The PC Improvement News
Issue 1-44
August 11, 1999

ISSN 1488-3163
Published electronically by PC Improvements (c) 1999
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit
http://www.pcin.net/

Note 1: If any of the links are too long to fit on one line, you may have to
cut and paste.
Note 2: You can only win one contest every 30 days.

Welcome to the 44th edition of the PC Improvement News. In this newsletter,
I have a couple of tips to make your computing life easier as well as
highlights of the past weeks PC Industry News. I am more than willing to
discuss any PC related topics in this newsletter. Just email me at
editor@pcin.net with your suggestions. I would also appreciate it
if you let me know if there is any strange formatting in the newsletter so
that I can fix them.

Give me two or three issues, and I know that you will get something great
out of this!

----------------------------------------------------------------
SOME OPENING THOUGHTS
----------------------------------------------------------------
I've already got some good ideas for contests, but I need lost more. Please
send me some more suggestions. I've got lots of prizes, and I get more every
week. Please send in your contest ideas to editor@pcin.net

I have a problem.
I keep getting Return Mail from a person with an email address of
debbiej@----.com (I changed the domain) and this email address isn't on my
subscriber list. I suspect that somehow the newsletter is being forwarded to
this address. If this looks like you, could you please email me your real
email address that doesn't forward anything. Of course, this message will
probably bounce and you won't get it. Anyway, there are 2 Debbies on my
list, so if you stop getting the newsletter next week, then I probably took
you out hoping to solve my problem.
----------------------------------------------------------------
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK
----------------------------------------------------------------
"Only as we focus more on contributing than consuming can we create the
context that makes peace in all aspects of life possible."
          - Stephan Covey

Thought courtesy of http://www.HappyPublishing.com/

To subscribe to the FREE "Aspire to Something Higher" Thought-Of The Day,
send a blank email to HappyQuotes-subscribe@listbot.com


----------------------------------------------------------------
THE NEWS
----------------------------------------------------------------
CD Trading Cards
----------------------------------------------------------------
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the CD-ROM business cards that I saw at
Comdex. Well, Upper Deck has come out with a basketball trading card called
the PowerDeck series. The cards hold approximately 32MB of data. Upper Deck
can sell advertising on the card to recoup some of the costs.

For more info:
http://www.upperdeck.com/play/power_deck.html


Pressed and Burned CDs
----------------------------------------------------------------
CDs that you buy for your CD burner are different than the ones that you get
with software preinstalled on them. CDs that you buy with programs on them
are usually pressed. That means that a machine presses the tracks into the
CD with all of the necessary pits for the data to appear. CDs that you burn
are made differently so that the laser in your burner can burn the puts into
the CD. I was recently talking to a colleague of mine and wondered why you
couldn't burn extra files onto a CD you already had from Microsoft (for
example). He said that the technology wasn't there yet. Well, it appears
that it is here. Kodak has invented a disk called a CD-PROM (the P meaning
Programmable). The CD will combine recordable and read-only (pressed)
formats in a single disk. The idea is that Kodak will press software onto a
disk (such as Adobe PhotoDeluxe or Microsoft Picture It). They can send
these CDs to their stores, and then when a customer asks for their pictures
on CDs, the store could then burn the pictures onto the CD.

For more info:
http://www.kodak.com/country/US/en/corp/pressReleases/pr19990628-03.shtml


Reports of New Wobbler Virus a Hoax
----------------------------------------------------------------
I received several warnings of a new virus in my email this week, including
two from some reputable local resellers. The email is usually mentions a
file called California and warns the reader this file contains the Wobbler
virus. This is only a hoax and can safely be deleted.

