 Printer Repair Hi, Dale. Do you have any idea where to take an HP printer for checkout or repair? My PhotoSmart needs a look-over. I thought this was something that CompUSA did, but apparently not any more. Ray Ray, Go to HP.Com and see where they suggest you take it. In my opinion, if it's under warranty, or cost more than $150, it's worth having it looked at; otherwise, it's disposable - the labor cost will most likely be more than the value of the used printer. DaLe |
 Hard Drives Dale,
Charlie,
DaLe Note: I ended up working on this one myself. Turns out the largest drive was a Serial ATA drive, the 40's were parallel ATA, and even if I booted from the SATA, it wasn't designated C: - that took several reloads of Windows XP and some judicious swapping of drive names interspersed with multiple reboots. So I learned two things on this job:
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 Software (and a Dead Laptop) DaLe:
Bob,
DaLe |
 Hit Counter Hi, Dale: I have a "computer quandary". Until recently, I used dial-up. When I worked on my web page offline - adding, changing, or whatever - it did not affect the counter on my web page. Since I got Knology cable Internet a couple of weeks ago, I guess I am online all of the time, and I am finding that when I work on my web page, it causes the counter to jump ahead every time I check to see how it looks before I upload the changes to the web. My question: is there any way to prevent the counter jumping ahead whenever I view the page offline (with changes that have not yet been uploaded to the web), just to see how it looks? Shirley Dear Shirley, I went to your website, and looked at the source code for your main page, paying attention mainly to the javascript code that implements the counter. Now, please understand, my HTML skills are very slim, and while I've read a couple of books about javascript, I haven't coded any at all. That having been said, it looks to me like your counter is doing exactly what the javascript tells it to: it increments a counter every time anyone, even you, views your homepage. The counter is implemented by a call to another website. When you were using dial-up, that call went nowhere unless you were online, so the counter didn’t increment; but, now that you’re always connected to the Internet, even though the page you’re viewing is only on your hard drive, the call to the counter website - somewhere out on the Internet - goes thru, and you skew your hit counter just by viewing the page locally. So, here's an inelegant but effective way to prevent skewing the count when you're editing the page offline. First, create a Network Connections shortcut on the Quick Launch toolbar: Open Control Panel. Right-click the Network Connections icon, and select Create Shortcut. When the dialog box pops up, asking if you'd like to create the shortcut on your desktop, click on Yes. If your QuickLaunch Toolbar isn’t displayed - just to the right of the Start button in most installations - turn it on by right-clicking the Taskbar, left-clicking Toolbars, and putting a check mark next to Quick Launch. Then, with the left mouse button, click and drag the new shortcut to your Quick Launch bar. (If it leaves a copy on your desktop, delete it; each icon on the desktop slows you down just a little bit, so practice what I call 'desktop austerity' - get in the habit of deleting all unnecessary desktop icons.) Right-click the new shortcut, select Properties » Change Icon, and choose one of the icons showing one or two computers, making it obvious this is a shortcut to something having to do with your network, rather than the ambiguous default icon, which was a globe. From now on, just before opening the offline copy of your source file, click the new Network Connections shortcut in Quick Launch, right-click your Internet connection, and select Disable from the object menu that pops up. When you've finished editing and viewing the file, click the Network Connections icon in Quick Launch, right-click your Internet connection, and select Enable. Now you can upload your changes to your website. Even if you decide not to make any changes, remember to go back to Network Connections and click Enable, or you won’t have Internet access, even after rebooting. If you're using the free ZoneAlarm firewall software, there's an even easier way to accomplish the same thing, without following the three steps mentioned above: just engage the Internet Lock while you're editing, and disengage it when you're ready to upload. Same effect: if all your Internet traffic is blocked, you can't increment an online counter. Here’s how: right-click the ZA icon in the System Tray (lower-right section of your screen) » left-click the line that reads Stop All Internet Activity. After a couple of seconds, you’ll see the ZA icon turn into a red and yellow padlock - no traffic to or from the Internet will be allowed until you say so. To turn off the Internet Lock, right-click the padlock icon, and left-click that same line to remove the check mark and restore your Internet capability. Please let me know if this helps. (She wrote back, praising the simple elegance of the ZoneAlarm Internet Lock option.) DaLe |
Thanks for asking!
And while ZoneAlarm is on my mind. . .
