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The LangaList
Standard Edition

2005-01-17

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) Make The Most Of That New PC

Dear Fred: I just ordered a brand new PC from Dell and my questions and comments are as follows: 

• Your last "System Setup Secrets" was published back in July 2003, is there any possibility you could update this article?
• Fred, I am fearful of Reformatting the C: drive. I want to do it because I want to set up partitions such as you have described in previous articles. I want C: to be for the operating system, D: for applications and data, and E: for backups in addition to using an external drive for backups also. My fear is that I will not be able to reload all of the applications that came installed on the system and have them work properly utilizing the d: drive due to insufficient standalone programs from Dell. Any suggestions?
• I have my current system set up as you have recommended in the past. Why when I select custom install on all programs and select the d: drive do I still get c:\ program files with some information in it. I can understand why programs need to install information into \windows on the c: drive but not why these programs need to install information on both the c: and d: drives under program files?

Best Regards, Richard M. Terlecki

You're not alone with these questions, Richard. In fact, this is the time of year when there's more new hardware in circulation than just about any other time. Holiday gifts and year-end splurges account for many new privately-owned PCs; and annual budget wrap-ups or kick-offs in work settings also account for tons of new business hardware coming into service about now.

And note: A PC may be new *to you* even if it was previously used by someone else, and passed along as part of a PC shuffle or reallocation of existing hardware. "New" doesn't necessarily have to mean "new from the factory."

Whatever the reason, many of us have new hardware and are facing questions such as: What's the best way to get off on the right foot with a new PC? What steps can you take to ensure that the hardware and software is set up as solidly as possible for a long-term safety and reliability? Or, the questions can get more specific, like Richard's.

When I set out to answer these questions, I realized I'd need more space than was available in an email newsletter, so rather than omit things or take shortcuts, I devoted an entire InformationWeek.Com column to the topic. It's at http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=57701147 .

It ended up being a companion piece to the December column which detailed year-end tasks for in-use PCs ( http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=55800698 ). That column is the place to start if you're dealing with a previously-used or in-use PC.

The new column focuses on what to do if you're starting the year with *new* hardware, and includes:

Updated System Setup Secrets
Preserving Factory Settings
Protecting Your Warranty While Still Making Changes
Partitioning Schemes
Nondestructive Partitioning
Installing New Software
... and more.

Click on over to http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=57701147 . It's free!

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2) Ghostbusting In Device Manager

Hi Fred, Really enjoy the newsletter. I searched the archives and didn't see any mention of this, so thought I might actually have something to contribute.

Windows keeps a Device Manager entry for every piece of hardware that's ever been recognized by the system, regardless of whether it is currently present in the machine or was even set up correctly in the first place. The "View Hidden Devices" option in Device Manager won't show you these "residual" drivers. You can force it to show you everything by going to My Computer Properties, the Advanced tab, Environment Variables, and adding a new system variable with the name "DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES" and a value of 1. Now opening Device Manager and choosing "Show Hidden Devices" really will show you everything. Standard practice at the factory is to use a single image and just move it from model to model, letting it plug and play all the new hardware along the way. This leaves you with an impressive list of hardware still in the Device Manager, but no longer in the system. You also see this to a lesser degree when you restore a system from an image you created for backup purposes. These "residual" drivers can sometimes cause all kinds of weirdness and are best removed by right-clicking on their entry in the Device Manager and choosing "uninstall".

This works on Windows 2000/XP (and I assume Server 2003, though I haven't tried it).  Anyone running a factory loaded Compaq or Dell will be amazed at the amount of junk left over from this process.

Best Regards, Jon Pickle

Thanks, Jon. Indeed, Windows has a thing about hanging on to ghost entries in Device Manager and also in the Registry. (This is one of the reasons why Registries inflate so much over time.) A little judicious ghostbusting lets your PC run cleaner and leaner!

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3) Trick For Browser-Configured Routers/WAPs/Etc.

