FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  414 (11/05/04)

Q

I have Windows XL and cannot find how to print out my ‘Favorites’.

Gerald Harrison, via email

A

Many will agree that the latest version of Windows is somewhat bloated but I suspect that you actually mean Windows XP. Open Internet Explorer go to Import and Export on the File menu, select Export Favorites and note where it will be sent (probably Desktop) and click Save. Double-click the Favorites icon to open the file then select Print from the toolbar menu. By the way this also works in Windows 95, 89, SE and ME. 

Q

A colleague’s computer has recently been infected by the Blaster W32 worm. When she tries to connect to the Internet a message appears telling her she has insufficient memory consequently she cannot update her virus scanner to remove the virus.

Helen Keeley, via email

A

The best way to deal with this is for you or another colleague to download the Blaster Worm removal 'tool' from: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/

venc/data/w32.blaster.worm.removal.tool.html. The file is only 132k and fits easily onto a floppy disc, so it can be copied onto the infected PC and then run to eradicate the infection.

Q

Another option to stopping premium rate diallers (F!F!F! April 27th) is the use of call barring. Most phone companies provide this facility free, or for a modest monthly fee. If you want to dial premium rate numbers then you can request customer controlled barring, which is activated using a PIN, and only disables barring when the need arises. Alternatively, if he has a separate line for Internet access he could request barring everything except local calls only. As most dial up ISP's use 0845 codes (local rate) these should go through.
Andrew Wilkin, via email

A

Thanks for that very useful tip, I should also point out that diallers do not normally affect those with broadband Internet, however, if you have recently moved to broadband and your old dial-up modem is still installed make sure you disconnect the telephone line cable.

Q

I have a new Dell PC and BT Broadband. I regularly get a blue screen error message ‘Bugcode_USB_Driver’ and a page of script followed by 'Physical memory dump completed’. Whilst my daughter was at home using the PC a the error came as often as once a day, now she is back at University it is happening weekly suggesting that the crashes depend on the amount of information being downloaded. Dell says it is the modem, BT blames the software and I am caught in the middle.

Andrew Moore, via email

A

You are not the first Dell PC owner to report this problem and there are a couple of solutions. The first concerns the motherboard’s USB drivers, which may have become corrupted. Disconnect all USB devices, boot the PC and enter Device Manager (right-click My Computer, select Properties or Hardware then Properties if using XP), delete all installed USB drivers, listed under Universal Serial Bus Controllers by right clicking on each one and selecting Remove. Reboot the PC re-connect devices one at a time, starting with your broadband modem, and re-install the driver software. The other possibility is a conflict with ‘hyperthreading’, which is a performance enhancement on some recent Intel motherboards and processors. Switching this off in the PC’s BIOS program (see your operating manual) may resolve the problem. It is unlikely you’ll notice any reduction in speed unless the PC is being used for very demanding data or image processing applications. 

Q

We have just bought a new Windows XP PC with Works 7; currently we are using Windows 95 and Word. Can we transfer the files to floppy disk and then the new PC, or is there another way, for example print the documents on the old PC then scan them into the new machine?

Chris Elevrson 

A

Printing and scanning is certainly a novel solution and yes, it would probably work, but would be incredibly laborious, as would transferring lots of Word documents on floppy disc. However, if you do opt for this method ‘zip’ or compress the files first using a utility like WinZip (www.winzip.com), to squeeze as many documents as possible onto each disc. The quickest way to move a lot of large files from one PC to another is to temporarily ‘slave’ the hard disc in the old machine in the new one but this isn’t for novices and entails some tinkering with your computer’s innards. If you don’t fancy that then you can transfer files using the Internet – send them to yourself as email attachments, providing there’s not too many of them and they’re not too large. Alternatively connect the two PCs together using Windows Direct Cable Connection (DCC). We looked at DCC and simple networking in Boot Camps 67 and 68, it’s quite an old article but the principles are still relevant and there’s a useful guide to DCC in Windows XP Help, just type ‘Direct Cable Connection’ in the Search box.

Q

About once a month, my computer refuses to complete its start up routine unless I dial my Internet connection. The dial-up connection box appears and refuses to go away, what ever I do, until it has made its connection and transmitted data.  What really worries me is that it does this before my Internet security and anti virus programmes are allowed to run. Even formatting my hard disk did not cure the problem.  What can I do?

Tony Fisher, Bearsted

A

Since you say that you have formatted the drive and reinstalled Windows it is unlikely to be anything malicious and is simply an application checking for updates, it could even be your virus scanner. The Windows auto update feature (In XP Control Panel > System Auto Update) is scheduled to operate weekly. Have a look in Windows System Configuration (type ‘msconfig’, without the quotes in Run on the Start menu) and select the Startup tab. Look for any 'services' that might indicate an automatic update program running in the background. You could also try right clicking on icons in the System Tray (next to the clock) and look for any sub menus with options for auto updates etc.

Several readers pointed out that the solution given to G. W. Eastwood’s question about filtering unsolicited emails in last week’s F!F!F! doesn’t quite work in the manner predicted. Wanted emails addressed to the sender will be directed to a separate folder (don’t choose the Delete function or your emails will be lost), but the rest will still appear in the Inbox. To make the rule work correctly and redirect emails not correctly addressed to the recipient, into a separate folder try this revised procedure (with thanks to F!F!F! reader Andrew Miller for the solution):

Go to Tools > Message Rules > Mail, select New, in the ‘Conditions’ box check ‘Where the To line contains people’, in the Actions box select ‘Move to specified folder’. In the Descriptions box click on the highlighted and underlined ‘Contains People’ and enter your own email address, your name and click OK, now click the Options button and select ‘Message does not contain the people below’ and click OK. Next click the underlined ‘specified’ in the Descriptions box, create and name a folder where your unwanted emails will be sent, where you can inspect and delete them at your leisure.

This isn’t a necessarily problem and they can still be inspected or deleted en-masse. Unfortunately Outlook Express Rules doesn’t have an ‘exclude’ function that would direct emails that do not bear the recipients name or address to be automatically directed to the Deleted Items folder.