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Digital Dave

by Digital Dave

Digital Dave answers your tech questions.

External USB Drives and Drive Letters; Firewall Needed If Router Has a Firewall?; Where Are My Picassa Pics?

Traveling with Wi-Fi

by Jack Dunning

The Most Viable Option for Internet Access in a Moving Car Is 4G Cellular

Smartphones with 4G data plans are the most common source of Internet connections when on the highway. Why not share that service with Wi-Fi in your car?

Easy Regular Expressions (RegEx) in AutoHotkey

by Jack Dunning

A Quick Guide to Understanding How the Regular Expressions Work

Regular Expressions (RegEx) are notorious for driving people insane, but taken a little at a time they can be simple.

Wally Wang's Apple Farm

by Wally Wang

The iPhone 6 and Apple Watch

The iPhone 6 and Apple Watch; E-Book Creation Tool; Why Software Fails; Start up After Power Failure.

Worldwide News & Product Reviews

by Charles Carr, News and Reviews Editor

The latest in tech news and hot product reviews.

iPhone 6 Creating Excitement Around NFC Capabilities; Study: Finance Sector Vulnerable to Insider Threats as Workers Share Passwords Despite Awareness of Risks; Monkey Tales Games (PC and Mac)—Making Math Fun.

Editor's Letters: Tips and Thoughts from Readers

by ComputorEdge Staff

Computer and Internet tips, plus comments on the articles and columns.

"Free Dictionary Look Up Program," "Deleting PDF Pages," "Firefox Cache," "Foxit PDF Reader"

Send mail to ceeditor@computoredge.com with questions about editorial content.

Send mail to webmaster@computoredge.com with questions or comments about this Web site.

Copyright © 1997-2014 The Byte Buyer, Inc.

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Click to Visit ComputorEdge™ Online on the Web!

Digital Dave

“Digital Dave answers your tech questions.”
by Digital Dave

External USB Drives and Drive Letters; Firewall Needed If Router Has a Firewall?; Where Are My Picassa Pics?

External USB Drive and Drive Letters

Dear Digital Dave,

1. My Windows 7 won't copy to or format my Seagate GoFlex 1TB USB drive K. What can I do other than replace the drive?

2. I automatically back up to my drive G. My last Acronis backups were put on the wrong drive because Windows changed my drive G to H and renamed another G. If I copy the files to the correct drive and correct the drive letters, will the backups be recognized? How can I prevent the drive letters from being changed?

Wayne Field

Colorado Springs, CO

Dear Wayne,

The first question is "Can you read from the Seagate drive?" If not, then there may be a problem with the drive itself. Otherwise, I would guess that your inability to write to the Seagate drive has to do with the assignment of permissions. You can check this out by opening Windows Explorer (+E), right-clicking on the drive letter and selecting Properties. Permissions can be found under the Security tab.

On your second question, as long as the file names assigned to the backups on the different drives don't conflict you should be able to put them on the same drive, but this depends upon which program you use to backup the files. I'm not sure how Acronis works. I would investigate the files before assuming that nothing will be lost. If you're using Windows Backup and Restore, it may be best to just start a new backup once the drive letters are corrected.

The problem of renamed drive often occurs when a new device is added after an older one has been temporarily removed. When the older device is added back to the system, its parking place is occupied which causes it to be reassigned. Fortunately there is a tool called Disk Management which allows the drive labels to be assigned manually (see Figure 1). It is found inside Computer Management, but can be loaded on its own.

Figure 1. Disk Management makes reassigning drive letters easy.

It's not always easy to remember where to find Disk Management. If you type "disk" into the Start Menu search in Windows 7, then the "Create and format hard disk partitions" option will open it. As I mentioned, Disk Management is part of Computer Management which can be found in Administrative tools. (I also checked out Jack Dunning's e-book Hidden Windows Tools and was reminded that probably the easiest way to open Disk Management on any Windows system is to enter diskmgmt.msc into the Run command windows (+R) and click OK.)

The important thing is that you can use Disk Management to change the drive letters if they happen to get out of order. Select the drive, right-click on it and select "Change Drive Letter and Paths…" from the menu. The Wizard will walk you through the process. You may need to temporarily change one drive letter to free up that space for another drive before making its final assignment.

The best way to make sure that the backup drive does not change is to give it an assignment which is not likely to be affected by temporary drive changes. For example, in most Windows 7 computers, after the main drive (C:), the recovery drive (D:), and the DVD RW drive (E:)—which are all semi-permanent assignments—drive F: is the first label available. I have all of my external USB backup drives assigned to drive F. Therefore any activity occurring after (more drives being plugged in or unplugged) will not affect the F: backup drive label. It's best to maintain the same order of all your external devices as much as possible with first letters given to the devices always plugged in.

Mapped network drives are generally added at the end of the alphabet making a conflict with hardware devices much less likely.

Digital Dave

Firewall Needed If Router Has a Firewall?

Dear Digital Dave,

I have a home network connected to Comcast by an Arris TG862G Gateway. The network has two Windows 7 desktops on Ethernet, and a Windows 8.1 laptop on Wi-Fi. The gateway has a firewall. Do I also need a software firewall on my three computers?

Don Bishop

Golden, Colorado

Dear Don,

You do have firewall software on each of your computers. They are a standard part of both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. If you disable the built-in firewall (without replacing it with third-party software) then bells and whistles will alarm and tell you that you could be in danger.

The firewall on your router is giving you an added level of protection, but it is still a good idea to use a firewall on each of your computers. The computer's firewall is specifically configured for the software on that machine while the setup of the router firewall is much more generic.

Digital Dave

Where Are My Picassa Pics?

Dear Digital Dave,

I unloaded pictures from my camera via Picasa. Pics are now available for edit and print via Picasa. Do you know of a way to transfer the pics to My Documents folder and then SAVE AS a PDF file?

Alvin Weinroth

Carlsbad, CA

Dear Alvin,

I've had a Picasa account for quite a while and now that Google has taken it over I must admit that I'm totally confused. I seem to have both a Picasa Web Google account and a Google+ Photo account which appear to be linked together. On top of all that there is a Picasa Google program for loading onto your computer. None of it is particularly intuitive.

When you uploaded your pictures from your camera, they most likely went directly to the Web for storage. If you open the account with your Web browser, then you should be able to download the photos anywhere you like—but it doesn't appear to be easy. During testing, if I went to the Google+ Photo account I could download the photos in a ZIP file. If I used the Picasa Google interface, it appeared that I could download to the Picasa desktop application—but it didn't happen for me. What finally worked was using the desktop application and accessing File => Import from Google+ Photo… from the top menu.

