The View From the Outback

In short, one might conclude that all knowledge, wisdom, and wit are confined to those who inhabit New York City, Washington DC, or Hollywood.

I am now a senior citizen, in my 7th decade. My experience was gained in many cities in the U.S. and in about 30 foreign countries. That experience has included the U.S. Marines, law school, the ATF, the CIA, Fortune 500 executive, writer, public speaker, educator, editor, and publisher - for openers. Some insights come from talking with ham-radio operators in every major country and such idyllic places as the Cook Islands. For over 20 years, I have written articles off and on for various magazines and newspapers. I've had an enormous number of letters published in major national publications. The Outback is the rural area in Northeast Texas where I have lived for the past 15 years. Since most visits to my pages come from searches, I am no longer trying to keep on a regular schedule for updating the Outback.

Thursday, June 2, 2005 - and following

Click on a Topic to go directly to that topic.

• Thoughts While Staring at the Ceiling Fan
• Vitamin E and Harvard Med
• Bob Woodward and Deep Throat
• Clean Up Your Computer Desktop
• VCOM Fix-it Utilities 6 Professional

Thoughts While Staring at the Ceiling Fan

June 18, 2005: There is a lot of discussion about how the Patriot Act puts our privacy and civil rights at risk. There is no substantial evidence to back up these claims. What we ought to be concerned about is the weekly exposure of our personal information by credit sources, such as the 40 million card members whose information was compromised just this week. By the end of the year, a majority of adults in the U.S. may have had some personal data compromised by hackers, loss of data tapes, internal theft of data, and other massive losses of data.

June 17, 2005: In the Outback for June 15, 2002 (www.home.earthlink.net/~rickhgtx/outbac60.html), I said in part:

One of the recurring themes in the Congressional hearings about homeland preparedness is the lack of ability of various public-service entities to communicate via radio, since they have all manner of radios and operate on their "own" frequencies. For many, many years now, as a ham- radio-operator, I can travel from city to city across America and talk with hams from my car mobile, or from a motel on my hand-held radio, on a common set of frequencies. Not all cities use the same frequencies, to avoid interference with adjoining cities. But, we have a pocket-sized directory of repeater frequencies. You simply look up the frequencies for Denver, for example, dial one in on the digital dial, and you are talking to Denver hams. Next day, it may be Boise, or Sacramento.

Now, in June of 2005, a local area news dispatch noted: Volunteer fire departments throughout the region are now eligible to receive, at no cost, repeaters that will enable personnel in their fire trucks to communicate on emergency frequencies nationwide on the UHF and VHF bands. The repeaters are on trucks that can pick up the signal from a low-power handie-talkie and rebroadcast it with greater power to the surrounding area. The system is part of a national standard set to be in place so all communication systems will be compatible in case of a national disaster.

How farsighted of our federal government to finally establish a universal communications system similar to what ham-radio operators have been using for over 25 years! We could talk over "repeaters" located on tall buildings in Dallas, for example, on hand-held radios from almost anywhere in Dallas, before there were cell phones. This is not rocket science, but you would think so given the decades it took the government to catch on to this simple concept for interoperability.

June 13, 2005: While watching a travelogue on HD TV of Duabi in the United Arab Emirates, a set of skyscrapers flashed by that bore a remarkable resemblance to two of the proposed towers at the World Trade Center site. A visit to a Dubai website turned up a plethora of beautiful high-rise buildings in this oil-rich country. One site noted that over 200 more were under construction. Did the bickering architects doing the new Freedom Tower in New York City think that we could not notice some similar towers in Dubai? The Emirates Towers, built in 2000, are prominently featured on a Dubai Web site. Then take a look at photos of the proposed Freedom Tower and associated skyscrapers (www.renewnyc.com). The real hoot is that on the site in Dubai that I visited there were hundreds of photos of the buildings. But, you could not save them to disk as a .JPG file. You had to PAY to download any of the photos. What nerve. With all that oil money, they need to scam us for photos of buildings?

June 9, 2005: In an article published in the May 24 issue of "Neurology," a study indicates that high cholesterol levels in later life appear to be associated with a reduced risk of dementia. (Neurology:2005;64:1689-1695) On April 9, 2005, I noted a study that showed that "Low cholesterol in the elderly increases mortality rate." Geezers take note. If you are prescribed a statin, maybe the best place for the prescription is in the round file. Later, if your doctor takes a blood test and says that your cholesterol is still high, he may write a prescription for a higher statin dose. Again, the round file. Eventually, you may have to change doctors when he catches on to your scam - or you could present him or her will all the research that led to your decision to not take a statin. Or, you will die from some other cause, totally unrelated to high cholesterol or cardiovascular disease - and not related to any side effect of statins.

June 9, 2005: A study consisting of 155 people was carried out to see if a statin drug, such as Liptor, could halt the progression of Aortic Stenonis which is the stiffening of a heart valve due to the valve narrowing and a buildup of calcium. Of the 155 in the study, 77 people were given a high dose of the statin Lipitor and 78 were given a placebo - and progress followed for two years. The results showed that the statin did not halt the progression of Aortic Stenosis. The study was funded in part by Pfizer, the maker of Lipitor. A doctor was quoted as saying that the trial was relatively small, so future studies would be required to confirm the results. I read this as: "We will keep trying and trying, until we finally prove that statins will help slow the progression of Aortic Stenonis." It would probably boggle our minds if we knew the total number of studies and meta-analyses (number-crunching of existing studies) now in progress or planned by the makers of statins. They are constantly striving to show that statins are effective in a very wide spectrum of medical problems. If one test turns out negative, we'll do another one, until we get it "right."

June 9, 2005: In a study reported on in the May 23 issue of the "Archives of Internal Medicine," it was shown that if you are taking a statin to lower your cholesterol, you can add Psyllium to your intake to further lower cholesterol. The study concluded that "Eight weeks of 10mg of simvastatin with psyllium daily is as effective at lowering LDL-C, Apo B, and total cholesterol as 20mg of simvastatin daily for patients with moderate hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol)." Psyllium is a major ingredient in Metamucil, and is usually touted as fiber that will help keep your bowels regular. Psyllium can be purchased in health food stores. Metamucil has several cheaper copy-cat competitors, which can be found at Wal-Mart, SAM's Club, and some drugstores and supermarkets.

