• Software Tip
  Backup, Backup, Backup
  
  
• Website of Interest
  TripAdvisor.com
  
  
• Computer Parts
  Mouse
  
  
• Tech Tip
  Where did that
  File Go?
  
  
• eScams
  Credit Card Fraud
  
  
• Featured Discussions
  problems running
      scandisk, defrag
  Unwanted background
      programs
  I can't send emails in
      Outlook Express
  Older Computer does
      not Shutdown
  Norton detected by
      WinRescue
  
  
• Questions on our
  Discussion Board
  
  

Software Tip - Backup, Backup, Backup

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        If the only thing you use your computer for is playing solitare, you don't need the information in this article. But if you use your computer for anything else, like sending and receiving emails, viewing pictures, or writing, then it is very important that you make regular backups. This article tells about the two basic types of backups and where to keep them.
        Image Backup - the first type of backup is an image backup (also called a ghost, mirror, or clone). It copies the entire drive as one image. Every bit on the drive is put in the backup. When the backup is restored every bit is put back where it originally was. While many people like this type of backup because restore quickly puts everything back on the drive exactly as it was, it does have its disadvantages. One disadvantage is that the backups are huge and so you need much more storage space to store fewer backups. Because they are huge, the backup process takes a long time and people tend to make fewer of them.
        A hidden disadvantage is that restoring an image gives you back all of the trash and hidden bits that were on the drive to begin with. Some people would rather start with a clean slate and reinstall everything after a crash giving them a nice, clean drive.
        There are many commercial programs that back up an image of the drive. The only freeware programs that I know of are CloneHD (the free version has limitations) and DriveImage XML. I have not used either one, so I cannot recommend or criticize them.
        File Backup - this other type of backup only backs up files. It does not back up anything that is not a file or directory. Any trash laying around in the empty spaces is not backed up.
        Most files on your computer are not at risk of being lost or can be replaced by reinstalling Windows and your other programs. It is only the files unique to you that are really valuable (your email messages, your pictures, your writings, and etc.). A file backup can limit the data that it backs up to these files and thus keep the backups small and quick.
        Our program, WinRescue, makes file backups. If you use it in its default settings, it will back up the registry and other important Windows files. In the Other Files section of Backup Properties you can tell it what other files you want it to back up. This is where you should specify your unique files. You could back up entire drives but we do not recommend it (if you want to do that, use an image backup program).
        I recommend that you use a combination of the two methods mentioned above. Keep a monthly or weekly image backup and then keep a weekly or daily backup with WinRescue.
        Where to Keep Backups - many people prefer to put backups on CDs and DVDs. The problem with this is that drives are getting so big that it takes many discs to hold a backup. Not only is it inconvenient to insert 10 or 20 discs during the backup process, but the more discs there are in a backup the greater the possibility will be that one of them will get scratched or corrupted in someway thus ruining the whole backup. For these reasons the device holding your backups should be big enough to hold at least one or two complete backups.
        Both internal and external hard drives are good for backup storage. If backing up to an internal hard drive, make sure that you are not backing up data onto the same drive that it comes from. So data on C should not be backed up to C. That way if the drive fails, you will always have a backup on another drive. It is highly unlikely that more than one hard drive will fail at the same time. About the only scenerio where that would happen is in a fire.
        External hard drives are safer than internal drives especially if you remove the drive and store it in a safe place separate from the computer. To a certain extent the farther away you keep the backups from your computer the safer they are. For this reason, some companies offer a service which backs up your computer over the internet and keeps it in their vaults. The value of your data will determine to what extents you will go to protect it.
        You may not have a million dollars worth of data on your computer but it is still valuable. Don't be one of those people who fail to realize how valuable it is until it is gone. Back it up and you will never have to worry about it.


