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LangaList 2005-03-31 Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!
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1) Using The Free "Briefcase" and "Offline Files"Everyone with a normal copy of Windows has both "Briefcase" and "Offline Files" available as part of their OS. Both tools serve similar purposes: They let you take a special copy of files and folders from one place, work on them in another, and then more or less automatically merge the changes back to the original files at a later date. "Synchronizing" the files this way ensures that all copies of the files are kept up to date; and that file deletions are replicated as well. Thus, the data stays consistent in both (or all) locations. This can be very handy if you need to work in more than one place or on more than one PC. But most people either have never used Briefcase or Offline files; or only used them years ago, when they first came out. Maybe it's time for a new look: You just may find a useful tool (or two!) that doesn't cost you a penny extra! I've written a detailed article about Briefcase and Offline Files at http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=159905095 (it's free!) that gives you my own take on how best to use these tools and what they're suited for. As usual, I also include lots of links if you want to explore further on your own. By the end of the article, you'll know how to use Briefcase and Offline Files, and you'll also have a good idea as to whether or not these no-extra-cost tools already built into your copy of Windows might be all you need; or whether you'd be better off with a third-party tool. Click on over to Click to email this item to a
friend --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList S.E. Free! ) --- "I signed up for the Plus!
edition because your newsletter has the most --------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 2) No "Decrypt" Software Needed
There's a ton of free encryption tools available, Peter,
such as "Iron Key"
http://www.bestcrypto.com/products/ikey/index.php and these: I've actually switched to the high-security 256-bit AES encryption built into WinZip ($29; http://www.winzip.com/ ): It lets me compress and encrypt files at the same time. I don't often need to share encrypted files, so that hasn't been a dominant factor for me; but WinZip does allow the creation of self-extracting Zip files with the lightweight Zip2.0 encryption; so the recipient only needs to know the password to have access to the compressed/encrypted file. Classic Zip2.0 encryption is low-security, but it's almost universally supported by compression tools. Depending on what you're trying to protect, it may (or may not) be enough. Click to email this item to a
friend 3) Copy/Save/Restore That MBRThe MBR--- Master Boot Record--- is the Rosetta Stone that unlocks the contents of your hard drive: It's usually the first sector of a hard drive, and contains the "partition table" (a record of how the hard drive's files are set up, including where the operating system software is located) and the initial boot loader that the BIOS uses to launch the actual operating system. When the MBR is messed up, your PC isn't going to do much:
Once you know about them, the FIXMBR trick for XP and Win2k ( http://langa.com/u/8i.htm ) and FDISK /MBR for Win9x ( http://langa.com/u/8j.htm ) aren't too hard to use, but as you discovered, the time to learn about them is before you're neck-deep in a crisis. <g> If you want, there also are tools you can use to preserve a copy of the MBR. For example, see "MBRtool" http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/mbrtool.htm .
Or, there's a more powerful commercial version called "DiskPatch" http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/DiskPatch.htm :
Lots more options, too: Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 4) Launching In The Background
Let's start with the semantics: If I'm interpreting what you want correctly, you wish to use Task Scheduler to launch a program in a minimally intrusive way, with no open window--- that is, nothing visible or taking space on the desktop. That's fine--- Task Scheduler can usually do that. The semantics matter because a program launched this way is "minimized" or "in the background," but is not technically a true "background process." A true background process isn't something that's normally user-selectable: Processes are controlled by the software you run, which *is* user selectable; a single piece of software that you run may in turn launch and control any number of processes. There's no simple way to turn, say, an entire piece of communications software into a background process, but there usually *is* a way to run that software minimized, or "in the background" so that it occupies no desktop space. As long as that's what you have in mind, you're all set. Here's one way to do it in WinME (other versions of Windows are very similar or identical): Find the EXE file of the program you want to run. Right click on it, select "Create Shortcut." Now, right click on the shortcut you just created, select Properties, and on the Shortcut tab, in the Run box, select "Minimized." Next open Task Scheduler (e.g. Control Panel/Scheduled Tasks), click Add Scheduled Task. Use the Add wizard to browse to the shortcut you created previously. Let the Wizard walk you through the steps of setting up a schedule, and that's it! If you need to feed a string of commands to a scheduled task, you can re-run the Wizard for that task and select "open advanced properties for this task..." when that option is offered towards the end of the process; and then add the necessary command to the Run line in the Task tab. Or, create a batch file or script to launch and control the desired task, and use Task Scheduler to launch that batchfile or script.... The possibilities are almost endless, but there are some pitfalls you can encounter with permissioning and such--- and some software isn't happy running minimized or via shortcuts--- so this isn't a panacea. But the key concept to try is simple: Create a shortcut to the program you want to run, and set the shortcut to run that program minimized; then use Task Scheduler to launch the shortcut for the program, rather than launching it directly. It won't always work, but it only takes a minute to try! Click to email this item to a