Once the photos are in the Picasa desktop program you can find the folder with the Locate on Disk feature (either from the File menu or CTRL+ENTER). You can then move them anywhere you like.

Not sure why you want to save them as a PDF file. The original format (often JPG) is an excellent way to share photos. If you want to send them as a group, then it would be better to compress them in a ZIP file.

In any case, you can generally save anything as a PDF by using the print feature and opting for a PDF driver—such as Foxit Reader PDF Printer. This will save the content to a PDF file. You may need to install the free Foxit Reader if you don't have a PDF printer driver.

Digital Dave

Traveling with Wi-Fi

“The Most Viable Option for Internet Access in a Moving Car Is 4G Cellular”
by Jack Dunning

Smartphones with 4G data plans are the most common source of Internet connections when on the highway. Why not share that service with Wi-Fi in your car?

I was recently perusing a copy of Wired when I spotted an ad for 4G Wi-Fi hotspots in the new 2015 General Motors vehicles. The service is added via the OnStar system which has been around for over a decade, but it doesn't seem to be dependent upon it. That's a good thing since overall OnStar is pretty expensive for what you get.

Years ago I purchased a vehicle which included OnStar free for one year. It featured a built-in cell phone (30 minutes) and live assistance which could tell you your exact location, open your doors when the keys were locked inside, and tell you if your engine was running. It cost about $200 per year which isn't too bad if you often lock your keys in your car, but I found that I never used any of the services. (I suppose that I would have been thrilled to have it if I happened to drive off the road into a ditch thereby deploying an airbag with automatic OnStar notification, but I didn't do that.) Eventually, I just let it expire.

The idea of Wi-Fi availability in my car appeals to me. There are times when I would like to check e-mail or the ComputorEdge monitoring Web pages when I'm on the road. I don't own a smartphone, but I do carry a Wi-Fi capable iPad with me. (I suppose that at some point I will break down and get a smartphone. I've been on a pretty cheap cell phone plan, but it's getting much cheaper for the data packages.) Normally, I just stop at a McDonald's or another fast food place with free Wi-Fi, but it would be nice if I didn't need to depend upon finding various free locations.

What makes the Wi-Fi offer from GMC seem reasonable is that the OnStar package is not required to get the service (see Figure 1). I'm a bit surprised, since it's more normal for GM to force a subscription. The price is certainly competitive with data packages from cell providers.

Figure 1. Rates for adding Wi-Fi to some 2015 GMC cars is competitive with cellular rates.

If you have a job where you practically live in your car, then this could be an option for you. But if you only occasionally spend an inordinate amount time in your car (say on a long trip), then the one-time purchase of data may be preferential (see Figure 2). The $5 for 250MB would certainly be more than enough for me on a long one-day trip, but if I had kids streaming Netflix, then I might get only 15 minutes of use. The average bandwidth for standard Netflix streaming is one gigabit.

Figure 2. Buying blocks of bandwidth may be better for people who use their vehicle irregularly.

The alternative to buying a GM vehicle (and a more practical approach) is to turn your smartphone into a Wi-Fi hotspot. I'm told that this is pretty easy to do. Then you're sharing your cell data plan with everyone in the car. You will have the same restrictions on bandwidth, but the smartphone is not stuck in the car. The only downside is the battery on your smartphone will drain faster with the continuous Wi-Fi. The built-in GMC Wi-Fi runs off the cars power.

This new feature is not compelling enough for me to buy a new car, but it would be a consideration if I were in the market—just like a well placed cup holder. I expect that built-in Wi-Fi will become more common in future automobiles. Ford has an option which works through Bluetooth, but it still relies upon a smartphone.

Wi-Fi Hotspot Devices

Another more flexible alternative is to get a wireless hotspot device which will connect a variety of other devices to the Internet (often up to eight). That way you can use it in any vehicle and don't need a wireless contract for each attached device. Even better may be a pay-as-you-go option such as the Karma - 4G Pay-As-You-Go Wi-Fi Hotspot (see Figure 3). At $14 per gigabit of data with no expiration date, it's a better deal than the GMC OnStar program. However, the Karma only has coverage in major metropolitan areas.

Figure 3. The Karma - 4G Pay-As-You-Go Wi-Fi Hotspot can be taken anywhere. There are no monthly contracts and you only pay for what you use.

You need to check the coverage for any Wi-Fi hotspot device—especially if you're planning to use it on road trips. Like any cell phone coverage it can be spotty.

I tried to check out the Verizon hotspot device for better coverage, but got mired down in confusion over costs and contracts. While people appeared to like the Verizon Wi-Fi device, it seemed subject to the same data plans as the smartphones—expensive when compared to cable Internet access.

Wi-Fi Is Everywhere

Most people with an Internet connection set up their homes with Wi-Fi. In fact, cable installations often include a modem/router which is Wi-Fi capable. This is a tremendous saving for smartphone users. When Wi-Fi is detected and connected to a smartphone, the device automatically switches over to using the local Wi-Fi. (At least the smartphone should be set up to automatically switch over. I know one person who while Skyping to Cornwall did not set her smartphone to automatically use Wi-Fi. She wiped out the entire family's data bandwidth for the month.) Switching to Wi-Fi saves the mediocre bandwidth provided by the cell company and will increase the over speed of service. Smartphone users take every opportunity to connect to Wi-Fi. That's why your visitors are always asking for the name and password of the Wi-Fi in your house. Wireless has become one of our most important connections to the Internet.

The problem is that Wi-Fi is relatively short range. If we do any kind of traveling, we need to know where to go for our free Wi-Fi—even if we own a smartphone. There are lists of free Wi-Fi locations such as the Wi-Fi FreeSpot Directory, but the lists seem sparse compared to the locations that I know exist—such as most McDonalds fast food restaurants. In fact there are many businesses that offer free Wi-Fi without any outward display. It is now common to find wireless Internet access available at airports, malls, and many retail outlets. While it's not always advertised, not having Wi-Fi available has become a major drawback for any establishment.

This wide availability doesn't solve the problem of Internet access in a moving vehicle. It's impossible to use local Wi-Fi without stopping and taking the time to connect. The only current solution seems to be the use of a cellular network. Even then, you depend upon the coverage of the map and pay a premium price for a small amount of data—no video streaming without a high cost.

