FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  283 (04/10/01)

Q

I am very attracted by the space saving and neat appearance of TFT flat screen monitors; are there any drawbacks one should be aware of?

Jack Dyer

A

Apart from the fact that they're more expensive it's all almost good news. They're easier on the eye, both aesthetically and due to the lack of screen flicker, they emit no harmful radiation or high-pitched sounds, they run cooler and they don't generate high levels of dust-attracting static. In addition to taking up less desk space they're also lighter and mechanically more robust. Image quality is still not quite as good as the best CRT monitors though and rapid movement can be a bit blurry on some models but this only need concern you if you're using high-end graphical and video applications or the most recent fast action games.

Q

I recently received a few pictures by E-mail that had been scanned into a friend's computer. These pictures were received correctly except for a few that had been sent as part of an attachment. It was not possible to open the attachment because my computer did not recognise the file format. I noticed that the file extension was PSF, which does not seem to be listed anywhere. Is it possible to open files of this type?

Norman Evans

A

They are postscript files. Postscript is a printing and typesetting language, used to convey high-resolution images. If your printer supports postscript – refer to the manual -- you should be able to print out those images but in order to see them on the screen you will need a postscript file viewer. The best known is Ghostscript and GSView, which are freeware utilities, available from: http://www.ghostscript.com/

Q

My 3-year old grandson has learned how to switch my PC on from cold to get to his favourite games. Unfortunately he also now does this unsupervised and sometimes goes wandering around the Start/Programs list looking for something new. Is there any software, which will allow him a safe area, with a password for myself to have full access? The Windows user profile seems to be easily defeated using the cancel button.

Mike Hale

A

You can restrict access and disable vulnerable features in Windows 95 and 98 with a facility called the System Policy Editor or 'Poledit'. It's quite easy to use but it is not installed by default, have a look at Boot Camps 140 and 141.

Q

Regarding Ursula Warwick's query concerning letters inserted in a circle (F!F!F! September 20th), in addition to Word providing 'T' in a circle, its Autoformat provides the 'R' in a circle as well as 'C' in a circle. Just type 'left bracket', capital 'C', then 'right bracket', i.e. (C), press 'enter' and hey presto, the copyright symbol appears. For 'R' in a circle, do as above and type 'R' instead of 'C', and lo! one registered trademark symbol.

Jane Davey

In Word 2000 clicking Tools>Customise>Format reveals, towards the bottom of the list, a command "Enclose Characters". Selecting this as a Formatting command to appear on the Formatting toolbar enables it to be brought into use easily. However, the enclosure is rather clumsy and the facility does not really do what it says on the tin.

Right clicking on an enclosed character reveals the option to "Toggle field codes".  The enclosing symbol turns out to be a circle rather than a text 'O'.  By selecting the 'enclosING' and 'eclosED' characters separately it is possible to enlarge or reduce the size of either. Also, raising the character you wish to enclose to Superscript is a help in getting a satisfactory

result. It's a bit of a fiddle, but presumably having once successfully enclosed the required R and L they could be converted to Autotext.

Tony Walker

Another and perhaps simpler way is to create a circle using the Drawing toolbar, use short cut menu and select "Add Text".  This adds the text straight into circle and therefore become part of the object.  Formatting can be altered as you said using Format, Paragraph etc.

Brian Lock,

A

Thanks for a fantastic response, now perhaps all of you Word experts could turn your minds to this one…

Q

Word has a very useful feature, which allows the first page of a document to have different headers/footers from the rest of the document. But why, oh why, does it not also offer the same facility for the last page of the document? I like to put "continued..." at the foot of each page of a long letter, except of course the last page. Is there any way I can make Word do this?

Andrew Miller

Q

Further to the reply to Raymond Nickerson (F!F!F! 20th September) regarding revealing codes in MS Word, there is an alternative method. In Word select Tool, then Options, then select the View tab.  In the section identified as 'Nonprinting Characters' (Formatting Marks in Word 2000), there are six check boxes: Tab characters, Spaces, Paragraph marks, Hyphens, Hidden text and All. If you check 'All' then click 'OK' this gets close to the Reveal codes feature of WordPerfect.

Brian Ady

A

Thanks too to everyone who wrote in with this tip for homesick WordPerfect fans

Q

I am finding that certain CD-ROMs, which previously loaded without problem now prompt the following message 'Application Error Exception EResNotFound in module TEASER.EXE at 0006:OAEDResource TForm1 not found'.

I have tried looking for an appropriate file in my Windows 98 disk to restore using the facility in System File Checker but without success. Can you help?

Bob Shacklock

A

This is a bug associated with Norton AntiVirus, try disabling it on boot up to see if that's the cause. I'm not aware of any patch or fix and the only solution appears to be to upgrade to version 5.

Q

I cannot scroll either side of columns on Excel. Neither can I get Windows to unfreeze. I am green as grass, can you help me bearing in mind I am over 80 so I cannot wait too long!

Alfred Cooper

A

Check that the scroll bars haven't been hidden, the option can be found on the Tools menu under Options, select the View tab and look under Window Options. I fear neither you nor I will live long enough to see a remedy for frozen Windows… If it's happening a lot you have a problem, unfortunately there's a zillion and one possibilities. The only thing you can do is try to work out what leads up to the freeze – a keyboard or mouse action, opening or closing a program or using a particular piece of hardware etc. – and make a note of any frequent error messages, then write back and I'll see what I can do. 

Q

Very interesting Boot Camp on electrical safety and technically quite accurate, which makes a pleasant change from some articles. As a professional electronic designer, can I pass on another tip for working on PCs: If no earth strap is available, wear a short-sleeved shirt or top and touch unpainted metalwork every few seconds or keep leaning on the internal chassis (but beware of sharp edges!) to keep your electrical potential the same as the computer chassis. There then isn't a build-up of static voltage, which could cause damage to the microchips. I personally dislike earth straps as the springy wire always comes between you and where you are working.

David Sweetman (C.Eng., M.I.E.E.)

A

A handy sartorial safety tip, thanks…