FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  374 (29/07/03)

Q

I use Outlook Express 6 on my home computer. I would like to print out my e-mail address book so that I can take it into work for when I want to send the odd e-mail during the day using my work system.  Can you tell me how to do this please?

Mrs Jo Edwards

A

The printing facilities in Outlook Express are fairly sparse but you can easily convert your address book into a text file that can be opened in a word processor from where it can be printed. Open Outlook Express go to Export on the file menu and select Address Book. Highlight the selection ‘Text File (comma separated value)’, click the Export button and save the file in My Documents. You can now open your address book file in Word or Word Pad, edit the entries and tidy it up as required and print it out. The Address Book file should be small enough to fit onto a floppy, so why not save time and paper and take that into work instead?

Q

How can I transfer digital photos from my PC onto VHS tape so they can be played back via a VHS recorder/player?

I M Tasker, Budleigh Salterton, Devon

A

Your PC needs to be equipped with a video or ‘TV output’ connection, it’s worth checking the manual as many recent models now have them as standard. If not you will have to fit one and prices for graphics cards with a video output socket start at around £30. The card fits into a spare PCI socket on the motherboard, it’s not a difficult job but if you don’t feel up to it ask a knowledgeable friend to help. Once installed everything that appears on your PC monitor also appears on the video output, so all you have to do is connect your PC to the video input on your VCR create a slideshow of your pictures and record it.

Q

I have recently upgraded my PC but since the change, I find that the "dial-up box" keeps appearing at random and at any time, regardless of what I am doing. Whether writing letters, looking at photos or playing games. I am completely at a loss; do you have you any suggestions?

Jim Porter, Deal, Kent

A

This sort of thing is usually due to programs like virus checkers trying to connect to the Internet to search for updates but it could also be the work of a spyware program or Trojan, seeking an Internet connection to send private or personal data from your PC. To check the former press Ctrl + Alt + Del to bring up the Close Program or Running Tasks window and look down the list to see if there are any update programs listed. Highlight and End Task any suspicious looking ones and see if that fixes the problem. Otherwise go to Run on the Start menu and type ‘msconfig’ (sans quotes) and select the Startup tab. Look down the list and deselect any update  programs or ‘services’. Reboot and see if that makes a difference. You can always reinstate entries on the Startup list afterwards. To track down and eradicate any nasties lurking on your PC install and run a free anti-spyware utility called AdAware from: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

Q

I use PowerPoint for various presentations, but I want to create a more 'entertaining' version, by including sound, wipes, fades etc.  I am sure that there must be such programs available, but what are they, and which is the best?
John Holland MBE, Stockport, Cheshire

A

PowerPoint has all of the features you are looking for, plus a lot more besides so you really need look no further. Many useful features in PowerPoint are quite well hidden, which is probably why you haven’t come across them yet. You’ll find a good selection of wipes and fade effects in Slide Transition on the Slideshow menu, and you can add sounds (music, narration, effects etc.,) to your presentations from Movies and Sounds on the Insert menu. There are plenty of PowerPoint tutorials on the web, have a look at: www.science.iupui.edu/SAC98/ppt.htm

Q

I bought a new hard disc for my laptop in March, and I've hardly used it since.  It shows during a surface scan three bad clusters.  I know from your advice in past articles that this spells doom and gloom, but can I not "patch" the bad clusters by doing a thorough scan and requesting an automatic fix?  Each cluster is only "one square" as it were, so there is a huge amount unaffected and a vast amount of space left.  I am not happy at the thought of shelling out more money for a new disk (and all that that entails) if I can somehow "mend" this one. I would greatly appreciate your comments.

Elizabeth Stewart

A

A sudden increase in bad sectors or clusters is almost always a sign that there’s a serious problem with your hard disc drive and that sooner or later it will fail. That failure might not occur for several months or years, or it could be in the next five minutes. There are disc repair utilities that will conceal the problem but the fact remains that your data is at risk and only you can decide whether it is worth more to you than the price of a new disc drive. If you don’t relish the prospect of reloading all of your programs and data you can get an external adaptor for laptop drives, which plugs into your laptop’s PC Card slot and use backup software to copy or ‘mirror’ the contents of your old drive to the new one.