C C C C N E W S L E T T E R
CENTRAL COAST COMPUTER CLUB
Santa Maria, California
VOLUME XVI: NUMBER 8 AUGUST, 2001
NEXT MEETING: AUGUST 21, 2001 7:00PM KNOLLWOOD VILLAGE 4012 S. BRADLEY
PRESENTATION: A demonstration by Amy Malicki of the
TV advertised Video Professor for Windows98.
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| CONTENTS |
| |
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(1) Officers, Helplines, S.I.G.s
(2) President's Corner Charles Barney
(3) July Internet S.I.G. Dick Trissel
(4) Web Wanderings Gil Smith
(5) Editor's Comments Dick Trissel
(6) Disk Defragging - Part 2 Dick Savage
(7) Ten Obvious Problem Causes Dick Savage
(8) Epilogue On A Presentation Ray Isenson
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Officers Helplines
President Juno
Charles Barney 937-1240 Gilbert Smith 925-3743
cbarney@lightspeed.net Gs5081@aol.com
Vice President Windows 95/98/ME & Voice Control
Phil Grycel 937-1805 Amy Malicki 925-5780
feliksy@juno.com amymal@juno.com
Secretary Hardware & DOS
Barbara Godwin 934-9885 Ray Isenson 937-6938
yung.bag@verizon.net risenson@juno.com
Treasurer AOL
Gerald Miller 934-1396 Frank Maciel 922-2318
2741 Banyan Way frm8198@aol.com
Santa Maria CA 93455
gmiller33@excite.com
Librarian Help With Any Problem
Sharon Allen 928-2209 Dick Savage 928-4932
sallen4060@aol.com rsavage65@hotmail.com
Publicity Help With Any Problem
Bill Corning 934-0775 Fred Adams 934-1128
foster95@juno.com fred421@earthlink.net
Newsletter Editor Visual Basic
Dick Trissel 937-7572 Gerald Miller
rtrissel@juno.com Gmiller33@excite.com
Program Chairman AOL
Ray Isenson 937-6938 Frank Maciel 922-2318
risenson@juno.com frm8198@aol.com
Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
Windows 95/98/ME Internet
Amy Malicki Dick Trissel
amymal@juno.com rtrissel@juno.com
CCCC Membership is $15 for twelve months ($20 family). For this you
receive:
Monthly newsletter
Access to the clubs software library
Disk of the month (usually for $1)
Helpline support
Monthly presentation
Valuable door prizes
Question and answer sessions
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In Memory
George F. Spingler - July 18, 2001
Robert H. "Stormy" Hileman - June 30, 2001
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CCCC Page 2 August 2001
President's Corner
by Charles Barney
We had about 60 folks turn out for our July 17th gathering, including new
member Thomas Dochterman from Nipomo. We are very pleased to have you join
us Thomas and it is our sincere hope that your association with the 4C's
will be a long and rewarding one.
I'd like to mention, for the sake of recent joiners, some of the many
benefits that are now available to you as club members. The Special
Interest Groups (SIGs) held the beginning of each meeting are a great
opportunity to get answers to your computer questions, learn new
information and to share with others your own knowledge. On most occasions,
we will have an interesting guest speaker or product vendor address the
members on some computer related subject. The club newsletter, which you
will receive each month, contains a wealth of information on topics from
club activities to software reviews, "how-to" guides, virus alerts, humor
and other areas of general computing interest. As a member, you are also
eligible to call the Helplines which are staffed by volunteers who have
some degree of expertise in various areas and are willing to attempt
helping you solve a particular problem. At the conclusion of each meeting
we hold a drawing for several valuable door prizes that you are eligible to
win, having had your name entered into the club computer's database of
members. Finally, you are encouraged to check out the club's software and
book library which is accessible to all members in good standing.
Oscar Galis of South Bay Engineering was our guest presenter for the
evening, demonstrating a product called 2CoolPC. This is an auxiliary
cooling device consisting of a fan run off the computer's power supply
which pushes its air through a rather large accelerator duct. The idea was
that by installing this unit inside your computer's case, the chips and
various internal components would run cooler, thereby extending the
system's life and preventing software crashes caused by "random errors."