Website of Interest - TripAdvisor.com

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        "Get the truth, then go", that is the subtitle of the TripAdvisor website at http://www.tripadvisor.com. With over 5 million traveler reviews and opinions of hotels, vacations, and more, this website is just what its name says, an advisor for trips.
        Like all other travel websites, TripAdvisor has a form to find hotels and flights, but that is where the similarities stop.
        The core of TripAdvisor is the hotel reviews. It has reviews of just about any trip destination and lodging. It even lists small, out-of-the-way hotels. Many travel websites use the reviews here. I don't know of a more exhaustive list on the internet.
        If you check them out, they may prevent you from booking a bad hotel. Why not learn from someone else's misery?
        But there is more than hotel reviews here. One section has Rant & Raves (negative and positive reviews), Hot Spots, and Candid Photos. Another section called Inside Pages gives advice on what to see and do in various cities. Then there are the Top Ten Lakeside Getaways, GoLists (individual events to do or see), Hot Topics in TripAdvisor Forums, The Big Picture Show (where people share their photos), Helpful TripAdvisor Links, Hotels in Popular Destinations, Top Destinations, Recommended Vacations, Best Beach Vacations, and much more.
        If you want to share your travel experieces, sign up for free and start writing. You can also sign up to receive their free weekly newsletter by email.
        If you travel at all, TripAdvisor is the place to go before you go.


Computer Parts - Mouse

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        In 1963 Douglas Engelbart of the Stanford Research Institute invented the first version of a mouse. He nicknamed it the "bug". It was one of several experimental pointing devices that Engelbart's team developed. The other devices were designed to exploit other body movements, such as, the chin or nose. Ultimately the "bug" won out.
        The "bug" was a bulky wooden box with two wheels on the bottom setting perpendicular to each other. Engelbart received patent US3541541 on November 17, 1970 for it. In the patent it was called an "X-Y Position Indicator for a Display System". At the time, he envisaged that users would hold the mouse continuously in one hand and type on a five-key chord keyset with the other.
        Then in early 1970 Bill English, while working for Xerox PARC, invented the ball mouse. The ball mouse replaced the external wheels with a single ball that could rotate in any direction. The ball's motion, in turn, was detected using perpendicular wheels housed inside the mouse's body. This variant became the predominant form of mouse used from the 1980s on.
        One disadvantage of the ball mouse is that the wheels inside pick up dirt and as the dirt accumulates, the ability of the mouse to move the cursor smoothly, decreases. A ball mouse should be cleaned periodically. This can be done by turning the mouse over and unlocking the plate (by turning it) that holds the ball in. Remove the ball and wipe it off with a rag. Look in the ball well and find the three wheels. Wipe or scrape away any debris on them. Blow out the ball well, put the ball back in, and lock the cover back in place.
        Optical and laser mouses eliminate the need for cleaning, because the ball and wheels have been replaced with a LED or laser and photodiodes to detect movement. Early models required a special surface that had positioning marks and lines on it. They worked, but not very well. Through the years they have improved so that now they work quite well on almost any surface.
        Another disadvantage of the standard mouse is the cord. If there is too much slack in the cord, it gets in the way. If there is not enough slack, you have to continually pull on it. One solution is to get the right amount of slack and then tape the cord to the edge of the desk. Another solution is to get a cordless mouse.
        The absence of a cord is great but the trade-off is no power and thus the need for batteries. Batteries do not last forever and so must be replaced or recharged periodically. To make the batteries last longer, most cordless mice automatically shut down when they are not used. To reactivate them, some require that you press the mouse button (which is a hassle) while others sense when they are moved and turn on automatically. A cheap cordless mouse will probably not handle these two issues (batteries and turning on) very well. A more expensive cordless mouse is well worth the money.
        Not only does a mouse move the cursor on the screen, it also adds the functionality of one or more buttons. The most common buttons are the left, center, and right buttons. The left button is used to select items. The right button is used to see alternative options for an item. And if available, the center button double clicks the item with only one click. More complex mouses may have a wheel to scroll pages and more buttons with special functions.
        A mouse is connected to the computer in the same way that the keyboard is and usually right next to the keyboard connection on the back of the computer. The most popular connection is the PS/2 which is a small round plug. USB mouses are also popular. An adapter can be used to connect a USB mouse to a PS/2 port.
        Whether ball, optical, laser, or cordless, and despite disadvantages, the mouse is a part of the computer that would be hard to live without.


Tech Tip - Where did that File Go?

