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The LangaList
Standard Edition

2004-03-25

A Free Email Newsletter from Fred Langa
That Helps You Get More From Your Hardware, 
Software, and Time Online

Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!

1) Fans? What Fans?

After reading "Cool and Quiet, Part 3" ( http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=18400732 ) I decided to take a look at my computer and see if I could replace some of the fans. After opening the case I was puzzled - what fans?

In my computer there is a fan built into the power supply and there is a small fan for the CPU, but that's it. There is no fan for the case other than the fan in the power supply. Should I open the power supply and replace that fan or what?

I don't get it... Juuso

I also have one system here like that, Juuso. It's a Microtel system using a "Mini-ITX" motherboard, which I wrote about in http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20030206S0014 . In part:

The Mini-ITX's extreme level of integration builds all motherboard, video, audio, input/output, and network hardware into an amazingly small number of chips. This not only reduces size, cost, and the overall parts count, but also means the PC's power consumption and heat dissipation is very low. In fact, the CPU cooling fan is tiny; the sort you normally see on video cards. Combined with an impressively quiet power-supply fan, this PC generates less noise from fans and air movement than most any off-the-shelf PC I've seen. The Microtel system isn't doing anything exotic [about cooling], it just doesn't need much cooling to begin with.

In contrast, the system I was working on for the cooling article is four times faster than the Microtel (3.2GHz vs the Microtel's 800MHz). The newer system also has eight times the RAM, more add-ons, and a separate high-end video card. It needs a lot more cooling!

But some power supply fans are noisy, whether or not they're the only fan in the system. If you have a system with a noisy power-supply fan, note that power supplies are generally sealed integral units, and it's best not to open them up. If you want, you can replace the entire power supply with a quieter one. They're not very expensive, and replacing them is usually just a 2- or 4-screw operation. It *looks* complicated because of all the separate wires, which can make a power supply appear to be a confusing, Medusa-like snarl. But once you straighten out the wires, you'll find a series of very ordinary cables ending in keyed plugs that usually can't be plugged into the wrong place or in the wrong way. Just pay attention when you unplug the original power supply cables, and attach the same plugs on the new power supply in the same way to the same devices and sockets as the original's.

For most people, the power supply fan is a secondary issue anyway: It's the separate case fans in most systems that are the real noise-makers--- "hair dryers" or "vacuum cleaners" are the most common devices they're compared to. In offices, the noise can add up to a muted roar. In homes, it means that PCs often have to be relegated to less comfortable spots in the house: Who wants a hair-dryer-type noise in their living room?

That kind of noise is totally unnecessary. My 3.2GHz system is now just as quiet as that much less powerful, much slower Microtel unit--- maybe even a little quieter, although I'm just going by ear rather than actual measurement. So you don't have to trade noise for performance, and can have a *very* quiet system, even with fast, powerful CPUs, video cards, and the like. And in fact, *any* PC can be very, very quiet.

Separately, you're absolutely right about hard drive noise: as fan noises get controlled, you may hear more whines, chatters and whirs from the hard drive. We'll discuss that in item #2, below.

But let's finish with our discussion of case fan noises, which are the #1 cause of offensive PC sounds. Click on over to http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=18400732 and I'll show you exactly how I modified my system in five successful ways--- and in one unsuccessful way! I'll also show you my final results both for sound and for temperature, even after running the system through a worst-case thermal stress test.

You don't have to spend much--- possibly as little as $10 or so--- to make your PC noticeably quieter. And for just a few tens of dollars, you can make your PC quite literally as quiet as a library whisper!

Please click on over to
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=18400732 !

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--- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList S.E. Free! ) ---

 "Fred, I , like so many computer geeks get in the habit of trying out
different software (freeware and shareware) never planning to use it,
but just trying it out so we will have a glimmer of an idea of what
[someone] may be talking about. Computer, internet, service newsletters
are the same, I have so many sent to me at my junk mail e-mail site,
that I never more than browse them (if I don't automatically trash
them). Then comes the dawning: 'I really am reading and *using* this
particular newsletter or software.' I guess what I am really trying to
say is Thanks... At this time I must sign up for the plus subscription
(at my real e-mail acct). If we use it, we should pay for it....I and my
clients thank you. Bob Javoroski"

Thanks, Bob. The Plus! edition is just 14 cents an issue--- $1 a month---
but that small amount is what keeps Langa.Com and this newsletter afloat.