For more info:
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/wobbler-hoax.html

----------------------------------------------------------------
SPECIAL REQUEST
----------------------------------------------------------------
John Hills has this request,
"I am and will be doing a fair bit of work for a charity called Regain. Set
up to buy any necessary equipment, (inc. PC's with voice activate software
and that is where I come in) for spinal injuries that have not had and never
will have compensation for their accident. I hope to build the charity a web
site shortly so if you could have a look around I would be very grateful for
links (Web), or simply addresses and phone numbers to any similar
organisations pertaining to spinal injuries in your neck of the woods. The
web site will be used to give medical, personal contact, links, and
hopefully sponsorship for the pages and as a vehicle to attract donations to
enable the charity to do the work. Patron is Richard Branson. Thank you very
much in advance."

Hopefully you can all help him out. If you have any links, you can email him
at john_hills@hessl.demon.co.uk


----------------------------------------------------------------
I NEED HELP
----------------------------------------------------------------
As many of you know, I offer a free help service via email. If you have a
question, you can email me and I will try my best to answer them. I can
answer about half of them. Those are things that I do regularly or have
experience with. There are other things that I have never tired or
experienced so I don't have an answer. I hope to post those questions here
and see if any of the readers have any suggestions. I will include all
reasonable suggestions with credit to you. I will not check the validity of
these comments. That is up to you.

Previous Questions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q1) I'm working with a Compaq Presario with Win95. I was working on
Microsoft Word, when the computer kicked me out, saying I had to reboot.
Well, I've tried rebooting but it keeps giving me the "Shell32.DLL file is
missing". I don't know what to do, I've tried searching the Internet for
advice, but I come up empty.

A1) J.M. Monteleone answered, "Three possible solutions:
1. use your "boot disk" to restart windows, if you have a boot disk. or
2. if your Compaq is fairly new, (2-3 years old) you can use your "quick
restore" CD that came with your computer. simply choose the option "typical
restore, or custom restore", that way you can restore your windows 95
drivers only, without reformatting your entire hard drive and loosing all
you data. if you don't have the quick restore CD you can contact Compaq and
they will give you a free one, (I got one last year). or
3. boot your computer to the "command Prompt", and "copy" a shell32dll file
into your windows/system directory. you can get a copy from the win 95 cabs
on your win 95 CD ROM, or from another computer. (warning, this last option
is very dangerous and the outcome could be negative or positive)!?!.
p.s. in the future always have a "current" boot disk for use in emergencies.
also you can try installing "Norton" system works in the future to prevent
these type of "crashes"."
A1)Silvan suggested, "I assume Windows is giving you the message
"Shell32.dll file is missing" and not Word (because the file belongs to
Windows itself for general purposes). This implies that Windows itself has
been corrupted more or less. You could try to copy the Shell32.dll file
into the windows\system folder (if it actually IS missing), but usually this
doesn't really solve a problem, but you get another error message instead.
Unfortunately, I guess the best way to go is "just" to reinstall Windows."

Q2) I downloaded a file. When trying to open it, I was asked what with and
chose word pad. Now every downloaded file opens or tries to open with word
pad. Help!

A2) Neil McMullen suggested, "Open Windows Explorer. Open View : Folder
Options : File Types.scroll down until you find the file type you associated
with Word Pad.when you have it highlighted, click "remove".close up.that
should fix it."
A2) "You probably didn't DEselect the checkbox: "Always use this program to
open the file". In that case, when you choose to view a file with the same
extension (e.g. ZIP for filename.ZIP) will automatically be opened with the
same program, i.e. WordPad. To stop Windows from doing this, you do the
following:
- Open Windows Explorer
- Select View
- Select Options
- Select the Tab: File Types
- In the (long) list with file types, select the file type that keeps being
opened by WordPad (but shouldn't). Be sure to select the right one!
- Click on the Remove button.
The next time you try to open a file from that file type, Windows does not
recognize it any more, and asks you once again which program to use to open
it. Select the right one this time! Or DEselect the checkbox mentioned
above."
A2) "Open up "My Computer" select "view" then click on the "File Types" tab
and scroll till you find the extension of the file you downloaded. Highlight
that and click "edit". In the "actions" box click "open" then when the new
box opens your path to "wordpad" should be already highlighted, just hit
delete and OK all the way out. Restart your computer. To prevent this kind
of thing from happening again, the next time windows wants to "associate" an
extension, make sure you "uncheck" the box that says "Always use this
program to open this file" If your problem has to do with many common
extensions, you may have a virus."


