ISC News is the first place you should look for updates.  It is easer to update a single page in short time than to edit different pages one at a time.  Since my time is limited I edit this page first.

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    It could happen to anyone, and perhaps does from time to time.  We clean up the hard drive and accidentally delete something we need.  The Windows Trash Can isn't a lot of help since you can't recover hard drive space until you empty the trash can.  Once you do that the files are gone and can't be recovered.

    I did something stupid the other day after I bought my new Ditto Max tape backup.  I was cleaning up some hard drive space and saw QBWIN directory.  Thinking that was the old Conner tape backup system that I no longer use I removed it.  It was in fact the same name but was not the same system.  It was the newer Seagate system since Seagate bought Conner out.  Sure I had it on the QIC-3010 tape backups but can't get to it without the program in the first place.  I also have another copy of it on floppy disks and will find and restore them soon but I set out to find out what I could from Seagate about upgrading or even just replacing the software on line.  Sometimes it is faster to log on and download the files or drivers than it is to sort through hundreds of disks to find what I am looking for.

    This set me on an adventure that I could have done without but what I learned is that the search engines searching for QBWIN.EXE took me to Seagate and yet no place on the Seagate site could I locate the file I was searching for.  I thought since they  no longer have the file I am searching for perhaps one of these newer programs have replaced the older program I was looking for.  While I did discover that several of their programs including the new Seagate Windows 98 software will access and run the old CTM 700 R-F drive that I have.  The problem is when I clicked on the command to go to Windows 98 software there was no web page there.  When I went to Windows 95 software I soon learned that unless you all ready have a previous version of the software on your computer you are stuck.  They don't have the complete version of that software on their website or FTP server.  So if your program became corrupted or if you lost the disk and accidentally deleted the program or removed it then you are, to put it mildly, "screwed."

    Seeing this as a problem that no doubt happens to others since it happened to me I thought I would write and ask the person who managed their FTP site and ask them 3 main questions and point out how they were loosing business by driving their customers to some other profider of tape backup systems.  That message was sent out to the ISC group at the same time and we are now waiting for a response which I intend to post here.

    I also intend to put up a page here just for this type of information about Tape Backup Systems.

    If this is the first time you have read this information you might want to read on below about Tape Backups.  Also remember we at ISC must buy our own systems and we don't get paid for what we do so you get an honest review.  At the same time we can't test every single system on the market because of this.  You can check CNET.COM for more reviews on different computer related software and hardware.

I am a videographer and lately I have been working with video files on my computer.  If any of you have done this you know to do this a computer must have massive hard drive space.  One little 3:45 long music video takes up close to 200 meg on a hard drive.  To make this file you also need a collection of video clips.  In my case I have very close to 500 meg of video clips which I keep on one of the other hard drives.  When my video is made I need to remove these AVI files so I can start working on another production.  My AVI files are MJPG compressed files because that's what my video capture card uses.  MJPG are all ready compressed and if you save them to a backup tape using compression the file on the tape will be larger than the file on the hard drive.

Now speaking about backup systems.

After filling up a brand new 3020 tape that I had to reformat to 3010 (half the capacity of a 3020) just over 800 meg. and not having nearly enough to do the job we went out once again searching for a tape backup system.  The first place we went was Best Buy to look at the only tape backup system they had in the store.  The reason we had not bought it before was because it won't use the QIC format tapes which we all ready have and wanted to use.  But then when we realized the Ditto Max tape backup would hold 3.5 gig native uncompressed data (which is how we must backup the AVI files I am working with) and more than 4 times as much data storage as what we are now using and the tapes cost almost exactly the same price as the 3020's $29.00 we thought good and hard about it.

On the outside the tapes look very much like the QIC 3020 but open the door and you see very quickly the tape is almost twice as wide inside the cartridge on the Ditto Max tapes.

So we got it and the $50 rebate card that brings the price of the unit down to $150.

Installing the tape backup was a snap.  It runs on a 16 bit card and installed into the computer.  Good thing I have a meager tower case because I have this thing full now.  I think there's only one slot left and it has no access hole from the front.

The Ditto Max is much faster than the 3010 drive that I also use now.  The Ditto Max can transfer data from 17-19 meg per min. on uncompressed data.  Yes I can use both of them in the computer so I can still use my old backups and can save my AVI files on the new Ditto Max.  In the event that I ever come across a QIC-3020 tape backup that runs on a floppy cable system, at a "very good price" I will be able to remove the 3010 tape drive and replace it with a 3020 tape drive.  Then I can reformat the now 3010's back to 3020 and double the capacity, going from around 800 meg to 1.6 native, uncompressed space and I won't have to buy any new tapes.

