by Bob Click
Greater Orlando Computer User Group
From the September, 2006 issue of the I/O Port Newsletter
I wanted to change to a new cardiologist, but finding one who does not make me
see a nurse practitioner to do the normal routine office visits is difficult. I
have complained about this before and the situation is getting more common. I
visited one cardiologist who told me point blank that I would have to see his NP
most of the time since that was their policy, so I am trying another one. This
doctor also uses a NP but I don't know yet if they have the same policy and will
discuss it on my next visit. I am not trying to discredit nurse practitioners or
physician assistants, but if I am paying for a doctor, I think I should see one.
The response to my complaint is that "there is a doctor on the premises."
However, when I saw an NP in the past, they did not consult a doctor, but gave
me their instructions after they asked me some questions. While NPs and PAs are
probably very competent in what they are qualified to do, the NP or PA has
nowhere near the training the doctor has and I want the benefit of that since
the office call is no cheaper when you see the NP rather than the doctor.
I read where there will soon even be clinics that will be run by NPs. They will
be cheaper and claim these offices will only be for minor conditions. On the
other hand, I have no doubt that there are some NPs and PAs who might be better
for an office call than a poorly trained doctor, and I have been to a few bad
doctors. In fact, that's why I'm looking for a new cardiologist. Since I'm not a
doctor, why am I not happy with the doctor? Even my MD agrees with me after
hearing my complaints.
While the doctors started this trend to bolster their financial bottom line in
the office, perhaps it will start a trend of people shopping for cheap medical
attention by forgoing the expensive doctors for the NP because there are an
increasing number of people who no longer have health insurance.
Caution
Remember that I have not tried any of these products in this column so be sure
to do your homework.
Need More Windows Maintenance?
Advanced WindowsCare v2 Personal: A Click a Day Keeps All PC Threats Away!
IObit.Com announces the release of the newest version of Advanced WindowsCare v2
Personal. It is a multi-purpose Windows care tool that is intended for solving
an entire list of computer problems: Removing spyware and adware, preventing
security threats, privacy protection, fixing Windows registry errors, temporary
files cleanup, startup cleanup, repairing Windows, speeding up system, etc. The
program is 100% free.
The newest version has a multitude of improvements and is easy to use. There is
an updated database, online search function is added to "Startup Manager" and
"Help" is linked to "Support" page. One click and the program is ready to start
a comprehensive examination of your OS. Secondly, the program features a special
restore center, which is always ready to undo all of your changes automatically.
Just one click in the RestoreCenter and a user can undo all of his\her changes.
Thirdly, Advanced WindowsCare v2 Personal contains the Auto-Update option, which
helps you to be abreast of new threats. Apart from that, the program has a
built-in module, which is always ready to give you a preliminary assessment of
your computer configuration. You can save the latter as a text file.
IObit says the program is the only one capable of challenging Microsoft's new
service-OneCare. Advanced WindowsCare v2 Personal is compatible with all major
anti-virus and firewall solutions. Apart from doing very hard work for keeping
all intruders out of your files and keeping your Windows safe and sound, the
program has some artistic merits. For example, the interface allows you to
switch between varieties of themes. Advanced WindowsCare v2 Personal runs under
Windows 2000 and XP and is available as a free download at
http://www.iobit.com/BetaDownload.html 4.08 (Mb)
Product page link: http://www.iobit.com/AdvancedWindowsCarePersonal/index.html
E-mail: support@iobit.com
Web: http://www.iobit.com
Don't Let Your Printer Control You, You Control IT!
Regulate Printer Usage with O&K Print Watch Version 4.00. It allows users to
specify printing "budgets" for users, groups, and printers, and limit document
printing by pages, cost or keywords used in the name of a document. Combing the
features of a network print spooler and a print job register, this program lets
users control print jobs, paper usage and collects statistics from the print
servers. The latter is helpful in creating a company-wide chargeback plan that
ensures that all users pay their fair share of the printing budget.
Unlike the standard print manager in Windows, O&K Print Watch correctly counts
the number of printed pages and offers an excellent mechanism to set limits on
printer usage. O&K Print Watch creates a wide array of reports, which are
available for viewing even from a web browser. New to version 4.00 is a
radically improved mechanism that enables users to set limits on printer usage
and an ability to view printed jobs as images. Users will also discover an
ability to organize users into groups and set up printing rules for each group
individually.
You can set up a rule to limit printing based on the number of pages in a
document. Or, you can specify keywords and no document with these keywords in
its name will ever be printed.
O&K Print Watch 4.00 runs under Windows NT4/2000/XP/Server 2003. The company
offers a flexible licensing policy based on the number of printers that can be
monitored by the program. Discounts are available to educational institutions,
and a 20% discount is provided to all DealsGuy readers by using any order link
from our buy page http://www.prnwatch.com/registration.html and insert the
coupon code "REGJY". Additional information on O&K Print Watch, as well as its
free 15-day evaluation version, is available from www.prnwatch.com.
DealsGuy note: It appears the printer(s) are required to be connected to a print
server to work properly.
Product web site: http://www.prnwatch.com/okpw.html
E-mail: info@prnwatch.com
How Good Is Your Link Collection?
FREE Link-Popularity Checker!
This tool allows you to instantly check the Link Popularity of your Website as
well as all of your competitors. It is said that Google heavily favors Websites
with many links. Now you can instantly compare yourself to the competition and
see how many more links you need to climb to the top of Google's rankings. Save
countless hours with this and many other useful tools available for FREE at:
http://www.monthlyreport.org.
What's Hiding On Your Disk?
How about discovering everything that's hidden on your hard drive? "Disk
Investigator" will do just that. It can also help you recover lost data. Display
the true drive contents by bypassing the operating system and directly read the
raw drive sectors. You can view and search raw directories, files, clusters and
system sectors; verify the effectiveness of file and disk wiping programs and
undelete previously deleted files. This free software is available at
http://www.theabsolute.net/sware/dskinv.html.
I found the above in The DataBus, (newsletter of The Dayton Microcomputer
Association) some time back thanks to Robert Lewis of who found this one.
Are You Missing Any Money?
It's doubtful you would know about this kind of missing money or assets.
http://www.missingmoney.com is where you can find a record of the missing assets
for 26 states and DC. It's doubtful you will find anything for yourself there,
but it wouldn't hurt to take a look, just in case. States do eventually
liquidate some assets such as stocks, but even then, you could later recover the
value at that time.
Sorry but I didn't make a note of which newsletter I found this one in.
That's it for this month. Meet me here again next month if your editor permits.
This column is written to make user group members aware of special offers or
freebies I have found or arranged, and my comments should not be interpreted to
encourage, or discourage, the purchase of any products, no matter how enthused I
might sound. Bob (The Cheapskate) Click bobclick@mindspring.com. Visit my Web
site at http://www.dealsguy.com
For more information on the Tulsa Computer Society click here