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        It happens to the best of us. You download a file and then go to run it and can't remember where you put it. Or you write the next bestseller, leave it for a month or so, and then can't find it on your computer. Where do those files go?
        I can't tell you where the files go, but I can tell you how to find them.
        In the first example above, it may be eaiser to start the download process again. You do not have to go through the whole download process. You just have to go to the point where it asks you where you want to put the file. Since the default location is probably the same place you put it before, you can look to see what the default location is that it shows and the file that you downloaded before will probably be there. You can then click on the Cancel button and go get the already downloaded file.
        If that does not work, here is the process for finding files on your computer.
        Click on the Start button in the lower left corner of your screen, find the Search item, and click on it. This opens the Search Results window.
        If you know the name of the file or part of the name, type it in the "All or part of the file name:" textbox.
        You may use wildcards to help you. A wildcard is a character that stands for one or more other characters. The two most common wildcards are * and ?.
        The asterick (*) is used to represent any amount of any number or letter. So if you know that the filename you are looking for begins with a "t" and ends with a "y", you can put t*y (the * represents all numbers and letters that would be between the "t" and "y") and it will find all filenames that start with a "t" and end with a "y". If the files, "try", "they", "treachery", "t483isey", exist on your computer, it will find them.
        The question mark (?) is used to represent only one number or letter. So if you know that the filename starts with a "t" and ends with a "y" and that there is only one letter in between, you would put t?y. That would find "try" and "t8y", but not "they", "treachery", or "t483isey". If you know that two letters are between "t" and "y", you can put t??y.
        WinXP and WinVista search as if you put an asterick before and after the text in the textbox.
        The other textbox on the Search screen is the "A word or phrase in the file" textbox. If you know a distinct word or phrase that is inside of the file that you are looking for, you can type the word or phrase in this textbox and it will find only files with that word or phrase inside of it. A business woman I know is always misplacing the records for her clients so she uses this function to search for that client's name and thus finds the needed record. Wildcards do not work here.
        You can use just one of these textboxes and leave the other blank or you can use both (to find only the designated filenames with the designated text in them).
        Next you should choose where you want the search to happen. You can choose all of the drives on your computer (which will take a long time), just one drive, or individual folders (to select an individual folder, click on the Browse item at the bottom of the dropdown menu).
        To start the search, click on the Search button. The folder being searched is shown at the bottom of the window. The results are shown in the right box. When the file you are looking for is found, you can run it or open it from the list by double clicking on it.
        Please be aware that if you have Windows Explorer set up to hide files or folders (which it does by default), Search will not search the hidden locations. You can change these settings by going to the Tools menu in Search and selecting Folder Options. When the Folder Options window opens, click on the View tab and scroll through the Advanced Settings. Select "Show hidden files and folders" and uncheck "Hide protected operating system files".
        There are advanced features that can be used with Search by clicking on "When was it modified?", "What size is it?", and "More advanced options."
        Once you know how to use Windows Search, you can say goodbye to lost files.


eScams - Credit Card Fraud

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        Credit card fraud costs hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Your card does not have to be stolen in order for you to fall victim to credit card fraud.
        Many people fear credit card fraud on the internet, but I have experienced credit card fraud more offline than online. Here are some examples of offline scams:

• A thief goes through your trash to find discarded receipts or carbons and then uses your account numbers illegally.
• A dishonest clerk makes an extra imprint from your card and uses it to make personal charges.
• You use your card at an ATM or gas pump and a thieve has added a scanner which gives him your credit card information.
• You respond to a mailing asking you to call a long distance number for a free trip or bargain-priced travel package. You're told you must join a travel club first and you're asked for your account number so you can be billed. The catch! Charges you didn't make are added to your bill, and you never get your trip.

        You must be careful with your credit card both online and offline.
        There are many online scams that exist for the sole purpose of getting your credit card number, expiration date, and security code. They usually start with an email to you asking you to click on a link. DO NOT CLICK ON LINKS IN THESE EMAILS. Instead if you think it is a valid email from your bank, for example, call them or find out what their website is and go to it (do not use the web address in the email). If the email is from a bank or financial institution wanting your credit card number, IT IS A SCAM. Banks already know your credit card number. They never ask for it online. If you fall prey to this scam, your credit card will soon have hundreds of charges on it and you will have to sort it all out. Even though, you probably will not have to pay the fraudlent charges (the merchant usually gets stuck with that), it will be a hassle and may ruin your credit.
        Even though credit card companies have added security measures to help protect you, thieves can find ways around them. Once a thief has your credit card number, he can go online to any credit card processing site and try expiration dates until he gets the right one. Thieves from Malaysia use this method (we block all orders from Malaysia on our website for this very reason). Once he has the expiration date, he can use your card at any website that does not require the use of the security code.
        Despite what credit card companies advertise, they do not try to find or prosecute these thieves from other countries. They just require merchants, like us, that received the money and sent the product, to return the money. We lose money every month from this.
        A thief does not even have to get your credit card number from you. When I lived in Russia I came across a program that would randomly create credit card numbers. Instructions were given on how to use the random credit card number to get a free subscription to AOL. Within a month AOL completely pulled its services from Russia.
        So should you stop purchasing online? No. If you are careful, you should not have any problems online. Here are some tips to remember:

