The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group More problems solved George Skarbek gskarbek@melbpc.org.au

Eliminating line breaks

I am using Word 97 to open a document that is full of line breaks at the end of each line. Apart from deleting the line break symbol line by line to convert it into a wordwrap condition what can I do to make the layout more normal?

With Word, there is a quick fix called Autoformat, which you select from the Format menu. It will do the job correctly most times, but not always. To get it right every time, use the search and replace command, available in most word processors. With rhis command you can replace all carriage return/line feeds (called Paragraph Marks) with a space. This will make the text flow to the full width of the lines. In Word, Select Edit, Replace (or Ctrl+H) and select Special and then Paragraph Mark or type ^p in the Find section as this is the instruction to find the hard carriage return. (See Figure 1.)

However, by removing all carriage returns, you will also lose any paragraphs in your document. This can be avoided: paragraphs are separated by two carriage returns and you just want to remove the single carriage returns that occur at the end of each line. Therefore select Edit, Replace With, Special and select the Paragraph Mark twice then choose a unique set of characters as a temporary replacement, such as $#$. Then select Edit, Replace With, Special and select the Paragraph Mark just once and press the space bar as the replacement. The space will provide the missing space at the end of each line. Finally replace all $#$ with two Paragraph Marks to re-establish the original paragraphs. Experienced users can automate the above process by recording a macro if this has to be done often.

Is it a Celeron or a Pentium?

I bought a Pentium 266 MMX from a "friend" but I am not certain whether it is a Celeron with no cache or the Pentium II with cache. On power-up it does not say it is a Celeron. How can I tell whether my Intel processor is a Celeron or a Pentium II? Are there any differences between a PII and a Celeron? What is supposed to be displayed during the start up sequence?

Unfortunately it is not always possible to tell what type of CPU (Central Processing Unit) you have by looking at the screen as the Celeron has all the characteristics of the Pentium and can thus be mistaken for one. The Celeron is fundamentally a Pentium II which has been stripped down by having its L2 cache removed (or reduced) and is therefore recognised as a Pentium by the BIOS. Only the very newest BIOS on new motherboards can identify the CPU correctly. There are also some BIOSes that will display the cache information at boot time. This information is displayed briefly as the computer is starting and before the operating system is loaded and can paused by pressing the Pause key.

The Celerons have either no cache (all the 266 MHz chips) or a 128 KB cache for the 333 MHz version. The Celeron 300 MHz CPU may or may not have a cache. All Pentium II CPUs with those clock speeds all have a 512 KB cache.

The majority of BIOSes do not show the L2 cache size. If yours does, and there is a zero cache displayed or a 128 KB cache then the CPU is definitely a Celeron. If a 512 KB cache is reported then it is a Pentium. The only way you can tell if it is a Celeron or a Pentium is if the BIOS actually displays the name Celeron, or has specified the L2 cache size. Otherwise the only certain way is to open the computer and examine the labelling on the CPU.

The difference in performance between a 266 MHz Pentium II and a 266 MHz Celeron is 42% according to Intel's figures (the Pentium is faster). However, the difference between the 333 MHz CPUs is only 15% because the 333 MHz Celeron has L2 cache. Note that not all applications will show this improvement, as other factors, such as the disk speed for database applications or video performance for some games, may be the limiting factor. There will be virtually no difference in Internet performance by upgrading to a faster CPU, as modem speed and Internet traffic are the limiting factors.

Leaving E-mail for others to read

I have one Internet account that I use in various locations around the State on my work laptop. At home I use Eudora, but at work I use Windows Internet Mail. When I take mail off at home, I can (and always have to) download it all a second time at work--it is not removed from the server. If I get my mail at work first, it is deleted from the server--so my wife cannot access it at home if I am on the road, as I will have collected it all already!! Any idea why this is happening, and how to stop my work laptop from eating the mail?

Almost all mail readers give you the ability to keep the mail in the ISPs server after downloading it onto your own PC. However, the default setting in most mail programs is to delete it from the server, after a successful download. The reason for this is your mailbox on the server will fill and no new mail will be accepted until you delete the old mail to make more room.

ISPs allow only a limited space for their mailboxes. This varies a lot from ISP to ISP but it is typically in the 2 to 5 MB range. The represents a great deal of mail if you receive only text (5 MB of text is about 2,000 pages). However, if you receive many pictures or programs then 5 MB is not that big and you may need to clear your mailbox regularly.

In your case, you must configure your mail reader at work to leave the mail on the server. To configure Eudora for leaving the mail on the server click on Tools, Options and select Incoming Mail then tick "Leave mail on server". Then you should also tick "Delete mail from server after X days" after you have filled in a value for X. This will ensure that your mail box will not fill due to your inactivity. (See Figure 2.)

Happy99 Virus

I receive a lot of mail and recently I received an unexpected bonus, the Happy99 virus, what should I do?

Happy99 is a very annoying program that's been spreading across the Internet since mid-January. It affects only Windows 95/98/NT computers. It is more of an annoyance than a malicious program, which is the case for many viruses. When Happy99 is executed, the computer screen displays a banner exclaiming "Happy New Year 1999" and produces animated fireworks graphics, but in the background, the program alters files on your computer without your knowledge.>

If you receive a message with the Happy99 attachment, then do not open (run) this attachment, but delete it. By opening it, your computer will become infected.

Because Happy99.exe must be executed to run, it not a virus but a Trojan Horse. It is not memory resident and therefore slightly out-of-date virus scanning software will not detect it. It is commonly referred to as a worm, due to its ability to mimic a worm's capacity for self-distribution. The February 1999 and later versions of Vet and McAfee will find and clean it. I haven't investigated other virus scanners, although I would expect that by now most virus scanners would detect it.

Once your computer is infected, whenever you send mail or post a message to a newsgroup, Happy99 sends a copy of itself to the recipient or newsgroup. It does this without any operator intervention and without any visible sign.

So, it will not damage your computer, but it will damage your reputation because the mail will be sent to your friends or business partners whose names are kept in your address list or the person who you are replying or writing to. Fortunately it is possible get rid of a Happy99 presence manually. However, as one of the steps involves modifying the registry, I recommend that users make a back up of the registry before starting. Making regular backups of the registry should be performed on a regular basis.

There are several ways to backup up the Registry. Possibly the easiest way is to copy it using Windows Explorer, being very careful not to move it but copy it. Open Explorer and click on View, Options and click on "Show all Files" and then click Apply. This is necessary because the Registry files are hidden. Decide into which folder you wish to create the backup copy. Then open the Windows folder and locate a file called System.dat. This is the Registry file and System.da0 is the backup. Both should be copied. When copying files on the same disk you must hold down the Control key when dragging the file to its new folder, otherwise the file will be moved and no copy made. During the dragging process a plus sign must appear near the cursor indicating that a copy is being made. For backup purposes, it is advisable to also copy User.dat nd User.da0 as these are also important files.

Now the removal of Happy99 can be done by completing the following steps:

• Delete \windows\system\ska.exe and \windows\system\ska.dll (if those two files are present, you have the Happy99 problem, if not, then you don't and you have nothing to do)
• Delete the Registry key;
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce\Ska.exe ="Ska.exe"
  (Click on Start, Run, type Regedit and then Search for the string ska. When the entry is found, delete that line.)

• Restart in MS-DOS mode and type CD \Windows\System
• Rename the two files by typing REN wsock32.dll wsock32.bad, then typing REN wsock32.ska wsock32.dll
• Reboot to normal Windows mode and delete wsock32.bad. Now all traces of Happy99 will have been removed except for one other file.

Reprinted from the May 1999 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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