HELP FILES: If you zip up the contents of the Windows/Help folder to save space [average compression will save about 50% of the original size of the files], when you try to use a Windows help file a message will appear that windows can't find the pertinent help file and asking whether you want to try to find it yourself. You know where the file is, but the default file type[s] presented by the dialogue box do not include zip files.
  • 1. If you think you are going to need the Help file before you use the application, extract it and its related "cnt" file, if applicable, from the zip file into the Windows/Help folder.
  • 2. A faster method would be to just open the zip file then minimize it. If you find a need for the help file, just restore the zip file. Extracting the help file isn't always necessary; it can be read directly from the zip archive. Because a Help file [hlp extension] is often accompanied with a Table of Contents file [cnt extension], open both the hlp and cnt file simultaneously from the zip file unless you just want to access the Index feature of the help file.
  • 3. Internet Explorer [V4.x] Help files generally carry the "chm" extension wherein both the Help and Table of Content file has been combined. It is only necessary to open the "chm" file in the zip archive for a functional help file.
  • 4. When you are through using the application, don't forget to delete any extracted files, close the zip file, and delete any "gid" files that were created which may reside in the Windows\Help or Windows\Temp folders.

    • BROWSER MAIL PROGRAMS: E-mail applications with Internet Explorer and Netscape such as Outlook Express and Messenger may require special management in order to contain their size. The various mail folders such as Inbox, Sent, Trash and Deleted Items will continually increase in size unless you manage them:
  • 1. The normal management method of saving space is to compress all folders.
  • 2. After reading incoming and sending outgoing mail, save the letters you want and delete the remainder.
  • 3. If you don't have the time or inclination to make separate saves of incoming/outgoing mail but don't want to delete it, make descriptive folders to hold the mail which you can periodically remove. For instance, when running the mail program create new folders named: "Sent-Feb 98" and "Received-Feb98". At the end of the month create new folders for the next month. From Windows Explorer, open the mail folder and cut/paste all the Feb98 mail files to a portable disk.

    • N CLICK OF DEATH: If you are using a portable drive, particulary a Zip Drive [Parent corporation: IOMEGA], there have been numerous reports of drive and disk failures indicated by what has been termed the "Click of Death". For a comprehensive discussion of these failures including reports from Zip Drive users, see the web-site: Click Death Home Page. A "click death" is indicated when the drive starts repeatedly clicking when accessed. Also a disk[s] may not mount and the data will not be recoverable. Currently causes and cures are not available. If you experience this problem, contact the manufacturer for replacement of a damaged drive (if still under the one year warranty) and disks (lifetime warranty). This problem has serious side effects:
  • 1. Placing a good disk in a bad drive can ruin the good disk.
  • 2. Placing a bad disk in a good drive can ruin the good drive.
  • 3. Data recovery from a bad disk is impossible or very expensive.
  • 4. Users with bad drives are forced to replace them with the same type of drive in order to use their existing disks.

    • E-MAIL ATTACHMENT: Some e-mail programs will not support file attachments. If your correspondent has such a program, and you want to send them a text file it is easy enough to copy the file's text into the body of your e-mail. If you want to send a Web-page, just open the "html" in Notepad, then copy/paste it into the body of your e-mail. On the other end, your correspondent can save the e-mail as HTML and [possibly with a few HTML adjustments], read the web-page. If your correspondent doesn't have a browser, before sending the web-page, use an HTML "stripper" program which will convert the web-page to a text file. Also some word processing files and spreadsheets can be copy/pasted as text files but some re-formatting may be necessary in order to send a readable file.

    HARD-DRIVE HOGS: Some programs insist on installing on your hard-drive even though you want to put them elsewhere. For example, Dr. Solomon's Anti-Virus program [v7.80] will refuse an installation path to a portable disk and wants hard-disk space. This program requires nearly 4MB of space; many laptop hard-drives just don't have that much extra space to use on a virus program. After installation, move the program to a portable disk. First, re-target the Desktop Shortcut Icon from C:\ to the portable drive letter. The program still won't work properly because when installed it put entries in the Window's Registry with reference paths to the hard-disk. To change these reference paths, open Regedit.exe and access Edit/Find on the Menu bar. Using the "Dr. Solomon" example from above, in the dialogue box enter a short description of the software, in this case "Solomon" [without quotes]. Examine all entries in the Registry which refer to the Dr. Solomon program. [Use Find Next from Edit on the Menu Bar.] When you find an entry that starts out with C:\ [the hard-drive], change it to your portable drive letter. If you rarely or never work in the Registry, back it up first; if you are used to making drive letter changes when moving programs a back-up isn't mandatory.

