Tips & TidBITS
©
by Caroline Horton
Intel has pushed back the release of its new MMX until March 1997, and has produced plenty of hoopla – but wait for the second generation chip. If you intend to buy a notebook computer do not buy it with a MMX chip. The chip will runs hot for a notebook and Intel has no plans to correct the problem this year! Also to be
noted – the MMX is strictly a 2-D chip if you want to run 3-D graphics it will not.The 440FX chip set being used with the primary release of Intel’s MMX chip does not support SDRAM, Accelerated Graphics Port, 33MBps disk drive access, and some other important features. Late in the second half of 1997 Intel will deliver the 440LX chip set that will access all the features of the MMX chip. Be patient it will be worth the wait!
PKWare has released a new version of PKZip v2.5 – the old version was PKZip 2.04g. Along with this the ugly threat of the PKZ300b virus (really a Trojan horse) rises from the ashes. I thought it had been laid to rest over a year ago. Theoretically it can erase your hard drive. In last months issue I discussed the probability of getting a virus. Please, remember a few simple safety rules: do not panic at the thought; always download files from reliable sites; never execute the files before downloading; scan the new files with a virus checker (many sites MSN, AOL, etc. check their files for viruses); do not engage in random unsafe floppy swaps – this is the way most viruses are transmitted!
Digital is cutting the price of their chips – something they should have done long ago. The price point should be around $375 for a 350 MHz chip. At these prices I would be tempted to buy one. Windows NT 4.0 will run just fine on an Alpha chip thank you, and by the end of 1997 Digital will be rolling out a very respectable 600 MHz chip. So if you are looking for real power – be patient these chips will run circles around Intel’s chips and are very reliable.
Somebody twisted my arm and made me buy one of the new 12X Mitsumi CD-ROM’s. This CD-ROM flies – in mode 2 it is 33% faster than my Acer 10X. It clocks in at 2100 Kbytes/sec or 2-3 times as fast as an older IDE hard drive. Installing a 50 meg program takes 2-4 minutes depending on how many questions I have to answer during the installation. Times have truly changed, I remember installing Word v1.0 from floppies and it took over 1 hour.
Last month I said that I would review Quicken v6.0 this month, but since it is tax time I decided to review TurboTax for 1996 instead.
I have a new mouse courtesy of Christine Howington and Microsoft. It is one of Microsoft’s new mice sporting a wheel centered between the buttons. The software that comes with it allows you to set up your mouse to your needs. Among other things you can adjust it to accept the fact that you may tend to move you mouse slightly diagonally when you mean for it to go in a straight line. It will even sense when you really want to move it diagonally!
Another new chip foundry (for DRAM chips) has just opened. The word in the producers' locker room is – prices will stabilize in the SIMMs chip market at $6 on the street and will be slightly less at the Peter Trapp shows.
Memphis (Windows 97) beta version has been sent our for testing – this indicates a production date of sometime between July and September 1997. More on what Windows 97 means to you in the next issue.
The software allows you to change your mouse settings for the way you want to click you buttons. In locations where you need to double-click, like launching an icon, you can set it to launch the icon with a single click. It even allows fun things – do you know how many miles you move your mouse (?) – you can turn on an odometer that keeps track of your mouse movements and converts them in a measured distance.
The new programs from Microsoft also make use of the center wheel. Microsoft Publisher 97 allows you to zoom in by spinning the wheel up or zoom out by spinning the wheel down. While browsing the INTERNET, using Microsoft’s Explorer you can use the button to scroll through the screens. When you click the wheel a superimposed circle with 4 arrow heads inside appears. When up pull (move) the mouse in the direction you want to scroll the appropriate arrow moves outside of the circle indication the direction you are going. By moving the mouse you can set the speed you want to scroll, if you have a lot of documentation to read, etc. Once the mouse is set, just sit back and read the screen – no more constant dragging or clicking. When you want to stop just click the wheel, it truly is a neat mouse!
WARNING
I recently installed three programs from Quarterdeck; HiJaak Graphics Suite 95, HiJaak 95, and WINProbe 95 (these are the newest releases – upgrades to the original 95 versions).
