| windows
by James Belardo
In the days of yore
when people worked in the Windows 3.1x environment, system maintenance
meant ‘dropping down’ to the DOS command line.
Today there is better integration between the Windows 98 GUI (Graphical
User Interface) and its command line (DOS) underlying operating system.
With any luck, we may never have to “drop-to-DOS” again.
In
a similar fashion to the Mac OS, there are four basic maintenance procedures
you must run regularly to keep your system running effectively.
• clean up lingering TEMPorary files
• scan your hard disk for errors and repair them
• defragment your hard drive(s)
• optimize the file structure of your hard drive(s) 1
clean up those temp files
While we feverishly
try to make those surrealistic deadlines, our hard drives work like crazy.
Even if we don’t save or open any files, the computer must access
the hard drive.
You may
have heard of ‘swap files’ or temporary
files. These are files that are created and deleted by your operating
system, and in
fact, most applications create these as well. A swap file usually uses
“tmp” as an extension to its file name.
These files
are usually unreadable after a system restarts so it’s
okay to delete them. Windows 98 has addressed the problem of cleaning
up these unnecessary files with the Disk Clean Up Utility. You should
run it as part of your regular scheduled maintenance.
The other
way to clean up is to roll up your sleeves and do it manually, and the
best
time to clear out Temp files is at startup. You can
navigate to the Windows 98 “Temp” located within the Windows
Folder. Any file or folder found in here can be deleted without
causing problems,
provided you are not running applications that are creating them.
If any of these files are ‘in-use’ you will not be able
to delete them. go
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2
use a simple Batch file
Windows 98 can use
simple MS-DOS based scripts, called Batch files, to execute commands
to
help you kill those dastardly Temp files. You can create a simple Batch
file using almost any text editor — just save as plain text using
the extension BAT. One use of these BAT files is to aid you in the battle
to delete those Temp files. You can place a ‘shortcut’ to your
BAT file in your startup folder to delete Temp files before you start
your work session (although we prefer to execute the BAT file).
3
automate maintenance
through built-In system maintenance tools
You can set up Windows
98 to automatically run your maintenance utilities. In the Start menu
in Programs>Accessories> System Tools, run Maintenance Wizard.
With this you can schedule the Maintenance when your computer is idle.
Remember
to close all applications before performing disk maintenance.
Under the Start menu in Programs>Accessories>System Tools you’ll
find three applications: Disk Cleanup, Disk Defragmenter, and Scandisk.
These are the basic tools to keep your system lean, clean and practically
worry-free. Windows 98 includes the System Monitor and Maintenance Scheduler
which can run these utilities at anytime you choose. You don’t
have to be there, but your computer has to be turned on.
Disk
Cleanup allows you to delete files that may no longer be required,
such as temporary Internet files, downloaded program files (e.g.
Java
applets and ActiveX controls), files previously deleted but still
residing in your Recycle Bin, temporary data files, and even some
non-critical
system files.
Scandisk
checks files and folders for corruption. You can set it up to ask
you whether to prompt you when it needs to fix
a file or
automatically
fix it as it scans. An option in the Advanced Tab allows you to
Free (delete)
the Lost file fragments or Convert them to files. Let it delete
these files — they’re probably damaged beyond repair anyway.
Disk
Defragmenter optimizes your files for easier access by the hard
drive. With the advent of the Windows 98 structure, this can
also
make applications
start up faster. To use this utility properly, the computer must
be left alone for a while. go
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4
don’t overload your start-up folder
Do not load too many
items in your Startup Folder (Start>Programs>Startup). Applications
that stay resident (running) on your system (and are likely invisible
to you), are called TSR applications. System resources are being taken
up by these TSRs. Be cautious because some of these apps may help you
work more efficiently and may even be ‘required’ by some other
applications. So do not remove files unless you know positively what
you
are doing. Try not to delete them either — it’s best to back
these files up!
