Computer Info – February 23, 2000

This Week’s Program

        Hurray – the projector is working again – the library had a spare bulb. Therefore, Steve West will be demonstrating Quicken this week and we will try to present Easy CD Creator and Direct CD – for use with CD writeables and CD-rewriteables next week.
Basic Computer Maintenance
 Software Cleanup
        A major portion of the problems people experience with their computers are software related. Windows crashing, missing files, programs not opening, software not performing as fast as it used to, etc…Most of these problems can be found and corrected by the user if proper maintenance practices are observed and followed. There are a few things you can do to keep your computer running at peak performance.
        Scandisk – Scandisk is a system utility included in Windows 95 and 98 to check the hard/floppy drives in your computer. It will perform a diagnostic test of the directory and file structures. This tests the integrity of directories and files, and repairs errors found. Occasionally, you might wish to do a thorough scan which will test the integrity of directories and files – but will also perform a surface scan which will check for bad areas on the disk surface. Areas that cannot be repaired will be marked as bad sectors and will not be used. For normal maintenance, we only use the STANDARD scandisk. The THOROUGH scandisk can take a very long time and is not necessary to perform all the time.
        Defrag – Defrag is another system utility included in Windows 95 and 98 to reorganize the files on the hard drives. All files on the hard drive are stored in clusters. Most files consist of multiple clusters. Defrag will find all the pieces of a file and place them together to make finding them faster.


 

        A quick way to start the Scandisk or Defrag programs is by clicking START, PROGRAMS, ACCESSORIES, SYSTEM TOOLS and then choosing either Scandisk or Defrag.  When running Scandisk or Defrag, make sure that no other programs are running.

Prevent CD from automatically running

        If you hold down the SHIFT key while you insert a CD-ROM in the drive will temporarily bypass the Autorun feature. To disable this feature permanently, right-click MY COMPUTER , click PROPERTIES, select the DEVICE MANAGER tab and expand the CD-ROM entry. Select the CD-ROM drive by clicking its name and click PROPERTIES. Select the SETTINGS tab and remove the check mark from the Auto Insert Notification box. Click OK to engage the change.
Cancel Drag and Drop Action
        You can cancel a drag and drop action before the drop is completed by press the ESC key before releasing the mouse button.
CD Drives
Data transfer rate of CD drives
        A CD rewriteable drive listed as 4x4x24 means that the drive can write to a CD-recordable at 4x---- to a CD-rewriteable at 4x---and the maximum read speed for the drive is 24x..These speeds refer to the data transfer rate and are based on the first CD-ROM drives which were 150KBps.Therefore 1x = 150KBps.
How much data can a DVD-RAM hold?
        Single-sided DVD-RAM media can store up to 2.6GB of data. Double-sided DVD-RAM media can store 5.2GB of data on one disc.
What is the Red-Yellow-Green-Orange-White-Blue book specifications for CD’s?
        Red book – The original CD specification created for audio CDs. It defines the physical characteristics of a CD and how data is encoded on it.
        Yellow book – The second specification for CD technology. This brought CD technology to computers.
        Green book – The third book on CD technology. Created standards for interactive CD media and players. Introduced MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) to CD-ROM.
        Orange book – The fourth CD specification. Defined the standards for Cd-R and CD-RW technology.
        White book – Fifth book related to CD specifications. Extended the specifications for video CD technology and is occasionally updated.
        Blue book – The last of the CD book specifications It is also referred to as CD-Extra. CDs that follow this standard are playable on any CD player, be it an audio CD player or a CD drive on a computer.
Do I need special hardware to play DVD movies on my computer if I have a DVD drive?
        You probably don’t need the hardware, which is called an MPEG-2 decoder card, but it may be best if you have it. There is software available to play DVD movies on your computer so that you don’t need an MPEG-2 decoder card .However, software usually doesn’t do the job quite as well as an MPEG-2 card. Several video cards over the past year or so have hardware built into them for DVD support, so you won’t need an MPEG-2 card. However, as computers get faster, they are better able to handle DVD movies using software only.
How long will CD-ROM media last?
        If properly cared for, it should last from 20 to 30 years.
How long will CD-RW media last?
        CD-RW media should last up to 30 years. This is true even if the media is written over many times.
Should my CD-RW drive have a buffer?
        Yes, but most come with one. However, this is a case where more is better especially when it comes to CD-RW drives. The better drives will have a buffer of about 2MB, which will save you a lot of headaches if you’re writing to a CD-RW disc and there’s a sudden interruption in the data pipeline. The 2MB data will keep things flowing smoothly. Many drives have less than 1MB of buffer space, so you should check the buffer size when you buy a drive.