Chicago Computer Guide This Week
For October 27 - November 2, 2001

CONTENTS:
I.    This Week's Calendar of Events
II.   Anonymity Online
III.  Counting The Cost: Upgrade or Buy New
IV.   Used PCs and New XPs
IV.   Chicago Computer Company News
V.    Chicago Computer Dealers


==============Special Event=======================

The world's largest trade show featuring automatic identification 
and data capture/communication technologies:

Frontline Solutions Expo - is coming to Chicago, 
November 13-15, 2001 at McCormick Place!

Frontline Solutions Expo showcases the technologies that streamline 
supply chain communications, optimize resources, cut costs from the 
bottom line and manage 100% accurate information about raw materials, 
work in progress, inventory, shipments, assets and personnel.

See how the new generation of technology tools is delivering new and 
exciting business benefits!

To register go to http://www.frontlinexpo.com/index1.html.

====================================================

I. This Week's Chicago Computer Events


Event: Computer Central Shows
Date: October 28, 2001
Place: College of DuPage, Physical Education Building, Corner 
of Park Boulevard and College Road, Glen Ellyn, IL
Time: 9:30 am - 3:00 pm
Information: Check out http://www.computercentralshows.com.
80% new merchandise, 20% reconditioned and pre-owned, 1000's 
of products available. More products and product variety than can 
be found in any retail store!


Event: BI Vision Chicago
Date: October 30th 
Place: Hyatt Regency Downtown
Information:  Please email Eric Kavanagh at
mail to: ekavanagh@damanconsulting.com or please go to the 
main conference site, http://www.damanconsulting.com/bivision - 
or call 512.329.6646 x33.
This event will explore forward-thinking concepts and technologies 
in Advanced Business Intelligence.  The event features two 
keynotes: one by Bank One Senior Vice President Randy Grossman, 
entitled "Lessons Learned from Six Years in the Data Mines"; and 
one by digiMine CEO and Co-Founder Usama Fayyad, entitled 
"Growing Profits in a Tough Economy through Business 
Intelligence and Data Mining".

Event: Women's Development Business Center Access to 
Equity Bootcamp 
Date: Thursday, November 1st
Time: 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Place: Gleacher Center, 450 N. Cityfront Plaza Drive, Chicago 
Cost: $75 Before October 19, $100 thereafter (includes breakfast,
lunch and reception) The first 30 people to register will receive a 
free copy of Business Plan Pro. ($100 value)
Register at http://www.wbdc.org/events/events.asp or contact:
312-853-3477, x10
The Access to Equity Bootcamp will provide entrepreneurs with:
Hands-on access to experts from the investor and service provider
community that can assist in the development of your high-growth
business.
Expert advice on developing your business model and then
translating that into a business plan investors will find compelling.
Effective strategies for mastering the process of raising capital,
from the first e-mail you send out to your first investor meeting.
Success stories from women who have successfully raised 
angel and venture capital investment.


Event: Giant Computer Show and Sale
Date: November 4, 2001
Place: Orland Park Civic Center, 147th St. & LaGrange Rd., 
Orland Park, IL
Time: 9:30am - 3:00pm
Information: You can call the hotline at 708-974-3123 or go to 
http://www.giantcomputershow.com.
Dealers from throughout the Midwest converge to offer bargains 
on most computers and peripherals.

=================================================                               

II. Anonymity Online
By Larry Zanger and Andrew Soderna

Privacy remains a major concern for individuals using 
computers and businesses that provide online services. One of 
the strengths of the Internet is its ability to level the social and 
geographic barriers between individuals.  Click on 
http://www.chicago-computer.com/octzang.htm, to read more.


III. Counting The Cost: Upgrade or Buy New
By Rich McDilda

Before I get into this month's column, I would like to say a few 
words about this past month's events. Like most people I was
shocked and appalled at the senseless and evil acts committed 
against our nation. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims
and their families. I would also like to offer the following advice for 
Peter Jennings, who in my opinion is the current front runner for 
the Jackass of the Year award.
Click here, http://www.chicago-computer.com/octused.htm, 
for more.