As
a rule, do not remove anything you are not sure about from the system. 5
Norton Utilities for Windows is a must
Third party utilities
such as Norton Utilities for Windows by Symantec offer depth and efficiency
to system checks. Norton is the most popular of these utilities; its
interface
is arranged in four different categories: “Find & Fix Problems,” “Improve
Performance,” “Preventative Maintenance,”
and “Troubleshoot.”
Find & Fix Problems. Norton Win Doctor checks your system for problems;
Norton Crashguard monitors and recovers from crashes; Norton Disk Doctor
helps you diagnose and repair problems on your disk; UnErase Wizard recovers
files which have been erased by mistake; and Norton File Compare compares
different versions of your files.
Improve
Performance. Speed Disk is used to optimize your PC’s
hard disk; Norton Optimization Wizard fine tunes your PC to
make applications
load faster; Space Wizard helps you alleviate unneeded files and create
more disk space.
Preventative
Maintenance. Norton System Doctor continuously monitors your
system for potential problems. Rescue Disk helps
you save and
restore your PC’s critical setup data. Image saves a snapshot
of your hard disk’s critical information. And Norton Registry
Tracker tracks and restores changes made to critical files.
Troubleshoot.
System Information reviews useful information about your PC. Norton
Registry Editor helps you navigate and edit the Window’s
infamous Registry. And finally, Norton Web Services are Web-based
utilities to enhance your PC.
Norton
is an invaluable tool for professionals who need a little bit
more diagnostic and repair capability. It
is a highly comprehensive
suite of
Maintenance Tools that can help prevent most problems from occurring
in the first place. go
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6
shut down properly
The proper way to
shut down Windows 98 is to press the Start button and choose Shut Down
at the
bottom of the list. Windows will automatically shut down the power to
your system if you have a motherboard that supports the latest ATA power
supplies. If your motherboard doesn’t support this, Windows will
tell you when it is ‘safe’ to turn the Power Switch off.
If
your system becomes unstable, or an application freezes, you may have
to press the keyboard combination of Control-Alt-Delete. The dialog
box will show you a list of applications running. If an application
is ‘not
responding,’ it will be shown. Here you may shut down the offending
application then proceed with shutting down your system. 7
keep an Emergency Startup diskette
Windows makes it easy
to create an Emergency StartUp Diskette. Go to the Control Panel and
choose
Add/Remove Programs and choose the Tab that says StartUp Disk. Then create
the Diskette by inserting a blank/formatted 3.5” diskette and pressing
the button. Make sure the 3.5” floppy is fully formatted and contains
no files.
The
Emergency StartUp Disk is most useful when you experience a major
system failure and cannot boot Windows 98 at all. You may be
able to
reinstall
or fix the problem from the Command Line. Tools that are included with
this Emergency StartUp Diskette include “Fdisk.exe” on the
floppy itself, “Attrib.exe”, “Chkdsk.exe”, “Debug.exe”,
“Edit.com”, “Ext.exe”, “Format.com”, “Scandisk.exe”,
“Mscdex.exe”, “MS-DOS”, and “Sys.com”.
They will be located in the temporary RAM drive created when you started
up
with this diskette. You can access all these utilities from the A: prompt.
• Fdisk.exe. Low-level formatting utility to help you set up hard
drives on the computer.
• Attrib.exe. Running this application enables you to change a file’s
Attributes.
• Chkdsk.exe. If you run Chkdsk with ‘switch /f’ you can
Scan your drive quickly and delete lost file clusters. (chkdsk /f).
• Edit.com. This is a simple text editor.
• Format.com. Use this to format an existing drive.
• Scandisk.exe. This is a DOS-based disk drive diagnostic and repair
tool.
• Sys.com. This transfers system files to make a disk bootable.
Additional
advanced tools such as “Debug.exe”, “Ext.exe”,
and “Mscdex.exe” are tools which help diagnose and solve
those problems. For more information, see the text file “Readme.txt” on
the Emergency Diskette itself.