It has come to my attention that the latest version of ZoneAlarm doesn’t support Windows 98. The version you already have will continue to work like it always has, but you won’t be able to install any future updates unless and until you ‘upgrade’ to Windows XP. This surprises and saddens me, as Windows XP SP 2 has a pretty good firewall built into it - it’s the Win 98 users who need ZoneAlarm the most! Nevertheless, they didn’t ask my opinion, they just went ahead and did what they were gonna do.
(Let’s be realistic here, folks: if you have a PC old enough to be running Windows 98, your hardware, even if it will let you install and run Windows XP, isn’t going to run it at a speed you can live with. So, upgrading to Windows XP on existing Win98-era hardware isn’t an upgrade at all - you would actually need to buy a new PC with Windows XP loaded on it to see any performance improvements. I don’t think that’s warranted, as long as your computer does everything you want it to do; stick with Win 98 as long as your hardware lasts, then have a PC built for you with Windows XP SP 2 - or Linux kernel 2.4 or better - loaded on it.)
Which brings me, belatedly, to my point: if you’re running Windows 98 and ZoneAlarm, you should turn off the automatic updates feature in ZoneAlarm - you’re not going to be able to install them, so why waste time checking to see if they’re there? Double-click the ZA icon in your System Tray (lower-right section of your screen) » click the Overview label on the left-hand side of the ZoneAlarm window » click the Preferences tab at the top of the window » in the Check for Updates section, click the ‘radio button’ next to Manually. A warning will pop up, asking if you’re sure you want to turn off Automatic Updates; click on OK, then “X” the window to send ZoneAlarm back to the System Tray.
BTW, IMHO, this won’t endanger you in any way. I’ve never understood why ZoneAlarm issued so many updates, unless it was to accommodate changes to Windows brought about by Microsoft’s update process. Since Microsoft has ceased to support Win 98, the operating system shouldn’t change significantly from now on, so ZoneAlarm updates won’t be necessary for Windows 98 users.
I have ZoneAlarm version 6.1.737. It is fully functional in Windows 98. It’s included on a CD of free programs I give to anyone who asks. Anyone in the Clearwater area can email me, and I’ll make arrangements to get a copy to them at a place they’re gonna be in the near future, like a TBCS meeting. No charge for the CD or the programs, but be warned: there’s an ad for my computer repair business on the CD - that’s how I can justify giving it away. I will mail a copy to anyone who asks; the cost is $4, paid by money order only, in advance, to cover materials, postage, and bother.
Or, I suppose you could just download ZoneAlarm for Win 98 from my Downloads Page.
Simple Screen Grabs
I’ve gotten several emails from folks trying to relate to me an error message they see on their screen, or trying to describe an icon or folder they don’t know how to delete or otherwise handle. I wonder if everyone out there knows how to use Windows to do a ‘screen-grab’, a picture of whatever is displayed on your monitor screen, be it your desktop, an error message, a Web page, or whatever. There are numerous utilities out there that can accomplish this task for you, but Windows came with everything you need pre-installed.
(I almost never print a hard copy of Internet transactions. If the confirmation can be displayed on a single screen, meaning I can center it using the scroll-bars so that all the data I need to keep is on the screen at the same time, I just save a JPEG image of the confirmation screen.)
Here’s how:
That’s it for the questions, answers, and tips. Till next month, please email any computer questions you may have to the address below.
But I have a favor to ask: if you ask for my help, and I send you a reply (and so far, I’ve replied to every request), please write back one last time and tell me if my instructions or suggestions fixed your problem. I truly believe I’ve given everyone who wrote the correct and appropriate advice, but if I’m wrong on any part of it, I’d appreciate knowing it BEFORE I publish my mistakes for the world to see. I got a ‘rep’ to maintain, you know? Fair enough?
It has come to my attention that the latest version of ZoneAlarm doesn’t support Windows 98. The version you already have will continue to work like it always has, but you won’t be able to install any future updates unless and until you ‘upgrade’ to Windows XP. This surprises and saddens me, as Windows XP SP 2 has a pretty good firewall built into it - it’s the Win 98 users who need ZoneAlarm the most! Nevertheless, they didn’t ask my opinion, they just went ahead and did what they were gonna do.
