Computer Info – October 17, 2001

This Week’s Meeting

        I have loaded the print driver for my Epson 850 – we will look at setting the defaults for it. We didn’t have time to look at google last week, so we will do that this time. Mostly, it will be a question and answer session, so bring your discussion topics.

Olympus’ New Small Camera D-40

        Only slightly bigger than a deck of cards, the D-40 is the smallest 4-megapixel camera on the market, Olympus claims. Weighing in at a mere 6.7 ounces without batteries, the D-40 stands 2.7 inches tall, is 1.7 inches thick, and 3.4 inches wide. It will be available in October for $799.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,61026,tk,wb091001x,00.asp

Windows XP
(Info from Smart Computing – November, 2001)

ACTIVATION
        When you install Windows XP on your computer, it takes a snapshot of the current hardware configuration and applies an algorithm to that shapshot to create an identification file called hardware hash. This is then transmitted to Microsoft during the Product Activation process, which Windows XP requires if you want to use it for more than a 30-day trial period. This process doesn’t transfer any personal information and Microsoft claims it cannot reverse engineer the file to get access to your original hardware list.
        Because activation is tied directly into a computer’s current hardware configuration, people are worried that installing a simple upgrade such as a new video card or extra hard drive will invalidate their Windows installation and force them to reactivate the operating system. In many cases, those types of hardware changes will cause Windows to ask you to reactivate – but doing so requires little more than going online or calling for a reactivation code over the telephone. Users can change a certain number of relevant devices within each 120-day period.
        Microsoft designed Product Activation solely to reduce software piracy by associating each copy of Windows with a particular hardware configuration.

INSTALLATION
        There are two installation options – Upgrade and New Install. If you choose the New Install option, Windows XP will erase your hard drive before it installs itself. The Upgrade option upgrades the operating system to Windows XP, but saves your files and most of your settings.
        If you have a dial-up internet connection, make sure that you are connected because you will be able to download updated setup files.
        The first thing you should do is make sure your hardware and software are compatible with Windows XP. Click the Check System Compatibility button of the Welcome to Microsoft Windows Upgrade Advisor.
   The installation will take about an hour.

INFORMATION
        Windows XP Home Edition may be the most significant consumer operating system upgrade Microsoft has offered since the move from Windows 3.x to Windows 95, but all this change comes at the expense of hardware and software compatibility. The consumer version has made the jump to the more stable and powerful Windows NT kernel used by Windows 2000, so compatibility with older consumer products designed with the Windows 9x kernel in mind suffer.
        What this means for end users is that until manufacturers upgrade their software and hardware to be 100% compatible with Windows XP, those who upgrade will experience some system errors that their previous operating systems didn’t present.
        Windows XP gives users more detailed error information.
        While testing, it was found that Windows XP runs most older business applications but had some trouble when trying to run older games and during the installation of some Windows 98 hardware, especially gaming peripherals.
        If you have software that ran perfectly with Windows 98 but chokes on Windows XP, find the executable file for the software in its installation directory, right-click it, and select PROPERTIES from the pop-up menu. The executable is the file icon you double-click to launch the software. Click the COMPATIBILITY tab and select RUN THIS PROGRAM IN COMPATIBLITY MODE FOR and you select the operating system the software was designed for and then click the APPLY button. That may completely solve the problem, although there are some more advanced options in the Display Settings area of the tab that can sometimes set games straight. Click the RUN IN 256 COLORS checkbox for games that support only that many simultaneous colors, and the RUN IN 640 X 480 SCREEN RESOLUTION if applicable. The final checkbox, DISABLE VISUAL THEMES, turns off all the fancy new interface graphics Windows XP uses, as they can seriously interfere with old program interfaces. It generally is a good idea to select this box if a program is acting up. Make sure to click APPLY after making or undoing any changes, and launch the software to see if they had any effect. If they didn’t, you likely will have to wait for a patch or a Windows XP-compatible version of the software.

USB 2.0 or FireWire

        Microsoft will throw its support behind IEEE 1394, also known as FireWire, which was developed by Apple. rather than USB 2.0. USB 2.0, which will succeed the current USB1.1 standard, and FireWire are means of connecting PCs to peripherals, such as printers and digital camcorders, at high speed. USB 2.0 will deliver throughput of up to 480 megabits per second (mbps) vs. FireWire's 400 megabits per second or12 megabits per second for USB 1.1.
        Apple and Microsoft, who support FireWire, are on one side pitted against USB 2.0's major backers on the other -- Compaq Computer, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Lucent Technologies and others.
        FireWire is the standard for connecting digital camcorders to PCs, and storage maker Maxtor, among others, has made FireWire its preferred choice for external hard drives.
        USB hasn’t always been kind to Microsoft in the past, either. One of Chairman Bill Gate's most embarrassing public moments came during his keynote speech at the spring Comdex trade show in Chicago three years ago, when he was demonstrating USB support in Windows 98. After plugging a USB scanner into a test PC, the system promptly crashed while displaying the familiar "blue screen of death".