The Trav- elMate's 9. To help get the most out of Win- dows, standard configura- tions include a portable point- ing device, an oversized cur- sor, Windows power-conserva- tion software, and custom util- ities for quick entry to and exit from Windows- Another advantage to the TravelMate: You can fly coast to coast with this machine's power and have battery life to spare. The TI Bat- teryPro power-management system provides long battery life, and for added conven- ience and preparation time. BatteryPro shows you your re- maining battery life at a glance. If you would like to gat more information, contact Texas Instruments Peripheral Products.
The collection includes Maniac Mansion, the game that pio- neered the point-and-click type of interface now adopted by most major publishers of graphic adventure games; Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders, which centers around a journalist who writes for a supermarket tab- loid; Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, based on the blockbuster film; Loom, a mystery set in mythical times; and The Secret of Monkey Island, the hu- morous tale of a pirate wannabe. Hint books for each game are also included in the package.
Why is LucasArts offering such a steal on five of its big- gest moneymakers? Box , San Rafael, Califor- nia ; A New Chapter in Books Books aren't what they used to be, With the introduction of its new Digital Book System, Franklin Electronics takes book publishing into the twen- ty-first century. Touted as one of the most powerful hand- held reference devices ever made, the Digital Book could ultimately change the way ref- erence materials are "printed" and accessed in the future. Up to two ROM "books," each the size of a match- book, can snap into the back of the hand-held system at the same time for instant ac- cess and cross-referencing be- tween the two.
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Greensboro, North Caro- lina But don't take our word for it. Wouldn't you really rather have the Swiss Army knife? Is there a way of preventing that from happening? C-ing is Believing I'm an avid reader of your mag- azine and like to create pro- grams for DOS based machines. Tm currently learn- ing C in college and, once the class is over, would like to continue developing my own programs, possibly some shareware.
Which C should I purchase? I want the flexibili- ty to write programs for both the DOS and Windows environ- ments. Do I need to purchase both? I've noticed that Microsoft C 6. Why does GM sell both? Because people have different needs and different amounts of money to spend. The Turbo and Quick lines of products were introduced to provide low-cost ways for be- ginners and light program- mers to write in their favorite languages. The other prod- ucts cost more and do more, so they're favored by profes- sional developers.
Borland C-h-h S Application Frame- works comes with a Windows- hosted development environ- ment and may be available at your college at a sharp dis- count for students. On the other hand. Microsoft's program- ming language doesn't. In Microsoft's favor is the home court advantage and 30 pounds or so of superlative documentation. Spaced Out Clark Harper "Feedback," Ju- ly has another option for entering filenames and di- rectory names with spaces in them: Where a space appears in a filename or directory name, hold down the Alt key and type on the numeric keypad.
When you release the Alt key, a space will appear, but DOS will recognize it as a charac- ter and not the end of the name. All tlie Rage The letter from Mr. Horowitz in your September issue pro- vides me with an excellent op- portunity to vent some frustra- tions. You may recall that he had a 40MB drive but only had access to 32MB. I had the identical problem, and I couldn't wait to read the reply. Unfortunately, I couldn't under- stand it.
Let me ask some ques- tions about your answer. You wrote, "Begin by completely backing up every- thing on your hard disk, using DOS's Backup program. And finally, at what point do I install DOS 5. All of which you can personally customize to suit your own preference. Amiable soon for Macintosh Compttters.
For ordering information and release dates contact Tbe Maxximum Company at 1 ' Over8C aphics and accent images. Design Ideas Book Including over card designs. Invitations, personalized greeting carl flyers, banners, announcements Desktop publishing clip art to spruce up fax cover sheets, flyers and more Other trademarks are those of their respective owners. You would be best served if you installed DOS 5. You could as another reader pointed out use Fdisk to partition the other 8MB as drive D and thereby have access to the whole disk under DOS 3. Forked Tree My hard disk is almost full: When I use Drtree.
Where are the missing megabytes?
