FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  292 (04/12/01)

Q

I put in the new Freeserve CD-ROM and everything went bananas. After spending a full 18 minutes on Freeserve's Tech Support Line, I now have Outlook Express and Explorer back properly. However, I appear to have lost all Contacts, which appear on the left hand side of the screen in Outlook Express - it is empty whereas it usually displays all the people I have contact, or who have contacted me. Also my address book is empty. Any ideas on retrieval?

Sandra E Chubb

A

I suspect the address book with all of your contacts is still there on your PC, it has just become disconnected from the new version of Outlook Express. Try this, open OE, then Address book and go to Import on the File menu, select Address Book and use the Find dialogue box to look for your old address book in C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft. If it's not there you can try locating it with Find/Search on the Start menu, type in ‘*.wab’ (Windows Address Book), the one with your name/username is your old address book

Q

I have a redundant PCMCIA fax/modem until recently used with a now defunct laptop. Can you tell me if it is possible to obtain an adaptor that will allow me to use this modem via one of the standard ports of a desktop computer?

Bryan Benneth

A

Such things do exist though finding one is another matter. I’ve found a couple of different types: plug-in cards (PCI bus) that provide one or two card slots on the PC’s back panel, or front-mounted card reader modules that fit into a spare floppy disc drive bay. They seem to be readily available in the US but UK suppliers are surprisingly thin on the ground. If anyone knows of a source please let me know, meanwhile here are a few contacts to get you started:

http://www.linksys.co.uk/hardware/

Linksys_Products/LS_Prod_PCMCIA.htm

http://www.datamind.co.uk/merchant/interepoch_pccard.htm

http://www.amplicon.co.uk/indcomms.html

Q
I recently needed to re-format the hard drive and re-install Windows98 along with Office 2000 and other programmes. Before doing so I copied (exported) all my emails -- three-years worth -- to a file in My Documents
(e2mail/backup.pst), which was in excess of 250Mb and copied this to a CD-ROM.

For some reason I cannot import this back into Outlook Express and it come up with an error message. I have also tried, deliberately, to re-format again with some additional emails being copied (exported) using Microsoft's own backup utility. Once again I could not import this back. Can you shed any light on how to either get my data back or at least how to ensure I can get to a backup in the future from a clean install of Windows.
Richard Harris

A

I’ve encountered similar problems on several occasions and it has always centred on importing data files directly from a CD-ROM. It may have something to do with the ‘Read-Only’ attribute, which is applied to CD-ROM files by default. Anyway, the solution is to copy the backup from the CD-ROM to a new folder on the disc drive and import it from there. For future reference I have found it easier to bypass the export process altogether and simply copy the message ‘store’ file, which is normally located at: C:\Windows\Applicartion Data\Identities\(long string of numbers of letters)\Microsoft\Outlook Express, into a new folder on your hard disc drive, and then use the Outlook Express Import function

Q

 I would be grateful if you could tell me where I can find UK phone numbers on the Web, my searches so far have been unsuccessful.

D. E. Launchbury

A

BT has put its Directory Enquiries service on the web and you can search for home and business phone numbers by name and location, the web site (click the link at: www.bt.com) lets you do up to 10 searches straight away; if you register (all it’s free) you can do up to 200 searches a month. Otherwise try the phone search utilities at: http://www.lookupuk.com/phone.html

Q

I enjoy listening to CDs or the (PixelView) TV/FM on my PC and working at the same time – but is there any way of muting the various error and alert sounds on Windows 2000 (apart from disabling them individually via “settings”) whilst still retaining the CD or TV/FM audio?
C. Melhuish

A

Yes there is, the noises made by your PC and the applications you use are all digital ‘wav’ sounds whereas sounds from music CDs and your TV/radio tuner are in the form of analogue audio signals, fed to your PC’s sound card via its ‘line’ inputs. The two sets of sounds are controlled separately and you can bring up the Master Windows volume control by double-clicking the loudspeaker icon in the System Tray on the Taskbar (next to the clock display). Here you will find volume control sliders and mute buttons for the ‘wav’ and ‘line’ inputs. By the way, if you can’t see the speaker icon go to Multimedia (Sounds and Multimedia in Windows ME) in Control Panel, select the Audio (Sounds in ME) tab and check the item ‘Show Volume Control on Taskbar’.

Q

Could you tell me how to wrap text to either a circle or an uneven sided shape (pear drop etc.)? Word does not seem to be able to do it, and although I have searched high and low.
Mike Cherry, Burton-on-Trent

A

Text wrapping is something Word does quite well but it’s not shown by default and you can only use it in the Print Preview/Layout mode. You need to display the Drawing Toolbar, do that by right clicking into an empty area next to the toolbars at the top of the screen and select Drawing. Next, go the View menu and change the Print Preview/Layout and you’re ready to go. It’s very easy to use but it a good idea to have a little practice first. Create, open or copy/paste some text onto the page then go to the Drawing toolbar and click on Autoshapes then choose a form, (square, circle or line for an irregular shape), drag the shape into position on the text, click Draw on the Drawing toolbar, select Text Wrapping then the style you want and it’s done.

Q

Roger Wood (F!F!F! on the web 21/11/01) is having problems with FreeCell under Windows 98. So am I, even after uninstalling and reinstalling. I can open the program but get an error message as soon as I try to start a game. I suspect there is a deeper problem that MS are not admitting. But never fear, FreeCell fans. There is a superb freeware version on-line at
http://home.earthlink.net/~fomalhaut/fcpro.html . It does everything the original FreeCell does & more - save game, records solutions, inbuilt solver, unlimited undo move. It's just fab!

John Dean, Headington, Oxford

A

Thanks for that tip