Larry Seymour – The Voice

Making Your PC Work For You – Buying a Monitor – CRT vs LCD

Larry Seymour — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 00:00:00 +0000

When buying a new computer monitor, a recent point to consider is whether you will buy a standard CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) type, or a newer LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) format. To help you decide, I’ve detailed many of the key points to consider.

LCD’s are fairly new and very nice looking but are they really better than traditional CRT’s? Here is a look at some of the pros and cons. First, Liquid Crystal Displays have been around for years in laptops and have gone through numerous technology advances. They have become brighter, increased resolutions, reduced response times and as they become more and more popular, they have also become cheaper. They have also become larger — up to 42 inches in some TVs.

LCD BASICS
LCD screens work by trapping a liquid crystal solution between 2 layers of polarized glass. An electric voltage that either allows or blocks light by controlling where and what wavelength or colour is allow to pass through can then manipulate this liquid. A backlight provides the brightness and can last for approximately 20 – 25 years of daily 8 hour use. (Too bad my first LCD didn’t know that!!).

One of the latest advances is a TFT or Thin Film Transistor. This new TFT-LCD has a very thin transistor added to the glass, which enhances the resolution and sharpness of the image.

PROS AND CONS VS CRT
We can see that LCDs have made huge advances in technology, but how do they stack up against traditional CRT displays?

IMAGE BRIGHTNESS – Hands down LCD wins. An LCD is approximately twice as bright as a CRT. Anyone who has the sun shining on their monitor will really appreciate this.

CONTRAST – is important for viewing in low light. One may think, well it’s brighter so it’s better, but this is not always correct. Contrast makes sure that black is black and not some grayish colour. This feature is important for gaming and movie playback. So who wins? CRTs. LCDs have made great leaps and are almost as good as a CRT, but only the best LCDs are comparable the CRTs. The good news is that the gap is narrowing quickly.

COLOUR – CRT displays still win this area in regard to colour purity and quality. Again, LCDs have made huge leaps and now offer bold brilliant colours and the average user may not notice the difference. Again for gaming and movie watching and also professional image editing this difference can range from slight to significant, especially in side-by-side comparison.

SIZE/WEIGHT – Obviously one can see just by looking at each one that LCDs are lighter and smaller. LCD screens can be as light as 8 pounds and 6-8 inches deep including the base or stand. CRTs, on the other hand, are 40-50 pounds and usually over 15 inches deep.

SCREEN BURN-IN – This issue is not really a problem for either as CRTs have also made improvements over time. Some CRTs may still suffer from this problem, but LCDs have no screen burn-in at all. The secret for LCDs is the way they are manufactured; a still image will never be burnt on to the screen.

VIEWING ANGLE – Look at a laptop screen on various angles and you’ll see that a CRT holds the advantage. LCDs have made improvements and some offer a viewing angle of over 160 degrees.

RESPONSE TIME – is the time it takes for screen to update a colour change. This very important for gaming and watching movies. The best LCDs are below 20 milliseconds, but CRTs have a negligible delay.

SCREEN FLICKER – If you spend lots of time in front of a computer you may suffer from headaches or become tried. This is because CRTs refresh their screens rated in MHz. The human eye can pick up a refresh rate of 60Mhz causing the eye and the brain to be constantly adjusting to the monitor. Ever see a monitor being shown on TV and notice the lines moving from top to bottom? That is the screen refreshing. The higher the refresh rate, the less your eyes can pick it up. Most CRTs can do 85 MHz which is good. The refresh rate can be affected by a setting in windows, the monitor and the video card. LCDs on the other hand have no flicker: The winner, LCD.

MAGNETIC INTERFERENCE – LCDs take this category as well, as they are not affected by magnetic sources such as speakers. Take a large speaker and slowly move it closer to your CRT, eventually it will go all fuzzy. This is not recommended practice as it can hurt your monitor, but once probably won’t do anything unless your have a really old screen.

POWER CONSUMPTION – In today’s power consumption-wise world, this is important. LCD = 20-50 watts; CRT = 50-160+ watts. Winner, LCD.

DEAD PIXELS – A flaw that can happen in LCDs is dead pixels. A dead pixel is a pixel that simply does not work, sort of like a burnt out bulb on a large score board. A dead pixel cannot be fixed and if in the middle of your screen can be annoying. Some manufacturer warranties cover dead pixels but not all. Again the LCDs are improving. CRTs do not have this problem.

PRICE – LCDs are coming down and you can now buy them for less than $500.00 but CRTs are still cheaper at less than $200.00 cdn.

The score: LCD 6 CRT 6
As you can see they are close but LCD is my choice.

WINDOWS TIPS – Protect Your Identity

Like many other audio players, Windows Media Player rushes out to the Internet to find information for you when you play a CD. Some of this information, such as song titles and album art, is useful, but Media Player also identifies your copy of Media Player to the site where it’s getting data. Why? According to the help file, “The server uses this unique identifier to monitor your connection. By monitoring your connection, the server can make adjustments to increase the playback quality and to alert you about events that occur when receiving streams over the Internet.”

If you’re disturbed by this exchange of information, here’s how to stop it. In Windows Media Player, click Tools > Options and go to the Player tab. Notice the option that says “Allow Internet sites to uniquely identify your player?” Turn it off.

COOL SITE

Enjoy your own fireworks!!! – http://www.maylin.net/fireworks.html

If you have any questions or suggestions for topics you want discussed please email me c/o The Voice.

The Voice accepts no responsibility for loss of data or any other computer related problem you might encounter as a result of following computer advice in this or any other column. The tip of the week is intended to help you personalize your computer system. Novice users should ensure they understand the directions, and make backups of any files changed.

Making Your PC Work For You – eBay

Larry Seymour — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 00:00:00 +0000

WHAT IS IT?

If you haven’t heard of it, you’re really living under a rock. EBay is the world’s largest on-line auction. It may even be the world’s largest auction. It is listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange as EBAY.

Over 24 billion dollars were generated by this site last year and you can buy over 22 million items at any given time. EBay has over 41 million active users and over 100 million registered users.

With that many users and items, just about any thing is for sale. If you can’t find what you are looking for today, check back every few days. You are bound to find it eventually.

HOW DO I USE EBAY?

EBay is free — free to browse, free to sign up and free to buy. To buy or sell you must register. The only thing you need is a valid e-mail address. You can find the Canadian site at http://www.ebay.ca

SELLING

Only people who sell are charged. Charges are based on the starting list price and the final selling price. They also have additional charges for extras that you can add on to your listings. Each item is allowed one free picture. Some basic listing fees are below.

