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Time once again to delve into the Computer Wares mailbag...

Toronto Star Fast Forward column for Sept 17/98

Tip of the Week: Getting rid of bad file associations

First up, a Year 2000 question, via Internet, from Quincy Li:

"I've downloaded the freeware found in your article and it told me my computer is not compliant with regard to the 31 Dec 1999 rollover (the leap years work though). However, I tried the manual settings, changing the date in the BIOS setup and then turning it off, and it works. So which should I trust? The manual BIOS setup works, so why are those programs telling me there's something wrong? The BIOS is from Award.."

You're making the classic mistake of confusing "Year 2000 Compliant" with "Year 2000 Ready." They are not the same. As I pointed out in the feature on the Y2K problem, your system is compliant if, when powered up, it correctly rolls over to January 1, 2000 without user intervention (and correctly notes that 2000 is a leap year). Your system is not compliant, but it is ready if you can reset the BIOS manually after midnight on December 31, 1999 to January 1, 2000, if the date will stick after you turn the system off again, then back on, and if it will correctly roll over automatically and recognize the leap year.

Specifically, if your Award BIOS was released before 26 April 1994, you only need to reset your system clock once: (Turn the system off before midnight on 31 December 1999. Turn it back on some time after midnight, on 1 January 2000. Then set the system date manually in Setup.)

If your Award BIOS was released between 26 April 1994 and 31 May 1995, you need to obtain an Award BIOS update, or reset your system clock every day. Check with the computer's manufacturer as the first place to seek the update. If it was locally assembled and the retailer is no longer around, you can try to get an update from Unicore Software at www.unicore.com - 800-800-BIOS (2467). You'll have to be prepared to provide not only the brand name of your computer, but also the brand name and, if possible, the model number of your motherboard as well.

If your AwardBIOS was released after 31 May 1995, its calendar automatically rolls from 1999 to 2000 at midnight. You don't need to do anything, whether the system is turned on or off at midnight. Just leave the system alone.

Quincy wins the Letter of the Month award, an autographed copy of How to Avoid Buying a New Computer. And, by the way, the "freeware" Quincy mentioned, YMARK2000 from NSTL, is also available here.

Blue Death

In response to my two-part column on the Fatal Exception screen (also known by some Windows veteran users as the Blue Screen of Death), Aubrie Appel of Thornhill, offers yet another source of the problems:

"It is interesting that you discuss this topic since I recently had a major problem with a General Protection Fault. I had a computer technician at work look at it He said that most blue screens indicate a hardware problem.. I took my computer to a service station, and they told me it was the motherboard. After replacing the motherboard it seems to be running fine....

In the columns on Fatal Exception errors, I detailed the causes of three out of 15 processor error codes (the full list is at the Microsoft Knowledge Base in document Q150314). The most common causes of these three -- Divide By Zero (00), General Protection Fault (0D) and Invalid Page Fault (0E) - are software conflicts, but bad memory modules are also high on the list. If you're consistently receiving random errors that cannot be consistently duplicated by repeating the same actions (example, "each time I start program x" or "whenever I try to print") then the most likely cause is faulty memory which in turn could be a problem caused by other components on the system's motherboard.

When all else fails, it's always a good idea to take the system to a technician, particularly if it's still under warranty.

Light in the tunnel

In my Year 2000 feature, I noted in passing that the Atomic Energy Control Board of Canada, the agency that regulates the country's nuclear industry, had no Year 2000 policy stated at its Web site -- leaving one to wonder if the agency had a policy at all. Acknowledging that they should indeed update the site, the director of AECB's communications division, Susan Copeland, sent a long note which reads, in part:

"The AECB's regulatory strategy in relation to the Year 2000 issues is related to the risk importance of potential Year 2000 failures. The strategy requires that the most important systems be examined and corrected first. Working backwards from the year 2000 passage, our expectations are that all nuclear plants be Year-2000 ready by June 30, 1999. By ready, we mean that all necessary changes are installed and tested, contingency plans are in place, and that all adequate work-arounds and administrative changes are implemented and documented

"The most important systems for the safety of the plants, the Special Safety Systems, must be the first to be confirmed to be ready for the Year 2000 issues. From the information we have to date, we do not expect that major safety-related retrofits will be required. We expect the review of these systems and any corrective actions to be completed by October 1, 1998. This will leave three months before the systems go into the year 1999.

"By December 31, 1998, we expect all reviews and corrective actions to be in place for those other control systems which, while not Special Safety Systems, are nevertheless important and whose failure could challenge the Special Safety Systems.

"By June 30, 1999, we expect that all reviews, corrective actions or acceptable work-arounds will be in place for those other systems, components and software toolsets whose failure is not expected to directly affect the safety systems in carrying out their safety functions, but which, nevertheless, could impede the safe operation of the plant."

Now you know.

Tip of the Week

You want me to do what?

Almost since Windows first appeared, it has been possible to run a program by "starting" a document the application produced. In order to do so, the file's extension has to be "associated" with a specific program. For example, if you double-click on the name of a file in Windows Explorer (Windows 95/98/NT 4.0 and above) that ends in an .XLS extension, Windows will start the Excel spreadsheet program with that file already loaded. A file ending with .DOC will start Word, one ending in .WPD will start WordPerfect, .CDR files will start CorelDraw, and so on. These file associations are normally created when you install the software in the first place. Occasionally, however, the file association list gets garbled or occasionally, a user will fiddle around with the list in ways that make it crazy.

Under the Windows 3.1x File Manager, manipulating the file association list was relatively easy. Under Windows 9x Explorer, it isn't as simple.

If you accidentally associate a particular file extension with the wrong application, don't try to fix it from within the Windows Explorer "File Types" dialogue box (Options or Folder Options from the View Menu). There's no way to remove a single extension from a registered file type without deleting the entire entry and starting over.

Instead, use the Windows 9x version of the Windows 3.x File Manager. Yes, it's still in Windows. You can launch it from the Run dialogue box on the Start Menu by typing winfile and pressing [Enter]. If you plan to use it often, right-click on winfile.exe in the C:\Windows folder, then drag it to the desktop to create a shortcut. Either way, once File Manager opens, pull down the File menu and select the Associate... command. When the Associate dialogue box appears, type the extension that you want to get rid of in the Files with Extension text box. When you do, you'll see the errant file association appear in the Associate With text box. To remove the file association, scroll to the top of the list of file types, select (None), and then click OK.

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