Computer Info – December 1, 1999

This Week’s Program --- Files – CD labeler

        We didn’t get to discussing FILES last week, so we are going to start with it today. How to create a FOLDER – how to organize your files – how to find your files. We will also take a look at creating CD labels and pass around the CD Stomper that helps position a CD label so that it is aligned to make sure your CD is not out of balance.

Web Addresses

Christmas Stories and Poems
                  http://www.night.net/christmas/poems12.html-ssi
How Christmas Works ---- lots of information about the holiday and traditions
                  http://www.howthingswork.com/christmas.htm

Copying screen text from DOS to Windows

        If you are in the DOS PROMPT window and you would like to copy the directory listing (the one you get when you type DIR and then press the ENTER key) to your WORD (or other word processing program) document, you must click on the MARK icon -- this now allows you to select (highlight) the information that you wish to copy. After you have selected your text, then press the COPY icon. You may now go to your WORD or other word processing program and PASTE the information into it.
        This works in the DOS Edit program – and any text based DOS program as long as you are running in a windowed mode (and not a full screen mode). You need the MARK and COPY icons to make this work.

Multiple Windows Open

        We have seen many computers where they have multiple windows open – for example, when you double-click on MY COMPUTER , you have one window open. Now you double-click on C: DRIVE and you have another window open. Now you double-click on MY DOCUMENTS folder and you have another window open. This means that you have to go back and close everyone of these windows.
        To avoid this, change the setting to close one window when opening another. To do this in Windows 98, right-click on the START button and choose EXPLORE. From Windows Explorer, choose VIEW from the top menu and then choose FOLDER OPTIONS. From the next screen, click on CUSTOM, BASED ON THE SETTINGS YOU CHOOSE. Then click on the SETTINGS button. Under Browse Folders As Follows – choose OPEN EACH FOLDER IN THE SAME WINDOW. Then click on OK.

For 10-digit Dialing – Check your Dialer

        Starting December 1st, many localities are going to have to dial 10 digits when placing local calls – this includes their next-door neighbor or possibly their internet provider.
        This means that you will have to make a change to your internet dialer. To do this, double-click on MY COMPUTER. Then double-click on DIAL-UP NETWORKING. Here you should see an icon that is probably named with your provider’s name. Hopefully, you only have two icon here – one named MAKE A NEW CONNECTION and one other. Right-click on the one with your internet provider’s name or the one that you recognize that you are using. Choose PROPERTIES from the menu choices. On the next screen, you will see the phone number that you use to dial your provider. Add the area code in front of the phone number (BUT DONOT ADD A ‘1’) . Next, make sure that you do not have a checkmark in front of USE AREA CODE AND DIALING PROPERTIES.

DAO

        Data Access Objects (DAO) – this is a library of objects, properties, and methods for manipulating data and the structure of a database. It allows the sharing of knowledge and code across Excel, Access, and Visual Basic 3.0 and 4.0
        Ok, so the description doesn’t mean to much to me either. But I thought maybe it was something that others might come across. We have two programs that use DAO – Virtusoa (a program to create MP3 and then record on CD’s) and Picture Easy (a program that allows you to transfer pictures from your digital camera to your hard drive). We installed them not knowing this (or caring) and they both worked fine. No problems. Months later, both stop working – why – what did they have it common? Since these programs are not something that we run every day, we are not sure of just when the problem was created or what programs we had installed. When we found this problem, we uninstalled both programs and then re-installed them. They still would not run. AudioSoft, who markets Virtusoa, responded to an email that we sent them and told us to delete 11 DLL files from the Windows/System directory and to delete two files from the Microsoft Shared/Dao directory – and then reinstall the program. That worked.

A Floppy Disk in Drive A:

        Has this ever happened to you – you turned your computer off without removing your floppy disk. The next day, you turn your computer on and you get a message about a Non-System Disk. It happened to us yesterday. Only the message was written in green on the black background and it read ----
* * * * * ATTENTION * * * * *
The disk in drive A is not a boot disk!

It is not intended for use when "booting",
turning on your computer.

Please boot your machine from your hard drive
or from a bootable disk before using this disk.
Please consult your DOS manual if you have any
questions or if you need help.

Thank you.
        That’s a little more message than we used to get. I don’t know when it changed – maybe that is a part of Windows 98 Second Edition.

News Journal or Global Datalink Internet Provider
from the News Journal Online - Sunday, November 28, 1999
By EMERY JEFFREYS - Technology correspondent

        News-Journal Center customers will soon become MPI customers. MPI's parent company, Duro, recently purchased MPInet.net and Global Datalink, the News-Journal partner in online services. MPI will have about 100,000 subscribers in Florida when the shifting is done, he said.
        Global Datalink will soon assume the name of MPInet.net and GDI customers will soon become MPInet customers. He said negotiations are also under way to assume ownership of News-Journal Center customers.
        MPInet.net, an Orlando company, is partnering with BellSouth to roll out services in the same area to be served by BellSouth. "The demand is overwhelming," said Rich Lee, president of MPINet.net. "They are tired and frustrated with slow connections. We're trying to be at the forefront with DSL services." They expect MPI’s service to be in full swing at mid-year 2000.