Deleting files in Word 6
Well-hung Windows revisited
Skipping the 'Try using Scandisk' message
Scan Upper Memory Aggressively
Shocks in store for PC tinkerers
Compaq OverDrive upgrades
Win95 Start Menu tip
Further to the letter in your August 1995 Australian PC World from Ralph Latta, Hawera, NZ, entitled "Sudden Death", about deleting files within Word 6.
I was astounded at the three ways suggested - there is a much, much easier way.
You simply go to the File menu, choose Find File, search for the files you want, and select all documents in the desired directory. When they appear on the screen, you then highlight the documents you wish to delete, press Delete and Word asks if you wish to delete them. You then press either Enter or OK.
What could be easier?
- Marian Mills
Editor's note: There's no doubt that's a very simple answer. It works in Word 6.0 according to our tests. The Find File facility is missing from Word 7.0, but you can just use the Windows 95 Find feature, accessible from the Start menu, in its place.
I am responding to the "Well-hung Windows" problem described on page 166 of the September 1995 Australian PC World. We had exactly the same problem late last year, on about 15 machines, when we were putting in networked classroom computers. The problem didn't occur if Windows for Workgroups was started with the command line win /n, which disables network functionality.
The problem turned out to be the interrupt number (IRQ) that the network card was set to. The first card I tried to set up was an SMC one, and its setup disk defaulted to IRQ 15, so we used IRQ 15 on all our cards. Most of these were 3Com EtherLink 3 cards. All of them exhibited the same problem of hanging up on exit to DOS.
The solution was to change the network card to a different interrupt. We usually use IRQ 12 if it's free, otherwise 10 or 11. As you would know, you should check what interrupts other cards are using. Sometimes the net card setup tells you that one is busy, in which case you should try a different one.
It would appear IRQ 15 is used by the BIOS, on quite a few BIOS chips. This apparently doesn't matter when in Windows, but does matter on exit from Windows. MSD or other diagnostics that show IRQ assignments may clarify this.
On another note, we had problems finding drivers for our SMC Elite Ultra cards. None of the drivers supplied with Windows for Workgroups worked reliably. We eventually found that the drivers supplied on the SMC disks, in the NDIS directory, work well. However, they don't allow you to specify the base address (IO address) of the card; there's a restricted choice of base addresses at which this driver can find the card. Also, the SMC cards require you to specify a high memory window as an X= option for EMM386, and an EMMExclude in System.ini, under [386Enh]. The 3Com and Intel cards don't need this - none of them uses a DMA channel.
We found that the 3Com cards were easier to set up - the standard Windows for Workgroups drivers work well. I have been told that Intel ones set up easily, too. I have also set up 3Com cards under Windows NT Workstation and Windows NT Server, with no problems. NT tends to detect them as 3Com EtherLink; you can manually select 3Com EtherLink 3.
I hope that this information is of some help to you.
- Ted Crawford (Electrical Engineer)
Editor's note: Thanks for the benefit of your experience, Ted. No doubt many mysterious goings-on have an interrupt conflict somewhere in the background. It's great to hear some good anecdotal material on how happy readers have been with their hardware choices. When readers write in with their impressions of software or hardware, we're very happy to pass the information on to other readers who may be considering the same choices.
One of the lessons from your experience is that it helps a lot if you get hardware which is well supported by the drivers supplied with Windows or Windows 95. Otherwise you end up using drivers supplied by the manufacturers, who may not have taken into consideration the vast range of configurations in which their drivers and hardware have to work.
In the August edition of PC World, in the Star-Dot-Star section, there is a note about the annoying message with CHKDSK. I presume that this is about the message and prompt that comes about when running CHKDSK /F on MS-DOS 6.x.
It isn't necessary to run SETVER and run an older CHKDSK, as there is another way around this message. CHKDSK /F will only ask for a Y answer if run from the normal command prompt. Try the following:
COMMAND /C CHKDSK /F
This runs it as a batch command and - voilà! - you still get the message, but don't have the question to answer. It would also be simple to incorporate a batch file called, say, chkf.bat, containing the command:
@COMMAND /C CHKDSK %1 %2 /F
This would be a lot safer and easier than running older CHKDSK versions.
- John Lowe, Technical Services Manager, Complete Technology Australia
Editor's note: Thanks for the tip, John. I agree that it's best to run the latest version of a utility. After all, software upgrades happen slowly, reluctantly and only in response to desperate need, so you need to take advantage of upgrades whenever you can. Solving DOS problems with little batch files is such a way of life that I've evolved a standard approach to it. I always create a directory called UTILS on every new machine, and set up autoexec.bat to put UTILS in the path. UTILS has all the little batch files like chkf.bat.
