Issue 131 - April 11, 2001
ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements ©2001
==== 1609 Subscribers in 51 Countries ====
Subscribe/Unsubscribe/View Archives at http://www.pcin.net/
Welcome to the 131st 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 in April and win a copy of PrintMaster Platinum and Compton's
Interactive Encyclopedia. Recommend PCIN now at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml
OPENING THOUGHTS
We're finally getting some nice weather around here. Buying a house in
the winter wasn't the smartest thing to do. There is so much that you
want to do, but it's too cold to do anything. Lisa and I have been busy
this week trying to do some things out in the yard, finally :-)
You will notice a new section below between the I NEED HELP and THE TIPS
and OTHER STUFF sections. It is the PCIN.net UPDATE section. Each week
I will mention the pages that I've updated on the site (new articles,
new reviews, new features, etc.)
Recommend PCIN in April and win a copy of PrintMaster Platinum and Compton's
Interactive Encyclopedia. Recommend PCIN now at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml
The NEWS
Napster Closer To Drawing Up Label Alliance
"Germany's Bertelsmann said Wednesday talks to convince music
industry giants to work with Internet song-swapping service Napster
are going well, and an industry source said they could be concluded
soon.
'We are still trying to persuade all labels to work with Napster and
give them a license, and the talks are going pretty well,' said Frank
Sarfeld, spokesman for Bertelsmann's e-commerce group.
An industry source said the media giant's chances of convincing Sony
Music Entertainment and Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group to
offer a license to Napster via their subscription joint venture, dubbed
Duet, looked strong."
For more info:
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-5574465.html
Good News Out of Amazon - Finally
"Shares of Amazon.com surged more than 30 percent Monday after
the e-retailing giant said its losses for the first quarter would be
narrower than Wall Street's forecasts.
The disclosure of Amazon's preliminary first-quarter results is the
first meaningful good news to come out of Seattle-based company in months
and is certain to silence some of Amazon's most strident critics."
For more info:
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,23588,00.html
Is the levy on CD-R/Ws fair, or does it punish innocent users?
From the March 23, 2001 ComputerWorld Canada magazine:
65% Most CD-R/Ws are used for illegal purpose,
so the levy is fair.
23% There are legitimate for CD-R/Ws, but there's
no other way to fight copyright infringement -
and it's important to protect artists.
7% Since Napster will no longer be a free service,
the levy means record companies will be compensated
more than once for any copyright infringement. They
will also be taking money from innocent users.
5% The levy is completely unfair. It punishes the
innocent as well as the guilty.
MOBILE COMPUTING NEWS and NOTES
It's time for a wake-up call. Take a look at these concept phones that
are coming down the pipe. It will open your eyes to what the future holds.
Visit http://www.3g-generation.com/all.htm
Brought to you by Shawn Bremner and The Wireless Web ezine. Sign up by
sending a blank email to mailto:wirelessweb-subscribe@topica.com
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 130-01
Lately I have been getting this noise over my speakers that sound
like a car motor running. Along with that, when I move my mouse across
the pad, it makes a noise like severe static. Any suggestions? I don't
think the noise is coming from a fan; however, I could be wrong.
A 130-01
Kenneth Aspinwall said, "Do you have a microphone attached to
your computer? If so you may be getting feedback, open your audio
mixer, usually present on the system tray, and under microphone (may
show as mic) click the mute button."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Hills said, "You could try uninstalling the sound card and
then take it out. Stick it in another PCI slot. If the sound chip
is welded to the mainboard, disable in the BIOS, take the mouse out
and boot up without a mouse, incurring a warning message. Then, enable
sound card in the BIOS and boot up, again without a mouse. If the
sound card is working OK, then shut down and stick mouse back in and
reboot. Ensure you have the latest drivers for the sound card\chip.
If using a VIA chipset, get the latest drivers for your mainboard."
