Copyright (c) 1995, Joe DeRouen All rights reserved [This column originally appeared in the August 1995 edition of the Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas monthly Computer Currents Magazine] QUICK TIPS AND FIXES by Joe DeRouen Having problems with your computer? Want to throw DOS out the Windows? You've come to the right place. While we can't print all questions, we do read them and will reply personally when the situation warrants it. Keep those cards and letters coming, folks. But enough already with the fruitcakes and canned hams. Q: Dear Joe, I just bought a new 28.8k modem with my Pentium machine. I noticed all the BBS's in the back of Computer Currents. I've started calling some of them, including yours. I'm enjoying getting into the "boards" very much! The problem is, I have call waiting. I've been knocked off several BBS's and even had one angry SysOp write me a nasty note telling me to stop dropping carrier on his system or I'd be deleted. I don't want to get rid of call waiting. Is there a way to turn it off or make my modem ignore it? Sincerely, Johnathan Edwards Lewisville, Texas A: Dear John, The solution to your dilemma is relatively simple and painless, and it's a common question most of us (myself included) have had at one time or another when starting out BBSing. Most telephone companies provide a way for you to temporarily suspend call waiting. The most common way is to dial *70 before dialing the number you want to call. People trying to call you will then hear a busy signal while you're BBSing and won't cause your connection to crash. Note that the actual command required to turn off call waiting varies from company to company. If it isn't *70 (or 1170) contact your phone company for the correct code. To remove call waiting on a per-call basis, just add *70 to the phone number of the BBS you're calling. Separate it from the phone number by a comma to give your modem the correct amount of "pause time" before dialing the number. Something like this: *70,620-8793 If you want to remove call waiting altogether when using the modem, you'll have to alter your dialing command string. This should be relatively easy to find in the setup for your communication package; it'll most likely be the simple command "ATDT". Change it to: ATDT*70 From that point onward, whenever you're calling a BBS with that terminal program, you won't get any interfering calls from anyone trying to sell you aluminum siding or a newspaper subscription. Note that you do not need to use both these options. It really won't hurt anything if you do; it's just not necessary. Note also that, when you're not BBSing, you'll still be able to use call waiting. Canceling it via either of the two above methods is a purely temporary thing. Of course, you can also cancel call waiting when using the telephone for voice calls by dialing *70 before you place your call. If you want to cancel call waiting after receiving a voice call, and you have three-way calling, you can click over to the other line and dial *70. You'll then hear a quick beep and find yourself back on line with your voice call, free from the interruptions of call waiting. If you can afford it, you might consider getting a dedicated modem line that doesn't have call waiting on it. If you're like the rest of us, you'll soon be spending many hours into the wee night looking for shareware word processor programs, DOOM add-ons, and obscure text files on the mating rituals of the fruit fly. Have fun! Q: Dear Joe, My Internet address ends in ".com". I've seen others addresses that end in all sorts of other things. What do these mean? Confused, Felicity Aiken via Internet A: Dear Felicity, ".com" means that the Internet provider that you use is a Commercial business. Since yours ends in ".com", I can probably guess that you're using the Internet via a commercial account rather than a government account or through a university. Below you'll find a little chart listing the most common types you're likely to run into: .com = Commercial .edu = Educational Institution .gov = Government .org = Organization You might also run into country codes such as ".au" for Australia, ".ca" for Canada, ".dk" for Denmark, etc. Thus, the address "jderouen@madeupname.edu.au" would signify that the user jderouen is using the Internet through a university called "Madeupname" in Australia. See, these things aren't so complicated after all. Q: Dear Joe, I know that when using MS-DOS and wanting to see what's in your directory, you can use the command DIR in a variety of ways. The same goes for COPY and some other DOS commands. Besides looking it up in the manual (I hate my DOS manual, I really do) is there any easy way to see what options there are for a DOS command? Thanks, Art Williams Dallas, Texas A: Dear Art, There are two ways, actually, and neither of them requires you to crack open that dusty DOS manual or call tech support. If you type /? after almost any DOS command at the DOS prompt, you'll be given a fairly clear and concise list of what options that command supports. Proper syntax for this would be: DIR /? You can also try "HELP DIR" (or whatever command you want to know more about) at the DOS prompt to jump into the DOS help index. You'll find all the options you seek plus a little more indepth information about the command in question. You can even type "HELP /?" for options to use when using the HELP command. You can now safely leave those DOS manuals at the bottom of the dark closet in your basement where, if you're like me, they've probably been all along. Thanks for writing! Are you having a problem with your computer? Write to Joe at Computer Currents, via Sunlight Through The Shadows BBS at 214/620-8793, on the internet at jderouen@crl.com, or through CompuServe at 73654,1732. Be sure to stop in and check out Joe's new World Wide Web Home Page at http://www.crl.com/~jderouen/index.html while you're traversing the Web! (c) 1995 Joe DeRouen. All rights reserved.