If you are concerned about lowering your cholesterol, before you accept a statin prescription from your doctor, you might consider taking a product with Psyllium in it, using margarines such as Benecol and Take Control, and pursuing more aggressively the many food choices that can lower your cholesterol - such as eating more fruits and vegetables. If you somehow feel compelled, or you have been told that you "must" take a statin (I would strongly question that advice), you should at least take Psyllium daily, use Benecol or Take Control, take Coenzyme Q10 daily, and reduce the dosage of your statin. Benecol now offers "Smart Chews," a kind of caramel that contains the ingredients that help lower your cholesterol. (www.benecol.com and wwww.takecontrol.com) Update: Oct. 26, 2005, Benecol "Smart Chews" have been taken off the market with no explation given. From benecol.com: "In clinical studies, where patients consumed 5.1 grams of Plant Stanol Esters (6 servings of pre-reformulated formulated BENECOL® Products), LDL was reduced, on average, by up to 14% and total cholesterol by up to 10%."

June 9, 2005: Several times I have deplored the pervasive influence the Associated Press has in news reporting. AP writes a story and it is picked up verbatim by thousands of online and print media. A recent AP release noted that: "The Federal Communications Commission voted 4-0 to require that all medium-sized televisions, those with screens from 25 to 36 inches in diameter, be capable of receiving both digital and traditional analog signals by March 1 .... Regulators also retained a requirement that half of all new mid-size televisions must have digital receiving capability by July 1." They failed to tell us in which year these events would take place. I guess we can rule out 2005, since March 1 has passed us by. I checked several sources, and they all simply regurgitated the AP release. Even the New York Times ran the AP FCC story verbatim. Does any editor ever question the content or accuracy of AP material before they run it? Do they ever call AP and ask them for clarification? The Wall Street Journal correctly cited March 1, 2006 as the deadline for TV sets with 25-36 inch screens, yet they credit the release to AP. Maybe somebody does edit AP text when it is off the mark. Another reason I always check WSJ on ANY subject before I write something. More often than not, they have it right.

With reference to the above AP release: You would think that AP could at least cut and paste an FCC press release. Government documents are not copyrighted. Here are relevant sections from that press release from the FCC.GOV web site:

The FCC today denied a request by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and the Consumer Electronics Retailers Association (CERC) to delay the date by which 50% of mid-size TV receivers manufactured and imported must include built-in digital television (DTV) tuners. To further its efforts to ensure that consumers are able to receive off-the-air digital broadcast television services, the FCC also moved up the date by which all mid-sized TV sets must include a digital television (DTV) tuner. The Commission’s rules already provide that all large TV sets (36” and larger) must have built-in DTV tuners by July 1, 2005. Those rules also provide that 50% of mid-sized sets (25”-36”) must have DTV tuners by that date, and that all mid-sized sets must have DTV tuners by July 1, 2006. The rules also provide that all receivers with a screen size 13” or more, as well as other all other TV receiving devices (such as VCRs, DVDRs, etc.) must have DTV tuners by July 1, 2007.

The CEA and CERC asked the Commission to eliminate the 50% requirement for mid-sized sets, and to move up the date for full compliance for mid-sized sets to March 1, 2006 to address certain difficulties posed by the 50%. In its Report and Order, the Commission denied the request for elimination of the intermediate 50% compliance deadline, stating that such an action would delay the wider dissemination of DTV tuners in products of this size and would be inconsistent with its efforts to advance the DTV transition as rapidly as possible. The Commission did move up the date for 100% compliance for mid-sized TV receivers from July 1, 2006 to March 1, 2006, the earliest feasible date according to the industry.

May 31, 2005: I feel so sorry for President Bush. One of the main contributors to his reputation of not being very bright is his mangling of the English language. Mispronouncing words is one thing. But, speaking to reporters at the White House on May 31, 2005, he mentioned the Amnesty International report about our detention facilities in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He noted that some of the captives there had been trained in some instances to "disassemble." He added, "that means not tell the truth." Not exactly, Sir. To disassemble means to take something apart, like a car engine. The word you were seeking but could not seem to find in your elocution quiver was "dissemble," which can mean to put on a false appearance, or to conceal facts or intentions. Even then, it would possibly be a stretch to call dissembling lying - more like obfuscating the facts. Close enough for government work. But, "disassemble" is not even close enough for government work.

May 31, 2005: Paris Hilton is engaged. If I were a mainstream journalist, I would never let my name be associated with reporting the following quote: "I'm so in love and grateful to have found such an honest and loyal person. I feel like we were meant to be, and I'm happy to have found someone to spend the rest of my life with." Does that mean she plans on dying within 18 months to three years?

June 5, 2005: If your read my archives, you will know that I have written often about the contradictions in our society for people of mixed races, particularly "blacks" who have one white parent. On CSPAN, "black" author Walter Mosley, was interviewed by Washington Post book editor, Marie Arana. Mr. Mosley said that his father was black and his mother Jewish. Later Marie said something about him being half black and half white. He was quick to correct her. "Half black and half Jewish." Interesting. In an earlier interview with Brian Lamb of CSPAN, Lamb said, Walter Mosley said: ".... a lot of people say, 'Well, your mother's white.' And I say, 'No, my mother's Jewish.'" And later .... "the Jews are--you know, they're a race of people, like black people ...." Mr. Mosley would get an argument from many Jewish scholars and from many anthropologists who say there is no such thing as a "Jewish race." But the burning question Marie Arana did not ask was, "What is the significance of that big ring you wear - and why do you shift it from finger to finger to thumb as you speak?" I've never seen anything like that. Please Walter, you've told us that you write in the nude, now tell us what the ring thing is all about.

Useless trivia about Watergate. It interests me that so many people associated with the Watergate era used initials instead of first names. J. Edgar Hoover - FBI Director, L. Patrick Gray - who was appointed FBI Director after Hoover's death, W. Mark Felt - number two man at the FBI and "Deep Throat," G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt, masterminds of the DNC Watergate break in, and H.R. Halderman, Nixon's Chief of Staff. Others will eventually come to mind.