Jack is the publisher of ComputorEdge Magazine. He's been with the magazine since first issue on May 16, 1983. Back then, it was called The Byte Buyer. His Web site is www.computoredge.com. He can be reached at ceeditor@computoredge.com. Jack is now in the process of updating and compiling his hundreds of articles and columns into e-books. Currently available:

Recently released is Jack's FREE AutoHotkey book, AutoHotkey Tricks You Ought to Do with Window, available exclusively at ComputorEdge E-Books in the EPUB for e-readers and tablets, MOBI for Kindle, and PDF for printing formats.

ComputorEdge E-books offering is his AutoHotkey Applications, an idea-generating intermediate level e-book about using the AutoHotkey Graphical User Interface (GUI) command to write practical pop-up apps for your Windows computer. (It's not as hard as it sounds.)

Hidden Windows Tools for Protecting, Problem Solving and Troubleshooting Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP Computers.

Jack's A Beginner's Guide to AutoHotkey, Absolutely the Best Free Windows Utility Software Ever!: Create Power Tools for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 and Digging Deeper Into AutoHotkey.

Our second compilation of stupid ComputorEdge cartoons from 2011 and 2012 is now available at Amazon! That Does Not Compute, Too! ComputorEdge Cartoons, Volume II: "Do You Like Windows 8 or Would You Prefer an Apple?"

Special Free Offer at ComputorEdge E-Books! Jack's Favorite Free Windows Programs: What They Are, What They Do, and How to Get Started!.

Misunderstanding Windows 8: An Introduction, Orientation, and How-to for Windows 8 (Seventh Edition)!

Windows 7 Secrets Four-in-One E-Book Bundle,

Getting Started with Windows 7: An Introduction, Orientation, and How-to for Using Windows 7,

Sticking with Windows XP—or Not? Why You Should or Why You Should Not Upgrade to Windows 7,

and That Does Not Compute!, brilliantly drawn cartoons by Jim Whiting for really stupid gags by Jack about computers and the people who use them.

Easy Regular Expressions (RegEx) in AutoHotkey

“A Quick Guide to Understanding How the Regular Expressions Work”
by Jack Dunning

Regular Expressions (RegEx) are notorious for driving people insane, but taken a little at a time they can be simple.

As promised last week, I'm tackling the subject of Regular Expressions (RegEx or RegExp) in AutoHotkey. While I have had some experience with RegEx over the years (primarily Javascript), I'm by no means an expert. That means I needed to review a considerable number of references and play with different problems before I started to truly understand the secrets they hide. (RegEx does not actually have any secrets, it's just that the coding can be so enigmatic that it looks like a foreign language—regardless of your native tongue.) Looking at any RegEx, no matter how simple, can leave a person bewildered. Plus, many RegEx lines get long and convoluted. There must be an easy way to understand how they work.

My goal is to give enough insight into how RegEx works that it becomes a little easier to write and decipher one. Once understood they become much simpler to use.

Why Bother with RegEx?

The number one reason for learning RegEx is that it is possible to do quite complex matching of strings of text with one line of code. The powerful options and wildcards used in the expressions can search through loads of text and files to find data which fit very specific criteria. On the downside, those same options and wildcards look cryptic and can be confusing. While it is easy to get started with simple examples, it can quickly become befuddling.

There is no quick substitute for actually doing it, although you can often get pre-built RegExs which you can insert into your AutoHotkey scripts. For example, the following AutoHotkey function determines if an e-mail address is formatted properly:

FoundPos := RegExMatch(Haystack, "^([a-z0-9_\.-]+)@([\da-z\.-]+)\.([a-z\.]{2,6})$", newvariable)

If you plug this expression into an AutoHotkey script (without knowing how it does it), it will tell you if someone has inputted a properly formatted e-mail address into an AutoHotkey app or if it is a fake.

The code found between the double quote marks is the RegEx code. No wonder so many people give up before they start. However, after reading this column, you should be able to understand most (not all) of the code in the expression.

Validating a Number with RegEx in AutoHotkey

Last week we looked at some methods for insuring that the number of servings in the Calorie Count script was actually a number so that the total number of calories would calculate properly. The problem was that I would accidentally hit the comma rather than the decimal point turning the number into a text string which would no longer calculate. While I did solve that problem by replacing any commas with a decimal point, the same thing could occur with any other non-numeric character inadvertently keyed in. I decided it was time to explore RegEx to solve the validation problem. (This process of description and explanation may take me a couple of weeks, but I figure that it is worth the time if I can make it a little easier to comprehend how to use RegEx.)

How RegEx Works

Critical to using a RegEx is understanding how it works. RegEx is a system for finding matches within strings (text) which may be file names, variables, or the contents of a file. In the original Dictionary script found in the Free AutoHotkey Scripts and Apps page, a fairly complex RegEx was used to parse the definitions from the Dictionary.com Web page. It did this by matching certain text or code within the page and returning the results to a pop-up window. While I was stupefied by the complications in that particular RegEx, I'm sure that with a little time I could have figured it out. The key is understanding that the primary function of a RegEx is to find matches.

Knowing what a RegEx will actually do depends on how well you understand what it is trying to do. A RegEx starts at the beginning of a string and looks at each character one by one until if finds a match for the entire expression. If it finds a match it stops looking, otherwise it continues until it reaches the end of the input string. In AutoHotkey the function used for matching a RegEx is RegExMatch() which returns the numeric location of the first character of first occurrence of a match.

For example, in its simplest form the RegEx could be a lowercase a (or any other letter or character). The RegEx engine will search the string looking for an a. If found, it stops and returns the location of the letter:

FoundPos := RegExMatch(Haystack, "a")

FoundPos is the location of the first occurrence and Haystack is the input string. Note that the RegEx itself (a the needle we want to find) appears within double quotes. If Haystack is "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" the a in "lazy" is found at position number 38 (FoundPos) (or the 38th character in the string including spaces). If there is no a in Haystack, the needle is not matched and FoundPos returns 0 (zero).

To make it slightly more complicated we add another character to our RegEx:

FoundPos := RegExMatch(Haystack, "ab")

Now our needle in the Haystack is the ab letter combination. RegEx will again look for the letter a until it finds a match. Only then will it look at the letter "b" for a match of the next character. If there is no following "b" then it drops everything and continues looking for the next "a" again. For example, if Haystack is "Abby has always been absent from the abbey", then FoundPos is 22. What? That coincides with the "ab" in "absent" not the first "ab" in "Abby." This leads us to an important concept—RegEx is case sensitive. If you want to find a capital letter, it better be capitalized in the RegEx. The word "Abby" is skipped as a match because the "A" is uppercase.

