Desperately seeking keyboard tips
Where to draw the line
Baud to the max
First, find your Emergency recovery utility
Pardon me, you're not unzipped
Loaded-down downloading
Prices are not what they SIMM
Just the fax
Q A couple of months ago I received a copy of a small excerpt of your book "Discover Windows 95: The ultimate visual exploration of Windows 95", and one of the tips was "Using help to find more keyboard tips". I have been looking for this list for ages and tried to find this topic on my copy of Win95. I could not get it, nor could I get any of the keyboard subjects as listed in your diagram on page 22. I have tried every way I can to get these shortcuts, but to no avail. My questions are:
1. Does Win95 Plus radically change the Help file after installation?
2. Has Win95 been radically changed since your excerpt was printed?
3. If Yes, where can I find these shortcut listings now?
I would really appreciate some feedback on this if you can.
I asked Chris to send a listing of his Help files, and he
replied:
I have tried to send this file three times, but because of a slow internal modem (2,400bit/sec) I had to really cut it down and zip the file. Yes I am upgrading to 14,400bit/sec - I don't think its worth going higher at this time: what do you think?
- Chris Perdue
A
It's worth upgrading your modem if you do a lot of downloading,
and you're using a service on which the limiting factor is the
modem speed. 2,400bit/sec is far too slow. 14,400bit/sec is a
good compromise if you don't want to pay for the latest modem,
but most of the modems available now are 28,800bit/sec.
The shortcut keys are in the file WINDOWS.HLP, accessible by opening the Start menu and clicking Help, or by double-clicking on the file name in your file browser.
Your file listing shows that you have this file, and your version has exactly the same number of bytes as my version, and the same date. Short of doing a bit-for-bit comparison or developing a fairly complex conspiracy theory, I think we have the same files.
From your file listing screen grabs, I gather you're using File Manager, which is a real drawback in Windows 95 because it doesn't handle the long file names. You're much better off with Explorer, which lets you take full advantage of the Win95 interface.
In short, I don't know why you can't find these keyboard shortcuts. To get to them, you open the Help file, click the Index tab and type keyboard shortcut. You have the files, you have the wiles.
In the immortal words of Paul Newman as Cool Hand Luke (Warner
Bros, 1967), "What we've got here is a failure to communicate",
but we can overcome that. Here's a copy of the Help sections on
shortcut keys:
General Windows keys
You can use the following keyboard shortcuts with Windows.
| F1 | See Help on the selected dialogue box item |
| <Alt>+F4 | Quit a program |
| <Shift>+F10 | View the shortcut menu for the selected item |
| <Ctrl>+<Esc> | Display the Start menu |
| <Alt>+Tab | Switch to the window you last used, or switch to the next window by pressing <Alt> while repeatedly pressing TAB |
| <Ctrl>+X | Cut |
| <Ctrl>+C | Copy |
| <Ctrl>+V | Paste |
| <Del> | Delete |
| <Ctrl>+Z | Undo |
| <Shift> while inserting the CD-ROM | Bypass AutoPlay when inserting a CD |
In Explorer or My Computer browser
| <Ctrl>+A | Select all |
| F5 | Refresh a window |
| Backspace | View the folder one level up |
| <Shift> while clicking the Close button | Close the selected folder and all its parent folders |
Keys for Open and Save As dialogue boxes
| F4 | Open the Save In or Look In list |
| F5 | Refresh |
| Backspace | Open folder one level up, if a folder is selected |
Keys for properties dialogue boxes
| TAB | Move forward through options |
| <Shift>+Tab | Move backward through options |
| <Ctrl>+Tab | Move forward through tabs |
| <Ctrl>+<Shift>+Tab | Move backward through tabs |
For the desktop, My Computer, and Windows Explorer
When an item is selected, you can use the following shortcut keys.
