Stamp Column Archives

The Glassine Surfer Column Archive

This column originally appeared in the American Philatelic Society's monthly magazine, "The American Philatelist." Since then some of the information may be out-of-date depending on how far back you're reading.

July 1999

The next step is Uninstaller QuickClean.  As you use programs and surf the 'Net your PC accumulates a wide range of temporary files, especially in the browser cache.  QuickClean will remove them.  

You choose the cleaners you want to run and after it's found the deadwood, you are asked if you want to delete them.  I dumped 5Mb of cache, dead shortcuts and temp files.

The 2000 Toolbox checks for Y2K compliance.  First it checks your hardware and then it checks your program applications.  It checked all mine, and told me my MS Access 2.0 was not compliant and then made recommendations.

The First Aid Advisor is advice for troubleshooting various parts of the PC, and if you opt for the Full Checkup, the programs are simply run in succession.

McAfee
http://www.mcafee.com

Russia's Zemstvo Post

From 1865 - 1917 Russia's postal system was a patchwork of State offices and Zemstvo (rural) offices, where the State delivered in the towns and the Zemstvos delivered in the vast rural areas.  There were many Zemstvo offices, and eventually many different local stamps were issued.

Rainer Fuchs' stamp site hosts a gallery, history and excellent resource about the Russian Zemstvo Post.  There's an overview and articles, and an area filled with unidentified Zemstvos.

Not only is this a complicated collecting area, but it's a fascinating look at how people struggled against vast distances and weather to preserve their links to each other.

Rainer's Zemstvo Pages
http://fuchs-online.com/zemstvos/

Free Email

Typically, everyone gets an email address when they sign up for internet service, but that doesn't mean you can only have one email account.  Some have personal home email, plus club-related email and various business email addresses.

And there are probably hundreds of web sites that offer some sort of free email account if you need one.  All that's usually necessary is to create a nickname and a password.

The reading and writing of 'Net email accounts is done with your web browser, not your email software.  Usually mailbox limits are smaller and each service has it's own peculiarities.

On the plus side, 'Net email can be accessed from anywhere, which can come in handy if you're on a trip.  If you can get on the 'Net, you can read your email.  Not so with ISP email, unless it allows some sort of telnet access.  On the other hand, some Net email providers can access your ISP email account.

Here's a few of the better known, more reliable free 'Net email services.

Though Geocities' main thrust is on web pages, you can get free email when you sign up for free web site space, though they ask a lot more questions.

Geocities at
http://www.geocities.com

Hotmail is Microsoft's free email service, and part of the Microsoft Network

Hotmail at
http://www.hotmail.com

If the 'Net were the USA, Yahoo would be New York City and Tokyo, and of course they have free email

Yahoo!
http://www.yahoo.com

ZDnet is Ziff Davis, the magazine publisher with the big commercial site.  
http://www.zdnet.com

Excite is a portal with a range of services including free email.

Excite at
http://www.excite.com