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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.
- If any of the links are too long to fit on one line,
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and be entered in a monthly draw.
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You have either been subscribed by filling out a subscription
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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
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