Issue 113 - December 06, 2000

ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements (c) 2000
==== 1260 Subscribers in 47 Countries ====

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Welcome to the 113th 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 November prizes are copies of PowerQuest's Lost & Found. 10 copies will be given away, so recommend PCIN at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml

OPENING THOUGHTS

Christmas is only 19 days away. I hope you are all having a nice holiday season. The weather has been bitter cold here lately, but with the little bit of snow that we get, everything looks beautiful. I plan on taking some pictures with my digital camera and make some winter wallpaper.

Congratulations to Edwin, R., Carlos, Brian, Rich, Liz, Esme, Dorothy, Gary, and Nipul. They each recommended PCIN in the month of November and won a copy of PowerQuest's Lost & Found. I will be contacting them all to let them know how to get their prize.

I have a very nice price for the December drawing. I was able to get Play, Inc. to donate a Snappy! 4.0 to the newsletter. If you recall, I did a review of it some time ago (you can see it at http://www.pcin.net/help/software/snappy.shtml ). It is a piece of hardware that will let you use your parallel port to input video into your computer. You can get screen captures of TV shows, videos, etc. It is valued at over $100. Recommend PCIN in December and you will have a chance to win this. Each unique person that you recommend PCIN to will get you one entry into the draw. The more you recommend PCIN the more chance you have to win. Recommend PCIN now at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml

The NEWS

No More AltaVista Free Internet Access

AltaVista announced yesterday that December 10 would be the last day they offered free Internet access. Apparently their provider, 1stUp, is going out of business. 1stUp was also the provider for TheSimpsons.com and MyPoints.com free access. 1stUp and AltaVista are both owned by the same parent company, CMGI.
This is just another in a string of problems in the free access market. Freewwweb, Spinway, and WorldSpy have all been acquired lately by other companies.

For more info:
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-3998565.html
http://www.altavista.com/
http://www.thesimpsons.com/
http://www.mypoints.com/mp/dStatial.show?isref=ispages.connect.disable

Another Free Browser?

Some of you may have heard of the browser Opera. It is a very small browser (only about 2MB) that up until recently cost around $30. I purchased a license for version 3 about a year ago, but never used the program because it was lacking in so many areas. I haven't tried it lately, but it supposedly is much better.
Anyway, Opera Software has introduced Opera 5 for Windows and is finally free. It is supported by ads, but they guarantee you that they will not know anything about you (unlike many other ad-supported software). There is still an ad-free version that costs $39.

For more info:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/497278.asp
http://www.operasoftware.com/

Kiwi Tax Unit Grabs Domain Info

"New Zealand's tax gathering agency, the Inland Revenue, has acquired the personal details linked to all New Zealand-registered domain names.
The wide legal powers of New Zealand's tax agency mean New Zealand's Internet registry, Domainz, has little choice but to hand over the information. The Inland Revenue says it needs this information in order to figure out what to do about taxing e-commerce."

For more info:
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,40439,00.html
http://www.ird.govt.nz/menu.htm

NEW MONTHLY CONTEST/QUESTION

Subscriber Kim Daifotis sent me this:
"I think it would be appropriate to have a discussion on all the latest and greatest PDA's out in the market (for those that are thinking of them as gifts). Links to online review, pros and cons of certain models, etc., would all be welcomed."

OK Kim, here you are. This month's contest/question will be about Palm Pilot's, Blackberry's, Visor's, Aero's, Cassiopeia's and any other small Personal Digital Assistant. Do you have one? Why or why not? Are they practical? Do you want one? Where is the best place to learn about them? Where is the best place to buy them?

Any comments or suggestions about this are welcome. I will randomly choose 4 people who will win a copy of PowerQuest's Lost and Found. Email your answers to mailto:editor@pcin.net

I will send out a short reminder on Saturday.

I NEED HELP

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 112-01)

How do you recommend self-teaching the needed skills to repair computers? Any books or good web resources? Should we buy some basic equipment and old systems to experiment?

