FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  353 (04/03/03)

Q

I have bought a second hand PC and wish to spring-clean the system including any hidden caches resulting from Internet surfing. I have tried several products, which don't seem to work; I don't like the idea of "hidden" files, etc., a little help please?

Paul Fell

A

The best thing to do with a second hand PC is to format the drive and start afresh. You have no way of knowing what’s lurking on the disc, anything from viruses and worms to sensitive or personal information about the previous owner. It’s also unlikely that you have the right to use the operating system or any software that may still be on the machine and transferring rights to a new owner can be complicated, if not impossible in some cases. Starting afresh also means you wipe the slate clean, avoiding any hidden software problems that might surface when you install or remove programs.

Q

I frequently receive attachments to emails from my daughter in Italy. These have the extension ‘.pps’ and my computer cannot find the file to open these. Can you tell me what type of file it is and how I can open it?

Margaret Dyer

A

The extension ‘.pps’ could mean that they are PostScript files, though I think that’s unlikely as they’re mostly used in high-end printing and publishing. They are most probably PowerPoint Slideshows, which means you either need PowerPoint, or a PowerPoint ‘viewer’ on your computer. If you have Word you can download a freeware viewer add-on from the Microsoft web site at: http://office.microsoft.com/

downloads/2000/Ppview97.aspx

Q
My son has an IT project at school and needs to find out how newspapers
reproduce photographs. Can you explain the process?
Mike Squires

A

I thought it best to ask the experts, this is what The Daily Telegraph’s Production Department had to say on the matter:

Images come from a variety of sources including our own photographers in the field, news agencies and photographic agencies. The images, which we receive, are shot using digital cameras similar to those available on the high street. The photographer or agency will select the most suitable frames from his/her session and transmit these to The Telegraph office. Hard copy such as photographic prints and artwork are set directly our office for scanning. The picture editor, under instruction from the Editor, will select the best pictures from all sources for that day’s paper. The selection is then passed over to our production department who colour correct the files to make them print-ready. Once processed, the images can be called onto the page by the journalist. Upon completion the entire page is transmitted electronically to our printing facility. The digital data is exposed by laser onto a polymer film, which in turn is exposed onto an aluminium printing plate with a photopolymer coating. Once processed, the plate is then ready to be mounted onto the printing press.


Q
I have been getting emails with attachments, sometimes from people I know though but not always. I try to delete the one’s I’m not expecting but I get the message 'This program has performed an illegal operation…’ and ‘MSIMN caused an invalid page fault in module INETCOMM>DLL’. I am an OAP and don’t know much about computers; I have no one to help me so I am getting very frustrated with my computer.

Maureen Smart

A

Those unexpected attachments could contain viruses or worms, even if you know the sender, so you are wise to delete them, but the error message is probably due to a glitch with the updates for older versions of Outlook Express running under Windows 95. The solution is to download a couple of files from the Microsoft Web site at: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=182022. Simply click on the 'Download' buttons one at a time, select Open and they will be automatically installed.

Q
I've had a few problems and want to reformat my hard drive C: and then install Windows 98. No problem except that I don't want to lose my many emails, in over a dozen inbox sub-directories.  How can I save them (to drive D: would do) and reinstall them? 

Harry

A

It’s not a problem, but it helps if you use Version 6 or the same version of Outlook Express on the reformatted drive. If so you will find all of your messages stored in a folder at: C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Identities\{GUID}\Microsoft\Outlook Express (where GUID or Global Unique Identifier is a long string of letters and numbers). Copy the Outlook Express folder to your second hard drive and when your new Outlook Express is up and running go to Import on the File menu. Select the OE version number from the list, check the item ‘Import from Store Directory’ then use Browse to locate the folder on drive D: and follow the prompts.

Q

My granddaughter has asked me to produce her wedding invitations.  Is it possible to purchase inkjet cartridges having metallic type ink (e.g. silver) for Epson and Lexmark printers? My enquiries have so far been unsuccessful.
Ralph Dean

A

None of the major printer manufacturer’s I’ve spoken to have any ‘consumer’ models that can handle metallic inks, for the simple reason that the particles would be too large for the microscopically fine nozzles on the printer heads or cartridges. As far as I am aware the only printers that can use metallic colours are specialist ‘MicroDry’ models made by Alps, which uses a vaporised dye technique and needless to say costs a lot more than having your invitations professionally printed. Alternatively, why not print onto gold or silver laminated paper or card, your printer or stationery supplier should be able to advise.

Q

Is there any means of determining the country of origin of an email? In running my small business, I need to forward US emails to the local distributor. Sometimes there are clues in the spelling used but a more reliable method would be appreciated, as the last thing I would wish to do would be to lose a customer by making a wrong assumption.
Keith G. Lowery, Grasby, Lincs

A

Maybe, possibly, but not if the sender wants to hide their identity or location. The first clue may be in the sender’s email address, which might contain a country code (i.e. uk, fr, jp etc., there’s a full list at: http://www.nsrc.org/codes/country-codes.html).

Otherwise you may be able to find out where the email began its journey by looking into the ‘Header’. This plots the message’s journey across the Internet but again much of the information can be altered by anyone with a mind to. Normally the header is hidden from view but in Outlook Express you can show it by right clicking on the message in your Inbox. Select Properties then the Details tab. The best indicator of a message’s starting point is under ‘Received’; there may be several entries listing the server computers that handled the message, so look at the first line of the last Received entry, which should be the server computer for the sender’s ISP.