FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  442 (23/11/04)

Q

I recently came across a window, which showed some of my web page passwords, but I have searched in vain to find it again. I am using Windows XP Home with Firefox as my default browser.

Eileen Miller, via email

A

I suspect you are talking about the Firefox Password Manager, which you will find by going to Options on the Tools menu. Click the Privacy icon then the plus sign next to Saved passwords and click the View Saved Passwords button. There is no equivalent facility in Internet Explorer though there are a number of utilities on the market that will display stored passwords, like HandyPassword, which can be downloaded free from: www.handypassword.com/download.shtml

Q

I would like to recover an e-mail very recently deleted. Is this possible, if so how?

Roger Staite, via email

A

You should be able to read a deleted email by going to your Outlook Express Store folder (in XP it is usually located at: C:\Documents and Settings\<yourname>\Application Data\Identities\{GUID}, where GUID or Global Unique Identifier is a long string of alphanumeric characters). Click on the ‘deleted items.dbx’ file and when asked, select Microsoft Word as the program to open the file. You will see a lot of symbols and gibberish but the plain text in any deleted emails should be visible.

Q

My old HP printer is adequate for my needs, except that it often picks up and feeds several sheets of paper at a time. I always fan the paper to separate the sheets before loading the tray. Is this a common problem?

John Bunting, Godalming, Surrey

A

Assuming that this is a relatively recent problem and you have already tried changing the make or grade of paper then the most likely cause is the feed rollers inside the printer, which may need cleaning, adjusting or replacing. Try cleaning first as the cost of servicing or repairing ‘consumer’ printers is often more than the purchase price of a new one. To do the job properly you really need to dismantle your printer but if you don’t fancy that idea, switch off, disconnect the data and power cables, remove the paper guides and any other loose items so you can get to the rollers more easily, which should be immediately behind or below the bottom edge of the paper hopper. Blow out any dust or debris then give the rollers a gentle wipe over with a cotton bud lightly soaked in isopropyl alcohol (the fluid that comes with disc and tape cleaning kits); wait a few minutes for the cleaning fluid to evaporate before reconnecting and testing the printer.

Q

I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop. The touchpad has stopped working. I've tried downloading drivers from Synaptic and putting the program back in from the CD but nothing works.

David Hutchinson, Newcastle upon Tyne

A

You should check the Toshiba web site and download install the latest touchpad driver and utility program for your machine and operating system. If it still doesn’t work try connecting a standard PS2 mouse to your laptop, (you may have to enable the function from the touchpad utility program or Mouse in Control Panel). If that does the trick and mouse mobility is restored then it’s starting to look like a hardware fault, with the actual touchpad and its connecting cable the prime suspects.

Q

I am attempting to make a CD of my photos using Windows Movie Maker and would like to add some text to the photos. I have inserted text into images using MGI Photo Suite III but cannot call the photos up in Movie Maker because they have an extension ‘.pzp’.

Tony Jeffreys, via email

A

I don’t think that Windows Movie Maker is necessarily the best way to create a photo CD -- have a look at Boot Camp 278. However, whichever method you use you will run into problems. Images edited in Photosuite are saved in a proprietary file format that is not recognised by Movie Maker or most other graphics programs. In order to make images useable by other programs they need to be converted into one of the standard picture file formats, such as bitmap or JPEG. To do that open the picture in Photosuite, select SaveAs on the File menu and choose JPEG (or .bmp) from the Save As Type drop down menu.

Q

In Windows XP, how can I print adhesive mailing labels (99mm x 34mm) so that they can be read in the vertical position when applied to the spine of an A4 ring binder?

Fred Parsons, Nottingham

A

There are a number of label making programs on the market but providing you are not going into mass production it can be done quite easily in MS Word. Go to Envelopes and Labels on the Tools menu, select the Labels tab then click the Labels button (bottom right hand corner) and this will open the Label Options dialogue box. If your label is a common commercial type select it from the list, otherwise click the New Label button and set the dimensions. Once that’s done click OK then New Document and your label sheet will appear on the screen. You can now key in the text that you want to appear on the label. To align text vertically just set up the tabs, or use the spacebar to centre each character then press Return for the next character on the next line below. Highlight the text and set font and adjust character size to suite then move on to the next label.