The PC Improvement News
Issue 1-47
September 1, 1999
ISSN 1488-3163
Published electronically by PC Improvements (c) 1999
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit
http://www.pcin.net/
Note 1: If any of the links are too long to fit on one line,
you may have to
cut and paste.
Note 2: You can only win one contest every 30 days.
Welcome to the 47th edition of the PC Improvement News. In
this newsletter,
I have a couple of tips to make your computing life easier
as well as
highlights of the past weeks PC Industry News. I am more than
willing to
discuss any PC related topics in this newsletter. Just email
me at
editor@pcin.net with
your suggestions. I would also appreciate it
if you let me know if there is any strange formatting in the
newsletter so
that I can fix them.
There are only 2 ways to get on the subscriber list. You
have either been
subscribed by filling out a subscription form on any of the
pages on my
site, or you have requested FreeHelp from me in the past.
Give me two or three issues, and I know that you will get
something great
out of this!
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SOME OPENING THOUGHTS
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I am such a dolt! I came back from vacation, and sent out
last week's
newsletter to pci-news-request@pcimprovements.com
and waited for your
responses. None. This week I did the same thing. No responses.
I received a
copy both weeks, so I assumed that everyone had received one.
Then it
occurred to me that I was sending to the newsletter to the
wrong address!
The - request server is for subscribe and unsubscribe requests.
I would
receive a copy of the messages, as I am the moderator. No
one else would
have. No wonder none of you received it. I guess I had such
a good time on
vacation I forgot how to do everything:-)
Anyway, you have all received the latest issue, and unless
something happens
to me again, this shouldn't happen any more. I felt really
bad since I kind
of scolded you all for not participating. Well, you can't
participate when
you don't get the newsletter.
I will always send out the newsletter on Wednesday. If you
do not get it by
Thursday night, or at least a short message from me telling
you what the
problem is, please email me at editor@pcin.net
If I am going to
be delayed or won't be here, I will make sure you all know,
so if you don't
get it, then there must be a problem.
If you have missed any issues, you can view the archives
at
http://www.pcimprovements.com/pcinews/archive/
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THOUGHT OF THE WEEK
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"If at first you don't succeed, try hard work."
-
William Feather
Thought courtesy of http://www.HappyPublishing.com/
To subscribe to the FREE "Aspire to Something Higher" Thought-Of-The-Day
list, send a blank email to HappyQuotes-subscribe@listbot.com
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THE NEWS
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Stable Versions of Windows
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Last week I shared a survey that said that over 40% of users
thought that no
version of Windows was stable enough. I asked for your comments
on which
version you thought was most stable:
Ken Berry said, "I've used (personally) W3.11, W95B, &
currently W98 (1st
release). The longest I've run without a glitch, hiccup, hang,
or blue death
screen was with W95B, that was a glorious 6-month time span.
At work
(believe it or not) W3.11 ran the smoothest, but definitely
NOT the fastest,
this was a good 4 years ago and the computers in the Air Force
get heavily
abused. At present our W95B & NT systems get taken in
for a low level format
and reinstall of all software every six months or so. I'm
just glad
Microsoft doesn't write the programs for our aircraft! Final
bid Windows
95B"
Ron Gilbert said, "I think NT is the most stable, although
it can been
'flaky' at time as well. I do not really think that programmers
write
self-destructing software but may be rushed but the need to
get new product
to market quickly, before the competition. In MSFT's case,
they do seem to
have a ton of time and still can't get it right ... makes
you wonder."
Jerry said, "I believe Windows 98 has been my most stable
system, however, I
also bought a Gateway vs. the CTX I had and have had 1/1000th
the trouble. I
believe it's both Win98 and the new Computer."
AMD and Bathrooms
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AMD, a computer CPU manufacturer has released a new chip.
They had named
their chips Kx (with x being a number), similar to the way
Intel had their
x86 series. The latest one should have been the K7 chip, but
they decided to
go with the name Athlon instead. The funny thing is that Athlon
is a
trademark for a material used in bathroom partitions. AMD
says they knew
about it, but since they aren't in the same category, the
trademark can be
used.