Fred, I recently discovered a new use for Roboform (for me anyway).  I had been using it, primarily, as intended:  to store and fill out account/passwords and to store other information like registration numbers (as safenotes) .  It occurred to me recently that RF could be used to fill out almost any type of form in IE or Firefox.  This seems obvious now, but it solved one of my major annoyances.  After a few firmware upgrades to, and hard resets of, my Linksys router, I had become tired of searching around for my router settings that I had scribbled on a slip of paper.  These settings not only include the ISP login information, but also port forwarding and triggering information that I have setup for a few pieces of software (games, furthurnet, ftp server, etc.) that I run from time to time.  It struck me, right before the last firmware upgrade, that I could save the configuration information in a Roboform passcard and use it to reconfigure my router [automatically] when needed.  Right before upgrading the firmware, I visited each configuration page in my Linksys Setup and instructed Roboform to Save Forms.  I gave each one a descriptive name and saved them.  After the firmware upgrade, I simply went to each page and selected Fill Forms.
 
On a related note, I am currently running the beta version of Roboform 6.  It has some great improvements.  It's not nearly as annoying with the popups as it used to be.  Also, in Firefox (my preferred browser) it now supports the pop-up menus that it's always had in IE.  The new floating bar is a very welcome addition.
 
Thanks for the great newsletter!  ---Paul Roeber

I agree with you about Roboform, Paul. It remains one of my must-have utilities. Besides intelligently filling in web-based forms--- including local forms on your own PC, such as for router/WAP/etc. configurations--- its "safenotes" are secure storage for just about any sensitive data you want to keep at hand.

The free version of Roboform will give you a good idea of what it can do; the paid version does even more. http://www.roboform.com/

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

"Awesome Plus! newsletter - well worth the subscription price.
Keep up the great work." --Don Blair

The Plus! edition is just pennies an issue--- around $1 a month--- but that
small amount is what keeps Langa.Com and this newsletter afloat.

And it comes with a no-quibble
MONEY BACK GUARANTEE.
You can't lose!

Get all the details:
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )--------------

4) Virus/Worm Blocks *All* Access To PC

As a last resort, you could try booting from an all-in-one, free, CD-based "live" version of Linux, such as Knoppix. From there, you probably will be able to see your XP NTFS files (assuming they're not encrypted); and you can use Linux either to burn the files to CDR or to ship them to another PC over your network. Of course, you'll need to use another PC to pull down the ISO files and create the Linux CDs for you, if you don't already have one at hand.

But you may not be at the point of "last resort" yet: There are several other options that may work for you while preserving some or all of your current setup.

See "Magic Fix Sought" ( http://langa.com/newsletters/2004/2004-10-28.htm#9 ); "Some Magic, After All (Part 1)" ( http://langa.com/newsletters/2004/2004-11-04.htm#1 ); "Some Magic, After All (Part 2)" ( http://langa.com/newsletters/2004/2004-11-04.htm#2 ); and "Perfect PC Rescue Tools" ( http://langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-06-26.htm#1 ).

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5) Don't Wait On SP2

I've gotten several emails like this:

It's good that you warned us about the Microsoft XP operating system upgrade, and I appreciate it.  But the warning appeared to be simply to wait until enough people have found out the bugs the hard way.  What I want to know is, for any individual user, when will it be safe enough to go ahead and upgrade? ---Bruce Burton

Because several readers have asked the same question, it appears that some of you missed the conditional green light we gave the SP2 update, back in September:

...SP2 has been out long enough now so that the worst problems have been identified and can be known in advance of an installation. That's hard-won information that some SP2 pioneers paid dearly for. But now, you don't have to: Read through the resources below and, if everything checks out, make a backup of your system, and then go ahead and install SP2 via download, or by free CD. My guess is that it will be a very worthwhile update in the long run....

In case you missed the discussion or the list of SP2 resources mentioned above, you can see the original item at http://langa.com/newsletters/2004/2004-09-30.htm#2 .

In any case, it's definitely time for SP2. It won't work on 100% of systems 100% of the time, but it works on almost all; and does add real benefit to that majority of systems that can run it.

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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) More on Older System Hardware Woes

Fred, regarding "Older System Hardware Woes" ( http://langa.com/newsletters/2004/2004-12-02.htm#1) I've seen this type of problem before. (IE, SLOOOWWW initial boot, with the progress bar moving *excessively* slowly, followed by everything else working just fine.) In almost all cases, it's been a hard drive about to fail. With newer machines, I've also received SMART failure warnings at the same time as this type of error begins.
 
