Q–My friend just bought a Gateway computer. It came with a feature called GoBack, which allows users to restore their computer to what it was like at a previous date. If they have a computer failure, they can go back to a time when the computer was working correctly, be it a day or an hour ago. When you select the best time, it resets your computer to the configuration it was in at that time.
I believe it is a software feature. I have looked in stores but have not come across anything that seems to do what GoBack does. Do you know if there is software on the market that does this? What are its limitations?
Vincent D’Antonio, Huntsville, Ala.
A–My next comprehensive review of a Gateway PC will include at least a few lines of heaping praise for this superb GoBack feature you can buy from the distinguished software house of Adaptec (www.goback.com).
You wrote an excellent description of what the software does, Mr. D. I would add that in addition to restoring hard drives and such, GoBack lets you recover individual data files that might get deleted.
The biggest limitation is that in order to accomplish its backups, the software continually saves compressed versions of your hard drive’s contents, so the bigger the hard drive you have the better.
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The only caveat I can think of is that Microsoft’s upgrade to Windows 98, Windows ME (Millennium Edition), set to ship this summer, will include this same type of feature as part of the operating system. So buying GoBack now for its $70 suggested retail price might not be the best deal if you plan to shell out $90 or so for Windows ME later this year.
Q–How about some help with Windows 98? When I used to use the Explorer feature, if I highlighted a graphic such as a .jpg or .bmp I could see thumbnail preview image on the left side of the screen. I had to reinstall Win98, and I no longer see the preview with the .jpg. Any suggestions?
One other question: After the reinstall, when I hit Start and then Programs, all of the programs and files are now listed in the order I added them, not in alphabetical order, which I like. Can I put them in alphabetical order somehow?
Loren Doppelt, Palatine
A–Second question first. When Microsoft product managers visited me the other day to show off the newly released Windows 2000 software and the Windows ME operating system to be released this summer, they boasted that the new OS will return to the automatic alphabetization that had been part of Windows 95. Meanwhile, you will find that Windows 98 lets you drag and drop the Start menu icons to arrange them any way you like.
On the first question, to get Windows 98 to display thumbnails of each picture as you highlight it you need to click on the My Computer icon, then pick View and click the radio box for Web style and then be sure to click the Apply button at the bottom of the command box.
Q–I am an old-time reader of your column, and now that retirement is approaching I need some advice about what kind of computer I should buy to let me transfer all my old 78, 45 and 33 r.p.m. records and cassette tapes onto CDs.
My indecision: to buy a top-of-the-line computer now, expending $2,500 for an 800 or 900 mHz machine with 128 megabytes of memory, 40 gigabyte hard drive, 3000 Voodoo video card and a good sound card, etc., or buy a modest 450 or 500 mHz computer now and wait for something better that may come later.
Walter Mosca @hotmail.com
A–I’ll bet you’d just love that elegant $2,500 machine you described, Mr. W., but, fact is, that 450 mHz clunker at the other end of your decision tree will handle all the sound recording needs you describe with the simple addition of a CD-RW drive so that you can transfer the music files you will be making from those records, cassettes and CDs on your hard drive.
I favor the backpack line of CD-rewriter devices from DeKalb-based Micro Solutions Inc. (www.micro-solutions.com), which can be had for just under $300 and which connect via the parallel port to any Pentium II machine.
With the rewriter up and running, all you need is software like the $30 MusicMatch 5.0 (www
.musicmatch.com), which allows you to connect your turntable or cassette player to the line-in socket on the PC sound card and will convert each tune you play into its own MP3 file for storage on a rewritable CD.
Q–I recently installed the QuickTime Player as I was surfing the Net in order to view a movie offered at a site that used this program. When I discovered that it would display .jpg photos, I decided to specify this program as a default association for opening .jpgs (rather than using my browser).
I then discovered that I lost my ability to view thumbnails of the .jpg photos when searching my hard drive or files through My Computer. How can I get this back?
Bruce Pollock, West Warwick, R.I.
A–Your quandary is just another wrinkle on the one covered by Loren D. from Palatine, Mr. P., but the fix is a tad more complex. To restore that highly useful thumbnail photo preview feature you need to restore Microsoft Internet Explorer as your default viewer for .jpg files.
This is a bit more complicated than just typing in a solitary command because you need to restore some settings. Click on the desktop My Computer icon and then choose View then Folder Options and then File Types, where you should scroll down to JPEG and click the icon marked Edit. You will find a box for “Application used …” and need use the Browse button to move to “C:
Program Files
Internet Explorer
iexplore.exe.” Once that is in the window, you need to add the tag “-nohome” at the end, with the quote marks just as written.
Finally, you need to find the box marked DDE Message and type in “file:% 1”,,-1,,,,, with the quote marks and commas exactly as written.
Q–I am running a Hewlett Packard 4550z at 466 mHz with a 56 kbps modem. I am a subscriber to AOL. When I am doing any kind of work on my computer, the unit will all of a sudden sign on to AOL. It is very frustrating to be working on a spreadsheet and suddenly find yourself being signed on. I contacted AOL tech service and they graciously suggested to delete the file global.org and then sign on and go through the setup routine again. I did this and it is still happening.
After all this I thought I would ask someone who knows what to do.
Gene Kristoff, Highland, Ind.
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A–Wow, you go to AOL tech support with a toothache and they suggest a brain transplant, which is a good comparison to wiping out that global.org file that holds all of your key America Online settings as well as the automatic-on commands.
To disable that auto sign-on, you need to do two things:
First look for the AOL icon lurking in the System Tray in the lower right corner of your screen and right-click on it. This will bring up a menu for Auto Start settings that you can disable.
Then in the AOL software itself, click on the My AOL command at the top of the screen and then chose Preferences and Auto AOL. Once there make certain that all of your automatic e-mail sessions are canceled.
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Contact Jim Coates via e-mail at [email protected] or via snail mail at the baiduhai, Room 400, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611. If you think you’ve got a better answer to any of these questions add your point of view at chicagotribune.com/go/askjim.