Why do you abandon online transactions?
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In the September issue of Small Business Computing and Communications,
a
survey asked why people abandon online transactions:
41% the web page was too slow
20% the web page looked unprofessional
16% the site didn't take credit cards
14% couldn't find the check out area
12% couldn't find a return policy
Let me know what you think of this. Why do you abandon transactions?
Do you
buy anything online in the first place? Email me at
editor@pcin.net
New Coke Machines
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Coca-Cola has come out with machines that use telephone lines
to release
information to the local distributor. In this way, you wear
harass can no
how much pop has been sold and whether it needs restocking.
This will make
the delivery process a lot more efficient as it will take
the guessing game
at of the deliveries. These boxes, that Coke will take this
one step
further and use database technology to keep track of when
the sales are
highest or lowest. From there, they might change the price
depending on the
End the time of day, the temperature, or other circumstances.
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CONTEST RESULTS
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Congratulations go out to Ben Cooper for winning last weeks
scavenger hunt.
He won the Caldera OpenLinux 2.2 CD.
Here is the list of URLs that I received from everybody.
Ben won because he
was the first to send me a complete list of URLs. This wasn't
a contest of
finding the best URLs. He was just the quickest. Just for
your information,
his URLs are the first in each list. Thanks to Ann, Ron, John,
Chris,
Debbie, MW, Ray, John T., and one anonymous person for entering
the contest.
1) Information on the Epson 900 Color printer
http://www.epson.com/printer/inkjet/sty900/
http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/0,4161,2306170,00.html
http://www.epson.com/printer/inkjet/sty900n/
http://www.idg.net/crd_mac_9-131273.html
2) The name of a program that will increase your CD-ROM cache
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/circuitsys/CDQ95.HTM
http://softwarecenter.net/CD-Quick_Cache.shtml
http://hotfiles.zdnet.com/cgi-bin/texis/swlib/hotfiles/info.html?fcode=0008S
1&b=
http://www.fwb.com/cs/cdt/main.html
http://www.cdquickcache.com/
3) A site that will make free banners for you online (appears
instantly, not
sent to you by email)
http://www.crecon.com/banners.html
http://www.coder.com/creations/banner/linkexchange.html
http://www.web-animator.com/
4) What is packet reading and writing for a CDR or CDRW
http://www.fadden.com/cdrfaq/faq06.html
http://www.octave.com/library/glossary.html#P
http://www.cd-r.com/library/daotao.html
http://www.pdsimage.com/html/news/floppy/fcd-wp.htm
5) A site that has the option to send email greeting cards
with a summer
theme
http://www.meet-and-greet.com/summer.shtml
http://marlo.com/g2/all/21summer.htm
http://www1.bluemountain.com/eng3/summer/index.html
http://www.regards.com/CC.cfm/d:1,cat:Summer%20Time,SN:*,SE:*,TN:*,
T_E:*,N:70.html
http://www.egreetings.com/cart/zHb-OUNsR-Qn5H21-dsC2-E-qvWOx3/e-
products/m_main/cgi/homepage?action=channel_home&channel=net|3|
seasons|summer
http://cards.about.com/summerfun/index.htm?COB=home&PID=
http://greetings.xoom.com/xigo/cat/summer
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I NEED HELP
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As many of you know, I offer a free help service via email.
If you have a
question, you can email me and I will try my best to answer
them. I can
answer about half of them. Those are things that I do regularly
or have
experience with. There are other things that I have never
tired or
experienced so I don't have an answer. I hope to post those
questions here
and see if any of the readers have any suggestions. I will
include all
reasonable suggestions with credit to you. I will not check
the validity of
these comments. That is up to you.
Previous Questions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q1) I have an Acer Aspire Model#2771 and @home cable modem.