friend 5) Sloooooow To Wake
There are actually six distinct power levels supported by most PCs (and laptops) today. If your PC was in a highly energy-conserving state when it went into deepest sleep (or hibernation, in some cases) the CPU was already throttled back to a very low performance level. The PC will initially wake up in that same slow, energy-conserving state. Once everything is running--- er, crawling--- then the PC's power-management software realizes that it's a new day and you're ready to use the machine, and it then (finally) lets the PC shift into high gear. The more software you have running at the time of sleep/hibernation, the longer the wake-up cycle can take, too, because there's that much more stuff to restore. There are a couple of things you can do. For one, rather than let the PC nod off by itself, slowly sinking into deeper and deeper power-saving modes, perform a manual sleep or hibernation shutdown at the end of the day. That way, the PC will go to sleep or hibernation directly from a higher-power state, and should wake up in that higher-power mode. It may still take a while to wake up fully, but may be faster than letting the PC power itself way, way down, on its own, first. Second, you might look at adjusting the "sleep levels" or "power saving levels" your PC is using. See "To Sleep, Perchance To Hibernate" ( http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20020927S0028 ) for more info. For example, you might be able to keep your PC from reaching the near-coma deepest power-saving modes, if you find them too slow. Third, you might try doing a thorough software housecleaning of the system too: the less stuff the PC has to wade through, the faster system-level operations can take! Click to email this item to a
friend 6) Last Days To Enter March's FREE DrawingAt the end of the month, I'll randomly choose three more
winners of the FREE ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTIONS to the LangaList Plus! edition. (If
your name is drawn and you're already a Plus! subscriber, your current
subscription will be extended by a full year.) Click to email this item to a
friend 7) How Much Software = Too Much?
There are two parts to this, Peter: One is how much software you have installed on the PC, and the other is how much you have running at any one time. Let's look at the former; the raw number of programs. Businesses often arbitrarily limit the number and types of programs that can be installed on company equipment in an effort to standardize PC setups across the company, which in turn makes support, servicing, and training easier. Limiting the software to "workplace-approved" titles also helps keep the employees focused on the tasks at hand; and may avoid legal issues with rogue or unlicensed software floating around. But when it's your own system, anything goes. With newer systems, it doesn't much matter what absolute number of programs you have installed: The "right" number depends on how much space you have, how large you want your menus to be, what your tolerance and abilities are for maintaining a large and complex setup, what your personal preferences are, and so on. You can pretty much have as many--- or as few--- programs as you wish, and can handle. <g> But a second factor applies in both locales: The more software you have running *at any one time*, the greater the demand on the system. But even there, there's no absolute "right" number: It depends on the software, how much RAM you have, what CPU speed you have, and so on. Even the OS matters: Win98 and ME had severe limits on "system resources;" a fundamental architectural limit inside those OSes as to how much they could handle at once, no matter how fast or capacious the PC itself was. ( http://langa.com/u/8k.htm ) Win2K and XP largely remove that constraint, and instead work to the limits of the hardware. So, when it's your own PC; you'll know that you have too many programs installed when you run out of space, or your system gets flaky, or is a pain to maintain. You'll know you're running too many programs at once when the system bogs down or becomes unstable (as in "system resource" issues in Win98). If you're not running into those kinds of negative effects, you're fine! <g> Click to email this item to a
friend 8) Code Load Success StoryAfter his site was listed in the "Load The Code" section, code-loader Garrett Prescott wrote:
Do you have a home page or website? (It doesn't matter
what size.) Please click over to
http://langa.com/code.htm , and maybe you can join the thousands of
LangaList readers who have "Loaded the Code!" (If you've already "Loaded The
Code" and are wondering if your site will appear here or on the Langa.Com web
site, please see http://langa.com/link.txt
) Manually Browse All Posted-to-Date Sites Starting
At Allsite Cafe w/ Free Search-Engine submission New Hampshire Panorama Photos Mystical Beauty Links James Lauritz Photographer Argentine Computing Family Guy Fan Gary Manning eMeetingPlace FractalLand Word for Word (language enthusiasts) Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 9) Make Your PC Say "Cheese!"In "Oddball Hardware Troubleshooting Tip" ( http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-03-14.htm#9 ) I described using a video camera to capture error messages that flashed by too fast for a human eye to read. This reader was prompted to write:
Thanks, Roger! Indeed, it's liberating once you get over the old, film-based reluctance to "waste a shot." Want to record all the information displayed by your PC's BIOS? How about making a record of how cables were laid out, or how some odd-shaped part was mounted in the case? Need to remember how DIP switches were set or electrical jumpers were positioned? Grab the camera! With a little imagination, you can use for it a *host* of slightly weird tasks. <g> Click to email this item to a
friend 10) Just For GrinsLeor Zolman sends along this shaggy dog tale:
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the LangaList Plus edition! See you next issue, 2005-04-04! Best, An easier-to read formatted HTML version is available in the "Current Issue" section of http://langa.com. (The HTML version of each issue normally is available by 9AM EST [UT-5] of the issue date.) All past LangaList issues are also available at the Langa.Com site. UNSUBSCRIBE (instant removal!):
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