FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  287 (01/11/01)

Q

Frequently, though not always, I get a dialogue box asking me if I want to save the changes I have made to a Word file when I know I haven't made any changes. The appearance of the box with its Yes, No and Cancel buttons makes me wonder, and worry! How can I stop it from appearing when no changes have been made?

David Buckley

A

It's annoying but harmless and happens whenever you do a word count, even if you make no changes to the document. I'm sure there must be a good reason for it, though for the moment it escapes me; I'm not aware of any way to switch this particular irritant off, any suggestions?

Q

Although WinZip covers many file formats and extensions which it says will open, via the program configuration, I recently downloaded a 3D Periodic table for my son which came as a 71k zip file from www.parallelgraphics.com, but to my dismay the .wrl file is unopenable (or rather unreadable), in both Quikview or any other graphics program. In notebook it appears as something similar to Greek letters. What can I do to open this file, which is called mendeleev.wrl?

Charles White

A

Welcome to the wonderful world of VRML (virtual reality modelling language), which is used to create snazzy 3D graphics on Internet web pages. Wonderful though WinZip is, it is only designed to extract files that have been compressed, to make them smaller and quicker to send over the Internet. Its job was done when it turned the downloaded 'zip' file into mendeleev.wrl. In order to open it you need a VRML capable browser or viewer 'plug-in'. There's an excellent freeware plug-in called Cortona for Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator (Windows 9x/CE and Mac) at:  http://www.parallelgraphics.com/products/cortona/

Q

When I click start/run in Windows 98 and type cookies I see a whole host of files. Is it safe to delete the lot?
John Phillips

A

Cookies are small text files, left on your PC by web sites you have visited and generally contain fairly innocuous data. You can safely zap them but you may find that some previously visited sites that require a password, will no longer recognise you. You can stop Internet Explorer from storing cookies by going to Internet Options on the Tools menu, select the Security tab, click Custom Level, scroll down the list until you come to Cookies then check 'Disable'.  Some on-line shopping sites may not work when cookies are switched off, but it's a simple enough matter to temporarily enable them.

Q

I obviously have two Normal templates in use in Word.  If I try to close I'm told "changes have been made" to Normal and I'm asked if I wish to save them -- if I click Yes, it tells me that Normal template is already in use. Sometimes I really would like to save the changes (Autotext for example). I can go 'round the houses' for ages just trying to close Word.  What has happened?  

Lynda Wilson

A

Word only has one Normal template; my guess is that you're opening two instances of the program, which confuses poor old Word no end. It's easily done, especially if you've got a shortcut to Word in the Quickstart area of the taskbar, which requires only a single click to open. Look for two Word icons on the taskbar, if so exit both versions – opting not to make any changes to Normal.dot -- then take care to open Word just once. 

Q

Newspaper crosswords are rather small for ageing eyes. If I were to buy a cheap scanner, would it be possible to blow them up to A4 size or larger?

D. B. Moffat

A

That will work though you'll also need a graphics program that will let you change the size of the image, before it's printed out. You can re-size images using the Paint program included with Windows but it's a bit of a palaver; some scanners come bundled with paint and graphics software, otherwise have a look at applications like PaintBox Pro, MGI Photosuite etc.

Q

I am using Windows ME and recently downloaded a screensaver from the net, which installed itself in screensaver. Since then I have had continual crashes every time I try to configure the screensaver. I cannot locate the files in Windows Explorer is there any way I can delete this troublesome screensaver?

John Holmes

A

Screensaver files normally have the extension .scr, most of them live in the Windows System folder but some programs hide them away in obscure locations. Use Find on the Start menu to track down your errant screensaver, type '*.scr' (sans quotes) in the Named box and click Find Now. When you've found it either rename it (with the extension .old) or delete it, but if you do, don't empty the Recycle Bin until you've made sure everything is still working normally.

Q

In Boot Camp recently you explained how to transfer e-mail software from one PC to another. My problem is slightly different in that I have recently changed from one ISP, which uses Netscape Messenger, to another, which uses Outlook Express. Is there a simple way in which I can transfer my Netscape address book and selected messages to Outlook Express?

Geoffrey Parry

A

There is and Outlook Express is very helpful in this respect. Go to Import on the Outlook Express File menu and select 'Other Address Book' and 'Messages' from the list and there you will find Wizards for copying across the data from Netscape.

Q

I am partially sighted and have just downloaded a program "Key2Speak" which repeats the key pressed in voice, to assist me when entering data at the keyboard. When I tried to run the program I received a message " Required DLL file MSVBVM60 was not found." Could you please advise as to where I can get this file?

Leslie Lines

A

For some reason this DLL (dynamic link library) file has a habit of going AWOL when installing new software, another of life's little mysteries… Fortunately it's readily obtainable from the Internet, there's a quick and easy to use link at: http://www.milori.com/developer/runtimes/

Q

I have many lengthy documents in which I need to replace the letter ‘e’ with an accented ‘é’. I was going to do this in two stages. Firstly, get the ‘e’ via Start - Programs - Accessories - System Tools -Character Map. Secondly, do the replacement using the 'Find - Replace' facility in Word. However, I found that having copied the ‘e’ in the first stage it will not then Paste into the ‘Replace With’ box under the second stage. How can I get around this?

P. R. Ellis

A

The trick is to go to Symbol on the Insert menu, click on the accented character so that it appears on the page then highlight it and press Ctrl + C (copy command shortcut), then go to Find and Replace, insert an 'e' in the Find box then put the cursor into the Replace With box, press Ctrl + V (paste) and click Replace or Replace All.