Minutes of the Meeting held 22 May 2001
Some of the items which were discussed:
1. Window Help - Graham McC
Graham writes:
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Some of the items which were discussed:
1. Window Help - Graham McC
Graham writes:
-----
Windows Me Help. I have lost access to Windows Help on a couple of
occasions recently. All I got on selecting Help was a screen saying
that that page could not be displayed. I solved the problem in the
past by reloading Windows Me over the top of the existing installation
but decided to find what might be causing it. Microsoft Tech Support
advice was to install the SR1 pack for Internet Explorer. Did this
but still no Help. I checked Microsoft Knowledge Base (which is what
the Tech Support person should have done) to find that there is an
item on just this problem and it is caused by using Easy Cleaner. I
had thought it to be a bullet proof program in removing unwanted
registry keys but it is nothing of the sort and removes keys
associated with Windows Me Help. The program is not to be
used with Windows Me.
Restoring a backup copy of an earlier cleaning restored the keys.
RegCleaner is a program cleared for Windows Me which has a similar
function, although not as easy to use..
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2. [Buying new] RAM - Graham McC
Graham writes:
---------
RAM. I decided to update the single chip PC100 SDRAM of 128mb. The
advice was that I would have to move to two 128mb PC133 chips or one
PC133 256mb chip unless I could find some PC100 128mb chips to add the
one already installed. Cougar Computers in Mitchell had 128mb PC133
chips at $86 or 256mb chips at $172 (it is unusual for the larger
chips not to be more expensive per mb than smaller capacity chips, but
not in this case). I went for a single 256mb chip to allow expansion
at a later date and was given a trade in on the PC100 chip. Total
cost $97. A very good deal and it is now possible to pick up pre
ordered items from Cougar (rather than having them shipped). There is
no way I could have done as well at an EPIC Feeding Frenzy.
--------
Owen writes:
--------
Cougar Computers in Heffernon St, Mitchell is a pretty good store, but
they don't do retail. You go to their site, order, then go and pick it
up. The receptionist was kind enough to put my order into her
computer, and about 5 minutes later and $30 lighter, I had my PCI
network card. Order through http://cougar.com.au
--------
3. Firewire - Graham MCC
4. Audio CD [working but no sound] - Anne
Anne writes:
------
On seeking help because I could not play my audio CDs I was advised to
check that the speakers were plugged into the right hole and to
ascertain that the slider for the CD volume and the mixer were
adjusted correctly. I did all this and my computer began to make a
lot of noises when it opens, I make an error etc, but even though the
screen says that the CD is playing there is still no sound.
------
Al K writes:
------
Various software solutions to possible problems were discussed - very
instructive. Our daughter in law has just experienced a similar
problem on an upgraded/repaired computer - sound under Win98 control
A-OK, but no sound from audio-CD. The reason for this was hardware -
the wire connecting the sound from CD-drive was not installed.
When changing CD drives on some old junk machines last week I did note
three sets of cables from CD drive to motherboard/controller card:
1. The power cable
2. The data cable (flat ribbon of cables).
3. A small bundle of several (two or three, maybe four) wires from
the drive.
My junk-machines had no speakers. Besides, I did not know where to
connect wires #3, so I left them out (did not connect them at all).
CD drive worked OK, and since there were no sound on the junk box (old
486DX2/60), no problem. So my uninformed guess is that #3 wires are
responsible for ***direct*** sound from CD drive to the speakers.
Perhaps Merv C would enlighten us on that point?
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5. [operating] Scanners [remotely] on Networks - General. Alan V
6. if 5 yes then Specific. Alan V
Alan V wanted to know whether scanners can be used remotely over a
network. No was sure. Some wondered whether it depended on specific
drives, but no one could offer details.
The specific scanner that Alan has in mind is HP5370C.