New Questions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q1) I have been unable to figure out how to change the default font for
WordPro. Any suggestions?

Q2) I am having trouble printing out e-mail messages while using Microsoft
Outlook Express. I am using a Gateway GP6-400. My OS is Windows 98 and my
printer is a HP Deskjet 820CE. When I receive an e-mail it shows up on the
monitor like any normal letter. When I try to print it on paper, the first
line will print normally. The second line will only contain a single word.
The third line will print normally. Then the fourth line will print a single
word. This pattern continues for the entire length of the document. How can
I fix this problem so the document will print correctly?

If you have any answers to these questions, please email me at
mailto:freehelp@pcimprovements.com


----------------------------------------------------------------
THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF
----------------------------------------------------------------
This week all of the tips are about software. These are all recommended
programs as they can really help the performance of your computer, or make
its use more enjoyable.

Virtual CD-ROM Drive
----------------------------------------------------------------
John Hills sent in this info.
"This program came free with an AOpen CDROM I purchased. Appears to have
been written by Far Stone but is entitled with Norton. I have registered and
I can now create many virtual drives and load my CD's on to my hard drive
for much faster running and yes I admit it, I have a couple of friends
programs on there which I copied.. Providing you have the space on the hard
drive the program creates an image, compressed if you like as it makes no
difference in speed to run, but longer for the image to be initially
processed.
You can download I believe at approx 2 meg at
http://www.softseek.com/Utilities/Diskette_CD_ROM_and_Hard_Disk/Review_17
931_index.html

To use with a game that has more than one cd, press Alt Tab when the game
asks for CD 2 e.g., and away you go. I have searched for this program on the
net with no luck and it is free for use with three CD's only. Register for a
code for a unlimited CD's and drives subject to your hard disk capacity.

Virtual Drive is a CD-ROM emulation application. It creates CD-ROM images on
a hard drive(or network file server) with professional compression, and adds
a new virtual CD icon onto the Virtual Drive Manager program. There is no
need to search for CD-ROMs, no need to load CD-ROMs into a drive, and there
is no need to wait for a CD-ROM drive to start up. One no longer has to
change CD-ROMs in order to run other CD applications. Just click on the
CD-ROM icon and watch it run instantly.
1. Runs without CD-ROM: Emulates CD-ROM execution on the hard drive,
therefore, there is no need to insert the CD-ROM into the CD drive.
2. 100X: Runs CD-ROMs directly on the hard drive with incredible 100X speed.
3. Great for Notebooks: You no longer have to carry CD drives on the road.
No need to waste precious batteries on CD drives. Just load your virtual
drives and you're of! No hassles!
4. MO drives: Put Virtual CD files onto a MO disk. MO drive is now a CD
drive also.
5. Runs multiple CD-ROM applications at the same time: Virtual Drive can
emulate 20 CD drives. No need to be limited to just one CD-ROM application.
You can have everything running simultaneously.
6. Compression: Virtual Drive incorporates a high performance compression
engine. It will auto de-compress when the CD title is accessed.(de-compress
on-the-fly).
7. At your fingertips: Virtual CD images are created on your hard disk so
your favorite CD-ROMs are always ready to run on your computer.
8. Easy management: Virtual Drive doesn't copy hundreds of thousands of
files from the CD-ROM. Rather, it actually creates an exact CD-ROM image
file on the hard drive. Only this image file needs to be created or removed.
9. 100% compatible: Virtual Drive is completely compatible with all types of
CD-ROM applications.
10. Network Capability: Create virtual CD icons on a file server, allowing
CD resources to be shared across a network. Also, permits instant management
of CD-ROMs.
11. CD Array (CD Juke Box): Virtual Drive can 100% completely replace
expensive CD Array or (CD Juke Box), while providing users with the
following added benefits: (1) Supports unlimited numbers of CD-ROMs on you
server. Breaks the limitation of physical drives. (2) Other Network
Features: It provides, "click and play on clients", full security control
for VCD images. Special monitor program for admin. Automatical VCD images
update and version upgrades on clients. Easy clients' configurations...

