Rich's Ramblings

By Rich Schinnell

OK, now the new year for Capital PC User Group starts with a new slate of officers. Congratulations to our new President, Lillian Milliner. I hope that everyone else feels as I do that Lillian will do a great job. She's a worker and hopefully can get CPCUG membership up and growing. Greg Smith was a great president too, considering who he had to follow...<G>

Many of our members love to be able to call the Helpline and attend training courses, but a few seem to forget that this is a "Users Helping Users" organization. Regardless of whether you have the technical skills to help others with computers or not, everyone has some skills that can be used to help members in areas besides poking about the innards of computers.

One thing to also remember is that the Helpline is for your own computer problems only; consultants who call other members on the Helpline should expect to pay for such help. Bottom line is that if you're getting paid to help someone else, the Helpline is not the place to get assistance. It's a gray area for those of you who are the computer persons at work and need some additional help. Use your own judgment, but don't expect our Helpline volunteers to spend long telephone sessions doing your job. Also, while you're at it, read the hours of availability listed in the Helpline section.

Remember that we all come from diverse backgrounds, and no one knows as much about your specialty as you do. Leadership is a very important attribute and skill. We need leaders for many projects that don't require the leader to be a techie. Organizational skills are also needed. Many technical people do not have the organizational part down pat. Volunteer your time to help our SIG leaders get their SIGs moving. Assistance is always welcome at the CPCUG office.

Preach mode off!

Well, it's about time that I fessed up and admitted that I am a closet DOS user. I admit to using the DOS prompt in Windows95. I run Qmodem for DOS and love it. It works exactly as it should. I do like the Windows communications programs' ability to cut and paste, but I have to give that up whenever I use my beloved old DOS Qmodem. At my advanced age (I can apply for Social Security in `98), I like the "old shoe" type of programs. Even though I'm a dedicated Web surfer, I still like the full screen readability of DOS communications programs. Procomm and Telix are a couple of other good DOS communications programs that work. Remember that discussing communications programs is like arguing religion; go with whatever works for you.

Hint #1: If you're thinking of getting a new monitor, consider
investing the extra money in a 17" monitor. They are well worth the extra money you spend on them. Great for reading text and some of those huge multi-graphic Web pages. Easier to read and better on the eyes.

I sure have been spending a lot of time helping people with their Windows 95 systems lately. It's somewhat akin to conducting brain surgery over the telephone. With DOS, it was much simpler to help with configuration problems, and even Windows 3.1 was not that bad. But Windows 95 is a real bear to help people over the phone with, due to the complexity of the beast.

Some users insist on aborting an install routine by turning off their machines. No! No! No! Don't do that except as a last resort. Backing out of some install programs can be disastrous. One case in mind was a member who had started the installation of the AT&T Internet access program from CD-ROM. When the install program put all the AT&T stuff onto his hard disk, it asked for the Windows 95 installation CD-ROM; the member somehow got confused and aborted the install. The AT&T installation had already placed lots of entries in the Windows 95 Registry, SYSTEM.INI, and WIN.INI. Without the additional files that the install routine should have extracted from the Windows 95 CD-ROM from Microsoft, the machine was in a state that was impossible to recover from properly. It kept asking for certain .DLLs which were not properly installed. Really a mess.

The solution that I would have tried if I had the machine in front of me would be to edit the Registry and some .INI files to remove the offending .DLL references. As it was, the only solution I had was to recommend that the member take his machine back to where he bought it and have them reinstall Windows 95. The member received a CD-ROM from the vendor, but it would not allow him to run the SETUP program to reinstall Windows 95. It kept saying that the Windows 95 CD-ROM was only for a machine that did not have a prior version of Windows installed. A real problem for me to help him over the phone as he were not very technically oriented.

Reviewing my past Ramblings, where I lamented about the increased complexity of Windows 95 over the old familiar DOS and Windows 3.1, brought to the forefront the problems with the newer operating systems. Sure glad that I don't have my name in the Helpline for OS/2 Warp!