Get all the details:
http://www.langa.com/plus.htm

--------------( the above is an advertisement )--------------

2) No-Cost/Low-Cost Ways To Quiet Hard Drive Noise

(continued from above)

First, try a free software fix. Many newer hard drives offer different performance levels that let you balance performance and noise: For example, if you give up a little "seek" speed you may greatly reduce the chattering noise the drive heads make. (Some drive vendors refer to this as "Acoustic Management," but other terms may be used.) Drive vendors and motherboard vendors may offer software to access and control such drive features, and it's often free. For example, see Intel's software at http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-01-30.htm#4 , or see a general tool from Hitachi (also free) that can work on a very wide range of drive brands and models: http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-02-10.htm#3 .

If the software fix doesn't work, some very, very simple hardware fixes may help:

Open the PC (powered off; all normal cautions apply), and gently remove the hard drive from its bay or mount. This may require loosening a few screws and unplugging two cables, but it's all very basic Erector-Set type assembly, maybe with a little Lego-like plugging thrown in: No special knowledge or tools are needed.

Reattach the cables and temporarily prop the drive in the case (perhaps resting on the case bottom) 90 degrees from its original orientation. That is, if the drive had been horizontal, securely prop it vertically. If it had been vertical, securely place it horizontally. Make sure nothing touches the circuit board on the drive.

Now power up the PC. You may find that the drive is much quieter in this new orientation, especially if it's older and has some mileage on it. (The bearings may have worn in a set orientation; moving the drive may present fresh wear surfaces, and/or redistribute the lubricant.) If the drive is a lot quieter, you might want to look at permanently mounting the drive in the new orientation.

Second, turn the PC off and wait for the drive to spin down. Gently place the drive on a piece of foam or other cushioning material so that no part of it touches the PC's case. Start it up again and see if the sound is significantly different. If it is, then all you may need is some kind of cushion to prevent the drive's mechanical noises from conducting through the PC's metal case. For instance, you may be able to use very small rubber O-rings as cushioning washers around the drive's mounting screws. (You can buy O-rings at almost any hardware store for a few pennies.) Or perhaps you can think of some other mount-cushioning option that will serve the same purpose. Use your imagination! Just don't reduce airflow around the drive, or you may cause heat buildup.

If the simple fixes don't work, you may want to look at commercial sound-deadening add-ons and enclosures for the drive bays. They're not terribly expensive, but do have the drawback of potentially raising the hard drive temperatures or requiring extra fans to keep the drive cool.

In any case, if hard-drive noise is a problem, you can fix it!

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3) Eder Enters 5th Grade

Remember Eder, from Guatemala? He was the 10th child we added to the group sponsored on an ongoing basis by LangaList Plus! subscribers:

Eder comes from an indigenous family that speaks only the Spanish language and wears westernized clothes. Eder has two brothers. Both parents are literate. His father works as a merchant, and his mother does the house chores. The family's monthly income is below US$100.00. Their salary is not enough to provide their basic needs. They live in their own three-room dwelling, built of adobe walls, tile roof, and cement floor. They have running water, a rustic latrine, and electricity. Meals are cooked on a rustic stove. Eder's health is good, and his nutritional statue is normal.

Eder is now doing fine, and is in the 5th grade--- although he sounded nervous about it., writing: "Thanks to God, I passed my school grade..." <g>

You can see a new crayon drawing by Eder, a note from him, and an English translation of his note, here:

Plus! Subscribers:
http://www.langalist.com/plus/kids/eder200403.asp

Public site:
http://freetune.com/kids/eder200403.htm

Here's what this is all about: Those of us with computers and Internet access are vastly better off than most of the world's population.

Because of this, I decided that a portion of the LangaList Plus! subscription fees would be donated to registered/legitimate charities helping the underprivileged around the world. The contribution does not increase the cost of a Plus! subscription in any way; the donation is taken "off the top" of any profits. (This is described in the pages at http://www.langa.com/plus.htm )

Eder is one of many children sponsored on an ongoing basis--- week in, week out--- by the collective generosity of LangaList subscribers. LangaList Plus! subscribers also have collectively contributed to emergency earthquake relief efforts in India and to funds to help the victims of the Sept 11th attacks in the US. (To see all the donations so far, click to http://www.langa.com/plus2.htm#kids )

As the year goes on, and as more readers sign up for Plus! subscriptions, I hope we'll be able to sponsor more children and assist other charities around the world.

If you're already a LangaList Plus! subscriber, thank you! You can feel good about giving back a little to those less fortunate, and opening a door to the future for a child in otherwise-desperate circumstances.

