FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  411 (20/04/04)

Q

Excel does not recognise 19th century dates, presumably because they are BG (Before Gates). I have a database package containing dates mm dd yyyy, whose data I export to others via Excel. It renders 20th century dates OK, but 19th come out as #####. Clicking on such cells reveals a negative number. Is there an easy way to render these in a normal date format?
Ian Buxton, via email

A

In fact it’s not Bill’s fault; setting 1900 as ‘year 1’ was a bug in one of the earliest spreadsheets, Lotus 123, launched back in 1983. When Microsoft introduced Excel in 1987 it decided to stick with 1900 as the start date in order to maintain compatibility and allow users to import and export data. And while we’re on the subject, you might be interested to know that early Apple Mac computers didn’t recognise dates before January 1st 1904. There are several simple workarounds for the Excel problem, have a look at http://home.clara.net/daibevan/

nottshelp/ExcelDates.htm, and Microsoft Knowledgebase article 180162. You’ll find details of a permanent fix at:http://www.j-walk.com/ss/excel/files/xdate.htm

Q

When using the Internet, after clicking on a link, I am regularly confounded by the appearance of a blank page displaying a tiny symbol containing a circle, square and triangle.  I also, sometimes, get a page where the links are replaced by a frame containing the same symbol. What am I doing wrong?

Steve Lawson, via email

A

That icon is known as a 'placeholder', and it represents a graphic or image on a web page. Normally you'll only see them if you have told Internet Explorer not to display images, maybe you switched it off by mistake? If so you can turn it back on again by going to: Tools > Internet Options and click the Advanced tap, scroll down the list to Multimedia and make sure 'Show Pictures' is checked.

Q 

I would like to be able to scan in old black and white 35mm negatives, to convert them to positive and thus to store or print them as positive photographs. Since they are old I would also like to able to "fix" them at the same time. Do you know of any software that can do this or if is it even possible?

David Segal, via email

A

Assuming that you have a scanner with a 35mm holder then most image and graphic editing software have positive/negative switching and simple touch-up functions, from basic freeware programs like the excellent Irfanview (http://www.irfanview.com/), to more sophisticated applications such as PaintShop Pro and Adobe Photoshop.

Q

I regularly download Windows XP patches and upgrades from the Microsoft site.  These are always applied directly to the computer without the option of saving to disc as is usual with other downloads, consequently if I need to re-install XP (as sometimes happens!), the system reverts to the basic XP and the upgrades are lost. Is there a method of saving to disc - I have tried to find the option on the MS site but to no avail.
Michael Grice

A

Create a folder on your hard drive then visit the MS update site after the Check for Updates applet has loaded do not click the ‘Scan for updates’ option. In the left hand Windows, under See Also, click ‘Windows Update Calalog’, then in the right hand pane select ‘Find Updates for Microsoft Windows…’, select your operating system, work your way down the list, clicking Add for the Updates you want to download then finish off by clicking ‘Go to Download Basket’ and save them in your newly created folder, after which you can burn them onto a CD

Q

Could you please tell me how to produce multi-address labels (21 per sheet) using Word? I find the mail merge totally confusing. One label is easy or all same name on one sheet but multi addresses… HELP!

Stan Boys, via email

A

This is a hardy perennial and since we’ve had several enquiries recently -- and we haven’t dealt with it for a while – here’s the solution. Go to Envelopes and Labels on the Tools menu and select the Labels tab. Click Options then choose a preset label format, or create you own by clicking the New Label button, then OK. Now here’s the trick, in the Print box make sure ‘Full Page of the same label’ is checked – yes, I know it doesn’t make any sense… – now click New Document and fill out the sheet with your addresses, give it a name, Save it and it’s ready to use.

Q

Can you please tell me why it is that, whilst listening to a radio station over the Internet, Radio 4, say, it is sometimes possible for me to visit other web sites and continue listening, while if I try to visit other sites, the radio disconnects? Would an increase in memory be the answer?  Please don't tell me that there's no fix for this very, very frustrating problem!

Phil Grimshaw, Towcester

A

Radio channels broadcast or ‘streamed’ over the Internet are decoded on your PC by a separate program or utility. In the case of BBC channels this will be Real Player, which Windows Explorer regards as a separate web page, so provided that ‘page’ remains open you can continue browsing on another open page. Other stations however will only be heard as long as the radio station’s page remains open, so if you go from that page to another site contact with the station will be broken. If you want to browse and listen to a station at the same time the solution is to open a new browser window, or change to a browser that supports multiple or open ‘tabbed’ pages, like Netscape, Mozilla or my personal favourite, the excellent Avant Browser (www.avantbrowser.com), which is a upgrade for Internet Explorer, and it’s free!