Questions and Answers
SPCUG Answer Guys
|
|
Questions and Answers
Here are highlights from recent Q&A sessions. Questions and responses have been edited for clarity and correctness.
|
Recording Streaming Audio
Q: Is there a way to record the audio stream from Webcasts such as RealAudio?
A: High Criteria has Total Recorder 3.2, a program designed to capture audio streams and other sound playback sources. Another piece of software rumored to record audio streams is Audio Rack. However, I’m not sure which title actually has this capability. Audio Rack, or ESSRACK for the ESS sound chip.
Inactive Start Button Functions
Q: On one system, Open, Explore and Find are available. On another, only the Find function is available; Open and Explore are visible but grayed out. Is there a limit to the number of available functions when doing a right mouse click on the start button?
A: Microsoft has recognized this to be a problem when a user has used TweakUI to "hide" one or more drives. Microsoft recommends that you use TweakUI once again to unhide all drives, then restart Windows.
R: I checked Tweak UI and all my drives are visible to the system.
A: Let me clarify one thing: in TweakUI, on the My Computer tab, be sure all drives have a check mark in the little box – not just the ones that correspond to partitions on your hard drive(s). From A: to Z:, make sure all drives are checked.
All-In-Wonder Radeon
Q: I have a new computer with a newly-installed All-In-Wonder Radeon board and Ulead Video Studio software. However, I cannot get decent video capturing. Video has split screens and I have no sound. How do I fix my system so I can copy from my camcorder to CDs? (K7T Pro (MS-6330) ATX VIA Mainboard, AMD Athlon(tm) Processor.)
A: I have read numerous reports that the Radeon has some stability problems with a mainboard with the VIA chipset for AMD Athlon/Duron. There is a BIOS setting which may help (PCI-CPU Latency to 0) or a small program which will do the change for you. This problem is also documented at VIA Hardware. ATI engineers are aware of this problem (but not their tech support people, or, at least, nobody will admit it).
R: I finally got someone at ATI to admit to the problem. What a huge hassle!
A Squeal - Then Nothing
Q: Recently, my computer made a high-pitched sound so I shut it down. After a few hours when I turned it back on, I got the message "CPU cooling fan malfunction." I replaced the CPU fan, plugged it back in, pressed the processor back in as hard as I could, hooked it all back up, and nothing - no video or sound. I took it back apart and pressed harder on the processor and felt a click. Yeah! I thought I had it. Hooked everything back up, turned it on and no video but I got one long and three short beeps plus I smelled something getting hot - not good. What’s my problem and should I take it to a shop for repairs?
A: There are two common types of cooling fans and they are designated as "sleeve bearing" (cheap) and "ball bearing" (expensive). Ball bearing fans will last a long time. Sleeve bearing fans will last for a few years or so of normal use provided the environment is relatively dust-free.
The Pentium II processor sits in a slot known as "Slot 1," which has levers on either side to assist in extracting and inserting the CPU. Your saying, "pressed...in as hard as I could," just doesn't sound right. By the way, when you replaced the fan, did you try to transfer as much of the white goop as was possible onto the new fan? This goop is very important.
The meaning of one long, three short beeps depends on the manufacturer of the BIOS: AMI - Conventional/Extended memory failure; Award - RAM problem; IBM - Video (EGA) Display Circuitry; Phoenix - Does not use this sequence. So, my guess being you have an AMI BIOS, try removing the RAM strips and re-inserting them.
R: I took it to the shop you recommended and they had to replace my motherboard but everything else was fine.
Cable Broadband Software
Q: If I get cable modem service, can I still use MS Outlook, MS Outlook Express and Eudora to check POP e-mail from other accounts? Or do they install some kind of proprietary software, like Compuserve and AOL do, that might prevent the ability to access POP accounts? Although you can configure e-mail programs to enable the checking of Compuserve’s POP mail, AOL’s is proprietary and you can only use their software to check mail.
A: Your cable modem service does not require proprietary e-mail/browser software like AOL does. You would use Outlook Express, or any one of a number of other e-mail programs that are available, to retrieve e-mail from all of your accounts except AOL. AOL’s e-mail is not available via the standard methods (called POP3 and SMTP). Take a look at eNetBot, a go-between for programs like Outlook Express, et.al., that converts how they ask for mail to the method that AOL expects. It appears that this is the only program of its kind.
What's My Address?
Q: I use Hotmail but I just discovered Outlook on my system and it picks up my Hotmail. I would like to know how to get my Outlook address so that I may have my Yahoo account forwarded to my Outlook. Would it be more wise to specify Outlook as the primary e-mail address and have my Hotmail forwarded?