IV. Used PCs and New XPs
By Antonio Roni

Several Techs who work here have been running the Windows 
XP beta version on their PC's for quite some time. Experience
showed that every other previous early version of Windows was 
a real headache (filled with glitches galore). . Click on 
http://www.chicago-computer.com/octrepair.htm


********************************************************************************
V. Chicago Computer Company News


Save The Children Chooses MIMIX(R) For Critical Backup

    OAK BROOK, IL -- More than 1/2 billion of the world’s
children live on less than one dollar per day. Even in America, 
one in five kids live below the poverty line. Through its mission 
to create lasting, positive changes, Save the Children is trying
to safeguard the inherent potential of the individual and thereby 
improve the well-being of humanity everywhere. Accordingly, 
Lakeview Technology is honored that Save the Children has
selected the MIMIX solution suite to protect the vital donor 
systems that will support its global outreach. 
    Founded in 1932 to aid Appalachian coal miners’ children, 
Save the Children now works in 19 American states and more 
than 45 developing countries. In 2000, the nonprofit organization
received more than $140 million in revenue. The funds impacted 
the lives of 9 million children. 
    Helping 9 million children and raising the funds to do so are 
vitally 
important jobs. Save the Children must manage considerable
information, including a database of almost 1 million records, and 
interact with hundreds of thousands of sponsors and field staff. 
    The organization saw the World Wide Web as a valuable tool for 
data management and human interaction and initiated a project to 
tie its existing systems and databases into the Web. 
    Soon, these Web-integrated systems will help automate much of 
the interaction with donors and provide benefits to both donors 
and Save the Children staff. Donors will be able to use the Web
to make donations online, check on the status of their account, 
view their giving summary or change the way they are billed. 
Participants in the Child Sponsorship program will also be able
to send eMail to their sponsored children via the local field office. 
    One major benefit that Save the Children will reap from the Web is 
cost-reduction. Mailing and telephone support are now large 
expenses for the organization. As donors increasingly migrate
toward getting information, donating, managing their accounts 
and receiving support over the Web, these costs are expected to 
drop substantially. And, the more that Save the Children can
reduce its administration costs, the more funds they will have 
available to help children. 
    Seven days a week, 24 hours a day, it can serve sponsors, 
field staff and, through them, the children. But Web users span 
the globe and are active round-the-clock. Sponsors might get the 
urge to donate or send messages to their sponsored children when 
the clock at the Save the Children data center reads 3 a.m. Before 
it could launch its new Web initiative, Save the Children had to make 
sure its systems would always be available. 
    MIMIX maintains an exact duplicate of a production system by 
capturing changes made to data and programs on the primary system 
and copying them to a backup system in real-time. It then monitors the 
primary system and, if it becomes unavailable, quickly and 
automatically 
switches users to the backup system. MIMIX also provides the means to 
manually switch to the backup system in preparation for scheduled
maintenance. 
    Now, with MIMIX, system downtime won’t have to translate into 
application 
downtime. Save the Children will simply switch over to the fully 
redundant 
backup system whenever necessary. Donors will likely never see any 
service interruptions. 

***************************************************************************************

Authentify Showcases Rapidly Deployable Two-Factor Online 
AuthenticationSystem At 28th Annual Computer Security Institute 
Conference

    CHICAGO, IL -- (INTERNET WIRE)  -- Authentify, Inc., will showcase 
its 
Authentify|Register authentication application at the Computer Security 
Institute Conference to be held October 28 - 30th at the Marriott 
Wardman
Park in Washington D.C. The application defeats known identity-theft 
strategies and can be deployed in less than a week for many standard 
Web or access control applications. 
    Authentify employs a patent pending process to synchronize 
automated 
outbound telephone calls with a user’s Internet session. The user is 
required to answer the telephone call and either speak or use the 
telephone keypad to provide security information simultaneously 
displayed on their computer screen. 
    Authentify’s service is based on the idea that a telephone call 
generates 
undeniable contact with the person in possession of a particular phone 
at the time of an Internet transaction, creating an exceptionally 
strong audit 
trail. Combined with voice recording and information exchanged over the 
Internet, Authentify|Register serves as a strong authentication method 
as 
well as a deterrent to those who seek access to online applications by 
misrepresenting their identity.
    Authentify|Register has the ability to recognize the type of phone 
used, 
such as a cell phone versus a wire line, as an additional security 
option. 

***************************************************************************************  

Leading Retailers Best Buy and Circuit City Are Now Helping 
Consumers 'Doctor' Their Discs With Digital Innovations' CD/DVD 
Disc Repair Devices

