2005 PC Doctor Columns

I must have changed a setting or something but when I look at a web site now, unless I hit the Refresh button, the page is an older version. I mean it will give me the newest one when I hit the button, but it seems like I didn’t have to do that before. Where can I see what the setting is? JC

When you open up Internet Explorer, go up to the upper menu bar and click on ‘tools’. From the drop down menu, select ‘internet options’. On the General tab and around the middle of the page, look for Temporary Internet Files. The third button over is ‘settings’. Click on that. You will see that there are options to check for how to handle stored pages. They are: every visit to the page, every time you start Internet Explorer, automatically and never. I have ‘automatically’ checked, but you can choose whatever you want. I suspect you must have the ‘never’ box checked. Click the OK button and close out the boxes. This should take care of the problem.

I have a small business and have a website advertising it. I would like to know if there are any other web pages that have a link to my site. Just out of curiosity, nothing important. CBT

Just go to Google at www.google.com and type in the following: link:yourwebsite.com where you substitute the name of your website for yourwebsite.com. So for example using the library website, I would type link:athollibrary.org because our domain name is org instead of com. This will take you to a list of websites that have your web site listed on theirs. Pretty easy! PC Doctor

I would like to remove a program that I installed but I don’t ever use and I think it’s taking up space unnecessarily. Can I just move the icon over to the recycle bin? Ann

Removing the icon does not remove the program. Usually when you try to delete the icon, a message will pop up and tell you this.

There are two ways to remove a program. Some programs have their own uninstall program and you can find it by going to the Start button, click All Programs and find the name of your program to be removed on the list. Click on it and if there is a removal tool it will say Uninstall. Just click on that and follow the instructions.

If your program doesn’t have this feature, then go to the Start button and choose Control Panel. Choose Add and Remove Programs. Find it on the list and then click the ‘remove’ button. Simply follow the instructions.

After this, if you find that your icon is still on the desktop for some strange reason, then you can just move it over into the recycle bin. PC Doctor

When I run Spybot to find and remove spyware, it keeps finding something called DSO Exploit and will not remove it for some reason. I’m concerned that something bad is going to happen, what is it? Mark

DSO Exploit is a bug in Internet Explorer. If you have all your Windows updates up to date (www.windowsupdate.microsoft.com) and the latest version of Internet Explorer, this bug has been fixed. Your computer will be fine even if Spybot still shows DSO Exploit to exist. You can just ignore the message that it found it each time.

If you want it to not show up in Spybot results, you will need to edit the Registry. This is NOT a beginner process and should not be done lightly. To be honest I don’t think it would be a good idea, but if you are still interested, please email me again and I will send you the directions offline.

Tip of the week: many people have been hooked by the new Suduko craze and been frustrated not to be able to solve some of the puzzles or by having to wait until the next day’s paper comes out to see the solution. You can go to Guy’s Sudoku solver at www.suduko.org.uk however and type in the numbers you have figured out. The Suduko Duck strategic puzzle solver will give you the answers you seek!

Simple question really! It’s broadcasting onto an iPod, hence the term podcast. A podcast is an MP3 file (audio) that is available on the Internet for download to your computer, MP3 player or iPod. It comes to you via an automatic feed or RSS. In other words, you subscribe to a particular podcast and as they are released, they come to you automatically. Think of it as radio when you want it rather than being tied to listening to a particular show at a prescribed time. The great majority of podcasts are talking rather than music.

You can subscribe to any number of shows or podcasts from talk shows to news programs. These subscribed websites will then download any daily podcasts to iTunes (which you can download at www.apple.com/itunes/) Ipodder (www.ippoder.org) or Odeo (www.odeo.com). You can then load them directly to your iPod or MP3 player to listen to them while jogging, walking or riding in the car.

You can even create your own podcasts, if you have the right equipment, and upload them for others to enjoy. Thus the potential downside, some of the podcasts out there are hard to hear or not great quality. But it’s like anything, poke around and take what you like and ignore the rest.

There are many, many websites to obtain podcasts. A few good ones are: www.podcast.net; www.podcasts.org and www.audio.weblogs.com. Check out National Public Radio at www.npr.org and if you look in the left hand column, you’ll see ‘NPR Podcasts’. You can get a complete program at this time, but it will give you an idea of how podcasting works. To find more websites, just Google the term ‘podcasts’ and you will be greeted with many sites to check out.

My computer date and time keep changing. I don’t know what the problem is. I go to the task bar and change it to the right time but soon enough it’s changed. What is wrong? Kurt

It sounds like you have a bad battery. You will need to open up the case and replace it. To do this, make sure you unplug your CPU. Ground yourself by touching something metal and then remove the screws holding the cover on. Slide the cover off and look for the motherboard (the main large board of circuits inside). On that board you will see a battery much like one you would find in your watch. It’s about the size of a dime or nickel and has a plus sign on the top. Head to the store to pick up a new one.

Simply remove the old battery and install the new one. Put the cover back on, plug in the computer and turn it on. Most computers will recognize the new battery but some will ask you to answer some basic questions in the BIOS. Do so, save and reboot. Then double click on the date and time in the lower right hand corner of your screen, change it to the right date and time and you should be all set. PC Doctor

Cool site this week – check out www.seatguru.com. If you like to travel (or even if you don’t), this site will allow you to see which is a good or bad seat on a plane. The right hand column lets you chose the airline you will be flying and from that, the model of the plane. Moving your cursor around the seats on the plane opens up a box that tells you whether the seat has extra leg room, noisy or under seat storage space among other interesting tidbits.

My computer is running slower and I’ve tried many of your suggestions but my little niece noticed that I have a lot of things running in the bottom blue bar. I remember once you said that having too many things there can mess things up. What should I do? RK

You can give it a try by seeing what you are loading when your computer starts up. The icons in your system tray (the blue bar you were talking about) indicate what programs are loading up when you start the computer. To find out, go to the Start button and click on Run. In the box that opens, type in MSCONFIG and click OK.

Another box will open up which is the system configuration utility. Choose the ‘startup’ tab and you find listed all the items you are loading at startup. You will need to decide whether you need these items to load up or whether you use them infrequently so that starting them as you enter the program is enough. Everything that loads up takes up valuable memory, thus slowing down some applications. Some of the stuff listed will be goobledy gook to an unfamiliar user, so I’ll try to make it easier. Next to the ‘startup item’ column is the ‘command’ column. Most items will start with C:\Program Files\ and then the program. (If you can’t see the full name, just move your mouse over the gray bar that the words ‘command’ and ‘location’ reside on. There is a little vertical line between them that if you hover your mouse over it will turn into a double headed arrow with a cross. Click your left mouse button, hold down and slide the mouse to the right. This will open up the window so that you can see the full command line.)

Programs that you are sure you don’t need to open every time, just uncheck the box. If you are not sure what they are, you can go to www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php on the Internet to see what they are for. However, if you just get rid of the few that you know what they are, you might free up your computer enough so that you don’t have to worry about the others. Remember to reboot your machine after making this change.

Later if something doesn’t work properly you can go back in and reverse the changes by re-checking the boxes.

I have a bunch of floppy disks that I used for my Macintosh computer which I have since gotten rid of. I purchased a new computer that is IBM compatible. Can I still use these disks?

Yes you can, you will just need to format them. If your My Computer icon is on the desktop, double click on it or else go to the Start button, Programs and then My Computer. Look for the A: drive, right click on it and choose ‘format’ off the drop down menu. Follow any on screen instructions. It will eventually ask if you want to format another disk, just continue inserting and formatting your disks until you are done.

One caveat though, if these disks are old and were used repeatedly, you might want to consider just chucking them into the trash and getting new ones. Like video tapes, continued use can deteriorate the quality of the disks.

Another quick tip – while searching on the Internet (and if you use Windows XP), you can save some keystrokes by typing in only the name of the website you are looking for, for example athollibrary and then holding the Control (CTRL) key and hitting the Enter key. Like magic your computer will insert the www at the beginning and the .org at the end. Works for most websites, but not all. It’s fun to try it though!

With the holidays coming, I was thinking of getting my teenage son the stuff he needs to begin (what he calls) geocaching. As you can imagine, I’m not familiar with that so I was hoping you could help out. It sounds like some kind of computer thing. Bev

Funny you should ask! The library is holding an introduction to geocaching on Monday, December 19 at 6:30 p.m. Tom Lozier from the Athol Fire Department will be talking about the equipment you will need. The unit is called a GPS. Geocaching enthusiasts Joanne Deacon and Spencer Marshall will talk about the hobby itself and explain how you can get involved. It is free and open to the public so come armed with your questions and I’m sure they will be able to help you out. PC Doctor

I was wondering if I wanted to cut and paste part of an email into a paper I’m doing whether I can do that?

Yes, you can. Just highlight the section you want with your mouse, then either hit the control (CTRL) key together with the C key to copy it. Go to your word processing document, place the cursor where you want the text and hit the control (CTRL) key again but this time together with the V key. You could also go up to the Edit menu and select ‘copy’ first and then ‘paste’.

If you find that the text you want to copy is full of >>> (forward arrows) which indicates that it is from a forwarded message, just go up to Edit and click Replace. (This is instead of going through the whole message and hitting the delete key). In the box that opens, just click the ‘replace’ tab and type a forward arrow in the ‘find what’ box. Leave the ‘replace with’ box empty as you want to replace it with an empty space. Click the ‘replace all’ button and you’re all set!

I’ve been following a local news and gossip website for a long time and recently the person changed the format to something called a blog. It says on the site that I can get my own blog to say what I think and a link will be created? I’m not really sure what a blog is and how to get one? It looks like the one mentioned www.eblogger.com costs money. Can you help? Anonymous

A blog is short for web log and is a website where people can post just about anything from photographs to their inner most thoughts. Some are amazingly personal and are diaries of people’s lives. Others are informational. A good free place to get a blog for yourself is owned by Google at www.blogger.com. Pretty much, the directions are laid out there for you – create an account, name your blog and choose a template.

It also describes what a blog is, what types of things you can post there and allows you to search other peoples’ blogs. You can choose to allow others to comment on your blog or not.

There are numerous ways to get a blog besides the two mentioned, just type in blogs in Google search and then decide where you would like to get a blog from. Good luck!

My computer has only two USB ports which I’ve already used to hook up my printer and my mouse. I want to get a scanner and maybe a backup drive and it seems like everything these days comes with a USB connection. Is there anything I can do? Rich

Yes, you can either purchase a USB hub with four slots that will take one of those two slots on your computer (but then you can plug the equipment into the hub) or you can get an expansion card.

Adding the hub is very quick and easy. Just head to the computer store, pick one up, plug it in and follow the onscreen setup instructions. Some hubs may require that you plug it also into an electrical outlet. These hubs are an advantage in that they won’t be trying to get power from the computer potentially slowing down your devices. The downside is that you can’t upgrade the speed using this method and sometimes some peripherals require more juice (if you’ve chosen a self powered model).

An expansion card is easy enough if you are comfortable opening up your computer. You need to ground yourself to avoid static electricity and open up your CPU or computer case. Find an empty slot and carefully rock the card into the slot until it clicks. Screw it in and power the computer back up. When you are sure it is working, power it back down and re-attach the case.

My daughter who is addicted to Instant Messenger just informed me that she spilt her coke on the keyboard. I told her to turn it off immediately and leave it until I figure out what to do. Great, after I told her no food or drink near the machine. So she’s suffering withdrawal of sorts while waiting for your answer. What should I do?

Well, the easiest solution is to head to the store and buy a new keyboard. You can get one for as little as $10. The other answer is to unplug it from the computer, dump out any liquid still in there over the sink, and open it up. Lightly rinse off the circuit board and keys with a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and demineralized water, wipe it carefully and let it dry. Assemble it and plug it back in. If it works, you’re golden, otherwise you’ll have to resort to my first suggestion which is – buy a new one.

Wish the library would have another digital camera class but in the meantime I have a problem. I have a digital camera which works just fine and worked good with my old computer. I got a new computer for my birthday but the connections between the two won’t fit. The camera cord has a different end that doesn’t fit anywhere in my new computer. Is there anything I can do? I hate to buy a new camera now too.

Unless the camera manufacturer can offer a new USB cord (because that is what you are probably be looking for), the easiest solution is just to purchase a memory card reader. They start as low as $35 and you can get one from a computer store or online. If you go to a store, you can bring the camera with you so the associate can make sure the one you buy will read your specific card. Some readers will comprehend more than one kind of card.

Then you will just take the memory card out of the camera and attach it to your new memory card reader (which you have already connected to the USB port of your computer). The reader will search for and recognize your card and then you can transfer your pictures to your computer. This should work just fine.

Did you know? I found out this weekend that you don’t have to go to a Western Union office to send money anymore. You can just go to www.westernunion.com and you can transact all kinds of business there and avoid the drive to the nearest office which for us is in Amherst. It just goes to show the wide variety of services available on the Internet which can save you time and gas money.

I put some documents on a CD and now when I try to open them up to make some changes; it just says to me that it is ‘read only’. I don’t understand why, I used to use floppy diskettes but then when I got a new computer that for some reason didn’t come with a floppy drive so I’m stuck with CDs. But this is very frustrating since I have to hand over my work to another department on CDs but I can’t make the changes I need to. Can you help?

A couple of things here. First if you really want to use floppy disks, you can purchase a USB external floppy drive from a computer store that will allow you to do this. They cost around $50-75.

However if you are required to use CDs then you need to be aware that you can’t change data on a CD. What you need to do is copy the document to your hard drive, make your changes and then burn or save it again onto your CD (provided there is room on it). If you have a rewritable CD, you can format it and write on it again but you still can’t open and save like you can with a hard drive or floppy. CDs are pretty inexpensive so just open your document and continue making your adjustments, burning it again onto the CD until it’s full and then get a new one. Sorry not to have better news, but it’s the limitations of CDs but certainly following this method you can work around it.

Whenever I try to type something in Word, it will suddenly capitalize some words that I don’t want capitalized. Why is it doing that? Dave

You probably have the autocorrect feature turned on. This is a little feature that will correct many of your mistakes and but unfortunately, others that it perceives as mistakes but is perhaps something you really meant to do. To turn it off, just go up to Tools, click Autocorrect Options and uncheck the boxes that you do not wish to have ‘autocorrected’.

I just bought a new laptop (my Christmas gift to myself!) and had all the data transferred over from my old computer. One thing I can’t figure out is that I use Outlook Express for my email and before when I sent an email there was a BCC box that I used to send a copy to myself so I would have one. Now I only have To and CC. How can I get that box back? Annabelle

I see you are using your holiday gift early! I’m sure you will enjoy your new notebook and since I have switched computers on occasion, I know you will find other little problems or new features that take a little getting used to but the speed will more than make up for it!

On to your dilemma – one that is easily solved! Just act as if you are sending a new message by clicking the ‘create’ button and look at the tool bar on the box that opens up (not the main toolbar for Outlook Express). Click on View and select All Headers. Instantly you should see the Bcc box appear. You can close out of the create message screen and all should be right for your future emails.

In case someone is wondering what all the means, Bcc stands for blind carbon copy and Cc is carbon copy. The difference is that any addresses you put into the Cc box will display everyone’s email address that you sent the message to on all the recipients emails while Bcc will not. This is in case you don’t want all your intended email targets to see who else is receiving the message.

