FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  400 (03/03/04)

Q

I have up to now been using an Epson LQ100 printer, which only prints in black but up to now has satisfied my needs. However, I have recently purchased a Lexmark X1150 colour printer, which is very good but I wish to be able to easily select either printer to use at any time. Can you please suggest a method of doing this?

Ken Beer, via email

A

There’s nothing to stop you connecting both printers to your PC, the Epson uses a parallel cable and the Lexmark has a USB lead so you should have enough sockets. To install additional printer drivers in Windows 9x (95/98/SE/ME) open the Printer folder in My Computer or go to Start > Settings > Printers > Add Printer. In Windows XP double-click Printers And Faxes on the Start menu and select Add Printer. To switch between printers simply go to Print on the File menu of whatever application you are using and select the appropriate printer from the Printer Name drop-down menu. 

Q

There are increasing overlaps in the technology used for home entertainment and PCs. For example, both computers and televisions can have LCD screens now. Would it be practical to use a laptop's LCD screen as a TV when travelling or caravanning? If so, how?

Vivien Birch, via email

A

The Hauppauge Win-TV USB could be just what you are looking for and in addition to a 125 channel tuner it can also record TV programmes, display Teletext and it has a built in FM radio, not bad value for around £50 (see www.amazon.co.uk)

Q

I sing in two East Anglian Barbershop chorus's (Norwich BHC & Suffolk Harmony). I am able to write music on my PC using Capella 2002 and can play them back via the speakers. Recently I purchased a CD writer but I am unable to copy the music onto a blank CD. The instructions refer to "converting to WAV, MP3 or WMA" but Windows '98 does not seem to recognise or be able to locate such programs.

John Sparks, Palgrave, Suffolk

A

In fact it’s not possible to directly convert Midi to MP3, as they are technically quite different; Midi is a communication protocol used by computers and electronic instruments whereas MP3 is an audio data compression system – but there are some possible solutions.

A couple of add-ons for Capella look as though they might fit the bill. Play-Along saves Capella files to CD, in native Midi format, so they can be exchanged with other PC users and Capella Media Producer has a set of file conversion utilities, which can be used to export Capella files to CD in MP3 format. There’s more information plus demos and downloads at: http://www.metatone.com.au/products.htm

There’s also an interesting article explaining the problem, with some possible solutions at: http://mp3.about.com/cs/tipstricks/a/miditomp3orcd.htm

Q

I have a newsletter, which comes over to me every week from America. I wish to store these but they are filling my Inbox. Is it possible to transfer all the separate messages en bloc to a CD? 

Ken Beer, via email

A

I have two solutions but the first thing to do is move the newsletters out of your Inbox and into a separate folder. To do that right-click on Local Folders on the Folders Directory window, select New Folder then give it a name. Now highlight one of the newsletters in your inbox, on the Message menu select Create Rule from this Message, under Select Actions tick Move to Specified folder, in Rule Descriptions click ‘Specified’ and select your newly created folder. Click OK to finish and exit the dialogue boxes, now go to Message Rules on the Tools menu, select Mail and the Mail Rules tab. Highlight your newly created rule and click Apply Now. This will move all the Newsletters into the folder and ensure that new ones are automatically redirected to the folder. That should be enough to clear the clutter but if you want to archive them simply follow the procedure outlined in last week’s Boot Camp for moving your email account to another PC, which includes details of how to transfer all or part of the contents of your mailbox to a CD-R 

The alternative method is to highlight the newsletters in their folder (use Ctrl + A to select them all) then go to the Message menu and select Forward as Attachment. On the message window’s File menu select Save As, give it a name (with the extension *.eml) and save it in the location of your choice. If you want to open you archive simply double click on the *.eml file and it will open Outlook Express and you can drag the messages back into a folder.

Q

Could you please help me to prevent Word from dictating to me? Specifically, it has a habit of changing the font and size of the last line of an address. I prefer Arial 12 for most of my documents but Word seems to prefer either Times New Roman or Courier!

One other problem, previously when I produced documents in Normal View page, line and distance information was shown along the bottom of the page but this has since disappeared.

Allen Gale, via email

A

You can specify your default font, size etc., by going to Format > Font, open a blank page, select your preferences then click the Default button. It’s usually a good idea to exit and re-open Word, to make sure the setting sticks. The missing Status bar a the bottom of the screen can be restored by going to Options on the Tools menu, select the View Tab and under Show tick ‘Status Bar’