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The LangaList
Standard Edition

2004-07-15

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) More On The New Windows Update

It's coming soon--- a new version of  Windows Update that's now in beta, but that soon will replace the existing Windows Update for the general public. The new Update process (comprising the software that resides on your PC and a new Update site that coordinates with that software) has different defaults and behaves somewhat differently from the Update you're probably used to. Some changes--- such as the look and feel of the site--- are merely cosmetic, but other changes go deeper: 

Take a look: The new article at
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=22104207 walks you through the whole new Update process, and includes screen-shots so you can see exactly what's coming. I'll lay out the benefits and drawbacks of using the new site now, in beta; and also show you what you'll get when the new site is released for real. Again, one way or another, we're going to have to deal with these changes, so you might as well get ready now! 8-)

Click on over to
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=22104207 and see what's in store for you!

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2) System Restore Failures (XP and WinME)

Hi Fred, Love your PLUS newsletter!

OK. Here's my mystery question of the day: On my Windows XP, "System Restore" sometimes doesn't work. I usually have to Restore after UNinstalling some misbehaved software.
 
When I select a day to "roll-back" to, XP will show activity and then reboot. That's normal and encouraging. But *after the reboot*,  XP shows a message saying (approx.):    ==> "Sorry!. I was unable to restore the system...". Under what circumstances would XP's "System Restore" fail?  Lately, none of my "System Restore" attempts succeed. Thanks! RAY/SF

Let's deal with this in two parts: First, the meta-answer: System Restore is only a lightweight safety net. It's designed as a tool to try to get your system running again after a major problem; until you can make permanent fixes. Think of System Restore as one of those little "doughnut" mini-tires that most cars have as spares these days: They're meant to be used when you have a flat; they'll let you roll at reduced speed and with degraded handling to the nearest service station, where your main tire can be repaired permanently. Those mini-tires are not meant to be used in routine driving. Likewise System Restore is a limited tool, and not meant as a primary means to preserve your PC's setup.

Tools like Go Back are a little more robust, but even Go Back's own creators say that it should not--- NOT--- be used as a primary means of preserving your system. Think of Go Back as an emergency mini-tire with higher speed limits, better handling and longer tread life. But it's still not meant as full-time replacement for a "real" tire.

But I know I'm swimming against the tide here because many people do use Go Back and System Restore as their sole or primary backup tool. Because the software *can* work this way, it may seem that everything's OK. But consider: Some people drive for long distances and at high speed on their mini-spare tires, too. Just because the tires don't instantly blow out doesn't mean that such use is a good idea. 8-)

And that leads to Jerry's specific question: There are many, many reasons why a System Restore may fail. For example, see "Why are previous restore points not working?" in the "Troubleshooting" section of this official Microsoft page: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/plan/faqsrwxp.mspx There's lots more on that page that's worth reading too. Note especially the sections on "Does System Restore protect personal data files?" (the short answer: no); "What should I do if System Restore does not work?"; "Why are my restore points missing or deleted?"; "Why does the System Restore Wizard lockup?"; and so on. Just a few minutes on that page ought to convince just about anyone that System Restore is not intended for heavy-duty system protection!

More info:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_restore.htm
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinME/Q_20718080.html
http://www.google.com/search?q=system+restore+fail

There's also a fuller explanation of the pros and cons of the three major kinds of tools for restoring a system, or "going back" after a problem: If you're relying on Go Back or System Restore as a primary (or only) means of preserving your system's settings, I urge you to take a look: Five minutes reading might save you a world of hurt later on. See http://langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-12-03.htm#1

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3) Watch Your "SpeedStep"

The specific question here relates to overheating laptops, but you may find that the answer also contains some useful general info on automatic-speed switching in mobile CPUs:

Fred, I've enjoyed your newsletter for some time now and thought that I might make a contribution based on some recent experiences that I've had with my Dell notebook (Inspiron 8200). For awhile now I've noticed that my notebook would inexplicably slow down after a relatively brief period of usage. Using the Intel Processor Frequency ID Utility confirmed that my processor speed went from 1.7 GHz to 1.19 GHz. I tried changing a number of settings in both Power Options, and in my BIOS, to no avail. My processor speed was still being reduced to 1.19GDHz. Dell tech support was of no help, telling me that the SpeedStep Technology feature was working as it should at automatically reducing the processor speed.