In the Outback for March 10, 2005, I wrote an article entitled: "Amiodarone (Cordarone) Forced by FDA to Admit Lethal Effects." The FDA made it clear that Amiodarone had several potential lethal side effects and was not to be prescribed for Atrial Fibrillation (AFIB). Incredibly, the May 5, 2005, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine published an article which concluded that Amiodarone and Sotalol were about equally effective in controlling AFIB. But, that Amiodarone was superior for maintaining sinus (normal) rhythm. The only possible explanation for publishing this article is that NEJM articles, like many magazine articles, are "set in concrete" several months in advance of publication. We can only hope that the doctors who read this NEJM article had also read the FDA edict about the labeling and prescribing of Amiodarone. Once again, if your doctor prescribes Amiodarone or Cordarone for AFIB, find another doctor to treat you.

There has been substantial grousing about the FBI wanting to expand the scope of "mail covers" in the U.S. in relation to terrorist investigations. A mail-cover is where all mail to or from a person or an address is either photocopied on the outside or opened covertly and the contents also copied. Don't lose any sleep that the FBI will be putting a mail-cover on you. This is a very labor intensive operation and can only be used effectively if the targets are carefully chosen and limited in number. When I wrote my spy novel, "Serpent on The Hill," which was about a Russian KGB "illegal" (falsely-documented spy) who slipped into the country and eventually became a U.S. Senator, etc., I sent a copy to Yuri Andropov, then head of the Soviet Union and a former KGB chief. I asked him to read the book and provide me with a quote for my dust jacket, which of course, would have made the book a runaway bestseller, even it was crap. When I did not hear from Andropov, I sent another book to him via the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C. About a year later, I got a call from the FBI in Dallas wanting to know why I was sending mail to the Russian Embassy. After I explained the situation, and that I had talked about this on a nationally-syndicated radio show, and so on - and we had a good laugh - I suggested that I was happy that the FBI still had a mail cover on the Russian Embassy, but not happy that it took them so long to contact me. So, like I said, don't lose any sleep worrying about your mail being read.

The Statin Alert of the Week. Researchers at the Stanford Prevention Research Center found that among patients with high cholesterol in moderate and high-risk groups, fewer than half of patient visits in 2002 ended with a statin recommendation. Use of these drugs overall grew during the decade, but doctors said the drugs were still underused, in particular among moderate-risk patients. The study was funded by Merck Co., which manufactures statins Zocor and Mevacor, and by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. I don't have time right now to research the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality - or their sources of funding. Maybe later. The guidelines for who should be treated with a statin continue to expand. What is a "moderate-risk" patient, for example?

The prescriptions that your doctor writes are being spied upon and compiled in lists that are sold to pharmaceutical representatives. By putting together information from various sources, such as a specific doctor's prescriptions that are filled, drug salespeople know who to concentrate on with their pitches, who to offer incentives to, and so on. Each doctor has a Federal DEA number and the American Medical Assoc. earns about $20 million a year from selling its database of physicians, including their DEA number. The patient's names are not included, but my guess is it is only a matter of time before that happens. For example, I know that Wal-Mart has a sophisticated tracking program that tracks what you buy if you pay by check. So, if I were to fill a prescription there, I would pay cash, but I would still be in the computer at the pharmacy. No place to hide. I get my Rx via mail order through my health plan, along with millions of others. I am afraid to think about what is done, or could be done, with the database these large suppliers amass. Drug companies spend $15 billion on marketing, versus $33 billion on R&D.

Vitamin E and Harvard Med

The more reports I read from the Harvard Medical community, the less regard I have for them. The latest bit of lunacy appeared in the "Harvard Heart Letter" for June of 2005. "Bid Farewell to an Old But Unhelpful Friend," is an article about Vitamin E. They say that "The Harvard-based Women's Health Study should really be the last word on Vitamin E and heart disease." Their conclusion is that Vitamin E does not help you avoid heart attacks, strokes, or other major cardiovascular events. They suggest that you may want to wean yourself from Vitamin E by reducing your dose until you are taking no Vit E.

There are several troubling aspects to the Harvard Heart Letter advice regarding Vitamin E. First, just because they say that studies show that Vit E does not help avoid cardio problems, why you should dump it? What about the solid evidence from thousands of trials that show that Vitamin E is helpful in other areas? And the increasing number of new studies that show Vitamin E has promise in ameliorating a variety of illnesses? The "Physician's Desk Reference (PDR) for Nutritional Supplements" devotes nearly 18 pages to Vitamin E, with mostly positive comments. No other supplement in the PDR comes close to this much coverage. For example, in the Nurses' Health Study, of 87,000 nurses, there was a 34% reduction in coronary heart disease risk among those women in the highest versus the lowest quintile of Vitamin E intake.

Many other studies point to protection or amelioration in a variety of conditions, from delaying the onset of macular degeneration of the eyes, to prostate cancer, to other cancers, to Parkinson's disease, to reduced risk of Alzheimer's by 60 percent (with Vit E 400IU and 500mg Vit C) to name only a few of the areas in a very, very long list.

Now the Harvard Heart Letter tells us that because they have proven beyond any doubt that Vitamin E does not protect you from cardiovascular complications, you should abandon it entirely? What about the other myriad things where it might be helpful?

The really nettlesome thing was trying to get to the bottom of the Women's Health Study. It took me over an hour to find the article on the study. Unless I have completely misread the searches, the article in contained in the March 31, 2005 edition of the "New England Journal of Medicine." The title of the article is: "A Randomized Trial of Low-Dose Aspirin in the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Women." The study randomly assigned 39,876 women to receive 100mg of aspirin on alternate days - or a placebo - and monitored them for 10 years for a first major cardiovascular event. And I was looking for a Vitamin E study of 40,000 women. What a wild Goose chase that was. The conclusion was that aspirin lowered the risk of stroke in women without affecting the risk of heart attack or death from cardiovascular causes. (Of course, many studies have shown that aspirin protects against heart attacks in men. Who will figure out the disparity between men and women?)

And what about the "last word on Vitamin E and heart disease"? In the article in NEJM, under Study Design: The Women’s Health Study is a two-by-two factorial trial evaluating the balance of risks and benefits of low-dose aspirin (100 mg every other day; Bayer HealthCare) and vitamin E (600 IU every other day; Natural Source Vitamin E Association), in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer..... A total of 39,876 women were willing, eligible, and compliant during the run-in period and underwent randomization: 19,934 were assigned to receive aspirin and 19,942 to receive placebo. There is no mention that the women were given Vitamin E or placebo, only aspirin or placebo.

Under Statistical Analysis is the following snippet: "and other randomized treatment assignments - vitamin E and beta-carotene, which was a component of the trial for a median of 2.1 years footnote 17."

