To reduce the chance of strange quirks or errors when browsing the web, try cleaning up the cache and temp directories on your hard drive once in a while. As the number of files in these folders increase, the chances of these things happening increase.

Open Windows Explorer and find the Windows\Temp folder. Delete any files that are in the Temp folder, but not the folder itself. Do the same for the Windows\Temporary Internet Files folder.

Delete any Internet browser cache files. If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer, you already did that by deleting the folder mentioned above. In Netscape, choose Options, Network Preferences and Cache. Clear the memory cache and disk cache.

Click Start, Programs, Accessories and System Tools. Run Scandisk and then Defragmenter, respectively. Scandisk will clean up any errors, such as corrupt or damaged files or lost clusters, and Defragmenter will reorganize the data on the drive for more efficient utilization of the hard disk.


Portable Travel Tips

When traveling with your Gateway Solo 2100, 2200, 2300, or 9100 portable notebook, there are a few things to keep in mind.

First, before you hop on the plane, board the train, start the car, or say hello to the bus driver, make sure your battery is fully conditioned and charged.

Also, if you have a PCMCIA device installed, such as a modem or a network card, take it out if you don't need it. They use battery power even when they're not being used.

Set the Power Management in CMOS to Battery and Maximum Battery Life. To do this, boot your system and press F2 to enter setup. Using your arrow keys, highlight the Power menu and select PM Control. Use your space bar to toggle through the options until Battery is displayed. Then, use your arrow keys to select Power Management and toggle through the options until Maximum Battery Life is displayed. Next, use your arrow keys to highlight the Exit page. Choose Save Changes and Exit Setup. The system will then reboot.

Finally, remember that moderation is an important key to long battery life. Any time you can use the AC adapter instead of the battery, do so. It allows the battery to recharge and conserves battery power.


How do I condition the battery on my Solo portable computer?

Our Solo line of portables can all support Lithium Ion batteries. This technology allows for a longer battery life. However, you will need to make sure the batteries are in tip top shape before you decide to take it on the road. The Lithium Ion batteries actually have a memory, meaning that they'll record what a full charge feels like and what an empty charge feels like. Once in a while, the memory needs to be "refreshed." This refreshing of the battery's memory is called "conditioning" the battery. Essentially, this means letting the battery re-familiarize itself with the difference between a full and empty charge. Follow these simple steps to fully re-condition your battery to get the best performance from it. NOTE: This is only for the Lithium Ion batteries and not the Nickel Hydride ones. Check to ensure that you have the Lithium Ion before proceeding.

1. If you have the original Solo portable, go to step 2. For any other Solo portable system (2100, 2200 or 2300), press F2 at boot to enter your CMOS setup. Use your right arrow key to highlight the Power menu. Near the bottom of this page you'll see "Battery Low Suspend." Use your down arrow key to highlight this option and press your space bar until the option is Disabled. Press Escape, save your changes and exit, letting the system reboot.
2. Once the system reboots, let it run until the battery is completely out of power. A fast way to take care of this it to let the CD player run.
3. When the battery is drained, plug the AC adapter in and let the battery recharge for 6 or more hours, preferably over night. The longer the better.
4. Repeat the process of draining and recharging the battery at least once, if not more.

If you have the Solo 2300 or 9100 portable, you can also use the software which accompanies either computer.

1. Connect the AC adapter to the system with the battery properly installed.
2. Power up your system and boot to Windows.
3. Click Start, Shut Down, and Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode.
4. At the C:\ prompt, type CD BATTERY and press Enter.
5. Type LEARNING and press Enter.
6. The process may take 12 to 16 hours depending on the battery's initial level of charge. The higher the charge in the battery, the shorter the learning cycle completion time. If you have two batteries installed in your notebook at the same time, the process time will double. No intervention is required during the learning cycle.
7. When the learning cycle is done, a success message will be displayed. This doesn't necessarily mean that the battery is fully charged. If the battery is not fully charged, leave your system connected to the AC power. You may use the system while the battery continues to charge.
8. Close the battery learning program at any time by pressing Ctrl+C and return to Windows 95 by typing Exit. To view the current battery charge status, press Fn+F2 or move the mouse pointer over the AC power plug icon on the lower right hand side of the screen.

In Windows95 you will notice that many cd's start playing automatically when inserted into the drive. Some may find this a convenience, others an annoyance. If you do not like this feature, it's easy to disable.

1. Right click on My Computer and choose Properties.
2. Select the Device Manager tab.
3. Click on the plus in front of the CD-ROM device and double click the CD-ROM driver listed.
4. In the properties for the drive, remove the check from the Autoinsert Notification box.
5. Save the changes by clicking OK

When you delete a file in Windows 95, it's actually just moved to the Recycle Bin. It will stay on your hard drive until you empty the Recycle Bin or it becomes full. You can change the amount of hard drive space used by the Recycle bin if you wish to free up some space. Right click the Recycle Bin icon and select Properties. Change the settings to ones which more suit you. When deleting a file, you can bypass the Recycle Bin by holding the shift key as you delete it. The file will then be truly deleted.