I certainly do not intend to buy any more QIC 3020 tapes now for any reason and I would not pay retail price for a 3020 tape backup since they are all ready obsolete.  But if I could get one for around $50 I would so that I could take advantage of these 3020 tapes that I all ready possess. If anyone knows where I can get a good even used 3020 tape backup keep me in mind.

As for the Ditto Max report for today, it was easy to install, it works well and runs fast.  I hope to have a better report to post on the ISC web site soon.

As for the ISC web site people are actually starting to find it now that it is being listed by some of the on line search engines.  I guess I should get over there today and do some work on it.  :-)

I want everyone to have a very Merry Christmas.

....Bryon

 Since we moved the I S C websight we evidently lost our place in cue on the search engines.  Since then we were registered on 200 different search engines and now no one can even find this website.  Because of this and other things our site here is not being updated regularly.

Yesterday I was scolded by someone who was able to find this site.  He was upset because we still have some "under construction" signs on the site somewhere.  I responded to him to tell him the little signs simply mean this site is constantly under construction, being built and rebuilt every so often.  Still the sign might read "site abandoned for lack of interest."  But I told him if he wanted the job he was welcome to it.  My reply to him bounced right back to me telling me there wasn't any such person or address.  He was just someone who wanted to attack someone and was looking for some excuse to do so.  He is a coward and mentally a child.  This kind of person invents an address then attacks the people who they have targeted then they change their address so that the people they attack can not respond to them.

Now here is the real ISC news.  "Site Abandoned For Lack of Interest" ran out of money have another job and stay far to busy to work at buying and testing software and not get paid for our time.  Besides that there isn't much software on the market to day that is worth what they charge for it.  Even the Janes development team have let us down when they produced their F-15 game.  I guess it worked on some computers but it won't work on mine because the moment I try to play it the mouse fails and several other command functions won't work.  I can't select the weapons, I can't get targeting on the HUD and the aircraft is so sluggish it is almost un-flyable.  30,000 feet is as high as I can get it to go even with full afterburners and I know that's not realistic.  The F-15 should do at least 50,000 feet.  A commercial airliner can do 35,000 ft. they cruse that high.  The F-16 has a service ceiling of 50,000 and the F-14 has a service ceiling of 68,900 ft.  So what's wrong with Jane's F-15 ?  I don't know but I would ask them if I knew how to get in touch with their tech department.  My last several calls to their web site indicate still no patch to correct bugs and errors in the game.

Since I based all game companies rating them below Janes and since they have all taken my money and all let me down I decided it was time to move on to other more profitable things.  So if anyone wants my job here at ISC and if they are worthy of the task we will get them a password and put them to work.  Remember the requirements, you buy your own software, it's your own time and there is no pay for your efforts.

I have a barn loft full of old software, some not so old and I intend to have a huge sale as soon as I can find the time to empty the barn out and sort through the mess.  I kept these things because I thought I might want to come back later on and re-review them.  Some of them I have been waiting on massive bug fixes from the companys who produced them but since the game wouldn't work at all without that FIX I stuck them in the barn loft.

I actually have two other web sites that are more important to me now than this site is.  I have jobs that keep me VERY busy and are more rewarding.  I helped my two daughters start their own ceramics business.  I design many of the objects and make their molds for them.  They are taking orders faster than they can fill them and have started selling to an international market.  The demand for new products and new designs has me working every day for several hours on new ceramic molds.  I also helped them start their own video production business and I am in the process of building them a TV studio.  That is only to mention two things I am doing for my daughters and not to mention all the other jobs I have going.  I simply can not keep this web site up to date as it should be and this is why someone else needs to take over here.  So if you think you have what it takes to run this site please send me some e-mail and tell me your qualifications.

The other problem is that no one can find this site anyway.  How that other guy found it is beyond me.  :-/

...Bryon Smith
Director ISC.

 C/net is doing a fabulous job of supporting computer users on the Internet.

My original intentions and purpose for building this website was to give computer users a place to gather to share ideas and express their thoughts concerning computer software and hardware. C/net is doing an impressive job of accomplishing this goal, please support them and their advertisers.

