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All rights reserved ║ ╟──────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────┐ ║* * * * * * * * * ├─────────────────────────────────────────┤ ║ * * * * * * * * ├─────────────────────────────────────────┤ ║* * * * * * * * * ├─────────────────────────────────────────┤ ║ * * * * * * * * ├─────────────────────────────────────────┤ ║* * * * * * * * * ├─────────────────────────────────────────┤ ║ * * * * * * * ├─────────────────────────────────────────┤ ╟──────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────┤ ╟────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ ╟────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ ╟────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ ╟────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ ╟────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ ║────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ║ ║ ******** Happy and Safe Fourth of July ******** ║ ┌─────────────────┐ │Table of Contents│ └─────────────────┘ 1. Welcome 2. What is CTM about? 3. PC Expo - June 23-25, 1992 in NYC 4. Why you should Backup 5. Norton Backup 2.0 for DOS - Review 6. Difference between multi-tasking and task-switching 7. Songanizer - Review 8. MS Windows 3.1 - Review 9. MS Windows 3.1 Requirements __________________________________________________________________________ <1> Welcome by Tony Curro -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I would like to welcome you to the first issue of a new online magazine. We hope you enjoy this magazine and do not hesitate to send comments on things you would like to see, or questions you may have. This magazine will be distributed via BBSs. Please see the information at the end of the magazine on how to contact me either via mail or BBS. I would like to invite readers who wish to write articles, reviews or observations to please contact me. __________________________________________________________________________ <2> What Is CTM? by Tony Curro -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ComputerTalk(tm) Magazine (CTM) is a magazine devoted to the computer user. The novice as well as the power user should find something of interest here. You will find editorials, articles, software and hardware reviews. We will cover both the shareware and commercial markets, letting user know what is out there and the requirements and features of products. We will also have a conference on BBSs, where we will be posting press releases and other information as we get it. This way the user is kept current on new product releases or updates and availability of software. We receive mailings from many companies which include press releases and/or software for review. CTM is for the user. So if you have suggestions or requests, please leave a message to me. We are also looking for users to submit articles which we can put in the magazine. If we get enough support we will publish the magazine more frequently. Enjoy CTM and please tell your friends about us. Tony Curro, Editor/Publisher _________________________________________________________________________ <3> PC EXPO - Held in New York City, June 23-25, 1992 by Tony Curro -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, after three days, PC EXPO is behind us for another year. I attended this year's event the three days. It was a test of endurance. The exhibition area is getting larger, and so are the crowds. The first year I went there was one large floor. Now there is the one large floor, plus a floor above, and a floor below. The walking and standing alone will do you in, unless the huge crowds don't trample you first. But, I loved it. I did enjoy myself. Had a chance to meet some people from local BBSs and made some new acquaintances. We talk to so many people over the years on boards, and very rarely get to put a face to a name, so this does give us a chance to meet face to face. Overall though in my quest for the proverbial 'better mousetrap' I did not find anything that was innovative. There were quite a few new products being touted but not many that would 'grab' you. Of all the products I saw, I did find Claris FileMaker Pro for Windows to be the one highlight in the show. FM Pro is a database program which will not only work in Windows, but will work on a network with MAC computers. Claris, which is a subsidiary of Apple Computers, has been making software for MAC for several years. They have recently acquired the company that made Hollywood, which is a presentation program for MS Windows. FM Pro though is their first inhouse program made for MS Windows. Their new entry is a program that they have had for the MAC. People anywhere on a network can change information in the files and the changes are then immediately updated on the host. And if two people try to access the same record, the second person gets a warning saying the record is in use, and also tells you who is using the file, so you can contact that person to ask them to release the record so you could access it. This way you know exactly whom to contact on your network. I have seen several db's for Windows, but I rate this as the best one I have seen. Xtree has a copy of their program for Windows, which will be shipping shortly. PC-Kwik (formerly