Oscar gave quite an interesting talk and many of you decided to purchase
the device after his presentation.
Well, you can color me happy; the club's spanking new laptop computer has
finally been purchased! Thanks to all who buy tickets for the monthly 50/50
drawing, the equipment fund was tapped for $1,612.49 to acquire the
handsome portable machine.
It is a Sony VAIO with the following features: 800MHz AMD Duron processor,
15" XGA TFT screen, 128 MB RAM, 10 Gigabyte hard drive, DVD-ROM drive, 56K
modem and Windows Millennium Edition. The best part is that it WORKS with
the club's projector and now yours truly will no longer be hauling the
bulky old computer back and forth to the meetings! The old e-tower system
has not yet outlived its usefulness, thanks to Dick Trissel (resourceful
guy that he is) who is now making good use of it at his Internet SIG.
The door prize PicWin program first selected Jesse Lyman who chose one of
the 2CoolPC kits donated by our guest speaker. Next up was Sharon Allen,
deciding to take a copy of McAfee Firewall. Sylvia Connors was not present
when called, but Richard Savage was and selected a nice CD wallet. Laudell
Ludwig, Richard Holmes, Robert Davis and Bill Rich all missed out before
Allen Alderson was chosen and he walked off with a second 2CoolPC kit. Ted
Tucker was wisely present when called and selected a copy of Aladdin
Sundial. Both Glen Wood and John Simko lost their chance to Ben Middleton
who picked up the latest version of Microsoft Money (2001 Deluxe). Spencer
Stimler was delighted when the computer popped-up his name and he was able
to pick up a copy of McAfee's ViruScan. Finally, Jack Tyo took home an
alluring TechSmith Snagit T-shirt.
At the upcoming meeting on August 21st, the main program will feature our
own Amy Malicki who is planning to give us a demonstration on Video
Professor for Windows. I am looking forward to seeing you all at the
clubhouse. -Charles
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CCCC Page 3 August 2001
July Internet S.I.G.
by Dick Trissel
This will be a brief article this month due to space limitations. However,
we will cover all items at the August Internet S.I.G., especially now that
we have a computer for the S.I.G. Particularly, we will discuss how to
control and optimize your modem. This was prompted by a person commenting
his reported modem connection was 57.6Kbps with a 56Kbps modem. The
57.6Kbps is a port speed setting (DTE) not modem speed (DCE). Also, the
port speed should be set to 115,200bps to optimize throughput speed.
A person commented that his JUNO connection is reported as 57.6kbps--with a
56kbps modem, yet. That threw me until I later realized he was seeing the
computer port speed not the modem connection speed. This is controlled by
the modem inialization string in the modem driver. I'll elaborate on all
this at next month's S.I.G.
Another person reported problems with the program Personal Firewall. He
just advised not to use it.
On a question of how fast are the DSL rates, Dick Savage gave me this list
for the Verizon options.
Bronze+ Up to 768 Kbs Down Up to 128 Kbs Up $50/mo
Enhanced Bronze+ Up to 1.5 Mbs Down Up to 128 Kbs Up $60/mo
Silver Up to 384 Kbs Down Up to 384 Kbs Up $70/mo
Silver+ Up to 1.5 Mbs down Up to 384 Kbs Up $80/mo
He reported that a typical download rate for his Bronze+ service is about
180kbps. However, Verizon's tests show he has a problem with his phone
line which might explain the lower than maximum rates (data rates, that is,
not subscription rates [grin]).
One person had an Outlook Express file transfer question that got answered
after the meeting by our club's Help contact, Dick Savage.
