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sniper297 (1396 posts)
Jan-18-02, 09:28 AM (EST) "Calling all computer dummies" Q. How can you tell if a Blonde has been using a word processor?
A. There's white-out all over the screen.
Computers are complicated, aggravating, unpredictable machines. I've been fooling around with computers for over 20 years, and I still have trouble with them sometimes.
But some of you new guys are hopeless, can't even do basic stuff like copying, pasting, and making backups. You been taking lessons from dumb Blondes? Here's how a Blonde makes a backup copy of a word processor document;

Come on, guys, there are easier ways to do things like that. All you gotta do is learn how. I taught First Grade reading, and I had the kids typing their own made-up stories in write or notepad, and if these 6 and 7 year-old babies wanted to know how to do something with Windows 3.1, I wouldn't tell them. I made them look it up in the book. Not the book that came with it, of course, that was written for programmers, not real people. I had them look it up in Windows 3.1 for Dummies. The "For Dummies" series has been around for a long time, and they can be bought practically anywhere. And most important, can be read and understood by anyone with First Grade reading skills. When I got Windows 95 and later 98, I bought the books for those too.
I already knew how to do most of this when the win95-98 OS first came out, but I coughed up the 20 bucks for the book anyway to have as a handy reference. It still saves me a lot of grief sometimes, there are things that are different between DOS/WIN3.1 and the current operating systems that I didn't know.
Call me johnny one-note, always harping on the same subject, but when I make a customizable batch file and people don't know how to customize it even after I explain it in the readme, it goes beyond ludicrous. All they need to do is this;

Click, drag to highlight, click edit, then cut.

Move the cursor, click edit, paste. Click, drag to highlight, hit the delete key to get rid of what you don't want. Oh dear me, what if I mess it up? That's what backup and working copies are all about, are you editing the one and only copy of this file in existence? No. So if you screw it up, delete it and try again with another copy.
Everybody that don't know this stuff, turn off your computer, go to a bookstore or any place that sells computer stuff, get a copy of the "For Dummies" book for your system. Don't buy Windows 98 for Dummies if you have Windows 2000 or XP, get the right book for that if that's what you have.
Learn how to do computer basics, maybe you'll make the honor roll too.

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Table of Contents

Subject Author Message Date ID RE: Calling all computer dummies DKlemm Jan-18-02 1 RE: Calling all computer dummies rgarber Jan-18-02 2 RE: Calling all computer dummies blehmann Jan-18-02 3 RE: Calling all computer dummies rjdiii Jan-18-02 4 RE: Calling all computer dummies akochan Jan-19-02 9 RE: Calling all computer dummies century242 Jan-20-02 12 RE: Calling all computer dummies Hobart Jan-19-02 5 RE: Calling all computer dummies Kuchinator Jan-19-02 6 RE: Calling all computer dummies Motley24Crue2 Jan-19-02 7 RE: Calling all computer dummies patm41 Jan-19-02 8 RE: Calling all computer dummies Andrew213 Jan-19-02 10 RE: Calling all computer dummies Hawk Jan-20-02 11 RE: Calling all computer dummies sniper297 Jan-20-02 13 RE: Calling all computer dummies Hawk Jan-21-02 14 RE: Calling all computer dummies Hawk Jan-22-02 15

