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Feature Articles
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Computer
Quandries
by Dale Atchison
Welcome to my
latest ramblings. I got a lot of inquiries on older hardware this
month - wonder if that has anything to do with people being afraid
to move up to Windows Vista? Heck, these folks haven�t even moved
on to Windows XP yet, and they seem happy enough. And I'm happy for
them.
Dale:
On to the
Questions:
The volume
control on my Gateway computer is working, but I don't get the green
scale on-screen when I press the volume up button on the keyboard.�
I'm using Win 98 SE. .......George
George,
The scale you
see when adjusting the volume is provided by your multimedia
keyboard driver, the same driver that allows the buttons on the
keyboard to control the volume, to start and stop CD playback, etc
Click on
START >> RUN >> type in MSCONFIG >> press ENTER Click on the STARTUP
tab, make sure the keyboard specialty driver is checked; on a
Gateway, that's GWHOTKEY or GWKEYS - on another brand, it could be
just about anything with the word KEY in it Or look for a driver
executable program with the same name as the name screened onto the
keyboard If it's not there to be clicked on, plug in the Drivers
CD that came with your computer or your multimedia keyboard, and
reinstall the keyboard driver ..... Dale
���������
Can you give
me step by step instructions on how to remove hidden McAfee files
from my old Windows ME Laptop? ........Ray
Ray,�
After
removing all things McAfee using Control Panel >> Add/Remove
Programs, reboot the laptop� Then, open My Computer >> C: Drive
>>
Program Files, and delete the McAfee and Network Associates folders
That's all there is to it And kudos on your wise decision to remove
McAfee ...... Dale
���������
I found this
file in my C drive:
Type DAT FILE
Location
C:\NCDTREE
Size 1 99 KB
(2,040 bytes) 4,096 bytes used
MS DOS NAME
navsysr dat
ATTRIBUTES
Archives
When I tried
to open the file, the following message appeared: "A error occurred
while loading the file C:\NCDTREE\NAVSYSR DAT The file is
damaged or is not a valid Dr Watson log file "
Should I
delete this file, and its parent folder, or just let them stay
there?........Roy
Roy,
The NCDTREE
folder is created whenever you load any Norton product The error
message is because when Dr Watson was installed during a Windows
reload, it seized the DAT extension as a Dr Watson info file, but
of course your Norton files AREN'T - this one is a Norton Anti-Virus
virus definition file No, don't delete it until and unless you
uninstall all Norton products from your computer ...Which would be
an excellent idea, by the way
And, no
offense, but most folks, yourself included, don't know enough about
computers in general to be looking at and deleting individual files
in Windows Explorer - you could do some serious damage� Leave that
to me, or the guys at the TBCS clinic (the looking, not the damage) ..... Dale
���������
In trying to
"organize" my FAVORITES, I inadvertently transferred a bunch of the
folders into one of the other folders How do I pull the folders
back out as individual folders into the Favorites column? I'm using
an older computer, running Win 98. .......Ray
Ray,
As you may
already know, I advocate holding on to your old computer as long as
it continues to do for you everything you need it to do If all you
do is surf the Web and read your email, Win98 is every bit as fast
as Win XP, and lots faster than Windows Vista --- Internet speed is
determined primarily by the speed of your connection, not by your
computer hardware or software Now, on to your question and my
answer
[note: where
I give a path to Favorites of My Computer >> C: drive >> Windows >>
Favorites, I'm assuming yours is the only user account on this
computer, and you've set up the computer accordingly If there's
more than one account on the computer, or even if you just allowed
for additional accounts when you set up Windows, you should
substitute My Computer >> C; drive >> Windows >> Local Settings >> Ray
>>
Favorites ]
NOW on to the
Q & A: Immediately after making this sort of mistake, you can click
on Edit >> Undo Move in the Explorer menu If it's too late to do
that now, and I suppose it is, do a Find >> Files or Folders for all
files * URL - look in the C: drive, not just in My Documents Any
files found that aren't already in the C:\Windows\Favorites folder
should be moved there (highlight all the files you want to move,
right-click, then left-click Cut, navigate to C:\Windows\Favorites,
right-click, and select Paste) ..... Dale
���������
I don't think
I explained my problem to you properly. What I need to do is
remove six favorite folders that should be listed separately but
are now located in an unrelated folder I suppose I could go and
start from scratch, but it would be a lengthy process
Also, after I
get myself out of this mess, please tell me how to save these
"Favorites" on my ZIP disc.
