Mouse Clix

By: Hobie Lunin

Learning from the mistakes of others, Part II

Continuing on the theme of learning from others, you might like to hear a few from yours truly. Over the years, I have made connections to many Internet sites that require passwords especially several places where I have Mutual Fund accounts established for the future. I began a list of all these, with the site name and password and user name, if any. Three months ago, I moved to a new apartment. I put the list in a “safe” place. It is three months later and I have not found it. This problem can be solved with the

companies involved, but it is very time consuming.

Here is another. When I got my own first computer, it had a small hard drive. I saw a program that allowed me to compress the data in my hard drive to increase the capacity. After I did that, I could not get the machine to boot. The manufacturer bailed me out by showing me how to do a complete recovery of my system. This took more than a while, and I lost all my files including my e-mail address list. When I asked the manufacturer about the problem, the answer was “Friends, do not let friends compress.” I asked, “Why then do you have a compression program in your computer?” The answer was “Microsoft made us do it!”

One more laugh at my expense? Some years ago I started getting a message on my screen that said my hard drive was about to fail and that I should start backing up my files. I ignored that and just decided to do “scan disk” and have the computer fix the problem. By the time the computer could complete the scan, I started hearing weird screeching sounds coming from the computer. You guessed it, my hard drive failed and I lost all my data. I had to buy a new hard drive to install and start over.

One from a friend went like this. After an electrical storm, he had a dead modem. A trip to the tech confirmed it was a power surge. When there is an electrical storm, this may happen. It normally will cost you about $100 to have this repaired. A suggestion is to use a surge protector for your computer that also protects the modem. This type of surge protector has a place to plug in your phone line from the wall and then another line from the protector to your computer. OTOH, if you usually unplug your computer during an electrical storm, do not forget to unplug the phone line in the back of your CPU.

A large organization lost a huge mailing list when a computer operator inadvertently deleted it as she was trying to merge the file with labels. There was no way to recover it. After that, I advised keeping these records on a Zip Disk drive. The data is constantly being backed up automatically to the Zip Disk while the operator works. This allows easy recovery after an accident.

A student has a printer that has a low voltage power supply with it. He accidentally burns the power supply out and just picks up a power supply that has the same size and shape to substitute. This power supply has a much higher output voltage and he fries the printer.

A friend finds his computer doing some strange things and some data is missing. After some detective work, he determines that his toddler has come in to his computer room and started banging on the keyboard, creating havoc. If you have a toddler who just wants to do what you do, I suggest lifting the keyboard to a greater height when you are not in the room.

Some years ago, I was encouraged to update my Internet Explorer browser via a message from Microsoft. Later I discovered I could not print anything directly from the Internet. It took a week for me to figure out what the problem could be. I uninstalled the upgrade and suddenly it was OK again. I later found some other people who had run into the same problem and I used this information to help them. Upgrading is not always the best thing to do. My philosophy…”if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

A man decides he will view some pornography after hours on his computer at work. A week later a technician comes by to do maintenance on the machine and loudly calls across the office, “Who has been looking at porno here? Whose machine is this anyway?” The man suddenly slips out the side door and takes the next day off as a sick day! If you are visiting any sites on you machine at work, learn how to remove the Temporary Internet Files.

A student has bought a scanner and decides to scan some photos and send them to a friend. She does this and the friend complains that the photo was so large it took 20 minutes to down load. You must read the accompanying paperwork with your scanner. You only want to have a .bmp file if you are going to print it. A bitmap is a high-resolution format that is not needed for a photo being viewed on a monitor. The documentation should indicate how to make a reduced resolution photo. You will also need some software to reduce your photo in size; 5”x7” is enough for a monitor. Keep the resolution to a total of less than 120KB or you will get some flack from the people on the receiving end.

A student is teaching herself how to make a tee shirt and forgets that the image needs to be reversed before doing the iron-on. She believes she has lost a very valuable shirt. I suggest using Dark Color Iron-on Transfer paper as these can cover a previous iron-on.

Hobie Lunin is a teacher and consultant and can be contacted at mouseclix2@yahoo.com.