ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements (c) 2000
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Welcome to the 105th issue of the PC Improvement News. PCIN consists of news, tips, thoughts, and contests. There is something for everyone, and if this is your first issue, I'm sure there will be something for you. I am willing to discuss any computer topic. Email me at mailto:editor@pcin.net with any suggestions. If you give me two or three issues, I know that you will come back for more!
Recommend PCIN to others and be entered in a monthly draw. The October prize will be a copy of the book "HTML Goodies" by Joe Burns. Recommend PCIN at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml
Well, this issue marks the beginning of my third year writing PCIN. I can't believe it's been that long. I appreciate you allowing me into your Inbox each week. Hopefully it's worth it.
I had plan on having the web site changes done and the HTML version of PCIN ready for this week, but it hasn't happened. It will come soon though.
Don't forget to recommend PCIN in the month of October. You could win a copy of "HTML Goodies" by Joe Burns. You can recommend PCIN at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml
We Need a Linux Standard?
"The profusion of Linux versions available today soon will converge into a single edition, the head of one of the top four Linux sellers predicted.
'We will figure out a way that we will have a single, more generic distribution that we will all use,' said Paul Thomas, who in June was named chief executive of TurboLinux. 'The world doesn't need 150' versions of Linux, he said Wednesday at a W.R. Hambrecht conference for open-source software. 'Consolidation will take place.'"For more info:
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-2948506.html?tag=st.ne.ron.lthd.ni
Government Sites Break Own Rules
Earlier this year the US government passed the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. This required online sites to have parental consent when collecting information from children. This was only in effect for Commercial sites, but the government had said that it would abide by it as well.
Well, "the White House [is] not adhering to a law that requires companies to obtain parental consent before soliciting personal information from children.
The White House Web site invites children to submit personal information, such as their name, address and age along with e-mail messages to the president and first family."For more info:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/cti632.htm
The Dark Side of Email
Although email has made it easier for people to communicate with each other, unfortunately, it has also made it easier for people to threaten other people. Recently an 18-year-old man threatened US runner Marion Jones and other family members.
"FBI spokesman Paul Moskal said people who send electronic threats often mistakenly think they cannot be traced. 'They think it provides some anonymity in that you threaten from a distance through a screen or a keyboard that are inanimate objects,' Moskal said. 'The good news for law enforcement is to some degree there is a fingerprint or paper trail left behind that allows them to track that.'"For more info:
http://www.charlotte.com/1005jones.htm
Thanks go out to the 17 people who sent in their suggestions for the best place to go online to find the lowest prices. Congratulations to Ginger Jensen for being the random winner of Adobe ActiveShare, PrintMaster Gold, and the Serif Collection CD-ROM (contains several different graphics programs).
As usual, you can see all of the suggestions (including links) at the PCIN web site. Visit http://www.pcin.net/contests/20001011.shtml
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 most of them, but there are things that I
have never tried or experienced so I don't have an answer.
I post those questions here and see if any of the readers
have any suggestions. I will include all reasonable suggestions
with credit to you.
These are NOT my own questions and they are NOT my answers.
I will NOT check the validity of these comments. That is up
to you. If you do try one of these tips, please let me know
how the suggestions worked out. Did they work or not? Please
send in your questions or results to mailto:freehelp@pcin.net
Previous Questions
Q 104-01)
When I go to start my computer in the morning after it has been resting (Compaq Presario 1245 notebook) is the following: it says "WIN, terminating thread due to stack overflow problem. A VxD, possibly recently, has consumed too much space. Increase setting of MinSPin SYSTEM.INI or remove recently installed VxDs. There are 5 SPs allocated." Then it tells me to press any key to restart windows. I recently upgraded AOL. What should I do?
A 104-01)
Joe said, "Open the file SYSTEM.INI located in your Windows directory (usually C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.INI) using a text editor (e.g. Notepad). Or click START / RUN and type (sysedit) in the run command box without the brackets and click OK. Add the following line to the [386Enh] section of the file if it isn't there and then restart your computer: MinSPs=4 If the problem persists, increase the number of spare stack pages in increments of 4 (for example, 8, 12, 16). Note: Each spare stack page requires 4 kilobytes of memory. NOTE: In your case try: MinSPs=8"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tony Lowell sent in this link:
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/19971031112845Q 104-02)
I would like to have my Internet Explorer windows open at full screen size but every time I click on a link or a window port it opens to a partial window. I am sure this can be corrected but I don't know how.