Your suggestion of using COMMAND /C is a good, general one. What it does is to load another instance of the command interpreter, which is also what batch files do. The /C option says that all arguments after /C are command line arguments (any command line you'd normally type at the DOS prompt). The command interpreter performs all commands after /C and exits. Before DOS version 3.3, there was no CALL command for running one batch file from within another, so you had to use COMMAND /C, whereas now you would use CALL.
The /K option is like the /C option, only the command interpreter doesn't exit after performing the commands. After completing the commands you specify as arguments, you're returned to the DOS prompt.
If you like using up memory for no good reason, you can nest a series of command interpreters one inside the other by typing COMMAND at successive DOS prompts. Each one uses up about 3K of memory. You can return from a command interpreter to the one from which it was invoked by typing EXIT at the DOS prompt. This is a slow and inefficient way to use up memory needlessly, however, and has been superseded by Windows.
If you want to switch to MS-DOS from Windows, you can just run COMMAND. In Windows 3.1, in Program Manager or File Manager, choose File-Run or press <Alt>+F, then R. Type COMMAND and press Enter or click OK to move to the DOS prompt.
Unfortunately, you can't run CHKDSK /F in a DOS Window, because Windows won't permit direct access to the hard disk. You can run CHKDSK by itself, just to see if any fixes need to be done. Use the /K option so you'll have a chance to read the display before returning from the DOS windows. Run:
COMMAND /K CHKDSK
Type exit to close the DOS Window. Another COMMAND.COM tip: don't erase it from your root directory. Try making it read-only to reduce the likelihood of this (type attrib +r command.com).
Many a time one of my customer's computers spits the dummy if you enable the Scan Upper Memory Aggressively option in MemMaker. There is a partial solution that will work faultlessly, nine times out of 10. You must first make absolutely sure that the computer does not shadow the top 64K of memory, from F000 to FFFF. Many computers will tell you whether it does this in the bootup screen. Otherwise, check the CMOS setup.
Provided your computer doesn't shadow F000 to FFFF, add to the end of the EMM386 line in config.sys the following:
I=F100-F7FF
As an example, the line might look like this:
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS I=F100-F7FF.
This space seems to be used only on bootup, and will give you some more upper memory to play with.
- Eddy Lorenzon
I have been reading and enjoying your magazines for quite some time, and find them very informative and The Help Screen very helpful. However, I did become somewhat concerned when I read the letter from Chip Zapper and the Editor's note which you published in your October 95 issue [Star-Dot-Star, page 190].
Both the letter and the Editor's note suggest that to overcome the problem with static electricity damaging PC hardware when working on the system, the PC should be plugged into an earthed AC power strip. I understood this to mean a Kambrook four-way-switched power board or similar, which was then plugged into an earthed power outlet with both the switches off.
I am concerned at this practice. Over years in the electrical contracting field I have come across faulty power outlets on numerous occasions. One kind of fault occurs when the active and neutral conductors at the power outlet are transposed, which results in incorrect polarity, with the switch operating in the neutral conductor and allowing power through to the PC even though all the switches are off. You did make mention of this in your Editor's note, but I feel it would still take a competent person, using the methods described in your article, to ensure that the PC was not still live.
Another possible danger is that the switch mechanism in the power outlet is faulty and not operating as it should by breaking the active conductor. May I offer an alternative suggestion?
When work is to be carried out inside the PC, you can make a jumper lead with crocodile clip ends. The wire making up the jumper lead can be low-current wire, as the static discharge would only be in micro or milliamperes.
Speaker wire would be acceptable. Before the work is started, unplug all the power cables to the PC. Attach the jumper lead to a good earthing point on the PC chassis, such as an exposed screw head. Attach the other end of the jumper lead to a known earthed point on another plugged-in, metal-cased appliance, such as a fridge, electric stove or an earthed metallic water pipe.
I feel that this method would be much safer for removing the small, but very damaging, amount of static while working on a PC. To remove any built-up static, keep a part of your body, such as a hand or forearm, touching the grounded frame while the work is carried out.
Please do not think that by writing this letter I am chastising your for the article. However, your readers who carry out work on their PCs using the methods you suggest may put themselves at risk of receiving a serious electric shock or, at worst, a fatal shock.
- Bill Sheehan, Northside Electrical (Queensland)
Editor's note: Go ahead, chastise us. I'm chastising myself at the thought of the unbelievable danger I've been in all these years, working on PCs that have been plugged into the mains but supposedly turned off. To think we could have been killing subscribers with our advice!
Your method sounds good, although some readers may have difficulty dragging the fridge into the office. There is also a possibility, I suppose, that the fridge could be plugged into a faulty outlet and its chassis could be live, although maybe you'd notice the curly edges on the lettuce leaves.
Perhaps a better alternative is to ensure that all offices contain a thoroughly grounded and well-stocked bar fridge. The temperature of the beer should be regularly checked to ensure the fridge is operating correctly, from which one can safely infer that the ground connection is adequate. As office safety prerequisites, both fridge and beer become legitimate tax deductions.
