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DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
January 15, 2006
Q.
What is SCRIPT and what does it do? This
morning when I tried to start a program a
dialog box saying an error has occurred;
access denied. Do you want to continue
running scripts? YES/NO. I guessed yes
which apparently was the wrong answer
because after that, the icon was totally
unresponsive. I restarted the computer &
then it worked normally.
A.
Script is a term given to a set of computer
instructions that are followed to perform a
given task, usually by a program other than
the normal operating system.
When a
program is started up, there may be a few
or, several hundred different individual
instructions and program parts that need to
be started in a given sequence. If step #2
failed to initiate for whatever reason, then
step #3 cannot do its thing as it should,
and you get a script error. In your case,
the current step apparently needed access to
something that as supposed to be there, but
wasn't, and since it couldn't find what it
needed, access was denied.
When you get a script error, there really
isn't a correct YES/NO answer. If you answer
no, the whole process is stopped, or
sections skipped, and rarely will the
program that you are trying to start up work
correctly with all of its features
operational. However, if you choose yes, and
there is still an apparent problem, the
whole process may stop, and refuse to
continue or restart.
In earlier versions of windows, when
something like this occurred, the whole
computer could lock up, and nothing would
work. In XP, only the program causing the
problem will shut down, and not restart.
Everything else on the computer should
continue to work.
If you knew what individual component of the
program caused the problem, you
might be able to open the task manager,
(press CTRL+ALT+DEL and click the Processes
tab) find and close the offending program
part, and then be able to re-start the
program. However, in most cases re-starting
Windows will cause everything to close, and
as you found out, usually fix the problem.
This is not a serious condition unless it
occurs all the time with the same program.
Just the computer getting confused. When you
realize that Windows XP alone has over 50
million lines of code, could be performing
several different operations simultaneously,
and then you try to start up another outside
program on top of all that, it is a wonder
that things like these don't occur more
often that they do.
Q.
What is Beta software?
A.
In software development, a beta test is the
second phase of software testing in which a
selected portion of the intended audience
tries the product out. These people are
called Beta Testers. (Beta is the second
letter of the Greek alphabet.) Good beta
testers try to do unusual things to the
software to see if they can "break" it.
Errors found are reported, and fixed for the
next release. it is not unusual to have
several beta versions tested.
Alpha
software is the first phase of testing in a
software development process. This is done
in house and includes unit testing,
component testing, and system testing. After
beta comes RC, Release Candidate stage, and
finally the RTM, Release To Manufacturer.
Beta test versions of software are now
distributed to a wide audience on the Web
partly to give the program a "real-world"
test and partly to provide a preview of the
next release.
If a
problem is discovered after the software has
been released, some companies release a
"Service Pack", and others a incremental
upgrade. |
