This page contains answers to common questions handled by our support staff,
along with some tips and tricks that we have found useful and presented here as
questions. since we haven't been up long, we realize these tips are a bit slim yet,
but keep checking back for more questions, more answers, and more details.
Note: In these answers we will follow a few shorthand
conventions for describing user-interface procedures. Key combinations will be presented
like this: Ctrl+Alt+Delete, which means that you should press and hold down the
Control key, the Alt key, and the Delete key at the same time. Menu selections will be
presented like this: File|Open, which means that you should open the File menu,
and then make the Open selection.
- How do I ... ?
- Where can I find ... ?
- Why doesn't ... ?
- Who is ... ?
- What is ... ?
- When is ... ?
Q: How do I
set my computer to automatically update Windows?
A: If you have any edition of Windows
95, Windows 98, or Windows NT, you're out of luck. This feature is not
supported here. The only thing you can do is to visit
Windows Update on a
frequent basis. We recommend visiting this site each Wednesday, because new
patches are typically released sometime during the day Tuesday. But one of
the recommended updates you will find here is called Critical Update
Notification. Install this update, and your computer will tell you when new
critical patches get released. Yes you have to connect to the Internet to
find out about the new updates. For other versions of Windows, click the
link corresponding to the version of Windows you have: Windows ME, Windows
2000, Windows XP.
Q: How do I find files I've
downloaded?
A: The location of downloaded files depends on
the settings of the program you used when you downloaded the file. Having said that,
I recommend that you download files to your desktop. When the Save As... dialog
comes up, click the button next to Look In to drop down the list of drives. Using
the scroll bar if necessary, scroll up to Desktop and click it. When the download
completes, the new file will automatically appear on your desktop.
Q: I need to free up some
disk space. How do I remove applications I no longer use? Should I just
delete the folder I put the application in?
A: If the application is an MS-DOS®
application, deleting the application's folder should be OK, just don't forget to also
delete any shortcuts you've made to the application. If the application is a Windows
application, the answer is usually no. In some rare cases, you can, but
most Windows programs scatter pieces of themselves all over your hard drive and system
registry. These applications need to be uninstalled. Any application that
carries the "Designed for Microsoft® Windows®
95" (or later) logo must have an uninstall feature. Many later Windows®
3.1 programs have uninstall options that will be located in your Start menu. Use
these if available. If not, consider investing in a good uninstaller program.
Q: How do
spammers get my e-mail address?
A: Well, in a number of ways. One of the most obvious
would be other spammers. When one spammer gets a list together, the spammer may choose to
sell it to others. I get messages like that offering me millions of e-mail
addresses. Another way spam lists are created is by scouring the USENET newsgroups, since
these will contain your e-mail address. An interesting InfoWorld Gripe Line
article lists some of the ways spammers may get their lists. For additional
information, see this page
listing previous Gripe Line columns. Many of these deal with spam.
Q: How do I stop
spammers from getting my e-mail address?
A: By being creative and aware. One of the ways you can
be creative is to make the computer send an invalid reply address for you. How you set
that up is dependent on your software, but Outlook 97 and later, and Outlook Express have
a way to do it. Most people include some variation on the word "nospam"
inserted somewhere in their
address. Another way is to never, ever follow their directions to
"unsubscribe" or "opt-out". What you'll find is that those
instructions don't work. The messages will come back as undeliverable, or worse,
they'll be delivered. If the "remove" message is delivered
successfully, it will only make things worse. While the spammer may or
may not actually honor your request, they'll be sure to keep you in their
database because now they know that you do read your mail.
Q: What is going to be the impact
of this Year 2000 thing? (old)
A: We used to get this question quite a bit, and since the
explanation was fairly long, please see this page for the answer
to this and other Y2K questions you may have had.
Q: What is Spam?
A: Spam is 'Net slang for unsolicited bulk e-mail.
The term comes from a sketch done on Monty Python's Flying Circus
in which a man (played by Eric Idle) and his
wife (Graham Chapman) go to a restaurant where every item on the menu has some measure of
Spam in it. Idle's character, who doesn't like Spam, desperately tries to talk the
waitress (Terry Jones) into removing the dreaded ingredient. So the name definitely fits.
See "How do spammers get my e-mail address?"
and "How can I stop spammers from getting my e-mail address?"
above for more information.
Q: What is
the difference between a CD drive, CDRW, Combo, DVD, and all that stuff?
A: All these are optical drives.
This was the part you probably already knew. The difference between them is
what they can read and write. The table below shows which is which. The
leftmost column lists the types of drives, while the four columns on the
right indicate whether you can read or write that type of disc. When writing
DVDs, please consult the box your drive came in or other documentation
regarding which specific types of DVD you may use.
| Drive Type |
CD, CD-R, CD-RW |
DVD,
DVD +/- R, DVD +/- RW |
| Read |
Write |
Read |
Write |
| CD-ROM |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
| DVD-ROM |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
| CD-RW |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Combo |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| DVD +/- RW |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |