STAR Watch Statewide Technology Assistance Resources Project A publication of the Western New York Law Center,Inc.

Issue 6 March 2002 Increases Pressure on Windows 95 Users to Upgrade So, you are still running Windows 95 and Windows 3.xx or Windows NT version 3.51 you would like to upgrade your web would no longer be supported—almost no one browser to the lnternet Explorer version 6. used them anymore. Windows 95 was in- You navigate your way to the Microsoft cluded in that announcement, but the prevail- Download Center and you attempt to ing attitude could be summed up in one sen- download and install the newest version of tence: It won’t stop working just because they Microsoft’s web browser. You barely get no longer support it. While no one disputes started when the mes- that fact that Windows 95 continued sage appears on your to perform as well after support was monitor, stating that IE dropped as it did before, it is also 6.0 cannot be installed true that no improvements were on a Windows 95 ma- made to it. Software vendors stopped chine. worrying about compatibility with it. And if a previously undiscovered bug Other Windows 95 us- showed up? No one fixed it. ers have encountered similar problems when Windows Desktop Product they tried to run some of Lifecycle Guidelines the newest multimedia applications (and Information about the demise of Win- games) on their . In order to dows 95 was published on Microsoft’s website run, these programs require version 8 of along with their plans for other currently avail- DirectX. This latest version of DirectX pro- able operating systems. On this page (http:// vides the extended multimedia and multi- www.microsoft.com/windows/ player support to these new applications. lifecycleconsumer.asp), Microsoft agrees to Without it, they will not work. The update give at least 12 months notice of any changes is free. But it won’t install on Windows 95 machines. Last year, very few people were even In this issue..... slightly concerned when Microsoft an- • Useful Free Utilities nounced plans to drop support for several • WNYLC Web Statis- products in November and December of tics 2001. No one was upset that MS-DOS, STAR Watch - 2 - March 2002 to their offerings along with 95 machine is due for retirement very soon, it a list of all of these changes that will go into might make sense to live with the limitations im- affect in the next 24 months. posed by Win95 until the workstation is phased out. If it’s less than two years old, it might make They have made this information available so sense to upgrade to Second Edi- that consumers have “advanced notice of tion. The upgrade to Win98SE could be per- plans to change Windows desktop availability formed by anyone who is reasonably and assisted support options for all desktop literate. versions of Windows”. This is supposed to give consumers “advanced notice to allow for While it might be possible to upgrade to Win- accurate information technology and product dows 2000 or Windows XP, there are many planning within their organizations”. more hardware and software issues to be ad- (Translation: We are providing you dressed. It would probably require significantly with this information so that you more time and greater technical know when to start saving your expertise. money for your next purchase from How much will it us.) There are 3 phases in the cost to upgrade? product lifecycle: • Not-for-profit organizations could 0 – 3 years: Mainstream upgrade their computers to a Phase – The product will be supported operating system for generally available through as little as $20 per machine from computer manufacturers CompuMentor (www. and retail outlets. It will be compumentor.org). CompuMen- fully maintained and sup- tor offers a variety of discounted ported. software products to qualified or- • 3 – 4 years: Extended Phase – The ganizations. To qualify, you must meet these availability of the product will begin to criteria: dwindle. No new copies of the prod- • Be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization uct will be released. In addition to • Be located in the U.S. online support information, Microsoft • Meet some minimal vendor require- will offer “paid incident support” for ments those who are willing to pay for help. This too, shall pass … • 4+ years: Non-Supported Phase – The product is becomes unavailable Start planning for the future now. Microsoft has for purchase. Only online support is already announced plans to change the status available. Microsoft reserves the of other widely used operating systems: right to terminate online support after • June 30, 2002: Windows 98/98SE providing 12 months notice. moves into the “Extended Phase” • What can users do? March 31, 2003: Profes- sional changes to “Extended Phase” Back to Windows 95: There are two obvious • June 30, 2003: Windows NT version 4.0 alternatives. Users can choose to stay with and Windows 98/98SE become “Non- it, or they can upgrade to a more current Supported” Windows operating system. If the Windows • December 31, 2003: Windows Me moves into “Extended Phase” STAR Watch - 3 - March 2002

Useful Free Utilities

memory and processing power. Windows contains very few utilities. Win- They slow computers down. dows users, especially those who fre- quently use the Internet, can easily Most of these programs do not increase the functionality of their have to run automatically to computers by installing some free function. The programs work utilities offered by vendors. Some well when users just start them of these utilities, such as NoteTab when they are needed, and Light, and AVG Antivirus, are of- close them when they are no fered to entice users into buying longer needed. Unfortunately, the paid versions which have even when a program is running in more functionality. Some, like the background, it does not stop Startup Cop are offered by com- running when the main applica- puter magazines to show users tion is closed. The program that by reading the magazine, people will keeps running, consuming com- learn about new, helpful software. puter resources and slowing the machine.

