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The Monthly Edition Of The k-Byte Newsletter |
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| v. 24, n. 2 February 2007 | Users Helping Users | ||
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The Monthly Edition Of The k-Byte Newsletter |
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| v. 24, n. 2 February 2007 | Users Helping Users | ||
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Contents 1 How Does Windows Handle USB Devices? - Dave Gerber 2 About k-Byte 4 Fooled You!-I Really Hope Not - Chuck Davis 6 Calendar of Events 7 February/March Calendars 8 The New, the Best, and the Worst 9 Free Up Megabytes of Disk Space - Vinny La Bash 10 Trading Post 12 Map to Meeting Place 12 FRPCUG Contacts They tell us what happened in a nonrepeatable historical case." - Ludwig von Mises How Does Windows Handle USB Devices? by Dave Gerber, Program Chair, Sarasota PCUG, Florida; member of the "Live on the Internet" Bits and Bytes radio show team http://www.davebytes.com Dave_bytes(at)comcast.net One subject that often comes up is how Windows handles USB (Universal Serial Bus) devices and what you can do when USB devices don't work as you expect. First, let's talk about the two versions of USB that you'll probably encounter: USB 1.1: these were the first widely available devices and usually ran at a speed of 1.5 mb/sec. They were meant to replace old-fashioned serial and parallel (printer) connections that ran at only a fraction of the speed and could connect only one device at a time. While this speed was OK for slow devices like mice and keyboards, it wasn't useful for transferring large amounts of data, like from digital video cameras. For faster speeds, you needed SCSI or FireWire (IEEE 1394) connections. Since these were used mostly on the Mac, you often needed an add-in card for your computer to use them, which is one of the inconveniences that USB was supposed to alleviate. USB 2.0: typically runs at the much higher speed of 480 mb/sec, which is faster than the original FireWire standard and much faster than SCSI. This is more appropriate for large data transfer, such as to external hard drives, and necessary to connect CD or DVD burners. However, some people still prefer FireWire for devices like video cameras, because FireWire is really a network that allows devices to be more interactive. So how do you know which USB you have? If your computer was made sometime in the last few years, chances are its USB ports are version 2.0, which are backwards-compatible with 1.1 devices. One way you can tell which version your computer has is to look at the Device Manager in Windows XP: . Press Windows Key + Break to open Device Manager (or click the Start button, then right-click My Computer and select Properties). . Click the Hardware tab, then click Device Manager. . At the bottom of the list, click the plus sign next to Universal Serial Bus controllers. If your computer has is equipped with USB 1.1, you'll see a device or two called a Host Controller or Open Host Controller. If your computer is equipped with USB 2.0, you'll see a device or two called an Enhanced Host Controller or USB 2.0 Controller. Any USB device you buy will have the regular USB trident logo and any high-speed USB device will have the red, white and blue high-speed logo. If you connect a high-speed USB device to a low-speed USB port on your computer, Windows will probably give you a message that the device can run faster if you connect it to a high-speed port. A USB 2.0 internal expansion card costs about $20 and a USB 2.0 notebook adapter (fits in the PC Card slot) costs about $40. The most common problem people have is when they connect a USB flash drive (sometimes called a thumb drive) to a computer and the computer doesn't recognize it. First, let me say that these are great devices. Connect one to your computer and it works like a removable hard drive. When you connect a USB device to a computer running Windows XP, the computer will detect it immediately. When that device is a USB drive, you'll probably see a message on the taskbar that Windows detected a new device, followed by a dialog box that asks if you want to open the drive to see its contents, play a movie and other choices. Windows will also assign a drive letter to the device. But sometimes you won't get this dialog box, and when you open My Computer manually ( Windows Key + E), you won't see the device listed. That means there's a drive letter conflict. Here's how you fix it: . Select Start/Control Panel, then double-click Administrative Tools. (You may also have Administrative Tools directly on the Start menu.) . Double-click Computer Management. . On the left side of the Computer Management console, select Disk Management. . On the right side, you should see a device listed as a removable drive, probably with the same letter as another drive you're already using. . Right-click the white bar where it shows the letter, then select Change Drive Letter and Paths. . Select the letter, then click the Change button. . Pick a letter not already in use from the list, then click OK. . Click OK on the warning message, then click OK again. (I assign U: to all USB flash