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DKlemm (1035 posts)
Jan-18-02, 09:42 AM (EST) 1. "RE: Calling all computer dummies" Sniper;Hey............I resemble that remark!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!: )David Klemm
Illinois Central Route
Illinois and St Louis Divisions
Ver 0.6 uploaded
Working on Decatur IL
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rgarber (1060 posts)
Jan-18-02, 03:26 PM (EST) 2. "RE: Calling all computer dummies" I dunnoooo... but I get the feeling Jim got a couple of emails having something to do with his batch file.. Nahhhhhh... gotta be a signal tutorial of sorts.. just can't figure out what he's up to now! Rich Garber Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
blehmann (27 posts)
Jan-18-02, 06:23 PM (EST) 3. "RE: Calling all computer dummies" LAST EDITED ON Jan-18-02 AT 06:33 PM (EST)Well, so much about "Windows 98 for Dummies". But what about strangeland.com? It nearly made me go blind, and I am only (chough, cough, choke, choke, mumble, mumble) years old...Henry. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
rjdiii (26 posts)
Jan-18-02, 08:00 PM (EST) 4. "RE: Calling all computer dummies" WHAT! Spend more money! It should all be provided for free. I paid for the software and now they want to gouge more money to show show me how to use it. I suppose they'd expect me to read it too. I know, maybe they have a free website where I can just go over and ask how to cut and paste without reading/researching anything.Should be like buying a car. Nobody'd dream of trying to sell aftermarket instructions on how to drive it, driving's so intuitive. That's why we're all such great drivers. Software should be like that.Richard Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
akochan (391 posts)
Jan-19-02, 11:28 AM (EST) 9. "RE: Calling all computer dummies" >Should be like buying a car.
> Nobody'd dream of trying
>to sell aftermarket instructions on
>how to drive it, driving's
>so intuitive. That's why
>we're all such great drivers.
>Software should be like that.
>
>
>Richard Actually... 99.9% of the people on the road have no clue how to drive a car. Really only professional and amateur racers are any good at it, plus a few more. Everyone else either is dangerous to themselves and others and knows it, or is just deluding themself. This is not unlike how people are with computers. And is why there is so much crashing both on the road and on our computers.-Andy
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century242 (22 posts)
Jan-20-02, 11:36 AM (EST) 12. "RE: Calling all computer dummies" I know I am not deluding myself when it comes to driving, so I must be in that 00.1%. I can take my 36,000lb truck and tow another 80,000lb truck around the streets of California(You have to be nuts to drive around here any way).Erik Pierson
Sacramento, Ca
KEEP TRUCKIN' BY TRAIN
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Hobart (137 posts)
Jan-19-02, 02:21 AM (EST) 5. "RE: Calling all computer dummies" LAST EDITED ON Jan-19-02 AT 02:23 AM (EST)or the Warden's roll Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
Kuchinator (529 posts)
Jan-19-02, 02:48 AM (EST) 6. "RE: Calling all computer dummies" love the backup copy picture. must be a pretty strong copier since the glass didnt shatter under the weight of what looks like a 17 inch monitor. lol
-Christopher-