Note: There is an option to make the RegEx case insensitive, but that will be left for another time. That's the problem with RegEx. There are so many possibilities and options that it's easy to get confused.

As RegEx moves through Haystack it stops at each letter "a" then checks for a letter "b" immediately following it, but none are found until reaching the word "absent" starting at position 22. Having found a complete match, RegEx stops.

This is the essence of how RegEx works. If more characters are added to the expression, then more is required to find a match. However, in the problem of validating numbers for the Calorie Count app the digits can be any numbers, but no letters.

Using Ranges in Matches

The simple way to match any number is to give a range of options in the RegEx. This is done by enclosing all the optional characters within square brackets […]. For example, placing all the vowels within square brackets makes each one a possible match:

FoundPos := RegExMatch(Haystack, "c[aeiou]t")

This function would return FoundPos for "cat", "cot", or "cut"—whichever one is found first. Progressing through Haystack the RegEx engine stops at each occurrence of the letter "c", then trying to match the next character either with "a", "e", "i", "o", or "u", but no other character. If one of them is not found, the search continues searching for another "c" character. Then the vowels are checked again. If there is a match, then the third character is checked to see if it matches with the "t" character. If yes, the RegEx engine stops searching and returns the location of the "c" character. If no, it continues moving down the string until it either finds a complete match or reaches the end.

In our situation we want to use the numeric digits [0123456789]. (The order of the digits inside of the square brackets doesn't matter.) If we wanted to match two digits in a row then [0123456789][0123456789] would do the job. The problem is that we don't know how many digits in a row we need to match. It could be one, two, three or more—at least theoretically. In those situation where you don't know how many characters will occur in a row rather than repeating the range for each matching character, adding the plus + sign after the range (or character) will do the job:

FoundPos := RegExMatch(Haystack, "[0123456789]+")

The matching function will match any number of digits in a row until a non-digit is encountered and return the location of the first digit in FoundPos.

Tip: Ranges of numbers or letters can be shortened by using a hyphen. For example, [0-9] is the same as [0123456789]. [A-Z] is the same as all capital letters while [a-z] is all lowercase letters. All letters and digits could be represented by [a-zA-Z0-9]. To shorten the expression for the numeric digit range even more just use \d in place of [0-9]. Our shortened function becomes:

FoundPos := RegExMatch(Haystack, "\d+")

This will match any number of numeric digits in a row.

Adding the Decimal Point and Saving the Result to a Variable

There is a decent possibility that our number of servings in the Calorie Count script will have a decimal point to indicate fractions of a serving. That means we need to allow one in the RegEx. The simplest way to do this is include one in the range:

FoundPos := RegExMatch(Haystack, "[\d.]+")

The plus + sign after the range makes the RegEx match occurrences of any numerical digit plus the decimal point.

The RegExMatch function includes a feature for saving any matches to a variable by adding the new variable name:

FoundPos := RegExMatch(Haystack, "[\d.]+", newvariable)

This is great since otherwise it would be necessary to parse the string. The new string can be returned to the Number Servings field with the GuiControl command (GuiControl, ,Food5, %newvalue%) eliminating any non-numeric characters. The one problem with this RegEx is that there may be multiple decimal points in the result. I tried a number of other variations, but this was by far the simplest—although I need to figure out how to eliminate any excess decimal points.

One of the best ways to learn how RegEx works is to try some. You can write your own little test script to actually see the effect of the various RegEx options:

Haystack := "Abby has always been absent from the abbey."

FoundPos := RegExMatch(Haystack, "ab.*t", newvariable)

msgbox %FoundPos%  %newvariable%

While the explanations are helpful in the documentation, there is no substitute for actually seeing how they work.

Next time, I look at ways to clean up the formatting in the RegEx validated nmber field and discuss more RegEx features.

*                    *                    *

Free! AutoHotkey Tricks You Ought To Do With Windows! This e-book includes both those tips and the reference material (Table of Contents and indexes) from the other three AutoHotkey books. Pick up a copy free and share it with your friends.

*                    *                    *

The second edition with more chapters and an index to the AutoHotkey commands found in the book is available in e-book format from Amazon (and other formats—EPUB and PDF— at the ComputorEdgeBooks Web site linked below). Jack's A Beginner's Guide to AutoHotkey, Absolutely the Best Free Windows Utility Software Ever!: Create Power Tools for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 (preferred, EPUB format for iPad, Android, and computers; MOBI for Amazon Kindle; and PDF for printing) offers a gentle approach to learning AutoHotkey. (Also available from Amazon for the Kindle and Kindle software on other devices.)

Building Power Tools for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8, AutoHotkey is the most powerful, flexible, free Windows utility software available. Anyone can instantly add more of the functions that they want in all of their Windows programs, whether installed on their computer or while working on the Web. AutoHotkey has a universality not found in any other Windows utility—free or paid.

Based upon the series of articles in ComputorEdge, Jack takes you through his learning experience as he explores writing simple AutoHotkey scripts for adding repetitive text in any program or on the Web, running programs with special hotkeys or gadgets, manipulating the size and screen location of windows, making any window always-on-top, copying and moving files, and much more. Each chapter builds on the previous chapters.

For an EPUB (iPad, NOOK, etc.) version of A Beginner's Guide to AutoHotkey click here!

For a PDF version for printing on letter size paper for inclusion in a standard notebook of A Beginner's Guide to AutoHotkey click here!

*                    *                    *

Jack's second AutoHotkey book, Digging Deeper Into AutoHotkey (preferred, EPUB format for iPad, Android, and computers; MOBI for Amazon Kindle; and PDF for printing) is comprised of updated, reorganized and indexed columns from ComputorEdge is now available. Since the columns were not all written in a linear fashion, the book has been reorganized and broken up into parts by topic. The book is not for the complete beginner since it builds on the information in A Beginner's Guide to AutoHotkey. However, if a person is reasonably computer literate, they could go directly to this book for ideas and techniques without the first book. (Also available from Amazon for the Kindle and Kindle software on other devices.)

For an EPUB (iPad, NOOK, etc.) version of Digging Deeper into AutoHotkey click here!

For a PDF version for printing on letter size paper for inclusion in a standard notebook of Digging Deeper into AutoHotkey click here!

