E-mail Questions and Answers
Over the past year I've received several e-mail questions, and I've done my best to answer all questions that hit my e-mail inbox. I wanted to post them here on the website, along with my answers and suggestions to help others who may have similar computer/ tech related questions. So without delay, the Q&A:
Problems with Windows ME
I have an HP Pavilion "designed for Microsoft Me." I recently attempted to install XP and during the installation it informed I needed to adjust the BIOS settings and to get them from the manufacturer. What are they and how do I do it?
Thanks
Dan
Xstream Fishing Adventures
The BIOS is the "hard coded" software built into the computers' main system
board that recognizes the computer's setup and devices before the Operating
System (in this case Windows) boots. When all the devices are detected
(everything from the type of processor you have installed, to how much ram is
installed, to if a keyboard is connected or not) the BIOS tells the computer to
boot the Operating System (OS). If a BIOS chip was designed long before a new
OS, it may have trouble instructing the computer how to boot and use the OS. It
is possible that your HP may need a BIOS update. In recent years computer makers
have been designing BIOS chips with the ability to upgrade. To do this you'll
need to go to HP's website and look for tech support on your particular HP
computer. Check to see if there are any downloadable BIOS upgrades. Follow the
directions very carefully if an upgrade to your BIOS is required. It may
only list a series of instructions on how to setup your BIOS correctly in the
CMOS (a menu driven program for BIOS setup) to work with Windows XP. After this
is done, you can try your XP upgrade again.
--Steve
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Problems with Windows ME
Steve,I found your website and hope you can answer a couple of questions. Over the past month my three year old Gateway with ME has me screaming into the night. To avoid going into massive detail, he's the short version:
1. The computer would occasionally, about every 5th time, freeze up when started. The hourglass would just be there and there was nothing you could do but shut it down and restart.
2. After numerous discussions with Gateway tech support, I zeroed out the hard drive and reloaded ME.
3. It still continues to freeze occasionally and I now think it has to do with the Norton 2004 internet security and anti-virus that I installed. I would appreciate your thoughts on my conclusion and what you'd suggest to solve this problem.
Thank you, john Compass Bank Tucson, AZ
Thanks for visiting my site. Your problems are nothing unusual for
users of Windows ME. Your 3 year old computer probably came with 64 or
128 Megabytes of RAM installed when you bought it, which was supposed to
work with Windows ME. Windows Millennium Edition has a memory hole
problem that makes the computer run out of memory (RAM) as you run more
and more programs throughout the time it's turned on, until the system is
is turned off and the memory is blanked out and reset. This is because
once memory is used in ME, it has a hard time flushing it out once it's
not in use any longer. For example if you open Microsoft Word, Use
it, and exit it... Windows ME never really zeros out the memory that
Microsoft Word was using while it was open. When you open the next
program, it's probably running noticeably slower because it has less
memory to operate on. Eventually your system will run out of memory and
lock up.
Most people who have this problem have to use their computers for a few
hours before Windows ME starts locking up or sending "Out of Memory"
warnings to the screen. However in your case, by loading programs such
as Norton Internet Security 2004, which requires just as much memory as
Windows ME itself, you've sped up the process. Of course don't go
thinking this is Norton's fault, Windows ME is the problem here by
hogging all the memory from Norton and other programs to lock up the
computer.
My suggestion is to first Upgrade the RAM (memory) on your computer.
If it came with 64 or 128 Megabytes of RAM, try to boost it up to 512
MB. You can contact Gateway and see what type of memory you'll need. It
might cost $70, but it'll be worth it when you see how must faster your
PC operates for such a low cost upgrade. This should also get rid of
your lockup problems for the time being, it usually does in most cases
like this.
The next step is to Purchase the Windows XP Home Edition Upgrade.
The Upgrade should install right on top of your Windows ME, and destroy
the memory hole problem forever. Remember to uninstall Norton's software
before the install of Windows XP Home Edition, because it requires a
more advanced installation. Once XP has finished, you can put you Norton
CD back in the computer to reinstall it. It should also keep any
settings you've had for it.