Footnote 17.

Yet, you can find summary after summary that concludes that: "The Women's Health Study also assessed the benefits of vitamin E supplementation (600 IU every other day). These findings, also presented at ACC, indicate there was no evidence of cardiovascular benefit or increased risk from taking a vitamin E supplement. Analyses of the effect of vitamin E and aspirin on cancer are under way." (Elizabeth Nabel, M.D., Director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health)

The WHS was conducted in women 45 years of age and older with no history of coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, cancer, or any other major chronic illness.[3,4] In the cardiovascular component, which was funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), potential subjects first entered a 3-month placebo run-in period. A total of 39,876 women were then randomized to either aspirin 100 mg every other day or aspirin/placebo. In a 2 x 2 factorial design, subjects in each group were also rerandomized to vitamin E 600 IU every other day or vitamin E/placebo. Aspirin/placebo and vitamin E/placebo were taken on alternate days. Mean follow-up from randomization to the end of the trial was 10.1 years.

The WHS (Women's Health Study) found that supplementation with vitamin E (600 IU every other day) in healthy women aged 45 years and older had no effect on major cardiovascular events, individual endpoints, or all-cause mortality. (footnote 10)

Footnote 10.

Buring JE, Lee I-M, for the Women's Health Study Research Group. A randomized trial of vitamin E in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in 39,876. Program and abstracts of the American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Session 2005; March 6-9, 2005; Orlando, Florida. Late Breaking Clinical Trials 1.

(end of excerpts from Medscape)

Yet, after hours of searching, I cannot find the definitive narrative about how the Vitamin E part of the study was evaluated, except terse statements like "Vitamin E had no effect on major cardiovascular events, individual endpoints, or all-cause mortality."

To restate my point. Even if we accept the WHS conclusion (however roundabout it was arrived at) that Vitamin E does not help in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, the advice to stop taking Vitamin E is ludicrous. So, even if the WHS study is right about Vitamin E, and I don't subscribe to the idea that it is "the last word" on the subject, what about all the other good things it might be doing for you? It seems (from what appears to be reliable sources) that probably a majority of Cardiologists take Vitamin E supplements. The WHS Vitamin E results, even if they are right, are only a tiny part of the larger Vitamin-E story.

To paraphrase Charlton Heston, when he was president of the National Rifle Assoiciation, "The only way you are going to take away my Vitamin E supplements is to pry them from my cold, dead hand."

You will remember that the media was abuzz with a study that showed that taking Vitamin E could actually increase your risk of death! That meta-analyses has been soundly discredited. There were even full-page ads in major newspapers, taken out by doctors and other health-care professionals, which described the Vit E meta-analyses as junk science.

Here are some excerpts from an article written by Dr. Julian Whitaker, M.D., the author of a couple of books on heart disease and one of the most widely-read health newsletters in the United States:

Julian Whitaker, M.D.

"You may have read the ridiculous headlines from the last day or so stating that vitamin E supplementation does more harm than good. A meta-analysis published online in the Annals of Internal Medicine reviewed the results of 19 clinical trials on vitamin E. Researchers reported that taking high doses of vitamin E (greater than 400 IU per day) increased risk of all-cause mortality and concluded that high dose vitamin E supplements should be avoided.

Now, let's take a look at what you didn't read and why this recommendation is absurd.

First, the participants in this review of studies were already suffering from a wide range of medical conditions from heart disease and cancer to kidney disease and Alzheimer's. As the researches themselves admitted, it's impossible to ascertain if results would be the same in a healthy population.

Second, the statistical analysis is suspect. Only nine of the 19 studies focused solely on vitamin E, while 10 looked at vitamin E combined with other vitamins and minerals. Thus, any outcome can hardly be conclusive. .... Thousands of studies support vitamin E's role in cardiovascular health, immune function, and a number of other conditions."

Here are some excerpts from an article by Dr. Kenneth Cooper, M.D., M.P.H. of the famed Cooper Institute and Aerobics Center in Dallas:

"Earlier this year (January 2004) Peter Zandi, Ph.D., of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health authored a paper which was published in the Archives of Neurology. That study, which lasted five years, of 4,740 adults aged 65 and older, indicated that subjects who consumed between 500 and 1,000 milligrams of vitamin C and between 400 and 1,500 IU of vitamin E per day reduced the risk of Alzheimer's disease by 64 to 78 percent.

Since 1997 Cooper Concepts has been intensely involved in the research of supplementation. The advisory board of consultants is made up of some of the most esteemed scientists in the country. The formulations of all Cooper Complete supplements are based not only on our research (which has been published in major scientific journals including The American Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American College of Nutrition), but also on the latest research that is available from around the world. Currently, Cooper Complete Basic One contains 400 IU of vitamin E, the original formula of Cooper Complete contains 800 IU of E, and Cooper Complete Elite contains 1,200 IU.

(Dr. Kenneth Cooper is the author of many books on exercise, a healthy diet, controlling blood pressure, and on nutritional supplements. I have had the privelege of knowing Dr. Ken Cooper for over 30 years. I was one of the original members of the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas and remained a member for nearly 20 years, until I moved away from Dallas. I was an early member of the 5,000 mile club, those at the Center who had jogged 5,000 miles. In the early days, when he read the printouts from the computer data we typed in after workouts, Ken would jog with me and recite my best time for two miles, and so on. He would give me my treadmill stress test, until the membership got so large that he had to divide up the work. He has more data on exercise results than probably any other doctor in the world. Certainly more long-term data. We were keeping computer records of our exercise way back in the early 1970s.)

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Bob Woodward and Deep Throat

Of all the words written recently about Watergate-era "Deep Throat," an FBI top official named W. Mark Felt, I find one statement impossible to believe. It is said that when Deep Throat wanted to set a meeting with Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, he would circle page number 20 of the New York Times on which was then contained the drawing of the hands of a clock - indicating the time he wanted to meet. Woodward lived in an apartment on the sixth floor. Woodward says that at the time the NY Times were stacked up at the front desk in the lobby, with the apartment numbers marked on the outside. One author, who did his own checking of many of the Watergate events and claims, says that the New York Times were delivered in an unaddressed stack in the lobby. Thus, there was no way for Woodward to retrieve his "marked" copy.