*                    *                    *

Jack's third AutoHotkey book AutoHotkey Applications (preferred, EPUB format for iPad, Android, and computers; MOBI for Amazon Kindle; and PDF for printing) is an intermediate level book of ideas and applications based primarily on the AutoHotkey GUI command. The book emphasizes practical applications. The book is not for the complete beginner since it builds on the information in the other two books. However, if a person is reasonably computer literate, they could go directly to this book for ideas and techniques without the other books. There is an extensive index to the ideas and techniques covered in the back of the book. (Also available from Amazon for the Kindle and Kindle software on other devices.)

For an EPUB (iPad, NOOK, etc.) version of AutoHotkey Applications click here!

Jack is the publisher of ComputorEdge Magazine. He's been with the magazine since first issue on May 16, 1983. Back then, it was called The Byte Buyer. His Web site is www.computoredge.com. He can be reached at ceeditor@computoredge.com. Jack is now in the process of updating and compiling his hundreds of articles and columns into e-books. Currently available:

Recently released is Jack's FREE AutoHotkey book, AutoHotkey Tricks You Ought to Do with Window, available exclusively at ComputorEdge E-Books in the EPUB for e-readers and tablets, MOBI for Kindle, and PDF for printing formats.

ComputorEdge E-books offering is his AutoHotkey Applications, an idea-generating intermediate level e-book about using the AutoHotkey Graphical User Interface (GUI) command to write practical pop-up apps for your Windows computer. (It's not as hard as it sounds.)

Hidden Windows Tools for Protecting, Problem Solving and Troubleshooting Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP Computers.

Jack's A Beginner's Guide to AutoHotkey, Absolutely the Best Free Windows Utility Software Ever!: Create Power Tools for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 and Digging Deeper Into AutoHotkey.

Our second compilation of stupid ComputorEdge cartoons from 2011 and 2012 is now available at Amazon! That Does Not Compute, Too! ComputorEdge Cartoons, Volume II: "Do You Like Windows 8 or Would You Prefer an Apple?"

Special Free Offer at ComputorEdge E-Books! Jack's Favorite Free Windows Programs: What They Are, What They Do, and How to Get Started!.

Misunderstanding Windows 8: An Introduction, Orientation, and How-to for Windows 8 (Seventh Edition)!

Windows 7 Secrets Four-in-One E-Book Bundle,

Getting Started with Windows 7: An Introduction, Orientation, and How-to for Using Windows 7,

Sticking with Windows XP—or Not? Why You Should or Why You Should Not Upgrade to Windows 7,

and That Does Not Compute!, brilliantly drawn cartoons by Jim Whiting for really stupid gags by Jack about computers and the people who use them.

Wally Wang's Apple Farm

“The iPhone 6 and Apple Watch”
by Wally Wang

The iPhone 6 and Apple Watch; E-Book Creation Tool; Why Software Fails; Start up After Power Failure.

To absolutely nobody's surprise, Apple announced new and larger iPhone 6 models dubbed the iPhone 6 (4.7-inch display) and the iPhone 6 Plus (5.5-inch display). With a new A8 processor, the iPhone 6 is also much faster while being more energy-efficient than previous iPhone models. Apple claims the iPhone 6's battery can last up to 11 hours of video playing.

Figure 1. The iPhone 6 comes in two screen sizes.

Besides an improved camera, the iPhone 6 also allows Wi-Fi calling, so anyone still using a carrier plan that limits their minutes can now talk for free through a Wi-Fi hotspot. Specifically for the iPhone 6 Plus, there's a new landscape mode that essentially turns your iPhone into a miniature iPad-like screen. With its larger screen and more powerful processor, the iPhone 6 Plus will likely convince more people to leave their iPad at home and just rely on the iPhone 6 Plus instead.

Figure 2. The iPhone 6 Plus offers a special landscape mode that resembles the iPad.

The iPhone 6 Plus's faster processor and improved graphics means that games can now rival dedicated game consoles. For many people, the iPhone 6 Plus will be the model to get while if you value smaller size, then get the ordinary iPhone 6 model instead.

Whichever model you get, you can also use Apple Pay, which works with Visa, American Express, and MasterCard so you can use your iPhone to make payments are merchants ranging from Whole Foods and Macy's to McDonald's and Walgreens. The Japanese have been using their mobile phones as credit cards for years and now with Apple Pay, the rest of the world may finally catch up.

For maximum security, merchants will never see your credit card details, which reduces the risk of someone writing down your credit card number or capturing and cloning your credit card number through a swiping machine. To verify that you authorized a payment, Apple Pay will rely on fingerprint verification along with location tracking. Unless it's your iPhone buying something with your fingerprint, a thief can't impersonate your credit card details.

Think of all those credit card data breaches at Target and Home Depot that have been in the news recently. None of that could have happened if people had been charging their purchases with Apple Pay. Credit cards are now as old fashion as typewriters and overhead projectors.

Apple will release the iPhone 6 on September 19 where a contract makes the 16GB model costs $199, the 64GB model costs $299, and the 128GB model costs $399. Strangely, there's no 32GB model. The iPhone 6 Plus costs $100 more on contract. Given a choice, game players will likely want the larger iPhone 6 Plus while people more concerned about space will likely choose the iPhone 6.

Of course, bigger screens for a smartphone aren't really that exciting, so the main feature at Apple's latest event was the introduction of the Apple Watch. Unlike other smart watch manufacturers that try to cram a smartphone user interface into the smaller form of a watch, Apple uses a dial called a Digital Crown that lets you zoom in and control the user interface of the Apple Watch. That way your own fingers don't get in the way of trying to touch a tiny icon displayed on the minuscule display.

Figure 3. The Apple Watch uses a new way to manipulate the interface.

To communicate with you, the Apple Watch can use both sound and touch. So if you're using the Apple Watch to give you directions, it can give you one touch sensation on your arm to let you know when to turn right and a different touch sensation to let you know when to turn left.

For developers, Apple released their software development kit (SDK) called WatchKit, so Xcode developers can start creating Apple Watch apps right away. Expect the Apple Watch in early 2015 with a starting price of $349 and available in different editions.

With the ability to customize the face of your Apple Watch and choose different straps to hold it to your wrist, the Apple Watch can be more than a technological solution but also a fashion statement as well, which means you can expect plenty of celebrities and athletes to start using the Apple Watch.

Of course, to use the Apple Watch, you also need at least an iPhone 5, which gives people one more reason to get an iPhone. To see more of what the Apple Watch can do, visit Apple's site and see for yourself.

