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WINDOWS98 TROUBLE SHOOTING

Got a problem with Windows 98? Before you call for help, you should investigate Windows 98's 15 Troubleshooter wizards. These wizards are found in the Help system and may be able to help you quickly and easily diagnose and solve system problems. Once you launch a Troubleshooter wizard, you discover that each one presents a number of common problems and walks you through plain- language steps for a variety of possible solutions to those problems. Accessing a Troubleshooter is by selecting Help from the Start menu then the Contents tab. Click Troubleshooting followed by Windows 98 Troubleshooters. When you do, you'll see all the Troubleshooter wizards.

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WINDOWS98 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Microsoft says the minimum system requirements for Windows 98 are a 66MHz 486DX with 16MB of memory. But you should consider a Pentium-class system with at least 16MB of RAM as the minimum configuration. Such a machine lets you comfortably run the operating system and several applications without a lot of disk swapping. However, keep in mind the more applications you want to run at one time, the more memory you need. By itself, Windows 98 devours from 8MB to 16MB of RAM, while each typical 32-bit application needs several megabytes apiece. To be on the safe side, you can figure about 4MB per active application.

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WIN98 HARD DISK REQUIREMENTS

A typical Win98 installation needs about 195MB of hard disk space. However, depending on your configuration and the options you choose to install, the installation could use as a little as 120MB or as much as 295MB of hard disk space. Also, once you begin installing 32-bit applications, your Windows folder can easily expand to 400MB or more. On the bright side of this picture is the fact that if your hard disk is larger than 512MB, you'll be able to use the FAT 32 file allocation system. This new system will provide you with at least 10 to 15 percent more efficient use of disk space on the average large hard disk. If you have a small hard disk, you can use the Portable or Compact install options and fit a Win98 installation on your disk. However, you won't get all of the extra goodies in the Windows 98 package. If you have a small harddisk but want the advantages Win98 has to offer, you might consider adding a second hard disk to your system before you upgrade to Windows 98. You can figure on spending roughly $100 per gigabyte of hard disk space. Check with your local computer store for more information-they might even install the second hard disk for you.

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LOGGING ON AT START UP

If you are the only one using the computer you don't have to log on to start windows. If the dialog box appears at startup you can get rid of it. Go to Control Panel, choose Passwords, click the User Profiles tab and select the option button labeled "All users of this PC use the same preferences and desktop settings". You'll also need to delete any pasword. Click Password tab, click Change Windows Password, type your old password and click OK. Leave the New Password and Confirm Password boxes empty.

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WINDOWS 98 REGISTRY CHECKER

Windows 98 comes with a handy Registry maintenance tool called the Registry Checker. Each time you start your system, the Registry Checker automatically creates a backup of the Registry in the \Windows\Sysbckup folder. If you investigate that folder, you'll discover that Registry Checker actually keeps five backup copies of the Registry in compressed format as Rb001.cab, Rb002.cab, and so on. You can manually back up anytime. Load the System Information utility: (Start/Programs/Accessories/ SystemTools) Then pull down the Tools menu, and select Registry Checker. When you do, the Registry Checker will scan your Registry for errors and then prompt you to make a backup. Click Yes to replace the oldest backup file with the new one. If you find you need to restore from a Registry backup, reboot your system to an MS-DOS prompt and type Scanreg on the command line. Then follow the onscreen instructions to view your backed-up Registry files and restore the most recent one.

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CREATING A FAT 32 BOOT DISK

If you've moved your Win98 system to the FAT32 format you should make a new boot disk for emergencies that support the expanded disk addressing. The Win98 CD-ROM has a program you can run to quickly create a Boot Disk that's capable of creating and reading FAT32 partitions. The FAT32 Emergency Boot Disk (EBD) provides a virus-free means to start and troubleshoot a computer, as well as a means for partitioning large drives with the FAT32 file system. The utility that creates the EBD, FAT32EBD.EXE, writes an image of a known good boot sector that was scanned for viruses. A virus-free boot disk can be used to troubleshoot systems that you suspect are infected with a virus, or to create a large partition for Windows 98. The program is FAT32EBD.EXE and it's located on the CD-ROM in the path: Tools\Mtsutil\Fat32ebd folder. You can get there in several ways. (1) Use Windows Explorer to scan your CD-ROM. Click on Tools folder then click on the Mtustil folder in the next window and then the Fat32ebd folder. Go to the second paragraph down to complete the operation. (2) When you insert the Windows CD it will likely be detected and a menu will pot up. Click on BROWSE THIS CD. In the next window dbl click the Tools Folder. Next window double click the Mtsutil Folder. Next window double click the Fat32ebd Folder. Place a 1.4MB disk in the drive and double-click on the Fat32ebd.exe file. Then follow the on-screen instructions to create the bootable disk. When finished, you should write-protect the disk to protect it from viruses. There is a help file in the same folder as FAT32EBD.EXE and you can read it for more information.

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MAGNIFY WIN98 VIEW

If you don't happen to be one of the lucky ones who own a nice 17" monitor, seeing what's on your desktop can be a challenge. However, it doesn't have to be if you take advantage of Windows 98's new Magnifier accessibility tool. The Magnifier displays a magnified view at the top of your screen of the area where your mouse pointer or insertion point is located. To use the Magnifier select: Start | Programs | Accessories | Accessibility | Magnifier If the Accessibility menu doesn't appear on your Start menu, you need to install the Accessibility Tools through Add\Remove programs.

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WINDOWS98 DISK CLEAN UP

One of Win98's best utilities is the Disk Cleanup tool. It is designed to help you free up hard disk space. While Disk Cleanup automatically starts when available free space falls below a 3% threshold, you can run it at any time. To do so click Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Cleanup. When Disk Cleanup launches you'll see a Files To Remove list box that contains four check-boxes: Temporary Internet Files, Downloaded Program Files, Recycle Bin, and Temporary files. (You may find other check boxes on your particular system.) Simply select the check boxes you want and click OK. If you click the More Options tab, you'll see two more choices-- Windows setup and Installed program --that allow you to easily remove unneeded Windows components or application programs

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CLOSING ALL APPLICATIONS AT ONCE

When you've finished your computer session for the day, you probably close each open application one-by-one. If so, chances are that you've wished you could close all applications at the same time. There's a technique that will allow you to do so. Hold down the CTRL key and click on each application button on your taskbar. This selects each button. Once you've selected all the application buttons, right-click on any one of them and select the Close command from the shortcut menu. When you do, all applications will close. If you have any application in which an open file hasn't yet been saved, that application will prompt you to save the file.

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WINDOWS 98 UPGRADING

Have you visited Windows Update site this month? If not, you should. It's a good idea to visit the Windows Update site regularly in order to keep your Windows 98 system running in tip-top shape. Click the Update link at the bottom of the Settings menu. Once at the site you'll be guided thru the upgrade steps.

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WINDOWS 98 AUTO LOADING

Do you wonder what goes on in the background when you start Windows 98? If you're curious as to what programs and utilities are starting each time you boot Windows 98, you need to investigate the System Configuration Utility. This utility has a series of tabs that show the contents of several major files including Config.sys, Autoexec.bat, System.ini, and Windows.ini. The last tab (Startup) has a complete list of all items that load automatically from the Startup folder, the Win.ini load= and run= lines, and from the Registry each time Windows 98 starts. To use the utility, launch System Information, pull down the Tools menu and select System Configuration Utility command. You can also access the Run dialog box from the Start menu and type the command: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSCONFIG.EXE in the Open text box.

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