FAQS! FACTS! FAX! 040 (07/01/97)

CANON KAPUT

I have two faulty Canon Bubble Jet printers, one black, the other is a colour model colour. Is there anyone who repairs such things?  My computer advisor says that printers are so cheap nowadays it’s actually cheaper to buy a new one, than have them repaired. What do you think?

S.F.

A

Shop around and you can find colour inkjet printers selling for less than £120, which isn’t a great deal of money, but yours could still be worth repairing; it really depends on the nature of the faults, and the models involved. One quick and easy way to find out is to call the Canon Printer Helpline; they say they should be able to give you an idea of what’s wrong, how much it’s likely to cost to put right, and the address of your nearest approved service agent. They can be reached on 0990 143723.

Before you do, though, and if you haven’t already done so, double check the ink cartridges, printer driver software and cables, a lot of apparent failures turn out to be simple, easily rectified faults, that have nothing to do with the printer mechanism. Canon also tell us you shouldn’t switch Bubble Jet printers on and off too often, every time you do a little ink is sucked back onto the heads, which can lead to clogging.

MEMORY MUDDLE

After typing ‘MEM’ at the DOS command my PC informs me that after loading Windows 95 only 1.6 megabytes of the 40 megabytes of memory is left. The following information was displayed:

Memory Type        Total        Used            Free

Extended (XMS)    39,936K   38,912K     1,024K

Is there any way that I can improve recover some memory by deleting unnecessary files?

T.T

A

The ‘mem’ command shows how your PC’s random access memory (RAM) is configured; it doesn’t tell you how much memory various pieces of software will use, when they’re running. Don’t confuse RAM memory -- which is used to temporarily store data required by the central processor -- with the hard disc drive, where all of the machine’s operating software and programs are kept.  Deleting unused files makes no difference to the memory configuration, though it will free up hard disc space, and if you run the Defrag utility in MS-DOS (and memory management software as well) that may help your machine run a little more efficiently.

TIME FOR A CHANGE

After reading an item in Connected about PCs and the year 2000 I carried out the suggested experiment, to find out if my computer (386SX/25) would respond to the date change at midnight, December 31st 1999. The result was not encouraging, it read 01/01/1980. What alterations can I make, to get the correct date? I use Windows 3.1 and have a Dataflex Supergem internal modem  rated at 14,000 bps, but takes forever to download to transfer Internet pages, (and Electronic Telegraph). Would you advise replacing the modem with a faster model or would the PC’s slow clock speed inhibit the higher speed? Is an upgrade of the clock speed a feasible or economic?

E. C.

A

You’re being a little premature. The millennium is still three years away; by then your computer will probably be seven or eight years old, it’s unlikely you’ll still be using it, assuming it is still in working order. However, just in case it is, you will find a variety of solutions, including free software upgrades to download, on the ‘Y2K’ home page: http://www. year 2000.com

As far as changing your modem is concerned, faster speeds are always desirable, 28,800 bps is the optimum for most current applications; faster models are available but support is still patchy. You needn’t worry about the PC’s clock speed slowing the modem down, though the communications chips used on some older PC motherboards can be a limiting factor. Rather than attempting to increase clock speed, why not just upgrade the motherboard? A fast 486 or Pentium main board will set you back around £150 -- it’s a relatively straightforward job, if you’re handy with a screwdriver --  and you won’t have to worry about the year 2000 problem.