I have a laptop that is a ‘hand me down’ but since I’m just starting out, I think it will be fine for me. The problem is that I would like to use a regular keyboard and mouse (instead of the weird thing in the middle of the keyboard). The keyboard on the laptop is just too small for my manly hands. Also I wanted to hook up a printer and scanner and it doesn’t look like there are enough places to do that. Neil

You can simply purchase a keyboard and regular mouse from any computer store like Best Buy or Circuit City and plug them directly into the laptop. In fact if the screen is too small, you can plug a monitor into it as well.

Because you didn’t say what type of laptop you have, I will also mention that you can also buy either a port replicator or docking station that will allow you to increase the number of ports (or places to plug things in) available to you.

Port replicators do not add new features to your laptop rather they just allow you additional spots to plug in and also to manage your cords and cables better. Plugging and unplugging cables can cause wear and tear on your computer so leaving them plugged into the port replicator and just removing the single attachment between the two is easier on the system. Replicators typically cost between $50 and $150.

On the other hand docking stations, which also perform the same function of providing more slots, also allow you to add features like speakers, memory card readers and extra USB hubs. For this added privilege you can expect to pay between $150 to $500.

If you are unfamiliar with these types of devices or confused about which you need, take your laptop to the store with you so the salesperson can be sure which type will fit with your computer.

My friend just made a CD of an NPR program interview that I wanted to listen to but when I tried to play it in my car it wouldn’t work. Later I tried it on my computer and it worked fine. Why wouldn’t that work?

When your friend burned the CD, they may have burned them as MP3 files instead of an audio CD. Just as there are various formats of movies (VHS, BETA, DVD, etc.), music and audio come in different types of files.

MP3 is usually not a style that a personal CD player or car stereo can recognize. Normally you would purchase a player with a specific capability to play MP3 files. To make sure that you can play your CD in your car, if that is where you do your heavy listening, have your friend burn the CD as an audio CD. Just have him or her check the program they are using to make the CD. If they don’t have the audio option, a nice free program is available at www.musicmatch.com. If it still doesn’t work, try using a better grade of CD – some of the cheaper ones just don’t want to work in certain players. Good luck! PC Doctor

I bought an optical mouse when they first came out but now it’s acting kind of jerky. Do you have to replace these things often? Kim

Assuming that you haven’t dropped it on the floor and crushed it, it’s probably just dirty. Take a q-tip and gently run it over the optical eye (turn the mouse over and look for the red light). Also make sure that your work surface under the mouse is clean. Unless you are putting much heavier use than normal on your mouse, you shouldn’t have to replace it.

For those who are wondering what an optical mouse is, it’s the newer alternative to the wheel or track ball style of mouse. Rather than having to use a mouse pad that the wheel on the base of the mouse has to have contact with, the optical mouse (theoretically) can work on any surface and doesn’t need a mouse pad. It also has no moving parts that can wear out or allow dirt into. The lens can still get dirty however and a quick swipe over it should take care of the problem.

I was reading directions for some new software that I got and it told me to hover my mouse. I have no idea what that means, can you tell me? Chris

Hover means to place your mouse cursor near a particular menu item or icon and then slowly move it around that icon. When you do this, a text box should appear that will display what the function of that icon is. So for example, if you are on the Internet and have Explorer open, go up to the tool bar and slide the cursor gently or ‘hover’ over the button that looks like two green arrows going in a circle. A tiny text box should open up that says ‘Refresh’. If you click this button, the web page that you are looking at will refresh or reload. Sometimes you need to do this is your page seems to be locked up or frozen.

Each button on the tool bar will have a corresponding text box that explains the box’s function. Hovering over the button or icon just triggers this box to display. The important thing to remember is that you are not clicking on anything and to move it slowly. Hovering is nothing more complicated than that. PC Doctor

If I’m not using my computer for a few minutes, the screen saver comes on and then I have to move the mouse and type in my password to get it back up. Needless to say, at the end of the day I’ve typed in my password a million times. I end up moving my mouse all the time to stop the screen saver from coming on. Is there anything I can do?

It sounds like the settings on your computer are set for too short of a time period. Go to the Start button and click on the Control Panel. Find the icon for ‘power options’ and double click on it. A box should open up, just click on the tab for ‘power schemes’. On that tab there should be a section near the middle ‘settings for…. (it will list whether you have a laptop or regular computer)’. You will then have the options to set time limits for: turn off monitor, turn off hard disks and system standby. You will want to click the down arrow next to ‘system standby’ and increase the time. Then click OK and retreat out of the open windows.

Alternatively you can right click on your desktop and select Properties from the drop down menu. Under the screen saver tab, there is a setting there to control the time that it takes for your screensaver to come on. Since I’m not sure if your problem is the screen saver or the system standby, change one and if it doesn’t solve the problem, try the other.

Fun site to see: To see some really cool satellite pictures of your house (yes, YOUR house) from the air, open up Internet Explorer and in the address bar, type in earth.google.com (do not type the www) and hit the enter key.

Around the middle of the webpage, click on ‘Get Google Earth (Free Version)’. On the page that opens up, click on the ‘Download GoogleEarth.exe’ button. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention, that unfortunately you have to have broadband or DSL service; dial up is much too slow. Click on Run and it will ask ‘do you want to run this software?', click Run again. Installshield will open up, click Next. Accept the license agreement and click Next. Chose the complete install and click Next. Click Install. A box will open up that asks if it can send information, uncheck the box that says ‘I allow this information to be sent’ and click Next. Finally uncheck the boxes in the next window and click Finish.

It will download now and when complete, look on your desktop and there should be an icon for Google Earth. Double click on it and play around. It is really amazing to see the landscapes and photos. Remember that these pictures were taken within the last three years so the one of your property may have been taken awhile ago. Have fun!

I just purchased a new computer and because I’m on the road all the time, I also got an air/auto adapter to plug into the cigarette lighter. My associate does the driving so I can use my computer to work, so don’t worry that I’m using my computer and driving at the same time. Although I have to tell you that I’ve seen some pretty wild stuff while traveling from people reading the newspaper to shaving while driving! Anyways, I plug in the adapter and the light goes on, but then I plug in the computer and it starts beeping and shuts off. If I pull it out and try it, it just does the same thing. What is the problem? Al T

First off, let me congratulate you in concentrating on driving and not being distracted – I, too, have seen some crazy things on the highway! You didn’t tell me which computer you have, but you will need to check some things to determine the problem.

Look at the power adapter that you use to plug your computer into the regular electrical socket at home or work (not the one into your cigarette lighter). There should be a wattage listed, for example, 120W or 150W. The adapter you purchased MUST have the same rating or higher as the one on your computer adapter. I suspect very strongly that you have an adapter that is underpowered for your computer. If this is the case, you will need to return it and purchase one that matches. I had a very difficult time finding one for my own computer which has 150w and ended up going online to find one. Good luck! PC Doctor

I have a Palm pilot and I know it’s not technically a computer question, but I hope you can help me anyways. I have all my valuable names and addresses on it and I can’t believe I just lost everything. Someone told me to reset the thing and when I did, I just lost everything. I’ve started re-entering my names, but I want to make sure that this doesn’t happen again. What did I do wrong? Carol

The first thing you should figure out is how to synchronize your PDA or Palm pilot and your computer. You should have received software with your Palm that can be installed onto your computer and a cord that connects the two machines together. Then, using the software, you just ‘synch’ them regularly so that the information on both is the same. If you accidentally delete your Palm, you would just go into the computer software and select the option in setup for: “desktop overwrites handheld” and all your information would be returned to your PDA. Then if you’re making regular backups of your computer, you would have double protection.

I’m wondering if perhaps the person who told you to reset the Palm got you to do a hard reset instead of a soft reset (which is like rebooting your computer). To do a soft reset, you put a paper clip into the little hole on the back of the unit. A soft reset is used when your PDA freezes up for some reason. A hard reset sets the unit back to the original condition when you bought it, erasing all data on it. I don’t think I’ll describe that process, instead letting you refer to your user’s manual if that method is ever needed. Too much information and all!

For my email I use Outlook Express which I find very helpful. However for some reason the tool bar has disappeared. I can’t seem to find anywhere to get it back. I saw your suggestion last time about the window being pushed up into the other one but that doesn’t work for me. Is there something else I can try? Tom

Since you have tried my earlier suggestion and it didn’t work, I am assuming that somehow the option for the toolbar has been removed. To get it back, just open Outlook Express and go up to View and chose Layout. Under the top section labeled Basic, you will see a series of options with boxes in front. Just put a check mark in Toolbar, click Apply and then OK. This should put your toolbar back where it belongs.

I am getting a message on my computer that says files are corrupted or that Windows can’t find them. I am very worried about this message what does it mean? PTH

There are a few things that could be happening. One is that your computer fans may be working overtime to keep the hard drive from overheating and it’s not working properly. This can be because you have inadvertently blocked the airflow so make sure that cords, etc. are away from the fan (just listen for the fan noise and use your hand to feel where the air is coming out); that it is not too close to the wall or heat source, or that the area where your computer is is not overly hot. Humidity is not good either so make sure that the computer is not near a humidifier. If you suspect any of these causes, make the necessary changes and let your computer dry out (if too humid) or settle down for a day and then start up again.

If the messages continue, your hard drive may have some bad sectors. Try running the CheckDisk (Windows XP) or ScanDisk for earlier Windows versions. To run Check Disk, go to the Start button and click on My Computer. Highlight the disk you want to check (in this case Local Disk C:, go up to File and chose Properties. On the Tools tab under Error Checking, click the button that says ‘check now’. A box will open up offering two check disk options. One is ‘automatically fix file system errors’ and the other is ‘scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors’. Put a check in both boxes and click the Start button. Everything on your computer needs to be shut down or the program will ask if you want to run this operation the next time you turn your computer on. You can say ‘yes’ and later when you turn your computer off for the day, it will be ready to run the process when you turn it back on.

To run Scan Disk for Windows 98, again go to My Computer and right click on the C: drive. From the list chose Properties and then the Tools tab. Find Check Now, then Thorough, then Automatically Fix Errors and finally Start.

If these options do not help, you may need professional help as your hard drive may be failing.

I am interested in learning how to book flights and hotels online. As we have no travel agent in town anymore and I can’t get to out of town ones easily (plus with the price of gas) I am looking for some way to book a trip. My neighbor says that it is easy to book online so I want to give it a try. Gadabout

It is almost too long of a process to discuss all the ways you could book trips so I will talk about it in general but recommend that you get the September 2005 PC Today (www.pctoday.com) for a full review.

There are four popular sites for booking online travel - Expedia.com (www.expedia.com), Orbitz (www.orbitz.com), Travelocity (www.travelocity.com) and Hotels.com (www.hotels.com). Except for Hotels.com, all the others offer services to book flights, cruises, hotels, vacation packages and car rentals. I find I like to check each of them to see which is currently offering the best deal for my destination.

In order to begin searching, each site will require you to create a profile and you will log in with that profile each time you access the site. Be sure to write down your login name and password for future reservations (to make it easy, just chose the same user name and password for all websites). Each website allows you to type in the dates of your expected travel, how many travelers, the destinations and so forth. As you are searching, you are not committed to purchasing anything. The only site that allows you to save your searches for possible later booking is Expedia, however.

After you do all your searching and have chosen one, just fill in the purchasing (credit card) information and your receipt and itinerary will be emailed to you. Remember to save or print that information as you will need the reservation numbers and e-tickets for flights.

I find I do all my travel accommodations online now with great success. Try some smaller trips first to give yourself some confidence. For example, if you are attending a concert in Boston, why not book a hotel online. You can even search for nearby hotels to the concert address. Most searches will list the hotel web address if available so you can see the rooms and additional packages.

That being said, you can also book directly with the hotel or airline themselves if you feel more comfortable that way. Just Google the name (i.e. Holiday Inn or Northwest Airlines) to find their website. I think you’ll find it is fun and easy to book online. Have a great trip!

All of a sudden I can’t open PDF files from the Internet on my computer. I’ve downloaded some new things but I don’t understand what happened. All I get is a tiny black square in the left hand corner with some stuff inside the box. What’s up! Joe

It could be a problem with your Adobe Acrobat settings. There are a number of different Adobe versions, so you might want to go to www.adobe.com and download the newest version free of charge. If you keep the one you have, the screens in the following directions might be a tad different, but should still be easy enough to figure out.

Open up your Adobe software and on the upper menu bar, click on Edit and select Preferences. This will open up a box and on the left hand side you will see a long list of items. Choose Internet and under Web Browser Options, check the following boxes: “display PDF in browser”, “all fast web view”, and “allow speculative download in background”. Click OK and close out of Adobe. Try accessing the PDF you want using Internet Explorer. Hopefully this should solve the problem.

How do I know which version of windows my computer is running? I want to buy some software and the boxes say which version of operating system it will work with, but I have no clue? Brainless

An easy way is to go the Start button, click Run and type winver into the box and click OK. This will tell you which version your computer has. PC Doctor

My modem got struck by lightning and my friend replaced it and I’m back in business. He suggested though that I should get a surge protector. What is that and where do I get one? Will it stop this from happening again? Peg

Without a doubt, yes. Surge protectors or suppressors help save your computer during electrical surges or spikes and lightning storms (although it never hurts to just unplug everything during a bad storm if you are around). In theory, the surge accepts the electrical problem and takes care of it before it can damage your computer.

That said, there is a wide variety of surge protectors to choose from in a wide variety of prices. Simply, the more expensive – the more features and warranties. Be very careful that you are purchasing a surge protector and not just a power strip. They can look alike but do not provide the same protection at all. They come in strips, rack mount, direct line and so on. Strips are usually adequate for the regular user. They range in price from $20.00 to $100.00.

You want to be sure that the surge offers a place to plug in your telephone cord. Plugging in your computer is great, but if the modem got knocked out, the power came in through your phone cord which is plugged directly into your computer! The new surge should come with a short phone cord. This gets plugged into your computer (replacing the phone cord that was there and which should now be plugged into the surge) and then into the surge.

Check the warranty. If the surge fails, does the warranty replace only the surge and not your computer? If this is important to you, be sure to check. Of course the price of the surge rises in price in comparison to the depth of the warranty.

Surge protectors don’t last forever and especially if you think you have taken some spikes, etc. you should plan to replace it regularly. Some protectors come with warning lights that let you know when you have taken a hit. Either way, change it once a year or when the warranty runs out.

If you use your computer often (especially if your work is on your computer), you might want to consider instead a UPS (which stands for uninterruptible power supply). This unit provides not only surge suppression but also acts as a battery which will keep your computer running if the power goes out. It gives you about 15 minutes to save your data and power down your computer safely.

For further consumer comparisons, go to Google and type “surge protectors” reviews. Remember when searching on the Internet, typing the search terms inside quotation marks gets you those terms together. So in this example you want surge and protectors together and the word review can be anywhere on the web page. Good luck.

My computer is making a clicking sound and I’m not sure what it is. It sounds like a tap, tap, tap on metal. It just started and since it’s a new noise, I’m a little concerned. What would be your diagnosis? Russ

This can be a cause for alarm as this usually indicates that your hard drive is getting ready to fail. Make sure that the noise is not coming from one of your other drives such as the floppy or CD drive. You can determine this if the sound is only heard when you are accessing a file from the CD or floppy. If that is the case, then you’re actually lucky because replacing either unit is easy compared to the hard drive since there is no data to worry about losing.

