This is our old text based Newsletter.
For some slightly more updated info please go here:
www.bpcomp.com/news.html
BP Computer Services Newsletter
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PC Problems Update 3/1/99
In a recent edition of Windows Magazine, we ran across an interesting
article that discussed solutions to common PC problems. Here's a quick
wrap up of the most common problems and solutions.
1. My Plug-And-Play Hardware is Not Found or Won't Work.
Right click on My Computer and select Properties. Click on Device
Manager. Look for devices that are flagged with a red X, or yellow
exclamaion point. You can try several things. One is to simply click
on remove, then shutdown, power off and on and let Windows reinstall
the drivers for that device. If this fails you may try to set up the
resources, (IRQs, I/O ports, etc.) yourself. Again go into Device
Manager, click on the item causing the conflict. Click on Properties,
and Resources, clear the Use Automatic Settings checkbox. You'll have
to set the IRQ, I/o or whatever is conflicting yourself. Windows will
prompt you if you try to select another resource assignment that
conflicts.
2. My system hangs at random intervals.
Many things can cause this. Defctive RAM or mismatched RAM. If you
added RAM to your system check to verify it is compatible with the
original. Bad Power Supplies. Poorly written or flaky drivers. Check
with your hardware vendors for updated drivers for video, sound, and
modems added to your system. Also check to see if your loading older
16 bit drivers in your CONFIG.SYS file. Remove or update these, if you
can.
3. My favorite Application keeps crashng.
Check the vendors Web-Site for updates or patches. You can also try
to reinstall the application. Reinstalling should preserve your settings
but will replace curropted files or DLLs. Finally search for duplicate
DLLs on your system remove the older ones if found.
We'd like to add that many intermitent problems are very difficult
to resolve. They can be bad hardware, bad software, misconfigured
settings or possibly a combination of all of these. A lot of
patience is required to try a solution, see if it fixes the problem,
and if not try another. Make sure you have a good boot disk and a
good backup of your system before you start changing any major
componenets.
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Virus Update Update 2/15/99
Once again we've run into a couple viruses on customer's systems.
We'd like to again bring up the fact that in each instance the
system was infected via diskettes. In both cases the customer
brought diskettes home from work and infected the systems. This is
still by far the most common way for viruses to move between systems.
While a virus can be downloaded over the Internet and infect a system,
this is not as common as many suspect. You will not be infected by
simply reading a text email message. You could be infected if the
email contains a virus in an attachment to the email, and you
download and run this attachment. Make sure you know who sent you
the files before you chose to run it.
While many viruses are simply an annoyance, for instance one we ran
into simply prevented the users CD ROM drive from operating under
Windows, some can be destructive. Make sure you update your virus
checking software. New virsues are being created daily, and virus
detection software can only find the newer viruses if they know
about them. Most virus detection software provides a means to update
the associated data files, do this on a regular basis.
And finally we can't emphasize enough the importance of having a good
backup. In the rare instances that you'd encounter a destructive virus
there is no solution other than to restore your data from a backup. You
can also encounter a hardware failure. Hard Drives do go bad. Sometimes
one bad sector in your Hard Drives FAT, File Allocation Table, can render
an entire drive useless. In these cases you'll need to restore from your
backup.
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'98 Wrap-Up Update: 12/31/98
It's time for our annual column to wrap-up the past year and look
ahead to trends in the upcoming year. This past year we did not
see any one particular event or computer product that had the
the single most influence. We do see a general trend of computers
becoming more essential to our ways of life. With the increased use
of the Internet we see computers being used for everything from the
education of our children, a convenient source of news, for games
and entertainment, to general accounting and information storage.
We'll try to highlight some of the events that had the most influence.
1.) Continued Internet Expansion. The Internet continues to expand,
and expand how we use our computers. The Internet has long been a
great source of information, you can do tremendous amounts of research
on anything from stocks and mutual funds to our hobbys. We've also
turned to the Internet for a major source of our daily news. As with
the Kenneth Starr report many people turned to the Internet for their
first glance at all the juicy details. We even had streaming video feeds
availbable, as soon as they were released to the public.