Currently I have been testing VoicePad and VoicePlus voice recognition software. VoicePad is the original software package.  You must have it before VoicePlus will install.  VoicePlus is the upgrade software for VoicePad.  At this moment I am speaking to create the text you see here.  Almost completely hands free.  Though VoicePlus allows the user to enter text into virtually any document or word processor it also requires a great deal of time to train the software to correctly recognize your voice and speech patterns.  VoicePlus also allows the computer user to issue and create new voice commands for their computer.  I can say "open-mail" and  my Netscape mail box
will open.  I an close an application just as easy by saying "close-application." You must speak very clearly and consistently use the same tone of voice in order for the program to recognize your words. You must also pause between words as you speak. There are continuous speech recognition programs on the market today ranging from $150.00-$500.  Today you can purchase Dragon continuous speech recognition software at Sam's warehouse outlet stores for approximately $150.

I do not know what features their continuous recognition software has or if you can enter and execute computer commands with your desktop.  They have a site on the web where you and learn more about their software.

I have also been testing the new patch for D. I. D.'s F-22 A D F. I sent an update out to the group today concerning this upgrade.  It appears though many problems have been corrected and new features added there are still some bugs in the software.  For one airplanes on the ground tend to explode without reason.

Software and Hardware Developers LIE to us in order to sell their products.

    As a result of these deceptions we have computer software developers (speaking of the game developers) who have literally flaunted their awards for their software when in fact the software was so bug ridden right out of the package that it would not run.  Ask yourself how they won an award with software that would not even run ?  Who are the judges who give these awards ?  I have never heard of some of them, and I am sure others are actually paid off, and other contests may not even eixst, yet the award sells software and that is what they want you to do.  Buy their software.  If putting some notification of an award on their box will sell that software sight unseen then they will do that.  Don't trust them.
 

    Then again if they find out what rotten junk it is before they buy they won't want it !  I can imagine the problems a person would have if they bought it and then discovered they could not get much if any support for it.

    Thinking it was worth one more try I uninstalled it and reinstalled it only to get the same error this let me know their software installs junk on your hard drive that can't be removed.  If a person tests as much software as I do they end up installing and removing software quite a lot and eventually every little program that installs junk that isn't removed adds up.  This can cause program conflicts and eventually force the computer user to remove and totally reinstall their operating system from scratch.  For me that isn't a fun thing. Ulead, you have all ready made a very bad impression with me don't leave junk on my computer system.  Your trial software all ready puts a BIG RED X on the output video so no one can use it anyway unless they buy it so what are you worried about ?

    Ulead does have demos on their web site so you can see just how bad this software is.

    Another thing I hate is software producers who profess "Professional" quality software just to get the buyer to throw their money at them!  As is the case with Ulead MS 5.0
    Next time ask them what TV shows and movies their software is used on.  MS 5.0 has no credentials.  Their so called awards must be coming from someone who knows nothing about professional video software, either that or they are working for Ulead.

    Now for all of our ISC users who are concerned about getting real professional video editing software there is hope.  Crystal Graphics Topas Professional had credentials and is being used by video professionals to produce commercials, TV show titles and full length 3-D animated TV movies.  Everyone has seen the "M&M" commercials where the two M&M's interact with people on TV.  This is the software being used to produce them.  Two more good things about it is that you can acquire this ($1250) professional software for only $699 and you can check it out on the Crystal Graphics web site.

    You can throw $500 away on Ulead MS 5.0 or you can invest $699 and get the real thing. Check out the demos.
 

    Over a period of weeks (off and on) that it took me (Ulead server is lousy) I downloaded the Multi Media Studio 5.0 from Ulead in order to see what it was all like, and if it would do what I wanted it to do.  Then I couldn't run it because I had all kinds of computer problems as you all know.  (They don't answer their e-mail either!)  I got a new mother board to correct my computer problems.

    The demo/trial software has a termination date of 30 days after you install it.  Finally getting my computer to run correctly I decided it was time to check out the Ulead software.  I started playing with it again yesterday and then today I power it up and it says my 30 day trial period is over, and I should buy the full blown version of the software.  Thinking I was a smart boy I would just uninstall it and then reinstall it and get to find out more about it. (Thought it was a good idea and their tial software puts a big RED X in the middle of every video you make so it can't be used anyway.)  It was a good idea but it didn't work because after I reinstalled it I still got the same message, my trial 30 days is up, buy the full blown version of the software.  WHERE DID IT HIDE THE DATE IN MY COMPUTER THAT I CAN'T REMOVE IT ?