Since I’m assuming that you are a beginner, my best advice to you would be to call a technician (several are advertised in the Athol Daily News and the phone book) or go to a computer store. If your hard drive is getting ready to fail, you may need professional help to back up your valuable data and install a new hard drive. PC Doctor

I am a new computer user with lots of questions but my first one is about email. I have an email account with Hotmail and would like to use Outlook Express because my friend said that is a good way to save your emails in folders. She said she can show me how to set those up, but we can’t figure out how to get Express to put my email into there to begin with. Her daughter who lives in California did it for her. Can you help me do this? Pat

I think your friend has a great suggestion, particularly with Hotmail which doesn’t give you lots of storage space unless you purchase an upgrade. That means that if you continue to store your email on Hotmail’s server, eventually your inbox will become full and it will start rejecting your new, incoming mail. Best to use Outlook or Outlook Express and move it there.

Open Outlook Express and go up the menu bar and click on Tools. Select Accounts and click on the ‘mail’ tab. Over on the right click the ‘add’ button and choose ‘mail’. A box will open that will ask you to type in your display name. This is the name you want people to see when your email is displayed on the recipient’s computer. Fill in and click Next. You will then be asked to type in your email address. Click Next.

The next screen asks what kind of incoming mail server you have. Choose http and in the following box choose Hotmail as your mail server. Click Next. On the following screen type in your email address (there is an example to follow) and enter your password. Check the box that says ‘remember password’. Click OK.

Now when you sit down at your computer, simply open Outlook Express (via your start menu or by the icon on the desktop) and it should both send and receive your mail. If you have more than one email account, just follow the above procedure for each one. Outlook has the ability to manage a number of email accounts at once. When your friend makes your folders for you, you just click on the email messages and drag them over to the appropriate folder.

The print on the Internet is too small for me to read. I even got new glasses and it’s just too little. Is there anything I can do short of using a magnifying glass? Ann

When you have Internet Explorer open, just go up to the upper menu bar and click on View. Off the drop down menu, chose Text Size. You will then have the choice to select from the following: largest, larger, medium, smaller, smallest. Just click on the one you want. Simple fix! PC Doctor

Someone gave me a document and when I try to open it to change something it says it is ‘read only’. That doesn’t do me much good, is there anything I can do about it? TomB

I’m not sure from your question whether this document was emailed to you as an attachment or on a CD or DVD. It may be that your CD or DVD is not a re-writable disk so when your friend saved it, that’s it. You can look at it but not change it. However, there is a workaround (isn’t there always!) that you can easily use.

Open the document on your computer and then save it to your hard drive by going up to the upper menu bar and choosing File and then Save As. Choose to save on your C drive in your My Documents folder (or wherever you save things) and then name the file whatever you want and click Save. Close out of the document.

Now you want to change the properties so that your document is no longer read only. Go to the menu bar again, click on File and Open. Don’t open it yet. Instead right click on the file name and choose Properties off the drop down menu. Click on the General tab and look down near the bottom under ‘attributes’ and uncheck the box for ‘read-only’. Click OK. This should allow you to open the document and make as many changes as your little heart desires.

Handy tip for today. If you tend to have a lot of programs open at once and like to shift between them (for example if you are working on a paper and using the Internet at the same time to search for information), you will find using the ALT and TAB key combination addictive. Hold down the ALT key with your thumb and use your little or ring finger to tap the TAB key. As you tap the TAB key a little window opens in the middle of the screen and you will see the names of your open programs one after the other. When you see the program you want to use, just let up on the ALT key. This saves lots of time reaching for and positioning the mouse.

For some unknown reason your computer cannot start up normally. You may have added new hardware or software that isn’t compatible. The computer is taking a safer method of starting by using what is called Safe Mode, an alternative way to boot up. Reasons why you may be starting in Safe Mode could also include: hardware conflicts, the computer was shut down improperly, device drivers are bad or missing, viruses, or system files were changed. You can tell you are in Safe Mode because the words Safe Mode appear in the four corners of the screen and the size (resolution) of the screen will look differently.

Safe Mode is there to help you troubleshoot and as such, all the niceties of your system may not be available like your network printer, scanner or even your Internet connection. You should still be able to use the Control Panel and other troubleshooting parts of the system.

Once operating in Safe Mode, run Scan Disk and Defrag (or Checkdisk in early Windows editions) found by hitting the Start button, choosing All Programs, then System Tools and finally under Accessories. Hopefully this will solve your problem and then you can reboot the machine and it will reboot in to a normal state. Good luck.

Greetings from a former resident and ADN Reader in South Florida. We enjoy reading your column, it’s great to have a place to e-mail for help. With reference to Bill's note about attachments. I have asked the folks on my e-mail buddy list to put something in the subject to let me know what the attachment they send me is. Pics of Reunion, funny cartoon, note from Joan etc. It works for me. If there is nothing in the subject I e-mail them to ask, call them to ask (do people ever use phones anymore?) or delete the email.

On a lighter note....I sold cell phones here for several years. I chose to have one and because it was such a great way to go I eliminated my home phone and made my cell my primary line of communication. I have my computer (broadband cable hook up-NO phone live required) with which I also communicate to better then 80% of the people I stay in touch with on a regular basis. I have been doing this for better then 8 years. Recently my youngest daughter moved home and had a phone installed. My oldest grandson has lived here all his life and chose to use the new house land line. He dialed his friend and then asked what is wrong with this? It’s beeping. He had never heard a busy signal as my cell phone says: ‘the number you’re trying to reach in not available, try your call later’! His response was...this is so old fashioned, cell phones are much better! We got a good laugh over that one! Keep up the Great Work.
Penny

Well, these kinds of email make my day. I love it when readers write in with other suggestions for questions they have seen in the paper. I also appreciated the humor and thought all you pre-cell phone folks would get a kick out of it like I did. PC Doctor

I got an error message while I was on the Net that said 400: Bad Request. What does that mean? George

Simply put, it means that the website you were trying to reach either doesn’t exist or is not available for some reason. It could also mean that you typed the address wrong. Try it again at a later date or double check the address from the original location that you first found it. PC Doctor

I am a new user. My son set me up with Outlook Express for my email messages. At first I wasn’t getting too many so I couldn’t get much practice but I took your suggestion and called some friends and relatives to ask for their email addresses. Now I may be getting more than I want, but I find it interesting to stay in touch. Anyways, not to ramble on, but I am getting little paper clips on all my email all of a sudden. Do those mean anything? I suppose I could ask my son but I think he’s getting tired of all my stupid questions and plus I thought it might be fun to try and see if I could email you. Thanks for your help. Bill

The little paper clips mean that there is an attachment on your email. An attachment is a document of some kind that your sender would like you to see. It can be a Word document, spreadsheet or some other file. In order to open that file, you will need to have a program or ‘reader’ installed on your computer to look at it. Rather than search around to see if you have the correct program, the easiest way is to click on the paper clip and then click on the file. When you do that another box will open up that says “mail attachment” and tell you the type of file (for example, Word document). There will be two buttons ‘open’ and ‘cancel’.

Now before you click on either of those buttons, I want to be sure that you are running an antivirus program regularly, such as Norton, McAfee, AVG or whatever you have installed on your computer. If I am going to open an attachment, I will run my antivirus check prior just to be on the safe side. Also I would suggest that you do not really want to be opening attachments if you do not know what they are. You can email the person back and ask them first. Viruses come through attachments so unless it is important, ignore them and delete the message as usual. You can also go into your settings and protect yourself somewhat. Open up Outlook, go up to the upper menu bar and choose Tools. Scroll down to Options and click on it. In the box that opens, choose the Security tab. Put a check in front of the sentence ‘Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus’. Click on OK.

However, on the other hand, if you want to continue, then click on the ‘open’ button and it should open up.

I have a Lexmark 3-in-one printer connected to my iMac. When printing pages, the right edge of the paper has a wide margin and is usually missing information. It is as though the page isn't centered on the paper. There is no manual adjustment to the printer itself (like moving the paper rack) that I can see, and I cannot find where the settings are to adjust the pesky margin. Can you help?
A Faithful Reader

Dear Faithful Reader:

Printers are a particular bugaboo with computer users. I’m not sure which OS you are using but here are a couple of easy things you can try first. Try changing the settings. Select Document from the Format menu and type the widths for the left and right margins or choose Mirror Facing Pages (which will make the margins the same on both sides). Alternatively open up a document to be printed, choose File and then Page Setup. Depending on your printer and OS version look at the options available.

If that doesn’t work, you can try accessing the Printer Setup Utility by clicking on the Applications folder, then choosing the Utilities folder and select your printer from the list. Choose Printers/Show info and see if there are options to modify. Try printing both a document and from the Internet.

If it’s still not working, try this method for the Internet printing and see if this helps there. Open your browser and go up to File on the menu bar, click Page Setup and in the Margin section, delete whatever numbers are in the left and right boxes and type the number 0 (zero). Click OK and try printing again. This seems to work most of the time.

If not, on to plan B. Again go to File, click Page Setup and under Orientation, chose Landscape. This allows the webpage to print on the width of the paper rather than the long way. That way it allows the text more room, although it may take a little bit more paper.

As a last resort, you can try printing the frames individually by clicking on File and selecting Print. Chose All Frames Individually under the Options tab and click Print.

Ultimately it may be easiest to uninstall the printer and reinstall the printer driver(s) and or software to 'reset' it back to default settings. Just remove the printer from the printer list, install the software and add the printer back to the list. You may have the disk that came with it or go to www.lexmark.com and download the drivers from there.

If you are really stuck or nervous about trying any of this, go to www.apple.com/support/imac. In the middle of the page choose ‘chat with a support agent’. Since I assume that you aren’t already registered, click on ‘if you don’t have an Apple ID yet, click here to create one’. I have had good luck with these online chats as they are in real time so you are actually conversing with a technician. Good luck! PC Doctor

I just printed a huge paper for my summer class and it printed out in the wrong order. I had to arrange 50 papers to make it be right. Later when I printed a three page outline for it, it also went the wrong way. What is wrong with my printer? It’s a Hewlett Packard. Jon

All you need to do is change the settings for your printer to print your pages in reverse order. Go up to the Menu bar and choose Tools and then Options. Find and click on the Print tab. Under the first section ‘printing options’, put a check mark in the box for ‘reverse print order’. Select the OK button and close out.

You can also go to the Properties tab when you select Print. There is usually an option there to reverse print. In my HP printer, my option says ‘start printing from the last page’. I just put a check mark in that box.

I just downloaded and installed SP2 (service pack 2) and this guy at work said that there is a service pack 3 out now. What is that for and do I need to do that one too?

If you have Windows 2000 then you should download it. If, however, you have Windows XP there is no need to, although there is also a SP3 for some application software such as Office so if you want to be sure that you have all the updates, just go ahead and download it because it will do the necessary changes and leave out the things you don’t need.

I used to be able to crop and manipulate pictures in Word and now I can’t do that anymore for some reason. Any ideas? KF

With so little information, I can only offer you the suggestion that perhaps the toolbar to do the work is missing. You will want the Picture or Drawing Toolbar depending on your needs. Open up Word and go up (near the right hand side) of the upper bar where you normally see icons such as a little printer, choices for fonts and sizes, etc. and right click on a blank area (some place where there are no icons). A drop down box should open up and you can put a check mark in those boxes (Picture and/or Drawing).

Alternatively you can go up to the Menu bar and choose Tools, then Customize and click the ‘toolbars’ tab. Put a checkmark in the Picture box and another in the Drawing box.

When you do either of these, you should see the toolbar appear near your other icons at the top with options to clip, resize, stretch, etc. One important note, remember you have to ‘select’ your picture first to get the icons to work (they will be grayed out until you click on your picture to select it). Give me more details if this doesn’t work.

Special Tip of the week: if you’re having a problem remembering all your various passwords, try a program at www.mypasswordmanager.com. It can be downloaded as a 30 day free trial version and later purchased for $19.99 if you find it meets your needs. This nifty software will save your passwords and login information for your fave programs and all your financial data. It has special encryption that will prevent them from being stolen.

Dear PC Doctor,
Lately, each time I turn on my computer a program launches automatically, called Recover Pro. Is there a specific reason for this, or did I just push the wrong button at some point? I am a new PC user.
Thanks for your help. iMac user

Since I am not too familiar with Apple or Macintosh programs, I had to call in a little help from friends. According to one, all that needs to be done is to remove the item from the Start-up items. If you are using OS9 this will be found in the folder HD:System Folder:Start-up Items. If you are using OS 10.1 or 10.2 it will be found in the "Login" System Preference. If 10.3 it will be found in the Accounts System Preference. Hope this helps!

Because a friend told me I should go on the Internet and find a new driver for my scanner I did that. It worked fine before and now it won’t. What can I do? Cheryl

Unless your scanner wasn’t working properly, I’m not sure why your friend would tell you to do that. It may be that he or she is operating under the theory that you should update your drivers periodically. The advantage to this is that you may get new added features but the downside is that it may not want to cooperate with your computer. Either way, I’m hoping that you use Windows XP because there is a driver rollback feature that should do the trick.

Find the icon “My Computer” on your desktop and right click on it. Select ‘manage’ off the drop down list. On the left hand side of the box that opens, click on Device Manager. On the right hand side, find your scanner and double click on it. This should open another box with tabs at the top. You will want to choose the Driver tab. Find and click on the Roll Back Driver button. Close out the windows and restart your computer. Hopefully this will return you to the stage where your scanner worked.

I’m going on a trip soon and would like to take my laptop to get some work done and also to watch a movie to make the time go by. Will it get damaged in the airport security?

The biggest threat to your computer in an airport is theft. Notebook computers are a huge target these days in that they are easily taken when you put it on the conveyer belt or set it down while you get something to eat.

There are several things you can do to minimize this. Carry your computer in a non conventional bag. This makes it a less likely target. Make sure you have control of it at all times, don’t just set it down anywhere. Charge your batteries up fully in case security wants you to turn it on and prove that it is a functioning computer and not a bomb. Especially important is to take off all metal objects from your person that could set off the detector as you walk through the checkpoint and detain you, thereby letting your computer roll on past you on the conveyor belt. Put your laptop on the belt as your last item. Thieves will notice who has a laptop, position themselves in front of you and loiter after they go through hoping that you will be stopped for a hand wand check because you set off the metal detector. Then they can easily pick up your computer off the conveyor belt while you are distracted.

As to damage from the X-ray machine, your computer will not be harmed by it. If you have floppy diskettes, they can be damaged so have those out to be hand checked.

You may also want to get an extra battery or special mobile power adapter for your power cord so that you have more computing time available. Most batteries will not last longer than a couple of hours which may not even be enough time to watch a movie. You can get these items through a computer store like Best Buy or Circuit City or by contacting your computer dealer.

I am new to email and my son was nice enough to set me up with a hotmail address using Outlook Express. He has been very patient helping me to learn how to use it (not easy!). The only thing that really shocked me the other day was this email that I did not recognize and when I opened it, it was a really bad picture. I couldn’t believe it. I certainly don’t want to get any more of those. My son put on a thing to block junk things but he said he can’t block everything. Somehow they find a way through. Are you sure there’s nothing that could be done?

Well, I can understand your distress at finding an offensive picture where you are not expecting it. There are other blocks you could try, but setting up Outlook to display all your messages as simple text would probably be the easiest solution. That way, even if something got through the blocks, any photos would simply show as a red x. If you later find that there are actually pictures you want to see, just reverse the procedure I’m going to outline.