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Motley24Crue2 (320 posts)
Jan-19-02, 02:50 AM (EST) 7. "RE: Calling all computer dummies" lol Sniper Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
patm41 (519 posts)
Jan-19-02, 07:01 AM (EST) 8. "RE: Calling all computer dummies" say Sniper,, is there a " MSTS for Dummies" out there ??
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Andrew213 (34 posts)
Jan-19-02, 12:31 PM (EST) 10. "RE: Calling all computer dummies" Copy And Paste?????? You lost me!? Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
Hawk (287 posts)
Jan-20-02, 10:15 AM (EST) 11. "RE: Calling all computer dummies" Hey Sniper--
It looks like you have your hands full, with a group of young Americans, that depend on you for guidance and wisdom. My admiration and respect goes out to you. Guide them well, my friend. Their future (and possibly ours) is in your hands (of course, you knew that, didn't you? ).
I have a question for you.
I debated whether to post here or e-mail you, since this is totally unrelated to Train-Sim (but related to batch files), so I decided to post in case others might be interested.
First, a short preamble.
I'm stuck with a dial-up connection. The only altenative, for at least another year, is a satelite dish (monetarily out of the question). Consequently, I don't have a need for Zone Alarm and Norton Anti-Virus to load at boot-up, therefore, saving system resources.
Here's the question:
Is it possible to create a batch file, that, when clicked (say, a shortcut on the desktop), would load Zone Alarm, Anti-Virus, and my ISP's dialer, in that order?
On my system, this would almost eliminate the need for "End-it-All" (I try to keep programs starting at boot-up to a minimum).
Just a thought.
If you can find time in your, obviously, busy schedule (refering to your Dad and Son, as well as the other kids you watch out for), a short and simple response would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Hawk
"And it comes to be, that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel, is just a freight train coming your way."
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sniper297 (1396 posts)
Jan-20-02, 02:33 PM (EST) 13. "RE: Calling all computer dummies" LAST EDITED ON Jan-20-02 AT 02:41 PM (EST)Actually, what prompted this is all the latest questions (email and posted) that get many responses, and then it turns out the individual posting don't have a clue what the answers mean because he doesn't know the first thing about computer basics. Tell him to make backup copies of his route, he doesn't even know how to create a new folder or copy and paste the route folder somewhere else on the disk! I just thought the whole process could be streamlined somewhat, if I know something about either the route editor or computer operation that somebody else don't know I'm glad to help out. But;
You want to know how to do First Grade arithmetic, you gotta at least graduate Kindergarten before you can start!
These two are brunettes and not blondes, so they're smarter than the average, and they were looking up how to make Windows 3.1 do funny tricks in the "For Dummies" book while still in Kindergarten! That's why I recommend it, I don't work for the publisher or own any stock, that series of books is well worth the money because it's easy to understand, explains all the basics, and is organized in a way that makes it simple to look up how to do something very quickly. Now we get to Hawk's question, which is not basic. I've known you for a while now, Hawk, and you already graduated Kindergarten, so you'll be able to understand the answer without me having to back up to "how to plug in a computer and turn it on".
Because the answer is not a simple one. Yes, no, maybe, it depends. Back in the days of DOS and Dinosaurs there were two files that automatically loaded TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) programs into memory on bootup. Both are still with us, altho they aren't used as much except for running DOS based programs that need TSRs. Autoexec.bat is a batch file that runs commands just as you would type them from the command line, and everything can be eliminated from the autoexec.bat, as everything that it runs can be done manually. The Config.sys file is a different animal, it loads device drivers that cannot be loaded any other way. The Win9x System registry is the modern equivelant, and altho some TSRs are loaded from it, or win.ini, or system.ini that are not necessary, and could be loaded when they're used (Earthlink's conmgr comes to mind, they insist on putting it in startup but it will load just by clicking the Earthlink icon if it's not already loaded), many programs, such as the "still image monitor" for my mustek USB scanner, will not work unless they are loaded on startup.
To get to this screen, click start, run, and type "msconfig" in the box. Uncheck the ones you don't want to load on startup, then reboot. Find the working folder in explorer for the TSR you want to "load when I want you, and stay outta my RAM until I call", find the EXE file that starts it, and try double clicking on it. If it works, all you have to do is right click on the exe file, and choose "create shortcut", no need for batch files. If it don't work, or there's no executable file to double click on (the path in the startup will give you a clue, if it leads to something like a DLL instead of EXE you probably can't start it with a command), you're stuck with running msconfig again to put it back in startup whenever you want to use it. I have "stimon" in the startup checked to load, but it's a memory and clock cycle hog and does not work and play well with others. So I give it the 3 finger salute right after booting, and if I want to scan something I do that after rebooting to reload it, then I "end task" to get rid of it again before doing anything else.
So the short answer, if a short answer is possible, is yes, if you can start it from a shortcut you can make a batch file that will start a bunch of shortcuts at once. If the program is a TSR and doesn't automatically unload itself from memory after exiting, the only way to unload it is the 3 finger salute or something like end-it-all (tried it, didn't like it, I forget why).
