Kenja's Newsletter & Updates

Volume 2/ Edition 7

April 02, 2000

Hello again everybody

Welcome to another edition of Kenja's Newsletter & Updates.

I tell you what, my new PC (as mentioned in the last newsletter) was giving me some major headaches. But finally, after 2 weeks of being in and out of the shop, fixing all the bugs and exchanging hardware... first the video card and then the memory... it finally works. Of course I lost precious time during my imposed "vacation" and all kinds of work and updates were put on the back burner once again.

I am sure some of you are saying "yeah, yeah nothing but excuses", but do understand that this is a one woman operation (I put in anywhere from 12-18 hours a day)! A website of this size with all that I offer and do for others, is no small task even when all the equipment is fully operational. This is not a hobby but a full-time job!

Site Related News:
I am sorry to say, but the CyberCard section is still not functional, so I ask that you still use the mirror site for the time being. There too you will get a Server Error message after you composed the card and click SEND. However, it will send the card and you will be able pick them up (that is most important).
There have also been a few changes made to the layout of Kenja's Theme Creations by adding pages to the Fantasy section, called Fantasy 1, and the Holiday section was divided into Spring/Summer Holidays and Fall/Winter Holidays & Religion. This change hopefully speeds up the loading time, as some of these pages were getting rather large.

The biggest change for the theme section was the entry page by adding a separate page for the Complete Theme Listing by name (here you will also find the new listings as well), and by changing the entry page to a User Agreement (please read it) and Linking information page.

I felt it was necessary to add a User Agreement (a reference to it is at the top of each theme page within Kenja's Theme Creations), because in recent weeks it has come to my attention that people extract the wallpaper from the themes (in most cases take off the copyright) and then display them in other wallpaper and/or graphic galleries without permission. Some desktop themes have also been spotted at places like eBay (and similar places on the Internet), where they are being auctioned off (not by their creators but someone else who thought they can make quick money on someone else's hard work)!!
Personally I am surprised that people would even consider bidding on something that is available for free on the Internet. Besides, the best way to buy Desktop Themes or anything else would be directly from the individual Creator(s).

Desktop Theme & Screensaver News:

Only had time to make the following two themes and a screensaver in the last few days. Themes & Screensaver were added to the Spring Holiday and the Fantasy sections as follows:

Easter Bunnies is a new Spring Holiday Theme which includes one of my original wallpaper featuring cute easter bunnies for 800x600 screen settings, set of cursors (2 animated), set of original icons, set of Easter wave sounds for all Window events, set of original Logo SYS files (start-up, wait and shutdown screens), and a light green color scheme. Hotbar Skinz to match the themes and screensaver can be found in my Holiday Skinz section.
Happy Easter is a Slide-show Screensaver that will compliment the Easter Bunnies Desktop Themes, but also the Easter Theme from last year. The Screensaver displays 10 of my original high quality Easter pictures (all created from ground up with PSP6, tubes, brushes and filters) for 800x600 screen settings, 2 Easter midis for background music, 14 transitional display effects, MS PLus tab, and easy install/uninstall features (through Add/Remove).

Prehistoric is my attempt at a Dinosaurs desktop theme, and I think it came out awesome even though some effects are not quite the way I had envisioned them to be (volcanoes). The theme comes with my original wallpaper (created from ground up with PSP6, tubes, brushes and filters) for 800x600 screen settings, a set of cursors (2 animated by JC ©), set of original icons, set of Dino and Jungle wave sounds for all Window events, set of original Logo SYS files (start-up, wait and shutdown screens), and a matching color scheme.

Interested in what some of the top Theme Creators consider their favorite theme and also see other topic Theme Showcases, visit the DTCC Theme Showcase main page for Favorite Themes, ST Patty Day Gallery, Valentines Day and Easter Galleries as well.

If you are using Desktop Themes 1.87 to install your desktop themes, then you are also experiencing problems with the icons not wanting to change. Left Side Software has fixed this problem with their now available new release of Desktop Themes 1.88 (still my favorite program).

* NOTE* I use Zip Magic to compress Stationery and/or Desktop Theme files into EXE format. If you ever get a password prompt during installation... ignore it and proceed. They are not password protected! For more installation help visit either the Stationery Help or the Theme Help sections.