    USING ANTI-VIRUS PROGRAMS: Computer viruses can be destructive system killers. But often their effects have been exaggerated beyond their true power.
  • 1- Viruses do not lurk in every nook and cranny on the Internet. Most software providers on the WWW take extra efforts to protect against spreading viruses by scanning programs before offering them for download. Their reputation depends on providing safe applications to their users. However, scanning any download or new program for a virus is a prudent practice.
  • 2- Just reading web-sites or e-mail doesn't infect the user. For a virus to do its damage, you must install the file/program into your system. See 3 Ways You Can't Get A Virus
  • 3- Portable computer users who use virus programs can run them from portable drives as long as certain accommodations are made:
    . . . A- Before moving a new download/program to a portable disk, scan it for viruses first.
    . . . B- Move the download to the portable disk which contains the anti-virus program for scanning.
    . . . C- Some anti-virus programs require that your portable drive be configured as "non-removable" in order to scan the disks therein. If this configuration is not to your liking, find another anti-virus program or move the files to be scanned to your hard disk temporarily.

    • UNINSTALLERS: When a new program is installed on your system, an "uninstaller" program is often included. Many uninstallers share the same folder with its active program; other uninstallers reside in the Windows folder. To save space and weed-out unused files, these uninstallers can be removed from the hard-disk. But don't delete them; move them. Since these programs will only be needed if and when its application is uninstalled, move the uninstallers to a portable disk with a note about their original location. For users of Internet Explorer 4.x, the uninstaller and related information files [usually found in the folder named "Uninstall Information"], can result in a 3+MB space savings if moved to a portable disk. Additionally the file named "IE4bak.dat" [usually found in C:\Windows], if moved to a portable disk, can save an additional 3 to 4 megabytes in hard-disk space.

    GET A TRACKER: When you move files and programs to different locations, it is a good idea to document what was moved and when. This usually involves making a small file such as a text file to record what was done and when. These little files take minimal disk space, but they take an entire cluster. To avoid this waste, a program such as "What is This?" is an ideal vehicle for recording information about the moved file/program, where it went and where it came from. For example, the "What is This?" program adds an entry to the right click context menu. From that selection, the history of the file/program can be added in text form which will follow the file/program to any location and which can be updated when necessary.

    MAKE A MIRROR: If you are in the habit of removing unneeded files from your hard-drive, but you don't want to delete the files permanently, make a "mirror" of the removed files on a portable/floppy disk. A "mirror" is the exact folder and file structure on a portable disk that was orginally found on the hard-disk. For instance, removals from various C:\Windows folders would "mirror" as follows on a portable disk:
    Exploring - Removable Disk (D:) xxxxxxxxxxx
    		 _
    		 r
    		 x
    File    Edit    View    Tools    Help X X X X X X X 
    -; Removable Disk (D:)    
  |
  ;---0 Windows
           ----0 Cursors
           ----0 Fonts
           ----0 Help
          +----0 System
           !----0 Webxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    If, in the future, one or more of the files are needed they can be easily retrieved and returned to their original location.

    FIX ZIP FILES: When a "zip" file becomes corrupted, often a program named PKFIXZIP will repair it regardless of which zip program made the file. However, sometimes PKFIXZIP can't repair the corrupted files. Try this first: run the Scandisk utility on the corrupted zip file. Then run PKFIXZIP. Often the repair can now be made though some data may be lost.

    HOMEPAGE MULTIPLIED: Several companies offer free web-space. If you already have a home-page somewhere else, you can still sign-up and upload your page to other sites. However if you have a relatively large homepage with many pages and lots of graphics and/or you are constantly updating your home-page, there is an easier way to maintain multiple copies of the same home-page. Create a small web-page with the pertinent information about your home-page with absolute references to your original web-site; upload your small page to your new "satellite" sites. You will now be able to maintain multiple copies of your home-page with little or no maintenance required for the satellite sites.