2.) Along with this is the increased competition for our computer viewing
time. Portal companies such as Yahoo, Excite, and Lycos are vying for
our attention, with mergers being announced almost weekly. Another big
influence has been the acceleration of ecommerce. Internet sales have
started to take off this Christmas Season. There has been a surge in
other Web sites that feature sales of liquidated merchandise or auctions
of just about anything. Sites such as Ubid offer auctions of anything
from Furbys, to Mark McGwire rookie baseball cards.
3.) Microsoft. Microsoft makes the news is several ways. First, is the
Department of Justice Anti-Trust lawsuit. This trial has been ongoing
for about 6 months now, and may continue for another 6 months or may drag
on for 6 years. Our personal belief is that this is a rapidly evolving
industry, and government should let the marketplace determine the winners
and losers. Increased government regulations will only hinder any company's
ability to react to the rapidly changing technology. Second, Microsoft
makes the news with it's release of Windows '98, and rather lackluster
acceptance among users. Sure most consumer PCs come with Windows '98
preloaded on the systems, but we see very slow transitions among our
corporate customers. Thirdly, Microsoft is delaying the next version of
Windows NT. This is what most of Corporate America is waiting to upgrade
their systems too.
4.) Continued price reductions. What can anyone say, computers just keep
getting cheaper and more powerful.
Upcoming trends.
1.) Y2K. While we don't subscribe to the "Sky is Falling" paranoia that
is becoming more prevalent, we expect this issue to be the most
dominating in the upcoming year.
Check our Web Site frequently as we bring you updates about the Y2K issue
and things you can do to check your own computer and protect your data.
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V.90 Modems - Just In Time for DSL Upadted 12/3/98
Yes, it's been a while since we had something to say. We would
just like to commend the modem manufacturers on finally settling
on a standard. The ITU - (International Telecommunications Union?)
has developed the V.90 standard. This standard finally combines
the two competing standards that various companies were trying to
promote in the 56K arena, (X2 and 56K Flex). Be aware that the
actual download speeds you will see are still determined by the
speed of the modem you connect too, and the quality of the phone
lines between you and your ISP. Our best experiences show a top
speed to be about 48K, sometimes as low as 28.8K.
This standard comes about the time when we're starting to see a
real push towards the next step in modem speeds, DSL. It also comes
in many flavors ADSL, xDSL, G.Lite, etc. The expected throughput
promises to be 10 to 20 times faster than current 56K modems. We've
seen reports that MCI Worldcom plans to have nationwide access
by the end of this year, 1998. We also hear reports that Intel,
Microsoft, Compaq, and DELL, are really pushing this in newer PCs.
We'll see how this turns out.
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Motherboard Mess Updated 6/27/98
We have heard some reports of CMOS batteries going dead on one of
our favorite, and currently best selling motherboards. The ASUS
SP97V (with built in PCI Video) has had numerous batteries go
dead. It only occurs with with a specific version of the BIOS, and
the solution is to simply download and Flash the BIOS with the new
revision, and replace the battery. Visit the ASUS Web Site at:
http://www.asus.com
Dowload the newest revision of the BIOS (currently 0108) Flash the
BIOS on the Motherboard, and replace your battery, that should fix the
problem.
Intel also has discovered some problems with one of their newer
motherboards, the BOXMU440EX has some problems when being used with
Pentium II processors, it has no problems when used with Celeron
CPUs. Intel recomends using this motherboard only with Celeron
processors. The EX chipset is designed for lower-end Pentium II and
Celeron systems. Intel discovered a problem with a low-voltage signal
supplied by the motherboard to the CPU. It occurs when running graphics
intensive 3D applications. Intel is implementing a fix. Once again
Intel recomends using current EX motherboards only with Celeron CPUs.
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Windows '98 Preview Updated 6/6/98
We've been asked many times if we've seen Windows '98. Yes we have
the Beta 3 version and have played with it for a couple months. Our
initial reaction is mixed. It is a product designed mainly for the
consumer market, and less for business systems. We attended a couple
recent Microsoft Seminars on the upcoming release of Win '98, and the
Microsoft reps stressed that most business systems should wait and be
upgraded to Windows NT Workstation 5.0 when it is released.
