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Issue 132 - April 18, 2001
ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements ©2001
==== 1617 Subscribers in 51 Countries ====
Subscribe/Unsubscribe/View Archives at http://www.pcin.net/
Welcome to the 132nd 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
I commented last week how the nice weather has allowed Lisa
and I to get outside and start working around our new house.
Well, yesterday we woke up and there was a little bit of snow
on the ground. No wonder people think that in Canada we all
live in igloos!
Not much to else to share this week. I've been working on
redoing the PCIN.net site. Read the PCIN.net UPDATE section
below for details.
Lastly, 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
Please Throw Your Phone Away
From the April 2001 Issue of mBusiness Magazine:
"The cell phone already sops up disposable income like
a doughnut in coffee, but a suburban New Jersey inventor
has taken disposable a step or two further. Inventor Randi
Altschui says her inspiration for this ecologist's nightmare
and marketer's dream came in 1996. 'I was driving with my
cell phone - which I shouldn't be, but I'm always on the
phone - and I kept losing the damned cell signal, and it
was driving me nuts,' she explains. 'I just wanted to throw
the bloody thing out the window. And that's when it popped
into my head - disposable cell phones.'"
For more info:
http://www.mbizcentral.com/m-business_story/new/mworld
Network Solutions Gripes
Network Solutions (NSI) has been getting in to trouble
lately:
"One recent example is the number of readers who took
up NSI/VeriSign on a recent promotional offer to renew their
domain names for 10 years at a discounted total price of
$210. After completing the renewal form on the NSI Web site,
they received an e-mail notification that their renewal
exceeded the maximum allowable limit; so their domain was
instead renewed for nine years at a cost of $252. Try as
they might via e-mail, phone, and fax, readers were unable
to get this changed back to the price they'd been promised."
For more info:
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/01/04/02/010402opfoster.xml
It's Chic to be Geek?
Why anyone needs to know this, I don't understand...
"Adult male nerds have sex more often than ordinary
American blokes according to IT recruitment site JustTechJobs.com.
Following a survey of more than 7,500 male nerds it concluded
that this often-maligned group has sex 108 times a year
compared to the average of just 79 times.
The results have staggered those behind the survey who've
concluded that it's 'chic to be geek'."
For more info:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/18340.html
MOBILE COMPUTING NEWS and NOTES
A cool site of the day for you to check out is "Cool
WAP Site of the Day". This is really a good place to
go to find quality wireless web sites. If you look in their
archive, it will show some really good past features. Go to:
http://www.coolwapsiteoftheday.com/
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 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)
A 131-01
John Hills said, "I can only think that the mouse
is double clicking on the menu rather than single clicking.
If you believe you are single clicking, then perhaps your
click speed needs adjustment in Mouse - Control Panel.
A remote possibility is that you have Accessibility options
engaged, useful for some disabilities, which have become
active."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chuck said, "Any menu opened in win95, 98, me or
2000 will close if another program is performing any action
that will cause a change in the display. Pay attention
to the mouse cursor, if it is indicating 'working in background'
default cursor for working in background is the hour glass),
it will cause any open menu to close.
The most common time I see this occur is just after the
desktop appears at startup. Any program that loads at
startup, such as a firewall, virus scanner, etc., will
usually display the 'working in background' cursor. If
I get impatient trying to get to the start menu, it will
collapse each time the cursor changes from the normal
cursor to 'working in background cursor'."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
cnlson said, "Try a different mouse. Some mice when
they fail will begin to send static back into the ISA
bus. If a different mouse eliminates the issue you know
what the problem is. I have had this happen with a touchpad
and a PS2 mouse which was operated on a HARD plastic mousepad
(that built up enough static in the winter to make the
mouse get warm)."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** said, "I find that this happens a lot during startup,
as every time a program loads it can make the start bar
disappear. Maybe if you're trying to load more than 1
program at once this is causing the problem. Less likely
but also possible (with a newer computer) is a faulty
mouse."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brandon Gotch said, "Commonly (in my experience)
problems like this are caused by "fragmentation"
of the hard drive that the operating system is on (in
this case Windows ME), OR by failure in the Operating
system itself. My suggestion is to first try "Scandisking"
and "Defragmenting" your hard drive (both SHOULD
be found in the Accessories / System Tools Menu). If that
doesn't work, reformat the hard drive and re-install Windows
ME."
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.
A 131-02
Rob said, "What browser are you using? Try using
a different one. Or trying loading it with Java and/or
Java Script disabled, especially so if you are trying
to view it in Navigator. Chances are your browser is having
difficulty with the markup on the page.
A second possibility for a large page is that your system
is choking without enough RAM, try saving the page locally
and viewing it that way."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joe said, "You don't mention what browser you are
using IE, Netscape, Opera etc. The web page could have
badly written java code or an active x control causing
your browser to lock up. Try accessing the web page with
java and active x turned off in your browser and see if
that helps NOTE: with java and active x turned off the
web page might not display properly or not display at
all if the site requires these. If it is a site you would
like to access you could try to notify the web site's
Webmaster about your problem as it could be (probably)
the web site that's causing your browser to lock up. If
your using an older browser version upgrade to a newer
version or see if there is a patch for the browser you
are using as this might also solve your problem. If all
else fails I would suggest not to go to that site."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Hills said, "Don't go there would solve the
problem and possibly deleting all your stuff in the Temporary
Internet Folder and Temp folder might do the trick. There
is of course a possibility that the fault lies with the
web site which you need to check on another PC."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** said, "rest assured you're computer should ok
if it can handle other web pages ok. Unfortunately you
didn't give examples of those web pages that work and
the one that doesn't and the phrase "freezes up"
is a little vague, if you mean that your computer literally
stops responding for at least a few minutes then you may
need a new browser (try downloading IE 5.5 from Microsoft.com)
if you mean that some pictures don't download they may
Simply not exist, due to an error by the person who put
the page there (email them in this case), or your browser
couldn't download them: try clicking 'refresh' or 'reload'.
The page may contain some java, which can take a looong
time to both download and run (simply have to wait here).
Or if you use a modem to dial up to the Internet, then
there may simply be something really big there to download
(like java or a big pic), again it's the waiting game
here."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brandon Gotch said, "Now this is an interesting problem
probably the best advise in this situation is to figure
out what the computer is attempting to load and then check
your browsers security settings, It sounds complicated,
however this may be indicating an even LARGER problem."
New Questions
Q 132-01
Is it possible to change the printer default from "Print
All" to "Print Selection"?
Q 132-02
I plan on replacing my video card. Is there anything
special I should do? Do I uninstall the old drivers? Do
I just change cards and install the new drivers? Any advice
to make this as smooth as possible would be appreciated.
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:
Most of my time this week has been working on the new look
for the PCIN.net site. You can visit the main page at http://www.pcin.net/ to see the new look. There
is a JavaScript/dHTML script that is the dropdown navigation
button. I've also played around a bit with some of the Server
Side Includes I use to complete the pages. The site should
load properly (and fairly quickly) in all browsers. If something
doesn't work for you, please let me know at mailto:editor@pcin.net
Adding the Control Panel to the Start Menu
http://pcin.net/help/articles/desktopshortcut.shtml
THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF
Line Spacing in Microsoft Word
I don't know how people can live without keyboard shortcuts.
Here are a couple of good ones that help you with line spacing.
Press CTRL and 1 to format the selected paragraph with single
spacing
Press CTRL and 5 to format the selected paragraph with 1.5
spacing
Press CTRL and 1 to format the select paragraph with double
spacing
Press CTRL and 0 to insert a blank line above the selected
paragraph
Windows ME Shutdown problems
Two weeks ago there was an I Need Help question about a
Windows ME shutdown problem. A subscriber emailed me suggestions
too late for last week's issue, but they were very good.
Here are his comments:
cnlson said, "Check the driver date for the item which
stops the computer from shutting down. If it is PRIOR to
8/00 then it is NOT a WinME driver. WinME disconnects different
from networks when shutting down to make it shutdown faster.
Win98 waits and sends a disconnect notice. WinME just drops
the connection. So sometimes with a WinME system with win98
net card (or DSL MODEM which is a combination of network
card and modem) you will not be able to shut down correctly
unless you pull the driver FIRST.
You are not however hurting the computer if you shut it
off manually. The OS just shutdown before the net card finished
its business
This btw is a HUGE problem with cable/DSL as the providers
are using old 10mb cards with old win95/98 drivers rather
than brand new 10/100 cards with new WinME compatible drivers
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q261/7/66.ASP
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q272/4/86.ASP
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q273/7/46.ASP
One of the links may help."
The last link is an article that explains how to deal with
general shutdown problems and is probably the best place
to start if you are having Windows ME shutdown problems.
Another Use for the Pause/Break Key
A couple of weeks ago, the Cheap Trick of the Week was
about the Pause/Break key. Subscribers have been sending
in their uses for it, and Leeor Geva sent in another one.
He shared that the "Pause Key is also available in
99% of all games today :)"
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.
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- To subscribe another address or unsubscribe, please visit
http://www.pcin.net/
and follow the appropriate links.
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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
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,
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