---Steve
Steve, Thank you so much for your quick and complete response. When I contacted Gateway, I was told ME had problems locking up, but nothing to the extent of your explanation. Do I understand correctly that it may lock up on start up because of Norton's heavy memory usage? It doesn't happen every time - may be every 6th or 7th time.
Well by today's standards, Norton really isn't using that much memory. Of
the reason it locks up every now and then is because sometimes Windows ME loads
it correctly, and sometimes it does not.
Also, I have gone to Microsoft's page on ME and downloaded a number of upgrades they suggested hoping this would solve the problem - which it hasn't. No where that I could find did it discuss what you have told me. Have I missed it?
No, it's just not there. Microsoft hasn't truly admitted that Windows ME has
problems. If you look at a website with a group of experts that aren't tied to
Microsoft, you'll find a very different answer like the one I gave you.
It depends if you've ever seen someone do it, or do something like that before.
Sometimes a phone call to tech support can walk you through it. If not, feel
free to give me a ring I can probably walk you through the process once you have
the memory modules in hand and ready to install (# is at the bottom). Again,
don't forget to Upgrade to Windows XP to completely eliminate the problem all
together after you've put more memory in your PC.
---Steve
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Protecting Yourself From Computer Viruses
BECKY wrote:
Hi, I recently purchased what I thought was an original XP upgrade from ebay and the UK. What I got was a "copy" of Xp loaded with viruses. I was stupid and put this disc in my pc since I had waited for XP for such a long time ( how stupid was that). I was upgrading from Me to XP so I know these viruses were not on my pc before. I ended up with MSBlaster,W32.hallw.rakela,W32.Hallw.gaobot.genand W32.Welchia.b.worm (these don't run on ME). I got rid of them all, but I was wondering how do I scan a CD from my dvd/cdrw drive and not infect my pc if it has viruses. I would like to do this in the future. Thanks for any help.
Thanks for the question! In the future make sure your virus scanner software is up-to-date, and if you are uncertain able any type of media (CD-ROM, Floppy, USB Drive), you should be able to scan it before you use it. (Hold down the "shift" key to keep CDs from Auto-Starting). Since you're running Norton Internet Security 2004, you should be able to start up the Anti-Virus screen from the Start Menu or Desktop Icon and then click on "Scan for Viruses" on the side next to the System Status Screen (left side). From there you can select to Scan "All Removable Drives" or proceed to the "Scan Drives" and select a specific disk drive, in this case your CD-ROM drive with a disc inserted. Again, make sure you're Virus Scanner is up to date so it will catch things like that.
--Steve
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"What Kind of Computer Should I Buy?"
Shawn & Candi WROTE:
Hi Steve,
I emailed you a couple weeks ago asking about imacs. We have since bought a hp. I was just wondering if you could tell me the difference between the Athlon & Pentium 4 processors? And also would you notice any difference between a processor w/ 2.2ghz & one that has 3ghz?
Thanks Again
As a rule of thumb, the higher the Ghz Rating, the faster the PC will perform. There are some little things here and there that may change the rule a bit (like how many operations a particular processor does per clock cycle). Don't forget that RAM is important too... It's good to have at least 256MB nowadays, but I recommend 512MB. Between the Athlon XP and Pentium 4 , not much difference really. The Athlon is generally cheaper and does the same thing (and sometimes does it faster by doing 16 operations per cycle rather than 12 like the P4) .
---Steve
Dananj517 Wrote:
Hi,
you have really great info for those of us who don't know much about computers. I don't need much with my computer. I don't download, I am a student and really just write papers and use the internet for research and email. I have seen some off brands and I don't know if its worth it to spend a little more and buy dell or what. One computer that was really inexpensive was something called emachine. these were much less expensive and seem to have all I would need. do you think that this is a terrible idea. Please email me and let me know if you have any suggestions.. Thanks for you time and for your helpful web page.
