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The LangaList
Standard Edition

2005-11-17

A Free Email Newsletter from Fred Langa
That Helps You Get More From Your Hardware, 
Software, and Time Online

Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!

1) Water + PC = :( ?

Wet PC: Those are two words that should never go together but unfortunately for me it became a reality. A couple of weekends ago when we had all that rain my sump pump died and left me with a foot of water in my finished basement. Among the many family treasures that got soaked were 3 of my computers. Any advise for me before I try turning them on? I don’t think the harddrives, cpu, or ram were submerged but the water level did go up past a couple of pci slots. The side covers have been off the cases and everything looks dry now. Is there anything I should do before plugging them in and praying? Thanks, Dave F

Dave, I'd suggest that once each PC is thoroughly dry, remove all the plug-in cards and clean the electrical contacts as best you can. Electrical "contact cleaner" from an auto supply store or a place like Radio Shack is best, but you can use a *dab* (just a few drops) of rubbing alcohol or even a glass-cleaner (eg "Windex") in a pinch.

Use some cotton swabs to similarly clean the contacts on the motherboard sockets.

Gently wipe any crud off the motherboard circuit traces. If the PCs sat in silty water, you might want to unscrew the motherboard supports so you can check--- and clean--- its underside, too.

Turn the PC over; shake gently. Make sure there's no, um, stuff down in the sockets or other crevices.

Unplug and then replug each and every cable in the case; this ensures they're tight, and helps to break through any corrosion that formed inside.

When you're done, put everything back EXCEPT the hard drives--- leave them unplugged. (The idea is that, even if the PC decides to smoke when you start it, the hard drive itself may be OK; you could try it in another, known-good PC.) Leave the case open, too, and don't attach a monitor yet.

Plug it in, fire it up. Well, let's not say "fire" in this instance <g>; start it up.

At this point, all you're doing is checking the mechanicals and basic electricals: make sure all fans are spinning (including inside the power supply--- you may need a flashlight). If anything looks, smells, or sounds weird, shut it off immediately.

If it seems to start normally, and it's just sitting there, fans spinning and seeming OK, then if I were you, I'd just let it continue to sit for a while to make sure everything remains stable and OK. Stay close: You can't trust the PC yet.

If everything's OK, turn it off and try rebooting with a monitor attached so you can follow the basic hardware-level boot process. If that works, turn it off, and then attach the hard drive and reboot the OS.

With luck, you'll be OK. If not, well, at least you did all you could.

If the PC won't recover, you can try putting just the hard drive in a known-good PC, and maybe recover the data off it.

Later, Dave wrote back:

This weekend I was able to work on one of the computers. I broke it down, cleaned all the contact surfaces and put it back together. Miracle of miracles it came to life. Windows XP hung a couple of times forcing a reboot, but on the 3rd bootup it ran a checkdisk and now everything seems ok. Even my tuner card, which was submerged for almost 24 hours, is working. Thanks  for your advice. Now on to the other two computers. Dave F

So, as you can see, a water bath isn't necessarily an automatic death sentence for electronics, especially if they're powered off at the time of immersion. In fact, with suitable care, you can even deliberately *wash* many PC parts to clean them.

See this:
http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-q=wash&sp-a=0008002a-sp00000000
(Plus! edition subscribers can find additional info in the Plus! Archives: http://www.langalist.com/plus/archives/archives.asp )

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"I wish there were a lifetime Plus! subscription option! Thanks Fred for
your consistently accurate and unbiased newsletter. I trust the content
of your newsletter above all others I receive. Keep up the great work!"
---Allison

Thanks, Allison!

There's no lifetime option, but for only about $1 per month, you get
The LangaList Plus! Edition--- ad-free, spam-proof,
with even more content, tips, tricks, advice, and downloads
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2) More Free Security Tools

Dear Fred, I don't know if you've heard or seen this yet, but Microsoft has a beta online safety scanner at http://safety.live.com .  I tried it and it didn't find anything unusual, but I'm pretty good at maintaining things myself.  Just another tool to add to the old arsenal.

