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LangaList 2001-01-15 Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!
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the above is an advertisement )-------------- 1) Faster Drives, For Free!There's a good chance you can speed up your hard drives and your CDs, CDRs and DVDs--- for free--- via Windows' almost-hidden DMA setting. Doing so can make your drives as much as 15% faster, and reduce the load on your CPU by as much as 40%. We first discussed DMA in this space over a year ago, but despite this easy-to-obtain speed benefit, some new systems still ship with the older, slower, non-DMA disk and CD/CDR/DVD access enabled; and many readers who could manually enable DMA access haven't done so. Here's the scoop: DMA is "direct memory access" (sometimes also called "bus mastering") is a way a part of your computer to bypass the CPU and take a short cut through the system. This can significantly speed operations. In Windows, you can see your drives' current DMA settings by right-clicking on My Computer, then Properties, then Device Manager. Next, click on Disk Drives, then on your hard drive(s)--- you may see a nonspecific name such as "Generic IDE Disk Type 01"--- then on Properties, and then click on the Settings Tab. See if the DMA box is checked. Next, follow the same steps for the CDROM(s) listed in your Device Manager. Even if you have a system of reasonably recent vintage, there's an excellent chance you'll see an *UN*checked DMA option in the dialog box in one or both places. That's because non-DMA drive operations avoid possible compatibility issues. By choosing slower, more-conservative settings, system vendors can save themselves some support calls. Sorting out whether or not to use DMA on a specific system isn't hard, but it takes a little explaining, so in order not to rush through the topic, I've made it the focus of this week's column at WinMag.Com. Because of the US national holiday Monday, the column will go live Tuesday, January 16th. With a full column's worth of space to deal with, we can treat the subject right: I've already done the homework for you, and will show you the relevant portions of the Microsoft KnowledgeBase, and bring you to the DMA-specific portions of the web sites of some large drive manufacturers. Then, we'll step through the process of enabling--- and testing!--- DMA access on your system. If done carefully and right, enabling DMA access can result in a huge payoff on almost all systems. For example, if you have an older, slower system, DMA's ability to let parts of your system bypass the CPU may make things considerably faster. But even the newest, fastest system can benefit. For example, on my newest system, a 1.2GHz Athlon box with 256MB of RAM and an Ultra-ATA hard drive, manually enabling DMA speeded my hard drive read operations by almost 10MB/sec, and speeded writes by 13MB/sec. And all for free! Make a note to drop by the WinMag area tomorrow, Tuesday January 16th, around midday, and check under the "Explorer" heading on http://content.techweb.com/winmag//columns/ . If you arrive early, you'll see the previous column on "Time To Upgrade Your Search Engine". In that case, just try again a little later. If you want to try a direct link, once the column is posted, it should be at http://content.techweb.com/winmag//columns/explorer/2001/02.htm . (If you arrive early, the link won't work.) Hope to see you there tomorrow! Remember, faster hard drives and CDs may be only a click away! Click to
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the above is an advertisement )-------------- 2) LangaList Plus! Edition Now AvailableSome LangaList readers are seeing a longer, expanded version of this newsletter (ie one with more items), and they're seeing it in their choice of text or HTML email. Others are seeing a "digest" format that carries just the headlines and a very brief, easy-to-skim description of each item in the newsletter, along with a link that allows them to jump to the full text of any item that interests them. And none of them are seeing any ads at all. The one thing they all have in common is that they've subscribed to the "LangaList Plus!" edition. Come check it out at http://www.langa.com/plus.htm ! And if you decide to stay with this, free edition, that's cool; just please remember that your clicks on the advertiser links are what keep this version free: Please visit at least one advertiser in each issue to see what they have to offer. You don't have to buy anything, but your visit to the sponsor's site will help keep this FREE version going strong. Thanks! Click to
email this item to a friend 3) More Reformat Time- and Step-SaversIn "Avoid The Reformat/Reinstall Two-Step" ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-01-11.htm#2 ) we discussed an "in-place reinstall" where you just layer a new copy of the OS over the copy that's gone bad. With some kinds of problems--- missing or overwritten system, files, for example--- this kind of reinstall may completely cure what's wrong, and can do so without losing your data, your installed apps, or any customizations or alterations you've made. While that advice was deliberately general, reader Lou Holobradek suggests a targeted kind of fix for problems associated with a copy of Explorer that's gone bad. Lou suggests putting in fresh copies of explorer.exe, shell32.dll and user.exe: In combination, fresh, known-good copies of these files may solve many problems with Windows Explorer. Lou also suggests:
Thanks, Lou. There are all kinds of ways of protecting data files from OS problems, and this approach works fine too. If other readers are interested in TweakUI, you can get up-to-date information on this excellent, free utility at http://content.techweb.com/winmag//help/sbs/2000/tweakui/default.htm . Click to
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the above is an advertisement )-------------- 4) Miss Your OS CDs? Me, Too!Canadian reader Derrick Kearney expressed an increasingly-common frustration recently:
The "system restore" CDs actually use a kind of drive image of the system as it was when it left the factory: You can use that image to restore your system to its original condition. However, they're usually all-or-nothing deals: When you use a System Restore disk, you'll lose all your customizations, alterations, changes--- and most importantly--- any data files (documents, spreadsheets, etc) you've saved or created since you got the machine. Some of this is indeed Microsoft's doing; they're trying to reduce piracy by reducing the number of excess OS CDs in circulation. With less piracy, Microsoft's profits go up. But some of it is also the vendors' doing, because using the System Restore CD will automatically resolve all software problems in one giant step. With an easy fix for software problems, vendor tech support costs go down. In fact, the use of System Restore CDs is great for everyone-- except us end users. It makes it harder to do selective restores, or to have the flexibility to rebuild your system, from scratch, just the way you want it. Grrr. However, even on systems that use the System Restore approach, you'll find all or most of the original OS setup files in the windows\options\cabs directory. If you have good backups, you can usually run a reinstall from the Setup file in windows\options\cabs; this reinstall will lay itself on top of your existing installation, and should pick up your changes, settings etc., without harming your data files. If you're an expert user, and if you have a full backup, you can be more adventurous: If you use a tool such as Partition Magic to create a new logical drive on your system, you can copy either the windows\options\ or windows\options\cabs directories to the new partition/drive. You also can use TweakUI and some simple file copy/paste operations to move your data files to the new partition/drive (see previous item). Then, using a boot disk (ideally, a custom one, such as those we discussed in http://content.techweb.com/winmag//columns/explorer/2000/16.htm ), you can format the C: drive and reinstall a fresh, clean copy of the OS using the Setup and Cab files on the newly-created partition. The problem with this latter approach is that the OEM versions of OSes often have scripted settings and installation options chosen by the hardware vendor. There are ways around that, too, but they're neither simple nor universal, which is why this is an alternative best suited for expert users. (If you have special tricks or tips for this type of reinstall, please share 'em!) So, although there are ways around the "no OS CD" hassles, they're a pain. I wish I had a better answer, Derrick, but I don't. Microsoft and many system vendors have chosen to make things easier and more lucrative for themselves--- at our expense. Again: Grrr! Click to
email this item to a friend 5) Host Files: You Be The JudgeLast issue's item on the potential evils of using the "Hosts" file to block ads ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-01-11.htm#7 ) brought some interesting replies. Most were like this, from Michael Teague:
Or this, from Paul Hamilton:
But along with those, I also got email from other readers flatly stating that use of the Hosts file to block ads can't possibly cause problems. Well, a steady stream of emails, exemplified by the two above, sure seem to indicate otherwise. <g> Although I agree that it's theoretically possible to use a Hosts file to block ads without trouble, I know from the volume of reader mail I get on the subject that far, far too often, things go wrong. Your mileage may vary, but to me, it's just not worth it. Click to
email this item to a friend 6) Recommend It!If you think the LangaList is a worthwhile read, just use the following link to recommend the LangaList to a friend. Your friend just may find a new source of useful information; I just may gain a new subscriber; and you just may win $10,000 for your trouble (full details also available via this link): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#1 Or, win a no-strings $30 Gift Certificate for any item at Amazon.Com--- books, software, hardware, kitchenware, toys... and more. To have a shot at winning, just use the following link to recommend the LangaList to a friend. Your friend just may find a new source of useful information; I just may gain a new subscriber; and you just may win a $30 Gift Certificate! (Full details also available via this link): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#2 Either way, thank you again, and good luck! Click to
email this item to a friend 7) Surface Vs Deep WebWe recently discussed search engines ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-01-04.htm#2 , http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-01-08.htm#1 , http://content.techweb.com/winmag//columns/explorer/2001/01.htm ), and that prompted reader Rod Padrick to write about an amazing site he found:
Basically, the folks at BrightPlanet found that "Deep Web sources store their content in searchable databases that only produce results dynamically in response to a direct request." Ordinary "spider" indexing of "surface" web sites misses this content, which BrightPlanet says is truly vast:
It's amazing reading, and you'll find the full report at http://www.completeplanet.com/tutorials/deepweb/index.asp . Click to
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page or website? (It doesn't matter what size.) Please click over to http://www.langa.com/code.htm
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Users: Click here!</a> --------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 9) PuterGeek Strikes AgainPeter Crockett, the webmaster at PuterGeek, is at it again, and has produced another lively, useful resource page aimed at helping novice and intermediate users get up to speed on some of the arcana of computing. He writes:
Thanks, Peter. If you're a novice yourself, or if you know a novice who could use some coaching, Peter's site is definitely worth a click. Click to
email this item to a friend 10) Just For GrinsAlong with his note about the lack of true OS CDs with many (most?) new systems, Canadian Derrick Kearney also sent along this addendum to an item we previously ran ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-01-08.htm#9 )
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