Both of the HiJaak programs overwrote my graphics settings and refused to allow PowerToys from Microsoft to reset my options. Each time I used PowerToys to reset the appearance of my desktop it was altered by the HiJaak applications.
Both HiJaak applications affected my modem. I have a new 33.6 voice, data, fax modem with a built in sound card specifically for telephony applications. I had the modem all set up before installing the programs and after installing them my modem did not work properly. I spent a long time trying to fix the problem and could not trace the problem to anything mechanical.
Of course a graphics program would never affect a communications program (WRONG!). I finally decided to undo recent installations and reinstall each item to see which programs caused the problem. After uninstalling these programs, my modem worked fine and after reinstalling them it stopped working again. I installed each program separately so that I could definitely isolate the offending program.
By far WINProbe 95 is the most dangerous program I have seen released in the past few years. Although it is an upgrade to the original Windows 95 version it has serious programming problems. At first glance it is a slick looking program and had these features:
SYSTEM INFORMATION – displays all information about your system.
DIAGNOSTICS – performs various diagnostic tests.
RECOVERY – create and use recovery systems.
REGESTRY GURU – edit the registry and system files.
TUNE UP – to optimize your computer.
KNOWLEDGE BASE – learn about your computer.
SETTINGS – modify WINProbe 95 settings.
HELP – help for using WINProbe 95.
It also includes a fancy display of meters and graphs indicating information about your:
SYSTEM – CPU speed, memory, and load
RESOURCES – % available, user heap, GDI heap, and system heap
MEMORY – free resources, free WIN memory, processes, and open WIN files
After studying the fancy display I noticed some glaring errors, the program was only reporting 64 megs of memory – hmm? I have 128 megs installed. This deserved some serious investigation. I checked the Systems Information’s icon and hello – only 64 megs of memory? Further checking revealed that I now was the proud owner of 2 SCSI hard drives and a shiny new12X SCSI CD-ROM. If you remember earlier I just installed a new12X IDE CD-ROM and my hard drives are EIDE Fast ATA-2’s. (Hmm?)
So at this point I decide to run the Diagnostics and double check – sure enough the same results.
Well now, I thought, let’s try the Tune Up option. One of the options is to optimize your registry file, this is a serious undertaking, but important. The program checks the registry for all references to files and then scans your hard drive looking for matches to the entries in the registry.
A bloated registry can slow down Windows 95, so it would help if you could remove extraneous entries from the file. After running the program it offers the chance for you to remove any of the unmatched entries – now we are cooking! Whoops – this is the part that makes this program very dangerous.
Computer users experienced and novices alike look for tools that will allow them some control over their systems – optimizing them, etc. If you assume the software is written correctly, hooray you can tweak your system like a pro. (If you believe this boy are you in for a surprise.)
Oh well – back to the story, WINProbe reported 66 file references were incorrect in the registry. An important thing you should know, a file can be referenced up to a dozen times in the registry. So by this token the 66 references could refer to an average of 500 - 600 entries, no small amount.
If I blindly told the program to remove these entries as suggested I would have had a major problem, 32 of the files listed still existed on my hard drives. What indicated this problem was the major program files listed – Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, etc. This prompted me to search for each item on my hard drives.
In my opinion this is too dangerous of a flaw in a program written specifically to do what it does so badly. If I had deleted these references as recommended by WINProbe, I would have had to install all the programs again!
The obvious reason for these problems – the program code was not rewritten. The programmers added new code to the old 16 bit DOS code then compiled it with a 32 bit compiler. How can I say this? The errors indicate the limitations of 16 bit DOS code. How could the diagnostics have truly run and tested the memory thoroughly on my stem and then reported only 64 megs of memory? How could the diagnostics report SCSI hard drives and not find so many obvious files when searching the hard drives – size limitations? I will not go into the technical aspects, but
BEWARE OF THIS PROGRAM.Next month I will review a program that can help and will raise some eyebrows!
TurboTax
It's that time of year again and some software programs can make the job less painful. The 3 versions of TurboTax are: TurboTax 1040 31/2" disks, TurboTax Deluxe 1040 CD-ROM, TurboTax Business 1040 CD-ROM.
