Computers 101

Q:
I hate that sound my modem makes when it dials up my ISP. Is there a way to make it quiet?

A:
The "regular" way to get rid of excess modem noise is to go to the Control Panel, open the Modems icon, click your modem, then the Properties button, and turn the volume down from there.

Well, I ran that tip in the past and it always seems that there are people out there who it doesn't work for. So, I did some digging and came up with an even better way. Since I have no way to test this on all the different modems out there, I can't make any promises, but it did work on our machines (note that this doesn't seem to have any effect on AOL / CompuServ).

To get your modem to be quiet when it dials, try this:

1. Hit Start, Settings, Control Panel and open your Modems icon.

2. You should see your modem listed on the Modem Properties screen. Click it (select it) and hit the Properties button.

Click the Connection tab, then the Advanced button.

3. You should see a box labeled "Extra Settings". Enter the following into it:

ATM0

BTW - that last character is a ZERO - don't accidentally use the letter "o".

Hit the OK button until your out of your modem settings and give it a try. The modem shouldn't make a sound when it dials.

Oh, and for those of you with kids— no, I don't have a magic set of letters to keep them quiet. Sorry :-)

With Win XP, just hold down the Alt key and double-click "My Computer" to bring up System Properties. Click the "Hardware" tab, then under "Device Manager" choose the "Device Manager" button. Scroll down to "Modems" and click the little (—) to show your modem, then double click it. Selecting the "Modem" tab will allow you to turn the dialing volume down.

~ Steve

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Tip of the Day

Maximize Dial-up Modem Settings

Did you know that by changing a few settings you can make your dial-up modem run better? That's right—you might have a fast modem and a good connection, but you're not getting the best performance. With a few adjustments, you can get faster connection speeds.

NOTE: Since every PC configuration is different, these adjustments might not work for everyone.

With Windows 95, 98 & ME you'll need to open your Control Panel (Start / Control Panel). Click "System" then choose "Device Manager". Open up "Ports", highlight your modem port (should be COM2), and choose "Properties" near the bottom. When you click "Port Settings", you will see the modem speed listed under "Bits per second".

With Win XP, just hold down the Alt key and double-click "My Computer" to bring up System Properties. Click the "Hardware" tab, then choose the "Device Manager" button. Scroll down to "Modems" and click the little (—) to show your modem, then double click it.

Selecting the "Modem" tab will allow you to adjust the port speed.

Usually, the Maximum Port Speed is on the highest setting (115,000 bps), but sometimes you will find it on a slower default of 9600 bps. If you have a 56k modem, you can crank it up to the maximum setting without any trouble (in most cases). If you live in a cave and have a 28k modem, then the fastest you can do is 57,600 bps.

Win 9x users should also adjust the "Flow Control" near the bottom. The default for this is usually Xon/Xoff which is the software control—change this to "Hardware" if you want to get the most from your modem. Next, click the "Advanced" button to adjust the Reciever Buffer to its highest setting (all the way to the right). If you run into any problems, just turn this one back to the 2/3 setting.

To check/adjust the Receive-Transmit buffers in XP, click the "Advanced" tab of your modem properties then choose the "Advanced Port Settings" button. Make sure that both are set to their highest settings.

There are many more tweaks that can be done in the registry, but the potential for disaster is too high for the average user. Some folks install dial-up accelerators, which basically tweak these registry settings for you and perform other routines to optimize performance.

Just by changing these few settings, though, you should see better performance.

~ David

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Amanda's Cool Site of the Day

Color, Contrast, & Dimension

This site is very sweet. You can learn all about color here. This is an interactive color guide tour. You can begin by clicking the START button, or browse sections by clicking the circles at the bottom of the page.

As you go through the tour you'll notice that it will say "click here for exercise". Doing so lets you try out color changes and see how they change the tone and atmosphere of the picture. Then continue your way through the tour. You'll be surprised how much you learn about colors, the way you see, and tons of things like contrast, absorption, and saturation.

So, whether you are making up a flyer for your garage sale, or making a website for your business, you can benefit from learning how colors interact with each other and how they affect a person's perspective.

Add some color to your life today!

http://poynterextra.org/cp/colorproject/color.html

Do you have a cool, non-commercial site that you want to share?
Send it to Amanda at amanda@worldstart.com