| SECURITY - If you use your portable computer to go online and/or other parties use your machine, keep your personal data on portable disks. You can always transfer your data [temporarily] onto your hard-drive or use your data files direct from the portable disk. Before you go online always take your personal data off the hard-drive and pop-out any portable disks from their drives if they have personal data on them. You can run internet software and/or browsers off portable disks as long as you keep personal data on another disk. |
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| HOLDING: Do you often do projects, large or small, such as making a new web-page? Often your project requires you to use files from different locations. In order to gather all your work together, create a folder on your hard-drive named "Holding". Then put a shortcut to the "Holding" folder in your Windows/sendto folder. To easily gather up your raw materials in one place without affecting the contents of the original files, just select the file(s) you want in each directory, right click on them, choose "SEND TO", and select "HOLDING". |
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| DOWNLOADS: Do you download a lot of programs from the internet? Some may be keepers and other just tryouts. After you install them, keep those downloads (usually in ZIP or EXE) format. Put them on a portable disk - you may need them someday if you have to do a re-install, and you may have trouble finding them again on the internet. Besides you will save a lot of time not having to re-download the same program. |
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CLIPART COLLECTOR?
Do you collect/make a lot of graphics files?
Do you add it to your "ARTGALLERY"? If you use a portable computer
without a massive hard-drive, all these graphics can soon over-run
your system. Here are a few hints to making pictures manageable.
a. Use an "Icon Extractor" programs that allows you to extract pictures from "EXE" or "DLL" files and then save them as libraries rather than as individual pictures. b. Convert little used pictures to compressed formats such as gifs or jpgs. c. If you use a scanner, convert the output bmp files to gif or jpg files. If you have OCR software that outputs scanned documents to formats such as RTF, zip up the RTF documents. If you use the Artgallery from Windows3.x and regularly scan your drives for new/updated picture files make sure your scanned documents do not have file extensions [such as bmp, pcx, or wmf] that will put them in your Artgallery. d. If you want to see the contents of your Artgallery, generally you must have an application open that supports it such as MS Works for Windows. However if you want to see what's in your ARTGALLERY without opening another application first, just associate a little used file extension with it such as WMF. Then when you click on a WMF file your ARTGALERY will open. e. Did you know that the ARTGALLERY is a very inefficient way of storing/retrieving pictures? The ARTGALLERY which is found in the Windows/MSAPPS folder has an idx file and a thm file. Everytime you add a picture to your ARTGALLERY a description of that picture is added to both files. These files can soon balloon to 2MB or more if you are a big clipart collector.You can save all that hard-drive space if you keep the ARTGALLERY to a minimum size and arrange your clipart by sub-folder such as people, animals, patterns, etc. Then move all the clipart to a portable disk. When you need to use clipart, just use the "sendto" function. If you have "iconized" your bmp files where the contents of the file are a thumbnail picture of the contents, it can take a long time to open the Clipart folder. By categorizing types of clipart into sub-folders, opening time will be reduced considerably. You can paste a shortcut to your Clipart on the desktop if so desired. f. ART THEFT? Does one of your friends have terrific clipart that you want? If they keep their pictures in the clipart gallery ask them to zip up their "idx" and "thm" files and send them to you. Now before you steal, you must conceal. Move your "idx" and "thm" files to a different location and unzip your friends "idx" and "thm" files into Windows\Msapps\artgalry folder. Now open the artgallery, and voila, you can see all your friends clipart. Of course you don't have the actual bmp, pcx, wmf, etc files, but you can take screen-shots of the ones you like and save them as pictures. Now when you have taken what you want, move your own "idx" and "thm" files back into the Windows\Msapps\Artgalry folder. |
| CLEAN-UP: If you are concerned about security as well as saving disk space, before you go online with your portable computer be sure to empty Disk Garbage, the documents contents [put a shortcut to Windows/Recent on the desktop], the Clipboard [put a shortcut to the Clipboard on the desktop] and the Recycle Bin. Check that there are no "personal" files on your hard-drive and pop out any portable disks that have personal files. |
| TIME ADJUSTMENTS: Does your battery lose "time"? Open Control Panel,select Date-Time and create a Shortcut which will automatically paste onto the desktop. |
| FREEZE UP: Are you sometimes plagued with a computer freeze-up? Even a cold shut-down and boot-up won't solve the problem. Here's an undocumented solution that often works. Shut down your computer, unplug the AC current if you are connected, and remove the battery. Then reverse the process - put the battery back in, reconnect to AC and restart your computer. |
