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5 Star
Support Monthly Newsletter
November 2000 Issue
In this issue:
1) Note from the editor
2) Hard drive Troubleshooting
3) Helpful Websites
4) Web Site Resources
5) 5 Star Support Q & A
6) Windows 95/98 Tips
7) Contact Information
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[1] Note from the editor:
Hello subscribers,
I have been adding to the other technical information pages constantly.
Thank you for subscribing to the 5 Star Support Newsletter. I hope that
you will find the content both useful and helpful. I hope that you all
have a very happy Thanksgiving.
My best to you and yours,
Vince Underwood
President & Editor in Chief
http://www.5starsupport.com
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[2] Hard drive Troubleshooting:
Possible things that can cause your hard drive problems:
1. The cable on the hard drive may be poorly connected or defective.
2. The hard drive may be defective.
3. The partition on the hard drive may be corrupted or deleted.
4. The hard drive configuration may be incorrect in CMOS.
5. If you have a Pentium or PCI system, the boot sector may be write
proteceted.
6. You may have added new software that corrupted MS-DOS.
7. There may be a virus on the hard drive.
Four checks for troublshooting a hard drive:
1. Check the cable if it is attached to the hard drive firmly and in right
direction.
2. Check the motor of the hard drive, if it spins.
3. Check the "auto detect hard drive" in the CMOS, if it can find the hard
drive. with correct configuration. If there is no auto detect function
then refers to the hard drive menu for configuration parameters.
4. Use the "fdisk" command under DOS to setup hard drive partition and
reformat the hard drive if needed.
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[5] 5 Star Support Q & A:
Q: I'm trying to install Windows 98. I receive a Windows Protection Error
when starting into Windows for the first time. How do I resolve this
error?
A: Take the Windows 98 CD out of the CD-ROM drive and restart the
computer. This error appears if the CD is not removed after the Windows 98
files have been copied to the hard drive.
Q: My Modem will not dial out. Every-thing was fine earlier today. It just
seemed to have quit. When I try to access my ISP (Internet Service
Provider) I just get error messages.
A: Sometimes software loses its ability to detect the modem and modem
error messages appear. The best thing to do is reinstall your modem
software. First, you'll want to remove your modem from the Device Manager.
Right-click My Computer and select Properties. Click the Device Manager
tab from the pop-up window. Click the plus (+) sign next to modem from the
device list. Your modem will then be displayed. Click it once to highlight
it. Then, click the Remove button at the bottom of the screen. Windows
will notify you that the modem driver will be removed. From this alert
window, click the OK button. Finally, restart your computer and reinstall
the modem software from the Control Panel by clicking the Modems icon and
selecting Add from the General tab.
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[6] Windows 95/98 Tips:
QUICK ACCESS TO RUN COMMANDS:
If you frequently use the Run command to open files or applications
(by selecting Start, Run, typing a command, and pressing Enter), don't
waste time typing the same command over and over. Once you've typed a
command on the Open line, it appears in the Run command list. From then
on, you can access that command with a simple click.
Select Start, Run, and click the down arrow at the right edge of the
Open text box. Select any item in the command list, then click OK.
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CREATING A CASCADING MENU OF YOUR COMPUTER:
Navigating to your desktop to find and open a specific file can be a
bit of a pain, but there's a neat little trick that allows you to
access any file on your computer from a single menu. To do this, you
need only create a Desktop Toolbar on your Taskbar and then resize it.
First, right-click on your Taskbar and select Toolbars, Desktop. Then
click and hold on the sizing bar on the left edge of your new Toolbar.
Drag all the way to the right, so only the word "Desktop" appears. You can
now click on the right arrow next to the word "Desktop" to launch a
cascading menu. From there, you can navigate to My Computer and proceed to
access any file on your computer directly from your
Taskbar.
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SAME PRINTER, TWO SETS OF PROPERTIES:
If you frequently print documents using different printer settings,
such as black and white drafts versus color documents, you're probably
getting tired of changing these settings each time you print. You can
avoid this busywork by tricking Windows into thinking you have two
different printers. "Install" the same printer twice, then set the
Properties for each to match your most commonly used settings. From then
on, the only setting change you'll have to make is selecting the printer
you want to use.
To "install" your printer again, select Start, Settings, Printers and
click Add Printer. Follow along with the installation instructions,
and when asked, opt to keep the existing driver. Also, be sure to give
this "second" printer an appropriate name, such as Color Docs.
When the installation is complete, you'll see two different printer
icons in the Printers window. To adjust their properties, one at a
time, right-click an icon, select Properties, and so on. The next time you
want to print a document, select the application's Print command, select a
printer in the resulting dialog box, and click OK.
(Tip-in-a-tip: You may also want to place shortcuts to these printers
on your desktop. Then, you can drag and drop the document you want to
print on your printer of choice.)
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A QUICK WAY TO DISPLAY PROPERTIES:
Normally, to view the properties of a particular file or folder, you
right-click on it and choose Properties. But if you're skilled in
using your mouse and keyboard together, there's an even quicker way to get
a look at those properties. Just hold down the Alt key with your left hand
as you use your right hand to open the file or folder with your mouse (use
the left mouse button, as usual). The Properties
dialog box springs up, no matter what kind of icon you clicked on.
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CHANGING THE FOCUS OF EXPLORER SHORTCUT :
Right-click the Explorer shortcut, select the Shortcut tab, and on the
Target line, type EXACTLY:
C:\Windows\Explorer.exe /n,/e,/root,,/select,C:\
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[7] Contact Information:
This Newsletter is brought to you by 5 Star Support - Free Technical
Support
If you have any questions regarding this Newsletter, please contact:
webmaster@5starsupport.com
If you would like to become a 5 Star Support Newsletter volunteer, please
contact:
admin@5starsupport.com
We would love to hear from you!
We hope that you found our newsletter interesting and informative!
Thank-you for subscribing to the 5 Star Support Monthly Newsletter.
Regards,
Newsletter Staff
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