New features in all versions this Year are:
Tips for Next Year – can help you to plan to reduce next years' taxes.
US Average Comparison – shows your return in relation to others in your tax bracket.
Where am I? Progress List – keeps track of your progress while you enter your tax data.
Transfer Report – allows removal of outdated data from last year’s return before importing.
Refund Monitor – displays your refund or tax due, as data is entered (this is neat).
The TurboTax 1040, the disk version comes with 6 - 31/2" disks and installed painlessly in less than 10 minutes. Includes: EasyStep – walks you through your taxes; Tax Advisor – for money saving advice; Final Review – checks your return for mistakes and links to TurboTax New York state version; 17 Schedules; 58 Forms; and allows imports from Quicken and QuickBooks.
TurboTax Deluxe 1040 CD-ROM version includes everything the disk version has plus: IRS Publications – on screen; Money Magazine’s Income Tax Handbook – on screen; How to Pay Zero Taxes – on screen; integrated video tips from tax experts; and a Tax Planner to help you save on future taxes.
TurboTax Business 1040 CD-ROM includes all the features of both other programs and: Depreciation Expert – for online tips; JK Lasser’s Tax Deductions for Small Businesses – on screen; Tax Savvy for Small Businesses – on screen; Industry-specific US Averages; Two Year Comparison and industry-specific Ratio Analysis; and many more business specific online tax help and advice.
The only type TSR (terminate and stay resident) that can not run with TurboTax’s install program is an anti-virus protection program. Most install programs have problems with anti-virus TSR’s during their installation, which is understandable as changes are made to existing files (which is not allowed by anti-virus protection programs). So if you have an anti-virus TSR program running, turn it off before the installation of TurboTax. If you have Windows 95 installed – please remember to use the Windows 95 Install and Remove program – it makes for an easy installation and removal later.
During installation you are given a chance to determine the destination directory and drive. At the beginning of the installation you are given three choices: 1 – Both TurboTax and Netscape Navigator Intuit Edition, 2 – TurboTax only, 3 – Netscape Navigator Intuit Edition only. If you already have the financial network installed for Quicken, selecting installation option one links TurboTax to Quicken’s Navigator. Once you have made this decision the only thing left to do is swap disks, unless you bought the CD-ROM version. The disk version requires 18.5 megs of drive space.
TurboTax’s file folder has a textured look and the program is very intuitive. This version like last years’ offers 2 methods of doing your taxes EasyStep Method and Forms Method. The EasyStep Method asks you questions and leads you by the hand through the program producing professional results. The Forms Method allows you to select the forms and fill them out as you go. New with the Forms Method is the Interview Navigator that you can use to move through the interview stage more quickly. The Forms Method is fast, but you still need to fill out the worksheets.
You can link directly to Quicken and QuickBooks, this automatically provides a list of the items that were marked as tax related in Quicken. You can import data from any program using the TXF format. After you have finished your taxes you can run the error summary, which highlights any missing data. This option is similar to the Errors & Omissions options under reviews.
Also available is TurboTax Online that links to the Quicken Financial Network, which supplies free technical support, additional tax information, product information and any last minute tax changes or forms upgrades.
The review option has 4 selections – Errors Check, Deduction Finder, Audit Alerts, US Averages, and Tips for Next Year. Information is provided as the titles suggest, and before you run them you are given the opportunity to download any corrections.
During the whole process the bottom half of the folder displays the ‘Where Am I chart’ and it also allows you to jump forward or backwards including uninstalling TurboTax. The enjoyable little box in the upper right hand side of the program keeps a running tally on your refund, or sadly your tax due!
TurboTax can produce your tax return in three formats for submission to the IRS: standard 1040, PC1040 (which cuts refund time in half), and electronic form ($9.95). The 1040 format includes the 1040 long, 1040A short, 1040EZ easy, and 1040X amended form. I guess that is enough ways to satisfy even the IRS.
I saved the best for last. You can connect to Intuits network and apply for a tax refund loan and get your approval in 2 minutes and have the check in the mail in 24 hours!
TurboTax 95 is a very thorough program and does a very thorough job of helping the user complete their taxes professionally. If you can live without all the extras the disk version has all the necessary tools and does the job for less money.