    The next thing to note is that the full blown version of this MS 5.0 cost $499.95 and there is no way in hell that I can afford that right now.  Not to mention that after what I have seen so far this software is only worth about $100.  Yes it has some powerful features, but no it's not worth $500 !

    While you can capture video with it and send it back out to a monitor and VCR the quality isn't as they advertize "professional" at all.  I would rate it as being low home movie quality.  Better than Video Studio 2.0 but not professional at all.

    So until I find something that is you will just have to wait for another review on video editing software.

    I'm not one to continue to do business with companies who frustrate me with defective software or poor to non existent customer support.

    What I am looking for is professional quality PCI video capture and edit system for a reasonable price.  In fact if it were professional quality it would be worth $500 and I would find some way to get it, but believe me I would have to see it work first.  If anyone knows where I can find this kind of system please e-mail me.
 
 

Video Capture can be a task for a very high end computer system.  The TX-Pro  mother board with a 166 6x86 CPU in it could only capture 30 frames per second at 70% compression without loosing frames..  The new TX-533 mother board with exactly the same CPU and capture system (everything was the same except the mother board) can capture a full 30 frames a second at 100% compression (high quality) without loosing a single frame.

I ordered a 64 MEG SDRAM from them about 3 weeks ago.  To make sure I got the right SDRAM I told them it was for my TX Pro mother board.  When I got the SDRAM it powered up but then Windows wouldn't load, errors said there was something wrong with the high memory area.  Nothing I could do would make it work so I sent it back along with a letter telling them it was for a birthday gift from my wife and we needed to have it very soon since it was the 12th. (And that B.P. was the 12th)  Shane (of Micro Direct) assured me he would be on the case and see to it that I got my second SDRAM ASAP.  He also informed me that he had tested the SDRAM I had sent back in another mother board and could not find anything wrong with it, but was sending me a replacement SDRAM just the same. That was on a Friday, by next Wed, the 17th I called to find out what the shipping number was and to find out where my SDRAM was since I understood he was going to ship it ASAP, yet it wasn't here.  He assured me he had sent it, advised me he had done that the moment I had called him on the 12th and I should be getting it perhaps even that day.  Then on Friday the 19th I called back, still no SDRAM and tried to get a shipping/tracking number so I could find out where my SDRAM was.  He searched but could not find a tracking number in their computers and told me to get the original order number from our files.  By Monday the 22nd still no SDRAM and I called back with the original number.  He said he did a search for it but could not find the shipping/tracking number for it.  He promised me he would send out another (second $180 SDRAM) to me trusting me that if I got two of them I would return one of them.  He also said he would send it out on "over-night" so that I would have it the next day, that being the 23rd (today).

I spoke with another man who builds many computers who told me he had dealings with Micro Direct and others like them many times where as they told him his order had been shipped but that no tracking number could be located.  He said the simple story is this, "..they didn't send it at all or they would have a tracking number for it and they lied to you about sending it in the first place.  Second of all they would not be so willing to send you a second SDRAM if they knew for a fact they had all ready sent one."

C/NET has a "game worthy" list of computer games that are worth the money you pay for them.  ISC (we) are going to start a similar list, "Company Profiles" telling of businesses that we can't recommend you do business with.  If I don't receive that tracking number by noon today and receive the SDRAM today the 23rd I will have no choice but to believe that Shane lied to me again and that no SDRAM was shipped.  If that is the case I will cancel my order and find someone else to do business with.

Whether or not the letter from the "AOL programmer" was a hoax or not is one thing but the fact these security flaws were in fact discovered is another thing.  Always remember these web browsers are designed to do what?  Send and receive data over the phone lines.  It is a very simple thing to trigger a web browser to send or receive data.  Is it really any wonder that security flaws are found in them ?
...Bryon

 (1) Some mother boards (my old one) can cause problems with new hardware cards, causing the hardware card to take the blame since a mother board that works with other components is not as likely to be suspect.

(2) Some video cards will work with the faulty mother board while others will not.

(3) Some working video cards will not always work well even with a good fast MMX mother board.

(4) Just changing out your M.B. for a new faster board can make your old C.P.U. run like a brand new one.  My Norton benchmark before was 37.6 and it jumped to 42.2. A 12% increase in performance.

More in the hardware department about this. Read the story about the Sierra video card.
 