| PAUSE THE PRINTER: If you move around with your computer a lot, chances are you are not connected to your printer very often. Always keep your Printer on Pause until you get connected. And if you are going to print pages as well as envelopes, put the latter on "Documents-Pause" so you can make the necessary printer adjustments before you print envelopes. |
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RE-PRINT: If you are going to print documents from files
which are on a portable disk [but not an internal drive] and you
don't want to drag your portable drive along when you go to your printer, then send the files to "Holding" before you give the Print command. Print from the files in the "Holding" folder; too often you may not get the expected results when you print the first time and if the source document is on a portable disk you will have to reconnect to the portable drive. By printing from files on the hard-drive you can easily re-access them if necessary. Remember to delete the hard-drive file copies after printing and to re-pause the Printer. |
| HOLDING FOLDER REMINDERS: Are you taking your portable computer on a "trip" but don't want to drag along the portable drive. When I say trip this can be as short a move as from one room to another. If you are going to need some files that reside on the portable drive, be sure to collect them in the "Holding" folder on the hard-drive using the sendto function. If you got several things to do while you are without your portable drive, make a txt file in your "Holding Folder" with a list of what you need to collect. If you find you forgot some clipart files that are on a portable disk, if that clipart is attached to the Artgalry, then you can get it with a screenshot and paste it into your "Paint" program. |
| COOL IT DOWN: If your portable drive has an electrical adapter that plugs into AC current, it may get very hot. When the Portable Drive is not connected to your computer, unplug the adapter. |
| RE-START: If you are moving your computer while it is turned on to a new location and you want to shed those plugged in peripherals that are currently "live", then unplug them when you are in the early stages of a "restart". |
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GET A PILLOW: Portable computers are notorious for broken
hinges. After a while, your machine may look like a flatbed. A doubled-up pillow behind the screen will hold your monitor up. |
| THE STICKY TRACKBALL: Does your trackball get balky cause your don't take it apart and clean it as often as you should or maybe you are a muncher and your computer is eating your cookie crumbs? What a nuisance it is to take off and put back the trackball retainer for a quick clean up. On many portable computers that retainer can just be tossed in a drawer and forgotten. Your trackball will work fine without it and clean up time is shortened. |
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THE SCREENSAVERS: Some people like to change their screen- savers all the time. Well that's fine but they take up byte space. Store the unused ones on a portable disk and keep only the active one in your Windows folder. |
| DISPLAY: The portable computer has a small screen which, with some judicious choices, can be made more visible. To make the screen more visible, WIN95 users can access Control Panel/Display Icon/ Appearance Tab. Set the Desktop to a bright colour such as yellow or aqua. This helps bring out a high contrast with the icons. Set the fonts to "bold". Set the "Window" colour to plain white - this is especially useful if you do a lot of work by nite-lite or sometimes even flashlight. |
| M DISASTER: If (and maybe it should read when) your operating system is beyond repair and you have to re-install the basics possibly all the way down to an entire re-format of the hard- drive, many of the programs that are kept on a portable drive don't have to be re-installed. Usually the only loss is the *ini* file which can be retrieved either before the reinstallation or from an old hard-drive back-up. |
| + E-MAIL: Does the E-MAIL you sent and receive pile up in your Internet software program. Get in the habit of regularly saving the desired missives to portable disk and then deleting it all. Overgrown E-Mail files waste byte space and are subject to annihilation in a crash. |
| AOL USERS: If you use AOL and run WIN95, you may be able to use the lastest software [AOL3.0 for Windows95] even if you don't have the recommended PENTIUM processor. Many 486's handle this 32-bit program with no problem. |
| MODEM PROBLEMS: If you start getting all sorts of connection problems when trying to sign on to your ISP and you use an external modem, the cause could well be the modem cable. With a portable computer, cables take a lot of wear and tear. Before you undertake expensive solutions, go get a new cable and give it a try. |
| CABLES IN GENERAL: The instructions about cables generally advise you to tighten up the screws on the side firmly and batten down the side clips. In many cases, this is a waste of time and just causes more wear and tear. Just stick the cable in firmly and a good connection can be made. |
| POWER UP: Is your battery getting old? You seem to be in a fast drain mode. First check your battery settings to make sure you are getting efficient use of the portable power. Second, Whenever possible connect to an AC source. Carry a small "power surge" adapter when on the move with your computer and plug in. |
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ORGANIZE: When used with a portable drive, a portable
computer sports a gigantic hard-drive cut into chunks.