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CCCC Page 4 August 2001
Web Wanderings
by Gil Smith
D-DAY MUSEUM
The National D-Day Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana was built to honor the
American Industry and its production during WW II. Andrew Higgins, the
designer and builder of thousands of LCVPs (Higgins Boats) for the war
effort had his factory in New Orleans. We had practically no air force in
1940. By 1944 we were building 8000 planes a month. Take a look at this
site and you'll want to visit the museum if you are in New Orleans.
http://www.ddaymuseum.org
NEED INSURANCE?
Everyone needs some kind of Insurance - Auto, Life, Dental, Homeowners, and
the list goes on. This web site lists all the different classes of
insurance and you can compare the prices with what you are paying now. Or,
if you need insurance coverage for some particular purpose, you can get a
list of sources here. Take a look!
http://www.quotesmith.com
WEB STREET UNIVERSITY
Web Street University's free online courses are the first step toward
becoming a stronger and more savvy investor, and they're available 24/7 to
fit your schedule. Best of all, they're free, so there's nothing to lose -
and everything to gain. Take control of your finances by enrolling in their
instructor-led classes. Take a look at their feature courses.
http://webstreetuniversity.com
WHAT'S THAT NUMBER?
Hunting around for an e-mail address, telephone number, or fax number?
Here's a site I found that has it all. It's more of a directory to other
sites than a database, but it's a great place to start.
http://www.phonenumbers.net
PHONE SPELLER
Here's a site that will give you all the variations of what your phone
number spells. Just enter your number in their little phone number box and
click the submit button. Maybe you'll find an easy way to remember a
friend's phone number.
http://www.phonespell.org/
GOING HUNTIN'
A friend sent this to one to me. This is probably one of the most
comprehensive hunting and outdoor sites on the net. Tons of information on
every aspect of hunting. Check it out:
http://www.huntingnet.com
AWESOME OUTDOOR SITE
I found what could be one of the best sites on the web for outdoor
information. It's geared for those in the United States, but it does have
some international info as well. GORP features tons of information on
hiking, biking, canoeing, fishing, and outdoor destinations. It also has an
impressive collection of "how to" articles scattered throughout the site.
If you like the outdoors, this is the site for you.
http://www.gorp.com/
RECALLS
Does your car have any recalls that need to be fixed? Check out this site
for a recall database. Just tell it what kind of car you have and it will
give you a list of recalls. This is a good site to check if you're buying a
used car. http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/recalls/recmmy1.cfm
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CCCC Page 5 August 2001
Editor's Comments
by Dick Trissel
I want to thank everyone for the show of appreciation at the July meeting
for the newsletter editor. Much of the appreciation should go to the
contributors of articles. Every month Charles Barney and Gil Smith have
inputs. Many members have submitted software reviews. And every once in a
while we get a technical jewel from Ray Isenson. This month is one of
them. Don't miss his "Epilog to a Presentation" in this newsletter issue.
I resolved to comment every month on the upcoming new Microsoft operating
system WindowsXP. I don't have any specific articles to publish this
month, but still want to advise caution before indulging in this OS on the
October 25 release. There has been a lot of controversy about the merits
of "upgrading" from Windows98. Investigate the "features" of WindowsXP by
going on the Web and searching through Google, or Askjeeves, or your
favorite search engine on the subject WindowsXP. There have been
evaluation Beta copies available for several months, so the information is
out there.
Here's a short tip I just learned. This is for CD burners using the Roxio
(Adaptec) Easy CD Creator program. In the CreateCD program under the
Data/Data CD/Tools menu/System Tests there's a performance test option that
will make read speed tests on your hard drives, CD-ROM reader, and CD-ROM
burner. I cheat and use computers that aren't up to the minimum speed
requirements to burn CDs. By using these tests and setting my burn speeds
accordingly, I have no underrun speed problems.
