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Pro Power Tips 1.0A (c) 1992 Scanlon Enterprises ƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒ OTHER POWER TIPS ƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒ This section is devoted to tips which do NOT fit previous categories. This does NOT mean they are LESS important. These tips include tips for printers, using modems, and other hardware devices. One of the most important items for business, is computer security, I hope the following will aid in this endeavor. System Security If you are the owner of a 286 or 386 system then you have the means to add additional security to your system. If you don't want un-authorized users, putting software on your system, which may be infected by a virus, then this procedure will work for you. This procedure requires access to the Bios Setup. If you have an older AT without a Bios Setup (you have to run an external program to set the Bios), then I suggest you upgrade. First, reboot your system (hard reset, not <Ctrl><Alt><Del>) and during the reboot process your system will suggest entering the Setup Option by pressing a certain keystroke, usually <Ctrl><Alt><ESC>. NOTE, on some newer systems, you don't even have to reboot to use the HOT key sequence to start the Bios Setup. If you have one of the older machines, without a Bios Setup, pull out your Setup Disk, and start Setup from there. Once setup is started, select the Floppy Drive Option, and set The Drive to NONE. Before changing the current setting to NONE, write down the current setting and place the note with other important papers, you have regular access to. Now select exit and reboot. Your system will now think, you don't have floppy drives. If your system has two floppy drives, be sure to set both to NONE. When the time comes to update software, or add a new application, simply start your Bios Setup (as per above) and reset your Floppy Drive(s) selection(s) back to their original settings, and reboot. Perform the software installation or change (update), then redo the above procedure to set the Floppy(s) to NONE. Now unauthorized persons can't bring unwanted software to your system. External Modems Light Up If your external modem is having trouble making a connection, you might want to check the headlights (front panel lights). When the modem is powered up, the modem ready (MR) light should come on. The terminal ready (TR) light tells you, that the modem and your PC are in communications, and are ready to make a call. If you've set the modem to answer the phone, the auto answer (AA) light will be on. And, whenever the modem "picks up the phone", the off hook (OH) light should light. Once your modem and the remote modem make a connection, the carrier detect (CD) light is supposed to come on. While the modem is sending and receiving data, the receive date (RD) and send data (SD) lights will flicker. As soon as the connection is severed, the carrier detect light (CD) should go off. If your modem lights behave differently than the above, you may, have a hardware problem. If this is the case, call your modem manufacturers technical support line and report what your lights show (light combinations). Power Definitions AUDIT - Automated Data Input Terminal, a hand held terminal that stock brokers use to key in stock transactions. BBS - Bulletin Board System - An online computer service that functions as a centralized information source. Users connect with a BBS using a modem to download and upload and leave messages to each other. BOOT SECTOR - The first sector on any computer disk, on the first track. This sector contains enough information defining the disk's layout and programming code to load the Disk Operating System. BROKER WORKSTATION - A specialized personal computer used to calculate the type and number of stock transactions a broker would have to make at a certain market price. DATABASE SERVER - A specialized node on a local area network system, that handles database management. DATA DICTIONARY - A file that lists all the data formats, files and relationships in a database. DATA ENCRYPTION - Information is transformed into a random (or seemingly random) stream of bits to create a secrete code for data security (and to confuse anyone trying to access the information illegally). DISK PARTITION TABLE - A data structure stored on the boot sector (see BOOT SECTOR above) that describes how information is laid out on the disk. EXPERT SYSTEM - Considered a form of artificial intelligence, it is a computer software system, that uses stored information to draw conclusions about a particular issue or problem. FAT (FILE ALLOCATION TABLE) - The FAT tells DOS where to fine a file. It's a chart of numbers, that correspond to cluster addresses on the disk. When you or a program, you're using, requests a file, DOS goes from address to address in the FAT finding out where a files clusters are stored on disk, then DOS goes to each cluster so derived to get the information there-in. FLOATING DEFECTS - Defects on a disk that suddenly appear due to the drifting alignment of the drive heads. These defects may not have been noticed previously because they were located between tracks. HIGH DOS - The area of RAM located between 640K AND 1024K. This 384K of memory is reserved for system use for such things as video memory and network interface cards. Memory managers can utilize some unused portions of High DOS for programs such as TSR's. ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) - An all digital telephone line that is capable of transmitting digital data as well as voice without a modem. LAN (Local Area Network) - A LAN, is a system of linking PC's so that users may share resources. A LAN lets you share files as well as devices such as printers or CD-ROM devices. NOS (Network Operating System) - A NOS coordinates a networks primary functions such as file transfer and print queuing. Banyan's Vines, Novell's Netware and Microsoft's Lan Manager, are examples of network operating systems. PASCAL - The computer programming language taught in most beginning computer science courses. Because it's relatively easy to learn, PASCAL, is the language of choice in colleges and universities. PIM (Personal Information Manager) - A database management system that stores and retrieves personal information, such as notes, memos, addresses and appointments. REAL MODE - An operating mode for an 80386 microprocessor. In this mode the 386, acts like, an 8088 processor, so only 640K RAM is available for use. SECTOR HEADER - A block of data that appears at the beginning of each sector on a disk. Information in the sector header lists the sector's physical address, including the track number, surface number and the sector number around the track. STEPPING MOTOR - The mechanical motor that positions the read and write heads over the correct tracks on the platter of a hard disk system. TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident Program) - Also called a Memory Resident or Pop-Up program. A software system, that stays in memory while you are executing other applications. To get the TSR's attention, it is common to set a Hot-Key sequence, which causes the TSR to Pop-Up! UMB (Upper Memory Block) - A free area of memory, between the sections actually used by hardware, and in the 384K reserved memory. A memory manager, like QRam can take advantage of these upper memory blocks, by moving TSR's and Device Drivers into that area. V86 MODE (Virtual 8086 Mode) - A sub-mode, of the protected operating mode, in an 80386 processor unit. When using the V86 mode, the 386 is able to simulate the 8086 processor, operating in Real Mode. VIRTUAL DISK - An imaginary disk that is contained in RAM. Virtual disks can speed up some operations on your PC by eliminating hard disk accesses. Money-Saving Protocols If you transfer large files with a high-speed modem (9600 baud or faster), you can save time and money by using an asynchronous error-checking protocol, such as ZMODEM, windowed XMODEM or windowed KERMIT. Synchronous protocols like XMODEM and YMODEM send a block of data and wait for the remote PC to check the block of data before sending another, leaving periods of idle time on the line between blocks. Asynchronous protocols transmit data in one continuous stream, enabling you to make cost efficient use of all you phone line time. Now You See It With Procomm With Procomm and Procomm Plus, some monochrome monitors don't display all the text or highlighting of the help screens. If missing text is a problem, try starting the program with the "/B" option, to use ProComm's black and white settings. Type "ProComm/B" and you'll be able to see the status line and all text. Procomm's Handy On-Line Log To capture data easily during an on-line session, use Procomm Plus's Log File command instead of the usual method, which requires you to select a protocol and enter a filename. To begin recording just press <Alt><F1> and either enter a file name or simply press <ENTER> for the default file name "PCPLUS.LOG". Press <Alt><F1> again to finish recording . If you want to pause the log to skip over extraneous on-screen data, press <Alt><F2>; to continue, hit <Alt><F2> again. To read the log, press <Alt>-V and enter the file name. Speedy Norton Menus Batch File menus made with Norton Utilities' Batch Enhancer (BE) can be very slow if there are many BE commands, because BE.EXE must execute (read from disk) for each BE command. To speed up the process, place all your BE commands in one text file. Now, you can launch your menu from a batch file from a batch command line of "BE filename", where filename is the file containing all the BE commands. From the Oven to the Laser In humid climates, laser printers can warp the paper coming out of them and seal envelopes as well. If you have this problem, try baking your paper and envelopes in the oven at 125 to 150 degrees, for 1 to 2 hours, prior to printing. Norton MCI From Anywhere Norton Commander 3.0 users can write MCI Mail with any Word Processor, as long as the letter starts as follows : Via: 1 To: MCI mailbox Subject: Subject After the letter is complete, save it as an ASCII file in Commander's OUT directory, and it will be sent out the next time Commander logs on to MCI. If you wish to attach a binary file, insert the line "Attach: drive:\path\ filename" between the "To:" and the "Subject:" lines. LaserJet Toner Down but NOT out If your LaserJet printer turns out pages with vertical streaks on them, you're running out of toner. Don't throw that cartridge away, yet. Take the cartridge out, hold it by the handle and the opposite side, rock it gently back and forth several times, to redistribute the toner. Now, you can print several hundred more copies. This is also a good bet for copiers. Easy Exchange Between Compuserve and MCI Mail It's easy to exchange messages between Compuserve's Easy Mail and Mci Mail. Just address as follows, inserting MCI and Compuserve ID numbers in place of the #s. From Compuserve to MCI : TO >MCIMAIL ###.