I have not come up with any scenario that would be acceptable "tradecraft" for the clock-face-in-the-paper gambit that would not possibly lead back to Mr. Felt. Surely Mr. Felt could not confide in anyone else that the newspaper destined for Bob Woodward in Apt. 617 at 1718 P St. N.W. should have coded markings in it. Or were there others at the FBI in on the plan to leak? They had good reason to, as Nixon was politicizing the FBI after Hoover's death. Even accepting that the NY Times were "marked," it is hard to conceive of more than three people who could have done it, the newspaper delivery person, or a desk clerk at Woodward's apartment, if one existed at the time. Or, if the papers were left unattended in the lobby, someone slipping in and marking the paper for Woodward. All highly improbable. I cannot imagine Deep Throat going into the lobby of Woodward's apartment building and marking up the NY Times. Not with all his adominitions to Woodward about being "careful."

Also, Mr. Woodward says that his signal to Deep Throat that he wanted a meeting was to move a flowerpot with a small red flag in it to the front of his balcony. The balcony was in a courtyard and not visible from the street, but only from a back alley or from other nearby buildings. Woodward has said that in the early 1970s his apartment balcony was visible from the street. This signal was to be used only when Woodward needed to have an urgent meeting with W. Mark Felt, Deep Throat. Are we to believe that Mr. Felt, who was totally involved in helping run the FBI at that time, would take the time each day, each week, or whatever, to come by Woodward's apartment to check the flag in the flowerpot?

How far was FBI headquarters from Woodward's apartment, for example? At least a couple of miles. And surely Mark Felt could not entrust someone else to check for the red flag. Or did he? Perhaps Mr. Woodward, in his forthcoming book about Deep Throat, "The Secret Man," can shed some more light on what appear to be unusual assertions about checking on red flags and notes in a newspaper left at the apartment desk. In the meantime, I find the whole explanation of the "contact signals" lacks credibility. Bob Woodward, when asked recently, said he had no idea how Deep Throat managed to mark page 20 and insert the meeting time by clockface in Woodward's copy of the New York Times. Some who have followed the Watergate affair closely are even questioning whether Mark Felt is actually Deep Throat.

In normal tradecraft, Woodward would have been told to leave some marking in a public place somewhere near (but out of sight of) FBI headquarters - more convenient for Felt to access. For example, a piece of tape or a chalk mark in a public restroom in a coffee shop, etc. And the same for Deep Throat's contact for the meeting time, left at some public place where Felt would likely go during his normal workday. For example, a meeting might normally be at 2 a.m., but a chalk mark could be made with a -2 for 12 midnight, or a +1 for 3 a.m., and the date of the meeting could similarly be disguised. Or, even a pretext phone call about a fictitous person who wanted to meet Felt for dinner or drinks (and mentally add 6 hours for the actual meeting time) .

And - who should be the least inconvenienced in this? Felt was a busy and important man at the FBI. Woodward was a 29-year old cub reporter. Would it be made more convenient for Woodward, with only moving a flower pot or going down to the desk to pick up a marked NY Times? I simply don't buy any of that. Which gives rise to the speculation that Felt was not the only one at the FBI talking out of school, or helping Felt in his endeavor. All this will no doubt fuel conspiracy theories for years. I think the fat lady has yet to sing.

I also am troubled by the vision of young Bob Woodward wandering the streets at 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. (he was told never to take a cab directly to the meeting garage), going on foot into a parking garage and later emerging on foot. Police patrols would find this behavior suspicious if observed. There are not too many people on foot at around 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. in Rosslyn, one would assume. And apparently, they always met in the same garage in Rosslyn, Virginia. This is not a good practice. The meeting places should have been varied, and the next one agreed to upon the completion of each meeting. For all his emphasis on how cautious he (Woodward) and Felt (Deep Throat) were about their meetings, I find the scenarios lacking good tradecraft.

Much is being made by Ron Kessler and others about a meeting Woodward had with W. Mark Felt at his home in California in 1999, shortly after there had been some questions in the press as to whether Carl Bernstein had told his then wife, Nora Ephron, the identity of Deep Throat. ("The Bureau: The Secret History of the FBI," by Ron Kessler.) But one paragraph in Ron's book jumps out at me. "The (FBI) agents were amazed to see material in Woodward and Bernstein's stories lifted almost verbatim from their reports of interviews a few days or weeks earlier." The general source should have been obvious, someone high up in the FBI, with general access to case reports. W. Mark Felt, or some other source at the FBI? Or several sources at the FBI? Ron worked at the Washington Post during the Watergate reporting and had a desk next to Carl Bernstein, but himself was not involved in the Watergate reporting.

(Ron's book on the FBI is one of the best I have ever read on the subject. Ron called me after he read my review of his book on Amazon, complimenting me on the review. He and I subsequently talked on the phone and via e-mail about matters of mutual interest.)

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Clean Up Your Computer Desktop

Microsoft XP provides several beautiful backgrounds for your monitor's desktop, some of which look like oil paintings. It pains me to see so many people destroy the beauty of a lovely desktop background by putting 30 to 40 icons on the desktop. Here are some thoughts about how to limit the number of icons on your desktop and preserve the often-beautiful background. I have no icons on the Desktop, not even the Recycle Bin.

For programs that you use most every day, drag an icon to the Taskbar Quick Launch area. First, right-click on the Taskbar at the bottom of your screen and under Toolbars make sure that Quick Launch is checked. Programs in the Quick Launch area require only one click to launch. If an icon is not on the desktop, you can put one there by clicking on Start (or press the Microsoft Key), All Programs, select the program, right-click and choose Send to Desktop (create shortcut). Then, right-click on the program icon on the Desktop, drag it to the Taskbar Quick Launch area on of the left and select Move Here.

I have my Dialup icon, and icons for WordPerfect, Firefox, Eudora, Quicken, my file manager (Power Desk Pro 6), Musicmatch Jukebox, Windows Media Player and a shortcut to Show Desktop in the Quick Launch area on the Taskbar. Also there are two folders I created and Moved to Quick Launch, Programs, and Backup. The folder icons were changed so that I could recognize the icon without seeing the associated name. For example, the Programs folder icon was changed to a gold Star and the Backup icon to a Hard Drive.