| F2 | Rename an item |
| F3 | Find a folder or file |
| <Shift>+<Del> | Delete immediately without placing the item in the Recycle Bin |
| <Alt>+Enter or <Alt> + double-click | View item properties |
| <Ctrl> while dragging the file | Copy a file |
| <Ctrl>+<Shift> while dragging the file | Create a shortcut |
Keys for Windows Explorer only
| <Ctrl>+G | Go to |
| F6 | Switch between left and right panes |
| NumLock + ASTERISK (* on numeric keypad) | Expand all subfolders under the selected folder |
| NumLock + Plus Sign (+ on numeric keypad) | Expand the selected folder |
| NumLock + Minus Sign (- on numeric keypad) | Collapse the selected folder |
| Right arrow | Expand current selection if it's collapsed, otherwise select first subfolder |
| Left arrow | Collapse current selection if it's expanded, otherwise select parent folder |
Speed search
Don't forget there's a speed search for filenames in the browser or Explorer. Just select the file window and start to type the filename, and the first file matching the characters you type is found and selected. In File Manager, each time you pressed a key the search picked up the first file whose first character matched the last key you typed. In Windows 95, if you type steadily, without a pause, you'll narrow the search to the file you want. Choose View-Arrange Icons-By Name to assist this process.
And now for a never-seen elsewhere tip (except in the booklet you mentioned): to close all the windows on the Windows 95 desktop, press <Ctrl>+<Esc> followed by <Alt>+M
Q Thanks for your letter about my problem and also the write-up in Australian PC World, April 1996 edition. I have tried to find MS LineDraw under fonts in Windows and could not locate it. I also loaded Windows 3.0, 3.1 and Windows 3.11 for Workgroups and could not find MS LineDraw anywhere. I know you said it comes with Windows 3.x, but I've also checked all the Windows disks and could not find MS LineDraw. What I would like to know is: is it an add-on for Windows?
- Raymond Wozencroft
A Raymond, it turns out that MS LineDraw comes only with MS Word 6 and above, Office 4.2 and above, and PowerPoint. Sorry to have misled you. However, you can download MS LineDraw from the CompuServe Word forum (soon to lose Microsoft support, so perhaps the file won't be available there for much longer) and the MS Web page at www.microsoft.com. The file is called GC0651.EXE.
It's at the Microsoft Web site at ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Softlib/Mslfiles/gc0651.exe,
or you can use the link on our PC World forum at http://www.idg.com.au/pc.world
Whenever you're looking for files that might be available from Microsoft, try the Microsoft Knowledge Base at http://www.microsoft.com/kb
Once you're there, if you have a particular file in mind, select the appropriate application from the list box, then in the search field type:
kbfile <filename> , and click Go.
In your case, I've allowed you to take advantage of the Australian PC World virtual FTP service, which involves sending us a stamped, self-addressed envelope and floppy disk. We'll stop providing this service if we're inundated with requests or Microsoft complains about this method of distributing their free files, but in the meantime it's available for those who really can't get hold of files any other way.mskb1.tifYou can find a treasure trove of Microsoft-related files at the Microsoft Knowledge base at http://www.microsoft.com/kb or the Microsoft FTP software library at ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Softlib
Q I have recently bought a MultiTech Systems's MultiModem2834ZDXi. The maximum baud rate (modem to machine) is 115,200bit/sec if you have 16550 UART [serial port chips]. I have only a 8250 UART: my question is what is the maximum baud rate (modem to machine) I could use?
- Gabriel Van
A Gabriel, the 115,200bit/sec rate you quote is arrived at by assuming 4x compression on a 28,800 bit/sec modem. This requires modems at either end of the line that precisely follow the same compression standards, so they can synchronise at maximum efficiency. The simplest way to achieve this is to use the same make and model of modem on each machine. It also requires noise-free phone lines, something you can't guarantee.
If you're running 8250 UARTs, you can be pretty confident of your CPU and UARTs handling a base 9,600bit/sec rate, which with 4x compression gives you a maximum 38,400 rate. If your 8250 UARTS and CPU can handle a 14,400bit/sec base rate, you get a maximum 57,600bit/sec rate.
The Modem review by Spiro Hionis in our May issue covers this topic in some detail on page 97. It's all to do with the 8250 and 16450 UARTs having a one-byte buffer, and if your computer can't get that byte of information out of the buffer in synchronisation with the modem, it gets overwritten and errors are detected and data has to be sent again and the whole system slows down. The FIFO buffer on the 16550 has 16 bytes, which allows it to boost the rate at which data moves in and out.