BASIC ITEM FEES:

Starting Price,
Opening Value or ———- Insertion Fee
Reserve Price.
——————————————————-
0.01 – 0.99 —————- 0.30
1.00 – 9.99 —————- 0.35
10.00 – 24.99 ————– 0.60
25.00 – 49.99 ————– 1.20
50.00 – 199.99 ————- 2.40
200.00 – 499.99 ———— 3.60
500.00 + ——————- 4.80

ADDITIONAL RESERVE PRICE AUCTION FEE (FULLY REFUNDED IF ITEM SELLS):

Reserve Price ————- Reserve Price Auction Fee
——————————————————————–
0.01 – 49.99 ————– 1.00
50.00 – 199.99 ———— 2.00
200.00 + —————— 1% of reserve up to 100.00

Extra charges include: extra pictures, 10 day auctions (3, 5 and 7 days auctions are included in the listing fee), listing in 2 categories, bold and buy now. You can find a complete list of fees at http://pages.eBay.com/help/sell/fees.html

To start selling on EBay you first need to create a seller’s account. To do that, just click the SELL link at to top of the page and follow the prompts. Once you have registered it’s time to sell your item. Two of the most important things when selling are the description and the picture. Putting in as much information as possible will give the buyer a good idea of what you are selling and leave fewer questions. The more confident the buyer is that you are totally up front with them the more willing they will be to bid.

A great picture also helps. Adding a clear uncluttered picture of your items shows the buyers exactly what they are getting. A great picture can showcase your item and answer more questions. Before trying to sell an item, look at lots of auctions to see how they are described. I know someone who sold an old ratty box of expired Tetley Tea coupons for over $20.00 USD (I think it even might have been over $40.00!). They were 20 years old!

The shipping costs can handled in two ways: One is to include the shipping cost in the selling price (I would get the shipping rate to the farthest distance in Canada and the US and post both Canadian and US shipping in my description). The other way is to determine the shipping after the auction to an exact cost. Some sellers mark up the shipping and make extra cash.

Most auctions are 7 days and the best days to start or end an auction is on a Friday or weekend as those days more people are available for bidding.

BUYING

Buying is pretty simple. Register and find an item you want. Select it and press the BID button.

When bidding you enter the maximum you would like to bid. EBay then increases the current bid amount until only one bidder is left. An example is: a CD has a starting bid of $0.99. Person A bids $8.00, so the first bid is $0.99, the opening bid. Person B bids $5.00, EBay increases the bid to the next highest bid unit the amount above person B, eliminating him from the bidding. The bid now stands at $5.25. Person C bids $8.56, so the bid increases to $8.25, eliminating person A. Person C wins at $8.25.

Some people, the really experienced bidders, wait until the last few seconds to bid and end up “stealing” it from you. I haven’t lost like that but have done it to others.

SENDING OR RECEIVING MONEY

Almost all auctions accept Money Orders or Paypal. Money orders can, of course, be obtained through your bank or post office. You can also send money through Western Union (http://www.auctionpayments.com). To send money through Paypal I suggest setting up your account before you think of doing any serious bidding.

Paypal will bill your credit card about $3.00 Canadian, which is credited to your new account for your first payment. On your credit card is a 4-digit number in the description, which you need to activate your account. So, unless you have access to your credit card on-line, starting the setup way in advance is smart.

An account is not required to accept payments from Paypal. Just give the buyer a valid e-mail address and you will get a message when payment is made. Paypal can transfer cash to Canadian banks. There is a fee for removing cash from your Paypal account to your bank account, and they also take a percentage for accepting each payment.

WHERE CAN EBAY GO?

I have recently heard of an eBay reseller drop off store. What is that you ask? Well, with today’s busy world not everyone has time to sell on eBay but they still want to get rid of stuff. You can take your stuff to an eBay reseller and they will sell the item for you and keep 20-40% of the profit. Ebay expects this to be a 10 billion dollar business in the near future.

Happy auctioning!

*note: sellers are eBay are often private citizens, and not stores. It is possible that you may send money, but not receive the items you have purchased. eBay offers some options to reduce the risk of fraud. Please investigate these options. The Voice does not accept responsibility for any difficulties you may encounter. Read this page for more information on getting the most our of eBay: http://pages.ebay.ca/help/welcome/questions/trade-safely.html

WINDOWS TIPS – Keyboard Shortcuts

Win+D = Toggles between minimizing/restoring all windows
Win = Open the start menu
Win+F1 = Display the pop-up menu for the selected object
Win+E = Start Explorer
Win+F = Find Files or Folders
Cntl+Win+F = Find computer
Win+M = Minimizes all windows
Shift+Win+M = Maximizes all windows
Win+R = Displays Run Dialog Box
Win+Tab = Cycles through taskbar buttons
Win+Break = Displays System Properties

COOL SITE OF THE WEEK

http://www.fish-byte.com – The best fish screen saver out there! It has been on many TV shows in the background. It’s so good I bought a license for 19.99 USD.

If you have any questions or suggestions for topics you want discussed please email me c/o The Voice.

Making your PC Work for You – PC Self-Upgrade and Repairs, Part 4

Larry Seymour — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 00:00:00 +0000

I have provided a list of terms at the end of the article since they are used many times throughout.

****NOTE****
Whenever working inside your computer, turn it off and unplug all cords from the back. Also, either have an anti-static wrist band or touch the metal portion of the case at all times. The static build up in our bodies can short out a card. It is best to put your computer at a good working height.

ADDING NEW CARDS AND MOTHERBOARD

When you first open your computer you’ll probably notice some circuit boards sticking out from a motherboard. These circuit boards are called “cards”. There are 3 main types of cards: ISA, PCI and AGP. ISA and PCI slots are used for modems, sound cards, network interface cards (NIC), SCSI adapters, video cards and many other items. AGP are used for video cards only. AGP slots are much faster than PCI slot, so they are better for 3-D Graphics and games. All three of these can have their items replaced the same fashion.

To begin, unscrew the card from the case, firmly grab hold of the card, but watch out for the soldering on the backside, OOOOUCH!!! Once you have a good grip, pull or wiggle the card free. Inserting a new card is just as easy. Align the card with the slot a push straight in. It may need some wiggling. Screw the card to the case, and put the cover on. DONE. (note: don’t use magnetic tools inside your computer case!)

REPLACING THE CPU

Replacing your Central Processing Unit (CPU) is almost as easy as replacing a card. Refer to your motherboard manual before purchasing a new CPU as each motherboard can only accept certain CPUs. Once you have purchased a new CPU and your case is open, locate the unit on the motherboard. Unplug the cooling unit from the main board and if your CPU is square with little pins on it you will probably need release the bar holding your current CPU. Once released, it pops out and the new one goes in. *** Watch the pin placement as the pins may not be square so the CPU may only go in one way! *** Next, connect the fan, if you have one, to the new CPU. If you did not get a fan, take the one from your original CPU.

If you have a Slot 1 CPU, unplug the fan and remove the CPU like you would any other card, pull straight out. Push the new CPU in after putting on a fan if the new one does not have one and plug it in.

