FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  420 (22/06/04)

Q

My computer has a 4-way USB hub with two items permanently connected - card reader and scanner.  I have 2 printers neither of which have USB terminations - so I have to plug one or the other directly into the computer, which is a bore, especially when I want to change from one to the other (for e.g. photos or letters).

With 2 USB ports free it would be nice if there is such a thing as an adapter to enable connection from printer plug to hub but I am told this is not possible, a printer has to be especially designed for USB connection and if this is what I want I must buy a new printer. Is this true?
Peter Vivian, Camberley

A

You can easily connect two printers to your PC. I suggest fitting a second parallel port in the form of a plug in PCI expansion card; these can be purchased from PC suppliers and on-line dealers; the Sunsway ST Lab PCI parallel adaptor card costs around £21 from www.komplett.co.uk. In the unlikely event that you don’t have any spare PCI slots you can get USB to parallel port adaptors but these are a little dearer. Have a look at the Targus USB mini port replicator at www.ebuyer.co.uk. Once installed Windows should automatically recognise the card or adaptor (or ask for the driver disc supplied with the unit) and you will have two printer ports LPT1 and LPT2.

Q

I'm a student and moving out of college accommodation into a house with three other students this September. We want to share a broadband connection, but most providers require a 12-month minimum contract, which is unsuitable, as we won't be living there for that long. The only one I have found that does not have a minimum term, Virgin.net, will not allow the connection to be used by more than one computer. Do you know of any broadband ISPs that will let us share a connection for nine months? Or is there some way we could share the Virgin.net connection?
Vincent Gardiner, via email

A

I’m not sure where you got that information from but Virgin.net do not appear to have any problems with Internet connection sharing (ICS), in fact there’s a link in the Virgin.net Broadband FAQ (www.virgin.net/customers/helpme/

connection/computer.html)

to the Microsoft ICS information page, which, like Boot Camp 285, (www.telegraph.co.uk/bootarc) is a good place to find out about setting up ICS.

Q

Since reading Boot Camp 325 ‘Under Attack’, I have installed a firewall and I run AdAware about once a week. However I keep getting the W32 Netsky and Beagle worms sent to me in email attachments.  My anti virus software intercepts and quarantines them but how can I stop them coming? I sometimes get up to 5 a day. I have not had this amount before - only the odd one about once every 3 months. What has started the wave of viruses?

Heather Stewart, via email

A

Quite simply they are being sent to you by careless computer owners who have allowed their PCs to become infected by these pests. Copies of the worm or virus are then sent out to the contacts in the PC’s address book. Unfortunately these worms and viruses cover their tracks so it is often difficult to pinpoint the source but if you receive an infected email one from someone you know contact them straight away and advise them that they need to install anti virus software, or more likely, update the program that they probably already have. 

Q

When I run my anti-virus program it says it has checked about 20,000 files, many of which are Temporary Internet Files.  If they are "temporary" why are they not erased when I sign off?  Can I safely delete them - and if so, how?

Brian Foster, Shrivenham, Oxfordshire.

A

This feature is supposed to speed up web browsing by storing previously visited web pages in a ‘cache’ memory. The oldest pages are routinely purged when the capacity of the cache is exceeded and you can change this setting in Internet Explorer by going to Tools > Internet Options, select the General tab. Under Temporary Internet Files click the Delete Files Button to empty the cache then click the Settings button. With faster connections and broadband this feature is now largely redundant and there’s no reason to store so much data so reduce the ‘Amount of disk space…’ setting to 50Mb or less.  You can also safely delete any other temporary files (file extension *.tmp) that have been left behind by going to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup, or seek them out using Find/Search on the Start menu but it is prudent to leave them in the Recycle Bin for a day or two after deletion, just in case…

Q

I don't know how but somehow I have lost WordPad. Can you please suggest a way to restore it?

Robert Bristow, via email

A

I suspect that you have only deleted the shortcut and the program is still there on your PC, you can confirm that by going to Run on the Start menu and type ‘wordpad.exe’ and the program should appear. To create a new shortcut right click onto an empty area of your desktop and select New > Shortcut then use the Browse button to locate wordpad.exe. In Windows 9x(98/SE/ME) it should be in C:/Program Files/Accessories; in Windows XP you’ll find it in: C:/Program Files/Windows NT/Accessories. Give the shortcut a name (not WordPad, that’s taken…) and click OK. You can leave the shortcut where it is or drag it onto the Start menu Programs list.