Ray
Ray,
I take it you
can see the misplaced Favorites folders in Windows Explorer? If so,
just highlight them all, right-click any one of the highlighted
icons, and select (left-click) CUT from the context menu Navigate
to C:\Windows\Favorites In Favorites, right-click a blank section
of the window, then select PASTE from the context menu Exit back
to the desktop, then look at your Favorites on the StartUp menu The
relocated folders should appear as subfolders (or submenus, if you
prefer)
Next, to save
them to your Zip disk, Open My Computer >> C: drive >> Windows >>
right-click the Favorites folder >> left-click Send To >> Zip drive
..... Dale
���������
I restored my
"Favorites" as you advised Thanks
Now, I want
to save these on a Zip disk, but the icon for Removable Disk [F:]
does not appear in the window after I clicked SEND TO What is the
procedure to add it? .......Ray
Double-click
My Computer Right-click the icon for the Zip drive Now navigate
into the C:\Windows\SendTo folder, right-click a blank space, and
select Create Shortcut(s) Here That should put a link to the Zip
drive in your Send To menu. ..... Dale
���������
I'm using Windows ME on an old Dell
PC, and I want to upgrade Internet Explorer to the latest version
I've downloaded the latest version,
IE 6 SP1, but it won't load Gets about 1% done, and quits Setup,
giving a warning that "some components failed to install" I only
use this PC for Internet and email, and I'm not ready to take on
Windows Vista if I have to buy a new computer Help!
.......Rodney,
Rodney,
I've seen
this exact problem several times; Windows ME didn't always want to
jump all the way from the IE 5 that came with it to IE 6 SP1
Apparently, IE 5 has to be completely current on its updates to
allow IE6 to install properly So, try this: instead of trying to
jump from IE5 to IE6 SP1 in one step, use Windows Update to go to
the Web and get a list of all the pertinent updates. Remove IE6
from the list, plus any references to IE or Outlook Express except
the version right after the one that's currently on the Dell
Install, reboot, and run Update again; again remove all but the very
next IE/OE update, and keep all the security updates as well
Repeat till there are no new IE 5 updates listed at the Windows
Update site, THEN upgrade using the copy of IE 6 you had previously
downloaded
In other
words, treat the machine like a child that's having trouble learning
a complicated subject: teach it in small pieces, building each time
on what has just been learned.
And if you're
not completely 'in love' with Internet Explorer, you should check
out Mozilla Firefox 2.0. It has tabbed browsing, and is much safer
than IE6. You can download it from
www.Mozilla.com; it�s also on my free Utilities CD...... Dale
���������
I'm having a
problem with connecting to the Internet: error message indicates no
dial tone, do not hear any dialing. I have tried "troubleshoot" in
Device Manager, all seems to be in order.
Have another
system, not networked, gets a connection on the same line
Basically, I disconnect one phone cord from the wall outlet and
connect the other.
Device
Manager indicates that there is a COM 1 and a COM 2. Hardware
profile for the modem indicates that it is on COM 3, but Device
Manager does not show a COM 3 port.
Is there a
way to re-assign the modem to COM 1 or COM 2? .......Jerry
Jerry,
An internal
'software' modem will only show up in Device Manager as a modem, not
as the Com: port it attaches to.
Could the
phone cord have gotten pulled and put back in the wrong hole on the
modem? "No Dial Tone" usually means the modem is working fine, just
not connected to the phone line.
This could be
a bad phone cord. If you plug a phone into the other hole on the
modem, does it work? If so, would swapping the two cords on the
modem make the modem start working? Some modems care which hole is
Line and which is Telephone, some don't.
The only
other thing that can cause this problem is a blown 'line seize relay
driver transistor', meaning the modem will need to be replaced
Check the paperwork that came with it - is it still under
warranty?..... Dale
���������
Thanks, Dale,
you were right, no problem with the modem. I took the telephone
line out of the hole which has the small telephone next to it and
plugged it into the other hole, the one with the word Line next to
it (which I thought was the networking plug --- my bad).
.....Jerry
Thanks for
Asking!
In keeping
with this month's apparent theme of sticking with old hardware and
software (I didn't mean to have a theme, it just kinda worked out
that way), here's a rant and a few links.
