I am sorry for the delay in posting today 10AUG06.
My main computer at home will not access XP at this time. I have been attempting to recover, with no success as yet.
I will be using a secondary computer, which is running SUSE Linux v9.1, that I have been experimenting with, until the XP is back up and running.
I can still access my data, only because I have backed it up to a secondary location.
Hopefully, I will be totally back in business over the weekend.
With the recent end of Windows 98 support, there are likely to be a lot of computers that, though old, can still be of use when converted to Linux and the many applications that come with Linux distributions.
With this in mind, I thought I would pass on some information I ran across in my lunch time internet wanderings.
Scott Morris posted “The Easiest Linux Guide You’ll Ever Read - an introduction to Linux for Windows users” - a book by Scott Morris on his SUSERANTS Blog.
This guide is geared towards Suse Linux 10.1, but is a good overall guide to installing and using Linux distributions in general. The guide is a 162 page PDF file and explains in a well thought out manner the similarities and differences between Windows and Linux. It contains information on both full Linux only installation and dual boot installation with Windows, as well as touching on the "live" CD option of trying out Linux.
I suggest that if you have not tried Linux and you have an old Windows 98 machine, you at least download this guide and read it through, before getting rid of a perfectly useful piece of equipment.
I have been experimenting with Linux for over a year now, using the dual boot option, on one of my home PCs and plan to convert an old Windows 98 machine to a Linux only machine in the near future, when I can find the time to get everything set up.
If you do end up setting up a Linux system, or even a dual boot system, please let me know what you think and if Scott's guide influenced you in anyway. I am sure that Scott would also like to know, so let him know also.
Finally, if you really get into Linux and you are in the South Florida area check out The Florida Linux User Xchange.
For the last two days, a couple of co-workers and I have been having intermittent problems of all of a sudden selecting multiple files when we only want to select one in Windows Explorer and even though the Caps Lock key and Num Lock key are not showing it everything we typed kept coming up as if the Shift key was pressed.
We ran virus scans, spyware scans and everything else we could think of with no luck.
Finally I thought to change the batteries in the wireless mice. That was it, problem solved, at least there were no re-occurrences since that time yesterday nor so far today.
This just reminds me that the solution to a computer problem is not always that involved, I just have to figure out the cause and then the solution is usually rather simple.
If you are having similar problems, try changing the batteries in you wireless mouse first, it just might save you some hassles. By the way, the wireless mice we had still had the original batteries and were about six months old.
If you use Google to search a lot for information, a great number of the best search results will be PDF (Portable Document Format).
When you click on the link a copy of Acrobat Reader opens, and takes considerable time opening if it is a large PDF file.
A way I find to be much faster is to use the Google "View as HTML" option, normally to the right of the second line in the listing.
It won't be real pretty, but you can quickly see if the information you are looking for is there, without having to wait for Acrobat Reader to open.
I find that this helps me a lot and I hear a lot of grumbling at work from those who do a lot of Google searches. I have shown a couple of those grumblers this little time saver and it seems to work for them also.
Go ahead and try this the next time a PDF shows up in your Google search, it won't hurt anything and you can always go back and bring up the PDF through Acrobat Reader, if you don't like this view.
If you do try this, let me know what you think.
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