Searching the web, using Google, it turns out there are scanners
connected to the web. One reference in:
http://www.networkcomputing.com/616/616rev5.html
had this to say:
"To share scanners, many sites connect a workstation with a scanner
attached via the SCSI interface to the network. Scanned images are
saved to either the hard drive on the workstation or a network drive,
which requires users to log in to the server and place a file in a
shared directory. Simple enough, but tedious, at best. The new HP
ScanJet 4Si eliminates the need for a separate PC and makes the task
of scanning an image and saving it to the network as simple as
pressing a few buttons. The ScanJet 4Si is intended for the typical
office environment where you need to convert primarily text into
electronic form for easier distribution and archiving."
7. Outlook Express - pictures appearing [inline] in text [of e-mail].
Adele
Adele writes:
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If using Outlook Express, and an e-mail with a picture attached is
received, a large picture appears in the text panel. This is
undesirable but it was clear from general response that this is
standard. A search on the Internet by Terry B. established that this
is built into the program.
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8. "RISK" - Ted T
Ted prefaced his remarks by saying his topic had nothing to do with
computers. Resisting Trevor's attempts to pull him back into his
seat, Ted told the meeting that the movie "Risk" currently playing at
Manuka contained two pieces of music composed and played by the band
78 Saab. His younger son, Garth, plays base guitar in the band. The
featured songs are "Whatever makes you happy" and "Sunshine". The
latter is played during the end credits and Ted urged anyone going to
see the movie to stay on at the end and enjoy "Sunshine".
9. Legacy Genealogy program - Simon
The URL for the Legacy genealogy site is
http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com
Owen writes:
-------
Kith and Kin is an English program that costs about $70, in Australia
it is sold as "Of That Ilk" due to trade Name laws. It can be found at
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/SpanSoft/
I now use a free program "Personal Ancestral File" (PAF) which can be
obtained from http://www.familysearch.org. It has the necessary Gedcom
facility.
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10. [Find out meaning of] Error Messages - Emil
I was extremely impressed with Google's ability to find the right
answers to error messages.
The case in point, was my attempt to install a brand new hard disk on
a friend's friend machine. When I run FDISK program, I was greeted
with an error message saying "virus - bootstart". I was very puzzled.
I thought that formatting with the /s switch will get rid of it. No
such luck. Anyhow, I searched Google with the keywords "fdisk virus
bootstart" and the resultant first two links were extremely relevant.
Both were responses in a forum to a cry for help from a person who had
exactly the same error message in the same circumstances. The first
response, suggested checking the start up floppy disk for viruses
(which wasn't infected in my case), the other suggested switching off
the virus checking in the BIOS (which was spot on).
BTW, Merv suggests turning off the virus checking at the BIOS in any
case if you intend to run a virus checker at guard mode.
Owen writes:
----
Can I put a plug in for those that sit at the end of a telephone
attempting to help people with computer problems. Please write down
what the error message says. Write it down word for word. It helps,
believe me, to have a starting point in the problem solving.
----
11. DVD - Emil
As DVDs grow in popularity (judging by the shelves of the local video
hire store) and DVD drives getting cheaper, I noticed that there is a
great deal of information in the web about the interaction of
computers and DVD, including the copying of video clips and/or sound
tracks or music to hard disk.
In fact, the question of multimedia content is seen as the killer
application right now. Microsoft in its Windows ME and the emerging
Windows XP is making a great effort in improving the operating
system's handling of multimedia.
I am exploring the DVD/computer angle as a hobby and would love to
discuss some of the things that I found with others who may have
similar interest. If you are interested, drop me a line.
12. Catchup - Greg
13. Teach Yourself HTML, CSS - Mike
For a marvelous self-teaching of HTML, CSS etc goto:
http://www.w3schools.com/
You should check out the "Tryit Editor" at that site, even if you are
not interested in learning HTML etc
In relation to the temptation to download the entire course to one's
hard disk, Owen writes:
----
One of the big problems that some sites have is the leaching of files,
like 100 Megabytes at a time. The classic was a Department Store in
the US which at Xmas time, had literally millions of people attempting
to download their 60 MByte catalogue for later viewing.
There are now quite a number of programs which prevent you from
downloading say, more than one page a minute.
-----------
Mike also mentioned a resource to tweak defaults in various programs,
including operating system.
http://user.aol.com/ojatex/lapplugs.htm
It is amazing what programmers do when they have time on their hands.
