• Software Tip
  XP Recovery CD Maker
  
  
• Website of Interest
  MissingMoney.com
  
  
• Computer Parts
  BIOS
  
  
• Tech Tip
  Windows Explorer (The Basics)
  
  
• eScams
  Amazing Issue with Target
  
  
• Reader's Emails
  
  
• Reader's Tips
  
  
• Update Notices
  
  
• A Personal Note from Ray

Software Tip - XP Recovery CD Maker

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        Many people have requested me to write a recovery tool for BartPE. BartPE is a free program that makes a Boot CD with a skeleton installation of WinXP by using the WinXP files on your computer. One of the advantages of BartPE is that it can access an NTFS drive (which is the type of drive that most people with WinXP have) whereas most other operating systems, like MS-DOS, and boot disks cannot. It sure beats buying NTFSDOS for over $1000.
        The disadvantage of BartPE is that it does not have any recovery tools on it. Because of this I have developed several tools and put them together in a program called XP Recovery CD specifically designed to work in BartPE. The tools include a Crash Troubleshooter, a Windows Explorer type utility, WinRescue's Crash Fixer for restoring WinRescue backups, a tool to find and recover registry backups in WinXP Restore Points, and an Extractor for unzipping zip files and WinRescue backups.
        This is a great companion to have with WinRescue XP.
        XP Recovery CD Maker will help you download and use BartPE to make an XP Recovery CD. Because BartPE uses files in your Windows directory and not all installations of WinXP have those files, I suggest that you use the free trial version of XP Recovery CD Maker to make up a CD first, just to make sure that you will not have problems doing so. The trial version disables the Crash Fixer, Restore Points Restorer, and Extractor. Everything else works without limits. You can purchase the full version and a key which will unlock the trial version for $29.95.
        The XP Recovery CD is great to have around when WinXP or Win2000 won't start. Just pop the CD in the CD drive and start the computer. The tools on the CD will help you get things back up and running.
        Find out more about XP Recovery CD Maker at http://www.xp-recovery-cd.com.


Website of Interest - MissingMoney.com

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        Are you rich and don't know it? Here is a website that will tell you if someone wants to give you money. It brings together the unclaimed property lists from most of the states of the US and allows you to search through them. We are not just talking about long lost rich uncles who left you a fortune, but also things like, former employees who could not get your last paycheck to you and government agencies who owe you money but can't find you.
        Just enter your name in the box, put your state (even though it searches all of the states), and click on Go.
        My last name is a very rare name and yet it found two people with my last name that had unclaimed money. Too bad I don't know them (probably long lost relatives). I also did a search for my wife's last name (another rare, but not so rare, name) and it found 70 people. She knew one of them.
        For the states not listed in the search engine, there are individual links to all fifty states.
        So why not go to www.missingmoney.com and see if it holds a missing fortune for you. Surely, someone reading this newsletter will find a treasure.


Computer Parts - BIOS

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        BIOS is the beginning brain of your computer. It is located on the motherboard and contains the opening instructions and settings for your computer. When you turn your computer on, BIOS initializes certain settings and then hands over the operation of your computer to the boot section of your hard drive.
        When things go wrong in BIOS, you will know it. Usually your computer will not finish starting.
        Most of the things in BIOS will never be used or understood by you, but there are a few things that are necessary to know about.
        First of all, if you have an older computer and you get a large hard drive, you may not be able to use all of the hard drive until you upgrade your BIOS. Upgrading involves running a program which costs in $50 and up. Upgrades are available on the internet.
        Secondly, the order of booting is controlled in the BIOS. Booting is the process where your computer loads up an operating system, like Windows. In the olden days the floppy drive was always booted first and then if nothing was found in the floppy drive, the Hard Drive was booted. Since most computer today do not have a floppy drive, the order is usually the CD drive first and then the Hard Drive. This allows you to boot up using an emergency operating system (like, the XP Recovery CD mentioned above) if the main operating system on the hard drive does not work. If the booting order is not the way you want it, you will have to go into BIOS and change it.
        Thirdly, the settings for the drives are kept in BIOS. If you are changing or adding a hard drive, CD drive, or floppy drive to your computer, you will have to go into BIOS and select the correct settings if BIOS does not automatically set it up correctly.
        Fourthly, there is a clock in BIOS which runs on a battery when your computer is turned off. If you find that your computer consistently loses time when it is off, this may be because of a failing battery. The more adventurous computer user can buy a new battery at the computer store and install it himself. All others should have a repair shop do this.
        How do you view and change the settings of BIOS? When your computer starts, the monitor usually tells how to enter BIOS (it may call it Setup or something like that). On some computers you have to press several keys at once, like Alt, Ctrl, Escape, and on others you just press one key, like the Delete key. These keys must be pressed before Windows loads.
        Once into BIOS, just follow the instructions. If you don't know what something is, don't change it. You will have to save the changes before you exit BIOS or they will not take effect.