@Home puts it's
files in 2 folders named @home and @home network. I cannot
open any file in
either folder; it will crash the opening program, winfile,
explorer, or my
computer. By accident I found a small file manager utility
called FMedit95
that will open these files. I made a folder named @text and
put a few text
files in it with the same results. I renamed the folders Athome
and Athome
Network and they work OK except when I try to open a program
called @home
Assistant, then it will crash. I e-mailed Acer with the problem
and they
said you couldn't have a folder or program that starts with
the @ sign.
Since @home has millions of customers I find this hard to
believe.
Any explanation on this will be greatly appreciated.
A1) Acer is wrong, you can have a folder beginning with the
"@" sign. I have
the @Home Network on this computer, and the folder is named
"@Home". I have
no problems opening it. As to a fix, I would uninstall everything
and start
over. It's very easy to do. Best of luck! (Sorry there is
no name for who
wrote this. I erased the message without copying the name
over.)
Q2) Been having a continuing problem with Rnaapp.exe locking
up. It usually
happens as other programs or operations kick it out of memory
and is
intermittent. Have tried Uninstall \ Reinstall Dun 1.3, IE5,
and Windows
95(Over existing). Have looked for and tried patches for the
various
programs and hardware on the computer. Any Ideas?
A2) Vijeprathap Vijendranath answered, "The only way you can
get rid of
RNAAPP.EXE after a particular program has finished using it,
is to press:
CTRL + ALT + DEL (ONCE ONLY!) and click on rnaapp.exe and
click "END TASK".
This method gets rid of rnaapp.exe running in memory. I had
no problems from
doing this. Until Microsoft releases its patches ... this
is the only
solution."
Q3) I have a spare 56K modem lying around. Is it possible
to install it with
my present 56K so I can get the two modems to work together
for more speed?
I am US Military in Germany, ISDN, and cable modems are not
really an option
where I am at. One is a PCI and the other ISA. A friend thinks
I'll need two
phone lines to do this. Any thoughts?
A3) John Hill said, "The friend is right, and you probably
need Win98 to
support it.
New Questions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q1) Does anyone know what problems there are with DirectX6.1
(its bugs,
shortcomings, etc)? I had problems with it and I don't know
what the cause
is? Could it be compatible problems with the Banshee card,
or SBLive card?
Q2) As usual us deadbeats are out there, and I am one of
them I Reckon. My
Problem is: I tried to install Win98 (from a copied CD). It
changed my
Mouse, CD-ROM, and Display. Now I'm looking at a black and
white DeskTop,
Cannot access properties on Display and a bunch of other problems.
(I know
...my fault for trying to go "cheap". It won't happen again
I assure you. I
can't even run win95 CD any more. It gives me an" illegal
operations"
message. If You could just tell me how to avoid the "illegal
operations and
will be shut down" message I will be as happy as a pig in
slop. Thanks in
advance.
If you have any answers to these questions, please email
me at
freehelp@pcin.net
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NEW CONTEST
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This Friday it is my birthday. I'm going to be 24 years old.
In honor of
this, this week's contest won't have anything to do with computers.
I would
like the wall to send me something three e-mail for my birthday.
This could
be a greeting card (see the list from last week's contests),
a regular
e-mail, or anything else that isn't too big. Make sure all
things contain
no porn/adult content or other off-colour comments.
A couple of weeks ago, I talk to the program called AbsoluteFTP.
This is an
FTP program that you can use to upload or download files.
After finishing
the review, and talking with Dan Rask in sales at Van Dyke
Technology, I
have obtained two copies of AbsoluteFTP to give away as prizes.
The best
thing I get from two people will win these prizes. This isn't
a time to
race. Just send me something good before Saturday morning.
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THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF
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F5 to refresh windows and desktop
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In both Opera and IE, you can press F5 to refresh the page.
It doesn't work
in Netscape 4.6 and earlier. You can take this even further
in Windows. When
you are in a folder and you have just copied a file, it sometimes
will sit
at the bottom, not in alphabetical order or however else you
want it sorted.
You can press F5 to refresh the display. You can also do it
on the desktop
or virtually any other place in Windows.
