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The LangaList

19-Jul-99

A Free Email Newsletter from Fred Langa About BrowserTune,
HotSpots, Columns, Tips & Tricks, and Other Activities

In This Issue:
What’s Up With Win98 Second Edition?
Email (In)Security Discussion Continues!
Still More Tips on Bogus "Out Of Disk Space" Errors
"Zap---You’re Dead" Follow-up
Nighttime Fun
30th Anniversary Of Lunar Landing
Win A FREE Palm III!
Just For Grins
More!

What’s Up With Win98 Second Edition?

If you have or ever expect to get or use Win98 SE, you need to read this!

Win98SE was supposed to fix a pile of minor problems. Why, then, are so many people having trouble with it? I've been getting a ton of reader mail about Win98SE; lots of people are having trouble getting it installed and working correctly.

Two quick examples:

Dear Fred,

I recently bought the Win 98 second edition (SE) through the mail. My PC at home used to run fine on the Win 98 first edition (if that's what you'll call it). After installing the SE on my PC I had numerous problems. First I had an error message that "File copy error - could not copy to destination disk". I worked around that. I had that message whenever I had my second drive attached to the first as a slave. I disabled the second drive and that message didn't show up. My second drive only had my data files from my old Win 98, so I don't understand why that caused the error (I am assuming that's the cause).

My next problem is my PC seem to shut itself down every so often. Its shuts down at no particular sequence. First I thought it must be one of the software I had on, but they all worked fine in the older Win 98. I only have this problem now. There isn't one application or location that I can identify. It is at random. When I switch it on again, scandisk does not come up meaning that it was a normal shutdown.

I have tried installing Win 98 half a dozen times, formatting my hard disk even fdisk the drive three times, still could not solve it. Is that a bug in Win 98 or could it be one of my components in the PC that is causing the shutdown? I have a feeling it is software related. Would appreciate any help you could give. I couldn't get any answer from Microsoft here....

Shagenthera Ganason

And this:

Dear Fred,

I thought I'd let you know about a personal experience I had with Win98 SE. I have a new Gateway Pentium III 500 MHz computer that has an STB TV tuner card installed and runs an STB TV and FM app. on Win98. I recently bought Win98 SE upgrade ( the $20 CD-ROM) and installed it. Thank GOD it has an uninstall function because 2 things broke down on me after the install. First, the STBTV application kept generating an error claiming that it couldn't load all components...probably something to do with some of the updated WEBTV section in WIN98 SE. Also, I stopped being able to connect to some conference sites using a connectix quickcam and the CU-SeeMe software. I was told it might have to do with some IP translation error. The only thing that brought everything back up and working was to uninstall the entire SE version and revert back to the original configuration. I left a similar notification with Microsoft web support but as yet haven't gotten any information back. If there isn't any kind of fix for this bug, I guess the CD-ROM will sit on the shelf and gather dust!

Sincerely,

Mike Reid

Tracking down problems like these can be hard, but with Win98SE it's even more complex than normal because there are no less than seven different variations of the product(!) and they’re not all the same!

Detailing them all here would make this a monstrously long email, so instead I’ve made this the subject of this week’s week-long WinMag Dialog Box discussion. In it, I’ll tell you what’s in each of the several variations of Win98SE, how to get them, and what they cost (anywhere from over $200 down to free!).

Then we’ll look at some of the problems reported by readers. There’ve been enough, in fact, that I thought it was time to stop and ask for a figurative show of hands from you:

Have you tried any of the Win98SE variants? If so which one(s)? Did it work for you? Did you have to do anything unusual to get it to work? Are you satisfied with the results?

If we pool our knowledge, maybe we can cut through this seven-option confusion and figure out which version(s) of Win98SE are worthwhile--- and which ones we should avoid! Join in the week long discussion starting midday (EDT; GMT-4) on Monday 19-Jul-99 via the WinMag front page at http://content.techweb.com/winmag/ !

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Email (In)Security Discussion Continues!

It’s ridiculously easy to spoof email. At the simplest level, many users are unaware how easy it is to alter the "From:" and "Reply To:" fields in an outbound email. As a result, it’s child’s play to send someone an email that will look (to a casual or inexperienced eye) like an email from, say, their boss, a co-worker, or a spouse. The potential for mischief or outright fraud is enormous.

