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Issue 126 - March 07, 2001
ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements ©2001
==== 1510 Subscribers in 50 Countries ====
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Welcome to the 126th 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
I've been procrastinating making any changes to the site
because I wanted to get my logos done. This kind of sets my
colours and the general "feel" I'm going for.
Well, I'm finally done, and you can check them out at:
http://www.pcimprovements.com/pci_logo.gif
http://www.pcin.net/pcin_logo.gif
Remember that PC Improvements is the company, so that is the
main logo. PCIN is the "child", so it is based on
the main company logo.
If you have any comments or suggestions about them (colour,
positioning, etc.), email me at mailto:editor@pcin.net
I don't know if you've read it before, but in the intro to
the I Need Help section, I ask people to send in their results.
Subscriber Mike actually sent in a comment: "Gary, nice
simple tip about dos issues regarding drive format/partition!"
(Gary had explained in very basic terms how to format a drive
and make it bootable).
There are several subscribers who reply every week to the
questions. If this has helped you, email me and I can post
some of these comments. I'm sure these active participants
would like to hear how things are going.
Don't forget to recommend PCIN in March. The prize 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
The NEWS
Amazon Denies Bankruptcy Rumors
"Amazon.com Wednesday vigorously denied market rumors
that the company is planning to file for bankruptcy, but
shares in the online retailer fell 9 percent in trading
Wednesday.
'I have no idea where this rumor is coming from,' spokeswoman
Patty Smith said. 'I can tell you absolutely, positively
that there is no truth whatsoever (to the rumor). I'm here
to tell you it's not true.'
The rumors apparently were sparked by a short story early
Wednesday on German business news wire VWD, which said the
speculation about an Amazon bankruptcy filing was coming
from the U.S."
For more info:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/tech/2001/feb/28/022801375.html
Proof May Lead to Unbreakable Code
"Cryptology experts are abuzz over a Harvard professor's
claim that he can make an unbreakable code that can be used
over and over again.
Computer science professor Michael Rabin, with the help
of doctoral student Yanzhong Ding, developed a mathematical
proof that experts say could be used to make a code indecipherable
even by the most powerful computers.
'We are doing something that is seemingly impossible, and
that is, of course, extremely exciting,' Rabin said Wednesday."
For more info:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/tech/2001/feb/28/022801555.html
Bill Gates For President, Microsoft Should Run US -
Survey
"A study by Brouillard Communications asked people
which company they would most like to run the US government,
and which they would be least likely to put in charge. The
results indicate that most Americans view Microsoft as highly
effective and innovative, but lacking character and prone
to poor behavior.
The divided feelings about Microsoft are among several findings
of the study, which surveyed a random sample of over 1,000
Americans (voting age of 18 or older) on their views of
corporate reputations."
For more info:
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/162809.html
MOBILE COMPUTING NEWS and NOTES
PayPal is a popular Internet company that helps you to make
easy online payments without a credit card. Soon you
will be able to beam money between Palm Pilot's using PayPal's
software. Eventually this will also allow transactions
between mobile phones, PDA's, and other appliances.
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 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.
A 125-01
** said, "If you have formatted the drive and installed
windows on top and it has crashed straight away then it
sounds like you have a hardware issue.
1) I would suggest removing everything you don't need
from the computer (e.g. sound card, modem, floppy disk
drive etc) and boot to windows.
2) If it does it again and you have more then 1 piece
of ram try using only 1 piece at a time (assuming 178pin
SDRAM here - the chips are >= 1mm high)
3) If that fails try formatting and reinstalling with
everything still removed (one of them may have caused
an upset during install)
4) Try using a friends computer parts to see if one of
your few pieces left are faulty.
5) Take it to a computer store - they'll find the problem
(if they're good)."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Hills said, "I am afraid that I can only make
wild guesses. Try:
1. Running scandisk on thorough to ensure that the registry
is not lying on a bad sector on your hard drive.
2. Just as PC is booting up, press the F8 key and select
Command prompt from menu. At the C prompt type scanreg
and see if at that point the registry is fine. If
it is not then it may be caused by not loading on the
4 in one drivers from your mainboard CDROM particularly
if you have an AGP socket and USB ports. These drivers
are becoming essential for USB, Bus master and AGP ports
to work properly. You may have to load these drivers from
Safe Mode."
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.
A 125-02
John Hills said, "I think I would try uninstalling
Outlook Express and then reinstalling it. This should
bring it back to basic default settings."
New Questions
Q 126-01
I had to reformat my PC and now the CD-Rom won't read
my photo CD's. All other CD's are fine - programs, games,
music. When I put a photo CD in the computer tells me
that the drive is not ready or not accessible. Any ideas?
Q 126-02
Is adding RAM to your computer as easy as going out and
buying the hardware? And after you buy it, does your system
automatically recognize the change? Anything I should
look out for?
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 left 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 an edit to Windows'
Registry. (If you're not familiar with editing the Registry,
check out how at 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 start a new list. Sigh.
This should work n Windows 95, 98 and Me.
Get your own copy of "The Little Black Book of Cheap
Tricks: 2001" by visiting http://www.pcin.net/lbbct
More Mouseless Menus
Last week's Cheap Trick told you how you could press F10
to activate the menu bar and then use the arrow keys to
move around. Well, subscriber Mike Cloud wanted you all
to know that "ALT does this too in Windows 98 (Explorer
+ Outlook Express + IE5.1)." Subscriber Duncan Long
also noticed this and points out that if you press the ALT
key and the letter that is underlined on the menu (F for
File), then that menu will open.
Checking for Viruses
One of the I Need Help questions a couple of weeks ago
was about the Unable to End Task window that appears when
shutting down. There were several good answers sent in,
but subscriber Joe Atkinson thought one had been missed.
He said, "I can't believe that no one suggested that
there could be a virus on the hard drive!
I had a variation of network.vbs that would crash defrag,
scandisk, Norton speedisk & disk doctor, and would not
let my machine shut down.
Norton 2000 anti-virus finally found it, but don't count
on the problem being 'fixed' with an anti-virus problem:
this one changed the system.ini file, winint.exe, 3 or 4
'backup' locations and the registry, all of which needed
to be modified manually.
Norton's site gave full instructions, but if I had just
run anti-virus, let it be quarantined, and carried on, I
would still be having grief.
I did not bother to send this last week because I thought
that you would have gotten dozens of e-mails about this
type of problem/solution."
Thanks for the suggestion Joe. I always assume that users
have appropriate virus protection. I guess I shouldn't though.
In fact, one of my co-workers (an IT professional) doesn't
have any antivirus software installed on his home computer.
Remember, if your computer is doing things that it never
used to do and you don't like it, check for viruses.
Free Auction Site
Subscribe Bob Bigalow (Bigalow) sent me this:
"You might mention to your readers there is still a
FREE auction site! I started on EBAY then to save $ moved
to Yahoo... Next I will start listing on BIDVILLE!
There is also a way for displaying ones feedback from other
sites! NEAT!!
http://www.bidville.com/
Sign up is simple and membership is growing fast!"
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.
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