FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  238 (16/11/00)

MINES OF INFORMATION

My sister -- no really -- had the disappearing Minesweeper problem (F!F!F! November 3rd) and I found a much simpler solution. Go to Control Panel > Display > Appearance tab > Item: Active Window Border and increase the setting from 1 to 20. Minesweeper can be dragged back into the centre of the screen and once rescued you can reset the border back to the default value of 1. 

John Chappell

There is an even easier way to recover an application that starts with the title bar off the Top or Left of the screen.  Select the application with "Alt-Tab" and press "Alt-Space".  From the pop-up (system) menu select "Move" (usually Shortcut "M") and use the cursor keys to move the rectangle.  When the rectangle is on the screen press return - it should be again accessible.
Ken Miles

Three years ago, when my computer was new (Windows 95 then) I also "lost" Minesweeper off the top of the screen so far that I could not drag on the title bar to pull it back. There is a problem with the program; with every change of difficulty level, the game indexes upwards one pixel. I retrieved it by editing the settings as follows. With Minesweeper closed, find "winmine" configuration settings (normally a 1Kb file in the "Windows" folder) using Explorer and double click it. The file opens up in "Notepad". Change the Xpos to 300, and Ypos to 200, then click "File", "Save", and close Notepad. Next time Minesweeper is opened, it is in the middle of the screen, and you can keep it there by remembering to drag it down before it has migrated off the top of the screen again. Unscrupulous players can also alter "best times", and best player's names this way, but that defeats the object of the game doesn't it?

Tony Booth

Many thanks to everyone who wrote in with repositioning tips, there’s clearly a lot of Minesweeper fans out there.

GAIN AFFECTION
I've had a problem for some time with my Internet connection, which kept cutting out. After speaking to my ISP they recommended I ask BT to increase the "gain" on my line. After phoning 151 the BT engineers were helpful and agreed it was low. They increased the gain and I've had no further problems. I recommend this tip to others in a similar situation and would like to say a public  "thank you" to Onetel support staff.
Steve Hyams

Thanks for that useful advice

HOT TIP

I have a Hotmail account name that I would use more but I don't have my own computer and have to either use my wife's or my employers PC. Therefore I have to compose the message on-line, which is not cheap in terms of telephone call charges. Is there any way that you can compose a Hotmail message off-line then just go on-line to send it? I am middle aged and fairly new to computers so an explicit reply would be greatly appreciated.

Richard Snow

All you have to do is write your email message using a word processor. When you’ve finished highlight the message and press Ctrl + C on the keyboard, or use the word processor’s Copy command. This puts a copy of the text into the Windows Clipboard. Go on line and log onto Hotmail, click on Compose to open the message window, place the cursor into the text field and press Ctrl + V to paste your email then click Send. Alternatively, on PCs with Outlook Express (version 4 and above) as the email client it is possible to set it up to send and receive Hotmail messages. Go to Accounts on the Tools menu, select the Mail tab and click Add, then Mail and follow the directions on the Connection Wizard. Don’t forget to remove the account afterwards, if it’s not your PC.

GETTING SHIRTY

I am interested in making my own tee-shirts. Is there any sort of software or web site offering tee-shirt making kits? 
Sam Smith

You won’t need any special software, simply use your favourite paint box or photo imaging program to create the design then print the results – with a colour inkjet printer -- onto specially formulated iron-on transfer paper. (Don’t forget to reverse the image if it contains text…) Tee-shirt printing paper is available from most PC consumables and stationery suppliers. Prices vary but it usually works out at between £1 and £1.50 per sheet. 

GIF US A CLUE

Could tell me a little about "animated GIFs"? How do they work and how can I create one?

Harry Elmee

GIFs, or graphics interchange format files are an Internet standard for graphic images. Animated GIFs are basically anything on an Internet web page that moves or changes  – buttons, icons, banners etc.-- and like any type of animation they are made up of a sequence of still images, displayed in rapid succession to create an illusion of movement. They are quite simple to make and to do it properly you will need some specialist software but there’s lots of it around, much of it shareware and freeware. To learn more about animated GIFs have a look at a couple of useful tutorials at: http://members.aol.com

/royalef/gifmake.htm

and

http://www.seyboldreport.com

/AnimatedGif/animated.html

DIY, VHS TO PC?

I am wondering if there is a way to get pictures from a VHS video cassettes on to my PC?
James Dower

It can be done but unless your PC is a reasonably recent model with a fast Pentium or Pentium class processor, lots of memory and a monster multi-gigabyte hard disc drive, picture quality can be poor and the recordings are usually only suitable for viewing on the PC in a small window, for use in presentations, video emails etc. If that is your intention the quickest and simplest method is to use a video capture device that connects to the video and audio outputs on your VCR. Capture devices are available separately, as plug in cards or external adaptors but one of the cheapest solutions is a television tuner card, which turns your PC into a TV. Most of them have video input facilities and come with software for creating simple ‘AVI’ movies (audio video interleave – a Windows standard video movie file format). Prices start at around £45 for products like the Hauppauge WinTV-Go. If you want more professional looking results, and you have a suitable PC, then you need to think in terms of spending several hundred pounds on a high-end video capture card, though nowadays most are designed to work with higher quality digital video camcorders and VCRs, rather than whiskery old analogue VHS. Magazines like Computer Video will give you a good idea of what’s available.