
                             IDIOTS-REDUX

                        (c) 1995 by  Bob Miller

  Time now for yet another installment in our never ending saga of the
  idiocies published as  advice  in our leading computer magazines.  We
  have a banner collection this month.

  Windows Magazine, June, page 226

  [on the subject of how large to make the permanent swap file] My advice
  is to make it half the size of installed RAM, but the authors of
  Wintune benchmarks suggest the following formula: 16MB minus installed
  RAM.

  So, for a 4 meg system, he wants a 2MB PSF while the benchmark people
  want a 12MB.  Both are foolish. 2 is nowhere near enough and 12 is
  ridiculous overkill.

  Same issue.

  "If you have more than 16MB of RAM and you run WFWG 3.11, consider doing
  away with your swap file altogether........Provided that you have more
  RAM than you need, this selection should speed operations by preventing
  the use of your hard disk for virtual memory."

  On the contrary, the lack of a PSF (permanent swap file) will always
  SLOW Windows down.  Without one, it conducts a complete sweep of memory
  twice a second to see what can be discarded if needed -- even with lots
  of memory available.  A PSF eliminates this time wasting step.

  Infoworld, May 22, page 96

  "So, bottom line, this version [OS/2 Warp Connect] is more lead than
  gold....IBM simply needs to do a lot more testing before calling the
  alchemist.  Given these problems can be ironed out, Warp Connect is
  easily my favorite corporate OS."

  Leaving aside the fact that the latter sentence is not correct
  grammatically, does one detect, perhaps, a slight prejudice here?
  "more lead than gold" equals "favorite ..OS? Logic 101 anyone?

  Infoworld, May 15, page 49

  "...we took time off to walk one of the maybe 30,000 miles along the
  Great Wall."

  Fact checkers, anyone?  If the Great Wall were 30,000 miles long, it
  would more than circumnavigate the entire Earth.  One tenth that length
  is closer to the actual amount.


  Infoworld, May 8, page 108

  "Way back when I used Windows 3.1, the first thing I loaded...was Norton
  Desktop for Windows.  I found Windows to be virtually unusable without
  it."

  Really?  I could find 60,000,000 users who would disagree.


  PC Magazine, May 16, page 104

  "[Windows 3.1] File Manager does offer an awkward form of drag and drop
  copying.  Most users just fill in the command line.

  Not the users I know.  Drag and drop is simple and fast.


  Same issue from a review of the Packard Bell machine.

  "Page 411.  Service and Reliability.....................E [as in awful]
  Page 413.  .....makes the Packard Bell ...a smart investment."

  Maybe they define "investment" differently that I do.


  PC Computing, June, page 50

  Desktop Apps.  	Top Pick
  Word Processor	MS Word 6.0
  Spreadsheet		MS Excel 5.0
  Database		Lotus Approach 3.0

  Now it is possible to argue with these selections but they are certainly
  reasonable.  How then, can the top of that list be:

  "Software Suite	WordPerfect PerfectOffice 3.0."

  Something does not compute here.


  PC World, June, Page 278

  "If you want Windows to use the buffer of a serial ports 16550 UART
  chip, place this line ...in system.ini: COMnFIFO=On."

  In reality, due to a bug in the logic, that will turn the buffer OFF.
  The absence of the line or setting it to 1 will turn it on but this
  won't.


  Same Issue Page 230

  [discussing the high problem rates and terrible service] Ransom [VP
  Marketing] grades Packard Bell's support efforts as "a C, moving towards
  an A".

  Of course, if you want an honest view of a service problem, you ask the
  VP of Marketing...NOT!


  Same Issue Page 168.

  "[review of the Supra FaxModem 288] Alas, the modem came in dead last in
  all our benchmarks, sending data at only about half the rate of the
  faster modems, and making connections in less than a quarter of the
  attempts made.  Were it not for its poor performance, the FaxModem 288
  might have had a shot at a best buy."

  And if pigs had wings..............  How foolish can you get?


  Same Issue Page 66

  [review of Word Pro -- formerly Ami Pro]

  "The early beta release shows plenty of innovation.....the spelling
  checker highlights unrecognized words."

  What a wonderful innovation!  Gee, didn't Word Star do this in 1985?


  Same Issue Page 60.

  "After installing the operating system [Win95] on a 486 Deskpro with...a
  120 MB hard drive, we had a mere 79MB left for other applications.

  ...... Since the Deskpro lacked a CD-ROM drive, we spent over 2 hours
  swapping the programs 12 disks."

  41 megs for Windows and DOS combined is hardly excessive -- especially
  with the debug code still in the product.  And who in their right mind
  thinks a 120MB drive is sufficient for any version of Windows today?
  Further, I have installed Win95 from floppies.  It takes well under an
  hour.  Perhaps they were too busy checking out the innovations above
  to swap disks on a timely basis.


  Same Issue Page 228


  "Primary activity: Word Processing and E-mail
  Minimum configuration:  66mhz 486DX2, 8MB of RAM, 15 inch monitor."

  That is a nice system but is hardly a "minimum configuration"


  Same Issue Page 229

  "How many pages a day? This is the minimum configuration
  More than 20   8 ppm PCL 5
           20 or fewer	4 ppm to 6ppm PCL 5"

  Get real!  I print 30 pages a day  and I need an 8 page per minute
  printer? Not hardly.


  Insert ad for Prodigy.

  "We'll send you software in Windows 3.5 format."

  Really?  I know Windows 3.1 and 3.11, WFWG 3.10 and 3.11 and NT 3.5 but
  what is Windows 3.5?  And, if they mean 3 1/2 inch format, what does
  Windows have to do with it?


  PC Computing, June page 214

  "RAM disks are useful, however, as a place to put temporary files."

  No they are not.  Not many apps use temp files and those that do use
  large ones.  Few people can afford enough RAM to create a RAM disk big
  enough to hold a WinWord document with a couple of embedded graphics.
  And, if your RAM disk is too small, crash city.


  PC Magazine, June 13, page 30

  "MSN prowls around your hard disk, grabs your autoexec.bat and
  config.sys files......"

  It does no such thing.  It does compile a list of some of your installed
  software and the hardware that it recognizes but does nothing with it
  unless you expressly authorize it to transmit the information.  There is
  no default -- you must allow or not allow it.


  Same issue, page 91, from our Idiot's Hall of Fame honoree, John Dvorak.

  "Now I hear that Windows 95 is a November product.  At least, that is
  what one fellow 'close to the programmers' told me."

  Gee! And my sister-in-laws babysitter's former boyfriend's pizza
  delivery mans one time roommates gardener told me that John Dvorak
  picks his nose in public.  Nothing like factual information from a
  reliable source.

  Idiots Redux  is the invention of Bob Miller who has a huge collection
  of Conference Host assignments from both RIME and Ilink competing with
  time for his collection of stamps. A very knowledgeable Windows writer,
  Bob is the head of a Mental Health Agency and can be found at
  bob.miller@channel1.com He and Stanley are regular WindoWatch contributors.


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