When the Apple Watch arrives in stores, you can see how Apple defined the wearable computer market just like they defined the smartphone market, the tablet market, and the digital music market. The Apple Watch just started the wearable computer app market, so expect a huge number of innovative solutions when the Apple Watch goes on sale next year.

E-Book Creation Tool

Back in 2012, Apple introduced iBooks Author, a free program to let people create interactive iBooks that could incorporate text, graphics, audio, video, and HTML5 interactive images. The goal was to make e-book creation easy. While Apple largely succeeded, the main drawback of iBooks Author was that it created iBooks that could only run on the iBook app on the iPad and Macintosh.

Interactivity is the main feature that separates e-books from ordinary printed books, but just converting ordinary word processor documents to ePub format creates plain e-books that display static text and graphics just like a printed page. Since the future lies with interactivity, Amazon has followed Apple's lead and created their own interactive e-book creation program.

Called the Kindle Kids' Book Creator Tool, this program runs on Windows and OS X. The main goal of this free program is to create e-books specifically designed for children's books. That includes facing pages (so there's enough room to display text and graphics) and the ability to display pop-up picture captions. That way kids can touch a picture and see additional text pop up in a window next to the picture.

Figure 4. Kindle Kids' Book Creator Tool can design e-books that display facing pages.

Figure 5. Facing pages provides more text and graphics to appear at once.

You can create an e-book from scratch by typing text and inserting pictures. However, the program can also import PDF files and preserve most of the text formatting and graphic positioning next to text. By converting PDF files into Kindle format, the Kindle Kids' Book Creator Tool lets you turn PDF files into Kindle e-books quickly and easily.

Figure 6. You can convert PDF files into Kindle e-books.

Although Kindle Kids' Book Creator Tool is meant to create children's e-books, there's no reason you can't use the program to create e-books for adults. With the program's ability to pop-up text over images, you could create graphic novels, cookbooks, or how-to manuals. By exercising your imagination, you can create more interactive e-books.

Unlike iBooks Author, Kindle Kids' Book Creator Tool can't display video or interactive HTML5 graphics in an e-book, so if you want true interactivity, you'll have to stick with iBooks Author. Despite this limitation, Kindle Kids' Book Creator Tool is a great way to add minimal interactivity to separate e-books from traditional printed books, but the e-books it creates can only be viewed on a Kindle device or Kindle app running on another device such as an iPad.

Hopefully Kindle Kids' Book Creator Tool will allow more sophisticated interactivity in the future, but if you're interested in making the gradual transition from boring e-books that can only display static text and pictures to interactive e-books, Kindle Kids' Book Creator Tool is a step in the right direction to reach the largest e-book buying market on the planet.

Why Software Fails

If you read the IEEE's (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) report called "Why Software Fails," you'll read about multimillion dollar software project disasters. According to the IEEE, "Of the IT projects that are initiated, from 5 to 15 percent will be abandoned before or shortly after delivery as hopelessly inadequate. Many others will arrive late and over budget or require massive reworking. Few IT projects, in other words, truly succeed."

The report listed common factors for why software fails such as unrealistic project goals, badly defined system requirements, and poor communications between customers, developers, and users. In other words, many projects fail because nobody knows what the final goal should be. If you don't know what you want a program to do, it's impossible to get it to do what you want.

The IEEE report focused on projects that failed and were ultimately abandoned, but what about projects that were completed but still failed to work properly? Vista was completed but failed to convince Windows XP users to upgrade and Windows 8 now suffers from the same fate.

Technically, Windows 8 is actually an amazing engineering marvel that converted a desktop operating system into a touch-based tablet operating system. The real problem is that it fails to solve a pressing need, much like building a beautifully engineered machine for generating waves for surfers in the middle of the Sahara desert.

In reading the IEEE's report, you can pinpoint the real problem of all project failures. Nobody's accountable.

When the FBI wasted $170 million on their Virtual Case File program, who is to blame? Obviously someone didn't do their job, but with so many layers of bureaucracy to hide behind, it's easy for the real culprits to disappear behind a veil of anonymity and go out and bungle projects some more.

Certainly someone at Microsoft designed Windows 8 despite all the early warning feedback they got citing its confusing tile interface and pointless Charm Bar menu. Yet someone made that decision to stick with Window 8's design. Most likely it was Steven Sinofsky but it's hard to tell for sure if he was the sole designer of the Windows 8 user interface or if other people contributed as well.

In the sports world, it's easy to see who might foul up a big game through a bone-headed play. Yet in the corporate world, multimillion dollar software projects fail all the time. Certainly someone made a bone-headed decision, but bureaucracies bury this information to protect everyone. When you don't know who's good and who's completely incompetent, the incompetent people can cheerfully move on to other positions and foul up life for everyone once more in complete anonymity. If they're corporate executives, they often get rewarded for their incompetence with multimillion dollar bonuses.

Athletes must live with their mistakes in full view of the public. Corporate executives don't. In Hollywood, executives love attaching themselves to various projects whether they do anything to help those projects or not. That way if the project succeeds, they can take credit for it. If the project fails, they can blame the other executives involved in that project. So it's in everybody's best interests to get as many executives as possible involved so that way not one of them has to take the blame for its failure but all of them can get the potential reward of taking credit for its success.

Software failures have less to do with vague project goals and poor management than the fact that nobody's willing to stand up and take responsibility for either the success or failure of a project. When people shirk responsibility, that's a sure sign that the project is doomed from the start.

Notice that great artists like Frank Lloyd Wright take full responsibility for their creations and wind up giving us amazing works that bureaucracies can never do? Ever see a statue erected to honor a committee?

To increase the success rate of software projects, just get everyone involved to take full responsibility for their decisions. The minute you ask people to take responsibility for their decisions that everyone can verify in the future, you'll see fewer people trying to interfere in any project so they don't have to risk accepting the blame.

Then again, people who avoid responsibility rarely enjoy the benefits of achieving success through their own actions either. When you don't have confidence in your own abilities to produce results, you really have nothing at all.

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In the old days if the power cut out while you were using your computer, you lost everything you were working on. However, the latest versions of OS X preserve not only the programs you were using at the time of the power cut off, but also much of the data you were creating at the time of the shut off.

To make your Macintosh even easier to use after a power failure, you can have your Macintosh automatically start up again. That way if the power cuts off while you're away from your computer, you may not even notice the problem when you return since your programs and data will still be on the screen when you get back.

To make your Macintosh start up again after a power failure, click the Apple menu and click System Preferences. When the System Preferences window appears, click the Energy Saver icon and then select the "Start up automatically after power failure" check box.