MultiSoft) unveiled WinMaster which is a program for MS Windows. In addition to the utilities, like ToolBox, it also comes with their #1 rated Power Disk, which works within Windows, and is the first optimizer to be able to make that claim. WordPerfect Corp. announced DrawPerfect 2.0 for DOS, which is entering beta testing, as is their NEW WordPerfect for OS/2, which will be a PM application. Describe announced their 32 bit word processor for OS/2 which is shipping now. Several of the companies had fashion shows and singing and dancing. The first was to show off the colors of the program, so you had men and women prancing around in some bright flashy, and in the case of the women, at times very short dresses or skirts. This did elicit some whistles and cat calls from some of the male audience. I was also tempted to howl, because as I said there was nothing else there, hardware or software, that was worth even a little jump for joy. Even WordPerfect Corp. had a few professional singers up on their stage to introduce their products. We even had WP for MAC talked about in RAP. The first years I attended PC Expo, the companies had only their own people demonstrating their products. And it was just that, a demonstration. No theatrics were involved. Just a straight presentation of the product, without bells and whistles. This year almost everyone had some sort of stage show, or a variation of a comedy team, with a straight man (or woman) and a stooge (or stoogette?). I was watching one of these where was a man and a woman playing one of these skits. I overheard a remark next to me of two men as they walked away saying "Come on, I don't want to watch this stuff. I wanted to see the product!" Of over a dozen of this that I watched, even for a few moments, the aforementioned Claris, and Corel Draw, were the only two, that had straight informative demonstrations. These I did not mind sitting through, as I learned about the available products. One of the biggest surprises for me was the absence of Central Point Software. The makers of PC TOOLS, PC COMMUTE, CP Anti-Virus, Backup etc. was nowhere to be found. In hardware I must mention HP. Hewlitt Packard has a color DeskJet, and an XL 3000 printer. Both did very beautiful color printing. The XL did stand out as the better quality overall, but carries a much larger price tag, not to mention being a much larger printer overall, than the DJ. But for the DJ's price range it would be appealing to quite a few people who want or need color with a limited outlay of cash. I would buy a DJ color before I would buy a DM color printer. I think that DJ would still be much nicer in output. Till we meet at PC EXPO next year which will be June 29,30 and July 1, 1993. PC EXPO will air on cable TV on Pay Per View for 4 hours on June 30, 1993. __________________________________________________________________________ <4> Why You Should Backup by Tony Curro -------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are quite a few people who feel that backing up their systems is a waste. It takes a lot of time not to mention disks, if you do not have a tape drive or other large backup device. I felt that way at one time. That is until something happened and I was not able to get into my hard drive. I lost everything. I had to install all my programs disk by disk. But some of the lost files were contacts phone numbers and other information for which I did not have a program disk for. I then went out and purchased a tape drive for $1000. This was a long time ago. Prices have come down drastically. Today you can get a tape drive for under $300. And if you are not the adventurous type, who does not relish opening up their computers and inserting control cards and the like, there is also a solution for you. Today, many companies are making tape drives which using your existing parallel port to achieve a backup without you having to open your computer. You just remove your printer connection on the back of the computer, plug in the tape drive to that connection, and then just plug you printer into the connection on the back of the tape drive unit. I was assured by one manufacturer that this will also work with laser printers. I feel it is a worthwhile investment. Stop and think of all the programs you currently have on your system. Windows,Word Processors, DataBases, SpreadSheets etc. Now think of how long it took to install these programs, and all the questions to answer concerning your configuration:printer,comm. and printer ports, video etc. It was time consuming. Depending on the speed of your system, you can backup and restore a whole drive in less time than it took to install one program. That to me is worth the price of admission any day!! I am pushing tape drives as you can see above. But, you do not really need a tape drive for a backup. You can use floppy disks. Be it 360, 720,1.2 or 1.44. It is just a lost easier and faster to use a tape. Depending on the tape drive you get you can store from 20-250 megs or more on one tape. I was at a computer show where they were showing 1 gigabyte tape drives which retail for around $1679. As a comparison it would take almost 20 1.2 disks to store 20megs. Buying a tape drive of at least the same size of your disk is advisable, as you can then back your