The Quick Launch part of the Taskbar can take up a lot of room if you load it with many icons. You can fix it so that it shows only the programs or folders you use every day. First, right-click on the Taskbar and uncheck Lock the Taskbar. Drag the double vertical line of dots to the right until the Quick Launch shows all the icons you have dragged there. Next, drag the icons to the left into the order in which you normally use them. I prefer to have the least used of my "daily use" icons at the left, working my way up to Eudora, Firefox, and my Dialup icon. To the right of my Dialup icon are the remaining icons for programs and folders that I want in Quick Launch, but don't use as often.

Now, drag the right-hand set of vertical dots back to the left until you see only the list of your "hot use" icons. In my case, the first icon on the right of the Quick Launch bar is for Dialup. A >> will appear, which means that there are more icons stacked if you click on the >>. These are your secondary-level icons. Right-click on the Taskbar and check Lock the Taskbar. You may have to jump back and forth between Locked and Unlocked, and drag the Quick Launch vertical dots back and forth until you get all the icons you want to show and the secondary ones only available by clicking on the >>.

For programs that you do not use almost everyday, but frequently, you can pin them to the Start Menu. Click Start (or MS Key) and then All Programs. Select the icon for a program, right-click and select "Pin to Start menu." You can always delete ("Unpin") icons from the Start Menu if you change your mind. Because I rarely use IE6, I do not have an icon for it on my Desktop. The IE6 icon is "pinned to the Start Menu."

The Programs icon was first created by right-clicking on the Desktop, selecting New and Folder and renaming the new folder Programs. I also changed the icon to a Gold Star. In this folder, I keep shortcut icons for nearly 20 programs or utilities that I need from time to time, such as Ad-Aware, HP copy Utility, HP Scanner, Paint Shop Pro 9, and so on. I dragged this icon (with a right-click) to the Quick Launch part of the Taskbar and selected Move Here. So, with the programs and folders on the Taskbar, and those programs "Pinned" to the Start Menu, and the "Handy" Toolbar (more later), I seldom have to look for programs under Start, All Programs.

The Backup icon on the Desktop is another New Folder, which is renamed Backup and the folder icon changed to a Hard Drive icon. In this folder, I keep shortcuts to batch files that back up my e-mail, my homepage, Firefox bookmarks, Docs from Word Perfect (those not already archived into one of my many WP sub-folders), Palm Pilot files (in case I lose my Palm and the program crashes), database backups, and those hard-won User voice files in Dragon Naturally Speaking 8. I use some of these backup batch files several times a day. All these files are backed up to an external USB hard drive. The Backup folder was dragged to the Quick Launch area and Moved there.

There is one icon in the BackUp folder called BackItUp. Nero 6 Ultra Edition has a wonderful back up utility which allows you to configure Jobs and select the destination for the backup. There are more sophisticated backup programs, but some cost almost as much as the entire Nero suite. I have two Jobs. Each Job contains every folder I can think of that contains any data, even down to drivers for my monitors and the encrypted file for my password program. One Job backs all these files up to the external USB hard drive, and the second Job backs up the same data to a DVD-R disk. I run the hard-drive Job about once a week and the DVD-R job about once a month. Remember, each day, or more often, I am constantly backing up recently-worked on files using those archaic things called batch files.

Another new folder is labeled "Handy." I became frustrated while working in a program or surfing the Internet when I needed a program like WordPad or a dictionary, which might be buried in Start-All Programs. So, I made Desktop icons for WordPad and things like Password Agent, Notepad, ClipMate, Palm Desktop, a talking dictionary, and an icon to dial my secondary ISP (I use two dialup ISPs due to problems with dependability here in the Outback). Next, I right-clicked and Moved them all into the folder called "Handy." I then dragged the folder Handy into D:\MyDocs. So, the path to it is: D:\MyDocs\Handy.

If you right-click on the Taskbar, you can click on Toolbars, and under New Toolbars you can select any folder on your computer. I used the folder-selection window to drill down to D:\MyDocs\Handy and selected "Handy," and checked it to become an active Toolbar. On the right of the Taskbar, are icons for programs running in the background, like Antivirus, Firewall, Spyware program, and so on. Just to the left of this, on the Taskbar, is the word "Handy" with >>. Clicking on the >> opens a list of the programs and folders inside Handy, with all my on-the-fly goodies in there. Remember this is all on the Taskbar, so you never have to dump off to the Desktop View. Very handy, as it turns out. The reason I made this a Toolbar instead of a folder that I dragged to Quick Launch is that if it was in Quick Launch, the folder would open, then double-click a program icon to open the program, and then close the Handy folder. With it as a Toolbar, clicking on Handy presents a cascased menu of programs. Double click on one and that is it. This is cleaner when you are working in some other program and need something else on the fly. I have two LCD screens and can open the second progam from "Handy," or any other place, and drag it to a screen different from the one I am working on.

Recycle Bin: There are several ways to get the Recycle Bin icon off the Desktop. One, drag the Recycle Bin to the Start button and you will "Pin" the Recycle Bin to the Start Menu. Next, right-click on the Desktop and under "Arrange Icons By" uncheck "Show Desktop Icons." A second way to remove the Recycle Bin icon from the Desktop is to use TweakUI, part of PowerToys from Microsoft. Be sure to first drag the Recyle Bin icon to the Start button to pin it to the Start Menu. TweakUI can be downloaded by itself at the Microsoft PowerToys site. TweakUI allows you to show or not show icons on the Desktop for IE6, My Computer, My Documents, My Network Places, and the Recycle Bin. There are also Registry tweaks which I will not go into here.

The final step in clearing the Desktop, which I do not use, is to right-click on the Taskbar and select Properties. Under Properties, you can check "Auto-hide the taskbar." Then, the Taskbar will not appear on your Desktop until you drag the cursor over the bottom of the screen. Also, while you are in Properties, you might uncheck "Hide Inactive Icons." This hides icons currently not in use in the Taskbar "Notification Area." This is where background-program icons like ZoneAlarm, Antivirus, and Spyware are shown. I prefer to know which icons are there, as there might be some hidden ones that I would really like to get rid of. A lot of new program installation routines put icons on the Taskbar you don't want. If you use Hide Inactive Icons, you may never notice what is lurking behind the scenes and sapping your system resources or causing problems.

One other note. If you right click on the Desktop, you will see "Arrange Icons By." Uncheck "Auto Arrange." That is what causes all your icons to cluster in vertical columns at the left of your screen. Now, you can drag any icon you may have left on the Desktop and drop it off wherever you want, such as down among the leaves of Autumn.

