FAQS! FACTS! FAX! 108 (07/05/98)

TWEAK TROUBLE

I downloaded Tweak UI from the Powertoy site as recommended in a recent edition of F!F!F! but whenever I try to run the program all I get is an error message saying that I should load the Tweak UI disk. This is followed by another error message saying that Set-up could not finish opening a file on the source disk. Where have I gone wrong?

Barry Cullen

A

The installation procedure isn't very well explained in the documentation, and that's if you can find it, though it is actually quite easy. From Windows Explorer open up the directory where you have stored the Powertoys programs. Double click on the file named 'tweakui.cpl' and you will be asked if you want to install Tweak UI in Control Panel. Click Yes and you come to the dialogue box that asks you for the Tweak UI disc. Click on No and a new dialogue window will appear, this time asking for the location of a file called 'tweakui.cnt'. Select the Browse button and open your Powertoy directory, where the file is held. Highlight the file with a single click, select OK and the installation should continue. The Tweak UI icon will appear in Control Panel.

FULL OF NOTHING

My floppy disks allegedly each have a storage capacity of 1.44MB.  I use them to store letters, articles, programmes etc.  However, according to the Properties table, they have over 800 (sometimes over 900) kilobytes of free space when the disks refuse to take new material or, which can be frustrating, enable retrieval of the last item transferred to them.  In practice they are full. Why is this? Why the discrepancy between the Properties description that more than half the disk is still free, and the actual position that the disk will receive no new material? 

John Dando

A

You've almost certainly stumbled across a little known quirk of the PC disk operating system used by Windows 95, Windows 3.x and MS DOS, that restricts the number of file entries. The upper limit is 112, but it can be cut in half, to 66, if you use long filenames -- more than 8 characters --as allowed by Windows 95. That's because the extra characters in the file name are allocated a directory entry. There's an easy way around it, and that's to create sub directories on the disc, into which you can store as many files as you like, up to the capacity of the disc. 

TOUCHY SCREEN

I have noted for some time your responses to questions regarding whether or not it's a good idea to leave one's PC switched on more or less continually.  I have just installed a new telephone line, which provides me with a discreet Fax facility. I now leave my computer switched on all day and only turn it off overnight. However, a problem has arisen; every so often the screen loses its normal colours, I get fuzzy vertical lines and data becomes almost impossible to read. Turning it off and then on again gets rid of the problem but I would like to know whether there is any underlying reason as to why this should occur? Is there anything I can do to prevent it from happening and might it be a sign of malfunction or something wearing out?

Brian Saunders

A

The fact that the picture fault disappears when the monitor is switched off and on suggests that it is confined to the monitor's video processing circuitry, and not the PC system unit or any software glitches. It could be thermal in nature, though we would normally expect it to reappear soon after the monitor was switched on again. In any case it's worth making sure that all of the ventilation slots on the top, bottom and sides of the cabinet are not obstructed or clogged with dust. Diagnosing this kind of intermittent fault can be very difficult unless it starts happening more often -- a sign that a failure of some sort may be imminent -- or you can associate it with a particular set of circumstances. 

FAMILY PHOTOS

I'm trying to store photos on a family history programme on my Apricot Pentium 166. The problem is that, when I scan them the space they take up is huge -- even a simple photo, copied on a friend's scanner, takes up to 2Mb which makes it impossible to get it onto a floppy. Are photos really so hungry for space or am I missing something? Is there any way they can be made to use smaller, more manageable files?

M.C.G. Norman

A

Your scanned pictures are almost certainly ending up as bitmap files, if so they will have the extension '.bmp'. The solution is to compress the files; you should find a choice of formats when you come to save the scanned image. The best known and most widely used format for this type of application is JPEG, (pronounced jay-peg). In case you were wondering it stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, a committee set up by International Standards Organisation (ISO) who devised the original standard. JPEG compression exploits limitations in our eyesight -- we're insensitive to small changes in colour -- so a lot of information in a picture file can be safely discarded, without any apparent change in picture quality. JPEG files can be a fraction of the size of a bitmap -- compression ratios of up to 100:1 are possible -- files are usually no more than a few hundred kilobytes in size. Most graphics programs that support the format have the option to vary the compression ratio, so you can make the files even more compact, which probably won't matter if they're going to end up fairly small.

SCANNER SCAM

I am thinking of buying a scanner to connect to my PC, which is a Tiny P133 with 32Mb RAM. I notice that all the scanners on the market either use a SCSI connection or plug into the PC's parallel port. I do not have a SCSI socket on my PC and my printer currently uses the parallel port. Does this mean I have to disconnect the printer each time I use the scanner, or can I get an adaptor to run the two devices off the same port? I have a spare serial port, is this of any use?

Mark Kimber, Prestwich, Manchester

A

Scanners that use a SCSI (small computer systems interface or 'scuzzy') connection come with an adaptor card. This plugs into a spare ISA slot on your PC's motherboard. Mid-market SCSI scanners tend to work a little faster than parallel port models but this option is only available to you if you have that vacant slot. Parallel port connections are a lot simpler -- there's no need to open up the case -- and you won't have to disconnect the printer. This type of scanner will be fitted with a 'through-port', which basically means the scanner plugs into the PC's parallel port, and your printer plugs into a socket on the back of the scanner. The only limitation is that you won't be able to scan and print at the same time.