Q I have been trying to get the Disaster Backup you showed in your March issue (page 196) to run on a friend's machine. We copied the files as per the instructions in the article. When the ERU.* program runs it says it also needs a file called ERD.*, which wasn't mentioned in the article.
When running ERU.exe, the program starts fine and even accesses the floppy drive, but nothing else happens! No files are transferred to the floppy disk!
Have you tried the procedure for yourself? If it does work, it will be of great help for those of us who use DOS tape backups for Win95.
-- Bill Sheehan
I've successfully restored from the DOS prompt a backup of the entire Windows 95 disk, made using the LFNBK procedure. I've formatted the hard disk, restored my backup, restored the long file names and behold: Windows 95 and all my data is there just as before.
You don't actually have to use ERU as part of this procedure. ERU.EXE is just for backing up your configuration files, registry files and so on. The main part of the procedure is to backup the long filenames, backup the drive, and in the restore part, restore the drive and restore the long filenames.
Perhaps ERU.EXE didn't work because you didn't have the ERU.INF that specifies which files to backup. You have to edit the ERU.INF file yourself to indicate which ones you want. ERU.INF has to be in the Windows directory.
It's worth persevering, because this backup procedure does work. What's more, because DOS mode is unable to handle long filenames, it's unlikely to be significantly improved upon without operating system changes. eru1.gifThe Emergency Recovery Utility has a simple interface in the form of a wizard that guides you through creating an emergency backup
Q Hello! This is the second time I have been writing to you. Well, during this last few days I faced some difficulties in using Windows 95.
The first problem is: during a journey on the World Wide Web using Netscape Navigator, I copied one of the Web's documents onto my disk. However, when I tried to open the file using Writepad, it turns out to be a strange form of computer writing (not in English but like computer binary writing). The file has a text of *.zip (eg, phrack10.zip), so how am I to convert it to a readable English form using applications such as Writepad.
The second problem is in Windows 95. When you want to open a file, an icon "Open With" appears and allows you to choose a application. But when I want to open the file with another application I found it is impossible because, unlike in Windows 3.x where there is an "associate" icon which allows you to change the application anytime, in Windows 95 I couldn't find the command to do so. Therefore, I hope you can give me a solution to this and the above problem. Thankyou! And have a nice day!
- Aliza Teo
A Thanks Aliza. The zip file is a compressed file which has to be decompressed with a special utility called pkunzip. People often compress files to reduce the space needed to store them and the time taken to download them. You create a zip file with pkzip. The set of pkzip utilities is available on just about any on-line service. It's called something like PK204G.EXE. I'll put a pointer to it on our PC World shareware page.
Warning: the latest version of pkzip is 2.04g. If you find a file claiming to be version 3 of pkzip it's a hoax, and may contain a virus. Don't touch it.
Note: The widely-circulated e-mail message saying pkzip 3.0 is a hoax may be a hoax. If so, ignore the previous warning.
Download PK204G.EXE and run it. It will expand itself to create several files, including pkzip.exe and pkunzip.exe. Now, to unzip your file go to a DOS window, change to the directory containing the file you want to unzip, say PHRACK10.ZIP, and type at the command prompt:
pkunzip phrack10.zip
Pkzip then decompresses your file and puts the file it extracts in the same directory. There are also several Windows utilities for decompressing zip files. Two of them are on our Web page already: Winzip and Drag and Zip. Unfortunately, you need pkunzip to decompress them, because they are in compressed zip format. It's a bit of a circular argument, isn't it?
We've mentioned already in PC World how to associate applications with file extensions. It's hidden in Windows 95. It's in the Explorer or Folder browser View menu. Choose View-Options, then choose the File Types tab. Click New Type, and follow the dialogue boxes through. It's more complicated than it has to be, but I think you'll be able to figure it out. assoc1.gif:To associate file extensions with applications, you open the Explorer or Browser and choose the View-Options, File Types tab
Q I hope you can help me with this problem. I'm using Windows 95 and an Executive FM Maestro Modem 1.44K. The problem is that whenever I'm connected to the Internet, the download is always so slow. Do you have the same problem, because I see that you are connected with OzEmail as well?