This all may sound confusing to the casual user of Windows, but if you will print this section (highlight and Print Selection) and follow the steps, in a few minutes you will probably have no icons on your desktop and will be able to enjoy the lovely views that Microsoft has been so kind as to provide for you. And most every program you use often will be only a click or two away.

There are probably more clever and less convoluted ways to accomplish what I have done with icons, Quick Launch, etc., but this basic idea has worked well for me for years with Windows XP. A confession. When I started to write this piece yesterday, I had FOUR icons on my Desktop. Now I have NONE. I learned something just by trying to explain this mess. After you have mastered these techniques, you can become a Clean Desktop Snob. Go around looking at people's Desktops and say to them, "My, what a mess with all those icons. I guess Microsoft wasted all its time with the Autumn, Azul, and other Desktop backgrounds - if you can't see them for all the clutter." Then, offer to help, if you have not been run off.

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VCOM Fix-it Utilities 6 Professional

As part of my Norton/Symantec Free Zone on my computer, I started using VCOM Fix-it Utilities back with version 5. This program does some of the same things as Norton's System Works, but it has additional features. It is a very good value for all the versatility built into the program. On my computer, VCOM Fix-it Utilities has worked flawlessly. Now, I have installed version 6. I love it. Here are some of the features of version 6:

Disc Fixer automatically diagnoses and fixes disk problems, including (as an option) doing a sector by sector check of hard drives for bad or ailing sectors. Registry Fixer scans your registry for entries that are no longer needed or links that are broken, and so on. You're then shown a list of the potential entries that you may want to delete, with three color levels; green, yellow, and red.

The green boxes are automatically checked for removal, as these are the ones that most certainly need to be deleted. The yellow ones are questionable, but you can check any that you're pretty sure can be deleted. And the red ones are the ones to be cautious with, however you find many things like links to a downloaded file that you have moved to another folder - and many other things that are obviously no longer need. Although it is not automatic, like my last version of Norton System Works, this registry fixer is about as in-depth a one as you'll find. Over the years, I have been pretty aggressive in deleting registry entries, and have yet to break a program. To put this function into perspective, you can pay $29.95 for PC Tools Registry Mechanic, and cleaning up the Registry is its only function.

There is also Registry Defrag. This function compresses the registry, which allows faster booting, and probably speeds up some program access. The manual suggests that this function is probably not needed in Windows XP, but is useful in Windows 98SE and Windows ME.

JetDefrag is a much more sophisticated defragger than the one supplied with Windows XP. It is also much faster.

The Diagnostics menu has PC diagnostics which can be selectively run. It will perform a diagnostic on any or all of your computer and its peripherals, including RAM memory, motherboard, video card, DVD drive, and so on. This is an extremely in-depth diagnostic capability. There is also error tracking system for Windows error messages. Explorer is an in-depth look at your system and is similar to Win XP System Info, but with some additional categories. There is a media verifier which can be used to make sure that removable media can be read without errors. A series of system monitors can be set, and there are several levels of Smart Check for early warning of potential hard-drive failure.

The Recover menu provides for a Disk Snapshot of key disk information, such as your FAT and Boot Sectors. Used in connection with the file Undelter program, it is your first line of defense to restore your computer. A checkbox selection allows a Disk Snapshot every time your compuer boots. The Undeleter program saves files for recovery even beyond the kinds of files that are sent to the Recycle Bin.

Recovery Commander is like Win XP's System Restore on Steroids. It can be set to make a system checkpoint at intervals or whenever you install a new program. Used in connection with the installation CD, this can save your bacon in the event of a system crash. If you download the program from the Internet, there is a button to Create a Bootable Rescue CD.

The Cleanup menu has a DiskCleaner, that lists 21 types of files that it will clean. Normally, you would check only a few, such as Recycle Bin, Temp (.tmp) files, invalid shortcuts, and maybe temporary Help files (.gid). I have never seen a program that does a better job of getting rid of TEMP files. There is a Registry Cleaner, where you can clean your Recent Document List (that list gets huge over time), and the RUN list, that is those programs like MSCONFIG, and REGEDIT that you type in the RUN box. Often there are strange entries in the RUN Box that are no longer needed, or that you don't even recognize.

There is a One Stop Solutions Menu which are Wizards that automate some of the functions, but I prefer to plod along and understand exactly what I am about to do.

Version 6 also has Antivirus and Spyware protection. As soon as I installed the program from a CD (I cannot download big programs here on my rural dialup due to their size), I clicked on Update and had about 10MB of updates waiting. It took over an hour to download them. Most were antivirus and spyware files, but there already was an update to the Utilities. And I bought the CD from VCOM a couple of days earlier.

I have reservations about the Spyware detector/fixer. I have done a Deep Spyware scan several times. Each time it took less than 10 seconds. Something isn't right. I use three other spyware programs and they take minutes to run. It is impossible for me to believe that the geniuses at VCOM can complete a Deep Spyware scan in under 10 seconds.

The Antivirus program is from Trend Micro. This is a program that I considered when I built my Athlon 64 machine a few months ago. I never could get them to tell me if the Updates were only those files that I need to augment what I already had, or if the Update was the whole Antivirus signature file. Well, yesterday I clicked on Update and I had to download a 7MB Antivirus file, which took over half an hour. This is unacceptable on a rural dialup, or any dialup for that matter. Since I am very happy with eTrust EZ Antivirus from Computer Associates, which provides daily updates of normally around 200KB, I will not use the Trend Micro program that came with VCOM Fix-it Utilities 6.

The next day, I got a flag that more Updates were available. Actually, the flag did not say what program had updates, I just assumed it was VCOM because I had not seen that particular flag but once before. So, I clicked on EasyUpdate. It took three minutes on a dialup connection to reach the server. Once again, there was an Antivirus definition of over 7MB, obviously the entire file from scratch, not an augmentation to what I had already downloaded earlier. Estimated download time was 33 minutes! You gotta be kidding.

I clicked Cancel and then unchecked the box to notify me of Updates and checked the box for Manual Update. In other words, I will search for Updates (only for the Fix-it Utilities) every few weeks or months. My flirtation with the Antivirus and Spyware functions of this package are over! Of all the Antivirus programs I have used or have ever seen on a computer, the version of Trend Micro used by VCOM is the ONLY one I know of that does not update antivirus definitions with only the newer defs, not the whole virus definition file! This is inexcusable. No wonder Trend Micro never gave me a straight answer months back when I queried them about how their virus defs update worked.