ScanRegW, and ScanReg, are utilities created to Scan and Repair the
Windows 98 Registry.
The
Windows 98 Registry is a database located within your system folder
that regulates how your computer functions.
ScanRegW.exe can
be found
in your Windows folder, while “ScanReg.exe and ScanReg.ini”
can be found in the Windows\Command folder. Finding them is easy if you
right-click on “My Computer,” choose Find, and search your
drive for “scanreg.” We recommend you copy these two files
(ScanReg.exe and ScanReg.ini) onto your newly created Emergency StartUp
Diskette.
This
will give you an additional tool to help you if your Registry has
been corrupted. go
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8
learn how to use the Emergency StartUp tools
Emergency tools are
provided to help solve major failures. When the system is started with
the Emergency Diskette you have the choice of loading an appropriate CD-ROM
driver or booting absolutely clean (without CD-ROM drivers). A temporary
2MB RAMdrive (using available RAM) is loaded and includes extra diagnostic
tools. The RAMdrive may push your CD-ROM back one letter (e.g. if your
CD-Rom was drive D:, it would now be drive E:).
Alas, there are times when you will be confronted by the “Blue Screen
of Death”. If you have a major crash and the system doesn’t
respond normally you might have to resort to the ol’ CTRL-ALT-DELETE
method of restarting your system.
If
you need to start Windows 98 in SAFE-MODE to help repair your system
you may have to hold the CTRL button (F8
in Windows 95) while booting
up. This forces Windows 98 to load with the Windows 98 Startup Menu,
letting you start in SAFE-MODE. Then utilize the extensive Windows
Help available. 9
how to deal with a major crash
If your system is
forced to restart while processing a print file, a dialog box prompts
you to
either Attempt the Job again or to Cancel it. Always choose Cancel. These
files were probably interrupted while they communicated with your printer.
Important header information is probably lost. Resending the job is the
safe way.
After
a serious crash you’ll probably want to run Disk
Clean Up (don’t
forget to check the Temp Folder) and scan the Registry Database for errors.
If your computer gets turned off improperly or if a major crash forces
your computer to restart, Scandisk will automatically start. Norton Utilities
3.5 also automatically scans your hard disks after crashes or if your
system was not properly turned off.
10
follow these general rules
• Backup important
data regularly in case of computer failure.
• Keep your computer environment dust-free and away from magnetic
fields.
• When running diagnostic utilities, close other applications.
• Use an Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) to help prevent crashes
due to power failure.
Following
these tips and techniques won’t
guarantee that your system will never fail, but it can prevent
many problems.
One
last point: don’t forget that there are resources
available to help with your system diagnosis. Access the Windows
98 Help files,
the
Windows 98 Resource Kit, and the Norton Utilities documentation
to get more detailed information and techniques. go
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troubleshooting
When troubleshooting there are certain StartUp keys that can help you
— you can prevent Windows 98 from booting directly into the GUI
by holding down certain key combinations at startup.
To use
the StartUp Menu, hold down the <CTRL> or <F8> keys.
The menu will give you access to normal start up, Step-by-Step, Safe
Mode, or even directly to the DOS command prompt.
advanced
users
TweakUI is a utility for advanced users that adjusts some of the settings
for the Windows 98 GUI. You can find it on your original Windows 98 installation
CD (\Win_98\tools\reskit\powertoy). To install TweakUI, right-click on
the tweakui.inf file and choose Install.
advanced diagnostic
tools
MsInfo and MsConfiguration: To view technical information about your
computer and operating system, click on the Start Menu and choose Run.
Type “msinfo”
into the dialog box and press Enter.
To modify
the system configuration at a lower level than TweakUI, type “msconfig” into the Run Dialog box. |
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macintosh
by Lidka Schuch
If you lived in the East Bloc before the changeover, you knew that
driving a car also meant having to repair it yourself.