TV show comes on, says if you want to talk to "Alex Mack" star on Nick then log onto AOL and type keyword "Nick" and talk with "Alex Mack".  My youngest daughter was thrilled, my older daughter (10) thought that would be neat so I gave it my best shot.  I logged onto AOL, went to Nick and it forced me to download something of a huge file said it was a music file I think.  I could have cared less because it took about 20 min to get it and it kept giving me errors saying something had no open file, yet it was still trying to save it.  By now "Alex's" show was half over.  Then it updated my graphics, as it always does.  Then when I tried to enter that site it said click on the moving ICON and I did and my AOL gave several errors in a row then Windows 95 kicked it out.  I made several more attempts to log onto this site with no luck, same results and seeing I only had about 15 min left to catch the end of the program I went to a live tech help area on AOL.  There I found no help at all, but a bunch of very upset AOL users all asking "where's the help at?"  Imagine logging into a tech help site with a handful of tech's that don't know the answers to the questions and all of the chat rooms full of people just like me who need help right now because in 15 min the show will be over and we won't need help anymore.  :-(

I didn't get any help, neither did the rest of them.  Here's the deal.  Most of these tech help people are just AOL users like yourself.  They volunteer for the job and they get a manual they can read so they can be "qualified" to answer your questions.  They don't get paid for this, but they get their AOL for free if they spend a certain amount of time on line answering your questions.  Which isn't a fool proof deal because sometimes they get charged anyway.  They aren't the experts you need to talk to and your chances of getting live help when you need it are about ZIP!  You could call them on the phone and set on hold for a few hours though if you have the time.  I don't, and guess what, I still can't log onto Nickelodeon on line.
...Bryon

Latest Updates Below this segment.
AOL 4.0+ WARNING

Don't laugh, it happened with Prodigy and even made the National News.  They read your personal information over the Internet with "cookies" and active Java scripting, and it is possible for any web site using ActiveX to install and run programs on your computer system without your knowledge (depending on what web browser you use and how you have your security set).  Using ActiveX by Microsoft (designed to enhance your Internet experience) it can run video, audio to make your browsing more interesting while maintaining higher CPU speed.  Or it can install and run programs that can contain viruses and even reformat your hard drives.  Reading and sending your private information back to a web site is a simple task for ActiveX run programs.  It could be that AOL has decided they want to know more about you than they want you to be aware of.

I am doing what I can to find out more about this letter and the person who wrote it.  I shall post updates here when I get them.

UPDATE 10-27-97:  I sent out two messages to the person who sent me that letter. No one has responded.  I forwarded that letter to Netscape.  They said it has been all over the internet but they are not sure if it is real or a hoax.  A German programmer discovered a security violation in the new IE 4.0 himself.  He ran tests on the program and discovered that a "pixel" sized program could trigger a sequence of events to literally cause IE to read hard drives and even transmit files back to the source over the internet as long as the user of that IE stays on line.  So yes there is a security violation in the new Microsoft IE 4.0 and yes they can read anything on your hard drive with it.  I asked a professional computer programmer if this could have been an "accident" that such a flaw could get into a program by oversight.  She told me that it is highly unlikely that such a module could get into a program that would cause it to allow web sites to read beyond the general user information listed in the user's web browser.  Chances are it was done on purpose by Microsoft programmers.

The ISC team have been aware that Microsoft IE has been able to transmit each user's installed programs back to Microsoft the moment it logs onto the Internet.  I am not aware if this is a part of that system.  I doubt it and think perhaps it is a separate security violation.

UPDATE 11-4-1997: I received another message saying that the AOL message was nothing but a HOAX designed to drive people away from AOL.  AOL says there's nothing to this hoax and there is nothing to be concerned about.  This still does not change the fact that IE was found with a security violation in it just a few days after that "hoax" letter was sent out and IE is what AOL is powered by.  Neither does it change the fact that many people are still unable to use AOL's new software anything above V 3.0. because the new software simply will not run on their computers.  I have two computers this new software will not run on.  I have several friends who have encountered the very same problems and AOL tech team has done nothing to correct these problems.  In fact they act as if the problems simply do not exist.  And their message doesn't change the fact that people simply do not need any more reasons than AOL's attitude, lack of user support and bad software to be driven away from AOL.  I just dropped one of my accouts recently and hope to drop the one I am still using at some time in the near future for the reasons I have just mentioned.