Some of the reasons that we like the upcoming release are that it will
standardize on a single version of Windows (for a while). There are
currently 5 versions of Win '95 that customers can have. Support is
a nightmare. Win '98 will also include drivers for over 1200 new
devices. Also it is said to have over 3000 bug fixes or quality
improvements. It also includes a new System Information Utility
(MSInfo) that should help gather system information and improve
technical support. Also it includes System File Checker to make sure
that Win '98 system files are intact and up to date.
Some of the reasons we're skeptical. Will these new system utilities
really work? We guess that on most systems they will. We also think
that on many of the hard to diagnose system problems, these utilities
will not run properly, or will fail to diagnose the troubles. Yes it
includes support for a lot of new hardware, but we all know that there
will be new hardware released a week, a month or a year after Win '98
and we'll still be searching for updated drivers. One of the most often
stated features of Win '98 is support for multiple monitors. This
requires additional video boards in the system. Our question. How many
customers will truly want to buy an additional video board, and have an
additional monitor, or two, or three, on their desktop? We think in the
long run this feature will only have a limited number of users. Many of
us simply don't have the desktop space to have two or more monitors.
Let us know what you think.
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Byte Magazine Updated 5/30/98
We're saddened to hear that "Byte" Magazine will stop publishing it's
printed magazine with the July issue. "Byte" has always seemed a little
more factual, in-depth, and all encompassing than it's rivals. "Byte"
covered computers of all types, not just a particular brand. Their
articles were informative, sometimes maybe a little too technically
oriented for the average reader. "Byte" goes back to the origins of
the computer industry when most computer users were hobbyists who
had a real love for computers and how they worked.
This is an indication of the rapidly evolving state of todays computer
industry. Things are changing so fast, it's hard for anyone to keep
up with the entire industry. Also readers are less likely to read an
in-depth comparison between various CPU's. We see more quick headline
reports being distributed via the Internet than successful magazines.
Over the last few years we've cancelled several paid magazine
subscriptions ourselves, relying on the Internet for more of our
industry news. How ironic that the last magazine we had a paid
subscription with, "Byte" Magazine, will now quit printing the magazine.
Update - 6/6/98: Byte Magazine has been sold to CMP who publish several
other Computer Industry journals including "Computer Reseller News". The
current claim is that "Byte" will not have printed versions for a couple
months but will reappear in a redesigned format. Current subscribers
should get the number of issues their subscription covers.
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DOJ Updated 5/14/98
All loyal readers of this column know that this our little soapbox.
It's our chance to stand up and take shots at various items in the
computer industry. This time, we have an open appeal to the
US Dept. of Justice, to lay off their court case against Microsoft.
At this point the DOJ is threatening the health of the entire computer
industry, with it's continuing harassing of Microsoft. The threatened
blocking of the release of Windows '98 will affect hardware vendors,
software vendors and resellers. Companies, individuals and consumers
have been planning for the upcoming release of WIN '98 for months now.
By blocking the release of WIN '98, the DOJ is harming numerous people,
most importantly consumers. Consumers will not have as many choices
as they should have.
C'mon DOJ, don't stand in the way of progress.
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Modem Standards Updated 04/15/98
We are pleased that the modem industry has finally standardized the
protocols for 56K modems. The new V.90 standard was adopted by an
international standards commitee. It combines items taken from both
the competing standards, K56 Flex supported by Rockwell and others,
and X2 supported by US Robotics/3Com. Many modem manufacturers offer
upgrades for your current K56 or X2 modem to the V.90 standard. Check
with your modem manufacturer. Many generic 56K or no-name modems will
be next to impossible to upgrade. We've also heard of problems that
occur during the software upgrade procedure, which require the modems
to be returned to the manufacturer.
With the availability of these V.90 modems we decided to take a quick
of some local ISPs to see if they are supporting the new standard. We
surveyed the WEB Pages of 6 local ISPs. Of the six, none featured
V.90 connections. Of the 6, two of them noted their support of the
K56Flex standard, and one featured support of the X2 standard. The other
3 ISPs did not note any modem connection speeds or standards supported.
All of the ISPs pushed their support of ISDN connections which they
charge higher prices for.