Also, I have been considering buy- ing one of those systems that double your disk capacity. Which do you rec- ommend? ON We suspect that you've been led astray by the difference between the size of a file and the amount of space it takes up on your disk Hard disks store flies in sec- tors. If a file takes up less than a sector, it still uses up the whole sector If you have a hard disk that uses bytes per sector a fairly common size , then a file will take up a minimum of 2K on the disk, no matter how small it is in re- ality. A worst-case scenario would be if you had a 32MB disk and you placed 16, 1-byte files on it— you would use up the entire hard disk to store only 16K of files.
Most files are larger than a sin- gle byte, of course, but if a file is 11 K, it will still take up 12K of disk space. IL ; FAX. Suite , Burlingame CA ; 34an Lucille [Dennis, New York Broadway. New York, NY , Tel. Midwasf East Wacker Dr.. London W14, England, Tel. Ko- rea; Kaya Advlsng.
Mapo-Ku, Seoul, Korea , Tet, For entertainment purpc only. If you are under 18 , of age, please get parental permission. Live psychics are available 24 hours a day. Sponsored by Pet Inc. Box , Hollywood, CA Neither Micro nor Soft This is to complain about an attitude you people seem to have that has sur- faced again. Does Microsoft own a controlling interest in your magazine? I feel like I'm paying for an advertising brochure for Windows and Microsoft.
The latest example is the "Program- ming Power" column in the September issue. They each have many fans, and they're both fine languages. By carry- ing these advertisements, you contra- dict family values. We strive to make our magazine of value and interest to all age groups. Do you have a question about hardware or software? Or have you discovered something that could help other PC us- ers? If so, we want to hear from you. We regret that we cannot provide person- al replies to technical questions. It's 87 missions full of the most intense spoce combat action ever seen on o personal computer.
Here's our guide to choosing the best. Configuring an ideal PC for Windows wouldn't be such a great problem if it weren't for two things. First, newer and better hardware appears daily. Subtle improvements are made in microprocessor and video technology, most of which are directly beneficial to Windows. The second problem is money. Fancy new hardware is expensive, in a few years it will come down in price, but by then newer and better hard- ware will be available— and even more expensive. So while you can make the choice quite easily, the options you prefer may not be in your budget.
And even if they are, is it wise to spend that much money on something when the price will eventually drop and other better and more expensive items will eventually appear? Welcome to the buyer's dilemma.
Buy for others
If money were no object, then creating the ultimate Windows machine would be a snap: Jog down to your local computer store and purchase the most expensive model. It's a no- sweat, no-brainer purchase. Yet, while this will get you a hot Windows PC, it's not a very smart way to spend your money. As with all computer purchases, how you spend your money depends on how you're going to use your Windows computer. Four Basic Parts Windows eats hardware for breakfast, and its four major food groups must be supplied in proportion to its appetite. Up front, there's the micro- processor, or CPU which also includes the math coprocessor , Windows' basic lust for speed is sati- ated only by a fast CPU.
Second, there's RAM, or memory. Windows devours RAM, gulping it down in megabyte-sized chunks. Third is the hard drive, which must be fast and contain plenty of room for Windows and its massive programs. Finally, there's the video system, where Windows shows its stuff. Since Windows is a visual environment, a PC's video system can make or break Windows, no matter how good the other three items are.
RAM, hard drive, and video system are the four pillars upon which you can build the supreme Windows computer. Actually, these are the four major ele- ments of any computer, so you could say that the ultimate Windows PC is also the ultimate PC, However, soup- ing up a computer in this manner to run only WordPerfect. Windows requires an family CPU in order to run in the enhanced mode, Windows' top operating mode. Fortunately, the family of CPUs is extensive and contains many brothers, sisters, and cousins bound to fill the role of Windows CPU.
Topping the list is the cur- rent generation of PC microproces- sors, the family. That's followed by the family and then the Quite frankly, you don't want an to run Windows. The , at the top of the scale, is your ideal Windows microprocessor. CPUs are judged by two factors: These attributes apply to all the CPUs in the chart.