REPLACING THE MOTHERBOARD

When replacing the motherboard, it’s best to remove anything big sticking out, such as cards. Also unplug any cables plugged into the board like power, hard drive, floppy drive and the little wires that connect to the front of the case. These little wires connect the power button, hard drive light, reset button, PC speaker and power light. These are usually in a bottom corner. After everything is unplugged, turn your computer around so you can see the back of your motherboard. Some of the pieces that hold the motherboard in place slide, while others just pop out. Once the motherboard is out, lay the new board where the old board was and try the line up as many of the holes as possible.

Once you find a good spot, start putting the clips in the appropriate holes on the motherboard then fasten them to the case. Plug in your wires, being careful everything is plugged in correctly. Remove wanted items from your old motherboard and place them on the new one.

In my last article I explained how the install a new hard drive. You’ll need to review the portion about setting the BIOS for the hard drives. After that, if everything was correct, presto, it starts right up.

GLOSSARY

AGP – Accelerated Graphics Port is a slot for video cards. It was based on PCI but was designed for 3d graphic. AGP allows 3D textures to be stored in main memory rather than on the video card’s memory.
BIOS – Basic Input/Output System is a collection of routines stored in ROM. It is the connection between the hardware (disc drives, memory, floppy drives etc) and the operating system.
CPU – central processing unit. The CPU is the brains of the computer. Sometimes referred to simply as the processor or central processor, the CPU is where most calculations take place. In terms of computing power, the CPU is the most important element of a computer system.
ISA – Industry Standard Architecture bus is a type of slot in a computer so that one can add components to the computer such as video, modem, and sound. It is also faster slower than a PCI slot.
PCI – Peripheral Component Interconnect is a type of slot in a computer so one can add components to the computer such as video, modem, and sound. It is also faster than an ISA slot.
SCSI -Small Computer System Interface (scuzzy) is a high-speed adaptor that allows 7 devices to be connected at once. The adaptor is usually card or chip at the devices “talk” with.

WINDOWS TIP OF THE WEEK

This Windows Easter Egg is hidden into the 3D Pipes (OpenGL) Screen Saver, bundled with all these Operating Systems: 95B/95C OSR2.x, 98, 98 SE, ME, NT 3.5x/4.0, 2000 + XP.

The file SSPIPES.SCR is located in windows\System (Win9x/ME) or in winnt\System32 or windows\system32 (WinNT/2000/XP).

To activate the Egg, follow these steps EXACTLY:
1. Right-click on an empty spot on your Desktop.
2. Select Properties.
3. Select the Screen Saver tab.
4. Select “3D Pipes (OpenGL)” from the Screen Saver list.
5. Click the Settings button.
6. Select Multiple for Pipes.
7. Select Traditional for Pipe Style.
8. Select Mixed for Joint Type.
9. Select Solid for Surface Style.
10. Click OK.
Start/Preview the screen saver: some of the joints are now “teapot” shaped.

COOL SITE OF THE WEEK

Cool Site of the Week
The best Bush/Kerry debate!!! http://www.jibjab.com/

If you have any questions or suggestions for topics you want discussed please email me c/o The Voice.

Making your PC Work for You – PC Self-Upgrade and Repairs, Part 3

Larry Seymour — Wed, 04 Aug 2004 00:00:00 +0000

I have provided a list of terms at the end of the article since they are used many times throughout.

ADDING NEW HARD DRIVES

In my last article I mentioned that one of the most popular upgrades is a hard drive upgrade. This week I’ll show you how to upgrade your hard drive or add a new one. Before we get into the actual drive addition it is useful to know what operating system you have. Adding a second drive to a computer running Windows ME and earlier requires a boot disk because you will need access to the FDISK utility. Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP drives are formatted through windows. For replacing your current drive you may not need a boot disk if you can boot from your CD drive and your CD is bootable. Some computers, such as Dell’s, have a hidden hard drive partition that acts as a boot disk when the hard drive is formatted. Finally, BootDisk.com (http://www.bootdisk.com/) has all types of boot disks that one may need. These all require one to six floppy disks depending on your operating system.

Before we start, you need to decide if you want to replace your current drive or add an additional one. If it is an addition the process is usually easier, but your new drive may be faster and bigger and you may just want one drive. You can also replace your current drive with the new one and still keep your old drive. In any case, it’s my preference to just keep personal files (web book marks, files in My Documents and any other files that you think you might need) and reinstall all your programs fresh. We have a tendency to collect junk on our computers and starting fresh removes the extra clutter.

After we decide what we want to do with our new drive, we need to see the current setup inside the computer. First, shut it off and unplug everything. Then, figure out how to open your computer case. Some are simple, some are not. For example on my computer my front facing pulls off, I need to undo some screws and then my cover slides off. Others, like some DELL computers, have the side come off or it flips open like a door. Consult your computer manual for instructions on how to open your case.

Once inside we need to identify a few items, such as the current hard drive, which, from what I’ve always seen, is usually at the front of your computer and has a wide gray cable plugging into it. This same gray cable may or may not plug into your CD drive. Follow this cable back to your main board or motherboard. Here you will find the second item, a long black slot. You will notice that beside it there is another long black slot that again may or may not have a similar cable plugged into it. Also there will be a smaller slot with another cable plugged into it. The smaller slot is for your floppy drive; the long slot is another hard drive/CD drive slot (the number of hard drive/CD slots may vary). For each slot we can have two items or devices connected to it. The cable is an IDE Ribbon and the slots are IDE Interface slots (Some computers, such as older Macs, use SCSI interfaces for drives. Consult your computer manual for information on SCSI configurations and to determine which drive controller type you use). If you have 2 ribbons with one hard drive and one CD drive, one ribbon is plugged into the CD and one into the hard drive. If only one drive is connected you will notice another spot on the cable to connect another drive.

Before connecting a second drive on a cable you must decide if it is going to be drive “1” or drive “2” on the cable. The drive at the very end is drive 1, or the master drive. The other drive then becomes drive 2 or slave. A drive on a cable all by itself is the master. To tell the drive what type it is, you have to set jumpers. Jumpers are little pins that stick out and are covered with a little plastic and metal “cap” that fits two jumpers at a time. For two drives on one cable BOTH drives must be set. The instructions that come with your drive will tell you how to set the drives. The wide IDE cable must be plugged in correctly. On one side, the cable will have a stripe, usually red. That side of the cable is pin one and must plugged into pin one on both the hard-drive and motherboard. Pin one is marked on both items, though locating it on the motherboard can be difficult. It may be designated by a red mark, by the numeral “1”. If the socket is not marked, it is usually the side furthest from the power connection for the drive.

Once your drives are connected you need to plug everything back in and turn on your computer. As your computer is starting, watch carefully for when it tells you how to enter the computer’s setup. It will say something like “SETUP F8”. Pressing this key during bootup will get you into your system BIOS. Once in your bios, look for a section called “IDE HARD SETUP” or something like it. That area will show you the recognized hard drives. You may have to do an auto detect to see your new drive. If it still does not show up you could have the jumpers set incorrectly or the cables are not plugged in correctly. Shut off your computer and check the connections and jumpers. Once everything is correct you’ll see all connected hard drives. Exit and save.