drives, since I never use more than one flash drive at a time.) . Close the Computer Management console. When you go back into My Computer, you should see the USB drive with the new letter. Another common problem is running out of ports. When USB started being implemented, the idea was that you would daisy-chain the devices together. So computer manufacturers would put in only two ports (always in the back) and only one port on laptops. For a variety of reasons, the daisy-chain idea never caught on, and computers made today typically have four ports in the back and two in the front, for quick access. If you run out of ports, you can fix the problem -- as with so many others -- by applying cash. Buy an external USB hub for anywhere from $10 to $40, depending on size, number of ports and power. A hub will split a single USB port into several more. The better ones have their own power supply, so your devices don't have to rely on the computer for powering the USB connection. When there isn't enough power to go around for all the devices, they can go offline. This brings me to the last problem I'll mention: USB devices going offline because of reasons unrelated to power shortage. This was fairly common when you had many devices connected using USB 1.1 in versions of Windows older than 2000, where the devices had to supply their own software to get USB to work. (Native USB drivers were first included with 2000, then made more robust in XP -- and Vista, presumably). If this happens, simply unplug all the USB devices, then plug them back in one-by-one. If any are daisy-chained together, connect the parent devices before connecting the child devices. Published monthly, k-Byte is the official newsletter of the Front Range Personal Computer Users Group (FRPCUG): our mailing address is PMB 152, 305 W. Magnolia, Fort Collins, Colorado 80521. Opinions expressed in k-Byte are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the group or its members. Publication of information in k-Byte constitutes no guarantee of accuracy. Use of any information found in this publication is at the sole risk of the user. Neither k-Byte, nor Front Range PC Users Group, nor the officers of Front Range PC Users Group, nor the editors of or contributors to k-Byte assume any liability for damages resulting from use of information in this publication. Submissions Articles, letters and short items of interest on computer-related topics are welcome and encouraged. All items submitted for publication are subject to editing. Send your contribution to the editor via e-mail attachment or submit on disk. If you have questions about a submission, please contact the editor for information. Copyright k-Byte is copyrighted ©2007 by the Front Range Personal Computer Users Group. Unless otherwise noted, other nonprofit users groups may reprint or quote from any articles appearing in k-Byte without prior permission, provided that proper author and publication credits are given and that a copy of the publication in which the article appears is sent at no cost to k-Byte at the above mailing address. User groups wishing to exchange newsletters with FRPCUG are invited to send a copy of their newsletter together with an exchange request. IBM PC, OS/2, Compaq, MS-DOS, UNIX, Windows and other trademarks occasionally mentioned in k-Byte are registered trademarks of International Business Machines, Inc., Compaq Corporation, Microsoft, Digital Research, AT&T or their owners respectively. Neither FRPCUG nor its newsletter k-Byte are connected in any way with any manufacturer or seller. Advertising Classified advertising is free to members for non-business ads. See "Trading Post" for pricing for camera-ready display ads. Charges for ad makeup from sketches, etc., are available on request. Deadline for camera-ready and classified ads is 45 days prior to the month of publication. For example, ads for the March newsletter must be submitted by January 15th. For pricing and schedules for ad design, connect to contact(at)frpcug.org. About FRPCUG FRPCUG is an independent nonprofit computer society, so incorporated with the State of Colorado and open to anyone interested in MS-DOS, Windows, or UNIX/LINUX microcomputers. Its purpose is to provide an educational and scientific forum of mutual benefit for members of the micro-computer community. FRPCUG holds a monthly meeting and conducts various special interest groups (SIGs) and seminars. Members have voting privileges, subscription to k-Byte newsletter, access to SIGs and selected seminars. Annual dues are $25 for individual/family membership ($20 for students) and $50 for corporate/group membership. by Chuck Davis, Newsletter editor & webmaster, Sun City Anthem Computer Club, Henderson, NV. Chas (at) anthemwebs.com. http://www.myscacc.org I am presenting the following illustrations to show that what you see isn't what you get! The first two purport to be secure links (https://) to paypal.com. However, when you hover your pointer over the links, you will see the true link. If you have made recent changes to your account, you can safely open your browser and type in the PayPal URL which is http://www.paypal.com. The others eliminate the pretense by presenting a text link which is not the true link either:
 At left is an image of the address bar when the PayPal URL is typed directly into it. Notice that the PayPal site has converted it to a secure page! Another bummer contains 12 links-all to the same different URL. What you see is free.music.mp3, what you get is as you see in the illustration. What you see is not what you get!  These links may cause you to loose all of the money in your bank account quickly. There is another spam scam going around promoting "undervalued" stocks touting the message that the stock should be bought now! They are trying to make you think that they are providing you with "insider" information so that you can make a killing! NOT! These are usually sent by third parties who are trying to manipulate the subject company's stock, and the company may not even know what is going on. You loose the money in your bank account a little slower! Of the hundreds that I have received over the past months, none have warned of the stock going down! The news that you don't know as a potential investor is when the spammer started the promotion, and when the spammer is going to sell. Only the spammer knows. Short selling is much riskier!  If you are concerned about some of the spam you have received regarding stocks, this is an interesting site: http://www.spamnation.info/stocks/index.php If you would like to know about other spam, try their home page: http://www.spamnation.info/ 
Here's a good one. Subject: David has a secret about your Vegas Vacation. The spammer's name and address is stated as: "Vegas Online Inc. - 4598 River Glen Dr, Las Vegas, NV 89103 USA" There is a River Glen Dr. in Las Vegas, but not that number. The web site title is Toronto Pharmacy! The domain name rxsvintus.com in the link was registered through a Chinese company by the registrant giving a Fiji Island address. These liars want your business? The "human engineering" involved in these messages reveals the nature of many of us. We tend to believe what we see and read without question. We are also a bit greedy. Enough of us fall for these come-ons to make it extremely profitable for the spammers. None of the spammers want to help you! They have no interest in you! Their only interest is your money! Delete the messages and keep your money. You will be ahead of the game. February General Forum Meeting We will meet at the Fort Collins Senior Center on Tuesday, February 6th 7:00 PM Meeting Agenda: 7:00 to 7:15 Announcements 7:15 to 8:00 Open Forum 8:00 to 8:15 Break 8:15 to 9:00 An Independent View of Microsoft Vista March General Forum Meeting We will meet at the Fort Collins Senior Center on Tuesday, March 6th 7:00 PM Meeting Agenda: 7:00 to 7:15 Announcements 7:15 to 8:00 Open Forum 8:00 to 8:15 Break 8:15 to 9:00 Computer Security See you at the meetings! Get full membership benefits. If you are not a current member, download an application from http://www.frpcug.org/memberap.htm Future General Forum Meeting Notes The March General Forum Meeting topic is Computer Security. The Presentation will be made by Jamie Leben of IT-Works in Loveland. New Technology SIG The New Technology SIG provides advance support for all PC related operating system and telecommunication issues. The meetings are held at 7:00 PM on the third Thursday of each month at Bluebird Manufacturing Inc., 1421 Webster Avenue, in Fort Collins. For more information, contact Chuck McJilton at 970-493-2987. Board Meeting FRPCUG's executive board meets on Wednesday of the week following the General Forum meeting. All members are welcome and are encouraged to attend. These meetings are held at 7:00 PM in the Staff Board Room of the Fort Collins Senior Center. Directions to the Fort Collins Senior Center The Fort Collins Senior Center is located at 1200 Raintree Drive. This site is situated at the northwest corner of the Shields and Raintree Drive intersection, on the north side of the Raintree Shopping Center. Check the marquee at the main entrance for directions to the specific meeting room. See map on page 12. 6 FRPCUG General Forum Meeting 7:00 PM 14 FRPCUG Board Meeting 7:00 PM 15 New Technology SIG Meeting 7:00 PM March 2007 6 FRPCUG General Forum Meeting 7:00 PM 14 FRPCUG Board Meeting 7:00 PM 15 New Technology SIG Meeting 7:00 PM collected by Pim Borman, Website Editor, SW Indiana PC Users Group, Inc. http://swipcug.apcug.org/ swipcug( at )sigecom.net Spintronics No one, fifty years ago, could have foreseen or even imagined how the advent of evermore powerful computers would revolutionize science, technology, commerce, and communications. Vastly improved algorithms and architectural structures have been important, but the crucial factor has been the ability to cram ever smaller and more complex circuits on a semiconductor chip. That ability is now approaching a limit posed by atomic size and increasing influence of quantum effects. We may have to learn how to do more with what we already have if we want to further improve computers so that they'll be able to predict the weather or model the Big Bang, to mention just a few challenges. From an electro-mechanical standpoint every digital computer, no matter how primitive or advanced, consists of on-off electrical switches connected