As you've noticed, I've shared a lot of keyboard shortcuts.
A mouse is very
convenient, but a lot of times it will take 2 or 3 clicks
with a mouse when
you can do it with 1 keyboard shortcut. It saves you time.
New Tips and Tricks
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I have partnered with We Compute, a computer newspaper in
Toronto, to
provide you with weekly tips and tricks from their newspaper.
There will be
many different kinds. We Computer also has a book called the
Little Black
Book of Cheap Tricks. It contains thousands of tricks and
tips, and all for
only $9.95 Cdn. (about $7.00 US + S&H). It is definitely
worth it.
If you plan on buying it, please follow the link below (the
one from my
site). As part of my partnership with We Computer, I am part
of their
affiliate program.
For more info:
http://www.we-compute.com/
To buy the Little Black Book of Cheap Tricks:
http://www.pcimprovements.com/help/books/cheaptricks.shtml
To see other books available:
http://www.making-contact.com/books.htm
The Top 10 Tips
http://www.we-compute.com/top10.html
Here are a couple of tips:
**The ping thing**
You're waiting for a page or file to download on the Internet
but nothing
seems to be happening and you're starting to wonder if the
sending Web or
FTP server is working. How can you find out?
In Windows, click on Start and Run. Type ping and the name
of the Web or FTP
site (like ping www.whatever.com)
and click on OK. An MS-DOS window will
open and several signals will be emitted to the server. If
the server is
functioning you'll get quick replies and the window will close
up, so
quickly you hardly see it happen. (Sometimes this pinging
is all it takes to
wake a dozing server and continue the download.)
You can also send an endless stream of these wake-up calls
by throwing
in -t, as in ping -t www.whatever.com.
This also lets you see the pinging
and the responding (ponging?) in action.
**Return to sender**
Windows 95 and 98's Send To extensions are so useful. When
you right-click
on a file's icon it gives you a choice of places to send that
file to, such
as to the A: drive.
But what if you want to send the file somewhere not on that
list?
Open Windows Explorer (by right-clicking on Start and selecting
Explore). In
your Windows folder, find the SendTo subfolder.
Create a shortcut in this folder by clicking on File, New
and Shortcut.
Enter the path to the file you want added to the Send To list
and that's
about it.
An alternative is to right-click the file or folder you want
to add to the
Send To list, hold down the right button and drag the file
to the SendTo
subfolder. Choose Create Shortcut(s).
My Computer Pop-Up Menu
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A couple of weeks ago I shared a tip about a tool from PC
Magazine that lets
you surf the contests of your computer via the Start Menu.
It was a program
called Folder Pointers. Well, you can do the same thing from
the Windows
TaskBar if you have IE4 or IE5 or Windows 98 installed. You
now have the
capability (thanks to the Quick Launch toolbar) to add any
toolbar you want.
Right click on the taskbar and add a new toolbar for My Computer.
Then move
it all the way to the right, as far as you can. You can then
click on it and
a pop-up menu will appear and you can navigate your way through
your hard
drive.
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Lastly, send in your comments, tips and news and you too can
be included in
The PC Improvement News with a reference to your name and
web site.
Send email to pcinews@pcimprovements.com
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Well, that's all for this week. Remember that if there is
anything that you
want to learn about, let me know and I will try to accommodate
you. Also,
feel free to send any comments about the newsletters and the
topics covered.
This newsletter is sent to those who subscribed only. We don't
believe in
SPAM, so if you have somehow gotten this and you don't want
it, please see
the subscribe/unsubscribe options at the start of the newsletter.
The PC Improvement News is brought to you by PC Improvements.
The opinions
expressed are those of the editor, Graham Wing. PC Improvements
and Graham
Wing accept no responsibility (either good or bad) for the
results obtained
from trying the tips in this newsletter.
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Editor: Graham Wing can be reached at editor@pcin.net
Copyright 1999, PC Improvements and Graham Wing. All rights
reserved.
This publication may be reproduced in whole, or in part, as
long as the
editor is notified.