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Newsletter Revived Updated 4/15/98
We had stoppped updating our newsletter since we thought no one was
reading it. After several requests from our customers we've decided
to revive it. Thanks to all our loyal supporters. Let us know your
thoughts, comments, and suggestions for topics to be covered.
.
.
.
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Price Reductions Updated 10/28/97
Once again Intel has announced it semi annual price reductions. Due
to constant pricing preasure from AMD and Cyrix, and their Pentium
clone, chips Intel is once again making major price reductions in it's
chips. As usual the biggest reductions are on the high-end chips. The
200 and 233 Mhz MMX CPUs are dropping, and there are also significant
reductions on the Pentium II series.
It may take a couple weeks for the reductions to filter down through
the distribution chanel, but expect to see prices to continue to fall.
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Virus Part II Updated 10/21/97
One of the most important things a user can do to protect his system
from viruses is to create a "Clean Boot Disk". This is can be
simply a diskette with your system files on it. In it's simplest
form it has three files, 2 hidden files, (IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS)
and your COMMAND.COM file. If your system becomes infected with a
virus, many virus cleaning programs, such as McAfee's VIRUS SCAN,
require a user to boot with a "clean" system disk before it can remove
the virus, (if it detects the virus in memory, it prompts you to reboot
your machine with a "clean boot disk" before continuing.)
There are several ways to create these disks depending on the version
of DOS or Windows that your using.
Early DOS users (versions 3.0 thru 6.22) can simply put a blank diskette
in their A: drive and from a C:> prompt type SYS A: if the diskette is
formatted, or FORMAT A: /S if it's not formatted.
Windows 3.1 or 3.11 should put a blank dish\kette in their A: dirve
and open Windows File Manager. Go to the Disk Menu and select Format
Disk. When the Format Disk dialogue window appears, make sure to
check the box "Make System Disk".
For Windows '95 users simply click on the My Computer Icon. Highlight
the Floppy Drive A: Icon, and go to the File Menu. Select Format, when
the window appears again make sure to check the box labeled, "Copy
System Files".
After we've created the "Boot" Diskette we also generally copy our
CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files, and a few other key driver files.
Alternatively for Windows '95 users, they can click on My Computer,
and selcct Control Panel. Then select Add/Remove Programs, and selct
the Tab "Startup Disk". This will prompt the user to insert a floppy
disk, copy the system files, and also some other key Windows '95 files
that may be usefull in an emergency.
A couple final thoughts, we also strongly urge our customers to back up
their important data files either to tape, diskette, or Zip disk. We'd
also like to point out that even today with the emergence of the Internet,
it is still most likely that a virus is spread via a diskette that a friend
or associate gives you. Also be aware that there are still numerous virus
hoaxes out there. AOL in particular seems to have a lot of new Internet
users who read about a supposed virus and start "helping" their freinds by
warning them of impending danger, and sending email to everyone they know.
Many times these are simply hoaxes or "urban legends". It seems like every
6 months or so these things resurface and make the rounds again to scare a
new batch of users.
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Virus's Again Updated 10/13/97
Once again we've run into some viruses while working on customers
systems. We've encountered the common old virus that I think we
run into more than any other, the Stealth_C Virus. We've also run
into the Wazoo virus. The Wazoo is one of the more recent crop of
Word Macro viruses, that can be spread even between different
platforms. Thus giving someone a Word document, with the virus on
it can spread the virus from a PC to a Mac.
We want to stress again the need to have a current version of virus
detection software. Remember new viruses are released daily, and a
2 year old copy of virus detection software only knows about viruses
that are 2 years and older. Also please backup your system. Create
a clean boot diskette, and backup at least your most important
document files.
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Intel's New Chipset Updated 9/20/97
Recently Intel released their newest chipset for Pentium II
motherboards. The introduction of the 440LX is the first chipset
designed for the Pentium II CPU, and supports the new AGP video.
This Accelerated Graphic Port video will become the new standard.
The AGP video boards now have their own unique slot on the
motherboard and provides dedicated pipelined access to main memory.
This will give you much faster transfer rates and improved 3-D
graphics performance. Your old PCI bus video boards do not work
in the dedicated AGP coonector.
