IT@TT - Online

Q: I own a Mac Powerbook cs5300 laptop. It supports serial printers. I need a budget colour printer. Can you suggest one. The HP DJ640 supports USB & Mac but not an ordinary serial port. Can I convert USB to serial to use the DJ640. I also need an external CD drive. What do you suggests?
Subrata Datta
via e-mail

A: You will be hard-pressed to find a budget serial printer. You can find more information on USB to serial adaptors at http://www.usbworkshop.com/products/usbconverterslist. However, if your laptop has an AppleTalk connector it will connect to a Mc-compatible printer. As for a CD, we suggest the HP CD-RW portable drive which connects via a PC Card and gives you CD-read and -write capabilities.

Q: I have recently installed WinAMP. But I don't know how to install songs from the CD or Internet. Please help?
Saurav
via e-mail

A: WinAMP will have a button marked Playlist. Click to open. Now press the Ins key to open a location on your PC (e.g. CD drive). In WinAMP use L to open a file or Ctrl+L to open a location like an Internet site.

Q: I am a student of Fine Arts and a calligrapher. Can you tell me the name of a package that lets me draw any figure or structure like the human face and also edit it? I also interested in programming. I had a Foxpro project and now want to transfer it to an EXE file. How do I do this.
Philip Rozario
via e-mail

A: You can use a graphics apps like PhotoShop or PaintShop Pro. Your real investment should be in a Wacom Digitizing Tablet and pen (Rs 6,000 onwards) to replace your soft lead pencil. FoxPro on DOS is obsolete. You will need to compile it using the FoxPro compiler. However, we don't know where you will be able to find a copy; unless you happen to have the complete package.

Q: I am a new user and have a PII 266, 64MB RAM and Win98. Whenever I try to scan with Norton 2001 I get an error "Unable to read boot record on drive D: Make sure the drive is ready." When I retry, the message changes to "The drive is locked by a disk utility." What is the problem?
SK Samsujjaman
via e-mail

A: There shouldn't be a boot record on drive D (the secondary partition). It appears as if Norton 2001 is ahead of its time and is getting confused. The second error occurs because one process of Norton has not unlocked the drive and its attempting to scan against its own principles.

Q: I am very confused about creating and registering a Web site. If I have created my own web pages, how do I put those pages on a site. Please help.
Vipasha Malhotra
via e-mail

A: There are many free Web site providers including Hypermart.net, Tripod.com, and Geocities.com, as well as many Indian ISPs. You can host your site for free here. Visit the site for directions. To register a unique domain name, you will to need to apply for one. Try Net4domains.com.

Q: Thank you for resolving my previous queries. I have a fresh problem now. I’ve found C:\WINDOWS\SYS… (68 kB dated 23-4-99) and C:\WINDOWS\V… (58 kB dated 4-11-99) in MSCONFIG.EXE. Should I keep both of them? What’ll happen if I uncheck the Disable fast shut Down option? Also during Defrag I’ve found a large number of files that shall not move according to the Legend. How are these created. Can these files be changed?

I downloaded Netscape 6. But double clicking the shortcut on the desktop results in nothing happening. What's gone wrong.
B.P.Ghosh.
via e-mail

A: That's not a single query :) The file details you have sent are insufficient to diagnose which files you are referring to. MSCONFIG.EXE is a system configuration utility. I suggest you leave Windows well alone. The files you found during the defrag are system files and cannot be moved. Of Windows will stop working.

Netscape 6 is very buggy. And possibly worse than previous versions. Take our advice and uninstall it immediately. But if you must suffer, then try and locate the Netscape 6 folder and double click the .EXE file to ensure that the browser is working. Then setup a new shortcut to it.

Q: I read it@tt every week and I like it a lot.I have done a Diploma in Software Engineering and am at present doing an e-commerce course. I want to start my career with a job. When ever I look for a job I find experience is a must and I can;t apply. Please help me. Also can you give me the addresses of some Web sites who accept resumes and will help me get a job.
Sreemanta Karmakar
via e-mail

A: We all begin our careers with a job. However don't appear so desperate. Your career opportunities depend on your academic record. Complete your course first. Then start looking. Focus on opportunities that are looking for freshers. Begin small and with hard work you can grow really fast. You can post your resume on www.careermosaicindia.com. However, don't wait for the "perfect match." Jobs are dependent on your abilities.

