FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  371 (08/07/03)

Q

When I first logged onto and registered with the Electronic Telegraph web site, my Favourites folder had a very nice gothic "T" for an icon. A few days later this was replaced (by magic) by that annoying Microsoft lower case "e". This has happened quite a few times before with other sites. How do I regain and keep the sites' original icons?

Steve Jones

A

They are called ‘Favicons’ and they live in the Temporary Internet Files folder, which is unfortunate because they are flushed out every time you clear your Internet cache folders and History files. You can preserve and protect them however, by using Windows Explorer to open C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files, right click on the favicon you want to save, select Copy then Paste it into C:\Windows\System. Next right click on the Favourites entry you want to assign the favicon to, select Properties then the Change Icon button and use Browse to select it in the Windows System folder.  

Q

I have recently bought a notebook PC, which runs Windows XP and has a DVD/CD-RW drive but no floppy disc drive. My son wants to do his school work on it but brings his work home on a floppy disc. Also at home I have an old desktop Pentium 133 PC running Windows 95 with a floppy drive and a CD- ROM drive. How can we get the floppy disc information on to the notebook PC to be worked on and then back off the notebook on to a floppy to be taken back to school?
John Dove

A

You are spoilt for choice. Check with your notebook manufacturer to see if it has an external floppy drive. These usually plug into the PC-Card or USB socket; otherwise they are readily available from on-line retailers like ebuyer.co.uk for around £50. The cheapest method would be to load the floppy into the desktop PC and copy the files across to the notebook using Windows Direct Cable Connection. You’ll need a Parallel Link cable costing around £10; just type direct cable connection in Windows Help and follow the prompts. How about setting up a cable or wireless ‘Wi-Fi’ network to connect the two PCs together. If you fancy a challenge then you could upgrade your desktop to Windows 98, install a USB card then you can swap data between the two machines using a USB memory module.

Q

Sending SMS text messages from web sites is a good idea, particularly if you don't have a mobile phone! Many sites that offer SMS say they have 'sent' messages when they have not (so if you know of any good ones then that would be a bonus).  I regularly send them to South Africa to my son and the service there really is good.  The problem with all SMS is the one hundred or so characters allowed (after which the msg. is truncated).  Word counts words.  Is there a way to count characters?

In the old days when we all had typewriters with 10 inch carriages it was so simple - one line in 10P was 80 characters. To save six messages and save them in word, so they can be pasted when online, is simple, but counting the characters typed is painful.

Harry

A

I have little direct experience of SMS web sites but my text-mad daughter recommends www.cbfsms.com, which she assures me is fast and reliable. As for Word counting characters, it does, just click Word Count on the Tools menu (or set up a keyboard shortcut) and you get counts for words, characters (with spaces) and characters (without spaces).

Q
In your recent Boot Camp series on backup I don't understand what your objection is to the use of ZIP disks.  They are ideal for back-up of things such as Outlook Express message folders which need to be backed-up at least every day for people with lots of messages.  I wouldn't think that CDs, not even CD-R/W, are appropriate for such regular back-ups.  Similarly I always back up my data files (mainly from Word and Excel) to my ZIP disk as soon as I have made any
Andrew Lait

A

I have no objection to Zips or any other media apart from the fact that they cannot be read by the majority of PCs whereas almost all desktop and laptops these days have a CD-ROM drive. If your main PC fails and your backups are on CD-ROM you can retrieve your data on just about any PC. If you backup on Zip discs then you’ll have to equip at least one other machine in your system or network with a drive, in case your primary one fails (and they do have a bit of a reputation…). Blank CD-Rs cost only pennies when bought in bulk moreover when they are formatted using Direct CD or UDF (universal disc format) they effectively become 650/700Mb floppy discs. Data can be written and erased through normal Windows Explorer routines and read on any PC (with suitable software) and once finalised on any standard CD-ROM drive.

Q

I'm using Windows 98SE/IE6/OE6 and have the latter set to save copies of sent messages.   However, if I send a message from within a webpage (i.e., whilst accessing a business site or whatever) the sent message is not saved - or if it is I can't find it! I tried putting the question to my ISP but haven't been able to get a response.  Can you help?

Bill & Betty Wallace

A

Messages sent via web pages are not saved on your PC. If you need to keep a record then you should either compose the message in Word and copy and paste it into the web page’s message window, or copy and paste the message into a Word document.

Q

I have a large backup on floppy and hard disk of client's accounts and correspondence and would like to be able to print out a list of the file names.  I am currently using Windows 95. Is this possible?

Elaine Vine

A

It is and you should try a favourite little utility of ours called RJH Extensions, which adds this functionality, and much more besides (including file shredding and encryption) to Windows Explorer’s right-click context menu. It’s freeware, the download is only 673kb and you’ll find it at: http://www.rjhsoftware.com/rjhextensions/