Tech Tip - Windows Explorer (The Basics)

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        In the earliest versions of Windows the main tool was Windows Explorer (I think it was called the File Manager back then). If you wanted to run a program or open a file, you had to find it in Windows Explorer and run it from there. Now Microsoft seems to hide Windows Explorer, but it is still a good tool to know about. You can find it in WinXP by clicking on the Start button, going to All Programs, than to Accessories, and then clicking on the Windows Explorer item (an easier way to get to Windows Explorer is to right click on Start and select Explore from the popup menu).
        Even though Windows hides it, Windows Explorer is still often used by Windows. For example, every time you do a search, open a file, or save a file, Windows Explorer is used.
        Windows Explorer shows the structure and contents of your drives. Each drive starts with a root directory. For the C drive this is C:\. There are files and folders (folders are also called directories) in the root directory and each folder may also have files and folders in it.
        When the location of a file or folder is written out, it is written first with the drive letter, then a colon and a slash, then all of the parent folders, that it is in, separated by slashes ( \ ), and then the filename. For example, there is a regvac.exe file in the RegVac folder which is in the Program Files folder, which is on the C drive. So the location of regvac.exe is C:\Program Files\RegVac\regvac.exe. This is called the file path.
        If you have a file path and you need to find it in Windows Explorer, first start with the drive letter. The drive letters are listed under My Computer in Windows Explorer. You may need to click on the plus sign in a square to expand My Computers and see the drives. Then you look for the first folder in that drive, then the next folder in the first folder and so forth and so on. When you click on a folder in the left box of Windows Explorer, its contents (folders and files) will be listed in the right box.
        There is much more to this topic than will fit in this article, so in future issues I will explain the many aspects of Windows Explorer and even give some little-know tips to optimize its use.


eScams - Amazing Issue with Target

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        (Please read all of this articles, especially the conclusions at the end, before you write me and "inform" me of the same things that this article states.)

        I received an email from a friend of mine with the above title. The email explained how a Vietnam vet had asked his local Target store to contribute to a veteran cause and how after they refused, he found out that they had done many things against veterans and that they were a French-owned company. The last paragraph reads: "Now, I'm thinking again. If TARGET cannot support American Veterans, then why should my family and I support their stores by spending our hard earned American dollars and to have their profits sent to France. Without the American Vets, where would France be today?"
        The story had names, details, and sounded authentic, but it seemed a little too perfect to me.
        So I did a quick search on the internet for the veteran organization that the author claimed to represent. The first thing on their website was an article disavowing any connection with what they called the Target Hoax or any knowledge of the author of that email. As I looked further into this, I found out that almost all of the facts of the story were wrong. Target is an American owned and founded company. It has no connection with France. And it does give to veteran causes.
        So the email is false. It is a hoax. It is a lie.
        There are several websites which expose these type of scams. Here are three:

• http://truthorfiction.com
• http://urbanlegends.about.com
• http://snopes.com

        The lesson to be learned here is that before you get all worked up about a story forwarded to you, do some searching on the internet to see if in fact the story is true.


Reader's Emails

Paul - In response to Bruwer's Tip, isn't it risky to keep backups on your computer? (summarized by Ray) ...I evaluated WinRescue some months back and I just don't see it or "Bruwer's" use of it as a means of disaster recovery.

Ray - I do both. I make a backup to an external drive that is kept separate of my computer and I make weekly backups that are kept on a different hard drive on my computer. The only situation that I can see myself using the external drive backups in is if my house burned down with my computer in it or someone stole my computer. I have never used them and I doubt that I ever will (written with fingers crossed). The only reason why I make them is because my data is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars (in my eyes at least). Most people do not have that valuable of information on their computers and so it is not worth it to spend several hundreds of dollars keeping backups that they will never use.
        On the other hand, I have used the backups made on my computer by WinRescue many times. Usually I have needed them because of stupid things that I have done, like unintentionally deleting files. My recommendation is to make backups of files that are important to you to a different drive using WinRescue. You should backup files on C to D and vice versa. Most people do not have a need to do more than that, but they do need to do that.

Robert - RE: Large downloaded files - if a zip or exe file is missing a chunk, 999 times out of 1,000 the CRC check will flag the download as bad. I've never seen the 1,000th time; maybe I'm not downloading enough.

Ray - My guess is that you are referring to my download article where I said that sometimes you will get a partial file and that you are saying that is not possible except for 1 time out of 1000. For people with dialup or a bad cable (which mine sometimes is) partial file downloads do happen.

Robert - RE: File links - Maybe I'm not understanding something, but isn't file linking only part of NTFS systems?

Ray - File linking happens in Windows no matter whether you are using NTFS, FAT32, or FAT. There are all types of links. One type is a shortcut. A shortcut has a link in it to another file.


Reader's Tips

Brian Taylor - There is a free program called Key Wallet which reader Thomas Weatherly might enjoy. It keeps your ID's and passwords for you. You can then click to insert your ID and password into an app. with no keystrokes. You can find it at: www.keywallet.com.


Update Notices

        The following programs have been updated this month:

RegVac Registry Cleaner - v.4.02.09 - 08/29/05

A1Click Ultra PC Cleaner - v.1.01.28 - 08/27/05

EZ File Transplanter - v.1.01.05 - 08/10/05

XP Recovery CD Maker - v.1.01.05 - 09/01/05


A Personal Note from Ray

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        Do you know someone, a spouse, parents, siblings, children, or friends, who will benefit from Ray's Computer Tips? If so, why not subscribe them in the subscription section of Ray's Computer Tips?
        I will be going to Russia Monday to visit our work (see www.mcii.org for more information about our work) for two and a half weeks. I will still have internet access but it will be dialup and on my laptop, so I will be somewhat disabled. For those of you who pray, please send some up for me that I might be able to train and share the gospel with many.
        If you do not want to be subscribed to this list, please use the unsubscribe link.

Thanks for reading,
Ray Geide