Q. I have an HP Pavilion 6330 running Windows 98. About once a week or so, I run into a mouse pointer glitch. The arrow will jump up about 1 1/2 inches, but the spot that it clicks on remains the same. In order to select an object, I have to guess where to click by holding the arrow 1 1/2 inches above the button I want to select.
There seems to be no pattern as to when it happens–nothing seems to trigger it. The only remedy is to reboot (by, of course, putting the arrow 1 1/2 inches above the start button).
Is this a known problem with Windows 98, and is there a remedy?
Scott McMillan @msn.com
A. Your symptoms are classic ones created by dirty tracking ball contacts in a PC or Mac mouse, although the fact that rebooting seems to fix things might mean a software problem.
First, the hardware. Flip the mouse over and you’ll find a little plastic door surrounding the track ball that isn’t much harder to open than a jar of Tylenol. Once the ball is removed, use a Q-Tip and alcohol to clean the metal contact points in the mouse innards where the ball normally rests. Wipe down the ball too. You also should check to make sure that the mouse wire is firmly plugged into the back of your computer.
I hope that your problem is a straightforward hardware issue and that this bit of routine maintenance will solve the glitch.
If not, click on Start and then Settings and Control Panel and select the Mouse icon.
This brings up a large number of choices. The most likely suspect is under a heading of StepSavers to “Automatically move pointer to default button or center of dialog box.” Turn this feature off.
If both these fixes fail, you can throw some money at the problem by purchasing a replacement mouse and loading the software that comes with it. This, of course, will fix both dirty mouse innards and any software issues.
Q. I have Windows 98 and every time I go to the computer store I see Windows 98 Plus. What is Windows 98 Plus and is it worth buying?
Rich Jurgens @msn.com
A. I think most critics will agree with me that there is far less reason to buy the Plus CD for Windows 98 than had been the case with Windows 95, when the supplemental CD-ROM contained major features for hard disk management, Internet browsing and desktop display that were not in Windows 95 proper.
Most of these features were included in 98 anyway, and so the Plus disk is mainly a toy chest filled with some very slick games, including Space Cadet Pinball. It also includes a superb music player that lets you insert a CD and then go out on the Internet to find a database that will show the name of the disc and the titles of every track on it, along with Web-based information about the artist on the CD, the style of music and other germane stuff.
Also on the Plus CD are a large number of desktop themes and screen savers that do wonders for dressing up the otherwise mundane look and feel of a PC.
Q. I downloaded Netscape Communicator 4.5 and now when first logging on to my Internet service provider (I have an account at gte.net) a small screen appears with the title “pre-dial terminal” the only commands available are “Continue” or “Cancel.” To log on I must click Continue. What is the purpose of this screen and how can I get rid of it?
Merle Blakely @gte.net
A. You need to turn off a feature called the Pop up Terminal Window designed for people with different Internet arrangements than the one you buy from GTE. A fix is easy:
Click the My Computer icon on your desktop and select Dial-Up Networking and then right-click on the icon you’ll see there for GTE. Choose properties and then select the Configure tab. Now select Options and remove the check mark in the box “Bring up terminal before dialing.”
Q. A few months back I bought my first PC, a Compaq Presario 5020 with Win98 and MS Works preloaded. I am now getting photos from friends over e-mail and I’d like to be able to do similar things.
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Which digital camera and scanner would you recommend if the essence is ease of operation? I am not good at computers and am not too concerned about the photo quality.
Raymond Chan @gte.net
A. Instead of buying an expensive digital camera, why don’t you try my favorite trick first? I just use the 10-pound Sharp camcorder I bought back in 1985 and a $100 PC video still-frame capture gadget called Snappy in lieu of a pricey new digital camera.
The Snappy box is about the size, if you’ll pardon the expression, of a pack of cigarettes and hooks into the parallel or printer port of a Windows PC. On the side of Snappy is a plug that takes an RCA video cord from any camcorder, VCR or television set’s video out connection.
The Snappy software displays a window on the monitor screen with whatever video is playing on the host device. When a frame comes by that you like, a click of the mouse turns it into a pretty passable high-resolution computer picture.
Included in the package is software for image tweaking. Although the resulting images aren’t nearly as good as those from a dedicated scanner or a digital camera, they are more than good enough for the great bulk of family image swapping in this writer’s humble opinion. Check Snappy out at www.play.com.
Q. The CD player on my computer occasionally freezes for a second or two when I play music CDs. The CD can go several songs without interruption, then stick three or four times in the space of half a minute on one song.
There’s nothing wrong with the CDs; they work fine on other players. I’ve got a 4.3-gigabyte hard drive, and only about one-quarter of the space is being used at this point.
How can I get rid these irritating pauses with my CD player?
Jim Peters @aol.com
A. Your problem is fairly common. It’s created when the computer makes a routine check (called polling) of all the devices connected to it and tries to turn your CD drive on when it already is playing a tune but has paused in the split second when the polling is done. This leaves the machine waiting for an response that never comes and so it hangs up.
To fix it you need to go to the Control Panel for your System and change some settings. Click Start/Settings/Control Panel and then open the System Icon.
You will see a box with several tabs at the top and you need to chose Device Manager. Click on the CD-ROM icon in the list that comes up next. Then click on the icon for your specific CD drive.
The next window has three tabs, and you want the one called settings. In the next box click the box marked “auto insert notification” and select OK.
Do that and you’ll be happy to see that once again your machine’s got rhythm.
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Contact Jim Coates via e-mail at [email protected] or snail mail at the baiduhai, Room 400, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago 60611. If you think you’ve got a better answer to any of these questions, add your point of view at www.chicagotribune.com/go/askjim.