Rich's Ramblings
By Rich Schinnell
Well, here it is the new year, and I bet that some of you were able to convince Santa to get you new computers. I also bet that many came with Windows 95 pre-installed. Many of these machines with pre-installed software have large hard disks with the C: drive set up as one huge partition, even if the drive has a 2.1 Gigabyte capacity or larger.
What to do? Several options come to mind:
1. The easiest is, of course, to do nothing and wait to see how things go.
2. Another option is to purchase the program Partition Magic. Partition Magic will subdivide (i.e., partition) your hard disk into smaller, much more efficient logical drives, each with its own drive letter. While it's doing this, it will also reduce the maximum cluster size to the optimum size. For example, a 1.8 Gigabyte hard disk organized as one large partition will have a cluster size of 32,000 bytes, even for the smallest file. Creating more partitions will reduce that cluster size, eliminating storage waste. Partition Magic will work under DOS and Windows 95 quite well.
3. You can repartition your hard disk yourself with a system bootable disk in the A: drive. If Windows 95 and your other pre-installed software come on CD-ROM discs, you will, of course, need to have the CD-ROM driver handy so that everything can be reinstalled on your hard disk with a minimum of aggravation.
Some computers come with all the software needed for reinstallation. Others come with instructions for backing everything up. And on floppies even!
I've seen a couple of these pre-installed systems come with a mail-in card that requires one to send money to receive all the pre-installed programs on a CD- ROM, along with a boot disk to reinstall everything. If this is the kind of system you have, go for it if it isn't too expensive. It will save you lots of aggravation later. And don't wait until your system crashes before doing so.
A problem that could show up when repartitioning a drive is that many of the programs are installed on huge C: drives, and the Registry (where Windows 95 stores information about your computer), WIN.INI, and SYSTEM.INI files all reference the programs and data on the C: drive. This will create problems when you try to access files or programs which you may have moved to the D: or E: drives. In other words, repartioning probably means reconfiguring some programs with new drive assignments.
Usually, the full load of pre-installed programs won't go much over 150MB of data. Solution: allocate 511MB of space for your C: drive, and from this point on, install all new programs on your D: and E: drives.
Your CD-ROM drive, of course, is going to move up in the food chain and will have some drive letter like F: or so. This may cause a problem with programs that think that D: is the CD-ROM drive, but this should be an easy one to solve. The easiest solution would be to enter the correct drive letter when the program says that it can't find the CD-ROM drive and prompts for a new drive ID. Most programs will allow you to change the drive letter, and you should be fine.
Remember, also, that Windows 95 always needs lots of spare disk space on the C: drive, as most every Windows 95 installation program needs to put some files in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM subdirectory. I always like to leave at least 100MB free on the C: drive.
Windows 95 is a stranger program/operating system and much harder to understand than the old familiar DOS and Windows 3.1 arrangement. If you somehow manage to mess up your system so that it doesn't boot properly, you could be in big-time trouble. Most times the actual data is not lost, but you can't get to your applications.
You have to be especially careful with older, pre-Windows 95 applications. I have seen some of these programs with installation routines that, without asking, change all the .DLL files in your machine to match theirs, even if your versions are newer. Then they reboot your machine without your permission, taking away the opportunity for you to see what they've done to your disk. It often goes downhill from there. Just be careful when installing some real old Windows program onto your new Windows 95 machine. Resist that temptation to install some old familiar data manipulator that worked fine under DOS 4.0 and Windows 3.0. KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid! Less is better.
To ease the pain and get the warm fuzzies, create an emergency Windows 95 boot disk. This is accomplished through the Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs icon. Pick the option for a startup disk. This disk, when created, will have most everything you need to be able to recover from a disaster. In fact, you also might want to re-read my December 1996 column, where I mentioned the ERU program for Windows 95.
I just had my ISDN (Integrated Systems Data Network) lines installed and am accessing the Internet at warp speeds. I hope to report on this newer, faster method of access later on this year. But in the meantime, don't run out and order ISDN lines unless you have lots of extra money to lay out. The Maryland rates are quite expensive, especially for someone who's a net surfer.
Additionally, all the speed isn't worth it if your Internet Service Provider has slow links to the Internet. Retrieving newsgroups on Bell Atlantic and on Digex is not a heck of a lot faster at 115,000bps than it was at 28,800bps. Web page retrieval seems a bit faster, but something tells me that your Internet Service Provider's access to the Internet is one bottleneck that having ISDN won't help much with.
