Issue 125 - February 28, 2001
ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements ©2001
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Welcome to the 125th 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. Recommend
PCIN in March and win a Snappy! 4.0. The more you recommend PCIN, the
more chances you have to win. Recommend PCIN now at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml
OPENING THOUGHTS
Just in case any of you are curious, today is my father's birthday.
Some of you may have noticed that last month there was no contest/question,
and there isn't one this month. I felt that there wasn't enough participation
with them, so they will not be continued. I will still be continuing the
monthly prize for recommending PCIN.
The prize for recommending PCIN in March (and being the person who is
randomly chosen) is a Snappy! 4.0. This is a device that will let you
capture video on your computer. If you don't have a graphics card that
has TV or other video in, then this is a great device to have. Recommend
PCIN now at http://www.pcin.net/recommend.shtml
I do have a copy of Office 2000 Standard to give away as a prize. I got
it at the Microsoft event I went to (they just gave them to all of the
attendees). This is a great prize though, so I need to come up with a
good way to get you all to participate. If you have any suggestions, then
email me at mailto:editor@pcin.net
The NEWS
Yahoo confirms auction drop-off after fees
"The number of items listed at Yahoo Auctions has "dropped
considerably" since the company began charging listing fees, a
spokesman said Thursday.
Brian Fitzgerald, senior producer at Yahoo Auctions, said the company
anticipated the decline. CNET News.com previously reported that the
Santa Clara, Calif., portal giant acknowledged a decline in listings
after the fees were instituted on Jan. 10."
For more info:
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-4895718.html?tag=mn_hd
Watching You Work
"In the back room of a small office in Clearwater, Fla., a handful
of salespeople are working the phones selling software. Their pitch
is not unusual - in essence, 'You've got a problem, we've got a solution.'
But to many of us, this is a product that raises eyebrows. What the
salespeople from Tech Assist are selling is a sophisticated computer
program that allows supervisors at companies to view and record everything
every employee does on his or her computer."
For more info:
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/business/DailyNews/serwer_talk_010222.html
Microsoft Selling Stake in Corel?
"Microsoft Corp. has taken steps to sell its stake in Ottawa-based
Corel Corp. in a move that may have been spurred by U.S. Department
of Justice scrutiny.
Corel filed an S-3 form with the Securities and Exchange Commission
Wednesday which would allow it to convert Microsoft's 24 million Corel
Series A shares into saleable common stock shares.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software juggernaut appears to be willing to
take a loss on the investment. The company picked up the stake in Corel
last October for $135 million, apparently looking for some help in making
its .NET platform work with Linux. But Wednesday's filing proposed a
$2.5625 maximum offering price per share, meaning at most Microsoft
would be able to recoup $61.5 million of its investment."
For more info:
http://www.internetnews.com/fina-news/article/0,,5_596431,00.html
Worm-Kit Creator Blames You
"Sloppy programmers and lazy users are the real cause of virus
attacks, according to the creator of the VBS Worm Generator program,
a virus creation kit used by Dutch cracker OnTheFly to create the Anna
Kournikova e-mail worm.
In an interview with Ken Dunham of the Security Portal, an Argentine
teenager calling himself Kalamar (who now wishes to be known simply
as [K] -- with brackets) also revealed that he has not removed the VBS
Worm Generator program from his website, contrary to some published
reports."
For more info:
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,41991,00.html
MOBILE COMPUTING NEWS and NOTES
Wireless video games are catching on. At the mobile phone company where
I work there are around 1 million subscribers that are programmed with
"mini-browsers". These 1 million users play over 3 million games
per week. Strangely enough, a huge amount of them are played at 5:00 in
the morning.
Brought to you by 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 124-01
I have an old computer and I would like to reformat the hard drive.
I made a boot disk on a floppy and I can boot up to the A drive but
when I type in "format c:" it tells me that is an "Invalid
drive specification."
A 124-01
Ken Berry said, "Boot to your floppy like before and type in
'fdisk'.
You need to create a primary DOS partition before DOS will recognize
the drive. Depending on the size of the drive you may want to divide
up the space.
To make two partitions on one HD create a Primary DOS partition that
uses 50% of the total available disk space then create a secondary
that uses 100% of the remaining 50%. Using these ratios as an example
you can create multiple partitions in varying percentages. This is
very useful at the least to have a 'backups' location. Money files,
work, settings, mail folders, device drivers etc....in case C Drive
takes a dump and all is lost you'll still have important info backed
up on the second 'D' drive."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** said, "The error means that the computer means it can see
no drive c. Either your BIOS is not setup (find out by hitting the
del key on the first or second screen you see when you turn your computer
on) or your hard drive is dead, or there is no partition on the hard
drive. If the BIOS says there is a hard drive then I would run a program
called fdisk to see whether or not you have any partitions defined.
