FAQS! FACTS! FAX! 128 (24/09/98)

DRIVE TIME

I have an 18 months old Dantum 133 PC with 32Mb RAM and have just had my 1.6 gigabyte hard drive upgraded to 4.3Gb, however, the system acknowledged 2Gb and then put the other 2Gb as my D: drive changing my CD-ROM to the E drive. Is there an easy way to get it all as one 4.3Gb drive?

R Davies

A

Windows 95 Mk I can only handle up to 2 gigabytes of hard disc space in a single lump, after that it splits up the extra space by creating pseudo drives or 'partitions' to which it assigns drive letters. However, a later version of Windows 95, called OSR2 (operating system, release 2) gets around this problem by recognising higher capacity drives and it makes more efficient use of the space available using a filing system called FAT32. Unfortunately Microsoft never marketed OSR2 as a stand-alone product and it is supposed to be supplied only with new PCs. Nevertheless you will that find that it is readily available, have a word with your friendly local computer hardware dealer or check the small ads in computer magazines. The alternative is to upgrade to Windows 98, which uses a similar disc filing system to OSR2.

LOG JAM

I read with interest the item in F!F!F! on the 3rd September, on telephone monitoring. I successfully downloaded the Dialog32 program but I was disappointed. It does not do automatic monitoring as I had hoped. You have to press the start and stop buttons for each call. I was looking for a program to log all the time that I spend connected to the Internet, without me having to start or stop a timer. I frequently connect for a few seconds to send an email or check for incoming mail. At other times I may spend much longer on line. I have very little idea of what this all adds up to over, say one month. A bonus would be to have the program link in to phone tariffs so that I could also see the costs. I am using Netscape. Any suggestions?

John Dellow

A

We suggested Dialog32 in response to a request for a multi-function program with a telephone log and appointment diary; if all you want to do is keep track of your telephone and ISP bills then you are spoilt for choice. The Tucows website -- a good place to look for Internet utilities -- lists no less than fifteen freeware and shareware logging programs for Windows 95/98 and Windows NT. Most of them can be programmed to show you the cost of your time spent on the net.

www.tucows.com

NET KNOWLEDGE

As a newcomer to the Internet I find things that I wish to download - but where do I start? I know the information goes on to your hard disk - but what do you do next?

Eve Braybrooke

A

When you click on a button or link to download a file or program from the Internet your browser will normally ask you where you want it to be saved, so it's a good idea to create a folder on your C: drive specifically for that purpose, before you begin. Open Windows Explorer (Start, then Programs), click on the File Menu, select New, then Folder, and give it a name; something simple, that you can easily remember --  like 'fileload' -- will do. When you put files in the new folder they're effectively quarantined, so you can give it the once-over with your virus checker -- you really shouldn't download files from the Internet without one! What happens after that depends on the type of file. A lot of them will be compressed, to save space and speed up file transfers, and these will have to be decompressed before they can be opened or used. Some of them are self-extracting, in which case all you have to do is double-click on the file icon and follow the instructions. Others usually depend on your PC having a file extraction utility; WinZip and PKZip are the best known, shareware versions can be downloaded from the following sites:

www.winzip.com and www.pkunzip.com

Compressed files usually have the extension '.zip'; double-clicking on the file icon will automatically open WinZip or PKZip, you will be asked which files you want to decompress and where you want them to go. After a program has been uncompressed it's always a good idea to open the Readme file before you go any further as this will usually contain information about the installation.  

WHAT'S THE CACHE?

In the September 10th edition of Boot Camp, Rick Maybury says that even if cache and History are deleted "it is still possible to recover information, but it requires a fair amount of inside knowledge".  Does this mean that these files are still on the hard disc somewhere and are taking up space, which can never be recovered?

Rod Cartner

A

When you delete a file using the Install/Remove facility in Windows 95 Control Panel or the program's own uninstaller all you're doing is removing its listing from the disc drive's table of contents. The data in the deleted file remains on the disc, the space it occupies will become available to the computer, once the Recycle Bin has been emptied. Eventually the old files will be overwritten with new data but until that happens they can still be read, using a variety of freely available utilities. To permanently delete a file and its contents you need a program like Blackboard File Wipe, which automatically fills deleted file space with random data. A shareware version can be downloaded from: http://www.blackboardsoftware.com

UPGRADE OR CAST OUT?

My company has just switched to new computers and is selling the old ones for less than twenty pounds each. They are 486 models with 16Mb of RAM, is it feasible to carry out an upgrade? I have seen the 486 upgrade chip from Evergreen Technologies, which will supposedly make it run like a 133MHz Pentium PC. Assuming this works, would it be possible to run Windows 95/98? What would I need to do to use the PC in America  -- I am presently living in Spain -- would a powerful transformer be sufficient? If all else fails, would the computer as is be okay for Internet and E-mail use?

Lourdes Cosio

A

The PCs your company is selling probably cost upwards of £1000 when new, so it does seem like a very good deal indeed, especially if it comes with a colour monitor. However, the upgrade chip you're referring to sells for around £100, and although it will improve speed and performance, Windows 95 and Windows 98 won't run anything like as fast as they would on a proper Pentium machine and some applications may not work at all. Save your money and put it towards a more up to date model -- if that's what you need -- but a 16Mb 486 is still a useful specification, fine for word processing and similar applications and perfectly adequate for Internet use. As far as using it in the US is concerned, a step-up transformer  (110VAC to 220VAC) will work, though it's probably cheaper to fit a new power supply module; any competent PC dealer should be able to help you track one down.