During the install process, you are given the option to install Power Desk 5 from VCOM. This is the file manager that Explorer only wishes it were. For years, there was a "light" version of Power Desk 5 available for free download. I bought Power Desk Pro 5, and recently upgraded to Power Desk 6 Pro. I did not install the Power Desk 5, since I already had Power Desk Pro 6 on my hard drive. But you will find that Power Desk 5 is still one of the most versatile file managers you can find. Power Desk Pro 6 is so rich with features, that you need to go to the VCOM site to check it out at: www.v-com.com (www.vcom.com is NOT what you want). When I configure a new computer, as soon as the operating system is installed, VCOM Power Desk (Pro) is the first program I install. I feel blind without it. Once you use it, you will wonder how you functioned without it.

For example, in Power Desk Pro, the function to Unzip files appears to be able to unzip nearly every known form of compressed file known to man. In everyday work, I have never had it fail to unzip a file or had a file unzipped with errors. There is also and Encrypt/Decrypt function for files and folders. I archive all my old e-mail from years back, but I Encrypt the archives in case a Trojan or Virus gets into my computer and wants to delve into my e-mail addresses or the content of any old e-mail. The Destroy function will wipe files or folders so the data cannot be recovered. This is similar to the "Wipe" function of several programs, where data is overwritten with new patterns, so that the data cannot be recovered. The Destroy function is useful to expunge personal files when you sell or give away a computer - or your wife is about to discover your porn stash and your online chat files with your "girlfriend." Of course, you should have been using Encrypt/Decrypt all along - and have the password memorized. These are only a few of the dozens of features of Power Desk 6 Professional.

From the installation CD, you can also install the free Adobe Reader 6.0, for reading .PDF files. Since the free Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0 has been available since the end of 2004, you wonder why VCOM could not have included this latest version. They are not alone. Program disks of all stripes seem to always be one or two versions behind on Adobe. Maybe it is a contract issue. Although you and I can download Adobe Reader 7 for free and have been able to for at least six or seven months (and recently upgrades to 7.01 and 7.02). In fairness, I just bought a new MP3 player. The install disk had Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 on it. What is it with these software people? Do they think we are completely stupid, or just slightly?

One more really strange thing. For the heck of it, I decided to run the Trend Micro deep virus scan. It hung up forever and ever while searching in a folder called C:\VCOM\MXCYCLE. The problem is that I can find no such folder on my hard drive, not even with "show all system files." After registering at Customer Support, I asked VCOM, "What the heck is MXCYCLE and where is it hidden? I can't find it on my hard drive(s)." Here was their automated response: "MXCYCLE is part of the file Undeleter. Open the file Undeleter and uncheck all drives, then select next and click the empty bins button. Or just delete the folder to empty them."

That is all very nice, except that when I checked in the Undeleter menu and screens, I could find no way to "click the empty bins button." And how could I delete the Folder if I can't find it on my hard drive? I am in no mood after 25 years of computer Hell to get into a round-robin contest with automated support, so I will send this article to the president of VCOM and see if he or she would care to comment about the mystery folder and the mystery "empty bin button." And why the Antivirus appears to download the entire signature file of several (7) Megabytes each time files are available when you use EasyUpdate. EasyUpdate ought to be renamed "Update, if you are really patient."

Even with my qualms about the Spyware detector that most likely cannot do a good check in under 10 seconds, the apparent download of the entire Antivirus signature file (many Megabytes) during Update, and my inability to find and delete the files in C:\VCOM\MXCYCLE, I highly recommend this program! I bought it for the Utilities, which are superb. Why every company thinks they have to load up even a Utility program with Antivirus and Spyware protection, is beyond me. Over many years, I have had the best computing experience by using a separate Anti-virus program, a separate Firewall, and a separate disk Utility program. The reasons are complex, and I have written about them elsewhere in the Outback.

So, I am now a Norton/Symantec-Free Zone. I use VCOM Fix-it Utilities 6 Professional, EZ-Antivirus, Zone Lab Pro, and my partitioning software is also from VCOM, Partition Commander 9. Frankly, Partition Commander 9 is not as intuitive or as facile as Norton's Partition Magic. Although I was able, for instance, to partition my external USB drive into two partitions and convert the file format from FAT32 to NTFS.

VCOM and others - please keep providing alternatives to Norton/Symantec products. Their stuff has gotten so complex that it is strangling in its own spit.

Update, July 2, 2005: In response to a letter I sent to VCOM with my complaints and misgivings (with a copy of my review of VCOM Fix-it Utilities 6.0 Pro), I got an e-mail. With regard to getting rid of the MXCYCLE files (which are associated with file Undeleter) their automated response had sent me the instructions for Version 5, not for my Version 6. They provided the corrected instructions. I complained that it takes "forever" to log onto the EasyUpdate site (and always has since Version 5, which I have had for years), VCOM says the issue has been resolved. I tried EasyUpdate with a 40.0kbps log-on on my dialup (the highest I ever get) and reached the server in 14 seconds! What a difference. But there they were, more than 10MB of anti-spyware, anti-malware, and anti-virus definitions. No thanks, not on a dialup. I suspect that the Anti-spyware and Anti-malware are also not incremental. But, for me, this is presently moot. I backed out. The good news is that if there is an upgrade to the Fix-it 6.0 Pro Utilities program itself, I will be able to log onto the VCOM server in a timely manner. Trust me, this is news after YEARS of this site waiting and waiting to load.

VCOM said they are working on incremental updates for their Anti-virus program (instead of the monstrous 7MB, more or less, updates now available). The incremental updates should be available within 3-5 months. When this happens, Fix-it Utilities 6.0 will be an even better value, since Trend Micro has a good reputation for finding and fixing viruses. There was no mention in the e-mail about my comment that the Spyware module did a Deep Scan in 10 seconds, which in my view means there is something wrong with the module. I will apologize when someone can convince me that VCOM can do in 10 seconds what it takes 5-10 minutes for Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta, or Ad-Aware, or Spybot Search & Destroy to accomplish.

Update, March 16, 2006: The EasyUpdate that checks for updates for Fix-it 6 and Power Desk Pro is once again slower than slow, and I have recently installed Wildblue satellite Internet broadband. I give up on VCOM and their "not so EasyUpdate."

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COPYRIGHT 2000 Richard C. Rhodes

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