PS. If your BIOS can't auto-detect the drive (if it has the auto-detect
feature) then your drive is probably dead."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gary said, "Try type in "format c: /s" instead with
no quotes. The /s switch makes the disk a bootable system disk. Don't
use the /s when you format your other logical drives, just use format
d: and format e: and so forth. You don't need system files on all
other drives except the startup disk, C drive."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Hills said, "First, enter the BIOS, (sometimes by pressing
the DEL key at initial boot up, and check that the drive is listed
in standard settings. If the drive has a mention then reboot on the
floppy and type FDISK and delete all existing partitions. Then create
a brand new partition and only after rebooting once more, format drive
C with this command. Ignore quotes. "Format C: /s" and this
will format the drive and put on necessary system files."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
George Kevorkian said, "After booting from your floppy, type
Fdisk and set up he partitions for your HD. If only 1 partition, that's
ok, but make sure it's the bootable partition. After partitioning,
then format C:
To see what disks are recognized by the PC, from the A prompt, try
switching to B:, C:, D:, etc. to see what are valid drives recognized
by your machine.
Another possibility is that your BIOS settings are corrupted. At boot
up hit the delete key and check your bios settings to see what drives
are recognized."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Simon Duffy said, "Try fdisk/MBR then use fdisk to fdisk drive
reboot then try to format it."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dale Stubitsch said, "The two simplest and nicest solutions are
that the jumper settings (typically on the rear of the drive) are
set incorrectly. If it is the only drive on your system you will need
one setting; if it is the master in a two drive system (or the slave),
it will need to be set appropriately. Most decent drive makers put
the jumper info on the case (the ones that don't should be shot but
you can go online to the maker's website to find out the info).
The other possibility is that your CMOS settings are incorrect. On
bootup, see if there is a message for the button(s) to hit to enter
CMOS setup. Often, it is F1, F2 or some such. Sometimes holding down
a key while booting will 'error out' and give you the info you need.
If you used a CMOS software program, such as EZ-Drive, you may have
some difficulty getting into the CMOS. Once there, see what the setup
is for your drive. Typically, is it 'Auto', which usually works. You
may need to change to Manual and enter your Cylinder, Sectors and
Head information, which SHOULD be on the drive's case (if not the
maker should be shot, as above!).
If neither of these two solutions work, you could be staring at the
possibility of a dead or dying drive. At this point, the problem escalates
to a more serious level, but hopefully this won't happen."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ken Aspinwall said, "I would guess that your hard drive isn't
being detected. Enter CMOS setup, usually by pressing the Delete key
when you start up (some CMOS setups use a different key, but the startup
screen will tell you). Then check to see that the C drive has some
info entered. If not then try autodetect or enter the real numbers
for cylinders, heads, sectors (if you open the computer case they
may be on a label on the hard drive case) and try the format command
again."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chaz said, "Irregardless of whether the computer is "old"
or new, there are general procedures to follow when formatting any
hard drive for usage by the end user. First, as I always emphasize
to all my customers wanting to "do it themselves" - (1)
Know what you are formatting - will it be drive C: or drive D: and
write down all the info listed on the hard drive. This will aid you
in your setup of the HD in BIOS and/or if you are using specialized
software like Disk Manager, DiskGo, or EZ-Drive. Usage of these types
of "formatters" can be tricky at times in their usage. You
might still have to run FDISK before using these. (2) Make sure your
HD is jumpered correctly either for Master/Single (or MSTR), Master/Slave
(SLV)."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Roger said, "Your BIOS (CMOS, Setup) doesn't recognized your
hard drive. Open your computer, ground yourself, look for all Id info
on the hard drive: Company name, Model #, Serial #, and if you're
lucky you should see also Cylinders (CD) #, Heads (HD) #, Sectors
(SC) #. If not go to this Web page: http://www.thetechpage.com/ go to jumpers
& specs page and look for the company name then go the model #,
write the cylinders #, heads #, sectors #. At boot, press DEL or any
other keys marked on the boot-up page. You should see a BIOS Setup
page, the STANDARD CMOS SETUP should be highlighted press Enter, move
using arrows keys to primary master or hard disk C, type the numbers
you save under CYLN, Head, Sect under WPcom type this 65535, press
Esc, Highlighted WRITE TO CMOS AND EXIT, press enter, y and enter.
The computer should boot up normally and C:\> should appear. Put
your boot disk in floppy drive and check if you have these files on
it: COMMAND.COM, FDISK.EXE, FORMAT.COM, EDIT.COM, HELP.COM, MORE.COM,
EDIT.HLP, HELP.HLP. If you got all this you can begin to format the
hard drive by entering at: A:\> format c: /u and after that you
can load the OS."
Q 124-02
Regularly, when I try to turn off my PC, I get the "yellow triangle",
"wait...end task...cancel" window coming up, and I can't
turn off the computer without pressing the reset button.
