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FAQS! FACTS! FAX! 294
(18/12/01)
Q
I am looking for a diary that will show
up at boot-up time, when any action needs to be taken. My requirements are
fairly mundane, a bi-monthly reading of the electricity meter, my wife's
birthday etc. I don't have to schedule appointments or make factory meetings. I
previously used Outlook 98, but this is not supported under XP and upgrading to
Outlook 2002 for something like £100 is way OTT.
Nigel
Hinton
A
There
are plenty of shareware and freeware ‘Reminder’ and ‘To Do’ programs available
for download (try those search words in www.tucows.com)
but one I think you’ll like because of it’s similarity to Outlook is 4T
Calendar Reminder, a 30-day evaluation copy can be downloaded from: http://www.tucows.com/business/
preview/220866.html
Q
At
work, due to the layout of the desks, I sit with my back to the
corridor.
People walk up behind me, I don't hear them coming, they speak and I
leap through the roof. Some of the support team have what looks like
Mickey Mouse's ear attached to their monitor screens, about 4 to 5
inches
across, with a mirror set into the front, which gives them rear view
vision. Whenever I ask where I can buy one, they tell me sorry, it
was a freebie. Any idea who might sell them?
Lynne
Janes
A
Look
no further than ‘iwantoneofthose.com’ they’re available in three colours and
cost just £4.50, including post and packing. More details from:
http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/
watch_back.htm?47549
Q
One of the joys of a
teenage family sharing a PC is every time you sit down something has changed -
anything from screensavers settings to software, and everyone denies any
knowledge and responsibility.
Since last week, attempting to launch Explorer causes a failure with the
message "check Content Advisor for missing settings". No information
on who did what has been forthcoming. Attempting to access Content Advisor
through the Internet Options menu requires a password, which no one has any
knowledge of. Again, I cannot get to the bottom of whether there is a Microsoft
default password or whether someone has been trying to change settings.
So, I have three questions:
what has caused the settings to be corrupted? What can I do to get a functional
password and is there another way to protect my PC?
I considered trying to uninstall and reinstall Explorer, but it seems a bit
drastic and as it was factory installed I do not have a CD
Dave Garland
A
Re-installing Internet
Explorer wouldn’t have helped anyway as Content Advisor settings are retained.
The error message has probably been caused by someone attempting to delete the
Content Advisor password… To get Content Advisor back to its default condition
involves editing the Registry, it’s not something you should try unless you
know what you are doing and have made a backup, so read Boot Camps 126 and 127
first.
Step one, open Regedit then work your way
down the tree to: HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Ratings. Right-click on the Key icon in the right pane and select Delete then
exit Regedit. Next, and this is what I suspect the unnamed culprit did, in
Windows Explorer go to C:\Windows\System and delete the file 'ratings.pol', though
I’m fairly sure it will have already been zapped. If so reboot the PC and all
should be well, to check open Internet Explorer and go to Tools > Internet
Options > Content Advisor and the Settings tab should be greyed out.
To stop this kind of thing
happening again have a look at Boot Camps 140 and 141, which covers securing
your PC and setting up System Policies.
Q
I get frequent messages
that I have run out of disk space on C-drive, following which I always go
through the disk cleanup routine but the deletions seem to be
minimal. One solution occurs to me that I could transfer some of my
fatter folders to the D-drive but I can't work out how to do it.
Paul Mitchell
A
It’s simple enough to move
folders using Windows Explorer, just click, hold and drag the folder from the
C: drive and drop it on the D: drive icon, but there are a couple of things to
be aware of. Don’t try it with folders that contain programs as Windows won’t
know where to find them the next time you try to start the application, and you
need to be careful when moving data files associated with a particular program
as the next time you try to open one it will tell you it can’t be found, though
it’s usually a simple matter to change the directory in the program’s Open
dialogue box. If you want to play it safe copy and paste the folder first then
if the transfer appears successful you can delete the original file to free up
the disc space. To stop this happening in future install new programs on your
D: drive or upgrade to a new and much larger C: drive
Q
My Toshiba Satellite laptop
model 2610CDT occasionally refuses to start but displays instead the message
'Ready for EC/KBC update. Place diskette in drive and press any key' Switching off
again always cures this and it then starts normally. I have asked a Toshiba
dealer about this but without any answer. Any ideas?
Alan Shore
A
This sounds very much like
a BIOS (Basic Input Output System) problem; EC (Embedded Controller) and KBC
(Keyboard Controller) are functions of the motherboard, controlled by the BIOS
program that configures your PC at boot up. The simplest thing to do would be
to download the latest BIOS upgrade for your machine. Full instructions can be
found at
http://www.toshiba-europe.com/, follow the
links to Computer Systems, Service and Support, and look in ‘Help me resolve a
problem’ and ‘Download Files’.
Q
Several times when I have
nearly finished typing long e-mail reaching bottom of window/pane, my
hand accidentally seems to brush something on keys alongside the space
bar. The whole email
vanishes, never to be seen again leaving just the stuff in the
address bar. It is so frustrating! Any ideas how the email can
be retrieved?
Joy Cumine
A
I wouldn’t mind betting
your message is still there, but minimised. If you inadvertently move the mouse
pointer outside the message box and click the mouse button or hit a key it will
be sent to the taskbar; all you have to do is click on the icon to maximise it.
However, one way to avoid this kind of thing happening is to compose your
message in a word processor. When you are happy with it highlight the text,
press Ctrl + C to copy it to the Windows clipboard, open the new message
window, click into the copy box and press Ctrl + V to paste in your text.
Q
Whenever
I boot up I get the message File N32USER.DLL Not Found. Can you tell me how to
get my pc can find the file again?
John
Hunter
A
This
is almost certainly caused by a bug in Norton Antivirus 2000; you would be well
advised to download the program update, which can be found at:
http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/
bulletin/archive/nav/052000nav.html
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