Organizing these chunks successfully can make your portable
computer an efficient and secure computer system. Through trial
and error and a review of how you use your computer, you can
organize these chunks to fit your needs.
Dedicate groups of portable disks to: 1] Backup of your Hard-drive and critical portable disks. 2] Downloaded programs and files in zip or exe format. 3] Removals of files/folders/programs from your hard- drive and other portable disks. 4] Your "working" programs and folders/files separated by those with "personal" data and those that can safely be exposed to the internet and/or actually run internet software/browsers. 5] Try out programs. If you download "freebies" faster than you can try them out, move them onto a portable disk for future use. |
| MULTI-ASSOCIATE: Are you a web author or a collector of graphics programs? Often you want to see or use a file in more than one application. And those applications are both on the hard-drive and portable disks. Rather than open each application from the Program's "EXE" just to see the file, try a programs called "multilaunch" [AKA mlaunch.dll]. It is actually a dll file [143KB] that will "register" into the windows/system directory and it's free. With this "dll" you can open a file with any program you like by just right clicking on it and selecting your choice from the drop down menu. [Note: If you don't have multilaunch.dll and can't find it on the WWW, E-mail me at the address below and I will send you a copy of the setup program and it's readme.txt file all zipped up.] |
| DOS: Whether you cut your computer teeth on DOS or shudder at the mention of the word, it can be a real vacuum cleaner when cleaning out your hard-drive and portable disks. {If you are not a DOS maven, get the latest "Power Toys" from Microsoft if you don't already have it. [It can be found at: http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/info/powertoys.htm ]. {Be sure that the "DOS PROMPT HERE" feature is installed.}. In order to check for unused files, enter the DOS command "dir /v/o/p/s" for each directory [i.e. folder and/or sub-folder] on your hard-drive and portable disks. This will show the date of last access of each file. If the files haven't been accessed for several months, you generally can zip them up and send them to a portable drive for removals. Be sure to make a small txt file in the directory where you removed the files documenting what was done and where the removed files went. (Note: If you use WINZIP, don't remove or zip up the Winzip.hlp file. WINZIP is one of those odd programs that will not open without its Help file. If you inadvertently zip up the Winzip.hlp file and have another unzipper such as PKUNZIP, you can retrieve Winzip's Help file.) |
| SAVE THAT SERIAL #: If the serial # on your laptop is just printed on a small sticker on your machine, copy it down before it disappears forever. Write the Serial # in your User's Manual. More than one owner has been denied free Tech Support because of a faded serial number. |
| TRIP TIPS: If you are going on a trip with your portable, don't stuff all your valuable disks in the carrier case along with your computer. Portables are a favourite target of thieves - guard your machine and pocket those disks with personal and critical data. |
| EASY DOS IT: Once you've had a computer for a while and especially if you download/purchase a lot of new software, the number of files and folders on your hard and portable disks seems to multiply. To make a record of the names, sizes and creation dates of all your files in any folder, there is a simple DOS command you can use to either print or send to file all this information. To start, right click on the folder whose contents you want to list.[In the example below the Windows\System folder is used.] Select "DOS Prompt Here". |
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