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LangaList 2004-02-16 Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 1) Successful Updates Despite Slooooow ConnectionsReader Randy Brooks has a problem. One of his PCs has a fast connection; it's easy and quick to keep that system up to date with all the necessary patches and downloads from Windows Update. But the other system is on an old slow, unreliable phone line. It's almost impossible to keep it current:
Randy's case actually isn't that unusual: Many of us are hindered by low-speed connectivity
on one or more PCs that we have to support. Because some Windows Update
items are huge, trying to install them via a slow connection can strain anyone's
patience. In fact, you can use this method of saving patches on *any* PC, even if you're not moving files to a second machine. Then, if you ever need to reinstall the OS, you'll have the patches for that PC right at hand, and can run them from your hard drive without re-identifying and re-downloading everything afresh. There are three main steps to the process, and a couple of minor "gotchas" you have to be aware of. I've put the whole thing into step-by-step form in a new full-length article posted now at InformationWeek.Com: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=17603160 Don't let a slow connection tempt you into running an unpatched or unprotected
PC--- and don't let your friends on slow connections do so, either! With the
information in this article, you can work around even the worst
bottlenecks and still keep any PC fully up to date! Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 2) Circular Cleaning Of CDs Bad?In "Last (?) Word On Preserving CDs" ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2004/2004-02-05.htm#2 ) we mentioned an excellent, objective resource on the care and feeding of CDs--- and by extension, DVDs. But that item also raised questions for some readers, including this:
Cleaning in a circle (ie following the circumference of a CD) can create a curved scratch that
can fool
the laser; the laser may try to follow the scratch instead of the real data
track: You can get skips or misreads as a result. No scratch is good, of course: You should use only soft cleaning cloths; and never rub any harder than is absolutely necessary. BTW: This is partially an age-dependent issue! People who grew up with vinyl--- or shellac!--- audio records learned to clean them by wiping in a circular motion, in the direction of the physical grooves. But that's exactly the wrong way to clean an optical disc. (And even now, I can imagine some younger readers saying to themselves, "shellac?..." <g> ) Click to email this item to a
friend 3) His POST Was ToastAlmost all PCs go through some kind of audible Power-On Self-Test or "POST" process when you first turn them on. If nothing's wrong, the PC usually emits one beep, meaning "All is well!" But if something's not OK, the PC emits two or more beeps in a specific pattern. If you make note of the beep pattern, you can look it up in a suitable reference to see what the POST is trying to tell you. For example, see http://www.pchell.com/hardware/beepcodes.shtml or http://www.geocities.com/techcentralstation/BeepCodes.htm This reader ran into a POST problem, but managed to fix it without having to look up anything:
Different machines use different beep codes, so I don't know exactly what your PC was trying to tell you. Perhaps it was a direct thermal problem due to the dust acting as insulation; or perhaps the fan had stopped spinning (some PCs won't start up if the fan is blocked, to prevent the cpu from cooking itself to death...). Or it could have been something else But in any case, all PCs get grungy inside after a while; and the dustier the environment, the faster the buildup. It's smart to pop the case a couple times a year and get the fuzzies out of your system! Click to email this item to a
friend 4) Cleanliness Is Next To Godliness...... but in PCs, it's next to impossible. For example, there's not only the kind of dust problem mentioned in the previous item, but there also can be problems with your input devices, like this:
Thanks, Alan. It's not hard to clean a mouse by hand, and you usually don't have to disassemble the whole thing: After removing the mouse ball, the rollers are usually accessible for cleaning with a soft tool like a cotton-tipped swab. In an emergency, you can even use a fingernail (gently) to scrape the rollers clean. But there is a tool that makes it even easier: It's called a "mousewand." It has a rubber grip that makes it easy to pop out even badly-stuck mouse ball covers; and a velcro insert that's exactly the diameter of a mouse ball. You pop out the mouse ball, place the velcro insert inside the mouse, and move it around. The velcro fabric scrubs the mouse rollers clean in seconds. Unfortunately, mousewands are almost impossible to find as separate, "quantity: one" items. They're usually sold in bulk by imprinting companies that want to slap a company's logo on the mousewands, for the company to use as a giveaway, promotional item. That's how I got mine: Some company sent me one, so their logo would be on my desk. But mousewands would be a great item for a club or user group to buy in bulk for their members. That way, the unit cost would be very low. See http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=mousewand Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 5) That Annoying "Low Disk Space" Warning
You're almost there, Tom. The "Low Space" warnings are based on a percentage of available (free) space on a given drive/partition: Drop below that amount, and the warnings go off. If you already have the Recycle Bin and Norton Protect set to zero for that partition, the simplest fix is to increase the size of the partition so that there's enough free space to make the operating system stop complaining. But that's wasteful of disk space, so the slightly more
complex, but probably better solution is completely to disable the "Low Space" warning
for that partition/drive. To turn off the warnings,
you need to do a little tweaking, as described here: It's a little silly that it takes so roundabout a way to turn off the warnings, but at least you *can* turn them off. Click to email this item to a
friend 6) Is This Information Useful?If you think the LangaList is a worthwhile read, maybe a friend would find it
useful too! Just use the following link to recommend the LangaList---your friend
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FREE ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTIONS to the LangaList Plus! edition given each month. (If
your name is drawn and you're already a Plus! subscriber, your current
subscription will be extended by a full year.) Click to email this item to a
friend 7) Selective Starts in Win98 and XP
Sure! In Win98, you'd hit the F8 key as the system starts, and when you get the startup menu, you'd choose "Step by step confirmation" which let you answer Yes or No to every startup item. That way, you could selectively bypass items in the Config.Sys, Autoexec.bat, and Win.ini that might be causing trouble. It's not quite as simple in XP because XP itself isn't quite as simple as was Win98. You have to use the MSCONFIG software built into XP. To run MSCONFIG, go to Start/Run, type MSCONFIG and hit enter. By selecting either the large-scale options on the General tab, or by stepping through item by item on the other tabs, you can choose exactly what will run at the next boot, and in some cases, even change the order in which different items load. For more, including Win2K and NT info, see http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/windowstips/story/0,24330,3386471,00.html Click to email this item to a
friend 8) More Reader Sites!Do you have a home page or website? (It doesn't matter what
size.) Please click over to
http://www.langa.com/code.htm , and maybe you can join the thousands of
LangaList readers who have "Loaded the Code!" (If you've already "Loaded The
Code" and are wondering if your Manually Browse All Posted-to-Date Sites Starting At Webs Canada POW/MIA "Buy Now" Burton on Trent & District Model Boat Club B-Computerized Entertainment Atlanta ES Design Wildman's Hangout Jigsaw Puzzles "Perfect Putter" Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 9) Time To Change Your Winsock?
Nice find, James. that's one of those rare problems that most users will never see--- but those who do will go nuts trying to solve! <g> That fix could come in very handy for the unlucky few who need it. TekTips: http://www.TEK-TIPS.com WinSockFix: http://members.shaw.ca/techcd/WinsockXPFix.exe Click to email this item to a
friend 10) Just For Grins
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friend --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList S.E. Free! ) --- "Hi Fred, I'm very happy to have upgraded to the Plus edition of the LangaList. In just the past couple of months, I've stored and used more of your tips and tweaks than anything else I've ever found on the internet. Thanks for the help! I look forward to your next newsletter, and hope that you may dig out some tips for those of us with some hair left to pull!"---Frank DC The LangaList Plus! Edition is ad-free, spam-proof, <a href=" http://www.langa.com/plus.htm ">Click!</a> --------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 11) Plus! Edition Highlights:
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