(Let’s be realistic here, folks: if you have a PC old enough to be running Windows 98, your hardware, even if it will let you install and run Windows XP, isn’t going to run it at a speed you can live with. So, upgrading to Windows XP on existing Win98-era hardware isn’t an upgrade at all - you would actually need to buy a new PC with Windows XP loaded on it to see any performance improvements. I don’t think that’s warranted, as long as your computer does everything you want it to do; stick with Win 98 as long as your hardware lasts, then have a PC built for you with Windows XP SP 2 - or Linux kernel 2.4 or better - loaded on it.)
Which brings me, belatedly, to my point: if you’re running Windows 98 and ZoneAlarm, you should turn off the automatic updates feature in ZoneAlarm - you’re not going to be able to install them, so why waste time checking to see if they’re there? Double-click the ZA icon in your System Tray (lower-right section of your screen) » click the Overview label on the left-hand side of the ZoneAlarm window » click the Preferences tab at the top of the window » in the Check for Updates section, click the ‘radio button’ next to Manually. A warning will pop up, asking if you’re sure you want to turn off Automatic Updates; click on OK, then “X” the window to send ZoneAlarm back to the System Tray.
BTW, IMHO, this won’t endanger you in any way. I’ve never understood why ZoneAlarm issued so many updates, unless it was to accommodate changes to Windows brought about by Microsoft’s update process. Since Microsoft has ceased to support Win 98, the operating system shouldn’t change significantly from now on, so ZoneAlarm updates won’t be necessary for Windows 98 users.
I have ZoneAlarm version 6.1.737. It is fully functional in Windows 98. It’s included on a CD of free programs I give to anyone who asks. Anyone in the Clearwater area can email me, and I’ll make arrangements to get a copy to them at a place they’re gonna be in the near future, like a TBCS meeting. No charge for the CD or the programs, but be warned: there’s an ad for my computer repair business on the CD - that’s how I can justify giving it away. I will mail a copy to anyone who asks; the cost is $4, paid by money order only, in advance, to cover materials, postage, and bother.
Or, I suppose you could just download ZoneAlarm for Win 98 from my Downloads Page.
Simple Screen Grabs
I’ve gotten several emails from folks trying to relate to me an error message they see on their screen, or trying to describe an icon or folder they don’t know how to delete or otherwise handle. I wonder if everyone out there knows how to use Windows to do a ‘screen-grab’, a picture of whatever is displayed on your monitor screen, be it your desktop, an error message, a Web page, or whatever. There are numerous utilities out there that can accomplish this task for you, but Windows came with everything you need pre-installed.
(I almost never print a hard copy of Internet transactions. If the confirmation can be displayed on a single screen, meaning I can center it using the scroll-bars so that all the data I need to keep is on the screen at the same time, I just save a JPEG image of the confirmation screen.)
Here’s how:
- with your screen displaying the item(s) you want to relate or share, press the <PrtScn> key on your keyboard - it’s in the upper-right corner of the keyboard, near the <NumLock> key. If you’re looking at a Web page, first use the scroll bars to ensure the portion you want to save is displayed on-screen. You won’t see any indication that anything happened, but you’ve just copied your entire screen to the ‘clipboard’, a chunk of memory Windows reserves for copying, cutting, and pasting data.
- Next, open Microsoft Paint by clicking on Start » Run » type in MSPAINT » OK.
- In the menu at the top of the page, click Edit » Paste. The saved screen will appear in place of your blank picture. The picture dimensions should automatically expand to whatever size your screen resolution is set to; e.g. 800x600, 1024x768. 1280x1024, etc.
- Still on the menu, click on File » Save As » change the Save As Type to JPEG » give the file any name that seems appropriate to you » click the down arrow next to Save In and choose Desktop » click Save.
- Close MSPAINT.
That’s it for the questions, answers, and tips. Till next month, please email any computer questions you may have to the address below.
But I have a favor to ask: if you ask for my help, and I send you a reply (and so far, I’ve replied to every request), please write back one last time and tell me if my instructions or suggestions fixed your problem. I truly believe I’ve given everyone who wrote the correct and appropriate advice, but if I’m wrong on any part of it, I’d appreciate knowing it BEFORE I publish my mistakes for the world to see. I got a ‘rep’ to maintain, you know? Fair enough?
| See you next month. Please email your questions to DaLe@ComputerRepairShop.biz |