Tales from the Terminal Room

October 2000 Issue No. 14

Archives

.

Tales from the Terminal Room (TFTTR) is a monthly newsletter, with the exception of July and August, which are published as a single issue. TFTTR includes reviews and comparisons of information sources and search tools; updates to the RBA Web site Business Sources and other useful resources; dealing with technical and access problems on the Net; and news of RBA's training courses and publications.

In this issue:

• New and updated sites added to RBA's Business Sources on the Net
• Business Advice Online
• The World Gazetteer
• BAA - UK Flight Arrivals, Flight Timetable, Airport News
• National Rail - the Gateway to Britain's National Rail Network
• Zephus Mergers and Acquisitions Data
• These things are sent to try us!
• Uninstalling Unwanted Default Internet Connections
• Gizmo of the Month
• IE Personalizer
• Meetings and Training
• November 2nd, The Internet: search techniques and food related sites
• November 13th, How to Make More Effective Use of the Internet
• November 21st, Business Information on the Internet

Information Resources

General Sources http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/general.htm

Business Advice Online http://www.businessadviceonline.org/
Business Advice Online has been set up by the Small Business Service (SBS), a UK government agency whose aim is to help small businesses in a variety of ways. The SBS oversees and partly funds the work of the network of local Business Link offices that operate throughout England. The Web resources are organised into Business Topics but you can also carry out a free text search on the site.

This is a straightforward site to use with a refreshing absence of "advanced" technology (Flash, Java etc). My only complaint is that it is difficult to differentiate the actual hypertext links to resources from their descriptions. The site descriptions are in dark blue and the links in black.

As an aside, I do wonder where this site fits in relation to the Enterprise Zone (http://www.enterprisezone.org.uk/) that was launched in 1997 by the DTI and supported by Business Link. The Enterprise Zone claims that it can help you with links to "information, resources, or sources of expertise on Finance, I.T., Marketing, H.R., Export and other key business issues", all of which sounds very similar to Business Advice Online. Admittedly, the Enterprise Zone is for SMEs (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises) whereas Business Advice Online is for small businesses, but there is significant overlap in content and aims. And when it comes to choosing between the two it is "No Contest" as far as I am concerned: Business Advice Online wins hands down!

I have always found the Enterprise Zone bedevilled by technology: pointless animations, Java and confusing JavaScript rollover menus that make it difficult to get to the relevant information. Believe me, I have tried on numerous occasions! But apart from the overall layout and design of the site, there is a question mark hanging over the quality of the Enterprise Zone's "accredited" sites.

Originally, resources were vetted according to a stringent set of criteria. For a site to be passed by the panel of experts was an honour indeed. Then about 18 months ago, a "questionnaire" was sent to the owners of accredited sites asking their opinion on paying a fee of GBP 750 a year for accreditation. I gave them my very strong opinion and declined their generous offer, as did several other accredited Web site owners that I know. The subscription policy is now in place on the Enterprise Zone. Paid for placements and listings are becoming commonplace but, even with an assessment procedure in place, one cannot help but wonder whether a site is listed because of the quality of its information or because it hands over wads of cash every year. As far as I can tell, Business Advice Online assesses sites purely on merit.

Statistics and Market Research http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/stats.htm

The World Gazetteer http://www.gazetteer.de/
Current population figures for cities, towns and places of all countries. A very useful and easy to use site that provides information about the current population of countries, their administrative areas, cities and towns as well as images of the current national flags.

You can browse by continent or the alphabetical list of countries, or view a list of the largest cities. For each country, there is list of the cities and major towns and their populations. Full details of how the figures have been calculated are included in the Information section and there are links to related sources on the Web.

Miscellaneous Day to Day Essentials http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/misc.htm

BAA - UK Flight Arrivals, Flight Timetable, Airport News http://www.baa.co.uk/BAAHome.htm
Real time information on flight arrivals at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Southampton. Select the airport in question and type in as much information as you have (one or more of flight number, departure airport, time expected, terminal). If you only know the departure airport, for example Zurich, it will give you all the flights for the day from that airport, the time that they landed or the expected arrival time.