Q: I have my home page at http://www.dreamwater.net/indrajitkar. I now want my page to be registered with a good search engine like Google. Do they provide a free service? What should I do? I have developed a page using Anfy's applet tool and have also inserted another simple applet using a Java class file. When I view this page from dreamwater.net the applet is running well. But the applet created with Anfy is not displaying and gives an error "com.ms.security.Security Exception : cannot connect to "dreamwater.net." Both applets are running perfectly on my PC.
Indrajit Kar
via e-mail

A: To register a page with Google, you need to visit the site and submit your URL. The site's editors will verify your site before it can be included in their listings. It also helps to use the Google engine to locate your site. Unless your site has something unique its inclusion will be low priority because there are lots of personal home pages today. The applet error is because some component that the Anfy tool is calling is not available on the remote site.

Q: I have a Celeron 466, 64MB RAM with Win 98. I am using WinAMP, Windows Media Player 7.0 and JetAudio 4.1 as my media players. Suddenly my media players have stopped reading the CD-ROM drive. I have even reloaded the driver, but all in vain? Also how do I find the name of my computer?
Mohit Kumar
via e-mail

A: Its possible the drive has failed. Can you read data CD-ROMs on it? Check the drive settings and configuration in the System Properties|Device Manager (right click the My Computer icon on the desktop). I also suggest using just one media player instead of three; it just complicates trouble shooting. The name of your computer is probably My Computer :) but wee remain confused so send us a more specific query.

Q: I have a Celeron 400, 64 MB with Win 98. While defragging C: drive the program after running for few seconds stops with the message that the drive's contents has changed, even without any applications running. Can you also include a new section on programming in c++ or VB.
S Sarkar
via e-mail

A: There is some system process happening in the background that involves a disk write. The work around is to restart in Safe Mode (press F8 during boot). Next disable everything running in the Taskbar and on the system tray. Now defrag the drive. Thanks for your suggestion for a new section.

Q: I'm having an error in Win 95 "Cannot find a device file that may be needed...vnetsup.vxd, nwredir.vxd, nscl.vxd, etc. After opening Windows, the message changes to nwnp32.dll (not found), msnp32.dll (not found).
Vikash Agarwal
via e-mail

A: There appears to be a driver mis-match. We suggest re-installing Windows from your setup disks. When prompted to do a fresh install or replace missing drivers, we recommend the latter.

Q: I have a Celeron with 32 MB RAM. I want to buy a UPS. Is it necessary to have UPS to protect my PC? Which is better online or offline UPS? Do I also need a CVT?
Prasanta Basu
via e-mail

A: A UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) is necessary in India where we have unexplained power cuts and/or poor voltage conditions. The difference between online and offline UPS is that online supplies the PC with power from the battery which is being constantly charged. Because the electrics are more complex the unit is costlier. Also the battery life is reduced. An offline model switches to battery when the mains power is interrupted. This switch over is supposed to happen in a matter of milliseconds. We use online units at work and at home. You don't need a CVT with a UPS.

Q: I read IT@TT regularly in Chennai. I have few computer problems, which are not satisfactorily answered by my service engineer. I have a Pentium 100 with EDO RAM. There is a serious virus problem. The CD drive also continuous ejects itself. I want to know how I to get a copy of Norton or McAfee antivirus software from the Net to solve this problem without having to invest in the original software as I am on a low budget. Can you help?
Sumitha Sundaram
via e-mail

A: Its good to know we are no restricted to Eastern India! Your virus problem will be best solved if you purchased an antivirus software on CD. If your PC has a virus, then anything downloaded from the Net too will become infected. Don't be penny-wise and pound foolish. Antivirus solutions are available for as low as Rs 1200. Or buy a Satyam UnLtd CD which includes a decent Indian-developed anti-virus solution. And you get a Net connection too. But if you must download an antivirus software, consider AVG Antivirus (www.grisoft.com).

Q: I have a Celeron with 64MB RAM and Win 98. I have installed WinAMP and want to convert my CDs to MP3 to playing with WinAMP. Is there any software available to do this conversion.
Amitava Roy
via e-mail

A: You don't need to convert CDs to MP3 just to play them in WinAMP. The latest build (2.67) can playback audio CDs too. We recommend the Windows CD-Player instead as its system requirements are much lower.