This is another instance where early integrators of technology only
get a partial solution. Those people that bought those early Pentium
II systems, could not get the added features of the LX chipset, or
the AGP video enhancements. This is why we caution our customers to
sometimes wait when new technology is released. Technology is changing
at a very rapid pace in the computer industry these days and sometimes
manufacturers are in such a hurry to get the new products out the door,
that they are only offering a partial solution.
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Apple's Changes Updated 8/15/97
The last couple weeks have produced major changes for Apple. The new
MAC OS 8.0 gets rave reviews, for it's stability and compatibility.
It contains lots of native code for Power PC processors. It's also
forcing MAC owners to upgrade their hardware to the present. It
requires a 68040 processor, and a recomended 20 Megs. of RAM. Thus,
a whole class of older MACs, Centris and Performa machines will not
run the new Operating System. It's the same story as the Wintel
machines, requiring users to have the latest hardware to run the
new software.
And what about the recent shakeup of the Board of Directors. Steve Jobs
is once again on the board, although they've stopped short of naming
him director. Steve' buddy Larry Ellison from Oracle also gets a spot
on the board. THere are rumors that this means Apple will really push
to produce a NC (Network Copmuter) for low cost Internet access.
The real shocker has been the $150 million cash agreement with Microsoft.
Once bitter rivals, with lawsuits pending aganst each other, the
two parties are agreeing to settle their differences. The announceement
by Steve Jobs at the Apple conference was widely met by boos. The
agreement to settle past differences and a comitment by Microsoft to
support the MAC platform for the next five years should benefit both
parties.
And is it really true that Steve jobs sold 1.5 million shares of Apple
stock in June, because he had lost confidence in the future of the company.
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Thank You - AMD and Cyrix Updated 7/22/97
Once again Intel is planning major price cuts on it's CPU's. Due to
increased competition from AMD and Cyrix with their Pentium
compatible CPU's, Intel will cut some prices as much as 40%. Recent
CPU chips from both AMD and Cyrix have come close to matching, and
in some instances exceeded Intel's performance. By offering these
chips at a lower price both companies have been making inroads into
Intel's market dominance. Intel is once again fighting back.
This week it is expected that Intel will cut prices in at least three
of it's chip families. Price cuts will be coming on Pentium CPU's,
Pentium MMX CPU's, and also on it's newest Pentium II family. The
only family not expecting price cuts is the Pentium Pro.
It's great that competition is pushing prices lower for all consumers.
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Year 2000 Revisited Updated 7/05/97
Here I was, proabably like you, thinking that the vast majority
of Year 2000 problems would be in 20 year old Cobol legacy programs
used by financial institutions.
Now I come across an article that points out that brand new languages
such as Java have trouble with the Year 2000 problem as well. Both
the JavaScript used in Netscape's browser, and JScript used in
Microsoft's Internet Explorer have inconsistencies dealing with dates
after the year 2000. Also years before 1970 can have problems as well.
A standard that was recently announced and will be supported by both
Netscape and Micrososft will allow them to fix the problems in the
next versions of their browsers. Yes, Microsoft and Netscape will
both support the ECMAScript standard.
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Year 2000 Update 6/24/97
Often our customers ask if their computers and software will be
outdated when we ring in the year 2000. The media has made much of
the fact that a lot of programs are written where the year is stored
as a 2 digit number, (ie. '97). We have stressed that this is mainly
a problem for older mainframe computers, and older programs written
in Cobol used in the banking industry.
Far and away the most popular financial program in use in the home
and small business PC market is Quicken by Intuit. All current versions
of Quicken and QuickBooks have no problems dealing with dates beyond
the year 2000. They handle dates up to the year 2027. The only versions
that will have a problem are older DOS versions 1 thru 4 of Quicken.
All versions of Quicken for Windows are fine.
For details on Quicken and Quickbooks and what years they work with,
visit Intuit's Web site.
http://www.intuit.com
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X2 Modems - Again Update 6/19/97
In May Microsoft announced they would begin installing 56KPlus modems
at there MSN dialups. These are modems that use the Rockwell/Lucent
technology to provide up to 56K speeds.
