Facts for |  | by Beverly Rosenbaum |
Q: How does a member obtain the ID to use on the e-mail so that I can receive a message? I tried the BBS area and got a blank screen.
A: Your Internet Address on the HALPC BBS is: firstname.lastname @bbs. halpc. org. To send or read mail received through the Internet, you must choose Messages, Mail, Internet. This is different from the Internet discussion area of the BBS messages. Everyone has such an ID and can receive Internet mail on the BBS this way. If you sign up for full Internet access, your address is different there, and will be username@halpc.org, where the short username is anything you choose, and does not have to be part of your actual name.
Q: What is the difference between "interlaced" and "noninterlaced" monitors? Which is better?
A: For "flickerfree" display, you should choose a noninterlaced monitor with a vertical scan rate of 72Hz or higher. Robert L. Hummel, technical author and PC Computing contributing editor, explains it best: The number of times per second that a monitor can draw one horizontal line and retrace in preparation for the next is called horizontal scan frequency, measured in kilohertz. The vertical scanning mechanism of the monitor controls the vertical displacement of the scanning beam, and paints the image from the top of the screen to the bottom. The vertical rate is based on both the horizontal scan speed and the number of lines that must be displayed (the resolution). If the scan timing is mismatched, the screen will appear to roll. The vertical movement is expressed in hertz. As soon as the phosphor dots on the screen are struck by the electron beam, they glow. After the beam moves on, they continue to glow for a short period and then fade. If the display mechanism repaints the image fast enough, the gradual fading of individual pixels is unnoticeable. However, if the vertical scan rate is too slow, by the time the last line of the image is drawn the top line has faded. Employing a technique known as interlacing (borrowed from television), monitor designers combat a lower vertical scan rate by drawing every other line, so that it takes two passes to draw a single image. The shifting brightness of alternating lines can cause an annoying flicker. But not everyone is sensitive to this flicker.
Q: I have intermittent printing problems under Windows. The first document from my word processor usually prints, but if I try to interrupt a subsequent print job, nothing else will print. When I exit Windows, there is some message about canceling print jobs and when I restart Windows, I can print again. What causes this?
A: As soon as the first job fails to print, you should switch to the Print Manager to see if a problem is obvious. You can hold down the ALT key while tapping the TAB key to cycle through all open windows until it appears, or minimize your application and double-click on the Print Manager icon to open it. If the icon is not visible, double-click anywhere on the desktop to bring up the task list, choose Print Manager and open it from there. You will find a list of any unfinished print jobs. One of them is stalled and you must delete them before anything else will print. Closing Windows cancels out any print jobs remaining in the Print Manager, so when you restarted Windows, you were beginning again with nothing in the print queue to block the job that follow. You can verify that nothing else is wrong (with the printer or the cable, for example) by attempting to print screen or another document under DOS (not a DOS window running under Windows). You should establish that the printer does work and is not out of paper before you can determine what the Windows printing problem may be.
Q: A coworker and I both upgraded our word processor to WordPerfect for Windows. When she presses Ctrl + W, she can select symbols to insert into her document. When I try to use the same feature, I see only blocks and no symbols. Why can't I insert symbols into my documents?
A: Your Symbol font is missing from the \WINDOWS\ SYSTEM subdirectory. Without it, your word processor will substitute another (incorrect) font. You must expand from your Windows installation disks both the .FON and .TTF files for this font, and reinstall it from the Font dialog box found under the Control Panel in the Main icon group.
Q: I am having print quality problems with my HP Deskjet printer. Sometimes characters print incompletely, or there are white lines and missing dots within graphics. How can I correct this?
A: For HP printers and fax machines based on the Deskjet 500 series, HP Customer Service representatives recommend the following: Clean the contacts on the print cartridge and the cradle with a damp cloth. Check to make sure that the protective tape is removed from the nozzle and vent of the print cartridge. Make sure the cartridge is correctly installed. Press the "Clean" button; do not clean unnecessarily, however, because overcleaning will shorten the life of the cartridge. If your cartridge has been in the printer for a long time, you may need to replace it even if all the contents have not been used. Be sure to keep print cartridges sealed until needed, and avoid printing with only one cartridge in place to prevent contamination of the cradle contacts. If one of the cartridges runs out of ink, leave the empty cartridge in the cradle until it can be replaced.
Have you got a fact or a FAQ? Send it in, so that we can share it with everyone! Get your questions to us any way you can: E-mail me at @hal-pc.org, leave messages on the bulletin board or at Headquarters, submit them during the question and answer period preceding the monthly General Meeting, or mail them in and we'll publish them in the Journal as space permits. Beverly Rosenbaum is a HAL-PC member. Copyright © 1995 by Beverly Rosenbaum.
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