First, I'd like to say goodbye to a
friend, not exactly an old friend, but a friend I've known and trusted for the past seven or so years.
Ad-Aware Personal SE, the free anti-spyware client from Lavasoft, is
no more. Lavasoft has decided to stop updating the old version. It
will still run if you open it, but will be hopelessly out-of-date
within a few weeks.
To replace
Ad-Aware Personal SE, Lavasoft has cobbled together a lumbering
monstrosity that (I swear) looks like it could have been written by
Microsoft! It's huge, nearly twice the size of the previous
version. It only runs on Windows 2000 or XP (and it can be made to
run under Windows Vista, but what a hassle! ...besides, Windows
Defender is already doing most of the same stuff, however poorly).
And it runs so terribly slowly that I can't imagine running it at
any time other than bedtime.
Here's a very
rough comparison: I downloaded and installed the latest versions of Lavasoft Ad-Aware 2007 and Spybot
Search & Destroy. Both install in about the same time. Spybot has several separate updates to
download, so it takes nearly twice as long to update as Ad-Aware
with its one large definition file. Ad-Aware opens in just a few
seconds after being called, compared to times between 1 and 2
minutes to get a splash screen from Spybot (I thought for a while
that Spybot was broken, but am now convinced it just always opens
slowly, on any computer, regardless of age or speed). But then
comes the real bottleneck: Spybot says it will scan in around 17
minutes, and actually takes 19 to 21 minutes to scan the entire hard
disk, including the registry and all running processes; Ad-Aware
doesn't say how long it will take, and I've never managed to wait to
see if it would actually finish --- I tend to shut down any program
that's still running an hour after I start the scan, and that's the
level of performance I've seen from Ad-Aware. Dreadful, if I must
say. And I must.
I've been
advising all my clients for the past six or seven years to run
Ad-Aware, then run Spybot; each would pick up something the other
missed. That's no longer the case. I tried switching the order in
which the programs were run; Spybot continued to find 1-3 problems
that had been missed by Ad-Aware, but I don't remember the last time
Ad-Aware caught something Spybot had missed. And with the new
shortcomings imposed by the 'upgrade' to AAW 2007, I don't see any
reason to continue running both programs.
Please don't
get me wrong, here: Ad-Aware 2007 is a much better program than I
could have written. I don't code, period. That having been said, I
think the authors, or the folks signing their paychecks, made some
bad decisions when they were designing the new version --- I'd have
stuck with the old version, making minor tweaks as needed, but
keeping most of the speed. As stated much earlier in this rant,
this software looks like it was coded at Redmond: Now that most
computers have all this extra RAM, let's use every last bit of it,
and need even more for minimum performance.
My free
Utilities CD no longer contains any version of Ad-Aware. I don't
recommend it; in fact, I recommend that anyone already using it
should uninstall it, replacing it with Spybot Search & Destroy and
WinPatrol.
Please check
out the list of free programs I recommend at
www.ComputerRepairShop.biz/download.html.
(Again I feel
compelled to point out that:
I write my
opinions, not those of TBCS or any other user group that might
reprint this column;
I write for
free, and my pockets are always pretty much empty, so good luck
trying to penalize me for speaking the truth as I see it --- I'm
just not worth suing.)
Icons, We
Have Icons!
If you're
using Windows 98 or Me, and you like to put icons on your desktop to
streamline the process of Shutting Down, Restarting, or Logging Off,
you've surely noticed the shortage of icons for these purposes. No
worry, just check out this page on my website:
http://www.ComputerRepairShop.biz/Archive/shortcuts.html.
There, you'll find shortcuts for the above functions, as well as
icons 'borrowed' from Windows XP that will display in earlier
versions of Windows.
Until next
month, please write me at
DaLe@ComputerRepairShop.biz; I answer all computer-related
questions for free, via email.
My free
Utilities CD is still available. I'm trying to keep it current
within a week or so, downloading the latest versions of all the
security software I recommend just before burning each batch of
CD's. I'll deliver a copy or two for free in the Clearwater Florida
area, or I'll mail you a copy or two for $4 to cover postage,
materials, and hassle.
Thanks,
DaLe aTchiSon
Please e-mail any questions to DaLe@ComputerRepairShop.biz
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