I have been secretly working with an infamous west coast software author and a new revolutionary program that just might make him rich and famous. Keep tuned to my column next month for a report on this neat new software product.

One caution if you use portable Iomega ZIP drives: Be careful and never drop the drive on the floor with a disk inserted. Or for that matter, try never to either bump or drop the drive. The head seems to disintegrate, and it does a number on your ZIP cartridge. I won't go into the particulars, but they cost around $85 to get repaired, and then only after you spend too much time on the phone with Iomega. I would recommend the same precautions for most portable drives. Just like your CD-ROMs, don't leave them, or backup tapes, in a hot car.

I had one instance where someone bought three copies of Microsoft Office for Windows 3.1 on floppy diskettes (all 23 of them). These diskettes are 3«" and are each formatted to hold 1.7MB or so instead of the standard 1.44MB we are used to. Well, two of the diskettes from the set were bad, for some reason, and they asked me to make a copy from good diskettes so that they could keep the set perfect. They tried to DISKCOPY good disks from a set that was okay. No luck, since Microsoft , in their quest to save money, had used this higher capacity formatting for the MS Office floppy diskettes.

I, of course, jumped on the Members Information eXchange (MIX) BBS, and there it was, a program to format standard 3«" disks to the special Microsoft 1.7MB format (DMF). FD-FORMAT version 1.7 is on the MIX as MAKE17.ZIP. It allows you to format diskettes to be able to make backup copies of the floppies that Microsoft sends out. MS also has a newer method of formatting floppies that provides over 2MB on a 3 «" floppy diskette. I haven't looked on the MIX, but something tells me that there should be some program to create these newer 2MB disks.

Now for some unabashed commercials for businesses that I use and recommend. I don't have any ties to them; I just use them as good reliable sources.

XRAM out near Dulles airport is a computer dealer, near wholesale, no storefront, and not for the timid. They normally deal with businesses, and if you know what you're looking for, they have the most competitive prices. They are not hand-holders, but if you're a bit technically inclined, they are a good source for computers and components. I've found their prices to be among the best. They have a special arrangement with CPCUG and will take your credit card order over the phone for delivery via UPS, messenger, or regular mail. Call Devon Park at (703) 404-8200 x133 between 6 and 9PM weekdays. Mention that you're a member of CPCUG. Try to remember that they are not a storefront like CompUSA or MicroCenter, so you should already have some idea of what you want before calling them.

If you're looking for that strange cable, switch box, or adapter, Normcoe Associates in Rockville is one place that I recommend. Again, Norm does not have a storefront but does have all the stuff in his garage and does good work. Norm also participates in most of the computer shows in the area and has very reasonable prices. Compared to Black Box, his switch boxes are a heck of a lot cheaper. Give Norm a call at (301) 294-2380. Norm used to be part of Simplicity Computers in the Tysons area, but they split up the company with Norm moving his business back to Rockville.

After looking around for printers at several different places, the best prices seem to be from the big guys: MicroCenter and CompUSA. They also have most printers on display, so that you can really see what the output looks like.

If you're buying a printer, remember Rich's rule: Don't buy any printer unless the supplies can be purchased from the big office supply places too. This means that Office Depot, Staples, and Best Buy should carry the supplies. If you buy a cheap printer, you might be stuck buying the supplies from the company that makes the printer, and they could go out of business. You might save 15 percent on the front end but wind up shelling out big bucks for the supplies later.

Rich Schinnell is back again as the First Vice President after having served in most every CPCUG office except Treasurer. There must be some underlying reason why he hasn't had that job, but we will leave that alone for now! He is retired from the USN and Vitro Corporation, and now does a limited amount of small business consulting. He can be reached via e-mail at schinnel@cpcug.org or by telephone at (301) 949-9292 (evenings 6-9PM). Also, he has his own home page at
http://www.cpcug.org/user/schinnel . Most of his past Monitor
columns are on-line via his home page. He enjoys helping people and looks forward to another exciting year.

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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