whole hard disk onto one tape. Tapes do use compression, so the size would go down. Tape drives usually come with backup software which facilitates the operation. With some you can use software which you may already own. Central Point Backup will backup to a tape drives. Norton Backup 2.0 for DOS currently supports all popular tape drive systems. The Windows version of Backup should support tape drives in July. Gazelle Software has released a Windows version of their Back-It program which also supports tapes, as does their DOS version. Another reason to backup is for virus protection. Someone whom I talk to very often just had a bad experience. They backed up their system a day too late. Seems that they had received a corrupt file and did not know it. They did a backup. Several weeks later when they discovered this it was still too late. The corrupt file resided within the backup thereby voiding it. Another reader had been hesitant about buying a tape drive or doing any type of backup for that matter. Two days before he received his drive in the mail, his HD crashed. He lost 80 megs. of information, many of them clients orders and correspondence, again for which he had no copies. His sales dropped a bit as he could not recover the information. A good practice is to make one major backup. Then depending on how often your information changes, you should do an incremental backup weekly, with another full backup at least once a month. Always retain at least two copies of a full backup. This is in case one of them is bad, you can still recover most of information. The incremental backups can also be done daily. This will only backup the changed files. It will keep you very current if you do this at least every other day. __________________________________________________________________________ <5> Norton Backup v2.0 for DOS by Tony Curro -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a much improved DOS release. The previous version did not support tape drives. Nor did it fully support DOS devices. I use a Bernoulli cartridge for backups. In version 1.2, it would create numerous files of the size of a 1.44 disk, which was the largest floppy in my system. So if I backed up 10 meg. to a 44meg cartridge, I would have 9 files of 1.44 meg. each. This was nice if I wanted to copy the files to 9 1.44 disks. But I did not. Now there is TRUE support for DOS devices. So if I back up 30 meg., I would see one large file on my Bernoulli. Installation of Norton Backup is painless, even for the novice. Just insert the first disk in either drive A: or B:, type INSTALL and follow the prompts. For the novice just selecting the defaults will get you up and running in no time. For the more experienced user you can select your own options. Or you may also opt for the defaults. Either way, I chose to select or not select several options, I was done in about 10 minutes. The program does do a small backup to test reliability. This requires 2 disks of any size. You can change the default disk size or drive letter for the test. After all is said and done, a simply NBACKUP, will bring you into the main program. Backup comes with several Preconfigured Setup files, for programs, like WordPerfect, MS Excel, 1-2-3 etc., so you can backup any of these without having to go through a setup. There is also a Backup Assistant which can perform backups on a daily basis. You can also use the Scheduler to have your system back itself up anytime of day or night. So you can have all the files that were changed today, backed up this evening at 6 or 7 PM. A full backup can also be done. The current version also has support for standard QIC format to QIC 40/80 tape devices. Backup sets can also be password protected, so user's can protect themselves from illegal access to backups. The Norton Backup offers DOS and Windows cross-platform support with completely interchangeable DOS and Windows backup sets. Will also work with backup sets and setup files created in Norton Backup v1.2 for DOS and Norton Backup for Windows. However, Norton has released a new version of Norton Desktop for Windows v2.0, which does not have tape support. It is suppose to be available in the summer. I backup up 14 meg. in about 4 minutes to my cartridge. It is always a safe bet to leave Verify on. This way the data is checked for reliability. You may also wish to use the Compare option. This will check ALL the files after a backup to see if both sets of files match. The Read/Verify option does slow the backup process down just a little bit. But it really is well worth it. On a really fast system you most likely will not really notice it. Overall at a list price of $129.00, Norton Backup for DOS is a good buy. It is a solid, powerful, reliable program. In all honesty it is so simple to use that you may not even need the manual. But, as with all things, it is a good idea to at least browse through it. You always pick-up a few good pointers in there. Norton Backup for DOS version 2.0 Symantec Corporation 10201 Torre Ave. Cupertino, CA 95014-2132 408/253-9600 Fax 408/252-4694 __________________________________________________________________________ <6> Difference between Multi-tasking and Task-switching by Tony Curro -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have been