FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  336 (22/10/02)

Q

It is my intention to buy a digital camera and use it as a scanner, in other words take pictures of photographs and copy A4 size letters. I have narrowed my choice to the Nikon Coolpix 4500, it has two features that I think will satisfy my requirements, namely 4x optical zoom and a 4megapixel sensor, which I believe will give me good quality images when enlarged to 7 x 5 inches. My PC and printer are, I think, up to the job, so will it work?

Ronald Davies, Cuddington Northwich, Cheshire

A

It’s a tempting idea but the best way to copy documents and photographs is to use a scanner. That’s because the item to be copied is kept perfectly flat and still and illuminated by a constant and controlled high-intensity light source, moreover the scanner head, because of its close proximity to the object does not introduce any distortion into the image. Since there are no size, weight or optical limitations the image sensors in a scanner can achieve higher resolutions than are possible with a camera, and most scanners come with specialist software for image processing and converting documents into text files. It’s certainly possible to construct a copy stand for a digital camera but it would end up costing more, taking up more desk space and not being as convenient to use, or performing as well as a basic £50 scanner.

Q

Suddenly, the Windows 98 shutdown sequence on my PC, which I've used happily for years, failed to function. In the past the check in the Shutdown box was always as I left it, now it defaults to 'Restart'. So I recheck it to 'Shut Down' click OK and wait for the 'It is safe to switch off now' message. This does not now appear. The PC locks up completely and I must switch the power off ' incorrectly' so that at the next boot up I am entertained by the Scandisk procedure. Has my disk fallen foul of the dreaded BugBear virus?

Don Curtis

A

This has nothing to do with BugBear but that’s little consolation since there are already more causes of slow or unreliable shutdown in Windows 98 than you can shake a stick at. Luckily most of them are fairly easy to resolve, once you’ve isolated the problem. The best place to start your quest is the Microsoft Knowledgebase article Q202633 on Windows shutdown problems, which you will find at: http://support.microsoft.com/ default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;q202633&

For shutdown problems with Windows ME you should refer to KB article Q273746

Q

I have compiled a list of words under AutoCorrect for personal use.  Can you tell me, is there a way which I can copy the list onto another computer so that I do not have to re-enter them? 
Nancy Hwang

A

AutoCorrect entries are stored in two files, ‘normal.dot’, which also looks after macros, shortcuts and menu customisation, and an ‘.acl’ file. You should copy both of them into the same locations on your second PC. The exact location varies, according to the operating system so use Search or Find on the Start menu, type in normal.dot or *.acl (the asterisk is a ‘wildcard’ so it finds all files with the extension ‘.acl’), then right click on it and select Send To, then 3.5-inch Floppy. If you have several .acl’ files check the Date/Modified column in the Filer Finder window and copy just the most recent one. For a useful article on how to transfer these and other Word configuration files have a look at:

http://textware.com/board/msword/posts/14.html

Q

Is there any way of deleting an email, without clicking on it to delete it, if you suspect it has a virus attached? I was recently infected with BugBear but my virus checker quarantined it as soon as I clicked on it.

Sue Hay

A

If you are using Outlook Express you should first make sure that the Preview Pane is disabled, which has the effect of opening emails as soon as they’re selected from the list and this is a potential loophole that some viruses and worms exploit. To switch off the Preview Pane go to Layout on the View menu and uncheck the item. To eradicate an email in your Inbox without opening it simply right-click on it and select Delete.

Q

Do you have any information on the "teddy bear" virus - is this just a hoax?   We were sent an email with an attachment giving instructions on how to check for the teddy bear virus and remove it. The suggestion was that unless we did this it would be possible for hackers to obtain credit card details etc. from our computer. We discovered a teddy bear symbol in our computer and duly deleted it and sent copies of the e-mail to everyone in our address book as they were probably also affected.  We have now heard that, not only is the whole thing a hoax but we may have deleted a legitimate element of the system - HELP!

Keith Stocks

A

This one has been doing the rounds for months and yes it is a hoax. It’s a rehash of an earlier hoax but this one has been spreading like mad in the past couple of weeks following media reports of the BugBear virus. The file you are urged to delete is called ‘Jdbgmgr.exe’ and unfortunately it does have a teddy bear icon, luckily it’s not a critical system file and the worst that may happen if you delete it is that the multimedia content of some web sites might not work properly, but it could easily have been something more important. Never delete any file on your PC on the say so of an email, even if it’s from a trusted friend, certainly not without checking first. The easy way to do that is type in the name of the file in Google’s search window (www.google.com) and the first few hits will tell you what it is for, and whether or not it has anything to do with viruses. It’s also a good idea to alert the sender of the warning message, so they can let everyone know that it’s a false alarm. For the record the earlier hoax message mentioned a moment ago concerned a legitimate Windows file called ‘sulfbnk.exe’, which you should leave alone!