Monday, November 4, 2002		Dr Tribune

Q. I would like to know that how can I use my PC as an answering machine and which software (preferably freeware) are available for this purpose. The configuration of my PC is P 4, 1.5 GHz, 128 MB SD RAM and Microsoft Millennium as OS.

A. There are many software available on the Internet, which works as digital answering machine/voice mail. However, you may not find many good freeware software. The best solution in this case is to use the software, which is being distributed free with the modem CD, as they are powerful yet free software. If you wish to download the voice mail software from the Internet, then you can check out the software CallCenter available for download at www.v3fax.com.

Q. My PC configuration is 40 GB HDD with C:, D:, E:, F:. C: loaded with Win Me.

1. I found just a few bytes of bad sectors on my C: drive. I run scandisk regularly but now it doesn’t scan my C: While doing so my PC hangs and the same problem occurs during defrag while other drives are scanned and defragged properly. Will formatting of C: remove bad sectors?

2. Secondly, when I boot my system it always runs scandisk for C: thoroughly without fixing errors, even if I shutdown my system properly. It happened after I found bad sectors on it. Please help me out of this problem

A. Your problem is actually related to bad sectors only, which is the root of all problems mentioned by you. Unless you do something about the bad sectors, the problem related to scan disk will continue to occur. I would suggest you to use some disk utilities like Norton disk utilities to fix the bad sectors. Fixing the bad sector would prevent the hard disk from writing anything on it and will actually block it, and this will solve the problem, at least temporarily. Since bad sectors have a tendency to grow, thus you may come across this problem again in future, with new bad sectors developing in the hard disk.

Q. I have a Pentium 4 PC, 1.9 GHz, 40 GB hard disk and 256 MB RAM. I have another spare hard disk of 10 GB that contains many bad sectors. I want to ask: Can I connect this hard disk also for data transferring? Is it possible that 40 GB hard disk may get infected with the bad sectors if I do it?

A. Regarding you problem I would say you can surely connect two hard disk for whatsoever purposes. However, you will have to make your main hard disk as the Primary Master, whereas you will have to make the other hard disk as secondary master and will also have to alter the jumper setting of your hard disk for the same. Regarding your next query, it is worth mentioning here that the bad sectors are not virus and thus they can not move from one hard disk to another, thus your other hard disk will not be affected by the old hard disk.

Q. I have P III, 933 MHz, 128 MB RAM, 20 GB HDD with two operating system, Win ’98 on C: drive and Win 2000 on D: When I delete some matter from Recycle Bin, it shows an error, "Cannot remove folder Dio: The directory is not empty" in Win ’98. But it removes the trash. When I want to empty my Recycle bin of Win 2000, it throws the error that I mentioned above. There are six files or folder in my 2000 Recycle bin. But when I open the Recycle bin it does not show any file. But the new thing that is gone into the Recycle bin is deleted. My Recycle bin never shows it is empty. I also format my D: drive but again this error occurs. How can I overcome this problem?

Amit, Chandigarh

A. You have probably some data in any of the subdirectory in your DIO folder, which is causing you this error. The other possible reason for this error also could be some hidden files, which have not been removed. Now in order to get rid of this problem, clear all hidden files and the sub directories and then try emptying your recycle bin.

Q. I have a problem with my system. Please help me. I have two OS on my computer, Win 2000 and Win ’98 SE. My Internet and dial up connection works well on Win ’98 SE and I use Net on it. I have installed my modem on Win 2000 but the problem is that in Win 2000 whenever I want to connect to the Net, I fill the username and password in the dialog box and press connect button, my computer restarts. I have installed Win 2000, the third time just to remove this problem as I but to no avail. Please help me.

A. From the description of your problem, it appears that you are using a third party dialler for dial up networking. In this case I would suggest you that you use the default Windows 2000 dial up networking for connecting to the Internet, as the script of your dialler might have become corrupt and which is translating the command connect to something else. I am sure using the Windows 2000 dial up networking would solve your problem. To make a connection through dial up networking, click on My computer and then click on Network and dial up connections. Now click on make new connection and then follow the instructions to create a dial up connection for your Internet.

Q. I have Windows ’98 SE and Windows XP professional on my system. Some bad clusters were generated on my hard disk where Windows XP was installed. I formatted that drive. Now at the time of booting I get an option to select from Windows XP or ’98. In my MSDOS.SYS file, there is no option in the boot menu. Can you tell how can I disable that option? Secondly, what are bad clusters? Why are they generated? And how can they be corrected.

