FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  332 (24/09/02)

Q

I am using Alcatel Speed Touch USB for broadband with Freeserve. All works fine so long as I connect as soon as I switch on computer - PII 400 MHz Windows ME. If I disconnect then I usually cannot reconnect unless
restarting from scratch and it just freezes with the message "No dial tone". I have tried disabling AVG without effect. Sometimes if I try connecting from the file in Explorer instead of the desktop icon it connects then. All
connections seem OK.
Harold Burton

A

This is quite a common problem with the Alcatel ‘Green Frog’ as it’s affectionately known and there are three likely causes. The first is the modem might be drawing more current that your USB ports can comfortably supply. The solution is to use a separate ‘powered’ USB hub, which plugs into one of the ports on the back of your machine, or you could install a PCI adaptor card with additional USB sockets. If that doesn’t work try updating the modem’s driver to the Version 1.6, which you can find at: www.speedtouchdsl.com/dvrreg.htm. If the problem persists it may be due to an incompatibility with your motherboard, specifically the Via Chipset used on a lot of recent motherboards. Once again an updated driver should help and you can find details at: www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2

Q

I found your articles about monitors (Boot Camp August 27th) interesting and useful but can you please clarify an important point? You refer to flat screen LCD monitors; are these the same as the TFT monitors I often see advertised or are the two quite different in their technology?

Roland Rench, Beckenham, Kent

A

You’ll probably wish you hadn’t asked. LCD or Liquid Crystal Display is the generic name for a type of flat screen display technology. There is basically two types of LCD used on laptops and computer monitors: ‘Passive’ and ‘Active Matrix’. Passive matrix displays were popular a few years ago and are made up of sheets of glass coated with microscopically thin conductors that criss-cross the screen. The points at which the conductors intersect are the picture elements or pixels and these are switched on and off by sending a small voltage down pairs of conductors. This type of display is relatively cheap and easy to make but suffers from poor contrast and a slow response time, resulting in image ‘lag’. Active Matrix displays get around these problems by having the control electronics embedded into each pixel on the surface of the display screen. This technique is known as ‘thin film transistor’ or TFT and it’s the core technology of most LCD displays nowadays, providing vastly improved image quality but at the expense of more costly manufacturing processes. See, we got there in the end…

Q

The hard drive on my computer seems to be very busy these days (who isn’t?) and when I press Ctrl + Alt -+ Del a window pops up that shows an ever increasing list of processes in progress. Since the clicks, pops and whirrs appear to be slowing down the computers capacity to execute tasks considerably. The dire warnings that accompany the window induces abject terror and precludes experimentation so I, and my father who is in a similar predicament, are seeking your guidance.

Andrew and Tony Borman

A

Constant hard disc activity can be caused by a couple of things, The most common one is a shortage of RAM memory, which the PC makes up for by continually shifting files to and from a temporary storage area the hard disc drive called a cache. The cure is simple get more memory. It’s cheap and there’s no excuse these days for running Windows 98 or XP with anything less than 256Mb. If it’s not down to a lack of memory then there are probably too many programs and processes running in the background. You can safely ‘End Task’ them one by one from the Ctrl + Alt + Del ‘Close Program’ window to see which ones are causing the problem. The only ones you can’t stop are Explorer and SysTray, which are needed by Windows. When you’ve found the culprit, and assuming your don’t need it to load with Windows you can delete its shortcut from the StartUp folder (Start > Programs > Startup) or type ‘msconfig’ in Run on the Start menu, select the Startup tab, uncheck it from the list and reboot the PC. 

Q

I have been trying to download freeware, which is apparently in the form of a ‘rar’ file. My PC doesn't recognise it. Can you help?

J. McCormick

A

RAR is a file archiving and compression format, similar to ‘zip’ but so its fans claim, more efficient and more robust. To open *.rar files you will need a small utility called WinRAR, you can download an evaluation version from: http://www.rarlab.com/

Q

I have just acquired a camcorder Sony PC101 and a Dazzle PCI capture card with ULead video editing software. My PC is a 700MHz Pentium II with 512Mb RAM. I have successfully captured a few clips and tried to edit them but I am getting a slightly jerky picture and v-e-r-y s-l-o-w sound. What might I be doing wrong?

Michael Kaltz

A

Despite what it says on the box, and this applies to pretty well all digital video editing packages, you really need a PC with at least a 1GHz (1000Hz) processor – preferably even faster -- to achieve smooth picture and sound.

Q

Is there any means of permanently disabling the Caps Lock key or, preferably, setting the Caps Lock key so that it requires two or more keys to be pressed to set it? I use Windows XP and would like any change to apply generally irrespective of applications programs.

Ian Marshall

A

Have a look at a little shareware utility called SmartCaps. This allows you to configure many of the keys on your keyboard, including disabling or assigning system sounds to CapsLock. There’s trial version at:

www.phoebusllc.com/sMaRTcaPs_Info.htm. Registration to the full version costs a very reasonable $10. Alternatively, if you don’t mind fiddling with the registry there’s a means of ‘re-mapping’ the keyboard (switching off or reassigning functions), you’ll find fellow sufferers and some useful advice at: http://www.annoyances.org/

exec/forum/winxp/t1004806455

Q

I have a new PC (2.4 MHz Pentium 4, 1GB memory, 80GB hard drive) with XP Home pre-installed. I have XP Pro (full retail version not upgrade version) from my previous & now "ex" PC. Can I just install Pro on top of Home - or is it more complicated than that? I am reluctant to try anything uncertain with the new PC.

Nick Appleton, Worcester

A

Upgrading from XP Home to Pro should go without a hitch and all of your existing software and settings should be transferred to the new setup but as always it’s best not to take chances so you should make sure that all of your essential data backups are up to date.