A 111-01)

John Hills said, "An untrained monkey could build a PC and looking at some of the stuff made by the big companies in UK I think that's who they use. If you know someone that builds PC's they could teach you in an hour and it really is simple once you have had a quick run through. The difficulties really are trying to find out which bits are (when it happens) faulty and setting up the operating system with the correct drivers etc. The best way to learn is to buy all the bits you need to build the PC of your dreams and work it out with the manuals supplied. You can then ask someone when you get stuck or are unsure. You are welcome to contact me anytime by email or phone if you need help on this scenario only."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tony Lowell said, "The book 'Fix Your Own PC' authored by Corey Sandler is a good basic guide. It is available through the book of the month club and at the Ryerson library bookstore. It covers everything from soldering through IRQ, DMA, EDO RAM, SIMMS, EIDE Flopticals, 3D video, software memory assignments etc. The appendix on errors including what 'how many beeps mean' (like Morse code) is excellent. It's 600 pages of easy to understand text and diagrams for both hardware and system software. You can look at http://www.idgbooks.com/ "

Q 112-02)

My speakers don't have sound coming out of them, and I've tried everything including windows 98 troubleshooting. Still nothing.

A 112-02)

John Hills said, "Go into Control Panel, Sounds icon and select a sound - one with a speaker icon next to it. If you can click on the forward black arrow and it then dims and then goes back to black then that rules out a sound card problem. If it is already grayed out then you need to look at your sound card. Assuming the above happens, then ensure that your speaker cable is in the right hole and volume turned up. Finally make sure your sound is not muted or turned down low, normally by double clicking on the speaker icon on the clock tray and checking the volume settings."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joe C said, "There could be numerous reasons why you are not getting sound from your speakers.
#1 Go to volume control and check to see that muting is not checked on the volume controls, if they are uncheck them and while you are there check that the volume control sliders are turned up.
#2 Some sound cards have a volume control built in. If you look at the back of your sound card where the jacks are and see a thumb wheel then turn the thumb wheel to adjust the volume.
#3 While checking the back of the sound card make sure you have your speakers plugged into the speaker jack of the sound card and not the modem as some modems have speaker jacks that look the same as the ones on the sound card.
#4 If you have powered speakers check to see that they are plugged into a power outlet. If they are check the outlet for power by plugging a lamp or some other appliance into it and turning it on.
#5 Check that the speakers power switch is turned on.
#6 Check that the volume control on the speakers is turned up.
#7 Click on the System applet in control panel and go to Device Manager and check to see if your sound card is listed or that a yellow exclamation is not beside it. If your sound card is not listed or there is a yellow exclamation mark beside it you will need to reinstall your sound card.
#8 Click on the Multimedia applet in control panel and check that you have the proper settings set for your sound card.
#9 Open the computer case and check to see that your sound card is properly seated in the expansion slot by pushing down on the card and while you are there check the audio cable connection between the sound card and the CD-Rom drive if you have one.
#10 Remove the sound card from the expansion slot and then push the sound card back in the expansion slot. Doing this will remove any grunge on the contacts making for a better connection.
#11 Try moving your sound card to another expansion slot if available.
#12 The speaker jack, sound card or speakers could be fried.
#13 Try plugging your speakers into the headphone jack on the CD-Rom drive if you have one. Put in and play a music CD and see if you can get sound from the speakers."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brian Emmett said, "Things that have caused me grief with speakers have been:
-Usually in the system tray on the task bar there is an icon that looks like a bell or horn. Sometimes if you open this up you will find that the speaker volume has been set to "mute" or "off"
-I have found that my sound card had dislodged just enough from the motherboard so that I had to gently push it back into its slot
-In pushing the sound card back as above, I have taken off the little wire that connects to it in order to get a better grip... and once forgot to reconnect it! Good luck."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JD Patmore said, "There are a number of possible reasons, but check the following: (1) In Control Panel / Sound, select a sound, and then play it (triangle pointing right). Is the button black, does it "depress", is there a delay before the black square button appears? If so, the soundcard is OK. If not check drivers and try another card. Also, if the sound card is integral with the motherboard, is it activated in the BIOS setup? Next, check if your jack/plug has 2 insulating bands or only 1. If 2, OK, it is a stereo one. If one, you are using the wrong lead. Try all 3 sockets on the soundcard, with sound playing. Try your speakers on another PC."