Armored Fist 2 by Novalogic
New Reveiew in the "other sim game" web page.

iF-22 by Interactive Magic

The reason for the move to the new site is because AOL, and AOL software has given us nothing but trouble.  The last two versions of AOL software won't work on my computer.  The version before last won't work on a lot of people's computers.  My wife couldn't get it to work on our girl's computer.  My friends couldn't get it to work either.  The last version has Internet Explorer in it and installs it without even asking you if you want it or not.  You spend over an hour downloading the thing only to rip it out by the roots the moment you find out it will not work.

I sent many messages to AOL staff members asking for help only to receive a canned message indicating the sender had not even read my message asking for help.  I told him in my message the program won't run at all yet he tells me to bring up the setup and make changes to the configuration.  How can you do that when the program won't even run ?  YOU CAN'T  So I know who ever it was didn't even read my message.

It's not just my computer either I don't know anyone who can get it to run on their computers, but AOL is determined to push these things at us against our will.

I am honestly surprised that we are still here because I sent a message to Steve Chase telling him how AOL had gone down hill big time.  (I figure he doesn't read his mail either.)  The larger they get the less the individual means to them.  If 1000 of us walked out the AOL door today AOL wouldn't blink an eye, it would be business as usual tomorrow.

I have received many messages from friends and family telling me horror stories of how AOL has abused them time and again in one way or another.  How they have had problems and how AOL staff could care less.  Some of their stores actually sounded like AOL was out to get them.

First short story.  An AOL on line host member gets free unlimited access to AOL. Suddenly out of the blue a friend of ours and member of ISC received a bill for almost $400.  Yet he is an on line host and works nights in one of the chat areas on AOL.  If he is to get free unlimited access to AOL why is AOL literally holding him at gunpoint and robbing him ?  This isn't the first time they have done this to him either but I think it will be the last time.  He has found a new service and long gone from AOL.

Just ask yourself how much on line time that $400 would buy ?  Then remember he should have gotten it all for free since he was an on line host.

I have received a very similar story from another on line host so I believe that AOL is in fact breaking their deals with these people who they have asked to be on line hosts.

Another horror story is from another former AOL user and one of our ISC group members.  I understand there was a bit of a misunderstanding about when a bill was to be received but when the AOL bill bounced instead of contacting the AOL member they simply bounced the bill over and over again until they had run up HUGE bounced check (draft) charges the AOL member was totally unaware of.  If he had been contacted he could have dealt with the problem right away but when AOL got done with him he was ruined and on the verge of filing for bankruptcy.

I honestly don't think I know anyone who has not had serious problems with AOL for one reason or another.  Their access link here in Fort Smith, AR "AOLNet" might as well not exist because it doesn't work most of the time.  If it were not for another internet link that I have to AOL I could not get on here to get mail or update the web site at all.

My wife is canceling her (and our children's) account with AOL this billing period. (She canceled it) Besides the problems I have mentioned her and I have both had massive problems with the JUNK Mailers thanks to AOL's lack of ability to control such things.  In fact I would not be surprised that AOL is the one who gave out our e-mail names to the junk mailers.  I can't prove it but I know that all my wife did was e-mail friends and family with her account.  Now when she logs on it takes her right at 30 min to get all the junk mail.  I was forced to change e-mail addresses several times on AOL to get away from the junk mailers.  I was forced to close down three e-mail addresses and close them to open e-mail reception, blocking all but selected mail.  It was the only way I could stop the floods of junk mail to them.  The only reason I didn't change those e-mail addresses was because the first address on the list is my master account.  You must close your entire account and loose every e-mail address and web site on that account in order to change your e-mail address.  Second was my personal account here on AOL and location where friends and family could always find me.  Next was my dream research e-mail address where I run a dream research group.  I couldn't just up and drop that e-mail address because of loosing certain members of the group so I set it for selected mail only from group members, blocking all other mail to that address.

I was curious as to how many junk mailers would have gotten the message since all their junk mail would bounce back to them so after having the e-mail addresses closed for several months I opened them back up again one night and the very next morning had a mail box full of junk mail.  Guess what, the junk mailers never read the mail, they never know if you got the message or if it was returned to them.  They brag about having a million names on their e-mail list so they can fleece the buyers of their adds.  They don't tell the people who they scam that less than half the names on their lists have anyone home.  They don't tell them that 98% of the names who do have someone at the other end are going to meet the junk mail with hostilities and may very well call them on the phone to protest and send them hate mail of their own.

I have been fighting junk mailers for a long time and pushing for legislation to bring about laws to control the junk mailers.  Since they will not control themselves we are going to have to bring about laws that will bring then under control by force.  What they are doing is clearly harassment which there are all ready laws against.

