Yes, it's time for our new contest!
As you might have guessed, January 2002's contest is now over. The Pronto-based question turned out to be more difficult than expected, despite the Pronto FAQ containing all needed information. Still, we came up with nine winners, who each get a great remote control. You can view the full contest results, including a complete explanation of the puzzle answer, on this page.

February may be the shortest month (made even shorter by a slightly delayed contest launch), but we're certainly not short of prizes! This month, thanks to the great folks at AVSmarts.com, we can offer you the chance to win some absolutely fantastic home theater gear. We start off with the Harman/Kardon AVR-320 7.1-channel audio/video receiver, featuring full Dolby Digital EX, Dolby Pro Logic II, DTS-ES 6.1 Discrete and DTS-ES Matrix 6.1 decoding. We next move on to an Easy Zapper Harmony remote (be sure to read our brand new review here, a Harman/Kardon DAL-150 USB-to-PCM audio transcoder, a pair of Monster Cable fiber optic cables, plus a Magnavox REM-400 remote control. Don't delay - enter today!

Pronto FAQ updated
In order to reflect recent changes in the Pronto world, the Unofficial Pronto FAQ has just been updated to version 1.08c. You'll find new information and a number of additional questions. Remember, this is a document of frequently asked questions - so it can only be enhanced if you ask questions or make suggestions!

View the FAQ here.

Forum search enhanced
With the forum system now exceeding 173,000 messages, I felt it was time to enhance the search program. One week of programming later and here it is - version 1.5. Although it's not particularly faster, it does allow you to do a whole lot more and should make it much easier to find the exact message you're looking for. Don't feel like extenisvely customizing your search? No worry, it works just as well as before with the default settings.

Here's a list of improvements:

1. Instead of searching for "any" or "all" search terms, you can now require results to have a word by adding a + sign in front of it, or prohibit a word from appearing with a - sign. All other words are considered "optional". This functionality can be combined with phrases.
2. You can search by the entire thread (as it was before), or through individual messages. Although this new option makes it easier to find specific messages, especially in longer threads, it will take longer to complete. The replies number shows the number of replies to that message, not to the entire thread.
3. When searching by individual message, you can now return results only from a particular author (either full name, part name or six-character forum ID). If you would like to merely return all messages by a particular author, you do not need to enter any search terms.
4. Phrases (terms "in quotes") no longer have automatic wildcards applied to the beginning and end.
5. Individual words can have automatic wildcards disabled by placing them "in quotes".
6. Manual wildcards can be added anywhere in a term or inside of a phrase with an asterisk (*).
7. Two date limiting options have been added - "one week" and "two years".
8. When performing long searches, the number of matches "thus far" is shown.
9. Search results can now be sorted by score, message subject (normal and reverse), author (normal and reverse) and date (normal and reverse).
10. Long threads finally have proper "Go to:" page links on them. When you search for individual messages, you will be linked to that exact page and message - no more hunting through threads.
11. Search terms are now highlighted in different colors when you view a matching thread.
12. Better instructions on how to use all of the search program's options is now provided.

Give it a whirl!

Since there are so many changes, I would greatly appreciate it if you could report any bugs. Thanks!