ten most frequently asked technology questions

April, 1999.
By Molly E. Holzschlag. (Link to original article.)

Tackling a technical problem is frustrating. But finding the solution can be very gratifying—especially if you solve it on your own.

However, you need not start from scratch every time you encounter a problem. This FAQ will provide starting points to help you find answers on your own.

For more general help using your computer, start with ThirdAge's Tech Tutorials, 5-minute step-by-step instructions to maximize your computer skills.

Most frequently asked questions

1. What is a virus, and where can I get more information?
2. Why do I get a blue screen before Windows crashes?
3. How can I protect kids from adult material online?
4. How do I download a file off of the Internet?
5. Why do email attachments come out garbled?
6. What do I do when I get a .DLL file error?
7. Why does my printer sometimes print sideways?
8. How do I move files from one computer to another?
9. Why am I not getting sound when I play a CD ROM?
10. I keep seeing an odd symbol in email. What is it?

Virus basics

1. What is a virus, and where can I get more information?

A virus is a program that, when deployed, infects other programs by altering them to include a replica of itself. Simply said, a virus makes a copy of itself over and over again, every time it's activated.

Most viruses are fairly harmless, some are pranks, and some can do vast damage. Many virus myths exist; you might have seen these in email—people writing saying such-and-such a virus has been released, and look-out! Often, these emails are hoaxes that lure innocent people into believing viruses exist, telling all their friends, wasting precious time and bandwidth, and causing general upset.

Learn how to recognize viruses and email scams by reading these 2 articles:

• Avoiding Online Dangers.
• Top 12 Email Scams.

Then, the best thing you can do to protect your computer is to visit one of the following sites to get the appropriate software for your computer:

• Symantec's Norton AntiVirus software.
• McAfee Anti-virus software.

The blue screen blues

2. Why do I get a blue screen before Windows crashes?

That blue screen sure can be frightening! There are a variety of reasons that it appears. Common ones are Fatal Exception errors (always scary), General Protection Fault errors, and errors due to loss of a program's connection to a file somewhere on a network.

When you've got the blue screen blues, you'll need to reboot your computer. To do so, you can first try pressing CTRL, ALT, and DEL simultaneously. If your computer does not restart, try the reset button.

In especially bad crashes, you may have to "cold boot." Turn off the computer completely, let it rest for a minute, and then turn it back on.

Often, crashes of this nature will leave file remnants around your hard drive that could cause problems down the road. Run scandisk to clean up any problems by following this procedure:

1. Using Windows, choose the START button.
2. Select PROGRAMS.
3. Choose ACCESSORIES.
4. Click SYSTEM TOOLS.
5. Start SCANDISK.

Scandisk will now run and clean up problems and also make recommendations on how to fix certain files.

Although Windows has thoughtfully included scandisk in system utilities, I prefer Norton Utilities, as I think it does a better job of cleaning up disk errors.

Kids and adult material

3. How can I protect kids from adult material online?

This is a question of great importance! And There are several things we can do to help protect kids and teens from adult material.

• One method is filtering software—programs that filter and block Web sites that contain language or content inappropriate for children and teens.
• Most experts agree that the first line of defense, however, is for parents to spend time with their kids talking about the issues.

Please visit Smart Parent for help getting filtering software, practical online safety tips, and educational resources on this issue.

Downloading

4. How do I download a file off of the Internet?

For a 5-minute step-by-step guide to downloading, take our How to Download tutorial.

General instructions: This answer assumes you're using Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator with Windows 95 or higher.

To download a file from the Web, follow the directions on the Web site from which you are downloading (they will vary). Typically, you will click on a link and then your browser will begin the process of downloading. A window will appear, and you should be given the option to tell your computer where to put the file you are downloading. I have a directory on my drive that I call "incoming," and I use this area for all downloads. This way, I always know exactly where my files are going.

Once the file is downloaded, open up Windows Explorer:

1. Click the START button on your Windows toolbar.
2. Select PROGRAMS.
3. Start WINDOWS EXPLORER.

The Windows Explorer window will open up, and you'll see all of your folders and files.

Open the folder where you downloaded the file. You'll see the file that you just downloaded. Double click on it, and Windows will automatically open the file and walk you through the installation process.

An important note: Downloaded programs CAN contain viruses. To protect yourself, you'll need to download or purchase virus protection software. For more information on how to avoid viruses, see question 1.

Also, stick to reputable download sites for most of your downloading, such as ThirdAge and ZDNet. There's no guarantee that you won't get a virus, but downloading from trusted sources significantly reduces your risk because these sites are consistently maintained and files are checked for problems before being uploaded.