A. Since you have formatted the partition having Windows XP, so no it must be empty. So in order to remove the dual boot menu, first of all back up your files, then boot form a WIN 98 Startup Disk and execute the following command SYS C:

After if completes you will see the message "System Transferred>" Remove the diskette and reboot. Your system will then boot to Win ’98.

Regarding your other problem, bad clusters normally represents lost or fragmented data, which is no more linked. This problem can be handled by running scandisk.

Q. I have a PC with the following specifications: Pentium 4, 1.6 GHz, 512 MB SDRAM, Intel original motherboard, D845WN, GEforce2 MX, 400, 64 MB graphics card, Onboard sound, HPS56 internal modem, 6x Toshiba DVD ROM and 24x Yamaha IDE CD Writer. Well, the problem that I encounter is that when I am connected to the Internet my system starts hanging for about 15 seconds after irregular intervals. But now it has starting hanging even when I am not connected to the Internet. It hangs for 15 seconds and after that it becomes normal but after some time it again hangs and the procedure keeps repeating. Please solve the problem. This problem comes in Win XP.

Pardeep Singh, Chachoki

A. In order to solve this problem, scale down the hardware acceleration from the maximum to little lower towards the left under system. However, you must also check he system for proper earthing. If this does not solve your problem, then you may also have to reinstall the modem driver as this could also be the culprit. These are the possible reasons for your problem.

Q. I have an assembled PC with configuration P III (733 MHz) with 815E motherboard, 128 MB RAM, 20 GB hard disk with 4 partitions, 56 K internal modem, 52x LG CDROM, 16x10x40x ASUS CD-R. I am using Windows Me as Operating System. I purchased this PC nearly 1 year 3 months. I have the following problems:

1. My CD ROM as well as CD-R is unable to play CDs. Although they detect the CDs but when I click on the icon (song icon), the computer hangs and I have to retrieve the CD from CD ROM. However, there is no problem with data CDs (MP3s or software CDs). They detect and work properly.

2. The lens of CD ROM is not working properly. I used lens cleaner. Then it works but it doesn’t detect every CD and I have to use lens cleaner after every few days. Is there any alternative to clean the lens or is there any other problem in CD ROM.

3. The fan of the cabinet produce noise. Well it works properly. What is the solution to this problem?

Also suggest me how can I improve the speed of my PC.

A. Regarding your first problem, check out the audio cable, which connects the CD ROM/RW with the Sound card. I hope this will solve your problem. Regarding the lens problem, you would not require lens cleaning unless, the CD ROM is installed at a dusty place. I think, prima facie, this problem is because your computer is exposed to lot of dust. A good solution to your problem is that you use dust covers for your computer and as far as possible protect them from dust. However, if this problem still persist, then you must consult your hardware vendor as it could also be associated with the wrong alignment of your CD ROM. Regarding, your third problem, blow the fan with a blower like low powered vacuum cleaner ( in blow mode) or even a hair drier may be used to blow the dirt out of the fan, this will reduce the noise. However, if you think that the speed of the fan has also slowed down, then you may have to replace it.

Q. I have P-3 655 MHz assembled system with Windows Me as current OS. My problems are:
On the third partition of my HDD (E:) I had Windows XP installed. I formatted E: to get rid of XP, but the boot OS menu still appears. How can I get rid of it?

Secondly, when I run MS Config, it first prompts: "System configuration utility unable to
synchronise the environment variables in Windows registry with the environment variables in the legacy files Autoexec.bat and/or Config.sys.

A. Regarding your first problem, please refer to the solution mentioned above for the same problem, this solution will also take care of your second problem.

Q. I have an assembled PC with Win ’98, P III, 933 MHz, Intel d815 motherboard, 126 MB RAM and 40 GB HDD. Since last few days my videos are not running properly. While playing videos they run with a little pause and the sound jumps. I reinstalled Widow media player. But the problem was not solved. Please tell me what’s wrong with my PC.

A. Remove all junk from the system including wasteful memory resident programs, games, fonts etc. Also free up the hard disk and increase the paging file size of system to take care of this problem. You should also lower down the hardware acceleration from the maximum. I hope these solutions will solve your problem.