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FAQS!
FACTS! FAX! 279 (06/09/01)
Q
I am researching my family history and wonder if there is a program,
which will convert the money at a certain period in time to present day
values.
D.Duffield
A
There certainly is, the 'How much is that worth today'
page on the Economic History website has an excellent on-line calculator that
will tell you the current purchasing power of any sum of money back to the year
1600, along with lots of other useful historical statistics. The address is: http://www.eh.net/hmit/
Q
Your
correspondent Fred Brooks (F!F!F! 21st August) who was looking for keyboard
shortcuts because of arthritic hands could consider trying a trackball instead
of a mouse. I have arthritic shoulders, which makes using a mouse
painful. With the trackball, I just pick it up and hold it and can use
fingers for the ball and buttons and the scrolling wheel. I
don't move my arms or hands for this: they jus rest at ease. I use a Microsoft
Intellimouse Trackball, which I paid £14. It is one of the best little
gadgets I ever bought.
W.
George Preston, Locks Heath, Southampton
I
have the perfect solution to the problem described by Fred Brooks,
which must
be common to all who suffer with arthritic hands. A couple of years ago
I
bought a BTC (Behaviour Tech Computer Corp) keyboard, which has an
integral
touch sensitive "mouse" pad. I bought it to save space on the
keyboard tray of my workstation and now that I am used to using it I
prefer it to a conventional mouse. I found it while browsing in my
local
Maplin Electronics store and I think it cost me about £25.
Arnold Sherman
A
Thanks
for those handy (excuse the pun) suggestions
Q
I
know how to turn an incoming e-mail into an attachment to send on to
someone
else. But often there are two or three connected e-mails, not always
from the same sender, that I would like to send on together with a
covering message. Is there anyway of doing this? No one I have asked
has
any idea.
Leonard R Dowsett
A
Nor can I find it
mentioned in OE Help but it's a reasonably straightforward procedure. Highlight
all of the messages you want to send as attachments by holding down the Ctrl
key and click each one in turn. Release Ctrl and right click one of the
highlighted messages, select Forward as Attachment and a message window opens
with all of the messages inserted, ready for you to enter the address and text.
Q
After opening "Internet Explorer" and then
returning to "Desktop" and continuing work, my PC freezes and nothing
will function. I have to press Control + Alt + Delete and have found, by
trial and error that if I close the programme titled "Rnaapp",
the computer recovers and I can continue working although I cannot rejoin the
internet without restarting. Although I now know how to recover, it is
annoying and I wonder if there is a permanent cure. I am using Windows 95 and
this is a fairly recent development.
John
White
A
Rnaapp or the Remote Network Access Application is part of Windows
Dial Up Networking and there's a known glitch whereby it is loaded into memory,
when you open Internet Explorer, but it is not purged when the application is
closed, which confuses the PC no end because it thinks it is still online. It's
sometimes caused by the modem, so it's worth uninstalling and installing the
driver software. Rnaapp might also be corrupted you can try re-installing it
from the 'cabinet' files on your Windows 95 installation disc. Insert the disc
and open a DOS window (Start, Programs MS-DOS Prompt) and type 'cd windows\system'
(without the quotes) then press enter. Now type 'extract /a d:win95_16.cab
rnaapp.exe', when asked if you want to overwrite the file click Yes.
Q
I have several ancient Philips WP systems, which
were in regular use until my retirement and for which I would like to find a
home. I have checked with local museums that, although interested, did not have
the space to take them.
Although old ('70s technology!) they are still
largely in working order and include a few selected spare units, such as disk
drives and monitor and keyboards. They are complete with all software, manuals
and some consumables - and a supply of 8in. floppies! Their age makes them
totally unattractive in the commercial sense, but I have been wondering if
there is someone somewhere who might be able to make use of them.
I am offering them without charge and could even
deliver within a reasonable range of the Bedford/Cambridge area. I would
greatly appreciate any suggestions you may be able to offer.
Malcolm
Freestone
A
Any offers of a good home? Contact Malcolm directly or
write to us and we'll pass it on.
Q
I
would like to know if there is any way I can
connect my modem to the telephone point, which is incidentally situated
15 metres away in another room, by any other means than a standard
cable. Do any other systems
exist that do not require line-of-sight (e.g. infra-red) or a cable. I
am currently
renting and am therefore a bit loath to go through the hassle of
arranging another telephone socket.
Bruce Phillips
A
Have
a look at the BT Airway system. This is a wireless phone/extension socket
system using DECT digital cordless phone technology. It supports up to 16
devices, which can be handsets, wall sockets etc., up to a range of 100 or so
metres and it's fully compatible with ordinary modems and fax machines. More
details can be found at: http://www.bt.com/airway/
Q
I now use Windows ME, but cannot find the very
useful sound recorder that was in Windows 98.
Brian
A
It's
still there but for some reason wasn't installed on your system. You can put
that to rights by opening Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel, click on the
Windows Setup tab, double-click Multimedia, put a tick in the box next to Sound
recorder, click OK and follow the instructions.
Q
I
run Microsoft Windows ME (upgraded from 98) on a Pentium 3 processor
running at 500 MHz. Recently, at each start up, a dialogue box has
appeared
stating, "Csusem32 has caused an error in CSDVMP32.DLL Csusem32 will
now close. If you continue to experience problems try restarting your
computer" This is accompanied by a "Close" button. At the same
time the entire lower bar, apart from the Start button, are blank.
Moving the
mouse arrow to the Start button converts it to an hourglass symbol.
Clicking the
"Close" button clears the dialogue box and restores the lower bar.
The machine then seems to operate normally - though possibly slightly
more slowly. This is only an irritant but it does irritate!
Robin Westbrook
A
This
is the Usage Monitor in Norton CleanSweep acting up. There's a fair few
possible causes but I would start by uninstalling then reinstalling the
program. Failing that pay a visit to the CleanSweep tech support and
trouble-shooter on the Symantec web site at: http://www.symantec.com/
techsupp/consumer.html
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