When in the BIOS look for an area called BIOS FEATURES SETUP or something similar. It will contain a line called BOOT SEQUENCE. I set mine for C, CDROM, A. That means the computer will look for an operating system on drive C then the CDROM then A drive. If scrolling through your options you do not see a CDROM you then need Bootdisks or Setup disks for that drive. You should now be ready to format your new drive.

FORMATTING THE DRIVE IN WINDOWS 95,98,ME

Insert your boot disk and exit the BIOS. Once you get the A:> prompt type FDISK. To print off an example of using FDISK go to http://www.computerhope.com/sfdisk1.htm. You can now format the new drive by typing format d: or format c: depending if the new drive is C or D. Make certain you select the correct drive, as formatting erases all information on a drive! If the new drive is C you will now need your windows disc to reinstall windows. If your new drive is D then after formatting, just reboot your computer.

When reinstalling windows you will need access to your CD from the boot disk. At the A:> type
D: and hit enter then type “dir”. If the contents look like it’s your hard drive then type E: and hit Enter. Once on your CD drive, type setup and hit enter.

FORMATTING THE DRIVE IN WINDOWS NT, 2K, XP

After setting the BIOS if the new drive is C, insert your Windows CD. If you can boot from a CD, just restart, if NOT you’ll need the setup disks. Just follow the prompts and you should be ok.

GLOSSARY

BIOS – Basic Input/Output System is a collection of routines stored in ROM. It is the connection between the hardware (disc drives, memory, floppy drives etc) and the operating system.
Boot disk – A disk used to boot your computer when no operating system is present.
IDE – Intelligent Drive Electronics or Integrated Drive Electronics is an interface for a hard drive or CD Rom.
IDE Ribbon – The cable used to transfer data between the device it is connected to and the motherboard.
IDE Interface slots – Is where the IDE Ribbon connects to the motherboard.

WINDOWS TIP OF THE WEEK

Is the Windows shutdown sequence a pain? Here’s how to make a one-click shutdown.

Navigate to your Desktop. On the desktop, right-click and go to New, then to Shortcut. You should see a pop-up window instructing you to enter a command line path. Enter one of these as the path:

If your operating system is Windows 95, 98, or Me: C:\windows\rundll.exe user.exe,exitwindows
Use this path if your operating system is XP: SHUTDOWN -s -t 01

If the C: drive is not your local hard drive, then replace “C” with the correct letter of the hard drive. Click the Next button. Name the shortcut and click the Finish button.

Now whenever you want to shut down, just click on this shortcut and you’re done. Also, if you want to make life better and faster, you can right-click the new shortcut you just made, go to Properties, and type in X (or whatever letter) in the Shortcut Key box.

COOL SITE OF THE WEEK

This site has a lot of background on hard drives: http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/hist.html

If you have any questions or suggestions for topics you want discussed please email me c/o The Voice.

Making your PC Work for You – PC Self-Upgrade and Repairs, Part 2

Larry Seymour — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 00:00:00 +0000

This week, my series on home computer upgrades continues. Last column I talked about computer memory types, and this week I continue with practical information on maintaining your hard disk. Often, people choose to upgrade a computer because they have run out of storage space. New hard drives are more economical than ever, and with some basic knowledge they can be easily installed by a home user. However, buying a new hard drive should not be your first step when a drive gets slow and storage space becomes limited. Some simple drive maintenance may solve your problem, and help you to understand why hard disks slow down over time.

HARD DRIVES
Many things can slow down your hard drive. For example, a fragmented drive and a drive over eighty percent full will be slower. Practicing regular drive maintenance can ensure that your drive does not become excessively fragmented and keep it running well. Understanding why this is so is easier if you understand how hard drives store your data.

CLUSTERS
Every hard drive is divided in to sections called clusters. These clusters can vary in size from drive to drive based on drive size and drive format. There are three file storage formats for a drive: FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS. FAT16 drives are used by DOS, Windows 3.x, 95, 98, and ME. FAT32 drives are used by Windows 95 SR2, 98 and ME, and NTFS drives are formatted through Windows NT, 2K and XP. These charts show how cluster sizes differ between drives.

DOS Cluster sizes
Drive size — Cluster Size
127mb — 2kb
255mb — 4kb
512mb — 8kb
1gb — 16kb
2gb — 32kb
4gb — 64kb

FAT32 Cluster Sizes
Drive Size — Cluster Size
< 512 -- not supported 8gb -- 4kb 16gb -- 8kb 32gb -- 16kb 2000gb -- 32kb NTFS Cluster Sizes
Drive Size — Cluster Size
512mb — .5kb
1gb — 1kb
2gb — 2kb
2gb+ — 4gb

One thing to keep in mind — the drive size doesn’t mean the physical size of it. It refers to the partition size. One hard drive can be divided into 2 or more drives. My wife’s first laptop had one actual drive, but it was divided into 2, drives C and D. Drive C had the operating system and personal space drive D had a bunch of manufacturer items. The making of two or more drives from one hard drive is called a partitioning. So the cluster size depends on the size of the partition.

Why is cluster size important? Because when your computer stores a file on the drive it will always start writing the data on the next free cluster, even if some clusters are not entirely full.

Let’s look at an 8kb file saved on a 4GB drive using the three file formats. In FAT16 a 8kb file would occupy 64kb of space (one full cluster); in FAT32, 8kb of space; and in NTFS, also 8kb of space. So FAT16 would waste 56kb of hard drive space. Over time that can really add up. On FAT32 and NTFS little or no space is wasted for a file of this size.

Comparing FAT32 and NTFS cluster sizes using a 15kb file and 50gb hard drive results in 17 wasted kb on FAT32 and only 3 wasted kb on NTFS.

DRIVE WRITING 101
When one stores data or installs a program on a drive, the computer finds the first available cluster and starts writing to the disk. A visual example of how files are stored can be shown with a string of letters, where each letter represents a new file: hhhddrkkkkkkkkkqqsssssss

Now, if you delete file d and q then store file z which is larger than d and q the new file will occupy the clusters that were made free when the smaller files were removed first. You’ll get something like this: hhhzzrkkkkkkkkkzzssssssszzzzz

You can see that file z is split up and stored in different locations on the drive. Hence, file z is fragmented. A fragmented file takes longer to find than a non-fragmented file. Your computer won’t have much trouble with a little fragmentation, which is inevitable, but over time your computer can really slow down.