Figure 7. Making sure your Macintosh starts up again if the power cuts off.

In the early days, before Wally became an Internationally renowned comedian, computer book writer, and generally cool guy, Wally Wang used to hang around The Byte Buyer dangling participles with Jack Dunning and go to the gym to pump iron with Dan Gookin.

Wally is responsible for the following books:

Microsoft Office 2013 For Dummies

Beginning Programming for Dummies

Beginning Programming All-in-One Reference for Dummies

Breaking Into Acting for Dummies with Larry Garrison

Strategic Entrepreneurism with Jon and Gerald Fisher

How to Live with a Cat (When You Really Don't Want To)

The Secrets of the Wall Street Stock Traders

Mac Programming For Absolute Beginners

Republican Fairy Tales (Children's Stories the 1% Tell About the Rest of Us)

The Zen of Effortless Selling with Moe Abdou

The 15-Minute Movie Method

Erotophobia (A novel)

Math for the Zombie Apocalypse

How to Write a Great Script with Final Draft 9

How to Write a Great Script with Fade In

The Elements of a Great Script: Star Wars

The Elements of a Great Script: Die Hard

The Element of a Great Script: Back to the Future

The Elements of a Great Script: Rocky

The Elements of a Great Script: It's a Wonderful Life

In his spare time, Wally likes blogging about movies and writing screenplays at his site "The 15 Minute Movie Method," finding interesting news stories about cats at his site "Cat Daily News," giving advice to authors who want to self-publish e-books at his site "The Electronic Author," and providing the type of advice he wishes someone would have told him when he was much younger at his personal Web site. Wally can be reached at wally@computoredge.com or you can follow him on Twitter @wallacewang_com.

Worldwide News & Product Reviews

“The latest in tech news and hot product reviews.”
by Charles Carr, News and Reviews Editor

iPhone 6 Creating Excitement Around NFC Capabilities; Study: Finance Sector Vulnerable to Insider Threats as Workers Share Passwords Despite Awareness of Risks; Monkey Tales Games (PC and Mac)—Making Math Fun.

iPhone 6 Creating Excitement Around NFC Capabilities

Ahead of Apple's launch of the iPhone 6 here are some thoughts from Eden Zoller, a principal analyst at the global technology research and advisory firm, Ovum about NFC (Near Field Communication), a technology which is already embedded into many smartphones and other portable devices which allows the exchange of information by merely touching units together or even within close proximity:

Ovum would expect Apple to prove highly effective at marketing NFC to consumers, creating awareness and excitement around NFC capabilities in a way others have so far failed to do. This in turn could help ignite merchant interest in NFC, that so far has remained cool due to lack of consumer uptake.

It makes total sense for Apple to launch a payments service with the release of the iPhone 6, a move that will have a positive but also disruptive effect on the mobile payments market, particularly for mobile operators.

Apple has been putting the pieces in place for a fully-fledged m-payments service for some time: Passbook, Touch ID biometrics, the iBeacon feature in iOS 7, the EasyPay feature in the Apple App Store application. It also has 800 million iTunes accounts on file, which is a huge base to leverage for m-payments and is potentially a significant revenue opportunity for Apple.

It would also be logical for Apple to bring NFC into the m-payments equation. If Apple is forming alliances with major card schemes and riding on contactless rails then embracing NFC is a pragmatic move.

We would expect Apple to prove highly effective at marketing NFC to consumers, creating awareness and excitement around NFC capabilities in a way others have so far failed to do. This is turn could help ignite merchant interest in NFC, that so far has remained cool due to lack of consumer uptake

Study: Finance Sector Vulnerable to Insider Threats as Workers Share Passwords Despite Awareness of Risks

Independent research conducted on behalf of the security firm, IS Decisions, has revealed that a quarter of finance sector workers are frustrated with employer security policy, with one in ten admitting they actively attempt to circumvent it.

This finding...suggests that the strict policy restrictions often required in finance are causing widespread frustration which in turn is leading to more common attempts to flout those restrictions.

Workers in the finance sector in the US and UK are frustrated with the security restrictions their employers implement and have a higher tendency to flout policy than other industries.

Password sharing is more common than average in the finance sector, with just under a quarter (24%) sharing their work related passwords. This is despite a higher majority than in any other sector (69%) acknowledging awareness that it represents a risk to their employer.

One quarter (25%) of finance sector employees are frustrated with their employer's security policies, and 10% of those admit actively attempting to find workarounds.

Another area for particular concern in the finance sector is security policy around employee termination. A full 41% of finance sector workers claimed to have had access to a former employer's data or systems after leaving a job, 5% higher than the cross-industry average 36%.

Asking employees in finance what might help motivate them to be more security conscious and not share passwords, the most common response (29%) was if sharing their login with someone else restricted their own access. Finance sector workers were also more likely than average (12% compared to 8%) to say that a better example set by management would encourage them to behave more responsibly.

François Amigorena, CEO of IS Decisions, said, "Naturally organizations in the financial sector are operating with especially sensitive data and frequently are required to be compliant with a number of regulatory requirements. And employees in the sector are more aware of security risks than in other industries. Yet, it seems that good awareness does not translate into good behavior, with a higher propensity for bad practice such as password sharing and more common purposeful attempts at circumventing restrictions.

"Then the law sector's poor record for following employee termination security process show that while attention may be being paid to regulatory requirements, other security basics are being allowed to slip.

"The lesson here is that while regulations have to be adhered to, attention to detail is required. Users apparently understand that password sharing is a risk, yet they are still doing it; do they know why it's a risk? Are their restrictions applied specifically to this behavior? And importantly, are the senior people setting the right example?"

Monkey Tales Games (PC and Mac)—Making Math Fun

Title: Monkey Tales Games

Developer: DieKeure and Larian Studios

Publisher: DieKeure

Web site: store.steampowered.com

Price: $14.99 (on Steam)

Rating: E for Everyone

Monkey Tales Games is the product of four years of collaboration between experts at every level of education. It's certainly a well put-together, polished package. Incredibly, the games' developer, Larian, is the studio behind this past year's huge RPG hack-and-slash hit, Divinity Original Sin. So polish and presentation is there in spades. Instead of wielding a sword, though, kids use their math skills to progress through a series of exercises and drills.

Almost any child at any age or level of education can get something out of Monkey Tales Games, but the product is aimed primarily at 7-11 year-olds.