The August 2001 PCWorld magazine had an article on installing power
supplies. It included this interesting chart:
COMPONENT WATTS
Motherboard 15-30
700 MHz Celeron chip 21
1-GHz Pentium III chip 33
1.2GHz Athlon chip 70
RAM 7 per 128MB
PCI add-in card 5
Network card 4
Graphics card 20-50
Floppy drive 5
CD-ROM, CD/RW, DVD-ROM 10-25
IDE hard drive 5-15
Std SCSI hard drive 10-25
10K/15K-rpm SCSI drive 10-45
To go along with that, here's the power table from the club's Sylvania
17inch monitor:
POWER MODE WATTS
On less than 85
Standby less than 10
Suspend less than 10
Active Off less than 5
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_____________________________________________________________________
| |
| COMPUTER CONSULTING |
| |
| Amy Malicki has started an "In-House" computer consulting service. |
| She charges $35 per hour in your home at your computer. She can be |
| contacted at 925-5780 or amymal@juno.com. |
_____________________________________________________________________
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CCCC Page 6 August 2001
Disk Defragging - Part 2
by Dick Savage
Last month I recommend you use PowerDefrag Lite, available at
http://www.powerdefrag.com for trouble free defragging. Since then I have
been informed that this program sometimes appears to have defragged your
disk but has not in fact completed the job. I have been able to confirm
this on my computers. If you should run into this situation, here is a
procedure that uses the same idea but will work:
1. Turn your screensaver off by clicking on Start - select Setting and
click on Control Panel - click on Display and then the Screen Saver tab.
On the Screen Saver tab click on the little triangle at the end of the
Screen Saver name box to get the drop down list of available screen savers.
Scroll to the top of the list and click on [None]. Click on Apply and OK
at the bottom of the tab to close the Display Properties window. Your
Screen saver has now been turned off.
2. Restart your computer in the Safe Mode by clicking on Start - Shutdown -
Restart - OK. The first action in starting your computer is the Power On
Self Test (POST) which is what is going on while you are probably seeing
your computer manufacturer's logo on the monitor screen. The POST lasts
for about 15 seconds and is followed by a very short DOS boot period and
then the installation of Windows while your Screen shows the Microsoft
Windows logo. There is a very short period of time at the completion of
the POST and the start of the DOS boot phase when the depression of the F5
key will cause your computer to stop the normal startup mode and start in
the Safe Mode. The only way to be sure that you depress the F5 key at the
proper time is to begin tapping the F5 key as rapidly as you can while the
POST (Computer logo screen displayed) is going on and continue it until the
next screen is displayed.
If you have been successful your computer will stop the normal startup
procedure and start in the Safe Mode. You will know this because the
colors are different and Safe Mode is printed on the screen in the four
corners. If you have not been successful, you will have to wait for normal
startup to complete and then restart and try the rapid depression of the F5
key again.
NOTE: There are other methods of getting to the Safe Mode involving the
depression of the Ctrl key or the F8 key to get the Startup menu where you
can select the Safe Mode. If you are familiar with these methods and they
work on your computer then you may want to get to the Safe Mode that way.
3. Run the Disk Defragmenter program by clicking the Start button and
selecting Programs - Accessories - System Tools and then clicking on the
Disk Defragmenter option.
4. Upon completion of the Disk Defragmenter program, reset your Screen
Saver and restart your computer.
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CCCC Page 7 August 2001
Ten Obvious Problem Causes
by David Coursey in ZDNet Anchor Desk on 10 Jul 01.
(Contributed by Dick Savage)
Recently, after a spate of problems caused by the most obvious of causes, I
put together a list of questions that I sometimes forget to ask because I
wrongly assume that anyone would have checked these things before calling.
So here's my list of mistakes, some of which, I have to admit, I've made
myself:
1.) Is the computer plugged in? This sounds simple enough, but you'd be
amazed how often a power cord is the source of the trouble. Show me a
stone- cold dead PC and I'll find a loose power cord, usually at the
computer end. Alternately: The power strip/surge protector has somehow been
switched off.
2.) Are you looking at the right cord? The corollary to the first item: If
the computer starts but the monitor doesn't, guess which power cord it is?
That, or it's the monitor cable if the monitor turns on but there is no
picture.