in a circuit. In semiconductor-based systems the binary 0's and 1's are represented by electrons that carry a negative charge, and missing electrons, called "holes," with positive charge. That is simple and straightforward enough. But wait, there is more... There can be no electricity without magnetism. They are like heads and tails, yin and yang, up and down. Electrons, the elemental carriers of electricity, also are elementary magnets. You can, very much simplified, think of them as spinning spheres of electricity, tiny electromagnets in other words. Depending on the direction of spin, the magnetism points up or down. Technology making use of the magnetic properties of electrons is often referred to as "spintronics." So far, computers ignore the magnetic state of the electrons, but what if we learned to use it for additional information storage? About 50 years ago scientists learned how to manipulate and record the magnetic properties of electrons and certain atomic nuclei to examine the composition of substances, using a technique called nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Eventually that technique was extended to examine the characteristics of human tissue. The name was changed to Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to avoid the term "nuclear" with its negative connotations, although it has nothing to do with damaging radiation or nuclear energy in this case. More recently, in the late 90's, scientists at IBM learned how to use spintronics to make very small, highly sensitive read-heads for use with computer hard drives. The sensors consist of a microscopic sliver of semiconductor sandwiched between two thin magnetic layers. The top layer is a permanent, "hard" magnet, but the bottom layer is a soft magnet that changes magnetic orientation easily as it passes over the magnetic regions on the disk. If both magnets in the head are oriented in the same direction, electrons align magnetically in the same direction and move easily through the semiconductor. If the magnetic layers point in opposite directions, the electron spin is reversed as it moves through the semiconductor, affecting its mobility and therefore the amount of current. Clever, isn't it? Practically all newer hard drives use that technology now. If computers could be designed to use both the electrical charge and the magnetic state of electrons, each unit of information could have four different quaternary values (0,1,2,and 3) instead of the two binary values (0 and 1) currently used, resulting in greatly increased performance. But the semiconductors must be magnetic to recognize the magnetic 'up' or 'down' state of electrons. Magnetic semiconductors are few and far between, and so far none remain magnetic at room temperature. If the material problems can be solved, we may be looking at future computers that are not only more powerful, but also easier to use. Because magnetic semiconductors retain their logic states without power, systems could be instant-on and use less power. Also, principal functions of a computer, such as logic operations, communication between circuits, and data storage, could be integrated in a single material, resulting in smaller and faster computers with high data-storage capacities and fast performance. Making spintronic computers possible depends on chemists formulating magnetic semiconductors able to support the technology. Much progress is being made, but it will take a while longer. Cookies With Gas? Would you believe Internet via the gas meter? A San Diego-area start-up company, Nethercomm, claims to have developed technology to send broadband and TV services through the underground natural gas pipes. A converter box attached to your gas meter receives the signals and sends them to your computer or TV set. The headline of the article in USA Today (9/11/06) says it all: "Gas-line broadband a pipe dream?" (Thanks, Duane Morrow). A Linux Epiphany I wasn't going to mention Linux this month, but... James Derk, our local computer guru known for his syndicated weekly computer columns for Scripps-Howard News Service, has been pooh-poohing desktop Linux for years. Guess what. His column in the Evansville Press and Courier of September 18, 2006 is headed "It may be time to give Linux another try." He specifically mentions the Ubuntu Linux distribution which, he writes, is "...painfully easy to get up and running ... without spending a dime." Derk keeps his columns at http://www.cyberdads.com/blog.html. You can also find them on the Scripps Howard Web site at http://www.shns.com/ under Columns...Business, Finance, and Technology...Compute. Reap What You Sow! I've been getting bored with being a one-man Linux SIG in the SW Indiana PC Users Group. I suggested to our new Region 6 Advisor of the Association of PC User Groups (APCUG), Jerry Gillette, that APCUG might be able to sponsor a way to exchange news and information between Linux aficionados scattered amongst its member Groups. He passed the word, and the suggestion was accepted with enthusiasm. APCUG now carries a new Conference (section) on its Web Board, APCUG.linux. Of course, the Conference requires a moderator, and who do you think got "volunteered?" Right, "c'est moi" said the