There is also a neat timetable/flight planner section supported by Official Airlines Guide (OAG) that gives you details of flights between two specified airports, but no prices or ticket ordering facilities. The number of airports covered is limited but one can usually track down similar sites for other airports by using the Google search engine (http://www.google.com/) and typing in the name of the airport together with the phrase "flight arrivals". Unfortunately, not all airport sites are as user friendly as BAA's. Manchester's, for example, insists that you register before it will let you anywhere near their flight arrivals section :-(

National Rail - the Gateway to Britain's National Rail Network http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/
Links to UK train companies, types of ticket, train running information (for example problems with the rail network in general, delays to services). There are no timetables or fare information but there is a very nice table of rail companies that summarises what information is available on their respective Web sites.

(As an aside, for those in the UK trying to keep up with the current delays and cancellations on the rail network, the Channel 4 News Web site (http://www.channel4.co.uk/news/) has all the latest news with links to sites giving more detailed information.)

Mergers and Acquisitions http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/manda.htm

Zephus Mergers and Acquisitions Data http://www.zephus.com/
An interesting new and free service has been launched by Zephus. The Mergers and Acquisitions service provides summary deal information on deals that have been disclosed. As well as searching the database, users can request email alerts on industry sectors, individual companies and specific deals. Deals data involving continental European companies have been collated since August 1997 and since January 1999 for UK companies.

In order to get into the service you have to register for a free ID and password. You can then start building up your profile so that news and headlines in your main areas of interest are displayed when you log on.

The Basic Search enables you to search on company name, industry, deal type, time period and country or region. You can choose how your results should be sorted: completion date, announcement date, deal status, deal value or deal type.

The results screen gives the bidder, target, country, deal type, deal status, date announced, target activity, deal value and date when the deal was completed (if applicable).

The actual deal record includes hypertext links to the companies' web sites and information on the financial advisers.

The Advanced Search screen options include company name; bidder, target and vendor country; date and date range search; deal status; deal type and structure; target activity; financial data; and financial advisers. At various stages throughout the search you can choose to save the search for future use; this also includes an email alert option.

All of this information is provided free of charge so how does Zephus expect to support the product in the long term? According to a front page article in Information World Review (October 2000, no 162), Web sponsorship and advertising will contribute a relatively small proportion. The aim is to sell on other products to the user base, for example newsletters, print products, events and Intranet services. Hence the requirement for you to register in order to get past the Home page.

These things are sent to try us!

Uninstalling Unwanted Default Internet Connections

So you've finally messed up your Internet connection! That ultra- cheap, unmetered package was too good to miss, so you signed up online and clicked on the auto-configuration option. Or perhaps you used a special-offer CD? We've all done it - even those of us who should know better. It seemed a good idea at the time but now...

The problem

Every time you start up an Internet application, your PC tries to automatically connect to the Internet using your wonderful new ISP. And even if you do manage to stop it in time, all your software defaults have been set to the new ISP. But to top it all, the auto- configuration file decided that your Internet Explorer and Outlook Express needed a serious makeover and your toolbars and icons are now totally unrecognisable. IE keeps trying to connect to the home page of the usurper and you are not that keen on the title bar of both IE and Outlook Express proclaiming, to all your friends and colleagues, your undying allegiance to a service that you would rather not admit to using!

The solution

You could try uninstalling the wretched thing, but uninstall options are rarer than Dodos these days. Reinstalling or over installing your favourite ISP connection sometimes works but is not guaranteed. In any case, you may wish to keep your new ISP but as a back up and under your control.

The Practical Solution

1. Assuming that you wish to keep your new ISP, but under your control, the first thing you need to do is to curb its desire to be the most important thing on your computer and connecting to the Internet every time you fire up your browser or email program.

   Get into your PC's Control Panel (on our machines we click on the Start button, then select Settings followed by Control Panel.)

   Click on the Internet Options icon.

   Then Click on the Connections tab. Under the Dial up settings, you will probably see that the ISP is set up as the default and that "Always dial my default connection" is checked.

   First change the default by highlighting the connection that you want to be the default and clicking on the Set Default button.

   Then stop the automatic dialling by checking "Never dial a connection", which means that you have to manually start up the connection.

2. Now to sort out your email. If you are using Outlook Express as your email program then the new ISP will probably have commandeered your mail system and may automatically try to collect mail every time OE fires up.

   Go to Tools, Options, General and uncheck "Send and receive messages at start up".

   If you have absolutely no intention of using the ISP for email, then you may want to delete all references to it from OE. Go into Tools, Accounts, All and remove the news and mail servers from the list. Depending on your version of OE, you may also have to go into File, Identities, Manage Identities, and remove the offending item from the list.

