Computer Info – September 1, 1999

Stop the crashing of Netscape

        Microsoft doesn’t have a monoploy on crash-prone software. Netscape has its problems too. Your best bet is to run version 4.6 of Navigator on Windows 98 Second Edition, which seems to be a solid combination.

Customize the search feature in Internet Explorer 5.0

        The search tools in Internet Explorer 5.0 are remarkable, and they work even better if you customize them first. Choose your favorite search engine, tell IE how you want to display the results, and learn the secret of instant searches from the Address bar.
(1) Click on the Search button on IE’s toolbar to display this Explorer bar. Note that IE randomly chooses a search engine from its built-in list.
(2) Click on the Customize button to choose which search engines you want IE to use, or choose one engine for all searches.
(3) Use AutoSearch to search directly from the address bar – just enter a question mark, followed by the search term.
(4) Don’t like the results? Click on the NEXT button to try the next search engine on the list.

Strong or Weak Encrytion – Internet Explorer 5.0

        When using IE5, choose HELP – ABOUT to see if you are using a weak 56-bit encryption. U.S. or Canadian citizens can download a 128-bit upgrade at Microsoft’s Web site.

Viewing a FTP site with Internet Explorer 5.0

        Internet Explorer 5.0 allow you to view FTP sites in the same manner that you view directories in Windows Explorer. Under View – you can choose to display your files as LARGE ICONS – SMALL ICONS – LIST or DETAILS. If you don’t like the way they are displayed, then choose one of the others.

Grandchildren’s Pictures

        The internet is becoming the way that grandparents get to see a picture of their new grandchild. Many hospitals are placing pictures of the babies born at that hospital on their web page. And then the proud parents are emailing grandparents, friends and other relatives so that they can see the picture. But a problem arises when those that are sending the emails either do not fully understand how to view the pictures – or, they shortcut the explanation because they understand very well and think that everyone else has the same knowledge that they do. So, if you receive an email telling you about a picture of your new grandchild and there is no paper clip shown (which would indicate an attachment) – and the message contains something that looks like a web address (www.wep.com – maybe contains a www or a com), try typing that web address into your browser (in the location or address box) and then PRESSING THE ENTER KEY ON THE KEYBOARD.
        Here is one hospital that does this – Chattanooga, Tennessee. Here is the web address so that you can check it out and learn how the hospitals are doing this. Notice that they do not give last names of the parents or the babies.
                  http://www.co-service.com/ipx/?h=20021
 
 

