FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  373 (22/07/03)

Q

I recently read an article about the high cost of printer ink and the fact that many printers miss-reported the amount of ink left in the cartridge. Mention was made of a program, which would override the cartridge chip so that printing could continue if there was ink still remaining.  Have you details of this program? My searches have not been successful.
Patrick Harvey

A

You are probably referring to a Russian freeware program called SSC Service Utility, which works with Epson Stylus printers that use ‘chipped’ cartridges. SSC can reset or freeze the cartridge’s ink level and droplet counter settings and it has a powerful cleaning utility with more options than the standard printer utility. You’ll find a compatibility chart and the file download at: http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml

The alternative is a cartridge resetter or chip ‘zapper’, which again is only available for some Epson printer cartridges. This is a little gadget, costing between £5 and £10 and about the size of a box of matches, which either clips on the back of the cartridge, or the chip is removed and inserted into the device. Resetting the chip only takes a few seconds and it tricks the printer into thinking it has been loaded with a new cartridge, which usually means you’ll be able to get another half dozen or so printing sessions from an allegedly  ‘empty’ cartridge.

Needless to say printer manufacturers frown upon such procedures, however, they appear to be generally safe but you obviously use them at your own risk.

Q

I find that when writing a letter and using Alt+Shif+D I get the current date but when I re-open the file another day, the date has been automatically updated. In order to avoid this I have to go to Insert then insert date, making sure that the automatic update box is not ticked.  I find this laborious. I remember, quite a long time ago, there was something in F!F!F about this, your help would be appreciated.

Eve Morris

A

This is an old favourite and since we’ve haven’t covered it for a while, (and in response to several similar requests), here’s what to do. Highlight the date field in the document and it turns grey. Press Ctrl + Shift + F9 and it changes to normal text

Q

I have started to compile my family tree using a program from Sierra Home.

I put it on a floppy disc to send to relatives in Australia but they cannot unravel it. Help?

Gordon,

A

Most family tree programs save their data in proprietary file formats, which can only be read by that program, so you’ll have to tell your Australian relatives to get hold of a copy for themselves. Many genealogical programs also have an option to save files in the ‘Gedcom’ format, which is a sort of universal file transfer system between family tree programs so if they can’t get hold of your particular program they may be able to open your files (saved in Gedcom) on another program that supports the gedcom format.   

Q

When I have to restart my computer following a software installation for example, it is often necessary to restart the computer and when Windows reboots the CD drive is not recognised. I have to close down and reload to get the CD drive working again. Is there any reason for this and how can this problem be rectified? 

David Speare

A

There are lots of possible causes but here are a couple of things to try first. If the CD-ROM drive is on the main hard disc IDE channel (i.e. it shares the same cable as your C: drive) make sure that the jumpers on the HDD and CD-ROM drive are set to ‘Master’ and ‘Slave’ respectively.  Otherwise, if you have only one hard disc drive try connecting it to the secondary IDE channel. If that doesn’t help then you are going to have to do some in-depth troubleshooting and there’s a useful guide to solving this kind of CD-ROM problem at: www.pcguide.com/ts/x/comp/cd/recogDriver-c.html

Q

Does anyone know of any small 'half size' laptops with a screen size around 6 to 8-inches? The smallest laptops I can find have 12-inch screens and the displays on pocket PC's appear to be around 2.5 to 3-inches across. I need something between the two.
Gerry Woodhouse

A

There used to be quite a few ‘mini’ notebooks on the market, the best known being the Toshiba Libretto (6-inches) and the IBM ThinkPad 240 (10-inches). Both are now discontinued and relatively slow by current standards but if all you need is something small light and portable for word processing, emailing etc., and you’re on a tight budget, then it may be worth seeking one out on ebay (www.ebay.co.uk), where good examples of both machines can be found for between £250 and £400. The only current contender that I’m aware of is the JVC MiniNote, which has an 8.9-inch screen and a ‘footprint’ around the size of an A5 sheet of paper. More details from: www.jvc.co.uk

Q

I have several of my own applications on my PC desktop and in order to tell them apart I would like to have distinctive icons.  The icons available in Windows are pretty bland and not very appropriate.  Is there a way of making my own from picture files?

Andy Bradshaw

A

The easiest way to create an icon is to open a jpg image in Windows Paint and use Save As to change it to a 256-colour or 24-bit bitmap (bmp) file with the extension *.ico. This has a number of limitations (but it’s worth a try), otherwise you should use a purpose designed icon editing program a selection of which you will find at: www.brothersoft.com/ Desktop_Utilities_Icon_Tools.asp