System requirements
Windows 95
A CD-ROM drive
4MB hard disk space"


Gizmos 98
----------------------------------------------------------------
I've been in the process of reviewing a lot of software lately. I thought it
would be all fun and games getting free software to review, but you really
have to put a program through all of its options in order to do a good
review. It is fun, but a lot of work.

Anyway, If you like games and extra fun utilities for your computer, then
Gizmos 98 by Play, Inc. is for you. Gizmos 98 starts where Windows left off.
It includes superior calculators, calendars, clocks, card games,
screensavers, and an excellent CD Player. The CD player comes with a
database of song and CD titles so you can see what you are playing (not just
Track 1). If the CD isn't recognized, you can connect to a database across
the Internet and get your database updated (it is done very quickly). The
clocks also have an option to connect to an atomic clock over the Net to get
accurate time.

Another interesting feature is the shredder that it adds to your desktop.
You can use the shredder like your Recycle Bin until you decide to get rid
of the files. When you decide to "shred" the files, the program can destroy
the file so that it is unrecoverable.

You can read my full review at
http://www.pcimprovements.com/help/software/gizmos98.shtml or you can visit
the Play site directly at http://www.play.com/


AbsoluteFTP
----------------------------------------------------------------
This is a File Transfer Protocol program that you can use to transfer files
to and from a web server. You could use it to access an FTP site to download
a game or other software. You would also use it to upload your HTML files to
your web site.

AbsoluteFTP by Van Dyke Technologies, uses an interface very similar to the
Windows Explorer, and is just as easy to use. You can change file
permissions on a Unix-based server. You can teach it in what mode to
transfer certain files (binary or ASCII). When you time out, it will
reconnect you right back where you timed out from, not at the root
directory. I used to use WS_FTP Pro (I bought it myself), but since I got
AbsoulteFTP, I haven't touched it.

You can read my full review at
http://www.pcimprovements.com/help/software/absoluteftp.shtml or you can
visit the Van Dyke web site directly at http://www.vandyke.com/


----------------------------------------------------------------
SAME CONTEST
----------------------------------------------------------------
I have given you 2 weeks to give me some good contest ideas. A week is up so
you have 1 week to go. Please be creative, be original, but try to have it
have something to do with computers and/or other things this newsletter
covers. The best 5 ideas will get a copy of Window Washer by Webroot
Software. Email me at editor@pcin.net with your suggestions.


----------------------------------------------------------------
Lastly, send in your comments, tips and news and you too can be included in
The PC Improvement News with a reference to your name and web site.
Send email to editor@pcin.net
----------------------------------------------------------------

Well, that's all for this week. Remember that if there is anything that you
want to learn about, let me know and I will try to accommodate you. Also,
feel free to send any comments about the newsletters and the topics covered.
This newsletter is sent to those who subscribed only. We don't believe in
SPAM, so if you have somehow gotten this and you don't want it, please see
the subscribe/unsubscribe options at the start of the newsletter.

The PC Improvement News is brought to you by PC Improvements. The opinions
expressed are those of the editor, Graham Wing. PC Improvements and Graham
Wing accept no responsibility (either good or bad) for the results obtained
from trying the tips in this newsletter.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Editor: Graham Wing can be reached at editor@pcin.net

Copyright 1999, PC Improvements and Graham Wing. All rights reserved.
This publication may be reproduced in whole, or in part, as long as the
editor is notified.

PC Improvement News Home Page

PC Improvement News Archives