Open up Outlook Express, go to the upper blue menu bar and choose Tools. Click on Options and then on the Read tab. Look for ‘read all messages in plain text’ around the center of the box that opens and put a check mark in the box. Click OK to close down. Hopefully this will solve the problem.

I have some new software and it says it can’t open up unless I get Adobe Acrobat. I am angry that I have to go buy another piece of software to use this program. What is it for anyways?

Hold your horses! Adobe Acrobat can be downloaded for free off the Internet. In fact I’ll bet if you look at your CD for your new software, it may actually be contained on there and you could just install it from there. There is a pay version of Adobe, but I’m guessing for your purposes, you’ll be fine with the free version. It is a fairly universal program for reading documents. The advantage is that the PDF (or portable document format) standard gives you files that look like your original. It keeps the same fonts, images, graphics and layout so that the end user will see the document as you prepared it.

First off make sure that you don’t really already have Adobe on your computer. Go to the Start button and click on Control Panel. Double click on Add Remove Programs and search to see if you do in fact have Adobe. The newest version is 7.0 so if you have an older version, just chose to remove it now so you can start with a fresh slate.

Go to www.adobe.com and search until you find "Get Adobe Reader" somewhere on the screen and click on it. Follow the onscreen instructions which will ask for your platform (version of Windows that you have), what type of connection (such as dial up or DSL) and finally give you the chance to download. Continue clicking ‘continue’ and ‘download’ each time you are presented with a choice and finally choose either Save or Open. I like Open which just installs the software. If you choose Save, remember where you saved it. You will then need to double click on the downloaded file and install it.

Now whenever you have a program that requires Adobe, it should automatically retrieve and open it with your selected software. PC Doctor

July 25, 2005 Back to top

I listen to music CDs on my computer a lot while I’m working. Sometimes the music gets louder on certain songs and I’d like to be able to quickly turn it down. I notice on my son’s computer that the little icon that looks sort of like a horn is in the bottom bar and he can just click on that to change the volume. How do I get mine there?

That is an easy one. Just go to the Start button, click on Control Panel and double click on the Sounds icon. In the Volume tab area, make a check (by clicking) in the box next to ‘place volume icon in the taskbar’. Then you can double click on it or right click to open up the box to adjust the slide bar for volume.

Another thing you can do if you are using ear phones is to get a set that have a volume control on the wire that connects from the ear phones to the computer. I purchased a set like that and find it very helpful in making minor adjustments when I am listening to a movie or music.

Once in awhile I get a red x where there is supposed to be a picture (on the Internet). It doesn’t happen all the time but I wonder if why and if there is anything I can do?

The red x can indicate a couple of things. Pictures are inserted into web sites at certain spots and if you can’t see it, it can mean that the link to that picture has been moved or removed (by the webmaster of that site) and your computer can’t find it. This is not your fault, but a problem at the other end. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do about this issue.

It can also mean that your version of Internet Explorer or Netscape doesn’t have the capability to open the picture. Try updating your version (go to www.support.microsoft.com ) or try right clicking on the red x and if ‘show picture’ is available, click on that.

I was very pleased to hear from one of you with some great advice for beginning computer users (and experienced ones too!). He mentioned the use of the F1 key or help key. Many of you may remember we talked about this key probably three years ago, but it bears repeating and Brian does it very eloquently -

I think it would be very helpful to your readers if you notified them of the F1 key. The F1 key is an instant “Help” key for practically any software application. For example, pressing the F1 key in MS Excel and entering “alphabetic sort” will tell you exactly how to sort your excel spreadsheet data. Or pressing F1 in MS Outlook and entering “create new folder” will give you a step by step guide on creating new mail folders. The bottom line is when you find yourself stuck in virtually any software app, pressing the F1 key and searching will probably get you out of your jam 90% of the time. I think the majority of the questions published in your column would be solved very quickly and easily by simply pressing the F1 key. Brian

Dear PC Doctor:

I notice that I have a lot of weird addresses in my address bar on Internet Explorer. Every time I try to type in something a list pops up. I tried to use your directions to clear this and it works sometimes but not always. Is there another way to clear it?

Tom

Dear Tom:

There are several programs that you can purchase to clear items, called URLs, from the address bar as well as using the built in programs. You can Google ‘address bar URL remover’ to find them. An example is Smart Windows Cleaner at www.asktcl.com/shop/smartcleaner.html. There is a demo you can download to see if you really want to spend money on a product like this.

Another thing you can try is to right click on a blank spot on your bottom blue taskbar and choose Properties. When the box opens up, click on the Start Menu tab and choose the Customize button near the right hand side. In the next box that opens, click on the Advanced tab and look around at the bottom for ‘Recent documents’ and click the Clear List button. Chose OK and close out. This process is actually to clear out the recently opened documents on the Start button but for whatever reason will also clear out the URL history.

Finally just to make sure that you are clearing the history correctly in Internet Explorer, I’ll mention it again. Open up Internet Explorer, chose Tools off the upper menu bar and then Internet Options. Under the History section, click the button for Clear History. Close out of the box.

Hope this helps.

PC Doctor

Dear PC Doctor:

What is phishing?

Angelina

Dear Angelina:

Phishing (pronounced fishing) is not good. It is thieves hacking on the Internet and ‘fishing’ around for your personal information such as passwords, Social Security numbers and account numbers for the evil purpose of trying to steal your identity and get into your financial information. Usually you will receive an unsolicited email that may actually look like it’s from your banking institution or other government agency. It may say that you need to update your personal information and will contain a link that will direct you to their bogus website. Sometimes it may actually send you to the official website which can be confusing as you recognize this site as the place you normally go to. However, a pop up box will open up and ask you to fill out the information. This is the scammer collecting your information. You are now a victim of identity theft.

There are ways to protect yourself from this malicious piracy. You should not respond to unsolicited requests for your personal information whether they come through your email or on the telephone. Either ignore them or call the institution in question directly to find out what is going on. You should never give out your password or account information. Think about it for a minute. Why would your bank be calling or emailing you to find out your account number? In addition, keep close tabs on your monthly statements to be sure that everything on there is legitimate.

Finally there are three major credit bureaus that you can call to place a fraud alert on your accounts if you believe that you are a victim. Go to the Federal Trade Commission website at www.consumer.gov/idtheft to get the names and contact information and also to find out more tips on protecting yourself.

PC Doctor

Dear PC Doctor:

Someone told me that they thought you could put things in alphabetical order in Excel. Is that true? I have a long list of names and phones to type in for this organization I belong to and it sure would be easier to just type everything in and then have the computer put it in order.

Lazy

Dear Lazy:

I don’t call that lazy, I call it an efficient use of time! Just type the names in their own individual cell. So, for example, type Jones, Joe on the first line A1 (notice that the cells or boxes are lettered across the top and numbered along the left side). Tab over to B1 and type the phone number. Use the arrow keys to go down to A2 and put Smith, Suzy and so on down the line. Save your work. When you are done, just highlight the cells that have information in them and then go up to the menu bar and select Data and off the drop down menu choose Sort. A box will open up that will ask if you want it in ascending or descending order. Make your selections and click OK.

If it didn’t behave as you wanted, hold down the Control (CTRL) key and hit the Z key and it will undo what you have just done. Then you can start sorting all over again. Good luck.

PC Doctor

Dear PC Doctor:

I notice when I am downloading a game or something from the Internet that there usually a graphic that looks like paper jumping from one folder to another and then a red flash. I’m not sure what that is. Does it mean the download was good or bad?

Jake

Dear Jake:

No, it is simply to let you know that the computer is doing something, namely downloading. Often when the computer is performing a function a graphic will display (like the hourglass turning when you are saving) so that the user knows that something is happening. People tend to get impatient when they are waiting and nothing visible appears to be going on so they start punching buttons in an effort to get things moving. The graphic tells you ‘hold your horses, I’m still doing something’. It has nothing to do with whether your download was successful. The indicator for that is being able to open the downloaded program and use it.

PC Doctor

Dear PC Doctor:

I would like to change the font size in my clipboard because it is too small for me to read even with my glasses. Is there a way to do that?

Wanda

Dear Wanda:

Yes you can, but be careful because it will change the font and size in your other applications like WordPad and Notepad. But if that’s okay with you, here goes. Just right click on your desktop and choose Properties. Click on the Appearance tab and then on the Advanced button. Under ‘item’, open the drop down menu by clicking on the down arrow and choose Menu. Once you select that, you will notice under it there is a box for Font and to the right of that you can select the font type in one box and the size in the other. Choose the one you think you would like, click OK until all the boxes close. Hopefully you can find one that fits your needs.

PC Doctor

Dear PC Doctor:

I just bought a little optical wireless mouse for my laptop but I can’t get it to work. What could I try?

Paul

Dear Paul:

The first thing I would try is changing the batteries. You did realize that you have to put batteries in a wireless item? The mouse may have been sitting on the shelf long enough to allow the batteries to die. So the easiest thing is to try that (of course making sure that the batteries are in correctly).

If that doesn’t work, try turning off the computer completely. Unplug the USB connector from your computer and plug it back in (again while the computer is off). Turn the computer back on. Follow the instructions that came with the computer to make sure that you are pushing the correct buttons on the USB connector and the mouse itself and in the correct order. If you didn’t get directions, go on to the manufacturer’s website to the support section and find some.

Make sure that there is a direct line of sight while you are trying the connections. Put the mouse on a white piece of paper to minimize disturbances that may interfere with the optical sensor.

Last but not least, try the mouse on another computer. It may be defective and testing it on another computer can eliminate that possibility. If all this fails, call the manufacturer’s support line for some further assistance.

PC Doctor

I have a new XP computer and it does a weird thing every once in a while when I am on the Internet. It will tell me there is an error and shut off the Internet then asks me if I want to send a report to Microsoft. I can choose to send or not send. I usually send because I don’t know what else to do. Then when I go back to the Internet it works fine. What should I be doing? Bill

Internet Explorer may shut down for any variety of harmless reasons so as long as you can log back on and it’s not a chronic (i.e. every time I try to use it) problem, don’t worry about it.

As far as the message goes, personally, I don’t believe Microsoft is actually looking at these messages and responding. I have a computer geek friend who thinks we should all be sending Microsoft those messages as often as possible and try to flood their servers and then maybe they’d fix it. I can see his point, but for me, I don’t think it would really matter and would only serve to irritate me. So I have simply disabled that feature so then I don’t have to deal with it!

To do this, right click on the My Computer icon and choose Properties. Under the Advanced tab, select the Error Reporting button near the bottom right. In the dialog box that opens, click the radio button next to Disable error reporting and leave the check mark in the ‘but notify me when critical errors occur’. Click the OK button.

Dear PC Doctor:

When I bought my computer and went on to the Internet I had the computer company’s web page on first. Then I changed the company that I get my Internet access from and now their web page is up when I go on. Frankly I would really like either the Athol Public Library or the Athol Daily News to start up as I look at both of these frequently. Is there a way to change that?

Tim

Dear Tim:

The page that comes up when you open up Internet Explorer is called your home page. It is easy to change. Just open up Explorer as you normally do and then go to the upper menu bar and select Tools. Click on Internet Options. Under the ‘general’ tab, look near the top of the box for ‘home page’. Put your mouse cursor in the ‘address’ box and backspace over whatever is in there and type in the web address you want to see. Remember to put in the www. Then click OK and you should be all set.

PC Doctor

Thanks to one of our faithful readers for writing in with a suggestion for filling out forms off the Internet. Novice writes: “When I download a form I print it out then scan it back to the computer. Next save it in imaging and you can add text there. It's a little longer but once there you can reuse. Hope this helps.” We really appreciate you sharing your technique, Novice!

Whenever I send someone a photo, they complain that it takes forever to download. Is there anything I can do about that? Cheryl

I assume you are downloading the pictures from a digital camera. They are probably just too large so you can make them smaller which should help.

Go to the Start button and chose My Pictures. Find the photo that you want to send and right click on it. From the drop down menu choose Send To and from the next drop down select Mail Recipient. A small box will open up and you will want to place a check in the radio button for ‘Make my pictures smaller’. Click OK.

This will attach your picture to an open message box. Type in the recipient’s email address, type any message and then click Send. This smaller picture should be easier on the receiver’s mailbox!

Also if you want to send several pictures from the same group, just click on the first picture, hold down the shift key and click on the last picture. This method allows you to select a group to send. Then follow the procedure from above. Hope this works for you.

Every time I put in a CD in my drive, a window pops up asking what action I want to take or it starts to automatically run. It’s annoying. Is there anyway I can stop it from doing that. I want to decide myself what I will be doing with that CD. Tom

What you are talking about is the Autorun feature which automatically initiates a program contained on the disk regardless of your feelings on the matter. You may have different ideas about which program you would like to open the disk up with.

To turn it off ‘in the moment’, or as you are inserting the CD, just hold down the Shift key while you insert the CD. A little awkward, but it does the trick.

If you want to get rid of it totally, double click on the My Computer icon on your desktop. Find your CD drive (which is usually D: ) and right click on it. From the drop down menu choose Properties. Click on the AutoPlay tab and under “Select a content type, then choose an action for Windows to perform automatically when that type is used in this device”, there is a box that will list the type of media such as Music files, Pictures and so on. For each type of media you will click the radio button next to “Select an action to perform” and then scroll down to Take no action. Click on it and click on the Apply button. If you want to change any other media, do the same thing for each and finally click the OK button.

This is the procedure for Windows XP so if you have another operating system, please email me back and I’ll write up another solution for you.

Just a little tip for filling out forms online, especially if you don’t like using the mouse. The Tab key takes you forward in the document while holding the Shift key down and then hitting the Tab key takes you backwards. You may sometimes discover to your dismay that the Enter key does not work like it does on a typewriter and this tip should help you navigate around the page.

We recently upgraded a computer to Windows XP. The other PCs on our network can no longer access its shared printer. What’s going on? Business owner

By default, Windows XP will block access from the network if the user’s password is blank. This is typically the case on small business computers that are not used by the public, where it would be cumbersome to require employees to enter passwords. You can bypass this restriction through the computer’s “policy” settings.

On the Windows XP computer, go to Control Panel and double click on Administrative Tools. Once there, double click Local Security Policy. In the left pane of the Local Security Settings window, click the “+” (plus sign) next to Local Policies, then click on Security Options. In the right pane, near the top of the list, locate and double click the entry “Limit local account use of blank passwords to console logon only”. Click the Disabled radio button, then click OK, and close any open windows.

Apart from network sharing, blank passwords can also be problematic in other XP functions, particularly when scheduling tasks such as unattended backups. Hope this gets you up and running.

I had to fill out a form from the state for an application and I could open up the form but no matter what I did, I could not fill it out. I ended up printing it out and using a typewriter to fill it in. What was I doing wrong in case I need to do that again.

Most likely you did nothing wrong. It is amazing to me the number of applications available on the web that are write protected so that you cannot make any changes to them. I believe that if you are going to all the trouble to make something available to folks for download, it should open as a document that you can fill in and resend back out to them.

The most common government document downloads appear in the Adobe Acrobat software. Adobe is available online as a download for free. The problem is that the free version is basically a ‘reader’. You can display text and that’s about it. A fuller version of Adobe, available for purchase (and a fairly high cost at that) supposedly allows you to save the documents and then edit them. I have not found this to always be true and more often than not I am in the same boat as you (yes, I got the full version).

Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you can get around Adobe and ‘cut and paste’ the document into your word processing package. To do this, simply hit the Control key together with the ‘A’ key or go up to the top menu bar and chose Edit and then Select All. This will highlight everything on the document. To cut, hit the Control key along with the ‘C’ key or go to the top menu bar and again chose Edit and then Cut. Open up your word processing software and start a new blank document. Make sure you click the mouse on the new document so that the cursor is flashing at the beginning of this blank document. To paste, hit the Control key at the same time as the ‘V’ key or go to the menu bar, select Edit and then Paste. If you are successful the text will appear and you can adjust and reformat as necessary. I’ll warn you that this method works less often than it does. But when it works, it’s great.

Another method I tried was to purchase a program called Form Pilot (for a far lower fee than Adobe). This software basically acts a printer and you send the Adobe document to the ‘printer’ called Form Pilot where you can add a text box where ever you want to type in information. Sounds easy, right? Well, it does work but it’s somewhat time consuming and you have to add a text box for EACH line on the document you want to fill in. I’m sure there is other software out there that functions similarly.

So here’s where I get to ask for help. If any other faithful readers out there have come up with some ‘workaround’ or discovered a fabulous software package that allows you to do what Frustrated is asking for, please email me at info@athollibrary.org so I can share it with our audience.

In the meantime, it appears that you are stuck with that typewriter. I will tell you that whenever I end up being forced to do this, I email or write a letter to the organization I downloaded the document from and nicely suggest that they PLEASE make it so that in the future I can simply download, fill in (on the computer) and upload back. If enough people request this, maybe they will get it eventually.

I keep hearing about phone services using the computer but it says use broadband. What is broadband and how do I know if I have it? Hope your column keeps running, it answers questions I didn't know I had.

You will know if you have broadband because you will be paying for it! It is more expensive than using a dial up Internet provider. We’re talking $29.95 and higher per month for DSL or cable (a broadband service).

There are several ways that you can connect your computer to the Internet. One of the ways is through your telephone line. You need to contact an ISP or Internet service provider to give you additional software to allow this to happen. It typically costs around $9.95 per month. The down side to this is that unless you download other special software, you cannot use the telephone at the same time as you are on the computer. Another big disadvantage is the speed which is usually slow. A broadband service does come in on your phone line cable but it is different service and provides much greater speed (of course at an additional price). Also your telephone or dial up connection must be activated by your modem each time you want to access the Internet. During inactivity, it usually disconnects and you must dial back up to get on.

Broadband technology is commonly called DSL or digital subscriber line. It uses digital coding and standard copper wire phone lines to produce a medium that can transmit data (text, pictures and so on) at high speeds. There are two types of DSL. SDSL (or Symmetrical DSL) downloads and uploads information at exactly the same speed and is used most often for hosting web servers or networking a host of computers in business applications. It usually requires a static IP address which means that its ‘street address’ on the Internet stays the same so that other computers searching for it are able to find it. ADSL (or Asymmetrical DSL) is primarily used for home environments where users tend to download information more than uploading. Think of your own habits, don’t you usually download lots of web pages or games? How often are you pushing your own information out to another website? So for ADSL, the incoming speed is faster than the outgoing speed. As opposed to the static or unchanging IP address of SDSL, ADSL obtains a dynamic or new IP address each time you log on to the computer. SDSL is not as common because of the static IP situation and for home users ADSL is perfect.

A third type of connection is via your cable. Cable requires coaxial cable which means that someone from the cable company has to hook you up. (Alternatively, most DSL service providers will send you a self installation kit which is fine if you can follow instructions. This is the same for dial up connections.) Cable is also very fast but can, on rare occasions, get bogged down when two many users are on at once. This is usually a minimal problem except during peak hours when your neighbors are downloading tons of music and playing bandwidth sucking games. Other than this, cable speed is fairly predictable while DSL depends on how far away you are from the central office.

What do I mean by speed? Well, the rate of data transmission (how fast it gets from there to your computer screen). Compared to a dial up connection, broadband is 10-20 times faster. Cable is even faster at 2Mbps (ADSL is around 1.5 Mbps).

Another factor is security. As always, you should have your firewall blazing, your antivirus up to date as well as Adaware and Spybot running on a regular schedule. A dial up connection is only vulnerable to attack by unscrupulous hackers when it is dialed in or actually open to the Internet. Since a DSL or cable connection is always on, it opens your computer to constant attack. An added problem concerns IP addresses which hackers are looking for to ‘steal’ and pretend to be you while they attacking other systems. Long shot, but a viable threat. Dial up connections assign you a new IP (dynamic) whenever you log on, reducing your changes that someone will be able to find you and your IP. Since cable and DSL assign you an IP at log on, that IP address can be used by attackers as your computer is in the ‘constantly on’ state and thus open to assault.

But as I said, you can minimize all this by having all your available protections in place. Oh, and don’t forget to do your Windows updates regularly as they continually add patches and fixes to security leaks (go to www.windowsupdate.microsoft.com).

Bottom line – dialup/slower/cheaper – DSL and cable broadband/faster/more expensive.

Whew, that was such a long answer to an easy question, that we don’t have time for anything else this week!

My son just bought a new Palm Pilot which does amazing things from taking pictures to being a remote control for the TV and VCR. He keeps talking about Bluetooth technology though and I don’t have a clue what he means. You’d think I’d ask him, but sometimes he makes me feel like a dummy. I guess I should know what it means. So that’s why I’m asking you. What is Bluetooth? Sam

Bluetooth is a rapidly expanding wireless technology that allows two or more devices to exchange information within 33 feet of each other and not have to be in a direct line of sight. So why is this helpful? Well, just imagine your computer, mouse, keyboard, and printer to connect to each other WITHOUT the wires! You could actually put the printer on a shelf across the room and off your desktop. You could sit in the comfy chair with your keyboard next to you, the monitor on the coffee table and watch a movie. All possible when you don’t have to worry about the length of the cord and will it reach.

Unlike Wi-Fi and infrared or IR technology, Bluetooth does not need the devices to be pointed directly or in line of sight at each other. Bluetooth uses less power than Wi-Fi and can be set up for secured communications. It can also be configured so that your devices are paired together. This ensures that computers belonging to other users in the work environment or for multiple users in the home world do not conflict with each other’s.

One of the great uses include Bluetooth enabled headsets which are battery powered (and seem to last a long time) and allow you to utilize your computer and cell or cordless phone for music, etc. Just think, no lugging around all those extra cords to listen to songs.

If you own an RV and have a GPS (global positioning system device) for directions, Bluetooth will allow you to access your computer or your PDA for instant directional updates.

To take advantage of the new Bluetooth system with your old equipment, just go to a computer store and look for a Bluetooth adapter to plug into your USB port or PC card slot. Tell the salesperson what you are looking for and ask for help if you’re unsure. Install the software that will come with your purchase. Now you can buy your wireless printer, keyboard, mouse or whatever piece of equipment you want to use (make SURE it has the Bluetooth logo on the device) and off you go.

Just a little tip too if you want to beat your son to the punch with these new fangled technology advances. Go to the Google website (www.google.com) and type in the term you want to know, in this case ‘Bluetooth’ and websites will pop up that will explain everything to you. In fact, if you want to learn more about Bluetooth, try it out now!

I use a special software program for my job and I used to be able to hit the Alt key plus any key that was underlined in the menus to execute the command. When I upgraded to Windows XP, I can’t do it anymore. I thought this was a good thing to upgrade which is why I did it and now I can’t do something that I used to use a lot. Why would they get rid of that?

I’m not sure what your software program is, but you can fix that in Windows XP if you want it back. Just right click anywhere on the desktop where there are no icons and select Properties. Choose the Appearance tab and click the Effects button near the bottom. A list of items with boxes next to them will appear and you will want to remove the check mark next to the line that reads ‘Hide underlined letters for keyboard navigation until I press the Alt key’. Click Ok to save and then OK to close.

As to your other question, who knows why they take things out? I have found that very frustrating too when a much beloved feature disappears.

I’ve had a number of questions about obtaining a free credit report. As many of you noted, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) mandated that all consumers will be eligible for one free credit report by September 1, 2005. If you go to www.annualcreditreport.com it lists when different regions of the country will be able to get one. Of course you will see when you go there that the Eastern regions (that’s us) are the last group and won’t be entitled until September 1, 2005.

After that date you will have to apply directly to the FTC at the aforementioned website for your copy. Be careful when ordering your report because the right hand side of the website lists places you can order it for a charge. You want to be sure that you are asking for your once a year free copy.

Say hello to the world’s biggest idiot. At least when it comes to computers. I read computer magazines and talk to people and have managed to buy a new computer and get myself online. I got really brave and bought a digital camera and figured out how to take pictures and load them onto my computer. Wow, very proud of myself. Until I went to look for some of the pictures and can’t find them. They are not in My Pictures where they were before and they are not in my recycle bin which I haven’t emptied for about a month and I can’t seem to find them anywhere else. Any ideas?

Well I think it is very commendable that you have self taught yourself about how to use a computer. It isn’t easy and you should be proud of yourself. Don’t beat yourself up too much because, let’s face it, we all make mistakes and also forget where things are.

That’s why I have this handy tip that I use quite often when I’ve forgotten where I might have placed a file or photo. Look on your keyboard for a key that has the Windows logo on it (on the bottom row to the left of the space bar usually). Hit that key and the f key (together) and this will open up a Find window. You will notice on the left hand side you have the opportunity to look for pictures, files, documents and so on. Just click on pictures and type in the search box *.jpg which will search for all instances of files with the extension jpg (the designation for picture files). If that doesn’t bring it up try again with *.bmp which are also picture files. You should be searching the C drive which is where I assume your pictures are stored. If this doesn’t bring them up, then chances are you accidentally deleted them. This is the reason you should be doing regular backups. Then you could search the backup as well for the photos.

As a last resort, try reloading your camera onto the computer in case they are still stored there. Good luck.

I read in one of your earlier columns about not having Outlook Express set up so that your emails do not automatically open up. Then you can delete the junk and read the ones you want. Recently though, I’ve been having a problem with one person’s email containing weird stuff. I talked to her about viruses, etc. but I’m still not totally convinced that she is doing what she’s supposed to be. The point is I need to open her emails because they contain work stuff but I’m afraid to. Is there anyway I can be sure before I open them?

One way you can look at emails and feel good about it is to follow these steps: Turn off Preview Pane (View, Layout, Preview Pane from the menu bar), right click on the email message you want see, select Properties off the drop down menu, choose Details, choose Message Source. Although it won’t be pretty, just plain text, you will be able to read the message without actually opening the email. That way you can see if it is something you need to bother with at all.

Of course you are running all your antivirus software, updates, spybot and adaware regularly and your firewall is enabled? Right? This should help to protect you somewhat from any invasions and by following this method to open emails, you are further ensuring safety. PC Doctor

I really have a lot of trouble highlighting things when I’m typing in Word. I am a new learner and I can’t seem to get the hang of it. Do you have any tricks to make it easier?

It does take a bit of practice to get the hang of it. However there is one thing you can do and this method is very helpful even for users who can highlight fine but need to highlight large sections of text or across multiple pages. Just insert your mouse cursor at the beginning of the text by clicking, hit the F8 key and then click your mouse cursor at the end of the section you wish to highlight. As soon as you click, the text will be highlighted. Then you can do whatever you want with it, be it cut and paste, change the font or size or delete. This little trick should help you since it doesn’t involve double clicking or holding the mouse button and moving it at the same time. PC Doctor

I just bought some of that Avery badge kit which has the paper, plastic holder and pin. I was reading the directions to try and set up Word to print these things and it seems way too complicated. Isn’t there some way I can just make these without all this re formatting junk? Pete

If you have access to the Internet, you can go to the Avery web site at www.avery.com and download a template or wizard that will match your project. Once at the website, click ‘Software’ and chose ‘Blank template library’. You can find the correct template searching either by product or by product number.

There does happen to be a ‘name badges’ section where you may chose ‘inserts’ or ‘labels’. Just chose from the variety available and then download the one you want to your computer. It will put it on your desktop and then ask if you want to open it. Say yes and it will open up in Word where you can work with it. Be sure to save it as a template if you want to go back and work with it at a later date.

You can then drag the downloaded icon to your Recycle Bin on the desktop. This will not remove it from your computer, provided you have saved it in Word as mentioned above. It will just help to keep your desktop from getting cluttered. Hopefully this will be easier than formatting things.

I read your column online at the Athol Daily News website and really enjoy being able to access local information as I have moved out of town a number of years ago. Definitely worth the price to keep up on all my hometown happenings. Anyways, I will be coming home this summer to visit the folks who unfortunately don’t have Internet access. I understand from your previous columns that the library has computers to use there, but I have a laptop with all my work on it that I would rather use. I haven’t seen anything on your website about being able to hook up our own computers but I know my library here allows that. Is this service available from you or anyplace in town that you kn AJ

Funny you should ask that! In fact we have been working on it for the past couple of months, getting together policies and procedures from libraries that do offer wireless access, putting together a configuration that will protect our own network and testing it out. I am pleased to say that we do now offer wireless Internet access using a DSL connection. It is a powerful 802.11g access point which allows you to connect almost anywhere within the library and even outdoors on our picnic tables (when construction is complete and we are able to put them back!).

To use it, you must have a wireless 802.11b or higher compliant network card installed (or purchase one to go in a slot on your computer). If your computer is a Mac, you must have an Airport card. The software that came with the cards must be installed on your computer. Then just head to the library and when you open your browser, your computer should detect a wireless network called ‘APL Public’. Just click ‘Connect’ and you should be in business. For security reasons, we cannot allow customers to plug directly via cable into the network, you must have wireless capability.

If you don’t have the Windows XP operating system, we do have a troubleshooting guide that should walk you through common operating systems for connection. With our limited staff, unfortunately we are not able to spend time trying to get your laptop to connect so hopefully the booklet will answer your questions.

We also have limited electrical plugs to plug in laptops so please be sure to charge up your battery before you come in. We are still working out the kinks to allow you to print to our printer but hopefully that will be available soon too.

What’s the charge you ask? Free! Well, let’s be honest, it’s not exactly free but the library budget with help from the Friends of the Library are financing this new service. So please stop by when you’re in town and visit us.

I get family pictures in my email from a relative and they are too large. Is there any way to change the size to make them smaller? BJP

Typically when people complain of a picture appearing “too large” in an email they are most likely viewing a high pixilated image. A standard 4 x 6 inch picture typically has a pixel size of 640 x 480. When an image appears “too large” it is likely the pixel size is in the 1600 x 1400 range. This is not necessarily a bad thing since a larger pixel resolution will allow you to view more detail in your image and also allow better quality when printing larger sizes. A simple way of viewing your images in a standard 4 x 6 inch form is to use an actual picture viewing program. The pictures must be saved to the hard drive of your computer and then opened using a standard photo viewing program. Windows XP users have the functionality of Windows Picture and Fax viewer which allows the user to zoom in and out, rotate prints, view as slideshows, and also print photos using the Windows Photo printing wizard. You can right click on a picture file and choose the program to open it. Usually Windows has a default program for opening pictures even if you do not have a photo program. This is “photo management” in its simplest form. If this task seems confusing you may consider asking the person who sent the photo to you via email to resend it in a much lower pixilation.

