FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  449 (18/01/05)

Q

When I open my email (Outlook Express 6) all messages received in the last three weeks are now shown with a paperclip icon indicating an attachment even when there is none.It's not a big problem, just rather irritating.  Is there some way I can reset it to normal?

I have searched through various menus without success.

Jim McCormick, via email

A

I suspect that you have recently installed the latest version of AVG’s free virus checker (AVG 7) and the attachment icon is actually a 'certificate' added by AVG, which shows that incoming email has been scanned for viruses. You can disable this rather annoying feature by opening AVG Control Centre (double click the icon in the System Tray, next to the clock) click the Email scanner icon then the Properties button below, on the Plugins tab click the Configure button then under Incoming Mail deselect the checkbox next to 'Certify Mail'.

Q

I wonder if it is better to put a PC in standby or hibernate modes? Are there any problems if this is done regularly?

Maria Rumsey, via email

A

Standby is a low power mode, the CPU is still running but the hard drives and display are switched off, however connections to the Internet or a network are maintained. Hibernate, also known as Save to Disk, transfers all of the data in the RAM memory -- which includes all of your open programs -- to the hard disc and then switches off completely. When the PC comes out of hibernation mode it is restored to its previous condition. Neither state will harm your computer but because it hasn’t gone through a complete boot-up cycle redundant data and temporary files that are no longer needed are not flushed from the system and the Windows Registry isn’t checked or refreshed so over time the PC can slow down. The trick is to switch off completely every two or three days and you shouldn’t notice any change in performance.   

Q

I have a large collection of audio tapes, which I would like to be able to play through my PC, rather attach an external cassette player. Does anyone produce a simple internal audio tape unit that will fit into one of the PC disc bays?

Richard Nicol, via email

A

Initially I would have said no as I wouldn’t have thought there was much demand for such a device, however, I did a spot of digging and lo and behold, one does exist. It’s called Plusdeck 2 and it a is a fully featured cassette deck, controlled by the PC, capable of playing tapes, and copying music to or from a PC, or for converting tapes to MP3 format creating discs. It costs around £95 and there’s more details at: www.plusdeck.co.uk/

Q

My first project of the New Year was to set up a Wi-Fi network between my desktop and laptop. However, alarmed by recent security scares over this technology, I am waiting to find out if this is an inherent flaw or can it be properly dealt with. Can you advise?

Mike Howarth, Littleborough

A

Wi-Fi is actually pretty safe and virtually all products come with reasonably powerful security called WEP or Wired Equivalent Privacy with 40 or 128 bit encryption. The trouble is on many systems it is not switched on so in theory anyone with a Wi-Fi laptop within range of your network (typically 50 to 100 metres) could tap into your PCs or hijack your Internet connection. Enabling WAP is not difficult -- all systems come with full instructions -- and involves generating a ‘key’, which has to be entered into all of the PCs connected to the network It has to be said that WEP is not one hundred percent secure and commercial networks carrying sensitive data really need to take extra precautions but the 128-bit system is more than sufficient to protect home users from casual or even quite determined hacking.

Q

Half way through boot-up I get the following message: 'Unable to load the dynamic link library msnp32.dll…’ I have Windows 98 and this started around a year ago when I'd lost all sound and tried several things, including perhaps the wrong ones, before getting it back.

Don Martin, via email

A

Msnp32 is a Windows system file and you have either deleted it or it has been damaged. The solution is to replace it from your Windows installation disc using the System File Checker utility. Go to Run on the Start menu and type ‘sfc’ (without the quotes) them press Enter. Click ‘Extract one file from disc’ then in the ‘Specify’ box type C:\Windows\System\msnp32.dll. Click Start then the Browse button next to the Restore From box and work your way to the net7.cab folder on your Windows 98 disc, (or the cabs folders on the C: drive if Windows is pre-installed on your PC) click OK and follow the prompts.

Q

Further to your recent comments regarding passwords being stored in the cookies folder, I use Cookie Monster to scan the cookies on my system. Unfortunately, there is no way of telling which ones are useful and should be kept (e.g. passwords etc.) and which are spurious or malicious and should be deleted. How can I tell the difference?

Alan Brown, via email

A

You can often tell from the web sites name or address, i.e. ‘www.ebay’, or your bank and so on. However, I would start with a clean slate, delete the lot then you can log on to the web sites that require passwords and go back to Cookie Monster and ‘Preserve’ the new ones that have appeared.