If Ron's BIOS supports it, and his hard drive does also, he may want to try toggling SMART to Active, and see if he gets a warning. It may very likely pay for him to check into a replacement drive, and transfer the contents of his current drive to the replacement. ---Steven Foust

Thanks, Steven. Another option would be to change the boot-order in the BIOS so the hard drive is set as the last boot device or isn't used at all (you could even unplug it); and then boot the system from a floppy or CD: If the boot proceeds at normal speeds, that too would show that the problem was in the hard drive. But if the boot is slow no matter what boot device is used, then the BIOS would again be suspect, as described in the original "Older System Hardware Woes" article, above.

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8) Code Load Success Story

After his site was listed in a recent "Load The Code" section, code-loader Brendon Connelly wrote:

Fred-- Thanks for including Slacker Manager ( http://slackermanager.com ) in your newsletters!  That inclusion doubled my previous high visitor count.  Forget the 'Slashdot effect' this is the 'LangaList effect'! Thanks again. ---Brendon Connelly

Do you have a home page or website? (It doesn't matter what size.) Please click over to http://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 site will appear here or on the Langa.Com web site, please see http://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
http://langa.com/randomlink.htm

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

Kinsmen Club of Stratford
http://www.stratfordkinsmen.ca/

Mt. San Jacinto College Computer Course
http://multimedia.msjc.edu/rlehr/CSIS181.html

New Orleans Dog Training
http://www.abcompaniondogs.com/

LaBrunda Family Web Site
http://www.labrunda.info/public/links.html

"Welkom op de website van Gremco"
http://www.gremco.be

Eagle Safety
http://www.eagle-safety.com/

David Rogers -- World Classical Guitar and Songs Of The New West
http://www.sasquatchguitar.com/

Distance Learning From the University of Alaska Southeast
http://home.gci.net/~shanis/

Huge Meta Site
http://www.pugfound.com/

"Link, Boot, Repeat"
http://dsk.toastmedia.com/l-os.html

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9) Great RAM Info Resource

Hi Fred, In reference to J Muller's question regarding the differences between different types of RAM ( http://langalist.com/plus/newsletters/2004/2004-12-23plus.asp#2 ), I thought perhaps a link to an article might help.  While I agree with you that the "memory finder" sections of Crucial and other sites can take a lot of the guesswork out of buying RAM, it may help to know what all the different ratings mean, especially since many of the memory finders can turn up more than one type for a given system, and might overlook some alternatives.  To that end, Tom's Hardware Guide (a GREAT technical resource) did a comparison of RAM and timings a while back ( http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20040119/index.html ) that offers some insight into what all those "2-2-2-5" timings mean, as well as some real world benchmarks to show how they can affect system performance. ---Tim Cook

Tom's Hardware is an excellent site for a huge range of hardware issues, Tim, including RAM. Well worth periodic visits!

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10) Just For Grins

Fred: Many people get frustrated with computers.  University of Maryland professor Kent Norman writes this: "Computer rage is becoming a big problem in our world today. Men and women are taking out their frustrations on the computer; and unfortunately, sometimes misdirecting it to other people. In the work place and at the home, more and more people are smashing their computer screens, beating on the keyboard, and throwing the computer out the window. What is to be done? Should we calm the user, control their behavior, and channel their anger to different outlets? To save the gadgets you want, Norman recommends that you destroy older, obsolete gadgets instead -- and offers step-by-step video instructions for how to do that. (He also conducts an ongoing survey on computer rage.)" http://lap.umd.edu/computer_rage/
 
There is quite a wealth of info on getting your frustrations dealt with. ---Colin

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11) Plus! Edition Highlights:

• Hardware Sniffers Evolve
     (powerful tools tell you *everything* about your hardware)
• Huge, Free Tweaking Guide...
     (incredible depth!)
• ...And A Powerful Free Tweaking Tool
     (a reader explores new uses for a classic utility)

The Plus! edition is only pennies per issue, and comes with a MONEY BACK
GUARANTEE from Fred. You can't 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 next issue, 2005-01-20!

Best,

Fred
( Editor@Langa.Com )

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

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