#### from MCI to Compuserve : TO EMS | Compuserve MBX : #####,### Crosstalk's Screen Snapshots During an on-line session, you may need to save a screen of data to disk, such as a new host system's commands. Crosstalk XVI+ has an obscure command that saves a snapshot of a screen to an ASCII file. Press "<ESC>pi <ENTER>" during the session, and enter a path and the file name. Run Programs Full Screen Under Desqview If you want an application to always open full screen in Desqview, take these steps. In the Change a Program Advance Options screen, give the program a 'Starting Height' of 25, a 'Starting Width' of 80 and both a 'Starting Row' and 'Starting Column' of 0. Now when you launch the application, it will run full screen. Speeding Modem Dialing Through Office PBX's If you have a nonstandard dial tone on your office phone system, you may have to tweak your modem's attention (using AT) command strings. Start your communications software, enter it's setup menu, and under modem setup, find the strings that begin with "AT". the modem's initialization string (the longest string, usually), add S6=n, where 'n' is any number, in seconds (2 or greater) which your system takes to get an outside line (dial tone). Setting the S6 register forces the modem to stop listening for dial tone, after the 'n' number of seconds, and to begin the dial sequence. You can further speed dialing after the modem gets an outside line by adding W to the tail end of the command string that starts with "ATDT". This sets the modem to dial the phone number immediately once it hears a normal dial tone rather than wait the entire duration set by register S6. Swap Mouse Buttons By default, PC Tools Deluxe's shell program doesn't care which mouse button you use to open menus or select a file. But if you want to copy, delete, or otherwise manipulate a group of files, you must use the left mouse button. If you're left-handed, however, this can be a pain. The solution: Swap the mouse button functions by using "PCSHELL /LE" at the DOS prompt, to load the shell. Easy LaserJet Printing With Norton Utilities Norton Utilities 4.5's LP (Line Print) program assumes you can print 66 lines per page, but the HP Laser Jet allows only 62. In order to use LP easily with the LaserJet, create a simple one- line batch file of : "LP %1 /H62". Call it HPLP.BAT and put it in a directory listed in your system PATH variable. Then from any DOS prompt, enter HPLP filename, where filename is the file to print. Chameleon PaintBrush A lot of people use PaintBrush in more than one video mode or with different printers. Instead of running PBSETUP to change PaintBrush's defaults, create variations on the PAINT.BAT file generated when the program is first installed. Say for example, that your system (and PAINT.BAT) is currently configured for 256 colors at 640 x 480, yet you sometimes need to run the program with 16 colors. Rename PAINT.BAT to "256.BAT", run PBSETUP, and generate a new PAINT.BAT with the appropriate settings. Exit PBSETUP, and rename that new PAINT.BAT to "16.BAT". Now, you can run PaintBrush in either mode with a few keystrokes. Modem Trick, Don't Compress Compressed Files If you own a modem with built in data compression (using MNP-5 or V.42bis), be sure to turn off the modem compression when downloading or uploading files which are already compressed, with utilities such as ARC, LHA and ZIP. Uploading or Downloading a previously compressed file with a data compressing modem, takes more time, than up or down loading the file without the modem compression. Check your modem manual for instructions on how to turn off your modem compression. DeskJet 80 Column Help HP DeskJet printers provide near laser-quality printing at a much lower price. There are, however, drawbacks. For one, the DeskJet prohibits you from printing close to the edge of the paper, so text files with 80 column lines don't always print correctly. To fix this problem, create the following one line batch file, calling it something like DJ80C.BAT. ECHO [(s1Q[&a5[&L7.27c[&k11.25H>PRN Replace the above "[" bracket characters with <ESC>. Many text editors allow entering the <ESC> character, by holding the <Alt> key down and entering "27" from the numeric keypad. If your text editor or word processor do NOT support this feature, use EDLIN, which comes with DOS. ProComm and Auto Scripts Users of the popular shareware telecommunications package, ProComm can take advantage of ProComm's script language and automatically log on to Delphi and other online systems. The following is a listing of a ProComm script file that will dial the Telenet number stored as Number 1, in the dialing directory and automatically log on to the Delphi at 8 bits, 1 stop bit and no parity. DIAL "1" WAIT "3" TRANSMIT "!D!" WAITFOR "@" TRANSMIT "C DELPHI" WAITFOR "Terminal=" TRANSMIT "D1!" WAITFOR "Username:" TRANSMIT "{YOUR NAME}" WAITFOR "Password:" TRANSMIT "{YOUR PASSWORD}" WAITFOR "MAIN >" TRANSMIT "GR PC" For more information on the ProComm script language, see the ProComm's documentation. Procomm is available for downloading from most major BBS systems. Many other communications programs also support script languages of their own. The above script listing, can be converted to other script languages with relative ease. Pascal TypeCasting Typecasting in Turbo Pascal 4.0 works very well, on variables and values. However, if you try to typecast a function result to match a variable, you