A 124-02
** said, "The error means that there is currently a program
still running whilst your trying to shutdown, most likely a rogue
program that has an error and is no longer talking to windows. If
you can start the computer to windows, then shut down ok, without
running any programs then one of the programs your using may have
troubles. You really have two options from here:
(A) If you cant crash it after several tries - make a list of all
programs running when it crashes then trying running two or three
and shutting down, hopefully (ironically) it will crash and now you
know its one of those two or three. When your find out which one uninstall
it then reinstall it. Or just pop in the cd it came on and install
over the top, hopeful it will work.
(B) If it crashes then either one of the programs loaded at startup
(start->programs->startup) is faulty (in which case right clicking
and
Deleting the icon should fix). Or else one of the many windows parts
may be faulty. If you feel confident enough you can boot from cd (set
in the BIOS - see above answer) and install windows over the top of
its self, this usually fixes 50 -> 75% of win problems I've seen.
But your best bet is the "format and reinstall". (NOTE:
formatting will destroy all data on your hard drive)."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Hills said, "I can only think that you have a program open,
that window cannot close down. This is the biggest cause of windows
failing to close down properly, if at all. You need to seek out the
program which can be done in a number of ways but you can get a clue
by holding down the Ctrl and Alt key and pressing the DEL key. Look
at the programs running in memory and try End Task on those which
you feel may be non-windows system programs. If they close down successfully,
then you should be able to turn the PC off. If one of them does not
close down then that is the problem one."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chaz said, "It is telling you that it needs more time to fulfill
your request(s) before "shutting down" should you want to
have a properly working system the next time you ask. Technically
speaking, more than one program is trying to use memory resources
at the same time. The CPU can't handle this sort of "bickering"
and is pleading for your help to allow the programs to finish their
"fight" amongst themselves however long it takes until they
have all "shut up" (personal note: this is as simple as
I can put it). So, go grab some coffee, tea, milk, whatever, and return
later to see "who won". It might take 10 minutes, or maybe
even half an hour. Only as a last resort, RESET your computer.
Another of other things can cause the same symptom. Installing a program
and then soon afterward uninstalling it (doing a Check Out as WinZip
calls it). I get lots of calls on this symptom because of Install/Uninstalls
before ever a System Reboot was done after an Install. This often
can corrupt the System Registry. Make frequent use of Norton DiskDoctor
for Windows if you have it; otherwise, use Scandisk (within Windows,
not DOS)."
New Questions
Q 125-01
When I loaded Windows 98 and after completion of installation, when
system is restarted it shows the message that there is some problem
with the registry and restores from the backup and ask to restart
the system.
When you restart the system again it shows the same message and this
process continues.
I've tried installation three times by creating different partitions>
& formatting, and I've tried different Windows 98 CDs and the
problem remains.
Q 125-02
When sending messages using Outlook Express, my copy shows all formatted
text as I typed it (i.e. CRs, LFs, etc). But, when the receiving end
gets it, all my text is written endlessly on one line, two at best.
There doesn't seem to be anything in the Preferences/Options mentioning
CR and/or LF added to Outgoing Messages.
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
**Mouseless menus**
When you're running an application, instead of clicking your way through
the pulldown menus with your mouse, keep your hands on the keyboard.
Press the F10 function key at the top of your keyboard and then navigate
through the menus with your Arrow keys.
This is one trick that works on both Windows and Macintosh computers.
Get your own copy of "The Little Black Book of Cheap Tricks: 2001"
by visiting http://www.pcin.net/lbbct
Domain Name Search Tool
I have mentioned several time the domain redirecting and DNS services
that MyDomain.com offers. Well, they've just started a new domain name
search tool that uses Oingo's DomainSense technology. I did a search
from the MyDomain.com site at Tool http://www.mydomain.com/register-a-domain
for Niagara.com and it told me that it was taken, but that the following
domains were available:
BodyOfWater.com
Fort-Erie.com
Escarpment.net
eNiagara.org
MyNiagara.net
These may not mean a lot to you if you live in Antarctica, but these
are all relevant terms for Niagara. The DomainSense technology is able
to recognize different words in your search and give you synonyms for
those words. It also has words categorized and that is how Niagara brings
up "Body Of Water" and "Escarpment" (geography/geology
terms)
You can try a search yourself at the link above, or you can read all
about the technology at http://corp.oingo.com/Product_Pages/DomainSense/DomainSense_PRODUCT.html
Articles at PCIN.net
I just wanted to remind you all of the articles that I have at http://www.pcin.net/help/articles/
Although I haven't written new articles in a while, I do update a lot
of them.
This past week I added several new entries to the "Some Useful
Registry Tips" including how to get rid of the "Log Off"
option on the start menu and where to find the URLs that are used in
the AutoComplete feature of Internet Explorer.
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.
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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.
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