It's worth remembering that most accidents happen in familiar surroundings, among the appliances we trust the most. It takes only a moment's inattention with the computer, fridge, blender or chainsaw to bring about serious or fatal injury. If that PC has your name on it, it's time to go.
Another approach to avoiding static problems is to use an antistatic wrist strap. You can get these for $15 or $20 at Harvey Norman Computers or Paw Products (phone (02) 418 8166). A voltaic strap goes round your wrist, and it's earthed by a connection to the chassis of your PC. Any static build-up in your body discharges to the PC chassis. However, this avoids the question of what's earthing your PC. If your power outlets are faulty, you can't very well leave your PC plugged in. Maybe the best bet is to have your outlets checked by seasoned professionals, such as Bill, if there's any doubt in your mind.
Hello again. In your August 1995 edition of Australian PC World, in the Help Screen Hardware Q&A, there is a letter on OverDrive upgrades and a response from Eric Knorr.
On the Compaq ProLinea 4/25s there have been several versions of motherboard supplied. On the motherboard with a jumper for 33MHz or 25MHz clock speeds (P8), to switch to a 486DX2 or OverDrive processor, changes to jumpers P9, P10 and P11 are required.
The reader who wants to perform the upgrade should consult his Compaq reseller or his owner's manual. My Compaq quick reference guide shows that the P9 to P11 jumper are not the same (for an OverDrive processor) as they are for a 486SX processor.
- John Lowe
Editor's note: It's never as simple as one might hope, is it John? Before anyone ever starts experimenting with changes to the motherboard, my advice is to consult every conceivable authority, from your local computer store to the Delphic Oracle and the I Ching. Then note down the position of every jumper, and label every lead clearly to indicate its orientation and where it plugs in. If anything has to be removed, make a very clear record of where it was before you touched it. Have little plastic bags to keep all the screws and washers and other small items.
If you do all this, there is a forlorn hope you may be able to return your PC to its original condition, should your dreams of unheard-of performance improvements be dashed. That venerable tome, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, is a good reader on Industrial Age paranoia, a condition which should afflict all right-minded people in the presence of a personal computer.
If you embark on experimentation without any documentation for your motherboard or your expansion cards, you'll be sorry. Unless you thrive on skinned knuckles, pain and frustration, it's far better to get someone at a reputable computer store to do it, because that way they take responsibility and they might well know something you don't.
In the September issue your technical editor bemoaned the inability to change the order of options at a given menu level because the items are sorted in alphabetical order. Try these tips to change the order of user-added program folders and icons in the Start menu and submenus.
Use numbers, such as 1, 2, 3 and so on, at the start of the name. These will appear in number order before any unnumbered items, which follow in alphabetical order.
Place a non-displaying space at the start of the item name. You can create one using the key sequence <Alt>+0160 (using the keys on the numeric keypad with Num Lock turned on). The items with the preceding space are listed alphabetically before any without the space, which follow in alphabetical order.
If you use both these methods, the items preceded by a space appear before the numbered items.
- Robert Eldridge
Editor's note: Great tip, Robert. You can use this tip to determine the order in which icons appear in Windows 95 folders as well. The sort order in which the icons appear in the Start menu listings follows the ANSI code order pretty closely, except for punctuation characters which appear before numbers and alphabetic characters, and the 0160 character, which appears first in folder and menu sorting. You can see the ANSI sort order in the Character Map application.
You have to use the 0160 character to precede names because Windows 95 ignores a standard space at the beginning of a file name, although you can put one or more space characters in between words in long file names.
Uppercase letters appear before lowercase letters in the ANSI code. You can't name two objects in Windows 95 with the same name, differing only in the case of the characters, so you don't often notice this. However, if you decide to use not just numbers but letters to precede icon names, uppercase letters come before lowercase.
Using leading space characters is tricky. If you put two leading space characters in an entry, it appears before entries with only one leading space character.
You can number icons in single digits, but if you use double digits, 11 appears before 2. To get around this you can decide how many digits you want to use, and insert leading zeros: 001, 002, . . . 011. These are sorted in the expected order.
In the example shown below, you can move icons around in any order in a folder, but when you reopen the folder after closing it, icons may end up re-sorted in more or less ANSI order. This happens particularly if you have the View-Options-Browse folders by using a single window option selected.
In the Start menu, the menu is sorted in more or less ANSI order at all times, no matter how you arrange the icons in its corresponding folder. In our example, Zebra is at the top because it has two leading 0160 characters. The first Albatross has one leading space character. The last Albatross has a 0160 character at the end, which really seems to confuse the sort order, placing it after the Albatross with no leading or final 0160 characters.
A warning: Windows 95, even more than Windows 3.1, has the capacity to absorb endless hours in non-productive fiddling. A good rule is stop at once.
- Neale Morison