A: Let us first begin by defining a few terms. Hotmail and Yahoo are places where you have e-mail accounts. You probably also have an e-mail account from the Internet Service Provider you subscribe to (the company that your computer calls to make a connection to the Internet, such as Calweb, Inreach, JPS, etc.). Outlook (or Outlook Express) is the software you use to fetch newly-arrived e-mail from the various places you have accounts. Outlook (or Outlook Express) can be used to fetch and read e-mail that was sent to your Hotmail account, your Yahoo account, and your regular ISP account. Here is a general help page on how to access e-mail accounts and here is an informational page by Yahoo on how to access your account using software such as Outlook Express.
Building My Homepage
Q: I'm wondering how to go about creating a basic, clean, but not "Amateur Hour" Web page for my resume, some basic text about me and my background, some pictures, and a few links so that prospective employers can get more than just my resume on paper. I'm a drafter, so it will probably be geometric with not too many colors. Just a respectable, concise representation of a prospective employee.
A: Building a Web page can be accomplished in essentially four ways (cheap to expensive):
- Certain ISPs have an "interactive designer" that its subscribers can use to build pages, or
- Obtain a WYSIWYG Web page editor, learn how to use it and build your page, or
- Learn HTML, obtain an HTML editor and build your page, or
- Hire someone to build the page for you.
If your ISP doesn’t have an "interactive page builder," then poke around their site—see what they have to offer. They may offer quick and dirty design services for a low fee. There are also other sites on the Web that will interactively let you build your site. For an example, see Interactive Russia Online.
The better way is to learn how to build pages yourself—even simple, easy ones. Being able to do this will definitely be of interest to most any employer. There are dozens of free or low-cost editors specially configured for writing HTML code. There are several low-cost to high-cost "what you see is what you get" Web page publishing programs. (If you have Netscape, the Composer function seems to do a competent job for building not overly complex pages.) See these shareware sites for the availability of editors:
Download.com, Shareware.com, Hotfiles.com, and Tucows.
There are several individuals, small design services, and corporations that will build the page (or complete site) for you. Determine how much (or little) you want, how much you’re willing to pay, then start shopping.
Used Laptops
Q: I'm new to the Sacramento area and am looking for a used laptop computer. Do you know of any stores in the area or on the Internet where I could find one?
A: There are two nearby companies that deal with rebuilt/repaired laptops for sale:
You might also try Surplus Stuff (916-381-8404). Their inventory changes daily.
E-mail Attachments
Q: How does one attach a file to an e-mail message in Netscape?
A: Here’s how:
- On Netscape's menu bar, select Communicator, then Messenger.
- On Inbox's menu bar, select Message, then New message.
- In the Message Composition window, either:
- Select Attach, File, then select the file to attach, or
- Click on the middle of three vertical icons, the one that looks like a paperclip, then click anywhere in the large white area to the immediate right of the paperclip. Select the file to attach.
- When ready, hit Send.
Tiny Display Size
Q: My kids played a CD-ROM of some game, and afterwards, the screen reset itself to a miniature display. I've tried Display, Settings and reset the monitor to its original setting of 16-bit High Color and 800x600 pixels, and restarted it several times. The options for screen size have now been reduced from three choices to two and show the maximum setting to be 800x600. The result is that I have a thick black border around a tiny display in the center, and I can’t seem to maximize my display back to its original setting.
A: It might be that somehow, W98 has been told you have either a different monitor or a different display card. Sometimes, by booting into Safe Mode, then looking in the Device Manager, you will be able to see all the various monitors and display adapters that have ever been installed under this particular installation of W98. Write down all the items that may be listed under those two device headings.
In the Advanced Screen settings (right-click on desktop, Properties, Settings, Advanced), look at the Monitor page. If the name of the monitor isn’t right, then the problem may reside there. Windows will only show the screen resolutions that both the monitor and display adapter can support. Click the Change button, then the Next button, select "Display a list...", then Next, then select "Show all hardware" and scroll through the list. Select "Osborne" if it's there, then select the appropriate monitor model. If Osborne isn’t there, select "(Standard Monitor Types)," then guess at what would be the appropriate type for you. Click Next and finish out the Update Device Driver Wizard.
The following would apply if this situation were to happen in a laptop: In the Advanced Screen settings (right-click on desktop, Properties, Settings, Advanced), look at the Monitor page. If the name of the monitor isn’t "Laptop Display Panel (800x600)" or "Laptop Display Panel (1024x768)," whichever you have, then perhaps you need to change it. Click the Change button, then Next, then select "Display a list...," then Next, then select "Show all hardware" and scroll to the top of the list. Select "(Standard Monitor Types)" then select the appropriate "Laptop Display Panel." Or, if your laptop came with a drivers diskette or CD-ROM, click the "Have Disk" button and reload the drivers for the video. The black border around your display is due to the fact that LCD screens do not readjust their display area. A 640x480 display will occupy the center of an 800x600 (or 1024x768) screen.