If you're not yet a Plus! subscriber check it out: With a Plus! subscription, you can not only help yourself make the most of your hardware, software and time online--- but you also can help those less fortunate (like Eder) make the most of their very lives. Thanks for your help!

New Subscriptions:
http://www.langa.com/plus.htm

Or, Give A Gift Subscription:
http://www.langa.com/plus_gift.htm

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4) How Often To Reboot or Shut Down XP?

Hey Fred... Just renewed my subscription with you so I can keep your newsletters coming.

Anyways I just want to know your take on rebooting or shutting down XP.  I know there are a lot of views on this subject but what do you think?

I myself run 3 PC's...2 with Win2k Pro and I with WinXP Pro.  The 2 Win2k boxes are turned off until they are needed but because I use my WinXP box 24/7 (on call so need PC operational instantly). When I'm finished with the WinXP box I always reboot, to refresh it, so it is at the password window when I need it. ---Kent Bateman

This may seem like a bizarre topic to some using Win98 or ME: Although those OSes *can* be made to run reliably for long periods (see, for example, http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=17200587 ), many suboptimal 98/ME setups require frequent reboots--- even several times a day!

But XP (like Win2K and NT before it) is normally much more stable: Even when applications and utilities crash, it's relatively rare for the OS itself to go down.

So, if you don't *have* to reboot, how often *should* you reboot? Alas, like so many other tech questions, the only real answer is "it depends." For example, I have an always-on XP-based system here that primarily functions as a print, file, and internet-access sharing server. It also functions as an auxiliary PC when someone here just needs to jump online quickly or otherwise do some generic task in a hurry. That PC can literally run for months without a reboot; and when I do reboot it, it's not because of a problem with XP. For example, from time to time, I may have trouble with my cable modem connection. To ensure that the cable settings refresh, I'll "release all" settings using wntipcfg ( http://langa.com/u/3u.htm ) and then reboot the PC and power-cycle the modem, just to be sure the cable modem is truly releasing everything and starting fresh. But I can't recall the last time I *had* to reboot because of a problem with XP itself.

On the other hand, frequent rebooting (as you do) does no real harm, and may be a little safer in terms of online and physical security because it shuts down all top-level apps and utilities.

On my own primary-use PC, I'll normally reboot a couple times a week. But that too is almost never because of an XP problem. It's a dual-boot system, and if I want to run Linux, I'll of necessity have to reboot to get out of XP, for example. I also run a DOS-based disk imaging program, and need to reboot for that. But normally, I never reboot just to "recover resources" or for the other many reasons that made reboots necessary in the days of Win98.

So: Reboot on an as-needed basis, or routinely. Either way is fine!

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5) Good Site For Partitioning Info

Fred: excellent stuff! The "partition sizes" i paid attention to - because i wanted to keep fat32 ...for now. (under 8 GB was the trick, to get the smaller 4kb clusters with fat32.)
 
in the process i found a cool site to share with you:  http://partition.radified.com/  --- ken v

Nice find, Ken--- wish I'd known about it sooner, as I could have simply pointed to it and saved myself a lot of typing. 8-)

Note: The site can be a little slow. If you have trouble accessing it, just wait for the crush to subside and try again a little later.

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6) Recommend This Newsletter And Win!

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 may find a new source of useful information and you just may win one of three 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.)

Check out the details at http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm . Thanks for recommending the LangaList--- and good luck!

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7) Win98 Shutdowns

Fred, Just a quick one which may help your readers with Window 98 shutdown problems.

Until recently I ran a computer with a clean and simple Windows 98 setup (98 Lite in fact). Although I applied all of the shutdown patches this one  machine would intermittently refuse to shut down - particularly if other computers on my network had been shut down first (and I had applied the fix for that problem too). Reading through some old notes one day I came across a reference to the vxd fix. I applied the fix, and the computer never failed to shut down rapidly after that.

A search for "vxd fix" will turn up any number of possible download sites. Here's one:
ftp://ftp.fluidlight.com/pub/nospin_files/VXD_FIX.zip

Remember, this is for Win 98 and 98SE only! Presumably the Shutdown supplements will still need to be applied in most cases.

Hope that this will help your readers trying to get maximum mileage out of Windows 98. ---Julian Eade

Thanks, Julian. We've also covered Win98 shutdown problems many times in this newsletter. In fact, because there are really no *new* problems with Win98 (essentially everything that can go wrong with that OS already has come to light and been dealt with over the last five years), Win98 users can find answers to almost anything in either the partial online Standard Edition Archives ( http://www.langa.com/search.htm ), or the full (every word of every issue) private Plus! edition archives ( http://www.langalist.com/plus/archives/archives.asp ).