I'm glad you find my site useful, be sure to tell your friends about it. I completely understand the type of PC your looking for, and it looks like your on the right track. I had completely forgotten to mention eMachines on my webpage, so thanks for the reminder. eMachines and Compaq (now part of HP) run pretty much head and head with low cost computers, however, I have never seen an eMachine crash and fall apart for no reason. I believe that eMachines are a good brand PC. I think it has something to do with them being a company with less than 300 employees, rather than a marketing super-giant trying to cut costs at the end-users expense by using faulty parts. That said, even though you are looking for a low cost PC, don't cut back on things you'll still need in it. You still want to have a PC that's expandable if need be. Software is constantly requiring more and more power to provide the features people want. The goal of buying a PC is always to try to purchase one that will "last" for awhile. So my advice on purchasing an eMachine would be to try to get one from them, but hold them to the standards I wrote in the "What kind of computer...." document. Don't cut yourself short by not getting as much RAM (memory) or hard disk space. You may not need a DVD-Recorder like the home movie enthusiast , but you'll still want at least something that will read DVD-ROM discs (because some programs now come on DVD-ROM) and Record to standard CD-Recordable (for backup purposes, floppies are too small nowadays). Lastly don't fall for the "Flat Panel Trick" that some computer sellers do. This is the computer deal that may cost you around $599, and comes with a flat panel monitor. Now logically if your average flat panel monitor costs $300, what kind of computer are you getting for $299? Truth is... it's probably last year's model running this year's software.
(For example Dell was selling one of those PCs and it came with Windows XP and 128MB of RAM... but Windows XP requires 256MB of RAM minimum. Therefore, the PC would be already slow even though it's supposed to be new.)
Just as a review let me give you a rundown of what you'll want to have in an "student/office" PC that you can use consistently for the next 3 or 4 years:
Processor: Between 2.2Ghz and 2.6Ghz , AMD Athlon XP processors will be cheaper than Intel's and work just the same.
RAM: 512MB DDR SDRAM
Hard Drive: At least 40GB
Monitor: a 17inch CRT (standard) monitor will cost you less ($100-$140) than a 15inch Flat Panel ($250-$300). Again, remember what I mentioned earlier about "flat pane" deals.
CD-RW/DVD-ROM : There are drive out there that write both CD-Recordable and play back DVD movies and read DVD-ROM/CD-ROM Media called "Combo" Drives. Try to get one of these if you're not going to be doing a lot of either one, but may use one or the other occasionally. Again, CD-RW drives are great for backups of your Data (without using 700 floppies to do the same thing). Note: These do not Record DVD-Discs, just have the ability to read them.
Ethernet (LAN) Port: High Speed Internet is becoming the new standard, so even if you're not on it yet, I would suggest you have this ready for later.
Recommended~~ USB Memory Drive: You'd be surprised how handy this things are. I have 128MB built into my watch, and it's been such a big help. Let's face it, Floppies are on their way out. They only hold 1.44MB of storage, and even though it's good to still have a floppy drive on your PC just in case, it's becoming harder to get things to fit on them. At the same time, floppies are much more subject to failure than USB Memory drives because dust and grit can easily get inside the media.
Okay, I think that's just about everything,
Let me know what you think, and feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions.
---Steve
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Question About Windows XP and Office XP
R. Peek Wrote:
Good description of the Windows ME "memory hole"... A quick question... you recommend the upgrade to XP... what about Microsoft Office Professional? Do I have to buy it new or does XP have it included?
Unfortunately, Microsoft Office is sold as a separate, and many times, expensive package. Office Pro runs for about $350+ !! Office Small Business Edition runs for about $199 ... but comes without the thing everyone wants included: PowerPoint . Of course if you just wants the basics I'd recommend purchasing the Small Business Edition, and then buying PowerPoint by itself (as they do sell each individual program separately) or if need be, just buy the components you really need separately.
--Steve