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Knowledge Base Our experienced technicians encounter a variety of issues with an array of hardware and software on a daily basis. Woodland is pleased to present this ever-expanding Knowledge Base of their answers to frequently-asked questions. If you have a question you'd like to see answered here, send an email to questions@woodlandcomputing.com. |
Q: I'm rather new to the Internet and I've heard bad things about cookies and web sites and certain questionable materials being Email. Can I stop cookies from getting to my PC?
A: You can control the cookies that are sent to your PC while browsing the Internet. There are two options. First, you can disable cookies all together, in which case you may not be able to access some sites that use and require cookies. The second option is that you can be prompted whether to accept the cookies from a web site or not in which case you'll be driven absolutely crazy answering all of the cookie prompts from the sites. Cookies are not a bad thing. Their function is to record some information about your visit to a site that can be used the next time you visit; information such as the last time you were at the site, the pages you visited, any preferences you entered (like favorite types of books or music, etc.) when visiting. Cookies are actually meant to be a convenience. Some of the new web sites use cookies to keep track of items you've put into your shopping cart before you 'go to the check out.' If you would like to experiment with the cookies settings, they can be found under Edit, Preferences, Advanced for Netscape. Microsoft Internet Explorer hides the options under Edit (or Tools) and then Internet Options, Security, and then Custom Options.
Q: I've had my PC for about a year and over time it seems that the PC is not as fast as it was when I bought it. Someone told me I need to buy a bigger disk drive and that would speed up the PC. Would buying a larger disk drive speed up my PC and by how much?
A: Buying a larger hard drive will have no effect on the speed of the PC. I've heard many people say this and I think they are confusing the hard drive and the memory on the computer system. A hard drive's function is to store programs and pictures and databases and spreadsheets as files. Disk drives are large (in the order of 1000s of Megabytes) and can hold thousands of files. Adding more files to a drive has no impact on the speed of the PC itself. The files remain on the disk until you click on a program and the needed files are copied into the PC's memory where the program begins to run and do something useful. Memory is very small compared to a disk drive (in the order of 10s of Megabytes) and gets used up with every program running.
Q: Every time I start my PC, the floppy drive light turns on and I'm unable to access the reset of the computer. I have not added or removed any software and the PC configuration has not changed. What could be causing the floppy drive to start each time the PC begins?
A: This can be caused by a number of things. The usual cause is a program is started in the Start Menu, the Windows startup file, or in the registry. What you should do is restart the PC in safe mode to see if the problem persists. If it does it might be a hardware problem. If the problem goes away, then the next steps are to remove everything from the startup directory and see if the problem goes away. The problem can also be with the files in the TEMP directory, the Temporary Internet Files, or the Recent file folders. Delete all files from these directories as a matter of testing. The easiest way to cleanup the temporary files is to use the disk cleanup utility. You can find this by double-clicking on My Computer, then right click on the C drive, and then select Properties. You will see a disk cleanup button in the lower right side of the display. Check all of the boxes and let it run.
Q: We have a new PC that we installed a modem and an input device on. The input device works fine, but we are unable to get the modem to work when the PC boots. I've tried to remove the modem and have Windows re-find the device. I've also installed the latest drivers for the modem, but still no luck. Any ideas?
A: I would guess there is a conflict with the modem and the COM ports. Since the input device works, I would guess the modem is trying to use the same IRQ or address as the COM port. You can go to the Control Panel and double-click on the System icon. Select the Device Manager tab and look for the modem. You may see a yellow exclamation point along side the icon. This means Windows is having a problem communicating with the device. Double-click on the modem and select the resource tab. You will probably see a red circle through one of the resource values. Select this resource and then click on the Change Settings... button. Select a value that is not in use by another device. Any value is fine. This is the function of Plug and Play. Sometimes PnP does not work and you have to select a value yourself. Most devices come with some predefined settings that are commonly used on most PCs. To be able to select any value, you will have to uncheck the Use Automatic Setting box.
Q: Is there a purpose for the flying windows key on the keyboard? Everyone says it is a quick way to bring up the Start Menu, but I have a mouse that can do that.
A: Other than filling that ugly gap between the Ctrl and the Alt keys, not a great deal of use. Yes, it was added to give quick access to the Start Menu, but I'm not sure how useful that is. Once or twice a year I use it when I'm trying to drag an Icon to the Programs menu. There are a couple of other keys that can be used with the Windows key to accomplish some additional task, but they require you to use both hands rather than a mouse. Windows+E will launch the Windows Explorer application. Windows+M (or Windows+D) will minimize all open windows. Windows+F will start the Find Files dialog bog. Kind of useful, I guess.
Q: I was looking around the Windows directory and found a folder that contained 80 or so files that end with .cab. What are they and can I delete them to free up the space?
A: The .cab stands for cabinet and is a form of compressed files Microsoft uses to distribute their products. Each .cab file corresponds to the contents of a floppy disk that may have been used in the distribution of the software. Normally after the installation of Windows, the contents of the Win95 or Win98 folder on the CD-ROM are copied to the hard drive into a folder called Windows/Options/Cabs. From there, they are used when you add or change a feature in Windows. This makes it quite handy to do upgrades and I would recommend leaving them on the hard drive. If you do decide to delete them, you will need the Windows CD-ROM when you make changes to your PC.
