hard disk is filled with your data. I browsed through the library files in my
Office for your address but my search yielded no results. I could not contact
you earlier because I came down under a viral attack. If possible, I would like
to C you in the Procedure division near the PrettyPark where a site is being
developed, else I would like to Place a Call to your home. Please don’t truncate
my love. Do give me permanent access to your heart.
Yours programmably,
Pentium 4

Your chance to
bite back!
Highlight the lighter side of computing. Mail your contributions to: Backbyte Digit,
Plot D-222/2, TTC Industrial Area, MIDC, Shirvane, Nerul, Navi Mumbai 400 706
or e-mail us at backbyte@[Link]

130 OCTOBER 2002