FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  380 (09/09/03)

Q

My spellchecker in Word is set to English (United Kingdom) but it still reverts to checking in American English. I have tried and tried to get it to change but I am starting to see the color red now…
Alan McLaren

A

First verify that your PC and keyboard are set to the correct language/region settings in Control Panel then try this: go to Tools > Language > Set Language, make sure English (UK) is ticked and highlighted
then click the Default button, click Yes to verify change. The next bit is important, exit and then relaunch Word and this time the change should stick.

Q

I frequently have problems with programs not being able to unload themselves from memory and thus freezing up my computer.  This happens after I have played memory intensive games or DVD's but also affects me when I just want to play CD's - mid way through a track, or when switching between tracks, Windows media Player or RealOne Player freezes.  In all cases Windows Task Manager is ineffective at shutting the programs down and I have to turn my computer off by the switch and restart.  Is there any freeware or shareware package that can kill unresponsive programs or have I a got a different problem altogether?

Paul Hallett

A

This is quite common, try a freeware program called OptiX, which is actually a suite of utilities that monitors and optimises your PC’s memory usage and allows you to unload memory-hogging programs from a Task Manger type interface. The download file is around 1.5Mb and you’ll find it at:

http://smokeping.planetmirror.com/

pub/3dfiles/tweakfiles/allinone/

Q

A while ago you told us how to ensure that every time you open an Internet page, or a message in Outlook Express, it opens full-screen, maximised.  I have just upgraded to Windows XP and find it really annoying when opening e-mails or web pages that they open up as very small boxes, which I have to manually maximise.

Mrs Jo Edwards

A

Over the years we’ve come up with a number of techniques to force Internet Explorer and Outlook Express to remember the size of browser and message windows, with varying degrees of success. The most reliable method is to manually size and position the window by dragging the sides then hold down the Ctrl key, click the icon in the top left hand corner of the window and select the Close ‘X’ on the drop-down menu. However, even this seems to fail after a while. The only other solution is to use a third-party windows sizing utility, like Autosizer (http://www.southbaypc.com/AutoSizer/); it is freeware and works with any Windows application.

Q

When I use Microsoft Word the number of fonts that appear in the drop down list continues to grow magically (!) and there are now well over 100 to scroll through to find the ones I want. I have tried deleting them by going into C:/WINDOWS/Fonts but they come back again! Also, the clipart directory is full of useless rubbish. I used to try deleting these till I found they were coming back and extra ones keep arriving from somewhere!

Mary Gracie

A

New fonts are often loaded when you install programs on your PC and in the scheme of things 100 or so fonts isn’t a lot, nor will they have any noticeable effect on the performance of your system, though things can start to slow down a bit with 300 or more fonts. They don’t consume a great deal of space so unless it’s becoming a real problem I would leave well alone. If you must carry out a cull then the correct way to remove them is to use the font manager utility in Control Panel, (Delete on the File menu). Do not remove any marked with a red ‘A’ as they’re essential system fonts. You should also be careful about removing any Windows ‘core’ fonts; you’ll find a list on Microsoft Knowledgebase article 195708 (just type the KB article number into the Google search window).

Similarly Word Clipart files do no harm and who knows, you might find them useful one day, but if you really want to thin them out then you can safely remove any you don’t want using Windows Explorer. They’re normally stored in: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Clipart\

Q

Is there a way to send email on a specified date in the future (or even time for that matter) when you are not there, such as when on holiday?
Sue Roberts

A

There are a variety of email schedulers on the market that will send messages at specified dates and times, have a look at the following web sites for some ideas:

www.mapilab.com/outlook/email_scheduler/

www.webattack.com/get/sendlater.shtml

www.alarmwiz.com/

www.hiteksoftware.com/

Alternatively, if you are simply looking for a way to automatically to reply to emails, to let people know you are out of the office or on holiday (and your PC or network is operating continuously), and then you can set up ‘Rule’ in Outlook Express. Create the message you want to send and save it in My Documents then go to Message Rules on the Tools menu, select Mail and click the New button. In the Conditions window select ‘All Messages’ (or nominate specific senders by email address or name). In the Actions window select ‘Reply with Message’ and in the Descriptions window click ‘Message’ and select your automated reply email in My Documents.

Q

My 5-month old Windows XP computer has recently started printing out emails from Outlook Express 6.0 with the header and addressing information in 9-point Arial but the body text in 20-pt Times New Roman.  This is annoying and wastes a lot of paper. There seems to be nowhere in OE6 to reset the font size when printing, or reset defaults.  

Dr Robin Hendy

A

This can happen after upgrading Internet Explorer and it’s due to a print driver mismatch in IE and OE. Microsoft Knowledgebase article 276435 shows you how to put it right. (Find it using Google or go directly to: http://support.microsoft.com/

default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q276435)