FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  316 (02/06/02)

Q

I tried your recent Top Tip (Boot Camp 28th May) for speeding up Windows boot up but I can't find the ‘msdos.sys’ file on my Windows 98 SE system, either through Windows Explorer or "Find File". Nor can I find it on the W98 CD. Is this important?
Tony Bell

A

I should have pointed out that msdos.sys is a system file and as such not normally displayed. To show it go to the View menu in Windows Explorer, select Folder Options then the View tab and near the top of the list, under Hidden Files, enable ‘Show all Files’.

Q

I have a problem with my Outlook Express. Quite suddenly it has started to print out in large characters (pos 22pt) I've looked and for the life of me I can't find a menu to select the font size of the print out.  I have tried copy and paste into Word and they are fine, can you help?

Steve Hooley

A

You can search through the Outlook Express menus until the cows come home but you won’t find it. For reasons best known to Mr Gates print size in OE is controlled from Internet Explorer, open IE then go to the View menu and select Text Size. The choice is pretty thin, I’m afraid, but you should find Medium or Small more to your liking.

Q

I have a Fujitsu PC system with two problems. The monitor has developed a green tint over the whole of the screen area. All of the functions work, and the text and graphics are all clear. Can you suggest a possible cause? Second, the hard drive makes an intermittent clicking noise after the PC is booted up. While the clicking is on the functions of many of the programs, which are displayed stop or appear to hang. They resume as soon as the clicking stops. Again any ideas?
G Parmar

A

The green screen could be due to a number of things. Switch off and check the monitor cable and the connection on the back of the PC, try removing and reseating it. Otherwise the monitor itself may have developed a fault or there could be something wrong with the video adaptor card or motherboard. You can find out which by trying another monitor but either way it’s likely to need expert attention. The chattering disc drive is probably nothing to worry about, it sounds like it could be normal ‘housekeeping’ activities, such as reading and writing to the ‘cache’ (a portion of disc space used to supplement the computer’s RAM memory), however, if it is happening a lot that might indicate that your PC is short of memory, Windows machines (95 onwards) needs at least 128Mb, though 256Mb or more is better if you are using a lot of heavyweight applications.

Q

I am interested in the problem of defragmentation. One 'expert' said it was very important, another, not at all. I followed the former then an 'expert' told me to always defragment in Safe Mode. I did that for a few months and then, out of curiosity, tried to defragment in ordinary mode the result - many black ('bad') files, continuous re-reading of drive and a persistent failure to complete defragmentation - the current situation what do you think?

Paul Mangan, Pallion, Sunderland

A

Defragging is necessary but nowhere near as often as most people think. It all depends on how you use your PC. If you are constantly loading and unloading software and moving or deleting large chunks of data then the filing system on the disc can become disorganised and it will take fractionally longer to read and write data. Heavy-duty users may find it is worth defragging every two or three weeks. On the other hand, PCs used mostly for office applications, where the installed software changes little, then defragging every three of four months is usually more than enough to keep things running smoothly. Defragging, whether from normal Windows or Safe Mode, does not cause ‘bad sectors’ – parts of the disc that Defrag determines can no longer reliably store data – it is usually a sign that the disc is failing. There are utilities that claim to be able to recover bad sectors but I would heed the warning and replace the drive as soon as possible.

Q

I cannot open an email attachment with extension ‘.wks’. A window comes up saying, "This file does not have a program associated with it to perform this action.  Create an association in - My Computer >View>File Options."  I am unsuccessful in trying to create a new program/file.  I have received other attachments with extensions I cannot open and have given up. Any help would be appreciated.       

Sheila Roberts

A

This somewhat convoluted message confuses a lot of people but it basically means you need to install on your PC a copy of the program that created the file. Files ending in .wks are usually Microsoft Works or Lotus spreadsheets though you should be able to open it with Microsoft Excel. To find out which programs are associated with other file types have a look at the File Extension Source web site at: http://filext.com/

Q

Your recent Boot Camp article on SmartCard data recovery really hit the spot as I have recently suffered this problem.  I am now off to try PhotoRescue.  Could you tell me whether anything similar is available for CD-ROM's?  I have a CD-ROM, which I use a lot but which has somehow sustained a crack running for around 1-inch from the edge inwards.  The CD is still in one piece.  I would be desperate to see if any of the data can be recovered or copied over onto something else, but have been quoted an astronomical amount of money (at least £500, possibly as much as £1000) by a data recovery organisation just to see if the data is retrievable, never mind to actually retrieve it.
Felicity Berkeley

A

Physical damage to a storage device or recording media often puts it beyond the help of conventional recovery techniques but before you call in the professionals (and shop around for more competitive quotes) have a look at CD Data Rescue, ( http://www.naltech.com/) and CD-R Diagnostic (http://www.cdrom-prod.com/download.html), both sites have time-limited trial versions for download, which will show you if there’s any recoverable files on the disc, in which case it may be worth purchasing the full version.