Windows Tips

Recall -- Last week, Rich V. asked, " Is there any way to stop Windows Explorer from spinning up my CD ROM drive intermittently? " In my response, I suggested a few ideas: use a CD buffering program, don't put anything in the CD drive so it doesn't ... spin up, and disable Auto Insert Notification for Windows 9x machines ( details in previous newsletter ). Infopackets Reader Doug L. recommend DisCD v0.99 : it disables CD-ROM drives so that they won't spin up when Explorer or similar programs are loaded (for Windows NT/2000 only); and, Dave G. says that you can hold the shift key on your ... (view more)

Last week, Rich V. asked: " Is there any way to stop Windows Explorer from spinning up my CD ROM drive intermittently? " My Response: I suggested a buffering program, and also suggested not putting any thing in the drive: but hey -- there's got to ... be a better way! So, I asked Infopackets Readers if they had any better ideas. I only received 2 suggestions. Doug L. was nice enough to recommend DisCD v0.99: " DisCD disables CD-ROM drives, so that they won't spin up on opening of Explorer or similar programs. For Windows NT/2000 only. " http://www.amok.gulli.com/v3.htm Dave G ... (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 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)

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)

Last week, Susan S. asked the question: " I can't access the web from my favorites in the Start/Favorites list or in the Internet Explorer taskbar. When I click on a link and nothing happens! How can I fix this problem? " My Response: I asked ... Infopackets Readers to send me their thoughts. Below are some suggestions. OffsaMedic wrote: " I've had this problem several times. Using the 'repair associations' feature in Tweak UI worked for me. You can get Tweak UI (power toys) Windows XP , or Tweak UI v1.33 for Windows NT, 2000, 95, 98 . " Chris B. says: " This sounds like ... (view more)

Susan S. writes: " I'm an old experienced computer user, but this has me stumped. Just today suddenly I can't access the web from my favorites in the Start/Favorites list or in the Internet Explorer taskbar. I click on a link and nothing happens. ... What on earth is going on? And how do I fix it? " My Response: Most likely this is a software bug in Internet Explorer -- I can honestly say that I do not recall ever experiencing this problem. I gave a quick look in the Microsoft Knowledge Base from Microsoft's site and also tried Google, but couldn't see anything that match the queries ... (view more)