• Here in the West,
we tend to rely on trained specialists to take care of the appliances,
tools and gadgets that surround us. But with computers now mandatory tools
for many professions, this strategy doesn’t work any more.
•
The good news is that, with very few exceptions, the culprit is rarely
a hardware fault; almost all computer crashes are caused by software.
This means that you can usually repair your computer yourself, sometimes
with just a few magic keystrokes. As long as you keep your computer healthy
and organized, re-installing the whole system is only a last resort.
• Here
are some tips and solutions to some common operating system problems.
Although the logic behind problem-solving techniques applies to both
Macintosh
and Windows systems, most issues are platform-specific, so we will describe
each platform separately.
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1
preventative medicine is the key
Every office needs maintenance and cleaning from time to time — and
so does your computer. And indeed, this is the correct order of things:
maintenance first, then cleaning.
Imagine
a hard drive as a big filing cabinet or a closet: new files are added
in front of existing data, old
files are trashed, leaving empty
spaces — after a while your hard drive begins to look like a chunk
of Swiss cheese with lots of short blocks of empty space. Eventually
every
newly created document and every installed program gets split and written
into many little blocks in various places.
A drive
mechanism works much like an old record player where the needle accesses
grooves in
platters to find information. So you can imagine
the
kind of complicated math we are asking a computer to perform!
Macs
come with a program called Disk First Aid for diagnostics and repair,
but there are much better tools on the market. The most commonly
used
software is Symantec’s Norton Utilities. Norton Utilities can
do many things (like rescue deleted files, volume recovery and excellent
searches) but let’s focus on the two most important utilities
the program provides: Norton Disk Doctor and Speed Disk.
The number
one thing to know is that diagnosing/repairing and defragmenting
programs should never be used on an active startup disk (would
you try to repair an engine while it’s running?).
If you
run System 9 you should use Norton Utilities version 5.x. There is
a standard
System Folder included on the original installation
CD,
so use this CD to start up your computer when you want to perform
cleanups and repairs. But if you are a Mac clone user you must
build your own
start-up
disk. Your computer will not start unless there is a file called
Enabler in it. If you download the software via the Internet,
you should make
a startup disk (CD, Zip, Jaz, floppy, etc.) containing a System
Folder plus the Norton Disk Doctor and Speed Disk modules.
You
will also have to include Norton Shared Lib file on the startup disk
or Disk Doctor and Speed Disk will not work. Install Norton
Utilities first on your hard drive and then drag Norton Shared
Lib from the hard
drive’s System Folder/ Extensions to the startup disk’s
Extensions folder within the System Folder.
If you
start from a CD, insert the disk, restart and hold C on the keyboard
until
you see the “Welcome to Macintosh” screen. If you
start from any other external disk, hold down Command-Option-Shift-Delete.
If
your computer is completely frozen (meaning you cannot access
the normal Restart menu or use the Power switch), all non-USB
Macs can usually be
restarted using the Command-Control-Power Switch key combination.
Unfortunately this command doesn’t work any more on
G3s and G4s, for which using the Restart button is your only
choice.
Always
run repair software first. Let it fix all fixable problems (almost
all are). Once in a while you will come
across a file
which is too
corrupt
to be repaired. If it is data that you can delete (such
as a Preferences file), do so.
If the System file or the Finder is beyond repair, then
it may be time to re-install the system (although not before
trashing Finder
Prefs
from your System’s Preferences folder and restarting,
which will sometimes cure an ailing Finder).
After repairs,
run Speed Disk. This will optimize (defragment)
a hard drive, consequently speeding up its performance
and preventing crashes. go
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2
rebuild the Desktop after every crash
Not all crashes call for the immediate use of disk repair software; simply
rebuilding the Mac desktop will sometimes resolve errors.
Restart with the Command and Option keys held down and hold them until
you see the ‘Are you sure you want to rebuild the desktop on the
disk “[name of drive]”?’ screen.