will run into trouble. A solution to this problem, is to typecast the variable to match the function result. An example : POINTER(LongIntVar) :=PointerFunction; Special Guest Tip, from Jim Hood, Author of Prof. PC Laptop Tutor. If you have a Laptop computer you should order your copy of his great product. The Traveling Laptop Laptops are made to travel. Their small size and potent features make computing on the road a snap. Consider using this assortment of tips which seasoned laptop owners have come to rely on.... Airports are a frequent transit point for laptop owners. Be sure to be prepared for a SPEEDY passage through airport security by being aware that in most cases you MUST boot up the laptop so that a DOS prompt, menu or other sign of visible activity is displayed on the screen. Security officials do this for a reason: if a laptop computer has been tampered with or hollowed out to serve as an empty shell for explosives or weapons, the machine will not boot up or operate. By forcing the laptop owner to activate the machine, airport security is effectively screening for tampered machines. Once you know this, several important tips are quite useful. Always carry a BOTH a fully charged battery and AC adapter with the laptop. No power means no possibility of booting the machine and your laptop might be forced to remain behind! To speed the process on laptops equipped with hard drives try an experiment. Prepare a bootable floppy disk with DOS system files and a short AUTOEXEC.BAT program which boots the machine rapidly since DOS usually tries to boot from a floppy first and then the hard drive second. Now time how long it takes to boot from the floppy as well as the hard drive. Whichever is faster is the one you want to use to speed your trip through airport security. But ALWAYS take the bootable floppy as well. Why? If your laptop hard drive becomes damaged in transit - a possibility in today's airport environments - then you have a floppy backup which will also get you through airport security. This Tip is From The PC Professor Laptop Tutor, by Jim Hood. For more information on this product please see the description in the sub section "SOFTWARE SPECIALS", in the section "Software Directory". PC-Learn is a MUST have for anyone using a computer and wants the most from their system. Here is another tip from Jim Hood. For more of this type of information, order your copy of PC-Learn Alternate Power Beginners also need to know about the alternate keyboard. Sometimes you need a special symbol like the cents sign, the British currency (pounds sterling) symbol, or the one half fraction sign. IBM compatible computers contain an "alternate keyboard" system which allows access to special math, foreign language and graphics symbols. The source is a special ASCII chart printed in the appendix of your DOS manual as well as most computer reference books. It's easy to use this system: while you are in your word processor, DOS or other program, press AND CONTINUOUSLY HOLD DOWN the Alt key and then USING ONLY THE NUMBER KEYS ON THE NUMERIC KEYPAD (to the right of the keyboard, not the normal number keys above the keyboard) hit the three digit DECIMAL number code of the special character you need. For example, from the ASCII table in the back of my DOS manual I note that the symbol for the British currency Pound is decimal code 156. I hold down the Alt key, press in sequence the three numbers 156 on the numeric keypad and finally release the ALT key to get the proper symbol on my screen. There are many useful symbols for foreign languages, math, fractions, foreign currency, symbols to draw boxes, lines and useful graphics symbols. Note that these ASCII symbols will usually display properly on your screen but MIGHT NOT print properly on your printer since some are used for special control codes and other activities. Many will, however, display on both your screen and printer. Jot down the codes for the most interesting ASCII symbols to keep near your keyboard! By the way, PC-Magazine published a shareware utility called ASC.COM several years ago (available from many computer clubs and BBS systems) which can "pop up" over many of your programs and display the full ASCII code table for quick reference and handy use if you don't want to go searching for the ASCII index in the back of your DOS manual. Before leaving the discussion about the alternate keyboard, note that crucial control of your printer - setting various typefaces and features - can be provided via a combination of batch files and use of the alternate keyboard. See the printer discussion at the end of the PC-Learn batch file tutorial elsewhere on this disk. This Tip is From The PC-Learn, A PC Tutor, by Jim Hood. For more information on this product please see the description in the sub section "SOFTWARE SPECIALS", in the section "Software Directory". PC-Learn is a MUST have for anyone using a computer and wants the most from their system. Section finished. Be sure to order your THREE BONUS DISKS which expand this software package with vital tools, updates and additional tutorial material for computer users! Send $24.95 to Scanlon Enterprises, Department TIP, 38354 17th St. E., Palmdale, CA 93550. Bonus disks shipped promptly! Modifications, custom program versions, Site and LAN licenses of this package for business or corporate use are possible, contact the author. This software is shareware - an honor system which means TRY BEFORE YOU BUY. Press escape key to return to menu.