The game has a built-in algorithm that is able to identify each child's math ability and place him or her on the learning curve then, just like a great teacher, adjusts their learning experience to target areas of weakness.

Their skills are polished by a series of goal-oriented math puzzles and drills set against a pretty fun adventure. I don't know how long it will last, but my own 9-year-old can't wait to fire up our Mac and get back into the game.

Each game of the five included games is tailored to your child's grade level and complies with US Common Core Standards.

The games keep the challenge at just the right level; not so easy that they get bored, not so hard that they give up. Monkey Tales Games even takes care of all scoring as your child makes his or her way through exercises.

In summation: Such a deal. Pay one time and you've got four years of great educational content for your child. That's a deal that's hard to beat!

Review contributed by Rhonda Deanlee

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BTW, San Diego area readers, check out ComputorEdge News and Reviews Editor Charles Carr's newest stage play, "Passage Into Fear," taking place Sept. 12, 13, 14 and 19, 20, 21 at San Marcos, CA's Connors Hall. Complete info at www.facebook.com/ArtAnimatesLife.

Multiple award-winning author Charles Carr has written more than two thousand newspaper articles, magazine stories, and columns for many publications including the San Diego Union Tribune, The Californian, The North County Times, Parent Magazine, ComputerScene, and ComputorEdge Magazine where he has been an editor for more than two decades. He is also a television producer/director with shows both currently airing and in production on Cox Cable and elsewhere.

In the 1990s, Charles wrote 3DHouse, a complete inside-and-out virtual reality tour of his family's log home in Southern California. One of the first virtual reality programs ever created, 3DHouse enjoyed tens of thousands of shareware downloads on all major portals. He also sold the rights to Radio Shack and Egghead Software. 3DHouse has since been featured in many books and articles about VR.

Carr has also been commissioned to write and/or directed many of his own stage plays. Several years ago, Carr and others looking for ways to help organizations struggling in difficult economic times, founded Art Animates Life (www.artanimateslife.org).

To date, Art Animates Life, a CA incorporated, federal non-profit, has raised tens-of-thousands of dollars for San Diego area disaster relief, an arts non-profit and municipal gallery, a community outreach center, and several struggling community theaters.

Several years ago Carr was commissioned to adapt and direct the beloved Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol. The play, titled "Mr. Scrooge & Mr. Dickens," has sold out So Cal theaters for the past several years. Six shows will take place Dec. 2013 to benefit the San Marcos Historical Society.

Another original play, "All the Time in the World," has been performed many times and garnered broad acclaim from audiences and critics alike. Carr is working on a brand new adaptation of the classic Hitchcock thriller, "The Lady Vanished," to be performed spring 2014.

Carr has won many writing accolades, including San Diego Press Club awards for Best Column Writing, Best Consumer Writing, and Best Arts and Entertainment. He has repeatedly taken top honors in San Diego Songwriter's Guild competitions for his original musical compositions.

Carr is also a noted producer, director, and videographer. Several of his documentaries can currently be seen on So Cal's Cox Cable. Since its inception he has produced the Fallbrook International Film Festival's red carpet event and panel discussions.

Charles receives dozens of requests each year to appear on Southern California television and radio stations to talk about important tech events. He also speaks from time-to-time to high schools and organizations about his eclectic life in the arts.

Learn more at www.charlescarr.com.

Editor's Letters: Tips and Thoughts from Readers

“Computer and Internet tips, plus comments on the articles and columns.”
by ComputorEdge Staff

"Free Dictionary Look Up Program," "Deleting PDF Pages," "Firefox Cache," "Foxit PDF Reader"

Free Dictionary Look Up Program

[Regarding the August 22 Quick Dictionary Lookup from Any Program column:]

Hi, Jack,

Try WordWeb. It lets you CTRL right-click on a word in any program or Web page and it then pops up a small window with that word and definition in it. Then you can choose to use an online dictionary instead of its own database. I've been using it for 10 years and it is one of my most used free software installs on all of my computers and laptops.

-Buck-o, El Cajon, CA

Thanks, Buck-o! I discovered we can configure it to respond to the same hot key combo as the earlier Autohotkey Dictionary app that no longer works: "CTRL+ALT+D", after highlighting a word. It's also got a handy pronunciation button.

-Ron Cerrato, San Diego

Deleting PDF Pages

[Regarding the August 29 Digital Dave column:]

It is kind of convoluted, but the easiest way I have found to delete a page in the middle of a multi-page PDF is to split it with PDFsam, then remerge the file without the extra page(s) using the same program.

-Ralph, Colorado Springs

Another workaround for removing a page (or pages) from a PDF without buying expensive editing programs is to use a print-PDF program like CutePDF (free), or the included (and automatically installed now, I think).

Then open your PDF, choose print and select your PDFprinter of choice.

Now put in the Print Range (may be called something else in your PDF viewer), list pages you want to _keep_. For example, if your document if 23 pages long and you want to eliminate page 4, 5 and 10, you'd enter:

1-3,6-9,11-23

When it's done, you'll have those pages in a new PDF.

-Rich Ernst, San Diego

I use PDFill PDF Editor (free) to delete unwanted pages (and works on a lot of other PDF functions) from PDFs. I bought the whole suite but the free version did very well for me. Good luck.

-Perry, CDO

Dave asked for recommendations of a free PDF editor. I have been using PDFill since 2006. I began with the free version, but soon decided that it would be more helpful without the watermarks. So I paid the modest fee, and have been using it now through three different computers (on the same fee—the key code transfers). Besides creating PDF's, it merges PDFs, separates pages, even allows text insertion (like adding page numbers or small lines of text on a "white out" color of your choice). The font choice and size is somewhat limited so it might not be a perfect match, but it gets close. I don't know what I'd do without my PDFill.

-Jan Mayer, Murrieta, CA

Firefox Cache

[Regarding the August 22 Digital Dave column:]

Bob in San Diego can go to the Tools => Options menu and use the Network tab to make the Cache size small, or even zero. I set it to 5 MB.

-Stewart Levin, Menlo Park, CA

Foxit PDF Reader

[Regarding the August 22 Editors Letters: Tips and Thoughts from Readers column:]

Admittedly, this is a small thing, but on the print screen, if I want to print only certain pages I first have to click on the "Pages" radio button and then fill in which pages to print. In Adobe's reader one didn't need the extra step and could just click in the window and type in the pages; the radio button would automatically change to the "Pages" line. I've sent this suggestion to Foxit, but I guess they'd rather we take two rather than one step.

-Gary Weinstein, California

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