Computing power is mea- sured by a microprocessor's bit width. That indicates the size of the numbers and the amount of memory the CPU can play with. The larger the bit width, the better the CPU. Early CPUs had a bit width of 8. Today's desk burners churn out numbers bits wide. When Windows sees 32 bits, it gets very happy. Anything less, and you're making Windows tighten its belt, cramping its style. One important aspect about a CPU's bit width is that there are both internal and external values.
This means that although they can handle the bit numbers inter- nally, they must slice them in half to slide them out the door This slows the chip's performance, but it gives us the advantage of a less expensive chip. The second factor used in judging a CPU is its chip speed. This is raw horsepower. Microprocessors calcu- late many thousands of times per sec- ond — sometimes millions of times per second. That speed is measured in millions of cycles per second, a value scientists have described as mega- CPUs Capable of Be aware that dealers will always advertise the higher speed, DX A "pure" chip.
This CPU computes using 32 bits internally and externally. The chip's speed measured in MHz is the actual speed of the chip. This chip is more economical than an DX running at 66 MHz which is a faster chip. This means its perfor- mance will be somewhat less than the full DX or DX2 chip. Also, the BSX lacks an internal math coprocessor, which must be pur- chased at an extra cost.
While the SX is initially a less expensive CPU, the added cost of the math coprocessor chip to make it Handling Windows compatible with the full B6DX makes this chip a poor choice. Like the , it runs at 32 bits internally and externally. This chip is also a bit slower than an chip running at the same speed, and it requires a math coprocessor chip to be fully software compatible with the DX. This makes it the least powerful CPU recommended for run- ning Windows in the enhanced mode.
On the upside, this is also the least expensive chip of the lot and the only CPU you're likely to find in most laptops thanks to this chip's low power consumption. Windows runs on computers with this microprocessor, but not very well. In fact, with an chip installed, you're limited to running Windows in the standard mode. Decades later, two conflictmg factions survive: As a warrior member of EDEN's High Command, it's your sworn duty to defend your civilization from the marauding surface dwellers and destroy their cieadly laser beam cannon before it armihOates your people.
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Product details
Psygnosis, 29 Saint Mary's Court, Brookline. Obviously, the faster speed is better, but there are two warnings attached to this. The first concerns comparisons between the MHz values of and microprocessors. The is a later- generation chip and runs faster than a comparable B chip. For example, an running at 33 MHz runs much faster than an also run- ning at 33 MHz.
In fact, an run- ning at 25 MHz may be faster than an running at 33 MHz. While the may be less expensive, the 's advances in technology make it a faster chip. The second warning concerns the B6 clock-doubling chips. These chips will end with the number 2 or sometimes By using special tech- nology, the doubling chip some- times — and only internally — can achieve speeds double its rating.
For example, an DX2 may claim a speed of 66 MHz— -which would make it one screaming chip!
However, the 2 indicates that this is a clock-doubling chip; the actual speed of the chip is really just 33 MHz. However, the DX would be much faster, since it would always run at full speed. Finally, there is a technical Issue of the CPU's interna! This differs from a disk cache, which is a special area of your computer's memory set aside to improve disk operations. A microprocessor's cache is a special area on the chip that improves the speed of the microprocessor. It works like a disk cache, bui it does not require any of your PC's memory.
The cache is stored on the chip or on a special com- panion chip. Some CPUs will have no internal cache. Others may have a IK, 8K, 64K, or larger cache. The larger the cache, the more performance you'll see from the chip. In some cases you may be able to upgrade the cache yourself; other times, the cache is an internal part of the microprocessor and cannot be changed.
Internal is better, by the way. This aspect of the CPU is some- thing you may have little control over. On my last visit to the computer store hunting for a laptop, incidentally. Flash aside, the four basic hardware groups are also important when con- sidering the ultimate Windows lap- top, but to a lesser degree. The reason is power consumption. Higher-power CPUs draw a lot more battery power than the iow-power models.
If possible, look for Intel's SL chips or similar microprocessors from other manufacturers, which are designed to have a special power- down mode that conserves juice when the laptop is inactive. RAM and hard drive capacity are limited on a laptop to available stor- age space. Laptop hard drives are typically puny, though you may find the occasional 80MB or larger model. If you want to bite the bullet and go into debt, then you can opt for a color LCD screen.
