FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  498 31/01/06)

Q. I do not have Microsoft Office on my computer, but someone has sent me a PowerPoint file. How can I get to read this file?

Doug Rodger, via email

A. No problem, simply download PowerPoint Viewer from Microsoft. It’s freeware and it will let you open and view any PowerPoint presentation made using PP97 onwards.

Q

Due to a family bereavement we have inherited a Dell laptop but we are unable to use it, as we do not know the password.

L. Porter, via email

A. There are two types of password protection. The first line of defence is the security lock in the BIOS program, which prevents the machine from booting up and the second one is the Windows user logon. Since you don’t say which one is involved we’ll look at both of them. Some BIOS’s have a master password, which you can get from the manufacturer or find by trawling the web but this doesn’t work with most recent Dell machines. They are well protected and the only way you can override BIOS security is to contact Dell, who will generate an unlock code for you. They will ask you for the PC’s Service Tag and serial number and you must also be able to satisfy them that you are the owner of the laptop by verifying the registered user’s name and address etc. 

Cracking the Windows logon password is a little more complicated. One very successful method is to boot the PC using a compact version of Linux called Astrumi. It involves creating a boot disc and once loaded you can enter a command that that will let you erase the old password and create a new or blank one. Since this information is already in the public domain I’m not giving away any secrets but it’s quite involved and not the sort of thing a novice should try so it is best left to an engineer.

Q. Since fitting a new hard disc drive and re-installing all my programs I have encountered a problem. Previously I would set out an article in MS Word 2000 then move it to MS Publisher 2000 to use it in a newsletter. Normally I save the file, close it, then insert it into a Publisher text box, or simply highlight the whole Word story then and cut-and-paste it into Publisher. Now I find that Publisher chooses to ignore the formatting, selecting a variety of font sizes, styles and line spacing at random, also paragraph styles and any other variable it can find. Thus I have to re-format it all from scratch again; which is far more difficult than doing this in Word.  Will it help if I re-load Word before Publisher or vice-versa or do you have another suggestion?

John Reeve, via email

A. I’m not sure why this has happened since you’ve reinstalled your software as I would expect it to have behaved like that all of the time. Publisher works best with reasonably simple text so it may be that you’ve only just noticed if you have recently started using a lot of formatting on your Word documents. Nevertheless Publisher is fully compatible with Word and the trick is to Copy the block of text as before but this time go to Paste Special on the Edit menu, select Microsoft Word Document Object and most, if not all of the formatting should be preserved.  

Q Is it possible to have two monitors hooked up to one computer (without using an A/B switch) so that one shows one application while the other shows another program or is used exclusively for email and web browsing.

Marty Cohen, via email

A. Yes it is and a dual monitor support has been built into Windows since Window 98 but you will need an extra video card for the second monitor. However, since most new PCs have only one AGP video card slot you will probably have to use an older style PCI video card, or buy an AGP card with dual monitor output. Incidentally, if your PC uses an on-board graphics adaptor (i.e. built into the motherboard) you will have to disable this from the machine’s BIOS program and install two separate cards.

When you reboot Windows will recognise the second card and install the necessary drivers (or ask you to insert the disc). To configure the monitors go to Display in Control Panel and select the Settings tab and two monitor icons will be displayed. Click the second monitor icon, check the item ‘Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor’, click OK then arrange your programs as required. Both monitors operate independently so you can set different resolutions for each one. 

Q. We have a new computer with Windows XP Pro and Microsoft Works, which includes Word. On the old Windows 98 computer we had Lotus WordPro. I am now trying to transfer files from the old computer to the new one and I find that Word cannot open the old WordPro files. I’m not sure whether it is the fault or Window 98 or the XP transfer or the Lotus to Word conversion, but is there a solution?

Sue Bolt, via email

A. The problem lies in Word’s inability to read WordPro files and there are a couple of thing you can do. Conversion software like Keyview will translate the old WordPro files into a format that’s readable by Word and this is the method I would suggest if you have a large number of documents. However, assuming that still have a working version of WordPro on your old PC there is a simpler method. All you have to do is open and then Export the documents as a plain text or RTF (Rich Text Format) file. These can then be opened by Word when they are copied to the new PC. You’ll find this option in WordPro’s SaveAs dialogue box in the Files of Type drop down menu.

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© R. Maybury 2006, 2401