FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  301 (19/02/02)

Q

I retired a year ago and bought my first computer. It has Windows ME and Works suite installed. I was able to purchase Office 2000 under a student license but as it has no instruction manual I have had some problems with its installation. Initially I installed the whole thing but ended up with the same problem as one of your readers with Word 2000 crashing. With help from a help line I uninstalled Office 2000 and deleted the normal.dot files. I then reinstalled Word, Outlook and Access to run from CD only and fully installed PowerPoint, Converters and Filters. I leave the two disks in all the time but am concerned that this might cause then eventually to deteriorate. Everything seems to run happily but I feel I should install more onto my computer.

Rosemary Longhurst

A

CD-ROMs don’t deteriorate with use, there’s no physical contact between the disc and the pickup, which uses a low-power laser to read data stored on the disc. However, the CD-ROM drives will be working overtime, which may well shorten their lives and those programs will be running a good deal slower than if they were properly installed on your PC’s hard disc drive. If your PC is otherwise behaving itself I would try re-installing Word, there’s no way of knowing why the program crashed the first time but the chances it was a one-off and probably won’t happen again. Instruction manuals are a rarity these days but there are plenty of good guidebooks for Office 2000, aimed at everyone, from beginners to experts.

Q

My motherboard supports two USB connections so I bought the plate with two ports and connected to mother board as instructed enabled in the BIOS Program manager says they are OK but USB ports refuse to recognise my camera. What next?
Norman Price

Tricky things USB ports…You might as well give up now if you are using Windows 95, which doesn’t get on with USB at all, if so upgrade to Windows 98. It may be that your motherboard’s BIOS needs updating, you’ll have to visit the manufacturer’s web site to find out if and how that’s possible. Otherwise you could try sidestepping the USB connections on the motherboard altogether and use an adaptor card, which plugs into a spare PCI socket. Cards with 2 or 4 USB ports are widely available from online retailers like Ebuyer (www.ebuyer.com) for less than £15.

Q

Having Windows 98 preloaded, and a connection to BT Openworld I can surf the net quite well, but when I try to use OE5 for my emails, the computer freezes. I can’t send or delete emails and when I close down I get the warning message that..."some items in the Deleted Folder could not be deleted’.  I cannot find the OE5 program to uninstall and have reinstalled Internet Explorer using a new CD but I still have the same problem.
Any suggestions?

J. McColl

A

Outlook Express is bundled with Internet Explorer and can’t easily be uninstalled on its own. Probably the simplest solution is to upgrade to Internet Explorer 6, which should purge or overwrite the files that are causing problems. Copies of IE6 are routinely included on PC magazine cover mount discs or you can download it from: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/

ie/downloads/ie6/default.asp. All of your email folders should be automatically imported but it’s a good idea to make a backup copy, just in case. You’ll find them in: C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Identities\{ - long string of numbers and letters - }\Microsoft\Outlook Express

Q

During the last few months my Windows 98 appears to be operating slower and slower.  It will not shut down now without going through Task Manager - otherwise it just 'hangs'.  I suspect that a corruption has occurred from a
demo program that has been uninstalled.  Is it possible to simply reload Windows 98?  Can I do this without upsetting any other software installed on the system?
Martin Wilkins

A

It’s not unusual for Windows to slow down as you add programs and the files on your hard disc drive becomes fragmented so before you do anything too drastic try a little housekeeping. First clear out the clutter in your Start Up Group by going to Run on the Start menu and type ‘msconfig’, select the Start-Up tab and deselect all of the programs that you don’t absolutely need to run when you boot, in fact all you really need are Systray and any anti virus and firewall programs. Close down and re-boot. Next run Disk Cleanup, Scandisk and defrag (in that order) from Accessories > System Tools on the Start menu.  If the problem persists have a look at the Microsoft Shutdown Troubleshooter at: http://support.microsoft.com/ default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q202633

Reinstalling Windows is a tedious business and should be treated as a last resort. You have several options, a clean reinstall, whereby you reformat the hard drive and start over; you can reinstall over Windows, wipe Windows and reinstall or do what’s called a parallel install. There’s a useful article that outlines the pros and cons of each method, and shows you how to do it at: http://www.windowsreinstall.com/

install/waysofreinstallingwindows.htm

Q
Ref your Boot Camp of February 5th. I already have McAfee Virus software, but it is not updated. If I download AVG Antivirus will it conflict, and if so how can I prevent this?
Frederic Harding

A

I don’t think it’s a good idea to have two virus scanners operating at the same time, if you opt for AVG I would remove McAfee first, you should find the uninstaller listed in Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel.

Q

I lost the volume icon off the task bar shortly after installing Windows XP and all I am told to do is re-install, but a search reveals no trace. I can find nothing on the Microsoft website or in any FAQ's.

Robin Kenneth Pinder

A

Right-click on an empty area of the Taskbar and select Properties, towards the bottom of the dialogue box, under Notification Area, click Customise and there you should see a list of icons, including the volume control, which can be displayed, or hidden. If you can’t see volume control there’s a chance there could be something wrong with your PC’s sound card or its driver files. To check right-click My Computer, select Properties > Hardware > Device Manager and look for a yellow exclamation mark against ‘Sound Video & Game Controllers’. If you see one right click the entry, select Properties and follow the prompts to re-install the driver, or start a troubleshooter.

Q

Some time ago you showed how to change Programs on the Start menu from a scrolling list to a side-by-side display (as in Windows 95), can you remind me how it was done?

Terry Bodily Rawlings

A

This trick involves editing the Registry so please don’t try it unless you know what you are doing and have made a backup first. Go to Run on the Start menu and type ‘regedit’ to open the Registry Editor, now work your way down through the following keys: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\

Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Advanced, right click the in the right-hand pane and select New and String Value from the drop-down menu. Rename it ‘StartMenuScrollPrograms’ (without the quotes), double-click the icon and in the ValueData field type ‘false’, close Regedit and the deed is done.