Some of them do show color comparable to many desktop systems, but they are still very, very expensive. If you decide to go monochrome, take a good look at the laptop's rendition of Windows. Are there smears on the screen? Do colors bleed up and down or left and right? Do some colors cause flicker? Another laptop item you need is a mouse. Some of the newer laptops have built-in thumbball mice. If the laptop lacks a companion mouse, then you can purchase one of the special clip-on trackball mice, such as Logitech's Trackman Portable or the Microsoft BallPoint mouse.
These add width to the laptop, but not as much as a full-size mouse and mouse pad would. Finally, don't neglect Windows' special options for laptop comput- ers, such as color schemes or the mouse tails, which let you find the mouse more quickly.
Full text of "Compute! Magazine Issue "
If you have plenty of money, then you can pur- chase the ultimate Windows laptop and really make fellow plane pas- sengers jealous. But if I were you, I'd spend the cash on making my desk- top model Windows happy and keep the Windows laptop just one notch above tolerable. As this issue goes to press, that's the DX running at 50 MHz. It's a better choice than the MHz DX, which doesn't have the higher speed as an option. On the economical front, the best chip worth having is the DX.
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I recommend this above the SX, which is essentially a slow with- out a math coprocessor. While the DX also lacks a math coproces- sor, its optional coprocessor chip the is less expensive than the com- parable chip for the SX the Refer to The Math Coproces- sor Equation," elsewhere in this article. Laptop owners may be stuck with the SX, primarily because of its low power consumption. For a desktop com- puter, however, I don't recommend the SX at all; consider the DX or save up some cash and go for the fastest chip you can afford. That's megabytes, which is about MB more than the typical PC contains.
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Without it, the pro- gram is as cramped as an airline pas- senger in the middle seat in coach try- ing to slice up and eat a steak while maintaining a civil composure. Realistically speaking, you need at feast 4MB of memory to properly run Windows. However, Windows runs even better with SMB.
If your computer has room for that much RAM and you can afford to put it in, then why not? In fact, I'll make a blunt, flat rule about Windows memory con- sumption needs and how to fill them: Buy as much memory as you can afford for your PC or as much as will fully populate the motherboard. If you have room for more RAM, buy it. Overall, memory is the least expensive thing you can add to your PC, and Windows will love it. Another important point to consider is the type of memory you add.
Specifically, Windows needs extended memory. This is the native memory you add to your or PC. Do not run any software drivers or special programs that convert the extended memory into expanded memory — no, no, no! Windows needs only extended memory; expanded memory is wasted when you run Windows.
As far as technical specifics go. For example, if the manufacturer suggests buying ns RAM chips, buy ns chips. Don't save money by getting less expensive chips. Other technical information about the chips is of a more specific nature; make sure you always have what the manufacturer suggests and nothing less. Economically speaking, 2MB is the least amount of memory you need to run Windows in the enhanced mode.
At present prices, another 2MB of memory is cheap especially if you buy it by mail order from a memory chip specialty house. With 16MB, you'll be going first class. The Memory Tally Best memory for Windows: Anything less Hard Drive Size, Speed, and Type Windows and its applications have a rapacious appetite for hard drive stor- age. By itself, Windows occupies some 10 or 12 megabytes of disk space.
Add a single Windows applica- tion, and you lose another 10 or 12 megabytes. This all but rules out run- ning Windows on a hard drive with only a 20MB capacity. The obvious solution to the hard drive storage dilemma is to buy the largest hard drive you can afford, I recommend anything over MB, If you need a formula, figure on a basic 40MB, plus 15MB for each of your applications either Windows or DOS based. Double that figure and buy a hard drive of that capacity— or larger. Suppose you use Windows. Double that, and you get MB.
Better still, since most people have more than four applications, consider a MB drive as the bare minimum for the ulti- mate Windows PC. Capacity shouldn't be the only fac- tor in selecting the ultimate Windows machine's hard drive. There are two other gauges you can use to measure a hard drive's willingness to behave with Windows: A hard drive's speed is judged by its average access time, measured in milliseconds ms.