Another thing that can be done is to insert the picture in the email message itself rather than including the picture as an attachment. I use Outlook Express and in it, you click on "Insert" at the top and then browse to find the picture that you want to include in the email message. That way, the one that you are sending it to will see the picture right there - rather than having to use a different program to open the picture.

Finally you may also want to try third party software. One of the best programs for reducing the file size of graphics is WebGraphic Optimizer at www.webopt.com. Optimizer allows you to import graphics files and converts them to GIF and JPG format with varying compression. It will display up to 5 versions of the original. Pick the picture that the smallest size but still appears OK.

I am having trouble sending pictures in my email. I have Outlook Express and have tried everyway I can think of to email photos. They always go through my Photo Impression Print Shop. I want them to download directly on the email page instead of going through opening up the print shop to view photos. I have even tried the picture block on the bar of options in the email itself and most everyone can't open it. If you could help me out, that would be wonderful. I read your computer page in the Athol Daily News and have gotten alot of info out of that. Thanks Rose

This seems to be the day for photo questions! The answer above may help you as well.

To change the way any file type is opened, go to your desktop and look for My Computer and double click on the icon or chose it from the Start button. From the menu bar, click on Tools and then chose Folder Options from the drop down menu. Then click on the "file types tab". Once in this area look for the appropriate file type, (for pictures it is probably GIF or JPG), click on it to highlight and towards the bottom click on the "opens with" tab and select the appropriate application that you want to open it with. Click the OK button and close out. You should be back in business.

All of a sudden when I turn my computer it asks me for the time and date. I feel like I must have done something wrong. I don’t think I did, but something happened because it didn’t do this before. I guess I can keep filling it in but if there’s some way to fix it, I’d sure like to know. CD

I’m assuming that you have an older computer (pre-Windows 95) and there are usually two reasons that you would suddenly get this message. One would be a missing set of instructions for your operating system that are needed during the boot up (or opening) sequence. It could be either the autoexec.bat or config.sys. Why did this happen? Sometimes it’s hard to tell but the bottom line is that you have to restore it from a backup or recreate it. This can be difficult for a beginner so you will probably have to have a computer tech or knowledgeable person help you.

The second thing that can cause it may be a little easier to fix. Most computers have a CMOS or RTC battery and it could be that yours has just died. To correct this, write down your computer model and head to the computer store to purchase a new one. Or check in your manual as to the location of the battery, open up the case and take it out so that you can bring it to the store. If you are hesitant about opening up your case, then take it to the computer store or call a tech. (These are usually listed in the newspaper or yellow pages of the phone book). I would probably try replacing the battery first as this would be the easier course of action and batteries are not that expensive. Good luck.

I borrowed a laptop for a class I am taking this semester and the teacher wants us to pass in the homework on a disk. Guess what? I don’t have a floppy drive in this computer. What am I supposed to do?

As discussed in an earlier column floppy drives are being phased out in PCs and in fact, are totally gone in Macs. There are a couple of things you can do however to solve your problem. The least expensive way would be to email your homework to a friend who can put it on a disk for you to hand in. Or plead with the teacher to accept it via email or on a CD. You can also email it to yourself and then go to the library, open up your email and save it on to a disk.

If this isn’t going to work out, you can head to a computer store and purchase a modular floppy drive for around $50. It is usually a USB connection and plugs into the back of your laptop. If you have the Windows XP operating system, it will automatically deduct the device and ask you to put the accompanying CD disk in the drive to install it. The instructions that come with the drive will detail other directions for other operating systems.

I keep having these Microsoft Messenger boxes popping up when I use my computer, even when I’m not on the Internet. Is there any way to shut it off? Thanks for having this column in, I have actually learned a few things.

If you are a Windows XP user, click on the Start button and chose Control Panel. Look around for “Administrative Tools” and double click on the icon. Double click on “Services”. In the alphabetical list that opens, find “Messenger”. Double click to open ‘Messenger Properties” and then set ‘Startup Type” to disabled by clicking on the down arrow and chosing it off the list. Then click the ‘Stop’ button. Close out of all the various windows after you click “OK”. This should get rid of the annoying pop up.

Dear PC Doctor:

There is a program that starts up automatically when I turn on the computer. I don’t want it to. And it’s really aggravating. Help me before I throw this computer out the window.

Bob

Dear Bob:

If the software is something you no longer need, just go to the Start button and click on Control Panel. Find Add/Remove Software, double click on it and then look for the offending program in your list. Click Remove.

If you want to keep it, but just have it stop loading at startup, go to the Start button, click All Programs and go to Startup. A list will open to the side when you click on Startup, just right click on the one you don’t want and click Delete. Reboot the computer and you should no longer see the offending program and your computer will be safe from exiting through the window!

PC Doctor

Dear PC Doctor:

Is there a way to tell if someone has read or received my email message? I never know and especially with work emails it would be nice to see if people are actually receiving them. I use Outlook Express for my email.

Rebecca

Dear Rebecca:

If you are using Outlook Express, just go up to the tool bar at the top (once you open the program) and click on Tools. Select Options and click on the Receipts tab. Under ‘requesting read receipts’ click the box that says ‘request a read receipt for all sent messages’. Then under ‘returning read receipts’, click the button that says ‘notify me for each read receipt request’. Click Apply and then OK.

You can also use a third party system. On a website that I frequently read, there are two that were suggested. MSGTAG – MessageTag at www.msgtag.com/home or
Have They Read It Yet at www.havetheyreadityet.com both offer free versions of their systems. They also offer pay versions so scroll down on their webpages to find the free version and download it.

PC Doctor

Dear PC Doctor:

I have a home business and use a barcode scanner on my computer to scan in the barcodes on the products I sell. I finally broke down and bought a new computer but there is no place to plug in my scanner. I’m panicked. I need to use that scanner and now I’m getting behind because it takes forever to type in the barcode number. Is there anything I can do?

Eric

Dear Eric:

The latest trend in computer design is to build ‘legacy-free’ devices. You have probably noticed that many computer manufacturers have already eliminated floppy disk drives from their standard configurations. Now, some new PCs (particularly the “low-profile” models) are designed without the standard “PS/2” keyboard and mouse connectors, relying instead on the more versatile USB ports for those connections. The absence of PS/2 ports is problematic as most barcode scanners also rely on this type of connection.

When ordering a new computer, check the detailed specifications to determine whether it is equipped with PS/2 ports. If not (or in your case as you have already purchased a computer), the scanner can be accommodated by an inexpensive adapter, which will allow it to be plugged into a USB port. PS/2 to USB adapters are available at electronics stores, or through your scanner vendor.

While legacy-free PCs are still the exception, they will certainly become mainstream for the future. When purchasing a new scanner, specify a USB interface instead of the traditional “keyboard wedge”.

Now once you get your adapter and try your scanner, you may run into another problem. Some of the new PCs are being shipped with a BIOS version that is too fast for the scanners. The scanners don’t have enough time to send back the necessary information once they have been recognized at boot-up, so everything just locks up. The fix is to download an older version of the BIOS firmware. Note that BIOS firmware is specific to each make and model of computer, and firmware versions are regularly updated, often in response to an issue such as this. If you have difficulty with this, just contact the dealer that you purchased your computer from. Good luck!

PC Doctor

I’m trying to run the defrag program that you mentioned once and it simply won’t finish, saying that I have programs open. I look and it doesn’t seem like I do. What is running that I don’t see?

The easiest way to tell is to hit the control, alt and delete keys together (Ctrl+Alt+Delete). The Task Manager will open up and under the ‘applications’ tab it will list all the programs open. Just click them one by one and hit ‘end task’ to shut them off. Close the window and you should be all set.

Dear PC Doctor,
I have been having trouble for a long time with my computer getting slow. Several months ago I read in your column about spybot search and destroy and I downloaded it for free and it worked great. I since then got another computer and I no longer have Spybot. I tried downloading it but it is not free. I currently have Adware SE professional and it doesn't seem to be fixing my computer. I also have Fix-it Utilities and that doesn't work either. I work but I don't get paid much so I cannot afford to pay for any programs. Is there anything that I can do to fix my computer without costing a lot of money? Please E-mail me and let me know if you can help.
Thank you
Slow and Tired

Spybot is still available for free; it’s just buried a little deep so that you will feel compelled to purchase it. The easiest way to find the free version is to go to www.download.com and click on ‘Most Popular’ under ‘More Downloads’ which is on the right hand side of the web page. There you will find listed Spybot and also Adaware. When you click on each program, it will take you directly to the free download instead of having to shift through things to find it. I’m also recommending that people download Spyware Doctor listed on the same page for free as well. Between the three and your antivirus it should do a pretty good job. Remember that you need to run them regularly (read weekly) to have them be effective. And also don’t forget to update them regularly too. When you open each program, there is a link to allow the software to search its website for any available updates. Hope that helps.

I have a resume that I saved on a computer at school but I can’t open it at home for some reason. What am I doing wrong?

I suspect that one of two things could be happening. First off you’ll need to check what software package you are using at home and at school. If the school is using ClarisWorks or Microsoft Word and you have Microsoft Works, then you will need to take some care when you are saving your document. When you save, look near the bottom of the window for a ‘save as type’ box. Click the down arrow and chose the program that you have at home. Click ‘save’.

Now if the software programs are the same, it is possible that they are two different versions. To check that, open the software, go to ‘help’ on the upper tool bar and from the drop down menu chose ‘About Microsoft…. (whatever your program is)’. A window will open that will display the version. The problem is that software is not backwards compatible, meaning that a newer version will read any older versions of itself, but an old version can’t read a newer one. Follow the above procedure when saving and simply save it as the older version.

Finally make sure that the computers are the same type – either Macintosh or PC. If you have IMacs at school and a PC at home, they just won’t understand each other.

The easiest way to do this is to go onto the Internet and go to this website www.karenware.com/powertools/ptdirprn.asp You will want to download Karen’s Directory Printer. It is a small file and takes just a couple of minutes to download. To give you an idea what it will do, here is a quote from the website: “Karen’s Directory Printer can print the name of every file on a drive, along with the file's size, date and time of last modification, and attributes (Read-Only, Hidden, System and Archive)! And now, the list of files can be sorted by name, size, date created, date last modified, or date of last access”.

When you download this new software file, it will not put an icon on your desktop. You will have to go to the Start button, choose All Programs and it should save it as ‘Karen’s Power Tools’. If you want an icon, right click on it in your start menu and from the drop down menu, select ‘send it’ and then ‘desktop (create shortcut)’.

When you open up the program you will see it is incredibly easy to use. You can copy your files and/or directories to a diskette, cd or file. You can print the list out. Just check and uncheck the options you want to see on your printout. If you copy your files, it saves it to Notepad so you can manipulate it further and change the fonts, type size, add and delete.
I hope this solves your problem! PC Doctor

I have been a MAC user for at least 14 years and recently purchased a PC. The computer came with all kinds of programs pre-installed. My problem is that I cannot get rid of the program Video Professor that automatically launches whenever I turn it on. I no longer need it, and would like to get rid of it, but how? Please help. Thank you,

Although the MAC and PC worlds have come closer together, there is still a learning curve to find out where everything is. It can be very frustrating! Your problem should be fairly simple to correct however. Once you delete this program though, be aware that it will be gone. It may still be on the CD ROMs that came with your computer though, so you might want to check that out first if you think you would ever want this program again.

There are a couple of possibilities to try. Go to the Start button, click All Programs and look for the Video Professor in the list. If it is there, go over to it and highlight it. If an additional box opens up to the side of it, check to see if the option to ‘uninstall’ is there. If it is (not all programs offer this option), just highlight that and click. A series of windows will open asking you such things as ‘do you really want to uninstall’ and so on. Just answer the questions and it should proceed to remove the software.

If that option is not available, then go to the Start button and click Control Panel. There should be an option labeled ‘Add or Remove Programs’, double click on that. A list will populate (listing all the programs you have on your computer). Find the Video Professor which will probably be near the end of the list and to the right you should see a Change/Remove button. Click on that one time and then follow the on screen directions. They can be different for different software, so it’s easier for me to tell you to just read along and answer the questions. This should get rid of the program for you. You will need to reboot the machine with either method to get it to take effect.

I’ve been trying to rearrange my icons on the desktop to group like things together and they just pull back to where they were to begin with. I can’t get them to stay in one place (where I want them).

You must have the Auto Arrange feature checked in your setup. To fix that, just right click anywhere on the desktop where there are no icons or writing. A box will open up and you should highlight ‘Arrange icons by’ and from the next menu uncheck ‘Auto arrange’. You uncheck just by clicking on it. This should allow you to move the icons anywhere you want.

I’ve enjoyed searching the Internet since I took the class at the library but one of the things you showed was typing the web address in the address bar and then hitting the go button. I’ve just been hitting the enter key because I don’t have a go button. Do I need to get new software? PC

No, I suspect that the option is not selected in your setup. To fix that, just open Internet Explorer, go up to Tools, select Internet options and click the Advanced tab. In the list under that tab, scroll down until you find ‘show go button in address bar’. Put a check in that box by clicking on the left mouse button. Click the OK button and your Go button should appear. You may have to close down Internet Explorer and reopen it for it to display.

Someone sent me a file in my email called dogs.pps and I can’t open it. What kind of a program is that?

It is a PowerPoint presentation. You need to have that software to open it. If you have Microsoft Office, you should have it on your computer. In the event that you don’t, however, Microsoft will allow you to download a viewer that will enable you to look at it. You won’t be able to change anything, but at least you can see it.

Go to www.microsoft.com/downloads and in the search box type in PowerPoint viewer. Because the actual web address is so long, this is the easiest way to do. You will see a list of available downloads for the various versions. I would choose PowerPoint 2003 because that will open any earlier versions of PP and you probably don’t know which version created the file you have. Once you have it loaded you should be able to double click on the file in your email and the viewer should open up. Good luck!

Tip of the week for Outlook users: If you’re using Outlook Express as your default email handler, this may help you control problematic, unwanted messages that could cause a virus. When your email comes into your inbox and you scroll through them, usually the message itself is displayed in the bottom screen which is called the ‘preview pane’. This could potentially cause nasty things to happen that you don’t want as the computer is essentially opening your email to display in the preview pane.

A better way is to install a preview pane button on your tool bar, turn it off to receive mail and then delete all the spam, junk or otherwise unwanted emails. When you have reduced your list to those emails you want, just click the preview pane button to once again have the email displayed. To install the preview pane button, just right click on a blank area of your tool bar and select ‘customize’. In the left hand box, scroll down until you see ‘preview’. Highlight it and click the ‘add’ button. It should move over to the right hand side of your current toolbar buttons. Click ‘ok’ and you should see a new button on your toolbar called ‘preview’. It is like a toggle button and you just click on it to turn it on and off. How do you know which is which? Well, click on it and watch your bottom screen disappear. Click again and here it comes back.

Dear PC Doctor:

A friend told me that my computer would run faster if I had more ram. What is that and how do I know how much I have or what I need? Jim

Dear Jim:

It’s true that more RAM will not only make your computer run faster, it will allow you to perhaps run some programs that previously you may not have been able to and also let you open more programs at one time.

To see what you have, just go to the Start button, click on Control Panel and look around for the System icon. Double click on that and on the General tab, you should see the RAM you have displayed at the bottom or close to it.

Now as to what you need (provided you are attempting this yourself), I like this website which will allow you to plug in your exact computer and model and give you a suggested amount of RAM www.crucial.com. If you’re having trouble with it, just click the ‘scan my system’ button and let the software have a look at your system. The results should tell you what you have and what would be required to upgrade.

