FAQS! FACTS! FAX! 071(28/08/97)

NEVER SAY NEVER

While on holiday in Canada recently I bought a copy of Quarterdeck Cleansweep and installed it on my Gateway P5-75 (Windows 95). I failed to notice however that it had activated the ‘Update-It’ program, which automatically dials up the Quarterdeck web-site to download software updates. It must have tried to contact Quarterdeck and failed because a message appeared in a window ‘Network error - the server name and address could not be resolved’. Underneath was another window which indicated an attempt to update Cleansweep ‘config’ file. Clicking OK did not remove either window and they appear each time the machine is started. Setting the 'Update-It option to 'never' has had no effect.  Any suggestions on how to remove the windows?

Graham Freake

A

Quarterdeck maintain that the disobedient ‘never’ option is not a bug, it’s just  ‘wrongly worded’... Figure that one out. The way to prevent Cleansweep from constantly trying to dial up the manufacturer’s web site is to remove Update It from your PC’s StartUp menu. From Start on the desktop click on Settings, then Taskbar and select Remove from the Start Menu Programs tab. Open up the StartUp folder from the directory tree, highlight Update It, hit the delete key and it will trouble you no more. 

LEAD ASTRAY

I have just purchased a computer, which I use in my bedroom. My father also has a PC, his one is in the hall. I want to run a serial link between the two PCs, for playing games. However, the longest serial cable I have seen is only 5 metres long. I want to run the cable from the back of my PC, up to the loft, across to the other side and drop down in to the hall, to my father’s PC. This is a distance of approximately 20 metres. Is there any way of joining a number of cables together? What is the best way of achieving this cheaply?

Steve Love

A

Move the computers closer together, or find a shorter cable run! The maximum recommended length for a serial cable connection is 10 metres, after which the signals start to weaken and communications may become unreliable. Very high quality shielded cable and connectors might be able to extend the distance by a few metres. Maplin Electronics (01702) 554000 sell a range of serial and null-modem cables between 10 to 15 metres in length, that may be worth a try, if you can find an alternative route. Connecting two or more cables together isn’t a good idea as the plugs and sockets will degrade the signal still further. The only other solution would be to set up a simple network, though even a basic system won’t leave you with much change from £100.

LUCKY STRIKE

During a recent thunderstorm a friend, who was working on his PC with the modem switched on, experienced bang and a flash across his PC screen. The modem was destroyed but luckily his PC was unaffected. No data was lost and it continued to work normally. Is this a common occurrence, and if so is there any way to prevent it happening again?

Bernard Tate, Tarporley,Cheshire

A

Fortunately lightning damage to PCs and peripherals doesn’t happen very often. A strike at a nearby substation or power cables may have been responsible for generating a high voltage mains ‘spike’, that fried your friend’s modem. He was lucky to have escaped so lightly. It’s a good idea to switch off the PC and modem during a violent thunder storm, or better still, use spike/surge protection plugs or sockets, that will filter out any irregularities in the mains supply. They are available from most PC suppliers. Damage from high voltage spikes on the telephone line are far less likely. The BT phone network is quite heavily protected against lightning damage, up to and including the point where the wires enter a building.  

ORANGE OUTSIDER

I have an Orange mobile phone and my friend has one connected to the Vodafone network. Why can't we send SMS messages to each other? When will we be able to? This is very frustrating!

Patrick Martin

A

SMS or the short message service is a remarkably useful but surprisingly underused facility, available on the Cellnet, Orange and Vodaphone digital mobile phone networks. It works like a paging system; short text messages -- up to 160 characters long -- can be sent to most GSM and PCN phones from a PC with a modem and suitable communications software, such as Pagemail and Mobile Messenger. Additional services, including news, weather and stockmarket information, are also coming on-line. Some digital phones can also compose and send text messages and faxes to other mobile phones on the same network. Unfortunately there are no plans at the moment for cross-network support. An Orange spokesperson told us there were unresolved technical and commercial issues and SMS compatibility with other networks is ‘a year away, at the earliest’. Spokespersons at Cellnet and Vodaphone said more or less the same. As a matter of interest inter-network SMS messaging is possible when  both users are abroad ‘roaming’, on the same network. Cellnet say that currently they share around 80 networks with Vodaphone worldwide; at the moment Orange mobile phones only work in around 28 countries.    

SMS Software: Pagemail is available from Dixon’s Link stores. Mobile Messenger is marketed by Vega Ltd, telephone (01706) 44177.