This is the average time it takes the hard 6me mechanism to reach out and fetch some data on the disk. The smaller the value, the faster the hard drive. Values of 20 ms or less indicate a fast, zippy, perfectly- suited-for-Windows hard drive. Anything less than 40 ms is OK, but avoid greater values. The final factor used in selecting a hard drive is its interface, or the mech- anism that controls the hard drive, sometimes called the hard drive con- troller. Some may disagree with my selec- tion of SCSI as part of the ultimate Windows machine's hard drive inter- face.
However, any quick look at the top-of-the-line hard drives will prove my point: Other controllers limit you to one or two drives. Both of these types of hard dri- ves are smart, having the electronics that control the hard disk on the drive unit itself. The problem with both of these is a lack of availability of drives at the higher capacities. These drives have been supplanted by the newer standards mentioned above, and you should avoid using them.
If you're trying to save money — and you're a cost-conscious buyer— then note that though large capacity dnves are more expensive, the cost per megabyte is much less than with lower-capacity drives. And if there's one thing you can never overestimate, it's the amount of disk storage you1l need, especially under Windows. Anything faster than 40 ms Unsatisfactory: Tliiinb tar all your comments and photos! Because QuickBooks is so easy, you don't even need to know a debit from a credit. If you know how to wTite checks and invoices, you know how to use QuickBooks.
Just fill in the familiar forms on the screen and it does all your bookkeeping for you. Invoicing and accounts receivable. Check writing and accounts payable. Plus all the financial reports you need to manage more profitably. Add QuickPay and you have complete payroll too. It's also easy to tailor QuickBooks to your business. Hard disk with 2 MB free.
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Unlimited free technical supfxyrt. Pay only shipping and handling now to try QuickBooks. Add Quick Pay to your order for jtt. Credit card orders only. Please have your card ready. Best type of hard drive: Anything else Video Card and Monitor One area of tremendous improvennenl over the past several years is in PC graphics. Gone are the days of ugly fuzzy text and primitive two-color graphics screens. Today's Super VGA offers colors, resolution, and splash to dazzle the most discerning graphics artist's eye. Of the two, the adapter card is more important, since it sets the resolution and number of colors and determines what type of monitor you connect to the PC, Once you select the adapter card, you can find a suitable monitor, though some people will erroneously pick out specialty monitors and then hunt for video adapters to drive them.
There are nnany high-end video standards for the PC. Though they sound like part of the ultimate solution, adapter cards such as the XGA or the old PGA are really best suited for graphic artists with deep pockets a rare combination or CAD engineers who use a specific application that pushes the high-end video card to its limits. For everyone else, the Super VGA standard will suffice. It's called super because of its extra colors, resolu- tions, and graphics modes that the standard VGA graphics adapter lacks. A resolution of at least x pixels with colors is considered good; x res- olution is tops anything higher, and you're starting to wander into graphic- artist land.
This is a video system that's integrated with your computer's microprocessor. And chase away those thoughts of selling your PC used; there's no value in it! Consider donating the old clunker to a school or nonprofit organization instead. However, if you want to upgrade, here are the items I sug- gest purchasing, in the order they'd be most effective. This always helps, even on an system. If that's out of your reach, consider adding a second drive.
A video system upgrade. I list this third because the improvements more memory and a better hard drive have to offer will be immedi- ately noticeable, whereas newer graphics hardware just makes poky old Windows look better. This isn't an option for most of us. Newer comput- ers have CPU upgrade paths; older systems are stuck in the mud. A better solution might be a motherboard swap, which also updates the support circuitry the microprocessor relies upon.
Save these upgrades for last; spend your money on the items above, in order, before you consider the fun stuff. As far as spending money is concerned, consider what it is you do under Windows. If you notice your software going out to disk a lot and you subsequently wait for the disk drive to catch up, put more money into a faster disk drive and less into RAM. If the disk drive is fine, then shift more funds into RAM or a fancy video system. In the end, you may not have the ulti- mate Windows machine, but you'll definitely end up closer to it than when you started.
