Thursday, February 19, 1998

Troubleshoot your PC and get it running right

(These are reviews of shareware programs for IBM-compatible PCs. The programs are available from the Internet and on CD-ROM from this column. Users try the programs, then pay a fee to register if they decide to use them regularly.)

By Noah Matthews / Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service

All those who have never had a problem with their PCs, please raise your hand. Thought so. For the rest of us, for the vast majority of us, for your neighbor who howls in the night when Windows 95 crashes, here's the answer to your troubles:

PC TROUBLE SHOOTER 2000 CD-ROM (Windows 3.1 and Windows 95) -- In fact, just to show you that you are in the same boat with everyone else on the Windows Titanic, this shareware CD-ROM sets itself up in a folder aptly named TROUBLE, because Trouble is its middle name. Here's how it avoids PC icebergs, with the help of nearly 200 files that run in DOS, Windows 3.1 and Windows 95:

If you are looking for tech support from any of 1,000 companies, you'll find out how to contact them, right from the CD. If your modem isn't modulating, Modem Wizard and Dr. Modem will help you get connected. If you're having conflicts, Rosenthal Conflict Resolver will act as a sort of Marriage, Family and Child Counselor for your motherboard and peripherals, not to mention your software. Mr. Rosenthal also will uninstall programs you're sick of (sort of like tossing out your no-good brother-in-law and getting him a one-way ticket back to Fargo).

If you hanker for a look at how commercial programs do the same job as shareware programs, you can sample such powerhouses as CleanSweep Deluxe and Uninstaller, along with Oil Change, which goes out to the Internet to update programs on your hard disk automatically. But most of the programs are shareware, and most are full-functioning, although they do nag you to register after 30 days if you keep using them. That's the beauty of these shareware collections on CD-ROM. Instead of scouring a dozen Web sites and hoping you'll get decent downloads, all 200 programs are on one CD, and most can be run right from the CD.

After a quick initial setup, you reach a menu that describes each program, lets you read read.me files and then you can decide if you want to run the program or move on the next one. Whole groups of programs do such things as analyze your system (to make certain you got what you paid for and what you paid for is working right).

You can speed up your CD-ROM and your hard drive, test your parallel port to try to figure out why it's taking you two hours to print out a two-page document, and make certain your other ports are working properly. You can make backup copies of your CMOS, which is the file that contains crucial data about how your computer is set up. You can find duplicate files, and you can free up space on your hard disk safely and easily.

Collections this good are rare and worth having. Chances are, if your PC Titanic is sinking, you'll find more than enough life boats to bring you safely to shore.

(For copies of PC Trouble Shooter 2000 CD-ROM for IBM compatibles, send $25 to Shareware, P.O. Box 17356, Long Beach, CA 90807. Credit card orders: 800-395-7797. Fax (800) 842-7731. E-mail: share@mindspring.com)