As for this web site, I expect it to be here for awhile longer until we get the new web site constructed.  I want to leave it here so people who use this web site can find the new web site.

This web site may not be updated much longer, but when there is news I expect to post it here in this file so check back every now and then to see what is going on.  I will be posting the link to the new web site very soon.

Bryon Smith
ISC director.

I know I set this web site up to help inform people about computer products but there are some things that affect us as both citizens as well as internet users and I believe these subjects qualify.

Since I wrote the last tidbit (below) I have received more news there is a second bill following the one I just mentioned here that (if passed) will all but make radio scanners and many HAM radios illegal to own. I am waiting for more news about this second law to arrive. I am here now to post a link to the Monitoring Times Mag. The publisher Bob Grove may be able to answer some of your questions. You may want to subscribe to this Mag. as it is how my friend came to be aware of the new proposed bills.

Attention: MathBug detected in Pentium II and Pentium Pro CPU's Click here to read the file.

My computer lost a hard drive about a week ago and I have been busy restoring what I can and building a new operating system on it. When I logged back onto the web site I noticed that several graphic files were missing, such as the buttons that appear at the top of the index.html page. I am working to get everything up and going right here again but if anyone sees something that isn't right please send me a message and let me know. Thank you. .. Bryon

Read what Computer Games Mag. has to say about iM1A2

iM1A2 full version of the game still has the run-away tank bug. I clocked tanks in this game going over 350 MPH. They ran all the way across the battle map to the far side before I could stop them and then they would not move from that position. Info on the box is misleading where it says up to 8 players on a LAN with one CD and then right under that it says "head to head modem", leading the player to think that two people can actually play the game with only one CD. Think again! When playing direct connect or over a modem both players must have their own copy of the game. It also says if you use the game over the internet you do so at your own risk. The demo of the game does not do it justice though. It is a better game than the demo (implies) and one needs to give the full blown version a try to get a real feeling for this game.

More on this game in the other simulation review web page.  Other reviews sim-games.

Comanche-3 is little more than a hopped up version of Comanche 2 using high tech graphics. Since I could get it for $35 the other day I went ahead and got it so that I could at least give you a full review of the actual game. I wouldn't spend more than $35 on this game for several reasons. For one it isn't worth more than $35. It has a very limited number of missions that you can play and once again the main thing going for it is the high tech graphics. It is not realistic in any way shape or form though I can see they did try to make it somewhat realistic. It is, as I said, a high tech version of Comanche 2 which is without a doubt an arcade type game. Comanche 3 is also an arcade type game that puts you in the pilot's seat. Flying fast and low to the ground is a real challenge in this game and required if you desire to complete most of the missions. The cyclic is irratic frequently and hard to adjust even on a Cyrix 166x686. There is no quick mission creator, no real mission builder, a limited number of missions and once they are finished you can throw the game back in the corner with all of your other obsolete games. Misleading info on the box tells you that you can play head to head or cooperative missions with your friends even in modem to modem play. I have yet to be able to find this option when linked to the other computer. The head to head play sucks big time. There's you and the other guy and you take turns killing each other since there was no other objectives in the game that I have seen yet. At least in Comanche 2 there were other objectives and ground targets. At least in Comanche 2 you could fly cooperative missions, but not in Comanche 3 that I am yet to become aware of. I am still testing the program and will have a more up to date report in a week or two.

They have a nice preview but I am actually hands on and testing the game one one one. More to come so stay tuned.

X-Wing vs Tie Fighter is everything that we have been told that it would be. The only draw-back to that is it requires a very fast computer just to run the game. On my 166x686 it runs smooth as silk but on our Pentium 90 it doesn't run well enough to even play the game. The Pentium 90 is just too slow even with all the sound shut off and graphics set to minimum. The game comes with two CD's allowing one to be given to a friend for modem, direct connect, LAN or network play and Internet Play. The graphics and sound effects are astounding. The play action is, as they said, going to separate those who can make the grade from those who can't. The game is perhaps the most professional looking and functional graphic interface that I have seen since Janes Military Simulations. The multi-player features are also very impressive allowing each team member to command their own squadron of ships.

