GuruNews, Volume 9 Number 27, 7-30-09

Thu Jul 30 17:34:02 PDT 2009

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Vol. 9, No. 27                           

7-30-09

1 Windows XP self-help tools Part Deux       

2 We let him talk like that?

3 WiFi allergy, and more, M&Ms, Gmail features, USB hubs

4 Photo editing

5 Ad-Aware

Continuing last week’s tool tips, lets move to one of the most useful but also most difficult to use utilities:  the Command Prompt.

Us old school types still call this the DOS prompt or DOS shell but everyone has probably seen the infamous black box with that malignant flashing cursor, waiting for you to enter some obscure command to work your sorcery.  

In reality the command prompt isn’t that bad if you just read instructions carefully and know some of the secrets.  To open a command prompt click Start and Run and type “cmd” and click OK or hit Enter.  As usual, the quotes are for separation only and should not be typed.  For a listing of the commands you can simply type “help” at the prompt and hit Enter.  As usual, the quotes are for separation only and should not be typed.  To get the standard commands available just type the utility name followed by a /?, for example “chkdsk /?” (note the space between chkdsk and /).

Speaking of chkdsk, this is likely the command you’ll use most.  It’s the command prompt version of the old Windows utility Scandisk.  It will check drives for damaged or missing files and replace them if possible, mark bad sectors and attempt to move data to good sectors as well as testing the drive for physical damage.

Using the utility requires you to indicate the drive letter as well as any actions you would like to carry out.  For instance, “chkdsk e: /f” will scan drive E: and attempt to fix any errors.  The / before a letter indicates a switch, or parameter for the utility to adhere to.

A very handy combo of commands if you find yourself locked off the Internet is:

Ipconfig /flushdns

Netsh winsock reset

Using these back-to-back requires a restart and will likely get you back online.  The first flushes the DNS routing tables, which direct you to the appropriate servers and web pages during surfing.  The second resets the files required to connect the PC to a network.

You’ll notice that the second command doesn’t use a switch.  Netshell (netsh) is one of the few command line tools that don’t require them.

Diskcopy is very handy if you still use floppy disks and want to make some duplicates before valuable diskettes fail.  The usage for this one is:

Diskcopy a: a:

This will read and image a floppy disk, then ask you to remove the disk and insert a blank one.  It works much like a CD copy through a program like Nero or NTI in Windows and I would strongly suggest its usage to make copies if you use floppies.

PCs running older versions of Windows can often be repaired from a bootable diskette but those little plastic disks have alarming failure rates.

I could go on and on with stuff to use from the C: prompt but many of you would never need many of the things I do.  Commands like CD and IF/THEN statements make batch files (a series of commands to carry out multiple tasks) possible and obscure commands like SUBST, NET USE and ATTRIB can make an untenable situation workable.  

Just remember the option is there in case of trouble and make use of it if needed.  Next week we’ll get back to the Windows tools, so you can reassure your mouse that we haven’t forgotten it.

Kevin Mefford, Editor

pcguru at microdome.net

Terry Wise

www.ratland.com

Tech News of the Week

>From the "I can't hardly believe it" files, a man claims he is allergic to wireless Internet signals.  Too bad that the sun, microwave ovens, cordless phones, cell phones, AM/FM radios and all manner of other electronics don't give off the same frequencies:

http://tinyurl.com/n6669j

And there's a follow up article on why you can't be allergic to Wi-Fi:

http://tinyurl.com/lnkcvq

Stepping aside of that...

Blue dye used in M&M's can be used to minimize spinal damage resulting from a spinal injury.  I knew there was a reason those tasted better than the others:

http://tinyurl.com/ph2nnb

If any of you use GMail and have trouble unsubscribing from newsletters (not ours, please!), take a look at the new feature inside of GMail:

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/unsubscribing-made-easy.html

And finally for those of our readers who have lots of USB drives, especially our esteemed Editor-In-Chief Kevin, we have a 49 port USB hub that requires its own computer power supply:

http://gizmodo.com/5321022/

Let us in on the tech you see around the web!   

Daniel A. Williams

daniel at thepcgurus.com

Download of the Week

If you're just a point and shoot photographer, as I am, then you probably don't want to spend several hundred dollars for a photo-editing program.  It's likely you don't want to spend a semester in adult education just to learn the basics of that software, too.  Fotografix might just be what we need.

This no-frills photo editing software doesn't require a gig of RAM or half of your hard drives for swap space, but that doesn't mean it skimps on the features. Its user interface isn't showy and its dialog boxes are fairly basic, but you’ll find all the tools you need to do basic image fixes----color correction, brightness, contrast----and more.  It's free here: 

http://tinyurl.com/krq9el 

Carlita Lupino

Cards57 at gmail.com  

Email Question of the Week

Q:  I've used adaware for years and have been unable to run it lately and it won't update. At the site, they now want you to sign up with a sponsor (pay.) Do you know of another good, free adware removal service? Thanks for your newsletter - I still miss the old radio show...

A:  You can still download a free version from http://tinyurl.com/dzxw7k

Carmine Allocco

alioco at aol.com

Editor’s Note:  Content of the Question/Answer section is always presented as is but I made a change this week to Carmine’s link to make it shorter.  The content of the messages remains the same but some email clients have problem with long links so I shrank it, the comments from both participants are unchanged.

Contact info and legal stuff

If you have tech support questions or ideas and/or submissions for our newsletter please submit them by visiting www.thepcgurus.com and click on the “Email the Team” icon. 

Copyright 2001-2009 The PC Gurus, all rights reserved.  Publication, rebroadcast or storage is prohibited without prior consent, however you may freely forward this publication to friends as long as A) it is forwarded in its entirety and B) no fee is charged.

Information provided in this publication is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied.  Although the information provided is known to work on most systems, it may not work on ALL systems.  Make use of any information supplied at your own risk.

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