1) Startup Cop A small free utility called Startup Cop finds programs that run in the All new computers seem to really background and lets users disable speed along. Eventually though, them. The utility also allows users they just get slower and slower. to reverse their decision and start This often happens because as applications that they want to run in users load new software, the in- the background (like antivirus soft- stallation programs, without ask- ware) if a user incorrectly closes a ing, assume that part of the pro- program. Startup Cop is available gram should be run automatically from http://www.zdnet.com/ as soon as the computer is downloads/ The link constantly started. Corel and Word both in- changes, so type “Startup Cop” in stall small utilities that run auto- the search box to find the current matically at startup, as do many link. free utilities like Real Player, the software that allows users to play 2) Ad-aware music. These programs that “run in the background” consume

STAR Watch - 4 - October 2001

Many of the free programs that people download from the Inter- 3) Pop-Up Stopper net carry a hidden price tag. The programs monitor Internet activ- ity so that targeted advertising Are you sick of advertising boxes can be sent to users. Like pro- appearing on your screen? grams that run in the back- These pop-up boxes can be an ground, these programs also af- annoyance – or worse - some fect computer performance, but sites set these pop-up boxes to they tend to do so only while a overwhelm your browser if you computer is using try to leave the site, pop- the Internet. They ping as many as 15 slow the Internet screens at once. connection down because of their As its name suggests, constant back- Pop-Up Stopper puts a ground activity. halt to this. It is a small They also raise seri- free program that will ous privacy con- prevent most boxes from cerns. loading. The instruc- tions tell you that if you Ad-aware is a free load this program and utility that finds such still want to open a sec- programs and gives ond in the users the option of removing browser, you can just hold down them. Ad-aware warns that re- the “Ctrl” key to allow a second moving the advertising compo- window to open. nents can disable some of the programs. But once users know 4) AVG Antivirus what programs are monitoring their Internet activity, they can Every computer should be pro- choose whether they want to run tected by an antivirus program. the program anyway or remove If your budget is tight and you it. cannot afford to buy a commer- cial program like Norton Anti- Ad-aware can be downloaded Virus, this free, fully functional from: http://tomcoyote.com/ program will monitor your com- lsindex.html puter and e-mail for viruses and will even automatically update it- self if the machine is connected STAR Watch - 5 - March 2002

to the Internet. come many of the limitations of Note- pad and allow users to efficiently edit The only “catch” is that the files. NoteTab Light is especially company can end the updates useful for editing html files. whenever it chooses to do so. It will eventually end the up- dates and try to get users to One of the most useful Windows utilities buy the product. Until it does, is the utility that allows users to update though, it is a good solution for Windows from the Internet. Microsoft offices that do not own a com- constantly issues patches and fixes for mercial antivirus product. It is Windows that increase Windows secu- also a good solution for offices rity. These updates will prevent many, that own out- of-date products, but not all, viruses from affecting Win- such as older versions of dows computers. The update utility can McAfee that can no longer be be found on Windows 98 and higher by updated. going to “Start,” and then clicking on “Windows Update” (Microsoft does not AVG Antivirus can be offer updates for Windows 95) When downloaded from http://www. you are on the Microsoft site, click on grisoft.com/html/us_downl. the "PRODUCT UPDATES" link. You htm#FREE will be asked if you want to download and install a small program. Answer 5) NotepadEx and NoteTab “Yes.” Light One of the updates that might be offered

NotePad, the text editor that (depending upon how recently you have comes with Windows, has updated you computer) is one for Inter- some serious limitations. It only net Explorer. Many people who use Net- opens very small files and it has scape do not download and install the no word processing features update. Microsoft uses like search and replace. Al- new versions of Internet Explorer to up- though text files can be opened date Windows. So even if you do not with most word processors, if a use Internet Explorer as your web user does not remember to browser, you should consider download- save the file in a certain way, ing and installing this update. the file will save as a Word or WordPerfect file.

NotepadEx and NoteTab Light are free replacements for Notepad. They over- STAR Watch - 6 - March 2002

For February 2002

Total Hits ...... 208,408 Most Active Hour...... 9-10 a.m. Total User Sessions . . . . 16,827 Accessed Using ...... 21% Average Hits/Day Accessed Using Internet (Monday thru Friday) . . 7,443 Explorer ...... 78% Average User Sessions/ From Windows 95 ...... 12% Weekday ...... 730 From Windows 98 ...... 53% From Windows 2000 ...... 19% From Windows XP ...... 4% Most Active Day of Week...... Monday

WHO WE ARE Joe Kelemen - Attorney de ma is h a Kathleen Lynch - Attorney atch ug r W thro LA Linda Hassberg- Attorney Sta le IO sib he rk Tom Karkau - Programmer os y t Yo p t b ew ran f N Sarah McNerney - Secretary g d o Fun te. Sta [email protected]

716-855-0203

www.wnylc.com

Western New York Law Center, Inc. 295 Main Street, Suite 454 Buffalo, New York 14203