Desktop
items (aliases, icons, the Trash, pull down menus) are most prone to
corruption simply
because they’re used most often. Treat them
like your favourite pen, pencil, address book and calculator — kept
in an accessible place at the front of all data and preferably close
to
each other. Of course, some people keep their entire lives on a desktop
— and these are also the people who experience crashes more often.
So keep
your desktop clean — create Launcher and Apple Menu Items
for items and aliases you need to access regularly. 3
identify extension conflicts:
Extensions Manager and ConflictCatcher
One of the most common reasons for crashes is a conflict between Extensions
and Control Panels; not all are fully Apple-compatible. Most are third
party products, and although they’re intended to provide useful
ways to customize a system, they may also be old, poorly written or largely
untested.
You should
never add more than one extension or control panel at a time to the
System Folder. But if you’ve already added a bunch
of them and now you’re fighting with crashes, there’s an
easy way to test if one of them is causing problems. Starting (or restarting)
a Mac
with the Shift key down disables them all. If your problem disappears,
your headache was more than likely caused by an extension conflict.
The
Mac ships with Extensions Manager, a utility which allows us to turn
extensions
and control panels on and off one by one. But in real life, we usually
have too many to figure out which one is really causing trouble.
Fortunately
there are more comprehensive diagnostic and repair products on the
market (Cassady & Green’s ConflictCatcher is one such
software package). Just remember that you must remove the Extensions
Manager
control panel and EM Extension from the System Folder before installing
another extensions manager.
ConflictCatcher
not only lets us turn extensions on and off individually but it also
runs tests to establish
which extension is the culprit.
All you have to do is restart your Mac, doing what you were doing
when it
crashed, and let ConflictCatcher know at startup whether the problem
still
exists. Once you know which extension or control panel caused the
problem, think about whether you really, really need that item
or not. If not,
trash it. If, however, it turns out to be a vital extension (like
ATM), let ConflictCatcher test further. It is possible that ATM
is acting
up only because of some other extension which you don’t really
need. go
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4
deleting Application Preferences File is often a quick fix
Applications’ Preferences are very prone to file corruption. So
if Photoshop suddenly starts crashing for no reason at all, simply locate
its Preferences file and trash it. Don’t worry, programs create
this file again as soon as you load them the next time.
Most applications
keep Preferences in the System Folder>Preferences
folder (one exception is QuarkXPress which keeps its Preferences in its
own folder). 5
assign sufficient memory
How many times have you installed a new program and as soon as you begin
really working in it you get a message saying there is “Insufficient
Memory” to perform this or that operation? This happens because
programs are almost always set to minimum memory requirements. This
means that
a program will open and let you perform simple tasks, but for real world
work it needs more RAM.
To assign
more memory, quit the program, locate and select its icon on
the hard drive, and choose File>Get Info>Memory (or Command-I).
In the dialog window you will see three boxes: “Suggested size”,
“Minimum size” and “Preferred size”.
Make
sure Minimum size is set to no less than Suggested size. In Preferred
size give it
as much as you can, taking into consideration how much
RAM
you really have, how much of it is taken by the system (check the
Apple menu/About This Computer), and how many programs you usually
have open
at the same time.
6
don’t leave temporary files in the Trash
When a computer crashes while a file with unsaved changes is open, programs
try to rescue this file. Generally they don’t succeed and a temporary
document is created and deposited in the Trash. This file will almost
never open and/or function properly (Adobe Photoshop’s temporary
files can run to hundreds of megabytes). The best policy is to empty the
Trash as soon as you see any “Items rescued from …” sitting
there.
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7
zap the PRAM
If you are maintaining your computer properly and you have not installed
anything new lately and crashes still occur, there is one last thing
to
do before you resort to a system re-installation. It’s called zapping
the PRAM: in other words, resetting Parameter RAM, or reverting to the
default system settings.
