First Aid: A knowledge base you will appreciate

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): In my job as an end user consultant, I've always tried to find software programs that will help PC users learn more about their own machines -- hardware and software -- so that they can become more independent.

I'm positive that, in the long run, it will be much better to educate the users than to offer consultation. Recently, for instance, I assembled a PC for a colleague. It was a great machine, and I set everything up to run smoothly. However, a few days after she had the PC, she informed me that all the icons in the Program Manager had disappeared and therefore she had not been able to play her favorite Windows game -- which was Solitaire, of course.

The moment I took a look at the machine, I knew the problem: She or someone else in her family had checked and activated the "Save on Exit" option in Program Manager. Needless to say, after playing around with Windows for some time, the groups and the icons in Program Manager must have been juggled around. When she or her family members exited Windows, the mess became the default. The next time Windows was loaded, she was shocked to see the jumble. Hence the SOS cry.

Never to activate "Save on Exit" is just one of the don'ts for those who don't really know much about the way Windows work. There are hundreds of other don'ts, including "Don't activate Printer Manager", and it would take simply too much time to try to explain most of them to a new Window user.

Yet, it's so easy to inadvertently change various options in Windows. For instance, we might release the mouse button too soon as we drag the mouse, and without our knowledge an option gets activated. Therefore, a good software program that can teach us basic operations of Windows will certainly be appreciated.

First Aid, from CyberMedia, is one of such programs. It consists of two modules: First Aid for Windows Users and Don't Panic. You'll see both of them in the accompanying picture.

Knowledge base

Don't Panic is a knowledge base of a number of problems typical to Windows. It is provided through the hypertext equipped Windows Help system. It provides definitions of technical terms, most of which are very well written and are very easy to understand. It also offers suggestions on what to do to improve the performance of your machine.

Don't Panic starts from the very beginning. It even comes with a tutorial on how to use Windows Help, what the green and underlined text is for, and how to go back to the previous Help section. However, it's when it comes to explaining hardware and software that Don't Panic really shines.

When I clicked on the Hardware sub-topic found under Reference Information, Don't Panic jumped to the hardware section. When I clicked on Motherboard, a color bitmap picture of the motherboard appeared. The memory sub-system is marked by a red rectangle, the CPU with a blue rectangle, and the BIOS with a purple rectangle. When I further clicked on the blue rectangle, a pop-up explained to me what types of CPU exist, how many bits each of these types handles, and how their speed levels are identified.

With all these nifty features, Don't Panic is actually a computer course that you can follow on your PC.

Diagnostics

The other module, First Aid for Windows Users, has eight areas that you can explore: Windows, Applications, Performance, Setup, Printing, Multimedia, Network, and Notifications. In Windows, for example, you'll be able to check your keyboard, mouse, fonts and display as well as clean up Program Manager, File Manager and OLE. Any problem that First Aid encounters will be displayed in the Problem Panel. A click on the Diagnose Problem will bring up the First Aid Diagnosis window, and based on the explanation given in this window you can fix the problem or let First Aid fix it for you. In my case, for instance, First Aid reported that my Windows had a problem of program association; I had not installed Cardfile, but the *.CRD file association existed. By the way, you can see this window on bottom left of the picture.

When I clicked on the Auto Fix button, First Aid searched for the missing applications. Had I installed them, First Aid would have located them and fixed the problem. Since I had not installed them, it was unable to fix the problem.

My version of First Aid supports only 25 of the most popular applications for Windows, including Winword 6.0 and CorelDRAW!4.0 (not 5.0). When first loaded, First Aid had no idea where these programs resided. I had to tell it to locate each of them and it searched all the hard disks. Once the programs were located, I was able to tell First Aid to check each of them again to see whether everything was in order. In the case of my Winword 6.0, for instance, First Aid reported that I wouldn't be able to import CompuServe's GIF files. A click on the Diagnose Problem revealed that certain files -- conversion files -- were missing. And if I wanted to know what file was missing, I should go back to the Problem Panel and click on the Show Detail button. When I actually did this, First Aid told me that the name of the missing file was GIFIMP.FLT. Isn't that neat?

The best thing about this knowledge base is that it can be used whenever you can spare the time to peruse it. The collection of problems and their solutions, as well as the tips, are the strongest point of this software. It makes First Aid useful not only to beginners learning about their computers but also to consultants bombarded with the same question "What happens to my PC?"

My only concern is how we can update the knowledge base, as it will clearly become out of date in no time. For example, my version of First Aid, Version 1.2, is not Pentium-ready, while at the moment even P6 is already on the horizon. Therefore, like in the case of anti-virus protection software in which new viruses are appearing overnight, we would really appreciate if the knowledge base could be updated regularly. As new software programs appear, they also bring potential conflicts with existing software or hardware, so in order to make a program like this one truly useful to consultants its knowledge base should be constantly updated.

Regardless of this, First Aid is a very useful and yet very user-friendly knowledge base that most Windows users should take advantage of, particularly newcomers who wish to expand their knowledge on PC hardware and software. Even when it fails to solve your problem, it will give you the phone number to call to get technical support from the people who make all the supported applications programs.