So how do we fix this problem? There are programs that will help defragment our files. Windows has a tool (called Disk Defragmenter. Under Windows XP it’s in your System 32 folder and it can be scheduled through the Control Panel to run on a regular schedule automatically), and companies like Symantic and Diskeeper have created utilities as well. These programs find the files that are fragmented and gather all the pieces. It moves them to a space that can fit the entire file and then fill its old space(s) with other files. Eg; hhhrkkkkkkkkkssssssszzzzzzzzz. You must have some space free on your drive so that the files can be moved around and if you have not defragged in a long time, it can take quite a while. Running Defragmenter regularly will make the task quicker.

Another problem is that on occasion the computer loses track of what clusters are available. It thinks more clusters are in use. The user might not notice a problem arising from this, but it makes the improperly tagged cluster unusable. These lost clusters are created when the writing process is interrupted, like shutting off your computer before it is finished writing its closing data. Like disk defragging windows also provides a utility to fix these lost clusters. Windows calls it Scan Disk while Symantec calls theirs Disk Doctor.

The last bit of drive maintenance concerns bad disks. For anyone who’s used floppy disks regularly, they have probably lost files on the disk because the computer can no longer read the disk. Disks and disk drives are very picky items because a fingerprint or the tiniest scratch can ruin a portion of the disk. When running scandisk, or whatever your tool is, you should have an option to do a surface test or its equivalent. A surface test checks the surface for abnormalities and marks them “bad” if it can’t read a spot. If I find a bad spot on a floppy disk, I throw it out. I find one bad spot leads to another. They can multiply like rabbits. I have never personally found one on my hard drive. One tip, doing large drives can take a loooooooooong time to do a surface test. At home I have two 100GB drives. It takes 9 hours 45 minutes to surface test EACH drive. Doing the math, it’s about 1 hour per 10GB.

Keeping your drive under 80% full by deleting unwanted or unneeded files and regular disk checking can keep drives healthy, clean and fast.

LIST OF TERMS
FAT – File Allocation Table – a file the computer uses to keep track of where all of your files are stored.
NTFS – NT File System

WINDOWS TIP OF THE WEEK

When you right-click on a file on your computer, you see a menu including a list of “SEND TO” options that allow you to send your file to a number of locations or programs. Do you ever wish that you could create your own SEND TO options? Well you can.

Run Windows Explorer.
Select your Windows directory (C:\Windows for example).
If you’re running Windows 95, 98, or ME, select “Send To” folder.
If you’re running Windows NT/XP, select “Profiles\Default User\Send To” folder.
Now, simply create shortcuts inside the Send To folder as usual to the devices and programs you want to have access to from the “Send To” menu.
For example, to add your WORK folder on your zip drive (D:\Work) to the Send To menu:
Right click inside the Send To folder and select “New | Shortcut”
Type “D:\Work” (without quotes) and click on “Next”
Type a name for the newly created Send To item (“My Work Folder” for example) and click on “Finish”

Now when you right-click on files, you’ll see “My Work Folder” appear as an option in the Send To menu.

COOL SITE OF THE WEEK

To download a real time view of the earth from any view point and see the latest earthquake information on your desktop as a background go to: http://www.hewgill.com/xearth/

If you have any questions or suggestions for topics you want discussed please email me c/o The Voice.

Making Your PC Work For You – PC Self Upgrade and Repair, part 1

Larry Seymour — Wed, 26 May 2004 00:00:00 +0000

HELP FOR YOUR PERSONAL COMPUTER

Buying a new computer every couple of years can really take its toll on your pocketbook. If you purchase a good, expandable system, you should be able to get good use out of it for several years without having to replace the whole thing. In many cases, simply adding some memory to your computer can dramatically improve performance and allow you to run newer software. Upgrading your computer isn’t as hard as it sounds, and with the following tips, you should be able to do this yourself.

WHY MEMORY?
The fastest and cheapest upgrade to any computer is a memory upgrade. If your computer seems slow or if your hard drive starts whirling like crazy for what seems like hours whenever you try to do something, some additional memory might do the trick. My use of the term “upgrade” in this article means an increase to the amount of memory. You can do this either by increasing your virtual memory, or your system’s main memory.

VIRTUAL MEMORY
Back to some basic computer workings – The CPU interprets information and stores bits of it in memory for later use. If you don’t have enough RAM or main memory to store the programs it will store these programs on the hard drive in what is called Virtual Memory. Virtual memory stores the least used portions of the program, leaving the most used portions in the main memory.

An example of this is: If you can only remember 5 items at a time on a shopping list and your list is 10 items long, you write the remaining items down. So as you go shopping and remember coffee, bread, cookies, oranges and apples in your brain, on paper you have soup, chicken, paper towels, batteries and Soap Opera Weekly. The trick is to pick up items that are in your brain. So you start by getting coffee and cookies, then you have “space” to move an item from the paper into your brain. You pick up the soup. If the next two items are paper towels and batteries you need to move two items from your brain to paper, then move the paper towels and batteries to your brain. This would continue until all items are purchased.

Virtual memory or paging can work two ways. One way is that the virtual memory size is set as a range. This means the amount of disk space needed is not a constant size, but it varies. The other way is have the virtual memory as a constant. Virtual memory is slow, so the way to help speed it up is to set it to a constant size. When your computer starts it blocks off space on your hard drive and that file size never changes.

Now that we know about virtual memory, how do we set it?

Windows 95, 98, ME. – go to START – CONTROL PANEL – SYSTEM (double click). Select the PERFORMANCE tab – VIRTUAL MEMORY button – LET ME SPECIFY MY OWN MEMORY SETTING. If you have more than one hard drive, you may prefer to split the memory amount equally between the two drives. Another recommendation is to make the virtual memory size twice that of the amount of RAM that you have. You can check the amount of RAM you have by selecting the GENERAL tab on the SYSTEM PROPERTIES window. Setting the min and max values to the same amount creates a constant VM size. Then hit OK and reboot your computer.

Windows NT, Windows 2000 – go to START – CONTROL PANEL – SYSTEM (double click). Select the ADVANCED tab – PERFOMANCE OPTIONS button – CHANGE, and follow the instructions above.

Windows XP – go to START – CONTROL PANEL – PERFORMANCE AND MAINTENANCE then SYSTEM (if using CATEGORY view) or after CONTROL PANEL double click SYSTEM (if using CLASSIC view). Select the ADVANCED tab – the performance SETTINGS button – the ADVANCED tab, and click the CHANGE button under VIRTUAL MEMORY. Select the CUSTOM SIZE option and set both the INITIAL SIZE and MAXIMUM SIZE to the same amount. You can check the amount of RAM you have by selecting the GENERAL tab on the SYSTEM PROPERTIES window. Setting the min and max values to the same amount creates a constant VM size. Then hit OK and reboot your computer.

MAIN MEMORY
Main memory is commonly referred to as RAM. If someone asks you how much memory or RAM you have they are talking about the amount of main memory. Ram is a physical object. It is something you can actually hold in your hand. It “sits” on your motherboard. Your motherboard is inside of your computer box; it is a big circuit board that allows you to “plug” things into it. One item that plugs into it is RAM.