asked by users what the difference is between multi-tasking and task-switching. Several users were under the impression that DOS 5.0 has the ability to multi-task. This is not so. They have said I can have several programs up at one time, and can switch between them. The key word here is switch. Yes, you can have several programs up at the same time with DOS 5.0. Also, true is that you can switch between them. However, when you switch between programs under this environment, the program that you have switched from is suspended. It is NOT running. It remains in the background until you hot-key back to it. But it is not doing anything. If you had a communications program doing an upload or download, and went to a word processor, you would quickly see that your transfer stops. This is TASK-SWITCHING. There are also several shareware and commercial products that will do this. Some better than others, but all suspending one application while you work in the other. Multi-tasking on the other hand, as it's name implies, does just that. It allows you to run two or more programs simultaneously. MS Windows, and DESQview are two of the more popular type of this software. As of this writing another player has entered the arena. It is IBM OS/2 v2.0. OS/2 differs from the first two in that it is a complete operating system. Both Windows and DESQview need DOS in order to operate. OS/2 does not. It will run OS/2, DOS, and even Windows programs in a true multi-tasking environment. So you can run your favorite communications program in DOS, a word processor in Windows, and also run applications in OS/2. DESQview will run most DOS applications. MS Windows will run ALL Windows specific programs in addition to DOS applications. Now you should be able to choose the software for the way you work. If you just wish to have all applications up at the same time, regardless if they are running, then task-switching software is for you. If on the other hand you want to do a download in the background, while typing a letter in a word processor, or working on a spreadsheet, then you must get multi-tasking software. __________________________________________________________________________ <7> Songanizer Database for your Music Collection (ShareWare) by Tony Curro -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am an avid user of shareware products. As a Co-Sysop on several local boards, and a writer, I am always on the lookout for good quality software. Like you I also like to keep all of my information on my computer. Isn't that the reason we bought them in the first place? Well I have come across a program recently that will catalog your record collection. The program, 'SONGANIZER' is a first entry for CandleLight Software and author John Schumacher. I have tried some other programs that will also do this. But some have seemed complex. Of those I have used there is one other which is as good. But does not work as smooth as SONGANIZER. As the name implies it organizes your songs. It also does your albums. And you can search by a song title and/or singer. In addition you can see all tracks on a specific album. The current version will now do partial searches on either the album or singer. However if for example your are looking for songs by Garth Brooks, using Bro, will not find it. But using Gar or gar will, as the search is not case sensitive, so you can use capitals or lower-case and it will find it. The first time you start SONGANIZER, you are told there are no databases. It asks if you wish to create them. After you say OK, you are taken to the main screen which is blank. There are command bars on top and bottom of the screen. To add an album you hit F4 and you see you screen. You enter: Album Name, Artist, Label, Release Date, Category, Media, and Comments. Only the first two MUST be filled out. The others are optional, but other than Release Date, I use all of them myself. Comments is nice to put info about the specific album (First, Last, Autographed, Where Purchased, Price), these are all choices I use from time to time. You have 3 lines of up to 40 characters, so you can put quite a bit of information in there. After you type in the information for your first album, you have several options on the bottom of the window: Save, Tracks, FastADD, Delete, Cancel. Now you will see why I like this program. A mouse is not required, as the keys work just as well, but the rodent does make it much easier. Now you click on FastADD. Immediately a window pops up with the Album Name and Artist information. A line that says Song also appears. You type the names of the songs on the album. You only need the song title. The other information stays constant. After each song entry pressing RETURN takes you to the next blank line awaiting input. In this way you can quickly add songs to the current album. Or you can do this later if you wish. While in the Album entry screen, if you have a album name present, clicking on Tracks button, will show you all songs you have listed for that album. There is another option on the bottom of the screen, F2 Song Entry. This allows you to enter a song manually. What this means is that you must also enter Album and Artist information. This DOES have an advantage, and it is the ONLY program of the several I have seen