FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  426 (03/08/04)

Q

My home page is being remorselessly invaded by something called Home Search Assistant. I’ve tried to delete it using Add/Remove Programs list in Control Panel but I am told 'Unable to Open ' but I am directed to the HAS uninstall page, which thanks me for using their software (!) and asks for my reasons for deciding to uninstall it. This involves clicking on a link and running a program. Needless to say I'm hesitant to do this for fear of opening a can of worms! Any ideas?

Ken Robinson, Inverness

A

You are wise to be cautious, Home Search Assistant is one of the most virulent and persistent pieces of adware that I have come across and most attempts to remove fail because it is deeply embedded in the Windows Registry and system files. Removal can be a tricky and lengthy business, however I have come across a couple of reasonably safe methods that seem to work for a lot of sufferers. The first thing to try if you are using Windows ME or XP is to do a System Restore to a date before your PC was infected.

The second method is for more advanced users and involves the use of a couple of freeware tools, but before you do make sure everything is safely backed up, just in case... You need to download our old friend Hijack This from: www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html and About Buster: www.ducky.atribune.org/. Run a Hijack This Scan and check any suspicious looking 02 and 04 entries, particularly ones containing ‘homesearch’, ‘HAS’, ‘xmrvd’, ‘javahh’, ‘addhd’ or a lot of random characters. Next run About Buster (it does two sweeps), to get rid of any files still hanging around. You might also like to look at the many suggestions and tales of woe at the Computing.net forum at: www.computing.net/security/wwwboard/forum/12373.html

Q

Can you tell me how to connect two Windows 98 PCs together using a USB lead and Direct Cable Connection? The USB ports do not show up when I try using DCC.

Ferrand Stobart, via email

A

It can't be done; at least not with a standard USB cable and if you try you run a very high risk of damaging one or both machines! A while back there used to be a special USB adaptor for DCC called Net-Linq. I haven’t seen it for a while but you might find one by trawling Google and ebay. You can use DCC with a special parallel or serial cable, or better still, install a couple of network cards and use a standard Ethernet crossover cable to connect the two PCs together. It’s actually very easy; see Boot Camps 67 & 68 on the basics and 281 to 286 on more advanced home networks Wi-Fi and Internet connection sharing.

Q

I have Word 2002 (with Windows XP Home) And I should like to have, as standard, a page with my own header and footer made from text boxes (I can easily delete them when I don't want them).  I find Word's header and footer system too inflexible - I cannot re-position them, re-size them or adjust the internal margins. I have produced the standard page I want and saved it as Normal.dot (I have saved the old Normal.dot, for safety) and sure enough that's what comes up when I open a blank document. The real problem is that when text overflows from the first page, the follow-up pages are blank. I can get round this by Ctrl-dragging my header and footer boxes to copy them from the first page onto subsequent pages but it's a tedious business.  Can I make Word use Normal.dot for the follow-up pages as well?

Ron Pond, North Harrow

A

You are on the right track but Normal.dot is not the way to do it and I would advise you to change it back to its original state. The trick is to set up your custom page using a blank ‘Normal’ document then go to Save As on the File menu, give it a name then below that, on the Save As Type drop-down menu select ‘Document Template (*.dot)’. All subsequent pages based on your new template will include the features of the first page. By default the templates you create are stored under the ‘General’ tab when you go to New on the File menu.

Q

My computer was pre-installed with Windows ME. Recently I borrowed Windows XP Pro to see if it was worth upgrading but now I can't uninstall it.When I turn on the PC I now have 2 boot options (Windows ME or Windows XP). In Windows XP there is no option to uninstall from Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel and I have also tried osuninst.exe but get an error about registration. Because I borrowed windows XP to try it out I have not activated the product, will it just uninstall after the 30-day period?

Chris Graham, via email

A

Not good news I’m afraid, this is a known bug in Windows XP and can occur if the ‘Undo’ folder is missing or damaged. There are a couple of solutions in Microsoft Knowledgebase article 313859 (type the number into Google) but unless you have a copy of your Registry I’m afraid that you’ll have to live with it and after the 30-day trial period XP will remain on your PC but stop working