FAQS! FACTS! FAX! 046 (11/03/97)

WITH REFERENCE TO...

I have just brought a Compaq 4122, my first PC at the age of 77. It will be mainly used for domestic chores, genealogy and reference. I would like some advice about CD ROMs, in particular encyclopaedias, dictionaries and thesaurus.

A.L., Lymington

A

There’s certainly plenty to choose from. Microsoft Encarta was one of the first and still one of the slickest multimedia encyclopaedias and it has become something of a benchmark. Encarta’s fairly lightweight US-centric style is not to everyone’s taste, but with a street price of £35 or so it is relatively inexpensive, moreover it is very easy to use, with a broad multimedia content. At the other end of the scale there’s the depth and authority of Encyclopaedia Britannica on CD ROM. The 1997 version currently sells for £456, which is quite an investment, (though still a good deal less than the hardbacks...). Hutchinson’s and Grolier’s Multimedia Encyclopaedias are generally reckoned to be the most ‘British’ of the general encyclopaedias; most of the others, including the otherwise very approachable Comptons Interactive Encyclopaedia, have a distinctly American flavour. Microsoft Bookshelf 97 (circa £40) is a good all-purpose reference collection, containing Chambers Dictionary, Hutchinson Concise Encyclopaedia, Rogets Thesaurus, Bloomsbury Treasury of Quotation and MS Atlas. However, there are now so many reference works on CD ROM you’d be advised to try and see as many as you can, before you decide. Don’t forget the Internet, this is by far the largest reference resource, and could turn out to be particularly valuable for your genealogical research.

Contacts: Encyclopaedia Britannica 0181-401 7211, Grolier Interactive (01865) 245770,  Hutchinson (Attica) (01865) 791346, Microsoft (0345) 002000.

BIN BOMB?

The Wastebasket on my Mac contains three files that won’t go away. I’m not too concerned, they’re not important system files or anything like that, but they are beginning to irritate me.

S.T.A., Blackpool

A

Have you tried holding down the Option key, at the same time as you select the Empty Wastebasket command in the special menu? That often gets rid of stubborn files.  If not then it could be something more serious, like an error, or damage to the hard disc file structures. The first step is to back up your hard disc, and then run the Disk First Aid from the Disk Tools. This is contained in the System Installation disk set. If that doesn’t cure the problem then you should try Norton Utilities for Macintosh. If all else fails the only solution may be to re-initialise the disc.

FUTURE IMPERFECT

As my present home computer is slowly grinding to a halt, I am thinking of buying a replacement. I would be using it for word processing, spreadsheets etc., leisure including Internet access, and probably some programming. Of course I would like it to be as future-proof as possible.  My question is: which type of processor to buy?  Should I buy a Pentium Pro, or would I do better to go for a basic Pentium with MMX ?

S.H

A

There’s been a lot of hype, and a great deal of confusion, surrounding the rather badly timed launch of Intel MMX Pentium chips. It certainly managed to annoy a lot of people who thought they were buying ‘future-proof’ PCs before Christmas...  MMX or multimedia extensions is a set of enhancements for new 166 and 200MHz Pentiums, and Pentium Pro chips, later in the year. Extra instructions and a larger Level-1 cache speed up many existing programs, and it is claimed that specially written MMX software will run up to 60% faster, though currently only a small handful of packages are ‘MMX-enabled’. It’s unlikely you would see much benefit from a Pentium Pro or MMX technology, for your largely text-based applications. If you want to hedge your bets get a fast Pentium that can be upgraded with an MMX chip, when all the fuss (and the price) settles down.

ROGUE RED

I have a Pentium 120 running Windows 95 with a ViewMaster SVGA monitor and ATI Mach 64 2Mb graphics card. The red pigment has started to drop out of the screen colouring intermittently, and, in the last few days the blue and green colours as well. It happens randomly at no particular time and comes back just as erratically. Can you offer any advice whether the problem is with the monitor or the graphics card, it can lose the colours in either windows or DOS programs though not permanently as yet!

E.T.

A

It could be either, and the connecting cable is another suspect. The only simple way to find out is to try another monitor and cable. If the fault persists then it’s almost certainly the video card. If so take it out, clean the contacts and re-seat it. If it turns out to be the monitor there’s not a lot you can do, other than have it looked at by a service engineer.