Cruisin' With StarText

Your Guide to
Cyberspace and Beyond

Volume 2, No. 7
April 12, 1996


Welcome to Cruisin' With StarText. PLEASE NOTE: Our column is best viewed using the features of Netscape Navigator 2.0 .

Let's talk a little about navigating around the column. Below you will find a listing of the topics that Terry and I will be covering in this issue of Cruisin'. To access any of them, just click on the topic that interests you and read all about it. Or if you wish, you can just scroll down through the column and read the topics in order. In several of the topics, we'll be providing hyperlinks to the sites that we are talking about. If you follow the links you will be whisked away immediately from Cruisin' to the site discussed. The following is important! To return back to the column from any of the links, just keep using the BACK key on your favorite browser and you will eventually get back to where you started from. If you have any questions or comments, you can email us at mailto:chuck@web-connection.org. Now, just scroll down or click on "Surfin' With Chuck and Terry" to begin.

Terry and I hope you enjoy this week's issue!

In This Issue:

Surfin' With Chuck and Terry

I want to apologize for the lack of a column update last week. It was sort of a strange week and time got away from us. Both Terry and myself have been fairly ill the past couple of weeks and not much up for creativity. The week was also time consuming with church and family related activities. Enough excuses, let's get on with this week's issue.

For those of you that haven't heard, Marla Hammond, business manager of StarText lost her daughter Katrina very unexpectedly in her sleep last week. Terry and I have kept her family in our prayers and thoughts. If you would like to send Marla a personal note, direct your email to marla@startext.net. You can also send cards of condolence to the following address:

Marla Hammond
c/o StarText
P.O. Box 1870
Fort Worth, Texas 76101

Gerry Barker has also set up a special Interact area for your prayers and comments. You can find Marla's forum at:

http://www.startext.net/interact/marla.htm

We all share in this tragic loss. The thing that has always set StarText apart from all of the other online services is that we are a family. We all aren't just another user with a member number, we are members of the greatest online community that I've ever been associated with. I've been on all of them and I've always remained loyal to StarText for this very reason. This is home and will be as long as they provide us a place to gather.

Terry's quilt is coming along just fine. She almost has all of the individual blocks sewn together. After that is done, she can start assembling the quilt top, then it won't be long before she starts the actual quilting process. It really is going to be beautiful when she gets it finished.

If you didn't make it out for all of the fun on Saturday, you missed a very enjoyable train ride. A few of us StarText folks got together for a ride on the Tarantula Train in Fort Worth. We took a ride out to the Stock Yards in north Fort Worth, had time to do a little shopping and munching and then headed back to the station off 8th Avenue. A good time was had by all. For those of you that missed it as well as those of you who were there, you can find pictures of the event at:

http://www.startext.net/interact/photogal.htm

You'll see by the pictures that we did have a very relaxing afternoon spent in the good company of our fellow StarTexans.

Easter Sunday was spent over at my brother in law and sister's home with all of the family gathered around. It was wonderful getting to spend time with everyone. Of course the food was awesome and plentiful, as it always it when our family gets together. I spent most of the afternoon and evening working on my nephew's computer. He had some problems that needed correcting before I could get him changed over to StarText.NET. I'm doing my best to get as many people changed over to the best ISP in the metroplex. That's enough personal news for this week, just scroll on down to access the rest of the column. In this issue we'll be talking about a virus that is making its self known around the Internet, a bit about Netscape and how it came about, and ending up with a pointer to one heck of a search page.

Trojan Horse Virus Alert

There is a virus that is making the rounds again that you ought to be aware of. It has been around before but it has resurfaced. It bears the name PKZIP300.ZIP. It has been so named to give you the impression that it is a new version of the popular PKZIP program that is used to compress files. DO NOT download this file under any circumstances. If you install or expand this file, the virus will wipe out your hard drive and affect modems 14.4 and higher. From what I've read, it is an extremely destructive virus and as of the first part of April, there is not yet a way of cleaning up after it attacks. For your information, the most current version of PKZIP is 204g. Be wary of any version of the program that 'claims' to be a higher version. Use common sense and you'll be fine throughout your travels on the Net.