But there are several ways to add at least basic security to your email--- although some are much better than others.

Come read about the 5 reasons why I think more people don’t use secure email methods, and then see the ton of great reader-tips for making your email much more secure. Join in the discussion at http://www.informationweek.com/langaletter !

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Still More Tips on Bogus "Out Of Disk Space" Errors

In the last couple issues of the LangaList, we’ve discussed numerous way to circumvent inappropriate "out of disk space" errors that can strike while installing new software, even if your hard drive contains tons of free space. (See
http://www.langa.com/newsletters/Jul-12-99.htm#ie5
and
http://www.langa.com/newsletters/Jul-14-99.htm#error
for more details.)

But your fellow readers are still sending in more tips! For example, many, many readers wrote with suggestions along these three lines. If you’re still having "out of space" errors, try these:

I had a similar problem recently which turned out to be caused by having too many MB's of deleted programs in the Norton Protected Recycle Bin. These files are still on the HD but do not show-up in the free MB total in the file manager. Clearing out the protected files freed up many more MB's on the HD but did not show-up as any actual increase in the free space. So actually a HD showing say 3-400mbs free could really only have a fraction of this if the files are still held in the protected recycle bin.--Alan Priol.

[Note: Even on its own (without Norton) Windows doesn’t actually free up space from "deleted" programs until you empty your recycle bin; the files are retained so that you can unerase them if need be, until you either explicitly empty the recycle bin or exceed the bin’s capacity.]

Fred,

I had a similar problem trying to install FrontPAge98 here at work. No matter what I tried I got one of two errors: Either that I was trying to install an upgrade product without having the upgradeable version, or that I was out of disk space and could not install.

True I have a very large disk but hey I also had about 85% of it free. Anyway the way I got through the install successfully was to disconnect my PC from the network. Not my idea an Idea from one of the IT guys here. Anyway IT WORKED! I suggest this as a better workaround instead of keeping unneeded info on our drives since all the info we keep is important.---Arthur Rabinovitz

Hi Fred!

Like your news letter and read it through every time it comes in. One time I downloaded a program from Creative Labs and I kept getting the same 'Not enough disk space'. Then after complaining a few times I got a reply back telling me to put 2 lines in my Autoexec.bat file like so:

TEMP=C:\TEMP
TMP=C:\TEMP

And that fixed it --- Raymond Cliffe

For these and all the other tips you sent in, thanks!

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"Zap---You’re Dead" Follow-up

What a great discussion! Many readers---including several industry experts--- joined in our discussion of power problems and what UPSes and surge-suppressor strips can and cannot do. (the discussion is still available at http://bbs.winmag.com/columns/archives/071199/monday/column.asp?frames=yes )

But not everyone was happy with the discussion, including a reader from England who wrote and asked:

Are you a complete idiot?

You leave your computer switched on and unattended. Sounds like a fire hazard to me.

You leave your windows open in an empty house. Sounds like a burglar's paradise in your part of the world.

Um, OK--- let me explain, just in case my column came off that way to anyone else:

It's not a particular fire hazard--- why would computer gear spontaneously burst into flames, especially when protected? The only time I've heard of anything like that happening was with old Soviet televisions in the 1980s; they would blow up from time to time, setting hotel rooms on fire and dampening the Glastnos ardor of many visiting Westerners. (I was among the first waves of Westerners visiting the old USSR at that time, and although I never had one of those old TVs blow up on me, they did make me nervous. 8-) ) And I assure you I have no Soviet TVs here in my office.

As for the windows, they weren’t wide open, but rather were locked in a partially-open position that allowed for ventilation but prevented entry by anyone more than 3" tall. Besides which, I have burglar alarms inside my house, and the alarm was switched on and active. (It has its own battery-backup UPS!)

Sometimes, I’m not the brightest bulb in the circuit, but I at least try to avoid "total idiocy." 8-)

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Nighttime Fun

No, not the "Eyes Wide Shut" kind--- I'm talking about fun for anyone: All you need are eyes and an inquisitive mind.

Did you know that you probably can easily see Mir--- the doomed Russian space station---from your backyard? Or that the fleet of Iridium satellites regularly reflect so  much sunlight off their solar panels that they create am amazingly bright flash or flare in the sky, if you know where to look? (Some are even visible in broad daylight, and cause UFO reports!)

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