That being said, just be aware that this is also a commercial site and they will also sell you the RAM you need. You are not required to purchase from them to get your system assessed and you can also elect to buy from someone else. Good luck! PC Doctor

Dear PC Doctor,

Is there any way I can have my incoming e-mail messages automatically printed when they come in?

Yours truly,

Kevin

Dear Kevin:

I am not aware of any setting that would allow you to print messages from email as they arrive. I also spoke with a techie friend who didn’t know of one either. If any of you computer types out there do have a method, please write to me at info@athollibrary.org and I can share it with our readers.

I also wonder about the reasoning behind wanting to do this. I have three different email addresses and if my computer automatically printed out my daily messages, I have would have reams of paper from junk and spam mail. Even though I have set up blockers and filters to eliminate most of this, I still get enough that I would prefer to select those messages I wanted to print.

I’m sorry not to be of more assistance, however if I hear from a faithful viewer, I will let you know ASAP.

PC Doctor

Dear PC Doctor:

I have a Yahoo email address and lately I’ve been getting email from some person from out of the US who wants me to set up a bank account for them because they can’t get money out of their country. They say I will get 10% of the money which is 25 million dollars. I never heard of this person, but it looks official. What do you think?

Rick

Dear Rick:

Have you ever heard of the saying ‘if it sounds too good to be true, it’s too good to be true’? This definitely applies here. This is a scam, no two ways about it. Any kind of unsolicited email that wants your bank account number should send up the red flag in your mind. To check out more about any letter like that, just go to www.google.com and type in ‘scams’ or the actual name of the company in the email in quotation marks. You’ll be amazed at all the shysters out there just wanting to part a person from their money. Definitely delete this and I would even hit the Spam button to mark it as junk so that you will not get any more correspondence from them.

PC Doctor

I’ve installed a couple of popup blocker programs on my computer because I really hate all those ads when I’m trying to work. Unfortunately, the other day I wanted to look at some information that the website I was viewing put into a popup box and I got a notice from my computer that it was blocked by the blocker program. Since I have two blockers, I didn’t know which it was so I had to turn both of them off and proceed. Of course then I was flooded with all these other popups until I turned it off again. Why do they do this and is there some other way? Dave

To allow a one time popup box (which I think is the way to go rather than turning off your blocker), just hit the CTRL (control) key and then click on the link again. This should override the blocker for this particular instance while still protecting you. As far as why they do it, who knows. It could be that the site is trying to sell you something or entice you to click on a popup box and by forcing you to turn off your blocker to see something; it gives their ads the opportunity to jump onto your computer screen.

I can’t figure out how to empty my recycle bin. Does it really matter if I do anyways? Paula

You should empty your recycle or trash bin periodically as it does take up space on your computer. I’m sure it’s a minimal amount of space however, it’s good housekeeping for your computer. There are several ways to accomplish this. One is to right click on the Recycle Bin icon and select Empty Recycle Bin. It will ask if you are sure you want to do this. Just say yes. Another way is to double click on the Recycle bin icon and once it opens, select File from the top menu and then Empty Recycle Bin. Finally you can select Empty Recycle Bin from the right hand side of the screen under Recycle Bin Tasks (again double clicking on the icon first).

To restore something from the bin, double click on the Recycle Bin icon and double click on the file. Of course this is BEFORE you empty it. Once you empty it, it’s gone. PC Doctor

I have some photographs and a large document to send to someone and I seem to be having a few problems trying to send it in my email. How can I do that? John

There is a great website at http://s3.yousendit.com that you can upload your files to. It sends a message to your intended receiver and they simply retrieve it off the You Send It website. Your files can be up to 1 gigabyte which is very large. They will only store your upload for 7 days so you want to make sure that the person you are sending it to is aware if that and retrieves your file within that time period.

To use it, you must know where you have your intended photos or documents stored on your hard drive. When you go to the website, it will ask you to type in the email address of whomever you want to send it to. Click the Browse button and look for the file. Highlight it by clicking on it and then click the Open button. This will place the path or location of the file in the box. Add a message if you want and then click Send. You will be given a link that you can click on if you want to make sure that the information was saved and this link is also sent to your recipient. It’s that easy! PC Doctor

Tip of the week: if you tend to have a lot of windows or programs open on your computer and find yourself clicking that red x to close windows and find the program you really want to work with when all you want is to get to an icon on your desktop, then this tip is for you! Just mouse down to the blue Taskbar at the bottom of your screen, right click and select “Show the Desktop”. All your windows will minimize onto the taskbar and you will be presented with a nice clear view of your Desktop.

One of the programs I’m trying to learn to use says I need to do something with an active window and go to the status bar. I’m kind of new at all this and don’t know what either of those terms mean so basically I’ve just quit for the day and gone to the library to put this question in your box. Help me please. Ellie

I understand how frustrating it can be to try and learn something new with your computer, especially when there is no one there to ask. There are some books for beginners at the library that could assist you with some of basic terms. Often I find that figuring out what certain words mean in terms of computers is the most difficult part for new users – sort of like learning to drive and having to understand what those car parts are and do.

When a program asks you about the ‘active window’, what they are referring to is the window or program screen that is not only open for viewing, but has the top blue bar (known as the title bar) really blue (as opposed to grayed out). When a title bar is grayed out, it is considered inactive or not available for you to perform any functions. To make it active is very simple, just click on it with your left mouse button. Sometimes I hear from users that they can’t do anything on their screen and what has happened is that their window has become inactive (for whatever bogus computer reason). A simple click and they are back in business.

As for the status bar, that is the blue bar across the very bottom of your screen. That bar displays what programs you have open, whether you are connected to the Internet, power source, perhaps virus or Windows Messenger status if you have those programs. It pretty much lets you know what’s connected and functioning while you are using the computer.

I typed a paper for work and believe me, it was a long one. I saved it and then went away on vacation. Now my boss wants me to make some changes to it by the end of the month and I’m really panicking because I can’t find it. I know I saved it because I worked on it for several days in a row before I gave it to him. But now I can’t remember the name of it for the life of me. If I have to retype it I will as I have a paper copy but it’s so many pages. Do you have any tips for helping me find this?

Well, I’ll have to make a couple of assumptions here. First I assume you are using Word or you know where you normally save your documents. If you click on File up on the top menu bar and look at the very bottom of the drop down list you should see a set of recently used documents. If you’re lucky one of them will be your document. Unfortunately it will only display a few (you can increase this number up to nine by going to the menu bar and choosing Tools, then Options and clicking the General tab. Look for the line that says ‘recently used file list’ and increase the number to 9). If you have worked on a lot of files since the day you last opened the particular document, this won’t work, so we’ll delve a little further.

My second assumption is that you have some idea of how you might have named this file when you saved it. Maybe not the exact name, but some key words. To search for it on your hard drive, go to the Start button, chose Search off the menu and a box should open up and on the left hand side there is a question “What do you want to search for?” The choices will include pictures, files, documents and so on. If you do have an idea of part of the file name, then chose Documents. It will ask you the last time you used the file, select ‘don’t remember’ because then it will search every document. In the open box labeled ‘all or part of the document name’, type in what you remember of the name. Click the search button and prepare to wait. Sometimes I will just minimize the box so I can continue on with other work.

When the search is complete it will list in the middle of the screen all the documents it found with your search term in it. Hopefully you will recognize the lost one and now you can double click on it and it should open up.

If by chance, this doesn’t work, you can search for a unique word inside the document. It has to be kind of specific because if you use the word Athol for example and you type hundreds of documents with the word Athol in them, believe me, it’s going to find them all and you won’t be much better off than you are now. Follow the same procedure as above, EXCEPT do not put any words in the first search box. Instead click ‘Use advanced search options’ and only use the box on the screen that opens labeled ‘a word or phrase in the document’. This is where your unique word goes. Click search and again, this will take awhile. I’ve had excellent luck finding documents in this way so hopefully it will help get you out of trouble!

I’m using Outlook Express and I have four different email addresses that I use (don’t ask). Anyways, when I sent a new message out, I have a particular email address that I like to use. Unfortunately the one that appears in the From box is not the one I want so I have to type in the other one every time I send a new email. Is there a way to change that?

Actually you can. When you have Outlook open, go up to the top blue tool bar and click on Tools. Look at the drop down menu and find Accounts. When the window opens up, all your email addresses should be listed there. Just highlight the one you want and over on the right, click the Set Default button. Click the Close button and you should be in business! I like solving the easy problems like this one! PC Doctor

There is a print screen button on my computer but whenever I hit it to get a picture printed of what is on the screen nothing happens. Is my button not working or do I have to do something special to make it work? TM

In the older Windows operating systems, the print screen button actually did that – print the screen directly to your printer. However, it no longer functions that way; you have to take an extra step. Don’t ask me why, I don’t write these programs!

To print anything that is displayed on your computer screen, whether it’s off the Internet or a regular computer program, just hit the print screen button (I know, I know, nothing is happening….). Then open up either Word, Publisher or Paint (I prefer Publisher) and start a new blank document. Right click with your mouse and select Paste off the drop down menu. Your screen should appear. The reason I like Publisher the best is that you can then format your screen shot, removing stuff you don’t want by cutting. You can resize it in Word as well, but it is not so easily manipulated, in my opinion, as it is in Publisher. This is a great method for creating ‘how to do it’ manuals for staff, students or yourself! You just display the screen shots you want to put in your manual, hit the print screen button, paste into your document and add the instructive text to accompany it.

I bought a new laptop and I want to hook it up to a LCD panel for giving presentations. I work in a sales department and they are requiring us to do this. The problem is no one seems to understand how to make the laptop work with the LCD panel. When I turn them both on, I’m pretty sure I read the directions right for making the cabling connections but the picture won’t display up on the big overhead screen. What am I doing wrong? Joan

I can give you a few suggestions, as it is a little difficult to figure out exactly without seeing your setup. First off, make sure that your connections between the two machines are right. You should most likely have two cables between them. Make sure they are plugged in securely.

Then when they are both off, turn on the projector first and let it come totally on. Then fire up the laptop. I know the one we use at the library requires them to be turned on in this sequence, so it’s worth a shot. If you still don’t see your picture, look for a (usually) blue key on your keyboard that says Fn for function. It is typically located on the bottom row of keys near the left hand side. Hold the Fn key down and look up at the top row of keys called the function keys (F1-F12) for one that has in blue letters CRT/LCD. On my keyboard it is the F8 key. Hit that key in conjunction with the bottom Fn key and release. Wait for a minute and your picture should appear on the projection screen on the wall. What may also happen is that your display on your laptop may disappear. Just hit the same key combination again and it should now appear on both your laptop and the wall screen.

Just a little more information about the Fn key. If you notice there are a number of other keyboard keys that have both white and blue numbers/letters on them. To activate those blue keys, you hold down the Fn key and then the blue key that you are interested in. For example, a laptop does not have a numeric keypad as a regular computer does. You can get one however by pressing Fn and those keys with the blue numbers will work (make sure that your Num Lk or number lock key off).

The Fn key can also make your screen display lighter and darker when used in conjunction with the up and down arrow keys. If you notice, they look like they each have a sun on the key. Hold down the Fn key and tap the up arrow key for lighter and the dark arrow key for darker. So now you know more than you ever wanted to about the Fn key!

I purchased Tax Cut Deluxe and downloaded it onto my computer. When I went to update now (recommended), Taxcut update manager says, "There was a problem accessing the update site. Please check that you are connected to the internet" which I am. I have Galaxy for an internet server.

I also get this message when I try to send or receive a fax. "No device connected"

By not being able to update my form 1040, when printed, says "Draft Form, Do Not File". My errors on Tax Cut when I do my final error check are all to do with forms needing to be updated. I have checked my proxy settings and they are active for Internet explorer, and Tax Cut is disabled. Can you help?

Since I am not familiar with the Tax Cut program, I turned to the library’s IT person for assistance. Here is his response.

“This question is very tricky without having the computer in front of me. In regards to the Tax Cut update issue, I have never seen a program unable to recognize an active internet connection. The only thing I can think of is that her connection is "not connected" despite her belief it is. Perhaps the program has a config section which allows the user to designate from which means to obtain an active internet connection. At minimum she may want to first ensure her connection is active to the internet. Secondly, she should browse through any configuration settings in Tax Cut which may instruct her how to select the appropriate internet connection medium.

For her fax problem I am definitely stumped. I need more information…Operating system, software she is using, it is way too vague. Most computers are not capable of sending/receiving faxes without special configurations of both programs and dialup settings. Most people use a “fax” program that is usually part of a 3-in-1 printer software bundle. Hopefully Donna can write back with some more info on this problem.”

For my part, it seems that the computer must be connected to the Internet if Donna was able to download the program in the first place. I use a different tax program and had a problem with it last year for the first time. After struggling with it for a great deal of time, I finally bit the bullet and called the company I purchased it from. Most software packages have a toll free number or email that you can use to contact their tech support. They were able to fix the problem in a few minutes. Look on their website for a number or email address or try the help section of the software itself. Usually this is located on your top tool bar.

I’m sorry that we aren’t able to be more helpful, but if any of you computer types out there have any suggestions, please forward them to info@athollibrary.org so that we can offer Donna some assistance.

My computer keeps asking me for a password but I don’t need one. I’m the only one using the computer. That screen bugs me, can I turn it off or not require a password? Cherel

I’m not sure which operating system you have so I’ll give you a couple of choices. If you have Windows 95, 98 or ME, click on your Start button, chose Settings and then Control Panel. Find ‘passwords’ and then double click on the icon. Look for the ‘change Windows password’ button and if you had an old password, type that in. Leave the section for the new password blank (if you don’t want a password) and click the OK button. When you reboot the machine, if it asks you for a password, leave the box blank and click the OK button (do not hit Cancel or use the red x to close).

Now if you have Windows XP, go to the Start button and chose Run. When the box opens up, ‘type control userpasswords2’ (without the quotation marks) and click OK. Look near the top of the box that opens for a sentence that reads ‘users must enter a user name and password to use this computer’ and uncheck the box. Click the Apply button at the bottom. Another window called Automatically Log On will open and you have the opportunity to type a password in. Leave it blank and click OK twice to close the boxes. PC Doctor

We have some new system at work where all the employees are file sharing. I don’t really like it because now people have opened a few of my files and changed some stuff either accidentally or on purpose. Is there anything I can do?

Yes, when you create your documents, you will want to make them either ‘read only’ or password them so that people can’t even open them up.

To make them ‘read only’, which means others can see them but not make any changes, when you go to save your document the first time use the ‘save as’ feature instead of ‘save’ (go to File and choose it off the list). When the box opens, look near the top right and you should see ‘Tools’. Click on the down arrow and chose Security Options. In the box that opens, you will want to check the ‘read only recommended’ box. Now there are two other options ‘password to open’ or ‘password to modify’ that you have to fill out too. If you want people to see your document then you would put a password in the ‘password to modify’. This enables them to open and see the document, but they can’t modify it without your password. If you don’t even want them to be able to open it, then of course, put a password in the ‘password to open’ field. Fill out one or the other of these choices. Hopefully this will solve your problem. Unless of course someone discovers your password! PC Doctor

I’ve taken your advice and downloaded Ad Aware and Spybot to check my computer for spyware and other problems. Recently I got an email from AdWare SpyWare Blocker & Removal which I thought I already had and it scanned my system and found some problems. When I tried to download it to fix the problems, it said I had to buy it. What is this all about?

