The Hindu Business Line : Switching networks

Currently, when I need to connect to these respective networks, I open `my network places', view network connections, select `LAN or high-speed Internet,' go to its properties and change the settings for the Internet protocol (TCP/IP) as specified by the service providers. I find this very cumbersome.

Is there a simpler way to switch networks? Please suggest a solution.

D. Ravichandran

You can easily switch between networks by using third party tools. Netsetman 2.0 is one such freeware that you can use to quickly switch between five different pre-configured network settings.

The size is 853KB and it can be installed in Windows 2000 and XP operating systems. You can download it from the following URL:

http://www.iljaherlein.de/netsetman/stats/getfile.php?id=1. This has five profiles (tabs) namely set1, set2,... set5.

For each tab, you need to set the IP address, subnet mask, Default Gateway and DNS and Wins entries etc, and then right-click and rename that tab like home, office, etc, as per your convenience.

Another useful option that you can enable is `Start with windows' which is placed in the information button.

So once you logon to your system, the Netsetman window appears. Just select the required profile (tab) and click Activate button.

To check your current network settings, please click start - Run - type cmd and click ok. This will bring up the command prompt. Type "ipconfig /all" which will provide the current network settings - such as IP, subnet, Default Gateway, DNS, Wins etc.

Instant Messaging programs

I have a LAN network without access to the Internet. But the e-mail facility is available within the LAN. I am looking for Instant Messaging software that can be used in the LAN, without residing in the server.

Some time ago, I read about a software (freely downloadable) that provides an instant messaging service without the help of a server.

The program was to be loaded in the user terminal and could be used to send instant text messages to all users connected to the LAN (not Internet). Please tell me how I go about it.

N. Rajmohan

Nowadays, lot of third-party Instant Messaging software is available as freeware. One such freeware utility that you can use is QuickMessenger. Its size is 3.24 MB and operating systems Windows NT, 2000, XP, 2003 support it. It can be downloaded from this URL: http://www.snapfiles.com/get/quickmessenger.html.

QuickMessenger is a simple tool that provides an enhanced interface for Windows Messenger and allows you to send text messages from one computer to the other or to a group of computers (on the LAN). It uses the windows `net send'command.

You can thus send messages to anyone, even if they don't have QuickMessenger.

Its added features allow you to add a signature to the message and make use of predefined messages, so you do

not have to type common messages over and over again. You can get a list of other freeware utilities from the following URL:

http://www.nonags.com/nonags/conflan.html

Recovering *.chk files

I recently formated the Windows operating system on my PC.

Now, when I boot Windows 98, my screen displays messages of errors in various folders. It says such folders will be converted to .the

`FILE00.CHK' for later use.

There were three folders and they were converted to a number of `FILE*.CHK' files of different sizes. How can I get back those folders?

I had run a recovery tool but it did not display these folder names. Please suggest a solution.

Ruchir Kumar

File*.chk files are scraps discovered and recovered by scandisk in Windows 98.

When a machine doesn't close down properly, some files get lost and the machine saves these files as file000.chk files and these are numbered 0001,0002, etc.

If you have not lost any data, all these chk files can be deleted. But if you have lost data, you will want to examine the chk files to see if the data you want is in there. You can try to open them with Notepad to get basic information.

To recover data in chk files, you can try the following utilities.

UnCHK — http://www.ericphelps.com/uncheck/unchk3.zip (40 KB).

FileCHK — http://www.ericphelps.com/uncheck/FileCHK.zip (11 KB).

CHK-Mate 1.0 — http://www.majorgeeks.com/CHK-Mate_d4110.html (1.3MB).

For more information, please refer http://www.s2services.com/CHKfilefreeware.htm and

http://www.ericphelps.com/uncheck/

Solutions by M. Sampath.

Please e-mail us at eworld@thehindu.co.in

if you have queries on computer usage or if you find an interesting way of using a computer.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page