• Only give out your credit card number to purchase things that you have sought out yourself.
• Only deal with reputable companies.. A reputable company will not rip you off (if they do, you have some type of recourse).
• Watch out for email scams.
• Check your monthly credit card statement for fraudulent charges. Report any to your credit card company to start the chargeback process.
• Visit any of the three credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion at http://www.annualcreditreport.com (I have been informed that this link only works in the USA), once a year to check your credit report for free. Report any inaccuracies to the appropriate credit bureau.
• If your credit card is stolen or thieves get ahold of your credit card number, report it immediately to your credit card company.
• If you can't follow the above tips, get yourself a second checking account just for internet purchases. Only put small amounts in this account and use the check cashing card to make purchases. This will limit your loss to what is in the account.

        If you are cautious with your credit card number and follow these tips, shopping online will be safe.


Featured Discussions

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problems running scandisk, defrag

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Find this on our board at http://www.regvac.com/forum/m-1142226773/

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purplemoon - Running either ScanDisk or Defrag, Pentium 3 Windows 98SE, I close everything so only Explorer and Systray are running. Message appears "program has restarted 10 times - close other running programs". How do I find what else is running ? This message occurs even when running in Safe Mode.
        Also, after running in Safe Mode, I do a normal boot-up and my desktop icons are all in rows and columns, alphabetically arranged. I had them grouped by function, located on regions of the screen. Is this a default desktop display? How do I get back my desktop as it was?

dlwolff0 - Try this page for a full answer. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/222469/en-us
        To keep your desktop as you want it, if you are running active desktop. Right click on a blank spot on the desktop. This brings up the context menu. Under the heading "Active Desktop" check "Lock Desktop Items". Of course, if you want to change anything after that you'll have to uncheck it in order to do so

Ray - As far as Defrag and ScanDisk are concerned, Win98 always had a problem with that. I found that if I held my mouth just right, it would work. I always suspected my slow computer or things happening in the background. It seems like I did find that a certain process or task running in the background caused that. I don't remember what it was.

leftymlb - I used to have that same problem (it's been years since I was on anything older than win2K pro). Turned out, there were some applications installed in the system services that actually polled in the background, and never showed up on the system tray, or anywhere else. Norton Unerase is famous for causing this problem. There wasn't anything wrong with the disk or its sectors, it's just that every time the applications poll, the defragger thinks you've re-written to the disk it's trying to read.
        The simplest way to get around the issue is start up in Safe mode, and then do the scandisk/defrag ... only the minimal services get started, and you'll at least eliminate the idea that there's a problem with the disk or the OS.


Unwanted background programs

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Find this on our board at http://www.regvac.com/forum/m-1146329292/

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jrv8374 - It may be safe to say that the prominent cause of my computer problems is a variety of programs running in the background. They not only use up resources, but I feel that they impede the "real" programs I try to run. When all else fails, I have to run these programs in Safe Mode. Newer systems such as XP may be able to deal with them easily, but my six-year old PC has been struggling. I suspect the two biggest culprits are my anti-virus program and an internet "accelerator" program I have.
        Any thoughts or ideas from any of you on how to identify those background programs that do more harm than good and get them to suspend operations (or even delete them)?

Ray - Those programs have to start at some time and they usually start at startup. You can use msconfig (type that in Run) to see some of the items that start at startup and disable the ones you don't want running.
        I have written a program that detects all of the programs that start at startup and suggests which ones you need and which ones you don't need. It allows you to disable the ones that you don't want. The program is called Speed Startup and is available at http://superwin.com/speedstartup.htm.


I can't send emails in Outlook Express

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Find this on our board at http://www.regvac.com/forum/m-1148824928/

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steel - I can't send any emails from outlook express. I receive my emails fine. Does anyone know what might be wrong?

Ray - We are going to need some details. Do you get an error? What happens when you send the emails?

steel - I type the email and hit the send/receive button. I end up getting an error message saying the connection to the server has failed.

