Windows 3.1 Computers - Question on old computers "losing memory"

I recently got a question from a newsletter subscriber named John who asks:

"Hello Worth. I have a question. Do computers lose their memory? I had an old one stored for some time. I want to give it to someone but first I hooked it all up - but it gives me this message "Drive nor ready error Insert Boot diskette in A: Press any key when ready" Whats the problem.? {This has Windows 3.1 } Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. John"

Thanks for the question, John. I guess you could say that computers can "lose their memory", so to speak.

Computers store their "memory" (their files) on something called a hard drive. You can think of it as storage shelves, or a filing cabinet, that you're storing information in.

The problem is, the hard drive is part of a machine, and like all machines, it breaks down over time, and can break down even if it's not being used.

If this old computer was running Windows 3.1, it's not likely to be less than 13 years old, since Windows 3.1 was replaced in 1995 when Windows 95 came out. Some computers did get Windows 3.1 installed on them for a while after that, but chances are the computer is at least 12 years old.

Now 12 years old may not sound that old to a lot of people, and it's not if you're talking about a person. But if you're talking about, say, a dog, that's pretty up there in years.

And when you're talking about a *computer* -- well, that's positively ancient!

So John, while the thought was a nice one, to give the computer to someone, it's no surprise that it doesn't work well, and even if it actually still worked and started up into Windows 3.1, your friend would not have gotten much out of having it.

Even if it was working, the computer would not be able to do much more than maybe use it as a word processor, and unless you still had the old printer that came with the computer (and it still worked) they wouldn't be able to print out what they'd written, since modern printers wouldn't work with such an old computer. And they'd be saving their files onto an old, untrustworthy hard drive and may have big challenges moving them to another computer to print, etc. since it wouldn't have a CD burner, has no USB port for a flash drive, and only uses very out of date floppy drive that might not be working anymore.

If your friend wanted to look at web pages and check email, they probably wouldn't be able to view the vast majority of websites, and might not be able to connect to the Internet at all -- the modem (if it has one) would be too slow for most Internet Service Providers, and it's highly doubtful that it came with a network card needed to use cable or DSL, and it'd be nearly impossible to find one that you could add to it.

So basically, trying to use that computer today would be like trying to drive a horse and buggy on a major highway -- *maybe* possible, but probably not a good idea.

So my advice to you would be to take the computer someplace for recycling (don't just throw old electronics in the landfill -- they leak toxic chemicals) and let it rest in peace.

And for anyone who is still keeping an old computer like that (Windows or Mac), if it's still working and you have *any* important files on it, do yourself a favor and get them moved to a more modern computer right away.

Because you never know how long it will keep working, and the longer you wait, the harder it will be to move the files since everything changes so quickly in the world of computers.

Understanding the Hourglass Pointer In Windows and the Spinning Beach Ball on a Mac

As you may know, I just had one of my monthly live computer question and answer call-ins a few days ago. I had friends coming in from the mainland that afternoon, and I ran out of time before I could get to all of the questions.

To be notified about my monthly live call-ins, join my free computer tips newsletter.

In this email I wanted to answer one of the questions I wasn't able to get to during the live event this past Sunday:

"why do I get an 'hour glass' when attempting to 'reply' to some emails? I have to restart to get back into the email area, and regain my 'pointer' The hour glass will not go away by its self.
Thanks, Frank Hublar Windows 2000 (?)"

What Frank is talking about here is the mouse pointer (which is often called a cursor, but Frank is using the correct term here) will sometimes change from an arrow into a little hourglass. Windows users have probably seen this happen before.

What this means, generally speaking, is that the computer is "pausing to think" for a moment. Mac computers do the same thing, except that they show this with a spinning "beach ball" or multi-colored pinwheel.

This is normal if it happens occasionally, but it should always go back to a regular arrow-shaped pointer after a few moments, except maybe when the computer is doing something very hard on the computer like making changes to a large photo or saving a home movie you've been editing, or something like that.

And even in those cases, it should still go back to normal after a few minutes or so, depending on exactly what you're doing.

So in other words, something simple like replying to an email shouldn't cause the hourglass (or beach ball in the case of a Mac) to appear at all, or definitely not for more than a moment or two.

So if you are seeing this happen a lot, it could be something to be concerned about, because it *might* mean that there's something wrong with your computer.
Now in Frank's case, he says he's running Windows 2000, which makes me think he might have a pretty old computer. While it is possible for a newer PC to have Windows 2000 on it, it's not very common, so I'd guess it might be as much as eight years old, which is extremely old in computer terms.

The first thing I'd do is make sure to have a full backup of your important files. This is something *everyone* should be doing regularly, but it's especially important on an old computer, because they're more likely to break down.

Frank has my computer lesson CDs, so he knows that I recommend backing files up onto CD combined with "cloning" your hard drive onto an external hard drive as the best overall way to do this. The cloning process can be done using free software like XXClone for Windows, or Carbon Copy Cloner for Mac.

I cover step-by-step how to use these on my computer basic CDs available through my web site.

When you get the hourglass or beach ball that won't go away, there is something to try first before shutting the computer off -- in some cases it's just one program that has crashed, not the whole computer.

What you can do in this case is hold down CTRL ALT and DEL on a PC, or Command Option and Escape on a Mac (the Command key is the one with the Apple or the "propeller" logo on it).

On a Windows PC this will usually cause something called the task manager to open up. You can then find the problem program in the list in the window, click once on it to highlight it, then click the "end task" button. This can force the program to close and then you can shut down normally.

On a Mac, you'll get a window called "Force Quit Application" that works in a similar way -- you select the program from the list, and click the force quit button to try to force it to close. Then shut down normally.

But if this is sort of thing is happening a lot with any computer -- Mac or PC -- you should probably get it looked at by a professional to make sure there's not something serious going on. Looking at problems promptly can help you avoid them getting worse (and more costly!).