Dennis Faas

I'm swamped! I spent the majority of this weekend writing and re-writing the email list-management program which will automate requests for users who subscribe, remove, and change their email address to this newsletter online the infopackets web ... site. After much thought, I completed the program on Saturday using a very rudimentary algorithm. The program worked very well with small lists used for test data, but took exponentially long to complete when I tested it against all the user names that make up our mailing list [40,000]. Measuring how long it takes for a program or operation to ... (view more)

Robert B. emailed me today and asked: " Do you know of a program (freeware or shareware) that will let you install a program temporarily to see if it works ok on your machine and then according to the results, you can remove it or keep it? I thought ... I did once from Lockergnome but I can't find it. I seem to think it said it was never actually installed unless you chose to keep it. Maybe it was in a dream? " My Response:The only programs I've ever used to perform a similar function are: the Add / Remove Program function in the Control Panel, and Clean Sweep by Norton. Critique: Add ... (view more)

A few days ago I received a question which pertains to Internet Explorer Script Debugging messages. I get asked this question a lot, so I thought it would be worth mentioning in the newsletter. Infopackets Reader 'Grumble' asks: " I'm running ... Windows XP with a high-speed Cable Internet connection. When I sign on to AIM [AOL Instant Messenger], I keep getting an error message from Internet Explorer: Internet Explorer Script Error Line 77 Char: 1 Error: Library not registered Code: 0. Do you want to continue running scripts on this page? I have been running aim for several months and this ... (view more)

Lately I've been getting a lot of emails from folks who are in the same predicament as I am: Windows XP crashes when an Nvidia video driver is installed. MSI (MicroStar, Incorporated) is the company that manufactured my particular video card; Nvidia ... makes the graphic chip (GPU, or Graphics Processing Unit) present on the card which allows me to play 3D games. I'm using the video card in combination with a Tyan Tiger MP2460 multiprocessor motherboard (AMD 760MP chipset). In the past, I've tried to get my Ge-Force MX-400 video card to work with Windows XP using many suggested methods, including ... (view more)

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)

I'm finally making some leeway on the web site transformation. I spent a good part of this weekend working on a web script that is going to completely automate newsletter subscriptions and removals, plus allow me to manage changes in subscriptions ... so that I can *finally* implement a text-version of this newsletter. This solution will give readers the choice of receiving the Gazette twice or three times a week! It took me about 8 hours to figure out how to dereference a multidimensional array which points to another array structure in PERL (a web script programming language). This is pretty ... (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)

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)