This is one of those months where I have lots of trivial stuff to cover instead of a single topic.

Last month I spoke on perking up your old PC using Windows 98. I thought you could do the same thing with later versions of Windows but then someone asked "Where can I find the percent of free System Resources in Windows XP?" My answer was to run msinfo32 as one can do in Windows 98 but when I checked XP the percent didn't show up. Apparently it's not available so you have no benchmark when running msconfig to delete start menu items for improving performance. Unless somebody can find a suitable performance benchmark in XP all I can do now is suggest that you see http//service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2002010712042239 for a list of XP programs that can be removed at startup.

Another question by a Windows 98 user was why his System Resources performance percent was so low when he had 128MB of RAM. This question threw me until I discovered that System Resources has no bearing on the amount of RAM in determining performance. What is being measured is not RAM but how much memory, not to exceed 64Kb, that two files User.exe and GDI.exe use to perform their task. User.exe is the input manager that tracks active applications and GDI.exe is the graphical display interface manager that tracks graphical objects displayed. If the free resources of either of these managers drops to 10-15% you'll get a warning that there's not enough memory to run a program or your PC will crash, regardless of how much RAM you have. This seems strange to me but that's how System Resource performance is measured in Windows 98. Perhaps they got rid of this method of measuring performance in Windows XP and that's why you can't find it there.

I finally broke down and bought a new laptop during the recent NC tax-free weekend. I don't know how I did it but I convinced Marilee that with a laptop I could spend more quality time watching TV with her in the evening. I'm not sure whether this convinced her or the fact that I had a birthday coming and she had no idea what to get me. I tried to convince her earlier that she needed a laptop but that didn't work. She won't go near a computer except to type a message to the kids once in a while. Most of her typing is done on a big heavy ancient Underwood typewriter that our PC literate grandkids think is cool but I think would make a good boat anchor.

What do I think of Windows XP in my new laptop? Nice, but I really hate having to start all over on a new learning curve just when when I'm comfortable with Windows 98. I do miss not having a built-in floppy drive but Compaq provided a free external drive by mailing in a rebate. My old Gateway desktop is only 200mHz compared to my new 2000mHz laptop but it still seems fast enough for me. I think I'll just hang on to it a bit longer and perhaps wait for Windows XP to be replaced or a new Intel chip hits the market.

I don't get all the phone calls for help that I used to thanks to the River Bend volunteer PC Help group. If you're having problems with your PC you can see who these nice people are by going to http://www.ci.river-bend.nc.us/pchelp.htm. Of course the list won't help if your PC crashes and you can't access it so print it out before the crash. The people I'm speaking to of course are the women of River Bend who run the PCs. Most of the men are like my wife and won't go near one. Why is that? The main answers I get when asking the husband why he doesn't use the PC are (1) My secretary took care of the computer before I retired or (2) I don't know how to type. These are pretty lame brain excuses for not using a PC nowadays.

I hate to keep harping about about MailWasher, which I recommend that everyone use to get rid of spam, but I'm still getting false error message running RBmail and NBCUG mail. This happens when you blackmail a member of the list and MailWasher sends a bounce message back to the sender. As administrator the bounce message tells me that you don't exist so I call you and you're alive and well. I've quit blacklisting addresses in my MailWasher because the bounce message rarely gets back to a spammer anyway. I just check the delete column on mail I don't want. Unless you're especially careful not to blacklist members of RBmail or NBCUG I suggest you just delete your entire blacklist and make life easier for me. For those that haven't the foggiest notion what we're talking about take a look at http://www.mailwasher.net.

Want to set your dialing speed to max? Go to Start/Settings/Control Panel and click on Modems. Select Properties/Connection/Advanced and under Extra Settings type "s11=50."

In a few days on September 13th and 14th I'll be cycling the Multiple Sclerosis MS-150 Bike Tour in New Bern with somewhere around 700 cyclists from all over NC. Last year I was the oldest cyclist at age 73 and cycled 100 miles on both days. This year I'm going for 175 miles only because it gets lonesome doing the extra 25 miles on the second day by myself. I want to thank all the wonderful folks that have sponsored me with a pledge to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Their names are shown on my 2003 MS-150 web page at http://www.always-online.com/dave/2003ms-150.htm. Be sure to check the web page after the bike tour in September to see if I made it and how it went during the two days of cycling.

All past PC articles are at http://www.always-online.com/nbcug/dwindex.htm