Install a New Hard Drive

        Before you install a new hard drive, take note. Pre-1994 PCs don’t recognize drives larger than 528MB, pre-1996 PCs have a 2.1GB barrier, and some more recent PCs max out at 8.4 GB. Although software bundled with EIDE drives evades these limitations, consider updating your PC’s BIOS anyway, especially if you’re concerned about Y2K compatibility. If your PC has a flash BIOS, you can upgrade by downloading software from the manufacturer’s Web site. If not, you’ll need to buy a BIOS upgrade chip. Windows 95 would recognize a 2.1 GB hard drive, while Windows 98 would recognize beyond that limitation.
        New EIDE drives use the 33-mps Ultra DMA/33 interface. The EIDE connectors on PC motherboards made more than two or three years ago, however, can’t handle that speed. You can use contemporary drives, but not without sustaining a slight performance hit.
        Since your new drive will be bigger and faster than your old one, install it as your C: drive and use the old one as your D: drive.
(1) – Access the old drive.
        Turn off your PC, remove the cover, and find out how difficult it is to get to the jumpers on your existing drive. If you have to remove the drive to get to the jumpers, disconnect the wide ribbon cable and the power connector from the drive, taking care to note how the colored wire on the ribbon cable meets the drive connector (the wire is usually red). Make sure that you have a second connector on the wide cable for hooking up the new drive, along with an available power connector, which might be dangling free inside your computer. If not, you will need a two-drive ribbon cable plus a Y-adapter for creating two power connectors out of one.
(2) Set the driver jumpers.
        When two EIDE drives connect to a single data cable, one must be set as the master and the other as the slave. Most drives also have a single-drive jumper setting for you to use if your PC has only one drive.
        Most hard drives have jumper settings printed on their topside labels. If yours does not, check the manual that came with it for information about which settings to use.
        See that your old drive is set for MASTER and set your new hard drive as SLAVE. This will allow you to continue running your system as it is while you get your new hard drive formatted and the data transferred to it.
(3) Install the hardware.
        If you had to remove the old drive in step one, reinstall it now. Insert the new drive into its drive bay, making sure to place it close enough to the other drive that the ribbon cable connectors can reach each drrive. With some PCs, you may need to install a pair of drive rails or even a pair of mounting brackets to adapt a 3.5 inch drive to a 5.25 inch drive bay.
        Attach the two connectors on the ribbon cable to the old and new drives. It doesn’t matter which connector you join to which drive. Make sure the colored wire on the cable goes to the pin closest to the power connector. (Some data cable connectors are keyed to prevent you from connecting them improperly). Now check that the data cable’s connection to the motherboard is secure. It’s likely that your hard drives’ cable is connected to the primary EIDE connector, and that the cable for other EIDE devices is connected to the secondary EIDE connector. Plug the power connectors into both drives.
(4) Copy the old to the new.
        Start your PC. During start-up, enter your computer’s setup program and make sure drives 1 and 2 are set to Auto so that your system will automatically detect the two drives and set up the correct parameters. Save the setup settings, and then reboot.
        From the START button – choose PROGRAMS – then DOS PROMPT. This will bring you to a black window with a flashing cursor after C:\WINDOWS>. At this point, type FDISK and press ENTER. This will bring you into the utility called Fixed Disk Preparation. Be very careful with this program so that you do not do anything that will affect your old hard drive!!!! From this menu, choose (4) – DISPLAY PARTITION INFORMATION. This should show you information on both of your hard drives. Choose the second one (which should be your new hard drive). When you return to the main menu, choose (1) – CREATE DOS PARTITION OR LOGICAL DOS DRIVE. Here you wish to partition the entire new drive to be a PRIMARY DOS PARTITION. You will have to reboot the computer after you exit this program.
        When you are back in Windows – go to MY COMPUTER. Right click on the new drive (which should be D:) and choose FORMAT (be very careful that you are doing this on the new drive and NOT on your original drive C: - because ALL information will be deleted from the drive). From this menu, be sure to place a checkmark in FULL FORMAT and one in COPY SYSTEM FILES (at the bottom of the menu). This will format the drive so that it is ready to receive information and will then copy the system files which allow the system to boot from that drive.
        Now from the START button – choose PROGRAMS – then DOS PROMPT. This will bring you to a black window with a flashing cursor after C:\WINDOWS>. Type XCOPY C:\*.* D:\ /E/H/K (notice there is a space between the word XCOPY and C:\ -- also a space between *.* and D:\ -- also a space between D:\ and /E) and then press the ENTER key. This should copy everything that is on your old hard drive to your new hard drive. The parameters (/E/H/K) that we specified will (/E) – copy all of your directories even if they are empty (/H) – copy all of your hidden and system files (/K) -- copy the attributes of all of your files.
        Now the information contained on both hard drives is the same. Turn your computer off.
(5) Again set the driver jumpers.
        Open your computer again and reset the jumpers. See that your old drive is set for SLAVE and set your new hard drive as MASTER. This will now allow you to boot to your new hard drive and run Windows.
(6) Final Steps
        Start your PC. During start-up, enter your computer’s setup program and make sure drives 1 and 2 are set to Auto so that your system will automatically detect the two drives and set up the correct parameters. Save the setup settings, and then reboot.
        Test your system to be sure that everything is operating as before. When you are sure that everything is fine, then go to MY COMPUTER. Right click on your D:\ (which is now your old hard drive – you can verify this by looking at the PROPERTIES of your hard drive and looking at the size of the drive) – and choose FORMAT. Again be sure that you have choosen your old hard drive which should be D:\ drive. Place a check mark next to FULL FORMAT and remove any check mark from COPY SYSTEM FILES. This will delete any information that you have on that drive and give you lots of space for adding new programs - storing data – or for backing up files.

REMARKS:
        The XCOPY utility that is a part of Windows works differently when you boot to DOS from a floppy disk than it does when you run it from the DOS PROMPT when you are running in a Windows environment. The /H parameter (which is what allows us to copy the hidden and system files) is not available in the true DOS environment while it is available when running in a Windows mode.