You all know that I try to keep on the "bleeding" edge of all this computer stuff, and hopefully I don't bore you with all this techie talk. Some have written me to express their concern/displeasure with the technical level (I do try!) of my articles. I've tried to make sure that there is something in my columns for everyone. Sometimes I succeed, and sometimes it turns out to be a "mine is bigger than yours" effect. Hopefully, I can reach most of you with each of my columns.
I hear a lot of war stories about users and their modems. Sometimes they have a problem because they replaced their internal modems with newer, faster ones, and now the newer modems don't work. Most probably, the problems are caused by address or IRQ conflicts.
Usually it is a process of elimination to check how the address and IRQs are set. If you're using your modem on COM3, remember that the default IRQ for COM1 and COM3 is IRQ 4, while the default for COM2 and COM4 is IRQ 3. If you have your mouse on COM1 and you put your modem on COM3, you end up with two IRQ-sensitive devices going for the same IRQ. I would recommend disabling your COM2 and putting your modem on COM2 or COM4. This way the IRQ 3 would be free. Or better yet, get an external modem. I would not use an internal modem except in a laptop. Less aggravation, and after all, the PC is supposed to be a tool, not a learning experience.
But I'm sure that I will hear from people saying that the computer looks much nicer without this blinking light device sitting on the table. Fine. Let them troubleshoot your system when your modem won't work. I always recommend external modems just for that reason. With the new motherboards having a PS- 2 type mouse port on them, it is a piece of cake to have your mouse on IRQ 12, and you then can install your external modem on either COM1 or COM2.
I have a confession to make. This is the first year in over 12 years that I did not attend COMDEX in Las Vegas, Nevada. I am having withdrawal pains as I've really enjoyed the APCUG (Association of Personal Computer User Groups) seminars the weekend before COMDEX. And I miss the excitement of those 12 miles of software/hardware vendor booths; the free meals from the vendors and the parties at night; and, oh yes, my feet are already thanking me. And you won't get bored with my recounting all the trivia that I usually pick up in LV.
I am testing one of those new wireless modems that you've been reading about lately. They are called Ricochet wireless modems and are available locally in the MD suburbs and DC area. I read that they will be in Northern VA soon.
This evaluation required a computer setup with Windows 95, connecting the serial cable to my PC, and installing the software. Runs on Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 (evidently Windows for Workgroups is not supported). It is supposed to work on the Mac running MacTCP or Open Transport. It connects like any other modem and works.
I had Ricochet up and running in about 10 minutes on my Toshiba portable under Windows 95. Three disks were all that were required to get started, and a reboot of my computer wasn't even necessary. You don't need a phone line, but you do need a free serial port. I installed the modem into Windows 95, and set up the Dial Up Networking icon for Ricochet in less than five minutes. Piece of cake to install and get on-line. I was surfing the Web at 28.8bps in no time at all.
From what I read, Pepco is involved in the ownership of the local company that markets the Ricochet modem. For the first time, I started looking at street light standards to see where the antenna units were located. I never noticed them before, but they are all over Montgomery county, so the coverage is quite wide. Evidently, there has to be one of these little antenna/repeaters within about a half mile of your location, or it won't connect. They've been pretty busy installing them in our area, so something tells me that they will blanket the Metro area shortly.
The modem comes with an unlimited Internet account for $29.95. Of course, on top of that is the $10 a month rental of the Ricochet modem. Or you can purchase it for $599. There are several options that can bring the price down. Also, I understand that CPCUG members will receive a discount off the regular price of the modem and setup.
Considering the costs of a new phone line installation (about $75), monthly charges (about $20), and Internet access from your ISP (about $15), I would say that there is some economic advantage to the Ricochet wireless modem, especially for those of you living your life on the Internet.
Rich Schinnell is the program director for
Capital PC User Group,
an Internet junkie, retired from the USN, and now into his third
career as a small business consultant. He still subscribes to the
idea that there is no such thing as a stupid question. Ask away
and learn. Even at his advanced age, he still tries to learn
something new each day. Rich can be reached via e-mail at
schinnel@cpcug.org, through his World
Wide Web page at
http://www.cpcug.org/user/schinnel
, or, as a last resort, by
phone at (301) 949-9292. He takes Helpline calls between 6 and
9PM, or he will return your call when he normally gets up in the
morning at 4AM.
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Capital PC User Group, Inc.
Plaza East Two
51 Monroe Street
Rockville, Maryland 20850
MIX BBS: (301) 738-9060 (10 MultiTech v.34 modems)
(301) 738-9061 Alternative modem
Office: (301) 762-9372