dacs.doc electric

Random Access
March 2002

Jim Scheef, moderator

Members who are unable to attend the General Meeting may submit questions to 'askdacs@aol.com' by the day prior to the meeting. We will attempt to get an answer for you. Please provide enough detail, as we will not be able to ask for additional information. Q. (askdacs) A friend’s family has a problem with connecting to any web page. The Windows 98SE machine has a Pentium 233, 128MB RAM, 4GB hard drive, and a 56K modem. We are using AOL 7.0 dial-up. Any suggestions why we don't get a good connection? A. It sounds like a phone line problem. You might go to the US Robotics site and look into their LINE TEST service. You can find information on this page: www.usr.com/support/ s-search-results.asp?search-section=%2Fsupport&search-terms=line+test&search.x=27 &search.y=15- Note--it is not a free telephone call. Some members report that AOL previously had a modem diagnostic program, but are not sure if it is included in 7.0. Q. I have a Windows 2000 Pro machine, and want to connect an Epson 1520 parallel printer to the USB port. I have a USB to parallel converter by Belkin. The machine reports that the printer is there, but it can’t or won’t print. I get a message that says that 16-bit applications may not be used. Any suggestions? A. One member reported having a similar problem that was solved by using an IBM-provided USB to parallel converter. He was no longer using it, so they worked out an arrangement. Q. I have a lot of files and folders in Temporary Internet Files, that I can't get rid of. I get a disk error pointing to one of the files within. My backup software sees the files, but Windows Explorer doesn't see them. A. Some files are marked hidden and/or system. If they really bother you, then you could delete the entire Temporary Internet Files folder--it will be recreated when needed. Q. I have a screen saver that worked under Windows 98, but won't work with XP. A. XP is based upon Windows NT, and is exceptionally picky as to what can run in the machine. XP requires that applications be truly well-behaved. Looks like the screen saver won't work on XP. Q. I am anticipating putting multiple O/S on my hard disk. If the master boot record gets damaged, how do I reconstruct it? A. FDISK /MBR will only reconstruct the Windows MBR for whichever version of Windows you took the FDISK from. It will not do anything if you have Linux, for example. You might look into ResQ Disk by NetZ Computing, or look at the ONTRACK Data Systems site. Q. Does anyone have experience with low cost ISPs? I am looking at Cayuse /www.cayuse.net/ which is $12/month and has a local access number here in Danbury. A. No one present had used Cayuse Networks yet. Another mentioned was NetZero.net http://www.netzero.net . Be sure to look at volume limitations, and whether they will work with Windows 2000 or Windows XP. Many times the free or lowcost services require that you use a customized browser and/or e-mail application that will put ads "in your face?"--so check on that as well. Q. Is there a way to activate a screen saver immediately? A. It depends upon the particular features made available in the screen saver. When you go to the screen settings property page, look at ‘advanced features’ to see if there is an ‘activate’ hotkey. Q. When you install an application it is recommended that you shutdown all running applications. Is there a fast way to do this? Using Ctrl-Alt-Del to bring up the Task Manager will only let you stop one task at a time. A. Take a look at AppKiller www.padring.com/soft/System/Utilities/AppKiller.html Q. I think that the CMOS battery in my notebook computer has failed. Can it be replaced? A. It varies by model and manufacturer. Some machines have a hatch through which you can reach the battery. However, even these may have the battery soldered or held in place by a spot-welded strap--in which case it will have to be done by a qualified technician. Incidentally, for almost a year I thought that I had that problem with my notebook machine--it turned out that the ROM BIOS chips were somewhat loose. The symptoms were the same--the machine just wouldn't boot until the machine had been plugged in (and therefore heated up) for some time. Q. I went to create a backup of a few files onto a ZIP disk, and the backup software warned me that it would only create one backup on the disk. The disk isn't even close to being full. What’s going on? A. If you make a ‘backup’ then you only get one backup on the disk. The backup created by the IOMEGA-provided software is a compressed file containing all of the files that were selected for backup. However, if you just COPY the files without compression, just using Windows Explorer to copy the files, etc., or create a .ZIP file and then copy the created .ZIP file to the ZIP disk (too many ZIP things here, they are not the same!) then you may have as many copies as you like.