Dennis Faas

You may have noticed that the Gazette has been a little late in delivery in the past week and a half. Usually I write the newsletter the night before it is scheduled to go out, in order to have it ready for your morning coffee -- at least, for those ... of you who live in North America. I mentioned in a previous newsletter that I'm redesigning the site. This week I finished and tested a preliminary layout, but it still didn't quite look right -- so I've decided to scrap it and start over. I'm hoping to have the new design ready by next week (keep your fingers crossed!). More changes: additions to ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Rich V. asks: " When I open Windows Explorer or have to select a file location from within a program, there's a long delay as Windows forces my CD ROM drive to spin up in order to view contents of a disc. Is there any way to ... disable this somehow, still use the Auto Run feature, and force a spin up when I explicitly select the drive? " My Response: As far as I know, a disc must be scanned at least once so that Windows "knows" what is contained on the disc -- and to check it for an Auto Run feature. Spin up can take place any time Explorer is initiated. If ... (view more)

Last week's question was about using a hardware and software firewall in tandem, and whether or not a [Laptop] PC would be protected through a firewall if it was daisy-chained to another [Desktop] PC which used a software firewal l. Yes -- this is a ... very technical question, but certainly very worth-while to know the answer to. Here is what the connection might look like if it was daisy chained: Internet connection -> Router, 1 port [hardware firewall] -> Desktop PC [software firewall] -> Laptop [no firewall: is it protected from the Desktop PC's software firewall?] This type of daisy ... (view more)

Last week I generalized how one might go about systematic PC troubleshooting. In particular, I received a question from Thomas V. who was having problems with his Internet Radio (via Windows Media Player) and his CD ROM drive which both produced ... intermittent silence. Thomas suspected that the issues might be one in the same. I suggested otherwise, based on a familiar problem with TCP / IP packet loss that can result in Internet Radio lag. Since this matter is common, I further theorized that these two issues were most likely not related. But, wouldn't you know it? I received emails from ... (view more)

I'm stumpe d. A while back I received a question which dealt with anti-hacker protection ... with a bit of a twist. Infopackets Reader John S. asks: " I just had my Laptop networked to my Desktop PC. I'm using a DSL connection to the Internet. I use ... a Linksys Cable/DSL Router, and already have Black Ice (software firewall) installed on my Desktop PC. Should I also add Black Ice to my Laptop? " Something similar to this question was discussed in a previous Gazette issue, way back in November of 2002. RE: Using a Software Firewall and Hardware Firewall in Tandem In brief, this article ... (view more)

Today I received an interesting question from Thomas V. in New York. He writes: " Dear Dennis, I would appreciate your thoughts on a problem I am experiencing. Windows Media Player keeps skipping and cutting out intermittently whenever I play ... Internet Radio. The slider is moving, time is advancing, and the readout shows that something is playing ... but I don't hear any sound. I also noticed the same problem some times when I play CDs. Got any ideas? " My response: Off the top of my head, I have a few things that come to mind. Internet Radio suffers from intermittent lulls because ... (view more)

Not too long ago I asked Infopackets Readers for their picks on a good ScanDisk and Defrag replacement for Microsoft since I get lots of emails from folks asking why their Scandisk and Defrag constantly restart (and never get the job done). Here's ... some comments sent in from readers of the Gazette newsletter. Scott T. writes: " Diskeeper is the ultimate freebie Defrag program, as far as I'm concerned. " http://www.diskeeper.com/freeware/freeware.asp Lots of people recommended Diskeeper Lite, in fact. On the other hand, John C. uses the Microsoft Defrag utility from Windows ME: ... (view more)

Last week, Frank N. asked: " I save certain email that has been forwarded and contains angle brackets (>), line brakes and extra spaces. Cleaning this mess line by line and each symbol (>) is time consuming but sometimes necessary. Is there an ... easier way to do this? " I suggested that Frank can remove the forwarding brackets by setting a few options in Outlook Express. Unfortunately, this does not remove the existing brackets already present in the email. Of course, Infopackets Readers were on their toes and sent in some really great suggestions: (Popular pick): J.C. Tremblay ... (view more)

My friend Abba from California called me on the phone this morning after he received yesterday's issue of the Gazette which talked about Disk Imaging and Partitioning. Abba asked me why Windows XP didn't come with Scandisk and wondered why something ... so important such as Scandisk isn't easily accessible on the Desktop. I told Abba Windows XP doesn't use Scandisk anymore and now uses a program called CHKDSK. By the way, CHKDSK actually means "check disk." To use CHKDSK on Windows XP and scan your hard drive for errors usually caused by an improper shutdown: Double-click My Computer ... (view more)

I was planning to continue my ongoing discussion on Disk Imaging in this issue of the Gazette, but my mail box has been inundated with emails from folks who have fallen prey to a chain-letter virus hoax. C'est la vie. I've decided to take this ... opportunity to let you know about this hoax before you go deleting the wrong file from your system. Virus Hoax: jdbgmgr.exe. On the weekend I received multiple email chain-letters from users who have my email address on their Contact List / Address Book, and decided to pass on the message. The start of the message varies, but it all boils down to the ... (view more)