Replies

Firstly, I suggest that you go to Steve Gibson’s Shields Up!site which will do two things. It will test the resistance of your set up to intrusion and provide a report. The site also provides detailed advice on how to increase the resilience of your setup against hacking.

Secondly, install a firewall which will give you control over what comes in from the Internet and what goes out. One popular firewall is Zonealarm which is relatively easy to cofigure. It is also free for personal use.

Thirdly, I presume that you already have a virus scanner installed but if not, do it NOW. Update the virus definition files at least once a week to keep the latest nasties out.

The only time I have had problems with scandisk hanging was when the machine had not been re-started for a few days. I presume that you have re-started the machine since the scandisk problem appeared, but if you haven’t then I suggest you do so and see if it then runs OK.

Also, there can be a difference in response between a cold boot (complete shutdown and re-start) compared to a warm boot (where you only click the re-start button). I suggest that if you have been warm booting then shut the machine down competely for 30 seconds and re-start it from cold.

Let’s know how you go.

A few tips:

1. Make sure that the workgroup name is EXACTLY the same on each machine.

2. Each directory or disk must be shared. If you are using a home office network then security between users is probably not a consideration – so, from Windows Explorer right click on the root directory of each disk and click on the “sharing” tab. Click “Shared As” and then give the disk a name. Give full access and don’t worry about using a password.

3. I have no experience with CDRW but I’d guess that it is shared in the same way.

If one of the machines on the network is also connected to the Internet then there are security concerns that you should be aware of. Let’s know if that is the case and we can take it further.

I had the same problem with WIN98SE a few months ago and found a KnowledgeBase article that suggested that RealJukebox running in the SysTray could cause Defrag to stop at 10%. I disabled RealJukeBox from Startup and the problem disappeared.

I can’t fimd the KB article now – perhaps Real complained and MS took it down.

I don’t know if the problem exists in ME. In any event, if you have RealJukeBox in the SysTray then I suggest you get rid of it. There appears to be no real advantage in running it at startup.

I hope this helps. Let’s know if your problem has been resolved.

Hi ErnieJay

Check out the Microsoft KnowledgeBase article Q152104 on preventing the WIN95 login prompt at startup.

Click hereto go to the article.

I hope this helps.

Yes, I think your right, Mary.

Windows ME (Step Up version from WIN98SE), with a recommended retail of $106 (Australian), was released here at $99 and is currently being discounted to $79. It is clear that the market has decided that the incremental benefits are not worth the price.

As you suggest, this is likely to be the story also for Whistler and Office 10.

Yes, Geoff, there is no end to it.

I’ll give in eventually, I suppose, while ever Microsoft continues to have a monopoly in Office software. WordPerfect seems to be going nowhere and I doubt that Sun’s (free) StarOffice will ever become a threat.

You are right, Mary. But your comments assume the continuation of the mind-set that we have all developed over the last 10 years: that is, that every year or so we upgrade our software and hardware to take advantage of significant new features.

I suggest the environment that created that mindset is unlikely to continue. The incremental benefits of Office 2000 over Office 97 have been insufficient to convince us that we should invest $700 (Australian) per machine to upgrade. Software doesn’t wear out and at this stage I can see us still using the same copies of Office software for which we have licenses, in 10 years.

The situation with hardware is obviously different: hardware does fail. If you lose the hard disk it is unlikely, given the costs of disk replacement compared to buying a new box, that you would replace it – you would simply buy a new computer. It is then that you have to go back to Microsoft and get their permission to install the software on the new machine.

OK, it’s no big deal. It’s just the principle of the thing that annoys me. Whether you are buying software or a license to use the software is immaterial – the fact is that you have parted with good money for a functional product and the continued functionality depends on Microsoft giving you permission to change the hardware platform.

I see your point very well. And it’s one of the reasons why we have not upgraded from Office 97. I don’t mind Microsoft telling me what I can and can’t do with the software that I buy from them, but I won’t go to them to get their permission to make significant changes to my hardware platform, which is what their software registration technology virtually means.

I’m not aware of any way to circumvent the registration other than (as was suggested in an earlier post) to reformat the disk and reload Office when you are getting close to the 50 uses. This is not practical for the average user.

I suspect that the use of this registration technology is one reason why Office 2000 sales are below forecast, and not caused just by the fall in PC sales.

Woody’s discussion on the Registration Wizard extended over 3 editions and started in vol 5 # 10

Microsoft’s discussion of the use of the Unique Identifier in Office 97 products, and the steps to be taken to disable it, is here.

Given the flack MS received on the matter, I doubt that any attempt would have been made to replicate it in Office 2000. I think we can safely say that it is not now an issue.

Like Phil, Colleen, I’ve been using IE5.5 for a few months with no problems. However, it appears that some people have been having some difficulties.

Microsoft sayhere that it “supports technologies designed to support rich, interactive web applications”.

But for the average user, apart from getting the ‘print preview’ facility and some security fixes, it does not seem to me to be worth the effort of upgrading at this time.

If you are happy with the version you are currently using I’d feel inclined to stay with it.

Not being a commercial lawyer, I’m not sure that I’m familiar with the full range of work a commercial lawyer would do.

However, in my business we do a lot of investment analyses and if, for example, one of your clients was involved in making a decision as to the worth of an investment, then it is usual to do some form of discounted cash flow analysis to obtain the comparative present values of competing investment options.

The New South Wales Treasury has investment guidelines based on discounted cash flow analysis that might help. Click here for a copy.

Hope this helps. E-mail me at jchawkless@hawkless.com.au if you need more information, want to discuss further, or if you would like a copy of a typical Excel spreadsheet that we use.

You may need the Euro symbol support patch for Windows 95 from Microsoft. Click hereto go to the Microsoft currency support site.

By ‘messed up’ I guess you mean that the locations of the icons change after the crash.

Have you set the desktop so as to ‘Auto Arrange’ the icons? Find a vacant spot on the desktop, right click the mouse, find ‘Arrange Icons’, go to the bottom of the menu and click on ‘Auto Arrange’ so that it is ticked.

Hopefully, if you have a problem in the future then the icons will stay stuck. (With ‘Auto Arrange’ selected you can still change the relative positions of icons, but they will always be lined up in an orderly set of rows and columns).

Hope this helps.

Zonealarm will prevent any trojan software getting onto your machine from the Internet in future. If you think there is something already there, get Norton or MacAfee antivirus and scan the disk. This should detect any nasties that are already there and advise you on how to get rid of them.