FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  479 (16/08/05)

Q

I have always created individual folders in Outlook Express in which to store emails from friends and colleagues with whom I regularly exchange correspondence. These appear at the left of the Inbox screen under Local Folders. Recently, after setting up an address book and folders in Outlook Express in a new computer (using Windows XP Professional as did my previous computer), a second set of folders appeared lower down the left side of the Inbox screen under the heading, ‘Contacts’. They duplicated my friends' names and were extremely useful as all I needed to do was click onto a Contact for a newly created blank mail page to appear complete with the name of the selected friend/colleague already in the ‘To:’ box. On powering up the system one day recently, inexplicably all of these contact folders had disappeared and I can't find how to restore them. Can you help, please?

Barry Jones, via email

A

I am not sure how or why the Contacts pane disappeared -- another one of Outlook Express's funny little ways probably -- but you should be able to reinstate it by going to View > Layout then under ‘Basic’ check the Contacts box and click Apply.

Q

I use Windows XP SP2 and a simple dial-up connection. When I go to Control Panel/Network Connections I can see my connection details under Dial-Up. However under ‘LAN or High-Speed Internet’ under the heading Name I have a something called a ‘1394 Connection’. Why have I got this and should I ‘Disable this network device’?

Jon Raynes-Wharton, via email

A

This entry indicates that your PC is fitted with a ‘FireWire’ or IEEE 1394 port. This is basically a high-speed serial connection, commonly used to connect PCs to external devices, such as a disc drive or a digital camcorder, so you can download and edit video movies on your computer. It is doing no harm and even though you are not using it I would leave it alone as one day you might need it.

Q

When downloading digital photos from the camera to a folder the files are numbered in sequence.  (Say 1 to 50) Is there any way that of renumbering the next batch of photos (Say 51 to 100) so they may be added to the initial folder, without having to renumber each file individually.

James Marginson, via email

A

Yes, it can be done and Windows XP has a little-known facility for renaming and numbering files in batches. The first step is to highlight all of the files you want to change. You can do this individually by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking each one in turn, or if there are a lot of them, hold down the Shift key and use cursor arrow down or the Page Down keys to speed up the operation. Next, right-click the first file in the block and select Rename. Enter the new file name, hit Return and all of the highlighted the files will be automatically renamed and numbered. If you want to specify the start number then enter the number you want to start at in brackets, so in your case the first file would look something like this: ‘mypicture(51).jpg and all subsequent files will be numbered in sequence.

Q

In March of this year I purchased a stand-alone printer copier etc. Two weeks ago a message was flashed on my PC to say that ‘parts inside your printer are at the end of their service life’. About 4,000 copies have gone through. Is this the norm with printers costing around £130? I would add that the supplier immediately sent me a new machine of the same type so I have no problems there. Would it be any different if I purchased a printer and not a multi function machine?

Ron H., via email

A

I think it highly unlikely that anything on your old printer has actually worn out. The ‘end of service life’ message may be caused by something as trivial as a pad, used to soak up waste ink, becoming clogged. A leaky cartridge could have caused this and the pad simply needs replacing and the printer’s utility software has to be reset. There are no hard and fast rules about how long inkjet printers last and service life varies from one make to another, but you can rest assured that any new printer should be good for a great deal more that 4000 copies.

Q

I am very new to computers and e-mailing and would appreciate some advice about how to set up a directory. I am involved with a number of totally separate organisations and groups of friends and I wish to be able to send emails to a particular person but do not wish to trawl through my whole list of contacts to find the people I need. To avoid wasting time, how can I group several people together?

Richard Seldon, via email

A

This is quite straightforward, click on the Address Book icon and click New then New Group. Give the group a name and click the New Members button. Highlight the entries you want to include then click the Select button. To send an email to everyone in your newly created Group simply click on the name as it appears in the Contacts list.