Computer Info – December 29, 1999

This Week’s Program

        John Watkins is hosting the program again this week. This will be a question and answer day – so bring your questions.

Re-cap of Last Week

Copy batch file from handout and make a shortcut on the desktop
        Bring up last week’s handout (while you are on the internet) and highlight the four lines of the sample batch file (this will turn that area to blue). Right-click on the highlighted area and choose COPY from the menu. The information should now be in your computer’s memory.
        Open your word processor and right click in the letter area and choose PASTE from the menu. You can now edit the batch file to correspond with your directories (folders) and drives. Be sure when you save your file – you change the SAVE AS TYPE to a text document – and be sure when you name it that your filename contains the .BAT extension. A good place to save it is probably in your root directory (C:\).
        To place a shortcut to this file on your desktop, open MY COMPUTER – then double click on your hard drive (C:) to open it. Locate the file that you created and hold your RIGHT mouse button down and drag the file to the desktop. When you release the button, you will be given a menu of choices – choose CREATE SHORTCUT. You can now double click on this icon to run the batch file to back up your files to your zip drive. This program runs in a black window (the DOS mode) and the window does not close when it is finished (you will know that it is finished when you see the word FINISHED in the blue header of the window).
        To make the window close automatically when the program has finished, right click on the icon on the desktop and choose PROPERTIES. Then click on the PROGRAM tab. Place a checkmark in the box next to CLOSE ON EXIT. Press the OK button – that will make the changes take effect.
Website for Computer Products
        It was mentioned that someone had purchased an external zip drive online for about $86 from Egghead. Egghead is a very reputable company that we shopped at when their store in Altamonte Springs was open. All of their stores around this area have closed; you can still purchase from them – but it is online. Their web address is http://www.egghead.com
Second email address
        It is a good idea to set up an email account with one of the web based email services (like Hotmail – Yahoo etc. – there are many to choose from) if you plan on using newsgroups – or even for web sites that seem to ask for your email address. Spamming (sending of unsolicited email) and, therefore, possibilities of viruses can then be sent to this new email address – and you never have to visit this account at all.
Newsgroups
        What are newsgroups? Basically, it is email messages addressed to a group of people that can be read by everyone. One person will send a message (called POST on the newsgroups) requesting some type of information or just to express their feeling about something. This message is addressed to the newsgroup. Other people can send a reply to that message.
        They are called groups because each newsgroup is for a specific subject -- examples below – the true name of the newsgroup is in the brackets.
                    GENEALOGY-IRELAND (soc.genealogy.ireland)
                    ANTIQUE BOTTLES (rec.antiques.bottles)
                    HOMEBUILT AMATEUR RADIO (rec.radio.amateur.homebrew)
        The address for the web based news groups that John used at the last meeting is
                           http://www.futureland.com/newsgroups/newsgroups.html
        This will put you in touch with five different web sites that deal with newsgroups. The one that we looked at during the meeting was Remarq (http://www.remarq.com). This one allowed you to search for the newsgroups by subject or a word in one of the messages. This site runs a program called SpamGuard that should make this site safer against spamming then it would be if you visited the newsgroups through a news server. If the newsgroup is a monitored one – this should mean that the topic stays to the subject that was intended.
        John said that there are 37,000 newsgroups and that there is one for any topic you can think of.

The Year 2000

        If you rearrange the letter in the words Year Two Thousand it will say A Year To Shut Down
        If you want to know how long before the turn of the century, you will find a countdown clock at this address –
                           http://www.mwr-pcola.navy.mil/yr2000.htm

Installing a Western Digital Hard Drive

        Western Digital ships their hard drives with a program called Data Lifeguard EZ-Install. We recently installed one and found this such an easy way to take the tedious process of partitioning the new drive, formatting it and trying to make sure that you get all of the files copied.
        The program starts out with identifying the hard drives in your computer and telling you that one of the drives was not installed. Next you are given the choice to copy the System Files from an existing hard drive or from a floppy disk to the new hard drive -- or -- you can select to copy an exact image of another drive. Next you are shown the partitions that your operating system will accept (Windows 95 will partition it into 2.1 GB segments while Windows 98 will partition it all as one partition). If your BIOS does not support the full capacity of your new hard drive, then you will be given the choice of installing EZ-BIOS (a small program that is placed on your hard drive and run on bootup). If your operating system supports FAT32, you will be given the choice of either FAT32 or FAT16. Then if you had chosen to copy the files of one hard drive to the new one (make a duplicate) – you just have to sit back and wait while all of the files are copied.

Canon Print Tanks and Print Cartridges

        A number of people have been having problems with their Canon printers not printing – and they say that they have just replaced the ink.
        Many Canon printers will allow you to replace the print cartridge or the print tank. Most people are replacing the print tanks. Since the print head is a part of the print cartridge, this NEEDS to be replaced at certain intervals.

What Modem are you getting when you purchase a new computer

        Rockwell is now Conexant. Rockwell does not make modems – but they make chipsets and sell them to various modem manufacturers. Hewlett Packard (HP) uses a Conexant modem (Conexant PCI Modem 56K) in their new computer (HP Pavilion 6535). Many users are able to get good 56K connections with this modem, but many others are having connectivity problems.
        Like all Rockwell-based modems, the V.90 firmware will have trouble on some lines calling some ISP server equipment.
 
 



Wishes for the New Year
May you get a clean bill of health from your dentist, your cardiologist, your gastro-endocrinologist, your urologist, your proctologist, your podiatrist, your psychiatrist, your gynecologist, your plumber
and the IRS.
May your hair, your teeth, your facelift, your abs and your stocks not fall;
and may your blood pressure, your triglycerides, your cholesterol, your white blood count
and your mortgage interest not rise.
May you find a way to travel from anywhere to anywhere in the rush hour in less than an hour,
and when you get there may you find a parking space.

May Friday evening, December 31, find you seated around the dinner table,
together with your beloved family and cherished friends, ushering in the new year ahead.
You will find the food better, the environment quieter, the cost much cheaper, and the pleasure much more fulfilling than anything else you might ordinarily do that night.

May you wake up on January 1st, finding that the world has not come to an end,
the lights work, the water faucets flow, and the sky has not fallen.

May you go to the bank on Monday morning, January 3rd and find your account is in order,
your money is still there and any mistakes are in your favor.

May you ponder on January 4th; How did this ultramodern civilization of ours manage to get itself traumatized by a possible slip of a blip on a chip made out of sand.

May we relax about the future and realize that we still have a long long time until we pass
by which time the computer is long since obsolete and so are we.

May God give you the strength to go through a year of presidential campaigning, and may some of the promises made be kept. May you believe at least half of what the candidates propose, and may those elected
fulfill at least half of what they promise, and the miracle of reducing taxes and balancing budgets happen.
May you be awe struck by God's sense of humor as you wrestle with the possibility that a professional wrestler could become president of the United States.

May what you see in the mirror delight you, and what others see in you delight them.
May someone love you enough to forgive your faults, be blind to your blemishes,
and tell the world about your virtues.

May the telemarketers wait to make their sales calls until you finish dinner, and may your check book and your budget balance, and may they include generous amounts for charity.

May you remember to say "I love you" at least once a day to your spouse, your child, your parents, your friends; but not to your secretary, your nurse, your masseuse, your hairdresser or your tennis instructor.

May we live as God intended, in a world at peace and the awareness of His love in every sunset,
every flower's unfolding petals, every baby's smile, every lover's kiss,
and every wonderful, astonishing, miraculous beat of our heart.
(author unknown)