Email attachments

5. Why do email attachments come out garbled?

The problem is incompatibility with attachment formats between your and your friend's email software programs. There are many variations of incompatibility, but in most cases the cause is due to mail between proprietary online services like AOL and MSN (or with anyone using Outlook or Outlook Express as their mail reader) and a private ISP and standalone mail software like Eudora.

To fix the problem, one of you has to change to MIME format to accommodate the other. In Microsoft Outlook, this can be done by following these steps:

1. Open Outlook. Select TOOLS > OPTIONS > MAIL FORMAT.
2. In the Message Format section of this dialog, Plain Text is probably selected. If this is true, click the Settings button.
3. The Plain Text settings dialog will appear.
4. Here, make sure the radio button next to MIME is clicked. Then, the drop down menu should be set to NONE. The 8-bit checkbox should be left blank.

Once all this is completed, a re-send is in order.

If you're still having compatibility problems, visit your email software's Web site or call your Internet Service Provider:

• Microsoft Outlook.
• Qualcomm's Eudora Software.

DLL Files

6. What do I do when I get a .DLL file error?

This is a very common problem in Windows and is usually due to the fact that Windows doesn't catalog these files. So, sometimes when you install new software, the files are overwritten to an older version. This causes all kinds of incompatibility problems and errors and is one of the most common causes of errors on Windows machines.

There's a quick way to find help, but this is only recommended for those individuals who are comfortable reading about computers and following directions, which usually means going through some complex hoops to get the computer fixed. If you don't feel comfortable, or if you get stuck, visit Discussions to get help from other Third Agers.

If you are ready to dig deeper, here's what to do:

1. Go to http://search.microsoft.com.
2. Enter the full name of the .DLL file that is causing you grief directly into the search word box.
3. Make sure the search criteria is set to "Exact Phrase".
4. Set the search category by clicking the radio button next to the "Support & the Knowledge Base" option in the search category list.
5. Click the Search Now button.

Microsoft will now search its vast Knowledge Base (called "KB" for short) for any articles related to this file. If any are found, look through them and see if your problem is described. Very often, there will be information on the file that you can use to help fix your .DLL woes.

Printing: landscape vs. portrait

7. Why does my printer sometimes print sideways?

Your printer is set to "Landscape" rather than "Portrait".

When you've got the software you're using to print all ready to print a page, follow these steps:

1. Select FILE > PRINT. The printing dialog box should appear. It will differ depending upon your specific printer, but look for PAPER and ORIENTATION.
2. You should see an option for PORTRAIT and LANDSCAPE. Choose the PORTRAIT option for standard printing.
3. Click OK.

Go ahead and print again. Everything should work properly now! If not, visit the Web site of your printer's manufacturer for more details.

Transferring files to a new computer

8. How do I move files from one computer to another?

All software applications (like Word, Web browsers, email clients, and so forth) should be installed fresh. This is because each computer places files in different places and makes notations to the registry—the "brain" of Windows.

Any data files, such as documents you've saved in Word, GIFs, and so forth, can be transferred by saving the files to floppy disk, read/write-able CD ROM, a ZIP or Jazz disk. Then, you can copy the files to the new computer from that disk.

Another method is to use a combination of software and cables called Laplink. This process allows you to use a cable to transfer files from one computer to another.

To learn more about Laplink, visit Laplink's Web site.

CD ROMs and sound

9. Why am I not getting sound when I play a CD ROM?

Check to see that your sound is turned on in the CD Player itself:

1. Click START > PROGRAMS > ACCESSORIES > CD PLAYER.
2. Under VIEW, look at VOLUME CONTROLS. See if everything is turned on properly.

If everything appears to be properly set, and your computer is able to play sounds that do not originate from the CD, it is likely that you have a driver incompatibility problem. If that's the case, you'll need to visit your CD or computer manufacturer Web site and find the appropriate driver.

Weird symbols in email

10. I keep seeing an odd symbol in email. What is it?

If your email contains a weird symbol (an umlaut over a lowercase y, followed by a lowercase b), you may be wondering if aliens are invading your email and news readers. Yes! The alien in question is called Microsoft Outlook Express version 5.0. With many rich features, Outlook Express also seems to have run into a compatibility problem with the way certain information is being formatted. It is not a harmful symbol and you can just ignore it if you are able to view your messages properly.

Unfortunately, there is a major problem when Netscape news readers try to read this information. Not only do they get the alien symbol, but they can't see the body of the message! At this time, I am still researching a solution to the problem. One possible workaround is to ask your email friends to use plain text when sending email, but it is obviously impossible to ask people on public newsgroups to do this.