RAM is one item that has gone through many changes in the last few years. There are many types of RAM available today, but your computer is very picky about the type it uses. RAM modules mostly fall into 5 categories for computers today. There are more types so along with these five I’ll explain two older ones as well. The first five are 184-pin DIMM, 168-pin DIMM, 144-pin MICRODIMM, 200-pin SODIMM and 144-pin SODIMM. The 184 and 168-pin are for desktop computers; the remaining three are for laptops.

RAM can also be divided into ECC, parity and non-parity modules. ECC and parity modules are not necessary unless you are building a server or where you need an extra level of error checking for the data being processed. ECC and parity modules are also slower because of this check. How can you tell if the memory is parity or non-parity? Well, it’s all in the chips. Each module contains a number of black microchips; the number determines its parity. If the number of chips can be evenly divided by three or five you have parity/ECC memory.

Memory also comes in many speeds, which are listed in different formats depending on the type. FPM and EDO speeds are written in nanoseconds (ns). SDRAM and DDR speeds are written in megahertz (MHz) or with a “PC” rating.

I have provided a list of acronyms at the end of the article since they are used many times in the next section. Following are some memory types and information on the computer types that use them. Contact your computer’s manufacturer for further specifications.

184-pin DIMM: The 184-pin DIMM’S are commonly known as DDR SDRAM and are used in 64 bit computers. To complicate things, 184-pin DIMM’s are available in PC2100 or PC2700 types. So why is it 184-pins? Count the little gold ticks on the bottom; there are 92 on the front and back. That’s the total of 184. To use 184-pin memory a computer needs two things: it needs a motherboard that has 184-pin DIMM slots and a DDR-enabled chipset. Also notice the tiny notch in the bottom of the chip; 168-pin DIMM’s don’t have that.

168-pin DIMM: 168-pin DIMMs are normally found in Pentium and Athlon systems (each being a type of CPU), and also require a 64-bit system. The come in many flavours, including FPM, EDO, 66MHz SDRAM, PC100 SDRAM, and PC133 SDRAM. 162-pin chips have 84 gold pins on each side, and have two notches along the bottom.

144-pin MicroDIMM: MicroDIMMs are smaller than both regular DIMMs and SODIMMs so that they can fit in tiny, sub-notebook computers. This type of memory is also 64-bit and therefore needs to be installed in a 64-bit computer. 144-pin MicroDIMMs can be found as one type only, PC100 SDRAM. This memory has no notches and 72 pins per side

200-pin SODIMM: SODIMMs get their name because they are smaller and thinner than regular DIMMs. This memory provides DDR SDRAM memory for laptop computers. They are 64-bit for 64-bit computers, and also need a SODIMM memory slot and a DDR-enabled chipset. SODIMM’s will not fit in a standard SDRAM SODIMM slot and it has a notch closer to the left side of the module. Not to be a broken record, but look for 100 pins per side.

144-pin SODIMM: The 144-pin SODIMM is much like the 200-pin SODIMM, but it is not DRR enabled and is available in many formats; EDO, 66MHz SDRAM, PC100 SDRAM, and PC133 SDRAM. By now you can probably guess how many pins per side. These also have a small notch slightly left of center.

Two other types of RAM are more or less obsolete, but could still be around in older computers. They are the 72-pin SIMM and the 30pin SIMM.

72-pin SIMM: 72-pin SIMMs are found in 486s and early Pentiums. Unlike previous modules, these are only 32 bits and can be installed as singles in a 32-bit systems in earlier 486s or in pairs in Pentiums class and older 486s. These SIMMs can be found as FPM or EDO types. They also have notches in the bottom left and in the centre.

30-pin SIMM: 30-pin SIMMs are found in 386 and 486 computers. These SIMMs are only 8 bits and must be installed in groups of 4 and only come in one type, FPM.

Common acronyms:
CPU – Central Processing Unit.
DDR – Double Data Rate.
DIMM – Dual Inline Memory Module.
ECC – Error-Correcting Code memory.
EDO – Extended Data Out
FPM – Fast Page Mode.
RAM – Random Access Memory.
SDRAM – Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory.
SIMM – Small Inline Memory Module.
SODIMM – Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Module.

If you are unsure of the type of memory you require go to http://www.crucial.com/store/listmfgr.asp?cat=RAM and select any manufacturer and go. The next page will give you an option to have a scan done to determine your motherboard make. Just follow the on-screen instructions.

If you own a DELL, a COMPAQ, or another brand name you maybe able to look it up on their website or speak to a representative who can give you answers. If you have an owner’s manual, it too will show you allowable memory types and where to install them on your motherboard. Every computer has a limit to how many memory chips it can hold — more expandable systems have more room to “grow.”

***NOTE*** When doing ANY work inside your computer, touch metal before and maintain contact with it while handling computer parts; or, purchase an anti-static wristband to prevent shorting out your hardware. Of course you should also turn the computer off and unplug it. Never use magnetized tools inside a computer.

WINDOWS TIP OF THE WEEK

You can create a montage of pictures on your Windows XP desktop by following these instructions:

Find a blank space on your desktop and RIGHT CLICK. Select PROPERTIES – the DISPLAY PROPERTIES window appears. Select the DESKTOP tab. Press the CUSTOMIZE DESKTOP button. The DESKTOP ITEM appears. Select the WEB tab. Press the NEW button.

Find the pictures you would want to use (they are probably stored in you’re MY PICTURES folder in MY DOCUMENTS which is on the left side of your BROWSE window). You must select one picture at a time. Once all your pictures have been chosen press OK – APPLY – OK.

Selecting a picture on your desktop then moving your mouse to the top of the picture will show a small frame that will allow you to move the picture. At that time you may resize it as well to fit more items on the screen.

COOL SITE OF THE WEEK

To spice up your Windows XP visit http://www.xpthemes.com

If you have any questions or suggestions for topics you want discussed please email me c/o The Voice.

NEXT WEEK: Hard drives.

Making Your PC Work For You – Terms and Acronyms

Larry Seymour — Wed, 12 May 2004 00:00:00 +0000

HELP FOR YOUR PERSONAL COMPUTER

If acronyms didn’t exist the computer world would crash horribly. Just kidding. But just think of all the acronyms used in reference to computers. What do they all mean?

Computer-related acronyms are used in every day language just like someone’s name. Add to this all the other computer terms and WOW, overload!!! “Bob, can I use your memory stick to copy files to my computer? I’m using a CD-RW to burn my AGP files because of the useful AVIs AND MPGs I found on the web. It’s only 50MB.” Computer manufacturers would be so much better off using actual words to name a product instead of an acronym.

If you don’t know what these terms or acronyms mean, you are probably confused. To help you understand computerese the next time you’re on the receiving end of a high-tech sales pitch, I’ve compiled a list below that might help understand some of these. Some terms you may have heard of, others are not used so often but in upgrading or some terms could be important. Also my own pet peeve is people referring to their hard drive as memory!! ARGH!!

