MaximumPC 2004 06

8 MAXIMUMPC JUNE 2004

product on their web sites without

having stock. At the point of sale,

they tell customers, ‘Oops, we ran

out of stock—sorry.’ We do not

like to do that; we prefer to simply

take it off the web when we run

out of stock. Why hold up people’s

money like that?”

HOW COULD YOU OMIT

BATTLEFIELD VIETNAM?

I loved your Top 10 Games of

2004 sidebar (“Game On,” May

2004), but how could you leave

Battlefield Vietnam off the list?

I’ve seen post after post about

BFV bringing PCs to their

knees, but hardly anything

about Unreal Tournament 2004.

I believe B attlefield Vietnam

should have trumped it.

—BRIAN MACK

EDITOR IN CHIEF GEORGE JONES

RESPONDS: Omitting Battlefield

Vietnam was a tough call, but upon

further review—specifically editor

Will Smith’s review that appears

on page 95 of this issue—we’re

glad we left it out. Realistic-looking

grass is nice and all, but what good

is it if you can’t actually hide in it?

BEST OF THE BEST CRT

IS OUTDATED

As Sony continues to phase out

its line of CRT monitors, the

F520 has been discontinued.

Therefore it’s time to find a new

best CRT monitor. Please tell me

what to buy!

—DIMITRI KATSAROS

EDITOR IN CHIEF GEORGE JONES

RESPONDS: You are correct, Dimitri;

the F520 CRT, which has resided on

our Best of the Best list for a few

years, has been discontinued by Sony

(but if you look hard enough, you’ll

probably still be able to find it). In

its place, Sony has released a new

model CRT—the GDMC-520K. Next

month, our display expert, Katherine

Stevenson, will review the GDMC-

520K along with three other high-end

CRTs to find out which is worth your

hard-earned cash.

NOT 70% RUBBING ALCOHOL!

You frequently recommend

rubbing alcohol to clean a

CPU and heatsink, but this

should never be used, as most

rubbing alcohol includes some

oil to avoid skin abrasion. You

should only use pure isopropyl

alcohol, obtainable at drug

stores, electronic parts stores

and opticians.

—TREVOR TIREBUCK

SENIOR EDITOR GORDON MAH UNG

RESPONDS: You’re right, although

we can’t recall recommending “rub-

bing alcohol.” We use nothing but 99

percent isopropyl alcohol to clean

CPUs and heatsinks around here.

Thunderbird or Pabst Blue Ribbon is

not recommended.

STUDENT FILE SHARERS CAN

AND WILL BE TRACKED DOWN

In the April edition of In/Out,

letter writer Rick W. questioned

whether his rights were violated

when his university IT staff

confronted him about his open

Kazaa connection. He asked

whether the IT department had

the right to investigate his PC

and whether his own rights

(assuming the right to privacy)

were violated. He went on to

claim that the IT department

“had no way of knowing” what

he was doing, or to speculate

legal conclusions.

Contrary to his over-

confident assertion, the

university did know what was

going on. A good network

administrator worth his or

her paycheck can monitor

network traffic, and if the

traffic on port 1214 (the TCP/IP

port commonly used by P2P

applications) is abnormally

high, the admin can track

down where the excess traffic

is coming from (especially in a

switched network). Otherwise,

how did the IT staff locate him

so quickly? Even if the app

doesn’t use the default ports,

the degree of traffic coming

from any particular location is

a dead giveaway.

To determine whether

anyone’s rights were violated,

Rick needs to first consult

his university’s acceptable-

use policies before shouting

“persecution” or “invasion of

privacy!” He would have likely

received documents spelling out

those policies at the beginning

of his school career at that

university. Furthermore, some

educational institutions require

a student’s signature, indicating

acceptance of those policies

prior to being allowed to use

that institution’s resources.

—JEROME OHNUI

ULTIMATE PC

MAKEOVERS

In the most essential upgrading

story of the year, our Lab experts

take three real-world PCs and

make them better, faster, stron-

ger—and more attractive. If you’re

thinking about upgrading your

PC—and who isn’t?—you cannot

afford to miss this feature!

VOICE OVER IP

SHOOTOUT

Want to lower your long distance

phone bill? In anticipation of mid-

summer dialing, we’re field-testing

a slew of VoIP products and ser-

vices for this special report. What

we’ve found so far is surprising—

we’ll show you how you can make

your calls for a lot less money.

SPOTLIGHT: BTX

Late this year, a new PC case

enclosure and motherboard spec

will be introduced. The new spec

is called BTX, and it introduces

some significant architectural

changes. Our special report will

get you up to speed on why BTX is

being released, as well as how it

will change case and mobo design

in the future.

PLUS

A CRT shootout, how to wire your

PC cables the Maximum PC way,

and more exclusive details on

Alienware’s extreme 3D perfor-

mance enhancer!

COMING

NEXT MONTH

IN THE CAN-YOU-

HEAR-ME-NOW?

JULY ISSUE OF

MAXIMUMPC

LETTERS POLICY: MAXIMUM PC invites

your thoughts and comments. Send them to

[email protected]. Please include your full

name, town, and telephone number, and limit

your letter to 300 words. Letters may be edited

for space and clarity. Due to the vast amount of e-mail we

receive, we cannot personally respond to each letter.

CUT, COPY, PASTE

 May’s review of the

Silverstone Nimiz (page 80)

mistakenly described the case’s

front intake fan as “80mm.” In

fact, the fan is 120mm.

In/Out

“

”

WE USE NOTHING BUT 99 PERCENT

ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL TO CLEAN CPUS...

THUNDERBIRD OR PABST BLUE RIBBON IS

NOT RECOMMENDED.