FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  377 (19/08/03)

Q

A while ago you recommended the freeware programme Incredimail, which I downloaded easily and used quite a lot. Unfortunately I have had some work done on this computer and Incredimail was removed; now when I try to download it I can't. It tries for about 40 minutes then cuts out. Any ideas?  Sue Tarbet

A

The Incredimail download is around 5.5Mb, which should only take a minute or two via broadband or around ten minutes on a 56k dial-up connection. The first thing to do is check the quality of your connection by logging onto a couple of the ‘Bandwidth Test’ web sites below, preferably two or three times throughout the day, and compare the results with the site’s benchmarks.

http://bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/

www.pcpitstop.com/internet/bandwidth.asp

www.dslreports.com/stest

www.zdnet.co.uk/misc/band-test/

If your download connection speed is significantly below par then try the help and troubleshooting links on these sites to see if you can fix the problem. If the connection appears to be okay then you might just be experiencing Internet congestion and you should try downloading the program at quieter times of the day, things are usually quiet early in the morning early morning, before 7.30 am, is usually quiet

Q

I like to use an unobtrusive footer on my documents. In Excel I use "Small Fonts" of which the smallest is 2.5. But the smallest font in Word is 8. Is there a way of getting Small Fonts into Word?

Robert Adams

A

There’s no need, although Word’s font size menu shows 8pt as the smallest you can actually specify any size between near-invisible 1pt and gigantic 1638 points (in 0.5pt increments). Just highlight the text, click into the font size window to highlight the number, type in your preferred size and press Return.

Q

I have a small mail-order business and need to print individual labels for parcels, drawing the addresses from Quick Books. I've been spectacularly unsuccessful in finding anything that allows me to do this.

M. Mitchell Cotts

A

Shipping Assistant, a freeware program courtesy of the US Postal Service creates UPS approved shipping labels from Quickbooks. It should be worth a try, it can be downloaded from:

http://marketplace.intuit.com/

AppCard/AppInfo.asp?AppID=534

Q

Just recently my PC has started refusing to print from emails and web pages.

I get the message along the lines of error at line 21, say, followed further on by ‘url res://C:\windows\system\shdoclc.dll/preview.dlg’. I have to click and agree to cancel or close and the Internet Explorer or Outlook Express closes down. Just before all this started I downloaded an update for my HP970 printer and do not know if this is a contributing factor? I can get printouts from my emails by copying and pasting them into Word so the failure is irritating rather than catastrophic but if you could help I would be grateful.

Peter Hewson

A

This is quite a common problem and is usually caused by a damaged printer driver, a corrupt DLL (Dynamic Link Library) file or incorrect Spool settings. There are a couple of Microsoft Knowledgebase articles, which should prove helpful. In Google’s search window type ‘Q303360’ and Q293176

Q

I found the Boot Camp article some weeks ago on Digital Pictures on Disc stimulating. My wife subsequently bought me software that will let me put photos on a disc. I attempted to write a CD but failed over a number of tries. I feel I need to use a DVD burner to create a disc that will work on a DVD player, however, neither your article nor the software specify this. Can you advise?

Jon Gale

A

I agree, it does seem odd but no, you don't need a DVD burner. What you are attempting to do is create a Video CD, which is closely related to DVD and can be played on most DVD homedecks. The most likely causes of failure are cheap or second-grade blank CD-Rs or in a very few cases, the DVD player’s inability to read recordable discs. This mostly affects early machines. The simple way to check is to make an audio CD recording on your PC and see if the player can read that. If not and your player is getting on a bit it might be time for an upgrade.

Q

I have suddenly found myself unable to access the Character Map facility in Windows 98 Second Edition. Every time I try, I get the "blue screen of death" with the error message: "A fatal exception 0E has occurred in VXD VWIN32(05)…’  I have tried re-installing the operating system, but the result is still the same. How can I get the Character Map back, as I badly need it for my DTP work?
Harry Greenfield, London SW12

A

Problems of this type with Windows utilities have been traced to a program associated with the Nvida graphics cards, which explains why it returns, even if you re-install Windows. The remedy is simple, go to Run on the Start menu and type ‘msconfig’, select the Startup tab, deselect ‘Nview’, reboot and all see if that does the trick.