In this case, here are some of the articles that contain both "98" and "shutdown:" http://langa.com/u/3t.htm

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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 hundreds and hundreds of LangaList readers who have "Loaded the Code!" (If you've already "Loaded The Code" and are wondering if your site will appear here or on the Langa.Com web site, please see
http://www.langa.com/link.txt )

Speaking of which: Here's another eclectic sample of reader sites--- some professional, some very personal:

View A Randomly-Chosen Reader Site From Among All Listed
http://www.langa.com/randomlink.htm

Manually Browse All Posted-to-Date Sites Starting At
http://www.langa.com/readersites.htm

Acon PChelp
http://www.acon-pchelp.com/

Tech & More
http://www.atechmore.com/

Lake Erie Waterfront
http://www.lakeeriewaterfront.com/

"Cyanyde's House Of Madness" (some may be offended)
http://users.tmok.com/~asdfg/

Artists' Resources
http://artmakersworlds.com/resources.shtml

Lowell's Links
http://lowell.luniz.org/

"What You Get"
http://www.whatyouget.co.uk/

Free Science Fiction Ebooks
http://duncanlong.com/e-books.html

Fiber Arts
http://www.silkroadcostumes.com/index.htm

On The River (Cambridge, UK)
http://www.ontheriver.co.uk/

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9) Free Macro Tool

Hi Fred: Just recently read your newsletter. In particular, the portion that caught my eye was about shortcuts. I recently found a shortcut key program which I think is fantastic. Plus, it's free. It's called Hoekey. You can find it and other utilities at:
http://bcheck.arsware.org/hoe.php

What's nice about this little gem is that it's preconfigured with a bunch of predefined keys.  A few of which: you can actually control Winamp from anywhere. This program will let you change any key combination on your keyboard to a useable shortcut. The one I use the most is the hide/unhide keys. These will let you Hide programs to the tasktray. You can summon these hidden programs back to the foreground with another quick key combination or a double mouse click. And if you're a Nerd (like me) you'll love the fact that you can script virtually anything with this software. I thought you and the readers would be interested in such a utility. Cheers, Langalier Martin

Thanks, Martin. "Macro keys" or "Macros" are single keys or key combinations that trigger a whole series of other, recorded keystrokes: Anything you can do by typing, including launching other programs or a whole series of programs, can be done by macro. They're a very powerful tool that can automate almost any keyboard action (or in some cases, mouse actions, too!).

In addition to Hoekey, see also:
http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-q=macro&sp-a=0008002a-sp00000000
http://www.google.com/search?q=free+macro+utility

(P.S. "Langalier?" Hmmm--- I don't recall anyone using that one before. <g> )

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10) Just For Grins

Fred, While trying to follow a web link, I ran into a nice 404 error message. Give it a try at: http://bordergatewayprotocol.net/404/   And if you try more than once, the message changes (to keep you from being bored).
 
And, thanks for all the great articles in the Langalist Plus! edition of the newsletter. ---Chad Fletcher

Thanks, Chad. That's actually based on old joke lists of haiku computer messages--- of which there are hundreds, maybe thousands! ( http://www.google.com/search?q=haiku+error+messages ). For example:

Login incorrect.
Only perfect spellers may
enter this system.

But  I've never seen a haiku error message dressed up with images of Japanese gardens before!

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11) Plus! Edition Highlights:

• Outstanding Printer Tools And Resources
      (enormous list of reader-generated informational and problem-solving links)
• Windows-Based Outlook Alternatives
      (dislike Outlook? try one of these!)
• Cloning Folders and More
      (free, easy, and fast!)

The Plus! edition is only pennies per issue, and comes with a MONEY BACK
GUARANTEE from Fred. How can you lose? Check out the details:
http://www.langa.com/plus.htm

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(Give a gift subscription to the LangaList Plus edition!
Click <a href= " http://www.langa.com/plus_gift.htm ">here</a>)

See you next issue!

Best,

Fred
( Editor@Langa.Com )

Please recommend the LangaList to a friend! (And maybe win a prize!)

An easier-to read formatted HTML version is available in the "Current Issue" section of http://www.langa.com.  (The HTML version of each issue normally is available by 9AM EST [UT-5] of the issue date.) All past LangaList issues are also available at the Langa.Com site.

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