Table of Contents
Introduction i Contents ii Table of Contents iii DISK SPACE 1 My disk is filling. What can I delete? 1 Converting to FAT32 10 How many bad blocks are OK on a new hard disk? 12 How do I clean up a hard disk mess? 13 What are these TMP files? 16 How much of my disk is being wasted? 16 Hard Disks 19 Connecting two IDE drives 19 Which disk partitioning is best? 21 The myth about MTBF 22 Replace a dying hard disk 23 WINDOWS 25 What is Windows? 25 Do I need Windows XP? 26 Removing the annoying Startup password 30 Windows shortcuts for natural keyboard keys 32 How to do screen dumps from Windows 32 How do I make Explorer start where I want it to start? 33 Preventing others from fiddling with your desktop 34 Should I convert to NTFS? 36 Can Windows 98 use dual CPU computers? 37 In Windows XP mine are the only programs in the menu 38 I hate cAPS LOCK 39 Deleting references to non-existent devices 40 What causes random hard disk activity 41 What are these hidden *.FF files? 42 How can I stop my print job? 44 Changing the registered user in Windows 44 What is 16-bit colour? 46 What is a Beta version? 47 How do I remove file associations? 47 Removing remnants of unwanted programs 48 Opening the DOS box in the desired folder 49 Time format in Windows 50 How do I close all open windows? 50 More strange hidden files 51 Illegal Operation: should the police be involved? 51 How to show full file details in Windows programs 52 Deleting entries from the Start, Programs menus 53 How to eliminate a Windows Startup error 54 Removing names of deleted programs 57 I have too many programs starting when Windows starts 59 Drive's content changed: restarting problems 61 What is the strange folder Mscreate.dir? 62 How much memory is too much? 63 How can I utilise my entire RAM? 64 My scrolling is way too fast 65 Using Send To option to improve productivity 66 INTERNET 67 Am I at risk from hackers on the Internet? 67 Do I need a firewall? 68 How do I set up a home page? 74 Can I transfer Excel names into Outlook Express? 75 Boosting productivity while browsing 76 E-Mailing digital photos 78 Sending mail without others knowing 80 How do I advise by e-mail that I am away? 81 What is a good Ping response time? 82 Office mail privacy and Internet jargon 83 Using both Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer 85 Saving pictures from Netscape 86 Backing up bookmarks 87 Using Internet while travelling 88 How can I stop junk e-mail? 89 Can I see my mail before downloading it? 90 How do I find someone on the Internet? 91 Finding things on the Internet when the address is wrong 92 How do I change the default mail reader? 94 MODEMS 94 Internal and external modems 94 Is it the modem or the computer that is faulty? 96 What is the best speed possible from my modem? 97 BACKUPS and SECURITY 99 What files do I need to back up? 99 Transferring your data to a new computer 106 How to implement a backup strategy 108 Copying large files onto floppies 110 How to back up laptops 111 Creating a ‘rescue’ disk 113 How to ensure absolute erasure of the hard disk 114 NETWORKS 116 Direct Cable Connection 116 How to speed up a LAN 118 Network considerations 119 Determining LAN performance without external tools 120 Server considerations 120 Sending messages to and from Windows 98 computers 121 VIRUSES 123 Which Virus scanning software is the best? 123 Viruses and mail 124 How can I delete mail without opening it? 125 Do I have a virus or is the computer just behaving strangely? 126 WORD PROCESSING 129 Quick removal of line breaks 129 Fixing a corrupted Word document 130 How can I sort by Word headings? 131 How to reduce the size of graphic template files in Word 133 AutoCorrect features 134 Deleting references in the Recently Used List 135 Two caps problems 137 Counting words in Word 137 Why can’t I see my inserted picture? 139 CDs and Writers (Burners) 140 What brand of CD is the best? 140 How to create a CD that will automatically run your Web page 142 How do I add a CD Burner to my computer? 143 How do I create a CD with a self-running slide show? 144 GENERAL HARDWARE 146 Which home computer to buy 146 How to check on dealers 148 How big is a 15 inch monitor? 150 Which type of printer should I purchase? 151 What causes computer instability? 152 When is it too hot for a computer? 153 What is a good printer/fax/scanner? 154 Cannot boot up from a floppy disk 155 What does a BIOS do? 156 Surge suppressors and UPSs 157 Laptop power via a car battery 158 Radio interference from the computer 159 The clock stops 160 No manual supplied with new computer 161 Where can I purchase a stable computer? 162 Assigning drive letters on new disks 164 Dead mouse? 166 Erratic mouse 167 TUTORIALS 168 Placing a vinyl record collection onto CDs 168 Improving performance for zero cost 173 Low cost solutions 178 How to magnify a part of a screen 179 Word Tutorials 182 Selection methods 182 Formatting information 183 Moving around a large document 183 Format Painter 185 Block editing 186 Character Spacing 187 Manual line breaks 188 Replacing line breaks in imported text 188 Styles 189 Automatic headers and footers 191 Index generation using a concordance file 191 Word shortcut keys 192 Creating a Print Current Page icon in Word 194 Excel ideas 197 Personalised bank slips 197 CD Covers 198 Moving around within Excel 199 Digital images, scanning and printing 200 What image file types to use 202 Digital Cameras and Images 205 Image loading times 208 What is the Internet? 211 How to access the Internet 212 E-mail 215 Home pages 215 Newsgroups 218 Internet etiquette or 'Netiquette' 219 Costs 219 Why the phone line drops out when surfing 220 Phone line fixes 221 Modem reasons 221 Other possible modem fixes 223 Look at setup strings 223 Other reasons 224 REFERENCES 225 INDEX 227 About the author 231
WINDOWS
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What is Windows?