Here's something else I found useful, Ontrack Fix-it Utilities. I think Norton makes something similar, I just grabbed Ontrack because it was the closest on the shelf. I have an NVIDIA GEFORCE 2 GTS/PRO 64mb AGP card, I'm currently running the TNT 21.81 drivers on it. I tried the 21.83, and had nothing but trouble, so I went back to the 21.81. Recently I looked at NVIDIA's website, downloaded 23.11, and tried that out. Before installing, I opened Ontrack, and backed up all the startup files including the registry. I uninstalled 21.81, ran the 23.11 install, and the madonion.com 3Dmark2001 was about the same benchmark. Trainsim was awful, locked up, kicked out my joystick drivers, stuttered 3 times as much. The joystick, along with the USB port it was plugged into, would become inop after starting any program or game. Windows reported it as "OK", and the control panel boxes gave me the "this device is working properly" messages, but there was no response to movement in the "properties" test window. (Anybody STILL wondering why I feel that Micro$oft deserves every flame it gets?) Trying to reboot, I discovered that the system would hang when trying to reboot from the shutdown "restart" menu, and hitting the reset button would cause it to do the cold reboot, but it would hang at the startup screen. The only way to reboot was to use the power off switch on the case power supply, power off to "cold iron" for 30 seconds, and start up again. Same story, some kind of conflict with the USB port drivers.
Obviously that was no good, so I uninstalled 23.11, and tried to re-install 21.81. Windows hardware "wizard" (now THAT'S a good joke!) interrupts the process and wants to take over, to install a generic VGA card, but of course it don't have the first clue what the card is or where the driver files are (have you tried looking in C:\Windows\System? They're still there!). So after getting disgusted with that, I ran the "restore system files" from Ontrack, and got everything back the way it was before, no fuss no muss. So to me, spending a little extra money for something that MS should have included but didn't, is a no-brainer if it saves you aggravation. That's why with 4 kids and 13 grandkids I still have all my hair!
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Hawk (287 posts)
Jan-21-02, 04:13 PM (EST) 14. "RE: Calling all computer dummies" LAST EDITED ON Jan-21-02 AT 04:55 PM (EST)LAST EDITED ON Jan-21-02 AT 04:53 PM (EST)LAST EDITED ON Jan-21-02 AT 04:49 PM (EST)LAST EDITED ON Jan-21-02 AT 04:38 PM (EST)LAST EDITED ON Jan-21-02 AT 04:34 PM (EST)LAST EDITED ON Jan-21-02 AT 04:32 PM (EST)Hey Sniper-
How come the screen on this TV thingy, connected to my computer, is black?
What's that? You have to turn it on?
How do you do that?
You mean this button? {click}
Wow! Cool! There's all these neat little pictures here with little bent arrows on them. OK! I'm ready to cut, copy, paste, and batch. He! He!
Anyway. Enough of the pre-kindergarten rhetoric.
After reading your reply to my question, I realized I had blindly and stupidly asked the question wrong. I was rather confident that it could be done. What I really meant to ask was how to use the proper parameters to make it happen.
I then had a flash. I went to the storage area of our house and opened a couple boxes, that have remained packed for the past year and a half, since we moved here, and "Voila". There it was. My "DOS for Dummies" book (I also have "Windows 95 for Dummies", "Windows 98 for Dummies", and "HTML for Dummies".)
Reading through the index, ah! there it is. The chapter on batch files. Cool!
Blah, blah, blah, etc. What's this.Page 100"For more information on batch files, refer to More DOS for Dummies, also from IDG Books Worldwide. If you can find it, a book I wrote a few years back covers batch files in marvelous detail and still applies to DOS-in-Windows today. Look for Batch files and Beyond from Windcrest/McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0-8306-4384-2. (Good Luck!)"Needless to say, this Dummies book didn't help. I'm not sure I can find either one of those books, anymore.
I don't see where the "call" command would be what I'm looking for. I think I would like to turn the "echo" command off (so you don't have to look at the DOS screen while it's working in the background). The "for" command looks usefull, maybe the "goto" command, also. "if", "pause", "rem", and "shift" commands, I'm not sure of.
I just started working with computers about 3 years ago, and never have worked in DOS, but I wouldn't consider myself stupid, just unknowledged.
Another thing. It's funny you mentioned the Earthlink ConMgr. I use Earthlink, too, but I'm running Version 2.3. I refuse to upgrade to the Version 5 they are using now. I'm not real crazy about the "Super Cookie" they put on your hard drive, and I don't like the Earthlink Browser.
OK! Back to my question.
What are the right commands to use to create the batch file I'm thinking of?
Again, if you find time, any help would be appreciated.
HawkOh yea! One more thing. All three programs I want to include in the batch file will load from a shortcut on the desktop, so, from what I understand in your reply, they should work from a batch file.
Please feel free to correct me on anything I see incorrectly. I do like to learn.OK! One last "one more thing". I'm running Windows ME(no, I don't have the "Dummies" book for ME) and I understand you can no longer get into DOS, but you can pull up a DOS window."And it comes to be, that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel, is just a freight train coming your way."
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Hawk (287 posts)
Jan-22-02, 04:39 PM (EST) 15. "RE: Calling all computer dummies" Bump
Sorry folks. Kind of want Sniper to see this. Maybe I should have just e-mailed him, instead of taking up unnecessary space on an unrelated subject.
I promise! I'll try not to do it again. Please don't send me to the Principles office. He and I don't see eye to eye ('course he's 6' 5", and I'm only 5' 7" He! He!)
Hawk
"And it comes to be, that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel, is just a freight train coming your way."
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