This is what is known as ‘rogue’ or ‘suspect’ anti spyware programs. These software packages masquerade as a known spyware removal program, even taking a very similar name as you noted. Not only is the program NOT a spyware removal program, it is a spyware program itself! You can’t trust anyone these days! Anyways, a good site to check if you want to find out if the spyware program you are looking at is a valid one, go to the Spyware Warrior website at www. spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm and review the list and recommendations. So don’t pay for that program or download it. Stick with what you have already done. ::pat on the back, by the way:: PC Doctor

When I click on my .*jpeg pictures it comes up: “Microsoft Photo Editor, can’t determine type”. How can I get them back?

You may need to send me more information as I’m not quite sure what you mean. Have you saved some pictures in your My Pictures folder and you used to be able to click on them fine and now they are not working? Or are you talking about a digital camera memory stick or floppy disk that you are inserting into the computer?

One thing I could think of is that if you used a digital camera memory stick or floppy is that you accidentally erased it, in which case you are out of luck.

I don’t think this has anything to do with it, but just be aware that if you upgraded or recently installed Office 2003, it will uninstall and remove Microsoft Photo Editor. This feature has been replaced in the new version with Microsoft Office Picture Manager. You can reinstall the Photo Editor if you really want it, just go to www.microsoft.com and in the search box, type in Microsoft photo editor. It will give detailed directions to get Photo editor back.

Otherwise email me more details on the situation and I’ll see what I can find out.

Dear Readers from the PC Doc – in response to last week’s question about home pages that are ‘hijacked’ by spyware and refuse to change to your choice – I made a reference to a previous column. Since then we have had a number of inquiries about this widespread problem. I listed a website www.webattack.com/get/startpageguard.shtml to prevent the problem in the first place, but once you have been attacked, you need to clean it up. So, by popular request, I’m running the question again so you can attempt to fix the problem. Please note that the webpage you have been hijacked by may not be Globe Finder, it can be any number of different pages but the procedure should be the same to correct the problem. After you do the steps outlined below, YOU MUST download from www.download.com the Spybot and Adaware programs and run them. Do Adaware first and then Spybot. Then you must run these weekly along with your antivirus. It’s a neverending battle – but be up for the challenge! You can do it!

We are suddenly having a problem with Internet Explorer on our home computer. When we log on, the IE home page has set itself to a cheesy search engine called Globe Finder. When we go in to Tools, Internet Options, General to change our home page to what we want it to be, ex. Google, Google will remain our home page for that session, but once we log in again, it has reverted to Globe Finder.

Is this some sort of virus affecting our computer? I've never seen this happen before. KR

More than likely in my experiences, these symptoms are signs of pure random malicious programs that were installed on the computer. It’s the classic case of when you go to a website and a popup comes up and says "your computer is not optimized, or, your computer may be at risk to attack, click here to fix" and it installs programs that put popups on your computer. These messages sound like something good that you should respond to, but my advice is NOT to do this. Always click on the red X in the upper right hand corner of your window to close the popup boxes instead of answering the question inside the box if you have the option.

Now to your problem. There are some downloads you can do to fix it, however rather than potentially downloading some other problem let’s just edit the registry. Go to the Start button, click on ‘Run’ and in the box type regedit. A box will open up and in the left hand column find HKEY_CURRENT_USER. Click on the + (plus sign) to the left of that line. Follow the sequence I’m going to describe, continuing to click on the plus signs next to the word – Software / Microsoft / Internet Explorer / Main. Once you click on main, look over to the right hand side of the screen and scroll down until you find ‘Start page’. On that same line you should see the offending ‘Globe Finder’ web page that keeps insinuating itself into your browser. Double click on the words ‘start page’ and an edit string box will open and under ‘value data’ type in the name of the search engine or web page you want to open up when you open Internet Explorer (ex: http://www.athollibrary.org or http://www.google.com). Click OK and then close the window. Hopefully that should solve your problem, however sometimes the infestation is so insidious that you may need the help of a professional. Good luck

I am getting so frustrated because I’m trying to print a webpage and the right side is cut off. I’ve tried cutting and pasting it into a document, but the pictures don’t print right and I just don’t know what else to do. Do you have any suggestions quick before I throw this printer into the river? Roger

Calm down and please don’t give your printer the water torture treatment! I think I can help you. Sometimes a web page contains frames or tables that don’t exactly fit into the print area of your particular printer. Of course having things uniform would be too easy! You can work around this problem though by trying a couple of tricks.

One way is while you are at the desired web page is to reduce the margins. To do this go up to File on the menu bar, click Page Setup and in the Margin section, delete whatever numbers are in the left and right boxes and type the number 0 (zero). Click OK and try printing again. This seems to work most of the time.

As a last resort, you can try printing the frames individually by clicking on File and selecting Print. Chose All Frames Individually under the Options tab and click Print.

At work we had set up our HP photo printer to print off a certain computer and it was working fine. For some reason, the default viewer (when you double click My Computer and then A drive to see the photos), it used to be Windows and Fax Viewer which was very easy to use and now it's using Microsoft Windows Viewer which is not easy to use. Do you know how to get it to default back to the other? The gang

On my good ole typewriter I have cents key but I’m being forced to use a computer now at work and I don’t see a cents key. There is a dollar one, but maybe I’m missing something. Do you have one on your computer? Alice

No, you’re not going crazy. There is no cents key but you can get the symbol in a couple of other ways. One way is to open your program, be it Word or Excel, and go up to the menu bar and click on Insert. From the drop down menu, chose Symbols. Search through the various symbols until you find ¢, click on it and then click on the Insert button at the bottom of the window. Alternatively you can use Windows Character Map Accessory by clicking on the Start button, choosing Programs, then Accessories and finally System Tools. Again find your symbol and insert it. Finally if you have a numerical keypad and hold down the ALT key and type 0162. I’ve had limited success with this method, but it may work for you. Good luck.

I just printed about 100 pages of some document that I didn’t really want because I hit the print button accidentally. As soon as it started printing, I knew I was in trouble but I didn’t know how to stop it. I’m sure there must be some way to stop a wayward printer. Can you help in case it happens again?

When confronted with an unwanted printer job, the first thing I always do is slide the paper out of the tray. It can’t print if there’s no paper. That will give you time to get your bearings and proceed to cancel the job. One of the easiest ways is to go to the Start button, click on Settings and then Printers and Faxes. Find your printer’s icon and double click on it. A box will open up that will list any and all print jobs in the queue (list). Just right click on the job you wish to cancel and from the drop down list, select Cancel. This should take care of it.

You could also look on your printer’s panel and see if there is a Cancel button. Some do have it and you could try that. Finally you may see a printer icon in the bottom right hand system tray. Right clicking on that should bring up the aforementioned box and you can cancel from there as described earlier.

Readers – a few weeks ago someone asked a question about changing their start up sequence because their computer was running slow. As a result, several people checked out their start up menus and were confused as to what is running in there! While I can’t possibly list all the choices here, you can find out for yourselves! Where else, the Internet - at this website www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php Just type in (from the command line in your start up) the ones you are unsure about and it should enlighten you! PC Doctor

I wanted to use a website but found out from them that I don’t have the newest version of Internet Explorer and because of that I can’t access the features. How do I update and is it expensive?

It’s easy and free, just go to www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/default.asp. Click on Internet Explorer 6 and chose ‘get Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1’. Click on ‘download center’ and then click ‘download’. A box will offer you the choice to run or save. If you have a fast connection, you can run and follow the prompts. If you save it to your desktop, just double click on the icon that will be created on your desktop and install it by answering the prompts as they appear. You should be ready to go then!

I am going to be visiting my sister and brother in law on the West Coast for vacation. I use Hotmail for my email and I was wondering if it was possible for me to use my sister’s computer to check my email while I am away? Tom

Yes, you can. You just have to know your user name and your password. Sometimes when your email is set up by someone else, they can program your computer to automatically enter that information when you log on. So it seems like you just click on to it without doing anything. Actually the computer is doing the work for you and unfortunately it won’t work at any other computer. You will have to enter the information yourself.

With your user name and password in hand, just have your sister turn on her computer and make sure the Internet connection is up and running. Go to the website for Hotmail which is www.hotmail.com (type it in the ‘address’ bar at the top of Internet Explorer or Netscape, whichever browser she uses). When the web page comes up there will be a spot for you to type in your user name and password. Remember it may be case sensitive so type it exactly as you have it written. Then click the ‘sign in’ button.

If you are normally using Outlook for your email, you will notice that the way your email displays on another computer is different. With Outlook your computer actually downloads your email onto your computer from the Hotmail server so that you can save it or move it to folders on your hard drive. The advantage to this is that it clears it off the Hotmail server, thereby saving precious space for incoming emails and attachments. While you are away and at a different computer, your email messages will remain on the Hotmail server. The danger is that if you delete any messages they are gone. However, if you keep too many messages stored in your inbox until you get home, your box may fill up and further incoming messages will bounce back to the sender. To minimize this I would suggest that you go to the ‘junk mail’ and ‘sent messages’ folders in Hotmail (look at the left hand side of the screen) daily or whenever you are checking your email and delete everything in those two folders. These unwanted messages take up a lot of space. Then when you are back home, just access your email using your normal method and your messages will be downloaded onto your hard drive as before.

Other readers wondering about this can also access their email away from home even if you don’t use Hotmail. Find out the website of your email provider and follow the same directions. If you find that you can’t access it at their website or you can’t find their website, try this generic website www.mail2web.com.

Computer readers – I have had a number of comments and/or complaints about users having their start page being changed by vicious hackers’ programming that downloads and wrecks havoc. They can change the page back but then when the computer is turned back on, it reverts to the unwanted website. I have detailed in previous columns how to remove and repair this problem (see the library website at www.athollibrary.org for archives columns). However, I have just discovered a website that may help in preventing those malicious programs from being installed in the first place. And it’s a free program! Go to www.webattack.com/get/startpageguard.shtml and download this program. Good luck.

When I turn my computer on, it seems to go slower and slower. I’ve tried a lot of the things you’ve suggested like defragging but my friend noticed that I have a lot of things that seem to be loading up when I log on. How can I get rid of some of that stuff? Amy

Click the Start button, go to Programs and find Startup. A drop down list will show all the programs loading at startup so you can just right click on any that you don’t want to automatically load and select ‘delete’. A message will inform you that deleting this shortcut does not delete the program and you would have to go to Add/Remove Programs to delete the entire program. Click OK.

If you don’t see the offending program listed and you are really brave you can edit the system configuration registry. Unless you are familiar with this procedure though, you should not take this step lightly. You can really wreak havoc with your computer if you delete items that in fact you need. That being said, click the Start button, select Run and then type in ‘msconfig’ and click OK. Your system configuration window will open up and you want to look for ‘startup’. Then simply uncheck any items that you do not want to load. Make a note of what you have done so that if you reboot or the next time you turn the computer on, things are not working as expected, you can return to the registry and reinstate things one by one until you are back in business.

I have about 50 email addresses in my Contacts in Outlook Express. I have a new kitten who walked across my keyboard and I don’t know if that did it, but now my addresses are gone. Are they deleted or can I get them back? Frantic

Sounds like you have a computer cat in the making! Besides stomping all over the keyboard, my cat loves to play with the cursor onscreen. (Of course if you read the column last week about cleaning your computer, you’d better clean it regularly due to cat hair!). Anyways, I’m pretty sure that your addresses are still there, just go up to View on the top menu bar and click, select Layout from the drop down menu and under Basic, check the box for Contacts. Finally click OK. That should allow your addresses to show again. (Now we just have to figure out how your kitten was able to handle all those keystrokes to uncheck that box!).

I’ve installed some new programs on my computer and the icons on the desktop aren’t where I want them. Everytime I move them, they just go back to where they were when I turn the computer on again. Why won’t they stay where I put them? Frustrated

You probably have a feature called ‘Auto arrange’ turned on so that no matter how you would like your screen to look, the computer has other ideas. To show the computer who’s boss and have them your way, you can turn this feature off. From the desktop, just right click with your mouse on a blank area (in other words, not on an icon or any area that has writing) and a drop down menu should appear. From this menu select Arrange Icons By and another drop down menu should show up. You will see Auto Arrange and you do NOT want a check mark next to it. Just click on it with your mouse button and the check mark should disappear. To move your icons around, just left click on one, hold the mouse button down and drag the icon over to where you want it. Now those icons should stay where you want them. PC Doctor

I need to know how to get an MS DOS prompt from a Windows XP computer. I must say although XP is great in many regards, I do miss the ability to control the computer offered by DOS. Or maybe I just learned it that way so that’s why I liked it. Tom

With XP, all you have to do is go to the Start button, click on Run and in the box that opens up, type ‘cmd’ or ‘command’ (without the quotation marks around it) and click OK. Your old familiar MS DOS screen and prompts will appear in a small box. Good luck.

How can I clean my computer? I’ve had it for a year or so and feel like there must be some kind of maintenance I should be doing? Tina

Keeping your computer clean and as dust free as possible will certainly prolong the life of your machine. Be sure to turn off and unplug your computer while you are cleaning. To prevent static electricity causing a shock to your computer, use static guard on the floor around the computer if you have carpeting and maybe even spray a little on your sleeves.

There are many products on the market that you can buy to dust and clean the monitor screen although you don’t need to purchase special products for this purpose. However, you should be really careful what you use to do this, as you don’t want to scratch the screen. I like to use dryer lint cloths like Bounce that have been through the dryer once. This softens them up enough to use but they have great dust attracting ability. If you use a soft cloth instead, be sure to spray the cleaner onto the cloth and NOT onto the screen. It would be very bad for the screen if you sprayed on too much and it leaked into the machine.

For the outside of the case, again use a soft cloth and use water or rubbing alcohol applied to the cloth. I don’t suggest using regular household cleaning products, as you don’t know which solvents in them might react. Keep it simple!

You can use a vacuum to gently go over the keyboard to remove dust and other particles which may have fallen in over time. Use the small little brush that came with your vacuum. You can also turn it upside down and shake out any particles. For stubborn stains or gunk, use cotton or foam swabs moistened with water or rubbing alcohol to remove any residue. Do not saturate the swab; rub with tissue if you have too much liquid on it. You may also want to vacuum the back of the monitor (or any places there are openings) as dust can build up in there too. A can of compressed air can also help blow out dust and can be used on the mouse as well.

To clean your CD ROM and floppy drives, you should purchase kits for this purpose at a computer or department store or online. Do not, I repeat, do not, spray or introduce moisture into these areas. Use the kits, trust me on this one.

If you are really brave, you could open up the back of the CPU and gently use compressed air or a vacuum to remove the dust that may have accumulated there. Be very careful not to spray too close as you may get liquid chemicals instead of air (if you want to see what I mean, try spraying the air can onto the bottom of a metal fry pan, holding it very closely while spraying). If using a vacuum be extremely careful not touch the motherboard or inside parts as you could accidentally suck up something or move jumpers, etc.

As to how often you should clean your computer, a lot depends on the use or abuse it gets. Multiple users, smoking, pets, activities within the area or frequency of use will determine this. Generally, with an ideal environment (no smoking, pets, one user and business with clean area) you should clean the computer every five months although I like to clean the screen and spot dust weekly.