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Issue 105 - October 11, 2000
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
OPENING THOUGHTS
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
The NEWS
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
MONTHLY CONTEST RESULTS
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 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 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/19971031112845
Q 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
THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF
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
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.
- If any of the links are too long to fit on one line,
you may have to cut and paste.
- You can only win one contest every 30 days.
- To subscribe another address or unsubscribe, please visit
http://www.pcin.net/ and follow the appropriate
links.
- Recommend PCIN to others at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml
and be entered in a monthly draw.
- 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.
- 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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