If you need Java Scripts, don't forget to visit the Steal My Java Scripts section, where you can choose from 23 popular Scripts, test them on site and then copy & paste into your own homepage(s).

Visit the Native American Music Shop for great Native American Music selections.

For great gift items visit Kenja's Gift Shop. Gift categories include Fine Jewellery, Gardening Decor, Crystal, Clocks, Brass, Sculptures and so much more. Now with a time limited Discount of 40% on all items!

The Gift:

The Gifts for this issue are a Stationery with scrolling background and midi, a matching Hotbar Skin for the Prehistoric Theme and a set of 7 IE 5 Toolbar Wallpapers for non stationery users. Graphics for all gifts were created from ground up with PSP 6.0 tubes, various brushes and filters for effect.

Hope you enjoy the Gifts!

Please make note that the gifts are only for actual subscribers to this newsletter and not for visitors to the archive copies based on the net. Gifts are available for a limited time with each issue, roughly about 7 days and will then be removed... so get 'em while you can!

Desktop Enhancements:

Here we are with some great sites to more desktop enhancements. This will be the last time for a few issues... as mentioned in the last newsletter, certain URL folder had more in them than others, but this one is now empty. *smile*

So then let's get started with a site called Screensavers.Com, offering a few hundred Freeware and Shareware screensavers in several categories. All screensavers come with a good description and in most cases even with a preview picture.
Desktop Architect is a free desktop theme installer that just released the new 2.0 beta 5 version for Windows 95/98/NT/2000. This program is as close to the Windows Plus! as you can get without the high cost. I have not tried the new version myself, but I hear from others that it works real well. This program not only lets you install and/or randomize themes, but also helps you compile themes, includes a compression utility to package your themes and also produces a preview picture of your theme in bmp format.

By the way I found out that, Windows 2000 does not come with Plus! and so you would need a program such as this to install and/or change desktop themes. Desktop Architect will make all themes for Windows 95/98/NT also compatible with Windows 2000.
Need a small utility to change Logo SYS files (Start-up, Wait and Shutdown screens), then WinLogo Changer 1.2 (can be found in the lower third of the page) is the perfect tool for you. This program is Freeware, and is a small download of only 530 kb.
Several people asked me how to get Hotbar Skins to work in the Outlook Express toolbar. Well the bad news is there isn't any (or at least yet)... but I did find another free program called Internet Explorer 5 Toolbar Wallpaper, which can be found in the Internet Explorer Web Accessories page (third to the last item on the page). This tiny program (170 KB) will add a button to your IE 5 toolbar, from where you pick and choose your "wallpaper" with a preview. Toolbar Wallpapers are small BMP format tiles kept inside your C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Bitmaps folder and will change the look for the Internet Explorer and Outlook Express windows only. Keep in mind that changing back to Hotbar Skins will disable the "IE 5 Toolbar Wallpaper" program and you will end up re-installing it again if you want to switch back (once you activate Hotbar, it will disable and/or uninstall other skin programs... guess that means only one skin program per PC).
The Ultimate Guide to SciFi - Fantasy - Space and Surreal Art is a dream for all who appreciate SciFi Art. They have links to almost 800 Galleries and Artists on the net, some of which let you use their pictures as wallpaper. Most of these artists use Bryce and Poser programs and also offer in most cases anything from tutorials to free downloads like textures, DFX models (3-d wire models) etc.

Mostly Tutorials & Assorted Software:

This last section I would like to discuss some great tutorial sites and programs that you might find helpful for computing or web page building in general. As a matter of fact I have more Tutorial links, but I will keep them for the next issue. *smile*