that will allow you to do this. Suppose you have an album that is say 'Top 10 Songs of 1991.' Each song in most cases will be by a different artist. You enter the ALBUM info using F4. For Artist you say Various. If you use the FastADD option, you will see Album Title and under Artist: Various. This is the name for each song on the album. You don't want that! So you use F2. Enter the Album Name once. Then enter Song Title, and the actual artists name. At least now if you search for a song by a specific artist you will see that song. Otherwise you would never see the song unless you search for Various under artist. This is truly a great feature. One thing is that if you use this option, it will catalog the songs as songs, not as part of an album. So when you enter the Title of Album and you enter VARIOUS as the Singer, it will create an entry as such, with no songs in the album. But a song search will find the songs. I have also noticed that the program creates a dummy entry. I entered information on 6 albums. When I checked the information file where it shows # of Albums and # of Songs, the song count was right, but the albums were listed as 7. When you do a print to screen on Album info., you will also see this at the top of the first screen without any information. I had a slight problem with QEMM and SONGANIZER. Called the author's BBS and we batted things around and got it resolved. Another main feature I like about shareware. Most authors can be contacted via their own BBS or through CompuServe, Genie, or other relay conferences. And you have many people offering support. SONGANIZER will run on any IBM or compatible from an XT up to a 486. It will run under DOS and Windows. I have tested it under DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1 with no problems. I have also tested it within the DOS box of OS/2 2.0 where it also runs just fine. Registration is $15.00 Author: John Schumacher Company: CandleLight Software (make cks to Co. name) P. O. Box 33 Cedar Knolls, NJ 07927 FileName: SNG11.ZIP on most BBSs. Latest always on CompuServe and Genie. Also on the author's BBS. Remote Host BBS (201) 539-4544 9600 + modems (201) 539-4546. With this, as with any other ShareWare products, there may have been an updated version since this article appeared. __________________________________________________________________________ <8> MS Windows 3.1 by Tony Curro -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Millions of users bought MS Windows 3.0 when it went on sale, May, 22, 1990. Supposedly millions more will either upgrade to or buy MS Windows 3.1 which was released on, April 6,1992. Is the new version for you? If you use Windows more than 50% of the time, I say YES! If you use it combined with MS Word, Excel, or any other WP or SS prg. you should upgrade. The new version does load faster for starters. I have several programs loading when I start Windows and it takes 20-25 seconds to come up. Previous version took almost 60 seconds for just about the same format. I am running it on a 386-33 mhz w/8 meg. of memory. Some of the program has been redone. You do not need to use the LOAD= and RUN= lines anymore. Some programs however do install themselves there. You now have a STARTUP group. Any and ALL programs that you want to run when you start Windows go in there. You just use the ADD option, or open a group which has the icon of the program and drag it to the STARTUP group. It is that simple. No more having to remember the path and other information to run or load the file. DOS programs run smoother also and MS Windows is reported to be able to handle these much better than 3.0 ever did. In addition you can now change the fonts in the DOS windows, and even resize them, and have that size saved for later use. Remember the hassle of creating a permanent swap file? You had to start Windows in Real mode (which by the way no longer exists), and run the file etc. etc. Changing it now is much easier. First upon install it will attempt to create one. The SETUP program will give you the recommended size and ask you to verify or change it. You could even NOT create it at that time if you wish. Now when you are running Windows, you just open Control Panel, and select the 386 icon. This brings you up to the virtual memory area. You select what you want to change: Size of swap file, make it temporary or permanent. Then you say OK. Program asks if you are sure, so you say OK once more. You are then told to reboot, and a simple click of the button will restart Windows with you new information there. SMARTDRIVE is another program that has changed. It went from a .SYS to a .EXE file, and is now placed in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file rather than CONFIG.SYS. This also has had added options, though some users have reported problems using it, and have been told by MS to use the 3.0 version. When you leave your computer for a period of time, most people invoke a screen saver. Windows has now built them in for you. But, not one to do things right the first time, they do not give you the option of using a hot spot on your screen to invoke it at any time. It must wait for the time you set in the setup of it, which is accessed via the DESKTOP icon in CONTROL PANEL, before it blanks. As with