I've been testing Interactive Magic's new iM1A2 Demo of the high tech tank battle simulation. It shows promise and I must admit I can't judge the finished product entirely on my impressions of the demo, which was extracted from a Beta version of the game. I like to give a fair review when I test games and so I won't mention here that some of these tanks can get out of control, take off like a bolt of lightning and I actually clocked one at 250 KM. I must have gone 50 miles before I managed to get it to shut down. I jumped into the tank commander’s seat and told them to HALT. I jumped into the driver's seat and pulled back on the joystick. When I saw that wasn't working, I hit the "0" command to come to a stop. I hit the "E" key to tell it to shut off the engine. I finally jumped out to the map, clicked on the tank and changed the orders to "HALT". I'm not sure which of my efforts managed to do the job but I have to admit I was laughing my tail off at this high speed tank. I hope that IM has this bug under control in the released version of the game. I expect they do.

If you remember the IM Apache and Hind heli-computer (copter) games the graphics are just as flat and bland in this demo as in the released version of their two fairly well know helicopter games. It is very hard to see what you are looking at because it is so well camouflaged. The only way you can see anything in the distance is to use the IR targeting systems, which work fairly well and are challenging to say the least. Let's just say this game isn't going to break any new records for graphics development in a game. Still I must admit the game shows promise and I will tell you all why.

Some of you may remember the old XT version of a game called "Tank Commander" or "Tank Platoon" which was about as low tech as it gets but had features and play-ability that made up for its other downfalls. It was fun to play. It was challenging and the outcome of the battle depended on your judgment and fast action. There was no press a button and hope you hit the target as in Nova Logic's M1A1 tank game. (I'll get a review out here on that one soon, I thought I had one out here. Funny I remembered writing it and when I looked in Battle Sim's on here and it's not there so I'll get to it when I can.)

In iM1A2 you will find that you can control your entire support team and fight the battle without ever going into one of the tanks. You can run it all from map mode if you like or you can jump from tank to tank and fight the entire battle yourself. This is what I call player options. IM gets a high mark for this game feature in their iM1A2 game.

Targeting objects is up to you when you command the tanks. You must locate the threat or target yourself using one of two maps. One map is in the TC (Tank Commander's) area of the tank. When a threat or target appears on the map you can get a quick idea what direction to look. Using IR you can usually find it fairly easily, but not always. You put the big gun sights on it, LASER it and fire away. If you have the right ammunition selected and hold the target inside the center ring you can usually hit your target even if it is moving. The explosions are really neat. The sound effects are really good even in their demo, much better than the sound effects in Nova Logic's F-22 Lightning II.

You can jump in any one of the other tanks in your platoon and go driving off on a mission of your own. This is something I frequently like to do. Tell the main platoon to go to a certain area while I take one of the other tanks to a special place and do some target shooting on my own. Using this method I have won the demo of this game several times single handed, but it is not as easy as it sounds.

There is helicopter support. Other tanks, SAM's, artillery in the demo of the game, which is limited as to what it can do. In scenery there are trees, buildings, animals, wells, hills, etc. The full version of the game says that as many as 8 players can play over a network with only one CD copy of the game. It says that two people can play linked over a modem or direct connect with only one copy of the CD. IM GETS A HUGE GOOD MARK ON THEIR REVIEW FROM THIS GAME REVIEWER FOR THIS OUTSTANDING PLAYER FEATURE. Thank you Interactive Magic.

At this point all I can say is if you want a challenging tank battle game this should provide hours of fun for you. If you are looking for a game with outstanding graphics this isn't the one you are looking for. I personally would forfeit a certain amount of graphics for play-ability in a game.

I have not bought this game yet but I am strongly considering it. It is on the shelves in your software stores at this time. I am going to write a few messages to the IM game developers and if they answer my questions to my liking I will buy this game. I must admit that I have all ready spent more time with their iM1A2 demo than I did with Nova Logic's (full blown version of the game) F-22 Lightning II.

By Bryon Smith

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Nova Logic's Comanche-3 is on the shelves at your local software store, but is it what they say it is ? One of our flight sim. reviewers warns you to save your money.
Read the ISC report on this product on the flight simulation page.

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CNETGamerX says.
I say it's about time someone else had an honest opinion of Nova Logic's failed F-22 Lightning II
For more information and reviews check out the flight simulation reviews from the main menu.

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Attention All Simulation Game Fans Please Click Here And Read The Attatched Message!
On Going Discussion with Comments@NovaLogic.com
Nova Logic Rep. basically indicates they have little faith in their customers to use good judgment. Please read the above discussion.

Wonder how come they never put the bad reviews on their advertisements and on the box ? Go figure ;-)

Go to the menu, go to flight simulations and to Nova Logic for our original review for this simulation game product.