dacs.doc electric

Random Access

Instant Replay: January 2001

Bruce Preston, Moderator

Q. I recently upgraded my system to Windows Me, 20GB hard drive, 128MB of RAM, keeping the original 200MHz Pentium. I run MS Office, Norton Utilities 2001, Internet Explorer. I notice RAM dropping to around 0 when applications are opened and running. System Resources hover around 68%. Any ideas as to how to improve performance?

A. You didn’t indicate as to whether all of the Norton Utilities are running as a matter of course. Since you are watching RAM and System Resources, we suspect that you have all of them running. These applications do not run "for free," they consume resources just as would any other application. We suggest that you only run the ones that you really need at the moment. The amount of RAM you have should be enough to support the list of applications you are running. Use Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Delete) to determine what else is running--you don’t need to have Real Player running unless you are listening to music, for example.

Q. Dell provided Outlook Express until January 31, 2001, after which they are providing MSN. I loaded MSN, it was supposed to have imported my old address book, but it didn’t. Now the system no longer connects automatically - I have to establish the connection by hand. Any suggestions as to how to get it going again.

A. MSN’s support line should be able to walk you through their configuation; you are more likely to get help from rather than from Dell.

Q. Is there anything "wrong" with the AT&T dial-up internet service being offered at $4.95/month?

A. If they are your long distance carrier, and you use less than the 150 hour per month cap, it is probably fine. Just be sure to read the fine print as to what happens if you exceed the usage limits.

Q. What about free internet services? Are there any?

A. Blue Light from K-mart, and Costco’s services were mentioned. You do have to use a specific browser/e-mail client to use these, and will have advertising in your face at all times. If you can live with that, go for it.

Q. Half of the files I receive via email are unreadable. Outlook Express reports that they are MIME-encoded and won’t display them. What should I do?

A. MIME encoding of messages is a basic Internet standard; Outlook Express should be able to decode them. We suspect that somehow your installation got corrupted, or you accidentally disabled the decoding capability. For example, when the Melissa virus was rampant, many people disabled options in Outlook Express. The only one that really needed to be disabled was Windows Script Hosting. Try re-installing Outlook Express and watch to see if it offers a "custom" installation. (Select the Windows Setup tab in Add/Remove Programs and select repair installation) Examine the options offered. There are decoders built into various other products, but to use these would require user intervention--it should happen automatically.

Q. I purchased Windows Me, my machine is currently running Windows 98 SE. I have been told by some to install it, by others to not bother. What is the recommendation?

A. If you purchase a new machine and it comes with Windows Me, that’s wonderful. It is a bit gray, however, as to whether you need to do an upgrade from Windows 98 SE to Windows Me. The "Me" release has more multimedia capabilities if you are interested in multimedia. The configuration rollback feature is nice if you are prone to adding applications and games frequently and are thus exposed to throwing your installation off balance. It comes with the latest version of Internet Explorer--but you can download that, or get a CD at a nominal charge. Updated drivers and security patches for Windows 9x versions of the operating system are available for downloading. Windows Me is a bit easier to set up for local area networking or internet connection sharing, but the older versions weren’t impossible. You will lose some backward compatibility to very old DOS applications, if you have any of them left. If we haven’t given you a "I’ve got to do that" reason in this list, then you probably don’t need to upgrade to Me.

Q. Has anyone gone from Windows 98 to Windows 2000?

A. Yes, several have. It is highly recommended that you backup your data, and then do a "clean install" rather than have it inherit your old configuration. That way you don’t come out of the upgrade with all of the "wrong" settings in your registery that were there in the old operating system.

Random Access

Instant Replay: January 2001

*Bruce Preston, Moderator*
Q. I recently upgraded my system to Windows Me, 20GB hard drive, 128MB of RAM, keeping the original 200MHz Pentium. I run MS Office, Norton Utilities 2001, Internet Explorer. I notice RAM dropping to around 0 when applications are opened and running. System Resources hover around 68%. Any ideas as to how to improve performance? A. You didn’t indicate as to whether all of the Norton Utilities are running as a matter of course. Since you are watching RAM and System Resources, we suspect that you have all of them running. These applications do not run "for free," they consume resources just as would any other application. We suggest that you only run the ones that you really need at the moment. The amount of RAM you have should be enough to support the list of applications you are running. Use Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Delete) to determine what else is running--you don’t need to have Real Player running unless you are listening to music, for example. Q. Dell provided Outlook Express until January 31, 2001, after which they are providing MSN. I loaded MSN, it was supposed to have imported my old address book, but it didn’t. Now the system no longer connects automatically - I have to establish the connection by hand. Any suggestions as to how to get it going again. A. MSN’s support line should be able to walk you through their configuation; you are more likely to get help from rather than from Dell. Q. Is there anything "wrong" with the AT&T dial-up internet service being offered at $4.95/month? A. If they are your long distance carrier, and you use less than the 150 hour per month cap, it is probably fine. Just be sure to read the fine print as to what happens if you exceed the usage limits. Q. What about free internet services? Are there any? A. Blue Light from K-mart, and Costco’s services were mentioned. You do have to use a specific browser/e-mail client to use these, and will have advertising in your face at all times. If you can live with that, go for it. Q. Half of the files I receive via email are unreadable. Outlook Express reports that they are MIME-encoded and won’t display them. What should I do? A. MIME encoding of messages is a basic Internet standard; Outlook Express should be able to decode them. We suspect that somehow your installation got corrupted, or you accidentally disabled the decoding capability. For example, when the Melissa virus was rampant, many people disabled options in Outlook Express. The only one that really needed to be disabled was Windows Script Hosting. Try re-installing Outlook Express and watch to see if it offers a "custom" installation. (Select the Windows Setup tab in Add/Remove Programs and select repair installation) Examine the options offered. There are decoders built into various other products, but to use these would require user intervention--it should happen automatically. Q. I purchased Windows Me, my machine is currently running Windows 98 SE. I have been told by some to install it, by others to not bother. What is the recommendation? A. If you purchase a new machine and it comes with Windows Me, that’s wonderful. It is a bit gray, however, as to whether you need to do an upgrade from Windows 98 SE to Windows Me. The "Me" release has more multimedia capabilities if you are interested in multimedia. The configuration rollback feature is nice if you are prone to adding applications and games frequently and are thus exposed to throwing your installation off balance. It comes with the latest version of Internet Explorer--but you can download that, or get a CD at a nominal charge. Updated drivers and security patches for Windows 9x versions of the operating system are available for downloading. Windows Me is a bit easier to set up for local area networking or internet connection sharing, but the older versions weren’t impossible. You will lose some backward compatibility to very old DOS applications, if you have any of them left. If we haven’t given you a "I’ve got to do that" reason in this list, then you probably don’t need to upgrade to Me. Q. Has anyone gone from Windows 98 to Windows 2000? A. Yes, several have. It is highly recommended that you backup your data, and then do a "clean install" rather than have it inherit your old configuration. That way you don’t come out of the upgrade with all of the "wrong" settings in your registery that were there in the old operating system.

Bruce Preston is president of West Mountain Systems, a consultancy in Ridgefield, CT, specializing in database applications. A DACS director and moderator of the Random Access segment at the monthly general meetings, Bruce also leads the Access SIG. Members may send tech queries to Bruce at askdacs@aol.com. Responses will be published in the next issue of dacs.doc.