FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  304 (12/03/02)

Q

My current home page is that of my ISP but I want to change it and have followed the correct procedure of logging on to desired home page, click on Tools/Internet Options/General Tab/Use Current/OK. The selected page does appear after clicking on Home as long as I stay on line. However, infuriatingly, when logging on after the computer has been shut down, the old home page always reappears. What am I doing wrong?

W.L. Pugh

A

So-called ‘homepage hijacking’ is becoming a real nuisance. It exploits a loophole in Internet Explorer (up to version 5.5) and uses a small program, called an ‘applet’ to make changes to the computer’s Registry. The following web sites explain how it happens, how to undo the changes, and how to stop it happening again.

http://support.microsoft.com/

default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q275609

http://www.cexx.org/hphijack.htm

http://www.spywareinfo.com/hijacked.html

Q

After working perfectly for a year my monitor display suddenly changed in the middle of working on something - now I have enormous icons and windows but also terrible resolution almost "pixellated". I tried Control
Panel - Display- Small icons etc. Nothing makes any difference. It is driving me mad especially as I need to work on graphics in Photoshop, which are unusable in state.
D Manning (Mrs)

A

You were in the right area but when you open Control Panel > Display, click on the Settings tab. There you will see a slider labelled Screen Area. This is almost certainly set to 640 x 480. I have no idea how or why this changed but you should move this to 800 x 600 or 1024 x 768, depending on the size of your monitor or your personal preference. Click OK your PC’s display will either switch to the new resolution and ask you to confirm, or re-boot. If it happens again make a note of which programs were running at the time and the exact sequence of events and I’ll try to find out what’s going on.

Q

In FFF of 18/02/02 you explained how to modify 'Start/Programs' so that list was 'side by side' rather than 'scrolled'.  Is it possible to do similar with 'Favourites' in Internet Explorer?

John Hamblin

A

It may well be but if your Favourites list is getting long or unwieldy you can get it back into shape by grouping entries together according to category, this will also make it much easier to find sites, if you forget the name. Select Organise, at the top of the Favorites list, click Create Folder to make and name as many folders as you need then highlight each entry on the list and click Move to Folder.

Q

In Word 2000 I often use the 'Auto-Correct' feature. Over time I have many hundreds of preferences stored in this utility. How can I transfer my 'auto-corrections' from my home PC to my work PC?
Russ Jeordio

A

Word’s ‘Custom Dictionary’ is stored as a text file, which you can open and edit in Word and it’s small enough to save to a floppy disc and copy and paste it into the Custom Dictionary file on another PC. ‘Custom.dic’ can usually be found in: C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Proof

Q

Each time I boot up my computer a Microsoft ISDN Configuration Wizard box appears saying, "No ISDN devices were found. Please install an ISDN device and run the configuration wizard again". Although it is a nuisance factor, I click it out and the missing item does not appear to have any effect on my programmes. Perhaps, someone could advise me on either re-installing it or to prevent the box appearing each time. Many thanks ... Ken Gill, Pett, East Sussex 

A

This may be the work of the Magistr-A virus, check the following web site:

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/

nav.nsf/pfdocs/2001090607163306,  

Q

After about an hour many of my CD-ROMs in my new computer get hot to the touch. On my old PC I was able to leave them in all day. It is still under guarantee and I have had the CD-ROM drive changed twice, but the problem persists.
Jane Condon

A

As PCs get faster they do run hotter and heat from the CPU fan on the motherboard may not be properly vented, in which case it rises to the top of the cabinet, where the CD-ROM drive usually lives. Check that there’s plenty of room for air to circulate around your PC and that any ventilation grills are unobstructed. As your machine is still under warranty you should ask the engineer to check the CPU cooling fan is working properly and if necessary fit an auxiliary fan or blower.

Q

In the past you have showed how to use 'field codes’ as a way of adding dates and filename to a document. It works fine, but how do you remove a field code. They can become a nuisance and interfere with typed words.

Douglas Holt

A

Filed codes in a document can be highlighted using the F11 key, to ‘unlink’ or convert a field code to text press Ctrl + Shift + F9

Q

I have recently purchased a 40Gb Windows Home XP computer and it is incompatible with my Fuji Camera and Agfascan Scanner. I've read in the manual it is possible to dual-install Windows 98 either by partitioning the hard disk or on another hard disk. How is this done?

Ron Gilray

A

That sounds like a somewhat drastic solution. New drivers for XP are being introduced all the time, check for updates on the Agfa and Fuji web sites. You might be able to bypass the scanner and camera’s software altogether, XP automatically recognises and communicates with many recent devices as soon as they’re plugged into the USB port. For the camera you could use a memory card reader, which is usually quicker and more convenient than downloading images by via cable. You could also try using Windows Compatibility Mode (type Compatibility Mode in XP Help), which will allow a lot of Windows 9x programs to run happily under XP.