My Documents Folder
Q: For a backup, I copied and pasted my C-Drive’s "My Documents" onto the D-Drive. Later, I wanted to remove the D-Drive copy and replace it with another, newer C-Drive copy. I find that I am unable to do that, as Explorer will not "allow" me to delete the D-Drive folder "My Documents." I can, however, remove the sub-folders and contents of the D-Drive "My Documents." Occasionally, MS Word 97 refers to it as to where I want to load and save documents. It’s quite annoying and confusing when saving documents.
A:There are several folders to which Windows gives special status, one of which is "My Documents." When you copied that folder to another location, Windows copied the special status of that folder as well. It removed the special status from the original as there can be one and only one "My Documents" having that special status. You can see the special status of that folder because it has a slightly different icon than other folders. TweakUI can be used to restore the special status to the original My Documents folder and XTEQ's program Setup can also reset the folder (site not viewable with Netscape 4.x). You could also try renaming the C:"My Documents" to something else, then copying D:"My Documents" back to C: drive (which should also transfer the special status along with it).
Missing Text in Printouts
Q: My HP DeskJet 500 prints one page successfully, then skips printing a large section on the second page, and various other sections on following pages. The printer works fine on another computer. HP recommended that I have the printer repaired, which I did at no small cost, but the problem remains.
A: When booting your computer, activate the BIOS settings screen. Find and enter the section that enables and configures the integrated peripherals. For the parallel port, its settings may indicate ECP. Change that setting until it says EPP. Even though HP may disagree, and may even indicate they aren’t aware of this situation, problems of this type are quite often solved by not using ECP.
News Server Errors
Q: I have been a user of NewsXpress for years and today I get an error saying "411 License Expired." I didn’t even know I had one. How can I fix this?
A: There is a technical problem with your ISP. All three-digit error codes are related to the server, not your news reader. The network status page of your ISP, at that time, read: "News Servers Not Responding to Requests." The technical error your ISP is experiencing generates and sends this error message to your news reader.
Accompanying the 411 error code is a message that can be customized by the server’s administrator. Here are some common error messages:
- 411 license key expired, sorry (typically when using pay services)
- 411 no such news group (group does not exist in the server’s active.dat file)
- 411 no permission to read that group (the access.conf file maintains permissions)
- 411 group did exist but has been deleted (via the ‘rmgroup’ tellnews command)
Persistent File
Q: Why do I keep finding a file named "biz1logo.jsp" in my "My Documents" folder? I always delete it, but I see that it's back again, dated the wee hours of this morning. Is it some kind of snoop file that's reporting the boring contents of "My Documents" back to someone, or what?
A: You are using MS Publisher 98 and the biz1logo.jsp file contains "the logo information for the Primary Business identity that is available within Microsoft Publisher (where an identity is a set of related personal information which includes your personal name, job title, address, organization name, phone/fax/e-mail, tag line, logo, and optionally your preferred color scheme)." (See MS knowledge base article Q187763.) Were you doing something with your computer in the wee hours of the morning?
R: Well, I had just created a 6-page newsletter using, guess what, MS Publisher!!, and was waiting for 50 copies of it to print, plus making a PDF file of it to email out to about 800 people!
URL's in Word 97
Q: My problem is with MS Word 97. When I type an e-mail address, Word automatically highlights it in blue and underlines it. I find this annoying at times and have tried to look for some kind of option to turn this feature off. I would appreciate some assistance in removing this feature.
A: There is a way to remove the "hyperlink" once it has been applied and there is also a way to turn this "feature" off completely.
To illustrate the first method, open a blank document and type a phrase that looks like an e-mail or Web site address such as "myname@myisp.com". You will notice that the address turns blue and becomes underlined—it has become a "hyperlink." Now, right-click on the hyperlink, select "Hyperlink" on the context menu, then select "Edit Hyperlink." (You will get a message saying you should save the document before editing but just ignore it and click OK.) In the "Edit Hyperlink" dialog window, click "Remove link" at the bottom left corner. The dialog window will then disappear and so will the hyperlink status of the e-mail or Web site address.
To illustrate the second method, on the main menu bar, select "Tools," then "AutoCorrect." At the top of this dialog window, click the "AutoFormat As You Type" tab and uncheck the box in the "Replace as you type" section named "Internet and network paths with hyperlinks." On the "AutoFormat" tab, you may elect to leave the box checked so that at some later point in time, you can force the address to acquire a hyperlink status. To force such an edit, highlight the address, select "Format" on the main menu bar, select "AutoFormat...", then choose your options and click OK.
|
|
