Newt &Co. please advise...again!

[Steve Randles]

Nice one Newt! Some good advice there..

 

But why do this?

 

1. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del and when the window pops up, select the top thing on the screen and click to kill/close it. Then C-A-D again and do another. You want to stop everything except explore and systray if it's running. Some may pop up another window saying the program can't/won't close automatically. Tell it to close.

 

Apart from stopping programs running I dont see the point, as they will just start up again on the next boot.

[nursejudy]

thanks

i'm off this weekend so will give your advice a whirl,if you don't hear from me after the weekend then I expect I will have messed up big time.

 

Seriously can I do any damage?

judy

[Newt]

Steve - Win98 will often not finish a scandisk or defrag with lots of background processes running.

 

Stopping all but explore and systray is basically the same as starting in safe mode - but always seemed to work a little better for me. For one thing, safe mode will set your screen to 640 x 480 and mess up the icon placement when you start in normal mode and use any other resolution.

 

And the final reboot is so those processes will start up again since you need them for normal computer operation.

 

Nursejudy - I know there is lots of stuff in my how-to post but it is all fairly easy to do. I think the sheer mass of instructions may be a little daunting but just do it one item at a time and you'll be fine. Hopefully your PC will also be fine.

 

The fan I most suspect is a little one that sits right on top of your central processor to cool it. Most PCs have one although some do just use a large heat sink (the thing with fins that sits on the processor).

 

You are lucky in a way to have an older system since your fans should always be running and any that aren't are bad. Newer PCs use a thermostat to control the fans so with the cover off and things fairly cool, a fan can be fine and just not be turned on by the system so harder to find the bad part.

 

[ 14. October 2003, 08:25 PM: Message edited by: Newt ]

[pinky]

its not likely you will do any physical damage to the pc by reinstalling windows.

it is possible though that windows will give you a migraine.

2 weeks ago i upgraded my harddrives and am only just about getting my dual boot system back how i like it.

to say windows doesnt always do as it should is an understatement and all the virus scanners etc add even more headaches.

remember to only attempt it when your in a good mood.

write down all internet connection details save all importent data including favorites,make sure you have all hardware drivers as many are not in older windows if not download some and save on a seperate disk.

then check you have it all twice before starting.

then it should work fairly ok.

good luck.

[nursejudy]

So far so good

this has taken a large amount of coffee!!!

no body told me about the scary safe mode

when the screen goes peculiar.!!!! :confused:

thanks guys and newt

judith

ps is netscape more reliable than explorer?

[Newt]

ps is netscape more reliable than explorer

 

Nope. Choosing Netscape or IE is pretty much a matter of what you are comfortable with. Minor "features" in each the other lacks but no substantial difference.

 

If I didn't have to support IE at work, I'd go back to Opera for my browser. Costs $39 US but well worth that and more IMO.

 

Another one you might want to look at is Mozilla. It's basically their engine that runs Netscape but without some of the junk that Netscape has. Free if you download (about 12Mb) or $3.95 US if you want them to send a CD to save you the download time.

 

[ 19. October 2003, 12:03 AM: Message edited by: Newt ]

[davidP]

nursejudy:

ps is netscape more reliable than explorer?

Latest version 7.1 no - I continually get screen refresh problems with it and wish I hadn't updated.

[Paul_D]

Being a bit of a Ludite when it comes to matters PC I've not been able to boot my computer into DOS to carry out the housekeeping procedures Newt gave. I'm running XP Home and have tried all the F keys on boot up in turn. Pressing F1 certainly gives me various boot options but not to DOS. Any ideas anyone?

[rich]

A hammer works for me most of the time.

 

either that or try c:/gofishing

 

cheers

 

rich

[littlefeathers]

Paul_D:

Being a bit of a Ludite when it comes to matters PC I've not been able to boot my computer into DOS to carry out the housekeeping procedures Newt gave. I'm running XP Home and have tried all the F keys on boot up in turn. Pressing F1 certainly gives me various boot options but not to DOS. Any ideas anyone?

--------------------------------------

 

Hi Paul D, I've been advised by Mr Feathers that old DOS was removed years ago from Windows operating systems.