Netscape - Where Did It Come From?

I know that most of you are using Netscape as your browser of choice here on StarText. This column is written and formatted to take advantage of many of the expanded capabilities that Netscape has to offer, but have you ever wondered how Netscape came about? It is a real "Cinderella" story. You may not know that back in the early 90's the author of Mosaic and Netscape was making an hourly wage of $6.50, now he is worth in the high 10's of millions. Wow! Just how did this all come about? Read on and I'll give you an abbreviated version of the story.

Pictured to the left is Marc Andreessen, "boy wonder" of the Internet and Netscape Communications Corporation. In fall of 1992, Marc was a student at the University of Illinois and worked in the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. He and his team members created what is now known as NCSA Mosaic with the thought in mind that there had to be an easy "friendlier" way to navigate the Internet. The research prototype was offered free to everyone and anyone on the network. The demand for the software was phenomenal, over two million users in the first year!

The huge success of NCSA Mosaic spurred on the need for faster, more stable commercial Internet applications, hence the birth of the Netscape Navigator and Netscape Communication Corporation.

Netscape Communications Corporation was founded by Jim Clark and Marc Andreessen in early 1994. Jim Clark was formerly chairman of Silicon Graphics, Inc. He is now currently Chairman of the Board of Netscape. Jim holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Utah.

Marc Andreessen now holds the title of Vice President of Technology at Netscape Communications Corporation. Many of his original Mosaic team members are still together and employed at Netscape. And what does Marc think about all of the hoopla surrounding Netscape and the Internet? He's been seen shrugging his shoulders and saying "Well, someone had to do it." And does this young multimillionaire have a fancy office? No, he has a double cube right in the middle of all of the Netscape development team.

So as you are navigating your way through cyberspace using Netscape or which ever browser you may like, think of Marc and the young team of developers that have made all of this possible. If it wasn't for the work and research of that team of students at the University of Illinois, Startext.Net would probably never have come about.

SEARCH.COM

In our last issue, I introduced you to search engines on the Internet and some criteria on choosing the proper one for your needs. Today I'd like to point you to a mega search page with more than 250 ways to search the Internet for the information that you need. If you are looking for a particular file, fact or topic, and you can't find it here through one of the many search tools listed, it probably doesn't exist to a large degree on the Net.

SEARCH.COM is the sister site to CNET.COM, one of my favorite areas on the Net, next to STARTEXT.NET. CNET's site contains a wealth of very useful information that you can use in your day to day navigation of the Net. On the other side, SEARCH.COM has assembled at their site all of the search capabilities you will ever need. They even give you the option of personalizing the opening page to have it look the way you want it to. For example, you can choose from the following areas to conduct your search from:

If you are looking for something that is on the Net, you owe it to yourself to check out SEARCH.COM. It will be a regular stop on my travels through cyberspace.

In Closing

That's about it for another issue of Cruisin' With StarText. Terry and I are both glad you dropped by and we hope you have enjoyed yourselves. If you have any suggestions, comments, or subjects for future columns, please send an email to me at the address below. Terry and I always love to get mail from our readers. Until next time, we'll see you out there on the Net. Have a wonderful and productive week!

Cruisin' With StarText is updated weekly on Fridays.

created by Chuck and Terry Mencke

chuck@web-connection.org

last modified: October 13, 2000

Some of Terry's and my favorite columns that are on line now are listed below. More will be added as they appear on Startext.Net.

Bev's Cooking Show
Doris
EJBest
Freeloader
Here's A Ritin Frum Old Bear
Poor Charlie's Almanac
PC Info
PC Talk
StarSIG
Wisecracks
WOW

© 1996 - 2000, Chuck and Terry Mencke
All Rights Reserved