FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  250 (15/02/01)

Q

We are a couple of oldies facing up to offspring/parent reversal syndrome. Our children and grandchildren are telling us what is "good" for us (and it's not sprouts!). Until recently we managed perfectly OK living in our 1960/1970's time warp: finger-in-the hole phone dial, no plastic money and the only buttons we bothered with were the ones sewn on shirts, flies and overcoats. Now things are different! The children presented us with an Amstrad E-Mailer for Christmas, which has made us a very hip-get-with-it pair of wrinklies. Our question concerns the availability of a suitable printer to attach to this box of buttons (more buttons = more cock-ups). We have in mind something like the print-out one gets on receipts from Supermarket check-outs because all we need is to keep a written record of our emails for reference purposes only-- just in case we accidentally delete the whole damn lot in the mailers memory yet again! The blurb says the printer should "be configured to the ISO 8859-15 (latin 9) character set".

Rex and Julie Gowing

A

Basically that means it will not work with cheap and plentiful 'Windows' type printers but only DOS compatible types. An Amstrad spokesperson informed me the only ones they had actually tried it with were the Hewlett Packard HP610 and 640, and the now discontinued Epson 460.

Q

I've got a P75 with 8Mb RAM and 850Mbhard disc drive. Can I use this to get access to the Internet?

Roy King

A

Yes!

Q

Can you tell me if I can do anything to improve the accuracy of my PC's internal clock, it seems to deviate by about 2 minutes over the period of about a week? Is there a web site, which will check and adjust the clock each time I go online?

Nigel Ashley Brewitt, Flanderwell, Rotherham

A

For a comprehensive and fascinating database of time resources on the web have a look at: http://www.panaga.com/clocks/clocks.htm#time

More specifically you'll find a world atomic clock locator and free 'sync' software, to automatically set your PC's clock, at: http://www.worldtimeserver.com/

Q

Every time I type my email address Word recognises it and immediately assumes that I want to send myself a message. Worse than that, it doesn't always print out, sometimes leaving blanks and sometimes just an underscore line. I can't even put it correctly in my letter heading. How can I make the system revert to "simple typing"?

Alec Ogle

A

This is the handiwork of Word's AutoText facility. You can switch it off by going to AutoText on the Insert menu, select AutoText, and then the AutoText tab, scroll down the list to find your email address entry and click Delete.

Q

I have purchased a new PC with a Yamaha CD-R/RW CRW8824E preinstalled.  The software is Adaptec Easy CD Creator 4.  I have bought for it 700Mb blanks
however it only recognises the discs as 650Mb. The Yamaha manual states that it is compatible with 700Mb discs but the Adaptec manual and help files make no mention of them.  Have I missed some well hidden setting, or is there a patch, inexpensive upgrade, hack that will enable me to do this? 

Rob Smith

A

It's a hidden setting thing. All versions of Easy CD Creator, from V3x onwards, support 700Mb/80-minute discs though you have to set the size manually by double-clicking on the "Estimated CD Free Space" area in the Status bar (at the bottom of the main window) then select the correct setting.

Q

I wonder if you would include in your column any advice about cartridges that dry out even though the cartridge is showing three quarters full on the screen whilst trying to print. I have gone through the cleaning processes, but they do not make any difference, only by buying a new cartridge is the problem resolved and at £25 a throw they are expensive. I do not do a lot of printing except for the odd letter here and there but we are already on our third cartridge with barely any usage.  Should we take them out perhaps and put the seal back on them when not in use?

Joyce I'Anson

A

Running off a couple of pages or a test print every week or two should be enough to stop the cartridge drying out. Soaking the print head in cleaning or 'recovery' fluid, which dissolves dried ink, can sometimes revive blocked cartridges. It's relatively inexpensive – a lot cheaper than a new cartridge anyway. It's obtainable from most PC stationery suppliers or have a look at the Discount Printer Supplies web site at www.dcps.co.uk, which also supplies refill kits and cheaper 'compatible' cartridges.

Q

How can I permanently get rid of that annoying cartoon 'help' feature in MS Word and Excel?
Alan Shore

This is our old friend the Office Assistant or 'Mr Paperclip'. If you are using Word/Excel 2000 you can banish him from the respective Help menus; select Show the Office Assistant, click the Options button and uncheck the item 'Use the Office Assistant’ and he shouldn't bother you ever again. The easiest way to permanently eject him from Word/Excel 97 is to open Windows Explorer and work your way to: Program Files > Microsoft Office > Office, there you will find a folder called Actors, rename it Dead Actors and that should do the trick.

Q

I'm thinking of writing a book but I'm unsure of what software to use. Two people who are good with computers have conflicting advice. One of them says to use Word and the other recommends PageMaker. Which do you think is the best one to use?
Michael Bishop

A

Adobe PageMaker is a highly sophisticated desktop publishing program and whilst it has many advanced word processing facilities it is totally inappropriate for basic writing. Microsoft Word is arguably over qualified for such a task, but it has the virtue of being intuitive and reasonably easy for a beginner to use.

Q

When I first open Word and then press Ctrl+O, I am faced with the prospect of looking in "My Documents" and I waste time going through My Computer > C drive >Word to get to my Word folders/files. Is there a simple way whereby I can always look straight into my main Word folder, by default, rather than My Documents? 

Richard Carey

A

Click Options on the Tools menu and select File Locations. Highlight Documents at the top of the list then click the Modify button to locate and nominate your Word folder.

Q

Please could you help with a couple of queries? How can I prepare several emails off-line and then send them all at once using Outlook Express? Second, how can I change the default paper orientation on the printer from Landscape to Portrait?

Alan Battersby

A

When you have finished writing each email click Send then when the Dial Up Connection dialogue box appears click Work Offline and your messages will be sent to the Outbox. When you are ready to send them click on the Send/Receive button.

The landscape/portrait setting is usually found in a Printer's Properties menu, to get to it open My Computer, double-click the Printers folder (or double click Printers in Control Panel), right click on your printer, select Properties from the drop-down menu and look for the option on the Paper or Layout tab.

Q

Regarding the problem from Trevor Gardiner (F!F!F! February 1st), I have an easy way to avoid hitting the insert key in error. I never use it so I have applied 'Blutac' to the side of the key to stopping me depressing it!

Ron Roe, Lavenham, Suffolk

You can eliminate the possibility of going into Overtype in Word 2000 by going to Tools/Options/Edit and making sure that there is no tick in the "Overtype mode" box.

David Thompson

A.

Many thanks for those handy tips