Even though I use 14.4K, the rate that usually occurs during download is about 0.7K per second, which is terribly slow. My computer has a 16550 UART-compatible port, but I am unable to activate it correctly through Windows 95. That is, check the FIFO buffers box. Whenever I check the box, the modem would still connect, but then some of the letters will turn out to be gibberish.
Could you please help me sort out the problem? Thanks a lot in advance.
Keep up the good work with the magazine. By the way, I would love if you could review more entertainment software as well, seeing that the entertainment side of the industry is moving in leaps and bounds.
- Santa Rusli
A
Santa, thanks for your positive comments. I'm afraid there's
nothing to fix, unless you want to try to fix the Internet. It's
a system with a certain amount of bandwidth (that is, it can handle
transferring a certain number of bits per second) and the bandwidth
has to be shared between a huge and exponentially increasing number
of users.
Often you'll find that you're connected to servers via the Australia/US link, and this invariably runs very slowly.
There are other parts of the link which may be bandwidth bottlenecks: the connection between your Internet service provider and the Internet may be overburdened; the server you're connected to may be overburdened; and any of the parts of the link between you and the server from which you're downloading may be overburdened.
The speed of your Internet downloads is a measure of the Internet weather, and these days it's always a rainy Sunday afternoon. It's worth having a fast modem to make the most of those fast bursts when you do get a good connection, but you're unlikely to do a whole lot better than what you're getting now. The speeds you report are the same as I get with a 28.8Kbit/sec modem. Actually, 07.K per second isn't bad at all.
You can get better performance by avoiding the peak times, but this may mean sitting up till 3am. You can also try to get as much as possible from Australian servers. There are many mirror servers in Australia which contain copies of overseas server contents. See our PC World Website at http://www.idg.com.au/pc.world for the mirrors of the main shareware servers: CICA, SimTel and Garbo. Before downloading, always check to see if alternate download sites are on offer, and if there's an Australian one.
Your modem and UARTs are almost certainly not the problem. I'm not sure why your FIFO settings are not working. For the benefit of other readers, these are hidden away in the Modem properties sheet. In the Windows 95 Control Panel, open the Modems module and click the Properties button. In the Modem properties dialogue box, select the Connection tab, and click the Port Settings button.
As for losing characters, have you tried checking the FIFO box
but adjusting the size of the receive and transmit buffer? This
is how you're supposed to adjust the speed until your system can
handle it.
fifo1.gif:To adjust your FIFO
buffer settings, go to the Modem properties dialogue box, choose
the Connection tab and click the Port Settings button
Q I've got a computer problem for you to solve. I have a 486DX2-66 with 8Mb RAM. My motherboard only takes 30-pin SIMMs. I would like to upgrade it to 16Mb (get rid of the 8 x 1Mb 30-pin SIMMS, and replace them with 4 x 4Mb 30pin SIMMs). The 4Mb 30-pin SIMMs are $132 (inc tax), and have a one-year warranty.
I would, in one or two years time, like to get a brand new system. Money is not the issue here. Do you think I should go for the upgrade or should I just stay with the 8Mb RAM, and get a new system in one or two years time? I would much appreciate it if you could advise me ASAP. I would like an answer ASAP because I have someone who wants to buy the 8 x 1Mb 30pin SIMMs. Any idea at what price should I sell the 1Mb 30-pin SIMMs?
- Gabriel
A Gabriel, this question is occurring to many people as they finally decide it's time to upgrade their RAM.
It's a good time to do it because RAM prices have at last come down. However, 30-pin SIMMs are still expensive, because the chips are obsolete and not being made in large numbers, and typically in a case like yours you have to dispose of some or all of your existing memory.
It's definitely a good idea to upgrade, but how you do it is an interesting question.
Your 16Mb of memory is going to cost you $528 at the prices you mentioned.
If you have a taker for your old memory, I'd say do it. As for the price you should ask, if you traded in your old memory to a dealer, you might get about $160 for your 8Mb of 1Mb SIMMs. Charge your buyer this and you'd ease the pain of the upgrade to about $368 - not bad at all.
There are other options, though, and they depend delicately on the cost of various components. The prices in the following scenarios are from Apek Computers in St Leonards, and are package prices, which we've broken down into components to make it easy to understand. Prices vary a lot from place to place.