fool. Oh well, one must reap what one sows. Access the APCUG Web Board at webboard.apcug.org and leave a message! by Vinny La Bash, a member of the Sarasota PCUG, Florida http://www.spcug.org vlabash(at)comcast.net Look in your Windows folder and count how many folders you have that start with "$NtUninstall". They are all related to various patches, updates and service packs for XP. Those $NtUninstall folders are created when you install a Microsoft Service Pack, a hot fix, or certain security updates. Some of these folders could date back almost to the day you first installed your computer. Their names are in blue, and they are all marked as hidden and read only. If you don't see them in the Windows folder, open the Tools menu, and select Folder Options from the drop down menu. After the Folder Options dialog box appears, activate the View tab, then left-click the Show hidden files and folders radio button. Click OK to close the dialog box and the hidden folders should appear. If nothing happens close down Windows Explorer and restart it. You don't need to restart your computer; simply open Windows Explorer again. Why should you do this? If you're getting low on disk space and the usual remedies haven't freed up enough space, these folders could be the culprits that are chewing up valuable storage area. If you have had Windows installed for more than a year and you are conscientious about keeping your system up-to-date, these useless folders are probably tying up gigabytes of data. Enough of them can have the unfortunate side effect of noticeably slowing down virus and spyware scans. It also takes longer to defrag your disk drive. An accumulation of unnecessary or extraneous data on your system will eventually affect system performance and in extreme cases cause drive errors. The files within the $NtUninstall folder provide instructions on how your computer uninstalls a Windows update. Each folder has a specific name ending in the name of a particular Windows modification. If you were to go to add/remove programs and select a Windows update to uninstall, the information on how to run this process would come from the corresponding $Ntuninstall folder. You can safely delete all these folders if you have no plans to uninstall any of the related patches. As updates and patches accumulate, these types of folders will continue to grow and take more disk space. One solution is to delete only those folders older than three months. Chances are, if you haven't uninstalled a Windows update after three months, you won't ever do it. Alternatively, once you've made a backup or disk image of any "$NTUninstall" files, you can delete the files from the hard drive immediately, because you can always restore them from backups, if you need them. One thing Microsoft should have done is tuck these folders away in a sub-folder someplace so you don't have to scroll through them every time you want to locate something in the Windows folder. I've seen machines with over one hundred of these folders. Then again, you could always mark them as hidden. Noncommercial Advertising k-Byte runs classified ads in Trading Post for three consecutive issues. Trading Post ads up to 10 lines (or 70 words) long are free to FRPCUG members and only $10 for non-members. To place an ad in Trading Post contact Rick Mattingly at 970-613-8968 or e-mail to rmatt(at)mesanetworks.net. Commercial Advertising Specifications (Per Issue) Full Page (8.5" x 11")*$50.00 Half Page (5.5" x 8.5")*$30.00 Quarter Page (4.25" x 5.5")*$20.00 Business Card (2" x 3.5")*$10.00 We offer a substantial discount for repeat ads and continuing contracts. For an additional charge we will design your ad for you. Contact Rick Mattingly for information on this service at 970-613-8968 or e-mail to rmatt(at)mesanetworks.net. *Allow for 0.5 inch margins   Source: http://www.mapquest.com |
| FRPCUG CONTACTS | ||||
| Telephone Area Code 970 | ||||
| FRPCUG Officers | Name | Work | Home | |
| President | Rick Mattingly | 613-8968 | rmatt(at)mesanetworks.net | |
| Vice President | Don Anderson | 498-3534 | 482-0943 | doande(at)gmail.com |
| Treasurer | Virginia Febinger | 498-2127 | gingercln(at)cs.com | |
| Secretary | Jim Bragonier | 484-9061 | james.bragonier(at)comcast.net | |
| k-Byte Staff | ||||
| Editor-in-Chief | Mike Morris | 461-2002 | twriterext(at)gmail.com | |
| Features Editor | Mike Morris | |||
| Advertising Coordinator | Open - We need a volunteer! | Contact Rick Mattingly in interim. | ||
| Other Contacts | ||||
| Membership Coordinator | Jack Linder | 663-2151 | jack(at)frpcug.org | |
| New Technology SIG | Chuck McJilton | 493-2987 | cdmcjs(at)gmail.com | |
| Door Prize Coordinator | John Goldey | 221-0877 | johngoldey(at)juno.com | |
| FRPCUG Fax Line | 493-1408 | |||
| FRPCUG Home Page w/E-Mail | http://www.frpcug.org | |||
| FRPCUG Officer E-Mail | contact(at)frpcug.org | |||
| Membership in the Front Range PC Users Group is $25 per year for individuals and $50 per year for companies. | ||||
| Mail your completed application and payment to: | ||||
| FRPCUG | ||||
| PMB 152 | ||||
| 305 W. Magnolia | ||||
| Fort Collins CO 80521 | ||||
| or join in person at the monthly meeting on the first Tuesday of each month. | ||||