New Questions

Q 113-01)

Sometimes when booting up the system will hang at the startup screen and I'll have to CTRL, Alt, Del to restart into safe mode. Then restart normal from there, then everything starts fine. This after a clean install. It still does it after setting up hardware. No IRQ, I/O, DMA or memory conflicts, registry looks okay too. I Formatted installed Win98SE and it worked just fine so I know it's not a heat, power supply or motherboard problem. Any suggestions?

Q 113-02)

Is it possible to remove the "Network Neighborhood" icon from my desktop? How do I?

If you have an answer to these questions or have a question of your own, please email me at mailto:freehelp@pcin.net

THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF

Cheap Trick of the Week

**Nowhere to Run**
If you use Run on the Start menu much, it can create a long list of commands that can tell other users what you've been up to. You can clear this list with a Registry edit.
(For information on editing Windows' Registry see http://www.WE-Compute.com/registry.html.)
In the Registry make your way to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU. Click on RunMRU to show this key's values in the right pane. Select all except Default, right-click and choose Delete from the pop-up menu. Close the Registry and restart the computer.
Now there's nowhere left to Run, until you enter more commands that create a new list.

Get the Facts

I have never used iWon.com as a search engine until this past week when I received my copy of the Search Engine Report. Apparently iWon and Fact City have teamed up, and now on certain searches, you will receive the "facts" and not just web pages. The example in the Search Engine Report was a search for "who was the third president" and at the top of the page it tells you "Thomas Jefferson was the third President." I tried this myself and got the same result. I also typed in "how old is madonna" and I got the response "Madonna was born on August 16, 1958." I'll still use Google for most of my searches, but when I need a quick fact, I will certainly give iWon a try.
http://www.iWon.com/

A Couple of Links

Here are a couple of links that I've had bookmarked to include for a while (you've probably all heard of them by now). I can't remember why I bookmarked them (if there was something specific I wanted to mention), but there must have been a reason, so here they are:
http://www.fidget.com/
They call themselves "Your eNewsletter Headquarters". They have dozens of newsletters that you can subscribe to ranging from Dear Abby to Weekly Look at Professional Wrestling. There might be something in between that you want.
http://www.snopes2.com/
"Urban legends are a specific type of folklore, and many of the items discussed on this site do not fall under the folkloric definition of 'urban legend.' We are following the more expansive popular (if inaccurate) use of 'urban legend' as a term that embraces not only urban legends but also misinformation, old wives' tales, strange news stories, rumors, and celebrity gossip."

A Windows ME Comment

Subscriber Julian sent me this. I haven't had any of the same problems, but it is still a fair warning.
"I'd like to bring to your attention the new Windows Me operating system. I'm working in this area for 10 years but I never ever seen such a creepy operating system. It based on very innovative ideas but unfortunately it's crashing like crazy. Lots and lots of devices not supported (it won't tell you this -it'll let you install and then you'll realize that it's not working). Especially for network clients (i installed client 32 for Netware -the one recommended from Microsoft site and the computer was totally screwed up- I had to reinstall everything from the scratch (I put win98). If you can bring this to everybody attention maybe Microsoft will withdraw this failure from the market. (It's not only me lots of friends called with the same problems."

DISCLAIMER and OTHER STUFF

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.

  1. If any of the links are too long to fit on one line, you may have to cut and paste.
  2. You can only win one contest every 30 days.
  3. To subscribe another address or unsubscribe, please visit http://www.pcin.net/ and follow the appropriate links.
  4. Recommend PCIN to others at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml and be entered in a monthly draw.
  5. 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.
  6. If you have a web site or run your own newsletter, please email me at mailto:editor@pcin.net and I will add it to the subscriber web pages that I have on my site.

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 is presented as is.

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