3. Sorting out Internet Explorer.
   To stop IE trying to connect to the ISP's home page every time it starts, go to Tools, Internet Options and under General, Home page either click on the Use Blank button or type in the address of your preferred home page.

   Next - Favorites. The ISP will no doubt have superimposed its own favorites on top of yours. Click on Favorites, highlight the one(s) that you wish to delete, right click with your mouse and select Delete. If unwanted favorites have been added to your Links bar, hover over the link with your mouse, right click and select delete.

4. Undoing the makeovers. The easiest way to remove the "customisation" imposed on IE and Outlook Express by the new ISP is to use IE Personalizer (see Gizmo of the month below). It even lets you choose your own toolbar patterns, logos and define your own Title bar.

   You may also want to double check that no "spyware" was installed on your PC (more likely to occur if use a CD for the signing up) by running Ad-aware. See Gizmo of the month, in the September issue of Tales From the Terminal room - http://www.rba.co.uk/tfttr/sep2000.htm

You're Free!

Not exactly, but the above should get you operational. If you really want to purge your system of an "ISP from Hell", then going through the above steps and removing or deleting every reference to it that you can find is a start. Total eradication requires a "Find" on your entire hard disk and editing of the Registry, which is another story!

P.S. If you have any comments, experiences, or hard luck stories relating to the above I will be delighted to hear from you.

Gizmo of the Month

IE Personalizer

If you have ever used an Internet Service Provider's CD or installation software to set up your Internet connection, in most cases you will have found that the installation routine has "badged" your Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. In some cases, it is just a change to the logo in the top right hand corner of the browser and a reference to the ISP in the title bar (for example "Internet Access from WhizzBang Networks"!). In other cases, the toolbar and favorites may also have been "customised". Unfortunately these changes tend to stay put even if you uninstall the Internet connection in question. That is when IE Personalizer comes in useful.

IE Personalizer is a freeware program that allows you to customise IE to your preferences. Your changes are also applied to Outlook Express. You can change the browser's window title, the logos, the background of the toolbar, the page of the search button and its server identification. Or, if you prefer, you can revert to the Microsoft defaults.

IE Personalizer is available for Microsoft Windows 9X/NT4/2000. The program can be downloaded free of charge from the Access Codes Software Web site at http://accesscodes.hypermart.net/

Meetings and Workshops

November 2nd
Karen Blakeman will be giving a presentation on Search Techniques at the Leatherhead Food Research Association (The Internet: Search Techniques and Food Related Sites)
Venue: Leatherhead Food RA, Leatherhead, Surrey, UK
Contact: Training and Conference Administration, Leatherhead Food RA
Tel:01372 376761 Int. Tel: +44 1732 376761
Web: http://www.lfra.co.uk/

November 13th, How to Make More Effective Use of the Internet (http://www.rba.co.uk/training/effective.htm)
Course leader: Karen Blakeman
Organised by: RBA Information Services
Venue: TFPL Training Suite, 17-18 Britton Street, London EC1M 5TL

November 21st, Business Information on the Internet
Course leader: Karen Blakeman
Organised by: TFPL
Venue: TFPL Training Suite, 17-18 Britton Street, London EC1M 5TL
Tel: 020 7251 5522
Web: http://www.tfpl.com/

TFTTR Contact Information

Karen Blakeman, RBA Information Services
UK Tel: 0118 947 2256, Int. Tel: +44 118 947 2256
UK Fax: 020 8020 0253, Int. Fax: +44 20 8020 0253
Address: 88 Star Road, Caversham, Berks RG4 5BE, UK

Archives

TFTTR archives: http://www.rba.co.uk/tfttr/archives/index.shtml

Subscribe and Unsubscribe

To subscribe to the newsletter fill in the online registration form at http://www.rba.co.uk/tfttr/index.shtml

To unsubscribe, use the registration form at http://www.rba.co.uk/tfttr/index.shtml and check the unsubscribe radio button.

Privacy Statement

Subscribers' details are used only to enable distribution of the newsletter Tales from the Terminal Room. The subscriber list is not used for any other purpose, nor will it be disclosed by RBA or made available in any form to any other individual, organisation or company.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.

• to Share - to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work
• to Remix - to make derivative works

• Attribution. You must attribute the work to Karen Blakeman, and cite Tales from the Terminal Room as the source and include the year and month of publication.
• For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work.
• Any of these conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.