Also, Trend Micro Europe has an online scanner that only requires Java.  This means that it is Window's Active X independent (as most others are...)  This scanner even works on Linux and Solaris, provided that a compatible java is installed.  that address is
http://uk.trendmicro-europe.com/consumer/housecall/housecall_launch.php.  I must admit I haven't had success with my linux machines there today, but previously when they only scanned viruses there it worked great. So I would give them some more time. This may also open up the possibility of using a live linux CD to scan a Windows machine, though I tried it today with Simply Mepis 3.3.1-1 and Knoppix 4.0.2 DVD and I didn't have any luck, but this may be a licencing and Java compatibility issue.

For Windows users, the Trendmicro scan has the options for either a Java based scan or a browser plugin scan.. I had no problem with the java scan on my Windows machines. I have Sun Java 1.5.0 installed. The plugin engine seemed to work well also.

As always, I enjoy your newsletter and it's the first thing I read when it arrives :)  ---Roy Flint

Thanks, Roy.

Interesting stuff, especially all these new security tools from Microsoft: Antispyware ( http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx ; which is being renamed to "Windows Defender"), OneCareLive ( http://beta.windowsonecare.com/ ) and SafetyLive ( http://safety.live.com ) are all betas of what will ultimately become part of "Vista," the next version of Windows, although they probably will also be available to other versions of Windows. The whole idea, of course, is to button up Windows with more-or-less automatic security tools.

They're nothing astounding--- these offerings don't do anything that you can't do right now with many of the tools we discuss here on a regular basis. But you, dear readers, are not "typical users:" you care about your PC security, and are taking steps to stay safe. Alas, too many PC users run with little or no security tools at all, and still, even to this day, blithely open email attachments they shouldn't. If an email says "Click this--- it's funny!" they click, even if they have no idea what's inside. (Sigh)

These new security tools from Microsoft will help ensure that even the most passive or careless Windows users will have at least basic protection. That's a good thing. I also assume that the vendors of third-party security tools will step up to outdo Microsoft's tools, meaning that those of us who are trying to be careful with our PCs may have an even better crop of software to choose from. So, in all, this is a good thing.

And by the way, do check out the "Safety.Live" site. The scans are a little clunky now, but there's antivirus, port scan, cleanup, and tuneup tools, all available for free. Some of it's a little lame--- the "tuneup," for example, is just a defrag and a patch check--- but it's a promising start. (And about time, too! <g>)

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3) Slow Connection, Bad Advice

Fred, Thanks for a great newsletter. I look forward to each Plus issue (I am a charter member) learning a little bit from most.

Perhaps you can offer me some guidance with my dsl connection speed problem. I recently bit the bullet  :-)   and went from dial-up to verizon dsl ($15/month). Verizon has a speed test and with my desktop, running w98, I only get "64.6KBits 8.1KBytes", whereas with my laptop (XP home) I get in the neighborhood of  730KBits. (I am using a wireless router.) Needless to say, I complained. Their response was that my desktop was at fault. I needed 80% system resources free. So I mucked around and got to the 80% with NO change in speed. They also suggested that I probably had a virus. So I ran AVG, Panda and Housecall, none of which showed a virus; I ran Lavasoft and spy-bot again with no change in speed. My desktop is several years old and has accumulated lots of junk. Can any of that be causing the problem? I realize that I am asking a very broad question, but what I am looking for is guidance as to where I should be expending effort to get a handle on the speed problem. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Sam

Man, that old chestnut? "80% system resources free or your connection slows down" has been around for years, and it's always been wrong. We even discussed it way back in 2001 in "Tech Support Runaround" ( http://langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-07-30.htm#3 ) and "Insider's Views On Tech Support" ( http://langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-08-20.htm#3 )

Back then, I was still running Win98 as my main OS, and wrote:

Windows9x will work reliably down into single-digit resource numbers. The problem is not "low resources" but when you run OUT of resources (or nearly so). If you have, say 20% resources left and start an action that requires 30% resources, then you'll have trouble.

