The Computer Club Newsletter

November 2002

By Ron Uncapher

The next meeting of the Tellico Village Computer User Club will be on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2002, 7:00 PM at the Yacht Club. The program will include Gary Nye. His topic will be "Digital Cameras – Technical Point of View". How is a digital camera different from a "film" camera? Learn what is necessary to make an informed decision when you select a new digital camera based on what you plan to use your camera for. Find out how to transfer pictures to your computer. Learn about an inexpensive photo editor and how to make quality prints from your photos. Gary worked with Eastman Kodak in Rochester, NY before moving to Tellico Village. He was a Test Engineer in their Digital and Applied Imaging Department and knows digital cameras "from the inside". Every one is welcome.

This month’s subject has been borrowed from the January 2000 issue of the Georgetown User Club newsletter, no author listed. The material is for information only. I am not advocating that you run to you PC and start moving files. But we have all seen a message at one time or another about something called a "DLL". Hopefully, this will clear up the subject a little.

When you go to clean up your hard drive by eliminating some programs, and this has to be done by searching out and individually deleting all files connected with the program, someone is going to advise you to be careful about deleting the "DLLs". So, what are DLLs?

According to Microsoft, a DLL (Dynamic Link Library) is a file of code containing functions that can be called from other executable code (either an application or another DLL). Programmers use DLLs to provide code that they can reuse to parcel out distinct jobs. Unlike an executable (EXE) file, a DLL cannot be directly run. DLLs must be called from other code that is already executing.

In more understandable words, a DLL is a file that does a particular job, and allows other programs to use its efforts in assisting the program's job. Some programs use a DLL so that they won't need to spend time figuring out how to do that job. For example, Microsoft has a DLL "comctl32.DLL" that does the entire user interface job (toolbars, text boxes, scroll bars, etc). So, other programs use that DLL so they won't have to create their own edit boxes, etc.

When a program requires a DLL to run, and can't find it, it won't be able to run because its suddenly missing the DLL to perform some of its critical work. We've all used DLLs before and we're using them now. They're required to run all Windows programs, including Windows but you never actually see them at work. There are different versions of the same file name. Just because the file appears to be the same doesn't mean it is. To check what version the file is, open Windows Explorer; locate the file and right click on it. Select Properties and click on the Version tab. If there is no version tab then the file does not have a version number. Generally, if you have a newer version of a file, don't replace it with an older version.

DLLs are represented among other files as gears. If you have trouble running a file because of a missing or defective DLL, you should refer to FREEWAREARENA, http://www.freewarearena.com/drivers.html  that is a collection of Windows DLLs, drivers and other information.

Tip of the month: You can take a screen shot at any time in Windows 98 or ME by pressing the Print Screen key on your keyboard. This command copies a picture of the window (or screen) to your Clipboard. You can then paste the picture where you like.