Computer Quandaries — March 2006

by Dale Atchison

Howdy!

Some of you know me, most of you don't.  For nearly three years, I was the club secretary at the Tampa Bay Computer Society.  I helped out as needed at the repair clinics, and was a charter member of the Random Acts of Kindness free computer repair team, along with Dave Dockery, Ron Kalmin, and Jack Kinney.  I laid out and implemented the broadband network at the Resource Center, and added WiFi at the request of several of the SIG leaders.

Alas, I'm more than a little abrasive, and found that I couldn't seem to avoid 'ruffling feathers', even among people with whom I shared so many interests.  So, rather than be the center of conflict at TBCS (a role I've played several times before, elsewhere), I left in May 2003.  But I've kept in touch, never spoken badly of the club, and even recruited a few new members from amongst my clients.

A few months ago, I mentioned to Doc that I had kept copies of most of the email help messages that have passed between my clients and myself.  Doc suggested I share them with Cyndi Schmitt, the Bits & Bytes editor.  I sent her a few, and she's asked me to dress them up a little and make a monthly column out of them.  Not quite another "Ask the Expert", but something along the same lines.  I'm only too happy to oblige.

Starting this issue, I'll throw in two or four general hints and/or answers to specific problems.  I'll use no last names, and the names at the ends of the messages may or may not be the actual names of the people who originally asked the question.  I say this because I don't want you to hesitate to write and ask questions, out of not wanting to see your name printed after a question.  Remember, there's no such thing as a stupid question; we were all new to this at one time, and no one of us can know everything.  I still ask questions of my peers when I'm stumped, and they ask of me in return when they hit a dead end.  I want to help you all get the most from your computing experience that you can.  I will absolutely answer every email I receive, either with a solution to your problem, or an apology that I couldn't help.  And the questions and solutions that I think might be of general interest will eventually end up in this column, with the names changed to protect the befuddled.

So, please  email me your questions, be they about hardware, Windows, or even a specific program.  A lot of the program questions will go unanswered if I haven't used that package, but I may luck out and know a few of the right answers.  If you ask me not to use your question in a column, I won't.  But I hope I won't get too many people asking that, as I think sharing is why we all joined TBCS in the first place.

DaLe aTchiSon

And now, on to this month's questions, and a suggestion...

How Do I Make It Stop?

Dear DaLe,

I accidentally clicked on PRINT while viewing a HUGE document.  I couldn't stop the printer, so I turned it off.  When I turned it back on, it started printing again.  So I turned off the printer AND the computer, then turned them back on.

...And it started printing again!

Help!

Frantically yours,

Jean

Dear Jean,

Try this:

  1. Turn off the printer.

  2. On the computer, click on Start  »  Settings  »  Printers. (may say Printers and Faxes); if you're using Windows XP, click on Start  »  Printers and Faxes.

  3. Right-click the icon for your printer; there may also be an icon for your fax, so be sure you click on the icon for your printer.

  4. On the 'object menu' that drops down from your right-click, left-click Cancel All Documents.

  5. Wait a few seconds, then shut down the computer.

  6. Wait a few seconds, then turn on the printer.

  7. After the printer has finished starting up, turn on the computer.
We shut down and restart in this order because the computer needs to see a fully-functional printer when it boots; so, we start the printer first, let it run thru its startup routine, then we restart the computer.

The reason for your problem is the computer and the printer talk to each other all the time.  (I think mine are actually talking about me behind my back when I'm not right there in the room with them.)  The computer sends the pages to the printer, a few at a time, then sends the next few when the printer sends the computer a 'ready' signal.  If communication between them is lost, the computer stores the pages till next time they're talking, and starts sending again.  Cancel All Documents deletes the temporary copies stored on the computer.

BTW, you could have used Cancel All Documents to stop the printer when you first realized you didn't want the document to print; there was no need to turn it off.  Keep that in mind for next time.

Helpfully yours,

DaLe



My Computer Hums

Hi Dale,

I am noticing a humming sound that seems to come from the PC.  This is a new occurrence, maybe since I put in a new memory stick.  Should I be concerned?

Diane


Dear Diane,

Turn off your speakers.  If you still hear the sound, it could mean you accidentally moved a wire (or two) to a position where it can rub against the CPU or case fan; if that's the case, move the wires.

If the sound goes away when you turn off the speakers, it's likely you have the speakers' volume control turned up and the computer volume control turned down — that will make the computer's internal electronic noise get amplified so you can hear it — in technical terms, you've degraded the signal-to-noise ratio of your sound system.  Turn the speaker volume control all the way down, double click a song in My Music, turn the software volume control all the way up (Master Volume as well as Wave output), then turn the speaker volume up just enough for a comfortable listening level.

If there's no music in your My Music folder, click on Start  »  Run  »  Media  »  OK.  Double-click one of the midi files — I like Town.Mid, which came with Windows XP.  When you turn up the Master Volume control, make sure you also turn up the Wavetable volume — that controls the midi output level.

Let me know if either suggestion (or neither) seems to help.

DaLe

Thanks for asking!

It has been brought to my attention that, under certain circumstances, the "Outgoing Mail Certified to be Virus Free" message which AVG attaches by default to outbound emails can arrive as an additional attachment, as well as being appended to the email text.  Some folks are annoyed by this.

So, if you're running AVG Free 7, do this:

  1. Double-click the AVG icon in the SYSTEM TRAY (lower right-hand corner of thescreen).

  2. Click on EMAIL SCANNER  »  PROPERTIES  »  CONFIGURE.

  3. Under EMAIL SCANNING, make sure CHECK INCOMING MAIL and CHECK OUTGOING MAIL are both checked, and that both CERTIFY MAIL boxes are NOT checked.

  4. Click OK, then OK again, then close the window via the X in the upper right-hand corner.
This will continue to protect everyone involved, but won't annoy them by constantly bragging about it.

"Computer Quandaries" was a column I wrote for Bits & Bytes, the online newsletter of the Tampa Bay Computer Society, from March 2006 thru April 2010.  When I became the BnB editor, I split it into two separate columns:  "Computer Quandaries" was the Q & A or Help Desk portion of the original column, while "Hints Tips & Rants" was the collection of random thoughts that had previously been tacked on as an afterthought.  When I gave up the editor job, I took both columns with me, to post on my website and/or blog.

       

See you next month.   Please email your questions to  DaLe@ComputerRepairShop.biz

I send these guys a few dollars every month... sure wish you would join me.
And 100% of your labor charges go to this rescue, too.