I have been using a computer for many years and have been asked by my husband, an intelligent but not computer literate person, "What is Windows"? I have not been able to give a good answer. Can you help?
Windows is a graphics based operating environment from Microsoft. Windows 3.1 integrated with DOS (Disk Operating System) while Windows 95 and later incorporates DOS. DOS is the fundamental software that makes it possible for you to use peripheral devices such as a hard disk, keyboard or monitor. It is also responsible for controlling the computer, keeping track of files, loading and running programs such as wordprocessors or games.
One of the main advantages of Windows over DOS is that it provides a graphical user interface (called a GUI) which allows manipulation of objects by using a mouse and clicking on images rather than having to know precise DOS commands and type them in. Learning is much easier. Another advantage is that Windows allows several tasks to be run simultaneously, eg. while downloading files from the Internet you can be working on a spreadsheet and printing a document at the same timeThe only real disadvantage of Windows is that it requires much greater computer resources in terms of the processing power of the computer, the amount of memory required to run Windows, and the far larger amount of disk capacity it requires. However with modern computers this is not a problem.
Do I need Windows XP?
What I would like to know, which I have not been able to find, is: what will Windows XP really do for me and do I really need it? I am running Windows 98.
In my opinion Windows XP is a solid operating system with some worthwhile improvements over Windows 9x. Any new computer that is purchased should definitely have Windows XP. However, if your current operating system is stable you may not need to upgrade.
There is always a lot of discussion about the merits of an operating system and I would like to state that the operating system is not so important to the average user. It is the application programs, such as wordprocessing, e-mail, financial records management, image manipulations, games, etc that are of more value to most users.
Before deciding to purchase the upgrade you must ask yourself what features this upgraded operating system will give you that you do not have now, what facilities that you will lose, and then decide. I think that few people will really need to upgrade their existing operating system, although many would like to have it just because it is new and seems to offer new features. To answer your question you must ask yourself how much of your time is spent using application programs such a wordprocessor, spreadsheet or game, and how much of your time is spent in using the operating system and the utility programs that come with it. Then ask yourself what new upgrades in Windows XP are essential and if any of your existing programs will fail to run. Unlike the huge change from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95, this is a smaller but still significant upgrade. There are a number of advantages in Windows XP over Windows 98 some of the more important are listed below. However, I am not convinced that it is worth the $200 or more to upgrade from Windows 98/ME if you have a stable system. In my opinion the following points are the most important improvements:- The main advantage is the improvement in stability over Windows 9x. Windows XP is based on the industrial-strength NT operating system, which became Windows 2000.
- Many applications will run faster than on Windows 9x.
- Switching between users who share the one computer is much easier. Each user can keep his own desktop settings.
-
It
supports an improved file system, NTFS. This has many advantages over
the FAT (File Allocation
Table) system such as:
- better space utilisation for large disks,
- automatic compression for individual files or folders
- offers good security and will prevent other users from viewing the contents of your “My Documents” folder when another user is using Windows Explorer, or even trying to access that folder from DOS
- can implement disk quotas for individual users and prevent your kids, or other users, from filling the hard disk by copying many CDs onto it.
- Remote Assistance where another user can log into your computer and take it over in order to diagnose and fix some problems is available.
- Extensive multimedia support is built in. You can view images as thumbnails from Explorer, load images directly from a digital camera without needing other software. XP can automatically re-size your photos for e-mailing. It also has native support for writing CDs and an updated media player with DVD support.
- An inbuilt firewall to prevent a human hacker from accessing your computer adds additional security. Note this is not an anti-virus product.
- Some rollback capability and System Restore options are available. For example, if you have installed incorrect video drivers you can roll back to the prior versions, or if a virus has infected some critical Windows files that cannot be cleaned, such as Kernel32.exe, then this file can be deleted as it will be automatically restored by the operating system.
- The same Performance analysis program that the NT servers use exists. This will help experienced users to isolate bottlenecks that may cause performance degradation.
- ClearType font-smoothing technology is built in. This will improve LCD displays as well as improve the CRT display.
- Built-in support for Zip files is useful.
- Realistically you should have 128 MB of RAM but 256 would be better if switching between users.
- You must have well over 1 GB of free disk space for the upgrade, but a realistic minimum should be 2 GB so that you still have some free space left on the hard disk after the upgrade.
- You should have a moderately fast computer. At the very least a 300 MHz CPU but preferably even faster.
- In case of problems if you have to re-install Windows XP, all your settings, as well as most of your programs, such as Microsoft Office, and also data will be lost. With prior versions of Windows a re-installation preserved all your settings and data.