The problem was that I was operating my notebook on AC power, (it's also connected to a port replicator) not on battery power, so there was no reason for the processor speed to be reduced.

I came upon the solution to my problem by accident, while examining the rear of my computer while it was turned off and disconnected from its port replicator. I noticed that there were two vents next to each other that housed two separate fans. I blew on one of the fans and saw that the fan blades began to spin. I then blew on the second fan but nothing happened. I then inserted a stylus through the vent and manually moved the fan blades of the non moving fan. The result was that after powering on the computer, now both fans were operating instead of just one. Since then, my processor speed has remained constant without ever being reduced, even when left on all day. Apparently, the heat buildup resulted in a lowering of the processor speed. This fix also solved a number of other problems. I might not even have thought of checking out the fans if I hadn't read your earlier articles on cooling fans and reducing computer noise. Thanks again for your great newsletter. --- Sincerely, Marcel Buchsbaum
(P.S. I guess this is why my wife thinks that I spend too much time on my computer :)

SpeedStep is mainly intended as a power-saving feature to extend battery life on laptops: When it kicks in, it can cut a CPU's power consumption by 66-75%--- a huge amount. But, in the process, the CPU's speed drops, too. Most SpeedStep-equipped laptops let you play with the settings somewhat to adjust the tradeoffs between speed and power consumption.

But in all CPUs, the energy consumed ends up as heat, so reducing the power consumption also reduces the CPU's heat. Thus, SpeedStep also can serve as a way to keep a CPU from cooking itself to death: When things get too toasty, SpeedStep can lower the CPU's speed to reduce power consumption, in order to let the CPU run cooler. This is what Marcel ran into.

You can see some typical power savings afforded by SpeedStep here:
http://support.intel.com/support/processors/mobile/pm/sb/CS-007981.htm

Lots more info:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=intel+speedstep

And finally, Marcel's experience also shows why it can be good to check the temperatures of *any* system you use--- notebook, desktop, whatever. And there's plenty of free software available to let you see what's going on with your system fans and temperatures. See:
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=21401323

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"Hi Fred, Hey, I signed up for the Plus edition and got my 1st one today.
Way cool! I put off signing up for quite a few months. Good grief,
I spend more for coffee on the road.......
and your newsletter, uh, tastes better."--- Chris Ridley

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:
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4) More: "Missing HAL"

In NT/2K/XP, the OS uses a "hardware abstraction layer" to isolate and insulate your software from direct interaction with your system's hardware: Software can only talk to the hardware via the HAL. This means that a misbehaving program usually can't knock the hardware legs out from beneath the entire OS, as sometimes used to happen with Win9x and ME--- there, one bad app could bring down the whole system by locking up or hogging some critical hardware element. With HAL, an app may still crash, but it's far less likely to affect other running apps or the OS as a whole. In fact, HAL is one of the cornerstone reasons why NT/2K/XP have a justified reputation for being much harder to crash than Win9x.

Because HAL is a fundamental part of NT/2K/XP, the system just won't work if HAL.DLL is trashed. Some of your fellow readers are running into this problem, and others are also finding their own workarounds:

Hi Fred, I'm a longtime Plus reader (from the beginning). I have a problem.  My computer has windows xp home built in (HP).  I had a severe problem not being able to boot.  I used the system recovery disks, to format and reinstall the original software.  I now have a file, needed to boot windows, either missing or corrupt (hal.dll).  What I need to know, is, is there any Win xp boot floppy software, other than the one from microsoft, to allow me to boot to a command prompt to insert this file?  My Harddrive is in NTFS format.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  By the way I have no access to another hard drive.   Thanks Frank

If you have, or can borrow, an XP Setup CD--- not a "system restore" CD, but an actual installation CD, such as you get in the stand-alone retail version of XP--- you can boot from it, use the "Repair" (Recovery Console) option, and restore the file that way. See http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_haldll_missing.htm , especially the material towards the bottom of the page.