Experiencing all these problems with my new PC last week, lead me to a site called Windows 98 Central, where I learned all sorts of new things. Here you will find all kinds of information about Windows 98, how to use it, patches, information on drivers, updates, free downloads, tweaks, tips & tricks, step by step instructions on to run setup under different conditions, networking, and/or trouble shoot. They also have detailed directions on topics like adjusting your Bios, CPU and the Registry, stuff us normal mortals should stay away from. This is a definite must visit for anyone from beginners to advanced users who run Windows 98.
There are quite a few good programs you can use to do searches on the Internet. Though I think Copernic 2000 is the best one by far (if you are still running an older version upgrade it). This free, banner ad supported program enables you to search multiple search engines, software sites, save searches and update them manually or on a schedule and much more. What I personally like best about this program is, that it also gives you the option to search foreign engines, has a built-in validator that will remove all dead links from your search result list (I hate getting 404 Errors after doing a search... too time consuming), and lets you save your search results in html format so that you can share it with friends who don't have the program installed.
Computer Knowledge Tutorials offers a free Computer Virus Tutorial in PDF format (you will need the free Acrobat Reader), a DOS 6.2 Tutorial in DOS format and seven free e-books in Win95 Help format, including "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens, and "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Professional Web Design and HTML Tutorials offers a comprehensive Donation Ware (basically it is free but if you can spare a few bucks they would appreciate it) Web Tutor that you can either download, print out or view on their website. The tutor takes you step by step through basic HTML, Forms, Tables and Frames. This site also offers some great link resources for web builders like Java Scripts, Graphics, CGI and lots more. An even more in debt HTML tutorial site also with Donation Ware (basically it is free but if you can spare a few bucks they would appreciate it) Tutorials to download is Web Resources Tutorials. They offer not only the basics like above, but also Tutorials on how to implement Java Scripts (a long list of scripts included), DHTML, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), and also Web-Mastering. You might want to check out both sites to compare until you find which one suits your needs.
If you need ideas, more help on the topic, or just looking for some kits, then check out the Elated Web Toolbox who offer free page kits (include graphics, welcome headers, frames or not, and more... all you do is follow instructions), Graphic Kits, Button Kits and much more. Also check out Frame Market who offer free designer frames, animated GIF files and tables for your web pages. If you still didn't find anything you liked, then try the Web Diner, also offering free Tutorials on HTML, How to Upload, Web Basics for AOL users and more. Don't miss their Web Diner Drive Thru section offering all kinds of free web templates ranging from guestbooks to web pages and page kits for kids.

On the Lighter Side of Life -:)

I lost a few good jokes due to my computer problems in the past few weeks, but I received two cute jokes about driving just in time for the newsletter:

The BMW
A man in his 40's bought a new BMW and was out on the interstate for a nice evening drive. The top was down, the breeze was blowing through what was left of his hair, and he decided to open her up.

As the needle jumped up to 80 mph, he suddenly saw flashing red and blue lights behind him. "There's no way they can catch a BMW," he thought to himself and opened her up further.

The needle hit 90, 100.... then the reality of the situation hit him. "What the hell am I doing?" he thought and pulled over. The cop came up to him, took his license without a word, and examined it and the car. "It's been a long day, this is the end of my shift, and it's Friday the 13th. I don't feel like more paperwork, so if you can give me an excuse for your driving that I haven't heard before, you can go."

The guy thinks for a second and says, "Last week my wife ran off with a cop. I was afraid you were trying to give her back."

"Have a nice weekend," said the officer.

Author unknown

A cop pulls over a car load of nuns:
Cop: "Sister, this is a 65 MPH highway -- why are you going so slow?"
Sister: "Sir, I saw a lot of signs that said 22, not 65."
Cop: "Oh sister, that's not the speed limit, that's the name of the highway you're on!"
Sister: "Oh! Silly me! Thanks for letting me know. I'll be more careful."

At this point the cop looks in the backseat where the other nuns are shaking and trembling.
Cop: "Excuse me, Sister, what's wrong with your friends back there? They're shaking something terrible."
Sister: "Oh, we just got off of highway 119."

Author unknown

The Finishing Touches:

Hope you enjoyed this edition of the newsletter, and found lots of useful information. The next newsletter will be published on or around April 16th, 2000 just in time for Easter. You may share this newsletter with your friends and family or visit the website for the current & all previous Issues:

Kenja's Newsletter & Updates
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Quote of the Week *There are many things to be shared with the Four Colors of humanity in our common destiny as one with our Mother the Earth. It is this sharing that must be considered with great care by the Elders and the medicine people who carry the Sacred Trusts, so that no harm may come to people through ignorance and misuse of these powerful forces.*
Native Author(s): Resolution of the Fifth Annual Meetings of the Traditional Elders Circle, 1980

Copyright © 2000-2001 Kenja's Newsletter & Updates ISSN: 1530-700X All Rights Reserved.
Content written & edited by A. Way aka Kenja. The opinions expressed herein are my own. The reproduction and/or unauthorized use of any parts of this Newsletter, it's content and/or graphics is strictly forbidden.