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| Maintenance Wizard |
april 4th, 1999
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Included with Windows 98, the Windows Maintenance Wizard was designed to make the PC more self-maintainable. The
Wizard schedules tune-up jobs to be run automatically on a regular basis. Windows Maintenance Wizard will help
you by:
1.) Deleting unnecessary files.
2.) Making sure your hard disk is optimized and properly functioning.
3.) Launching applications up to 36 percent faster (average).
You can launch the Windows Maintenance Wizard from the System Tool group off of the Start Menu (or look for TUNEUP.EXE
in your \Windows folder). Features of the Windows Maintenance Wizard include:
Disk Defragmenter:
The new Disk Defragmenter uses the process of disk defragmentation to increase the speed with which your
most frequently used applications run. To accomplish, this Disk Defragmenter creates a log file which identifies
your most commonly used programs. Once this log file has been created, it can be used by Disk Defragmenter to store
the files associated with most commonly run programs (the files will be stored contiguously on the hard disk).
Placing all of the files associated with a given application in the same location on your hard disk will optimize
the speed with which your application runs.
ScanDisk:
Windows 98 has been enhanced to run ScanDisk automatically in the event the operating system is shut down improperly
or your hard disk suffers a hard error. This feature will significantly help people ensure that their hard drives
are in proper working order, free of lost clusters, cross-linked files, etc.
Disk Cleanup:
Disk Cleanup is a tool in Windows 98 that automates the task of cleaning unwanted file off of the hard disk,
increasing free space. This tool is a especially useful to help users clean out Internet cache files that can accumulate
after browsing the Web. Additionally, this tool is customizable by the user to designate files to remove.
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| April 11th, 1999 |
your computer's IP address
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Do you know what your computer's IP address is? For example, knowing your IP address could help you to remove hits
to your web page counter from your computer, so that it will not increment while
you view or edit your own pages.
To differentiate computers, each computer connected to the Internet is assigned at least one unique IP address
(Internet Protocol address).
If your computer is constantly connected to the Internet, through a local network at work or school for example,
most likely you have a static IP address. A static IP address is an address that doesn't change every time you
log on to the Internet.
If you have a dial-up connection to the Internet or are using a computer that gets connected to the Internet intermittently,
you're most likely picking up a dynamic IP address from a pool of possible IP addresses at your Internet service
provider's network during each login.
If you think you have a dynamic IP address, you should ask your network administrator or Internet service provider
for the range of IP address that your computer could get assigned.
TIP:
One way to guess if you might have a dynamic IP address is to disconnect from your Internet service provider,
reconnect and recheck your IP address. If the IP address you see after reconnecting is different, that means you
have a dynamic IP address.
Note that seeing the same IP address after reconnecting does not necessarily mean that you have a static IP address.
This is because if some other computer doesn't use your current address when you disconnect (if someone else doesn't
connect to your ISP in the meantime, for example), you may
get the same address when you reconnect.
NOTE: If you exclude a dynamic IP address from your counter...
If you decide to exclude your IP addresses from your web page counter and if you have a dynamic IP address, those
addresses in your pool will also be excluded. This is because it's not possible to predict your next IP address,
if you in fact have a dynamic IP address. Therefore, the larger the pool, the greater the number of exclusions
from your counter. In other words, if there are 255 addresses within
your pool, none of the hits originating from computers using those addresses (most likely your neighbors using
the same ISP) will increment your counter.
On the other hand, if you have a static IP address, only your computer will be excluded. If you have a dynamic
IP address and feel that excluding 255 addresses, for example, from millions of addresses on the Internet is significant,
your ISP may be able to provide you with a static IP address for a small fee, even if you're using a dial-up connection.
Want to know how we obtained your current IP address? We wrote a
simple script in ASP / PerlScript:
<%@LANGUAGE=PerlScript%>
<html>
<body>
<%
$Response->write(
sprintf( "IP address = %s",
$Request->ServerVariables(
"REMOTE_ADDR" )->item ) );
%>
</body>
</html>
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| Multiple windows |
april, 18th, 1999
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Your browser may have to wait for a page to download, but you don=t. Try opening two
or more browser windows. It won=t degrade performance much and, often enough, will increase your browsing efficiency.
You can read one page in one window while downloading another page or even starting a file transfer in a second
window.
If you find a link you want to check out on the current page you=re reading, drag the link into the second browser
window and let it load there while you continue to read.
If you want to keep track of what=s happening in both windows simultaneously, minimise all other windows except
your browser windows and then right-click the time in the Taskbar and choose Tile Windows Vertically.
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| April 26th, 1999 |
Logging Internet errors
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Ever log onto your ISP and discover that things aren't moving along very fast? Maybe
you've even experienced a dropped connection. Windows 95 can be configured to keep a running log of your modem's
activity. You can open it in Notepad or your favorite text editor and find what went wrong. For Windows to record
a log file for your modem right-click on the icon for your dial up connection, then choose Properties, Configure,
Connection. Click the Advanced Button and check the Record log file box. You'll find a file called MODEMLOG.TXT
file in your Windows subdirectory. Double-click to open it in Notepad.
Get to a favorite site almost instantly with the Windows 95's-Run program. From the Start button, select run and
type the complete URL for a favorite site -- including the http://. Windows will launch your default Web browser
and go right to the site. |
Coming Next Week: Speedy Address Fields
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