Here are a few of the more common questions
that are being asked on the newsgroups. If you don't find
what you are looking for send me Email with the question
you have. I'll do my best to get back to you.
1. At what size should I set my minuim and maximum for my swap file?
What you will hear most often is set
it 2.5 to 3 times the size of you actual RAM. I believe this is bad advice.
You should check "Let Window manage
the swap file". There is a very good reason to do this. Say you have
16 Meg of ram, if you have set a maximum on your swap
file and you open several programs to work on, Windows
allocate X Meg of Ram for each program to use. If you
go above the allocated memory you will get an "out of memory
error" message. If you let Windows manage it it will
grow and shrink as needed.
Now lets look at the other direction.
You have 128 Meg of RAM. At 2.5 times that will tie up 320 Meg of disk
space.
That might be no bother if you have one of the newer
hard drives with 5 or more GIG of space. But for most this is
a lot of disk space to have tied up.
Let Windows manage it and you
will only have as much tied up as is need to operate the programs you have
running.
2. How can I get more information about Windows 98?
If you have the CD-ROM that came with
Windows you have a good sourse for information. Put the CD in your drive.
Click on explore the CD, choose Tools, then choose Reskit,
then Help. One of the help files is a searchable online book.
It will probably confuse you at first but keep trying
different search words or groups of words. It is more for the Techies
than for ordinary people, but it is packed with a lot
of information.DON'T try and print it out. I read that it is 1700 pages
long.
3. Why should I regiter Windows?
One of the best reasons is so
you will be able to use the update page. Any changes for security reasons
or to fix bugs
are posted on the Update page. It will search your system
to see what has been added to Windows, then recommend what
you should download to fix your system.
This page also has add ons for
98. It gives you the approximent time it takes to download the different
components.
WARNING: If you are on a network,
check with your syop (systems operator) before downloading anything from
the
Update page. Some ofthe thing you can download may affect
your network settings and break your connection to it.
With the remote administration built into Windows 98,
if your syop thinks it should be on your system he will put it there.
4. What is a ______________ error?
The best answer to any error
message is it could be one of several things that has caused the error.
I spent an afternoon
doing searchs in Microsofts Technical Data Base and that
is the conclusion I reached. The error messages I was able to
locate, before I got bored, generally all had a list
of several causes for the messages, many over lapping. Generally the best
thing to do is save your work if you can, then do a reboot.
Most of the time Windows will come back and run without
farther problems.
If you do encounter an error, make
a note of what you were doing when it happened. That way if by the off
chance you
have to call for support it will give the person handling
your problem a place to start.
5. What is the Registry?
Here is a quote from the book
on the CD.
"The database repository for
information about a computer's configuration. The registary supersedes
use of separate
INI files for all systems components and applications
that know how to store values in the registry."
Do you know anymore now? It is right
in as far as it goes. When you make special setting for the programs you
run
they are stored there too. With DOS programs and many
Windows 3.x programs your out of luck. That is why you still
find an Autoexec.bat and a Config.sys file on your Windows
system. There are ways to setup these files for each program
if Windows has trouble running them.
There are really 5 Registries on a
Win 98 system. Each day when you first boot up, Windows checks itself out
and adds
a new one and deletes the oldest one. You can set the
system to have up to 99 back ups but Microsoft recommends keeping
it at the default 5.
WARNING: Do not change any settings
in the Registry unless instructed to do so by Tech Support or you have
learned
what your doing. One wrong change in it could disable
your computer. If you are instructed to make chances, ask about
how to make a back up of it. If something goes wrong
you can go into Safe Mode and restore it.
6. Why do I not get sound out of my speakers from my CD-ROM?
I do not know how many times I have
seen this one after someone has upgraded a CD-ROM. In order for your drive
to
send sound to your audio board there is a wire that needs
to be hooked up between them. The biggest problem is most new
CD drive do not have this wire in the upgrade
kit. The next problem is that the plug on your audio board and the plug
on your
new CD drive may not be the same.
If you buy one of the kits that come
complete with audio board, CD drive and speakers the is usually not a problem.
Just
ask before you leave whether it is all there, including
the wire.