But if you have 40% resources left and start a 30%-consuming action, you'll still run fine with 10% resources left, as long as nothing consumes the remaining 10%.

I normally run with many apps and tools open, and routinely have 20-30% resources free, and yet my system is quite stable. Twice a week, during some intense web/business sessions I have to do, I'll run resources down to around 10%, or sometimes less.... Things still run fine and stably.

In your case, the support techs are being lazy. They want your system to be running nothing but their software. That simplifies their job (and your setup) and indeed may make your machine more stable by limiting interactions among programs. As such, they may be looking at free resources as a shorthand way for them to ensure your system doesn't have much other software running. But your problem is NOT resources per se, and they shouldn't represent it as such.

(And BTW: For Win9x users, there's a whole four-part series on System Resources--- what they really are, why they're unrelated to the amount of RAM you have in Win9x, how to manage them and prevent "memory leaks," and more--- at http://content.techweb.com/winmag/columns/explorer/2000/14.htm )

So, Resources aren't the problem. What about malware? Again, not likely to be the cause of a slow connection. You did the right thing in running scans--- that's always a good thing to do--- but I think it's a red herring with regard to connection speed.

Junk files, though, are something else. Although I'd guess that this isn't the whole story with your slow connection, a too-large browser cache (10MB or so is all you need for a high-speed line), too-full Temp file areas, etc., all can slow down your system. The browser cache in particular may make your browser and OS work harder than they have to, with the side effect of making the connection seem slow. It's not hard to fix: See http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-10-24.htm#7  I'll also have more on this as part of an article I'm finishing right now for publication next week. Stay tuned!

You don't say what vintage PC it is, but a maxed-out, very old PC may simply lack the horsepower to run an OS and a browser, and to handle high-speed communications at the same time. I doubt this is the case, unless your PC is *really* ancient, but it's at least worth mentioning.

So, what does that leave? My best guess as to the number one cause of your slow connection is a mismatch in your system's network settings: Win9x was optimized for slow-speed dial-up connections, not for high-speed cable or DSL feeds. (XP, on the other hand, usually does pretty well with high-speed connections right out of the box.)

Broadbandreports offers a great, free, connection-tweaking tool called "DrTCP:" http://www.broadbandreports.com/tools . Using that tool, plus their online tweak tester, and the info in their online forums, you can manually adjust the Win9x internal settings to "fit" your DSL connection better. Once your PC is set to receive data with exactly the same parameters your DSL ISP is using to send it, I bet you'll see your connection speeds start to fly!

(BTW, DrTCP also works on Win2K and XP; and may be able to fine-tune your connection settings to do even better than the default settings of those OSes.)

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4) Speaking Of Browser Caches...

Fred: Concerning your recent mention of IE Cache sizes, for a number of years I have used a RAMdisk for my browser cache and other temporary holdings.  Specifically, I use xmxdsk, which is still available as freeware, and I set it up in Autoexec.bat for 50M of RAM useage.  The nice thing is that it's all cleared on shutdown. ---Jim Sladek

Thanks, Jim. Yes, if you have plenty of RAM, then setting some of it aside for caching can not only automatically prevent cache-clutter (because a RAM-based cache goes away when the PC's turned off), but can speed operations, too--- RAM is the fastest memory you have in your PC.

The downside is that some operations--- software downloads and installs, updates, etc.,--- sometimes use the cache to store files through a reboot. A RAM disk's contents won't survive a reboot--- the RAM disk is recreated, afresh, each time the PC starts. So some web-based software operations may fail if you're using a RAM disk for a cache or Temp file area.

A RAM disk isn't a panacea, but it can be a useful tool, when used with care. Lots more info:
http://www.google.com/search?q=ram+disk&as_sitesearch=langa.com
http://www.google.com/search?q=ram+disk

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5) Pricey Vs Free Optical Character Recognition

Dear Fred -- I recently had a problem with ScanSoft's (now Nuance's) Omnipage. But when I tried to use their email tech support option, I discovered that they charge $9.95 for each incident.
 
