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SIG Report by John S. Krill jskrill@jps.net Last month I talked briefly about books available for Windows 98. Now that Windows 98 is out and crashing lets go to Amazon and see how many books there are. My search started with mining from ‘computer platforms/os/windows and dos/windows 98. Once at Windows 98 available selections were: Basics - 20 titles, Power User - 22 titles, Programming - 6 titles, Quick guides - 6 titles, and Reference - 13 titles. If my addition is correct that’s 67 titles and Windows 98 has only been in the stores for a month. Books aren’t the only source of Windows 98 information. The July 1998 PC Magazine has several sections on Windows 98. Well worth the cost. Buy it. Tear out relevant pages and save for reference. Or go to the PC Magazine web site and download those pages that are of interest to you. And don’t forget the Web sites I mentioned in the June 98 Orange Bytes (Windows 9X Web Sites.) Books, magazines, Web sites as well as TV and Radio. We are the most information saturated society in history. The problem is finding reliable data. I have no quick answers. I am very cautious about relying on the information available to me. Like medical and legal advice always get a second opinion. For instance, the technical information in PC Magazine is fairly good but the reviews, for me, are totally suspect. And with the demise of Byte magazine where can anyone go for reliable technical information on a wide spectrum? If you know of any periodicals similar to Byte let us know. Microsoft has included with Windows 98 a text file of it’s own tips. The name is \[windows directory]\tips.txt. Subjects covered are: MS-DOS Command Prompt, Hardware Profiles, Mobile Computing, and Misc. Tips and Tricks. The MS-DOS Command Prompt section is very helpful. Now I never have to answer DOS questions. I just refer them to tips.txt. Other text files in the Windows directory are: config.txt, display.txt, extra.txt, faq.txt, general.txt, hardware.txt, msdosdrv.txt, printers.txt, and programs.txt. Many of these files discuss MS-DOS setup and configuration. If you are a DOSer or GAMER then review these documents. The Windows 98 Startup (emergency recovery?) disk has been improved. You still go to My Computer >> Control Panel >> Add/Remove Programs >> Startup Disk. What has change is what’s put onto the disk. When you boot a Startup Disk it first creates a RAM Disk and uses an unpack utility to remove the DOS utilities from a CAB file and store them in the RAM Disk. This allows for many more utilities to be loaded from a floppy. So create a Startup Disk and then restart your computer and boot from the Startup disk. The first thing you notice is the option to enable your CD-ROM. Next it will unpack the CAB file and copy the files to your RAM disk and start DOS. What you need to do is examine what is on the RAM Drive and on the floppy. If you want to add additional utilities or files then put them in a separate directory and copy those files to the floppy after the Startup disk is created. In a previous sig report I reported that the new windows 98 still crashed. What I have found with my system is that I have two different memory types on my motherboard: dimms and simms. I have removed the slower simms (32mb) and I am running with the faster dimms only (64mb.) It appears to be more stable. We will see. It’s been 3 weeks since I remove the memory simm and I still have problems with win98 crashing. Removing the simm only give whatever problems I was having different symptoms. One trick I use (and this is a trick and tricks don’t always work most of the time) is to bring up the task manager (cntrl-alt-del) and remove any items related to the program that failed. You may want to start Dr Watson if you have a program that consistently fails. Dr Watson will record what happens during the crash and then you can relay that information to the proper person (really?) Why do I even mention the Year 2000 Glitch? This is everyone’s problem. Every private company, government agency, large or small must verify that Y2K is not a problem and that problem areas get repaired. Ask your company if they have fixed their Y2K problem. No one DOESN’T have the problem. At a minimum systems must be tested and verified that the Y2K problem is a non-issue. PC Magazine has a Y2K site, PC Magazine Year 2000 Resource Center: http://www8.zdnet.com/pcmag/special/y2k/index.html Has software you can download to test your computer’s BIOS, history of the problem, list of sites were information on the Year 2000 Glitch can be found. Give it a try. Will January 1, 2000 be the end of the world as we know it? Or just another hungover New Year's Day? The dreaded year 2000 (Y2K) bug is on its way--but how big a pest will it really be? CNET's Special Report gives you all the resources you need to find out, from the latest news to downloadable Y2K testing software, plus our list of the best Y2K sites on the Web: http://www.cnet.com/Content/Reports/Special/Y2K/?dd.cn Most importantly, our top story tells you what you need to know to get all aspects of your PC--from your ROM to your Internet connection--in shape for the millennium: http://www.cnet.com/Content/Reports/Special/Y2K/Main/?dd.cn |