FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  463 (25/04/05)

Q

I have seen documents that are configured to pop up a small text box when the cursor hovers over a given word or phrase. I am preparing a procedure manual and it would be useful to add short explanatory notes by means of pop up text boxes within the text. Is it possible to do this in a Word document? If not what do you have to use to get that facility?

David Ward, Cambeley

A

Word has no pop-up box facility as such but there are a couple of workarounds. The simplest is to use a ‘blind’ Hyperlink. Highlight the word or words then go to Insert > Hyperlink and click the ScreenTip button. Insert the text you want to appear in the box and click OK. In order to work there needs to be something in the ‘Type the file or web page name’ box, but you can put in a full stop or link it back to the same document using the Recent File button, then click OK. The other method is to use the Comment feature. Highlight the word then click Comment on the Insert menu, type in the text you want to appear and click Close and the word will appear highlighted in yellow.  If the highlight or box contains any extra text or a title this can be edited from Tools > Options > User Information tab, clear the ‘Name’ box, or type in a title for the Comment box. Other spurious characters can be removed by going to Tools > Options > View tab, and make sure Hidden Text is unchecked. This method is a bit fiddly and you may need to go back and Edit or delete the Comment and start over by right-clicking the highlighted word.

Q

My wife has poor vision as a result of developing Aged Macular Degeneration, which means that she has difficulty in reading and writing on the PC. The normal black on white print is very difficult, but white on black is much clearer. Is there any way that the background and print colours on the PC Screen can be changed to enable my wife to try to use the computer more effectively?

Keith Shaw, via email

A

All versions of Windows have a number of ‘Accessibility’ options for people with visual impairment, including screen magnifiers, text to speech and special display modes. In Windows XP go to Start > Programs < Accessories and click Accessibility then Accessibility Wizard and follow the prompts and Windows will attempt to configure itself to your Wife’s particular needs. You might also like to try a few experiments with the different Windows ‘schemes’, which include large text and ‘reversed’ (white on black) displays. In all versions of Windows right-click on the desktop and select Properties then the Appearance tab. On Windows 9x (95.98/SE/ME) click the Scheme drop down menu and try the range of ‘High Contrast’ options. In Windows XP follow the same procedure (i.e. right click Desktop > Properties > Advanced, but on the Windows and Buttons drop-down menu select ‘Windows Classic Style’, then the High Contrast options will appear below in the Colour Scheme menu. There’s also a useful article on the Microsoft web site at: www.microsoft.com/enable/guides/vision.aspx.

Q

Can you advise me how to stop the wretched Scandisk from gatecrashing its way onto my screen when I am in the middle of doing something, e.g. just about to launch a depth-charge attack in 'Destroyer Command' - and thereby causing the game system to crash? I use Windows ME, and I have gone to Start/Settings/Control Panel/Scheduled Tasks in search of Scandisk but could find no mention of it.

Mel Stockdale, via email

A

Scandisk is a built-in file checking utility and I would take its appearance as a warning that your hard drive may be developing problems and could be about to fail. You should back up all essential data as soon as possible and run a scan to see if any ‘bad sectors’ have developed, which is quite possible on an old and well-used PC. You can run the test by right-clicking on your drive in Windows Explorer, choose Properties then the Tools tab and click the 'Error Checking' button, under Type of test choose ‘Thorough’. Once a drive shows signs of errors there’s no going back and it should be replaced immediately.

Q

I recently bought and fitted a 80Gb drive to supplement the nearly full 8Gb drive on my Windows 98 SE computer. It came without any instructions for setting-up but reference to Boot Camp article 316 gave me all the info I required and it's now operating as a slave to the original as drive D. Many thanks! All my photos and music are still on drive C: and I would like to transfer them to the D: drive but, if I do, my media players and photo album handling programs, etc., won't find them. How can I persuade my computer to exchange the lettering of the new and old drives and am I right in supposing that I should do this before embarking on any file transfers?

Alan Sutton, Grimsby

A

Changing drive identities will almost certainly lead to problems as your PC is configured to boot from drive C. Changing the Master Boot Record (MBR -- a protected and hidden drive system file) is a major operation. I suggest a couple of alternatives. Clone or copy the contents of your old drive to the new one (and this will include the MBR) so that it becomes the C: drive (you will need a utility like Drive Image or True Image to do this). Alternatively transfer the data files to the new drive and re-educate your programs as to the new file locations. Most applications have the option to change the drive letter and file path in the their setup or configuration menus.