(NOTE: This question was submitted before, but the person would like a few more suggestions.)A 104-02)
Tony Lowell said, "Depending on your mouse setup, right click the IE icon on your desktop to get the PROPERTIES option. Under the SHORTCUT sub heading change the RUN to MAXIMIZED. This works I've tested it. The other part of your question I haven't tested but there is a setting when you are in IE. Click through TOOLS, INTERNET OPTIONS, ADVANCED. Buried in there is ENABLE PAGE TRANSITIONS. According to the help text this replaces the current page with the one you want."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ken Aspinwall said, "I had this problem with IE 5.01, but since upgrading to IR 5.5 it no longer happens. If you want to stay with 5.01, a Microsoft MVP said what you want can't be done. There is a work-around where you have to open one window and keep it open during the session, then click on a link and resize the new window it to where you want, then holding the Shift key down close that resized window. Any link you open afterwards will open in the size you created, but you must keep the original window open. By the way, if you hold the Shift key down when clicking on any URL it will open in a new window in IE."
New Questions
Q 104-01)
Search engines are variable and unreliable. Each depends on its own (limited) database. Metasearch engines can help, but they often compound the problems.
Can anyone suggest a source of info on the strengths and weaknesses of search engines, particularly geographically and by subject? Living in the UK, when I want to book a UK hotel, I do not want US info, and I want to use a search engine that specializes in hotels.Q 104-02)
I want to build a new computer, but I don't know what to do about the power supply. How do I plan for this? Is there a good resource online explaining power supplies?
If you have an answer to these questions or have a question of your own, please email me at mailto:freehelp@pcin.net
Cheap Trick of the Week
**What's your chip speed - really?**
How do you know for sure what your computer's processor speed is - without taking the machine apart and checking the actual chip?
Windows Me shows the official chip speed in the System Information section but with Windows 98 you have to play a small trick to get a similar statistic. In Win98, click on Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools and System Information. Then, under the Tools menu, select Windows Report Tool. Click on Change System File Selections near the bottom.
The computer will whir away for a few seconds collecting information and then present it in a window called Collected Information under the heading "System settings to copy". It includes all sorts of technical data about your system, including operating system, CPU type, memory, hard disk usage, Bios type, card and modem models - and the processor's speed.
This does not just parrot the official clock speed but tells you what your processor is currently running at, which is usually somewhat less than the maximum.
Norton SystemWorks Complaint
JR Lemming sent me this:
"In the past I had problems after problems, so many it was hard to keep up with them. And do you know what I blame them on? NORTON. Norton Antivirus kept telling me I have problems with this application, I have problems with that window etc, etc.
It was Norton that was causing all the problems in the first place. IMHO. I uninstalled all of Norton Utilities, Window doctor, Disk Doctor and all the other "junk" that Norton comes with, and kept antivirus only. Since then I've had no more problems. (After the 4th uninstall) Yea I downloaded it 4 times over the past 2 years.
That was approximately 2 months ago (I think) and since then my computer hasn't frozen up once. All my problems disappeared (and I do mean "ALL")
Maybe it was just the way I did things, maybe not, but when I would call support for help they would ask me if I had Norton installed.
Before uninstalling Norton my computer would develop at least one bad sector per month on Hard Drive, it quit that also."
Graham's Comments: I've heard stories like this from several people. But I've also heard how various Norton products have saved someone from disaster. If you are having problems, don't be afraid to do what JR did and uninstall the offending program. You could save yourself a lot of headaches.
Also try the next tip...
Avoiding the Setup Routine
I have Symantec pcAnywhere installed on my computer. It runs beautifully and hasn't caused any of the heartache that JR mentioned. I then took my copy of Norton Utilities and just ran the NDD32.exe file (the Windows version of Norton Disk Doctor), and it ran fine. The point is that I never had to run the Setup program and have all sorts of Norton entries put in the registry. In this case, these programs are able to run directly from the installation location, without actually running the setup program. This won't always work, but you may be able to try this yourself. If you have one part of a utility suite installed, you may be able to run other programs without actually running the setup program. Just try clicking on the EXE file on the original disks and you may be able to run the program anyway.
Another Computer Help Site
I recently had a Clint Fleri email me offering to exchange
links with me. This links are usually just put on my web site,
but I visited the site and it seems very interesting, so I
thought I'd mention it here. He has a web site called The
Central Processing Unit, which is "an online resource
of information to understand how the CPU in a computer is
structured and works. A useful resource for teachers and young
students who wish to learn about computers."
Although this isn't an authoritative resource, it does contain
a lot of interesting, helpful information. Check it out.
http://www.geocities.com/cfleri/index.html
PCIN 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 for the results obtained from trying the tips in this newsletter.
Graham Wing can be reached at mailto:editor@pcin.net
Copyright 1998-2000, PC Improvements and Graham Wing. All
rights reserved. This publication may be reproduced in hole,
or in part, as long as the author is notified and the newsletter
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