Q 130-02
I have Windows ME and am running a DSL modem. For some reason, Windows
ME will not shut down when prompted unless the modem is unplugged
from the USB port. Is there any way to go in and reconfigure so that
I can stop this problem?
A 130-02
John Hills said, "The biggest single cause of shutdown problems
is drivers. Make sure you have the correct and latest USB driver for
your mainboard particularly if running a VIA chipset
You may find this useful http://www.aumha.org/a/shutdown.htm"
New Questions
Q 131-01
Sometimes, not always, when I click on the start button the menu
will pop up as it should but then go back down right away. I sometimes,
not always, have to click on the start button 2 to 3 times in order
for it to stay open. When I click down it pops up. When I release
the button, it goes down (the menu) Other times it works well the
first time. The same problem happens sometimes, not always, with some
drop down menus.
(PIII 700, 64MB RAM, 15GB HD, Windows ME, IE5.5)
Q 131-02
One certain web page (and the only one) I try to access freezes up
on me at the same place every time (with 5 items remaining). No others
will do this, just this one.
If you have an answer to these questions or have a question of your own,
please email me at mailto:freehelp@pcin.net
PCIN.net UPDATE
Check out these new or updated pages on the PCIN.net site:
Some Useful Registry Tips (29 Tips)
http://www.pcin.net/help/articles/registry.shtml
Lockergnome Tip of the Day
http://www.pcin.net/help/articles/lgtod.shtml
Nerdy Books Microsoft Office Tip of the Day
http://www.pcin.net/help/articles/nbtod.shtml
How To Maximize a Program When it Starts
(Software suggestion)
http://www.pcin.net/help/articles/maximizescreen.shtml
Adding the Control Panel to the Start menu
http://www.pcin.net/help/articles/cpmenu.shtml
THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF
The Pause/Break Key
Both subscribers John Hills and wanted to mention a little more about
the Pause/Break key (last week's Cheap Trick). John said that the Pause/Break
key "is useful for pausing the PC in boot up so you can read the
BIOS info before it disappears. However, there does appear to be a learned
skill on pressing it at the right time. Press again to continue. In
dos, the key was used for pausing during the execution of a batch file
i.e. Autoexec.bat"
Herman Steeman said, "I wanted to tell some more about the pause
key. It's something from the old DOS century and is not very useful
anymore. When you are running a DOS program you can force the program
to pause and if you hit the spacebar or any other key the program will
resume. This can be handy sometime when your (for example) developing
al program and want to look (behind) the program to see wat the results
are, or simple when you want to stop for later resume.
Lately I discovered that it can be handy when you're busy configuring
your computer. Before windows starts you see the configuration of your
computer, the IRQ setting from your PNP devices, the available RAM and
sort of things. Mostly there's no time to read this except when pressing
the pause button the right time."
Windows ME and Epson Printers
Subscriber John Hills send me this:
"I anyone buys an Epson USB printer it will not run in Windows
ME without a new Epson USB driver available from Epson website. Unfortunately,
Epson do not mention this when in their instruction manual."
New Top Level Domains
There has been a lot of "buzz" about the 7 new top-level
domains (TLD) that ICANN approved. Now there is even more "buzz"
about the 20 new TLDs that New.net Inc is trying to implement. The problem
is, DNS servers don't recognize these 20 new extensions. If you visit
the New.net site, you can install a small control that will "activate"
these new TLDs. You don't even need to restart your computer, just close
all instances of your browser and when you start it again you will have
access to these new TLDs.
For more info:
http://www.new.net/
http://www.itworldcanada.com/search/DisplayArticle.cfm?V=CW,MAIN,713F4150-1E05-11D5-AA8000A0CC574E58
Visit http://www.lisagold.family/
to see if your browser supports these TLDs.
Once your browser recognizes the 20 TLDs, visit http://www.mary.med/
and see what the nice screen you get when you try to visit a domain
that doesn't exist.
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 whole, or in part, as long as the
author is notified and the newsletter is presented as is.
|