AGP – Accelerated Graphics Port – a slot for video cards. It was based on PCI (see below) but was designed for 3D graphics. AGP allows 3D textures to be stored in main memory rather than on the video card’s memory. The result is that graphics display faster.

ANSI – The American National Standards Institute is a voluntary organization comprised of over 1300 members founded in 1918. It creates standards for the computer industry. It also set standards for a wide range of technical areas from electrical specifications to communications protocols.

ASCII – The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is simply a code that represents English characters as numbers. A text file is stored as ASCII, . e.g. M=109, m=77, [=91, etc:

ADSL – Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line is new phone technology designed to replace or add on to existing ISDN connections. (ISDN is explained further on). It is the most common form of high speed internet through a phone line. It is “asymmetric” because upload speeds are slower than download speeds.

ATA – Advanced Technology Attachment is an addition on to hard drives that integrates the controller on the hard drive itself. There are also 5 other versions of ATA (ATA-2, ATA-3, ULTRA-ATA, ATA/66, ATA/100).

AVI – Audio Video Interleave is a Microsoft standard for video. It would appear as an extension to a filename, e.g. “my_movie.avi”

Bit – A Binary digIT is one piece of information that is either a 0 or a 1.

bmp – is the standard graphic format in windows. Its file sizes can be quit large because they are not compressed at all.

Byte – is a string of eight bits of information, e.g. 01110101. Sometimes bytes are longer depending on the computer system used.

CD-R – A Compact Disk-Recordable is a CD that can be written to just once.

CD-RW – A CD-ReWritable disk is a CD that can be written to, erased and rewritten up to an estimated 1000 times.

Controller – is a device that controls the transfer of data between the computer and its devices like hard drives, monitors, printers, and keyboards.

DMA – Direct Memory Access is a way to transfer information/data from the computer’s memory straight to the device it is communicating with bypassing the CPU. This makes transferring of data faster. A CD Rom can be set to do this.

DVD – Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc is similar to a CD-ROM but can store data in amounts of 4.7GB to 17GB, compared to 700MB (or 0.7GB) on a CD-R. DVD drives also read and write faster than most CD drives.

EIDE – Enhanced Intelligent Drive Electronics or Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics is the interface for a hard drive or CD Rom but at a speed of 3 – 4 times faster than IDE. It also supports larger hard drives.

Firewire – is a new way of plugging devices into your computer. It is an extremely fast connection allowing up to 63 devices to be connected. It has data transfer rates of up to 800 Mbps (Mega bytes per second), and it transfers at a guaranteed rate.

GB – A Gigabyte is 1,073,741,824 bytes of information. In other terms, 1024 MegaBytes. Can also be represented as G. Most people round off a gig as 1000 MB for rough calculations.

gif – Graphics Interchange Format is a graphics format that is limited to 256 colours and includes data compression to make graphic files that are smaller than some other types.

IDE – Intelligent Drive Electronics or Integrated Drive Electronics is the interface for a hard drive or CD Rom.

ISA – Industry Standard Architecture bus is a type of slot in a computer that can be used to add components such as video, modem, and sound. It is also slower than a PCI slot.

ISDN – Integrated Services Digital Network is an international communications standard for sending voice, video, and data over digital phone lines.

jpg or jpeg – Joint Photographic Experts Group compression is used to create smaller graphics where some of the information is lost but can support up to 16.7 million colours. What is lost? Usually information that we cannot see, but sometimes the picture may lose clarity and sharpness.

KB – A kilobyte is 1024 bytes when describing data storage or file sizes and when used for data transfer speeds it mean 1000. Confused yet???

MB – A Megabyte is 1,048,576 bytes for files sizes and 1,000,000 for data transfer. Most people round it off to an even million for assessing file sizes.

Memory Sticks – A type of memory that can be read, written to and erased. It is small and portable, about the size of a key chain and can be purchased in sizes from 16MB – over 1GB. Sticks are often used in small devices like digital cameras, video cameras, etc.

MP3 – is the file extension (the 2 or 3 letters at the end of a file name) for MPEG audio layer 3. Layer 3 is one of three coding schemes (layer 1, layer 2 and layer 3) for the compression of audio signals. Layer 3 compresses files by removing superfluous information that is not detectable to the human ear. Most music files shared on the internet are in mp3 format.

MPEG – Moving Picture Experts Group, anther format for storing a video file but at high compression for small file sizes. There are 3 types of mpeg: MPEG-1, MPEG-2 AND MPEG-4.

Parallel port – transfers data as single bytes but several at the same time. These ports, because of their speed, were quite often and still are used for printers. Over time they evolved into a 2-way connection and therefore receive information as well as send it. There are 4 types of parallel ports. Original Unidirectional, type 1 bi-directional, type 3 DMA and enhanced parallel port. The last 3 are bi-directional each being a step-up from the previous one. These have been mostly replaced by the faster and smaller USB port interface.

PCI – Peripheral Component Interconnect is a type of slot in a computer which can be used to add components to the computer such as video cards, modems, and sound cards. It is faster than an ISA slot.

PDA – Personal Digital Assistant. If you haven’t heard of them or seen one you’re living under a rock. Take all of your note pads, scraps of paper, little notes, addresses, daybooks and add in some games and you have a PDA in the palm of your hand. (One memorable brand is Palm Pilot).

PROM – Programmable Read-Only Memory is special ROM that can be written to. You can “flash” this memory and give it more instructions. Used to burn memory into your computer that will remain when the computer is turned off.

RAM – Random-Access Memory or main memory allows one to read or write information to it. It needs power to work and when the power is shut off it loses what ever was stored in it. The amount of RAM is a very important consideration when buying a computer as it determines what types of programs you can run, and often how fast your computer will run.

ROM – Read-Only Memory is used in almost all computers and contains a small amount of information that can ONLY be read.

SCSI – Small Computer System Interface (pronounced “skuzzy”) is a high-speed adaptor that allows 7 devices to be connected at once. The adaptor is usually card or chip at the devices “talk” with. Most PCs use an IDE interface to connect hard drives or other devices, while Macintosh computers mostly use SCSI. SCSI is somewhat faster, but more expensive.

Serial port – These were once the primary means of moving data between a computer and another device. They were also called COM ports and were most often used for your mouse. Today the serial ports are still used but USB and FIREWIRE ports are more commonly used because of speed.

USB – Universal Serial Bus is a new way of plugging devices into your computer. It can be used to connect up to 127 different devices such as a mouse, palm pilot, keyboards, memory sticks, digital cameras. Some experts believe it will eventually completely replace serial and parallel ports.

USB2 – Is a high-speed version of USB.