Q: There have been a large number of magazine articles about the new operating system called Linux. I'm confused about the different companies, like Red Hat, Caldera, and SuSe. Is there a difference in Linux from each of these companies?
A: Yes, there are small differences. Linux itself is free to anyone who would like the source code to modify, as they like. If they do modify Linux, they have to allow others to have access to the source. This is what has happened with the companies you've mentioned. Each has made some changes to the core Linux, added some utilities and applications, and now sells the final product. Each company has its own version numbers, but the core Linux is the same.
Q: I have a basic sound card and speakers that came with my PC. The sound is OK, but I was wondering if there is any way to adjust the tone control on inexpensive speakers?
A: There is an option on the volume control that allows the bass and treble to be adjusted. Not that it's going to make an inexpensive speaker sound like a symphonic wonder, but it does add a little life to the sound. Most sound cards support bass and treble adjustments, but Windows does not enable the control by default. To add the control, double-click on the speaker icon in the lower right portion of the task bar. Select Options on the menu bar and an option of Advanced Controls should be displayed on the drop down menu. Select Advanced Controls and you will have the controls re-display with an Advanced button under the Volume Control sliders. You can click on that button to display another screen that will allow you to adjust the bass and treble for the speakers.
Q: I recently purchased a new PC and friends have been showing me how to customize it with sounds and screen savers. When I check my sound and screen saver options, I don't seem to have as many. Do different computers have different screen savers?
A: Most PCs come with Windows 98 pre-installed these days and Windows 98 is Windows 98, pretty much. Each computer vendor might add a screen saver with their name and logo on it, but 99% of it is still Windows. I assume you've added screen savers like Jungle and Outer Space. These are the same on all versions of Windows 98. There are a few additional themes on the Microsoft Update web page. Themes like Wild Wild West are there to be downloaded if desired. You might try going to the update page and downloading the new themes (they are at the very bottom of the update list) and see if that fills in your missing themes. To get to the Windows Update page, click on Start and near the top of the Start Menu is an option called Windows Update.
Q: In last week's column, you talked about adjusting the bass and treble for the speaker and you mentioned a speaker icon in the system tray. I have a sound card, but I don't have a speaker icon. Can I still adjust the sound card?
A: Yes you can. The display of the speaker icon is controlled by a check box on the Multimedia options in Control Panel. Go to Start and Settings and Control Panel and then double-click on the Multimedia icon. At the bottom of the pop-up screen will be an option called Show Volume Control on Taskbar. Click on the box to the left of the text (a check mark will appear) and then click OK. You should now see the speaker icon.
Q: I want to write a book about my life and I have all these family photos I want to use. How can I put them in my manuscripts and in my book? Can I use photos from clip art gallery?
A: What you need to do is have the photos scanned using a flatbed scanner and save the image to your hard drive. Scanners have become commonplace these days and you may know someone who has one that will scan the pictures for you. Once the photos are scanned, an application like Word can be used to enter your manuscript. You can also insert the photos with the manuscript by selecting Insert from the menu bar and click on Picture and From file... Find one of your scanned photos and Word will insert the photo within the text. You can resize the photos and position them just about anywhere you like within the text.
Q: I found your article in the Rock River Times answering computer questions and I hope you can help me. I have a CTX nutopia modem that's a year old. Very often, the computer just freezes and I have to turn off everything by the power cord. What can I do to prevent it from happening again? A friend told me to reinstall Windows 98 (which I did) and it seemed to help for a few days, but then it started happening again. It also happens when you first turn the computer on. Sometimes it takes 3 or 4 tries to get it to work. Any ideas that may help me?
A: You say the PC freezes since you've added a modem card. Try unplugging the modem from the PC and see if things work OK. If the PC still hangs, it's not the modem. Try removing everything plugged into the PC and see if Windows works properly. If it still does not, then continue to simplify the configuration by removing any non-Windows drivers loaded in the WIN.INI file (look at the Load= and Run= statements) and any extra drivers loaded by the registry. This is more difficult than it sounds. The wrong changes made to the registry can cause the PC to not boot, so use caution. If you were unable to get the PC to work properly, then I would suggest a complete wipe of Windows 98 and reinstalling it from scratch. This is a lot of work, so it should be a last resort. If removing the modem fixed the problem, go to the vendor's web site and look for updated drivers and any FAQ about the modem.
Q: We bought a new PC at Christmas with Windows 98. One of the kids has setup a password whenever the screen saver starts. It was cute initially, but it has become a nuisance. How do you remove the password from the screen saver?
A: You can right-click on any empty area of the Desktop and select Properties to display the Display Properties screen. The second tab along the top will be Screen Saver. Click on that tab and about 2/3 of the ways down the screen will be a check box to Password Protect the screen. Uncheck that box and that should remove the password 'feature' of the screen saver.
Q: I have been adding shortcuts to my desktop (you showed us how in class) and they're working fine. The problem I'm having is that every shortcut is positioned on the left side of the screen along with all the other icons. In class, we were able to drag the shortcuts anywhere on the desktop. What am I missing?
A: You probably need to turn off the Auto Arrange option on the desktop. The Auto Arrange automatically moves the icons into neat columns on the desktop. To turn off this feature, right-click on the desktop and look for the Arrange Icon option. Click on that option and you will see a checkmark next to the last item on the list, Auto Arrange. Click on the Auto Arrange option to remove the checkmark. You should now be able to drag your shortcuts to any location on the desktop.