Parameter
RAM is a place where system preferences (settings for memory, mouse,
monitors and sound, keyboard, AppleTalk,
etc.) are stored. Like
other Preferences files, this information also gets corrupted once
in a while. We cannot trash it but we can reset Preferences to their
original
default settings.
Make sure
that the Caps Lock key is not engaged and zap the PRAM by restarting
(or starting) a computer holding the Command,
Option, P,
and R keys on
the keyboard (and yes, you’ll almost certainly need both hands
to do it). Let your computer chime five times, then release the keys
and
let it load. 8
when all else fails: reinstall the System
If all else fails, the final remedy is to re-install the system. If you
have a backup of your System Folder, this may be just a routine exercise
of starting from any external disk (or your original System Software
CD) and replacing your existing System Folder with a backup copy.
If
you don’t have a backup copy, start from the System CD, trash
your old Finder, rename the old System Folder (Macs understand the word
“disabled”) and then install the new system. Don’t forget
that you will have to go through your old System Folder looking for things
like scanner drivers, printer drivers, and perhaps even monitor software
and other pieces installed by various programs, and manually move them
to your new System Folder to make your system and various peripherals
work. 9
better safe than sorry — use anti-virus software
It is much more difficult to write a virus or a worm program for Mac than
for Windows. Nevertheless, some bozos still manage to do so. Use anti-virus
software, whether Norton Antivirus or Virex, and keep your Virus Definitions
file updated all the time. There are new updates available almost weekly,
so bookmark your anti-virus program’s site and go there often.
Just
remember that when you are installing a new piece of software, you
should turn anti-virus programs off. Most are installer-aware
but precautions
never hurt. go
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10
hardware can be broken too
So we’ve seen that software is easy to fix yourself — but hardware
is usually another matter. The chances are reasonably good that if a
hardware
part goes, there’s nothing you can do except replace it. Not only
does this cost money but it also costs you in downtime. So here are a
few basic points to keep in mind about keeping your hardware healthy.
A
computer emits an electromagnetic field which attracts dust and smoke — and
the combination is especially potent. Particles of dust embedded in
oily nicotine can clog electronic parts and cut off connections, so
don’t smoke near your computer. Once in a while you should open
the case and use compressed air to blow off the dust which accumulates
inside.
Power surges
are another thing that can upset your computer. The life of a monitor
can be drastically shortened if your office
is in an area
where power fluctuates. A good power surge protector can remedy that.
But even
a surge protector may not be enough when lightning strikes. Try not
to work during lightning storms.
Get a static-draining
touch pad, especially if your office is carpeted wall-to-wall. Computers
don’t like
getting zapped any more than we do.
If you
are running a Mac with SCSI devices attached, always turn the computer
off before unplugging
them. This of course doesn’t apply
any more with USB devices.
One last
word of advice: when disaster strikes, it is good to have a printout
of System Error codes on hand
(available
from
various
Macintosh resource
web sites). True, the descriptions of most errors are cryptic
but eventually you will acquire a sense of what is what and
the guide
will help you
to
troubleshoot better. go
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MACINTOSH
Keyboard Shortcuts
- Disable all Extensions
Start/ restart holding Shift key.
- Rebuild the Desktop
Start/ restart holding Command and Option keys.
- Restart a frozen
non-USB Mac Press Command, Control and Power Switch.
- Restart a frozen
USB Mac Press Restart button on hard drive casing.
- Start/restart from
a floppy disk Start/restart and put the floppy disk in the floppy drive
after you hear the chime. Your computer will automatically start from
the floppy if it finds a System Folder there.
- Start/Restart
from a CD Put the CD into the CD-ROM drive and start/restart
holding C key on the keyboard.
- Start/Restart from
any other external drive Start/restart holding Command, Option, Shift
and Delete keys.
- Zap PRAM Start/restart
holding Command, Option, P and R keys. Let it chime five times, release
the keys and let it load.
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