14, A wandering clock [does not catch time] - Elizabeth
Elizabeth writes:
-------
My clock kept moving senselessly however often I put it right. Answer
by many members: A new battery was needed. Advice: you could not do
this yourself. A helping hand was needed. Merv offered very kindly
to install a new battery for me.
Thanks to all who kept forward with such good advice.
----
It seems that when the computer battery starts to fail, it ceases to
keep time when the computer is off, devoting its failing powers to
refreshing the BIOS. It seems important to replace the battery as soon
as it falters, because otherwise one risks losing the BIOS settings,
and that is a bad news.
Charlie suggested a tiny and free utility which takes down one's
computer's BIOS settings so that these are printed and kept in a safe
place. It is called CMOSSave from
http://mindprod.com/products.html
Its author writes:
-----extract from readme file
CMOSSave CMOSRest CMOSChk 3.7 restore corrupted CMOS from
backup and check that CMOS has not been tampered with.
Featured in Karen Kenworthy's Windows Magazine column
October 1994 and April 1995, and Fred Langa's in 1999. It
has also been bundled on the CDs that come with various
books.
Naive users sometimes meddle with CMOS settings. We need a
fast way to put the scores of subtle CMOS configuration
settings back the way they were.
Power surges can corrupt CMOS. We need a way for a naive
user to quickly restore all the CMOS settings.
If the battery fails, the contents will be lost. We need a
way to restore a known working CMOS configuration.
CMOSRest restores ALL of CMOS, including the proprietary
extended COMS settings like wait states, clock speeds,
shadow RAM etc.
CMOSRest can also be used to toggle between two CMOS
configurations, for example with and without a removable
hard drive installed.
CMOSChk can detect subtle corruption to CMOS, as might be
caused by a rogue program or a virus, something that might
slow your machine or make it unreliable.
The CMOS suite will work under DOS, Windows 3.x, Windows
95/98/ME or OS/2. It partly works under NT and Windows 2000.
See CMOS.TXT for details. However, these utilities are
intended to be used mainly within autoexec.bat during the
DOS phase of the boot. Further, there will be spurious CMOS
changes when you reboot between Win95 and NT.
---------end of extract
15. IE installation on virgin Win98 - Al K
16. USB connections [via hub] - Peter
Peter said that he had two USB ports on the back of his computer but
it was a bit of a worry to have to climb under the table each time he
connected a USB device. He asked if there were any traps in installing
a USB hub to sit on the top of the desk. He was advised to make sure
that the USB hub came with a transformer. It was necessary that the
hub have its own power supply if a number of peripherals were to be
attached. Estimated cost $60.
17. Phone charges
As an addendum, Richard writes in relation raised at the end of the
meeting re BonziBuddy:
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Version 4.6 of Ad-aware has just been released.
http://www.lavasoft.de/aaw/index.html
Download aaw.exe (662 Kb) and reflst.zip (8 Kb) from the Download
Page.
After installing Ad-aware 4.6, update the signature file by unzipping
reflst.zip into the ad-aware folder.
The following advertising systems are detected by Ad-aware 4.6:
Adware, Alexa 1.0-5.0, Aureate v1.0,2.0 + 3.0, Comet Cursor v1.0 and
v2.0, Cydoor, Doubleclick, DSSAgent, EverAd, Flyswat, Gator,
OnFlow-Player, TimeSink v1.0,v2.0 and v5.0, Web3000 and Webhancer.
I don't know if it detect Bonzi Buddy but it is worth trying.
BonziBUDDY is a purple ape who walks, talks, sings, browses and
searches the Internet with you. He learns your likes and interests and
automatically finds web sites you have not yet discovered! (like
shopping sites!) The more you use him, the smarter he becomes!
Available FREE from http://www.bonzi.com/.
It's not a virus, just a program, you should be able to remove it
through Start; Settings; Control Panel; Add/Remove Programs;
Highlight the Bonzi Program and click the Add/Remove button.
---------
That's all, Folks!
Emil
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