There also are any number of tools that can give you read access to NTFS, but only a relative handful provide write access.  http://www.google.com/search?q=xp+boot+disk+ntfs . Some  Linux distributions can read plain (non-encrypted, non-compressed) NTFS partitions; fewer are able to write to such partitions, but it may be worth a look: http://www.google.com/search?q=linux+ntfs

Or, for more general info on the "missing hal" problem:
http://www.google.com/search?q=missing+hal%2Edll

Or, check out this:

Hello Fred, Here is a [hal.dll] solution that worked very well for me. It also worked without deleting all my files which is always good :) 
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330184  I also ran across a freeware program - NTFS Reader for DOS - which was very helpful in copying files from a non booting NTFS drive to a floppy. Available at: http://www.ntfs.com  I always find something to catch my interest in the Langa list.... Thank you :) ---S Osmany

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5) The "Contig" Defrag Trick

Our discussion of "Some Files Could Not Be Defragmented..." ( http://langa.com/newsletters/2004/2004-07-01.htm#2 ) led to some interesting email.

For example, in the original item (above) I said:

You'll probably never achieve 100% defragmentation. But that's OK; a low single-digit percentage of fragmented files doesn't matter much, performance-wise; you could beat your brains out trying to get everything perfect, and not see any meaningful performance improvement when you're done.

That prompted this reader to write about his trick for defragging *everything*:

Hi Fred, I'm of two minds about this one:

Mind #1: It used to bug me that Win2K Defrag would invariably report that the same seven or so files could not be defragmented. So I got CONTIG, a freeware utility to defrag them: "Contig Single File Defragmenter defrags one file. However, it can be put in a batch file and can defrag a list of files one after another."

Here is my self-created Help file for running CONTIG.

1. Find the file to defrag by running DEFRAG (Win 2K/XP) and reading report. Also note its location on the HDD.

2. Open a Command Prompt (Win2K/XP).

3. Run CONTIG (put it somewhere such as the C:\ root folder) with the -h option to get the various parameters. (contig -h)

4. Run CONTIG again with the proper parameters to defrag the file(s).

5. Or write a batch file and have it run a list of CONTIG commands.

I sometimes ran CONTIG at boot time, which worked well, but it delayed the boot for a minute.

Mind #2: You're right--a few fragmented files make no noticeable difference on my system, so eventually I stopped using CONTIG. Take care. ---Walter Donavan

Thanks, Walter. So: Yes, you can get everything fully defragged if you really want to; Contig is available here: http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/contig.shtml or here http://www.google.com/search?q=contig

But, as I thought, and as Walter proved, it's probably not worth the hassle. If your standard tools get your disk fragmentation down to the low single digits, it's perfectly fine to declare victory and stop. 8-)

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6) Is This Newsletter Interesting? 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 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://langa.com/recommend.htm . Thanks for recommending the LangaList--- and good luck!

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7) Separate Emails On Multi-User Systems

Greetings, Fred. Here is a program which might interest you (and the readers). DefaultMail utility overcomes XP's limitation and allows the user to set the default mail client on per-user basis. From the small test I ran, it fully supports MAPI calls, Send To Mail Recipient, Send page by email options in addition to the mailto: association.

DefaultMail v2.0 - Set the default mail per-user :
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/defaultmail.htm

BTW, I'm a Plus subscriber. Sincerely, Ramesh, MS-MVP, XP Shell, http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k

That could be *very* handy on shared systems. thanks, Ramesh!

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8) They Just Keep Coming And Coming...

Well over 3,000 of your fellow readers have "loaded the code." Have you? Check out http://langa.com/code.htm for the details.