Some providers may require a tech support charge for phone inquiries, but most (or all?) provide email tech support free of charge. Is this a new trend, or just a ScanSoft anomaly? I feel I would rather throw away the Omnipage program on principle than pay them $9.95 for email tech support. What do you think? ---Steve Brown

Well, with the retail version of Omnipage costing $150, I think that charging $10 per support incident is (ahem) somewhat greedy. It'd be different if it were cheap software, but Omnipage costs more than most operating systems!

That said, Omnipage is the acknowledged leader in OCR, and if you need a top-tier tool, you may be stuck. (That's probably their reasoning--- they're charging what they think they can get away with.) On the other hand, there are lots of alternatives that may be perfectly fine for your purposes. There are even free and open-source OCR utilities out there: http://www.google.com/search?q=free+ocr

I'd suggest that you try the free ones to see if any meets your needs. If not, then look for low-cost ones with free trials. Work your way up the ladder of products, and if you find that Omnipage and only Omnipage will do what you want, then you may also legitimately decide that it's worth the high cost.

But my guess is you'll find a "good enough" alternative for free, or for a lot less than what Omnipage costs. Voting with your dollars is always a good way to let a company know they've gone too far. <g>

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6) Recommend This Newsletter And Win!

If you think the LangaList is a worthwhile read, maybe a friend would find it useful too! Just use the following link to recommend the LangaList--- your friend may find a new source of useful information and you just may win one of three FREE ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTIONS to the LangaList Plus! edition given each month. (If your name is drawn and you're already a Plus! subscriber, your current subscription will be extended by a full year.)

Check out the details at http://langa.com/recommend.htm . Thanks for recommending the LangaList--- and good luck!

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7) Drag-And-Drop CD Compatibility

Hi Mr. Langa, Reading your Plus! edition for quite some time has raised me from a novice to an intermediate PC operator.
 
One question: If I format a CD-RW on my present computer so that I may drag and drop files for backup, would a new computer be able to read and rewrite to that CD? Thanks, Ed Yeisley

Drag-and-drop to a CD usually uses a technology called "packet writing," and a format somewhat optimistically named the "Universal Disk Format" or UDF. In theory, if you take a packet-written, UDF CD to another PC with a CD burner on it, and whose software recognizes UDF, then it probably will work. But that's a lot of "ifs."

The catch is that packet-writing and UDF aren't really universal. Different vendors use different flavors of packet-writing, and even within the proposed UDF standard itself, there are two major variants. "Universal," it ain't.

In contrast, normal burning in the usual CD format (for example, "ISO 9660") is actually much more standard: A normal ISO 9660-format CD can be burned on almost any PC and read on almost any other PC. But the ISO format doesn't support packet-writing, and so is not compatible with drag-and-drop recording.

So, you take your pick: Drag and drop recording is convenient, but the CD may or may not be easily read on a different PC. Standard CD burning results in a CD that can be read on almost any PC, but you can't use drag-and-drop; you have to add files via the burning tool's formal interface.

In backups, recoverability is a top concern with me--- I want to be able to grab a backup CD and be able to read it on whatever machine I happen to be using. Heck, if I'm trying to use a backup CD, my main PC may be completely hosed, or otherwise unavailable! So, I use the latter, non-drag-and-drop method for my backups, so I'll be able to read my backup files, no matter what.

But as usual with tech topics, a brief explanation like the above only scratches the surface, and leaves much unsaid. If you want a more complete explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packet_writing
http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid5_gci509553,00.html
http://www.mrichter.com/cdr/primer/udf.htm
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=packet+writing

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8) Code Load Success Story

After his site was listed in a "Load The Code" section, code-loader this reader wrote:

Hi Fred, just wanted to say a big Thank you for including one of my blogs in the langa list, visitors just keep coming and coming (blog posted on Thursday and the number of visitors increased with almost 4000% :) ). I've blogged about this too ( http://homemade-tutorials.blogspot.com/ ) and just see the screenshot with the exact details. Thank you, I'll keep your banners on all of my existing and new blogs. ---spuby