Scenario 1: Buy 4 x 4Mb 32-pin SIMMs at over $800. Less a $160 trade-in, that's $640 for obsolete memory you won't be able to use when you upgrade to a Pentium machine (your price - $132 per 4Mb - is much cheaper of course).
Scenario 2: Buy a new motherboard, with 72-pin SIMM sockets at $180, plus 8Mb of 72-pin memory at $190. The total is $370. Now you can buy converters for making your old 8Mb of 32-pin SIMMs into 24Mb 72-pin SIMMs. These cost $40 each, so that total package is $370 plus $80: total $450.
Scenario 3: Buy a new motherboard, without a processor, with 72-pin SIMM sockets at $180, plus 16Mb of 72-pin memory at $390: total package is $570. You have to move the old processor into the new motherboard and install the new memory. Less $160 trade-in on your old RAM, that's $410.
At these prices, Scenario 3 is the best, not only for price but for long-term considerations. You have a new motherboard, with PCI slots and fast I/O ports, 72-pin SIMM sockets that are easy to upgrade next time you want more memory, and more likelihood of being able to upgrade the processor when you want to. Best of all, you haven't got any more obsolete 32-pin memory. I hope this makes you choice easier.
Q I have been reading and enjoying PC World for a long time, and I always make it a point to read the Help Screen entirely. I'm always impressed by the useful advice and tips given, even on arcane problems.
I've a problem I haven't been able to solve for quite a while.
I've got an Xstreama 14.4K internal fax modem working under Windows 95. It works fine connecting to BBSs and the Internet, but it won't let me send a fax. It's answered by the remote fax machine OK, but stalls during the negotiation phase. I have tried both Microsoft Fax and WinFax Lite. Under WinFax, it's set up as a Generic Class 2 Send/Receive fax modem with Init string: AT&F&C1&D2M1L1S0=0S7=45\
It doesn't respond to incoming fax messages at all. However, the distributor assures me that the card works perfectly under Windows 95. He blames it on my phone line, but I have no problems sending or receiving faxes using a notebook computer. I know that fax modem problems are particularly hard to troubleshoot, but do you have any ideas? Thanks a lot.
- Kein Gan
A Kein, I think it's time to take a moment to say how much I appreciate the politeness of people who preface their request for help on an incredibly obscure hardware problem with sincerely felt praise of Help Screen, PC World and my good self.
So much of what goes wrong with machines is a matter of protocol, and the same is true in the world of "wetware". If you don't get that little handshake, that acknowledgement that communication is proceeding on the traditional lines, chances are you just give up on the transmission.
To those of you who've sent questions to Help Screen and received no reply, there are two basic possibilities: either I haven't the faintest idea how to fix your problem, or you didn't lay it on thick enough in your letter.
As to your faxing problem, Kein, I used to test modems from my home and I had this trouble all the time. I eventually concluded it was due to lossy lines around where I live. Some equipment puts out a strong signal at the high end of the permitted amplitude range, and some puts out a signal in the middle or low part of the range. A lot of modems put out a middle or low amplitude signal, and if there's a lot of line loss the signal doesn't appear to be strong enough to perform all the delicate to-and-fro-ings required for fax transmission. This seems to happen even if the line isn't noisy.
There's a Telstra number for testing faxes which can give useful information on this: FOLDSA 03 9640 0999.
This gives you a report on how much data loss you have due to noise, your signal strength, and so on. Using this service, I discovered my fax modems were putting out a signal below the standard acceptable level.
To use the service, you just set the fax ID to your international phone number (eg, 61 2 439 5512) in your fax software setup. Then you send a fax to the FOLDSA number. In a minute or so it sends a return fax with a copy of your fax and statistics on how the fax went.
However, I don't know what you do if your fax modem isn't performing up to strength. I found that some modems worked for me and some didn't, so at last I just gave up using the ones that didn't. It's not a highly technical answer, is it?
I'm not as informed as I might be on the hardware issues in telecommunications and fax in particular, so something in me senses that there could be some correspondence on this issue. Let's hope people write in to tell you how to fix your problem. Does anyone know a legal way to beef up the output of a fax modem?