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

View A Randomly-Chosen Reader Site
http://langa.com/randomlink.htm

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

Freeware And Website Reviews
http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=clif_notes

Computer Shop
http://home.earthlink.net/~thecomputershopatlakeothepines/

Cat Queen
http://uk.geocities.com/catqueen02/index.html

1 Good Reason (web design)
http://www.1goodreason.com/

Ria Schuch's Blogs
http://www.jrmstart.com/blogria/index.html

eBooks
http://www.hot4flash.com/index.htm

PrairieGroove Hosting
http://www.prairiehost.net

Beleek Pottery
http://www.belleekpottery.co.uk/main/

PCtorium
http://pctorium.com/

Peter Verstegen's Blog (Au)
http://peterverstegen.blogspot.com/

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Fred's Reference Shelf--- And Up To 20% Discounts!

Check out computer-related books
personally selected and recommended by Fred Langa
and available at Amazon.COM's deepest discounts!

http://langa.com/books.htm

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9) Free Telephony Via Skype

You probably already know about peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing programs like Kazaa. Now, the same folks who developed that have gone in another direction with a free tool that shares voices instead of files: It's free p2p internet telephony:

Hello again Fred, Long time subscriber (with a contribution about Auto-It) who just managed with a lot of trial and error a triple booting scenario on one of my PC's but that is not what i am emailing you about right now.

I am a little (or very :) )  surprised that you or one of the subscribers Never mentioned Skype: http://www.skype.com/
 
I am in no way related to the skype guys but i call myself an experienced user (more then 4 months intensive use) of this great freeware program- (at least for the time being i suppose ).
 
It works like advertised, quality of sound is really better then that old phone.
 
All you  need is a cable or ADSL connection and a simple mic and headphone (for no more than 15 or less dollars )  and you are in business or better you are in calling mood ( and of course an audio card with speakers).
 
The setup works like a breeze.  (in little then 15 minutes you are ready to call a friend.
 
I tried to talk family and friends into this killer application ( it almost costs nothing to use) but it looks like Nobody seems interested in lowering their phone bills :)
 
Anyway : it lowered my bills significantly  and a friend of mine crippled her bill in such a way that here phone company called here to ask if she was dead :) She went from 100% to a low 3% of her monthly bill.  (really !)
 
Have a great weekend. Belgium calling :) Theo Lockefeer

Thanks, Theo. The software itself is free, and you can call other Skype users for free. If you want to reach non-Skype users--- people with ordinary phones--- a low-cost add-on service called SkypeOut lets you connect for about $0.015 (a cent and a half) a minute. (You can get the exact current rates from the site.) That's a very low cost--- much lower than most phone plans.

Skype is ad-free, and--- unlike the early Kazaa--- is apparently free from spyware, adware, and the like. Also unlike Kazaa, Skype has no legal clouds hanging over it: It's totally legit.

Skype has several competitors, and will have more in the future as some huge Telcos move in to "VoIP, or "voice over IP;" but for now the tiny http://www.freeworlddialup.com/ appears to be the closest alternative.

If you'd like more third-party info, there's a seemingly well-balanced independent review posted here (free signup required to access article): http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/national/8357609.htm?1c

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10) Just For Grins

Dear Fred, Great newsletter, especially the Plus edition.
 
I think this web page, http://www.davidlubar.com/cycle.html , would be a good candidate for "Just For Grins" if you can use it. It mad me laugh anyway. Thanks again for the great newsletter. Bill Tone

Thanks, Bill, Actually, I think that page is amazingly accurate! 8-)

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11) Plus! Edition Highlights:

• Compatibility Mode Lets Old Software Run
     (changing OSes doesn't necessarily mean changing your apps)

• Free Tool Enables Compatibility Tab
     (just a click does it!)

• Xandros Speaks!
     (Fred finally solves his Linux sound problem)

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://langa.com/plus.htm

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

See you in one week, on, 2004-07-26!

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://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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