Other local bus items, such as hard drives, will probably be available in the near future. Selecting the ultimate Windows machine's video monitor isn't that hard once you've chosen a graphics adapter card. The advantage of the larger monitor is that you can see more infor- mation on the screen— especially with the higher graphics resolutions possi- ble on SVGA systems. Monitors have several technical descriptions attached to them.
The most important of these for shopping purposes is whether the monitor is interlaced or noninterlaced. Many users claim that noninterlaced moni- tors offer a clearer image without flick- er. If you have a choice, noninterlaced is the better option; however, I've seen many interlaced monitors that don't seem to flicker much. Most of the other descriptions of a monitor are technical and serve only to boggle the mind. I prefer to see a monitor in person before buying it, since the dot pitch, refresh rate, and other technical descriptions don't real- ly describe the image you see. Specialty monitors for Windows include larger inch and portrait and landscape models.
The huge monitors are usually selected for use in presen- tations. While it would be impressive to view Windows on a inch screen, you'd probably have to wear iead- shielded eye shades and sunblock with an SPF of 15 if you sat too close to it! The portrait monitors are nice because they display approximately one page of information, typically 9 inches wide by 15 inches tail.
This is ideal for desktop publishing where viewing a page's "real size" is espe- cially important. The landscape monitor is a portrait monitor lying on its side some even rotate between landscape and portrait positions. Landscape monitors are best for showing horizontal informa- tion, such as long spreadsheets or some types of graphics. Picking a specialty monitor for Windows may involve buying a cus- tom interface card; it definitely will require a special type of video driver. In fact, Windows is extremely flexible when it comes to weird monitors and video drivers.
But, you'll have to wait until next month's issue, when this hot new sports car will be unveiled for the first time. The Chevrolet Camaro Z28 is engineered for both power and driver safety, with a 5. The Camaro Z It could be yours! While this may qualify as the ultimate Windows machine, sticking with SVGA and a good inch monitor will suffice for most of us.
The Video Tally Best video for Windows: You need to know the contents of the box and the phone number of your favorite dealer the cash comes later. All told, the following system or one very similar qualifies as the ulti- mate Windows machine. To meet these requirements, I called several top mail-order vendors to see what they had available and for how much. Please note that the prices listed here are as of October ; current prices and configurations will doubtfess be different, Dell Computers Deli's ultimate Windows graphics workhorse is the DE The monitor is a inch flat screen, noninterlaced model.
The price for the com- plete package: The Dell salesperson suggested that we might want to go with the ATI Ultra card in place of the direct video. He explained that the DGX system is really designed for high- end CAD operations, though it will certainly smoke on any Windows application. But the rest of the system does stack up rather nicely: There is no tax charge, and shipping is UPS ground rate. Extra goodies offered by Compu- Add are abundant. Specifically, the high-end and MCA systems aren't avail- able, which somewhat limits your selection of an ultimate Windows machine.
Needless to say, this system bare- ly qualifies as anyone's ultimate machine, but it's what IBM Direct offers. Upgrade options are avail- able, including CPU upgrades. The salesperson also reminded me that IBM offers a one-year warranty with hour support and on-site service. If it's your dream to have the letters IBM on your desktop, this is your mail-order Windows system.
How- ever, for only a few hundred dollars more, much more capable machines are available. And you can always check out the local IBM dealership for its line. The ISA machine is the only model equipped with local bus video, which Swan calls direct bus. The ultimate Swan Windows machine is the model 66DB.
Swan also offers a gracious two-year warranty and on- site service. The AICS home study program: Many leading corporations have approved the AICS program for their employees. More than 75 employers have paid the tuition for their employees, including a number of Fortune companies and government agencies. AICS lowers the cost of a college degree without lowering the standards. The academic program includes comprehen- sive courses using the same textbooks used in major universities. Qualified instructors are available on telephone help Jines, Join students from leading computer companies.