anything, there is a way around this. There is a small shareware product out there called HOTSPOT, which does exactly that. You have it run at startup, and once you set it for which corner you want to blank, or which corner to make sure it never blanks, you are all set. Works fine. Do you notice how quiet it can be when you are typing or doing other things at your keyboard? When you make an error by hitting a wrong key, does anyone holler at you? Well do not fret. If you have a sound card like AdLib, or Sound Blaster etc. you can have sounds come out of your system. They even have drivers now that support the internal PC Speaker. If you have a CD ROM drive attached, you can have Windows play your audio CD's for you. All these options are part of the multimedia drivers that come with Windows. With some you may have to contact the manufacturer of the card for drivers. I know that Creative Labs, which has a BBS, has drivers for both of their cards there for Windows 3.1. Windows uses files in the .WAV format. It comes with a handful of sounds. But many BBS's have these files available that will give you voices. Hear the theme from the Jetson's. Hear the famous Terminator line " I'll BE BACK!." How about hearing the Star Trek computer telling you " Program is complete, enter when ready," when you first start Windows? Liven up you system with some of these and many more sounds. Nice for a little change. TrueType Fonts come with Windows. These are a little nicer looking than the previous fonts. And they have also improved the printing. It moves along faster now. MS Windows comes on either 5.25" or 3.5" High-Density diskettes. If you need either 360K or 720K disks you must order them from MS. You also must have a 80286 or better with at least 2 meg. of memory to even think about using Windows. Originally Microsoft said, and the program does, give you the option of loading it over an existing version of Windows. Since then MS has reversed itself and said to do it as a NEW install. Yours truly found this out after having a problem, doing a NEW install, and then calling MS, who said I was 'ahead of my time' for doing it. I was never a big Windows fan. I do admit they have come a long way since the first release I used which was 1.3. I also feel while this version is more stable then previous versions, and allows you to recover from most errors, it still has a way to go. __________________________________________________________________________ <9> MS Windows 3.1 Requirements by Tony Curro -------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT YOU NEED FOR WINDOWS. Contrary to what Microsoft says, there are still quite a few users out there who have never used Windows. I have been asked by several users about the requirements to run MS Windows 3.1. Below are those needs: REQUIREMENTS TO RUN Microsoft WINDOWS 3.1 * MS-DOS or PC-DOS 3.1 or higher. * For 386 ENHanced Mode - computer with 80386 processor (or higher). This includes a 386SX based computer. 640K of conventional memory, plus 1024K of extended memory, 8 megabytes of free disk space (10.0 is recommended), and at least one floppy disk drive. For upgrading from Windows 3.0 to 3.1, 5.0 MB of free disk space (5.5 is recommended). * For Standard Mode - computer with 80286 processor (or higher). 640K of conventional memory, plus 256K of extended memory, 6.0 MB of free disk space (9 MB is recommended), and at least one floppy drive. For upgrading from Windows 3.0 to 3.1, 5.0 MB of free disk space (5.5 MB is recommended). * DISPLAY ADAPTER that is supported by Windows. Most video cards have their own Windows drivers. New ones usually can be had by calling the card maker. Most have a BBS where you can get the latest drivers. Microsoft also has a BBS which had TSENG 256 color drivers. * Printer that is supported by Windows if you want to print with Windows. * A compatible modem if you wish to use either MS Terminal or another communications package with Windows. * A mouse that is supported by Windows. Though not required, a mouse is HIGHLY recommended. If you are upgrading from Windows 3.0 to Windows 3.1, you do have the option to install over the existing configuration. The consensus now from Microsoft is that you start as a NEW user of Windows, and installing 3.1 as a new product and NOT over the old version. It has been found that there could be some conflicts or other problems when 3.1 overwrites the existing files. So backup your old copy and all related files first. Then install Windows 3.1. REMEMBER to remove the Windows directory from your PATH statement unless you are going to put the new version in the same place. There MUST be only one reference to Windows in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, otherwise you can and will run into problems. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ComputerTalk(tm) Magazine is published monthly by Tony Curro │ │Copyright(c) 1992 by Tony Curro. All rights reserved. │ │ │ │ │ Host BBS: The PosterBoard Network │ │ Phone #: 1-212-685-8309 │ │ Join Conference #1 - ComputerTalk │ │ │ │ │ │ You can also contact the editor by mail. Send information to: │ │ Tony Curro │ │ ComputerTalk Magazine │ │ Editor/Publisher │ │ P. O. Box 1065 │ │ New York, NY 10002-0913 │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