For most any program or document, you can make a shortcut and place it on your desktop for easy accessibility.

1. Right-click anywhere on a blank region of the desktop.
2. Select New and then Shortcut.
3. When the Create Shortcut dialog box displays, Click Browse.
4. Explore the directory folders and files on the hard drive to find the file you wish to execute. For instance, browse the Windows directory and find Sol.exe (Solitaire).
5. Double-click this file so that the path and name of the file appear in the Create Shortcut dialog.
6. Click Finish.
7. A shortcut icon titled Sol.exe will appear on the desktop, and all you have to do to launch the program is double-click the icon you just made.

A faster way to accomplish the same thing, however, is to right click and drag the executable file from Explorer onto your desktop and choose Create Shortcut Here from the context menu.

Want to get rid of it? Click on the icon and press the Delete key. This won't delete the program, but rather just the newly-created icon.

If you're installing a game and it doesn't work properly, you may have the wrong version of DirectX installed. To check what version you have, perform the following steps:

1. Click on Start, Run, type explorer and press Enter.
2. Press F3, type ddraw.dll in the Named box and type C:\ in the Look in: box.
3. Click Find Now. Note: No Files are found, DirectX is not installed on your computer.
4. Right click on the Ddraw.dll file and choose Properties.
5. Select the Version tab.
6. Compare the version number on the File Version line with the following:
   
   

7. Version Number	DirectX Version
   4.02.0095	Version 1
   4.03.00.1096	Version 2
   4.04.00.0068	Versions 3 or 3a

Cancel all screens without making any changes.

How can I update my current version of DirectX? You can locate it on Microsoft's website at the following URL address: http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/.

Q. My modem is too loud when I dial and connect to my ISP. How can I turn it down?

In the Control Panel, double click the modem icon. Select the modem properties tab and adjust the volume slide bar to the left. You can also select the Advanced button under the Connection tab and add either L0 or M0 to the Extra Settings. Restart the computer.

Before making any changes to the registry, it's a very very good idea to back it up.

1. In Windows 95 Explorer, select Options under the View pulldown menu and take the dot out of the Hide File of These Types options. Click OK. Press F5 to refresh the Explorer window.
2. Right click the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM.DAT file and choose Properties. Take the checks out of Hidden and Read Only and click OK.
3. Repeat this with the \WINDOWS\USER.DAT file to remove the hidden and read-only attributes.
4. Copy the 2 files to a formatted floppy disk, and also copy them somewhere on the hard drive if you want to be sure.
5. Remove the attributes of the \SYSTEM.1ST as you did with the other two files above and copy it to the same location. The SYSTEM.1ST file is a copy of the first SYSTEM.DAT file created when Windows 95 was installed. If you need to troubleshoot a problem, you can rename this file to system.dat and restore it the Windows directory instead of restoring the more current version on the diskette.
6. When you're finished copying these files to your diskette, restore the attributes to each file by reversing step 2.

If you ever need to replace these registry files, perform the following steps:

1. In Explorer, right click on each file and remove the attributes as shown above in step 2.
2. Right click on the file again and choose Rename. Rename the extension of each file (.dat) to xxx.
3. Copy the User.dat and System.dat files from the diskette to the Windows directory, and you may restore the Hidden and Read Only attributes if you wish.
4. Restart Windows and the new .dat files will take affect.

Q: I just loaded the video drivers for Windows 95 and my video adapter. What monitor should I select for the Crystal Scan 500 or 700 or the Vivitron 500 or 700?

A: For the Vivitron 500, use either Crystal Scan 1572FS or the Vivitron 15. For the Vivitron 700 (or the Crystal Scan 700), use either Crystal Scan 1776 or Vivitron 17.

When upgrading your total memory to more than 16 MB on an older 486 system, you may find that the BIOS will only count to 16 MB. The reason for this is because in some older motherboards, when the BIOS SHADOW is enabled in the CMOS setup, the BIOS information from the video and the motherboard were stored in high memory to free up low memory, allowing the system to run faster. In order for the BIOS to count more than 16 MB, you must disable the BIOS SHADOW in the CMOS setup. Reboot your system and bring yourself to a C:\> Prompt. Press Ctrl+Alt+Esc, which will produce the system CMOS setup. Page Down to see the second menu. Find the BIOS SHADOW option DISABLE it as per the instructions at the bottom of the Screen. Save changes and Exit. When you reboot, you'll notice that the beep you once heard sounds slower, and you may notice a small performance degradation. There are programs available which allow you to re-shadow the BIOS, so to speak, with software instead of the firmware. Programs such as QEMM, or EMM386 from later versions of DOS have this option. Windows NT won't be affected by the lack of shadow, as it basically ignores the system's BIOS when operating.


You may notice that the 3D screensavers in Windows 95b don't always function like they should, and they seem to act rather erratically at times. The problem is probably related to your virus scan program, as it's trying to scan files while the screensaver is running. To get rid of the problem, try the following:

1. Right click on the desktop.
2. Choose "Properties".
3. Choose the "ScreenScan" tab.
4. Find "Enable scanning while in screen saver mode and remove the check.
5. Click "OK".