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  )

Speaking of which: Here's another eclectic sample of reader sites--- some professional, some very personal:

View A Randomly-Chosen Reader Site
http://langa.com/randomlink.htm

Manually Browse All Posted-to-Date Sites Starting At
http://langa.com/readersites.htm

Filemaker to Word tool
http://www.fmp2word.com/

Groove Control
http://www.groovecontrolonline.com/

Multiple Sclerosis Clinical test
http://www.nhor.ca/index.html

Busy Girl
http://busygirl.blogsome.com

JBax Enterprises
http://www.jbaxenterprises.com/

Machine Embroidery Designs
http://www.countrychurchmouse.com/

Curly Elastic Shoelaces
http://www.curlylaces.com/index.html

Mystical Beauty
http://www.mystical-beauty.com/

jarretts computers (ca)
http://www.jarrettscomputers.ca/

front stretch (racing)
http://www.frontstretch.com/

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9) Accidental OS Overwrite

Fred I have a question about disk imaging: If I understand you properly, disk imaging (at least is intended to) create an exact mirror of the source drive's partition or other files. But what if you're trying to switch from one operating system to another---and by loading this true mirror image, you also just overwrote Windows XP with Windows 98? Does anyone now selling a mirroring tool take THAT one into account---and if so, how do the end users avoid reverting back to an unwanted OS? ---WLT

You're correct, but it's not as bad as it seems. <g> Yes, once you've changed the OS on your PC, you wouldn't want to simply restore an old image, as that would put *everything* back *exactly* the way it was when the image was made--- including the old OS.

But the better imaging tools (and yes, BootIt is among them http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=bootit+site%3Alanga.com ) also let you reach into an older image to extract just a file or files, or folder(s). So, a good imaging tool gives you the flexibility EITHER to restore *everything* just the way it was, OR to restore just specific file(s) or folder(s). What's more, you can restore the file to the original location OR to an alternate location. So, if you wanted to get something from an old file, but didn't want to lose the current copy of the same file, you could restore the old file to a safe, alternate location and thus not overwrite the current version of the file that you wish to keep.

See why disk imaging is so powerful? You can get anything you want, just the way you want it; and in ways that standard backups can't touch.

See also:
http://langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-07-03.htm
http://langa.com/newsletters/2004/2004-10-14.htm#2

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10) Just For Grins

Fascinating site here, Fred: http://www.liquidsculpture.com/
Best regards, Dave Miller

Yes, that's interesting--- and visually stunning too.

And a small "closing the circle" thing: Ultra-high-speed photography was first made possible with the high-speed flash strobe invented by the late Harold E. Edgerton of M.I.T. in the early 1930s. Some of the first shots he took were of drops of milk falling into a saucer, revealing an ephemeral, crown-like splash structure that no one had ever seen before. The folks at "Liquid Sculpture" are recreating and embellishing on some of the very first ultra-high-speed photos ever taken!

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11) Plus! Edition Highlights:

Today's LangaList Plus! Edition contains all ten items above, plus about 40% more content including:

• "MRTstub" and "MRT.EXE?"
    (mystery files... malware?)
• More On "Too Much RAM In Win98?"
    (more problems, alas, on older systems)
• Virus Uses Sony's Rootkit To Hide
    (it happened almost immediately!)
• Upgrade$ Get Expen$ive
    (ways to reduce the cost when you upgrade multiple PCs)

Plus! edition subscribers not only get much more content in every issue (like the above), but also have access to a private web site with over 100,000 words of special content and features not found in *any* issue of the newsletter; along with dozens of private downloads and much more--- all for just $1 per month!

Plus! Edition info: http://langa.com/plus.htm 

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(Give a gift subscription to the LangaList Plus edition!
Click <a href= " http://langa.com/plus_gift.htm ">here</a>)

The LangaList is published about 72 times a year, or about 6 times a month. See you next issue, 2005-11-21!

Best,

Fred
( Editor@Langa.Com )

Please recommend the LangaList to a friend! (And maybe win a prize!)

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