3.) Plug and replug. And if the network, modem, keyboard, or mouse is on
the fritz...see where I am headed here? Until proven otherwise, it is
always a cable problem. Turn everything off and unplug and replug all the
cords and cables, and many problems will amazingly work themselves out.
4.) Have you checked your PC cards? Likewise, check to see if a cable has
somehow wiggled one of the add-on cards out of its socket. If any of the
cables attached to your PC want to wiggle around despite being firmly
screwed in, this is likely your problem. You'll have to open the computer
to fix this one.
5.) Is there ink/toner in the printer? It's amazing how a lack thereof can
impede your printing efforts.
6.) Are you sure the phone jack works? When you plug a regular phone into
your modem line, do you get dial tone?
7.) What have you changed recently? While it's true that computers
sometimes break down for no reason, most problems have something to do with
new hardware or software and occur shortly after installation. I am amazed
by how often I ask people what software they've recently added/uninstalled
and they don't tell me--until the sixth or seventh time I've asked. Does
uninstalling, then reinstalling problem software fix things?
8.) Does removing the hardware clear up the trouble? USB devices are a
problem in this regard as the computer may not be able to provide enough
power to the device. Trying uninstalling as many USB devices as you can and
see if the problem goes away--some devices, for example, don't get enough
power from a hub but work fine when connected directly to the computer.
9.) Where are you booting from? If there is a diskette in the drive or a CD
is trying to boot your computer, you can get really odd errors--so make
sure all the drives are empty.
10.) When in doubt, reboot. Finally, of course you've already rebooted the
computer (more than once, if necessary) to see if it solves the problem.
You have, haven't you? You'd be amazed how many people stare at a frozen
computer waiting for it to come back to life. This sometimes does happen,
but after about 10 minutes of waiting, consider a power-down reboot.
Likewise, sometimes it takes multiple reboots to make a problem go away.
The mistakes I've made that are on this list include all the power cords--
though I usually find them quickly enough--and being too quick to reboot
when a problem might solve itself. This is particularly true with hardware
installations on Windows Me which sometimes stare at me for an hour before
magically completing.
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CCCC Page 8 August 2001
Epilogue On A Presentation
By Ray Isenson
As, perhaps, the primary consequence of many years of undergraduate and
graduate engineering studies and a number of decades in the real world I
realize that there are many things I don't know or understand. Generally,
I'm open to be shown, to grow my knowledge! At the same time, however,
I've learned to accept totally new ideas just like sampling wine; take a
little sip, swirl it around in my mouth, chew on it a few times and then,
maybe, take a big bite. And so it was at the July meeting when we were
introduced to the 2coolPC hardware.
The notion that it was heat that caused my computer to lock-up was new;
something to chew on. The idea that the situation could be totally
alleviated just by stirring up the air in the computer housing was a bit
harder to swallow but I wasn't about to blurt that out to our guest.
Rather, in so far as those major concepts were involved, I opted to take in
what I was told and to wait until I had time to chew on the thoughts and to
run a few experiments on my own equipment before accepting or rejecting en
toto.
To be sure, some things that I heard were extremely hard to believe. We
were told, for example, that a CPU (central processing unit) got so hot
that it melted the solder. Now, the flowing temperature of solder is,
depending on the particular mix, between some 383 degrees Celsius and about
580 degrees. The extreme operating temperature range of the toughest
integrated circuits is from -55 degrees C to +125 degrees C. Outside of
that range functioning degrades very rapidly. I suspect that long before a
CPU got up to the minimum solder melting point, 383 degrees C, it would
structurally fail and get no warmer. Then, our guest speaker asked if
anyone operated a computer with the case open, continuing that doing so
wouldn't help cooling at all. That statement, to me, was sheer folly. The
temperature problem, if there is one, is caused partially because the air
trapped inside the case, heated by the components, can't be removed fast
enough by the power supply fan. One would expect that opening the case
would allow more of the cooler room air to circulate around the heat
generating components within the computer; thus lowering their temperature.