Q: I am an Internet Cafe owner. The server is accessing Hotmail but other machines connected to the server are not responding. Please help me.
OK Oommen
via e-mail

A: With the limited information provided it appears the proxy server is blocking calls. We need details about your setup and the email client for a proper diagnosis.

Q: How can a .GIF still image be converted to .BMP? Please name a utility for the conversion. Instead of using a screen saver which uses .MPEG, can an animated .GIF be used instead? Every now and then utilities (even the legal licensed versions) issue cryptic messages like "Program has performed an illegal operation..." Why does this occur? Is it any foolproof solution? How can a plain text ASCII file be converted to HTML while maintaining its original layout/format?
Nanda Dulal Basak
via e-mail

A: To convert a .GIF to .BMP, you need a graphics editor like PhotoShop or PaintShop Pro. You will have to change the file mode from Indexed Color to RGB and then save a copy as .BMP. Screen savers rarely use MPEG files; most use .SCR format which uses BMP images. If you have the Plus! pack installed on Win 9x or use Active Desktop you can use JPEG images as backgrounds. Illegal operations are causes by corrupted software or illegal calls or a conflict between two programs. And are a fact of life with Win 9x. The solution I have found is to upgrade to Win 2K Pro. To maintain a .TXT file's layout and formatting, just rename the extension from TXT to HTML.

Q: I am a regular reader and have learnt a lot. I now need your help. Whenever I browse the Net I get "A fatal exception error has occurred at ..." and am logged off.
Aroop Chakravarty
via e-mail

A: It appears that one of the software you are using to connect to the Net: your dialer, browser and/or email program may be damaged. Check your system for a virus and reinstall. If the problem re-occurs you may need to reinstall Windows.

Q: Is it possible to convert a song which is in a Word document to MP3 format?
Shaan
via e-mail

A: This is the first we've heard of a song embedded in a Word .DOC file. Are you sure it isn't a virus? In any case Windows .WMA format is encoded and you can only listen not modify the original.

Q: If I want to load Win NT/2000 on a 20 GB hard disk will it work properly. I have a Pentium 3/700, 128 MB RAM and currently use Win 98 SE. Do I need to have two disks of 10 GB each?
S K Kuila
via e-mail

A: You can safely load Win NT or 2k on your system. Make sure to have all the relevant drivers available so that you don't waste time when prompted. We recommend you partition your disk into at least 2 or 3 partitions of 8 MB (boot), 8 MB (programs) and 4 MB (data). And suggest you opt for Win 2K as it can seamlessly upgrade your Win 98 installation. You don't need two physical disks.

Q: I want to know briefly about entertainment in IT and in which areas are applicable. I also want to know the current growth and future growth paths.
Sankar Bhowmik
via e-mail

A: We suggest you use the Internet to search for information specific to your query. The answer is too long to reproduce in the limited space available.

Q: I am a regular reader. I am a web/graphic designer and am looking for a job. I have attached my resume. Please help.
Chandan Agarwal
via e-mail

A: Sorry, there was no attachment attached to your email. It's possible our mail server's security protocol deleted the attachment. We suggest you register and post your resume at www.careermosaicindia.com.

Q: I have a Zenith PC Celeron/333 with 32 MB RAM. Frequently the computer gets hanged. Pressing "Ctrl-Alt-Del" often flashes a blue screen telling that the system is busy and press any key to return to windows or press "Ctrl-Alt-Del" to restart windows. Often the machine doesn't restart but I have to switch off the power. Please suggest remedies.
Amrita Basak
via e-mail

A: First insert a line "device=emm386.sys" (without the quote marks) into the CONFIG.SYS file. If this doesn't work and you have Win 98 SE installed, consider upgrading RAM to 64 MB. Otherwise the Windows Registry is probably damaged. Reinstall Windows.

Q: I have a Playstation CD but I don't own a Playstation. I heard that you can run the game on a computer using certain driver or convertible software. Is this true? If so, what do I use and from where can I download or get it.
Naved Zia
via e-mail

A: Visit www.bleem.com for a $30 product that ensures compatibility. However because PlayStation was never intended for PC, Bleem suffer performance hiccups.

Answers by G. Menon
[email protected]

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