- Windows XP is protected and must be registered otherwise it will cease working after 30 days. Therefore you cannot load the same CD onto two computers. Extensive subsequent hardware changes will force a re-registration.
- You cannot upgrade from Windows 95 as it must be upgraded from Windows 98 or later adding to the cost as you must use the full, not upgrade, version that costs about $450. However, in most cases the existing hardware is not likely to be adequate to run XP and I suggest that you put that money towards purchasing a new computer with XP preloaded.
- Although native support for digital cameras initially seems attractive, in practice this will be only of real benefit if you purchase a second-hand digital camera and do not receive the software. If you have an existing camera do not ask XP to be the default software for it. It will disable your existing software and in all probability will not have as many features as the manufacturer’s software. Re-instating the original software will take a moderate amount of skill.
- Another disadvantage is that some older DOS programs may not run, especially some old DOS games.
- Some old hardware that you may be using may not be recognised or supported by Windows XP such as flatbed scanners using the parallel port interface.
- Safe Mode does not support a serial mouse, only a USB (Universal Serial Bus) mouse making de-bugging harder if you have a serial mouse.
- NTFS partitions or drives cannot be read by Windows 9x if you have a dual-boot system or boot on a Windows 9x floppy.
- Finally you will have some learning to do as the interface and some programs have moved or are called by a different name. For example, Scandisk cannot be found from the Programs and Accessories menus and there is no reference to it in Help. In XP it is now called Error-checking. To run “Scandisk” click on Start, My Computer, right-click on the drive, Properties, Tools and click Error-checking.
- Cannot support dual processors, that is you can only have one CPU
- No file or folder encryption facility
- Cannot restrict access to specified programs or other resources except for the users “My documents” folder
- No support for many related network features but these are of no real use for the home users, such as centralised administration and roaming profiles. The number of simultaneous users connecting via a LAN is restricted to five. NetBEUI must be manually installed requiring some networking skills.
- If your existing computer is stable, and if none of the above points are important in your case, then there should be no real need to upgrade. There will be virtually no software appearing in the near future that will run on Windows XP and not run on Windows 98. Remember the saying: “If ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
- There is no real reason to upgrade from Windows 2000 as Windows 2000 has almost all of XP’s features.
- If your computer has adequate resources but you are having frequent crashes, then the price of the upgrade may be worthwhile as the operating system core is much more stable.
- If you are sharing your computer with others and need to keep private documents or wish to limit the disk usage of other users, then you also should consider an upgrade.
One final point: Before starting the upgrade I would recommend that you back up the files that are important to you, just in case. These would include your financial records, wordprocessing documents etc. Although the majority of users will upgrade without problems, some readers have experienced difficulties during the upgrade. See What files do I need to back up? on page 99.
Ø Tip: In Windows XP to logon to a user who is not shown on your logon screen, at the point press and hold Alt + Ctrl down and press the Delete key twice to bring up a screen where you can enter the name such as Administrator.
Removing the annoying Startup password
I have purchased a Pentium computer for home use with Windows 98 that I use for accessing the Internet and general wordprocessing. All works well except that I am asked to supply a password each time the computer starts. As this is being used only at home and when I just hit Enter or Cancel everything works, I would like to remove this annoying prompt. How can I do this?
This usually appears when the computer is connected to the Internet. To remove the login screen on a Windows 95/98 computer is a two stage process. First right-click on the Network Neighbourhood icon and select Properties. Then select the Primary Network Logon, change it to Windows Logon and click OK. If you are asked to restart the computer say No.
Next open the Control Panel,
click on Passwords, Change Windows Password, and type in the password you
have been using in the Old Password box. Just press Enter if you have none.
Leave the New Password and the Confirm Password boxes blank and you will
not
be prompted again with the login screen after you re-start your computer.
(See Figure 11 ) If there is no Change Windows Password visible on your computer
then this means that you would have pressed the Escape key to eliminate the
password and therefore you are not logged on. When you are next starting
the
computer press Enter for the password and the Change Password tab will appear.
Note that if you or anyone else in your family has set up User Profiles, the
above steps will not stop Windows 9x from prompting you for a name and password,
even if there is no password. If several people are sharing a computer and
have different tastes then each individual can have his or her wallpaper,
icons, sounds, etc by establishing individual profiles and having individual
names and passwords. The data and programs remain accessible to all.
Ø Tip: To quickly bring up the Find window press the Windows key and F
Windows shortcuts for natural keyboard keys
What does the Windows key do?
Windows keyboard has one or two keys marked with the Windows logo, known as the WIN key. Many users with Windows do not make much use of the extra key(s).
These keys can be used for shortcuts such as:· Pressing the Windows key and E will launch Explorer
· Windows + F will launch the Find File program
· Windows + R will open the Run dialogue window
· Windows + M will minimise all open programs
· Shift + Windows + M will undo the minimise all
· Windows + Pause/Break will show the System Properties
· Windows + L will log off or switch the current user (Windows XP only)
Ø Tip: You do not need to have extra shortcuts cluttering your screen for Windows Explorer and for Find Files if you have the new keyboard.