    PRINTING PIXS: Printing a graphic file, such as a "bmp", can result in multipage output even though you want the picture all on one page. This often happens with scanned documents that are saved as graphic files. Re-sizing the bmp before printing is feasible but may degrade the output to the point where it is unreadable.
  • To avoid resizing or to minimize its effects, first open the graphic file (in Windows Paint for example). Trim any "white-space", i.e., the four margins of the file (in Paint use Image/Attributes). Decrease the Width and Height attributes; flip the document to access the top and left margins.
  • Second, before printing the graphic, access Print Setup to decrease the four margin values to the minimum allowable.
  • Third, access Print Preview to determine whether the graphic now fits all on one page. If it still doesn't quite fit either horizontally or vertically, use Image/Stretch to squash the document one increment at a time (i.e. use 99%). After each resize, open Print Preview until the graphic fits all on one page.

    • WEB-PAGE FROZE: If your browser is configured to alert you of incoming "cookies" [i.e. Security Alerts] and your Taskbar is hidden, sometimes you try to open a web-site and it never finishes opening even though all the elements appear intact. The problem may be just a "stuck" cookie. Make your Taskbar visible by moving your cursor to its hidden location [usually the bottom of the screen]. If you find a Security Alert there, just click on it in order to accept or reject it. Now, the web-page will completely open.

    FLOPPY ON BOARD: Avoid that pile up of incoming E-mail which gobbles up hard-drive space. Keep a disk in the floppy drive as you receive and read your e-mail. Save to floppy what you want to keep, make any Bookmarks/ Favourite Places for later browsing, and then delete the e-mail. Next, compact you mail folders if your mail program has that function.

    E-MAIL LINKS: If you use a stand-alone E-mail program such as OUTLOOK EXPRESS, the links in the e-mail you receive may appear alive. But when you click on them nothing happens. Certain Internet Access Providers, such as AOL, do not open your Browser when you sign on. In order to use the links in the E-Mail, open your Browser [minimized], then click on the e-mail link. [Note: To save time, set your Browser preference to open on a Blank rather than a web-site.]

    DEFRAGMENT-DO IT MORE: The Defragment program is a useful utility but sometimes the message that Windows sends can be deceptive. Often when you access the Defragment program you get the following message:
    Disk Defragmenter xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    		 ? x
                  Drive C is 0% fragmented.
    4 You don't need to defragment this drive now. If you want
                   to defragment it anyway, click Start.                                                        
    Defragment anyway. Sometimes you may have just removed several megabytes of files from your hard-drive, but Windows doesn't recognize the large number of empty clusters scattered throughout your hard drive.

    PORTABLE DRIVE SELECTION: For many older laptops, a portable drive is almost a necessity because of a small hard-disk. Be aware that these portable drives use not only different capacity removable disks ranging from about 100MB'S to 250MB's but also use different technologies which yield remarkably different speeds. Some of these drives use a technology similar to a standard floppy drive which are near the low end of the speed range. Newer portable drives [either from the parallel port or PC card slot] approach the speeds of a hard-drive because of their technology with little increase in price over the older portable drives.

    NO TOUCH TONE: Hate those long phone waits for tech help or customer service? You call and get a list of options for which button to push and then you wait and wait at the end of a long line of calls. Often, there's a way to jump to the head of the line. At the end of the list of options is the No Touch Tone Phone. Of course, you probably have a touch-tone phone; rotaries are down right rare. But somebody on the other end has to answer that option to route calls. So select the "rotary" option; you may get through a lot faster.[This even works with the IRS.]

    BACK-UP PROGRAMS: Typical advice from many computer souces: BACK-UP regularly and often. Disaster will strike. Fair enough advice, but many back-up programs are a long way from reliable and they can take a long time to execute successfully. Try an easier way: Use the "copy/paste" or "send to" function to transfer key folders [such as Windows and Program Files] to a portable disk. It's a fairly fast, simple and reliable back-up procedure; you can also check the accuracy of the operation by comparing the byte size of the original folder to its copy.

    ILLEGAL OPERATIONS: "Illegal Operations" and just plain freeze-ups often leave files behind in their wake. Usually they will be in the Windows/Temp folder; crashed web-pages land here quite frequently which you can open or delete.

    GET IT TOGETHER: often when you download a program from the WWW, there is a web-page which contains special instructions on how to install the program, what to do with prior installations of similar programs or other important information about the downloaded program. Save the informative web-page in the same location as the downloaded program or save the downloaded program in your Cache folder where the information page is cached.

    STUCK IN CACHE: Occasionally, when you delete files from your cache folder, they will not leave. Repeated attempts to delete these stuck files all fail. Often, these stuck files can be deleted if you open your browser, select options/ preferences from the Menu Bar and clear the Cache folder.

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