Also bothersome was the statement that air flowing from the end of his
cooling device was blown up into the hard drive. The hard drive in my
computer is enclosed, top and bottom by a metal plate. Air blown in from
under the compartment would have great difficulty reaching the drive.
Again, we were told that adding one or more case fans to increase air flow
wouldn't help. This, like the idea that removing a cover wouldn't help
didn't go down easily. Finally, we were told that if the computer
overheated and locked up, in the 20 seconds or so that it would take to
reboot the computer, the CPU would cool sufficiently to let the computer
function. Thereby explaining why one could recover from the heat caused
crash by quickly rebooting! In the non-technical vein, other than calling
"absurd" his statement that Dell, Gateway and the other box makers design
computers to fail in two years, I'll not comment!
A visit to the 2coolPC web site and a link to the mother board monitoring
program demonstrated by our guest offered some more information and the
opportunity to download MBM5, the multi-dial presentation that we all saw.
Fortunately one of my computers has the on board sensing chip required by
that program. Further, the bios ROM of that computer monitors and reports
on the CPU temperature. Thus I could (and did) run a few experiments.
First, I determined that between the first and 8th minutes after boot, the
CPU temperature went from 33 degrees C to 45 degrees C. (room temperature
was about 21 degrees C and it took about a minute for the computer to go
far enough into the boot process for me to get the initial reading.)
Meanwhile the mother board temperature went from 21 degrees C to about 24
degrees C. I then removed the case top and side covers and watched the
temperature change. Gradually, taking about 5 minutes or so, the board
temperature dropped back to 22 degrees C and the CPU to 42 degrees C.
Replacing the covers caused the temperatures to increase to 24 and 44
degrees C, respectively. Next, I shut the computer down and rebooted it.
The post boot CPU temperature was essentially unchanged at 43 degrees C.
Clearly, contrary to what we had been told, had it been so hot as to cause
the computer to fail it wouldn't have cooled sufficiently to function
properly during the time it took to reboot. In my opinion, the results of
these two simple experiments are enough to call into question much of what
we were told. For example, the experiment demonstrates that the computer
components do run cooler with the case opened. Logically it follows that
adding fans to draw more outside air into the system will offer similar
results.
Now, what is the logic behind the 2coolPC device? I suspect that at one
time or another each of us has dropped an ice cube into a glass of water
and watched it melt. We learned that at the same time the water became
cooler. Heat was transferred from the warmer medium, the water, to the
cooler medium, the ice. In so doing, the water became cooler (lost heat)
while the ice became warm enough to melt (gained heat). Had we been in a
hurry to drink the cooled water we might have stirred the solution, noting
that this caused the ice to melt faster. That is, heat was gained by the
ice at a faster rate. The logic behind the 2coolPC follows suit. By
stirring the air, which in this case is the cooler medium, heat is
transferred from the working devices at a faster rate than would otherwise
occur. Cooling of components is done a bit more efficiently; how much more
efficiently is hard to say.
Will the mother board components run cooler with a 2coolPC installed than
one without? I expect it will. Significantly cooler? I doubt it as any
heat removed from the components plus that contributed by the added fan
motor raises the temperature of the air in the box, reducing the cooling
ability of the air. Will your computer cease to lockup after installing
one? I'd be very much surprised if it made any difference and will very
much appreciate comments from the members who bought one. Will installing
the device impair computer functioning? There's no obvious reason that it
would. In fact, if you installed one and if your CPU fan failed, having it
might save the CPU. Does your computer need thermal protection help? By
and large for most of our PCs, no. However, I believe that as one
approaches gigahertz CPU speeds, runs programs requiring ever more intense
graphics and introduces other power consuming features, the single, exhaust
fan on the power supply will be inadequate. Additional fans and larger
case inlet openings to force more air through the case will be needed to
keep the ambient temperature within the case well below the 85 to 100
degree C upper limits essential for proper functioning of the integrated
circuits populating the mother board.
Having sipped this "wine" swirled it about my mouth and chewed on it a bit,
I'm inclined to just spit it out!
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