Ray - It sounds like your SMTP setting is wrong. The SMTP setting has to be what your email provider has told you to put for that. If you have not ever been able to send emails with the way that you have Outlook Express set up now, you need to contact your email provider and find out how to set up Outlook Express. If, on the other hand, this just started and you didn't make any changes to Outlook Express's settings, it could be a temporary problem with your email provider. There again I would probably contact them and see what the problem is.

steel - Thanks for your help Ray.


Older Computer does not Shutdown

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Find this on our board at http://www.regvac.com/forum/m-1145565310/

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Cenzo - I have an older system (built in 2000) on which I am required to hold down the on/off button to shut off the power after Windows XP is finished shutting itself down. Is there anything I can do to make it shut down automatically when Windows shuts down like my new system?

dlwolff0 - Check this Microsoft knowledge base article. http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;313290&spid=1173&sid=156 This could very well be the situation with your older computer.

Cenzo - I don't have an "APM" tab in my "Power Options". It seems that the system may not load an ACPI compliant HAL. I updated the BIOS about a week ago so I’m fairly sure I have the latest one. I guess it's time for more research. If I find anything I will post it. Thanks for the input!

Ray - I would think that is a hardware thing. If the computer is not made to shut down automatically, I would think that no matter what you do with the BIOS or system, it still is not going to shut down. The only solution would be to get a newer computer that was designed to shut down automatically when Windows shuts down.

Cenzo - Thanks Ray, I was hoping that there was a work around that I was missing but I had a funny feeling I was stuck with it.

dlwolff0 - Depends on the computer manufacturer. See this article for details. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810903/en-us

Cenzo - dlwolff0 you are the BOMB!!! This was the one... http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810903/en-us NTApm/Legacy Support was not installed. Once I manually installed it with the Add/Remove Hardware tool in Control Panel, the system shut down by itself. Thanks!


Norton detected by WinRescue

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Find this on our board at http://www.regvac.com/forum/m-1142180832/

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m.m.van wely - When i run winresque and then regpack, i get a message like: winresque detected norton antivirus or symantic . when you proceed, your computer will crash. Do not proceed. ! Why does this happen?

Ray - There are two messages which WinRescue gives about Norton.
        One says -
"RegVac has detected the presence of Norton or Symantec. These will crash your computer if you proceed. Please see Help for instructions on how to disable Norton and Symantec. You may not proceed."

        The other says -
"WARNING - Newer versions of Norton will mess up the following procedure. If you have Norton, please disable it before proceeding (see WinRescue''s Help for more information)."

        The first warning above is given if Norton has been detected. Please disable it in the way that our instructions tell you to disable it. If you get this message, Norton is not disabled. Not disabling Norton will result in Norton crashing Windows. This is not anything that we can control except to tell you how to disable Norton and hope that you do. WinRescue does not crash Windows, Norton does.
        The second warning above is given everytime that RegPack is executed no matter whether you have disabled Norton or not.
        Please note that after disabling Norton, you must restart Windows and verify that Norton is not running before running RegPack (WinRescue will not detect if you have restarted Windows or not).


Questions on our Discussion Board

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authenticity of web page

Computer history

Search doesn't work

Printing from Adobe Reader

winxp pro logon at startup

Guest Account/WIN XP/Internet Logon

Adobe Audition 2.0 not working

OE removed access to jpg's sent to me

System repeatedly reboots without warning

"POP" and computer dead

regvac.exe problem : Runtime error 216 at 00403BE6

Reappearing ctfmon.exe error 0xc0000142

Blue Screen - Error Message

What is SpamCop?

Formatting a USB drive

Wireless Router

Quicken not working

backing up OE emails

Recovering from System Board Failure

Trayapp.msi fax.msi

remove messenger

XP does not Shutdown

Outlook - disappearing messages

98 Printer wont install in WinXP

Desktop Icons flashing

Burning mp3s to audio CD

WinRescue XP without diskette drive

http error 403

Windows Defender Update

AOL troubles

OPENING A WEB PAGE FROM AN E-MAIL

Stray files in D: drive

HP Pavillion not sleeping soundly

Making data-disks

Flash Player Deleted

WLan and Wi-FI

Items left in recycle bin

Backup of Patches and Hotfixes

Won't Play .ASX files

BURNING LAWS

Inernet Explorer 7 Install Problems

mp3 wav ripping and burning software

opening up an attachment

Programs that clean and repair registry and PC

windows 98 won't power up

Dual Operating Systems

Email Stripper


Thanks for reading,
Ray Geide