WINDOWS TIP OF THE WEEK

Are you using windows XP? If so, you may have noticed that when you have a program running more than once you see 2 tabs on your task bar. To make these items group into one taskbar item you can turn on the grouping option in your taskbar properties. To access this, right click on any blank spot on your taskbar (not on top of a program button, or you’ll get a different menu) and select “properties” from the pop-up menu. Select the “taskbar” tab, and click to check the box beside Group Similar Taskbar Buttons.

For advanced control of program grouping, you can install a small script which allows you to specify how many instances of a program must be running before they will group. The script, written by Doug Knox, can be found here: http://www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts_desc/xp_taskbargrouping.htm

COOL SITE OF THE WEEK

Webopedia. This is where I found most of my research information. Go to http://www.webopedia.com

If you have any questions or suggestions for topics you want discussed please email me c/o The Voice.

Making Your PC Work For You – Internet Ad Pop-Ups

Larry Seymour — Wed, 28 Apr 2004 00:00:00 +0000

NEW VOICE COLUMN — HELP FOR YOUR PERSONAL COMPUTER

Have you seen those pesky advertisements that appear while browsing the internet? I’m sure you have, and that like me, you have found them extremely annoying. But, we can stop them!

To do this, first I must classify them into 2 categories. Browser Pop-ups — ads that appear while browsing — and Parasite Pop-ups — those ads that appear when not browsing.

Browser Pop-ups first: How do these ads appear when we surf the web? Believe it or not the people who make the web pages actually program them to do so through a computer language called JavaScript. The way it works is you go to a web page and in the coding of the page are a few lines that call up other web pages or sites and *POP* goes the ad. Now that you know how they are invading your screens, we have a starting point on how to stop them.

There are few ways to become pop-up free. 1) Don’t use the Internet 2) Use a web browser that allows the disabling of pop-ups 3) Disable your Java Scripting 4) Download a program to block the ads. Since avoiding the Internet is not the real answer and is self-explanatory I won’t say any more. There are a few web browsers that have pop-up blocking built in; Netscape (http://www.netscape.com) and Mozilla (http://www.mozilla.org) are two of the better known. When Microsoft releases its update for Windows XP this year (SP2) it will have an addition for Internet Explorer to block pop-ups.

Disabling your Java Scripting is an option but doing that also might stop other web pages from functioning properly. JavaScript is a very useful and powerful way of doing things on the web. If you wish to go that route and you have Internet Explorer try going to this link: http://dev.cybersessions.com/testbrow/javascript-IE55.html It will show you how to disable scripting. This link is for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, so the process will be different for other browser programs. You can also stop scripting for individual sites by doing the following:

1. Start Internet Explorer.
2. On the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
3. Click the Security tab.
4. Click Restricted Sites, and then click Sites.
5. In the Add this Web site to the zone box, type the Web address for the site that you want to restrict, and then click Add. Repeat this step if you want to add other sites to the zone.
6. Click OK.
7. Click Default Level to set the Restricted Sites zone to the recommended level, which disables Active Scripting.
8. Click OK.

For Netscape users, click Edit on the top of the screen, then Preferences in the drop-down menu, choose Advanced in the Preferences directory. Unclick the box that enables JavaScript.

The last way that I identified to block pop ups was to download a program to stop ads. Some are free and some cost money. Three free ones include SurfGhost (http://www.surfghost.com), Google (toolbar.google.com) and Stopzilla (http://www.stopzilla.com). I prefer the first 2, but that’s just me. There are many others that are not free. Just do a search in your browser for “pop-up stoppers” and you will get many pages to visit. Both SurfGhost and Google add a new bar to your web browsers that can be configured to your own preferences as well as a one click pop-up enable/disable.

As I first mentioned there are two categories of pop ups, the second being non-browser Pop-ups. These vicious things can appear when your web browser is not running. My wife ended up with four “parasite” programs on her laptop.

‘Parasites’ are unsolicited commercial software applications installed on your computer, usually without your knowledge – or consent. Parasites work through your browser, assault you with unwanted advertising, spy on your web surfing habits, compromise your system’s security and stability, and even alter the content and links that you see in web pages! (SOURCE: http://www.allentech.net/parasite/index.phtml)

Norton Anti-virus and McAfee Anti-virus both classify these programs as low warning, low damage viruses.

These Parasites were bringing up pop-ups all day, every day. Most are automatically downloaded with other programs. I used KaZaa (an internet file sharing web site) that also downloaded a program called Gator. It comes from a company called GAIN (The Gator Advertising and Information Network). The tricky part is you can’t uninstall gator without uninstalling the program it came with. I wanted KaZaa, but my wife was tricked. While browsing one day all of these Pop-ups appeared to her. Some were web browser ads others were windows asking if she wanted a particular program. It had nothing to do with her search. Out of frustration with all these ads she clicked yes to get rid of them. In doing so she downloaded and installed some sort of calendar and date book, which added to the parasite program. In the end it took a month to track all these down and get rid of them.

Fear not, others are on our side in this fight against evil! There are many parasite removers out there. Ad Aware by Lava Soft (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/) is the most popular, and it’s free. Removing them manually is not something a novice user should do. PLEASE consult an expert user to do this.

I hope this information helps increase your internet use pleasure.

WINDOWS TIP OF THE WEEK

Creating custom start-up/shutdown screens for Windows 95, 98, ME

“¢ Make duplicates of the files LOGOS.SYS and LOGOW.SYS in a temporary folder. These files are located initially in your Windows folder in your system drive (usually C:). LOGOW.SYS is the one that reads “Please wait while…,” and LOGOS.SYS is the one that reads “It is now safe to…,”
“¢ These files are just standard bitmaps, so rename the extensions of these duplicates to .BMP.
“¢ You can use any graphics editor to edit these files, such as MSPaint, Photoshop, or Paint Shop Pro.
“¢ The files are 256-color windows bitmaps (RGB-encoded, but not RGB color), 320 x 400.
“¢ Since the aspect ratio (width / height) of these files are not standard 4:3, like most computer screens, the bitmaps will appear vertically elongated.
“¢ To make your new design conform to this aspect ratio, resize the bitmap to 534 x 400 while you’re working on it. Make sure to resize them back to 320 x 400 when you’re done.
“¢ Save your changes, and rename the extensions of your new files back to .SYS.
“¢ Last, copy the new files back into your Windows folder. It might be smart to back up your original files.
“¢ While you’re at it, you can create a startup screen as well (using the above method).
“¢ Just call the file LOGO.SYS, and place it in the root directory of your boot drive (usually C:\). There’s no file to replace here; the default logo, imbedded in IO.SYS, is used if no LOGO.SYS file is found.

COOL SITE OF THE WEEK

Space Imaging is the only privately owned satellite taking pictures of the earth. They have some very cool snapshots, I urge you to check it out. Go to http://www.spaceimaging.com

If you have any questions you want answered or any topics you want discussed please email me c/o The Voice at voice@ausu.org.