This week AOL announced the will begin installing modems that use the
X2 technology to provide up to 56K speeds. These are modems made by
US Robotics and use a different technology to provide the speeds. AOL
plans to have these modems in 120 cities by August.
Once again we remind readers that these two modem technologies
are incompatible. A modem using one technology will not offer higher
speed data transfers when connecting to the other technology. They
will only work at 28.8K or 33.6K. Make sure you check with your
ISP before you buy a 56K modem, to verify what type of modems they
have, or are intending to buy.
On a good side to this story. US Robotics has announced an update of
their modems to whatever standard an International Commitee decides
on. This shows good faith on their part. Even if the other technology
being pushed by Rockwell and Lucent, is determined to be the world
standard, US Robotics will offer a software update.
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X2 Modems Update 5/18/97
We visited a computer show this last weekend and I was particularly
interested in talking to the US Robotics reps about their X2 modems.
Regular readers will note that we've cautioned our customers about
these modems, and whether users will actually see hyped 56K download
speeds.
According to the rep, US Robotics estimates that 85% of users will be
able to get the 56K speed, (or really 53K due to FCC regulations that
US Robotics is hoping to get changed.) It's interesting that the slide
used in their overhead projected presentation said 95%.
Several factors determine if you can receive at the higher speeds. The
two most important factors are that your ISP must use X2 modems, and
your local phone company must have digital switches and good quality
phone lines running to your location. US Robotics says that line noise is
the main reason you wont recieve at the high speed. This is the problem
of the local phone company. They also said that rural areas may have more
problems than larger metropolitan areas.
Taking an unofficial pole of users in our area, Champaign-Urbana, IL.
only about 1/3 of the users have been able to connect at the 56K speed.
If you'd like to try see for yourself if the phone system in your area
will support the high speed downloads check out US Robotics Line Test
phone #. Use any V.34 modem and call 1-888-877-9248. Log in as LINE TEST.
This will run a test on the lines running to your location. It will tell
you if your location will suppport the higher speed. In our case it said
it was possible, but line noise may reduce it sometimes. It also said to
try dialing several times, since you might be routed differently and
get a better connection resulting in higher speeds. Try before you buy.
One final note, the rep said they'd like to demo the high speed hookup,
but since the hotel where the seminar was being given used a PBX system,
it didn't support the high speed. This sill be true in many of the hotels
throughout the country.
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Intel, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Update 5/6/97
This week Intel announces their long awaited Pentium II
processor. In short it combines the best of their current two
families of CPU's, the Pentium and Pentium Pro, and improves on
them. It is faster than the Pentium Pro, but is redesigned and runs
16 bit programs (ie. Windows and Windows '95) better. This had been
a common complaint among Pentium Pro users, that the less
powerful Pentium CPU actually ran older 16 bit programs better.
This announcement comes amidst a lot of internet news that there is
a flaw in the Pentium II CPU. Checking as many quality sources as we
can, we've determined this is not a problem. It appears to us that it
simply a matter of the documentation not agreeing with the chip. The
chip reports an error one way, and the documentation say it should
say something else. We understand Intel already has an Errata sheet
to go along with the documentation. We also note that the Web Site
where these "Flaw" is supposedly being revealed doesn't seem to exist.
http://www.x86.com
Hmmmmm?
Our major concern about this new CPU is that it no longer fits into the
standard Motherboard sockets we've all gotten used to. Intel has
developed "Slot 1", almost like a board slot for these CPU's. This has
another repercussion. Currently there are no provsions to install these
CPU's in laptops. Intel is apparently working on a solution.
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Hardware Update Update 4/29/97
Earlier this week, Intel once again instituted their quarterly
price reductions. The main focus this time being on the Pentium
166 and 200 MHz. CPUs. There was little reduction of pricing on the
MMX CPUs. In particular the Pentium 200 will see price reductions of
25% or more. These savings will be passed on in lower system prices
shortly.
We're taking a survey or our customers and visitors. Please send us
any comments about 56K modems. What's the highest speed you've
acheived? Early reports in our area are showing no speed increase
at all. Does your phone system have better lines and switches? Are
you connecting at faster speeds? Let us know.
