 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Beginners' bytes: Part 19 Ron Wilby |
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Yes, I know you're all waiting for the next story in the saga of Mr W Gates, so I've put it first this month. It seems Bill was making a presentation (you know, one of those great jazzy events complete with colour, sound and whatever, all to tell you about the latest Microsoft disaster). In the middle of his performance all the lights went out. Mr Gates called out "Please everybody, remain in your seats. Will you all raise your right hands?" The audience did as requested and the lights came on again. Comment from Bill Gates "many hands make light work." The Gates magic at work once again. With such demonstrations, how can any of you believe that Windows 95 won't appear till 96?
The cost of change
Every change you make in your computer system costs you. There's the time taken to learn new commands and other new tricks. There's the money needed to buy the new software, and maybe hardware too. When you are thinking of changing your operating system all your applications are affected and up go the costs again.
Microsoft's move to sell a "Preview Version" of Windows 95 has started the corporate bean counters (read business accountants) thinking. In the "greatest software upgrade in history" (Microsoft hopes), the real dollars will go into upgrading applications and of course staff training. Of course, some of these applications will be Microsoft products, like MS Word and Excel. More money for Microsoft will come from these upgrades than from the actual purchase of Windows 95/96. To take advantage of the change, all applications will need to be upgraded to 32-bit versions. A few more millions for Bill.
PC-DOS 7
Yes, yet another DOS and another segment of the escalating warfare between Microsoft and IBM over operating systems. IBM's latest challenger is strong on features, extending somewhat beyond the familiar MS-DOS bundle. Also there are plans to offer an add-in DOS version of their Internet Connection package, currently included with OS/2 Warp.
Although MS-DOS' MEMMAKER gives more memory than PC-DOS 7 could deliver, the IBM product has one big advantage. It's called RAMboost, and if you change a driver or load another TSR (terminate and stay resident) program it reconfigures itself on the fly to make maximum use of that precious 640 KB of conventional memory.
Disk compression
PC-DOS 7 includes the highly-respected Stacker 4.0 compression utility. Remember that any hard disk compression is fraught with danger and may be foolish at today's hard drive prices. But, if you can't resist compression, Stacker is the way to go, giving you a compression ratio of 1.9:1.
In a test, Stacker disabled the disk cache, then worked for two hours scanning, defragmenting and compressing the drive. Run under Windows it's a fine utility, displaying the compression ratio, disk space used and degree of fragmentation. You can fine tune Stacker for best speed or for maximum space efficiency. Drive integrity can be checked, you can create a report and there are many other features which make the MS-DOS DriveSpace look rather amateurish.
Backup facilities
PC-DOS 7 offers an almost complete version of the proven Central Point Backup for DOS and Windows. Tape backup units are well supported, with adjustable speed and variable compression. Once again, MS-DOS 6.x is left well behind. There is an antivirus program which also appears superior to the MS-DOS counterpart. My conclusion? At IBM's "crossgrade" price of $99, the change to a superior DOS seems a good choice. Have a look for yourself!
The battery problem
Many of the phone calls I receive are due to flat or dubious batteries. At the risk of being repetitive, just a word about recovering from the great battery disaster. Unless you buy new motherboards fairly often, a battery failure is coming your way.
The really important thing is to make a record of the existing CMOS setup. You should have done this when you bought your machine, but yes, I know, you're going to do it tomorrow. What's required is floppy disk drive sizes, date and time and so on. The hard bit is the data on your hard disk(s). If you have a hard disk manual, no problem.
Getting your hard disk data
With no hard disk manual, here's what you do to check the current CMOS settings and record them. What are these CMOS settings? They're vital startup information stored in a special part of memory on your motherboard. A small battery (often rechargeable) maintains these settings when your computer is switched off, but of course if the battery fails, you lose the settings and your computer won't boot. The following is a typical procedure, although some computers may be different.
Start your computer and watch the on-screen messages. Look for one that says something like Press the Del key to start Setup. Pressing Del gives you a warning screen, telling you how you can really stuff things up if you mess around with the CMOS settings.
Well, we're not going to alter anything, only record the settings. Press any key gives you a menu, from which you select the option of Standard CMOS Setup. You now get a screen full of information about your computer's setup. Do not alter anything, these settings are all correct for your computer. Make a copy of the hard disk drive data on your screen and stick it inside the lid of your trusty 486 or in some safe place. Next, press Esc to exit the screen, then select Do Not Write to CMOS and Exit. The Setup program will then ask you if you want to quit without saving. Type Y for yes and Enter to leave the Setup program. Your computer will boot up in its normal way because you didn't change anything, did you?
An easier way, if you have DOS 6.x, is to use the excellent Microsoft diagnostic utility. Get to your DOS prompt, if necessary quitting Windows and using the command cd\. Then type MSD and Enter, select the "Disk Drives" button and you'll get a screen with all the disk drive data. Copy this by using the Print Screen key and store it away safely. Click OK and F3 to exit MSD.
Restoring the settings
Simple! Just enter the Standard CMOS Setup at that opening menu you get after hitting Del at startup time. Then reenter all the values you've already stored away. If needed, the PgUp and PgDn keys can be used to modify entries. There are usually instructions you should follow at the bottom of your screen. When finished, select Write to CMOS and Exit from the menu and type Y to answer yes to the question Save CMOS Settings and Exit. Your computer is now restored to health, but still needs a new battery.
Replacing the battery
If your battery is dead, you'll need to go into Setup every time you start up (best leave it switched on?). That's a hassle, so let's have a new battery. Various methods apply to this changeover. Some of you will be lucky, the old battery just slides out, to be replaced by a new one from your dealer. You may have to solder in a new 3.6 V NiCd battery. Don't attempt this unless you are an expert, you could damage your motherboard. Very expensive! Check your motherboard manual, you may have an external 4-pin battery connectors. If so, you can buy an external lithium battery with a matching 4-pin socket that plugs directly into the motherboard, but be careful of messing with your motherboard unless you have some skill and experience.
Removing the old battery is desirable too, and may need some cutters. If you have a voltmeter, a healthy battery will charge to about 4.2 volts, not to the rated 3.6 volts. A bad sign of imminent battery failure is your computer's clock losing large amounts of time, like 15 - 20 minutes a day.
That's all for this month, folks.
Reprinted from the June 1995 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