Thousands of men and women working in the Computer Science field throughout the U. You can be one of them. For a free catalogue call: Many would argue that the ultimate Windows machine must also be a multimedia computer. They may even stretch it to include some type of desktop TV or video editing. While all of these items contribute to an ultimate Windows machine, they're not as central as the basic four. In fact, few of the high-end systems from the national mail-order vendors see "Mail-Order Machines to Fit the Bill," elsewhere in this article include or even offer such options, so they remain luxury extras.
The first and most obvious addition to any Windows PC is multimedia. That's a buzzword for expanding a computer by use of sound, music, a CD-ROM drive, and sometimes desk- top video. So the software is there. Additional multimedia software usually comes with the multimedia PC or a multimedia upgrade kit.
If you buy all of the parts separately, the cost will be more. Modems allow you to hook up your PC to the phone line and access online services, national databases, or remote computers such as the office computer, your home computer, a lap- top, and so on. The topflight modems run at the blazing speed of 14, bits per second bps , with lesser models flying by at bps.
Entry-level mod- els buzz by relatively slowly at speeds of bps and bps. Modems come in both internal and external models. These plug into your computer and give you both computer communications as well as standard level HI fax capabilities. Using your computer and a phone line, you can both send and receive faxes while in Windows.
Higher-end models come with on-board micro- processors that allow you to send and receive faxes without impeding the PC's overall performance. Special software that runs under Windows allows you to send a fax in the same way you send a document to your printer. A tape backup system is a boon to any PC. Rather than mess with a stack of floppy disks, you can use the tape backup to archive your entire hard dhve onto a single inexpensive data cartridge. Special software that runs under Windows makes this painless and much more convenient than back- ing up with floppies alone.
Finally, you should consider some type of surge protection— especially in areas of unreliable power or where lightning sthkes are common. On the high end of the scale, adding an uninterruptible power sup- ply is considered a must for any PC whose contents you value. Ultimate Stondcirds Other items in the ultimate Windows machine are more or less accepted features on any PC: Creating the supreme machine for Windows can be challenging and fun. Paying for it is more challenging but less fun. So while planning and building are fun, the ulti- mate Windows machine you create winds up being for today and not quite for tomorrow.
In the end, the real question is how to spend your money. Do you really need the latest screamer with tons of power to run Windows? While the fastest CPU, gobs of memo- ry, a large and speedy hard drive, and decent video are important, you don't need everything and the kitchen sink to create a worthy, powerful Windows PC. By spending your money wisely and applying it in the proper amounts toward the proper areas of your PC, you can create a robust, muscie-laden Windows machine without going bank- rupt or losing any sleep over creeping technology.
No Jet fighter frustrates enemy planes more easily than the incredible Harrier Jump Jet. That's because the Harrier can baffle opponents with sudden mrd-afr stops. It takes off and lands vertically. It even files in reverse. Face ruthless opponents along front fines. Land in secret hides. And fly action-packed missions with a friend as wingman via modem. Jump Jet from MicroProse. Jump Into the cockpit today. Your enemies will hate you for It. Most of us would agree that Windows helps us get more work done more quickly and with less ef- fort, but all this high-powered productivity demands some pretty hot hardware.
Make no mistake about it: It's this last point that Tm go- ing to talk more about— hard disk space. Windows pro- grams demand megabytes and megabytes of hard disk re- al estate. Before you know it, you have a hard disk full of applications and data files— a hard disk you should back up. If you're lucky enough to have a MB hard drive, you'll soon discov- er that you'll need nearly high-density floppies to back up that sucker.
With large hard disks, floppies are just not an option. So what do you use? Windows makes tape back- up an essential. But choosing the best backup system can be tricky First, you'll nee6 one that provides high capacity— at least MB per tape. Sec- ond, you'll want a system that's fast. And the last consideration, of course, is price. Is all this too much to ask? This superb tape sys- tem comes in internal and ex- ternal versions and can be used with your current floppy controller or with a special high-speed controller.
