Computers 1 - Computers 2 - Computers 3 - Computers 4 - Internet
Q If the modem is turned off, can a surge still go through the phone line and into the computer?A. Yes, the surge can go right through the phone line. You should at least unplug the POTS Line (Plain Old Telephone Service Line); computer systems have fried because the POTS modem is still plugged into the phone jack. Thousands and thousands of times people are advised that even if you have a good surge protection on your computer, and or even if you turn off your computer, there is -51 volt live wire that sometimes acts like a lightning rod straight into you computer. That little phone wire can carry a lightning bolt right into the back of you computer. Inside your computer, the voltage jumps all over the place. If your neighbor's house was hit by lightning, the house might burn to the ground and your house may not even get a surge, only the building hit by lightning got the full strike. Many times the lightning will blow apart the Telephone Protector outside your home, to save your house from a surge. A surge protector will protect from a power surge, which is what happens when a large appliance switches on or the electric power comes on after an outage. A direct hit from lightning will incinerate the surge protectors along with anything else in its path. The grounding system on your house will go a long way toward protecting it from lightning and protect you from an unsafe electrical system. A lightning strike on your service drop will still do significant damage. The best protection for a direct hit would be a MOV system on the service entrance.
Q. I usually keep couple of Notepad documents open while I work. I've saved them to my desktop and copy and paste information from them on a regular basis. I'll leave these documents open for eight hours at a time. I've never had any problems before. Today, these Notepad documents are closing themselves after about a minute. I'm perplexed. What might cause this?A. If Notepad closes all by itself, it is a sign of some of the CWS variants. Info direct from Merijn:
"Several variants of the CoolWebSearch Trojan are overwriting Windows system files with copies of the Trojan itself, reinstalling it whenever this infected file is called by Windows.
CWShredder detects and removes these infected copies. You can download the files replaced by the Trojan here, if the version for your Windows version is available. Note: These are all for US-English Windows versions. You should download and run CW shredder from www.majorgeeks.com/download4086.html. Start CW Shredder, close all windows and hit fix ->. Let it run and fix objects. Then hit next and exit. Restart your computer now. When you come back, continue below."
You can download the correct Notepad program for your OS (for any OS actually) from Merijn's website: www.richardthelionhearted.com. That link will tell you where to put the file, too (i.e., where your notepad.exe file runs from). You can and should also go here: www.majorgeeks.com/download4289.html and download the program called "about: buster". Follow all the directions.
Q. I have two towers and one monitor, and would like to access both computers without having to swap the cable each time. I don't want to put a second monitor in the office at this time. I use one computer for business and the other for everything else. Is there a device like an (a-b) switch that I could connect?
A. What you are looking for is a KVM switch. It will connect one keyboard, mouse, and monitor to two or more computers. There are many different types. Some have a physical switch; some work with key combinations and some support both methods.
Q. I somehow ended up with a new pci 1394 card and was just curious if I can just pop it in and everything will work?
A. It should be plug-n-play. If your machine does not recognize it, go the card manufacturer's website and download and install the appropriate driver.
Q. I just upgraded my Compaq Presario 1200 laptop to Windows XP. While I was installing, a message popped up, that said low virtual memory. What is virtual memory and how would I add more?
A. Check your available free hard drive space. Virtual memory (also called a swap or page file) is space on the hard drive that windows uses as "fake" RAM when it needs to free up system RAM for other uses. It is very likely that your XP upgrade used most of your remaining hard drive space so it doesn't have enough room for its page file. The only thing you can do is un-install unneeded applications; you would probably need to get rid of quite a few or upgrade to a larger hard drive. If you saved the old OS files in case you wanted to uninstall XP, you can free up quite a bit of space by removing them, but you also loose the option to uninstall XP.
Q. Is there anywhere I can find free software for making a resume?
A. Any word processor can do it. Employers prefer either a Word document or plain text. As far as formatting it - no, there is too much variety. But, there are help guides out there. I Googled "resume help" and got loads of free help sites.
Q. I have a USB 2.0 external HDD and when I plug it into my USB 2.0 port, I get a message from WinXP that says, "You have a High Speed USB device plugged into a non high speed port." On my device listing when my computer boots up, it shows a USB 1.1 device and a USB 2.0 device, I have tried both ports, and I get the same message. I went into my Bios and made sure that "High Speed USB" was enabled. What's wrong?
A. You may have both 1.1 and 2.0 USB ports on your PC, but you have not found the 2.0 ports. The USB 1.1 controller is probably on the motherboard, with ports on either the front of the chassis and/or on the back. The USB 2.0 controller is probably a card that is installed in one of the slots. Look for its connectors to be on the edge of the card, accessible from the rear of the computer.
It's also a possible that your USB 2.0 ports are not hooked up. Sometimes just a "USB header" is provided on the motherboard and it is up to the person who assemblies the computer to wire them up. Some computer cases come with front USB ports but the wires have to be connected to the USB header on the motherboard. In other cases, it may be a metal strap with USB ports mounted on it. This metal strap is mounted at the rear of the computer and the wires must be connected to the header on the motherboard. To sum it all up, you may have USB 1.1 ports that are directly mounted to the motherboard (the ones you are using at present) but the USB 2.0 ports may never have been installed at all. It is quite easy to hook up if you need to do this.
Q. My computer came assembled with WinXP Pro SP1 and now I want to install the update for SP2, but when I try to update it, it fails with a message saying that I am not registered or something to that effect. My computer didn't come with the original CD. Is there some way around this?
A. If you bought it new and it came with Windows XP, then you have what you need to register it properly. If you bought it used, then whomever you bought it from should have given you the documentation to prove that your copy of XP is legit. If, however, you have an illegal copy of XP then your only option is to buy a legal copy.
Q. I unintentionally changed the screen display (CONTROL PANEL, display, settings) to 16 colors, 640x480 pixels. When I try to change back to 1024x768 pixels, 256 colors, I can't get the settings screen small enough to click on the "apply" button at the bottom. Now everything is huge, as is this message. Is there a way to change the display setting outside of using Control panel, display, and settings options?
A. Go back to the display properties, make the changes, then, to get to the "apply" button, right click on Display Properties down on the taskbar and select "Move." Use your arrow keys to push the window up; you may have to hit enter to get the move to take until you can see the apply button.
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