Send email to: bpcomp@ix.netcom.com
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Utility Update Update 04/01/97
The current issue of PC Magazine (April 8, 1997) has a feature story
about utilities. in "the 1997 Utility Guide they cover 255 different
software tools. Here's their winners in some of the common categories.
1.) It's In There - Actually they state that many newer utilities are
now built into the operating system, such as Windows '95 QuickView and
VCache. (We figure for 35 Meg. of disk space they should give us a few
built-in utilities.)
2.) Best Overall
a.)Symantic Norton Utilities for '95
b.)Microsoft Power Tools
c.)Microsoft Plus
3.) Anti-Virus
a.)Norton AntiVirus 2.0 for '95
b.)ViruSafe '95
c.)PC-cillin II
4.) Diagnostic
a.)WinProbe '95 - Reporting and Diagnostics
b.)First Aid '97 - Tune-Up and Troubleshooting
5.) Uninstall
a.)Uninstaller 4
We use some of these products ourselves. Another product we've used
many times is McAfee's Virus Scan. You can download an evaluation
copy for your own use. If you like it, buy it.
http://www.mcafee.com
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Spread Out Computer Purchases Update 03/10/97
The Technology never quits advancing. Today it may be advancing at
a faster pace than ever before. A recent article in a resller trade
journal spelled out some of Intel's plans on chip rollouts, and
price cuts over the next year. Coming shortly are 233 MHz. and
266 MHz. versions of it's Pentium II chips. Later this year
Intel's expecting to ship mobile versions of it's MMX chips for
use in laptops, and also Pentium Pros with 1 MBytes of Cache.
By early next year Intel's expected low-end CPU will be a 200 MHz.
Pentium MMX, and the systems will be selling for $1200. All this is
designed to make the gap between Intel's CPU's and it's competitors
CPU's greater than it is now. Intel's competitors are expected to try
to keep up on the technology end, and will be offering further price
decreases.
Because we see many new advancements happening over the next couple
years we anticipate current systems to be almost obsolete in 5 years.
Therefore we're recomending to all our business customers to spread out
their computer purchases. Start to replace your older computers a little
at a time over the next couple years. Buy a new computer every 6 months
or so and replace your oldest. The computer you buy for $1500 in 2 years
will be 4 times as powerful as a similarly priced system today.
______________________________________________________________________
MMX Systems Update: 2/20/97
More results are coming in on the new MMX Pentium Systems and the
speed improvements over regular Pentium systems. For an interesting
opinion that much of the improvement is simply hype and that we are
still waiting for some real MMX applications, read this article
from the folks at CNet.
http://www.news.com/News/item/0,4,8097,00.html
______________________________________________________________________
X2 Modems Update: 2/10/97
We would like to point out some of our concerns regarding the
upcoming release of the new family of 56K modems. There are some
very good reasons to hold off on purchasing one these modems till
some issues are resolved.
1) Two competing standards. US Robotics with its X2 technology,
and the Lucent/Rockwell technology 56KPlus, are incompatable. If
your ISP has the other technology, then your modem it will only work
at the current 28.8 or 33.6 speed. Make sure you know what your ISP
has before purchasing. (Can anyone say Beta vs. VHS?)
2) Requires the phone company to have digital switches at its
central office. This will probably not be a concern in major
metropolitan areas. However in many small towns and outlying
communities with older phone equipment, the phone lines themselves
will not support the higher speeds.
3) Only one direction of 56K speed. The 56K speed is only from your
ISP to your modem. From your modem back to the ISP will still run
at the current standards. This is fine for most of the "WEB surfers"
out there since most info is coming to you anyway. Most of the
information going out of your modem is simply, mouse and keyboard
information.
4) Both technolgies say that due to an FCC regulation the
maximun current throughput will actually be about 53K. This may
be changed and the throughput will increase to 56K, but as
of right now, no one will get the higher speed.
We expect a lot of these problems to be resolved as this technology
matures. However at this point we are recomending to our customers
to use caution before running out to upgrade their current modems.
If we had to guess which technology will win out in the long run,
we'd go with the US Robotics X2, they're definitely winning the
marketing battle.
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MMX Update: 1/22/97
Some early test results are in on Intel's new MMX Pentium CPU's,
and they show about a 15% speed increase. Due mainly to the fact
that they now have a 32K (Level 1, Internal) Cache, which is double
the 16K in the standard Pentium CPU, overall processing speed is
increased.
For a good wrap-up of the new MMX chips, their features and the
test results showing the 15% speed increase visit CNet at:
http://www.cnet.com/Content/Reviews/Compare/Mmx/
PC Magazine's current issue (2/4/97) also has a story on MMX systems,
and their test also show a 10% to 20% speed increase.
Here's some notes about these MultiMedia Enhanced chips, not always
being reported in news articles. To take full advantage of the enhanced
features in these chips most software will need to be rewritten. Almost
all the early software written to utilize the capabilities is games,
development of business software is lagging. Also Intel is still
working on an enhanced motherboard chipset that will be released soon.
The Intel 430TX is scheduled to be released in mid-February. It may be
wise to wait for the motherboard chipset, and some software releases
before jumping on the MMX bandwagon.
______________________________________________________________________
News Update: 1/8/97
Intel makes new today with the release of their new MMX version
Pentium Processors. These Processors now include Multi-Media
Extensions to enhance Audio and Video performance. They do
require the software to be specially written to take full advantage
of the increased speeds. The first software available to take
advantage of the new features will be games. Soon new versions of
business applications will be released to use the MMX technology.
Most major manufacturers (Compaq, Dell, Hewlett Packard and
Packard Bell) have released systems based on the new chip. In the
meantime it is helping to lower the cost of existing Pentium
CPU's to the buying public.
Many news items are coming from the yealry MACWORLD Expo being
held in this week in San Fransisco. Expectations are high as Gil
Amelio tries to right Apple's ship. With the recent purchase of
NEXT Computer, one of Apple's founders, Steve Jobs, is back with
the company. Major news being discussed is the transition to a new
Operating System. Apple plans on releasing "Rhapsody" by 1998, with
the basis of this new OS being the NextStep OS. Also a major
restructuring of it's hardware products will be seen in 1997, with a
renewed emphasis on it's PowerBook noteboook series.
______________________________________________________________________
Top Events of 1996 Update: 1/4/97
It's been a fast-paced year again in the computer industry in 1996,
as changes are occuring almost daily somtimes. New hardware appears
and is quickly replaced by even newer items, Likewise new software
products are being released constantly, and being updated almost as
rapidly. Much of these changes are being pushed by the Internet and
the linking of current networks to the outside world. Here's a quick
rundown of what we feel were the top computer events and products of
1996.
1. Internet - Seems like almost every major computer event has been
pushed by the rapid spread of the Internet into Schools, Businesses,
and Homes.
2. Browser Wars - The battle of Netscape versus Microsoft caused the
most changes to computers in the past year. Trying to outdo each other
and grab market share these two companies were frequently offering
new releases of their software. They also spurred the release of
numerous plug-in software packages to enhance audio and video services
over the Internet.
3. On-Line Services - Again this is a battle between major players
trying to grab and/or hold market-share. With America OnLine recently
offering an unlimited monthly service they matched the pricing offered
by many others. Microsoft re-released MSN, Compuserve remains a force,
and AT+T, Netcom and others continue to hook more nad more users to the
Internet.
4. Java - Again spurred by the rapid expansion of the Internet, Java,
has started to become a prominent programming language. Because
programs developed under Java are platform independant, the same
program can be used under Windows, Macs, even Unix based systems.
5. High-Tech Stocks - The stock market was often ruled by the surge in
trading in High-Tech Stocks. IPO's in Internet Companies often sent
trading skyrocketing, and rumors became rampant. Somtimes expectations
would slow and IPO's would be withdrawn, or prices would fall quickly as
as investors realized not every company was going to be an overnight
sensation.
6. Apple - Apple continues to make news with a new CEO and a new
emphasis in its strategy. It caused quite a stir at years-end with the
announcement of it's purchase of Next, and it's new operating system,
which also brings Steve Jobs back into the Apple Family.
What will 1997 hold? We only know it will be exciting.
_____________________________________________________________________
BP Computer Services
"For ALL Your Computer Needs"
info@bpcomp.com
Phone #: 217-352-6479
FAX #: 217-352-6496