    CHICAGO, IL /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Innovations has announced 
that the company's award-winning 'Doctor' Series of CD and DVD 
repair devices are now available in more than 14,000 major national 
and international retail outlets.  Part of the company's long-term 
strategy 
to offer the 'Doctors' through a broad array of retailers, Digital 
Innovations' 
expanded distribution channel now includes office super stores, music 
retailers, consumer electronics stores and gaming outlets.
    Best Buy and Circuit City are the latest additions to the company's
rapidly growing distribution channel.  Other leading retailers have 
also
recognized the need for a device such as the 'Doctor' Series, with more 
than 1-million units sold since the product's introduction in early 
1999.
    A rapidly growing number of retailers have stocked their stores 
with 
the SkipDoctor MD and GameDoctor MD, the newest members of the 
'Doctor' Series.  These motorized versions of the popular CD and DVD 
repair devices have already helped many consumers quickly and easily 
restore their growing collections of favorite CDs and DVDs.  The entire 
'Doctor' Series product line provides consumers with a cost-effective
solution to bring back damaged discs to like new condition -- one that 
will pay for itself after a few repairs.
    To help retailers better inform customers about the benefits of the
'Doctor' Series, Digital Innovations' provides a continuous loop sales
training videotape to enable store personnel to answer any disc repair
questions consumers may have.

*************************************************************************************************
SEI Takes .Net To School With Application For DePaul Center For 
Urban Education
    
    CHICAGO, IL /PRNewswire/ -- Barbara Radner, Director of the 
DePaul Center for Urban Education, was facing a dilemma.  Her 
organization, which works with selected teachers from the Chicago 
public schools to improve the quality of education, was having a 
difficult time sharing data, collecting status reports, and notifying 
members of upcoming meetings.  Nearly everything was a paperwork-
intensive, manual operation.
    With school scheduled to start in just three months, Barbara 
knew she wanted to use the Internet to streamline the process, but 
wasn't sure how to go about it. So she turned to Chicago-based SEI
Information Technology, a 31 year old IT consulting company and 
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, to design and implement an 
application 
that would facilitate this information exchange without creating a 
technical burden for the users, their schools, or the university. Given 
the short deadline and volume of information that needed to be managed, 
SEI recommended using Microsoft's .Net Web services architecture as 
the platform.
   The Center works directly with selected teachers (called 
"Connectors") 
and principals to empower the schools by providing current, 
high-quality 
tools, materials, training, and advice in order to assure that 
Chicago's 
children receive the best possible education.  The data is used to help 
teachers develop better and effective ways to plan lessons and teach 
their students.
In addition to attending a monthly workshop at the University, each 
Connector meets weekly with the DePaul Center staff to learn about 
specific curriculum and related topics.  Then the Connectors share this 
information with the rest of the school and fill out weekly status 
reports 
detailing the meetings they attended and how they shared information 
with other educators.
     Until recently, reporting and information sharing was a very
labor-intensive, manual process requiring a great deal of faxing.  
Often, 
the information didn't make it to all of the Connectors.  Moreover, the 
scant information available online was not organized into databases, 
making it difficult to search by topic.
     SEI worked with the DePaul Center to automate the process using 
Net Web services.  The .Net architecture was chosen for its rapid 
implementation, as well as its ability to quickly scale up as more 
Connectors and principals are added.
     The DePaul application makes SEI something of a pioneer among 
IT consulting firms, as an early developer of a practical, real-world 
application using .Net Web services.  This was not lost on Microsoft 
CEO and President Steve Ballmer, who posed for photos and sat with 
Radner and SEI CEO John Jasper at a Microsoft-hosted banquet when 
Ballmer visited Chicago in September.
     Once the architecture was developed, status report forms were 
placed online, making it easier for busy teachers to file their reports 
and for the Center to collate and distribute the results.  SEI also 
worked 
with representatives of the Center to gather and catalog existing 
materials,
organizing the data into a user-friendly database.  The interface was
specifically designed to minimize the learning curve for busy teachers, 
and to be intuitive enough that they only needed to think about the 
information they were seeking, not the mechanism for finding it.
     In addition to their expertise with the relatively new .Net 
architecture,
another attraction for working with SEI was their comprehensive 
customer 
care operation, which hosts the site and provides help desk services 
from 
SEI's 24 x 7 Customer Care facility in Fargo, North Dakota.  
Outsourcing 
maintenance and support eliminated the need for DePaul to purchase 
additional servers and hire additional technical staff, allowing the 
University 
to concentrate on their core competency--education.
    Radner estimates that moving everything online is saving the Center
$60,000 per year on printing and distribution costs alone.  Add in the 
reduced frustration and greater efficiency for the teachers, and it's 
easy 
to see a quick payback.

**************************************************************************************

VI. Chicago Computer Dealers

Click here at http://www.chicago-computer.com/deals.htm for our list 
of computer dealers and some of the lowest prices in town!

Readers: We welcome your feedback on our newsletter. Please direct your
comments to the editor at mailto:ccg@interaccess.com. We want to make
our newsletter better every week. We encourage you to share your 
suggestions with us