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FAQS! FACTS!
FAX! 455 (01/03/05)
Q
Is there any
way of monitoring the temperature of heat-generating components in my Windows
XP PC? When I've experienced instability in the past, I've wondered whether
there might be a cooling problem.
Ken
Robinson, Inverness
A
Many recent motherboards and CPUs have built in temperature sensors,
and the information may be displayed in the BIOS -- look under ‘Power’ or
‘Hardware Monitor’ -- however, this doesn’t give a realistic picture of what’s
going on inside your PC since the PC is effectively idling and things only
really start to hot up when Windows and a few heavyweight applications are
running. You’ll get a more meaningful reading using a utility like Motherboard
Monitor (free from: http://mbm.livewiredev.com/). This works with scores
of common motherboards and has alarms that will alert you if any components
exceed a preset threshold. You will find the optimum temperature ranges for
your CPU and motherboard on the manufacturer’s web sites.
Q
I have two
operating systems on my desktop PC with Windows ME on drive C: and Windows XP
on drive D:. It has happened, and I know, unfortunately, that it will happen
again and I will have to format and re-install Windows ME! Is there any way to
have dual-booting again, so I can choose between ME and XP, as I had before
formatting the C drive, or must I re-install XP again?
Arjmand
Ahmad, Tehran, Iran
A
The general rule with dual booting on a Windows PC is that the most
recent version of Windows should be installed last. This is to stop the boot
sector -- important files on the hard drive that tell the PC how to boot up --
being incorrectly re-written by an earlier version of Windows, which can lead
to all sorts of problems. However, there are workarounds and there’s a useful
tutorial on how to load 98/ME on a PC that already has XP installed and you’ll
find the details at: www.winxpfix.com/page5.htm#howwin982000. There is also a good
Microsoft Knowledgebase article on dual booting at:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/
using/setup/learnmore/multiboot.mspx
Q
I am trying
to upgrade from Windows 98SE to XP but after the computer re-starts as part of
the installation process I get the message: "windows
root\system32\hal.dll Windows could
not start because the following file is missing or corrupt. Can you help?
Fiona
Barrett, California
A
This error message indicates that the boot.ini file is damaged or corrupt.
The solution is to boot the PC using your Windows XP disc and at the ‘Welcome
to XP’ screen press ‘R’ to start the Recovery Console. When prompted enter your
Administrator password and at the flashing command prompt type ‘bootcfg/list’
(without the quotes) and press Enter. A list will appear and at the next
command prompt type ‘bootcfg/rebuild’, press Enter again and follow the prompts
to add Windows to the boot.ini file. There are more detailed instructions in MS
Knowledgebase article 330184 (just type the number into Google).
Q
I seem to
remember that sometime in the last few years you included details of a free
download for a program that allowed one to 'Print Screen' literally by pressing
the print screen button, rather than copying across to a graphics programme and
going on from there. I found this very
useful when downloading facts from genealogical sites. I have recently
up-graded my computer and now can't find the relevant 'sheets' from past copies
of the DT that I have saved. Can you
please let me have details of the site so that I can download it again?
S. Bigg, via
email
A
I suspect that you are referring to Printkey 2000, which we featured in
a Boot Camp shareware roundup in September 2003. This handy little freeware
utility, which works in all versions of Windows can be downloaded from:www.webtree.ca/newlife/printkey_info.htm
Q
I have a
cordless mouse and keyboard. Periodically, and for no apparent reason, the
mouse pointer slides horizontally across the screen. I have cleaned the
contacts behind the ball, but to no avail! Any suggestions?
Barrie
Drummond-Dunn, via email
A
Assuming that no one else in the immediate vicinity is also using a
cordless keyboard or mouse then it is possible that it’s suffering interference
from other electronic devices close by. Strong desk lights can also make some
types of mice misbehave and it’s worth checking to see if the movement
coincides with large household appliances, like central heating boilers,
refrigerators and freezers, switching on and off. Interference could also be
coming from a more powerful source such as a mobile phone mast or a minicab
office. Unfortunately if the source is outside your home or office there’s not
a lot you can do about it, apart from getting a new keyboard and mouse.
Q
I like using
Firefox as my browser but it appears to have no equivalent to 'View Source' (as
does IE6) to access Notepad to enable me to modify my website. Is there an easy solution to this deficiency
please - other than retaining IE just to do the amendments?
John
Clementson, Northern Ireland
A
You can add this functionality to Firefox using a couple of
‘extensions’. ‘ViewSourceWith’ displays web page code and includes a simple
HTML editor and HTML Validator displays the number and details of errors on web
pages. Both extensions can be found in the Developer’s Tools section of the
Mozilla Update web site at: https://addons.update.mozilla.org/
extensions/?application=firefox/
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