The sys- tem stores as much as MB on a tape with com- pression , and it comes with the easiest-to-use backup pro- gram Ive ever seen— EzTape for Windows. I opted to test the internal model with the high-speed con- troller To install the unit, I sim- ply put the controller card in an open slot, inserted the tape drive in an open drive bay, and installed the EzTape for Windows software. To get going, f pushed a tape in the drive and cranked up EzTape. The EzTape screen looks a lot like the Win- dows File Manager, display- ing a directory tree on the left and a file listing on the right.
Disk, Library and Tape are the three sources you can choose. The default is Disk, showing the files on your hard disk. After selecting the files, you click on Backup, and you're presented with a dialog box that includes the name of the backup set, any password you'd like to assign to the back- up set, and options to reset the archive bit the default , ver- ify after backup, add to library, encrypt the backup file, and choose the level of compres- sion none, level 1 , or level 2. The only default I changed was the compression level. The default is none, which would only store about MB on my MB hard disk.
I knew I'd need level 2 to push the tape's storage to MB. After changing the compres- sion, I clicked on OK and lis- tened to the tape whir, it took about 50 minutes to back up about MB of data. The backup really did multitask. J worked in Microsoft Word for most of this period and didn't have any problems. After making the backup. I labeled the tape and decided that I'd restore some files to test the system the next day. Little did I know that a malev- olent program would trash some essential data on my hard disk and make my first at- tempt at restoring more than just an exercise.
The next day 1 was running a beta copy of a program I was testing, and after a crash I noticed that Ascend, the per- sonal information manager I use, wasn't working. As it turned out, half a dozen files in my Ascend directory had been mangled by the beta pro- gram. Yikesl 1 cranked up EzTape and in- serted the backup I'd made the day before. I still hadn't read the manual, but it seemed logical to click on the tape button, which I did. After a few moments of whirring and flashing lights, EzTape showed me a tree and file list- ing of the backup files on the tape. I moved to my Ascend di- rectory and marked it.
Next, I clicked on Restore, and in less than a minute, my entire Ascend directory had been re- stored. Easily do your own illustrations or use any of over 11, images included free to jazz up everything you produce! Have a field day with photo images! Choose from photo images included with Graphics Works, or scan in your own. Then retouch them right on your PC!
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I put them in my desk drawer and left for home think- ing the company's data was safe and sound. Before the wind-measuring in- struments broke, winds of mph were recorded. The concrete utility poies that car- ry electricity to South Florida snapped like toothpicks. When dawn arrived, i didn't see a single intact roof in my neighborhood. After assessing our dam- age, I decided to walk the two miles to the office. Planes from the nearby munic- ipal airport littered the fields as if they were a young boy's toys thrown during a temper tantrum. Our building came in- to view, and my worst fears were realized — it was de- stroyed.
Out of habit I un- locked the door and walked to the pile of rubble that was my desk. So much for my backup disks. The good news is that all of the equipment had been re- moved on Saturday afternoon in preparation for Hurricane Andrew. But I've learned some lessons that will stay with me as long as the memories of the flattened houses in my neighborhood. Backup disks that are near the equipment are only useful if a file is accidentally deleted or corrupted or if the hard drive crashes. In the event of a serious catastrophe, you're done for.
Even another room in the same building isn't nec- essarily safe. Here's what Tve implement- ed at work: I keep a set of backups in my new desk in case files are deleted or hard drive problems arise. I bring a duplicate set home with me. I then send another duplicate set home with the company's president, who puts them in a fireproof safe at his house.
I'm even thinking about getting a safe-deposit box at a bank for storage of backups. Don't let luck be the crucial factor in whether your busi- ness or other computing enter- prise succeeds or fails. A little bit of foresight and effort can make the difference between a minor inconvenience and a major catastrophe.
If your business requires any kind of crucial data that cannot be lost, heed my warn- ings. Make multiple backups and keep them in multiple lo- cations. You never know when you'll need them. Their let- ters have been combined in- to a single tip. Instead of typing the hex codes directly into Debug, cre- ate a file using a text editor or word processor. Type the Debug codes be- ginning right after the line that says File not found. Note that the hyphen prompt is pro- duced by the computer and should not be in your text file. Each line of data will look like this in your text file.
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